- 2073 Shrawan · 2+4+2 marks
Planning tools, milestone chart, WBS
Short answer
Planning tools include WBS, bar charts, milestone charts, CPM/PERT. A milestone chart highlights key zero-duration events on a timeline, allowing managers to quickly spot delays; e.g., if 'Structure complete' slips from week 13 to 15, later milestones are endangered. WBS decomposes the project into manageable work packages for planning and control.
List down the planning tools used in any project. The milestone chart is an improved version of a bar chart; justify it with an example. Explain WBS.
Planning tools
- Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) and Organisation Breakdown Structure (OBS)
- Bar chart (Gantt chart) and linked bar chart
- Milestone chart
- Network techniques: CPM and PERT (also the precedence diagram method)
- Line of balance (for repetitive work) and S-curve
- Resource histogram, resource levelling and smoothing
- Responsibility matrix, checklists
Milestone chart as an improved bar chart
A milestone is a key event (a point in time, with zero duration) such as completion of the foundation or handover. A bar chart shows many activities and their durations, but not which events are the important control points. A milestone chart marks these key events on the time scale, so the manager and the client see the major targets at a glance and can compare the planned date with the forecast date. It also removes the clutter of detailed bars, and a slip in a milestone is easily noticed. Hence it is an improvement over the bar chart.
Example: house project (24 weeks), milestones taken from the bar chart.
0 4 8 12 16 20 24 (wk)
+------------------------
M1 Site ready | *
M2 Foundation done | *
M3 Structure done | *
M4 Roof+services done | *
M5 Handover | *
+------------------------
| Milestone | Event | Planned week |
|---|---|---|
| M1 | Site ready | 1 |
| M2 | Foundation complete | 6 |
| M3 | Structure complete | 13 |
| M4 | Roof slab and services complete | 16 |
| M5 | Handover | 24 |
If M3 is forecast at week 15 instead of 13, the chart immediately warns that all later milestones are in danger.
Work Breakdown Structure
A WBS divides the whole project into smaller, manageable parts in levels (project, major parts, work packages) so that each part can be planned, estimated, assigned and controlled.
House project
|-- 1 Site work
| |-- 1.1 Clearing and layout
| `-- 1.2 Excavation
|-- 2 Substructure
| |-- 2.1 PCC and footing
| `-- 2.2 Plinth beam and DPC
|-- 3 Superstructure
| |-- 3.1 Columns and walls
| `-- 3.2 Roof slab
`-- 4 Finishing
|-- 4.1 Plastering
|-- 4.2 Flooring, doors, windows
`-- 4.3 Painting
✓ Answer checked by Claude Opus 5.5 (high effort)
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