A project can be considered as consisting of several phases:

 Client’s needs; Work breakdown Doing or delegating; Deliver;Objectives; Specifications Monitoring; Wrap up;Strategy. Schedule Adjusting. Evaluate;

Budget Celebrate.  

DEFINING PLANNING IMPLEMENTING COMPLETING

Why is PP so important?

With a good plan you can avoid most common reasons why projects collapse.

Reasons like:

•Time•Optimism•Human resources arrangement•No Full-Control

PROJECT PARAMETERS or TRIPLE CONSTRAINTS: 

-> QUALITY -> TIME -> COST

One of these will be the driver, the most important. Another will be the secondary constraint;The third will be the weak constraint. The driver needs to be carefully determined by asking the client questions.

Project Planning STEPS:

1.Estimate the duration of each activity.

2. Determine the sequence of activities and assign them.

STEP ONE:Estimate the duration of each activity.

•WBS

The WBS was initially developed by the U.S. Defence estabilishment, and it is described in Military Standard (MIL-STD) 881B (25 Mar 93):

"A work breakdown structure is a product-oriented family tree composed of hardware, software, services, data and facilities .... [it] displays and defines the product(s) to be developed and/or produced and relates the elements of work to be accomplished to each other and to the end product(s)."

•Main idea is to divide the project into smaller, managable parts•Many levels

Division types examples:•Lifecycles•Work types•Requirements

What WBS really is?

WORK BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE

Each part has to be:

Manageablespecific authority and responsibility assigned to each

Independentminimum interfacing with and dependence on other tasks

Integratablethe total project is accounted for by the set of tasks

Measurableresults measured in terms of progress by completion of tasks.

Some simple math:

To = an optimistic estimate of how long the task will takeTp = a pessimistic estimate of how long the task will takeTm = the most probably estimate of how long

the task will takeThen determine the expected time Te (time expected) by using the following formula

Te = (To + 4 Tm + Tp ) / 6

Trap:Don’t get TOO excited!

Why?

Partitioning your into micro-parts may:•Kill creativity•Kill your(PM) free time

When micro-planning is ok?•Lack of motivation•AI below avagare

What next?

Pick One:•Gantt chart•PERT chart•CPA

Gantt chart:The Gantt chart, developed by Charles Gantt in 1917, focuses on the sequence of tasks necessary for completion of the project at hand.  Each task on a Gantt chart is represented as a single horizontal bar on an X-Y chart

Task Possible start Length Type Dependenton...

1. High level analysis week 1 5 days sequential  

2. Selection of hardware platform week 1 1 day sequential 1

3. Installation and commissioning of hardware week 3 2 weeks parallel 2

4. Detailed analysis of core modules week 1 2 weeks sequential 1

5. Detailed analysis of supporting utilities week 1 2 weeks sequential 4

6. Programming of core modules week 4 3 weeks sequential 4

7. Programming of supporting modules week 4 3 weeks sequential 5

8. Quality assurance of core modules week 5 1 week sequential 6

9. Quality assurance of supporting modules week 5 1 week sequential 7

10.Core module training week 7 1 day parallel 6

11.Development of accounting reporting week 6 1 week parallel 5

12.Development of management reporting week 6 1 week parallel 5

13.Development of management analysis week 6 2 weeks sequential 5

14.Detailed training week 7 1 week sequential 1-13

15.Documentation week 4 2 weeks parallel 13

What is CPA?

In 1957, DuPont developed the Critical Path Method (CPM) for managing shutting down chemical plants.

CPM provides the following benefits:•Provides a graphical view of the project. •Predicts the time required to complete the project. •Shows which activities are critical to maintaining the schedule and which are not.

How to make CPA chart?

1. List all activities in the plan->earliest start date, ->estimated length of time it will take, -> is it parallel or sequential. If tasks are sequential, show which stage they depend on.

Task Possible start Length Type Dependenton...

1. High level analysis week 1 5 days sequential  

2. Selection of hardware platform week 1 1 day sequential 1

3. Installation and commissioning of hardware week 3 2 weeks parallel 2

4. Detailed analysis of core modules week 1 2 weeks sequential 1

5. Detailed analysis of supporting utilities week 1 2 weeks sequential 4

6. Programming of core modules week 4 3 weeks sequential 4

7. Programming of supporting modules week 4 3 weeks sequential 5

8. Quality assurance of core modules week 5 1 week sequential 6

9. Quality assurance of supporting modules week 5 1 week sequential 7

10.Core module training week 7 1 day parallel 6

11.Development of accounting reporting week 6 1 week parallel 5

12.Development of management reporting week 6 1 week parallel 5

13.Development of management analysis week 6 2 weeks sequential 5

14.Detailed training week 7 1 week sequential 1-13

15.Documentation week 4 2 weeks parallel 13

2. Plot the activities as a circle and arrow diagram

CPM models the activities and events of a project as a network. Activities nodes Events arcs or lines

Identify the Critical Path

The critical path is the longest-duration path through the network. The critical path can be identified by determining the following four parameters for each activity:

ES - earliest start time:EF - earliest finish time, LF - latest finish time: LS - latest start time,

The critical path is the path through the project network in which none of the activities have slack, that is, the path for which ES=LS and EF=LF for all activities in the path. A delay in the critical path delays the project.

The Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) is a network model that allows for randomness in activity completion times. PERT was developed in the late 1950's for the U.S. Navy's Polaris project having thousands of contractors. It has the potential to reduce both the time and cost required to complete a project.

What is PERT?

PERT is a variation on Critical Path Analysis that takes a slightly more skeptical view of time estimates made for each project stage. To use it, estimate the shortest possible time each activity will take, the most likely length of time, and the longest time that might be taken if the activity takes longer than expected.

Example of a PERT chart:

Gantt Reloaded

•Shows inter-relationships between activities•Can show the results of work at given time•Can assign roles to workers