Project Management PDF

Project Management Based on material from the recommended books: Whitten, J.L., Bentley, L.D. & Dittman, K.C. (2007). Systems Analysis and Design Methods, Seventh Edition, McGraw-Hill/Irwin ISBN-13: 978-0-07-110766-2 Stazinger, J.W., Jackson, R.B. & Burd, S.D. (2009) Systems Analysis and Design in C...

Project Management Based on material from the recommended books: Whitten, J.L., Bentley, L.D. & Dittman, K.C. (2007). Systems Analysis and Design Methods, Seventh Edition, McGraw-Hill/Irwin ISBN-13: 978-0-07-110766-2 Stazinger, J.W., Jackson, R.B. & Burd, S.D. (2009) Systems Analysis and Design in Changing World, 5th Edition, Thomson Course Technology ISBN-13: 978-0-324-59377-8 Learning Objectives ▪ Define the terms project and ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ project management Describe the causes of project failures Describe the basic functions of project management. Differentiate between PERT and Gantt charts as project management tools. Use a work breakdown structure to decompose a project into tasks. Estimate tasks’ durations, and specify inter-task dependencies on a PERT chart. Assign resources to a project Use critical path analysis to adjust schedule and resource allocations in response to schedule and budget deviations. Definitions Project – a sequence of activities that have one goal that must be completed within a scheduled time, within a budget, and according to specification. Project management – the process of scoping, planning, staffing, organising, directing, and controlling the development of an acceptable system at a minimum cost within a specified time frame. Measures of Project Success ▪ The resulting information system satisfies the customer’s needs ▪ The system is delivered on time ▪ The system is delivered within a budget ▪ The development process has a minimal impact on ongoing business operations Causes of Project Failure ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ Incomplete or changing requirements Limited user involvement Lack of executive support Lack of technical support Poor project planning Unclear objectives Lack of required resources Inadequate people management skills Project Management Functions ▪ Scoping – setting the boundaries of the project (expectations and ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ constraints: documenting goals, set of deliverables, deadlines, costs) Planning – identifying the tasks required to complete the project Estimating – identifying the resources required to complete the project (for each task: time, people, skills, task dependencies, etc.) Scheduling – developing the plan to complete the project (understanding of task requirements, duration, pre-requisits) Organising – making sure members understand their roles and responsibilities Directing – coordinating the project (coordinate, motivate, advise, appraise, reward) Controlling – monitoring progress against goals, schedule and costs) Closing – assessing successes and failures at the end of a project Project Management Tools and Techniques PERT chart – a model used to depict the interdependencies between a project tasks. Gantt chart – a bar chart used to depict a project tasks against a calendar. Task Identification Work breakdown structure (WBS) –depicts the hierarchy of the project phases, activities, and tasks; you must estimate duration of each task; MS Project will calculate durations of summary tasks (phases and activities) Milestone –signifies an event completing of a major project deliverable; duration equals 0 How to Estimate Expected Duration? ▪ Efficiency: No one perform 100%. Efficiency of the most of the people is between 75% and 85% ▪ Interruptions: Phone calls, visitors, etc. Can consume between 10% and 50% of time. ▪ Example: A task can be completed in 20 hours with efficiency of 100% and without interruptions. Assuming a project member efficiency of 80% and interruptions of 25%, the estimated time should be: 20 hours/0.8 efficiency = 25 hours 25 hours/0.75 interruptions = 33.33 hours Estimated Time = 33.33 hours Task Duration Estimates 1. Estimate the minimum amount of time it would take to perform the task – the optimistic duration (OD). 2. Estimate the maximum amount of time it would take to perform the task – the pessimistic duration (PD). 3. Estimate the expected duration (ED) that will be needed to perform the task. 4. Calculate a weighted average of the most likely duration (D) as follows: D = (1 x OD) + (4 x ED) + (1 x PD) 6 OD ED 3.33 days = (1 x 2 days) + (4 x 3 days) + (1 x 6 days) 6 PD Task Dependencies ▪ Finish-to-start (FS)—The finish of one task ▪ ▪ ▪ triggers the start of another task (the most common case) Start-to-start (SS)—The start of one task triggers the start of another task. Finish-to-finish (FF)—Two tasks must finish at the same time. Start-to-finish (SF)—The start of one task signifies the finish of another task. Resources ▪ People – includes all the system owners, users, ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ analysts, designers, builders, external agents, and clerical help that will be involved in the project in any way. Services – includes services such as a quality review that may be charged on a per use basis. Facilities and equipment – includes all rooms and technology that will be needed to complete the project. Supplies and materials – includes everything from pencils, paper, notebooks to toner cartridges, and so on. Money – includes a translation of all of the above into budgeted dollars! Resource Leveling A strategy for correcting resource overallocations. There are two techniques for resource leveling: ▪ Task delaying ▪ Task splitting Task Splitting and Delaying ▪ Critical path – the sequence of dependent tasks that determines the earliest possible completion date of the project. ▪ Tasks that are on the critical path cannot be delayed without delaying the entire project schedule. To achieve resource leveling, critical tasks can only be split. ▪ Slack time – the amount of delay that can be tolerated between the starting time and completion time of a task without causing a delay in the completion date of the entire project. ▪ Tasks that have slack time can be delayed to achieve resource leveling Schedule Adjustments: Critical Path Analysis 1. 2. 3. Using inter-task dependencies, determine every possible path through the project. For each path, sum the durations of all tasks in the path. The path with the longest total duration is the critical path. Calculation of Time Duration of each Path Path Path Path Path 1: 2: 3: 4: 3 3 3 3 + + + + 2 2 2 2 + + + + 2+ +2 +2 +2 7+ +6 +3 +3 5 + + + = 19 5 = 18 2 + 5 = 17 1 + 5 = 16 ▪ Path 1 has the longest duration and it is the critical path. ▪ Tasks E, F, G and H are not on the critical path: they have some slack time. ▪ Task E is on a path that has 1 day less then the critical path. That means that if Task E get behind by 1 day it will not affect the project completion date .