Project Management in the GMS Learning Program Apr 2010, Mekong Institute, Khon Kaen, Thailand © 2010, Dr. Kenneth F. Smith, PMP 1 SMALL GROUP EXERCISE CRITICAL PATH II: © The Project Implementation Game © Created by Kenneth F. Smith, PMP Project Management Institute (PMI) Honolulu Chapter

Project Management in the GMS Learning Program Apr 2010, Mekong Institute, Khon Kaen, Thailand © 2010, Dr. Kenneth F. Smith, PMP 2

Project Management in the GMS Learning Program Apr 2010, Mekong Institute, Khon Kaen, Thailand © 2010, Dr. Kenneth F. Smith, PMP 3 Critical Path II — The Project Implementation Game © Key Critical Path Management Concepts Incorporated: Network implementation plan: “Activity-on-arrow” and “merge milestones” On-going Situational Risk Assessment: To mitigate the “Triple Threat” — i.e. Time, Cost and Technical Performance Cash Flow Management : Incremental costs and progress payments

Project Management in the GMS Learning Program Apr 2010, Mekong Institute, Khon Kaen, Thailand © 2010, Dr. Kenneth F. Smith, PMP 4 LEVEL OF EFFORT/RESOURCES: FIVE Dice represent the total level of effort/resources available for each round of play. Players buy 5 dice from the bank for 5 MB, during each round of play. After rolling the dice, players can travel along any available activity paths — concurrently — for the distance indicated by the dice. Travel on any path is limited to the exact count of the dice. Dice scores can be combined, but dice with scores higher than required cannot be used at all. [I.e. just as in the “real world”, once procured, players must either “use” or “lose” the resource.]

Project Management in the GMS Learning Program Apr 2010, Mekong Institute, Khon Kaen, Thailand © 2010, Dr. Kenneth F. Smith, PMP 5 PROGRESS MARKERS Activity – Temporary & Milestone -- Permanent

Project Management in the GMS Learning Program Apr 2010, Mekong Institute, Khon Kaen, Thailand © 2010, Dr. Kenneth F. Smith, PMP 6 PROJECT MID-TERM Implementation Evaluation

Project Management in the GMS Learning Program Apr 2010, Mekong Institute, Khon Kaen, Thailand © 2010, Dr. Kenneth F. Smith, PMP 7 Project Performance Mid-Term Evaluation Enter in Col A the number of Milestones (MS) completed as of the end of JUNE; Then calculate Cols D, E & F : ABCDEF Actual # of Milestones Completed Interim (i.e. cumu- lative to date) MS Target Total Life of Project MS Target % of Total Project MS (i.e. 19) Completed % of Target MS to Date (i.e. 12) Completed % Performance Variance to Date = 100 (A / C)= 100 (A / B)= 100 [(A-B) / B] 1219

Project Management in the GMS Learning Program Apr 2010, Mekong Institute, Khon Kaen, Thailand © 2010, Dr. Kenneth F. Smith, PMP 8 Performance Evaluation Percentages Ready Reference MSMS TD%TD% %100% LoP%LoP% %63% St at us ONON

Project Management in the GMS Learning Program Apr 2010, Mekong Institute, Khon Kaen, Thailand © 2010, Dr. Kenneth F. Smith, PMP 9 Mid-Term Evaluation Observations from Experience-to-Date  On-going Situational Risk Assessment necessary to mitigate “Triple Threat” — i.e. Time, Cost and Technical Performance Planned Activity Time Estimates & Schedule are rarely – if ever -- maintained Actual Activity Implementation Performance is limited by Availability of Resources as well as Sequential – i.e. Before : After -- Activity Constraints Actual Activity Implementation Timing is often limited to Targets of Opportunity – i.e. can work on some Activities and complete Milestones earlier than originally scheduled, but may not be able to work on Activities or complete the Milestones that were scheduled The initial “Critical Path” may – and usually does -- change during implementation as the completion of some Milestones and Activities is delayed Cash Flow Management To avoid going Bankrupt Must Anticipate Future Cost Requirements as well as Income to Assess Needs Must Maintain Adequate Cash-on-hand for Intermittent Unforeseen Payments Must Obtain Adequate Funding Reserves for Expenses in a Timely Manner

Project Management in the GMS Learning Program Apr 2010, Mekong Institute, Khon Kaen, Thailand © 2010, Dr. Kenneth F. Smith, PMP 10 FINAL -- Lessons Learned?  Network-Based Implementation Plan highlights the Project Manager’s priorities: Time-scaled “Activity-on-arrow” highlights the “Critical Path” Time-scaled “Activity-on-arrow” highlights Concurrent Activities Time-scaled “Activity-on-arrow” highlights Slack Time – i.e. “Hurry up & Wait” and/or “Wait & Hurry Up” “Merge Milestones” highlight Constraints / “Bottlenecks”  On-going Situational Risk Assessment necessary to mitigate “Triple Threat” — i.e. Time, Cost and Technical Performance Planned Activity Time Estimates & Schedule are rarely – if ever -- maintained Actual Activity Implementation Performance is limited by Availability of Resources as well as Sequential Activity Constraints Actual Activity Implementation Timing is often limited to Targets of Opportunity The initial “Critical Path” may – and usually does -- Change during Implementation  Cash Flow Management Must Anticipate Future Cost Requirements as well as Income to Assess Needs Must Maintain Adequate Cash-on-hand for Intermittent Unforeseen Payments Must Obtain Adequate Funding Reserves for Expenses in a Timely Manner