Page 104 - DEDU503_EDUCATIONAL_MANAGEMENT_ENGLISH

Educational Management

Notes Scheduling forms an important exercise in planning for implementation. Scheduling refers to the
process of converting an educational plan into an operating time table which establishes start and
completion time of all the activities of the programme/plan. There are several ways of constructing
implementation schedules. However, an effective implementation plan makes use of the network
based techniques such Programme Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) and Critical Path
Method (CPM).
PERT is a network based procedure that facilitates planning, scheduling and controlling of education
programmes and projects. It provides methods for measuring actual progress of the programme
against expected progress, for comparing consequences of proposed alternative strategies, for
predicting future programme status and for optimizing utilization of resources.
Listing all possible activities of the programme is a key step in planning for implementation of the
educational programme. The next step is to gather information about predecessors of each activity.
The third step, on the basis of these information, PERT network for the programme can be developed.
Fourth, once the PERT network of the programme is developed then there is a need to obtain
information on the time required to complete each activity. Fifth, this is followed by three alternative
time estimates (i.e. the optimistic activity time, most probable activity time, and pessimistic activity
time). These three activity time estimates help the programme team to make the best guess of expected
activity time. In this connection uncertainty can be expressed by providing estimates ranging from
the best to the worst possible time for completing individual activities. Finally, the PERT network
for the given educational programme is drawn on the basis of the above information.

Once the PERT network is drawn, the next step is to estimate critical path in the network. This is
done by using both forward pass and backward pass methods. This helps to establish early start
and latest finish time of each activity.

Also activity slack is estimated by using early start and latest finish times. The activities having no
slack are termed as critical activities and the longest path on the PERT network is identified as
critical path. The time required to traverse the critical path becomes the programme implementation
period. All these information, when put in a tabular form, makes the Implementation Schedule of
the educational prorgamme.
Negotiations, Appraisal and Approval
The plans developed are draft plan till they are discussed and finally approved by the approving
authorities. Since resources are to be allocated for implementation of plan, the negotiation process
is very important. Many proposals in the plan may require financial allocation from the higher
authorities. Hence the plan may become final only when they are discussed and finally approved by
the authorities by approving budget and allocating funds as per requirements.
The approving authorities look into the desirability of proposals and the feasibility of implementation
of the plan. This is the process of negotiation between those who formulate the plan and those who
have to finally approve the plan and budget. It is generally found that some cut in the proposed
resource requirement is done by the authorities and in such case the plan need to be revised in the
light of discussion. Based on the resources assured by the approving authorities, plan proposals are
to be prioritized. After such re-prioritization so as to establish a link between what is proposed and
the extent of resources available, the plan is finalized.
In order to approve the plan the authorities, who have to approve the plan and budget, do generally
like to do comprehensive review of the various aspects and components of programme proposals.
It is therefore seen whether the plan is technically sound, financially viable and justified and
administratively feasible. This is done with the help of a team of experts who discuss the plan
proposals at length with the planning team. This process is known as the appraisal of plan. Thus an
important aspect of plan negotiation is appraisal through which the opinion of the experts is sought
about the soundness and feasibility of plan proposals before it is finally approved for implementation.

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