MST 326 Lecture 7 Project planning John Summerscales School of Engineering University of Plymouth

Golden rule: “A golden rule in terms of estimating the time required is to assume people are only productive four out of five days” C Sheldon and M Yoxon, Environmental Management Systems – third edition, Earthscan, London and Sterling VA, 2006.

Lecture outline l Gantt charts l Project Evaluation Review Technique (PERT) l Critical Path Analysis/Method (CPA/CPM) l Technology Road Maps (TRM)

What is a project ? a group of people brought together to achieve a defined objective in a defined period of time and with defined resources

Measuring success? l deliverables: what will be achieved l deadlines: when will it happen l milestones: end of each significant stage l are there quantitative parameters ?

Success or failure ? deadline achieved or if not then why? budgets met or reasons for variances acceptability of the finished item match to specification/customer expectations consequences culture change or new strategic alliances

Project management l develops innovative, creative and committed managers l provides a vehicle for measurement of resource effectiveness and for optimisation l permits strategic accountability

Henry Laurence Gantt graphical representation of the duration of tasks plotted vs time e.g. student timetable load chart shows workload relative to capacity one row per person vs hours in the day progress chart shows succession of tasks from start to finish

Gantt chart: progress chart

Gantt chart: CFD of RIFT research

MS Project... formats Calendar Gantt chart Network diagram Task usage Resource graph Resource sheet Resource usage Report

Program Evaluation Review Technique (PERT) l graphic representation of schedule for project –developed by USN for Polaris missile programme l shows –sequence of tasks –which tasks can be performed simultaneously –permits determination of the critical path for the individual tasks to be completed on time in order for the project to meet its completion deadline

Critical Path Analysis/Method l developed by the private sector at the time that PERT was started –has become synonymous with PERT –referred to as any of CPM, PERT or PERT/CPM l critical path is the set of individual tasks (each dependent on the preceding one) which taken together require the longest time to complete (i.e. minimum time) l can be much more difficult to interpret than a Gantt chart.

Node in a PERT chart

Network diagram for printer Figure 10.1 from Curtis book

Activity on node structure Figure 10.2 from Curtis book

Printer project activity on node activity times Figure 10.3 from Curtis book

Printer project activity on node earliest start times Figure 10.4 from Curtis book

Printer project activity on node latest finish times Figure 10.5 from Curtis book

Float for manufacture of the prototype Figure 10.6 from Curtis book

Bar chart for printer project Figure 10.7 from Curtis book

Projects and resource loading Figure 10.8 from Curtis book

Resource levelling Figure 10.9 from Curtis book

Basic CPM diagram Figure 3-18 from Hicks book

CPM Diagram with timings Figure 3-20 from Hicks book

Tabular analysis Table 3-8 from Hicks book

Time-scaled CPM network Figure 3-21 from Hicks book

A beta distribution in PERT Figure 3-22 from Hicks book

Beta distribution calculation A = most optimistic time M = most likely time B = most pessimistic time X = mean = (A + 4M +B)/6 S 2 = variance = [(B - A)/6] 2 Times A and B expected to occur only 1% of the time

Density function for project completion time Figure 3-23 from Hicks book

References l Tony Curtis, Business and Marketing for Engineers and Scientists, McGraw-Hill, Maidenhead, ISBN l Philip E Hicks, Industrial Engineering and Management - a new perspective, McGraw-Hill, ISBN l Richard Pettinger, Introduction to Management, Macmillan, Basingstoke, ISBN

Technology Road Maps (TRM) l the most basic form can be considered as a time-based chart consisting of a number of layers –commercial, –technological, –legislative, and –environmental perspective

Technology Road Maps (TRM) l Developing a Technology Road Map requires three steps: –Market requirements forecast, –Product implications forecast, and –Technology implications forecast.