PowerPoint Presentation
Information Technology
FIT2002
IT Project Management
Lecture 5
Project Schedule Management
Video 1:
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
Schwalbe, K.. (2015). Information Technology Project Management. (8e) Cengage Learning 2
Importance of Project Schedules
Managers often cite delivering projects on time as one of their
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
3Schwalbe, K.. (2015). Information Technology Project Management. (8e) Cengage Learning
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
Judgment/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)
Difference cultures and even entire countries have different
attitudes about schedules
4Schwalbe, K.. (2015). Information Technology Project Management. (8e) Cengage Learning
Media Snapshot
In 2002 the Salt Lake City Winter Olympic Games (SLOC) was
awarded the Project of the Year award by PMI
– Activities were tied to detailed project information within each
department’s schedule…“We knew when we were on and off
schedule and where we had to apply additional resources.”
The 2004 Athens Summer Olympic Games
– “With just 162 days to go to the opening of the Athens Olympics,
the Greek capital is still not ready …”
– Managed to deliver …but the games cost more than twice the
planned budget
The 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia, suffered even
greater financial loss and were the most expensive games in
history
5Schwalbe, K.. (2015). Information Technology Project Management. (8e) Cengage Learning
Project Schedule Management Processes
Planning schedule management: determining the policies, procedures,
and documentation that will be used for planning, executing, and controlling
the project schedule
Defining activities: identifying the specific activities that the project team
members and stakeholders must perform to produce the project
deliverables
Sequencing activities: identifying and documenting the relationships
between project activities
Estimating activity resources: estimating how many resources a project
team should use to perform project activities
Estimating activity durations: estimating the number of work periods that
are needed to complete individual activities
Developing the schedule: analyzing activity sequences, activity resource
estimates, and activity duration estimates to create the project schedule
Controlling the schedule: controlling and managing changes to the
project schedule
6Schwalbe, K.. (2015). Information Technology Project Management. (8e) Cengage Learning
Moved to Resource Management in
PMBOK 6th edition
7Schwalbe, K.. (2015). Information Technology Project Management. (8e) Cengage Learning
Project Schedule Management Summary
Estimate activity
resources – this
process is now
moved to Project
Resource
Management in the
new PMBOK 6th
Edition
Planning Schedule Management
The project team uses expert judgment, analytical techniques,
and meetings to develop the schedule management plan
A schedule management plan includes:
– Project schedule model development
– The scheduling methodology
– Level of accuracy and units of measure
– Control thresholds
– Rules of performance measurement
– Reporting formats
– Process descriptions
8Schwalbe, K.. (2015). Information Technology Project Management. (8e) Cengage Learning
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
Activity definition involves developing a more detailed WBS
and supporting explanations to understand all the work to be
done so you can develop realistic cost and duration estimates
Goal: to ensure that the project team completely understands all
the work it must do as part of the project scope so the team can
start scheduling
Progressive elaboration of WBS item – “rolling wave planning”
Outputs: activity list, activity attributes, a milestone list, and
project management plan updates
9Schwalbe, K.. (2015). Information Technology Project Management. (8e) Cengage Learning
Activity Lists and Attributes
An activity list is a tabulation of activities to be included on a
project schedule that includes
– the activity name
– an activity identifier or number
– a brief description of the activity
Activity attributes provide more information such as
predecessors, successors, logical relationships, leads and lags,
resource requirements, constraints, imposed dates, and
assumptions related to the activity
10Schwalbe, K.. (2015). Information Technology Project Management. (8e) Cengage Learning
Milestones
A milestone is a significant event that normally has no duration
It often takes several activities and a lot of work to complete a
milestone
They’re useful tools for setting schedule goals and monitoring
progress
Examples include obtaining customer sign-off on key documents
or completion of specific products
11Schwalbe, K.. (2015). Information Technology Project Management. (8e) Cengage Learning
Project Time Management
Schwalbe, K.. (2015). Information Technology Project Management. (8e) Cengage Learning
Wrap up
further defining the scope
further defining time
further defining time and
cost
Video 2:
Learning Objectives
Describe how project managers use network diagrams and
dependencies to assist in activity sequencing
Understand the relationship between estimating resources
and project schedules
Explain how various tools and techniques help project
managers perform activity duration estimates
Schwalbe, K.. (2015). Information Technology Project Management. (8e) Cengage Learning 13
Sequencing Activities
Involves reviewing activities and determining dependencies
A dependency or relationship is the sequencing of project
activities or tasks
Relationships or dependencies among activities has a significant
impact on developing and managing a project schedule
14Schwalbe, K.. (2015). Information Technology Project Management. (8e) Cengage Learning 14
Three types of Dependencies
Mandatory dependencies: inherent in the nature of the work
being performed on a project, sometimes referred to as hard
logic
Discretionary dependencies: defined by the project team.,
sometimes referred to as soft logic and should be used with care
since they may limit later scheduling options
External dependencies: involve relationships between project
and non-project activities
15Schwalbe, K.. (2015). Information Technology Project Management. (8e) Cengage Learning 15
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
Two main formats:
– Arrow diagramming methods (or Activity-on-Arrow)
– Precedence diagramming methods (or Activity-on-Node)
16Schwalbe, K.. (2015). Information Technology Project Management. (8e) Cengage Learning 16
Arrow Diagramming Method (ADM)
Also called activity-on-arrow (AOA) network diagrams
Activities are represented by arrows
Nodes or circles are the starting and ending points of activities
Can only show finish-to-start dependencies; may have some
difficulties showing other dependencies.
17Schwalbe, K.. (2015). Information Technology Project Management. (8e) Cengage Learning 17
Process for Creating AOA Diagrams
1. Find all of the activities that start at node 1. Draw their finish nodes and
draw arrows between node 1 and those finish nodes. Put the activity
letter or name and duration estimate on the associated arrow
2. Continuing drawing the network diagram, working from left to right.
Look for bursts and merges.
– Bursts occur when a single node is followed by two or more
activities.
– A merge occurs when two or more nodes precede a single node
3. Continue drawing the project network diagram until all activities are
included on the diagram that have dependencies
4. As a rule of thumb, all arrowheads should face toward the right, and no
arrows should cross on an AOA network diagram
18Schwalbe, K.. (2015). Information Technology Project Management. (8e) Cengage Learning 18
Example: ADM (or AOA) Network Diagram
19
Activity Duration Constraints
A 1 Start anytime
B 2 Start anytime
C 3 Start anytime
D 4 Start after A has finished
E 5 Start after B has finished
F 4 Start after B has finished
G 6 Start after C has finished
H 6 Start after both D & E have finished
I 2 Start after G has finished
J 3 Start after both H, F & I have finished
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
A = 1
B = 2
C = 3
D = 4
F = 4
E = 5
G = 6
H = 6
I = 2
J = 3
Assume all durations are in days; A = 1
means Activity A has a duration of 1 day.
Bursts
Merge
No
predecessors
Precedence Diagramming Method (PDM)
Also known as Activity-on-Node (AON)
Activities are represented by boxes
Arrows show relationships between activities
More popular than ADM method and used by project
management software
Better at showing different types of dependencies
20Schwalbe, K.. (2015). Information Technology Project Management. (8e) Cengage Learning 20
Example: PDM (or AON) Network Diagram
21
Activity Duration Constraints
A 1 Start anytime
B 2 Start anytime
C 3 Start anytime
D 4 Start after A has finished
E 5 Start after B has finished
F 4 Start after B has finished
G 6 Start after C has finished
H 6 Start after both D & E have finished
I 2 Start after G has finished
J 3 Start after both H, F & I have finished
1
2
3
4
5
4
6
6
2
3
Assume all durations are in days; A = 1
means Activity A has a duration of 1 day.
Bursts
Merge
No
predecessors
Start
J
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
End
PDM Example Using Microsoft Project
22Schwalbe, K.. (2015). Information Technology Project Management. (8e) Cengage Learning 22
Task Dependency Types
Schwalbe, K.. (2015). Information Technology Project Management. (8e) Cengage Learning 23
Video 3:
Learning Objectives
Understand the relationship between estimating resources
and project schedules
Explain how various tools and techniques help project
managers perform activity duration estimates
Use a Gantt chart for planning and tracking schedule
information
Schwalbe, K.. (2015). Information Technology Project Management. (8e) Cengage Learning 24
Estimating Activity Resources
Before estimating activity durations, you must have a good idea
of the quantity and type of resources that will be assigned to
each activity; resources are people, equipment, and materials
Consider important issues in estimating resources
– How difficult will it be to do specific activities on this project?
– What is the organization’s history in doing similar activities?
– Are the required resources available?
A resource breakdown structure is a hierarchical structure that
identifies the project’s resources by category and type
25Schwalbe, K.. (2015). Information Technology Project Management. (8e) Cengage Learning
Activity Duration Estimating
Duration includes the actual amount of time worked on an
activity plus elapsed time
Effort is the number of workdays or work hours required to
complete a task
Effort does not normally equal duration
People doing the work should help create estimates, and an
expert should review them
26Schwalbe, K.. (2015). Information Technology Project Management. (8e) Cengage Learning
Three-Point Estimates
Instead of providing activity estimates as a discrete number,
such as four weeks, it’s often helpful to create a three-point
estimate
– an estimate that includes an optimistic, most likely, and
pessimistic estimate, such as three weeks for the optimistic,
four weeks for the most likely, and five weeks for the
pessimistic estimate
Three-point estimates are needed for PERT and Monte Carlo
simulations
27Schwalbe, K.. (2015). Information Technology Project Management. (8e) Cengage Learning
Program Evaluation and Review Technique
(PERT)
PERT is a network analysis technique used to estimate project
duration when there is a high degree of uncertainty about the
individual activity duration estimates
PERT uses probabilistic time estimates
– applies the critical path method (CPM) to a weighted
average duration estimate
– duration estimates based on using optimistic, most likely,
and pessimistic estimates of activity durations, or a three-
point estimate
28Schwalbe, K.. (2015). Information Technology Project Management. (8e) Cengage Learning
PERT Formula and Example
PERT weighted average =
optimistic time + 4X most likely time + pessimistic time
6
Example:
PERT weighted average =
8 workdays + 4 X 10 workdays + 24 workdays = 12 days
6
where optimistic time= 8 days
most likely time = 10 days, and
pessimistic time = 24 days
29Schwalbe, K.. (2015). Information Technology Project Management. (8e) Cengage Learning
Therefore, you’d use 12 days
on the network diagram
instead of 10 when using
PERT for the above example
Developing the Schedule
Uses results of the other time management processes to determine the
start and end date of the project
Ultimate goal is to create a realistic project schedule that provides a
basis for monitoring project progress for the time dimension of the
project
Important tools and techniques include:
– Gantt charts,
– critical path analysis,
– critical chain scheduling, and
– PERT (Program Evaluation and Review Technique) analysis
30Schwalbe, K.. (2015). Information Technology Project Management. (8e) Cengage Learning
Gantt Charts
Gantt charts provide a standard format for displaying project schedule
information by listing project activities and their corresponding start and
finish dates in a calendar format
Adding Milestones to Gantt Charts
– Milestones emphasize important events or accomplishments on
projects
– Normally create milestone by entering tasks with a zero duration,
or you can mark any task as a milestone
SMART Criteria – Milestones should be :
– Specific
– Measurable
– Assignable
– Realistic
– Time-framed
31Schwalbe, K.. (2015). Information Technology Project Management. (8e) Cengage Learning 29
An example of a Gantt Chart
Schwalbe, K.. (2015). Information Technology Project Management. (8e) Cengage Learning 30
Sample Tracking Gantt Chart
33Schwalbe, K.. (2015). Information Technology Project Management. (8e) Cengage Learning
Planned dates
Actual dates Slipped milestone
Supplementary Video – Critical Path
Analysis
Learning Objectives
Find the critical path for a project
Describe how critical chain scheduling and the Program
Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) affect schedule
development
Schwalbe, K.. (2015). Information Technology Project Management. (8e) Cengage Learning 3427
Critical Path Method (CPM)
CPM is a network diagramming technique used to predict total
project duration
A critical path for a project is the series of activities that
determines the earliest time by which the project can be
completed
The critical path is the longest path through the network diagram
and has the least amount or zero slack or float
Slack or float is the amount of time an activity may be delayed
without delaying a succeeding activity or the project finish date
35Schwalbe, K.. (2015). Information Technology Project Management. (8e) Cengage Learning
Calculating the Critical Path
First develop a good network diagram
Add the duration estimates for all activities on each path through
the network diagram
The longest path is the critical path
If one or more of the activities on the critical path takes longer
than planned, the whole project schedule will slip unless the
project manager takes corrective action
There can be more than one critical path if the lengths of two or
more paths are the same
The critical path can change as the project progresses
36Schwalbe, K.. (2015). Information Technology Project Management. (8e) Cengage Learning
Determining the Critical Path
37Schwalbe, K.. (2015). Information Technology Project Management. (8e) Cengage Learning
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
A = 1
B = 2
C = 3
D = 4
F = 4
E = 5
G = 6
H = 6
I = 2
J = 3
Using Critical Path Analysis to Make Schedule
Trade-offs
Free slack or free float is the amount of time an activity can be
delayed without delaying the early start of any immediately
following activities
Total slack or total float is the amount of time an activity may
be delayed from its early start without delaying the planned
project finish date
A forward pass through the network diagram determines the
early start and finish dates
A backward pass determines the late start and finish dates
38Schwalbe, K.. (2015). Information Technology Project Management. (8e) Cengage Learning
Refer to supplementary video on Network
Calculation
Network calculations
40
1
2
3
4
5
4
6
6
2
3
Start
J
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
End
0 B 2
0 2 2
0 0
0 C 3
2 3 5
0 2
0 A 1
2 1 3
0 2
1 D 5
3 4 7
2 2
7 H 13
7 6 13
0 0
2 E 7
2 5 7
0 0
2 F 6
9 4 13
7 7
9 I 11
11 2 13
2 2
3 G 9
5 6 11
0 2
13 J 16
13 3 16
0 0
+
FF = Free Float
TF = Total Float
FFI= ESJ – EFI
FFI = 13 -11= 2
_
Table 6-1. Free and Total Float or Slack for
Project X
41Schwalbe, K.. (2015). Information Technology Project Management. (8e) Cengage Learning
Using the Critical Path to Shorten a Project
Schedule
Three main techniques for shortening schedules
– Shortening durations of critical activities/tasks by adding
more resources or changing their scope
– Crashing activities by obtaining the greatest amount of
schedule compression for the least incremental cost
– Fast tracking activities by doing them in parallel or
overlapping them
42Schwalbe, K.. (2015). Information Technology Project Management. (8e) Cengage Learning
Importance of Updating Critical Path Data
It is important to update project schedule information to meet
time goals for a project
The critical path may change as you enter actual start and finish
dates
If you know the project completion date will slip, negotiate with
the project sponsor
43Schwalbe, K.. (2015). Information Technology Project Management. (8e) Cengage Learning
Critical Chain Scheduling
44Schwalbe, K.. (2015). Information Technology Project Management. (8e) Cengage Learning
Critical chain scheduling
– a method of scheduling that considers limited resources
when creating a project schedule and includes buffers to
protect the project completion date
Uses the Theory of Constraints (TOC)
– management philosophy developed by Eliyahu M. Goldratt
and introduced in his book The Goal (www.goldratt.com)
– improving other things besides the constraint does nothing
to improve the system
– an important concept is the availability of scarce resources.
Attempts to minimize multitasking
– when a resource works on more than one task at a time
Multitasking Example
45Schwalbe, K.. (2015). Information Technology Project Management. (8e) Cengage Learning
Buffers and Critical Chain
46Schwalbe, K.. (2015). Information Technology Project Management. (8e) Cengage Learning
In traditional estimates, people often add a buffer to each task
and use it if it’s needed or not
A buffer is additional time to complete a task
Murphy’s Law states that if something can go wrong, it will
Parkinson’s Law states that work expands to fill the time
allowed
Critical chain scheduling removes buffers from individual tasks
and instead creates
– a project buffer or additional time added before the
project’s due date
– feeding buffers or additional time added before tasks on
the critical path
Example of Critical Chain Scheduling
47Schwalbe, K.. (2015). Information Technology Project Management. (8e) Cengage Learning
Video 4:
Learning Objectives
Understand how time management is addressed using
Agile
Discuss how reality checks and discipline are involved in
controlling and managing changes to the project schedule
Schwalbe, K.. (2015). Information Technology Project Management. (8e) Cengage Learning 48
Controlling the Schedule
Goals are to know the status of the schedule, influence factors
that cause schedule changes, determine that the schedule has
changed, and manage changes when they occur
Tools and techniques include
– Progress reports
– A schedule change control system
– Project management software, including schedule
comparison charts like the tracking Gantt chart
– Variance analysis, such as analyzing float or slack
– Performance management, such as earned value
– Resource optimization techniques, such as resource
leveling
49Schwalbe, K.. (2015). Information Technology Project Management. (8e) Cengage Learning
Agile and Time Management
Core values of the Manifesto for Agile Software Development are
– Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
– Responding to change over following a plan
The product owner defines and prioritizes the work to be done
within a spring, so collaboration and time management are
designed into the process
Teams focus on producing a useful product in a specified
timeframe with strong customer input
Don’t emphasize defining all the work before scheduling it
50Schwalbe, K.. (2015). Information Technology Project Management. (8e) Cengage Learning
Schedule Control Suggestions
Perform reality checks on schedules
Allow for contingencies
Don’t plan for everyone to work at 100% capacity all the time
Hold progress meetings with stakeholders and be clear and
honest in communicating schedule issues
51Schwalbe, K.. (2015). Information Technology Project Management. (8e) Cengage Learning
Reality Checks on Scheduling
First review the draft schedule or estimated completion date in
the project charter
Prepare a more detailed schedule with the project team
Make sure the schedule is realistic and followed
High-level periodic reviews
Alert top management well in advance if there are schedule
problems
52Schwalbe, K.. (2015). Information Technology Project Management. (8e) Cengage Learning
Working with People Issues
Strong leadership helps projects succeed more than good PERT
charts
Project managers should use
– empowerment
– incentives
– discipline
– negotiation
53Schwalbe, K.. (2015). Information Technology Project Management. (8e) Cengage Learning
Using Software to Assist in Time Management
Software for facilitating communications helps people exchange
schedule-related information
Decision support models help analyze trade-offs that can be
made
Project management software can help in various time
management areas
54Schwalbe, K.. (2015). Information Technology Project Management. (8e) Cengage Learning
Lecture Summary
Project time management is often cited as the main source of
conflict on projects, and most IT projects exceed time estimates
Main processes include
– Plan schedule management
– Define activities
– Sequence activities
– Estimate activity resources
– Estimate activity durations
– Develop schedule
– Control schedule
55Schwalbe, K.. (2015). Information Technology Project Management. (8e) Cengage Learning