A numerical analysis method for computing schedule and resource forecasting for industrial projects

The derivation of schedule curves and resource histograms from manhours is traditionally carried out on spreadsheet sytems; this method proves tedious and becomes complex during the performance of 'what-if' analysis. Consequently, a new method has been developed to derive schedule curves and resource histograms from manhours and to improve the efficiency of the computations and the accuracy of the results. The new method is based on numerical analysis techniques, tested with historical data from industrial projects and used in the oil and petrochemical industry. Results obtained using the new method correlate closely to results calculated by a traditional spreadsheet method. The new method proves to be valuable to project management at the beginning of projects where the availability of scheduling data is limited and during the execution of projects to perform 'what-if' analyses.