SPM Unit 3 Project Planning and Scheduling
- 1. UNIT -3 Project Planning and Scheduling Defining project scope, Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), Gantt charts and network diagrams, Critical Path Method (CPM) and Program Evaluation Review Technique (PERT)
- 2. Steps for defining project scope 🞂 Define the project's goals. 🞂 Every project has an objective 🞂 Define the project's deliverables. 🞂 Define the project's tasks and activities. 🞂 Define the project's constraints.
- 5. 🞂 1. Project Goals & Objectives 🞂 Project goals and objectives are what define the purpose of a project. 🞂 Project objectives are the smaller steps that lead to the project goals, which are broader. 🞂 2. Project Requirements 🞂 Project managers and stakeholders must reach an agreement about the project scope and other project requirements such as the expected quality, risk, benefits and cost, among others.
- 6. 🞂 3. Project Scope Description 🞂 all the work that needs to be done to complete the project 🞂 Use a work breakdown structure to visualize all your project tasks, deliverables, and milestones. 🞂 List what’s within the scope of your project, and what’s out of scope. 🞂 Everything that’s not included in the project scope is known as project exclusions. 🞂 Identify project constraints, which are all the limitations such as time or cost. 🞂 Create a scope baseline to compare your actual progress to the planned project scope. 🞂 Project exclusions and constraints are essential because they help establish boundaries for the project to exist.
- 7. 🞂 4. Project Exclusions 🞂 Restricted or rescheduled customer access to certain support lines/product features 🞂 5. Project Constraints 🞂 The top three constraints to managing any project are typically time, money and scope, known as the triple constraint of project management. 🞂 But there are additional project constraints that can crop up at any time, including risk, resources, organization, method, customers and more. 🞂 List all the constraints you foresee in your project, so you can try to have solutions in place ready to launch when needed.
- 8. 🞂 6. Project Assumptions 🞂 Your project assumptions typically revolve around the very things that end up being constraints, including time, money and scope. 🞂 For example, it’s in this section of your project scope document, “the front-end development team will be available during this project time period,” 🞂 7. Project Deliverables 🞂 List out the deliverables your team members need to produce in order to meet business objectives. 🞂 This can include the product itself, instruction and installation manuals, marketing materials, press releases, advertising campaigns and more.
- 9. Work Breakdown Structure 🞂 A Work Breakdown Structure includes dividing a large and complex project into simpler, manageable, and independent tasks. 🞂 The root of this tree (structure) is labeled by the Project name itself. 🞂 The concept of a work breakdown structure (WBS) is widely used to represent the project’s scope and deliverables in a hierarchical way.
- 10. Steps Work Breakdown Structure: 🞂 Step 1: Identify the major activities of the project. 🞂 Step 2: Identify the sub-activities of the major activities. 🞂 Step 3: Repeat till undividable, simple, and independent activities are created.
- 11. 🞂 Choosing a project work breakdown structure example.
- 12. 🞂 The diagram will include both your project work hierarchy and a timeline. Link task dependencies, mark milestones, and track when each activity is supposed to start and end.
- 13. 🞂 WBS example for software development.
- 14. 🞂 WBS construction project example.
- 15. Examples: 🞂 WBS healthcare example. 🞂 Example of a work breakdown structure WBS for an eve nt . 🞂 Example of WBS for opening a restaurant. 🞂 Find the best WBS for your project.
- 16. Gantt charts and Network diagrams
- 17. Gantt Chart : 🞂 A Gantt chart is a type of horizontal bar chart commonly used in project management, which is a visual view of tasks scheduled overtime. 🞂 It provides a graphical visualization of a schedule that helps to plan, coordinate, and track specific tasks in a project. 🞂 Gantt chart boils down multiple tasks and timelines into a single page. 🞂 The Gantt chart tool provides a visual timeline for the start and end of tasks, making it clear how tasks are interrelated.
- 19. Gantt Chart :
- 20. Network Diagram : 🞂 A network diagram is a schematic that shows all the tasks in a project, who is responsible for them and the flow of work that is necessary to complete them. 🞂 In other words, they help visualize the project schedule. 🞂 But the main difference between them is that network diagrams lack the information that’s needed for project planning or project scheduling such as task due dates or duration.
- 23. 🞂 Benefits of the project management network diagram 🞂 A network diagram allows a project manager to track each element of a project and quickly share its status with others. Its other benefits include: 🞂 Visual representation of progress for stakeholders 🞂 Establishing project workflows 🞂 Tracking dependencies
- 24. 🞂 Types of project network diagrams: 🞂 Arrow diagram and precedence diagram 🞂 the arrow diagramming method (ADM), also known as “activity network diagram” or “activity on arrow”; 🞂 and the precedence diagramming method (PDM), also known as “node network” or “activity on node.”
- 25. 🞂 Arrow diagram method (ADM) 🞂 The ADM, or activity network diagram, uses arrows to represent activities associated with the project. 🞂 due to the ADM’s limitations, it is no longer widely used in project management. 🞂 However, it’s still useful to understand ADMs, so that you can recognize these diagrams if they arise in your work environment.
- 26. Arrow diagram method (ADM)
- 27. Precedence diagram method (PDM) 🞂 PDM network diagrams are frequently used in project management today and are a more efficient alternative to ADMs. 🞂 In the precedence diagramming method for creating network diagrams, each box, or node, represents an activity — with the arrows representing relationships between the different activities. The arrows can therefore represent all four possible relationships: 🞂 “Finish to start” (FS): When an activity cannot start before another activity finishes. 🞂 “Start to start” (SS): When two activities are able to start simultaneously. 🞂 “Finish to finish” (FF): When two tasks need to finish together. 🞂 “Start to finish” (SF): This is an uncommon dependency and only used when one activity cannot finish until another activity starts.
- 29. Notes: ADM and PDM Activity-on-Arrow (ADM) and Precedence Diagramming Method (PDM). Both approaches help visualize task dependencies and sequences, but they differ in how they represent these tasks and their relationships. 1. Activity-on-Arrow (ADM) Also known as the Arrow Diagramming Method, this older method represents project activities as arrows. The arrows represent the tasks, while the nodes (circles or boxes) show the events or milestones that signify the start or end of the tasks. Nodes: Represent the start and end of activities. Arrows: Represent the activities (tasks) themselves. Dependencies: ADM can only represent Finish-to-Start (FS) relationships, meaning one task must finish before the next can start. Example: If Task A must finish before Task B can start, an arrow labeled "Task A" will point to a node, and from that node, an arrow labeled "Task B" will begin. ADM is simple but limited, as it cannot represent other types of relationships like overlapping tasks.
- 30. Precedence Diagramming Method (PDM) PDM is more commonly used today and represents project activities as nodes (boxes), with arrows between them showing the relationships or dependencies. PDM allows for more flexibility than ADM, as it can handle different types of task dependencies. PDM can represent four types of task relationships: ● Finish-to-Start (FS): Task B cannot start until Task A finishes. ● Start-to-Start (SS): Task B cannot start until Task A starts. ● Finish-to-Finish (FF): Task B cannot finish until Task A finishes. ● Start-to-Finish (SF): Task B cannot finish until Task A starts (rarely used).
- 31. Real-World Example: For a software development project, imagine the tasks as: 1. Develop user interface (UI) 2. Develop backend 3. Testing In ADM, you could only represent dependencies like "finish developing UI before testing begins," but in PDM, you could represent more complex scenarios like: ● Testing can start when both the backend and UI are 50% complete (Start-to-Start relationship).
- 32. Critical path method(CPM ) 🞂 The critical path method (CPM) is a project management technique that helps identify the most important tasks in a project and schedule them to ensure that a project is completed on time and within budget. It's also known as critical path analysis (CPA). 🞂 The critical path method does two main things: 🞂 It helps project managers find the most important tasks in a project that critically affect how long a project will take. 🞂 It helps project managers make an efficient schedule so they can finish the entire project on time and within budget.
- 33. How to calculate the critical path of a project 🞂 Step 1: Identify all tasks required to complete the project 🞂 Start by listing all the functions or activities that need to be completed for the project’s successful conclusion, also known as a work breakdown structure.
- 34. 🞂 Step 2: Determine the sequence of tasks 🞂 Next, identify the order in which the tasks need to be performed. Some tasks may depend on the completion of others before they can begin, while others may be carried out concurrently. This step is crucial in understanding the dependencies and relationships between tasks. 🞂 Step 3: Estimate the duration of each task 🞂 Assign a time estimate to each task. This should be the total time required to complete each task from start to finish.
- 35. 🞂 Two techniques that can help project managers accurately determine each task’s duration are the forward and backward pass techniques: 🞂 Forward pass: Starting from the beginning of the project and moving forward through the critical path diagram, calculate the earliest start time and finish time for each activity. 🞂 This helps determine the earliest possible project completion date for the entire project. 🞂 Backward pass Work your way backward from the project’s end date through the CPM chart, calculating the latest start time and finish time for each activity. 🞂 This helps identify the latest possible project completion date for the project and determines the amount of scheduling flexibility or slack time available for each activity.
- 36. 🞂 Step 4: Draw a network diagram of the critical path 🞂 Using the information from the previous steps, draw a network diagram. 🞂 This visual representation should depict all the tasks, their sequence, and their dependencies. 🞂 Each task is represented as a node on the diagram, and the arrows between nodes represent the task dependencies.
- 37. 🞂 Step 5: Identify the critical path 🞂 The critical path is the longest path from the start to the end of the project, passing through all the essential tasks to the project’s completion. 🞂 In other words, the longest sequence of tasks determines the minimum time needed to complete the project. 🞂 On your network diagram, this is your critical path, the longest duration from the initial to the final task.
- 38. 🞂 Step 6: Calculate the float 🞂 The total float or slack is how long you can delay a task without postponing the project’s completion. 🞂 Tasks on the critical path will have zero float, meaning they can’t be delayed without impacting the project timeline. 🞂 However, non-crucial tasks may have some float, allowing for some flexibility in scheduling.
- 39. 🞂 Step 7: Monitor the critical path 🞂 Once the project is underway, closely monitoring the tasks on the critical path is essential. 🞂 Any delays in these tasks will directly impact the project timeline. Regularly update and review the critical path to help identify potential issues early and keep the project on track.
- 40. Example: Organizing a Large Corporate Event Tasks and Durations: 1. Task A: Select and book venue (10 days) 2. Task B: Arrange catering (5 days) 3. Task C: Invite and confirm speakers (15 days) 4. Task D: Arrange audio-visual setup (7 days) 5. Task E: Market the event (20 days) 6. Task F: Send invitations to attendees (5 days) 7. Task G: Set up venue and test equipment (2 days)
- 41. Step-by-Step Process Using CPM: 1. List all tasks with their durations and dependencies: ○ Task A (Select and book venue) must be done first before arranging catering or the audio-visual setup. ○ Task C (Invite and confirm speakers) must be completed before finalizing the event schedule and marketing the event. ○ Task G (Set up venue and test equipment) must be done right before the event, but can only happen once Tasks A and D are completed. ○ Task E (Marketing) and Task F (Sending invitations) depend on confirming the speakers (Task C). 2. Create a Network Diagram to map out how these tasks are connected based on their dependencies. 3. Determine the Critical Path: The critical path will be the longest sequence of dependent tasks that determines the event's
- 42. 1. earliest completion date. Here’s how the tasks line up: ○ Task A → Task C → Task E → Task G, with the following durations: i. Task A (Select and book venue) = 10 days ii. Task C (Invite and confirm speakers) = 15 days iii. Task E (Market the event) = 20 days iv. Task G (Set up venue and test equipment) = 2 days v. Total duration on the critical path: 47 days 2. So, the critical path is A → C → E → G, and the entire event cannot be completed in less than 47 days. 3. Identify Float (Slack) Time: ○ Task B (Arrange catering) and Task D (Arrange audio-visual setup) are not on the critical path, meaning they have some flexibility. ○ For example, the audio-visual setup can happen after the venue is booked but doesn't need to be done immediately, giving it some float time. ○ Similarly, sending invitations (Task F) has a bit of slack, as it only needs to be completed well before the event day.
- 43. Practical Application: ● By focusing on tasks A, C, E, and G, the project manager can ensure the event is completed on time. ● If Task C (Inviting speakers) is delayed, it could push back the marketing campaign, which is on the critical path. This could delay the entire project. ● If catering (Task B) is delayed by a few days, it won't impact the event’s overall timeline, as it's not on the critical path.
- 44. PERT Chart 🞂 PERT Chart is an acronym for (Program Evaluation and Review Technique). 🞂 A PERT chart is a project management tool used to schedule, organize, and coordinate tasks within a project. 🞂 A PERT chart, also known as a PERT diagram, is a tool used to schedule, organize, and map out tasks within a project. 🞂 PERT stands for program evaluation and review technique. It provides a visual representation of a project's timeline and breaks down individual tasks.
- 45. PERT Chart
- 46. A PERT chart works by visually representing a project’s tasks and the dependencies connected to each one
- 47. 1. Identify project tasks 🞂 The first step in creating a successful PERT chart involves identifying and collecting necessary project information and tasks. This can include: 🞂 A communication plan 🞂 An initial kickoff meeting
- 48. 2. Define task dependencies 🞂 A task dependency is a task or milestone that relies on another task to be completed before the task at hand can be started. 🞂 This is sometimes referred to as a logical relationship and is often used in a work breakdown structure. 🞂 Creating dependencies can help you properly track work, ensure tasks are completed, and establish clear communication. 🞂 In a PERT diagram, dependencies are visualized by connecting and numbering tasks.
- 49. 3. Connect project tasks 🞂 Once task dependencies have been created, you can work on creating your PERT chart by connecting project tasks to one another. 🞂 These connections consist of arrows, which represent tasks, and nodes, which represent events or milestones.
- 50. 4. Estimate project time frame 🞂 Now it’s time to estimate your overall project time frame using the critical path method (CPM) and the PERT formula. 🞂 Time estimates can be calculated based on the following: 🞂 Optimistic time: The minimum amount of time needed to accomplish a task. 🞂 Pessimistic time: The maximum amount of time needed to accomplish a task. 🞂 Most likely time: The best estimate of how long it will likely take to accomplish a task. 🞂 You can use the PERT formula to calculate the expected duration of a task and completion time using: (O + (4 × M) + P) ÷ 6. 🞂 This can be measured by minutes, hours, days, or even weeks.
- 51. 5. Manage task progress 🞂 The final step in creating a PERT chart is to manage task progress to project completion. 🞂 This can be done by closing dependencies and mitigating issues along the way until all tasks and project milestones are completed.
- 53. 🞂 Nodes: Nodes represent project events. These events are the large components that make up your project. 🞂 For example, when launching a website design, a node might represent a new logo design. 🞂 Tasks: Your tasks are what need to be completed in order for your nodes to be implemented. 🞂 For example, a task might represent designing three logo mockups. 🞂 Dependencies: A dependency is when a task is connected to another task. These tasks rely on one another and one cannot be completed without the other. 🞂 Dependencies without resources: A dependency without resources is one that, while connected to another, doesn’t have tangible tasks that need to be completed. 🞂 For example, while a product launch and landing page might be correlated, no one task is connected to each.
- 54. Example of a PERT Chart Process: we are planning a software development project, and the tasks include: 1. Task A: Requirements gathering 2. Task B: UI design 3. Task C: Backend development 4. Task D: Testing 5. Task E: Deployment The dependencies could be: ● Task A must finish before Task B or Task C starts. ● Task B and Task C must finish before Task D starts. ● Task D must finish before Task E starts. Steps to Create a PERT Chart: 1. Identify tasks and their dependencies. 2. Estimate times for each task (Optimistic, Pessimistic, Most Likely). 3. Draw the chart: Represent tasks with arrows and events with nodes. Arrows are drawn from one event (start) to another (finish). 4. Calculate the critical path using the time estimates to determine the sequence of tasks that will take the longest time.