Project Evaluation and Review Techniques - Essay Example

PERT is used mostly in projects that are not repetitive and whose specific time duration is not known. It is mostly associated with research and development projects whereby, there are very many uncertainties and unknowns. This includes system development and analysis. CPM, however, is mostly used in tasks and projects that are repetitive. Such tasks are normally known to have definite starts and complete dates. CPM is mostly applied in developing projects such as building construction and software development.
Assignments normally have deadlines. I have to plan for an assignment and break it down into single activities that I have to accomplish before the submission date.
The table below shows the breakdown of an assignment that should be done in five days.
The critical path is the shortest path identified in the critical path method, and that shows the minimum possible duration of a project. In the given assignment, there are three possible paths ABCCDG, ADG, and ADG. The shortest path will be ADG while the critical time taken to complete the assignment will be 3 days. This is the advantage of CPM since it enables the optimization of time. Here, slack can also be calculated; hence, preparation for any eventualities.

Entity Relationship Diagrams (ERD)
The relationship between lecturers and teachers can be put in form of ERDs. These entities (Teachers and students) can be interdependent or dependent. There are three types of relationships between entities (Diagram 1). Diagram 2 shows a typical example of one-to-one entities. Diagram 3 however gives a perfect scenario of a many-to-many ERD.
Reflection
Learning the analysis tools and components has proven to be a very important and helpful process. This is because all this information will come in handy during the practical execution of the theoretical learning that I have been doing in the coursework.
System analysis deals with projects. Projects are normally broken down into simpler manageable chunks that make up the complete project. These chunks are given estimated timelines and periods under which they can be completed. Learning about the project management tools and analysis tools and components will ensure professional application in projects to achieve the maximum results. Some project management tools like the PERT and CPM are tools that I will be using apart from the basic systems analysis knowledge.
Entity relationship modeling is also a system analysis tool that every systems analyst uses for interlinking databases in a system. These entities have relationships hence their interdependence to achieve full system functionality. Learning about them and having full knowledge will benefit me as a system analyst. A professional analyst ought to understand the need of linking two or more databases. Entity relationship modeling will assist to distinguish between a database that is dependent and those which are independent. Some entities will need linking to other entities and hence this knowledge can help me to identify and eliminate redundancies. Read More