This chapter discusses project management techniques for planning, scheduling, monitoring, and controlling systems projects. It explains how to create a work breakdown structure and identify task dependencies and durations to calculate the critical path. Project monitoring and control methods are described, such as using Gantt charts, PERT/CPM charts, and project management software to track schedule and report progress. The importance of risk management and avoiding project failure is also covered.
This chapter discusses project management techniques for planning, scheduling, monitoring, and controlling systems projects. It explains how to create a work breakdown structure and identify task dependencies and durations to calculate the critical path. Project monitoring and control methods are described, such as using Gantt charts, PERT/CPM charts, and project management software to track schedule and report progress. The importance of risk management and avoiding project failure is also covered.
This chapter discusses project management techniques for planning, scheduling, monitoring, and controlling systems projects. It explains how to create a work breakdown structure and identify task dependencies and durations to calculate the critical path. Project monitoring and control methods are described, such as using Gantt charts, PERT/CPM charts, and project management software to track schedule and report progress. The importance of risk management and avoiding project failure is also covered.
This chapter discusses project management techniques for planning, scheduling, monitoring, and controlling systems projects. It explains how to create a work breakdown structure and identify task dependencies and durations to calculate the critical path. Project monitoring and control methods are described, such as using Gantt charts, PERT/CPM charts, and project management software to track schedule and report progress. The importance of risk management and avoiding project failure is also covered.
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Systems Analysis and Design 9 th
Edition
Chapter III Managing Systems Projects Chapter Objectives • Explain project planning, scheduling, monitoring, and reporting • Describe work breakdown structures, task patterns, and critical path analysis • Explain techniques for estimating task completion times and costs
2 Chapter Objectives • Describe various scheduling tools, including Gantt charts and PERT/CPM charts • Analyze task dependencies, durations, start dates, and end dates • Describe project management software and how it can assist you in project planning, estimating, scheduling, monitoring, and reporting
3 Chapter Objectives • Discuss the importance of project risk management • Understand why projects sometimes fail
4 Overview of Project Management • Project Management is the process of planning and controlling system development within a specified time at a minimum cost with the right functionality • A project is a set of activities with a specified beginning and end point meant to create a system that brings value to the business • Project Managers monitor and control all tasks and roles that need to be coordinated • Inception phase: generate a system request based on a business need or opportunity • Perform a feasibility analysis; revise the system request • Approve or decline the project Overview of Project Management • Project Management • A successful project must be completed on time, within budget, and deliver a quality product that satisfies users and meets requirements • Project manager or project leader • Project coordinator
6 What is Project Management? Project management encompasses all the activities needed to plan and execute a project: – Deciding what needs to be done – Estimating costs – Ensuring there are suitable people to undertake the project – Defining responsibilities – Scheduling – Making arrangements for the work – continued ... 7 Overview of Project Management • What Does a Project Manager Do? – Project manager, project leader – Project planning – Project scheduling – Project monitoring and controlling – Project reporting
8 Overview of Project Management • Project Activities and Planning Steps
9 Step 1: Create a Work Breakdown Structure • Work breakdown structure (WBS) • What is a Gantt Chart? – Task group – Can present an overview of the project’s status, but does not provide detailed information that is necessary when managing a complex project
10 Step 1: Create a Work Breakdown Structure • What is a PERT/CPM Chart? – The Program Evaluation Review Technique (PERT) – Critical Path Method (CPM) – The distinction between the two methods has disappeared over time
11 Step 1: Create a Work Breakdown Structure • What is a PERT/CPM Chart ? – PERT/CPM is called a bottom-up technique – Project tasks – Once you know the tasks, their duration, and the order in which they must be performed, you can calculate the time that it will take to complete the project
12 Step 1: Create a Work Breakdown Structure • Which Type of Chart is Better? – Although a Gantt chart offers a valuable snapshot view of the project, PERT charts are more useful for scheduling, monitoring, and controlling the actual work – PERT and Gantt charts are not mutually exclusive techniques, and project managers often use both methods
13 Step 1: Create a Work Breakdown Structure • Identifying Tasks in a Work Breakdown Structure – Task or activity – Event or milestone – Break the project down into smaller tasks, creating a work breakdown structure
14 Step 1: Create a Work Breakdown Structure • Identifying Tasks in a Work Breakdown Structure – Listing the tasks • Can be challenging, because the tasks might be embedded in a document • Create a table with columns for task number, description, duration, and predecessor tasks
15 Step 1: Create a Work Breakdown Structure • Identifying Tasks in a Work Breakdown Structure – Estimating Task Duration • Person-days • Best-case estimate (B) • Probable-case estimate (P)
16 Step 1: Create a Work Breakdown Structure • Identifying Tasks in a Work Breakdown Structure – Estimating Task Duration • Worst-case estimate (W) • Weight (B+4P+W) 6
17 Step 1: Create a Work Breakdown Structure • Identifying Tasks in a Work Breakdown Structure – Factors Affecting Duration • Project size and scope • Human resources • Experience with similar project • constraints
18 Step 1: Create a Work Breakdown Structure • Displaying the Work Breakdown Structure – If you are managing a complex project with many tasks, you can use task groups, just as you would in a Gantt chart, to simplify the list
19 Step 2: Identify Task Patterns • What are Task Patterns? – Large or small, tasks depend on each other and must be performed in a sequence, not unlike the commands in a software program – Task patterns can involve dependent tasks, multiple successor tasks, and multiple predecessor tasks
20 Step 2: Identify Task Patterns • How do I Use Task Boxes to Create a Model?
21 Step 2: Identify Task Patterns • What are the Main Types of Task Patterns? – Dependent Tasks – Multiple successor tasks • Concurrent task • Predecessor task • Successor task – Multiple Predecessor Tasks
22 Step 2: Identify Task Patterns • How Do I Identify Task Patterns? – You can identify task patterns by looking carefully at the wording of the task statement – Words like then, when, or and are action words that signal a sequence of events • How Do I Work With Complex Task Patterns? – When various task patterns combine, you must study the facts carefully in order to understand the logical sequence
23 Step 2: Identify Task Patterns • How Do I Work With Complex Task Patterns? – Consider the following three fact statements and the task patterns they represent • Dependent tasks • Dependent tasks and multiple successor tasks • Dependent tasks, multiple successor tasks, and multiple predecessor tasks
24 Step 3: Calculate the Critical Path • What Is a Critical Path?
25 Step 3: Calculate the Critical Path • How Do I Calculate the Critical Path? – First, you should review the task patterns – The next step is to determine start and finish dates, which will determine the critical path for the project – Slack time
26 Project Monitoring and Control • Monitoring and Control Techniques – The project manager must keep track of tasks and progress of team members, compare actual progress with the project plan, verify the completion of project milestones, and set standards and ensure that they are followed – Structured walkthrough – Called design reviews, code reviews, or testing reviews
27 Project Monitoring and Control • Maintaining a Schedule – Maintaining a project schedule can be a challenging task – The better the original plan, the easier it will be to control the project – If enough milestones and frequent checkpoints exist, problems will be detected rapidly – Project managers often spend most of their time tracking the tasks along the critical path
28 Reporting • Members of the project team regularly report their progress • Project Status Meetings
29 Reporting • Project Status Reports – A project manager must report regularly to his or her immediate supervisor, upper management, and users – Should explain what you are doing to handle and monitor the problem – Most managers recognize that problems do occur on most projects; it is better to alert management sooner rather than later
30 Project Management Examples • PERT/CPM Example – You construct a PERT/CPM chart from this task list in a two-step process • Step 1: Create the work breakdown structure • Step 2: Enter start and finish times
31 Project Management Examples • Software-Driven Example – Open Workbench – Open-source software – When you use project management software, you follow the same step-by-step process to develop a WBS and create various types of charts
32 Project Management Examples • Software-Driven Example – Work breakdown structure – Gantt chart – Network diagram – Project planning is a dynamic task and involves constant change
33 Risk Management • Every IT project involves risks that systems analysts and project managers must address • Risk management • Steps in Risk Management – Develop risk management plan – Identify the risks • Risk identification
34 Risk Management • Steps in Risk Management (continued) – Analyze the risks • Qualitative risk analysis • Quantitative risk analysis – Create a risk response plan – Monitor risks
35 Risk Management • Risk Management Software – Most project management software includes powerful features – The IT team can make a recommendation regarding the risks – Depending on the nature and magnitude of the risk, the final decision might be made by management
36 Managing for Success • Business Issues – The major objective of every system is to provide a solution to a business problem or opportunity – A system that falls short of business needs also produces problems for users and reduces employee morale and productivity – Project creep
37 Managing for Success • Budget Issues – Cost overruns typically result from one or more of the following: • Unrealistic estimates • Failure to develop an accurate forecast that considers all costs over the life of the project • Poor monitoring of progress and slow response to early warning signs of problems
38 Managing for Success • Budget Issues – Cost overruns typically result from one or more of the following: • Schedule delays due to factors that were not foreseen • Human resource issues, including turnover, inadequate training, and motivation
39 Managing for Success • Schedule Issues – Problems with timetables and project milestones can indicate a failure to recognize task dependencies, confusion between effort and progress, poor monitoring and control methods, personality conflicts among team members, or turnover of project personnel
40 END 41 Chapter Review Questions 1. What is project management, and what are its main objectives? 2. What is the relationship between tasks and events, or milestones? 3. What is a work breakdown structure? How do you create one? 4. What are task patterns, and how can you recognize them? 5. Compare the advantages and disadvantages of Gantt and PERT/CPM charts. 6. Define the following terms: best-case estimate, probable-case estimate, and worstcase estimate, and describe how project managers use these concepts. 7. How does a project manager calculate start and finish times? 8. What is a critical path, and why is it important to project managers? How do you identify the critical path? 9. What are some project reporting and communication techniques? 10. 10. What is risk management, and why is it important? 42
