Agricultural Project Management: Monitoring and Control of Implementation

ISBN-13: 9789401159357 / Angielski / Miękka / 2011 / 190 str.

Peter Smith

Opis

I first became interested in the methods of planning the sequence and timing of jobs on large-scale development projects, as a field officer involved in planning and implementing mechanised farming schemes in Uganda in the mid-sixties. This interest was reinforced by experience of agro-industrial projects in both Nigeria and Iran, when it became obvious that the lax traditional methods of both planning and controll ing the implementation of agricultural and other rural development projects were very ineffective compared with those already in use in other disciplines. An extended spell as Resident Adviser on a World Bank project to strengthen planning and project management services in the agricultural sector in Sind Province, Pakistan, stimulated this interest further, and gave opportunities to develop the use of improved methods on some very complex schemes. This book summarises the experience gained in adapting critical path methods, well established in other fields, to Third World development projects, with their peculiar problems. It would not have been possible to reach this point without the help and stimulation of discussions with a large number of colleagues, includ ing John Joyce (then of Hunting Technical Services), Hatsuya Azumi (World Bank), and-particularly-Zaffar Sohrwardy and Akhtar Ali of Aarkays Associates in Karachi, during our work together. My thanks are also due to Yasin Mohammed, who typed most of the original draft; Anwar Mohammed and Irene Mills for final typing; and to my wife, Jill, for drawing the original figures."

Spis treści

1. The Scope of Project Management.- 1.1. Introduction.- 1.2. Requirements of an Effective Project Management System.- 1.3. Traditional Methods of Controlling Agricultural Projects.- 1.4. Critical Paths—Introduction to an Improved Method.- 1.5. An Example of the Improved Method: Planning the Schedule.- 1.6. CPM and After.- 2. Solving the Critical Path Problem.- 2.1. The Example.- 2.2. The Network.- 2.3. The Main Objective: Finding the Critical Path.- 2.4. Tabulation of the Data.- 2.5. The Forward Pass—Calculating Early Start and Early Finish Dates.- 2.6. The Backward Pass—Calculating Late Start and Late Finish Dates.- 2.7. Float.- 2.8. The Critical Path.- 2.9. Review of the Initial Analysis.- 2.10. Alternative Methods of Network Construction.- 2.11. Note on Terminology.- 3. The Network: Collecting the Data.- 3.1. Introduction.- 3.2. The Initial Session.- 3.3. Specialist Sessions.- 3.4. The Next Step.- 4. Resource Scheduling.- 4.1. Definition of Scheduling.- 4.2. Determination of Resource Requirements of Activities.- 4.3. Determining the Availability of Resources.- 4.4. Assessing the Resource Requirements of the Initial Schedule.- 4.5. Resource Levelling.- 4.6. Consequences of Resource Levelling.- 4.7. Presentation of Results.- 4.8. Alternative Resource Scheduling Method.- 4.9. Multi-Project Scheduling.- 5. Review of Working Methods.- 5.1. Allocation of Extra Resources (Crashing).- 5.2. Adjusting the Specifications of the Job.- 5.3. Changes in Working Methods.- 5.4. Costing Savings on Major Alterations of Schedule.- 5.5. Conversion to Calendar Dates.- 6. Risk and Uncertainty in Project Scheduling.- 6.1. Introduction.- 6.2. Statistics.- 6.3. Expected Duration of Critical Path or Critical Segments.- 6.4. Testing for the Need to Revise Duration Estimates.- 6.5. Choice of Probability Levels.- 6.6. Decision Networks.- 7. Critical Path Methods at the Planning Stage.- 7.1. Introduction.- 7.2. Getting the Framework Right.- 7.3. Problems of Data Gathering at the Planning Stage.- 7.4. Organisational Structure of the Project.- 7.5. Contractual Structure of Projects.- 7.6. Implications.- 7.7. Planning the Planning.- 8. Using the Network.- 8.1. Introduction.- 8.2. The Downward Flow of Information: Instructions and Advice.- 8.3. The Upward Flow of Information.- 8.4. Financial Reporting.- 9. Critical Path Analysis by Computer.- 9.1. Do You Really Need a Computer?.- 9.2. Computer Terms.- 9.3. Requirements of a Good CPA Software Package.- 9.4. Requirements of a Suitable Machine.- 9.5. Examples of Suitable Software.