1. Project planning Unit 3 Employability and Professional Development
HND in Computing and Systems Development

2. Learning outcome 2
LO2 Be able to demonstrate acquired interpersonal and transferable skills
Effective communication: verbal and non-verbal eg awareness and use of body language, openness and responsiveness, formal and informal feedback to and from colleagues; IT as an effective communication medium; team meetings
Interpersonal skills: soft skills eg personal effectiveness, working with others, use of initiative, negotiating skills, assertiveness skills, social skills
Time management: prioritising workloads; setting work objectives; using time effectively; making and keeping appointments; reliable estimates of task time

3. Assessment criteria LO2
2.1 Communicate in a variety of styles and appropriate manner at various levels Team meetings from web development will be used as one example of this for your assignment
2.2 Demonstrate effective time management strategies We will use project planning techniques to demonstrate this

4. Approaches to planning an IT project
Product based
Identify the products that will be delivered, such as
IT equipment
Training
Activity based
Identify the tasks needed, such as
Install IT equipment
Train staff
As most projects generate products, we will focus on the product based approach

5. Product based planning
Identify the product deliverables
Software components
Equipment
Documents
Training manuals
Procedure manuals
Database
Anything created by the project and delivered to the client
Each item is considered to be a product

6. Intermediate products
Created during the project but may not be delivered to the client
Software specifications
Database structure
Test plans
Test reports
Progress reports
Intermediate products can be listed in a product breakdown structure

7. Product definitions Each product should have a product definition
Its identity – “Acceptance test plan”
A description – “A plan of the test cases and the results users expect the application to produce”
The products this product is derived from – “the acceptance test plan is derived from the specification”
The components that make up the product
The format of the product – e.g. document or code
The quality criteria – how will the product be judged

8. Product flow diagram Shows the order in which the products are created
Oval shape for a pre existing product
Software
Specification
Application
software
Office
Procedures
Installed
Systems
Training
Manual
Trained
Staff

9. Activity planning
An activity network shows the activities required and the order in which they are carried out
Activity on node method used
Boxes represent nodes
A node represents an activity
Lines between the nodes show where the start of an activity depends on the completion of another activity

10. Activity on node
Do B
Do A
Do D
Do C

11. Activity on node Write software Install Systems Start End Define
procedures
Write
manual
Zero duration milestones

12. Elapsed time
Elapsed time is the time from the start to the end of the activity
Effort is the elapsed time multiplied by the number of staff
Elapsed time = 4 days
Allocated staff = 3
Effort = 12 staff days
Start by estimating the elapsed time

13. Elapsed time Conventions Days start at 0
Do B
7 days
Do A
4 days
Do D
3 days
Do C
5 days
Conventions
Days start at 0
Day 0 means “the end of day 0” – effectively start of day 1
Earliest finish date = (earliest start date + duration)
Earliest finish date for A is day 4 (the end of day 4)

14. Start and finish dates Calculations
Do B
7 days
Do A
4 days
Do D
3 days
Do C
5 days
Calculations
Earliest start date of B and C is day
Earliest finish date of B is day
Earliest finish date of C is day
Earliest start date of D is day
Earliest finish date of D is day

15. Start and finish dates Calculations
Do B
7 days
Do A
4 days
Do D
3 days
Do C
5 days
Calculations
Earliest start date of B and C is day 4
Earliest finish date of B is day 11
Earliest finish date of C is day 9
Earliest start date of D is day 11
Earliest finish date of D is day 14

16. Start and finish dates ES = 4 LS = EF = 11 LF = ES = 0 LS =
Do B
7 days
Do A
4 days
Do D
3 days
Do C
5 days
ES = 4 LS =
EF = 9 LF =
Earliest start date of B and C is day 4
Earliest finish date of B is day 11
Earliest finish date of C is day 9
Earliest start date of D is day 11
Earliest finish date of D is day 14

17. Start and finish dates ES = 4 LS = EF = 11 LF = ES = 0 LS =
Do B
7 days
Do A
4 days
Do D
3 days
Do C
5 days
ES = 4 LS =
EF = 9 LF =
Latest start date = latest finish date of current activity – duration
Working backwards
Latest finish date for D is day
Latest start date for D is day
Complete for C, B and A

18. Float ES = 4 LS = 4 EF = 11 LF = 11 ES = 0 LS = 0 EF = 4 LF = 4
Do B
7 days
Do A
4 days
Do D
3 days
Do C
5 days
ES = 4 LS = 6
EF = 9 LF = 11
Earliest and latest start dates are the same for A, B and D
They are different for C
If C starts on the earliest start date, it could be late by up to 2 days without delaying the end date
The 2 days are called “float”
Float = latest finish date – earliest start date - duration

19. Critical path ES = 4 LS = 4 EF = 11 LF = 11 ES = 0 LS = 0
Do B
7 days
Do A
4 days
Do D
3 days
Do C
5 days
ES = 4 LS = 6
EF = 9 LF = 11
A, B and D have zero float
The sequence A, B and D is the “critical path”
Any delay in A, B and D will delay the whole project

20. MS Project
Can create GANTT charts

21. MS Project network diagram
Select diagrams in the View menu
Critical path identified in RED
Float in Blue

22. Exercise B 10 days E 3 days A 0 days C 35 days G 1 days H 3 days IF
5 days
By hand - calculate the earliest and latest start and finish date and floats for each of the activities
Identify the critical path

23. MS Project Use MS Project
to draw the Gantt chart for the previous exercise
then use the View menu to see the network diagram

24. MS Project Network Diagram
Critical path in RED
Float in BLUE
Milestones non rectangular (0 day events)

25. Activity
Scenario:
You are responsible for planning the new installation of IT equipment into a small training company
You have 3 employees
1 general electrician and cabling
1 desktop technician
1 server and networking technician
Use MS Project
to draw the Gantt chart for the previous exercise
then use the View menu to see the network diagram

26. Facts There are 4 IT teaching rooms to be equipped
Each room has 12 desktop PCs
There is one server room; set –up will take one day (1 person)
It takes 2 people to install network cables
They can do one room a day
It takes 2 people to install the networking and server rack
Each machine takes 2 hours to install (1 person).
You could image a whole room in 2 hours if the imaging server is working; plus 1 hour to ‘unbox’ each machine (1 person).