When developing PRO/LX, the goal was to create something that is as simple as possible, yet still provides useful support for project management. Most project management (PM) software packages are large and complicated and support complex algorithms for critical path computations, resource leveling etc. When using those packages, there is always a lot of new topics to learn, many parameters to be set and many hours to be spent to find out how to work around the problem that the program wants to move certain activities to places around where it should not.

So all this complexity was reduced to a minimum in PRO/LX. I believe you can do with it at least what you can do with the "big guys" (except producing colorful printouts) but with much less effort. I don't mean you can do the same operations, but you can get to the same result.

QUICK START AND TRY

• Create a directory and put all stuff from PRO.ZIP into it
• Edit PRO.CFG and make sure the file names (File= lines) point to the files in that directory
• Start the program as "PRO TEST" or "PRO TEST1"
• Play around

• a task name
• a planned start date
• an estimated effort to complete the task
• what resources it needs
• on what other tasks it depends on
• optionally: buffers (see further down for an explanation)

While tracking a task, the following parameters are needed in addition to the above:

• an updated task start date
• an updated estimated task effort
• a "task is completed" state

That's all! You set up those parameters and PRO/LX detects potential problems, helping you to move the tasks to a place so that the whole project plan works, tracks project progress and suggests what to do when potential problems can be foreseen.

In order to ensure the project plan works out, PRO/LX has adopted some strategies from "Critical Chain Project Management" (CCPM). See the end of this text for some references about CCPM.

Of course the simplicity of PRO/LX also leads to some constraints. These constraints and the basic assumptions that underlie the software (mostly taken from CCPM) are listed below:

• A project consists of a collection of resources and a number of tasks that have to be performed according to a certain schedule.
• Project planning is the activity that identifies those resources and tasks and creates a schedule so that the project can be performed.
• A task is an activity that has a start time and an estimated effort.
• A resource is either a person involved in a set of tasks or any "thing" (e.g. a truck or a workstation) that is required for a set of tasks.
• PRO/LX assumes that 100% of a resource is used for the whole duration of a task. If a task needs a resource only for a certain time, the task should be split. Resources are not supposed to be split among several tasks for the duration of a task (multi-tasking).
• If there are several items of a resource, they are considered different resources (workstation A, workstation B etc.). They must be handled separately in PRO/LX.
• PRO/LX is based on days. No fractions of days can be entered. If a task requires less than one day (but is not just some "event"), consider if the used granularity is not too fine.
• Only start times of tasks are considered important (and their estimated effort), not end times as end times tend to provoke Parkinson's law (work expands to fill - and often exceed - the time allowed. "Buffer management" is used to make sure the project completes in time - the project has to complete in time, not the individual tasks!
• Time buffers are inserted
  • at the end of the project
  • at the end of a task if a different task depends on its completion and there is "slack", i.e. the task is not on the critical chain
• PRO/LX considers a buffer to belong to a certain task. A buffer can be placed at the beginning or the end of a task.
• Progress management can be done by looking at those buffers:
  • if updated task effort estimates extend into the second third of a buffer, actions should be planned
  • if it extends into the last third, those actions need to be taken
• There is no support for "milestones". There should not be internal milestones (except the project end) to prevent Parkinson's law. If several milestones are required towards the "outside" of the project, the project is best split into smaller projects, each with a "milestone" at its end.

In order to set up a project, the following steps need to be done:

1. identify the tasks and resources
2. for each task, enter the following:
   • name
   • estimated time for task completion in days: 50% chance of completion - this means WITHOUT any safety time inserted)
   • required resources. This is probably the most difficult item to do because we are used to include lots of safety in our estimates and provide a value for a 80%-95% estimate.
   • which other tasks must be completed before this task can start
3. sort the task so that there is an approximate order (timewise)
4. press F6 (Check) and look at what PRO/LX finds out
5. if PRO/LX has no problems to report, we are done and have a working project schedule
6. if not, move tasks according to the findings of PRO/LX and go back to step (4)

PRO/LX can report the following problems:

• A task depends on the completion of a different task but is scheduled so that it should start before the other task is completed. The solution is to move the depending task to a later date.
• A task requires a resource that is used in a different task at the same time. This can be solved by moving the task. Note: using a resource filter displays all tasks in which a resource is involved and thus makes this activity simpler
• A buffer should be inserted. PRO/LX suggests where buffers should be inserted and how long they should be.
• A task could start earlier than the current planned starting day. Move the task back if you want.
• The critical chain is not contiguous. There must be a task that is on the critical chain that could start earlier or there is a missing dependency (check dependencies that are based on resources!).
• A task depends on a task A and a task B where task B already depends on A (transitive dependency). This creates problems. Thus such dependencies should be removed.
• A buffer is considered too small. Most often, this requires that you manually move back a whole branch of tasks so that a bigger buffer can be added.

While the project is running, periodically (e.g. daily or weekly) do the following:

1. If not yet done, update the start dates
2. Get new estimates for the needed effort for all tasks in progress
3. Update the estimated effort for all those tasks (press "u" while task is highlighted)
4. If tasks are completed already, mark them as complete (press "!" while task is highlighted)
5. Press F8 (Track). PRO/LX will remind you of any missing or obsolete estimates and recommend actions.

PRO/LX can report the following situations:

• A task that should have started has not yet a start date
• A task that should have started has no or not an updated effort estimation
• A tasks is endangering a buffer (different kinds of buffers)
• A task could be started earlier than planned because tasks it depends on are completed earlier than planned
• An updated start date was too optimistic and needs to be moved again

Most of the display should be self-explanatory. Worthwhile mentioning are the different types of bars used in the graph though:

   Empty rectangle:       task, not yet done
   Empty bold rectangle:  task on critical chain, not yet done
   Filled rectangle:      task, completed
   Grey rectangle:        buffer
   Horizontal line:       updated start date and estimated effort

The following key strokes are recognised by PRO/LX. Most of those functions are also available through the menus (which also list the hot keys).

   F1          display rudimentary online help
   SF1         display program version, memory etc.
   DOWN        move to next task
   UP          move to previous task
   PGDN        move down a screenful of tasks
   PGUP        move up a screenful of tasks
   HOME        move to first task in list
   END         move to last task in list
   F2          add a new task (starting today, effort of 5 days)
   F3          move task up in list
   F4          move task down in list
   F6          check if schedule contains problems and determine
               tasks on critical chain
   F8          track project progress
   RIGHT       increase start day of task
   LEFT        decrease start day of task
   Ctrl-LEFT   display earlier dates (scroll horizontally)
   Ctrl-RIGHT  display later dates (scroll horizontally)
   DEL         delete highlighted task
   Ctrl-P      print schedule to file
   e           set estimated effort of highlighted task (planning)
   u           update effort estimation for highlighted task (tracking)
   B           set buffer before highlighted task
   b           set buffer after highlighted task
   n           change name of highlighted task
   r           change resources required for highlighted task
   d           change dependencies for highlighted task
   y           set the width of a day for the schedule display
   h           show "today marker" at a day other than today
   Ctrl-s      set project beginning to given date
   space       toggle "done" state of task
   ?           display state and timing information for the highlighted task
   ENTER       display task details in PIM format
   ALT-Q       terminate program
   / or MENU   display menu
   MENU I      set resource filter

PRO.CFG FILE

Lots of options can be set in the configuration file PRO.CFG. The file consists of several sections.

[Setup] Section

   Font=           sets the font to be used: 1=big 2=medium 3=small 4=tiny
                   name=HFN font. Examples:
                   Font=3
                   Font=C:\FONTS\LUHS15.HFN
   NameWidth=      sets the width of the task name area in pixels
   ResWidth=       sets the width of the resource name area in pixels
   DaySize=        sets the width of one day in pixels
   DateDeli=       determines which characters are accepted as delimiters
                   in dates. This setting should match with the same
                   setting in PIM.CFG and PE.CFG
   IsoDate=        if not 0, all dates are displayed in ISO format, i.e.
                   YYYY-MM-DD. This should also be set the same as in
                   PIM.CFG and PE.CFG.
   BufferSize=     determines the default buffer size. The given value is
                   in percent of the task or project length. For example if
                   a value of 50 is given, a buffer is allocated so that it
                   is about half of the duration of the task (or project)
   PrintNameWidth= sets the width of the task name area in characters when
                   printing
   PrintResWidth=  sets the width of the resource name area in characters
                   when printing
   PrintDaySize=   sets the number of days that should be represented by
                   one character when printing
   CriticalPrio=   if set, tasks on the critical chain are saved with the
                   given priority (e.g. CriticalPrio=a).
   DayChar=        specifies the character to be used for "day" in CDF
                   output. Default is "d" (e.g. "13d" for 13 days).
   Delimiter=      specifies the delimiter used for CDF output. Default
                   is ",".
   WithBuffers=    determines if the durations in CDF output include the
                   buffer durations (WithBuffers=1). Default is: no.     

[NoWork] Section

Each line in this section specifies a day which is not a working day. This can be specified by providing a date or a weekday. Week days are given as:

   0=Mon 1=Tue 2=Wed...6=Sun

   5=            (Saturday)
   6=            (Sunday)
   1999-JUL-04   (Holiday)

The remaining sections determine specific projects. If a section is named, for example, [BuildHouse] and PRO/LX is started with

   PRO BuildHouse

Everything is set up according to the data in this section. Each section must at least contain one line that specifies the PIM file belonging to the project. Example:

   File=C:\PRO\DATA\BUILDHS.PIM

Apart from that entry, you can specify any of the entries that may appear in the [Setup] section. They will override the values in [Setup].

If for that project, the dates in [NoWork] do not apply, you may set up an alternative [NoWork] section and name it, for example, [MyNoWork]. You can then tell PRO/LX that this is the section it should use by defining

   NoWork=MyNoWork

in the project section.

THE PIM FILE FORMAT

The following format is used to save information about a task:

   +( 12-NOV-1999          planned start date
   +t Task4                task name
   +e 2                    estimated task effort
   +s 14-NOV-1999          updated start date
   +u 4                    updated task effort
   +B 2                    size of buffer before task
   +b 8                    size of buffer after task
   +c GARZ                 resource needed for task
   +< Task1                task that needs to be completed before 
                           this one
   +) 

   +. 16-NOV-1999          date on which task was completed
   +! Task4 #12-NOV-1999   completion "mark" for given task

TIPS & TRICKS

*** How to separate projects within PIM/PE

Add a line such as

   +C Project1

to the beginning of a project file (but after the time stamp). This will set category "Project1" for the whole file and you can use a filter for that category in PIM.

CCPM LITERATURE AND LINKS

Larry P. Leach: Critical Chain Project Management
http://www.srv.net/~lleach/
http://advanced-projects.com

Francis S. "Frank" Patrick: Critical Chain Scheduling and Buffer Management
http://www.focusedperformance.com/articles/CCPM.htm
Very good intro to CCPM

Ed D. Walker II: An introduction to Critical Chain Project Management
http://www2.gasou.edu./facstaff/edwalker/ccpm.PDF

Chesapeake Consulting http://www.chesapeak.com
You can sign up to receive a paper on CCPM which is worth reading

The Product Development Institute - For Speed! TOC CCPM -
http://www.pdinstitute.com/

ProChain Solutions Home -- Critical Chain Project Management Solutions -
http://www.prochain.com

Fran Stone Enterprises - TOC Jonah's Jonah -
http://members.aol.com/FStoneEnt/index.html

Eliyahu Goldratt The Goal Crazy About Constraints! -
http://www.rogo.com/cac/index.html

Dr Holt TOC Power Point Presentations -
http://www.vancouver.wsu.edu/fac/holt/em526/ppt.htm

Constraints Management SIG--Theory of Constraints -
http://www.apics.org/sigs/CM/TOC.htm

Constraint Accounting Measurements John Caspari -
http://members.aol.com/caspari/

CIRAS - Theory of Constraints -
http://www.ciras.iastate.edu/toc/index.html

Bill Dettmer from Goal Systems International -
http://www.goalsys.com/

AMC Homepage TOC consulting -
http://www.wvamc.com/