The project schedule is the time-based and/or sequenced description of all of the project activities. The time element is one of the triple constraints that every project leader must contend with: scope, schedule, and resources/budget. There are a variety of techniques for both displaying the project schedule and analyzing the project schedule. Each technique focuses on a different aspect of the project. Depending upon the project objectives and major risks, different techniques should be used by the project leader. A brief description of each technique is listed below along with suggestions for when, and when not, to use them. The techniques for displaying the schedule are the Milestone Chart, the Task List, the Gantt Chart (Bar chart), the Network Diagram, the Two Dimensional Task List, and the Calendar View. The schedule analysis tools are the Critical Path analysis, the Critical Chain analysis, the PERT analysis, the Resource Leveling analysis, and a variety of Schedule Acceleration Techniques. For information on creating schedule estimates, please refer to Project Estimating.
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