Fine-Tuning your plan and obtaining approval Chapter 11 & 12

What is the “critical path”? Critical Path – Longest sequence of tasks in the project Dictates earliest completion time Is it static? Does it changes in the course of your project? You will be presenting this on Wednesday!

If I spend extra money to reduce the time it takes to complete a task which is not on the critical path, what have I accomplished?

What is “slack time”? (“wiggle room”) The amount of time a task’s finish date can move without affecting another part of the project

Example of critical path & slack time

Why does the author suggest: Keep resources on critical tasks focused Use the least expensive resources Use faster resources (even if more expensive hourly rate)

Shortening the schedule Which techniques can be used to make the project go faster without necessarily impacting quality?

Shortening the schedule 1) Adjusting resource assignments Example?

Shortening the schedule 2) Splitting tasks into smaller pieces How can this help you shorten your schedule? When does this work? When doesn’t this work?

When does this work? Several shorter tasks are assigned to different people who work on them in tandem or scheduled around other work When doesn’t this work? Sometimes the steps are still performed sequentially

Shortening the schedule 3) Fast tracking What is it? What are the risks associated with this technique?

“Fast tracking” or overlapping tasks : When you start tasks planned in sequence early to accelerate the schedule Risks of fast tracking : If changes occur toward the end of the predecessor task, then rework is needed! At the end it may even delay your finish date!

Shortening the schedule 4) Shortening lag time between tasks Example? 5) Crashing What is it? What are the potential problems associated with it?

“Crashing”: Shorten the schedule by adding more resources to tasks (working overtime, adding more people) Potential problems with crashing: Increase cost Adding quality risk Sometimes it just can’t be done It may not even shorten the schedule! What does a “crash table” show me? How much each option will cost and how much time will it save. Helps decide what to crash.

Shortening the schedule 6) Reducing scope Make sure to receive approval!

Do you really need a “sign-off page” for your sponsor and steering team members to sign to approve a project?

Tracking status, Evaluating and Correcting Project performance Chapter 13 & 14

What are some of the best ways to collect information regarding project progress? Project reports (excel is a great option) Time sheet E-mail or Share Point One on One or status Meeting Or a combination (ie filling out the report during status meeting)

Why would team members ever be reluctant to provide progress info Why would team members ever be reluctant to provide progress info? How do you deal with these issues?

What is a “baseline”? The original, approved schedule and cost information Save this within MS Project and then compare to actuals to identify variances Can you have more then one baseline?

Why do we need to enter “actuals”? So we can compare to baseline, calculate variances, make adjustments, and guide the project to successful completion : On time and On budget!

What kind of “actuals” do we capture in Project? Schedule – When did a task start, end, how much is completed, how much longer will it take? Cost – How much did it cost me so far?

What is a “variance”? Variance : the difference between the planned and actual performance Schedule and cost variance

Reporting - Sponsors want to know, will I get what I asked for (scope / quality), when I expected it (time) and for the amount I authorized (on budget / cost)

What are some of the most common cost reports used by project managers? Budget Report : Actual compared to Baseline (approved budget) Variance since the last report Forecasted (projected) cost (Actual + remaining work) compared to Baseline Cash Flow Report – Total costs by week

When it comes to evaluating project performance, what do we need to look at? Scheduled or planned values for time or cost Baseline Actual Remaining Variances Your Forecast Your approved schedule, budget, and scope Actual work completed and associated costs Work remaining Difference between baseline and actual

What is “earned value analysis” (a. k. a What is “earned value analysis” (a.k.a. “earned value management’ or “EVM”)? Single measure that integrates time, cost, and scope Requires a baseline and actuals for comparison If your project is under budget is that always good?

Earned Value Management Terms Planned value (PV) - What was budgeted for this task? In other words : baseline cost for the work that should have been completed as of today? Total direct/indirect/HW/SW/services/labor etc. Actual cost (AC) - How much is the actual cost as of today? Rate of performance (RP) - ratio of actual work/work planned. 10%? 50%? 100%? Earned value (EV) - How much value have I created so far (percentage of the task that has actually been completed, ie RP times the Planned Value, ie PV) in dollars?

Earned Value Formulas Notes : BAC = Budget at completion = Baseline cost Yes RP = SPI!

Class exercise : work in group of 2 or 3 Scenario: Plan/Budget : Purchase and install a new web server. Planned to take 1 week and cost $10,000 for HW/SW/Labor. Actual : Took two weeks and cost $20,000 ($15,000 in week 1, $5,000 in week 2) Earned Value : Assume the server installation was halfway completed by the end of week 1 What are these values : EV, PV, AC, CV, SV, CPI & SPI at the end of week 1?

Class exercise – Rate of performance? First : what is the rate of performance? The rate of performance (RP) is 50% because by the end of week 1, the planned schedule reflects that the task should be 100 percent complete and only 50 percent of that work has been completed

Earned Value Calculations after Week One What does a CPI and/or SPI < 100% indicate? What do negative numbers for CV and/or SV indicate? EV = PV (to date) X RP $10,000 X 50% CV = EV – AC $5,000 - $15,000 SV = EV – PV $5,000 - $10,000 CPI = EV/AC $5,000/$15,000 SPI=EV/PV=RP $5,000/$10,000

Earned Value Chart for Project after Five Months

So EVM indicates your project is off track…what are some of the things you can do? Increasing resource workloads Assigning resources with more availability Adding more resources (crashing) Assigning faster or lower cost resources Juggling assignments from non-critical to critical tasks Working over time Shorten lag time Fast-tracking tasks (overlapping) Reducing scope Reducing quality – hmmmm Utilizing management reserve

Reminder : Assignment #2 Due date : November 2 Build versus Buy decision (see Assignment tab) Individual Submission instructions : Save your word document with the naming convention LastName_First Name_3535Section1_Ass2 and email it from your Temple email account to:  Assignm.qhjhvubc01ce1wm7@u.box.com