Planning Stage 1 of 39 Project Life Cycle - Planning Stage - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Planning Stage 1 of 39

Project Life Cycle - Planning Stage  Conceptualisation  Planning  Implementation  Completion 2

Planning Stage  Inputs  Why plan?  The planning process  Objectives  Work Breakdown Structure  Estimating  Scheduling  Outputs 3

Inputs  Feasibility report  Project objectives & scope  Stakeholders & requirements  Constraints  Success criteria  Feasibility analysis & risk level  Initial plans  Scope of the planning stage 4

Inputs  Authorisation to proceed to next stage based on feasibility report  Signatures from senior management in project and client organisations  Project manager also signs to confirm acceptance of the next stage 5

Why plan?  Proactive rather than reactive  Who does what, when and how?  What resources are required and when?  Identify problems/risks early  Help identify costs  Help communication  Allows progress to be measured 6

Why plan?  Planning has its own costs  Benefits must outweigh costs  Good planning will benefit the project  Bad planning can add to cost of failure  Don’t over -plan - allow flexibility 7

Why plan?  If we fail to plan … …we plan to fail ! 8

Planning process versus planning stage  Planning  an on-going process , not a stage  iterative  Project plans are working documents  Planning must be combined with monitoring and controlling 9

Planning process at each stage  Conceptualisation stage:  Plans demonstrate feasibility  Identify general risks & constraints  Planning stage:  Baseline plan  what, when and how things should be done  what resources are required 10

Planning process at each stage  Implementation stage :  Progress monitored against plans (constantly updated)  Plans contain detail for future work  Completion stage :  Plans provide a basis for final evaluation 11

Objectives  Clear project objectives are vital to planning  Allow success of the project to be evaluated  Enable priorities to be set  Enable conflicts to be resolved  Provide direction and motivation  Published so key stakeholders are aware of them  Must be SMART 12

Objectives S = S pecific and written down M = M easurable A = A greed, Aligned, Achievable R = R ealistic, Relevant T = T ime-framed 13

Objectives Some examples: Increase UK sales volume of ring binders by 5% by 30 June 2013 the objective is: specific and written down measurable “increase UK sales volume of ring binders by 5%” achievable by the staff concerned, agreed by those involved, aligned to the requirements of the organisation relevant to organisation’s sales targets, realistic in terms of outlets time-framed “by 30 June 2013” 14

Objectives Some examples:  Reduce staff absenteeism in SE department by 30% by 31 Dec 2013 the objective is: specific and written down measurable “reduce staff absenteeism in SE dept by 30%” achievable by the staff concerned, with health awareness courses, agreed by those involved, aligned to the requirements of the organisation relevant to the work of the organisation, realistic in terms of health care provision time-framed “by 31 December 2013” 15

Objectives Some examples:  Hand in CC2005 assignment to UG Office by 10 May 2013 the objective is: specific and written down measurable “hand in CC2005 assignment to UG Office” achievable by students concerned, with lectures and seminars, agreed by academic & admin staff, aligned to the requirements of the module relevant to the work of the module, realistic in terms of lecture schedule time-framed “by 10 May 2013” 16

SMART Objectives Caution: ● We do NOT have separate objectives for each element ● …there is not a measurable objective, a realistic objective, etc. ● Each objective must satisfy SMART criteria ALL 17

Work Breakdown Structure  Systematic way of breaking down a project into manageable and well- defined “chunks” of work ( work packages )  Each work package broken down into a detailed list of activities  Each activity broken down into individual tasks 18

Work Breakdown Structure Project Breakdown: top level Complete Project WP 1 WP 2 WP 3 WP 4 19

Work Breakdown Structure Work Package 1 Breakdown WP 1 Activity 1.1 Activity 1.2 Activity 1.3 20

Work Breakdown Structure Activity 1.1 Breakdown Activity 1.1 Task 1.1.1 Task 1.1.2 Task 1.1.3 Task 1.1.4 21

Work Breakdown Structure Project Breakdown: complete structure Complete Project WP 1 WP 2 WP 3 WP 4 Activity 4.1 Activity 4.2 Activity 1.1 Activity 1.2 Activity 1.3 Task 4.1.1 Task 4.2.1 Task 1.1.1 Task 1.2.1 Task 1.3.1 Task 4.1.2 Task 4.2.2 Task 1.1.2 Task 1.2.2 Task 1.3.2 Task 4.1.3 Task 4.2.3 Task 1.1.3 Task 1.2.3 Task 4.2.4 Task 1.1.4 Task 4.2.5 22

Work Breakdown Structure  Work package breakdown decided on:  Functional grounds  Responsibility  Project phase  Geographic location  There is not an implied order in the work packages / activities / tasks 23

Work Breakdown Structure  Deciding between breakdown structures:  Budget control  Team management  Skills  3rd party organisations (suppliers / contractors)  Reporting requirements 24

Work Breakdown Structure  Example: project to build a house One option - split into 3 work packages based on different contractors:  Civil  Plumbing  Electrical (Example from Burke, 1999, p.106) 25

Work Breakdown Structure ● Example: project to build a house Another option - split into 4 work packages based on the phase of the project:  Design  Preparation of site and foundations  Building  Finishing and decorating 26

Work Breakdown Structure  Each work package, activity and task must:  Be well defined  Have a specification including: • Clear deliverables • Processes and procedures to be used • Quality requirements • Acceptance criteria  Be agreed 27

Product Breakdown Structure  An alternative starting point to WBS  Identifies project products (deliverables)  Details what must be produced (rather than what must be done )  Products include:  technical  management  quality  Philosophy behind PRINCE 28

Estimating ● Accurate & timely estimates crucial to success of a project ● Accuracy of estimate linked to uncertainty ● Level of uncertainty must be documented ● Estimates must be constantly updated as new information becomes available 29

Estimating  Level of uncertainty depends on:  Quality of information available  How far into the future...  How well-defined is the work  Experience of the estimator  Time available to produce estimates  Other (project specific) ‘risk’ factors 30

Estimating  Factors in project estimate uncertainty:  Requirements change over time  needs managing  estimate revisions must follow immediately  Complete tasks/activities left out of plan 31

Estimating ● Estimates can be broken down into: ● Cost ● Effort ● Time (duration) ● Resources ● Often these are highly inter-dependent (not a linear relationship) 32

Estimating ● If it takes 10 days for 1 person to dig a hole: ● two people may complete the task in half the time needed by one person… ● ...but 100 people trying to dig the hole may take longer than 10 days ● getting in each other’s way ● not enough tools for everyone ● not enough room ● arguing about who does what...  Important factors: communication and divisibility of work (see Brooks, 1995) 33

Estimating  Planning meals: people/resources/time  if there is enough food for 12 lunches  this would last one person every day for 12 days (providing the food doesn’t go off!)  or two people every day for 6 days  or four people every day for 3 days  or 12 people for one day (a party!)  but there is not enough for 14 people on one day, and there is not enough for one person for 14 days  this hasn’t included costs for storage, preparation, time for preparation, freezing/thawing/cooking, effort in preparation (does it take 12 times longer to cook 12 meals than 1?), washing up, etc... 34

Estimating ● Labour intensive projects: start with effort ● Cost, duration & resources then estimated ● Converting from effort to cost consider: ● Labour costs (hourly rate, etc.) ● Capital costs (e.g. equipment, products) ● Training costs (e.g. staff development) ● Travel costs (e.g. train, petrol, hotels) ● Overheads (e.g. management costs) 35

Estimating ● WBS is a useful tool in estimating ● Each task estimated separately ● All task estimates give overall project estimate ● Widely used estimating method ● Metrics from previous projects allow similar tasks to be identified & easily estimated 36

Planning ● Check suggestions for further reading ● Try out tasks (including past exam questions) 37

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