PROJECT SCHEDULING

First, let us discuss the meaning of scheduling.

⦿ Scheduling is the proper distribution of time and
effort.
⦿ It also describe, what activity is to be performed at
which time e.g. schedule of classes in the
school/college.
⦿. In software project schedule, the estimated time
(schedule) is divided according to the phases of
development.

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Basic Principles of Software Project
Scheduling
⦿ Compartmentalization : The must be
project compartmentalized into a manageable
activities
number and tasks.
of To accomplish compartmentalization,
both the product and the process are decomposed.
⦿ Interdependency : The interdependency of each
compartmentalized activity or tasks must be determined.
Some tasks must occur in sequence while others can
occur in parallel.
⦿ Time allocation: Each task must be assigned a start date
and a completion date that are a function of the
interdependencies.

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⦿ Effort validation: As time allocation occurs, the project
manager must ensure that no more than the allocated
number of people have been scheduled at any given
time.
⦿ Defined responsibilities: Every task that is scheduled
should be assigned to a specific team member.
⦿ Defined outcomes: Every task that is scheduled should
have a defined outcome. For software projects, the
outcome is normally a work product (e.g., the design of
a module) or a part of work. Work products are often
combined in deliverables.
⦿ Defined milestones: Every task or group of tasks should
be associated with a project milestone. A milestone is
accomplished when one or more work products has been
reviewed for quality and has been approved.

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TOOLS & TECHNIQUE OF PROJECT
SCHEDULING
There are mainly two techniques :
⦿ PERT & CPM Chart and
⦿ Timeline Chart
PERT & CPM Chart
⦿ Program Evaluation and Review Technique
(PERT) and Critical Path Method (CPM) are
two project methods that can be applied to
software development.
Critical path - the chain of tasks that determines the
duration of the project
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Example of PERT
⦿ A PERT chart is a network of boxes (or circles) and
arrows.
⦿ There are different variations of PERT charts.
⦿ Some use the boxes top represent activities, and some
use the arrows to do so. We will use the first approach
here.
⦿ Each box thus represents an activity.
⦿ The arrowsare used to show the dependencies of
activities on one another.
⦿ The activity at the head of an arrow cannot
start until the activity at the tail of the arrow is
finished.
⦿ Some boxes can be designated as milestones.

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The critical path method (CPM) is used in project
management to create project schedules and helps
project managers create a timeline for the project.
The critical path method includes:

•Identifying every task necessary to complete the project and the dependencies
between them

•Estimating the duration of the project tasks

•Calculating the critical path based on the tasks’ duration and dependencies to
identify the critical activities

•Focusing on planning, scheduling and controlling critical activities

•Setting project milestones and deliverables

•Setting stakeholder expectations related to deadlines

Timeline Charts
⦿ When creating a software project schedule, the
planner begins with a set of tasks (the work
breakdown structure
⦿ As a consequence of this input, a timeline chart,
also called a Gantt chart, is generated.
⦿ A timeline chart can be developed for the entire
project.

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PERSONNEL PLANNING
⦿ Personnel planning basically deals with staffing.
Therefore before going to personnel planning, first
we discuss Staffing.
⦿ Staffing deals with the hiring personnel for the
position that are identified by the organizational
structure.
⦿ It involves
⦿ defining requirements for personnel;
⦿ recruiting (identifying, interviewing and selecting
candidates);
⦿ compensating,
⦿ developing and promoting employees.

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 •Staffing is performed according to the following rules:
(a) A person can only be allocated to an activity if he or she
possesses at least all the characteristics demanded by the activity, in
an intensity level greater or equal to the demanded level of the
activity.

(b) A person can only be allocated to an activity if he or she is

available to perform the activity in the period it needs to be
performed.

Personal Planning

 This includes estimation or allocation of right persons or individuals

for the right type of tasks of which they are capable.
 The capability of the individuals should always match with the
overall objective of the project.
⦿ For personnel planning and scheduling, it is useful to
have effort and schedule estimates for the subsystems
and basic modules in the system.
⦿ At planning time, when the system design has not been
done, the planner can only expect to know about the
major subsystems in the system and perhaps the major
modules in these subsystems.
⦿ Once the project schedule is estimated and the effort
and schedule of different phases and tasks are known,
staff requirements can be obtained.
⦿ From the cost and overall duration of the project, the
average staff size for the project can be determined by
dividing the total effort (in person-months) by the
overall project duration (in months).

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⦿ Typically the staff requirement for a project is small
during requirement and design, the maximum during
implementation and testing, and drops again during the
final phases of integration and testing.
⦿ Using the COCOMO model, average staff requirement
for the different phases can be determined as the effort
and schedule for each phase are known.
⦿ When the schedule and average staff level for each
activity is known the overall personnel allocation for the
project can be planned.
⦿ This plan will specify how many people will be needed
for the different activities at different times for the
duration of the project.

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⦿A method of producing the personnel plan is to make it a calendar-
based representation, containing all the months in the duration of
the project, by listing the months from the starting date to the
ending date.
⦿ The total effort for each month and the total effort for each activity
can easily be computed from this plan.
⦿ Drawing a personnel plan usually requires a few iterations to
ensure that the effort requirement for the different phases and
activities (and the duration of the different phases) is consistent
with the estimates obtained earlier.
⦿ This type of plan, although it has the overall staff requirement,
does not distinguish between different types of people.
⦿ A more detailed plan will list the requirement of people by their
specialty; for example, stating how many programmers, analysts,
quality assurance people, and so forth are needed at different times.