What you’ll learn to do: explain the scheduling tools (Gantt and PERT) used to increase operations efficiency

If you’re in college, you’ve probably got a course schedule, and if you’re working toward a degree, you’ve probably looked at a college curriculum plan and figured out the degree and graduation requirements. Some courses have prerequisites—you have to take Chem I before you can take Chem II, for instance—others are offered only in the spring or fall, and you can only take so many credits/courses per term. Given all these variables and constraints, how do you put together your academic plan, making sure that you’re using your time most efficiently and following the best path toward graduation?

Gantt Chart

The answer is that you can use a Gantt or PERT chart. As you will see, both are fancy terms for scheduling tools that get used all the time to make operations (even college planning!) more efficient.

LEARNING ACTIVITIES

The learning activities for this section include:

• Reading: Graphical Tools: Gantt and PERT Charts
• Self Check: Scheduling Tools

Take time to review and reflect on this activity in order to improve your performance on the assessment for this section.