INSTRUCTION: Read the article below and answer the questions that follow.

ARTICLE: A Study on the Applications of Critical Chain Management in the Projects of Const ruction Indust ry

The plannin g$,$ organisation, an d administration of a projec t$\text{'}$s resour c es are the pr imar y f oc us es of projec t mana gement.

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 ommitment s$.$ Bef ore begin ning a project, it is c ustomar y in the major ity 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$)$ resour c 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 eholder s$.$ Ev idenc e rev eals that there is a signif ic ant propor tion of

project ma nageme nt f ailure acros s all sec tor s$,$ 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 number of studies, just $44\%$ of projec ts are regu lar ly

finished on time, projects ty pic ally c onc lude at $222\%$ of the per iod fir st anticipated, $189\%$ of the money or iginally budgeted,

$70\%$ of projec ts f all shor t 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 cr itic al c hain approac h$.$

The Cr itic 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 tor s$,$ inc luding c o n s truc ti o n$.$ On the other hand, as a result of the more c ompetitiv e nature of the busi nes s

env ironment, more str ingent time limitations are bec oming 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 Cr itic 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

$($TOC$).$ 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 Cr itic al Chain Project Management $($CCPM$)$ methodology operates on the presumption that

projects are plagued by unc er tainty, that task times are ex aggerated in an eff or t 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 PM address es this issue by ensur ing that

suff ic ient buff er man ageme nt is in plac e$.$ Th e CC PM frame wor k is adaptable eno ugh to wor k 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 Cr itic al Chain Management in the

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

QUESTION $1(15$ Marks$)$

C r itic ally disc us s w hat is me ant by G oldr att$$s c ritic al c hain as r ef err ed to in the ar tic 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.

QUESTION $2(15$ Marks$)$

R ationalise w hy Cr itic al C hain Pr oject Management recommends the use of buffer s 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 networ k diagram.