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CHAPTER
Objectives
Feasibility assessment
Resource allocation
Detailed costing
Motivation
Co-ordination
0
Select Project
1 Identify project 2 Identify project
scope and objective infrastructure
3
Analyze project
characteristics
4 Identify the
Review products and activities
5 Estimate effort
for activity
For each activity
Lower level detail 6 Identify
activity risks
Defining activities
• A project is composed of a number of interrelated activities;
• A project may start when at least one of its activities is ready to
start;
• A project will be completed when all of the activities it
encompasses have been completed;
• An activity must have a clearly defined start and a clearly defined
end-point, normally marked by the production of a tangible
deliverable;
• If an activity requires a resource then that resource requirement
must be forecastable and is assumed to be required at a constant
level throughout the duration of the activity.
• The duration of an activity must be forecastable – assuming
normal circumstances, and the reasonable availability of resources;
• Some activities might require that others are completed before
they can begin.
Activity-on-Node Network
Design
Module A 5 Code/test
Module A
Specify module A
Code/test
Specify module B
Design
Module B 6 Module B
Specify overall
1 2 3 4 9 10
Integrate/
System Test system
Specify module C
Design
Module C 7 Code/test
Module C
Specify module D
Design Code/test
Module D 8 Module D
Activity-on-Arrow Network
Code
Program
Install
test
Data
Take-on
Correct Diagnose
errors errors
A loop represents an impossible sequence
Write user
manual
A dangle
Write user
manual
Resolving the dangle
1 2
Document
amendments
Indicating lags
Software Project Management Slide# 21
Activity planning
6.8 Formulating a network model
Labeling conventions
- Forward pass
- Backward pass
- Critical path.
A 6 wks C 3 wks
0 Hardware 6 6 Build 9
design hardware
A 6 wks C 3 wks
0 Hardware 6 6 Build 9
2 design 8 8 hardware 11
• There will be at least one path through the network that defines
the duration of the project known as the critical path.
• The difference between an activity’s earliest start date and its
latest start date is known as the activity’s float - it is measure of
how much the start or completion of an activity may be delayed
without affecting the end date of the project.
• The significance of critical path is twofold:
– In managing the project, we must pay attention to
monitoring activities on the critical path.
– In planning the project, it is the critical path that we must
shorten if we are to reduce the overall duration of the
project.
A 6 wks C 3 wks
0 Hardware 6 6 Build 9
2 design 8 8 hardware 11
8 weeks 2 wks 5 weeks 2 wks
C
A
1 B 3 D 4 H 6
E
G
5
F
C
A
1 B 3 D 4 H 6
E
G
F 5
0
1
0
B= 4 4
3
7
D= 4 4
9 11
H= 2 6
13 13
0 3 2 0
E= 3
G=3
F = 10 10 5 10
0
Software Project Management Slide# 38
Activity planning
Exercise
4
C=7
F=6
Dummy
1 A=8 2 B = 11 3 D=6 5 7
0 0 0 8 19
G=5
H=4
E = 10
6
Critical Path =
Path =
4
26 28
C=7 2
F=6
Dummy
1 A=8 2 B = 11 3 D=6 5 7
0 0 0 8 8 19 19 25 25 34 34
0 0 0 0
G=5
H=4
E = 10
6
30 30
0
Critical Path = 34
Path = A–B–D–G-H
This chapter we have discussed the use of the critical path method and
precedence networks to obtain an ideal activity plan. This plan tells us the
order in which we should execute activities and the earliest and latest we can
start and finish them.
These techniques help us to identify which activities are critical to meeting
a target completion date.
In order to manage the project we need to turn the activity plan into a
schedule that will specify precisely when each activity is scheduled to start and
finish. Before we can do this, we must consider what resources will be required
and whether or not they will be available at appropriate times. As we shall see,
the allocation of resources to an activity may be affected by how we view the
importance of the task, and the risks associated with it.