Project Management
- 1. Project Management 9626 Information Technology
- 2. What is Project management? • A project is a series of related jobs or tasks that are focused on completion of an overall objective. • Project management is planning, directing and controlling resources to meet the technical, cost and time constraints of a project. Stages of Project Management
- 3. Stages of the Project Life Cycle • Identify the initial ideas for the project • Set the project goals • Identify the key stakeholders in the project • Carry out a feasibility study • Requirements for the project are identified All the stakeholders are made aware of the expectations of the project. Objectives of the project, scope, risks, approximate budget, timescales will also be defined at this stage. 1. Project Initiation
- 4. Stages of the Project Life Cycle • A comprehensive budget and detailed timescale is formulated • Milestones for certain parts of the project are set • A Gantt chart is produced. It shows the order in which the tasks are to be done and how long each project is. • Personnel needed for the project are coordinated. This ensures that they are available when needed. 2. Project planning
- 5. Stages of the Project Life Cycle • The actual work begins. The plan MUST be followed closely for better management of resources, and keeping within the timeline. • Each team member is made aware of their roles and responsibilities and their targets, and the timescales they have to deliver their targets. 3. Project Execution
- 6. Stages of the Project Life Cycle • This is done throughout the execution phase. • The project manger ensures that the tasks are completed on time. Tasks that delay are rescheduled • Monitoring of the progress and performance of team members • Monitoring and tracking budgeting and spending • Monitoring the scope of the project so that it remains within the boundaries agreed upon. • Regular review meetings are held with the stakeholders to discuss the progress of the project. • Sometimes the project plan can be adjusted accordingly 4. Project Monitoring and Control
- 7. Stages of the Project Life Cycle • The project is handed over to the client and the contracts are terminated. • Resources set for the project are released. Employees can be re-deployed elsewhere • A review of the project between the client and the project management team is done. • The project is signed off as completed. 5. Project Closure Each stage has to have a phase review. This is to ensure that the project is moving according to plan with all resources being used optimally.
- 8. How Project Management Software Supports Projects • The software is used to schedule tasks and • allocate resources for the tasks • It is also used to identify milestones Planning Scheduling of tasks • Gantt charts can be created. • Tasks are assigned an estimated time to completion and the deadline • Tasks depended on completion of other tasks are also identified. • Show the project manager the calendar of all tasks to be completed and calendars for each team member responsible for the tasks.
- 9. How Project Management Software Supports Projects • Resources are defined within the software and their availability identified so that the manager knows when they can be used. • Resources are assigned to tasks, and the number of hours the resource shall be engaged is indicated. • Costs are attached to the resources to know the implication on the budget • Helps the manager identify conflict of resources, and times when there is overload when many tasks have to be completed. Allocation of resources Costing • Expenses of each team member are recorded • Daily/Weekly/monthly analysis of expenditure is made • Costs of each resource can be totaled • Data can be exported to different formats for further analysis
- 10. How Project Management Software Supports Projects The software can provide • Calendars for each team member • Instant messaging, video chat, conferencing • Shared documents, and notifications by email if changes are made • Discussion forums which allow comments from team members • Progress of the project Communication Decision Making • Logging all communications so any decision can be identified i.e. who made it and why it was made • Graphs and charts to help analyze progress and the budget • Identify the critical path: A critical path is a sequence of tasks that must be finished before the project can be finished. It is the longest path (i.e. path with the longest duration) from project start to finish.
- 11. Strengths and Weaknesses of Project Management Software Strengths • Collaboration with team members • Document sharing • Helping to manage project costs • Manage risks, forecasting and budgeting • Reporting capabilities • Ease of use Weaknesses • Expensive software. May not be worth investing in • The software may complicate simple projects • Time is taken to setup the software than actually work on the project/task itself
- 12. Tools and Techniques for PM Tasks • Gantt Charts are used to show • the start and end dates of each task • The task predecessor • Progress of each task • Current position within the task • - A bar represents each task - bar can be shaded to show percentage completed - tasks are listed with start/end dates - arrows show which task is dependent on which - A line or indicator shows the current position - it shows details for each task like resources/people responsible/duration Gantt Charts
- 13. Tools and Techniques for PM Tasks • PERT=Performance Evaluation and Review Technique • They provides graphical representation of a project's timeline. • PERT charts show each task in a project as a node. • Dependencies between tasks (e.g. where one task requires another one to be completed before it can start) are clearly shown by interconnections between the task nodes. • PERT charts also show timing information for each task. • PERT charts are similar to the critical path method (CPM) which identifies the longest path through the project, and therefore the minimum time for the project to be completed. PERT Charts
- 14. Tools and Techniques for PM Tasks • A critical path analysis(CPA) finds a project's critical path. • The critical path identifies which tasks must complete on time in order for the whole project to complete on time • It also defines the minimum time in which the project can be completed . • Example: • Making tea Critical Path Method
- 15. Tools and Techniques for PM Tasks • Divide the project into tasks. This technique is also known as the work breakdown structure. This step is done to ensure an easy progression between tasks. • Each circle represents a milestone, • Tasks dependent on previous tasks can’t be done before the predecessor task is completed. • Some tasks aren't critical and have what is known as float time. This is the time an activity can be delayed without affecting the rest of the project Critical Path Method (Cont’d)
- 16. • To create a CPA it is necessary to know the following information : • the list of tasks • how long each task will take • which tasks are dependent upon predecessors. This information can be shown in an activity dependence table Tools and Techniques for PM Tasks Critical Path Method (Cont’d)