Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM) is a relatively new method of scheduling. Whilst it has a number of advantages over traditional scheduling methods, it is still far from perfect. A literature review of the CCPM method, its shortcomings and suggestions for improvement is presented in this thesis. The review reveals that, in addition to other issues addressed, most researchers concentrate on the question of project and feeding buffer size. Issues concerning the resource buffer are ignored in the literature. This is a crucial gap in research, as resources are needed to perform tasks, and resource buffers protect the critical activities from the unavailability of resources. Although the original CCPM method treats resource buffers only as a notice or a ‘wake-up call’, the research in this thesis proposes to include resource buffers as time buffers with the assigned resources and cost. The research in this thesis provides a simulation methodology to answer the problem of resource buffer allocation and sizing. The simulation is performed on 3 projects, generated by RanGen software, each with the same characteristics of network order strength, resource strength and resource use. Three different buffer sizes and three different uncertainty levels are applied to the schedules. The analysis of simulation results demonstrates that no optimum resource buffer can be obtained for all projects in general. Each project, even with the same characteristics, behaves differently. Therefore the simulation methodology, developed and presented in the thesis, has to be applied to decide on the size of resource buffer in a specific project. The research outcomes demonstrate that resource buffers cannot be neglected and should be simulated using CCPM schedules, as they help to reduce the total project duration during execution. The decision whether to apply the resource buffer should also be based on financial analysis of the cost and benefits of inclusion.

無 / Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM) has merged in last few years as a novel approach for managing projects. While there were many previous researches studied CCPM concerning with single project management, but CCPM multi project management was hardly paid attention, especially capacity-constraint buffer sizing approach. However, there were some research papers which examined and illustrated CCPM under multi-project environment; those papers assumed all the subprojects were identical. Despite the fact that such situation is impractical. The purpose of this dissertation is to compare Cut and paste method (C&PM) with Root square error method (RSEM) for applying in project buffer, feeding buffer and capacity-constraint buffer sizing and to change some subproject parameters which make an impact on the project schedule for multi-project scheduling. Keywords: Critical chain project management, Multi Project Scheduling, Buffer Management, Capacity constraint buffer, Buffer sizing method.

This multiple-case-based dissertation contributes to the stream of literature on the organizational innovation process by examining Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM) as an innovation with the potential to address an important schedule planning and execution performance gap in DOD weapon system development programs. The contextually different Integrated Product Team case studies in DOD's F/A-22 fighter aircraft weapons system acquisition program are: manufacturing assembly, manufacturing process, test operations, and supplier product development. Rich descriptions of the case studies are developed by the author, a senior Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company systems engineer in a role that merged participant, observer, change agent and champion (POCAC). Analysis distinguishes between Program and Operational levels of organizational structure and focuses on the innovation process through use of the author-designed Casey Hybrid Innovation Process (CHIP) model based on Rogers' stages heuristic. Substantively, research demonstrates that in key areas of the F/A-22 program, proper application of the innovative Critical Chain Project Management process can generate and achieve development schedules sometimes substantially better than traditional approaches; improper application will lead to mixed results or rejection. The research contributes to knowledge in the field of organizational innovation by demonstrating use of the CHIP model in the huge, geographically dispersed and extremely complex organization of the largest DOD weapon system acquisition program of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. The research reflects Program leadership's important role in the top-down initiation and support of an innovation, even while choosing (by policy) not to force use at the Operational level. At the Operational level, details show that IPT implementations and results of the CCPM innovation vary. / Ph. D.

Traditional methods of project management are not appropriate for complex projects anymore. Since projects are becoming increasingly complex and uncertain, interaction between activities and resources is growing in ways not considered by these methods. Nowadays, managers need more agile project management methods that are able to recognize and deal with uncertainty and to produce the expected results. Lean project management, the most recent approach of lean methodology, appears as an alternative approach capable of dealing with complexity and uncertainty. The latest investigations in the field show that traditional methods are still adequate for simple projects, while lean methods are more appropriate for complex projects. This thesis aims to investigate the nature of lean project management and to examine project risk management processes so that managers can assess the complexity of projects before their beginning and decide which method to apply in order to manage them.

Project management, to which the thesis "Development of software support for CCPM method in MS Project" aims, is a very important part of everyday life for most present companies. The project management has gone through rapid development, through the second half of last century, during which many new techniques and methods, for planning and managing projects, were developed. One of these methods was critical chain project management method (CCPM), developed by E. M. Goldratt in the mid 80th of last century. At the end of the 20th century the market began to be flooded by software applications which supported project management, thanks to the boom of information and communication technologies. Because the CCPM method is still too young, there is only a very little amount of products aimed at this method. Author of the thesis took as its main objective the development of a software application that would serve to support the project management by CCPM method, and will work as an extension to an existing, widely used product, MS Project. To achieve this objective, few secondary objectives have to be met. The first is to characterize methods for project management with a focus on the critical chain project management method, including the description of the advantages and disadvantages of this method. These objectives will be achieved with the help of literature search, supplemented by knowledge gained by studying the issue at the college. Another secondary objective is to find, analyze and compare existing software used for project management support with CCPM method. For the primary analysis the author mainly uses information supplied by developers of these products, for the deeper analysis is used a model project that examines the behavior of the application in standard situations. For product comparison is made a group of criteria, which can also serve for potential readers as the basis for decision of the choice of suitable application for their needs. The main objective of the work, the development of the application, is based on the requirements set on the basis of information obtained from literature and on the results from testing of existing applications. This application is considered to be the greatest benefit of the thesis. In the end of the thesis the newly developed application is compared with existing products, by testing on a model project and by evaluating with a group of criteria established for evaluation of existing products.