Chapter 5 - Project time management. After reading this chapter, you will be able to: Understand the importance of project schedules and good project time management, discuss the process of planning schedule management, define activities as the basis for developing project schedules, describe how project managers use network diagrams and dependencies to assist in activity sequencing,...
Chapter 5: Project Time Management adopted from PMI’s PMBOK 2000 and Textbook : Information Technology Project Management (author : Dr. Kathy Schwalbe) Contents of time management • definition: charter and scope statement • sequence: mandatory dependencies, discretionary dependencies, external dependencies • schedule: ADM, PDM • estimation: actual time + elapsed time. An art require experience. • schedule development: Gantt chart, CPM and PERT • schedule control and change control: perform checks, allow contingencies, communicate with stakeholders regularlyChapter 5 Project Time Management • Developing the schedule involves – – – – define the scope of the work define the activities estimate how long the activities will take define sequence the activities based on its relationships – estimate associate costs with the activities. Project Time Management Processes • Project time management involves the processes required to ensure timely completion of a project. • 5 Processes include: – – – – – Activity definition Activity sequencing Activity duration estimating Schedule development Schedule control planning control Chapter 5 Activity Definition process • 4th planning phase process • It involves identifying and documenting the specific activities that must be performed in order to produce the deliverables and subdeliverables identified in the WBS Inputs to Activity Definition process • WBS – The primary input to Activity Definition. It is scope definition tool that organizes the work and provides a basis for project estimates • Scope statement – must be considered explicitly during Activity Definition. Project justification and objectives are especially important • Historical information – activities required on similar projects should be considered in defining project activities • Constraints – Factors that limit the team’s options • Assumptions – factors that, for planning purposes, will be considered to be true, real, or certain • Expert judgment – guided by historical information should be used whenever possible. subjectmatter experts can help Tools & techniques for Activity Definition process • Project schedules grow out of the basic document that initiate a project – Project charter includes start and end dates and budget information – Scope statement and WBS help define what will be done • Activity definition involves developing a more detailed WBS and supporting explanations to understand all the work to be done Chapter 5 Tools & techniques for Activity Definition process (2) • Decomposition – dividing project elements into smaller, more manageable components. Decomposition in Activity Definition and in Scope Definition differ; the final outputs in Activity Definition are activities (action steps) and deliverables (tangible items) • Templates – previous project templates help project team to jump start the process Outputs from Activity Definition process • Activity list – includes all activities that will be performed on the project. Descriptions of each activity should ensure that stakeholders understand how the work will be done • Supporting details – includes assumptions, constraints, and anything else that is relevant • WBS update – Missing deliverables, clarifications, or corrections. This output creates a feedback loop by which you get to tie up loose ends. – Update the WBS and related documents, such as cost estimates. These updates are often called refinements Activity Sequencing • 5th planning phase process • Involves reviewing activities and determining dependencies – Mandatory dependencies: inherent in the nature of the work; hard logic – Discretionary dependencies: defined by the project team; soft logic – External dependencies: involve relationships between project and nonproject activities • You must determine dependencies in order to use critical path analysis Chapter 5 10 Using Critical Path Analysis to Make Schedule Tradeoffs • Knowing the critical path helps you make schedule tradeoffs • Free slack or free float is the amount of time an activity can be delayed without delaying the early start of any immediately following activities • Total slack or total float is the amount of time an activity may be delayed from its early start without delaying the planned project finish date Chapter 5 42 Free and Total Float or Slack for Project X 43 Techniques for Shortening a Project Schedule • Shortening durations of critical tasks for adding more resources or changing their scope – Crashing tasks by obtaining the greatest amount of schedule compression for the least incremental cost – Fast tracking tasks by doing them in parallel or overlapping them Chapter 5 44 Importance of Updating Critical Path Data • It is important to update project schedule information • The critical path may change as you enter actual start and finish dates • If you know the project completion date will slip, negotiate with the project sponsor Chapter 5 45 Multitasking Example 46 Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) • PERT is a network analysis technique – to estimate project duration when there is a high degree of uncertainty about the individual activity duration estimates • PERT uses probabilistic time estimates based on different estimates of activity durations – optimistic estimates (weighting 1) – most likely estimates (weighting 4) – pessimistic estimates (weighting 1) Chapter 5 47 PERT Formula and Example • PERT weighted average formula: optimistic time + 4x most likely time + pessimistic time • Example: PERT weighted average = 8 workdays + 4 X 10 workdays + 24 workdays = 12 days where 8 = optimistic time, 10 = most likely time, and 24 = pessimistic time 48 Controlling Changes to the Project Schedule • 4th of 8 Controlling phase process • It involves managing changes to the schedule. The major activities include – monitor the schedule performance of project activities – detect variances from the original schedule baseline. – general steps: • Perform reality checks on schedules – Allow for contingencies – Don’t plan for everyone to work at 100% capacity all the time – Hold progress meetings with stakeholders and be clear Chapter 5 and honest in communicating schedule issues 49 Inputs to Schedule control • Project schedule – As a part of the integrated project plan, the approved schedule is called schedule baseline. – Project team/manager rebaseline when the schedule becomes unrealistic. – Rebaselining occurs when project team/manager do any major update in order to have a better control the schedule • Performance reports – provide information on schedule execution – showing if planned dates have been met. These reports also alert project team on issues that may cause problem in future • Change requests – any update of schedule, that may require extending or accelerating the schedule • Scope management plan – describes how changes will be integrated into the project. It is part of the project plan 50 Tools & techniques for Schedule control process • Schedule change control system: – defines the procedures for changing the project schedule. It includes the paperwork, tracking systems, and approval levels necessary for authorizing changes • Performance measurement techniques: – assess the magnitude of any variations that occur in project performance. An important part of Schedule Control is to decide if the schedule variation requires corrective action • Additional planning: – prospective changes may require new or revised activity duration estimates, modified activity sequences, or analysis of alternative schedules • Project management software: – widely used to assist with schedule development and control. In the context of controlling, it is schedule tracking, and reporting. It helps levels resources, for schedule alternatives 51 Using Software to Assist in Time Management • Software for facilitating communications helps people exchange schedulerelated information • Decision support models help analyze tradeoffs that can be made • Project management software can help in various time management areas Chapter 5 52 Outputs from schedule control process • Schedule updates: – include any modification to the schedule used to manage the project. A special category of schedule updates, revisions, describes changes to start and finish dates in the approval project schedule • Corrective action: – encompasses anything that brings your expected future schedule back in line with the project plan. These actions are outputs from the other knowledge areas • Lessons learned: – document causes of variances, the reasoning behind corrective actions, and other lessons learned from schedule change 53 Working with People Issues • Strong leadership helps projects succeed more than good PERT charts • Project managers should use – – – – empowerment incentives discipline negotiation Chapter 5 54 Summary • importance of project schedules: IT project always overrun • Time management process – – – – – definition (planning) sequence (planning) schedule estimation (planning) schedule development (planning) schedule control (control) Chapter 5 55 Summary (2) • definition: charter and scope statement • sequence: mandatory dependencies, discretionary dependencies, external dependencies • schedule: ADM, PDM • estimation: actual time + elapsed time. An art require experience. • schedule development: Gantt chart, CPM and PERT • schedule control and change control: perform checks, allow contingencies, communicate with stakeholders regularly 56 ... estimate associate costs with the activities. Project Time Management Processes • Project time management involves the processes required to ensure timely completion of a project. • 5 Processes include:... schedule control and change control: perform checks, allow contingencies, communicate with stakeholders regularlyChapter 5 Project Time Management • Developing the schedule involves – – – – define the scope of the work... defined by the project management team. Constraints caused by discretionary dependencies are called soft logic • External dependencies – involve a relationship between project and non project activities