FIT2002 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Project Management Software, Work Breakdown Structure, Project Plan
31 May 2018
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FIT2002 - Lec 5 Notes
Learning Objectives
•Understand the importance of project schedules and good project
time management
•Discuss the process of planning schedule management
•Define activities as the basis for developing project schedules
!
Importance of Project Schedules:
•Managers often cite delivering projects on time as one of the biggest
challenges
•Schedule issues are the main reason for conflicts on projects,
especially during the second half of projects
•Time has the least amount of flexibility; it passes no matter what
happens on a project
!
Individual Work Styles and Cultural Differences Cause Schedule Conflicts
•One dimension of the Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator focuses on
peoples' attitudes toward structure and deadline
•Judgement/Perception (J/P) dimension concerns people's attitudes
toward structure
•Some people prefer to follow schedules and meet deadlines while
others do not (J vs. P)
•Different cultures and even entire countries have different attitudes
about schedules
!
Project Time Management Processes
•Important the Project Managers use project time management to
ensure timely completion of project
•7 processes:
◦Planning Schedule Management: determining the policies,
procedures and documentation that will be used for planning,
executing, and controlling the project schedule, output:
schedule management plan
◦Defining Activities: identifying specific activities that the project
team members and stakeholders must perform to produce the
project deliverables (element of work in work breakdown
structure that has expected duration, cost and resource
requirements) output: activity list, activity attribute, milestone
list, project management updates
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
◦Sequencing Activities: identifying and documenting the
relationships between project activities, output: project
schedule network diagram, project document updates
◦Estimating Activity Resources: estimating how many resources
a project team should use to perform project activities, output:
activity resource requirement, resource breakdown structure
◦Estimating Activity Duration: estimating the number of work
periods that are needed to complete individual activities,
output: activity duration estimates, update to project
documents
◦Developing the Schedule: analysing activity sequences,
activity resource estimate, and activity duration estimates to
create the project schedule, output: schedule baseline, project
schedule, schedule data, project calendar, project
management plan update, project document update
◦Controlling the Schedule: controlling and managing changes to
the project schedule, output: work performance information,
schedule forecast, change request, organisation process
updates!
!
Planning Schedule Management
•Project team uses expert judgement, analytical techniques, and
meeting to develop the schedule management plan:
◦Project schedule model development (project activities with
estimated duration, dependency and other planning
information)
◦The scheduling methodology
◦Level of accuracy and units of measure
◦Control Thresholds
◦Rules of performance measurement
◦Reporting formats (format and frequency of schedule report
required for project)
◦Process descriptions (describe how all of the schedule
management processes will be performed)
!
Defining Activities:
•An activity or task is an element of work normally found on the work
breakdown structure (WBS) that has an expected duration, a cost,
and resource requirements
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Learning objectives: understand the importance of project schedules and good project time management, discuss the process of planning schedule management, de ne activities as the basis for developing project schedules. Importance of project schedules: managers often cite delivering projects on time as one of the biggest challenges. Schedule issues are the main reason for con icts on projects, especially during the second half of projects. Time has the least amount of exibility; it passes no matter what happens on a project. Individual work styles and cultural differences cause schedule con icts: one dimension of the meyers-briggs type indicator focuses on peoples" attitudes toward structure and deadline. Judgement/perception (j/p) dimension concerns people"s attitudes toward structure. Some people prefer to follow schedules and meet deadlines while others do not (j vs. p: different cultures and even entire countries have different attitudes about schedules. Important the project managers use project time management to ensure timely completion of project.
