Project Time Management – Part 1 PDF

Lecture 4 Chapter 6 Project Time Management – Part1 Instructor : Faisel Elramalli Slides prepared by D. Atef Hamza Importance of Project Schedules Managers often cite delivering projects on time as one of their biggest challenges Time has the least amount of flexibility, it pas...

Lecture 4 Chapter 6 Project Time Management – Part1 Instructor : Faisel Elramalli Slides prepared by D. Atef Hamza Importance of Project Schedules Managers often cite delivering projects on time as one of their biggest challenges Time has the least amount of flexibility, it passes no matter what happens on a project Schedule issues are the main reason for conflicts on projects, especially during the second half of projects! Work Breakdown Structure WBS A Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is a fundamental project management technique for defining and organizing the total scope of a project, using a hierarchical tree structure Hierarchical tree structure Building House WBS Project Time Management Processes Planning schedule Controlling Defining the schedule activities Time Developing Management Sequencing the activities schedule Estimating Estimating activity activity durations resources Project Time Management Processes Planning schedule: involves determining the policies, procedures, and documentation that will be used for planning, executing, and controlling the project schedule. Defining activities: identifying the specific activities that the project team members and stakeholders must perform to produce the project deliverables Sequencing activities: identifying and documenting the relationships between project activities Estimating activity resources: estimating how many resources a project team should use to perform project activities Project Time Management Processes Estimating activity durations: estimating the number of work periods that are needed to complete individual activities. Developing the schedule: analyzing activity sequences, activity resource estimates, and activity duration estimates to create the project schedule. Controlling the schedule: controlling and managing changes to the project schedule. Schedule management plan Schedule management plan includes the following information: Project schedule mode: contains project activities with estimated durations, dependencies, and other planning information that can be used to produce a project schedule Level of accuracy and units of measure: how accurate schedule estimates should be and determines whether time is measured in hours, days, or another unit. Control thresholds: Variance thresholds, such as ±10%, are established for monitoring schedule performance. Rules of performance measurement: specifies how team members are expected to track the percentage of work completed. Reporting formats: describes the format and frequency of schedule reports required for the project. Process descriptions: describes how all of the schedule management processes will be performed. Defining Activities An activity or task: is an element of work normally found on the work breakdown structure (WBS) that has an expected duration, a cost, and resource requirements. 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. Activity Lists and Attributes An activity list is a tabulation of activities to be included on a project schedule that includes: The activity name An activity identifier or number A brief description of the activity Activity attributes provide more information such as predecessors, successors, logical relationships, leads and lags, resource requirements, constraints, imposed dates, and assumptions related to the activity Sequencing Activities Involves reviewing activities and determining dependencies A dependency or relationship is the sequencing of project activities or tasks You must determine dependencies in order to use critical path analysis Types of Dependencies Mandatory dependencies: inherent in the nature of the work being performed on a project, (you can’t test code until after the code is written). Discretionary dependencies: defined by the project team and follow good practices, (it’s not based on have to but on should). External dependencies: involve relationships between project and non-project activities, (The installation of a new operating system may depend on delivery of new hardware from an external supplier). Task Dependency Types Network Diagrams 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 Arrow Diagramming Method (ADM) Also called activity-on-arrow (AOA) network diagrams Activities are represented by arrows Nodes or circles are the starting and ending points of activities Can only show finish-to-start dependencies Activity-on-Arrow (AOA) Network Diagram Creating AOA Diagrams Find all activities that start at node1. 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. Continue drawing the network diagram, working from left to right. Look for bursts and merges. Bursts occur when a single node is followed by two or more activities. merge occurs when two or more nodes precede a single node. Continue drawing the project network diagram until all activities are included on the diagram that have dependencies. All arrowheads should face toward the right, and no arrows should cross on an AOA network diagram. Precedence Diagramming Method (PDM) Activities are represented by boxes. Arrows show relationships between activities More popular than ADM (Arrow Diagramming Method ). Better at showing different types of dependencies PDM Network Diagram Estimating Activity Resources Before estimating activity durations, you must have a good idea of the quantity and type of resources that will be assigned to each activity; resources are people, equipment, and materials. Important questions to answer when estimating activity resources include: ❖ How difficult will it be to do specific activities on this project? ❖ What is the organization’s history in doing similar activities? ❖ Are the required resources available? ❖ Does the organization have people, equipment, and materials that are capable and available for performing the work? ❖ Does the organization need to acquire more resources to accomplish the work? Estimating Activity Durations Duration includes the actual amount of time worked on an activity plus elapsed time Effort is the number of workdays or work hours required to complete a task Effort does not normally equal duration People doing the work should help create estimates, and an expert should review them Three-Point Estimates Instead of providing activity estimates as a discrete number, such as four weeks, it’s often helpful to create a three-point estimate An estimate that includes an optimistic, most likely, and pessimistic estimate, such as three weeks for the optimistic, four weeks for the most likely, and five weeks for the pessimistic estimate Three-point estimates are needed for PERT (Program Evaluation and Review Technique).  Schedule Development Uses results of the other time management processes to determine the start and end date of the project Ultimate goal is to create a realistic project schedule that provides a basis for monitoring project progress for the time dimension of the project Important tools and techniques include Gantt charts, critical path analysis, critical chain scheduling, and PERT analysis. Gantt Charts 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. Arrows: dependencies between tasks Gantt Chart