W11_Stella_
Scheduling
a Friend’s Wedding applying the best Practices
1.Problem
Definition and Recognition
A friend of mine is planning for her wedding and she is
proposing to have her wedding not later than four months from now in a very simple
but classical way. She decided to contract the project of planning and executing
the wedding to a well renowned wedding planner in Lagos at a fixed amount.
She was not certified with the wedding plan he gave to
her, she could not read meaning into it . All she needed was a well structured
plan and how long it will take to implement the plan. We put heads together and
decided to plan and schedule the wedding ourselves and then give out our plan
to a contractor to execute based on our schedule.
The approach we followed was the best practice in
Planning and scheduling, capturing all activities, sequencing, assigning
resources, assigning or estimating duration etc.
2.Feasible
Alternatives
Her Initial plans were
i.
Sublet the
contract to a wedding planner (incomprehensive list)
ii.
The spouses planning the wedding on their own intelligence(canceled)
iii.
Scheduling applying
best practices
3. Develop the outcomes for each
alternative
i.Sublet
the contract to a wedding Planner
The wedding planner is one of the renowned planners we
have in Lagos, and due to his tight schedule, he gave her an eight month
wedding schedule listed below.
7-8 months
Announce engagement to family and friends
Discuss “who is paying for what”
Set your wedding budget
Consider purchasing wedding insurance (before
laying down non-refundable deposits)
Research vendors for ideas, services and pricing
Create a wedding website
Choose your wedding attendants
Begin compiling guest list
Mail Save the Dates (6-12 months ahead of
Wedding date)
Research wedding dress and veil styles
Research and decide on wedding planner
6-7 months
Choose bridal party attire
Book vendors
Purchase wedding dress
Establish a fitness routine
5-6
months
Research and order Invitations
Begin planning wedding programs
Begin planning honeymoon
Register at three national retailers
Choose cake style and baker (schedule tastings)
Reserve any rental equipment
Research and book transportation to and from
venues
Mail Save the Dates (if you haven’t already)
Order wedding bands
Research three different nearby hotels at different
price points for OOT guests
4-5 months
Choose and order flowers for wedding party,
venues, cake, and attendants.
Make honeymoon reservations
Research wedding day hairstyle
Choose groomsmen attire
Finalize Favors and Reception Items
Plan welcome baskets for OOT guests
Make and book rehearsal dinner plans
3 months
Plan ceremony and reception seating arrangements
Experiment with hair and veil with stylist
Purchase guestbook (or DIY), toasting flutes,
serving pieces, flower basket and ring-bearer pillow
2 months
Begin writing vows
Mail Invitations
Book spa and beauty treatments for you and your
wedding party
Review and confirm ceremony details with officiate
Purchase gifts for attendants
First dress fitting
2 months
Submit wedding announcement
to newspaper
Finalize transportation
arrangements
Finalize seating
arrangements
Finalize playlists with musicians
Create, copy, and send wedding day schedules to
vendors, wedding party, parents and officiate
Create contact info sheet for your loved ones while
you’re on honeymoon
Confirm reservations for OOT guests
Confirm that wedding party and parents have their
fittings and attire complete
1 month
Call vendors and confirm dates, times, and
locations
Final dress fitting
Confirm honeymoon reservations
Pick up wedding rings
Pack for honeymoon
Write Thank You notes as gifts are received
Pick up your marriage license and order 2-3 extra
copies
Order wedding programs
2 weeks
Give final count to caterer
Update registries
Begin breaking in wedding shoes
Make necessary arrangements for when on
honeymoon: pets, mail...
Final haircut and color
Get your playlists to DJ/Musicians
Delegate wedding day duties: gift table, guestbook attendant, etc.
Delegate someone to return tuxes and other rental
items
Send directions to wedding day transportation
drivers
1 week
Prepare final payments to vendors
Lay out wedding clothes to make sure you have everything
Prepare wedding day emergency kit
Give your readers their scripts
Spa treatments
Give photographer and videographer request(s) for shots and
moments you want captured
The Day Before
Mani/Pedi
Massage
Wedding Rehearsal
Rehearsal dinner
Get to bed at a decent hour!
Day of the Wedding
Eat a good breakfast!
Mail wedding announcements to extended friends,
family, and colleagues (optional)
Allow yourself plenty of time to get ready
Congratulations! ENJOY the Day!
After the Honeymoon
Send Thank You Cards as
soon as possible
iii.Scheduling applying best practices
1st is to creat the WBS in order to capture all the activities using wbs chart pro
The plan using microsoft project
The Schedule using Microsoft project (finish to start)
The schedule start date and end dates are 17th of march and 16th of May repectively which is within the client's demand.
.The Network diagrams below diplayed the sequence of the activities and was demostrated using precedence diagram. (finish to start)
Applying “Visual Brainstorming”
ideas to compare the two alternatives.
|
Wedding planner
|
Applying
the best practices
|
|
His list is not comprehensive
|
This application is very comprehensive
|
|
The durations are not clearly detailed
|
The durations are clearly detailed and interrelated
|
|
A lot of items need to be eliminated
|
The items are already eliminated
|
|
All activities are captured
|
All activities required are captured
|
|
The period is far beyond the bride’s
timing
|
The period is within the bride’s schedule
|
|
Cannot track the progress of the wedding
perfectly
|
The progress is tracked and monitored
|
|
Difficult to identify the milestone
|
The milestones are clearly indentified
|
|
No critical path is indicated
|
The critical paths are indentified
|
From the Visual brainstorming above we decided to make
use of the planning done using Microsoft project.
4. Selection of Criteria
The target of the
client is to achieve her simple wedding within three or four months, this was
achieved by the use of planning software and adhering to the best practices;it
gave her a completion date far beyond the duration proposed by the planner. In
addition she could c
The scheduling
software helps you plan, see and make adjustment where necessary.
5. Analysis and comparison of the alternatives
Application of the best
practices in scheduling is really a perfect tool for planning and scheduling because
it gives you a whole lot of information in one package.
You can plan, schedule,
monitor, control, and track the event on daily basis with it.
This best practice is far
more better than a wedding planner sending a list of items and then ticks on
the item each time he completes the activity.
6. Select the preferred alternative
From the analysis above the best
alternative in this case was to make use of the planning software ,plan for the
wedding yourself and then contract the
plan to a wedding planner to follow your schedule.
7. Performance Monitoring & Post Evaluation of Result
The
scheduling tool is a good performance and monitoring tool because it tracks
each item in the system and helps one to control and take full charge of a
project.
I
equally recommend wedding planners to adopt the use of planning and scheduling software,
and then applying best practices with them will give them an edge in the
society as a well and good wedding planner.
8. References
i. Scott A, PE.,(2010) .Chapter 13
Scheduling(pp13.1 – 13.17) Skill
&Knowledge of Cost Engineering (5th
Edition).Morgantown ,USA.
ii.
Humphreys G.C. (2011)Chapter 6 What is scheduling ? Schedule Types Project
Management Using Earned Value (2nd Edition) Humphreys & Associates,
Orange, CA USA.
v.Brassard, M. & Ritter, D.
(2010).Brainstorming (pp. 23 -25). The
Memory Jogger 2: Tools for Continuous Improvement and Effective Planning (2nd
edition). US: Goal/QPC
