Critical Chain Project Management in an Excel
Sometimes (often in the beginning of an CCPM implementation) we need a plan and some execution management to get the something done. That is very usual - but we are TOC-guys and we know about buffers and buffer management. So there was a huge need to have a small critical chain tool at hand that can be used everywhere easily - and that means without installing something, without database and then you are at Excel.
But don't underestimate the "CCPM in an Excel" it has everything you need:
- like MS-Project and all others - there ist a list of workpackages, summary, milestones and dependencies and time estimations
- it can determin the end date and backwards the latest possible start of all feeding chains
- everything is shown in a gantt-chart
- and of course it can "compress" the existing plan, so that some buffer is generated - full blown CCPM
- but that's not all - it has also execution functionality. So it's possible to set work packages "in progress" or "on finished"-status. And for in progress tasks you can give an estimation for the remaining duration (all in working days)
- out of this the current plan is calculated and also shown as shadow in the gantt-chart
- this is all used to calculate the buffer start and generate a classic CCPM fever chart
- everything is calculated based on a calendar - so you can exclude non working days
- and there are also functionalities like Contractual Milestones and Feeding Buffer - but you don't have to use this - it's often a sign that the organization is still not in flow
So have fun with watching the tutorials ...
... by the way - if you've watched the first 3 parts of the turial the you know everything important about CCPM!
And if you want to use the "CCPM in an Excel" - you can get it for free - it's under a Creative Commons License:
