1. Project management concepts
Tutorial 11
Project management concepts

2. What is project work?
Temporary work that produces strategic or operating improvement changes in the form of products or services of business results
Strategy Work
Operational Improvements
Strategies
Operational Changes
Project Work
Strategic Changes
Operational Work

3. ERP Project Work aka SDLC
ERP are systems
 therefore ERP project work involves developing ERP systems
The key SDLC / work phases involved in developing any IT systems, including ERP systems are:
Planning Phase:
Prepare business case for acquiring a new IT system, or improving an existing one
2) Analysis Phase:
Collect ERP system requirements
Specify ERP system requirements
Data model specs
Process model specs
Reporting samples
3) Design Phase:
Design & integrate IT system components
Document IT design specs
4) Implementation Phase:
Code and Test IT system or Buy & Test IT system or Outsource & Test IT system
5) Maintenance Phase:
Upgrade system version
Make system improvement changes

4. Triple Constraints What is the Triple Constraints Theory?
The Triple Constraints theory is a model that explains how the 3 restrictions of project management affect the quality of project work and its outcomes
For ERP projects
Project scope planning defines:
The functional design of an ERP system (product) a project develops
The work breakdown structure (WBS) of project activities involved in developing the ERP system
Time planning defines
When and who execute the WBS activities of project work
Cost planning defines
How much to spend period by period on project work
Defines product & process quality
Defines capacity to meet scheduled timelines
Defines capacity to meet estimate project costs (and business case targets)

5. Triple Constraints What the Triple Constraints Theory says:
The interaction of Project Scope, Schedule & Cost constraints each other, and ultimately affects the product and performance quality of project work
Changes in scope will mean changes in system requirement and SDLC work
Product & Performance Quality Impacts
Changes in time affects labour & procurement costs  changes in project cost
Changes in time to complete changes  changes in schedules

6. Triple Constraints – Explanation of Scope, Time & Cost Change Interactions
Dev same functionality in shorter project term
Dev less functionality with lesser $ 2 1 1 2
Lesser functionality require lesser dev time
Same functionality require more dev cost
Change Driver
Budget Cut
Change Driver
Shorter Deadline

7. Triple Constraints – Explanation of Scope, Time & Cost Change Interactions
Change Driver
Scope Increase 1 1
More system functionality require more dev time
More Dev time require more dev labour effort cost

8. Critical Path – Shortest Duration (Time) in Project
PERT Chart
A-B-D-E-H
3+4+3 = 10
= 42 C
5 days I K
3 days
4 days
4 days
3 days
3 days
8 days A B M N
8 days E H
10 days
8 days
4 days
4 days
2 days
10 days D F J L
42+3 = 45
6 days
5 days
10 days
= 40 G
A-B-E-H  = 25
A-B-D-F-H  = 21
A-B-D-G-H  = 23
What is the critical path for the project?
 A-B-D-E-H-I-K-M-N

9. How to calculate Critical Path?
First thing you need to do is to convert a Schedule Gantt Chart into
Activity dependency diagram
Second is to translate that Activity Dependency Diagram into a
PERT Chart
Third is to calculate the Critical Path:
There are 2 common ways to calculate CRITICAL PATH
Calculate slack time of each project activity in a PERT Chart  all activities with ZERO slack form the critical path
Identify & calculate the duration time-periods of all activity paths in a PERT chart  the one with the shortest duration is the critical path

10. Other Project Management Rules of Thumb
A rule requiring 100% planning of all tasks, including all of the internal, external and interim tasks
15-15 Rule
A rule suggesting that if a project is more than 15 percent over budget or 15 percent off the planned schedule, it will likely never recoup the time or cost necessary to be considered successful

11. Summary of what you have learnt, including through assignments’ work
Be Involved in project work
Most likely supporting business analysis work, to help specify business system requirements for developers to developer buy the ERP system or new modules
As future Business Analyst
Your possible future roles:
Help write the business case
Collecting business system requirements using techniques like interviews, selecting and reading user documentation, etc
Translate the documented requirements into data and process models
Create some sample reports
Document the models and sample reports, to produce user & functional specs for developers to use, and guide user acceptance testing of coded ERP system later on
Help project manager monitor triple constraints’ impacts on projects
Help assess system risk and prepare a risk management plan proposal