In my previous article, I have looked at all that you need to know about process improvement plans for projects. In this article, I want to look at all that you need to know about communications and risk management plans for projects.
A communication management plan is a document that describes the project team’s approach to communicating information about the project.
It documents what information must be communicated to whom, by whom, when, and in what manner. It also documents how information is collected, archived and assessed.
Typical example…
A project manager in charge of presenting a company’s annual meeting with shareholders will have many stakeholders from different departments and at different levels of company management.
The communications management plan may include regularly scheduled status meetings with the employees assigned to the project, with meetings to be distributed to upper management.
It may also stipulate an email distribution list with all stakeholders and resources included in all relevant project communication.
Risk management plans…
A risk management plan is a document that describes the team’s approach to identifying risks. It identifies the methodologies, approaches and tools that will be used.
It also identifies the roles and responsibilities of those involved. It also identifies the budgeting and scheduling for risk management activities as well as the risk categories for the project.
Please note that the risk management plan does not address responses to risks. These are addressed in the risk response plan.
For a proposed amusement park, the plan will describe business risks, such as operational risks for potential loss due to employee theft and insurable risks such as liabilities for injuries sustained on the park rides.
Procurement management plans…
A Procurement management plan is a document that outlines the guidelines for procuring work from outside sources.
It specifies the type of contacts that will be used, describes the processes for obtaining and evaluating bids, mandates the standardised procurement documents that must be used, and explains how multiple providers will be managed.
The plans also state how procurement activities will be coordinated with other project management activities, such as scheduling and performance reporting.
Depending on the need of the project, the procurement management plan may be formal or informal, brief or detailed.
Typical example…
A small advertising agency will procure contracts from external sources for some of the work considered necessary but beyond its core capabilities, such as specialised printing and professional photography services.
The procurement management plan will outline the company’s processes for soliciting and evaluating bids from competing service providers and will specify how management will schedule contract work, schedule payments to providers for the work done and evaluate the quality.
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In my previous article, I looked at all that we need to know about risk management plans for projects. In this article, I want to look at all that you need to know about customer requirements for projects. Follow me as we are going to look at that together in this article.
As a project manager, you have to analyse the needs of the project stakeholders clear and authentic documentation of those needs will be critical to the project’s success.
If the stakeholders are not in agreement about project expectations, timelines, and costs, they will not be satisfied with the outcome of the project.
By determining the needs of the stakeholders, you can obtain a consensus and prevent misunderstandings on the requirements of varied stakeholders of the project.
A customer requirement is a requirement that documents the customers’ needs and expectations to meet the project objectives.
Some of the requirements criteria include conformance to specific standards, quality, functional interface, data, security, and control, content, technical, training, and performance support and deployment.
The requirements need to be elicited, analyzed, and recorded in sufficient detail from the customers to enable measurement during project execution.
The collected requirements form the basis for planning the cost, schedule and quality of the project.
Typical example…
Senior Management of a large firm decided o undertake the development of an e-commerce capability on their existing website.
When interviewing the customer, the project manager received a lot of requirements that were project-specific.
The project manager recorded the customer requirements in sufficient detail and ranked the requirements based on priority.
Because there was an increased demand for the product, the customer wanted the product to be delivered ahead of schedule. The project manager included this requirement in the existing list of customer requirements.
Project and product requirements
Requirements are further categorised into project requirements and product requirements, depending on the needs of the project.
Project requirements could typically include the business, project management, and delivery requirements of the project. Product requirements could typically include the technical, security, and performance requirements of the product.
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Definition When we talk of marketing communication, from the word we can see that it has much to do with sending and receiving messages that go on between prospects and the organization in the process of drawing them into the lifecycle of the organization.
One of such mediums of communication that is used is the process of educating leads so that they can make decisions of becoming a customer or not.
Management email is used in two ways in marketing automation, this can be inbound or outbound. Inbound e-mail management capabilities assist organizations in handling organization to extend personalization techniques to multiple communication types.
Objectives of this article At the end of this article, readers should be able to:
Know what email management is.
Know the benefits of inbound email management.
Know the capabilities of email management.
Outbound email management capabilities provide the ability to construct and execute permission-based marketing campaigns. (Where the dialogue has been started with a customer via e-mail communications) and are said to be up to twenty percent more successful than traditional direct marketing at a fraction of the cost.
While communication channels vary, email is emerging as a popular communication channel. Most businesses, therefore, use e-Newsletters as part of the marketing mix.
The response and conversion rates associated with email marketing have been on the rise and have also been found to be an effective method of customer acquisition and retention.
You should know that sales and lead generation are the popular criteria that are used in evaluating the effectiveness of marketing-related activities.
You should be able to know the rate at which your email marketing is yielding results. You should know that your email marketing can yield results by getting the right message to the right persons.
Email campaigns are very cost-effective, they have a high return on investment, they are said to be capable of generating at least three times the cost of the campaign in new business.
Capabilities Email marketing has the capability of targeting and sending mass E-mails.
The organization can generate a database and send mass emails to potential leads who might be interested in their products and services.
E-mail marketing also has the potential of generating mass responses to mass e-mails.
It will give the organization ample time needed in order to respond to the customers’ requests individually.
There is also the use of a decision engine to parse information from incoming e-mail correspondence.
The decision engine will be able to look at the emails and decide on potential leads that can be followed up so that they can be dragged into the customer life cycle of the organization.
There should also be crafting responses to incoming emails without human intervention.
This will prevent staff from intervening in the process as they are capable of misrepresenting the organization. This is also needed due to the large number of people that are involved in the process.
Email management is very valuable as it is capable of being personalized.
There have also been speculations about the utility of mass customization when the focus of CRM initiative is ‘relationship’ enhancement.
This is addressed through Analytical CRM components, where specific data about the customer is transformed into useful information.
Summary At the end of this chapter, we discovered. How Email management is becoming one of the popular ways of getting new customers.
We have two types of email management which are inbound and outbound.
An email has the capability of reaching out to many people, generating automatic responses, and deciding on whether a particular lead of becoming a customer or not.
The main benefit of email management is that it is capable of being personalized in order to meet the need of the user. But the main essence of it is that it allows organizations to use basic information about the customer for the benefit of meeting them at the right place with the right products and services.
Brainstorming Session
What is Marketing Communication?
What are some of its features?
Discuss the capabilities of E-mail marketing.
The new organization that you worked for has received numerous complaints that some staff in the organization have a lackadaisical attitude towards customer-related issues. What are the practical ways of correcting this anomaly among your staff?
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In my previous article, I talked about some of the facts that you need to know about the project scope statement. In this article, I want to talk about product analysis techniques for projects. Follow me as we will look at that together in this article.
Product Analysis is an evaluation of the project’s end product and what it will take to create the product.bit translates project objectives into tangible deliverables and requirements.
It includes techniques such as product breakdown, requirements analysis, system engineering, system analysis, value engineering, and value analysis.
Now the techniques…
#1 Functional Analysis
This has to do with the analysis of all the things that a product does, including primary and related functions, to identify unnecessary functions that may drive up the cost of a product.
#2 Value engineering and value analysis
This has to do with identifying and developing the coat versus benefit ratio for each function of a product. A method for controlling cost while maintaining performance and quality standards. Very common in military and construction contracts.
#3 Quality function deployment
This has to do with identifying the customers’ needs and translating those needs into technical requirements appropriate for each stage of the product development cycle.
# System engineering
This is the process of analysing products holistically and interpreting factors such as users, usage environment and related hardware or software, with which the product must function.
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In my previous article, I talked about all that you need to know about Requirement Traceability Matrix for projects. In this article, I want to look at how to determine stakeholder needs for projects. Follow me as we will look at that together in this article.
The success of a project depends on the effective capture of the various project and product requirements, Care should be taken in defining and documenting the needs and expectations of various project stakeholders in order to meet the project objectives.
Now the guidelines…
To effectively define and manage project and product requirements, follow these guidelines:
#1 Study the project charter
There is a need for you to study the project charter in order to identify the high-level project requirements and product descriptions. This will allow all stakeholders to know what the project is really all about.
#2 Examine stakeholder register
You also need to examine the stakeholder register for the project in order to identify stakeholders who can provide information on the detailed project and product requirements.
This will enable the project manager to know stakeholders that have not been captured so that they can be added to the stakeholder register.
#3 Project requirement collection
There is a need for you to use different methods to gather project requirements.
These methods include: interviews, focus groups, Facilitated Workshops, group creativity techniques, group decision-making techniques, Questionnaires and surveys, observations and prototypes.
#4 Working model
If possible, provide a working model or prototype of the expected product to obtain feedback on requirements.
#5: Requirement Documentation
You need to create a requirement to describe how individual requirements meet the business need for the project.
You need to ensure that the requirements are measurable, testable, complete, consistent, and acceptable to key stakeholders.
#6 Review
You have to review and validate the requirements management plan along with the key stakeholders and make sure that it:
Describe methods to plan, track, and report requirement activities.
Include a process for requirements prioritization.
Include project or product-related metrics.
Provides a traceability Matrix for requirements.
Typical example…
The project manager for the Fourth Mouse Consulting Warehouse Management Software project. Mark, is defining and documenting the requirements for the project.
From the project charter authorised by Vicky Morris, he lists the high-level project requirements and product descriptions. He interviews the key stakeholders of the project who provide him with detailed project and product requirements.
He also analyses the stakeholder register to determine the other stakeholders of the project and enhances the list of project requirements by conducting a facilitated workshop to determine the remaining needs and expectations of the stakeholders.
Mark gets the project team to develop a prototype for the Warehouse Management Software, distributes it to key stakeholders for their review, and obtains their feedback on the functional requirements of the project.
Using the requirements obtained from the stakeholders. mark creates the requirements documentation for the project.
He also creates the requirements management plan, which includes the RTM that documents how the requirements will be analyzed, documented, and managed throughout the project lifecycle.
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In my previous article, I looked at some of the facts that you need to know about project stakeholder identification for a project. In this article, I want to look at some of the facts that you need to know about the project scope statement of projects. Follow me as we are going to look at this together in this article.
A clear and concise scope statement will help you define the success that will guide your project.
Without a strong scope statement, you could end up spending valuable time and resources on work that isn’t even supposed to be part of your project.
The scope statement defines the project and what it does and does not need to accomplish.
The project scope statement is created at an early stage in the project to reflect the stakeholder’s common understanding of major activities to be performed in the project and provide a basis for future project decisions about what should and should not be included in the project.
Depending upon the size and scope of the project, a project scope statement should typically include:
Project objectives, deliverables, exclusions, and requirements.
Project constraints and assumptions
Project acceptance criteria
It may also include initial project organization, defined risks, schedule milestones, initial WBS, and approval requirements.
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In my previous article, I looked at some of the facts that you need to know about the project scope statement document.
In this article, I want to look at some of the techniques for alternative analysis for projects. Follow me as we are going to look at that in this article.
Alternative identification techniques are methods for generating as many alternative solutions and plans as possible during project planning.
The alternative techniques…
#1 Lateral thinking
This is a creative approach to problem-solving in which the team attempts to think about a problem in new ways and generate a fresh solution.
The goal is to generate as many ideas as possible from as many team members as possible.
#3 Delphi technique
This is a group technique that extracts and summarises anonymous expert group input to choose among various alternatives. often used to arrive at an estimate or forecast.
Project objectives…
Project objectives are the criteria used to measure whether a project is successful or not.
The following objective was developed for a project devoted to the development of an educational product ” Arithmetic on a Stick”.
“Develop a handheld interactive math game for three to six-year-olds, that include four levels of instruction, practice, and remediation in early math skills based on national math standards, produced by June 1, 2019, for less than. $25Million.
Note how the objective has the characteristics of a quantifiable objective :
The objective specifies the scope: handheld interactive math game for three to six-year-olds that includes four levels of instruction, practice, and remediation in early math skills.
It is quantifiable in terms of time: by June 1 2009.
It is quantifiable in terms of cost: less than $2.5Million
Quality measurement is specifically based on the nature of the product
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The 8/80 Rule for projects refers to a general guideline regarding work packages; they require more than eight and fewer than eighty hours of effort to be completed.
The 8/80 Rule help project managers create the work package list by identifying which work components should be considered work packages.
Any work component that can be completed in fewer than eight hours does not rise to the level of a work package.
Also, any work component requiring more than 80hours of work is too monumental to be categorised that way.
While the 8/80 Rule may be a useful guide in small projects, it will be impractical to apply it to large projects, which will necessitate tracking millions of work packages.
Activities
An activity is an element of project work packages that requires action to produce a deliverable. Activities lay the foundation for estimating, scheduling, executing, and monitoring and controlling the project work. The characteristics of the activity are:
It has an expected duration
It consumes budget and human resources.
Example:
Some of the activities are:
Revising a user manual
Making a sales presentation
Reserve ng a conference room
Each of these items requires action to produce a deliverable. Each has an expected duration and will consume budget and human resources.
Activity lists …
An activity list is a definitive list of activities that must be completed to produce the desired project deliverables.
It includes an activity identifier and a description of the scope of work for each activity so that each team member understands the work required for completion.
The activities in an activity list are listed in sequential order and are used to estimate project duration and create the project schedule.
An activity list for conducting a Training program…
Determine training budget
Schedule training date
Set training requirements
Identify trainers
Confirm attendees
Reserve conference room
Set up audio-visual materials
Acquire training software
Train attendees
Collect feedback.
Activity components …
Activity can be broken down into smaller components. For example, the activity, Reserve conference room, could be broken down in the following way:
Determine size requirement
Determine date needed
Identify possible room alternatives
Select room
Call to reserve room
File confirmation when received
Activity attributes
Activity attributes obtain additional information about all activities in an activity list.
The attribute describes the activities by listing the different components associated with the activities, which include responsible team members and the level of effort required.
Activity attributes are used to develop project schedules and select, order, and sort planned activities.
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In my previous article, I talked about some of the time estimation techniques for projects. In this article, I want to talk about how to estimate time for project tasks. Follow me as we will look at that together in this article.
Accurate activity time estimates form the basis of an accurate project schedule because it includes a careful review of the effort required, the duration of tasks, the delivery date or deadline, and customer priorities.
To ensure that your estimates are as accurate and realistic as possible, follow these guidelines:
#1 Gather documents
There is a need for you to gather all prerequisites, such as activity lists, activity attributes, resource calendars, activity resource requirements documents, and project products required to estimate the duration of each activity in the project.
#2 Involve work package owners
There is a need for you to involve work package owners or others who are familiar with the work or activity.
The project manager will, however, be responsible for actually making the estimates, based on the number provided by experts.
In some cases, the project manager may take the sole responsibility for making the duration estimates.
Some examples are:
Small projects in which the project manager is familiar with the activities required.
Projects with activities that are well defined and for which there is good historical information from similar past projects.
#3 Consult historical information
You need to consult historical information about past projects and ask the following questions :
Are there any detailed records from previous, similar projects that you could use to derive your estimates?
Are there any relevant commercial duration estimates techniques?
Do any project team members have experience with similar activities.?
#4 Appropriate technique
You have to determine which appropriate technique you want to use to estimate the activity duration.
The techniques include analogous estimating, parametric estimating, three-point estimating, as well as reserve analysis.
#5 Work quantification
You have to determine how you want to quantify the work that needs to be done in terms of the estimates hours of labour that will be needed, the number of units to be produced and the number of customers to be served.
#7 Consider resource requirements
There is a need for you to consider the resource requirements and capabilities of available resources within and outside the organisation. You need to ask:
Which people will be assigned to this activity?
How will the skills of the assigned staff affect duration estimates? You know it will take a longer time for an inexperienced person to finish a task than someone that has the required experience.
#8: Appropriate Estimation method
You need to determine the appropriate estimation method to use for the project. You need to ask the following questions :
If it is early in the planning phase or if there is good historical data, consider using an analogous estimating technique.
If there is inadequate historical data, consult Subject Matter Experts.
Use quantitatively based duration to estimate activities when quantities of the work unit can be multiplied by the productivity rate.
If you are using the Three-point estimating technique, ask the estimators for the best-case, most likely and worst-case estimates.
#9 Consider constraints
When it comes to estimating time for your project, you need to look at the assumptions and constraints for your project.
What are some of the impediments that you have discovered that are likely to come up during project execution?
You have to confirm whether the assumptions and constraints are still real before you continue with your project.
#10 Verify the accuracy
There is a need for you to also verify the accuracy of your estimates when you estimate the duration for your project. You need to ask the following questions:
What is the probability associated with the estimate?
What was this estimate based upon?
Is there any risk associated with this estimate?
#11 Consider the reserved time
In order not to have an abandoned project, there is a need to have a second look at your reserved time. Have you created enough time for delays that come up.
You have to make sure that the extra time is being calculated based on the capacity of your resource.
#12 List of assumptions
It is not every time that you have “all greens” before your project can start. There are times that you just have to assume and start the project.
In calculating the duration of your project, you have to factor in assumptions and constraints that you have discovered before you begin the project. Some might come to pass and some might not.
13 Range of variance
It is not always possible for your coat and time estimate to be one hundred percent accurate. If that is the case, you need to discover the range of variance between your normal estimate and what is likely to happen on your project.
This will allow you to factor that into your time calculations.
#14 Update documents
Most times, after changes have been made to your document and you have discovered the actual time that it will take to execute your project, you need to make sure that all documents are updated.
You have to note that whatever affects the time will definitely affect the coat and scope of your project.
The art director, Tracy, needs to hire a contractor to do the design work. Also, she is unsure of how long the design reviews will take. Based on these factors, she submitted an activity estimate to Paul.
Tracy estimate defines work as days according to Paul specifications.
Her estimate specifies who will be used on the project and how their skills will affect the duration. She has used a quantitative method for her estimate and included relevant assumptions made earlier.
Finally, Tracy’s estimate includes a range of variance for each duration.
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In my previous article, I looked at some of the facts that you need to know about project resources projects. In this article, I want to talk about how to identify project resources for projects. Follow me as we will look at that together in this article.
Accurate estimations of the resources required to complete project deliverables are vital in developing a realistic project schedule and budget.
Here are the guidelines…
#1 Necessary resources
There is a need for you to determine the necessary resources needed to complete each activity in the work packages.
You will not want to get to the end of the project and discover that you failed to budget for an important component of the project.
#2 Resource quantity
You will also need to discover the quantity of each of the resources that you will need for your project.
This will allow you to discover whether you have all it takes to achieve the project deliverables or you will have to rely on external resources.
#3 Determine the duration
Furthermore, you need to determine the duration within which the resources must complete each activity.
This will allow you to monitor each project activity. It will also ensure that you are not spending more time than required on project activities.
#4 Resource calendar
There is a need for you to refer to the resource calendar in order to know the time that each of the resources will be available.
This will ensure that you have backup plans in case any of your resources will not be available for critical tasks.
#5 Gather Possible interview
You also need to generate possible alternative resources and areas where resources are unknown, the work is new to your organisation so new resources will need to be brought in.
It also looks at many different resourcing options are known to exist. It also looks at areas where there has been disagreement about resource requirements in the past as well as certain activities that has high project risks.
#6 Analyse scope statement
There is a need for you to analyse the scope statement to ensure that you identified all the resources required to perform the project work.
This will allow you to determine what is covered and what is not covered in your project.
#7 Organisational policies
There is a need to also consider organisational policies that could affect resource acquisition and usage. Some questions need to be asked:
Can you use contract labour to take advantage of lower hourly rates for a certain types of work?
Is renting equipment preferred over purchasing?
Must suppliers be selected only from a list of those approved and qualified?
Are there any resource usages that require authorization from upper management?
#8 Use bottom-up
There is a need for you to use bottom-up estimating when more details is available about the work packages, you need more accurate estimates, and you have the time to invest in making the estimates.
#9 Use expert judgment
You need to identify and use expert judgment resources. The following should be considered:
Knowledge-based on your project team.
The organisation within your company
Technical or professional associations
Subject Matter Experts
Other project managers of projects with aspects similar to your project.
#10 Analyse resource
You need to analyse the resource already available to you. The following questions must be asked:
Does the available in-house staff have the required skills and experience or will you have to procure some resources?
Will you have access to the materials, facilities and equipment you need to perform the work when it is scheduled to be done?
#11 Project management software
If necessary, you have project management software to plan, organise, and manage project schedules and resources.
This can give you a general idea of whether your project will succeed or not through project simulation.
Most project managers use a spreadsheet program to capture the resource requirements for their projects.
This allows flexibility in formatting the information and lets you output the columns you want for a particular purpose.
Typical example…
Robert is trying to determine the resources required for the initial designs work package of a website project.
The art director provided him with a list of resources he will need. Because there are no in-house graphic designers available, Robert authorises him to hire a contractor.
The computer workstation and black and white printer are overhead items that are already available to the art department.
However, there is no colour printer on site and the software program will need to be purchased.
The company’s policies require that this equipment be rented rather than purchased.
As an alternative, Robert directed the art department to utilize a commercial printing facility for presentation items that require colour.
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Please note that inaccurate time estimates will affect the schedule and may frustrate to e team involved in meeting the schedule. By minimising potential adjustments to the schedule, you and other stakeholders will not have to work overtime and you can preserve your reputation as a project manager. In this article, I will talk about all that you need to know about reserve analysis for projects.
Reserve analysis is the process of identifying and adding extra time that will serve as contingency or management reserves to the duration estimates.
Contingency reserved serves as buffets in recognition of scheduled risks or setbacks.
Management reserves are buffers added to the project tasks for unplanned changes to project scope and cost.
As the project progresses, reserves analysis is used to determine if the remaining or planned buffer is adequate for project completion.
Please note that inaccurate time estimates will affect the schedule and may frustrate to e team involved in meeting the schedule. By minimising potential adjustments to the schedule, you and other stakeholders will not have to work overtime and you can preserve your reputation as a project manager. In this article, I will talk about all that you need to know about reserve analysis for projects.
Reserve analysis is the process of identifying and adding extra time that will serve as contingency or management reserves to the duration estimates.
Contingency reserved serves as buffets in recognition of scheduled risks or setbacks.
Management reserves are buffers added to the project tasks for unplanned changes to project scope and cost.
As the project progresses, reserves analysis is used to determine if the remaining or planned buffer is adequate for project completion.
Reserve analysis can run the risk of inflating cost revenue.
Typical example…
A cellphone manufacturing company contracted a vendor to integrate a new telecommunication technology within their current system. The project manager , Bob , has been assigned to manage this new project.
He creates a schedule to complete the project within one month. Bob anticipates that if the technical integration aspects are unavailable, the project will need to be extended for one more month.
Therefore, he specifies this is the project management plan and retains a contingency reserved of one month.
Some managers, upon reviewing the project management plan, advised Bob to add two more weeks as management reserve to the project in order to accommodate the risks that may occur due to unknowns-unknowns.
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In my previous article, I have looked at some of the facts that you need to know about schedule management for projects. In this article, I will be looking at Time estimation techniques for projects.
In this article, I want to look at three major time estimation Techniques for projects. Follow me as we will look at that together in this article.
PERT…
The Performance Evaluation and Review Technique is a project management technique that is used to analyse the tasks Involved and the favourable time required to complete each activity in a project.
The technique involves breaking down the project into activities, identifying their relationships, sequencing their activities, and defining their duration.
Information collected using PERT is represented in the form of a network diagram.
It contains the project milestones and paths that connect the milestones. PERT is generally used for project scheduling and does not help find the shortest way to complete a project.
#1 Three-point estimating
Three-point estimating is a method of activity duration in which three types of estimates are incorporated into a singular estimate scenario: optimistic, most likely and pessimistic.
An optimistic estimate is the best case estimate of the time required to complete the specific work.
The most likely estimate is the time required to complete the work under normal conditions.
A pessimistic estimate is a worst-case estimate or the time required to complete the work if any unanticipated delay occurs.
These three estimates are generally based on historical information and may help in increasing the level of accuracy in estimating project durations.
Three-point estimating is based on PERT analysis.
Typical example…
You are the project manager for the creation of an innovative marketing campaign project across the country.
A similar project conducted previously required three months to complete.
Therefore, you estimate that the optimal time for the current project will be two and a half months, the most likely time will be three months and the pessimistic time will be four months.
#2 Analogous estimating
Analogous estimating or top-down estimating is an estimating technique in which managers use their experience, historical information from. similar projects, and expert judgement to determine the total project cost or time estimate.
The resulting total is then apportioned across the major categories of the project work.
Estimates are generated for the top levels of the WBS and then apportioned downward through the level of the WBS.
Analogous estimating is used when:
You have a limited amount of detailed information about the project.
You have a similar project to use for comparison.
Those preparing the estimates have the requisite expertise.
Sometimes, analogous estimating is also referred to as historical estimating.
Typical example…
project manager for a web design firm, William, may use analogous estimating to produce cost and time estimates for new accounts.
He will base his estimates on past experience and expert judgement. If several other similar sites, each of which included five pages and basic functionality, took approximately 15 hours to develop, then he could finally estimate that a site with 10pages will require 30hours of development time.
#3 Parametric estimating
Parametric estimating is a technique that is used to predict total project duration by using the project’s characteristics in a mathematical model.
It requires the project manager to do a statistical analysis using historical information about the scope, cost, budget, and duration.
The accuracy of a parametric estimate will only be as good as the accuracy of the data used in it.
I have talked about all that you need to know about the work breakdown structure for projects. In this article, I want to talk about Standard Schedule Diagramming Notations for projects. Follow as we will look at them together in this article.
Now the notations…
#1 Early Start
This denotes the earliest time an activity can start. usually, the ES of the first activity in a network diagram is zero. The Early Start of all other activities in the latest Early Finish of any predecessor activities.
#2 Early Finish
This denotes an Early Finish. The earliest time an activity can finish. The EF for the first activity is the same as its duration. For all other activities, EF is the latest EF of all the predecessor activities of an activity plan its duration.
#3 Late Finish
This denotes Late Finish. It is the latest time an activity can finish. The late Finish for the activity is the same as its Early Finish time. The LF for any predecessor activity is the earliest Late Start of any of its successor activities.
Late Start
This is the latest time an activity can start. The LS for the last activity is its Early Finish minus its duration. The Late Start for any predecessor activity is its Late Finish minus its duration.
Duration
This is the number of work periods required for the completion of an activity.
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In my previous article, I looked at some of the facts that you need to know about the work breakdown structure for projects. In this article, I want to talk about how to develop a project schedule for projects. Follow me as we will look at that together in this article.
#1 Mathematical analysis
There is a need for you to perform mathematical analysis to determine the time periods within which activities could be scheduled once resources limits and other known constraints are applied.
#2 Possible impact
There is a need for you to also identify the possible impacts of any constraints and assumptions on schedule development.
You need to look at how these occurrences and the presence of these assumptions and constraints are going to affect the overall project outcome.
#3 Availability of resources
You also need to consider the availability of resources for the project. You need to consider these:
Will you have the staff you need to perform the work when it is scheduled to be done?
Will you have access to the materials, facilities, and equipment you need to perform the work when it is scheduled to be done?
#4 Consult project calendars
You also need to consult your project calendars and assign dates to activities. The following questions should be asked:
Are there any holidays in which your project team will not conduct work activities?
Will your project team conduct work activities on weekends?
When will your key project team members be taking vacations?
Are there any unmovable milestone dates that must be met?
#5 Access the feasibility
There is a need for you to assess the feasibility of the schedule under adverse conditions by conducting a what-if scenario analysis.
This will allow you to know what will likely go wrong with the project and take appropriate steps to mitigate it.
Are there any regional or national holidays not previously accounted for?
Do you need to make considerations for travel time for meetings?
#7 Project Management Software
You have to select project management software that best meets the need and budget of your project. If your organisation does not require the use of a particular software program, ask yourself the following questions to make the selection:
How complex is the project?
Do I need to manage more than one project at a time?
How easy will the software be to learn and use?
How well will the software be apt to projects that vary greatly?
What type and depth of analyses do I need to perform?
What is the reputation of the software company?
What do other project managers in the field use and what do they recommend?
#8 Review tough drafts
You need to review the rough drafts of the schedule with the project team, sponsor, and customer.
You may also need to review the rough drafts with functional managers to ensure that there are no conflicts with functional managers.
#9 Format
You have to choose the format in which you will publish the schedule. Consider the following:
If your audience only requires a summary level of the project’s progress in terms of milestones, consider using a milestone chart.
If you are reviewing the schedule with your project team, consider publishing a detailed bar chart or a network diagram with dates.
If you are preparing a presentation for key project stakeholders or upper management, consider printing the schedule in several different formats to show various views of the project’s progress versus planned progress.
3 Major Schedule Formats For Projects
In my previous article, I have looked at all that you need to know about the work breakdown structure for projects.
I want to look at some of the facts you need to know about schedule formats for projects. Follow me as we are going to look at that together in this article.
The project schedule can be presented in different formats, depending on the circumstances.
#1 Bar chart
The bar chart as a schedule format has:
Show the start and end dates, expected durations, and dates and order of project milestones.
Shows the precedence relationships between activities.
Shows the percentage of an activity completed to date and the actual progress in relation to planned progress.
Lists, activities, or work packages are vertically on the left. Time is represented with horizontal bars that correspond to the activities and show projected start and finished dates
Often used for project status presentation to upper management.
A detailed view is used when reviewing the project status with the project team.
Milestone chart
The milestone chart provides a:
Summary-level view of a project’s schedule in terms of its milestones.
Use an icon or symbol to show scheduled milestone events.
Milestones are typically listed from the left to the right of the chart.
Time intervals- divided into hours, days, weeks, or months- are usually presented horizontally across the top or bottom of the chart.
Effective in demonstrating the project’s overall schedule to project team members, stakeholders, and upper management.
#3 Project schedule network diagram with dates
This discusses :
Helps assign start and finish dates to activities on the project schedules network diagram.
Useful when you need to communicate the project team status in terms of activity precedence relationships.
4 Types Of Schedule Network Analysis
I have looked at some of the facts that you need to know about the different standard Diagramming notation for projects. In this article, I want to talk about four types of Schedule Network Analysis for projects. Follow me as we will look at that together in this article.
Schedule Network Analysis is a technique that is used to calculate the theoretical early and late start and finish dates for all project activities. In other words, it helps create a project schedule.
This method also generates float or slack.
Schedule Network Analysts may be achieved using one of the four methods.
Critical Path Method
Critical Chain Method
What-if scenario
Resource levelling
Typical example…
You are trying to craft a schedule for the creation of a new marketing campaign, which will involve finding a new advertising agency, creating the advertisements, and producing marketing materials.
Because the project contains so many different work packages, you decide that schedule network analysis is necessary.
Using a project management software application. , you are able to define the network path from “request for proposals” to “launch campaign”.
From there, you can estimate the points in the schedule where there is slack and adjust the activities accordingly.
#1 Critical path method
The Critical Path Method is a network analysis method that uses a sequential finish to start network logic and calculates one early and late start and finish date for each activity using a single-duration estimate.
The longest path through the network- the critical path- is defined. Then float is calculated to identify activities where there is some scheduling flexibility.
The critical Path Method is the mathematical analysis technique used in most types of project management software.
# Critical chain method
The critical Chain Method is a network analysis method that allows you to consider resource limitations and adjust the schedule as appropriate to work within those limitations.
The critical Chain is established by analyzing the critical path alongside the resources that are actually available.
The critical Chain Method is also used to plan and manage reserves or buffers and helps mitigate possible coat and schedule risks.
#3 What if Scenario analysis
The what-id scenario analysis method allows you to consider different situations that may occur and influence the schedule; it assesses the feasibility of the schedule under various adverse conditions.
It allows you to compute different schedules based on potential delays or unplanned events that are a normal part of business life, such as key employees’ resigning during a project.
The outcome is also used to mitigate the impact of unexpected situations when preparing risk response plans. The method helps in selecting the optimum plan.
Typical example…
The project manager, David used the what-if scenario analysis method to compute different schedules for a planned move of the corporate headquarters to a new facility.
He based how computations on several scenarios such as: What if the contractor for the new building brings the goods in late?
What if key decision-makers are allocated elsewhere during the planning process? What if there is a union strike affecting the construction workers?
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Sometimes, the resources you are counting on may not be available when they are scheduled to be. How do you know when your project cannot be successfully completed? In this article, we want to thank about some of the ways to identify critical path for projects.
The answer is that you must identify the critical path when developing the project schedule. In this article, I want to talk about how to identify the critical path for projects.
Identifying the critical path allows you to determine which activities have scheduling flexibility before you complete your project schedule.
Critical activities
Critical activities are the activities that are on the critical path. Generally, for all activities along the critical path, ES=LS and ES=LF.
There can be no flexibility in the start time or the finish time for these activities. Activities that are not on the critical path usually have some flexibility in their start and finish dates.
How to identify the critical path…
To identify the critical path for a project with FS precedence relationships:
#1 Conduct Forward Pass
You need to conduct a forward pass to determine the ES and EF for each activity:
Use zero for the first activity’s ES.
Enter the first activity’s duration as its EF.
Calculate the ES for each successor activity when using the largest EF from any of its predecessor activities plus or minus any leads or lags.
Calculate the EF for each successor activity by adding its duration to its ES.
Move through all the activities until you have an ES and EF for each one.
#2 Backward pass
You need to perform a backward. pass to determine the LS and LF for each activity.
Enter the last activity’s EF as it’s LF time.
Subtract the last activity’s duration from its EG to determine its LS.
Calculate the LF for each predecessor activity using the earliest LS from any of its successor activities plan or minus any leads or lags.
Calculate the LS for each activity by subtracting its duration from its LF.
Move backwards through all activities until you have the LF and LS for each one.
For each activity, subtract its EF from its LF to determine the total float.
For each string of activities with float, calculate the free float for the last activity in the string by subtracting its EF from its successor activity ES.
#4 Identify Critical path
You need to identify the critical path as the path with the longest duration and zero float.
Other factors…
The ES for the first activity is 0.
The EF for the first activity in its ES plus its duration.
The ES of all successor activities is the latest EF of any of its predecessor activities plus or minus any leads or lags between the two activities.
The EF or all subsequent activities is its ES plus its duration.
The LF for the last activity is the same as its EF time.
The LS for the last activity is its EF minus its duration.
The LF for any predecessor activity is the same as the earliest LS of any of its successors plus or minus any leads or lags between the two activities.
The LS of any predecessor activity is its LF minus its duration.
Only the three activities are not on the critical path.
Only the last activity in the last string has free float.
The critical path is indicated by bold lines with arrows and includes activities along the path.
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In my previous articles, I have talked about what you need to know about the work breakdown structure for projects. In this article, I want to talk about schedule compression methods for projects. Follow me as we will look at this together in this article.
Schedule Compression Methods can be referred to as shortening of the project schedule without affecting the project scope.
Setbacks or revised deadlines can cause production problems, in which there is little time to do a lot of work. When these issues occur, product quality is often sacrificed.
Schedule Compression alleviates the pressure of completing too many activities in a short time without negatively affecting the project scope.
Compression may be achieved in one of two ways: Fastracking and crashing.
Typical example…
A carpenter and his subcontractor are building and then installing cabinets in a new housing development. The realty company has a higher demand than expected and asks the carpenter to move up his finish date by three weeks.
In order to meet his deadline, the carpenter decides to change the order of assignments for the remaining company work. He tells the subcontractor to work on the installation of the whole cabinet as he finishes building the cabinets.
This changes the Precedence. Instead of building all the cabinets and then installing them, the installation is able to start before the building of the cabinets is complete as in the original schedule.
Due to the increase in production, the carpenter finishes the work a week ahead of the schedule rather than three weeks behind.
#1 Fast-Tracking
Fast-tracking is the process of compressing the project duration by performing some activities concurrently that were originally scheduled sequentially.
Typically, fast-tracking involves identifying FS relationships that could be done in parallel, either as Finish to Finish, Start to finish, or Start to start relationships, or by simply adding some leads to FS activities.
Some fast-tracking may entail looking very creativity at the network diagram to see if some discretionary dependencies could be done completely independently. usually, no added costs are incurred from fast-tracking; however it can result in increased risk and rework.
Typical example…
Sponsors are pressuring Carol to bring a new product to market quickly. Carol decides to fast-track some activities a lead leadership between the development of the new product and the writing of the associated user manual.
The total duration of the two activities is shortened because writing the manual can start before the product development is complete. Consequently, the project duration is shortened.
#2 Crashing
Crashing is a schedule compression method that analyses cost and schedule trade Offa to determine how to obtain the great schedule compression for the least incremental cost. crashing typical involves allocating more resources to activities on the critical path in an effort to shorten the duration, thereby increasing project costs.
The formula for calculating crash coats per week is (crash coat – normal coat) / ( normal time – crash time ).
Example…
As project manager for the company website project, you are asked to compress the schedule for the design deliverable.
There are eleven activities, five of which are on the critical path. Using the formula (crash coat – manual cost) / ( normal time- crash time ), you calculate the crash coats per week for each of the five activities to determine which activities will provide the greatest duration reduction for the least incremental cost. Your calculations are :
While you have not yet analysed the effect of crashing the activities, you can determine from your calculations that:
Activity D has a net gain of three weeks at a cost of just $500 per week.
Activity C reduces the schedule by two weeks at a cost of only $1,500 per week.
Activity E is another possible candidate with a three-week reduction at a cost of $2,000 per week.
Activity B , which has a crash coat of $4,500 per week and a reduction of only one week, is the worst candidate for crashing.
The order in which the activities should be crashed is D,C,E,A, and B.
The total number of weeks by which the project could be shortened if all of the activities on the critical path are crashed is 11 (45-34).
In my previous article, I looked at all that you need to know about the work breakdown structure for projects. In this article, I want to look at four types of project interface projects. Follow me as we are going to look at this together in this article.
While managing a project, handling the competing demands of human resources can have a significant impact on the success of the project.
You can efficiently organize human resources in a project by acquiring appropriate resources, identifying and documenting the roles and responsibilities of each resource in the project, and coordinating and managing the team to execute the work according to the project plan.
Project interfaces… Project interfaces are various reporting relationships that occur internally or externally to a project. That means the different ways that different teams involved in a project interact with one another.
Now the interfaces… #1 Organisational These are the reporting relationships among organizational units.
They may be internal or external to the parent organization and include interfaces among the project team, upper management, other functional managers who support the team, and even the organization’s customers. #2 Technical These are the reporting relationships among technical disciplines on the project that occurs during a phase or during the transition between phases.
They reflect informal and formal relationships with people on the project team and outside of the team. #3 Interpersonal These are the formal and informal reporting relationships among individuals working on the project, whether internally or externally to the organization.
#5 Political These are relationships inside the organization. Different people have different interests in the organization and its projects.
Depending upon interpersonal dynamics and individual aspirations, people will try to satisfy their disclosed or undisclosed interests.
Responsibility Assignment Matrix… A Responsibility Assignment Matrix is a chart that links key project stakeholders to specific project deliverables or activities by assigning responsibilities to each stakeholder for each element of work.
Some of the questions the RAM attempts to answer include:
Who is accountable for the completion of a specific deliverable or activity?
Who has sign-off authority on the deliverable or authority?
Who must be notified of the completion?
Who makes the acceptance or rejection decision?
In a large or complex project, a matrix may be used to show the responsibilities for major deliverables only.
A lower-level matrix may be developed to show work package roles and responsibilities within each deliverable.
Work package owners may develop a RAM that assigns responsibilities to each activity in the work package. Listing RAM elements… On a RAM, the deliverables or activities are listed vertically with the key project stakeholder positions, titles, or names listed horizontally. Responsibility for each deliverable or activity is assigned to one of the stakeholders. A RACI chart A RACI chart is a type of RAM that helps detect the level of responsibility for each project team member. RACI stand for Responsible, Accountable, Consulted and Informed.
The RACI matrix helps identify who is responsible for making decisions and how the people responsible are supported.
RACI is generally used to provide clarity on the roles and responsibilities assigned to each project team member. The RACI chart is also called RASI chart, where “S” stand for “Supportive”.
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In my previous article, I talked about all that you need to know about the work breakdown structure for projects. In this article, I want to talk about all that you need to know about how to create a schedule baseline for projects. Follow me as we will look at that together in this article.
As a project manager, it is your responsibility to get management approval for your project schedule so that you can begin your project on the right footing, setting the stage for proper monitoring and measuring schedule performance throughout the life cycle of the project.
The schedule baseline is the key mechanism for gaining that approval, and so your ability to generate the appropriate baseline will be critical to project success.
Schedule baselines…
A schedule baseline is the management-approved version of the project schedule; it is drawn from the schedule network analysis and includes baseline start and finish dates. It provides the basis for measuring and reporting schedule performance.
It is a formal part of the project management plan.
How to create it …
Obtaining approval from the stakeholders for your project will be vital as you move through the project life cycle and monitor the schedule performance.
By establishing a schedule baseline, you will further enhance the project’s integrity by securing approval from the project management team and stakeholders.
#1 Gather your preliminary project schedule
There is a need for you to gather your preliminary project schedule while including the project’s start and finish dates.
You have to make sure that all of its components are. accurate and up-to-date, including the resources, duration, calendar predecessor dates, task dependencies, cost estimates, and constraints.
You have to confirm the resources have not been overly allocated.
#2 Distribute it
There is a need for you to distribute the proposed schedule baseline to the appropriate stakeholders and project management team for approval.
This approval is a formal requirement, and as such, it should be received in writing from the project sponsor.
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In my previous articles, I have looked at all that you need to know about the work breakdown structure for projects. In this article, I want to look at all that you need to know about how to optimise the project schedule. Follow me as we will look at that together in this article.
Now the procedures …
#1 Consider resource-levelling options
There is a need for you to consider the resource levelling options for the project. You have to ask the following questions when you are doing that,
Can you pull needed resources from activities with float and apply them to critical resources?
Can you authorise overtime to meet your project requirements?
Is shift still possible?
Can an activity be contracted out to free up resources during a critical period?
#2 Consider fast-tracking
There is a need for you to consider fast-tracking the project in order to ensure that the project finishes on time. Ask the following questions when you are going that:
Can any activities on the critical path be done concurrently that we originally scheduled sequentially?
Are there any discretionary dependencies that could be done completely independently?
Are there any increased costs associated with fast-tracking activities?
What are the associated links?
#3 Analyse activities
There is a need for you to analyse activities on the critical path to determine if crashing the schedule will produce a viable option. You need to ask the following questions :
Are there any activities on the critical path that can be shortened if more resources are added?
What are the costs associated with crashing the activities?
Which activities will provide the biggest duration decrease while incurring the least amount of incremental cost?
What are the resource allocation implications of crashing the activity? Will some key resources be overextended? Will all resources be available when needed?
Are there any quality implications associated with crashing the activities?
#4 Overallocated resources
You need to identify if any resources are overly allocated. You also need to prioritise the project tasks the resources are responsible for and delay those tasks that can be performed later, to avoid over-allocation of resources.
#5 Viable scope
You also need to analyse each of the activities on the critical path to determine whether reducing the scope is a viable option for reducing the duration of the project.
#6 Recalculate critical path
There is a need for you to regulate the critical path after you have re-compressed the schedule. This will help you to know the number of days that you have been able to save after you might have compressed your schedule for the project.
#7 Review schedule changes
Also, you need to review schedule changes with key stakeholders. Since some of them are Subject Matter Experts, it will enable you to get their expert opinions on the subject matter. It will also allow them to be aware of the changes that have been made to the project.
#8 Revise the schedule
After all your schedule Compression assignments have been done, you will need to revise the schedule again in order to discover if you have made any mistakes in the course of optimising the project schedule. Once that is confirmed, you have to distribute it to other project stakeholders.
Typical example…
You created a draft schedule for your company’s website project. At the draft schedule meeting, the sponsor informs you that the schedule must be compressed by a week so that the new website will go live on time to coincide with a major industry conference. You analyse the critical path and discover that two activities could be performed concurrently, instead of sequentially, you fast-track the activities and gain the needed week, then review the critical path and confirm that it has not been altered. You review the revised schedule with the project sponsor and obtain approval. The schedule becomes the baseline for the project.
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Earlier, I talked about all that you need to know about the activity list for projects. In this article, I want to look at all that you need to know about the precedence Diagramming method for projects. Follow me as we will look at that together in this article.
The precedence diagramming method is a project schedule network Diagramming method that uses rectangular boxes or nodes to represent boxes or nodes represent activities and arrows to represent precedence relationships between activities.
This type of diagrams:
Always reads from left to right.
Show duration only in the node.
It May be created manually or with software
May report a group of related activities as an aggregate activity
May use all Precedence relationship types.
Summary activities
A summary activity is a group of related activities that, for reporting purposes, is shown as a single aggregate activity in a bar chart or graph. It may also be called a hammock activity.
Some summary activities have their own internal sequence of activities but others include separate activities.
Conditional diagramming methods…
Activity sequences that must be revisited or repeated is called loops, while activities that will be implemented only under specific conditions are called conditional branches.
A conditional Diagramming method is any network Diagramming method that allows for no sequential activities such as loops or conditional branches.
Typically, activities in these types of diagrams are represented by rectangles, decision points are represented by diamonds, and directional flows as indicated by arrows.
Conditional Diagramming methods vary based on the method used. The most common ones is the Graphical Evaluation Review Technique (GERT) and system dynamic models.
When creating a network diagram, you may want to create a “Start” node that connects by arrows to all the nodes for activities with no dependencies.
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