Professional Design and Practice

Dr Lisa Simmons, Senior Lecturer in Engineering

Project Management
John Dalton Room E351
Email: l.simmons@mmu.ac.uk
Today’s lecture topics
1. Scope

2. Scheduling

3. Critical Path

4. Example
 1. Scope

Project success framework

What is scope?

The Product Breakdown Structure

What is project success?
A unique set of co-ordinated activities, with definite starting and finishing points,
undertaken by an individual or organisation to meet specific objectives within
defined schedule, cost and performance parameters. BS 6079-1
Time

Quality

Scope Cost
What is project success?
In many engineering projects safety can be considered as a key indicator of a
projects success…

Time Are projects that are on-time,

within budget and meet all the
objectives always successful?

Scope Quality Cost

Safety
Measuring a projects success
Time bound project Projects must be delivered on time, i.e. the opening of the
millennium dome, even if this is at the expense of cost,
scope, and safety
Cost bound project Projects must be delivered within cost, i.e local authority
funding for new housing provision may result in a
reduction of units (scope)
Scope bound project Project must be delivered to meet the initial scope i.e the
launch of a new project may be delayed to allow for
further testing to meet scope and quality requirements

Safety bound project Safe practices must be built into every project to meet the
needs of the Health and Safety at Work Act.

Are all projects safety bound?

The Millennium Dome

Under New Labour Government Tony Blair stated five benefits for the
Millennium Dome:

• The content should inspire people

• It should have national reach
• The management of the project should be first rate
• It should not call upon the public purse
• There should be a lasting legacy

Blair, T (1998) ‘Why the Dome is good for Britain’, People’s Palace
Speech, Royal Festival Hall, 24 February pp1-5
The Millennium Dome
• The content should inspire people:
• The project was littered with disagreements between designers, and
sponsors
• It should have national reach
• What does this mean?
• The management of the project should be first rate
• There was no clear communication protocols between NMEC,
designers, sponsors, contractors.
• It should not call upon the public purse
• Most of the budget came from the National Lottery, costs spiralled
from £399million to £789million
• There should be a lasting legacy
• No one asked the question… what are we going to do with this
building after 31st December 1999?
 What is Scope?
Scope comprises of the totality of the outputs, outcomes and benefits and the work
required to produce them. It involves determining the goals, deliverables, tasks,
functions and deadlines

Outputs: the tangible or intangible product typically delivered by a project

Outcome: the changed circumstance or behaviour that results from the output

Benefit: The quantifiable and measureable improvement resulting from completion of

deliverables that is perceived as a positive by a stakeholder

The SCOPE of a project is defined in the Design Specification and the Business Case
How do we define scope?

Once we have selected a concept to move forward with we can start to develop
a product breakdown structure and a work breakdown structure

The product breakdown structure details the individual components within a

product - SCOPE

The work breakdown structure details the work packages required to deliver
each of the components - TIME
Producing a PBS
• Breakdown a product into components to clarify work needed
• Objectives
• Identify customers' requirements products
• Identify additional products which will facilitate building and supporting
these products
• Gain consensus on scope
• Topmost product is “final” product or project output
• Includes “external” products from outside the project
• Needs several levels, higher level products completely defined by lower level
• May include “intermediate” or “enabling” products or “sub-assemblies”
 Example PBS

Landscape
garden

Prepared Construction
site elements

Site Marked Maintain

Agreed spec design Cleared site building Garden
description layout facility

Patio BBQ Lawns Flower beds Shed Tools

 2. Scheduling
How do we manage time?

The Work Breakdown Structure

Example WBS

Critical path analysis

Example Critical path analysis

Recap on project lifecycle

What is scheduling?
Time scheduling is a collection of techniques used to develop and present schedules
that show when work will be performed Define the project’s objectives including target dates
Gather and refine the requirements

Define the project’s scope in terms of product/work

Identify the work packages to deliver scope

Pinpoint activities

Analyse the sequence of products/work

Identify the resources needed

Estimate duration, effort, materials and other resources

Assess the results

Reiterate until a viable schedule is produced

Work Breakdown Structure
The work breakdown structure gives a hierarchical decomposition of projects into work
packages i.e. a set of activities to be completed.

It describes the scope of the project graphically

As it involves all the work required to produce the project, it defines the scope in
its totality
It is subject to change control
It helps the team to understand the work packages
It enables a bottom up cost and time estimates to be produced
Allows for single point responsibilities to be established
Example student project, Florida InternationalUniversity

http://web.eng.fiu.edu/chen/Fall%202015/ESI%206455/Team%204
%20Project%20Proposal%20-
%20Design%20and%20Fabrication%20of%204%20wheel%20off
%20road%20vehicle.pdf
The critical path
Once we know what we are going to deliver and how it will be delivered we can
start to plan for time
Critical path analysis is a common technique identifying the key activities within a
work package

It outlines a sequence of activities through a project network from start to finish, the
sum of whose durations determines the overall project duration
The path through a series of activities, taking into account interdependencies, in
which the late completion of activities will have an impact on the project or delay a
key milestone

• The longest path through the schedule

• The path with zero float
• The set of activities that must happen on time
• The set of activities where any delay will affect the whole schedule
Critical path analysis
Critical path analysis is made up of three steps:
• Forward pass
• Calculates the overall duration of the network/ project
• Backward Pass
• Calculates the latest time activities can start
• Float calculations
• Calculates how much flexibility there is and where

Float is how long an activity can be delayed or extended

Total float – time by which an activity may be delayed or extended without affecting the total
project duration or violating a target finish date
Free float – time by which an activity may be delayed or extended without affecting the start
of any succeeding activity
Conventions
Early Start
The earliest time that an
activity can start according
to logical constraints
Late Start
The latest time that an
activity can start according
to the logical constraints
and without affecting the
overall project duration
Duration Early Finish
The estimated time taken The earliest time than an
to undertake the activity activity can finish
according to the logical
constraints
Early start Duration Early finish
Activity
Late start Total float Late finish
Late Finish
The latest time than an
Total float
The time by which an activity can finish
according to the logical
activity may be delayed
constraints and without
without affecting the
overall project duration affecting the overall
project duration
Logic constraints

Name of activity Name of activity

Finish to Finish
Name of activity

Name of activity
Name of activity
Start to Start

Name of activity
Summary of formulae

Forward Pass
-Start on time 0
-Earliest start = earliest finish of previous task
-Earliest Finish = Earliest start + duration

Backwards Pass
-Latest Finish (last task) = earliest finish of last task
-Latest Finish = Latest Start of successor task
-Latest Start = Latest finish – Duration

Floats
-Total Float = Latest Float – Duration – Earliest Start
(Also Total Float = Latest Start – Earliest Start)
- Free Float = Earliest Start (successor) – Earliest Finish
 Activity C Step one – determine activity
duration

Activity E

0 1 1
Activity A
0 0 1 Activity B

Activity G

Activity D
Activity F
 1 2
Step one – determine activity
Activity C
duration

7
Activity E

0 1 1
Activity A 1 4
0 0 1 Activity B 4
Activity G

1 8
5
Activity D
Activity F
 1 2 3
2
Activity C

5 7 12
Activity E

0 1 1 1 4 5 1
Activity B 14 4 18
Activity A
Activity G
0 0 1
2
1
3
1 8 9 9 5 14
Forward pass Activity D
Earliest start = earliest finish
Activity F
of previous task

Earliest finish = earliest start +

duration
 Backward pass
-Latest finish (last task) = earliest finish of last task
- Latest finish = latest start of successor task
1 2 3 - Latest start = latest finish - duration

Activity C
5 7 5 7 12
Activity E
7 14
1
14 4 18
0 1 1 1 4 5
Activity G
Activity A Activity B
14 18
0 0 1 3 7

18-4
2
1 8 9 9 5 14
Activity D Activity F
1 9 9 14 3
 Float
Total float = latest finish – duration – earliest start
1 2 3 Free float = earliest start (successor) – earliest finish

Activity C
FF = 0 5 4 7 FF = 2
2 1 7-2-1 5 7 12
Activity E
0 1 1 1 4 5 FF = 2
7 2 14
Activity A Activity B
0 0 1 3 5 7 FF = 0 14 4 18

FF = 0 Activity G
14 0 18

1 8 9 FF = 0 9 5 14 FF = 0
Activity D Activity F
1 0 9 9 0 14

FF = 0
 1 2 3
Activity C
FF = 0 5 4 7 FF = 2
2 1 7-2-1 5 7 12
Activity E
0 1 1 1 4 5 FF = 2
7 2 14
Activity A Activity B
0 0 1 3 5 7 FF = 0 14 4 18
FF = 0 Activity G
14 0 18

1 8 9 FF = 0 9 5 14 FF = 0
Activity D Activity F
1 0 9 9 0 14
FF = 0
Gantt Chart
Activity Number Description Duration (secs) Predecessor

1 START at kettle area 0 NA

The critical
2 Get path - example
clean mug from cupboard 5 1

3 Get teabag from container, take to kettle area 3 1

4 Fill kettle with enough water and return to kettle 30 1

area
5 Put teabag into mug 1 2,3

6 Boil kettle 180 4

7 Pour boiling water into mug 3 5,6

8 Let tea brew in mug 120 6

9 Get milk from fridge and take to kettle area 10 6

10 Get spoon from drawer and take to kettle area 5 6

11 Remove teabag with spoon and put in bin 10 7,8

12 Pour milk into mug and return to fridge 10 9

13 Rinse spoon, dry and return to drawer 30 11

14 FINISH at kettle area 5 12,13

 PERT analysis
Utilises a 3 point estimate to calculate the activity duration
- Optimistic time (O): the minimum possible time required to accomplish a task, assuming
everything proceeds better than is normally expected
- Pessimistic time (P): the maximum possible required to accomplish a task, assuming everything
goes wrong (but excluding major catastrophes)
- Most, likely time (M): the best estimate of the time required to accomplish a task, assuming
everything proceeds as normal
- Expected Time (TE): the best estimate of the time required to accomplish a task, assuming
everything proceeds as normal (the implication being that the expected time is the average time
the task would require if the task were repeated on a number of occasion over an extended
period of time).
TE = (O + 4M + P)/6

This is a weighted average (M is weighted four times more likely than the other
two values)

Program Evaluation and Review Techniques

Launched by US Defence, US Navy Special Project Office in 1958 as part of the
Polaris mission
Activity Number Description Duration Duration Most PERT Time (secs) Predecessor
(secs) (secs) optimistic
(secs)
1 START at kettle area 0 0 0 5.2 NA

2 Get clean mug from cupboard 5 6 5 2.2 1(2)

3 Get teabag from container, take to kettle 3 2 2 20 2(2)

area
4 Fill kettle with enough water and return to 30 10 20 0.8 1(1)
kettle area
5 Put teabag into mug 1 0 1 150 3(2)

6 Boil kettle 180 120 150 4 1(1)

7 Pour boiling water into mug 3 5 4 95 5, 6 (1,2)

8 Let tea brew in mug 120 70 95 12.2 7(1)

9 Get milk from fridge and take to kettle area 10 15 12 2.8 5(2)

10 Get spoon from drawer and take to kettle 5 0 3 9 9(2)

area
11 Remove teabag with spoon and put in bin 10 8 9 13.8 8, 10 (2)

12 Pour milk into mug and return to fridge 10 17 14 30 10, 11 (1,2)

13 Rinse spoon, dry and return to drawer 30 30 30 5 11 (2)

14 FINISH at kettle area 5 5 5 12,13 (1,2)

 Components of a project life cycle
• Phases
• Gates
• Reviews
• Milestones

BS 6079:2019 Clause 8.2.1