Overview

This chapter briefly describes how you can use SAS/OR software for managing your projects. This chapter is not meant to define all the concepts of project management; several textbooks on project management explain the basic steps involved in defining, planning, and managing projects (for example, Moder, Phillips, and Davis 1983). Briefly, a project is defined as any task comprising a set of smaller tasks that need to be performed, either sequentially or in parallel. Projects can be small and last only a few minutes (for instance, running a set of small computer programs), or they can be mammoth and run for several years (for example, the construction of the Channel Tunnel).

SAS/OR software has four procedures that can be used for planning, controlling, and monitoring projects: the CPM and PM procedures for scheduling project activities subject to precedence, time, and resource constraints; the GANTT procedure for displaying the computed schedule; and the NETDRAW procedure for displaying the activity network. These procedures integrate with the SAS System so that you can easily develop a customized project management system. The Projman application, a user-friendly graphical user interface included as part of SAS/OR software, is one such system.

This chapter gives a brief introduction to the CPM, GANTT, NETDRAW, and PM procedures and shows how you can use the SAS System for project management.

In addition to these four procedures and the Projman application, which are the major tools for the traditional functions associated with project management, SAS/OR software also contains a procedure for decision analysis, the DTREE procedure. Decision analysis is a tool that attempts to provide an analytic basis for management decisions under uncertainty. It can be used effectively as an integral part of project management methods. A brief introduction to PROC DTREE is provided in the section Decision Analysis.