ELC 347 DAY 7

Agenda Questions Assignment 3 Due Assignment #4 posted  Due next week Group Progress report due next week Exam 2 next week  Same format as before  Ghattas 4-8, Project 8-10 Group Project Meeting (30 Min)  Progress Report Score 91 Discussion on Scheduling and Microsoft Project and Setting Goals Individual Capstones  October 20 Proposal Due

Scehduling Issues to resolve  Who sets the priorities?  How do we set priorities?  How do we get everyone to agree?  How do we handle foul-ups?  Can we really anticipate problems?  What about changes?

What is a Schedule? A schedule is the conversion of a project action plan into an operating timetable. As such, it serves as a fundamental basis for monitoring and controlling project activity and, taken together with the plan and budget, is probably the major tool for the management of projects.

Objectives Determining work Breakdown structures Noting precedence relationship Using scheduling tools

Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) All jobs are easier when they are broken into smaller pieces! Develop the project goal yourself Take a cursory pass at defining the objectives –the preliminary plan Have teams refine the objectives Have teams break down the objectives into tasks Have doers break down tasks into activities

WBS Example

Hierarchy of Work Project Goal (level 1 of WBS)  Objectives (Level 2 of WBS) Tasks (Levels 3-? of WBS)  Subtasks (level 4-? Of WBS) Activities (bottom level of WBS)

Developing Objectives Done at high level with limited participation Organize by existing functional groups  Accounting  Engineering  Operations  Etc Other possibilities  Major subassemblies  Major Parts  Skills  Major resources

Refining Objectives Gather the team for a planning session. Present your preliminary plan. Ask them to refine and finalize the objectives, defining each objective along the three critical dimensions: specs, cost, and time. Mutually distribute responsibility for each objective. Ask each objective owner to formulate that tasks. Have the team discuss the tasks in order to ensure continuity of the handoffs. It is also wise to involve the doers in this stage. Allow the doers to break down tasks into activities. Insist that the activities be small, discreet chucks of work.

Tasks Task represent one of several major deliverables At time a task may divide into subtask but the question that should be asked is “Is the subtask a deliverable?” if so that it is really a task

Activities Basic Building Blocks of a Project Jobs of small enough detail that it is easy to see the work involved  Several hours to several days Activities need assignments Activity completions is the key progress monitoring tool for a project

Precedence Relationships Relationship between activities based on when they occur in relation to each other Determine sequence of activities  Technical requirements  Safety and efficiency considerations  Policy or preferences decisions  Availability of limited resources

Technical Requirements May force certain sequencing  Testing before repairing  Write before editing  Placing forms before pouring concrete  Come to class before taking notes

Safety and Efficiency Safety First!  There are old pilots and bold pilots but there are no old, bold pilots  Disconnect power before repairing Efficiency  Some ordering of activities may save time and resources  Paint walls and laying carpet

Policy or Preference Policy determines priorities  Appearance  Budgeting Examples  Vendor certifications prior to contract  Inspections  Biding procedures  Legal requirements  Minority preferences

Availability of Resources Abundance or scarcity Identify your critical resource  Money  Skills  Equipment Caution  Precedence adds time to a project  Creates serialization  Fewer precedence ---more parallelization  Parallelization is often resource constrained

Scheduling tools Two basics types  Bar charts Gnatt Charts (horizontal bar)  Flow charts Pert/CPM networks Program evaluation and review technique Critical path networks

Gantt Chart bar chart that represents the sequence and duration of activities.

Gantt Chart

Gnatt Chart Advantages  Easy to read  Provides quick overview  Indicate status  Allow for what-if analysis Disadvantages  Precedence relationship are hard to display  Tedious to update

Pert/CPM Shows “flow” of work  Activity-on-node  Activity-on-Arrow Activity 1Activity 2 Activity 1

Pert for Critical paths PERT Diagram using Activity On Arrow (AOA) convention PERT Diagram using Activity On Node (AON) convention

MS Project Chap 8 - Defining Resources and Costs Chap 9 - Understanding Resource Scheduling Chap 10 – Assigning Resource and Costs to tasks

Defining Resources and Costs Why use resources  Provide working schedule for each resource than project will only schedule tasks during those times  Keeps tracks or resource units allocated  Track costs per resource

Entering resources Use resource sheet

Using Resource dialog

In class Download and open Class File.mpp Enter each class member as a resource Enter costs for each Fill out as much of the resource dialog as you can for each individual  Assume standard working times  Give everyone a day off in this month

Understanding Resource Scheduling Resources must be assigned to tasks Project automatically controls resource allocations based on several factors  Predetermined working times  Built-in delays  Overallocations

Task form view

Adding a resource to a task Key Fields  ID or name  Max units Maximum amount of a specific resource that can be assigned to tasks at a time  Assignment Units How much of a resource is assigned to a task

Task Types Determines how project calculates allocations Fixed Units  Hours/days expended  D * U = W Fixed Work  Amount of effort fixed /duration varaible  D * U = W Fixed Duration  D * U = W

Task Types

Assigning resources to Tasks Select the task settings  Task type  Effort driven??

Adding resource to tasks Gantt Chart view or Task sheet view  Use resource column Task information dialog box  Resources tab Select task and use Assign resources tool

In class Use the Class File.mpp you used earlier Assign resources to all tasks  Use resources defined earlier Check out  Gantt Chart  Resource sheet  Resource graph Is there problems??  Leave as is for next class