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

Planning Stage & Planning Tools and Techniques

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Planning Stage

Estimating Scheduling

 Resources  Dependencies  Milestones

Outputs

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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

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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)

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Resources

 Human  Other

 Equipment  Tools  Office space  Information  Raw materials  … and so on ...

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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.)

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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

Dependencies

Logical relationships between tasks

start-to-start start-to-finish finish-to-start finish-to-finish

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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

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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

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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

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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’

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Small disruptions to tasks must not have significant impact on the whole schedule

Outputs

 Baseline plan

 descriptions supporting the schedule

(more than diagrams or lists of tasks )

 activities  resources  cost  quality  risk  configuration

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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

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Any Questions?

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Planning Tools and Techniques

 Planning tools

 Network diagrams  Critical path method  PERT analysis  Gantt charts  Resource histogram  Containment of risk

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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)

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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)

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10 20 A 2

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

Activity on Arrow

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Activity on Arrow

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

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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

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Activity on Node

Task 1 10 days Task 2 5 days 3 Finish-to-start dependency 3 days lag Task 1 10 days Task 2 5 days Start-to-start dependency 4 days lag 4

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Activity on Node

task 3 3 8 days Tue 21/03/Thu 30/03/ task 1 1 4 days Fri 10/03/0Wed 15/03 task 2 2 3 days Thu 16/03/Mon 20/03

MS Project’s convention for A-o-N

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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!

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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

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

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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

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Critical path method

10 20 2 50 70 80 30 40 60

A 2 B 4 D 3 C 5 E 2 F 3 G 3 H 7 I 3 EET

EET 0 plus duration 2 gives EET 2 for the next activities B, C & D

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Critical path method

10 20 2 50 7 70 80 30 6 40 60 5

A 2 B 4 D 3 C 5 E 2 F 3 G 3 H 7 I 3 EET

EET 2 plus duration 3 gives EET 5 for the next activity H EET 2 plus duration 5 gives EET 7 for the next activity G EET 2 plus duration 4 gives EET 6 for the next activity E

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Critical path method

10 20 2 50 7 70 12 80 30 6 40 8 60 5

A 2 B 4 D 3 C 5 E 2 F 3 G 3 H 7 I 3 EET

From H, EET 5 plus duration 7 gives EET 12 for the next activity I From G, EET 7 plus duration 3 gives EET 10 for the next activity I From F, EET 8 plus duration 3 gives EET 11 for the next activity I

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Critical path method

10 20 2 50 7 70 12 80 15 30 6 40 8 60 5

A 2 B 4 D 3 C 5 E 2 F 3 G 3 H 7 I 3 EET

Choose the latest EET; need to wait until longest activity has finished EET 12 plus duration 3 gives 15 for the end

• f the project

Critical path method: table

Activity Duration EET LET Float/Slack A 2 B 4 2 C 5 2 D 3 2 E 2 6 F 3 8 G 3 7 H 7 5 I 3 12

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Critical path method

10 20 2 50 7 70 12,12 80 15,15 30 6 40 8 60 5

A 2 B 4 D 3 C 5 E 2 F 3 G 3 H 7 I 3 EET LET

LET 15 minus duration 3 gives LET 12 for activity I LET = EET for the end of the project

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Critical path method

10 20 2 50 7,9 70 12,12 80 15,15 30 6 40 8,9 60 5,5

A 2 B 4 D 3 C 5 E 2 F 3 G 3 H 7 I 3 EET LET

LET 12 minus duration 3 gives LET 9 for activity F LET 1 minus duration 3 gives LET 9 for activity G LET 12 minus duration 7 gives LET 5 for activity H

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Critical path method

10 20 2,2 50 7,9 70 12,12 80 15,15 30 6,7 40 8,9 60 5,5

A 2 B 4 D 3 C 5 E 2 F 3 G 3 H 7 I 3 EET LET

LET 7 minus duration 4 gives LET 3 for activity B LET 9 minus duration 5 gives LET 4 for activity C LET 5 minus duration 3 gives LET 2 for activity D

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Critical path method

10 20 2,2 50 7,9 70 12,12 80 15,15 30 6,7 40 8,9 60 5,5

A 2 B 4 D 3 C 5 E 2 F 3 G 3 H 7 I 3 EET LET

Choose the earliest LET so that the longest activity will have enough time to finish

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Critical path method

10 0,0 20 2,2 50 7,9 70 12,12 80 15,15 30 6,7 40 8,9 60 5,5

A 2 B 4 D 3 C 5 E 2 F 3 G 3 H 7 I 3 EET LET

LET 2 minus duration 2 gives LET 0 for the start of the project

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Critical path method: table

Activity Duration EET LET Float/Slack A 2 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

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Critical path method

10 0,0 20 2,2 50 7,9 70 12,12 80 15,15 30 6,7 40 8,9 60 5,5

A 2 B 4 D 3 C 5 E 2 F 3 G 3 H 7 I 3 EET LET Critical path

The longest path through the network is the shortest time the project can take The critical path is the path with zero float; any delay will mean the whole project will be late

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Critical path method: table

Activity Duration EET LET Float/Slack A 2 B 4 2 2 or 3 1 C 5 2 2 or 4 2 D 3 2 2 E 2 6 7 1 F 3 8 9 1 G 3 7 9 2 H 7 5 5 I 3 12 12

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Network diagrams & CPM

 check out the suggestions for further reading  try out the tasks (including past exam papers)

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References & further reading

• Bentley C (1997) PRINCE 2: A Practical Handbook

Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann

• Brooks F. (1995) The Mythical Man-Month (Anniversary

Edition), Harlow: Addison-Wesley

• Burke R (1999). Project Management: Planning and

Control Techniques, Chichester: Wiley

• Central Computer & Telecommunications Agency (1997)

PRINCE 2: An Outline, London: The Stationery Office

• Field M & Keller L (1998) Project Management, Oxford:

International Thomson Business Press