Prof. Roy Levow Session 8

 Steps in Closing a Project  Getting Client Acceptance  Installing Project Deliverables  Documenting the Project  Post-Implementation Audit  The Final Report  Celebrating Success

 Understand the steps needed to effectively close a project  Develop a closing strategy  Identify the components of project documentation  Conduct a post-implementation audit  Explain the significance of each post- implementation audit question Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.Chapter 113

 Getting client acceptance of deliverables  Ensuring that all deliverables are installed  Ensuring that the documentation is in place  Getting client sign-off on the final report  Conducting the post-implementation audit  Celebrating the success Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.Chapter 114

 Ceremonial Acceptance  Informal in that there is no accompanying sign-off  Two situations  Client has to accept deliverable by a certain date whether the deliverable meets specifications or not  Deliverable requires little or no checking  Formal Acceptance  Inspection of deliverable expected  Checklist  Formal sign-off before customer accepts deliverable Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.Chapter 115

 The product is turned on when it is delivered to the client Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.Chapter 116

 Five Reasons for Documentation  Reference for future changes in deliverables  Historical record for estimating duration and cost on future projects, activities, and tasks  Training resource for new project managers  Input for further training and development of the project team  Input for performance evaluation by the functional managers of the project team members Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.Chapter 117

 Project Overview Statement  Project Proposal and backup data  Original and revised project schedules  Minutes of all project team meetings  Copies of all status reports  Design documents  Copies of all change notices  Copies of all written communications  Outstanding issues reports  Final report  Sample deliverables (if appropriate)  Client acceptance documents  Post-implementation audit report Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.Chapter 118

 Six Questions  Was the project goal achieved?  Does it do what the project team said it would do?  Does it do what the client said it would do?  Was the project work done on time, within budget, and according to specification?  Was the client satisfied with the project results?  Was business value realized? (Check success criteria)  What lessons were learned about your project management methodology?  What worked? What didn’t? Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.Chapter 119

 Overall success of the project  Organization of the project  Techniques used to get results  Project strengths and weaknesses  Project team recommendations Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.Chapter 1110

 What Is the Critical Chain?  Variation in Duration: Common Cause versus Special Cause  Statistical Validation of the Critical Chain Approach  The Critical Chain Project Management Approach  Buffers  Track Record of Critical Chain Project Management

 Explain the difference between critical path and the critical chain  Identify resource constraints and know how to resolve them  Use the critical chain approach to project management for single projects Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.Chapter 1212

 The longest path through the project that is both task-dependent and resource-constrained  Differs from the critical path, which is the path of the longest duration  Critical Chain Project Management is the planning, scheduling, and maintenance of the critical chain Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.Chapter 1213

 Common cause variation: “fluctuation in task duration that results from the capacity of that system affecting the task”  Natural variations of the system  Nothing can be done about this type of variation  Special cause variation: fluctuation is caused by a special cause external to the system  Variations can be mitigated, planned for, or avoided Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.Chapter 1214

 Calculate the 50% duration of a task  Calculate the 90% duration of a task  The difference between the two is the contingency Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.Chapter 1215

 Step One – Create an Early Schedule Project Network Diagram Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.Chapter 1216

 Step Two – Convert the Early Schedule to the Late Schedule and Add Resources Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.Chapter 1217

 Step Three – Resolve Resource Conflicts Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.Chapter 1218 One SolutionAnother Solution

 “Segments of time that are placed at the end of a sequence of tasks for the purpose of protecting the schedule of those tasks.”  Types of Buffers  Project: Placed at the end of the critical chain to protect the overall project schedule  Feeding: Placed at the end of a sequence of tasks that lead into the critical chain  Resource: A flag that is placed to alert a resource when it is needed. It has no time length. Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.Chapter 1219

Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.Chapter 1220

Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.Chapter 1221

 Successes  Honeywell Defense Avionics Systems: Project schedule reduced from 13 months to 6 months  Lucent Technologies: Project completed within one year despite estimates it would take longer  Harris: Industry standard for factory built and running at 90% capacity is 46 months. Harris factory built and running at 90% capacity in 13 months  Israeli aircraft industry: Reduced aircraft maintenance from three months to two weeks Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.Chapter 1222