1 swe523 chapter 8 project planning : understanding the work ahu evnİ 24 october, 2005

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SWE523

Chapter 8Project Planning : Understanding The Work

Ahu EVNİ24 October, 2005

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Why Planning ?

Developing an information system is a complex undertaking. There is a high probability of failure, if planning is not done carefully in advance.People involved in a project need to know their role and responsibilities. Project plan is a tool for communication in this respect.Customers want to be confident that the developers know what they about to do. The plan is a tangible demonstration that the developers have a clear idea of where they are going.Without a plan a project manager can not determine whether the project is on schedule, ahead or behind and whether corrective action is neededThe planning process itself has a value irrispective of the plan that results.İt gives the PM the opportunity to sit down and thing about the project.

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First Step : Understanding The Requirements

The starting point for a good project plan is a proper understanding of the requirements. If an IS project is to be successfull, all concerned must know in detail what they are trying to do.In practice, it may not be the case. Depending on the situation and type of the project, the level of detail we know may vary.If the requirements are not specified in enough detail, than it is project manager's responsibility to ensure that requirements are specified correctly for a clear start. For this, project manager should : Conduct a thorough risk analysis, and identify the holes. Discuss the findings with the customer. Come to a consensus with the customer. Document the results and formally get approval.

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Second Step : Breaking Down The Work

Product Breakdown Structure (PBS) - An Emerging Approach - Similiar to WBS, progressively decompose the project products into smaller products until a sensible, unitary product level is reached. Once all of the products have been identified, associate things with them (e.g. who will produce it, quality standarts, when will it be produced...)

There are two basic approaches for breaking down the work :

Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) - The Traditional Approach - Take the overall work - the project - and break it down progressively into smaller and smaller chunks until we end up with individual tasks or work packages, that we can estimate sensibly and assign to team members.

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WBS : Some Highligts

WBS is a traditional approach that has been widely used in many industries for many years.The idea in WBS is to break down each activity until we arrive at tasks that are : Fairly atomic, that is do not readily lend themselves to

further subdivision or to assignment to more than one person.

Small enough to estimate with reasonable accuracy, say are about half a day to two day's duration.

Some IT departments and system companies have developed standard work breakdown structures based on their experiences over a number of projects.

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InterviewManagingDirector

InterviewFinanceDirector

InterviewStores

Manager

InterviewSales

Manageretc.

Conductinterviews

Investigateother systems

Analyserequirements

Investigatepackages

Investigatehardware

Conductinvestigation

Prepare report

Project

Top level

Second level

Third level

Figures 8.1 - 8.3 Work breakdown structures

WBS : An Example

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PBS : Some Highligts

PBS is an emerging approach to project planning based upon the idea of considering the products that will result from the project. There are several advantages claimed for the PBS including : It ensures that the project's focus is on what is to be

achieved rather than how , in other words on ends rather than the means.

When approaching a new area of work, it may be more easy to consider what one has the develop - the products - than one needs to do - in other words the work.

Project managers who have used PBS report that it is more difficult to forget something with this method as compared to WBS

Once all of the products have been identified, then other things can easily be associated with them.

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PBS : Some Highligts (continued)

The top level of products is known as 'project products' which is further subdivided into two main categories : Management products and specialist products. Management Products : Products associated with the

planning and control of the project like project initiation document (PID), the project plan and the quality plan.

Specialist Products : Things that the project has been set up to create.

Project managers who have used PBS report that it is more difficult to forget something with this method as compared to WBS

At the bottom level we find individual products for which we can write product descriptions. (Explained later)With the list of products we can consider the work we will need to do to create the products by using a technique known as 'product flow diagram'. (Explained later.)

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Interviewnotes

Requirementscatalogue

Data flowdiagrams

Packagereports

Analysisproducts

Feasibilityreport

Specialistproducts

Managementproducts

Projectproducts

Top level

Second level

Third level

Figures 8.5 – 8.8 Product breakdown structures

PBS : An Example

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A product flow diagram shows the relationships between the products and explains how one product is transformed into another.In a PFD , nodes represent the products and the arrows between the nodes represent the activities that are performed to transform one product to another.The product flow fiagram provides two important inputs to the planning process : A set of activities for which we will need to estimate effort An understanding of the dependencies between activities

The PRINCE2 manual and many of the textbooks on PRINCE2 provide outline PBSs for projects. These are quite detailed in respect of the management/quality products, less so for the specialist products (since all projects are different.)When PRINCE2 is used in association with structured system analysis and design method (SSADM), SSADM provides a more detailed PBS for its specialist products as well as detailed product descriptions.

Product Flow Diagrams

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Interview notes

Draft data flowdiagrams

Draftrequirements

catalogue

Reviewedrequirements

catalogue

Agreed data flowdiagrams

Create requirementscatalogue

Create data flowdiagrams

Add extrarequirements

Review requirementscatalogue

Review data flowdiagrams

Figure 8.9 PRINCE2® product flow diagram

Product Flow Diagrams : An Example

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A product description defines the characteristics and details of the products that are reached after the product breakdown, and as a minimum includes the following sections : Purpose Composition Derivation Quality/completion criteria

and can add : Format Related products Review methods

Product Description

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A work package is a piece of work that can be assigned to an individual or a group of people for which effort and finish dates can be estimated. If a PBS is used, each product can be treated as a work package and assigned to individuals simply by adding

'Effort Estimated', 'Date Required' and 'Allocated To' sections to the product description.

Sometimes it makes more sense to group a set of products together into a work package as illustrated in the next slide.

Work Packages

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Training course

Trainer'smaterials

Exercises Handouts Visual aids

Notes forsession 1

Notes forsession 2

Exercise1A

Exercise1B

Exercise2A

Handout onPlanning

Handout onScheduling

Slides forsession 1

Slides forsession 2

Workpackage 1

Workpackage 2

Figure 8.10 Work packages for a training course

Work Packages : An Example

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Work Package Assignments To Roles Or Individuals

After identifying the work packages, project managers assign work packages to roles or individuals. Linear responsibility charts are widely used for that purpose.A Linear responsibility chart is a two dimensional grid with the list of products or work packages on one axis, and the roles identified in the organization chart on the other. Where each work package and roles intersects role's responsibilities are recorded including : Responsible : For actually creating the work package Accountable : Managing creation of the work package Consultation : Will provide information for creating the work package Information : Will be kept informed about progress.

Or alternatively : Initiatin : Starts the process off. Execution : Carries out work Approval : Reviews the results Consultation : Is consulted during the work Supervision : Manages the work

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Interview notes

Requirementscatalogue

Use case diagram

Package review

Report text

Report illustrations

Report appendices

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R = Responsible

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OR, could use

I = Initiation

E = Execution

A = Approval

C = Consultation

S = Supervision

Figure 8.11 Linear responsibility chart

Linear Responsibility Charts : An Example

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Dependencies And Network Diagrams

Understanding dependencies is very simple. If activity B can begin only when activity A is complete, then we have a dependency.Dependencies are visualized and analyzed by using network diagrams.There are two basic types of network diagrams : Activity On Arrow and Activity On Node.

Activity On Arrow Diagrams : On AOA diagrams, lines represents project tasks and the circles represents the connections or dependencies between tasks.

Activity On Node Diagrams : On AON diagrams, circles represents project tasks and the lines connecting circles represents the dependencies between tasks.

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Start

Finish

Conductinterviews

Investigateothersystems

Analyserequirements

Investigatepackages

Investigatehardware

Producereport

Figure 8.12 Network diagram (activity-on-arrow format)

Activity On Arrow Network Diagrams : An Example

A dummy activity is an activity with zero duration, which is used to represent dependencies among tasks, indicated by the dotted line

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The Critical Path

Critical Activity : Activities that are on the critical path of the project. In other words, those that, if they are delayed, will delay the whole project.Critical Path : The series of activities that determines the duration of the project. The critical path is usually defined as those activities with float equal to zero. It is the longest path throug the project.

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Start

Finish

Conductinterviews

Investigateothersystems

Analyserequirements

Investigatepackages

Investigatehardware

Producereport

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Figure 8.13 Network diagram with durations & critical path added

Activity On Arrow Network Diagrams : An Example (Durations And Critical Path Added)

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Conductinterviews (8)

Investigate othersystems (4)

Analyserequirements (3)

Investigatepackages (8)

Investigatehardware (5)

Produce report (5) FinishStart

Figure 8.15 Network diagram (activity-on-node format)

Activity On Node Network Diagrams : An Example

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How To Find The Critical Path With The Activity On Node Method ?

With the activity on node method, critical path is found by making two passes.In the forward pass we establish the : Earliest Start Time (EST) and record it in the top left hand box. Earliest Finish Time (EFT) and record it in the top right hand box.

Obtain EFT by adding the duration to the EST.for each activity.

In the backward pass establish : Latest Finish Time (LFT) and record it in the bottom right hand box. Latest Start Time (LST) and record it in the bottom left hand box.

Obtain LST by subtracting the duration of the activity from the LFT.

Subtract EST from the LST, or equally gettig the same result, subtract the EFT from the LFT. If difference is zero, the task is on the critical path.

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Step 1 - Forward pass : EST's and EFT's are calculated

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How To Find The Critical Path With The Activity On Node Method : An Example

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Step 2 - Backward pass : LST's and LFT's are calculated

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How To Find The Critical Path With The Activity On Node Method : An Example (continued)

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Produce report (5)

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FinishStart

How To Find The Critical Path With The Activity On Node Method : An Example (continued)

Step 3 - Critical activities are determined and highlighted

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Bar Charts

Conduct interviews

Investigate othersystems

Analyse requirements

Investigate packages

Investigate hardware

Produce report

5 10 15 20 25 30 35Days

Activities

A bar chart or often called a gant chart, is a graphic display of schedule related information. In the typical bar chart, activities are listed down the left side of the chart, dates are shown across the bottom (or top) and activity durations are shown as date-placed horizontal bars.

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Bar Charts (continued)

Conduct interviews





Produce report

5 10 15 20 25 30 35Days

Activities

Bar charts showing parallel activities. (Dotted lines shows floats for the activities)

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Bar Charts (continued)

Conduct interviews





Produce report

5 10 15 20 25 30 35Days

Activities

Bar charts showing dependencies between activities

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Planning For Quality : Decide how to cary out the work, methods, techniques and quality standarts that will be applied. Prepare a quality plan to document this. Monitor the quality through out the project.Tolerances : Projects are set up in order to achieve some objectives with associated

constraints on time, cost and quality. There is a tolerance on those constraints.

If constraints are violated, it should be communicated with the project board for approval.

Using Planning Tools : There are many commercial tools for project planning such as MS Project.

Other Points

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Thank You

1 swe523 chapter 8 project planning : understanding the work ahu evnİ 24 october, 2005

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