INSTRUCTIO N: Read the article below and answer the questions that follow.

ARTICLE: A Study on the Applications of Critical Chain Management in the Projects of Construction Industry

The plannin g$,$ organisation, an d ad ministration of a projec t$\text{'}$s resourc es are the primary f oc us es of projec t mana ge ment.

This is done with the intention of ensuring the effectiv e acc omplishment of c ertain project goals and objectiv es$.$ It is about

making promises in the face of moderate to high levels of uncertainty, along with large degrees of complexity and

interdepe ndenc ie s$,$ and then stic k ing to thos e c om mitment s$.$ Bef ore begin ning a project, it is c usto mary in the majority of

settings devoted to projec t management to establish legally enforceable c ommitments with regard to three distinct aspects

of the projec t$.$ The se as pec ts include the project's $($i$)$ sc hedule or time, $($ii$)$ resourc es or budg et$,$ and $($iii$)$ sc ope, quality or

perf ormanc e goal s$.$ If any of thes e obligations are not met, it is possible that the whole projec t may be labelled a f ailure,

whic h will hav e sev ere reperc us sion s f or all of the stak eholders. Ev idenc e rev eals that there is a signif ic ant proportion of

project ma nage me nt f ailure acros s all sec tors, despite the f ac t that eac h sec tor has its f air numb er of projects that are

c ompleted suc c es sf ully eac h y ear. Ac c ording to the f indings of a num ber of studies, just $44\%$ of projec ts are regu larly

finished on time, projects ty pic ally c onc lude at $222\%$ of the period first anticipated, $189\%$ of the money originally budgeted,

$70\%$ of projec ts f all short of their projected sc ope, and $30\%$ of projec ts are terminated bef ore they are finished. All of this

laid the groundwork in the $1970$s for the creation of a sy stem of projec t management known as the critic al c hain approac h$.$

The Critic al Path Method $($C PM$)$ is a method of sc heduling that ha s be en u sed ex tensiv ely f or a v ery long time in a v a riety

of sec tors, inc luding c o n s truc ti o n$.$ O n the other hand, as a result of the more c o mpetitiv e nature of the busi nes s

env iron ment, more stringent time li mitations are bec o ming the indu stry standard. A s a direct c onseq uenc e of this $,$ an

increasing number of projects are falling behind sc hedule. Bec ause of this, a nov el approac h to project management k nown

as the Critic al Chain Projec t Management $($CCPM$)$ Tec hnique was finally dev eloped. The Critical Chain is a c hain of both

prec edenc e and resourc e$-$dependent ac tiv ities that Eliy ahu M$.$ Goldratt dev ised in $1997$ based on the Theory of Constraints

$($TO C$).$ It is the sequenc e of these jobs that prec ludes a project from being finished in a shorter amount of time prov ided that

there are limited resourc es$.$ The Critic al Chain Project Management $($CCPM$)$ methodology operates on the presumption that

projects are plagued by unc ertainty, that task times are ex aggerated in an eff ort to prev ent the negativ e impac ts of suc h

unc ertainty, but in practic e$,$ suc h ex tra saf ety time is squa ndered. The CC P M address es this issue by ensuring that

suff ic ient buff er man age me nt is in plac e$.$ Th e CC P M frame work is adaptable eno ugh to work in either a single $-$ or multiprojec t setting. By using CCPM$,$ the projec ts will be finished ahead of schedule while mak ing effectiv e use of the resources.

Nevertheless, the building sector does not yet make widespread use of it$.$

Source: Extrac ted from: Manik anta, A$.$ and Rafi, N$.2023.$ A Study on the Applications of Critic al Chain Management in the

Projec ts of Construc tion Industry. Wutan Huatan Jisuan Jishu, $19(7)$: $11-17.$

QUESTIO N $1(15$ Marks$)$

Critic ally disc us s what is me ant by G oldratt$$s c ritic al c hain as ref erred to in the artic le$,$ and how eff ectiv e it is in sc hed uling

resourc e constrained projects $.$ Present examples to illustrate points crafted in the disc uss ion.

QUESTIO N $2(15$ Marks$)$

Rationalise why Critic al Chain Project Management recommends the use of buffers and state eac h type of buffer$$s specific

purpos e$.$ Use an example to illustrate and explain the applic ation of buffers on a network diagra m