Planning Tools and Techniques 1 Planning Stage Estimating - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Planning Stage & Planning Tools and Techniques 1

Planning Stage  Estimating  Scheduling  Resources  Dependencies  Milestones  Outputs 2

Scheduling  Setting out all project activities & tasks logically so dependencies & resource constraints are satisfied  The project schedule is constrained by:  Resource availability  Logical dependencies  Milestone constraints 3

Resources  Resource availability affects task schedule  Ensure the right resources are used  Ensure resources are used efficiently  Affects cost, quality and time  Relationship between these is not linear (see Brooks, 1995) 4

Resources  Human  Other  Equipment  Tools  Office space  Information  Raw materials  … and so on ... 5 5

Resources  Ensure the person allocated to the task:  Understands their role  Has the correct skills  Has the necessary authority  Has access to other necessary resources  Understands the role of others in the task (QA, management, etc.) 6

Responsibility matrix Person A B C D E F Activity Content I I I R I S Design S P I R Print I R S Distribution R P I I - input S - sign off R - review P - participant 7

Dependencies  Logical relationships between tasks  start-to-start  start-to-finish  finish-to-start  finish-to-finish 8

Dependencies  Finish-to-start is common  task A must finish before task B can start  may include lag (delay) and lead (overlap) times in finish-to-start dependencies 9

Dependencies  Other constraints on tasks:  task cannot start before a specific date  task must finish by a specific date  task must start on a specific date  task must start as soon as possible  task must start as late as possible  task must run in parallel with another task  task must wait X days after another task ends  caution: these may be consecutive working days 10

Milestones  Milestones  significant events in the project plan  normally correspond to key deliverables  milestones and dates are agreed with key stakeholders at the baseline plan stage  milestones often become fixed 11

Scheduling  Tasks must be scheduled to satisfy all constraints, logical dependencies and milestone dates  There are tools to help achieve this  Project schedule must also be ‘ stable ’ Small disruptions to tasks must not have significant  impact on the whole schedule 12 12 12

Outputs  Baseline plan  descriptions supporting the schedule (more than diagrams or lists of tasks )  activities  resources  cost  quality  risk  configuration 13

Outputs  Baseline plan highlights project milestones  Plan sign-off  could be limited number of milestones at a time  Phased approach  Reduces risk  Allows further decision points 14

Any Questions? 15

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Planning Tools and Techniques  Planning tools  Network diagrams  Critical path method  PERT analysis  Gantt charts  Resource histogram  Containment of risk 17

Network diagrams  Powerful tools to represent and optimise complex schedules  Not as intuitive as Gantt charts (see later)  Planning rather management reporting tool  Two main formats:  Activity on Arrow (A-o-A)  Activity on Node (A-o-N) 18

Activity on Arrow  The network consists of ‘nodes’ and ‘arrows’  Each node represents an ‘event’  Each arrow starts and ends at an event  Each arrow represents an activity  Arrows and nodes are uniquely labelled  Arrows point from left to right (indicating time) 19

Activity on Arrow A 10 20 2 Activity A runs from event 10 to event 20 and has a duration of 2 time units. 20

Activity on Arrow E 30 40 2 F B 3 4 A G C I 10 20 50 70 80 2 3 5 3 D H 3 7 60 21

Activity on Node  The network consists of nodes and arrows  Each node represents an activity  Each arrow represents a logical dependency between activities  Can represent different dependencies  Different conventions are used  Arrows can include a time lag 22

Activity on Node Finish-to-start 3 Task 1 Task 2 dependency 10 days 5 days 3 days lag Task 1 Start-to-start 10 days dependency 4 4 days lag Task 2 5 days 23

Activity on Node task 1 task 2 task 3 1 4 days 2 3 days 3 8 days Fri 10/03/0Wed 15/03 Thu 16/03/Mon 20/03 Tue 21/03/Thu 30/03/ MS Project’s convention for A -o-N 24

Critical path method  Either A-o-N or A-o-A networks can be used to calculate the critical path  We will use A-o-A terminology  A-o-N method looks slightly different, but the result is the same! 25

Critical path method  Earliest Event Time (EET):  Earliest time an event can occur  Equal to the earliest time all activities leading into the event can be completed  Determines the earliest time any activity leading from the event can start  Latest Event Time (LET):  Latest time an event can occur (and still complete the project in the shortest possible time)  Greater than or equal to the earliest event time 26

Critical path method  Notes:  two passes through network diagram  first pass to calculate EETs, left to right  second pass to calculate LETs, right to left  cannot have LET earlier than EET - by definition  cannot have negative times for EETs and LETs  start time of project will be zero (EET=LET=0)  finish time of project will have EET=LET 27

Critical path method  Some definitions …  Float is the difference between LET and EET: Float = LET - EET Slack is slightly different from float, but the terms are often used in the same way  Float is always greater than or equal to zero  The critical path is the sequence of activities with zero float  The critical path is the longest path through the network, but the shortest time in which the project can be completed  The critical path must go all the way through the network diagram 28

Critical path method EET E 30 40 2 B F 4 3 A C G I 10 20 70 80 50 0 2 2 5 3 3 D H 3 7 60 EET 0 plus duration 2 gives EET 2 for the next activities B, C & D 29

Critical path method EET 2 plus duration 4 gives EET 6 for the EET next activity E E 30 40 6 2 B F 4 3 A C G I 10 20 50 70 80 0 2 7 2 5 3 3 D H 3 7 60 EET 2 plus duration 3 EET 2 plus duration 5 gives EET 5 for the 5 gives EET 7 for the next activity H next activity G 30

Critical path method From F, EET 8 plus duration 3 gives EET 11 EET for the next activity I E 30 40 6 8 2 B F 4 3 A C G I 10 20 50 70 80 0 2 7 12 2 5 3 3 D H 3 7 60 From G, EET 7 plus From H, EET 5 plus duration 3 gives EET 10 duration 7 gives EET 12 5 for the next activity I for the next activity I 31

Critical path method Choose the latest EET; need to wait until longest EET activity has finished E 30 40 6 8 2 B F 4 3 A C G I 10 20 50 70 80 0 2 7 12 15 2 5 3 3 D H 3 EET 12 plus 7 60 duration 3 gives 15 for the end 5 of the project 32

Critical path method: table Activity Duration EET LET Float/Slack A 2 0 B 4 2 C 5 2 D 3 2 E 2 6 F 3 8 G 3 7 H 7 5 I 3 12 33

Critical path method LET 15 minus duration 3 EET gives LET 12 for activity I E 30 40 LET 6 8 2 B F 4 3 A C G I 10 20 50 70 80 0 2 7 12,12 15,15 2 5 3 3 D H 3 7 60 LET = EET 5 for the end of the project 34

Critical path method LET 12 minus duration 3 gives LET 9 for activity F EET E 30 40 LET 6 8,9 2 B F 4 3 A C G I 10 20 50 70 80 0 2 7,9 12,12 15,15 2 5 3 3 D H 3 7 60 LET 1 minus duration 3 LET 12 minus duration 7 5,5 gives LET 9 for activity G gives LET 5 for activity H 35

Critical path method LET 7 minus duration 4 EET gives LET 3 for activity B E 30 40 LET 6,7 8,9 2 B F 4 3 A C G I 10 20 50 70 80 0 2,2 7,9 12,12 15,15 2 5 3 3 D H 3 7 60 LET 5 minus duration 3 LET 9 minus duration 5 gives LET 2 for activity D 5,5 gives LET 4 for activity C 36

Critical path method EET E 30 40 LET 6,7 8,9 2 B F 4 3 A C G I 10 20 50 70 80 0 2,2 7,9 12,12 15,15 2 5 3 3 D H 3 7 Choose the earliest LET 60 so that the longest activity will 5,5 have enough time to finish 37

Critical path method EET E 30 40 LET 6,7 8,9 2 B F 4 3 A C G I 10 20 50 70 80 0,0 2,2 7,9 12,12 15,15 2 5 3 3 D H 3 7 60 LET 2 minus duration 2 gives LET 0 for the 5,5 start of the project 38

Critical path method: table Activity Duration EET LET Float/Slack A 2 0 0 B 4 2 2 or 3 C 5 2 2 or 4 D 3 2 2 E 2 6 7 F 3 8 9 G 3 7 9 H 7 5 5 I 3 12 12 39

Critical path method The longest path through the network is the shortest time EET the project can take E 30 40 LET 6,7 8,9 2 B F Critical path 4 3 A C G I 10 20 50 70 80 0,0 2,2 7,9 12,12 15,15 2 5 3 3 D H 3 7 The critical path is the path with 60 zero float; any delay will mean the whole project will be late 5,5 40