Question

Explain the risks associated with leveling resources, compressing or crashing projects, and imposed durations or "catch-up" as the project is being implemented. Why is it critical to develop a time-phased baseline? Subscribe to unlock

Answer 1

Answer:

Explain the risks associated with leveling resources, compressing or crashing projects, and imposed durations or "catch-up" as the project is being implemented.

1. a project manager will try to level resources in order to even out the use of resources throughout the whole project, but that can result in a deficit of resources during critical times.  E.g. trying to use 25% of resources during each year for a project that lasts 4 years. But some activities require a lot o resources but last a short time, while other activities might last longer and consume fewer resources.
2. a project manager will try to compress a project's schedule because he/she wants to finish early, ideally without affecting the project's scope. The problem with compressing a project is that you might have to skip or eliminate certain activities in order to so so. E.g. a lot of pharmaceutical companies are trying to develop a vaccine that ends the current health crisis, and their rush are not following the appropriate steps.
3. crashing activities refers to trying to finish some critical activity early by assigning more resources to it. The risks of crashing critical activities is that they might not be well done, or it might be too expensive.

Why is it critical to develop a time-phased baseline?

Without a well done time-phased baseline, it is very difficult to prepare a project schedule, or at least one that actually works. It is also important because it is very useful for cost control, and projects can easily go out of control and cost more than their budget.