Project Time Management

1. Project Time Management • Project time management includes the processes required to ensure timely completion of the project. • This includes: • Activity Definition • Activity Sequencing • Activity Duration Estimating • Schedule Development • Schedule Control Strategic Project Management SPM Project Time Management 1

2. Activities versus Tasks • There is some inconsistency within the Project Management community regarding the use of the terms “activity” and “task” • some say activities are composed of tasks • some say tasks are composed of activities • We will use the terms “activity” and “task” interchangeably • know how your company defines these terms Strategic Project Management SPM Project Time Management 2

3. Project Time Management(continued) • We will focus on three processes: • Activity Sequencing, • Activity Duration Estimating, • Schedule Development • The PMI BOK presents a useful framework throughout the Processes Chapters • Inputs-Techniques-Outputs • Let’s look at Figure 6-1 (page 66, BOK 2000) • 2000 version has some updates over the 1996 Strategic Project Management SPM Project Time Management 3

4. Activity Definition • Activity definition involves identifying and documenting the specific activities that must be performed in order to produce the deliverables. • Useful techniques include: • Work Breakdown Structures • Decomposition of Project Elements • Historical Information from Prior Projects Strategic Project Management SPM Project Time Management 4

5. Work Breakdown Structure • A Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is a deliverables oriented grouping of project elements • organizes and defines scope • develops and confirms common understanding • hierarchical structure with descending levels showing increasing detail • normally presented in chart form Strategic Project Management SPM Project Time Management 5

6. Work Breakdown Structure(continued) • Items in the WBS can be given unique identification codes • Code of Accounts • Items at the lowest level are often referred to as Work Packages • Many organizations have standard WBSs which are used as templates. • PMI BOK contains several good examples • Figures 5-2, 5-3, 5-4 (p. 58-60, BOK 2000) • same content p. 54-55 BOK 1996 Strategic Project Management SPM Project Time Management 6

7. Activity Sequencing • Activity sequencing involves identifying and documenting interactivity dependencies. • These can be broken into three types: • Mandatory dependencies • inherent in the nature of the work • physical limitations Strategic Project Management SPM Project Time Management 7

8. Activity Sequencing(continued) • Discretionary dependencies • desired but not mandatory • inserted by project planners • frequently based on “best practices” • External dependencies • imposed from outside the project • multi-project issues • regulatory issues Strategic Project Management SPM Project Time Management 8

9. Activity Sequencing(continued) • Useful techniques include: • Gantt Charts • Precedence diagramming • Activity on the Node • Activity on the Arrow • Conditional Diagramming • We’ll talk more about these later in the course. Strategic Project Management SPM Project Time Management 9

10. Activity Duration Estimating • Duration estimating involves assessing the number of work periods that will be required to complete each activity. • May also include an estimate of elapsed time • Activity duration estimating typically requires two measures: • a measure of expected activity duration • a measure of variation of expected duration Strategic Project Management SPM Project Time Management 10

11. Activity Duration Estimating (continued) • Useful techniques include: • Historical Information • Commercial Databases • Expert Judgement • Estimating using Analogies • Simulation • Reserve (Contingency, Buffer) Time • More on this later in the course. Strategic Project Management SPM Project Time Management 11

12. Schedule Development • Schedule development means determining the start and finish dates (times) for project activities. • Useful techniques include: • CPM (Critical Path Method) • PERT (Project Evaluation & Review Technique) • GERT (Graphical Evaluation & Review Technique) • More on these in the next few topics. Strategic Project Management SPM Project Time Management 12

13. Schedule Development(continued) • More advanced techniques related to Schedule Development include: • Resource Constraints and Leveling • Duration Compression (“Crashing”) • Simulation • More on these later in the course Strategic Project Management SPM Project Time Management 13

14. Displaying the Schedule • After the preceding steps have been completed, the project schedule must be documented and, usually, displayed. • Useful approaches include: • Network Diagram with Dates (Figure 6-5) • Gantt Charts (Figure 6-6) • Milestone Charts (Figure 6-7) • Time-scaled Network Diagrams (1996, Fig 6-8) Strategic Project Management SPM Project Time Management 14

15. Schedule Control • Schedule control is concerned with • managing the factors which lead to changes, • determining the need for a schedule change, • managing the actual changes. • Useful techniques include: • Change Control System • Milestone Progress Reporting Strategic Project Management SPM Project Time Management 15