Week 5 Planning

• In project planning we begin to flesh out the details of our strategy so that everyone with a stake in the project will understand the solution we must deliver. Additionally, we will need to determine what work has to be done, who will need to do it, how much it will cost and how long it will take. We will need to anticipate projects risks and define project quality.

  Sound project planning is the key to project success. Poor project planning almost always leads to failure.
• Project Planning Process…


  Define project objectives, requirements & scope, Define work activities, specific project organization, creates a schedule, creates budget and resources plan, specifies method for tracking and control
• Project Plan Contents


  Nicholas & Steyn: Scope Statement 

  Project Organization

  High Level Requirements

  WBS

  Responsibility Assignments

  Project Schedules

  Budget

  Quality Plan
• Project Plan Contents

  Nicholas & Steyn (cont)

  Risk Plan

  Human Resource Plan

  Work Review Plan

  Testing Plan

  Change Control Plan

  Documentation Plan

  Procurement Plan

  Implementation Plan
• Project Plan Contents


  Cleland:

  Summary

  Goals

  Strategy

  WBS

  Activity Network

  Budgets and Schedules

  Key personnel

  Review process

  Interface Plan
• Project Plan Contents


  Meredith and Mantel:

  Overview, Objectives, General Approach, Contractual Aspects, Schedules, Resources, Personnel, Evaluation Methods, Potential Problems
• Scale

  As you review these project plan contents we need to focus our attention on the concept of “scale.” To be sure the amount of planning required for an event project – like a seminar is radically different than the amount of planning for a new satellite program, or a major construction project. The project and program plans for very large systems projects may require all of the contents that Nicholas & Steyn identified on the previous slide. But smaller projects with a more limited scope, generally require plans that include only a fraction of these elements and less detail.
• The Project Charter – To Initiate The Project

  Background

  • Project Objectives

  • Scope or SOW

  • Deliverables

  • Assumptions

  • Constraints

  • Approach

  • Schedule

  • Project Team

  • Risk

  • Management Plan

  …provides the project

  vision, and the project

  manager authority to apply

  organizational resources to

  project activities [PMI]

  [Ada
• Project Planning Tips


  Planning often more important than plan. Formality of plan should be consistent with project scope. Living plans can be valuable resource. Making living plans avialable to project team. Remember your successor in case you don't complete project.
• Product Scope


  The features and functions

  that characterize a product, service or result.
• Project Scope –


  The work performed to

  deliver a product, service, or result with the

  specified features and functions.
• Project Scope Management

  The Project Management Institute identifies

  six core processes of Project Scope Management: Plan scope management; Collect requirements; define scope; create was; validate scope; control scope.
• Project Scope Management Plan

  Document that describes:

  How scope will be defined, developed, monitored, controlled, and validated; How WBS will be created and defined; How project scope will be managed and controlled by the project team.
• Collect Requirements 


  Critical to your efforts to provide your customers or users the solution they

  need, is a clear understanding of their needs and requirements.

  But this can be a very challenging endeavor! Sometimes, users are not sure

  of what they really need. Sometimes, they will “know it when they see it!”

  Sometimes, different users are interested in different features? Sometimes,

  their visions exceed the capabilities we can deliver!
• Collect Requirements 1 – 


  The process of

  determining, documenting and managing

  stakeholders’ needs and requirements to meet

  the project objectives.
• Collect Requirements 2 


  Project failure often stems from ambiguous or incomplete requirements
• Collect Requirements (3)


  Without clear requirements, the team or contractor ... : Cannot know "what" is wanted; Hence, cannot know how to provide it; Hence, cannot define necessary project work ('how' the project must be done)
• Collect Requirements (4)


  Requirements are: the "wants" that the project seeks to provide; the basis for project planning; the basis for determine project completion; define the contractor's obligation to customer; a principal cause of project cost and schedule overruns.
• A Requirements Definition Process

  
• Collect Requirements (5)


  Articulating User Needs: Ask user to define the need clearly; ask user a complete set of questions about need; do necessary research to understand the need better; reformulate need as best you can; ask user to respond to reformulation, and revise accordingly; resulting "actual needs" are often different than original " stated needs"
• Requirements Traceability Matrix

  
• Collect Requirements (6)


  Pitfall in defining and Addressing Needs: Some needs are ever-changing; some needs are only vaguely perceived; solutions are identified prematurely; needs identified prematurely; needs identified are for wrong users; Multiple users exist, each with differing needs; User's needs can be distorted by an "expert"; Gold-plating of needs; filtering of needs; father-knows-best approach.
• Define Scope (1) 


  The scope statement is brief, but getting it right is critical. Because the scope statement will establish the boundaries of your project. It will clearly define the objectives of your project. It will state the major work you will do, as well as important scope exclusions. It will identify the major deliverables of your project and general acceptance criteria when appropriate. It will be based on your user requirements, and will often identify the assumptions and

  constraints that inform your planning.
• Define Scope 


  – The process of developing a

  detailed description of the project and product.
• Define Scope (3)


  Project Scope statement is a narrative description of the project scope that includes: main deliverables; acceptance criteria; assumptions; constraints; project objectives; user requirements; major areas of work; exclusions.
• Define Scope (4)


  What did you think about the scope statement for the Internet Registration Project?

  If I was the project manager, I would be concerned that this scope statement was too vague and ambiguous. What do they mean by amending support procedures as necessary? Expand operating hours by how much? It will be hard to plan a project when the scope is too vague? And it will be easy to for stakeholders to develop unrealistic expectations about what you will deliver!

  
• Define Scope (5)

  Did you find the Online Tuition Reimbursement Project scope statement to be a little better? It is certainly more specific about the major work to be performed and the required deliverables. But it would also help if it identified any scope exclusions. Scope exclusions are a good way to ensure stakeholders do not

  harbor expectations that you do not plan to fulfill!

  
• Remember the Business Need!

  Successful project manager will be able to demonstrate positive business results: increased revenues; reduced costs; enhanced productivity; greater market share; improved quality.
• Create WBS


  The Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is one of the most useful tools for project managers. It relies on a systematic process to decompose the entire project into meaningful elements or components that you can understand and eventually assign to members of the team to accomplish. As you break the work down into smaller pieces, it becomes easier to identify and understand who will do the work, how long it will take, and how much it will

  cost! WBS helps develop the Work Package.
• Create WBS – The process of subdividing project

  deliverables and project work into smaller, more

  manageable components.

  
• Create Work Breakdown

  Structure (WBS) (cont’d.)

  [PMI, A Guide to the PMBOK, 2017]

  “The Work Breakdown Structure is a hierarchical

  decomposition of the total scope of work to be

  carried out by the project team to accomplish the

  project objectives and create the required

  deliverables.”
• Create WBS

  Project team: Brainstorm; past experience; templates. Multiple teams; experts.
• WBS Step by Step


  1 Identify final product; 2 Define product's major deliverables; 3 Decompose major deliverables; 4 Review and refine.
• WBS Approaches

  End-item Sub-systems Approach

  Start with the end-

  item system,

  subdivide it first into

  subsystems, then

  into components,

  then parts

  
• Another Example

  
• Another WBS Approach

  
• Create WBS

  As you examine the last three examples, you will note that a WBS consists of levels. The first level is the entire project. An interesting question, is what kind of elements do you use for the second

  level? These three examples illustrate three different approaches used for level 2. The end item approach uses major deliverables (subsystems) for level 2. The banquet WBS adopts various functions for level 2. The third example adopts phases for level 2. All of these approaches are valid. But there are times that one approach may be more useful than another.
• WBS Formats

  
• Example WBS - 1

  Intranet project – product orientation

  
• Intranet project – phase orientation

  Example WBS - 2