Project Planning and Scheduling

Many project schedules are lists of dates rather than models of the work. Activities are entered without dependencies, durations are guessed or imposed from a target end date, resources are assumed to be available whenever needed, and the plan is not updated once work starts. When the first delay occurs, nobody can tell what else is affected, and the schedule stops being used as a management tool.

This programme builds planning and scheduling skills step by step. It moves through five stages: defining the scope and breaking down the work, estimating durations and effort, building the network and calculating the critical path, planning resources, risks and communication, and updating and monitoring the schedule during delivery. Each step is practised on the same case, so participants see how a plan is built from start to finish.

Built on recognised practice. The programme references the planning and scheduling guidance in the PMI PMBOK Guide and the PMI Practice Standard for Scheduling, the project management guidance in ISO 21502, and the established critical path method (CPM) and Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT). The methods apply whichever scheduling software the organisation uses.

Decisions this programme improves. How much detail a schedule needs at each stage; which estimating method suits each activity; whether a requested end date is achievable; where to add buffers and contingency; how to resolve resource conflicts; and what to change when the project slips.

How it is delivered. Twenty hours across five sessions, built around one running case: a small to medium project, such as an office relocation or system roll-out. Participants build a work breakdown structure, estimate durations using three-point estimates, draw a network, calculate the critical path by hand and in a spreadsheet or scheduling tool, level resources and update the schedule with progress.

In-house option. For organisations, the programme can be tailored to your own project types, planning templates and scheduling software, and delivered to planners and project teams together.

Who Should Attend

Project team members: coordinators, officers and specialists who prepare or maintain project plans

Junior planners and schedulers building their planning skills

Team leaders and supervisors responsible for planning work packages

Engineers and technical staff moving into project roles

Consultants and business owners who need to plan and coordinate projects

Objectives

Explain the purpose of project planning and the main components of a project plan

Define project scope and create a work breakdown structure with a WBS dictionary

Identify activities and the four types of dependency between them

Estimate durations using analogous, parametric and three-point methods, including PERT

Construct a network diagram and calculate early and late dates, float and the critical path

Allocate resources to activities and resolve over-allocation through levelling or smoothing

Identify key schedule risks and plan buffers and responses

Prepare a simple communication plan for the project

Set a baseline, record progress and update the schedule

Present the schedule clearly using Gantt charts, milestone charts and look-ahead plans

Course Outline

Foundations of Planning: Scope and the Work Breakdown Structure

Why plans fail: unclear scope, missing logic and imposed dates
The project plan: scope, schedule, cost, resources, risk and communication
Defining scope, deliverables and exclusions
Building a work breakdown structure: decomposition rules and the 100% rule
WBS dictionary and assigning responsibility with a RACI chart
Levels of schedule detail for different audiences

Estimating Durations and Effort

Effort, duration and elapsed time
Analogous, parametric and bottom-up estimating
Three-point estimates and PERT calculations
Productivity, calendars and working time
Recognising optimism in estimates and using historical data
Documenting assumptions and estimate ranges

Building the Network and Finding the Critical Path

Activity lists, milestones and dependencies
Finish-to-start, start-to-start, finish-to-finish and start-to-finish relationships; leads and lags
Precedence diagramming
Forward and backward pass calculations
Total float, free float and the critical path
Constraints and why to use them sparingly
Gantt charts and milestone charts

Resources, Risk and Communication

Resource planning and resource-loaded schedules
Resource over-allocation, levelling and smoothing
Identifying schedule risks and adding buffers and contingency
Schedule compression: crashing and fast-tracking
Communication planning: who needs which schedule information and when
Rolling wave planning and planning in agile and hybrid projects

Updating, Monitoring and Using the Schedule

Setting and protecting the baseline
Recording actual progress and forecasting remaining work
Comparing actual against baseline and analysing variances
Look-ahead plans and weekly coordination
Scheduling software, cloud tools and practical uses of AI in drafting plans
Action plan: applying the method to a current project

Competencies

Scope definition and work breakdown structures

Activity definition and dependency logic

Duration estimating and PERT

Network diagrams and critical path analysis

Resource allocation and levelling

Schedule risk and buffer planning

Project communication planning

Baseline setting and schedule updating

Schedule presentation with Gantt and milestone charts

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