One of the most
common tasks is to schedule a series of events, and
the complexity of this task can vary considerably depending
on how the tool is used. Some common challenges include:
Events which depend on one another in different ways
or dependencies Scheduling people to work on, and resources
required by, the various tasks commonly termed resource
scheduling Dealing with uncertainties in the estimates
of the duration of each task Arranging tasks to meet
various deadlines Juggling multiple projects simultaneously
to meet a variety of requirements
Calculating critical
path
In many complex
schedules, there will be a critical path, or series
of events that depend on each other, and whose durations
directly determine the length of the whole project (see
also critical chain). Some software applications (for
example, Dependency Structure Matrix solutions) can
highlight these tasks, which are often a good candidate
for any optimisation effort.
Providing information
Project planning
software needs to provide a lot of information to various
people, to justify the time spent using it. Typical
requirements might include: Tasks lists for people,
and allocation schedules for resources Overview information
on how long tasks will take to complete Early warning
of any risks to the project Information on workload,
for planning holidays Evidence Historical information
on how projects have progressed, and in particular,
how actual and planned performance are related.