Project Management:Design Tools

StoryBoards:

- A storyboard is a Planning tool. It has a sequence of pictures showing

details for a product.

- displays images in a chronological sequence, usually to describe a motion

picture

- illustrates what each page, scene or screen will look like in an animation
sequence

- Help a design team and clients (users) arrive at the same understanding
of what the page will do

- can be hand drawn or made on a computer

> online versions also exist (with limited options)

SiteMaps:

- planning tool that allows users to visualize the hierarchical pages of a

website and the number of clicks required to access each page

>shows all web-pages of a website

>diagram showing the whole structure of a website

-can give a planar view of all the structures and the hierarchy of how they
link up

Can be used for two purposes:

1. In planning for a website

> allows designers to plan the layout of content of a product

 2. On the finished website, which is hyperlinked to show hierarchy

> table of contents page that contain links to all web-pages on the
website

Flowcharts:

-Diagram used to explain a process or workflow

-shows a series of chronological steps and relationship between each step

- Visual/graphical representation of the flow of logic in a problem solution

>Series of a shape joined by lines that show the flow

>lines show the flow of data
. data flow can go both ways

-can assist in designing a navigation system based on pair user decision

and options whilst using the product

-can allow designers to examine users decision making processes while

using the product

-need to use internationally recognised symbols (as shown on next page)

-algorithm described in a flowchart will begin and end with a rounded

shapes (i.e Start and End)

-Symbols are connected using flow lines, with arrows to show in which
direction we trace through

-any action that needs to be performed is drawn in a rectangle

-any action that needs to be performed is drawn in a diamond

-any information inputted/outputted is drawn in a parallelogram

Flowchart Design Guidelines

-flowchart should be clear, neat and easy to follow

>there should not be any room for ambiguity in understanding the
flowchart

-in drawing a proper flowchart, all necessary requirements should be listed

out in logical order

-usual direction of the flow of a procedure or system is from left-to-right

or top-to-bottom

-ensure that flowchart has a logical start and finish

-only one flow line should come out from a process symbol

-only one flow line should enter a decision symbol

-only one flow line should enter a decision symbol but two or three flow
lines ( one for each possible ) could leave the decision symbol

-write within standard flowchart symbols briefly

Flowchart Design Guidelines (contd.)

-if the flowchart becomes complex it is better use connector symbols to

reduce the number of flowlines

>avoid the intersection of flow lines if you want to make it more effective
and better way of communication

-when finished it is useful to test the validity of the flowchart by passing

through it with a simple test data

Example:

-Working out and displaying ‘Parking Fee’

 1. What is the number of hours a customer has parked in the parking
lot?
2. If the number is 2 or less, Parking is free
3. If the number is 5 or more, the maximum fee of $5 is to be charged
4. If the number is more than 2 hours less than 5 the parking fee will be
$1 multiplied by the number of hours

Gantt chart

-Popular tool used to plan and schedule time relationship among project
activities

-horizontal bar chart showing project phases and activities

-Shows the start and completion of all tasks and time for a project

>task and time taken for each task, with approximate completion dates
>horizontal axis across the top (or sometimes bottom) represents time
>Vertical axis (left side) displays the list of the required tasks/activities

- When one bar is on top of another, those two tasks can be completed at
the same time

- When one bar is linked by an arrow to another bar, the second task is
dependent on the first

-can be used to efficiently allocate labor and resources to each task

-can compare actual progress to estimated progress

> to allow project managers to clearly evaluate project performance