Ch. 4 Project Definition

Defining the Project Step 1: Defining the Project Scope Step 2: Establishing Project Priorities Step 3: Creating the Work Breakdown Structure Step 4: Integrating the WBS with the Organization Step 5: Coding the WBS for the Information System

Step 1: Defining the Project Scope A definition of the end result or mission of the project—a product or service for the client/customer—in specific, tangible, and measurable terms. Scope describes what you expect to deliver to your customer when the project is complete. Defining the project scope sets the stage for developing a project plan and for measuring project success. Research clearly shows that a poorly defined scope or mission is the most frequently mentioned barrier to project success. The scope should be developed under the direction of the project manager and customer.

Importance of Defining the Project Scope

Project Scope Checklist Project objective Deliverables Milestones Technical requirements Limits and exclusions Reviews with customer

Project Scope Checklist Project objective The first step of project scope definition is to define the overall objective to meet your customer’s need(s). Examples: Propose, design, and implement a unified graduates tracking model that suits the Palestinian context. Strengthen the promotion, protection and advocacy of human rights (including women’ right) and to promote peace-building initiatives in the targeted countries. help the poor and very poor families to overcome barriers to entry into job market, and help increase the profitability of their enterprises (if existing). To offer means for enhancing overall economic growth, job creation and business development in Gaza Strip.

Project Scope Checklist Deliverables: The next step is to define major deliverables—the expected outputs over the life of the project. Examples Five groups of tenants have been incubated in the IT incubator. 15 personal computers, one LCD projector and 3 workstations have been supplied. 100 fresh graduates have attended comprehensive training course in business administration 15 fresh graduates found their careers Four awareness seminars and workshops are conducted 5 factories will improve their performance by using ICT in their management and production procedures

Project Scope Checklist Milestones A milestone is a significant event in a project that occurs at a point in time. The milestone schedule is built using the deliverables as a platform to identify major segments of work and an end date. Milestones should be natural, important control points in the project. Milestones should be easy for all project participants to recognize. Examples: Testing complete and finished by July 1 of the same year Inception report, 10 days after signing the agreement with a detailed work-plan.

Project Scope Checklist Technical requirements A product or service will have technical requirements to ensure proper performance. Examples: A unified, user-friendly, tracking model (preferably using Microsoft Access), including questionnaires to be filled by graduates, employers, etc. Limits and exclusions: Failure to define limits & exclusions can lead to false expectations and to expending resources and time on the wrong problem. Example: The Client will pay local taxes on behalf of the Consultant

Project Scope Checklist Reviews with customer The main concern here is the understanding and agreement of expectations. Is the customer getting what he or she desires in deliverables? Does the project definition identify key budgets, timing, accomplishments, and performance requirements? Are questions of limits and exclusions covered? Clear communication in all these issues is imperative to avoid claims or misunderstanding.

Project Scope: Terms and Definitions Scope Statements Also called statements of work (SOW) Project Charter Can contain an expanded version of scope statement A document authorizing the project manager to initiate and lead the project. Scope Creep The tendency for the project scope to expand over time due to changing requirements, specifications, and priorities.

scope statement A scope statement or statement of work (SOW) is a document used to develop and confirm a common understanding of the project scope and to describe the products or services to be delivered by the project. It is an important tool for preventing scope creep. A good practice is to develop a preliminary or initial scope statement during project initiation and a more detailed scope statement as the project progresses. Project scope statements should include A description of the project Overall objectives and justification Detailed description of all project deliverables The characteristics and requirements of products and services

Sample Project Charter

Step 2: Establishing Project Priorities Quality and the ultimate success of a project are traditionally defined as meeting and/or exceeding the expectations of the customer and/or upper management in terms of cost (budget), time (schedule), and performance (scope) of the project Causes of Project Trade-offs Shifts in the relative importance of criterions related to cost, time, and performance parameters Budget–Cost Schedule–Time Performance–Scope

Project Management Trade-offs The primary measures of a project are in terms of cost, schedule and performance Usually very difficult (impossible ?) to enhance or optimize all three of these measures at the same time Establishing the priorities at project start provides guidance for trade-offs Better Faster Cheaper Pick two (ancient engineering wisdom) Required to stay fixed or constrained? (e.g. fixed budget or schedule) Allowed or desired to be enhanced? (e.g. better or cheaper) Acceptable to exceed? (e.g. increased cost, schedule slip, downsized) All three priority types should be used when ranking the primary measures of cost, time and performance Priorities can change, so these need to be reviewed at times

Project Priority Matrix Managing the Priorities of Project Trade-offs Constrain: a parameter is a fixed requirement. Enhance: optimizing a criterion over others. Accept: reducing (or not meeting) a criterion requirement.

Project Priorities (notes) Priorities vary from project to project. For example, for many software projects time to market is critical, and companies like Microsoft may defer original scope requirements to later versions in order to get to the market first. Some would argue that all three criteria are always constrained and that good project managers should seek to optimize each criterion. (very rare) There are likely to be natural limits to the extent managers can constrain, optimize, or accept any one criterion. It may be acceptable for the project to slip one month behind schedule but no further or to exceed the planned budget by as much as $20,000.

Step 3: Creating the Work Breakdown Structure Create WBS is the process of subdividing project deliverables and project work into smaller, more manageable components. The work breakdown structure (WBS) is a deliverable-oriented hierarchical decomposition of the work to be executed by the project team to accomplish the project objectives and create the required deliverables, with each descending level of the WBS representing an increasingly detailed definition of the project work. The WBS organizes and defines the total scope of the project, and represents the work specified in the current approved project scope statement. The planned work is contained within the lowest level WBS components, which are called work packages. A work package can be scheduled, cost estimated, monitored, and controlled.

Creating the Work Breakdown Structure An hierarchical outline (map) that identifies the products and work elements involved in a project. Defines the relationship of the final deliverable (the project) to its subdeliverables, and in turn, their relationships to work packages. Best suited for design and build projects that have tangible outcomes rather than process-oriented projects. FIGURE 4.3

How WBS Helps the Project Manager Facilitates evaluation of cost, time, and technical performance of the organization on a project. Provides management with information appropriate to each organizational level. Helps in the development of the organization breakdown structure (OBS). which assigns project responsibilities to organizational units and individuals Helps manage plan, schedule, and budget. Defines communication channels and assists in coordinating the various project elements.

Work Breakdown Structure FIGURE 4.4

Work Packages A work package is the lowest level of the WBS. It is output-oriented in that it: Defines work (what). Identifies time to complete a work package (how long). Identifies a time-phased budget to complete a work package (cost). Identifies resources needed to complete a work package (how much). Identifies a person responsible for units of work (who). Identifies monitoring points (milestones) for measuring success.

Work Packages A work package is the lowest level of the WBS. WBSs are products of group efforts. If the project is small, the entire project team may be involved breaking down the project into its components. For large, complex projects, the people responsible for the major deliverables are likely to meet to establish the first two levels of deliverables. In turn, further detail would be delegated to the people responsible for the specific work. Every effort should be made to develop a WBS that is output oriented in order to concentrate on concrete deliverables.

Sample WBS with Major Deliverables

Sample WBS with Major Deliverables

Step 4:Integrating the WBS with the Organization Organizational Breakdown Structure (OBS) Depicts how the firm is organized to discharge its work responsibility for a project. Provides a framework to summarize organization work unit performance. Identifies organization units responsible for work packages. Ties the organizational units to cost control accounts. The intersection of work packages and the organizational unit creates a project control point (cost account) that integrates work and responsibility. The intersection of the WBS and OBS represents the set of work packages necessary to complete the subdeliverable located immediately above and the organizational unit on the left responsible for accomplishing the packages at the intersection.

Integration of WBS and OBS FIGURE 4.5

Step 5: Coding the WBS for the Information System WBS Coding System Defines: Levels and elements of the WBS Organization elements Work packages Budget and cost information Allows reports to be consolidated at any level in the organization structure The “cost account” is the focal point because all budgets, work assignments, time, cost, and technical performance come together at this point. Most organizations are creative in combining letters and numbers to minimize the length of WBS codes.

WBS Coding

Work Breakdown Structure and Codes The project is the overall project under development 1.0 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.2.1 1.2.2 1.2.3 1.3.1 1.3.2 1.2.3.1 1.2.3.2 Deliverables are major project components Subdeliverables are supporting deliverables Work Packages are individual project activities

Responsibility Matrices Responsibility Matrix (RM) Also called a linear responsibility chart. Summarizes the tasks to be accomplished and who is responsible for what on the project. Lists project activities and participants. Clarifies critical interfaces between units and individuals that need coordination. Provide an means for all participants to view their responsibilities and agree on their assignments. Clarifies the extent or type of authority that can be exercised by each participant.

Responsibility Matrix for a Market Research Project FIGURE 4.6

Responsibility Matrix for a Market Research Project LEAD PROJECT PERSONNEL Bob IS Dave Sue HR Ann R&D Jim Task & Code Deliverable Match IT to Org. Tasks proposal Prepare 1.3 1.1 Identify IS user needs 1.2 Problem Analysis Develop info Interview users show Gain user “buy in” Find cost/ benefit info 1.1.1 1.1.2 1.2.1 1.2.2 1.2.3 1.3.1 Support Notification Responsible Approval

Project Communication Plan Having a robust communications plan can go a long way toward mitigating project problems and can ensure that customers, team members, and other stakeholders have the information to do their jobs. The communication plan is usually created by the project manager and/or the project team in the early stage of project planning. Communication is a key component in coordinating and tracking project schedules, issues, and action items. The purpose of a project communication plan is to express what, who, how, and when information will be transmitted to project stakeholders so schedules, issues, and action items can be tracked.

Project Communication Plan Project communication plans address the following core questions: What information needs to be collected and when? Who will receive the information? What methods will be used to gather and store information? What are the limits, if any, on who has access to certain kinds of information? When will the information be communicated? How will it be communicated?

Information Needs Project status reports Deliverable issues Changes in scope Team status meetings Gating decisions Accepted request changes Action items Milestone reports

Developing a Communication Plan Stakeholder analysis Typical groups could be the customer, sponsor, project team, project office, or anyone who needs project information to make decisions and/or contribute to project progress. Information needs What information is pertinent to stakeholders who contribute to the project’s progress? Sources of information where does the information reside? How will it be collected?

Developing a Communication Plan Dissemination modes In today’s world, traditional status report meetings are being supplemented by e-mail, teleconferencing, Lotus Notes, SharePoint, and a variety of database sharing programs to circulate information. In particular, many companies are using the Web to create a “virtual project office” to store project information. Responsibility and timing Determine who will send out the information. Timing and frequency of distribution appropriate to the information need to be established.

Shale Oil Research Project Communication Plan FIGURE 4.8