Chapter 5: Project Time Management

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Chapter 5Project Time Management

• adopted from PMIs PMBOK 2000 and
• Textbook Information Technology Project
  Management
• (author Dr. Kathy Schwalbe)

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Contents of time management

• definition charter and scope statement
• sequence mandatory dependencies, discretionary
  dependencies, external dependencies
• schedule ADM, PDM
• estimation actual time elapsed time. An art
  require experience.
• schedule development Gantt chart, CPM and PERT
• schedule control and change control perform
  checks, allow contingencies, communicate with
  stakeholders regularly

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Project Time Management

• Developing the schedule involves
• define the scope of the work
• define the activities
• estimate how long the activities will take
• define sequence the activities based on its
  relationships
• estimate associate costs with the activities.

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Project Time Management Processes

• Project time management involves the processes
  required to ensure timely completion of a
  project.
• 5 Processes include
• Activity definition
• Activity sequencing planning
• Activity duration estimating
• Schedule development
• Schedule control control

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Activity Definition process

• 4th planning phase process
• It involves identifying and documenting the
  specific activities that must be performed in
  order to produce the deliverables and
  sub-deliverables identified in the WBS.

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Inputs to Activity Definition process

• WBS
• The primary input to Activity Definition. It is
  scope definition tool that organizes the work and
  provides a basis for project estimates.
• Scope statement
• must be considered explicitly during Activity
  Definition. Project justification and objectives
  are especially important.
• Historical information
• activities required on similar projects should be
  considered in defining project activities.
• Constraints
• Factors that limit the teams options
• Assumptions
• factors that, for planning purposes, will be
  considered to be true, real, or certain.
• Expert judgment
• guided by historical information should be used
  whenever possible. subject-matter experts can
  help.

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Tools techniques for Activity Definition process

• Project schedules grow out of the basic document
  that initiate a project
• Project charter includes start and end dates and
  budget information
• Scope statement and WBS help define what will be
  done
• Activity definition involves developing a more
  detailed WBS and supporting explanations to
  understand all the work to be done

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Tools techniques for Activity Definition
process (2)

• Decomposition
• dividing project elements into smaller, more
  manageable components. Decomposition in Activity
  Definition and in Scope Definition differ the
  final outputs in Activity Definition are
  activities (action steps) and deliverables
  (tangible items)
• Templates
• previous project templates help project team to
  jump-start the process.

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Outputs from Activity Definition process

• Activity list
• includes all activities that will be performed on
  the project. Descriptions of each activity should
  ensure that stakeholders understand how the work
  will be done.
• Supporting details
• includes assumptions, constraints, and anything
  else that is relevant.
• WBS update
• Missing deliverables, clarifications, or
  corrections. This output creates a feedback loop
  by which you get to tie up loose ends.
• Update the WBS and related documents, such as
  cost estimates. These updates are often called
  refinements.

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Activity Sequencing

• 5th planning phase process
• Involves reviewing activities and determining
  dependencies
• Mandatory dependencies inherent in the nature of
  the work hard logic
• Discretionary dependencies defined by the
  project team soft logic
• External dependencies involve relationships
  between project and non-project activities
• You must determine dependencies in order to use
  critical path analysis

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Inputs to Activity Sequencing

• Activities list
• includes all activities that will be performed on
  the project.
• Product description
• product characteristics. These often affect
  Activity Sequencing.
• Mandatory dependencies
• inherent in the nature of the work being done.
  They often involve physical limitations.
  Constraints caused by mandatory dependencies are
  call hard-logic.
• Discretionary dependencies
• defined by the project management team.
  Constraints caused by discretionary discretionary
  dependencies are called soft logic.
• External dependencies
• involve a relationship between project and
  non-project activities.
• Milestones
• part of activity sequencing to ensure that
  requirement for the milestone events are being
  met.

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Tools techniques

• Project network diagrams
• a schematic display of the logical relationships
  among, or sequencing of, project activities
• preferred technique for showing activity
  sequencing
• Precedence Diagramming Method (PDM)
• constructing a project network diagram to
  president the activities and connecting them with
  arrows to show the dependencies between tasks.
• Activities are represented by boxes, arrows show
  relationships between activities
• This charting method is also called
  activities-on-node (AON)
• More popular than ADM method and used by project
  management software such as MS-project. better at
  showing different types of dependencies
• There are 4 types of dependencies
• finish-to-start
• finish-to-finish
• start-to-start
• start-to-finish.

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Tools techniques (2)

• Arrow diagramming method (ADM)
• constructing a project network diagram by using
  arrows to represent the activities and connecting
  them at nodes to show the dependencies.
• Nodes or circles are the starting and ending
  points of activities
• It is known as activities-on-arrow (AOA). This
  method uses only finish-to-start activities.
• Conditional diagramming methods
• allow for non-sequential activities such as loops
  or conditional branches, neither of which is
  possible in the PDM or ADM.
• Network templates
• Can expedite the preparation of project network
  diagrams

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PDM fundamentals
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Task Dependency Types in PDM
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Sample Precedence Diagramming Method (PDM)
Network Diagram for Project X
Project 98 file
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AOAfundamentals
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Sample Activity-on-Arrow (AOA) Network Diagram
for Project X
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Steps for Creating AOA Diagrams

• 1. Find all of the activities that start at node
  1. Draw their finish nodes and draw arrows
  between node 1 and those finish nodes. Put the
  activity letter or name and duration estimate on
  the associated arrow
• 2. Continuing drawing the network diagram,
  working from left to right. Look for bursts and
  merges. Bursts occur when a single node is
  followed by two or more activities. A merge
  occurs when two or more nodes precede a single
  node
• 3. Continue drawing the project network diagram
  until all activities are included on the diagram
  that have dependencies
• 4. As a rule of thumb, all arrowheads should face
  toward the right, and no arrows should cross on
  an AOA network diagram

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Outputs from Activity Sequencing

• Project network diagram
• a schematic delay of the projects activities and
  the logical relationships (dependencies) among
  them. (note it is not called a PERT chart)
• Activity list update
• allow a feedback loop if a network diagram
  reveals instances where an activity must be
  redefined in order to diagram the correct logical
  relationships

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Activity Duration Estimating

• 6th of 21 planning phase process
• After defining activities and determining their
  sequence, the next step in time management is
  duration estimating
• Duration includes the actual amount of time
  worked on an activity plus elapsed time
• People doing the work should help create
  estimates, and an expert should review them

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Inputs to Activity Duration Estimation

• Activity list
• includes all activities that will be performed on
  the project.
• Constraints
• Factors that limit the performance of the
  project. When constraint are involved, special
  considerations are often required for
  communications.
• Assumptions
• Factors that for planning purposes are considered
  to be true, real, or certain.
• Resource requirements
• controlling factors on activities duration. The
  duration of most activities will be significantly
  influenced by the resources assigned to them.
• Resource capabilities
• staff and material resources assigned to them
  will affect the duration of most activities.
• Historical information
• may be available for review from project records,
  commercial duration-estimating databases, and
  team knowledge.

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Tools techniques

• Expert judgment
• Judgment guided by historical information should
  be used whenever possible.
• An example is the Delphi Technique, which is a
  forecasting technique that relies on gathering
  expert opinions. After several iterations, the
  experts reach consensus of opinions.
• Analogous estimating
• uses the duration of a previous, similar activity
  as the basis for estimating the duration of a
  future activity.
• It is also called top-down estimating.
• Simulation
• calculates multiple durations with different sets
  of assumptions.
• The most common is the Monte Carlo Analysis.

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Outputs from Activity Duration Estimation

• Activities duration estimation
• Quantitative assessments of the likely number of
  work periods such as hours, days, weeks, or
  months that will be required to complete an
  activities.
• Basis of estimates
• includes the assumptions made in developing your
  estimates, which must be documented.
• Activities list updates
• this feedback loop ensures completeness.

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Gantt Charts

• Gantt charts provide a standard format for
  displaying project schedule information by
  listing project activities and their
  corresponding start and finish dates in a
  calendar format
• Symbols include
• A black diamond milestones or significant events
  on a project with zero duration
• Thick black bars summary tasks
• Lighter horizontal bars tasks
• Arrows dependencies between tasks

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Schedule development

• 7th of 21 planning phase process
• It is the process of determining the start and
  finish dates for all project activities
• The activity sequences, activity duration, and
  resource requirement are analyzed together to
  create the project schedule.

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Schedule Development

• 7th of 21 planning phase process
• Schedule development uses results of the other
  time management processes to determine the start
  and end date of the project and its activities
• Ultimate goal is to create a realistic project
  schedule that provides a basis for monitoring
  project progress for the time dimension of the
  project
• Important tools and techniques include Gantt
  charts, PERT analysis, critical path analysis,
  and critical chain scheduling

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Inputs to Schedule development

• Project network diagram A schematic display of
  the projects activities and the logical
  relationships (dependencies) among them.
• Activities duration estimation Quantitative
  assessments of the likely number of work periods
  such as hours, days, weeks, or months that
  will be required to complete an activities.
• Resource requirements define what physical
  resources (people, equipment, and materials) and
  what quantities of each are needed to perform
  project activities.
• Resource pool descriptions identify the required
  resources, listing who will be available, when,
  and in what patterns, as necessary for schedule
  development.

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Inputs to Schedule development (2)

• Calendars identify the time when work is
  allowed. Project calendars affect all resource.
  Resource calendars affect a specific resource or
  category of resource.
• Constraints constraints to consider during
  schedule development include a) imposed dates
  b) key events or major milestones.
• Assumptions factors that, for planning purposes,
  are considered to be true, real, or certain.
• Leads and lags the lead is the minimum necessary
  lapse of time between the start of one activity
  and the start of an overlapping activity. The lag
  is the waiting time between two tasks (negative
  lead) such as waiting for concrete to harden or
  paint to dry.

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Inputs to Schedule development (3)

• Risk management plan A subsidiary part of the
  project plan. It documents the procedures to
  manage risk throughput the project.
• Activity attributes describes various
  characteristics of the activities scheduled
  responsibilities, WBS order, the location where
  the work will be performed, the level.

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Tools techniques

• Mathematical analysis
• Calculating theoretical early and late start and
  finish dates for all project activities without
  any resource pool limitations.
• The most common analysis techniques are
• Critical path method (CPM)
• Graphical evaluation and review technique (GERT)
• PERT.
• Duration compression methods
• ways to shorten the project schedule without
  changing the project scope.
• Two techniques are used
• crashing
• fast-tracking.

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Tools techniques (2)

• Simulation
• calculates multiple durations with different sets
  of assumptions.
• The most common is Monte Carlo analysis, in which
  a distribution of probable results is defined for
  each activity and used to calculate a
  distribution of probable results for the total
  project.
• Resource level heuristics
• use mathematical analysis to produce a
  preliminary schedule.
• Resource leveling heuristics are used when the
  schedule requires more resources during certain
  time periods than are available, or requires
  changes in resource level that are not
  manageable.
• Project management software
• widely used to assist with schedule development

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Outputs from Schedule development

• Project schedule
• includes at a minimum the planned start and
  expected finish dates for each detailed activity.
  
• displayed graphically in one of the following
  formats
• project network diagrams (e.g. Gantt Chart)
• bar charts
• milestone charts
• Support details
• include at least documentation of all identified
  assumptions and constrains. Some examples are
  resource histograms, alternative schedules, and
  cash-flow schedules.
• Schedule management plan
• defines how changes to the schedules will be
  managed.
• Resource requirement updates
• a result of resource leveling and activity list
  updates.

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Gantt Chart for Project X
Project 98 file
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Gantt Chart for Software Launch Project
Project 98 file
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Sample Tracking Gantt Chart
white diamond slipped milestone two bars
planned and actual times
Project 98 file
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Critical Path Method (CPM)

• CPM is a project network analysis technique used
  to predict total project duration
• A critical path for a project is the series of
  activities that determines the earliest time by
  which the project can be completed
• The critical path is the longest path through the
  network diagram and has the least amount of slack
  or float

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Finding the Critical Path

• First develop a good project network diagram
• Add the durations for all activities on each path
  through the project network diagram
• The longest path is the critical path

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Simple Example of Determining the Critical Path

• Consider the following project network diagram.
  Assume all times are in days.

• How many paths are on this network diagram?
• How long is each path?
• Which is the critical path?
• What is the shortest amount of time needed to
  complete this project?

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Determining the Critical Path for Project X
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More on the Critical Path

• If one of more activities on the critical path
  takes longer than planned, the whole project
  schedule will slip unless corrective action is
  taken
• Misconceptions
• The critical path is not the one with all the
  critical activities it only accounts for time
• There can be more than one critical path if the
  lengths of two or more paths are the same
• The critical path can change as the project
  progresses

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Using Critical Path Analysis to Make Schedule
Trade-offs

• Knowing the critical path helps you make schedule
  trade-offs
• Free slack or free float is the amount of time an
  activity can be delayed without delaying the
  early start of any immediately following
  activities
• Total slack or total float is the amount of time
  an activity may be delayed from its early start
  without delaying the planned project finish date

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Free and Total Float
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Techniques for Shortening a Project Schedule

• Shortening durations of critical tasks for adding
  more resources or changing their scope
• Crashing tasks by obtaining the greatest amount
  of schedule compression for the least incremental
  cost
• Fast tracking tasks by doing them in parallel or
  overlapping them

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Importance of Updating Critical Path Data

• It is important to update project schedule
  information
• The critical path may change as you enter actual
  start and finish dates
• If you know the project completion date will
  slip, negotiate with the project sponsor

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Multitasking Example
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Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT)

• PERT is a network analysis technique
• to estimate project duration when there is a high
  degree of uncertainty about the individual
  activity duration estimates
• PERT uses probabilistic time estimates based on
  different estimates of activity durations
• optimistic estimates (weighting 1)
• most likely estimates (weighting 4)
• pessimistic estimates (weighting 1)

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PERT Formula and Example

• PERT weighted average formula
• optimistic time 4x most likely time
  pessimistic time
• 6
• Example
• PERT weighted average
• 8 workdays 4 X 10 workdays 24 workdays 12
  days 6
• where 8 optimistic time, 10 most likely time,
  
• and 24 pessimistic time

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Controlling Changes to the Project Schedule

• 4th of 8 Controlling phase process
• It involves managing changes to the schedule. The
  major activities include
• monitor the schedule performance of project
  activities
• detect variances from the original schedule
  baseline.
• general steps
• Perform reality checks on schedules
• Allow for contingencies
• Dont plan for everyone to work at 100 capacity
  all the time
• Hold progress meetings with stakeholders and be
  clear and honest in communicating schedule issues

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Inputs to Schedule control

• Project schedule
• As a part of the integrated project plan, the
  approved schedule is called schedule baseline.
• Project team/manager re-baseline when the
  schedule becomes unrealistic.
• Re-baselining occurs when project team/manager do
  any major update in order to have a better
  control the schedule.
• Performance reports
• provide information on schedule execution
  showing if planned dates have been met. These
  reports also alert project team on issues that
  may cause problem in future.
• Change requests
• any update of schedule, that may require
  extending or accelerating the schedule.
• Scope management plan
• describes how changes will be integrated into the
  project. It is part of the project plan.

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Tools techniques for Schedule control process

• Schedule change control system
• defines the procedures for changing the project
  schedule. It includes the paperwork, tracking
  systems, and approval levels necessary for
  authorizing changes.
• Performance measurement techniques
• assess the magnitude of any variations that occur
  in project performance. An important part of
  Schedule Control is to decide if the schedule
  variation requires corrective action.
• Additional planning
• prospective changes may require new or revised
  activity duration estimates, modified activity
  sequences, or analysis of alternative schedules.
• Project management software
• widely used to assist with schedule development
  and control. In the context of controlling, it is
  schedule tracking, and reporting. It helps levels
  resources, for schedule alternatives.

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Using Software to Assist in Time Management

• Software for facilitating communications helps
  people exchange schedule-related information
• Decision support models help analyze trade-offs
  that can be made
• Project management software can help in various
  time management areas

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Outputs from schedule control process

• Schedule updates
• include any modification to the schedule used to
  manage the project. A special category of
  schedule updates, revisions, describes changes to
  start and finish dates in the approval project
  schedule.
• Corrective action
• encompasses anything that brings your expected
  future schedule back in line with the project
  plan. These actions are outputs from the other
  knowledge areas.
• Lessons learned
• document causes of variances, the reasoning
  behind corrective actions, and other lessons
  learned from schedule change.

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Working with People Issues

• Strong leadership helps projects succeed more
  than good PERT charts
• Project managers should use
• empowerment
• incentives
• discipline
• negotiation

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Summary

• importance of project schedules IT project
  always over-run
• Time management process
• definition (planning)
• sequence (planning)
• schedule estimation (planning)
• schedule development (planning)
• schedule control (control)

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Summary (2)

• definition charter and scope statement
• sequence mandatory dependencies, discretionary
  dependencies, external dependencies
• schedule ADM, PDM
• estimation actual time elapsed time. An art
  require experience.
• schedule development Gantt chart, CPM and PERT
• schedule control and change control perform
  checks, allow contingencies, communicate with
  stakeholders regularly