Project Management Techniques Chapter 14 Project Management Techniques

Project Management Project management is the discipline of organizing and managing resources in such a way that these resources deliver all the work required to complete a project within defined scope, time, and cost constraints. A project is a temporary and one-time endeavor undertaken to create a unique product or service. This property of being a temporary and a one-time undertaking contrasts with processes, or operations, which are permanent or semi-permanent ongoing functional work to create the same product or service over-and-over again. The management of these two systems is often very different and requires varying technical skills and philosophy, hence requiring the development of project management.

Challenges of Project Management The first challenge of project management is ensuring that a project is delivered within the defined constraints. The second, more ambitious, challenge is the optimized allocation and integration of the inputs needed to meet those pre-defined objectives. The project, therefore, is a carefully selected set of activities chosen to use resources (time, money, people, materials, energy, space, provisions, communication, quality, risk, etc.) to meet the pre-defined objectives.

Estimation Techniques The most difficult task in software development planning is to estimate the size of the end product, the resources that will be required, and the time required to complete the project. Function Point Analysis (FPA) is a method of projecting size, while the Constructive Cost Model (COCOMO) is a method of estimating resources and schedules.

Function Point Analysis FPA is an ISO recognized method to measure the functional size of an information system. The functional size reflects the amount of functionality that is relevant to and recognized by the user in the business. It is independent of the technology used to implement the system. The unit of measurement is "function points". So, FPA expresses the functional size of an information system in a number of function points (for example: the size of a system is 314 fp's). The functional size may be used: to budget application development or enhancement costs to budget the annual maintenance costs of the application portfolio to determine project productivity after completion of the project

COnstructive COst MOdel CoCoMo CoCoMo is a model designed by Barry Boehm to give an estimate of the number of man-months it will take to develop a software product. KDSI - thousand Delivered Source Instructions

Scheduling Techniques Developed in the 1950’s A graphical representation of the tasks necessary to complete a project Visualizes the flow of tasks & relationships Mathematical Analysis Network Diagrams PERT CPM GERT - Graphical evaluation and review techniques Bar Charts Milestone Chart a.k.a. bar charts Gantt Chart AOA: Activity on Arrow AON: Activity on Node Primary objectives Best time Least cost Least risk Secondary objectives Evaluation of schedule alternatives Effective use of resources Communications

Node Formats AOA consists of Circles representing Events Such as ‘start’ or ‘end’ of a given task Lines representing Tasks Thing being done ‘Build UI’ a.k.a. Arrow Diagramming Method (ADM) AON Tasks on Nodes Nodes can be circles or rectangles (usually latter) Task information written on node Arrows are dependencies between tasks a.k.a. Precedence Diagramming Method (PDM)

Program Evaluation and Review Technique PERT charts

Critical Path This is the sequence of activities that must be completed on schedule for the entire project to be completed on schedule. It is the longest duration path through the workplan. If an activity on the critical path is delayed by one day, the entire project will be delayed by one day (unless another activity on the critical path can be accelerated by one day).

Bar Chart

Gantt Chart

Gantt chart

Project control

Project control - packages

Project control - monitoring

End of Chapter 14 Thank You for Your Attention