Project Management Concepts 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

Project, Defined A project is an endeavor to accomplish a specific objective through a series of tasks/activities. A project consumes resources. A project produces a tangible deliverable. A project has a customer & target market. 7 7 5 7 5 5 5 5 5

Six Primary areas of project management Providing leadership and vision Planning and organizing the project Organizing and managing the project team

Six Primary areas, Cont. Estimating costs and developing the project budget Monitoring and controlling the project schedule Ensuring the quality of the final result

Providing leadership and vision Develop the project vision Why are we undertaking this project What is it expected to achieve How do the members of the team relate to each other What standards of conduct are expected How are coordination and cooperation achieved

Providing leadership and vision, cont. Share the project vision Instilling a vision requires frequent and continual communication with the project team

Planning and organizing the project Estimate the size of the project Define project milestones Develop a detailed list of tasks Assign resources to tasks Develop and maintain a project schedule Developing a Baseline Plan is an essential part of project management. In essence, the plan is a roadmap. Unforeseen circumstances may jeopardize achievement of the project objective.

Organizing and managing Recruiting and obtaining staff for the team Cross-functional teams are essential in the early phases of a project. Who are the project’s stakeholders? Prepare a team charter Assigning team members to work groups and tasks Ensuring that team members are well trained

Organizing and managing, cont. Ensuring that groups develop into effective work teams The challenge facing the project manager is to prevent, anticipate, and/or overcome unforeseen circumstances by using high performance teams.

Estimating costs and developing the project budget Two of the most difficult tasks Ongoing for the life of the project

Monitoring and Controlling Projects—comparing actual to predicted Tracking progress using the schedule and defined milestones Maintaining an open items control log Understanding and utilizing corrective procedures carefully Implementing consistent status review and communication techniques Managing client expectations

Ensuring the quality of the final result Validate to ensure that the system meets the user requirements Verify to ensure that the system is internally consistent and correct Walkthroughs validate diagrams against user requirements and ensure consistency Testing validates the system

Project Objective Prior to developing a project plan, justify the need for a project and define the project objective. The objective must be: Specific Measurable Actionable Relevant Time bound The project objective is usually defined in terms of scope, performance, schedule and cost. 5 5 4 5 4 5 4 4 4

The Baseline Plan Clearly defines the project objective. Determine the specific tasks that need to be performed using the Work Breakdown Structure. Create relationships among the tasks. Determine predecessors and PERT chart. 22 22 16 22 16 16 16 16 16

The Baseline Plan (cont.) Determine the resources needed and how many. Make a time schedule and cost estimate. Communicate this baseline plan in a Gantt chart. 8

The Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) A task/activity is a piece of work that consumes time. The WBS is a hierarchical tree of end tasks/activities to be accomplished. A work item is one small piece of the project. A work package is the lowest-level item. Responsibility is assigned at the work package and work item tasks. 7 7 5 7 5 6 5 5 5

Responsibility Matrix Displays in tabular format the individuals responsible for the work items. Used for team “resource leveling” in ensuring a fair distribution of work. “X” can be used to indicate who is responsible. “P” indicates who has primary responsibility. “S” indicates who has secondary responsibility.

Preparing the PERT chart – Sequencing Tasks Ask the following questions regarding each activity: Which activities must be finished immediately before this activity can be started? Which activities can be done concurrently with this activity? Which activities cannot be started until this activity is finished? MS Project will create both PERT and Gantt charts.

Project Scheduling It is necessary to select an estimated start time and a required completion time for the overall project. Relate these times to the project objective, contracts (RFP) & resources available. Be aggressive since people work up/down to expectations. 8 8 6 8 6 7 6 6 6

Activity Duration Estimates The first step in allocating time to each task is to estimate how long each activity will take. The duration estimate is the total elapsed time for the work to be done PLUS any associated waiting time. The person responsible for performing the activity should help make the duration estimate. 7 7 5 7 5 6 5 5 5

Schedule Calculations Once you have an estimated duration for each activity and an overall window, you must determine whether the activities can be done by the required completion date. 10 10 7 10 7 8 7 7 7

Schedule Calculations A project schedule includes: the earliest times (or dates) at which each activity can start and finish, based on the project's estimated start time (or date) the latest times (or dates) by which each activity must start and finish in order to complete the project by its required completion time (or date)

Scheduling Outcomes Critical Path – the series of tasks that must be completed within duration in order to not delay the project. Alternate definition—the longest path through the tasks of a project, which identifies the earliest possible completion date. Slack Time – a task whose start time can be delayed without affecting the required completion date.

Controlling the Project A regular reporting period should be established. Reports are produced which document the following: Data on actual performance Information on any changes in scope, schedule, and budget Keep in mind: Data should be collected in a timely manner and used to update the schedule and budget Compare updated schedule and budget to the baseline and analyze 15

The Baseline Plan Keep in mind: Projects overrun their budgets, miss completion dates, or only partially satisfy their technical specifications because there is no viable baseline plan. The people involved in performing the project should participate in planning the work; they are most knowledgeable. Customer satisfaction increases in proportion to involvement in the baseline plan. 11