1 Project Plan Recap WBS Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) 2 01. Front Cover 02. Document details 03. Scope Document 04. Technical Design 05. Creative Design 06. Project Timelines 07. Risk Management Plan 08. Quality Assurance Plan 09. Communication Management 10. Process Management More Detail 3 What is it? Chunking the project into manageable tasks A means to define all work to be completed in the Project A means to monitor the productivity of all team members A graphical representation of the Projects component parts (i.e. programming, modelling etc.) The basis for scheduling and planning the Projects work effort 4 What it comprises: A list of all Project Objectives A list of all Phases that must be completed A list of all Tasks that must be completed Details on which resources are needed to complete each Task Details on how long each Task, Phase, and Objective is expected to take 5 6 ActivityDescription A Product design B Market research CProduction analysis DProduct mode ESales brochure FCost analysis GProduct testing HSales training IPricing JProject report Objective 1: Paint the Room Phase 1.1: Prepare materials Task 1.1.1: Buy paint Task 1.1.2: Buy a ladder Task 1.1.3: Buy brushes/rollers Task 1.1.4: Buy wallpaper remover Phase 1.2: Prepare room Task 1.2.1: Remove old wallpaper Task 1.2.2: Remove detachable decorations Task 1.2.3: Cover floor with old newspapers Task 1.2.4: Cover electrical outlets/switches with tape Task 1.2.5: Cover furniture with sheets Phase 1.3: Paint the room Phase 1.4: Clean up the room Task 1.4.1: Dispose or store left over paint Task 1.4.1: Clean brushes/rollers Task 1.4.1: Dispose of old newspapers Task 1.4.1: Remove covers 7 8 9 10 11 The diagram does not have to be symmetrical Each box is a summary of the boxes in the levels below it A numbering convention should be adopted The sum total of boxes must represent the complete project: Ask yourself: When all the deliverables we have listed are completed will the project be finished? The entire project team should be involved in developing the work breakdown structure 12 It shows dependencies (relationships) between all project tasks The diagram is not time-based All tasks are grouped under key stages All sub-units of work are identified Some parts are re-usable (common to prior projects) This is what makes a complex project manageable 13 Warning: You must focus on the Objectives more than the Tasks when using your WBS to guide your work effort. It is possible to perform all of your Tasks without meeting your Objectives if Tasks are not considered with Objectives in mind. 14 30 day limit some functions limited over 50 tasks 15 Essentially it is an estimating process that tries to answer these questions: What must be done? How long will it take? How much will it cost? Who can do the work? 16 The Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) is a network model that allows for randomness in activity completion times Provides Project Managers with a set of guidelines and rules that make it easier to accurately predict how long a project will take to complete. It has the potential to reduce both the time and cost required to complete a project PERT was developed in the late 1950's for the U.S. Navy's Polaris Project as it involved managing thousands of contractors 17 In a project An Activity is a Task that must be performed An Event is a Milestone marking the completion of one or more Activities Before an activity can begin, all of its predecessor activities must be completed Network diagrams visually depict how certain tasks can be performed simultaneously within a project 18 19 The PERT chart may have multiple pages with many sub- tasks. The milestones generally are numbered so that the ending node of an activity has a higher number than the beginning node The activities in the above diagram are labelled with letters along with the expected time required to complete the activity 20 21 22 1F, G, IProject reportJ 1HPricingI 2B, ESales trainingH 4DProduct testingG 3CCost analysisF 2ASales brochureE 3AProduct modeD 2AProduction analysisC 1(None)Market researchB 5 months(None)Product designA DurationPredecessorDescriptionActivity 23 6 Steps in the PERT Planning Process 1.Identify the specific activities and milestones 2.Determine the proper sequence of the activities 3.Construct a network diagram 4.Estimate the time required for each activity 5.Determine the critical path 6.Update the PERT chart as the project progresses 25 1. Identify Activities and Milestones The activities are the tasks required to complete the project. The milestones are the events marking the beginning and end of one or more activities. It is helpful to list the tasks in a table that in later steps can be expanded to include information on sequence and duration. 2. Determine Activity Sequence This step may be combined with the activity identification step since the activity sequence is evident for some tasks. Other tasks may require more analysis to determine the exact order in which they must be performed. 26 3. Construct the Network Diagram Using the activity sequence information, a network diagram can be drawn showing the sequence of the stand-alone and dependency-driven activities If done manually, several drafts may be required to correctly portray the relationships among activities. Software packages simplify this step by automatically converting tabular activity information into a network diagram 27 4. Estimate Activity Times Any consistent unit of time can be used A distinguishing feature of PERT is its ability to deal with uncertainty in activity completion times. For each activity, the model usually includes three time estimates: Optimistic time Generally the shortest time in which the activity can be completed Most likely time The completion time having the highest probability. Note that this time is different from the expected time Pessimistic time The longest time that an activity might require. 28 4. Estimate Activity Times PERT assumes a beta probability distribution for the time estimates. Expected time = ( Optimistic + 4 x Most Likely + Pessimistic ) / 6 29 5. Determine the Critical Path The Critical Path depicts how long it will take to complete all critical tasks within a project Activities that lie along the critical path cannot be delayed without delaying the finish time for the entire project. The critical path is determined by adding the times for the activities in each sequence and determining the longest path in the project 30 5. Determine the Critical Path The Critical Path analyzes what activities have the least amount of scheduling flexibility (i.e., are the most mission-critical) and then predicts project duration schedule based on the activities that fall along the critical path. The critical path determines the total calendar time required for the project. If activities outside the critical path speed up or slow down (within limits), the total project time does not change. The amount of time that a non-critical path activity can be delayed without delaying the project is referred to as slack time. 31 5. Determine the Critical Path If the critical path is not immediately obvious, it may be helpful to determine the following four quantities for each activity: ES - Earliest Start time EF - Earliest Finish time LS - Latest Start time LF - Latest Finish time These times are calculated using the expected time for the relevant activities 32 5. Determine the Critical Path The earliest start and finish times of each activity are determined by working forward through the network and determining the earliest time at which an activity can start and finish considering its predecessor activities. The latest start and finish times are the latest times that an activity can start and finish without delaying the project. LS and LF are found by working backward through the network. The difference in the latest and earliest finish of each activity is that activity's slack. 33 The critical path is the path through the network in which none of the activities have slack. 34 6. Update as Project Progresses Make adjustments in the PERT chart as the project progresses. As the project unfolds, the estimated times can be replaced with actual times. In cases where there are delays, additional resources may be needed to stay on schedule and the PERT chart may be modified to reflect the new situation. 35 Expected project completion time Probability of completion before a specified date The critical path activities that directly impact the completion time The activities that have slack time and that can lend resources to critical path activities Activity start and end dates 36 The activity time estimates are somewhat subjective and depend on judgment Even if the activity times are well-estimated, PERT assumes a beta distribution for these time estimates, but the actual distribution may be different 37 Schedules Milestones Quality Assurance 38