1. Project Management Applications Software Skills.
By: Ahmad Al-Ghoul
Philadelphia University

2. Learning Objectives
Explain what a project is, list various attributes of projects.
Describe project management, discuss Who uses Project Management.
Discuss The Project Management Process.
Explain Benefits of Project Management
Discuss how to control projects.
Discuss Suggested Steps in Project Management
Discuss the activities in a Project Life Cycle
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3. Learning Objectives
Explain Project Initiation Phase, Project Planning Phase, Project Execution Phase, Project controlling Phase and Project Close-out Phase.
Discuss Project Constraints includes, scope, time and cost
Understand the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS).
Explain and understand Project Scheduling.
Discuss and implement GANTT CHARTS.
Discuss and implement PERT and CPM
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4. What is Project Management?
Project : A group of milestones or phases, activities or tasks that support an effort to accomplish something
Management : is the process of Planning, Organizing, Controlling and Measuring
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5. Project...
A collection of linked activities, carried out in an organized manner, with a clearly defined START POINT and END POINT to achieve some specific results desired to satisfy the needs of the organization at the current time
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6. What Is a Project?
A project is “a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result.”*
Operations is work done to sustain the business.
A project ends when its objectives have been reached, or the project has been terminated.
Projects can be large or small and take a short or long time to complete.
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7. Attributes of a Project
Has a well-defined objective
Composed of a series of interdependent tasks
Utilizes various resources
Has a specific time frame
May be a unique or one-time endeavor
Has a customer
Involves a degree of uncertainty
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8. Project Management
A dynamic process that utilizes the appropriate resources of the organization in a controlled and structured manner, to achieve some clearly defined objectives identified as needs.
It is always conducted within a defined set of constraints
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9. Why Need Project Management?
Complex project needs coordination of:
Multiple people
Multiple resources (labs, equipment, etc.)
Multiple tasks – some must precede others
Multiple decision points – approvals
Phased expenditure of funds
Matching of people/resources to tasks
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10. Who uses Project Management?
Nearly Everyone to some degree
People plan their Days, their Weeks, their Vacations and their Budgets and keep a simple project management form known as ‘’To Do’’ list
Any Process or Means used to track tasks or efforts towards accomplishing a goal could be considered Project Management
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11. The Project Management Process
The project management process means planning the work and then working the plan.
Clearly define the project objective.
Divide and subdivide the project.
Define the specific activities that need to be performed.
Graphically schedule the activities in a project.
Make a time estimate.
Make a cost estimate.
Calculate a project schedule and budget.
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12. Benefits of Project Management
Less overall project cost
Effective use of resources
More timely project completion
Higher quality of the final product
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13. Controlling Projects Establish a baseline plan. Monitor progress.
Measure actual progress and compare it to planned progress.
Take corrective action if the project is behind schedule, overrunning the budget, or not meeting technical specifications.
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14. Suggested Steps in Project Management
Generate a formal definition of the project, with goals, constraints, assumptions
Identify project start/end dates, any mandatory milestones, including reports, signoffs, deliverables, etc.
List constraints – money, equipment availability, holidays, etc.
Identify tasks to be accomplished – high level (i.e., by categories), then details within each, using brainstorming method – green light
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15. Suggested Steps, cont.
Refine detailed task list, dropping/ combining, adding things omitted
Then, for each task in list:
Estimate time (person hours, calendar period)
Identify dependencies among tasks
Identify resources (people, money, parts, etc.)
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16. Suggested Steps, cont. Organize task groups roughly by starting date
List dependencies that should or MUST hold
Use MS Project to make a GANTT chart
First capture tasks and task groups, milestones
Identify critical path, see if it can be shortened
Assign person-hours and specific team member(s) to each task – identify “task leads”
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17. Suggested Steps, cont. As project progresses:
Monitor, record progress on all tasks, at least weekly – use “Tracking Gantt Chart”
Pay particular attention to those on critical path
Revise plan as needed to take into account changes, adapt to meet milestones
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18. Project Life Cycle Initiating Processes Planning Controlling Executing
Closing
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19. Project Initiation Phase
To commit the organization to a project or phase
To set the overall solution direction
To define top-level project objectives
To secure the necessary approvals and resources
Validate alignment with strategic objectives
To assign a project manager
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20. Project Planning Phase
Organize and staff the project
Develop a Project Plan
Sign off on the Project Plan
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21. Project Execution Phase
Execute the Project Plan
Manage the Project Plan
Implement the project’s results
Sign off on project’s completion
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22. Project controlling Phase
To keep the project on track in order to achieve its objectives as outlined in the project plan by:
Monitoring and reporting variances
Controlling scope changes
Controlling schedule changes
Controlling costs
Controlling quality
Responding to risks
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23. Project Close-out Phase
Document the lessons learned during the project
After-implementation review
Provide performance feedback
Close-out contracts
Complete administrative close-out
Deliver project completion report
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24. Project Constraints
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25. project scope definition
Project scope is the part of project planning that involves determining and documenting a list of specific project goals, deliverables, tasks and deadlines. 
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26. Project Constraint
The time constraint refers to the amount of time available to complete a project. The cost constraint refers to the budgeted amount available for the project. The scope constraint refers to what must be done to produce the project's end result. These three constraints are often competing constraints: increased scope typically means increased time and increased cost, a tight time constraint could mean increased costs and reduced scope, and a tight budget could mean increased time and reduced scope.
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27. Time
For analytical purposes, the time required to produce a deliverable is estimated using several techniques. One method is to identify tasks needed to produce the deliverables documented in a work breakdown structure or WBS. The work effort for each task is estimated and those estimates are rolled up into the final deliverable estimate.
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28. Project Time Management processes include:
Define Activities
Sequence Activities
Estimate Activity Resources
Estimate Activity Durations
Develop Schedule
Control Schedule
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29. Cost
To develop an approximation of a project cost depends on several variables including: resources, work packages such as labor rates and mitigating or controlling influencing factors that create cost variances.
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30. Cost Process Areas
Cost Estimating is an approximation of the cost of all resources needed to complete activities.
Cost budgeting aggregating the estimated costs of resources, work packages and activities to establish a cost baseline.
Cost Control – factors that create cost fluctuation and variance can be influenced and controlled using various cost management tools.
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31. Scope
Requirements specified to achieve the end result. The overall definition of what the project is supposed to accomplish, and a specific description of what the end result should be or accomplish. A major component of scope is the quality of the final product. The amount of time put into individual tasks determines the overall quality of the project. Some tasks may require a given amount of time to complete adequately, but given more time could be completed exceptionally. Over the course of a large project, quality can have a significant impact on time and cost (or vice versa).
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32. Stakeholder Relations
The triple constraint
Stakeholder Relations
Time
Cost
Quality
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33. Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
Breaks large project into manageable units
Total project
Subprojects
Milestones (completion of an important set of work packages)
Major activities (summary tasks)
Work packages (tasks, activities, work elements)
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34. Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
Helps to:
Identify all work needing to be done
Logically organize work so that is can be scheduled
Assign work to team members
Identify resources needed
Communicate what has to be done
Organize work using milestones
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35. Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
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36. Scheduling
Scheduling - Determination of timing and assembly of project activities to give overall completion time
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37. Basis for Project Schedule
Project objectives
Project scope
Project milestones
Project estimate (budget)
Resource availability
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38. Purposes of Project Scheduling
Shows the relationship of each activity to others and to the whole project
Identifies the precedence relationships among activities
Encourages the setting of realistic time and cost estimates for each activity
Helps make better use of people, money, and material resources by identifying critical bottlenecks in the project
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39. PROJECT SCHEDULING MODELS
Gantt charting and the Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT).
Both are schematic models, but the PERT also is a mathematical model.
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40. A Gantt chart is a tool to monitor progress
A Gantt chart is a tool to monitor progress. Showing both planned and actual outcomes for each phase, a Gantt chart allows you to isolate and solve scheduling problems in a methodical manner. While the project as a whole might be overwhelming, a Gantt chart helps in managing a large project by breaking the project into a series of smaller phases. As each phase is completed, you can see if the final deadline is likely to be met. If you are behind schedule, you can attempt to get back on track by absorbing the delay in one phase by making it up in another phase
A Gantt chart may be constructed using several techniques involving different combinations of lines and symbols. The actual and planned beginning and ending points for each phase are plotted along a time line. The first phase is plotted at the top and the last phase is plotted at the bottom. Gantt charts may be constructed by hand or through computer software packages.
GANTT CHARTS
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41. Steps to create Gantt chart
What the various activities are
When each activity begins and ends
How long each activity is scheduled to last
Where activities overlap with other activities, and by how much
The start and end date of the whole project
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42. Gantt chart
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43. PERT and CPM Network techniques Developed in 1950’s
CPM by DuPont for chemical plants (1957)
PERT by Booz, Allen & Hamilton with the U.S. Navy, for Polaris missile (1958)
Consider precedence relationships and interdependencies
Each uses a different estimate of activity times
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44. Six Steps PERT & CPM
Define the project and prepare the work breakdown structure
Develop relationships among the activities - decide which activities must precede and which must follow others
Draw the network connecting all of the activities
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45. Six Steps PERT & CPM
Assign time and/or cost estimates to each activity
Compute the longest time path through the network – this is called the critical path
Use the network to help plan, schedule, monitor, and control the project
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46. Questions PERT & CPM Can Answer
When will the entire project be completed?
What are the critical activities or tasks in the project?
Which are the noncritical activities?
What is the probability the project will be completed by a specific date?
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47. Questions PERT & CPM Can Answer
Is the project on schedule, behind schedule, or ahead of schedule?
Is the money spent equal to, less than, or greater than the budget?
Are there enough resources available to finish the project on time?
If the project must be finished in a shorter time, what is the way to accomplish this at least cost?
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48. PERT Diagram Example
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49. PERT Diagram Example
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50. PERT Diagram Example
For example, the optimistic time for completing activity H is 2 days, the most likely time is 4 days, but the pessimistic time is 12 days. The next step is to calculate an expected time, which is determined as follows:
te (expected time) = (a + 4m + b) / 6
For example, for activity H, the expected time is
(2 + 4(4) + 12) / 6 = 30 / 6 = 5 days
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51. PERT Diagram Example
As a measure of variation (uncertainty) about the expected time, the standard deviation is calculated as follows:
σ = (b - a) / 6
For example, the standard deviation of completion time for activity H is:
σ = (12 - 2) / 6 = 10 / 6 = 1.67 days
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52. COMPUTATIONS OF EXPECTED TIME AND STANDARD DEVIATION
Activity Predecessors a m b te σ
A None
B None
C A
D B
E B
F E
G C,D,F
H E
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53. Critical Path
An easy way to find the critical path involves the following two steps:
1. Identify all possible paths of a project and calculate their completion times.
2. Pick the one with the longest amount of completion time, which is the critical path.
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54. Critical Path In the example, we have: Path Completion time
A-C-G 13 days ( )
B-D-G 20 days ( )
B-E-F-G 17 days ( )
B-E-H 9 days ( )
The critical path is B-D-G, which means it takes 20 days to complete the project.
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55. Philadelphia University