Planning Projects, Part 2 PROJECT TIME AND COST MANAGEMENT

activity attributes

provide schedule-related information about each activity, such as predecessors, successors, logical relationships, leads and lags, resource requirements, constraints, imposed dates, and assumptions related to the activity should be in agreement with the WBS and WBS dictionary and be reviewed by key project stakeholders

dependency or relationship

relates to the sequencing of project activities or tasks For example, does a certain activity have to be finished before another one can start? Can the project team do several activities in parallel? Can some overlap? Sequencing activities has a significant impact on developing and managing a project schedule

Slack or float

the amount of time an activity may be delayed without delaying a succeeding activity or the project finish date

Effort

is the number of workdays or work hours required to complete a task A duration estimate of one day could be based on eight hours of work or eighty hours of work

range estimate

might be between three and five weeks

Duration estimates

often provided as discrete estimates, such as four weeks

Gantt chart

standard format for displaying project schedule information by listing project activities and their corresponding start and finish dates in a calendar format

WBS 100% Rule

All work required for a deliverable is included in its sub-deliverables

Milestone Best Practice

Define milestones early in the project and include them in the Gantt chart to provide a visual guide Keep milestones small and frequent The set of milestones must be all-encompassing Each milestone must be binary, meaning it is either complete or incomplete Carefully monitor the milestones on the critical path*

Using Critical Path Analysis to Make Schedule Trade-offs

It is important to know what the critical path is throughout the life of a project so that the project manager can make trade-offs If one of the tasks on the critical path is behind schedule, should the schedule be renegotiated with stakeholders, or should more resources be allocated to other items on the critical path to make up for that time? It is also common for project stakeholders to want to shorten project schedule estimates, so you need to know what tasks are on the critical path

Network Diagrams

Network diagrams are the preferred technique for showing activity sequencing A network diagram is a schematic display of the logical relationships among, or sequencing of, project activities Keep in mind that the network diagram represents activities that must be done to complete the project; it is not a race to get from the first node to the last Every activity on the network diagram must be completed for the project to finish Not every item on the WBS needs to be on the network diagram; only activities with dependencies need to be shown on the network diagram

Project Time Management Processes

Plan schedule management Define activities Sequence activities Estimate activity resources Estimate activity durations Develop schedule Control schedule.

Cost Budgeting

Project cost budgeting involves allocating the project cost estimate to tasks over time The tasks are based on the work breakdown structure for the project The main goal of the cost budgeting process is to produce a cost baseline, or time-phased budget, that project managers use to measure and monitor cost performance

Project Cost Management

Project cost management includes the processes required to ensure that a project team completes a project within an approved budget The main planning tasks are planning cost management, estimating costs, and determining the budget The main documents produced include a cost management plan, a cost estimate, and a cost performance baseline The purpose of this process is to determine the policies, procedures, and documentation for planning, managing, executing, and controlling project costs. The project team holds meetings, consults with experts, and analyzes data to help produce a cost management plan, which becomes a component of the project management plan.

Estimating Costs

Project teams normally prepare cost estimates at various stages of a project, and these estimates should be fine-tuned as time progresses It is also important to provide supporting details for the estimates, including ground rules and assumptions (sometimes called the basis of estimates) A large percentage of total project costs are often labor costs, so it is important to do a good job estimating labor hours and costs

Estimating Activity Resources

Questions to consider: How difficult will it be to perform specific activities on this project? Is there anything unique in the project's scope statement that will affect resources? Are there specific resources better suited to perform the activities? What is the organization's history in doing similar activities? Does the organization have appropriate people, equipment, and materials available for performing the work? Does the organization need to acquire more resources to accomplish the work?

SMART criteria

Specific Measurable Assignable Realistic Time-framed

Duration

includes the actual amount of time spent working on an activity plus elapsed time For example, even though it might take one workweek or five workdays to do the actual work, the duration estimate might be two weeks to allow extra time needed to obtain outside information or to allow for resource availability Duration relates to the time estimate, not the effort estimate; the two are related, so project team members must document their assumptions when creating duration estimates and update the estimates as the project progresses

milestone

A milestone is a specific point in time within a project lifecycle used to measure the progress of a project toward its ultimate goal. In project management, milestones are used as signal posts for: a project's start or end date, a need for external review or input, a need for budget checks, submission of a major deliverable, and much more. Milestones have a fixed date but no duration.

Planning Schedule Management

The purpose of this process is to determine the policies, procedures, and documentation for planning, developing, managing, executing, and controlling the project schedule. The project team holds meetings, consults with experts, and analyzes data to help produce a schedule management plan, which becomes a component of the project management plan.

activity

a distinct, scheduled portion of work performed during the course of the project

Project Time Management documents

a schedule management plan, an activity list and attributes, a milestone list, a project schedule network diagram, the activity resource requirements, the activity duration estimates, and a project schedule

activity list

a tabulation of activities to be included on a project schedule It should include the activity name, an activity identifier or number, and a brief description of the activity should be in agreement with the WBS and WBS dictionary and be reviewed by key project stakeholders

Critical path method (CPM)

also called critical path analysis—is a network diagramming technique used to predict total project duration

three-point estimate

an estimate that includes an optimistic, most likely, and pessimistic estimate, such as three, four, and five weeks

Creating a Milestone List

A milestone is a significant event in a project It often takes several activities and a lot of work to complete a milestone, but the milestone itself is like a marker to help identify necessary activities (Triangle)

critical path

the series of activities that determine the earliest time by which the project can be completed. It is the longest path through the network diagram and has the least amount of slack or float The longest path or the path containing the critical tasks is what is driving the completion date for the project The critical path shows the shortest time in which a project can be completed

cost baseline

time-phased budget, that project managers use to measure and monitor cost performance