Houston Community College School of Continuing Education Project Management Professional Exam Prep, Quarter I 2018 BMGT 2006 – CRN 11408 Saturdays 10/20/2018 ‐ 12/08/2018; 9:00 am‐2:00 pm Instructor: Nequietha “Shaun” Watson 11/10/2018 1 Project Schedule Management 11/10/2018 2 1 AGENDA • Introduction • Overview of Project Time Management • Plan Schedule Management • Define Activities • Sequence Activities • Estimate Activity Resources • Estimate Activity Durations • Develop Schedule • Control Schedule • Key Takeaways 11/10/2018 3 Overview of Project Schedule Management To successfully answer exam questions within the Project Schedule Management Knowledge Area, you must have a good understanding of these concepts: The basic definitions of the tools of project management, such as Gantt charts, milestone charts, and project schedule network diagrams The tool & techniques to manually calculate resource and activity durations The process to manually calculate the critical path, forward pass, backward pass and slack Schedule compression techniques: crashing and fast tracking 11/10/2018 4 2 Project Schedule Management involves the following steps: Deciding which activities need to be done to complete the project Determining the resources required Estimating the time it will take to complete each activity Creating a schedule Monitoring and controlling progress against the schedule baseline 11/10/2018 5 Plan Schedule Management 11/10/2018 6 3 Plan Schedule Management is. the process of establishing the policies, procedures and documentation for planning, developing, managing, executing, and controlling the project schedule. (PMBOK, p. 179) Using the schedule management plan, the project manager and team can then: • Decompose work packages into activities and milestones • Establish the network diagram • Determine what resources are needed for the project • Determine the durations for the activities • Deal with schedule changes and updates • Determine the units of measure (time and quantity that will be used for each resource) • Control thresholds for monitoring schedule performance • Determine the level of accuracy that will be required for activity duration estimates 11/10/2018 7 Define Activities 11/10/2018 8 4 Define Activities is . the process of identifying and documenting the specific actions to be performed to produce the project deliverables. (PMBOK, p. 183) • Scope baseline provides details of the planned scope for the project, including the Project Scope Statement, WBS, and the WBS Dictionary. • Rolling wave planning is an iterative techniques used when all the details of the work are not yet known. • Expert judgment is used to define activities and milestones at the appropriate degree of detail. • Bottom‐up estimating is when you break a project into its component pieces of work and then estimate the resources needed for each of the pieces. Then, add up all of the estimates to get a total. (Most accurate) • The activity list describes what needs to be done. It is a component of the schedule, but NOT of the WBS. • A milestone list defines the milestones, significant events or points in the project, to be achieved during the project. 11/10/2018 9 Sequence Activities 11/10/2018 10 5 Sequence Activities is . the process of identifying and documenting relationships among the project activities (i.e. defining the logical sequence of work to obtain the greatest efficiency, given all project constraints). (PMBOK, P. 187) Sequence Activities process concentrates on converting the project activities from a list to a diagram to act as a first step to publish the schedule baseline. 11/10/2018 11 Sequence Activities Tools: Network Diagrams There are two ways to draw a network diagram: AON or AOA. The AOA diagram is rarely used. A AON (activity-on-node) Start PDM (precedence B diagramming method) A AOA (activity-on-arrow) Start ADM (arrow diagramming method) B 11/10/2018 12 6 Activity-on-Node Diagramming Method (AON) The most commonly used technique, AON, is also called precedence diagramming method (PDM). PDM is used in Critical Path Method to determine the critical path. With this technique, the boxes represent the nodes, with the activities shown on the nodes. The arrows show the task dependencies. A C D Start Finish B E 11/10/2018 13 The PDM uses four types of dependencies: Finish to Start (FS) The second activity cannot be started until the first activity completes. This type of dependency is the most commonly used dependency in the diagramming techniques. Most common. Hardware Install arrives hardware Finish-to-start Finish to Finish (FF) The second activity cannot be finished until the first activity finishes. In other words, both activities should finish simultaneously. Complete Obtain final regression test sign-off 11/10/2018 Finish-to-finish 14 7 Start to Start (SS) The second activity cannot be started until the first activity starts. Both activities should start simultaneously. Pour Concrete Level Concrete Start-to-start Start to Finish (SF) The second activity cannot be finished until the first activity starts. Rarely used. Activate Remove new router old router Start-to-finish 11/10/2018 15 Logical Relationships – Gantt Chart This Gantt Chart view shows the four dependency relationships: Finish‐to‐ Start (FS), Finish‐to‐Finish (FF), Start‐to‐Start (SS) and Start‐to‐Finish (SF). In MS Project, FS is the default dependency while SF is rarely used when scheduling from a start date. Predecessor is the first activity in the relationship while successor is the second activity linked in the relationship. 11/10/2018 16 8 Graphical Evaluation Review Technique (GERT) GERT is a diagramming technique that uses feedback loops or multiple passes through a diagram as iterations are completed. A practical example is software testing. When you start, you assume that you will make it through the routine on the first pass. But reality is that you will probably have to make multiple passes through the routine until testing is complete. Pass Code Test Results Release to Customer Fail 11/10/2018 17 Dependencies When you create a project schedule, you must consider dependencies for the sequencing. Dependencies can be flexible or inflexible. Mandatory (Hard Logic – Inflexible: MSO, MFO) A constraint must be completed [legally or contractually] before subsequent items can start. Ex. You must have Windows 8 operating installed before installing MS Office 2013. Discretionary (Soft Logic – Flexible: ASAP, ALAP) A constraint that should be completed but is not absolutely required to be completed before subsequent activities can start. Ex. You do not absolutely have to finish system testing before beginning user testing. Internal A mandatory or discretionary constraint that originates from within the project or company. Ex. You have to wait for the power supply to complete the testing of the computer you are designing. External A mandatory or discretionary constraint that originates from an entity external to the project team or organization. Ex. The city inspector must approve any construction before issuing a certificate of occupancy so the tenant can move in. 11/10/2018 18 9 Leads and Lags Lead Lead is the acceleration of a successor activity. In other words, the second activity can begin (and be conducted in parallel) as the first activity. Lead is only found in activities with finish‐to‐start relationships: A must finish before B can start. In order to leverage a lead, which will compress the total combined duration of both activities, the dependency must be discretionary, meaning that there is no physical limitation on completing A before B begins. Lag Lag is the delay of a successor activity and represents time that must pass before the second activity can begin. There are no resources associated with a lag. Lag may be found in activities with all relationship types: finish‐to‐start, start‐ to‐start, finish‐to‐finish, and start‐to‐finish. 11/10/2018 19 Summary Sequence Activities is the process of identifying and documenting relationships among the project activities. • The precedence diagramming method (PDM) is the technique commonly used by project scheduling software. It depicts activities in graphic rectangles connected by arrows to indicate the performance sequence. Also called activity‐on‐node (AON). • Dependency determination defines the mandatory (hard logic), discretionary (soft logic), internal, and external dependencies that exist within the project. • Leads (‐) and lags (+) are adjusted so that the schedule aligns with the plan. • The network diagram is a schematic of project activities. This diagram gives you a picture of how the work of the project will flow. • AOA (Activity‐on‐Arrow) shows the activity on the arrow or line, and the circle or box connects the activities. It is much older than the AON method and is rarely used. • GERT is a diagramming technique that uses feedback loops or multiple passes through a diagram as iterations are completed. 11/10/2018 20 10 Estimate Activity Durations 11/10/2018 21 Estimate Activity Durations is . the process of estimating the number of work periods needed to complete individual activities with estimated resources. (PMBOK, p.195) Estimates are the first pieces entered to build your schedule. • Duration is length of time (days) • Work is the amount of effort (hours) • Units is number of resources (people) When making a decision about which kind of estimate to enter—work or duration—you will want to consider what information is available or what information is easier to generate. If it is easier to determine that a task will take 20 hours of work to complete, then estimate work. If it is easier to determine that a task will take 4 days, then estimate duration. NOTE: The default project calendar in MS Project has a duration of one day equaling 8 hours, one week equals 5 days, and one month equal to 4 weeks based on Monday–Friday work week. 11/10/2018 22 11 Work versus Duration The Estimate Activity Durations process provides estimates of activity duration.