Network Project Planning and Implementation
Bring your project from the initial conception and planning phases right through to realization with iPower Technologies’ market-leading professional services.
Your business needs the right kind of network to support its aims in the market. But, more than this, it needs to define the right kind of network and swiftly carry this freshly minted project through to realization and implementation.
iPower Technologies apply skill, expertise, and a customized, considered approach to your network project. With our experience in the field, we can work with you to develop your concept and create the solid set of actionable plans necessary for success.
From here, we will continue working with your business as we put these plans into practice. The result is a realized project that supports your business in the short term and way beyond.
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Demonstrable Advantages from iPower’s Team
Enlisting the iPower Technologies team to provide project planning and implementation services connects your business with many natural and demonstrable benefits. We have outlined a few of these below.
You can’t afford your meticulously prepared ideas and plans to go off track. This is why the iPower team takes care to achieve consistency throughout each stage of the process and to adopt an intelligent approach to your project.
Your project is as unique as your business, so it requires planning and implementation services customized to your corporate identity and your desired outcomes. We work closely with your teams to ensure that this is the case.
A route from conception to realization with no hang-ups or deviations is a dream for business owners. With iPower Technologies, we ensure that this is a reality, utilizing our experience to craft a straightforward path through your project’s plan and implementation stages.
At each stage in your project, we ensure that functionality is protected and safeguarded. This means no nasty surprises as your project reaches its advanced phases, just a reliable and secure network that you can build upon.
Contact us to learn more, or sign up today to begin your journey with us.
What Is Network in Project Management?
The bigger the project scope, the more complex the project management process becomes. You must plan tasks, organize the project schedule, and juggle dependencies. In short, it requires high maintenance. Network diagram project management is a valuable tool. The thought of network diagrams may conjure the vision of a telecommunication network. They can also depict how one project task connects to another.
Research shows visually presenting information helps improve understanding and enhances retention, which helps deal with a lot of data. Because network diagrams illustrate every dependency and task at once, they help project managers with job estimation.
More informed decisions are made, and project success can be tracked and managed more efficiently. A quality diagramming tool helps create network diagrams. They can be drafted quickly with the help of pre-made shapes and templates.
Project managers can easily share them with other team members, particularly if a cloud-based solution is chosen. The more collaboration within a team, the better the chances are of completing everything right the first time.
Creating a network diagram requires a pre-plan. The following must be done before a project network diagram can be completed.
- Identify and define start and end points
- Identify project activities
- Accurately estimate the completion time of every activity to be carried out
- Identify dependencies
- Testing and verifying critical dependencies may pay dividends because external factors frequently cause project failures.
Why a Plan Is Important for Network Design and Implementation
No matter the size of the project network, there is a better than 50 percent chance of encountering problems. Even experienced networking professionals spend considerable time on the plan and implementation.
A well-planned network provides a roadmap for successful network system installation. A proper plan saves headaches during the network project planning and implementation. Be prepared for problems, such as user error, workforce problems, incompatibility problems, failed installation, and delays of materials delivery during the project’s duration.
Having tools that enhance efficiency significantly increase the chances of success. Many project managers use project management tools to help manage budget costs and resources better and help track project progress. The network diagram is such a tool.
It gives a visual workflow representation that allows users to track the project’s progress at any time. All activities need to be identified and estimated. Leaving a task out of the network diagram may cause a cascading effect on the project’s cost, resource allocation, commitments, and projected schedule.
Another consideration is the loss of productivity when the old system is replaced with the new one. The implementation plan includes recommendations for network design implementation.
The implementation plan consists of the following:
- A project schedule
- Plans with service providers or vendors for installation of services, equipment, or links
- Recommendations or plans for outsourcing management or implementation of the network
- Developing plans for communicating the design and implementation progress to the project manager, network administrators, and end users
- A plan for training end users, the project manager, and administrators
- Plans for measuring the design effectiveness after implementation
- A list of risks that may delay the project
- A fallback plan in case the network project plan and implementation fails
- A plan for the evolution of the network design as new goals and applications arise
WHAT IS NETWORK PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT?
Clarity is key in the world of network diagrams. A network diagram that is too busy needs to be clarified for stakeholders and ceases to be a helpful tool. The entire team must be on the same page to execute the project correctly. The best practices for network diagram in project management to be followed while creating a network diagram are
- Using one start and endpoint
- Do not overlap arrows in an arrow diagram method
- Find the critical path
- Be consistent with symbols
You end up with multiple project network diagrams if there is more than one start and endpoint. You will not be able to chart dependencies between activities accurately. Create separate diagrams for complex projects having simultaneous activities that are not dependent on each other.
Arrows are used to illustrate different activities. Multiple start and endpoints require crisscrossing arrows to reflect node relationships on the ADM chart. Aim for arrow diagram method network diagrams with a visual representation that is linear and straightforward, and organized from left to right. The arrow diagram method must introduce new nodes and activities to encapsulate lead and lag times.
The precedence diagram method is a souped-up version of the arrow diagramming method. Instead of arrows representing only a Start-to-Finish relationship, the precedence diagram method illustrates four possible relationships. They are
Finish-to-Finish
Finish-to-Start
Start-to-Finish
Start-to-Start simultaneously
The relationship between nodes can only be Started-to-Finish. However, dummy activities are sometimes used to show dependencies. A dummy activity is created to demonstrate the relationship and path of action for the arrow diagramming method.
The precedence diagramming method is known as ‘activity on arrow’ or ‘activity network diagrams.’ It is helpful in lead time tracking. Lead time is the time needed to finish a task before it affects the next task.
In a high-stakes project, the critical path method for the network diagram identifies the chain of tasks with the most significant outcome impact. Multiple project network paths may exist, but every terminal element lies on only one path.
The task with the longest timeframe and most dependencies must be monitored closely to keep project network tasks on track. A network diagram in project management visualizes the sequential and logical relationship between tasks.
Detailed representation helps to identify critical activities. For example, if a particular activity requires ten days to elapse before the activity occurs or the next activity occurs, ‘ten days’ is written over the arrow representing the relationship of the connected nodes.
Lag times and lead times can be written alongside the arrows. Whatever method is chosen for nodes illustration should be consistent throughout the network diagram in project management.