Project Planning: Purpose and Factors

Planning

• Planning covers techniques for managing project phases.

Index Topics

• The topics covered include the purpose of planning
• Also how to develop a planning strategy, step by step.

Project Charter

• Definition can be converted into planning.

Planning: Purpose

• Planning the resources includes the project plan organization and project structure.
• Time and resources include material, human, and financial aspects.
• Management is the pillar of managing projects.
• Communication and coordination is key
• Controlling projects require main tools
• Requirements satisfaction is key
• Avoiding problems also is important
• Involving collaborators in the planning process is recommended.

Factors that Affect the Organization

• Project's organizational reach
• The magnitude and complexity of the project
• Organizational level and position
• Project time scale, either "normal" or "fast track"
• The type of organization determines structure.
• Includes functional, matrix matricial, and projectized structures

Planning Methodology

• Collect requirements & define scope
• Create a Work Breakdown Structure(WBS) which creates a network diagram
• Diagram includes definition of activities
• Diagram includes sequencing activities
• Diagram incorporates estimating durations and resources
• Need to create a WBS dictionary
• Develop a Gantt chart
• Manage costs

Collecting Requirements and Defining Scope

• It's important to consider different types of requirements for a project.
• What business needs this project addresses
• What Stakeholders want to gain from the project
• Products functional requirements
• What handoff procedures or training are needed to transfer the product
• How should the project be initiated, planned, executed, controlled and closed

WBS (Work Breakdown Structure)

• WBS aids in organizing team work into manageable sections
• It uses a hierarchical process of breaking down the scope
• Detail level is balanced with sense, cost/time, and ease of use
• Focuses on deliverable oriented hierarchical decomposition of work.
• It is executed by the project team
• WBS breaks down projects into subprojects, phases, activities, and basic tasks
• You can define the duration, resources, and cost estimates for basic tasks during planning
• Tasks are based on knowledge of the project manager
• Task breakdown and identification should be properly set.
• The WBS structure can use project phases as the second level of decomposition
• Product and project deliverables will need to meet the third level

WBS Summary

• The items at the lowest level of the WBS are called "Work Packages" or activities
• Some items should be broken down further than other
• A WBS can become a template for future similar projects

Network Diagrams

• Diagrams needs to identify "what is needed to be done"
• Activities must be defined and sequenced
• Then estimate durations and resources

Sequence Activity

• Tasks have assigned codes
• Defined in order

Task-Dependent Predecessors

• These tasks are defined by order
• Each predecessor (Previous Task) needs to have been completed to proceed

Activity On Node

• Tasks are visually shown with interrelations
• Tasks can be shown boxes or cycles
• The start and end of the project needs to be clear

Time and Cost Estimation

• Analogous estimating uses expert judgment based on historical information
• It is less costly and less accurate
• Parametric estimation relies on past historical parameters and statistical relationships to the current task
• The time estimation and cost uses "Beta distribution"

PERT (Project Evaluation and Review Technique)

• The US Navy created it in 1950
• It managed the Polaris Submarine Missile project and had 250 providers with 9000 subcontractors.

Network Diagram Creation

• It was developed by J.E. Kelly (REMINGTON RAND) and M.R. Walker (DU PONT)
• It helped with the programming of chemical plant shutdowns
• Experience is key for figuring out time and cost for each activity

Critical Path Method

• Early Start (ES): earliest that an activity can start.
• Early Finish (EF): fastest time that the activity can be finished.
• Late Start (LS): is the latest time an activity can start without delaying the project.
• Late Finish (LF): is the latest time that an activity can be finished without delaying the project.
• *The Critical Path defines the total duration of the project

Slack or Float

• Tasks not included in the Critical Path have a degree of flexibility
• This degree of flexibility is called the Slack or Float.
• Total Slack measures the amount of time a task can be delayed without extending the project timeline
• Free Slack measures the amount of time a task can be delayed without affecting the early start of subsequent tasks.
• Project Slack measures the difference between estimated project duration and the customer's agreed delivery goal.
• When convergent tasks happen on a single activity, only one of them has a free float

Activity Cost Estimation

• Direct Costs are Salaries and Machine amortisation
• Indirect Costs are: Administration, Building amortisation, StockpilingRaw, Materials, Provision, Suppliers, and Energy
• *Simplification is CG = CR-CN / DN - DR

Balancing Resources

• 1 Ask which resources are needed for the activity?
• 2 Ask How many of those resources do I need for the activity?
• 3 Ask How many Y resources do I can use in the company?
• 4 Ask What is the availability of resource Y during the project?

Schedule Compression

• Arises as sometimes projects have unrealistic timeframes
• Compression aids the process of a project manager determining if said timeframe can be met
• If this completion cannot be achieved in given timeframe, managers can determine "what" can be changed to meet deadline

Types of Compression

• Crashing occurs when Adding or adjusting resources to compress a schedule whilst maintaining the project scope Increased Costs
• Fast Tracking involves taking critical activities planned sequentially and completing them in parallel for some or all of their duration