Dynamic scheduling: integrating schedule risk analysis with earned value management

The topic of this paper is dynamic project scheduling to illustrate that project scheduling is a dynamic process that involves a continuous stream of changes and is a never ending process to support decisions that need to be made along the life of the project. The focus of this paper lies on three crucial dimensions of dynamic scheduling which can be briefly outlined along the following lines: (i) Baseline scheduling to construct a timetable that provides a start and end date for each project activity, taking activity relations, resource constraints and other project characteristics into account, and aiming to reach a certain scheduling objective, (ii) risk analysis to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of your project schedule in order to obtain information about the schedule sensitivity and the possible changes that undoubtedly occur during project progress and (iii) project control to measure the (time and cost) performance of a project during its progress and use the information obtained during the scheduling and risk analysis steps to monitor and update the project and to take corrective actions in case of problems. The focus of the current paper is on the importance and crucial role of the baseline scheduling component for the two other components, and the integration of the schedule risk and project control component in order to support a better corrective action decision making when the project is in trouble

Multichannel in a complex world

The proliferation of devices and channels has brought new challenges to just about every organisation in delivering consistently good customer experiences and effectively joining up service provision with marketing activity, data and content. A good multichannel strategy and execution is increasingly becoming essential to marketers and customer experience professionals from every sector. This report seeks to identify the key issues, challenges and opportunities that surround multichannel and provide some best practice insight and principles on the elements that are key to multichannel success. As part of the research for this report, we spoke to six experienced customer experience and marketing practitioners from large organisations across different sectors. In Multichannel Marketing: Metrics and Methods for On and Offline Success, Akin Arikan (2008) said: ‘Because customers are multichannel beings and demand relevant, consistent experiences across all channels, businesses need to adopt a multichannel mind-set when listening to their customers.’ It was clear from the companies interviewed for this report that it remains challenging for many organisations to maintain consistency across so many customer touchpoints. Not only that, but the ability to balance consistency with the capability to fully exploit the unique attributes of each channel remains an aspiration for many. The proliferation of devices and digital channels has added complexity to customer journeys, making issues around the joining up of customer experience and the attribution of value of key importance to many. Whilst senior leaders within the organisations spoken to seem to be bought in to multichannel, this buy-in was not always replicated across the rest of the organisation and did not always translate into a cohesive multichannel strategy. A number of companies were undertaking work around customer journey mapping and customer segmentation, using a variety of passive and actively collected data in order to identify specific areas of poor customer experience and create action plans for improvement. Others were undertaking projects using sophisticated tracking and tagging technologies to develop an understanding of the value and role of specific channels and to provide better intelligence to the business on attribution that might be used to inform future investment decisions. A consistent barrier to improving customer experience is the ability to join up many different legacy systems and data in order to provide a single customer view and form the basis for delivery of a more consistent and cohesive multichannel approach. Whilst there remain significant challenges around multichannel, there are some useful technologies allowing businesses to develop better insight into customer motivation and activity. Nonetheless, delivery of seamless multichannel experience remains a work-inprogress for many

Project regularity : development and evaluation of a new project characteristic

The ability to accurately characterize projects is essential to good project management. Therefore, a novel project characteristic is developed that reflects the value accrue within a project. This characteristic, called project regularity, is expressed in terms of the newly introduced regular/irregular-indicator RI. The widely accepted management system of earned value management (EVM) forms the basis for evaluation of the new characteristic. More concretely, the influence of project regularity on EVM forecasting accuracy is assessed, and is shown to be significant for both time and cost forecasting. Moreover, this effect appears to be stronger than that of the widely used characteristic of project seriality expressed by the serial/parallel-indicator SP. Therefore, project regularity could also be useful as an input parameter for project network generators. Furthermore, the introduction of project regularity can provide project managers with a more accurate indication of the time and cost forecasting accuracy that is to be expected for a certain project and, correspondingly, of how a project should be built up in order to obtain more reliable forecasts during project control

Welcome to OR&S! Where students, academics and professionals come together

In this manuscript, an overview is given of the activities done at the Operations Research and Scheduling (OR&S) research group of the faculty of Economics and Business Administration of Ghent University. Unlike the book published by [1] that gives a summary of all academic and professional activities done in the field of Project Management in collaboration with the OR&S group, the focus of the current manuscript lies on academic publications and the integration of these published results in teaching activities. An overview is given of the publications from the very beginning till today, and some of the topics that have led to publications are discussed in somewhat more detail. Moreover, it is shown how the research results have been used in the classroom to actively involve students in our research activities

NFF Capital Partners 2011 Portfolio Performance Report

Reviews outcomes of a program launched in 2006 to build philanthropic equity by offering nonprofit organizations dedicated growth capital to become sustainable. Examines core program metrics, business model revenues, and progress toward sustainability

EARNED VALUE MANAGEMENT.CASE STUDY USING MICROSOFT PROJECT

A formalism and a corresponding notation for earned value analysis are presented. With compact, consistent, mnemonic notation, earned value calculations become more transparent and flexible, leading to insights about standard quantities and advances through new measures. As an example of the notation’s utility, it is used to generate a modified earned value approach that weights quantities according to their position in a project’s timeline.earned value, managing projects, progress, cost, cash flow management

Following the Mobile Student: Can We Develop the Capacity for a Comprehensive Database to Assess Student Progression?

Presents a study of state-level databases on postsecondary student retention and completion rates and the feasibility of tracking students across state lines. Outlines challenges and recommendations, including establishing a common reporting standard

Tracking Oregon's Progress: A Focus On Income Inequality

Inequality in income, consumption, education, and quality of life across populations has become a growing concern in the United States. As the nation's attention shifts toward issues of inequality, it is important to understand the prevalence of inequality in Oregon. However, studying income inequality alone is not sufficient; counties with low income inequality can have high poverty, among other challenges. County and state variations in income inequality are partially due to differences in the population, their earning potential and their access to high-wage work. By examining poverty and inequality together, it is possible to gain a fuller understanding of the economic well-being of communities. Findings from this study reveal that:Oregon has consistently ranked 22nd in the nation for its level of income inequality since the mid-2000s, meaning that just over half of the states in the nation have more income inequality than Oregon.Within the western region of the U.S., Oregon has above average levels of income inequality.Within Oregon, counties vary in levels of income inequality.Multnomah, Benton, and Lane counties have consistently high income inequality. High income inequality is not unexpected in urban areas or small counties with large populations of university students.Hood River and Morrow counties maintain consistently low levels of income inequality. Low income inequality can indicate that an economy is providing a mix of jobs that support middle income earners, as in the case of Hood River. However, low income inequality can also result from a lack of high wage earners, as in Morrow and other rural counties in the state