P2 Explain The Resources Available To A Project Manager
In this blog I will be explaining the resources that are available to a project manager, before I go on to do this I will need to inform you exactly as to what the resources are that are available to a project manager, these are Labour; Enterprise; Land and Capital. Below you will see how I have expanded on each of these 4 types of resources that are available to a project manager.
Labour:
This is a resource which means that if for example you as a project manager had a team of 3 individuals working on building a garage and decided that only one of them sourced the door, then the other 2 individuals would be better at doing something else such as building the bricks and sourcing the roof rather than being sacked or worse doing nothing at all, doing this would mean that the garage would be completed in a shorter length of time for the customer. However there are problems that can come across from this and these are things such as the 3 individuals may end up getting in each others way, this would therefore mean that the project of building a garage in this instance would be completed more quicker if only one individual was working on all of the 3 things to build a garage such as sourcing the door, building the bricks for the walls and overseeing the roof, this way however without a shadow of a doubt will certainly take a lot longer to get the project of building a garage completed.
Enterprise:
This is a resource that involves the project manager needing to firstly identify exactly what the project is based around and once this has been identified collate the necessary information that will help them to complete the project in question. For example if the project involved constructing a skyscraper, it would be the project managers responsibility to measure things like how much is it going to cost to fund the project? and more importantly is the project of building a skyscraper necessary if the funding of the project is going to be substantially high? the answer to this would be if the vast majority of residents within the local authority were in an agreement to have a skyscraper build within their constituency then the project would have to be carried out but if the tables were turned and the vast majority of residents within the local authority were not in an agreement to have a skyscraper build within their constituency, then it would not be worth the trouble of building a skyscraper.
Land:
This is a resource which the project manager would for example start telling the construction workers who are part of the project to start building the foundations of say a garage located at the front driveway of a residence. Here it would also be the project managers responsibility to ensure that all the construction work that is going to take place is safe. It could also be that the customer who has hired a team of individuals to build the garage ensures that they have a document from the local authority clearly outlining that they have had planning permission approved by the local authority and it is equally as important that the project manager asks for this from the customer so that the project manager and the construction workers will not be liable to any repercussions that could possibly occur. If the project manager was tasked with constructing a building for a highly reputable company or organisation it would be fundamental that they outline the rooms that are going to be within the building such as the project management office, and the rooms for staff colleagues such as main working rooms for staff members to carry out day to day operations and storage rooms to store any files and important information such as valuable company assets. The consequences that could be forthcoming if these things are not put in place are that the company or organisation would not be able to run successfully.
Capital:
This is a resource where the project manager would need to be aware when carrying out a project what are the costs for labour which will be paid to the individuals who are part of the project for their time and effort with the project, what are the costs for materials which may have been necessary to have been used within the completion of the project and what are the costs for the investment of both liquid and fixed assets. The constitution’ s council are also an example of somebody who would need to get paid when a construction project is taking place within the local authority for example because they would take out tax.
Gantt Charts:
Gantt Charts are examples of a document or a spreadsheet that are most commonly used as resource material for a project manager, it is one of the most popular and useful ways of providing an outlook to activities be it a task or an event which is measured alongside the estimated timeframe.
As you can see from the above image there is an example of a type of Gantt Chart that I created which was based around a musical festival. I do not agree however with project managers using this as a type of resource to work with because, it might mean that the project manager is starting the project off without a clue as to what to do and completely blind.
Click on the below hyperlink to open up an spreadsheet that illustrates a Gantt Chart that I have created for the Beatherder music festival that takes place in the North West in a town called Clitheroe in Lancashire.
Programme Evaluation Review Techniques (P.E.R.T):
The above illustration illustrates an example of a flow chart that represents Programme Evaluation Review Techniques. As you can see the numbered objects are the nodes that represent milestones and the arrows represent the vectors which show the relationship between each and every process, the work happens due to the vectors in the diagram and the nodes act as checkpoints for instance in a run or a walk to a football stadium where the match kick off is at 3pm when you get to a milestone or a checkpoint you can check against the time to see if there is still time before the deadline.
The above illustration shows an example of a P.E.R.T chart that I created with forecasts of optimistic, normal and pessimistic times, as I previously stated the sketch of the flow chart diagram that I created I drew a number of images of nodes to help represent the milestones and the arrows that were hand drawn helped to represent the different vectors within the sketch that I created of the flow chart diagram. There are a number of things that a Gantt Chart and a P.E.R.T chart have in contrast to each other in terms of acting as project management tools, one of the most obvious of things is they are two different types of chart represented in two completely different ways, for example a Gantt Chart is illustrated using a bar chart and a P.E.R.T chart is illustrated using a flow chart. As well as this a Gantt Chart has a key emphasis on forecasting in terms of estimating the time that it may take to complete a project where as a P.E.R.T. chart is designed to provide emphasis on the relationships and a breakdown of a series of tasks that need to be met in order to complete the project. A key type of similarity and something that a Gantt Chart and a P.E.R.T chart have in common are that they can be used to help the project manger to visualise and communicate information about projects which they will be placed in charge of and overseeing.
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