How To Use Integrated Critical Path Planning and Scheduling for Integrating Multiple Projects

Handling multiple projects in any project management environment can be stressful and aggravating, to say the very least. Keeping track of what should be accomplished and when it must be accomplished is the only way to successfully achieve your goals on time and within budget.

The only way I have found to manage the multiple projects which I must juggle is to use integrated Critical Path planning and scheduling. You may well know a bit about the general idea, but you may not realize how much difference a truly integrated planning database can help you in your day-to-day Project Management career.

It doesn't matter what planning and scheduling software application your planning and scheduling staff utilizes for critical path analysis of projects. Every effective software application available today allows this type of critical path analysis. The software should allow you to maintain all data in a single database and select data for publication as desired.

What is Integrated Critical Path Planning?

Truly integrated planning requires that all your planning and scheduling information be placed in a single, comprehensive database. The information must include predecessor and successor relationships between each related activity and between each project.

This may sound very complex at first, but it really isn't. You already know your deadlines and you know when you can begin each project. You know what steps must be taken to accomplish each project.

Integrated Critical Path Planning and Scheduling Examples

So, how do you develop such relationships between activities and projects? All this requires is a bit of thought.

Establish a Work Calendar: Define the calendar around which your particular business operates. If the organization takes holidays off, be sure you main project calendar does not calculate these days as workdays when calculating your schedules. Apply this calendar to every project. You should be able to generate exceptions by placing one or more tasks on a 24/7/365 calendar should you have to work during periods which are normally not worked.

Develop a Template Project for Similar Projects: Most of the projects you manage are likely very similar in the tasks which must be accomplished. These tasks generally require a similar number of man-days or man-hours to perform. Sit down with all the players and determine the average timeframe for accomplishing all standard tasks. Define the relationship between each task.

Some tasks can be accomplished in parallel with others while some tasks must be performed before other tasks can begin. Use this information to define your start-to-start, finish-to-finish and finish-to-start relationships between tasks.

Here is a diagram of a very simple flow chart of this type of planning:

Apply Template to Projects: Once you have developed a basic template, you may find that you have special tasks for some projects. Save your template under the project name you are planning and scheduling at the moment. Define the special tasks and ask your planning staff to add those tasks and their relationships into the template for that project only.

Use Identifier Fields: Your software application should allow you to input data to identify projects easily. Different packages handle this differently, but your team members probably already know how this is done. If they do not, develop an identification scheme which will allow data selection from the database for analysis, printing and publication.
Develop All Projects: You must develop all the projects currently open and add this information into your database. The deadline for each project should be set in stone and input into the database as a hard target against which all other project data will calculate.
Define Inter-Project Relationships: When managing multiple projects, you'll note that some projects may require completion before other projects may begin. Define and add these relationships into the database. Most software applications will allow you to show these inter-project relationships when publishing information for reporting purposes. Other may only take the information into account when calculating available dates on which tasks may be accomplished.
Apply Start Targets and Progress: Determine tasks which can or have begun already. Apply dates to these tasks and progress amounts to those which have begun.
Use Backward Scheduling: When calculating the dates on which the planning and scheduling software application calculates, first perform a forward scheduling pass and then end with a backward scheduling pass. This allows your tasks to be schedule as late as possible.

Analyze Results: Looking at each project which must be accomplished, analyze the calculations generated by your automated planning and scheduling software. Review task and project relationships and ensure they have been defined correctly and input correctly.

Keep Planning: As new projects arise, input the data and relationships into the database and again analyze the planning and scheduling results. Be sure to have your team update the progress on tasks which have begun and input start dates on those activities which have start dates assigned firmly.
In Closing: This critical path project management technique is used by Project Managers from small construction firms, to Healthcare Information Technology Developers, to the International Space Station Program. It's time-proven; it works, and you can implement in your own career to easily juggle multiple integrated critical path projects.


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