Introduction

There is a group of planning tools which have a close association with project management. These are:

• work breakdown structure

• flowcharts

• PERT diagrams

• Gantt charts.

With the help of these tools, you can get from the point where you only have a general idea of what a project involves to the preparation of detailed schedules.

Work Breakdown Structure

When you begin a project, you know the outcome you must achieve, but you may not know how you are going to achieve it. This is normal. Projects consist of a sequence of different activities. Although you may have specialist knowledge of some of these activities, you are very unlikely to be an expert in all of them.

You need to break the project down into smaller elements, which you can then cost, schedule and control. You should do this in several stages. First of all, divide the project into its major phases.

If your project involved producing a catalogue for a specialist shop, these phases could be:

• preparation

• printing

• mailing.

Next, break down the phases into separate activities it involves. You may have to consult other members of the project team at this point to find out what these activities are.

For the first stage of the production of...