Lab 2 Activities

Creating the Project Plan

The Plan versus a Schedule Defines the activities Documents the interaction between activities Estimates the duration for completing each activity Analyzes the sequences, duration and resource requirements to crate a project schedule The schedule Determine start and finish dates for project activities Often must be iterated(along with processes that are the input) especially the duration estimating

Project Planning Techniques Provide regular status updates to stakeholders Include team members in planning sessions and plan preparation Provide various alternatives to management Scope constrained alternatives Time constrained alternatives Resources alternatives Plan to plan Obtain plan approval before beginning execution

Work Products for Planning Task List Work Breakdown Structure Project Objectives Precedence Graph CPM Diagram Gantt Chart

Getting the Planning Process Started Optional: for a product-oriented project, it may be useful to begin with a product list Product List Task List Work Breakdown Structure Project Objectives Planning depends on estimates of the work required and the way it will be organized. The planning process is driven by the project objectives

From Task List to WBS Task List WBS Task A Task B Task C Task D Task E Task F WBS Overall Task SubTask 1 SubTask 2 Task B Task C Task A SubTask 2.1 Task F Task E Task D

Generic Tree Structure

By Stage Project Management Deliverables

Outline 1. Initiation 2. Kickoff 3. Scope 1.1 Project Documentation 1.1.1 Common Folder on Shared Drive 1.1.2 Project Journal 1.1.3 Issue Log 2. Kickoff 2.1 Project Charter Draft 2.1.1 Project Purpose 2.1.2 Project Constraints 2.1.3 Project Organization 2.2 Kickoff Meeting 2.2.1 Validate Leadership Roles 2.2.2 Areas Involved 3. Scope 3.1 Project Scope Document 3.1.1 High-level Project Schedule 3.1.2 Objectives and Approaches 3.2 Risk Management Plan 3.2.1 Risk Matrix 3.2.2 Residual & Secondary Risks 3.3 Context Diagram

Ten Step Planning Process Identify your business requirements, objectives, and approaches. Build your WBS Brainstorm the tasks required to create deliverables. Sequence your task. Look at the relationships & dependencies. Identify resources for each task. Estimate time required for each task. Remember control is primary consideration. Convert the data into a project schedule. Review the project schedule with the project team.

WBS as an Estimation Tool Bottom-Up Estimating Effort for smaller tasks can be more accurately estimated than larger ones Estimate all the “primitive” tasks first (those at the bottom of the WBS – with no subtasks of their own). PMBOK * calls these work packages. Combine these estimates to get an overall estimate or estimates for major subtasks Track actuals against estimates at the task level to improve your estimating skills Use this data to create a useful experiential estimation database Project Management Book of Knowledge

Team Activity #1 You’ve been asked to investigate (as the potential project manager) a project for creating an online system that will allow managers, project leaders, and team leaders to reserve meeting rooms at your company’s main campus. Here is what you know so far: The room reservation task is currently being managed by Diane as 50% of her responsibilities. Diane does the best she can, but she is often overwhelmed with the volume of reservations and changes to reservations that must be managed. In the past few months, rooms have been overbooked, meeting participants have shown up to the wrong rooms (sometimes the participants have gone to multiple different rooms), and participants have shown up for meetings at the wrong times. Additionally, demands for certain equipment (projectors, intranet access, etc.) are increasing and Diane has no good way to keep track of where this special equipment and capability resides. Cont’d on next slide 

Team Activity #1 (cont’d) Diane is asked to provide regular reports on meeting room usage, and she knows that these reports are not as accurate as they could be. Diane’s manager, Gwen, feeling the heat from her management, has requested this project. Gwen believes that an online system that could keep track of all schedulable rooms, contact information for all persons making inquiries or reservations, and of course the current and future reservation schedule, would be ideal. Of course, the system should allow for cancellations as well as reservations. And, Diane has suggested to Gwen that if the company email system could send an automated reminder message to the person organizing the meeting two hours prior to any scheduled meeting, this may alleviate some of the problems as well. Cont’d on next slide 

Team Activity #1 Project Problem Statement Your instructor will allocate one or more teams to act as the “customer”, i.e. Diane, Gwen, and some of their associates in this activity. The other teams will develop a project problem statement and project objectives in consultation with the customer team(s). Particularly, the task at hand in this exercise is to: Develop a project problem statement. Develop project objectives. Some points to keep in mind: What the customer reports initially should be viewed as symptoms and not necessarily the whole problem. The project problem should be succinctly phrased and should not include all the symptoms (these should be deducible from the problem statement).

Team Activity #2 In the previous activity, you created a problem statement and project objectives for the project to create an online system that will allow managers, project leaders, and team leaders to reserve meeting rooms at your company’s main campus. In this activity, you will use these objectives to create and refine a WBS for the project: Create a preliminary WBS based on the project objectives and deliverables identified in your project charter. Try associating effort estimates for each of the lowest level tasks in your structure. Refine the WBS to include more detail. Now, make new effort estimates for all the lowest level tasks (work packages in PMBOK terms) Cont’d on next slide 

Team Activity #2 (cont’d) According to the PMBOK: “The WBS is a deliverable-oriented grouping of project elements that organizes and defines the total work scope of the project. Each descending level represents an increasingly detailed definition of project work.” PMBOK View Does your WBS satisfy this definition? Does it include the total work scope of the project? What about risk mitigation work? What about project management work? Make any changes or additions to make sure you’ve covered all the bases in the WBS. Based on the refined WBS, what is your effort estimate for the project?

Precedence Graph The precedence graph captures predecessor or sequencing information for all tasks in the WBS Used as an intermediate step toward a CPM diagram The process used to create the precedence graph is referred to as PDM (Precedence Diagram Method) in the PMBOK. Work Breakdown Structure Precedence Graph

Precedence Graph Activity P Activity M Activity O Activity Q Activity S Activity N Activity R Activity N must complete before Activity R can begin, and so on.

Effort and Duration CPM (Critical Path Method) Diagrams are derived from Precedence Graphs To accomplish this, we must translate effort estimates into duration estimates Effort defines the total required number of time units (often measured in hours) to complete a task Duration refers to the calendar time (often in days or weeks) required to complete task

Effort and Duration (cont’d) Effort is distributed over a duration This is done by assigning some particular number of persons to the task at various times Or, we can assign percentages of one or more persons’ time to the task at various times

Effort, Duration, and Resource Allocation For example, a 750 hour effort would have a 10-week duration if 2 persons were allocated to it fulltime (assuming a fulltime week = 37.5 hours) for that period However, this same effort could result in drastically different durations, with different resource allocations: 40 weeks – if 50% of a person’s time is allocated to it 20 weeks -- if 1 person is allocated to it fulltime 15 weeks -- with1 person fulltime for 10 weeks, then 2 persons fulltime for the next 5 weeks 5 weeks – with 4 persons allocated to it fulltime

Effort, Duration, and Resource Allocation (cont’d) It is important to remember that the required effort is just one factor that goes into making a duration estimate. We’ve all heard it: If one woman can produce a baby in 9 months, how soon can 9 women produce a baby?

Estimated Time Formula   TE = A + 4(B) + C 6  OR (A + 4*B + C)/6 WHERE: A = MOST OPTIMISTIC TIME B = MOST LIKELY TIME C = MOST PESSIMISTIC TIME

Effort, Duration, and Float (Slack) If we allocate resources so that a task is completed before it is absolutely necessary for all the other task(s) waiting for it to complete, we say that we have built float or slack time into our schedule Float adds flexibility to a project’s schedule and hence it is important to recognize when it is possible The Critical Path Method (CPM) Diagram captures this feature of a project

CPM Diagrams According to the PMBOK: PMBOK View “The Critical Path Method (CPM) is a network analysis technique used to predict project duration by analyzing which sequence of activities (which path) has the least amount of scheduling flexibility (the least amount of float). Early dates are calculated by means of a forward pass, using the specified start date. Late dates are calculated using a backward pass, starting from a specified completion date – usually the forward pass calculated project early finish date.”

Adding More Information to the Precedence Graph – CPM Diagrams Earliest Start Earliest Finish Task Duration Float Latest Start Latest Finish Precedence Graph Add this information for each node in the Precedence Graph CPM Diagram

Terms for CPM Diagrams For each node: D = Estimated Duration ES = Early Start Date ES = Earliest finish time for all preceding events EF =Early Finish Date EF = ES + D LF =Late Finish Date LF = Latest start time of all succeeding events LS =Late Start Date LS = LF - D F = Float F = LF - EF OR F = LS - ES F = The time an activity’s start or finish can be delayed without delaying project completion

Computing Terms for CPM Diagram Nodes D is an estimate (must be known) Determine ES = Early Start ES = Earliest finish time for all preceding events Determine LF =Late Finish LF = Latest start time of all succeeding events Then we compute LS, EF, and F

CPM Diagram Nodes -- Example early start (determined by earliest finish for all preceding activities) early finish (= 4 + 3) 2 4 weeks 7 weeks Task 3 weeks 2 weeks 1 duration float (= 9 – 7 or = 6 – 4) 6 weeks 9 weeks 3 late finish (determined by the latest start for all succeeding activities) late start (= 9 – 3) Add this type of information for each node

Method for Computing CPM Diagrams All activities must be assigned durations before you begin Start with the activities that have no preceding activities and assign their early start times to be 0 (there may be only one of these) Work from left to right and compute the early start and early finish times for all nodes – this is called the forward pass The largest early finish time will determine the minimum time for the project to complete All activities with no succeeding activities will get this value as their latest finish times (there may be only one of these). Assign each of these activities to have 0 float Use this information to work from right to left assigning late finish times and late start times for all nodes – this is called the backward pass Now you can quickly compute float for all nodes

Team Activity 3: CPM Diagram Consider the CPM Diagram (partial) given on the next slide Complete the diagram by determining the missing information for each node.

CPM Diagram – Partial Example

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 1/2/2019Chapter 2

Critical Paths If an activity that has 0 float slips, the entire project will slip by that amount This is why activities that have 0 float are said to be on a critical path There may be multiple critical paths for a project Many practitioners establish some threshold amount of float (suitably small) and compute near-critical paths as well

Critical Paths (cont’d) Note that critical (and near-critical) paths are dynamic and change as the actual (as opposed to estimated) schedule unfolds Critical (and near-critical) paths must be recomputed each time there is an activity slippage anywhere in the schedule that is larger than that activity’s float

Why Compute Critical Paths? Can be used to focus resources and attention more efficiently and effectively Best resources can be assigned to critical path activities Allows project manager to monitor crucial activities more closely Helps prioritize risks, so risk mitigation activities can be focused on the most important potential risk events “Near-critical” tasks can also be identified and tracked

Why Compute Critical Paths? (cont’d) Schedule “emergencies” can be addressed by “crashing” or fast-tracking critical path activities Crashing means compressing activity duration Fast-tracking means doing things in parallel Danger in crashing or fast-tracking is increased risk Fast Tracking vs Crashing a Project

Team Activity 4: Critical Paths Consider the CPM Diagram you completed in the previous activity. What is the shortest possible duration for the project? Identify the critical path (or paths). Consider questions 3 and 4 independently of each other. If Procurement slips 3 weeks, what is the impact on the project duration? What happens to the critical path If Beta Test slips 2 weeks (with no other slippage), what is the impact on the project duration?

Presentation to Client Team Activity #5 A project has been defined to contain the following list of activities along with their required times for completion Draw a CPM diagram for the activities Calculate the earliest completion time Show the critical path What happens if B Design takes 6 days rather than 5 days? What happens if F Analysis takes 6 days rather than 4 days? Activity Immediate activity Days Predecessors A Contract Signing 5 - B Questionnaire Design C Target Market ID 6 D Survey Sample 13 B, C E Develop presentation F Analyze results 4 G Demographic Analysis 9 H Presentation to Client 2 E, F, G

Gantt Charts Created from CPM diagrams Capture scheduling information in a bar chart format Dynamic Gantt charts (that is, those that are updated frequently) are an excellent tool to ascertain the status of a project at a given time Good tool for estimating resource needs in a given time frame CPM Diagram Gantt Chart

Gantt Charts – An Example date (week #) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 tasks T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 critical path float

Scheduling Diagrams Gantt Chart FIGURE 3-10 Gantt chart showing project tasks, duration times for those tasks, and predecessors Special-purpose project management software is available for this. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall Chapter 3

Team Activity #5: Gantt Chart Construct a Gantt chart for your CPM diagram created in Activity 3 Create a Gantt chart from your CPM Diagram. What kind of resources do you anticipate needing in week 6? Can you tell how many resources you will need of each type/category? Hint: Are duration and effort the same?

Scheduling Diagrams Gantt Chart FIGURE 3-10 Gantt chart showing project tasks, duration times for those tasks, and predecessors Special-purpose project management software is available for this. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall Chapter 3

Scheduling Diagrams Network Diagram FIGURE 3-13 A network diagram illustrating tasks with rectangles (or ovals) and the relationships and sequences of those activities with arrows Special-purpose project management software is available for this. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall Chapter 3

Preliminary Budget More on this later FIGURE 3-15 A financial cost and benefit analysis for a systems development project More on this later Spreadsheet software is good for this. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall Chapter 3

PM Phase 3: Project Execution Plans created in prior phases are put into action. Actions Execute baseline project plan Monitor progress against baseline plan Manage changes in baseline plan Maintain project workbook Communicate project status Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall Chapter 3

Monitoring Progress with a Gantt Chart FIGURE 3-17 Gantt chart with tasks 3 and 7 completed Red bars indicate critical path; lines through bars indicate percent complete. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall Chapter 3

Using Project Management Software Many powerful software tools exist for assisting with project management. Example: Microsoft Project can help with Entering project start date. Establishing tasks and task dependencies. Viewing project information as Gantt or Network diagrams. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall Chapter 3

Project Start Date FIGURE 3-28 Establishing a project starting date in Microsoft Project for Windows Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall Chapter 3

Entering Tasks FIGURE 3-29 Entering tasks and assigning task relationships in Microsoft project for Windows Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall Chapter 3

Viewing Network Diagram FIGURE 3-30 Viewing project information as a network diagram in Microsoft Project for Windows Hexagon shape indicates a milestone. Red boxes and arrows indicate critical path (no slack). Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall Chapter 3

Viewing Gantt Chart FIGURE 3-31 Gantt chart showing progress of activities (right frame) versus planned activities (left frame) Black line at top indicates a summary activity (composed of subtasks). Diamond shape indicates a milestone. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall Chapter 3

Summary Explain the process of managing an information systems project. Describe the skills required to be an effective project manager. List and describe the skills and activities of a project manager during project initiation, project planning, project execution, and project closedown. Explain what is meant by critical path scheduling and describe the process of creating Gantt charts and network diagrams. Explain how commercial project management software packages can be used to assist in representing and managing project schedules. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall Chapter 3