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Project Planning Process - Network Diagrams
August 31, 2008 | Author: PM Hut | Filed under: Critical Path, Network Planning, Project Management for Beginners, Project Plan Development, Time Management
Project Planning Process - Network Diagrams (#6 in the Hut A Quick Guide to Project Management)
By Manjeet Singh
The WBS allowed you to identify groups of activities that you need to accomplish in your project. However, the WBS does not show the dependencies or sequence between these activities. A network diagram will allow you to illustrate this. Once your network diagram is ready, only then can you realistically start determining your project’s schedule.
Here is a simplified network diagram for the “Build Shed” project:
The above network diagram shows the relationships (arrows) between the main activities (rectangles) that are required to build a shed. You can flesh out the following information from the above diagram:
- The Cut wood activity can be carried out in parallel to the Build shed base & Supervise cement hardening ones – this of course assumes that you have different teams working on each set of activities.
- The dark arrows show what is known as the Critical Path (Buy materials->Build shed base->Supervise cement hardening->Assemble shed). The Critical Path is the sequence of activities that takes up the most time to complete your project. Any delay in this sequence of activities will impact the overall timeframe of your project. Therefore, you should carefully monitor all activities on this path.
Next in the Hut A Quick Guide to Project Management:
Project Planning Process - The Gantt Chart
Previously in the Hut A Quick Guide to Project Management:
Project Planning Process - The WBS
Manjeet Singh has over 17 years of experience acquired in a wide variety of industries with a focus on project and program management at Software Makers and Global IT Services companies throughout the world. Manjeet has an Executive MBA from the HEC Management School, and is the author of the website www.projectminds.com that provides a free guide to project management, and offers other project management-related resources.
Related Articles
- Project Management Process - Phase 2 - Planning - Develop Project Management Plan
- Project Management Process - Phase 1 - Initiating - Select and Brief Project Planning Team
- Project Management Process - Phase 2 - Planning - Submit Documents for Approval
- Project Management Process - Phase 2 - Planning - Develop Project Schedule
- Project Management Process - Phase 2 - Planning - Create Risk Management Plan
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