Dr. John V. Richardson, Professor UCLA GSE&IS DIS 11/29/2018 UCLA DIS 280 Social Science Research Methodology: Scheduling Tasks Dr. John V. Richardson, Professor UCLA GSE&IS DIS

Scheduling Steps Time and Project Management Time and Tasks; Milestones; Bottlenecks; Underutilization and Overloading Resources Golden Rules of PM Success CPM, PERT, and Gantt Charts DoD Specifications and Software

Time and Project Management Completion of a project on time involves successfully meeting the: Task objectives by a milestone as well as the avoidance of: Underutilizing a resource (which is wasteful) Overloading a resource (by holding up some activity)

Linking Tasks & Time Together Identify the tasks to be completed (see steps in the details of the method section) Work backwards and identify completion date (end of project by graduation or grant application deadline) Establish the duration of each task (i.e., hours, days, weeks; use the same unit)

Linking Time & Tasks Together Establish relationships between tasks (e.g., “finish-to-start” or parallel or delay) Set milestones for the accomplishment of tasks Begin thinking about costs of each task or activity (preparing for the budget section)

Bottlenecks Reassign resources (i.e., leveling, evenly spreading the work to avoid underutilizing or overloading) such as people, equipment, supplies Consider options (especially cost considerations) What-If Scenarios

12 Golden Rules of PM Success THOU SHALT: Gain consensus on project outcomes Build the best team you can Develop a comprehensive viable plan and keep it up to date Determine how much stuff you really need to get things done

Thou Shalt: Develop a realistic schedule Not try to do more than can be done Remember that people count Gain the formal and ongoing support of management and stake holders

Thou Shalt: Be willing to change Keep people involved of what you’re doing Be willing to try new things Be a leader as well as a manager SOURCE: InfoWorld, 31 Jan 2000, p. 70

Critical Path Defined “The set of activities whose delay will delay the completion of the project. These are the activities with zero slack time.” Source: Network Analysis, p. 202

Critical Path Method “Critical Path is a methodology for determining the crucial tasks that, if not accomplished by a certain time, contribute directly to the delay of the whole project.” Assumption: the duration of a task can be estimated accurately; Goal: to “analyze and report compromises to balance the cost of a project with the time needed to finish it.” SOURCE: Project Manager materials, p. 1

CPM Goals “Given the activities and events of a project network be able to find the activities that are most critical to the timely completion of a project. “Be able to compute the earliest and latest times at which activities can be scheduled to begin and finish.” SOURCE: Network Analysis, p. 200

Two Forms of CPM CPM takes one of two forms: precedence-based (where some task has to occur before another task) arrow-networking (assumes that one task must be completed before beginning next one)

Gantt Charts Named for Henry Gantt A formal (i.e., a graphical) way of displaying the project completion’s critical path

PERT Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) Broader view than CPM “Shows how all phases of the project interrelate” so that resource leveling can be undertaken

DoD C/SSR and 7000.2 C/SCSC The United States Department of Defense’s Cost/Schedule Status Report (C/SSR) as well as their Cost/Schedule Control Systems Criteria (C/SCSC): Based on percentage of progress 0/100, 50/50 and 100/0 where 0/100 means 0 percent at start, 100 percent at finish

Adopting a Software Package More than 4-20 tasks Multiple projects or multiple resources on a task Provides computer generated reporting and tracking Multiple projects (projects within projects) Claims of 2-4 time more effective

11/29/2018 Scheduling Software A variety of microcomputer software packages is available such as: Microsoft Project Primavera, Project Planner Scitor Corporation, Project Scheduler Applied Micro Systems, Protracs Symantec, Time Line

Hofstadter’s Law “It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter’s Law.”

Questions Are all the necessary tasks identified? Are they related to the organizational plan? Are specific milestones provided for each task? Can the P.I. accomplish it in the time allotted (e.g., is it realistic)?

When is it Done? Idealistic: “When quality meets our standard…” Legalistic: “When it fulfills the requirements…” Pragmatic: “When we reach the scheduled deadline…” Budgetary: “When we run out of money…” SOURCE: “Getting to Done,” ComputerWorld 7 June 2004, p. 52.

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