Project management

Chapter two: Planning

 Chapter objectives
• Understand the importance of project schedules and good
project time management.

• Define activities as the basis for developing project

schedules.

• Describe how project managers use network diagrams and

dependencies to assist in activity sequencing.

• Understand the relationship between estimating resources

and project schedules.

• Explain how various tools and techniques help project

managers perform activity duration estimating
Chapter objectives
• Use a Gantt chart for planning and tracking schedule
information, find the critical path for a project, and
describe how critical chain scheduling and the Program
Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) affect schedule
development.

• Discuss how reality checks and people issues are involved

in controlling and managing changes to the project
schedule.

• Describe how project management software can assist in

project time management and review words of caution
before using this software.
Concepts and principles

 Five constraint parameters operate on every project:

 Scope
 Quality
 Cost
 Time
 Resources

 These constraints are an interdependent set;

 Change in one can cause a change in another constraint to

restore the equilibrium of the project.

 In this context, the set of five parameters form a system that

must remain in balance for the project to be in balance
Concepts and principles
The scope
• It is a statement that defines the boundaries of the
project.
• It tells not only what will be done but also what will not
be done.
• Scope may also be referred to as a functional
specification, statement of work, document of
understanding, a scoping statement, a project initiation
document, and a project request form
• It is no secret that scope can change. We do not know
how or when, but it will change. Detecting that change
and deciding how to accommodate it in the project plan
are major challenges for the project manager….
• There are different types of changes in the scope of a
project
Cont.

Scope changes

• four types

 Scope creep:- any change in the project that was

not in the original plan.

 Hope creep:- is the result of a project team

member's getting behind schedule but reporting
that he or she is on schedule and hoping to get back
on schedule at the next report date
Concepts and principles

• Scope change (Cntd)

 Effort creep:- is the result of the team

member's working but not making
progress proportionate to the work
expended

 Feature creep:- results when the team

members arbitrarily adds features and
functions to the deliverable that they think the
customer would want to have…
Quality

• Two types of quality are part of every project

• The first is product quality: that refers to the
quality of the deliverable from the project.
• The second type of quality is process quality,
which is the quality of the project management
process itself. The focus is on how well the project
management process works and how can it be
improved.
• Continuous quality improvement and process
quality management are the tools used to
measure process quality
Cost

• Cost is a major consideration throughout the project

management cycle.
• The first consideration occurs at an early and
informal stage in the life of a project.
• The customer can simply offer a figure about equal to
what he or she had in mind for the project.
• In more formal situations, the project manager
prepares proposal for the projected work that
includes an estimate (perhaps even a quote) of the
total cost of the project. Even if a preliminary figure
had been supplied by the project manager, the
proposal allows the customer to base his or her go /
no-go decision on better estimates…..
Time

• The customer specifies a timeframe or deadline date

within which project must be completed. To a certain
extent, cost and time are inversely related to one
another. The time a project takes to be completed can
be reduced, but cost increases as a result.
• project manager should to use the future time
allotted to the project in the most effective and
productive ways possible .
• Once a project has begun, the prime resource
available to the project manager to keep the project
on schedule or get it back on schedule is time. A
good project manager realizes this and will protect
the future time resource jealously….
Resources

• Resources are assets, such as people, equipment,

physical facilities, or inventory that have limited
availabilities, can be scheduled, or can be leased
from an outside party. Some are fixed; others are
variable only in the long term. In any case, they
are central to the scheduling of project activities
and the orderly completion of the project…
 The Scope Triangle: Time, Cost,
and Resource Availability

• Projects are dynamic systems that must be kept in

equilibrium.

• The geographic area inside the triangle

represents the scope and quality of the
project. Lines representing time, cost, and
resource availability bound scope and quality.
Cont.

• The project plan will have identified the time, cost,

and resource availability needed to deliver the
scope and quality of a project. In other words, the
project is in equilibrium at the completion of the
project planning session and approval of the
commitment of resources and dollars to the
project. That will not last too long, however.
Change is waiting around the corner.
Cont.

• The scope triangle offers a number of insights into

the changes that can occur in the life of the project.
For example, the triangle represents a system in
balance before any project work has been done. The
sides are long enough to encompass the area
generated by the scope and quality statements.
Cont.

• Not long after work begins, something is sure to

change. Perhaps the customer calls with an
additional requirement for a feature that was not
envisioned during the planning sessions.
• Perhaps the market opportunities have changed,
and it is necessary to reschedule the deliverables
to an earlier date, or a key team member leaves
the company and will be difficult to replace.
Anyone of these changes throws the system out
of balance.
Cont.
• The project manager controls resource

utilization and work schedules.

• Management controls cost and resource level.

• The customer controls scope, quality, and delivery

dates.
• This suggests a hierarchy for the project manager
as solutions to accommodate the changes are
sought
Aspects of a project

Project aim Scope

Project

Organi
sation

Qua-
Time
lity

Cost
Turner, p.8
 Aspects of a project

Project aim Scope

Project

Stake- Organi Health,

sation Impact,
holders
Qua-
Safety,
Time Security,
lity
...
Saf
Ris e
Cost
ks ty
Turner, p.8
Trade-offs when managing a project

Scope

Viability Performance

Cost Qua-
lity

Competi-
Effort
tiveness

Time
What kind of supporting technologies
are available?
1. Paper specifications
2. Work breakdown structures
3. Configuration (specification) management
4. Bar charts (planning)
5. Network planning techniques
6. Task - responsibility matrices
7. Performance indicators and measurements
8. Matrix organisation
9. Cost control
10. Contract administration
11. Quality control
12. Human Resource Management
13. Etc. etc. etc.
Will this solve all the problems mentioned?
Work Breakdown Structure

Hierarchical structure of the tasks

Clearly numbered for administrative purposes

• Small parts are easier to oversee and manage,

so reduction of uncertainty

• But: when the parts are strongly

interdependent and dynamic, it can be even
harder to manage

• Small parts are easier to understand, so

reduction of complexity

• But: many small parts form a complex whole,

especially when we have “unruly technology”
 Standard project phases for engineering
project
Project Project Project
Need or Start Execution End
Opportunity
for a Project

Initiation and Design and Implementation Commission

Concept Development or Execution and Handover
Phase Phase Phase Phase

1 2 3 4 Use of
Product

- Feasibility - Preliminary - Detailed - Confirmation

Study Design of Design and that Product
- Project Goal product Implementation has been
Definition - Baseline Plan of Product implemented
and Schedule to the Design
for Implement- - Termination of
ation Project
Project planning

Introduction
• The key to a successful project is in planning

• Planning is the first thing you do when undertaking a

project
• Often project planning is ignored to rush in for the work

• The value of project planning

 saving money

 saving time

 solving many problems

• Remember: If you fail to plan, you plan to fail

Definition

Planning is the area that concerned with

the various methods of arranging and
employing materials, equipment, labours,
money, and subcontractors to carry out
the day-to-day operations of the project.
Project planning, introduction

• Major reasons for project runaways

 unclear objectives

 bad planning

 no project management methodology

 new technology

 insufficient staff

• All of these relate to project management

• Effective project management is key to

successfully executing a project..
Prior understanding

• Project proposal preparation

• Aim of project – what do we want to produce?
• Outputs – what do we actually need to get
there? need to be clearly defined
• Quality criteria – what quality the outputs need
to be of
• Resources – include staff time, particular
knowledge or skill sets, money, time
• The scope of the project
• Completion time
Prior understanding

• Dependencies – what need to happen before

something else? Understanding dependencies will help
understand the impact of changes in any part of the
project; internal (within your control); external
(outside of your control)
• Risks – what could go wrong? what could happen that
may affect your ability to deliver the project on time?
what can you do to avoid them?
Prior understanding

• Management structure – how are we going

to manage the work?; decision makers?; how
to share project progress and to whom?

• Milestones – how to break up the project?;

• Tolerances – how far can you let the project

stray from the defined targets before sounding
the alarm- will help to manage the project
without continually seeking guidance from the
top executives as to whether you should carry
on…
Why planning

• Managers often cite delivering projects on time

as one of their biggest challenges
• Schedule issues are the main reason for conflicts
on projects, especially during the second half of
projects.

• Time has the least amount of flexibility; it passes

no matter what happens on a project.

• Some people prefer to follow schedules and meet

deadlines while others do not.
Why planning

• Different cultures and even entire countries

have different attitudes about schedules.
• Planning reduces uncertainty.

• Planning increases understanding.

• Planning improves efficiency.

• Conflicts existing from different parts

Aspects of planning
Aspects of planning
Project documents

Activity list
Basic resource managing
Network diagram
Duration & resource estimate
Basic critical path calculations
Time-cost adjustment
Time-resource adjustment
Schedule plan for implementation
Is current plan ok
update Field reports

Project complete
What to do?

Step 1 – Project goals

• Identify the stakeholders of the project

• Establish the needs of the stakeholders by

interviewing or having consolidated meetings

• Prioritize stakeholders needs

• Create a set of goals that can be easily measured

(you may use the SMART technique for this)..
What to do?

Step 2 – Project Deliverables

• Create a list of things that need to be delivered to
meet the defined goals

• Specify when and how each item must be

delivered

• Add deliverables to the project plan with an

estimated delivery date..
What to do?

Step 3 – Project Schedule

• Create a list of tasks that need to be carried out for each
deliverable identified previously
 Identify the amount of effort needed (hours or days)

 Identify resource that will do the task

• Organize all the above information using a scheduling

software or template
What to do? (cntd)

• You may found that the project estimated

deadline is not aligned with the “imposed project
deadline” by the sponsor

• Renegotiate the deadline (project delay)

 Employ additional resources (additional

money)
 Reduce the scope of the project (less
deliverables)
 Be firm and do not make commitments other
than what your schedule and budget dictate..
What to do?

Step 4 – Supporting plans

• Human resource plan

• Identify by name the individuals with a leading role in

the project and describe roles and responsibilities
 Describe the number and type of people needed to
carryout the project
 Include SME’s (subject matter experts) and specific
trades of the market
 Create a single sheet with the above information

 The above will help establishing the project budget

Cont.

Step 4 – Supporting Plans

Communications plan
 Who needs to be informed about the project

 How will they receive the information

• Weekly/monthly progress reports to include

performance, status, milestones achieved, work
planned for next periods, etc.
What to do?

Step 4 – Supporting Plans

Risk Management Plan

• Identify as many risks to your project as Possible

• Be prepared if something bad happens

• Common project risks

 time and costs estimates too optimistic

 Unexpected budget cuts

 Scope changes

 Atmospheric events

• Write down a mitigation plan for every risk; how to address

each risk
Risk management tasks

RISK IDENTIFICATION

RISK ASSESSMENT RISK ANALYSIS

RISK PRIORITIZATION
RISK
MANAGEMENT RISK MANAGEMENT
PLANNING

RISK CONTROL RISK RESOLUTION

RISK MONITORING
Possible risks (software development)

Risk Affects Description

Staff turnover Project Experienced staff will leave the project before it is finished.
Management change Project There will be a change of organisational management with
different priorities.
Hardware unavailability Project Hardware that is essential for the project will not be
delivered on schedule.
Requirements change Project and There will be a larger number of changes to the
product requirements than anticipated.
Specification delays Project and Specifications of essential interfaces are not available on
product schedule
Size underestimate Project and The size of the system has been underestimated.
product
CASE tool under- Product CASE tools which support the project do not perform as
performance anticipated
Technology change Business The underlying technology on which the system is built is
superseded by new technology.
Product competition Business A competitive product is marketed before the system is
completed.
Risk management process

Risk Risk
Risk analysis Risk planning
identification monitoring

Risk avoidance
List of potential Prioritised risk Risk
and contingency
risks list assessment
plans
Effective plans
Include
• Business perspective – financial, technical
commercial
• Deliverable components and the tasks required
• Clearly defined organizational responsibilities
• Product requirements and deliverables
• Risk quantified in $ or hours and risk management
strategy proposed
• Sensible task durations
• Sensible task size
• Defined acceptance criteria.../
Process of project time management
• Activity definition: Identifying the specific activities that the
project team members and stakeholders must perform to
produce the project deliverables.
• Activity sequencing: Identifying and documenting the
relationships between project activities.
• Activity resource estimating: Estimating how many
resources a project team should use to perform project
activities.
• Activity duration estimating: Estimating the number of work
periods that are needed to complete individual activities.
• Schedule development: Analyzing activity sequences,
activity resource estimates, and activity duration estimates to
create the project schedule.
• Schedule control: Controlling and managing changes to the
project schedule.
Activity definitions

• An activity or task is an element of work

normally found on the WBS that has an
expected duration, a cost, and resource
requirements.
• Project schedules grow out of the basic
documents that initiate a project.
 The project charter includes start and end
dates and budget information.
 The scope statement and WBS help define
what will be done.
Activity definition..

• Activity definition involves developing a more

detailed WBS and supporting explanations to
understand all the work to be done, so you can
develop realistic cost and duration estimates

• An activity list is a tabulation of activities to be

included on a project schedule. The list should
include:

 The activity name

 An activity identifier or number

 A brief description of the activity

Work breakdown structure (WBS)
“A hierarchy of all project’s tasks”
• Project scope’s decomposition
• Help define project’s deliverables into small and
manageable components
• Provide a structure for cost estimation and resource
allocation
Work breakdown structure, example

Work Breakdown Structure for Computer

Order Processing System Project
Activity definition..

• Activity attributes provide more

information about each activity, such as
predecessors, successors, logical
relationships, leads and lags, resource
requirements, constraints, imposed dates,
and assumptions related to the activity..
Activity sequencing

• Involves reviewing activities and determining

dependencies.

• A dependency or relationship relates to

the sequencing of project activities or tasks.

• You must determine dependencies in order to

use critical path analysis
Types of activity dependencies

• Mandatory dependencies: Inherent in the

nature of the work being performed on a
project; sometimes referred to as hard logic.

• Discretionary dependencies: Defined by

the project team; sometimes referred to as
soft logic and should be used with care
because they may limit later scheduling
options.

• External dependencies: Involve

relationships between project and non-project
activities..
Network diagram

• Network diagrams are the preferred

technique for showing activity sequencing.

• A network diagram is a schematic display

of the logical relationships among, or
sequencing of, project activities.

• Two main formats are the arrow and

precedence diagramming methods.
Definitions related to networking

• Network analysis is the general name given to

certain specific techniques which can be used for
the planning, management and control of projects
• Use of nodes and arrows
Arrows: an arrow leads from tail to head
directionally
 Indicate ACTIVITY, a time consuming effort that
is required to perform a part of the work.
Nodes :- A node is represented by a circle
 - Indicate EVENT, a point in time where one or
more activities start and/or finish.
Definitions related to networking..

• Activity

– A task or a certain amount of work required in the

project

– Requires time to complete

– Represented by an arrow

• Dummy Activity

– Indicates only precedence relationships

– Does not require any time of effort

– Indicated by broken lines

Definitions related to networking..
• Event
 Signals the beginning or ending of an activity
 Designates a point in time
 Represented by a circle (node)
• Network
 Shows the sequential relationships among activities
using nodes and arrows

 Activity-on-node (AON):- nodes represent activities, and

arrows show precedence relationships

 Activity-on-arrow (AOA):- arrows represent activities and

nodes are events for points in time
Activity on arrow (AOA) method

3
Lay Dummy
foundatio
n
2 0 Build Finish
house work
3 1
1 2 4 3
6 1
7
Design Order
house and and 1 1
obtain receive Select Select
financing material paint carpet
s

5
Activity on a node

Lay Build house

foundations

2 4
Finish work
2 3
7
Star 1 1
t 3

Design 6
house and 3
obtain 1 5 1
financing
1 Select carpet
Order and
receive Select paint
materials
Arrow diagram method (ADM)

• Also called activity-on-arrow (AOA) network

diagram.

• Activities are represented by arrows.

• Nodes or circles are the starting and ending

points of activities.

• Can only show finish-to-start dependencies

Process of AOA creation
1. Find all of the activities that start at node 1. Draw their finish
nodes and draw arrows between node 1 and those finish nodes.
Put the activity letter or name and duration estimate on the
associated arrow.

2. Continuing drawing the network diagram, working from left to

right. Look for bursts and merges. A burst occurs when a single
node is followed by two or more activities. A merge occurs
when two or more nodes precede a single node.

3. Continue drawing the project network diagram until all

activities that have dependencies are included in the diagram.

4. As a rule of thumb, all arrowheads should face toward the right,

and no arrows should cross in an AOA network diagram.
Situations in network diagram

B
A A must finish before either B or C
can start
C
A
C both A and B must finish before C
B can start
A C both A and C must finish before
B either of B or D can start
D
A B
A must finish before B can start
Dum both A and C must finish before D
my can start….
C
D
Planning techniques

GANTT CHART

•Gantt charts provide a standard format for displaying project

schedule information by listing project activities and their
corresponding start and finish dates in a calendar format.

•Symbols include:

 Black diamonds: Milestones

 Thick black bars: Summary tasks

 Lighter horizontal bars: Durations of tasks

 Arrows: Dependencies between tasks

Gantt chart
History of CPM/PERT

• Critical Path Method (CPM)

 E I Du Pont de Nemours & Co. (1957) for
construction of new chemical plant and
maintenance shut-down

 Deterministic task times

 Activity-on-node network construction

 Repetitive nature of jobs

History of CPM/PERT

• Project Evaluation and Review Technique

(PERT)
 U S Navy (1958) for the POLARIS missile
program

 Multiple task time estimates (probabilistic

nature)

 Activity-on-arrow network construction

 Non-repetitive jobs (R & D work)

Planning techniques

Critical Path Method (CPM)

• CPM is a network diagramming technique used to predict total

project duration.

• A critical path for a project is the series of activities that

determines the earliest time by which the project can be
completed.

• The critical path is the longest path through the network diagram
and has the least amount of slack or float.

• Slack or float is the amount of time an activity can be delayed

without delaying a succeeding activity or the project finish date.
CPM, Advantages

 shows relationships.

 more effective planning.

 pinpoints problem areas.

 improves communications.

 resource allocation.

 study of alternate courses of action.

 Management By Exception identifying the critical

operations, and permits true “MBE”.
CPM, Limitations

 Not a substitute for thinking or planning.

 Project manager and his staff must be a part of the

planning process.

 Should not be confined to the preliminary

planning stages of the project.

 It furnishes only information....//

Schedule control

• Goals are to know the status of the schedule,

influence factors that cause schedule changes,
determine that the schedule has changed, and
manage changes when they occur.
• Tools and techniques include:
 Progress reports.

 A schedule change control system.

 Variance analysis, such as analyzing float or slack.

 Performance management, such as earned value

Reality checking on schedule

• Review the draft schedule or estimated

completion date in the project charter.

• Prepare a more detailed schedule with the

project team.

• Make sure the schedule is realistic and

followed.

• Alert top management well in advance if

there are schedule problems…///
 Assignment

• Generate/ Develop 3
Project Titles/ Topics

• Work/prepare
project proposal on
one of the selected
title (15/02/2015)
THANK
YOU !!