USER’S MANUAL

1 INTRODUCTION

The software package MANAGE XPS handles problems related to different spheres of project life cycle. MANAGE XPS finds its utility suited for a variety of projects where the user is able to provide input in the form of precedence relationships, time, cost and resource requirements of the activities of the project. MANAGE XPS consists of various program modules mutually incorporated to form an integrated software package utility. The integrated software package has a flexibility of application as per the requirement of the case under consideration. A specific module can be used independently to assist in decision making for a particular problem associated to one of the stages in the life-cycle of a project, or an integrated utility of the software can be used for a broader application. Modules, which are included in this software, are

1.1 Project Selection

(i) TOPSIS

(ii) SAW

1.2 Financial Appraisal

(i) NPV deterministic calculation.

(ii) NPV probabilistic calculation.

(iii) Payback period deterministic calculation.

(iv) Payback period probabilistic calculation

1.3 Network Scheduling

(i) A-O-N representation

(ii) Gantt chart representation

1.4 Project Monitoring and Control

(i) Cost Calculations

(ii) Modified rate of interest calculations

1.5 Resource Scheduling

(i) Resource leveling

(ii) Resource allocation

2 INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS

2.1 System requirement

WINDOWS 95/98/2000

RAM 64 MB

Intel 266 Mz processor

32 MB of Hard Disk Space

2.2 Extraction

Extract all files from pm.zip to local hard disk. For unzipping you may use any unzipping software.

2.3 Files Incorporated

Files contained in pm.zip are

(i) Project1.cab

(ii) Setup.exe

(iii) Setup.1st

(iv) Read me.txt (This file)

2.4 Setup

Now click on setup.exe and follow the on screen instruction for installation.

3 GETTING STARTED

After installation go to programs in start menu, you will find a program name Project management click it to open the main window of project management package. On this main window there are tabs for various modules, click them to open the module. Information about individual module is provided in this manual.

4 UN-INSTALLATION INSTRUCTION

The program can be uninstalled in following two ways

(i) Go to ‘Start’. Locate Project Management in ‘Programs’, and click on uninstall.

(ii) You can also uninstall it by going to ‘Control panel’. Select ‘add / remove programs’. Select Project Management and then click on remove tab.

5 FUNCTIONING OF MODULES

5.1 Project Selection

Project selection is usually done with help of Multiple criteria decision making tools. Here in this software we have included three such techniques for selection of project. To use project selection module first open the main window and click on Project selection tab.

5.1.1 Data Input

We have a common window for entering data into decision matrix. This version supports analysis of five projects at a time with six criteria. Launching the project selection module, provides a data entering widow which is shown is fig 5.1

Fig 5.1

Here we give names for our identification against projects P#1, P#2 etc, and criterion. Now we are provided with decision matrix which can be filled according to your analysis of different projects.

Associated weightages are put against respective column .Make sure that sum of weightages is 1.

The criterion chosen for analysis can be marked as benefit criteria or cost criteria against the check box.

5.1.2 Using different methods for selection

After filling the required matrix we can initiate an analysis using three provided methods. For SAW, TOPSIS or ELECTRE analysis, click on the respective tabs. The results will now be displayed. You can compare results obtained from different methods, and select the suitable project.

5.2 Financial Appraisal

This module is designed to check the financial feasibility of a project. It calculates NPV and Payback period for deterministic data and probabilistic data. It can calculate NPV and payback period for returns upto 20 years.

5.2.1 NPV calculation

Open the main window and click on financial appraisal tab.

Fig 5.2

Window shown in fig 5.2 will pop up. Specify the number of years for which NPV has to be calculated. It also has a checkbox to base calculations on deterministic or probabilistic model. Data entry windows for both are shown below in fig 5.3 and 5.4

Fig 5.3

Fig 5.4

Input for NPV and payback period calculations is the annual return for each year, salvage value, interest rate (optional in case of IRR calculation) and investment. In case of calculation for probabilistic data, you have to provide optimistic and pessimistic values of annual return for each year. Now click on NPV or payback period calculation tab to find NPV and payback period.

5.3 Network Scheduling

This module helps in scheduling the activities of a project. The program is able to identify various nodes in a project network and arrange the corresponding activities in topological order.

Open the main window and click on Data Input. Data input

Fig 5.5

window for the Project representation is shown in Fig 5.5. Data required regarding the precedence relationship, duration and cost of activities is entered here.

Do not use comma to separate the predecessors in the input window.

5.3.1 A-O-N Representation

For the data entered in the input window shown in Fig 5.5, a network representation of the activities is automatically generated as shown in Fig 5.6

Fig5.6

5.3.2 Gantt chart representation

A Gantt chart for representation of the project activities is generated as shown in Fig 5.7.

Fig 5.7

Here different shaded regions show the Early Start and Late Start of activities.

5.4 Project Monitoring and Control

This module provides cost calculations for each period for the data entered in the input window shown in Fig 5.5. A graphical representation of the cost calculations is displayed as shown in Fig 5.8.

Fig 5.8

To view a tabular representation of the cost calculations click on Tabulate Result. For revised rate of interest calculations enter a new value for the rate of interest and click on Re-Calculate.

5.5 Resource Scheduling

This program comprises of two modules specializing in resource leveling and resource allocation for assisting the task of scheduling of resources.

5.5.1 Resource Leveling

This module helps in resource leveling. It is combination of both heuristic and simulation approach. In this module user can manually shift non-critical activities according to the float available and activity relationship. The program calculates resource for each time period and displays sum of squares of resource for each period. Lower the sum of squares of resource for each period, more leveled is resource profile. To start with, you can choose to run simulation by clicking on the Simulate tab. The simulation considerably reduces time for leveling. After running simulation user can manually shift activities to get most suitable/optimal result. The resource leveling module window is shown in Figure 5.9. The program is able to make calculations based on precedence constraints and resource availability constraints as specified in the preceding modules.

Fig 5.9

5.5.2 Resource allocation

This module provides assistance in allocation of resources for a project, making an allowance for a constraint on number of resources. The objective is to create the most efficient schedule possible that minimizes the project duration and maximizes the utilization of limited resources available. The module provides a choice of priority rules that assign priority rankings to the project activities based on heuristic techniques obtained from the critical path calculations.

Figure 5.10

Figure 5.10 shows the main window for selection of priority rules for resource allocation module.