SE503

Advanced Project
Management
Traditional Project Management
 Traditional Approach
• Plan the work
– Scope of work
– Budget
– Schedule
• Work the plan
– Manage the project team
– Deal with resources, contractors, consultants
– Deal with uncertainty
 Project Plan - Contents
• Objectives (present vs. proposed situation)
• Benefits
• Project Team Organization
• Scope of Work
• Budget (detail, controls)
• Schedule (Network, Milestones)
• Resources (equipment, labor, contractors)
 Project Plan - Purpose
• Identify objectives and key deliverables
• Baseline for evaluating progress
• Coordinate with external parties
• Communicate to affected parties
• Highlight critical issues
 Why Organize the Work?
• Formal definition of scope
– Work Breakdown Structure
• Provides a basis for organizing the project
– Budget and estimates
– Schedule and tracking
– Documentation
– Personnel assignments
 Work Breakdown Process
• Inputs • Outcomes
– Project objectives – Hierarchical organization
– Constraints – Numbering system
– Assumptions • Verify
• Methods – Are objectives met?
– Identify deliverables – Any missing tasks?
– Define how they will be – Any non-value tasks?
produced
 Work Breakdown Strategies
• Divide and conquer
• Divide by…
– Geography
– Specialty
– Process flow
– Time (phase)
– Deliverables
 Some WBS Issues

• Numbering system
– Related to systems in use
• Equipment numbers
• Account numbers
• Drawing numbers
• Project filing system
– Provides a coherent numbering system for budget, schedule
• Hierarchy span
– Number of subdivisions at each level
– How many is too many?
 WBS Checklist
• Research
• Design
• Material/Equipment Specification
• Purchasing
• Delivery/Move to job site
• Installation
• Startup/checkout
 Remember…
• Permits/licenses
• Meetings
• Reports
 WBS Format

• Project A
Project A
– Part 1
• Task A101
• Task A102
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3
– Part 2
• Task A201
• Task A202 Task A101 Task A201 Task A301

– Part 3
• Task A301 Task A102 Task A202 Task A302

• Task A302
• Task A303 Task A303
 Project Budget
• Total Cost Estimate
• Spending Plan
• Target Accuracy (5-15%)
• Follow the WBS and Schedule
 Elements of an Estimate
• Material Cost
– remember tax and freight (11%)
• Labor Cost
– Remember overtime, holiday pay, etc.
• Other Costs
– Permits, fees
– Equipment rental, leases
– Secretarial, administration, document reproduction, phone calls, fax,
overhead, profit, etc.
– Contingency and escalation
 Presenting the Budget
• Report in Dollars
• Follow Work Breakdown
• Breakout
– Direct costs/Indirect costs
– Labor/Non-labor
– Overhead/Burden/G&A
– Labor hours, breakout by craft

• Indicate Uncertainty
 Spending Plan
• Combination of budget and schedule
• Period-by-period spending
• Cumulative spending curve
• Distribute indirect/other costs
 Project Scheduling
• Time dimension of project plan
• Shows logical relationships between tasks
• Determines completion date and milestone
dates
• Identifies critical items
• Core of project management
 Schedule Elements
• Tasks (have duration)
• Milestones (no duration, important events)
• Relationships (between tasks/milestones)
• Time line (hours, days, weeks, months)
 Network Techniques
• PERT/CPM
• Precedence Diagramming
– Logical relationships
– Immediate predecessors only
• Critical Path - longest path from project start
to project finish.
 Precedence Relationships
• Immediate Predecessors
• Finish-to-Start (standard)
• Start-to-Start (start dependency)
• Finish-to-Finish (finish dependency)
• Start-to-Finish (overlap)
• Lag
 Time Estimating
• Single estimate
• Three-point estimate (PERT)
– Optimistic (To)
– Most Likely (Tm)
– Pessimistic (Tp)
– Expected = (To + 4Tm + Tp) / 6
– Beta distribution, triangle distribution
• Inaccuracies
 Estimating Exercise
• 24-piece puzzle
• Three-point estimate
 Presenting the Schedule

• Gantt Chart
– Activities vs. Time
– No logic
• Precedence Diagram (PERT chart)
– Shows logic
– No time scale
• Time scaled logic diagram (both)
• Indicate activities on Critical Path
 Project Network

• START node • Critical Path

– No predecessors – Longest path from
– One or more successors START to END
• END node • Network is
– One or more predecessors – Directed
– No successors – Acyclic
• Tasks have – Compact
– One or more predecessors
– One or more successors
– Duration
 Project Network Structure

Loop-Back Relationship

Task Task
C D

Task Task
Start End
A Redundant Relationship E

Task
B
Example Time-scaled Logic
 Network Calculations
• Forward pass
– Use early start and early finish dates
– Series (add) and parallel (max) combinations
– Calculate critical path (latest early finish)
• Backward pass
– Calculate late finish and late start
– Calculate slack (or criticality)
– Identify critical tasks
 Schedule Terminology
• Float/Slack
• Early Start Date
• Late Start Date
• Early Finish Date
• Late Finish Date
 Resource Allocation
• Standard PERT/CPM methods assume project
is time constrained
• Resource constrained projects are common
• Resources
– People
– Equipment
– Space
 Why Bother?

• Avoid Under-Allocation
– Idle time
– Layoffs
• Avoid Over-Allocation
– Exceeding available pool
– Early warning of delays
• Allocate Resources Across Multiple Projects
 Resource Procedures
• Identify Resources for each Task
• Blend Resource Needs with Schedule to
Identify Demands on each Resource
• Identify Options to Improve Resource
Allocation
• Identify Effects on Schedule/Critical Path
 Resource Considerations
• Tasks that Exceed the Planned Duration often
Consume More Resources
• Adding Resources to a Task does not always
Reduce Duration Linearly
• There is usually a Cost Involved with Changing
Resource Allocations
 Resource Leveling

• Level the Demand on each Resource

• Approaches
– Change task durations (shorter/longer)
– Shift task start times
– Split tasks
• Resource Leveling Becomes Complicated
Very Quickly and can Involve Multiple
Strategies
 Summary

• Plan the work, work the plan

• Scope of work (WBS)
• Budget
• Schedule
– Time estimates
– Network techniques
• Resource management
• Homework