Sequencing and Scheduling as the Planning and Control Processes
The work of the enterprise must be founded on conscious and concrete goals. On this basis, management must plan its operations and define the direction and primary objectives. When an operation controls a manager, the enterprise’s ultimate goal is blurred into numerous insignificant ones. Therefore, the need to develop a plan, which in turn requires the improvement of existing control methods, arises.
Properly systematized control over the execution of planned tasks makes it possible to mobilize the necessary resources in advance to ensure the smooth operation of the enterprise. However, it is necessary to comprehend that planning and control are multistage and multielement concepts. One of their most essential components is loading, sequencing, and scheduling. Loading, sequencing, and scheduling have a common goal of providing efficient and smooth operation; simultaneously, their essence differs because all processes aim to solve distinct concerns.
The Essence of Loading
Loading is the first integral process of control and planning. Its purpose is to allocate tasks to devices or work hubs, regardless of the order in which they will be executed. It indicates that the resource manager or supervisor assigns labor and resources, directing who works on what and to what extent. One of the elements of resource planning is the scheduler, in which the list of resources and the available projects for each resource is displayed (Komaki et al., 2019). Viewing the actual workload of employees supports planning; for example, the color indication shows the workload for the period, enabling the manager to find the bottlenecks visually.
Loading organically complements workload tracking by clients and projects. Time is an indispensable loading element because it reduces the time available for ‘valuable’ operating time. Equally noteworthy are capabilities because, during the procedure, it must be decided whether to limit or extend the limits (Huang et al., 2020). Thus, loading is an essential planning element, influencing the distribution of tasks.
Defining the Sequence of Operations
The definition of sequencing is no less critical in the control and planning system. Its purpose is to define and document the relationships between the operations of a project. This process facilitates prioritizing tasks due to physical characteristics or the customer’s priority (Komaki et al., 2019). The key benefit of this process is that it defines a logical sequence of work to achieve the most excellent efficiency, considering all the constraints.
Mandatory and discretionary dependencies are the main components of the process. Mandatory dependencies are strict logic determined either by the requirements arising from the contract with the customer, the technology used in the project, or the requirements of internal or external regulating documents (Barik et al., 2022). Discretionary dependencies are soft logic in which the sequence of execution of certain operations is set at the discretion of the project manager or team. Preferred dependencies between project operations can be selected based on analysis of best practices, lessons learned, and historical information regarding projects from a particular subject area.
In determining the sequence of actions, it is necessary to distinguish between tasks that depend on the preceding events and assignments that rely on the availability of the necessary personnel. It will influence what operation will be solved first, short or long. Moreover, it is significant to consider the deadline and costs. An example of prioritizing operations may be the operation of the European budget airline Ryanair, for which efficiency is an operational priority (Huang et al., 2020). Thus, achieving efficiency is more meaningful to the company than customer support. The people working at Ryanair know what a priority is and how to allocate their time. Sequencing is inextricably linked to scheduling, which is a likewise noteworthy process.
Scheduling as the Process of Planning
Scheduling is the following process in the control and planning system. It analyzes the activities’ sequences, duration, resource requirements, and constraints to create a schedule model for project execution monitoring and control (Nani and Safitri, 2021). A vital benefit of this process is that it allows one to create a schedule model that organizes each operation’s completion dates. There are numerous approaches to scheduling, such as focusing on finishing an operation on time or starting it as soon as it arrives on the job (Nani and Safitri, 2021). When operations, durations, and resources are entered into the scheduling tool, a schedule with completion dates for project activities is generated.
The project schedule enables the most efficient use of resources, drawing them on the days when they are required and releasing them when they are no longer required. An example would be Gantt charts illustrating how planned work is performed over time (Ivanov et al., 2021). Financially, a corporation can manage its payments through project scheduling, avoiding complications such as cash shortfalls. The timetable is revised and kept realistic throughout the project as work proceeds, the project management plan evolves, and the nature of risk events becomes clear.
Similarities and Differences
It should be noted that all of the processes above share a common global goal in the first place. Loading, sequencing, and scheduling help ensure that operations run smoothly and that workers understand their responsibilities. They significantly facilitate the control process, allowing one to organize operations and identify possible weaknesses (Ivanov et al., 2021). However, there are significant differences based on the task of the process itself. Loading determines the distribution of tasks, thereby organizing them and directing the resources while ignoring the sequence. If no specific order is defined, the operator will likely process the job that comes first.
Sequencing, however, is responsible for the immediate order of tasks in the chain. It is accountable for assigning a different status to each task from the overall pool of jobs, which depends on the complexity and urgency of the particular job. Prioritization helps the team save time and increase productivity and efficiency. However, it is necessary to distinguish between sequencing and scheduling since, in addition to sequencing, it includes determining the start and end time of the process (Nani and Safitri, 2021). Despite the difference in the end goals of each process, they all share a global goal, and each process must be applied in conjunction with the other.
Impact of IT Technology on the Loading, Sequencing, and Scheduling
Every planning and control in the enterprise aims to achieve organizational goals effectively. It is accomplished by applying modern management methods and information technology to achieve specific results regarding composition and scope of work, cost, time, and quality (Ivanov et al., 2021). Modern IT technologies greatly simplify the process of loading, sequencing, and scheduling.
Computer software facilitates all processes because it is a tool for recording, calculating, analyzing, and preparing presentations to help communicate project details. The benefits of using project management software are that it simplifies calculations and makes them more reliable. Moreover, IT technologies use different scenarios, which helps one to find the most satisfactory plan for implementing a process.
Furthermore, it enables the detection of inconsistencies and problems, monitoring the current state to clarify process elements and foreseeing consequences if external circumstances change after the start of the project. Visualization is equally critical; for example, with the help of Agile or Gantt charts, it is much more manageable to systematize operations and prioritize (Barik et al., 2022). The primary advantage of project management information systems is the ability to systematically automate most project management processes throughout the whole life cycle. This functionality lets the work on large information flows and structures it by priority.
Personal Application of the Processes
The manager must use loading, sequencing, and scheduling processes to achieve the necessary goals and for all tasks to be effectively allocated and completed on time. I correspondingly successfully implemented them as a team leader in my daily work. Loading is worth mentioning because I was responsible for allocating tasks before sequences. First, I defined the work scope and available resources and then distributed the tasks between the team and the machines. Then, the sequencing process followed, which received the most attention. The client’s deadline and priority were determined by determining which task had priority.
However, consistency also had to be applied when selecting suppliers. For example, “Since Mauds wanted to find a supplier with stable and reliable sales, the ABC/XYZ analysis of the different suppliers led us to conclude that CX, because X is the more stable variety.” In this situation, the method of sequential prioritization was applied, resulting in the final choice. Furthermore, as the team leader, I made a schedule with the beginning and end dates of the operations. This way, the work was structured, and it was easy to control the process and plan activities.
Reference List
Barik, A. K., Jaiswal, S., & Das, D. C. (2022). ‘Recent trends and development in hybrid microgrid: a review on energy resource planning and control’, International Journal of Sustainable Energy, 41(4), pp. 308-322. Web.
Huang, J. P., Pan, Q. K., & Gao, L. (2020). ‘An effective iterated greedy method for the distributed permutation flowshop scheduling problem with sequence-dependent setup times’, Swarm and Evolutionary Computation, 59. Web.
Ivanov, D., Sokolov, B., Chen, W., Dolgui, A., Werner, F., & Potryasaev, S. (2021). ‘A control approach to scheduling flexibly configurable jobs with dynamic structural-logical constraints’, Transactions, 53(1), pp. 21-38. Web.
Komaki, G. M., Sheikh, S., & Malakooti, B. (2019). ‘Flow shop scheduling problems with assembly operations: a review and new trends’, International Journal of Production Research, 57(10), 2926-2955. Web.
Nani, D. A., and Safitri, V. A. D. (2021). ‘Exploring the relationship between formal management control systems, organisational performance and innovation: The role of leadership characteristics’, Asian Journal of Business and Accounting, 14(1), pp. 207-224. Web.