From the beginning of the project it was known that the project schedule was ambitious. Due to this, time management was seen to be critical to the completion of the project. Time management was defined as one of the responsibilities of the Project Manager.

 

During the first semester the project timescale was managed with reference to the project Gantt Chart. This defined the critical path and the dates at which tasks had to be completed. At the end of Semester 1 the project was relatively on schedule; with every task completed apart from ordering parts.

 

The start of the second semester saw an unplanned major design review which had a large effect on the project schedule. At this point it was seen that the schedule was more complex than originally anticipated. Large uncertainties in delivery times upon order of parts could alter the critical path and affect the project timescale. The complexity of the project timescale required a more in depth time management system so a probabilistic approach was adopted in conjunction with the use of the Gantt Chart.

 

A simplistic form of Monte Carlo Simulation was used to assess the project timescale in a probabilistic manner. The graph below was created at the start of the second semester (week 2) and shows that the most probable time to completion is ten weeks.