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 . 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.
2 . The method of claim 1 wherein the precedence constraints refer to attributes of the work details.
3 . The method of claim 1 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.
4 . The method of claim 1 further comprising storing, in the storage device, a resource limits table having a user-determined set of resource limits
5 . The method of claim 1 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.
6 . The method of claim 1 wherein storing work details table in a storage device comprises storing a plurality of work details tables in a database.
7 . The method of claim 1 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.
8 . The method of claim 7 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.
9 . The method of claim 8 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.
10 . The method of claim 8 wherein the plurality of nodes is implemented as a plurality of software objects.
11 . The method of claim 9 wherein a calendar is associated with each work detail.
12 . The method of claim 1 further comprising editing the precedence graph.
13 . The method of claim 12 further comprising placing BeginSim and EndSim precedence nodes in the precedence graph
14 . The method of claim 13 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.
15 . The method of claim 13 wherein pull-scheduled nodes can be related to precede either a beginning of a simulation or an end or a simulation.
16 . The method of claim 12 where attributes of precedence constraints can be edited.