PERT refers to the Program Evaluation and Review Technique, a project management method originally developed in the 1950s by the U.S. Navy. A PERT chart is a diagram that reveals task, duration, and dependency information. Because of their ability to represent extensive detail, PERT charts continue to be popular today, particularly in manufacturing environments. With the PERT Chart template in Visio 2007, you can create the style of chart variously called a network, subproject, or logic diagram. Visio 2007 doesn’t add a time scale or provide any automated tools for grouping or marking critical path tasks. Instead, you use drag-and-drop PERT shapes and connectors to assemble a diagram, and then type in the details, as Figure 12-8 shows.
The PERT Chart template in Visio 2007 comes equipped with a deceptively small number of shapes, but you don’t need many to create complex diagrams. However, you might need time. Visio 2007 doesn’t include wizards or other tools for automating the chart assembly process. You must type all the duration and task information you want to manage into a PERT shape, which represents one node—that is, a task, event, or activity associated with a project. Visio 2007 offers two styles of PERT shape, which differ only in the information they display, as Figure 12-9 shows. Both are groups. To connect each node to its successor, you use connectors from the stencil or toolbar.
Typically, a PERT chart ends at a major review point, such as the end of the analysis stage or a funding review cycle. You can insert pages and then create additional PERT charts to represent the components of an entire project.
Follow these steps to create a PERT chart:
Inside Out: Formatting linesProject managers commonly indicate slack time between the end of one task and the start of another with a dotted line between tasks. Similarly, a thick line represents a critical path. To format lines in Visio 2007, select a connector line shape, and then click the Line Pattern or Line Weight tool on the Formatting toolbar. Or choose Format, Line. |