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Prepare a 1,400 to 1,750 word paper in which you describe a project you believe would be better managed through the use of a Gantt chart.

Posted on Posted in MGMT 330 Purchasing and Materials Management

 

 

Visit the website on project management below. Click on and read several of the articles in the series “Using Gantt Charts.”

Prepare a 1,400 to 1,750 word paper in which you describe a project you believe would be better managed through the use of a Gantt chart.

  • Explain the benefits of using a Gantt chart.
  • Explore the advantages and disadvantages that your project would experience by being managed through use of a Gantt chart.
  • Describe the result you would expect from using a Gantt chart for the project in question.

Introduction

Project management is a professional field which requires a set of experiences from not only the manger but also all the other staff to complete a project on time and efficiently. There are many project management certificates available worldwide that are acquired by project managers and other project related people to fill their skills inventory and have something on their CV as well. Gantt chart is a tool that is utilized in the project management world to schedule different activities in the project life cycle. The statement that I just gave is very simplistic though. The use of Gantt chart is much more specialized. Project planners are required to schedule project activities. The fact that the project planners and the managers are experience in the use of Gantt chart has an added value for the project life cycle. Having some experience with using Gantt charts is also a good ingredient for the composition of a CV.

Gantt chart is a representation of the activities against the time they will occur. So you can plan which activities will be decided to be performed where. Also putting activities in the form of a Gantt chart adds a logical flow to the activities. It makes all the concerned people aware about what project activity is expected when. In this paper, I would like to propose a project related to the supply of malaria drugs to an Africa Country, Congo, from the WHO office in Cape Town South Africa. There will be different activities involved in this projects therefore I believe that utilizing a Gantt chart would be beneficial for the life cycle of this project. In the following discussion, I would like to explain my projects in accordance to the questions put forward to me in the prompt. First I would discuss the different benefits of the Gant charts in general. Then I would discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using Gantt chart in relation to my project. Towards the end, I would discuss the results that I would expect from using a Gantt chart in my propose project.

What are the benefits of Gantt charts?

There are numerous benefits of using Gantt charts for project management. Due to these benefits, numerous companies in the world use these charts not for planning projects only, but also to plan the day to day activities of their offices. Some of the advantage of Gantt charts are discussed in the following.

  1. Completion confusion is avoided: Project is a collection of different activities taking place one after the other. When project is planned, the planners cannot speculate from the project planning documents about when to call a project complete. I mean they have to decide the time frame that would make a project completed and also some activities that can be termed as closing activities. With the help of a Gantt chart, this confusion can be removed to a larger extent. For example the project planners would not have to speculate on the schedule completion time and would have a clear idea of what activities would complete the project and when.
  2. Project relate personnel will remain on the same page: A project may not be completed by a single person or a single team. The activities of the project may be complex in their nature and the tasks of different people and teams may coincide with each other. Utilizing a Gantt chart can remove this ambiguity. When activities are put on a Gantt chart, every person would know what they have been assigned and when is their assignment due. All project members can simply look at the Gantt chart and know about the status of the activities and the achievement of the milestones.
  3. Smooth flow of tasks: Gantt charts can also play an important role in an understanding of the flow of different activities and the relation different activities have with each other. Their might a confusion exist on the existence of different activities in relation to each other and which activity should precede which one. With the help of a Gantt chart, this confusion would be removed and all activities and their relation to each other would be much clear.
  4. Allocation of resources: When the activities of the project are clear, it is not a difficult task to suggest the different resource that will be required to successfully complete different activities and eventually the project. Gantt chart can be helpful as it does provide a clear picture of the activities. Different activities can be divided into much smaller activities providing an opportunity to estimate the cost of even minor activities and the resources that would be required by them.
  5. Plan the future: Gantt chart provides such a clear picture of the project and its activities which would help the decision makers to make futuristic decisions related to other projects and the allocation of resources in the future.

Advantages of Gantt Charts in my project

The project that I proposed would get many advantages from the Gantt chart. As can be seen in Figure 1, Gantt chart would be helpful for me to plan what milestones should I set and when. For example my project involves the delivery of malaria drugs from Cape Town to Congo. The different mile stones that I would set for my project are the delivery of the drugs to my project team. Finding a mean of transportation to deliver these drugs. The arrival and handover of the drugs to my team in Congo and the delivery of the drugs to the concerned people in Congo. By concerned people I mean the government officials who would distribute these drugs among different heath care facilities across Congo.

As can be seen in Figure 1, o would be able to give different colors to different project phases. I would also be able to mark the completion of different activities with solid lines.

Figure1: Image from www.Gantt.com

Disadvantages of Gantt chart in my project

Gantt charts also has some disadvantages. In the particular case of my proposed project, the disadvantages would not be severe as the whole life of the project is not very lengthy and complex. But if utilizing the Gantt charts, I subdivide activities minutely, this would add to an unnecessary complexity of my project in my opinion. The Gantt charts would require a constant upgradation. I believe that my project would be carried out in underdeveloped parts of Africa and it would be hard to find expert users who would be able to update the Gantt chart with the completion of different activities. In such a situation my burden would be increased and I would be responsible to keep track of all the project activities and update the Gantt chart on regular intervals.

Expected Results from Gantt charts

After a profound discussion of the benefits of utilizing a Gantt chart, I think that it is obvious that I would be expecting many good results from Gantt charts. The first result that I would expect from Gantt chart is that all my project team members will be on the same page about the procession of different activities and their responsibilities. The second result that I would expect from Gantt chart is that it would add to the smooth flow of the project activities and would give me a clear picture of the completion of the project in advance. I would be able to predict different milestones and their completion dates. I would also expect my other project members to develop team skills as a result of the communication process that would be initiated by Gantt chart and its activities.

Conclusion

Gantt chart is no doubt a useful tool to manage project activities in a useful manner. But the development of Gantt chart is not a simple task that should be performed by just any one in a project. it is the responsibility of the management in an organization to provide its employees, who will be developing these charts, the necessary training. Also other team members of different projects should be provided with orientation sessions with Gant charts so they can easily interpret their duties from the Gantt charts and there are no misunderstanding due to their lack of knowledge of the Gantt charts. It is also pertinent to mention here that Gantt chart have many advantages but also several disadvantages. These disadvantages must be kept in mind while dealing with Gantt charts.

 

 

Visit the website on project management below. Click on and read several of the articles in the series “Using Gantt Charts.”

http://www.reformingprojectmanagement.com/2007/01/28/748/

Prepare a 1,400 to 1,750 word paper in which you describe a project you believe would be better managed through the use of a Gantt chart.

  • Explain the benefits of using a Gantt chart.
  • Explore the advantages and disadvantages that your project would experience by being managed through use of a Gantt chart.
  • Describe the result you would expect from using a Gantt chart for the project in question.

Introduction

Project management is a professional field which requires a set of experiences from not only the manger but also all the other staff to complete a project on time and efficiently. There are many project management certificates available worldwide that are acquired by project managers and other project related people to fill their skills inventory and have something on their CV as well. Gantt chart is a tool that is utilized in the project management world to schedule different activities in the project life cycle. The statement that I just gave is very simplistic though. The use of Gantt chart is much more specialized. Project planners are required to schedule project activities. The fact that the project planners and the managers are experience in the use of Gantt chart has an added value for the project life cycle. Having some experience with using Gantt charts is also a good ingredient for the composition of a CV.

Gantt chart is a representation of the activities against the time they will occur. So you can plan which activities will be decided to be performed where. Also putting activities in the form of a Gantt chart adds a logical flow to the activities. It makes all the concerned people aware about what project activity is expected when. In this paper, I would like to propose a project related to the supply of malaria drugs to an Africa Country, Congo, from the WHO office in Cape Town South Africa. There will be different activities involved in this projects therefore I believe that utilizing a Gantt chart would be beneficial for the life cycle of this project. In the following discussion, I would like to explain my projects in accordance to the questions put forward to me in the prompt. First I would discuss the different benefits of the Gant charts in general. Then I would discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using Gantt chart in relation to my project. Towards the end, I would discuss the results that I would expect from using a Gantt chart in my propose project.

What are the benefits of Gantt charts?

There are numerous benefits of using Gantt charts for project management. Due to these benefits, numerous companies in the world use these charts not for planning projects only, but also to plan the day to day activities of their offices. Some of the advantage of Gantt charts are discussed in the following.

  1. Completion confusion is avoided: Project is a collection of different activities taking place one after the other. When project is planned, the planners cannot speculate from the project planning documents about when to call a project complete. I mean they have to decide the time frame that would make a project completed and also some activities that can be termed as closing activities. With the help of a Gantt chart, this confusion can be removed to a larger extent. For example the project planners would not have to speculate on the schedule completion time and would have a clear idea of what activities would complete the project and when.
  2. Project relate personnel will remain on the same page: A project may not be completed by a single person or a single team. The activities of the project may be complex in their nature and the tasks of different people and teams may coincide with each other. Utilizing a Gantt chart can remove this ambiguity. When activities are put on a Gantt chart, every person would know what they have been assigned and when is their assignment due. All project members can simply look at the Gantt chart and know about the status of the activities and the achievement of the milestones.
  3. Smooth flow of tasks: Gantt charts can also play an important role in an understanding of the flow of different activities and the relation different activities have with each other. Their might a confusion exist on the existence of different activities in relation to each other and which activity should precede which one. With the help of a Gantt chart, this confusion would be removed and all activities and their relation to each other would be much clear.
  4. Allocation of resources: When the activities of the project are clear, it is not a difficult task to suggest the different resource that will be required to successfully complete different activities and eventually the project. Gantt chart can be helpful as it does provide a clear picture of the activities. Different activities can be divided into much smaller activities providing an opportunity to estimate the cost of even minor activities and the resources that would be required by them.
  5. Plan the future: Gantt chart provides such a clear picture of the project and its activities which would help the decision makers to make futuristic decisions related to other projects and the allocation of resources in the future.

Advantages of Gantt Charts in my project

The project that I proposed would get many advantages from the Gantt chart. As can be seen in Figure 1, Gantt chart would be helpful for me to plan what milestones should I set and when. For example my project involves the delivery of malaria drugs from Cape Town to Congo. The different mile stones that I would set for my project are the delivery of the drugs to my project team. Finding a mean of transportation to deliver these drugs. The arrival and handover of the drugs to my team in Congo and the delivery of the drugs to the concerned people in Congo. By concerned people I mean the government officials who would distribute these drugs among different heath care facilities across Congo.

As can be seen in Figure 1, o would be able to give different colors to different project phases. I would also be able to mark the completion of different activities with solid lines.

Figure1: Image from www.Gantt.com

Disadvantages of Gantt chart in my project

Gantt charts also has some disadvantages. In the particular case of my proposed project, the disadvantages would not be severe as the whole life of the project is not very lengthy and complex. But if utilizing the Gantt charts, I subdivide activities minutely, this would add to an unnecessary complexity of my project in my opinion. The Gantt charts would require a constant upgradation. I believe that my project would be carried out in underdeveloped parts of Africa and it would be hard to find expert users who would be able to update the Gantt chart with the completion of different activities. In such a situation my burden would be increased and I would be responsible to keep track of all the project activities and update the Gantt chart on regular intervals.

Expected Results from Gantt charts

After a profound discussion of the benefits of utilizing a Gantt chart, I think that it is obvious that I would be expecting many good results from Gantt charts. The first result that I would expect from Gantt chart is that all my project team members will be on the same page about the procession of different activities and their responsibilities. The second result that I would expect from Gantt chart is that it would add to the smooth flow of the project activities and would give me a clear picture of the completion of the project in advance. I would be able to predict different milestones and their completion dates. I would also expect my other project members to develop team skills as a result of the communication process that would be initiated by Gantt chart and its activities.

Conclusion

Gantt chart is no doubt a useful tool to manage project activities in a useful manner. But the development of Gantt chart is not a simple task that should be performed by just any one in a project. it is the responsibility of the management in an organization to provide its employees, who will be developing these charts, the necessary training. Also other team members of different projects should be provided with orientation sessions with Gant charts so they can easily interpret their duties from the Gantt charts and there are no misunderstanding due to their lack of knowledge of the Gantt charts. It is also pertinent to mention here that Gantt chart have many advantages but also several disadvantages. These disadvantages must be kept in mind while dealing with Gantt charts.

 

 

Visit the website on project management below. Click on and read several of the articles in the series “Using Gantt Charts.”

http://www.reformingprojectmanagement.com/2007/01/28/748/

Prepare a 1,400 to 1,750 word paper in which you describe a project you believe would be better managed through the use of a Gantt chart.

  • Explain the benefits of using a Gantt chart.
  • Explore the advantages and disadvantages that your project would experience by being managed through use of a Gantt chart.
  • Describe the result you would expect from using a Gantt chart for the project in question.

Introduction

Project management is a professional field which requires a set of experiences from not only the manger but also all the other staff to complete a project on time and efficiently. There are many project management certificates available worldwide that are acquired by project managers and other project related people to fill their skills inventory and have something on their CV as well. Gantt chart is a tool that is utilized in the project management world to schedule different activities in the project life cycle. The statement that I just gave is very simplistic though. The use of Gantt chart is much more specialized. Project planners are required to schedule project activities. The fact that the project planners and the managers are experience in the use of Gantt chart has an added value for the project life cycle. Having some experience with using Gantt charts is also a good ingredient for the composition of a CV.

Gantt chart is a representation of the activities against the time they will occur. So you can plan which activities will be decided to be performed where. Also putting activities in the form of a Gantt chart adds a logical flow to the activities. It makes all the concerned people aware about what project activity is expected when. In this paper, I would like to propose a project related to the supply of malaria drugs to an Africa Country, Congo, from the WHO office in Cape Town South Africa. There will be different activities involved in this projects therefore I believe that utilizing a Gantt chart would be beneficial for the life cycle of this project. In the following discussion, I would like to explain my projects in accordance to the questions put forward to me in the prompt. First I would discuss the different benefits of the Gant charts in general. Then I would discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using Gantt chart in relation to my project. Towards the end, I would discuss the results that I would expect from using a Gantt chart in my propose project.

What are the benefits of Gantt charts?

There are numerous benefits of using Gantt charts for project management. Due to these benefits, numerous companies in the world use these charts not for planning projects only, but also to plan the day to day activities of their offices. Some of the advantage of Gantt charts are discussed in the following.

  1. Completion confusion is avoided: Project is a collection of different activities taking place one after the other. When project is planned, the planners cannot speculate from the project planning documents about when to call a project complete. I mean they have to decide the time frame that would make a project completed and also some activities that can be termed as closing activities. With the help of a Gantt chart, this confusion can be removed to a larger extent. For example the project planners would not have to speculate on the schedule completion time and would have a clear idea of what activities would complete the project and when.
  2. Project relate personnel will remain on the same page: A project may not be completed by a single person or a single team. The activities of the project may be complex in their nature and the tasks of different people and teams may coincide with each other. Utilizing a Gantt chart can remove this ambiguity. When activities are put on a Gantt chart, every person would know what they have been assigned and when is their assignment due. All project members can simply look at the Gantt chart and know about the status of the activities and the achievement of the milestones.
  3. Smooth flow of tasks: Gantt charts can also play an important role in an understanding of the flow of different activities and the relation different activities have with each other. Their might a confusion exist on the existence of different activities in relation to each other and which activity should precede which one. With the help of a Gantt chart, this confusion would be removed and all activities and their relation to each other would be much clear.
  4. Allocation of resources: When the activities of the project are clear, it is not a difficult task to suggest the different resource that will be required to successfully complete different activities and eventually the project. Gantt chart can be helpful as it does provide a clear picture of the activities. Different activities can be divided into much smaller activities providing an opportunity to estimate the cost of even minor activities and the resources that would be required by them.
  5. Plan the future: Gantt chart provides such a clear picture of the project and its activities which would help the decision makers to make futuristic decisions related to other projects and the allocation of resources in the future.

Advantages of Gantt Charts in my project

The project that I proposed would get many advantages from the Gantt chart. As can be seen in Figure 1, Gantt chart would be helpful for me to plan what milestones should I set and when. For example my project involves the delivery of malaria drugs from Cape Town to Congo. The different mile stones that I would set for my project are the delivery of the drugs to my project team. Finding a mean of transportation to deliver these drugs. The arrival and handover of the drugs to my team in Congo and the delivery of the drugs to the concerned people in Congo. By concerned people I mean the government officials who would distribute these drugs among different heath care facilities across Congo.

As can be seen in Figure 1, o would be able to give different colors to different project phases. I would also be able to mark the completion of different activities with solid lines.

Figure1: Image from www.Gantt.com

Disadvantages of Gantt chart in my project

Gantt charts also has some disadvantages. In the particular case of my proposed project, the disadvantages would not be severe as the whole life of the project is not very lengthy and complex. But if utilizing the Gantt charts, I subdivide activities minutely, this would add to an unnecessary complexity of my project in my opinion. The Gantt charts would require a constant upgradation. I believe that my project would be carried out in underdeveloped parts of Africa and it would be hard to find expert users who would be able to update the Gantt chart with the completion of different activities. In such a situation my burden would be increased and I would be responsible to keep track of all the project activities and update the Gantt chart on regular intervals.

Expected Results from Gantt charts

After a profound discussion of the benefits of utilizing a Gantt chart, I think that it is obvious that I would be expecting many good results from Gantt charts. The first result that I would expect from Gantt chart is that all my project team members will be on the same page about the procession of different activities and their responsibilities. The second result that I would expect from Gantt chart is that it would add to the smooth flow of the project activities and would give me a clear picture of the completion of the project in advance. I would be able to predict different milestones and their completion dates. I would also expect my other project members to develop team skills as a result of the communication process that would be initiated by Gantt chart and its activities.

Conclusion

Gantt chart is no doubt a useful tool to manage project activities in a useful manner. But the development of Gantt chart is not a simple task that should be performed by just any one in a project. it is the responsibility of the management in an organization to provide its employees, who will be developing these charts, the necessary training. Also other team members of different projects should be provided with orientation sessions with Gant charts so they can easily interpret their duties from the Gantt charts and there are no misunderstanding due to their lack of knowledge of the Gantt charts. It is also pertinent to mention here that Gantt chart have many advantages but also several disadvantages. These disadvantages must be kept in mind while dealing with Gantt charts.

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