Project Management

Project Time Management

Part-1

Afzal Hussain
Assistant Professor
Fall 2024 [email protected]
Software Project Management
 Project Time Management
 When you first receive project assignment, you usually
have no idea how long it will take to complete.
 Initial reactions tend to be based more on fear rather
than on facts, especially when the project is complex.
 To develop a more realistic estimate of how long
project will take, we need an organized approach that
clarifies
 How we plan to perform your project’s activities (approach)
 What schedules are possible
 How we will meet deadlines that initially appear unrealistic
Software Project Management - 2024
2
 Project Time Management

To determine the amount of time we need for any project, we

have to determine the following two pieces of information:

Duration: How long each individual activity takes

Sequence: Order in which you perform the activities

Requirement Design Development

10 Days 06 Days 20 Days

Software Project Management - 2024

3
 Example of 10 activities Project

You have a project consisting of 10-activities, each of

which takes one week to complete.
How long will it take you to complete your project?
1) You may finish the project in one week if you can perform all ten
activities at the same time and have the resources to do so.
2) You may take ten weeks if you have to do the activities one at a
time in sequential order. Actvity-1 Actvity-2 Actvity-3 Actvity-10

3) Or you may take between one and ten weeks if you have to do
some, but not all, activities in sequence.

Software Project Management - 2024

4
 Project Plan & Schedule
 PM’s objective is to define all tasks:
• build a schedule that depicts their interdependencies
• identify the tasks that are critical in the schedule
• then track their progress to ensure that delay is
recognized

 To accomplish this:
• PM must have a project schedule that has been defined
• that enables the PM to monitor progress and control
the project
Software Project Management - 2024
5
 Project Plan & Schedule
 Software project scheduling is an activity
• that distributes estimated effort across the planned
project duration
• by allocating the effort to specific software engineering
tasks (or step).

 Scheduling for software engineering projects can

be viewed from two different perspectives.
• Plan-Driven
• Change-Driven

Software Project Management - 2024

6
 Developing Project schedule

Software Project Management - 2024 7

 Developing Project schedule

 Scheduling is not an exact process. It is . .

• Partly estimation
• Partly prediction
• Partly educated guessing

 Because of the uncertainty involved, the schedule is

reviewed regularly, and it is often revised while the project is
in progress.

 Schedule transforms the project from a vision to a time-

based activities.
Software Project Management - 2024
8
 Developing Project schedule

 Schedule provide a basis for you to monitor and control

project activities.

 Schedule provide a basis to track project progress.

 Schedule help you determine how best to allocate resources

so you can achieve the project goal.

 Schedule help you assess how time delays will impact the
project.
Software Project Management - 2024
9
 Developing Project schedule
 Project schedule provides graphical representation of
• Predicted task and milestones
• Dependencies and resource requirement
• Task duration and deadlines

 Project schedule should be defiled enough to show

• Each WBS task to be performed
• Name of the person responsible for completing the task
• Start and end of each task
• Expected duration of the task

Software Project Management - 2024

10
 Developing Project schedule
Project’s master schedule interrelates all
the task on a common time scale

Project (master) Plan

Requirement Development
Test Plan Release Plan
Plan Plan

Elicitation Documenting Validation

Meeting-1 Validation Meeting

Specification Document revision
Meeting-2
Meeting-3 Sign-off
Analysis
Software Project Management - 2024
11
 Plan for each activity
Level-1 Develop ERP
1 2 3 4
Level-2 Inventory Sales & Distribution Finance Purchase

2a 2b 2c
Level-3 Sales Forecasting Billing / Cash Management Promotions (schemes)

2a-1 2a-2 2a-3 2a-4

Level-4 Requirement Design Development Test Integration

4-meetings
Task-1 Dates, resource
Documentatio
n Task-2 Dates, resource
Analysis
Level-5 Task-3
Specification
Validation
Task-n Dates, resource

Software Project Management - 2024

12
 Developing Project schedule

Schedule Inputs
 Team members and project calendars
 Working days (5 days or 6 days)
 Resource availability is critical to a project schedule.

 Description of project scope

 Determine start-dates and end-dates
 Assumptions behind the plan (will acquire Biz knowledge)
 key constraints and restrictions
 Stakeholder expectations (good knowledge of Biz)

Software Project Management - 2024

13
 Developing Project schedule

Schedule Inputs

 Project risks - You need to understand risk to make

sure there is enough buffer to deal with identified
risks - and with unidentified risks (through Risk Analysis).

 Lists of activities & required resource

 List of task to be performed
 Understanding the resource capabilities and experience
 Company holidays and staff vacations

Software Project Management - 2024

14
 Schedule Network Diagram

Software Project Management - 2024 15

 Schedule Network Diagram
 A network diagram is a flow of tasks that
illustrates the order (or sequence) in which you
schedule project activities.

 No matter how complex your project is, its

network diagram has the following three
elements:
• Milestones
• Activities
• Durations
Software Project Management - 2024
16
 Project Time Management

Milestones
 Milestone is a significant event that normally has no
duration.
 It often takes several activities and a lot of work to
complete a milestone.
 Think of them as sign-posts that signify a point in
your trip to project completion.
 Milestones are useful tools for setting schedule goals
and monitoring progress.

Examples: include completion and customer sign-off on

key documents.

Software Project Management - 2024

17
 Schedule Network Diagram

Activity
 An activity is a component of work performed during the
course of a project.
 Activities take time and consume resources.
 The clearly you define activities and milestones , the more
accurately you can estimate the time and resources needed to
perform them.
 Example:
 Meeting with Domain-SME
 Formal Review of SRS
 Developing two reports
 Testing of a module
Software Project Management - 2024
18
 Project Time Management

Activity Lists and Attributes

 Activity list is a tabulation of activities to be included on a
project schedule. The list should include:
 Activity name
 Activity identifier or number
 Brief description of the activity

 Activity attributes provide more information about each

activity, such as
 Predecessors, Successors
 Leads and lags, Resource requirements
 Constraints, imposed dates
 and assumptions
Software Project Management - 2024
19
 Project Time Management

Activity Lists – Example

Activity Lists

Predecessors
Successors

Abduallah Resource
Hanif requirements
Baber

Software Project Management - 2024

20
 Schedule Network Diagram

Duration
 Duration is the total number of work periods it takes to
complete an activity.

 Amount of work effort required to complete the activity

(allocated time), people’s availability (elapsed time) , all
affect the activity’s duration.

 Example: if your Team-lead spends one hour reading your

memo after he sat in his inbox for four days and seven hours
(elapsed time), the activity’s planed duration is five days,
even though your Team-lead spends only one hour reading it.

Software Project Management - 2024

21
 Network Diagram

Software Project Management - 2024 22

 Network Diagram
Milestone is a significant Activity is a component of
occurrence in the life of a work performed during the
project. course of a project.

Milestone A Activity 1 Milestone B

tA = 0 t1 = 2 weeks tB = 0

Boxes represent activities and Duration

Arrows represent the direction
milestones. t represents duration work flows from one activity or
• If duration is 0, it’s a
milestone to the next
milestone
• if it’s > 0, it’s an activity

Software Project Management - 2024

23
 Network Diagram
[Start] you can proceed to work on either Activity 1 or 3
Which means you can do either Activity 1 or Activity 3
Two activities are independent of each other

Software Project Management - 2024

24
 Scheduling Types

Software Project Management - 2024 25

 Developing Project schedule

Scheduling Types

Following are most common types used for

project scheduling

1. Schedule Network Analysis (Gantt/PERT)

2. Critical Path Method (CPM)
3. Schedule Compression (Crashing/Fast-Tracking)

Software Project Management - 2024

26
 Developing Project schedule
Scheduling Types
 1- Schedule Network Analysis: It is a graphic
representation of the project's activities, the time it takes
to complete them, and the sequence in which they must
be done.

 Project management software (MS-Project) is typically used to

create these analyses - Gantt charts and PERT Charts are
common formats.

Software Project Management - 2024

27
 Developing Project schedule
Scheduling Types
 2- Critical Path Analysis: This is the process of
looking at all the activities that must be completed,
and calculating the critical path - to take so that you
will complete the project in the minimum amount
of time.

 The method calculates the earliest and latest possible

start and finish times for project activities.
 It estimates the dependencies among them to create a
schedule of critical activities and dates.
Software Project Management - 2024
28
 Developing Project schedule
Scheduling Types
 3-Schedule Compression: This technique helps shorten the
total duration of a project by decreasing the time allotted
for certain activities. It is done so that you can meet time
constraints, and still keep the original scope of the project.
 Crashing - You assign more resources to an activity, thus
decreasing the time it takes to complete it. This is based on the
assumption that the time you save will offset the added resource
costs.
 Fast-Tracking - This involves rearranging activities to allow more
parallel work. This means that things you would normally do one
after another are now done at the same time.

Software Project Management - 2024

29
 Scheduling Types

1- Schedule Network Analysis

Inputs for Schedule Network Diagram:
 Project Scope Statement – The schedule definition required in
network diagram development must be based on the
approved scope documented in the Project Scope Statement.
 If network diagram and schedule definition does not account
for all required deliverables in scope, the resulting network
diagram and schedule will not accurately reflect the time
necessary to complete the work.
 Work Breakdown Structure – Project Team must include WBS
project work in the network diagram to ensure comprehensive
reflection of project activities.
Software Project Management - 2024
30
 Scheduling Types

1- Schedule Network Analysis

Inputs for Schedule Network Diagram:
 Historical Project Information – The accuracy of network
diagram/schedule estimation is strengthened by actual
schedule metrics from past projects. Project teams should
consider past level of effort and duration for comparable
project activities.

 Resource Calendars – Project Team should develop and utilize

a resource calendar that includes holidays and personnel
availability.
 Creation of this calendar prior to network diagram creation
will ensure that the schedule accounts for actual working time
Software Project Management - 2024
31
 Scheduling Types

1- Schedule Network Analysis

Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT)
is used for Network Analysis

Software Project Management - 2024

32
 Scheduling Types

2-Critical Path Method (CPM)

 CPM is a schedule network analysis technique, developed by
the DuPont Corporation in 1957.
 Critical path determines the shortest time to complete the
project.
 The critical path is the sequence of activities with the longest
duration.
 Monitor CPM activities closely during performance because
any delay in critical-path activities will delay your project’s
completion.
Software Project Management - 2024
33
 Scheduling Types

2-Critical Path Method (CPM)

 Identify the activities that must be completed on time in
order to complete the whole project on time.
 CPM show you which tasks can be delayed and for how
long without impacting the overall project schedule.
 Calculate the minimum amount of time it will take to
complete the project.
 Tell you the earliest and latest dates each activity can
start on in order to maintain the schedule.

Software Project Management - 2024

34
 Scheduling Types

2-Critical Path Method (CPM)

Software Project Management - 2024

35
 Scheduling Types

2-Critical Path Method (CPM)

Software Project Management - 2024

36
 Scheduling Types

2-Critical Path Method (CPM)

 According to PMBOK every scheduled task can be defined
by the following parameters.
Early Early
 Early Start time (ES) Duration
Start Finish
 Early Finish time (EF)
 Task Name
Late Start time (LS)
 Late Finish time (LF) Late Slack Late
 Slack Time (=ES - LS) Start Time Finish

or (=EF - LF)
Slack time is the amount of time it can be delayed without
causing a delay in your overall project completion time
Software Project Management - 2024
37
 Scheduling Types

2-Critical Path Method (CPM)

B1 = Beginning of week 1
Time duration E1 = End of week 1
is weeks

Software Project Management - 2024

38
 Schedule Representation Model
1- Activity List
ID WBS SOW Task Name Duration Start Finish 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
# H1 H2 H1 H2 H1 H2 H1 H2 H1 H2 H1 H2 H1 H2 H1
1 1 Fighter/Attack (FA-X96) 1457 days 7/3/06 1/31/12
2 1.1 AWARD (START) 0 days 7/3/06 7/3/06 7/3
3 1.2 SRR (COMPLETE) 0 days 6/29/07 6/29/07 6/29
4 1.3 PDR (PRELIMINARY DESIGN COMPLETE)0 days 3/4/08 3/4/08 3/4
5 1.4 CDR (FINAL DESIGN COMPLETE) 0 days 8/19/08 8/19/08 8/19
6 1.5 FQT (COMPLETE) 0 days 6/21/11 6/21/11 6/21
7 1.6 SOFTWARE CONTROL POINTS 632 days 1/5/07 6/9/09
12 1.7 PRIME MISSION PRODUCT 1297 days 7/3/06 6/21/11
27 1.8 ENGINEERING DESIGN & TOOLING 700 days 7/3/06 3/6/09
31 1.9 PARTS FABRICATION 200 days 6/2/08 3/6/09
36 1.10 ASSEMBLY 540 days 3/9/09 4/1/11
56 1.11 A/C TEST 160 days 6/22/11 1/31/12

Software Project Management - 2024

39
 Schedule Representation Model
2- Bar-Chart

Software Project Management - 2024

40
 Schedule Representation Model
3- Network Diagram

Software Project Management - 2024

41
 Project Management Techniques
 There are many project scheduling software products
which can do much of the tedious work of calculating
the schedule automatically, such a
• Primavera,
• MS-Project etc.

 However, before a PM can use these tools, he should

understand the concepts behind the
• work breakdown structure
• dependencies, resource allocation, critical paths
• Gantt charts and earned value
Software Project Management - 2024
42
 Project Management Techniques

Allocate Resources to the Tasks

 The first step in building the project schedule is to
identify the resources required to perform each of
the tasks required to complete the project.

 Project Resource is
• Any Person (or team)
• Item (Computer, meeting-room, white-board, camera)
• Tool (MS-Project, word, mentis, SCM)
• Service (Trainers, support team)
that is needed by the project.
Software Project Management - 2024
43
 Project Management Techniques

Identify Dependencies
 A task has a dependency, if it involves an activity,
resource, or work product that is subsequently
required by another task.

 Dependencies come in many forms:

• Test cannot be executed until a build of the software is
delivered.
• Code might depend on classes or modules built in earlier
stages.
• User interface cannot be built until the design is reviewed.

Software Project Management - 2024

44
 Project Management Techniques

Create the Schedule

 Once the resources and dependencies are
assigned, the software will arrange the tasks
to reflect the dependencies.

 The software also allows the project manager

to enter effort and duration information for
each task; with this information, it can
calculate a final date and build the schedule.

Software Project Management - 2024

45
 Project Management Techniques

Create the Schedule

Software Project Management - 2024

46
That is all for
Lecture # 07 – Part-1