Chapter-2

An Overview of Project Planning

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‘Step Wise’ – Project Planning
0.Select
1. Identify project 2. Identify project
project objectives infrastructure

3. Analyse
project
characteristics
Review
4. Identify products
and activities

5. Estimate effort
Lower for activity
For each
level
6. Identify activity activity
detail
risks
10. Lower level
planning 7. Allocate
resources

8. Review/ publicize
9. Execute plan plan
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Step 0 : Select Project
•It is called 0 step
– It is outside main project planning process
•Here we do feasibility study
•Priority of projects
•Merits of project

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Step-1:
Identify Project scope and objectives

• Identify objectives and measures of effectiveness

• Establish a project authority
• Identify all stakeholders in the project and their
interests
• Modify objectives in the light of stakeholder analysis
• Establish methods of communication with all parties

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 Identify objectives and measures of effectiveness

 Establish a project authority

◦ ‘who is the boss?’
◦ Project steering committee
◦ Setting, monitoring and modifying objective

 Identify all stakeholders in the project and their interests

◦ ‘who will be affected/involved in the project?’

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 Modify objectives in the light of stakeholder analysis
– ‘do we need to do things to win over stakeholders?’
– Add new features for stakeholder’s benefit
• Drawback is size(work and finance) may increase

 Establish methods of communication with all parties

– ‘how do we keep in contact?’

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 Step 2:
Identify Project infrastructure

 Identify the relationship between the project and

strategic planning

 Identify installation standards and procedures

 Identify project team organization

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• Identify the relationship between project and strategic
plan
– Identify projects to be carried out
– Order of projects
– Identify and prioritize the projects
– Establish framework for project
– ‘why did they want the project?’
– What h/w and s/w part needed

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• Identify installation standards and procedures
– What are the development procedures?
– ‘What standards do we have to follow?’
– Change control and management
• Changes to requirements are implemented in safe and orderly manner.

– Quality standards
• Establish quality checks at each phase of SDLC.

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• Identify project team organization
– Identify your requirement of team
– Choose best people
– ‘where do I fit in?’
– Divide the activities
– Create groups
– There should be a project leader
– Restrict some groups to be combined
• It will help at resource allocation stage

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Step 3:
Analysis of project characteristics

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• Distinguish the project as either objective or
product-based
– Object v/s Product
– Project can be distinguished by their aim whether it is to
produce a product or to meet certain objective.
– Is there more than one way of achieving success?
– Mostly in earlier stage projects are objective and in later
stage it become product driven

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• Analyze other project characteristics (including quality
based ones)
– what is different about this project?
– Whether it is a information system or embedded system?
– What are the critical issues?
– Malfunctioning threatened human life?

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• Identify high level project risks
– ‘what could go wrong?’
– ‘what can we do to stop it?’

• Take into account user requirements concerning

implementation
– For example customer want the product in java

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• Select development methodology and life cycle
approach
– waterfall? Increments? Prototypes?
– Generally Company use the same method or SDLC as they
were using in past
– It also depends on project need.

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• Review overall resource estimates
– When it is clear that what are the risks and what approach
we are going to use
• Its good to re-estimate efforts and resources.

– Does all this increase the cost?’

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Step 4:
Identify Project Products And Activities

Now more detailed planning activity take place

 4.1 Identify and describe project products
- what do we have to produce?

Project A product breakdown structure

products (PBS)

System Module Management

Products Products Products

Module Module Progress

Overall Integrated Design Doc code Reports
Specification Test Cases
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Products:
•The result of an activity
•Could be-
– physical thing
• installed pc
– a document
• logical data structure
– a person
• trained user
– a new version of an old product
• updated software

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•The following are NOT normally products:
– activities
• training
– events
• interviews completed
– resources and actors
• software developer

•Products CAN BE deliverable or intermediate

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4.2 Document Generic product flows

- Some Products will need one or more other products to exist

first before they can be created

Produce ideal activity network

•Identify the activities needed to create each product in the PFD

•More than one activity might be needed to create a single
product

•Draw up activity network

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An ‘ideal’ activity

Select
Modules

Plan Design Conduct Analyse Draft change

testing questionnaire tests results requests

Design quality
Parameters

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Step 4.5 Add check-points if needed
Design Code
Student Module module

Design Design Code

system Test
Faculty Module module system

Design Code put in a

Mgmt Module module check point

Design Code
Student Module module

Design Design Code

system Check-point Test
Faculty module module system

Design Code
Mgmt module module
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Step 5:
Estimate effort for each activity

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•5.1 Carry out bottom-up estimates
– In Step3.6 we have done top-down estimation
– Top down v/s Bottom-Up
– distinguish carefully between effort and elapsed time
– Effort is amount of work that needs to be done
– Calculate effort:
– Elapsed time is the time between start and the end of the
task

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•5.2. Revise plan to create controllable activities
– It is very difficult to judge the progress of a Long activity
– With long activity it is difficult to monitor and control the
activity.
– break up very long activities into a series of smaller ones
– bundle up very short activities (create check lists?)

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Step 6:
Identify activity risks

6.1 Identify and quantify risks for activities

6.2 Plan risk reduction and contingency measures
6.3 Adjust overall plans and estimates to take account of risks

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•6.1.Identify and quantify risks for activities
– damage if risk occurs (measure in time lost or money)
– likelihood if risk occurring

•6.2. Plan risk reduction and contingency measures

– risk reduction: activity to stop risk occurring
– contingency: action if risk does occur

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•6.3 Adjust overall plans and estimates to take
account of risks
– Adjust the plans according to the risk involved with it.
– e.g. add new activities which reduce risks associated with
other activities e.g. training, pilot trials, information
gathering

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 Step 7:
Allocate resources

•7.1 Identify and allocate resources to activities

•7.2 Revise plans and estimates to take into account resource
constraints

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•7.1 Identify and allocate resources to activities
– Type of staff needed
– Numbers
– Staff availability

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•7.2 Revise plans and estimates to take into account
resource constraints
– Some staff may be needed for more than one task at same
time so priority should be given to the critical activity
– e.g. staff not being available until a later date
– Non-project activities
– O/P of this step is Gantt chart

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Step 9 : Execute plan
Step 10: create lower level plans

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