Project Management Chapter 5
Describe how you would apply the four steps of schedule control to a project. If the project needs to be accelerated, what kinds of activities would be the primary focus? Why?
1.Analyzing the schedule to determine which areas may need corrective action 2. Deciding what specific corrective actions should be taken 3. Revising the plan to incorporate the chosen corrective actions 4. Recalculating the schedule to evaluate the effects of the planned corrective actions (p.171) Activities that are near term and activities that have long estimated durations. (p.172)
Why should a project have a regular reporting period? Should all projects have the same reporting period?
A regular reporting period (time interval) should be established for comparing actual progress with planned progress. Reporting may be daily, weekly, biweekly, or monthly, depending on the complexity or overall duration of the project. (p.166)
Why does the scheduling function depend on the planning function? Which one must be done first? Why?
A schedule is a timetable for the plan and, therefore, cannot be established until the network-based plan has been created. (p.147)
Who can initiate changes to a project schedule? Describe why and when changes would occur in a project. How are the network diagram and schedule updated to reflect the changes?
Changes might be initiated by the customer or the project team (p.169) The degree of impact, however, may depend on when the changes are requested. If they are requested early in the project, they may have less impact on schedule and budget than if they are requested later in the project. (p.169) Once data have been collected on the AF times of completed activities and the effects of any project changes, an updated project schedule can be calculated. The ES and EF times for the remaining, uncompleted activities are calculated by working forward through the network, but they are based on the actual finish times of completed activities and the estimated durations of the uncompleted activities. The LS and LF times for the uncompleted activities are calculated by working backward through the network. (p.170)
What types of data should be collected during each reporting period?
Data on actual performance and information on any changes to the project scope, schedule, and budget.
Describe what an activity estimated duration is. How is it determined?
Once the types and quantities of resources are estimated for each activity, estimates can be made for how long it will take to perform each activity. The estimated duration for an activity must be based on the estimated quantity of resources required to perform the activity. The estimated duration for each activity must be the total elapsed time—the time for the work to be done plus any associated waiting time. (p.150)
Why is the scheduling of information system projects so challenging? What are some of the common problems that push information system projects beyond their due dates? How could using agile project management techniques help control a project's progression?
Scheduling is often done in a haphazard manner Failure to identify all user requirements. failure to identify user requirements properly, continuing growth of project scope, underestimating learning curves for new software packages, incompatible hardware, logical design flaws, poor selection of software, failure to select the best design strategy, data incompatibility issues, and failure to perform all phases of the systems development life cycle (p.176) Agile project management is sometimes used for software product development projects during which the final system product is completed in increments by developing sets or modules of specific product requirements and features in short (p.183)
Why might a contractor prefer to state a project completion time in terms of number of days after the project starts rather than a specific date? Give some examples of instances when this would be appropriate.
The actual start date might get delayed due to contract negotiations, etc. making a specific date unrealistic. (p.151)
Refer to Figure 5.4. Why is the earliest start time for "Review Comments & Finalize Questionnaire" day 33? Why is the earliest finish time day 38?
The earliest start time for a specific activity must be the same as or later than the latest of all the earliest finish times of all the activities leading directly into that specific activity. EF=ES+Estimated Duration
Refer to Figure 5.7. Why is the latest start time for "Mail Questionnaires & Get Responses" day 40? Why is the latest finish time day 105?
The latest finish time for a specific activity must be the same as or earlier than the earliest of all the latest start times of all the activities emerging directly from that specific activity. LS=LF-Estimated Duration
Describe the different types of project slack and how each is calculated. Why is it important to determine the critical path of a project? What happens if activities on this path are delayed? What happens if activities on this path are accelerated?
Total slack is the difference between the calculated earliest finish time of the very last activity and the project required completion time. When TS is negative, it indicates a lack of slack over the entire project. When TS is positive, it represents the amount of slack before delays jeopardize the completion of the project by its required completion time. TS=LF-EF or TS=LS-ES Another type of slack that is sometimes calculated is free slack (FS), also referred to as free float, which is the amount of time a specific activity can be postponed without delaying the ES time of its immediately succeeding activities. A project cannot be completed until the longest (most time-consuming) path of activities is finished. This longest path in the overall network diagram is called the critical path. When activities on the critical path are delayed or accelerated, the duration of the project is lengthened or shortened, respectively.