Project Activity Planning MGMT 483 Week 5 Project Activity Planning

Today’s class: We now move into consideration of the details of the project – planning what exactly is going to be done, by whom, and when We look at: The project action plan – hierarchical planning The Work Breakdown Structure The Linear Responsibility Chart Then you will practice these techniques with an in-class planning exercise Meredith & Mantel (2009) Project management: a managerial approach. 7th ed. Wiley.

Elements of a full Project Plan Overview Objectives or scope General approach Contractual aspects Schedules Resources Personnel Risk management plans Evaluation methods Meredith & Mantel (2009) Project management: a managerial approach. 7th ed. Wiley.

The Action Plan Action plan: the set of project activities, their schedules, and the resources needed to complete the project What is to be done When it is to be started and finished Who is going to do it Meredith & Mantel (2009) Project management: a managerial approach. 7th ed. Wiley.

The Action Plan Continued Activities on a project face unique complexities Task dependencies Some activities cannot start until others are finished Some activities must be done at-the-same-time Some activities are very time critical Others have a great deal of flexibility This requires a great deal of planning Meredith & Mantel (2009) Project management: a managerial approach. 7th ed. Wiley.

Hierarchical Planning Hierarchical planning: a planning approach that breaks the planning task down into the activities that must be done at each level. Typically, the upper level sets the objectives for the next lower level Major tasks are listed Each major task is then broken down into more detail This continues until all the activities to be completed are listed Need to know which activities “depend on” other activities Meredith & Mantel (2009) Project management: a managerial approach. 7th ed. Wiley.

Task dependencies Finish-to-start (FS) Start-to-start (SS) Task (B) cannot start until task (A) finishes. For example, if you have two tasks, "Construct fence" and "Paint fence," "Paint fence" can't start until "Construct fence" finishes. This is the most common type of dependency. Start-to-start (SS) Task (B) cannot start until task (A) starts. For example, if you have two tasks, "Pour foundation" and "Level concrete," "Level concrete" can't begin until "Pour foundation" begins. Finish-to-finish (FF) Task (B) cannot finish until task (A) finishes. For example, if you have two tasks, "Add wiring" and "Inspect electrical," "Inspect electrical" can't finish until "Add wiring" finishes. Start-to-finish (SF) Task (B) cannot finish until task (A) starts. Used to control scheduling – not used very often in practice From: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/project Copyright Microsoft Corporation 2009

A Form to Assist Planning Figure 6-2 Meredith & Mantel (2009) Project management: a managerial approach. 7th ed. Wiley.

Planning a Career Day – action plan example Figure 6-3 Meredith & Mantel (2009) Project management: a managerial approach. 7th ed. Wiley.

The Work Breakdown Structure The WBS is a tool for activity planning using the hierarchical method – it is usually a more detailed form of the action plan Steps to create a WBS: Create a list of the major activities for the project Decompose (break down) each major activity into more detailed tasks for the next level in the hierarchy. The tasks identified for each level must be at approximately the same level of detail. It’s easy to come up with detail for activities we are familiar with and gloss over those that are unfamiliar. This process forces comparable detail for all the levels. Break the tasks down into sufficient detail so they can be individually planned, budgeted, scheduled monitored and controlled. The tasks at the bottom of the structure are typically called work packages. When the activities are sufficiently decomposed, then individual tasks are scheduled and assigned to personnel (a Linear Responsibility Chart is often created to help understand task assignments and responsibilities) Meredith & Mantel (2009) Project management: a managerial approach. 7th ed. Wiley.

Format of the WBS Can be columnar, with sub-tasks indented under the main task elements - like the earlier example of the action plan, or visual Either is correct – or you can create both, depending on the purpose In MS Project you enter the WBS in a spreadsheet-like format, which is visually displayed as a Gantt chart Meredith & Mantel (2009) Project management: a managerial approach. 7th ed. Wiley.

A Visual WBS for planning a conference Figure 6-6 Meredith & Mantel (2009) Project management: a managerial approach. 7th ed. Wiley.

Linear Responsibility Chart (Responsibility Matrix) Once tasks are broken down into work packages on the WBS, we need to assign resources The assignment of people to work packages can be displayed on an LRC, which can also identify requirements for support, approval and notification. With this, the PM can keep track of who must approve what and who must report to whom The work packages must be reviewed with the people involved to ensure their accuracy and adequacy in describing the tasks to be accomplished. Meredith & Mantel (2009) Project management: a managerial approach. 7th ed. Wiley.

Sample Linear Responsibility Chart Figure 6-7 Meredith & Mantel (2009) Project management: a managerial approach. 7th ed. Wiley.

Simplified Linear Responsibility Chart (Fig 6-8) Meredith & Mantel (2009) Project management: a managerial approach. 7th ed. Wiley.