Subject to uncertainties
Unexplained or unplanned events often arise,
Multiple stakeholders
Different interests in both the processes and
No clear authority
Project chain of command may conflict with the
savings in operating costs or revenue generated Complications arise when different groups of stakeholders have different interests, values and objectives Stakeholders must be identified, prioritized and their measures of success well understood
Qualitative Methods for Achieving Success The path to success lies in conservative planning
Establishes the opportunity to exceed
time
Project managers must possess both technical and soft skills Work objectives must be clearly defined in
Analysis
Design
Development
Data Analysis
Process Analysis
Reports Design
Database Design
Code Database
Code Reports
Choosing a Project Network Diagramming Technique To commonly accepted approaches are Activity on Node (AON) and Activity on Arrow (AOA)
B A C
Using activity on node (AON), nodes represent activities and arrows show precedence.
3
B 2 C
Using activity on arrow (AOA), arrows are activities and nodes are events. Precedence is captured in event relationships.
AOA
1
(a)
AON
C
4
A B C
Activity Relationships
A precedes B, which precedes C.
A
2
B
3
1 B
(b)
A 3
A C
4
B
A and B must be completed before C can be started. B and C cannot begin until A has been completed. C and D cannot begin until both A and B have been completed. C cannot begin until both A and B have been completed; D cannot begin until C has been completed. B and C cannot begin until A has been completed; D cannot begin until both B and C have been completed.
2 B 2 C 4 3 A
1
(c)
B C A B C D
1 A B
(d)
C 3 D
4 5
2 1 A 3
A B
C D
2
(e)
Dumm yD
4 C
B C
Dummy
3
(f)
Start
Finish
The duration of a project is equal to the longest path on the project network
This is the critical path A project may contain more than one critical path
Activity slack is the amount of time a project can be delayed before it becomes critical
Chapter 13 - Real World Project Management 8
Start
Finish 0 B 3 3 3 D 8 5 13 H 16 3
8 F 11 3
Early Finish
8 G 12
Early Start
Activity Duration
16
17
4 13
16 1 17
Start
Finish
0 1
B 3
3 4
3 4
D 5
8
9
11
13
16
10 3 13
13 3 16
Late Start
8 9
12
4 13
Late Finish
10
Treat activities as if they are common variables and assign probabilities to activity times to reflect the inherent uncertainties
Calculate an optimistic time (a),a most likely time (m) and a pessimistic time (b) Probabilities for activity times are taken from the beta distribution The formula for te is a weighted average of the three time estimates in which the most likely time (m) is weighted four times that of either the optimistic or pessimistic times
Chapter 13 - Real World Project Management 11
Analyzing Probabilities
Assume that the duration of all activities are independent from each other
13
Adding resources may add complexity and increase project length Accurate estimates regarding the times and costs involved are necessary
Normal time (NT) = Expected activity duration without crashing Normal cost (NC) = Expected activity costs without crashing Crash time (CT) = Expected activity duration with crashing Crash cost (CC) = Expected activity cost with crashing
14
Costs are linear, it costs proportionally the same to reduce an activity by one day as it does two days Per period crashing cost is referred to as bang for the buck
Only crash activities that are on the critical path Crashing an activity on the critical path may not reduce the project duration The process of crashing may cause the set of critical paths to change
The crashing technique for managing projects reduces the duration by making a trade-off between time and money
Chapter 13 - Real World Project Management 15
Thank you
16