Lecture 61 Project planning tool

Lecture 62 Objectives Understand the reasons why projects sometimes fail Describe the different scheduling tools, including Gantt charts and PERT/CPM charts Calculate completion times, start dates, and end dates for a project

Lecture 63 Keys to Project Success Successful systems must satisfy business requirements, meet users’ needs, stay within budget, and be completed on time The essential objective is to provide a solution to a business problem

Lecture 64 Keys to Project Success Some reasons for failure –Unclear requirements, targets, or scope –Shortcuts or sloppy work –Poor design choices –Insufficient testing or test procedures –Lack of software change control –Changes in culture, funding, or objectives –Unrealistic cost estimates –Poor monitoring and control of progress –Inadequate reaction to early signs of problems –Failure to recognize activity dependencies –Personality conflicts and employee turnover

Lecture 65 Project Planning A project plan is an overall framework for managing costs and schedules The planning process involves –Activities (tasks) –Events (milestones)

Lecture 66 Project Planning An activity, or task, is a basic unit of work that is planned, monitored, and tracked An event, or milestone, is a reference point that is used to manage the project Every activity has two events — one marks the start of the task, the other marks the end Events must be easily recognizable Click to see Figure

Lecture 67 Project Scheduling The project manager must know –The duration of each task –The order in which the tasks will be performed –The start and end times for each activity –Who will be assigned to each task Assignments should not overload or under-utilize team members A level workload is desirable

Lecture 68 Scheduling Tools A project manager can use several graphical planning tools –Gantt charts –PERT/CPM charts

Lecture 69 Scheduling Tools Gantt charts –A Gantt chart is a horizontal bar chart that illustrates a schedule –Time is shown on the horizontal axis and activities are arranged vertically –The position of a bar shows the start and end of a task, and the length of the bar shows the task’s duration Click to see Figure

Lecture 610 Scheduling Tools Gantt charts –Tasks can be combined into activity groups to simplify the chart –Various methods exist for tracking progress Shade the completed portion of a bar Use a triangle or arrowhead as an indicator Use a second bar to show the completed work Click to see Figure

Lecture 611 Scheduling Tools PERT/CPM –The Program Evaluation Review Technique (PERT) and the Critical Path Method (CPM) were developed separately but now are referred to as PERT/CPM –A PERT/CPM chart displays a project as a network diagram, with activities shown as vectors, and events represented by nodes Click to see Figure

Lecture 612 Scheduling Tools PERT/CPM charting conventions –The vectors representing tasks connect the nodes, which indicate milestones –The activity’s estimated duration is shown below the vector Click to see Figure

Lecture 613 Scheduling Tools PERT/CPM charting conventions –The vectors representing tasks connect the nodes, which indicate milestones –The activity’s estimated duration is shown below the vector –Tasks that must be completed in a specific sequence are called dependent, or serial, tasks Click to see Figure

Lecture 614 Scheduling Tools PERT/CPM charting conventions –The vectors representing tasks connect the nodes, which indicate milestones –The activity’s estimated duration is shown below the vector –Tasks that must be completed in a specific sequence are called dependent, or serial, tasks –Dummy activities can be used to show task dependencies Click to see Figure

Lecture 615 Scheduling Tools PERT/CPM charting conventions –A project can be represented with a Gantt chart and a PERT/CPM chart –Significant differences exist between the two methods, and each method has strengths and weaknesses Click to see Figure

Lecture 616 Scheduling Tools Activity duration –A weighted formula can be used to estimate activity duration –The formula calculates a weighted result based on three separate estimates (optimistic (O), pessimistic (P), and most likely (M))

Lecture 617 Earliest completion times –The earliest completion time for an activity is called the ECT –The ECT is the minimum amount of time needed to complete all the activities that precede the event Click to see Figure Scheduling Tools

Lecture 618 Earliest completion times –Working from left to right on the chart, the ECT is calculated by taking the ECT of the preceding event and adding the duration of the immediately preceding task –If the event has more than one preceding task, use the largest ECT of the preceding tasks, including any dummy tasks –The ECT is shown as a number in the upper- right section of the event node symbol Click to see Figure Scheduling Tools

Lecture 619 Latest completion times –The latest completion time for an activity is called the LCT –The LCT is the latest time at which the event can occur without delaying the overall project Click to see Figure Scheduling Tools

Lecture 620 Latest completion times –To determine an LCT, you reverse the procedure for an ECT –Work from right to left, and subtract the LCT of the following task –If the event has more than one following task, use the smallest LCT of the following tasks, including any dummy tasks –The LCT is shown as a number in the lower- right section of the event node symbol Click to see Figure Scheduling Tools

Lecture 621 Slack times –The slack time for an event is the amount of time by which an event can be late without delaying the project –The slack time is the difference between the LCT and the ECT, if any Click to see Figure Scheduling Tools

Lecture 622 Critical path –A critical path is a series of events and activities with no slack time –At least one complete path will exist where every node has equal ECTs and LCTs –If any task on the critical path is delayed beyond its LCT, the entire project falls behind by that amount of time –Project managers focus on the critical path in order to keep the project on track Click to see Figure Scheduling Tools

Lecture 623 Comparing Gantt charts and PERT/CPM –PERT/CPM charts show all task dependencies, and are better for scheduling, monitoring, and controlling projects –Gantt charts graphically display the timing and duration of activities, and can display task completion status effectively –PERT/CPM charts are more complicated than Gantt charts, especially for larger projects Scheduling Tools

Lecture 624 End of Lecture 6