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Project Management in IT

Lecture 3
IT Project Time: Tools,
Techniques, Real-world
Case Study

Semester 2, 2024
Dr Ifeanyi Egwutuoha

The University of Sydney

Source:
Page 1
Schwalbe, K, Information Technology Project Management (9th Edition). Cengage Learning, 2019
 Recapture From Lecture 2

We discussed IT Project Methods and Requirements Gathering

Strategies:

 Project Management Methodologies

 Goal, objectives, deliverables, and scope
 Processes of project scope management
 Collecting requirements
 Creating WBS
 Validating and controlling project scope

The University of Sydney Page 2

 What Will We Do Today ?
 Lecture
- Time Management
- Network Diagram
- CPM
- PERT

 Class activities
- Critical Thinking / Problem Solving

 Assessment
- Test: ?
- Assignment: ?
 Tutorial Updates: ? Start working on your project
 Announcement (if any): class participation updated
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 Learning Objectives
 Discuss the importance and processes of project time
management

 Describe how IT project managers use network diagrams and

dependencies to assist in activity sequencing
 Explain how various tools and techniques help project managers
perform activity duration estimates

 Discuss Gantt chart for planning and controlling project schedule

 Describe how the Program Evaluation and Review Technique
(PERT) affect schedule development

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Why Project Time Management ?
 Delivering project on time is one of biggest challenges in IT
project.

 Time has the least amount of flexibility; it passes no matter what

happens on a project

 Schedule issues are the main reason for conflicts on projects,

especially during the second half of projects

The University of Sydney Page 5

 Project Time
Management
Overview

Source: PMBOK® Guide – Sixth Edition.

Project Management Institute, Inc. (2017).
Copyright and all rights reserved. Material
from this publication has been reproduced
with permission of PMI.

The University of Sydney Page 6

Project Time Management Processes
 Plan schedule management: determining the policies, procedures, and
documentation that will be used for planning, executing, and controlling the
project schedule
 Define activities: identifying the specific activities that the project team
members and stakeholders must perform to produce the project deliverables

 Sequence activities: identifying and documenting the relationships between

project activities
 Estimate activity durations: estimating the number of work periods that are
needed to complete individual activities

 Estimate activity resources: estimating how many resources a project team

should use to perform project activities

 Develop the schedule: analyzing activity sequences, activity resource

estimates, and activity duration estimates to create the project schedule
 Control the schedule: controlling and managing changes to the project
schedule

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 Process 1: Plan Schedule Management

The University of Sydney Source: A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, Fifth Edition (PMBOK® Guide) © 2013 Project Management Institute Page 8
Process 2: Defining Activities

 An activity or task is an element of work normally found on the

work breakdown structure (WBS) that has an expected
duration, a cost, and resource requirements
 Activity definition involves developing a more detailed WBS
and supporting explanations to understand all the work to be
done so you can develop realistic cost and duration estimates

The University of Sydney Source: A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, Fifth Edition (PMBOK® Guide) © 2013 Project Management Institute Page 9
Activity Lists and Attributes

 An activity list is a tabulation of activities to be included on a

project schedule that includes
– the activity name
– an activity identifier or number
– a brief description of the activity

 Activity attributes provide more information such as

predecessors, successors, logical relationships, leads and lags,
resource requirements, constraints, imposed dates, and
assumptions related to the activity

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 Milestones

 A milestone is a significant event in a project that occurs at a

point in time.
 It often takes several activities and many tasks to complete a
milestone
 They’re useful tools for setting schedule goals and monitoring
progress

 Any example of a milestone?

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Process 3: Sequencing Activities

 Involves reviewing activities and determining tasks

dependencies
 You must determine dependencies in order to use critical path
analysis

The University of Sydney Source: A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, Fifth Edition (PMBOK® Guide) © 2013 Project Management Institute Page 12
 Four types of Dependencies

 Mandatory dependencies: essential in the nature of the work being

performed on a project, sometimes referred to as hard logic

 Discretionary dependencies: defined by the project team,

sometimes referred to as soft logic and should be used with care
since they may limit later scheduling options

 External dependencies: involve relationships between project and

non-project activities

 Internal dependencies involve relationships between project activities

that are generally inside the project team's control. For example, if
software is developed by the team, they can create dependencies
such as performing unit testing before system testing.

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Network Diagrams

 Network diagrams are the preferred technique for showing

activity sequencing
 A network diagram is a graphic display of the logical
relationships among, or sequencing of, project activities

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 Network Diagram for a Project

 Activity On the Node (AON)

 Activity-On-Arrow (AOA)
 Precedence Diagramming Method (PDM)

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 Activity On the Node (AON) Network Diagram
Activity Estimated Duration Predecessor

A 5 None
B 4 A
C 5 B
D 6 B
E 7 D
F 3 C,D
G 6 D
H 7 F,G
I 8 E,G
J 3 H,I

C F
H

A B G J

D I
E
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 Activity-On-Arrow (AOA)

 Activities are represented by arrows

 Nodes or circles are the starting and ending points of activities
 Can only show finish-to-start dependencies

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Process for Creating AOA Diagrams
1. Find all 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. Continue 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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 Precedence Diagramming Method (PDM)

 Activities are represented by boxes

 Arrows show relationships between activities
 More popular than AOA and used by project management
software
 Better at showing different types of dependencies

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 Four types of dependencies or relationships between
activities
 Finish-to-start dependency: A relationship in which the “from”
activity or predecessor must finish before the “to” activity or
successor can start. include the following

 Start-to-start dependency: A relationship in which the “from” activity

cannot start until the “to” activity or successor is started.

 Finish-to-finish dependency: A relationship in which the “from”

activity must be finished before the “to” activity can be finished. One
task cannot finish before another finishes.

 Start-to-finish dependency: A relationship in which the “from”

activity must start before the “to” activity can be finished. This type
of relationship is rarely used, but it is appropriate in some cases.

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 PDM – Task Dependency Types

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PDM Network Diagram – Example

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 Process 4: Estimating Activity Duration

– Duration includes the actual

amount of time worked on
an activity plus elapsed time
– Effort is the number of
workdays or work hours
required to complete a task
– Effort does not normally
equal duration

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 Three-Point Estimates

 Instead of providing activity estimates as a discrete number,

such as four weeks, it’s often helpful to create a three-point
estimate
– an estimate that includes an optimistic, most likely, and pessimistic
estimate, such as three weeks for the optimistic, four weeks for the most
likely, and five weeks for the pessimistic estimate
 Three-point estimates are needed for PERT analysis.

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 Lead Time and Lag Time

 Lead: When the first activity  Lag: When the first activity
is still running and second completes, if there is then a
activity starts, this is called delay or wait period before
Lead. The balance of time for the second activity starts, this
the first activity is known as is called lag and the delay is
Lead Time. Lead Time is the known as the Lag Time. Lag
overlap between the first and Time is the delay between the
second activity. first and second activity.

The University of Sydney https://pmstudycircle.com/2013/02/lead-time-and-lag-time-in-project-scheduling-network-diagram/ Page 25

Process 5: Estimating Activity Resources
 Before estimating activity durations, you must have a good idea
of the quantity and type of resources that will be assigned to
each activity; resources are people, equipment, and materials

 Consider important issues in estimating resources

– How difficult will it be to do specific activities on this project?
– What is the organization’s history in doing similar activities?
– Are the required resources available?

 A resource breakdown structure is a hierarchical structure that

identifies the project’s resources by category and type

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Estimating Activity Resources
 Estimate Activity Resources is the process of estimating the type
and quantities of material, human resources, equipment, or
supplies required to perform each activity.

The University of Sydney Source: A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, Fifth Edition (PMBOK® Guide) © 2013 Project Management Institute Page 27
Process 6: Developing the Schedule
 Ultimate goal is to create a realistic project schedule that
provides a basis for monitoring project progress for the time
dimension of the project.

The University of Sydney Source: A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, Fifth Edition (PMBOK® Guide) © 2013 Project Management Institute Page 28
Tools and techniques for schedule development
 A Gantt chart is a common tool for displaying project schedule
information.
 Critical path analysis is a very important tool for developing
and controlling project schedules.

 Critical chain scheduling is a technique that focuses on limited

resources when creating a project schedule.
 PERT analysis is a means for considering schedule risk on
projects.

The University of Sydney Page 29

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: a milestones
– Thick black bars: summary tasks
– Lighter horizontal bars: durations of tasks
– Arrows: dependencies between tasks

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 Gantt Chart for Software Launch Project

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Adding Milestones to Gantt Charts

 Many people like to focus on meeting milestones, especially for

large projects
 Milestones emphasize important events or accomplishments on
projects
 Normally create milestone by entering tasks with a zero
duration, or you can mark any task as a milestone
 To make milestones meaningful, some people use the SMART
criteria to help define them:
– Specific
– Measurable
– Assignable
– Realistic
– Time-framed

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 Sample Tracking Gantt Chart

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Critical Path Method (CPM)
 CPM is a network diagramming 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
 Slack or float is the amount of time an activity may be
delayed without delaying a succeeding activity or the project
finish date

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 Calculating the Critical Path

 Develop a good network diagram

 Add the duration estimates for all activities on each path
through the network diagram
 The longest path is the critical path
 If one or more of the activities on the critical path takes longer
than planned, the whole project schedule will slip unless the
project manager takes corrective action

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 Calculate Critical Path – Example

The University of Sydney Source: A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, Fifth Edition (PMBOK® Guide) © 2013 Project Management Institute Page 36
 Class Exercise 1: Calculate Critical Path

 Identify the number of paths available to complete the project?

 Which path is the Critical Path?
 Using the critical path, how long will it take to complete the project?
 Any advantages/disadvantages of using CPM in project ?
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Critical Path
 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

 Examples: Calculation of Critical Path…please watch the

following:
– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TDh-5n90vk&t=275s
– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oDLMs11Exs&t=302s

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 Calculating Early and Late Start and Finish Times

 A forward pass through the network diagram determines the

early start and finish dates
 A backward pass determines the late start and finish dates

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 Shortening a Project Schedule

 Shortening durations of critical activities/tasks by adding more

resources or changing their scope

 Crashing activities by obtaining the greatest amount of

schedule compression for the least incremental cost

 Fast tracking activities by doing them in parallel or

overlapping them

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Critical Chain Scheduling

 Critical chain scheduling

– a method of scheduling that considers limited resources when
creating a project schedule and includes buffers to protect the
project completion date

 Attempts to minimize multitasking

– when a resource works on more than one task at a time

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 Would You Do Multitasking in IT Project Management?

Three tasks without multitasking

Three tasks with multitasking

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Buffers and Critical Chain

 A buffer is additional time to complete a task

 In traditional estimates, people often add a buffer to each task

and use it if it’s needed or not

 Critical chain scheduling removes buffers from individual tasks

and instead creates
– a project buffer or additional time added before the project’s due date
– feeding buffers or additional time added before tasks on the critical path

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 Example of Critical Chain Scheduling

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The University of Sydney Page 45
 Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT)

 PERT is a network analysis technique used to estimate project

duration when there is a high degree of uncertainty about the
individual activity duration estimates

 PERT uses probabilistic time estimates

– duration estimates based on using optimistic, most likely, and pessimistic
estimates of activity durations, or a three-point estimate

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PERT Formula and Example
 PERT weighted average =
optimistic time + 4 * most likely time + pessimistic time
6
 Short form of the formula: Expected E = (O+4M+P)/6

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PERT Example 1
 Example:
PERT weighted average =
8 workdays + 4 X 10 workdays + 24 workdays = 12 days
6
where optimistic time= 8 days
most likely time = 10 days, and
pessimistic time = 24 days
Therefore, you’d use 12 days on the network diagram instead of
10 when using PERT for the above example

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 Process 7: Controlling the Schedule

 Control Schedule is the process of monitoring the status of

project activities to update project progress and manage
changes to the schedule baseline to achieve the plan.

The University of Sydney Source: A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, Fifth Edition (PMBOK® Guide) © 2013 Project Management Institute Page 49
 Control Schedule– Suggestions

 Perform reality checks on schedules

 Allow for contingencies
 Don’t 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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 Reality Checks on Scheduling

 First review the draft schedule or estimated completion date in

the project charter
 Prepare a more detailed schedule with the project team
 Make sure the schedule is realistic and followed
 Alert top management well in advance if there are schedule
problems

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 Summary
Schedule

&

Detailed
Schedule

Source: A Guide to the Project Management Body of

Knowledge, Fifth Edition (PMBOK® Guide) © 2013 Project
Management Institute

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Lecture Summary

 Project time management is often cited as the main source of

conflict on projects, and most IT projects exceed time estimates
 Project Time Management processes include
– Plan schedule management
– Define activities
– Sequence activities
– Estimate activity resources
– Estimate activity durations
– Develop schedule
– Control schedule

The University of Sydney Page 53