Project Management System for Integrated Project Schedules
A simulation system and technique for simulating a project is described. The simulation system includes a work detail database having stored therein a plurality of attributes for the project, and a schedule generator coupled to receive information from the work detail database and having a push processor and a pull processor coupled thereto. The push and pull processors utilize different techniques/methodologies to establish dates and activities in a schedule produced by the schedule generator.
1 . A system for planning a project, the system comprising:
a work detail database having stored therein one or more attributes for the project;
a schedule generator coupled to receive information from said work detail database and to generate schedules;
a pull processor coupled to provide to said schedule generator at least one of the one or more precedence constraints together with all attributes of those constraints; and
a push processor coupled to exchange data with said schedule generator, said push processor including a simulation engine for generating a data flow model comprised of a plurality of precedence actors and a plurality of work detail actors and for simulating a series of activities and resources and for generating a project plan including a schedule of all activities.
2 . The system of claim 1 wherein said work detail database has a plurality of columns with each of the columns having a user-defined meaning.
3 . The system of claim 1 wherein said work detail database comprises one or more work detail tables with each of the one or more work detail tables having a first plurality of user-defined number of columns with each of the columns having a user-defined meaning.
4 . The system of claim 1 wherein said pull processor performs an inference.
5 . In a processor, a method of simulating a project comprising:
storing in a storage device, a work details table having a user-determined number of columns with each of the columns having a user-defined meaning;
defining precedence constraints in a precedence graph;
populating the work details table with data; and
generating a schedule for the project via a simulation engine and a pull processor.
6 . The method of claim 5 wherein the precedence constraints refer to attributes of the work details.
7 . The method of claim 5 wherein defining precedences comprises defining for each node a row or group of zero or more rows in the work details table to which the node refers.
8 . The method of claim 5 further comprising storing, in the storage device, a resource limits table having a user-determined set of resource limits
9 . The system of claim 5 wherein populating the work details table with data comprises populating the work details table with data from a customer and/or populating the work details table with data from an expert.
10 . The method of claim 5 wherein storing work details table in a storage device comprises storing a plurality of work details tables in a database.
11 . The method of claim 5 wherein simulating the project via a simulation engine comprises:
generating a model for the project;
setting a simulation time to a date which defines a start date;
running a simulation and advancing the simulation time wherein the advanced simulation time applies to the entire model; and
maintaining a list of events in chronological order, each of which refers to a simulated time and an actor.
12 . The method of claim 11 wherein generating a model for the project comprises building the model with a plurality of nodes connected via directed arcs to provide a project specific data flow graph.
13 . The method of claim 12 wherein at least one of the plurality of nodes corresponds to a work detail actor and at least one of the plurality of nodes corresponds to a precedence actor.
14 . The method of claim 12 wherein the plurality of nodes is implemented as a plurality of software objects.
15 . The method of claim 13 wherein a calendar is associated with each work detail.
16 . The method of claim 5 further comprising editing the precedence graph.
17 . The method of claim 16 further comprising placing BeginSim and EndSim precedence nodes in the precedence graph
18 . The method of claim 17 wherein the BeginSim and EndSim precedence nodes behave like push-scheduled milestone dates which automatically receive their date value from a first simulated allocation activity and a last simulated allocation activity, respectively.
19 . The method of claim 17 wherein pull-scheduled nodes can be related to precede either a beginning of a simulation or an end or a simulation.
20 . The method of claim 16 where attributes of precedence constraints can be edited.
21 . A system for planning a project, the system comprising:
a work detail database having stored therein one or more attributes for the project;
a schedule generator coupled to receive information from said work detail database and to generate schedules; and
a push processor coupled to exchange data with said schedule generator, said push processor including a simulation engine for dynamically generating a data flow model comprised of a plurality of precedence actors and a plurality of work detail actors and for simulating a series of activities and resources and for generating a project plan including a schedule of all activities.
22 . The system of claim 21 further comprising a pull processor coupled to provide to said schedule generator attributes which are used to determine at least one of the one or more precedence constraints.
23 . The system of claim 22 wherein an attribute of the precedence constraint is whether it is schedule by push or pull.
24 . The system of claim 23 further comprising a precedence editor for editing attributes of precedence constraints.
25 . The system of claim 22 wherein said pull processor performs an inference.
26 . The system of claim 21 wherein said work detail database comprises a configurable plurality of attributes.
27 . The system of claim 21 further comprising one or more of:
a crew composition table;
a precedence table; and
a resource limits table.
28 . The system of claim 21 wherein said work detail database comprises one or more work detail tables with each of the one or more work detail tables having a plurality of columns with each of the columns having a user-defined meaning.
29 . The system of claim 28 wherein the plurality columns corresponds to a user-defined number of columns.