SW Project Management Project Schedule and Budget

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SW Project ManagementProject Schedule and Budget

• INFO 420
• Glenn Booker

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Grand finale

• Developing the project schedule and budget is the
  grand finale of the project planning process
  our ultimate goal
• We just defined the tasks and estimated their
  duration (effort)
• Now identify the sequence of tasks,
  interdependencies, and staffing needs

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Project cost management

• The budget is determined from the project
  schedule, the cost assigned to tasks, and other
  indirect costs or resources
• Project cost management includes
• Cost estimating for tasks and their resources
• Cost budgeting for the whole project
• Cost control define processes

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Rolling up costs

• Since our tasks were organized into phases and
  deliverables, we can roll up (summarize) costs to
  any level desired
• Cost per deliverable
• Cost per phase
• Cost of the whole project
• The sponsor needs to approve these costs

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Developing project schedule

• A key sanity check is that each of the estimates
  for each task is really reasonable according to
  the experts in that activity
• GIGO applies here, not just to programming!

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Project schedule tools

• Tools to show a project schedule include
• Gantt chart
• Project network diagram
• Activity On the Node (AON) diagram
• Critical path analysis
• PERT charts
• Precedence diagramming method (PDM)
• Critical chain project management (CCPM)

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Gantt chart

• The Gantt chart is probably the most widely used
  project management tool
• Time is the X axis, from days to years
• The current date is readily visible
• Tasks are on the Y axis
• Bars represent WBS tasks
• Milestones are diamond shapes
• An inset bar can show actual work progress

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Basic Gantt chart
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Project network diagram

• Project network diagrams are also based on the
  WBS, but also show more info on task sequence or
  dependencies
• Many also show when tasks must start or stop in
  order not to affect project completion date
• This can help decide resource assignments needed
  for critical tasks

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Activity On the Node

• Activity On the Node (AON) diagrams represent the
  flow of tasks needed to complete the project
• Tasks are nodes (boxes)
• Arrows show the order in which they occur
• The duration of tasks isnt directly visible
  under AON, only time order

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Activity On the Node

• Tasks can be predecessors, successors, or in
  parallel
• Predecessor tasks must occur before another task
• Successor tasks must occur after another task
• Parallel tasks may occur at the same time as
  another task

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Critical path analysis

• Given an AON, critical path analysis determines
  which activities are directly connected to
  achieving the project schedule
• They are the critical path, which can change
• Analytically, find the duration of each path
  through the AON diagram

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Critical path analysis

• The path with the longest duration is the
  critical path (and the project duration)
• If any tasks on the critical path are delayed,
  the overall project completion will be delayed
• Tasks not on the critical path may have a
  non-zero amount of slack or float, which is the
  amount of duration they can slip without
  affecting the project

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Critical path analysis

• A manager might add resources to tasks on the
  critical path, if that will actually help finish
  them sooner
• This technique can be called expediting or
  crashing the project
• Fast tracking the project is done by making tasks
  parallel that werent

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PERT charts

• PERT is the program evaluation and review
  technique, developed in the 50s
• Often seen with CPM, or critical path method
• A PERT chart also uses the AON graphic notation,
  but uses a different approach for estimation

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Styles of PERT nodes
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PERT charts

• For each task, estimate the lowest (optimistic),
  most likely, and highest (pessimistic) durations,
  then use
• estimate (low high 4likely)/6
• The critical path analysis can be done based on
  these estimates

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Precedence diagramming method

• The precedence diagramming method (PDM) adds to
  AON by showing the key sequence relationships
• Finish to start (most common, sequential)
• Start to start
• Finish to finish
• Start to finish

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PDM node relationships
From Fig. 7.5
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PDM

• PDM can also show lead and lag times for
  activities
• Lead time is an amount of time a task can start
  before the end of its predecessor
• Lag time is the amount of time a task must start
  after the end of its predecessor
• Hence lag time negative lead time

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Critical chain project management

• Critical chain project management (CCPM) is a
  newcomer (Goldratt, 1997)
• It assumes that all estimates are inflated
• We still finish projects late because
• We wait until the last minute (student syndrome)
• Projects fill the time available (Parkinsons
  law)
• Resource contention

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CCPM

• CCPM takes that buffer from each task, and puts
  in in larger blocks where needed
• How? Estimate tasks so that you only have a 50
  chance of completing them on time
• Then take half of the difference in task time,
  and put that into a buffer at the end of the
  project

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CCPM

• Yes, you have to estimate each task twice
• Once normally, and once for 50 chance completion
• CCPM also accounts for resource limits, by
  identifying the resources for each task and
  buffers for each type of resource

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PM software tools

• There are several project management software
  tools for developing and managing schedules
• Microsoft Project is the de facto standard
• Planner and OpenWorkBench are open source tools
• Ok, so Project doesnt have much competition

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PM software tools

• Often projects are planned in detail only a few
  months in the future, a rolling wave approach
• Theres an outline of the rest of the project,
  particularly for planning long lead time items

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Project budget

• The budget is straightforward to develop, once
  the schedule has been determined
• Determine the type of resource(s) needed for each
  task, and how many of them are needed for its
  duration (0.1, 2.5, whatever)
• Find the cost of each resource type (/hr), and
  multiply that by how many and the duration cost
  per task

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Project budget

• Check for overuse of resources often not
  recommended to use 155 of a persons time
• To find the cost of each resource, assess their
  typical annual salary, divide by 2000 (hours
  per work year), and multiply by 2.5 (to account
  for overhead expenses)

This is a heuristic. You could look for
salary surveys.
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Project budget

• So if a software engineer averages 60k/year,
  their hourly rate is about 30/hr
• Actually, a normal work year is 4052 2080
  hours, but were just getting a rough estimate
• Multiply by 2.5 to get a labor rate of 75/hr
• This is the true cost in the text

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Other costs

• Labor is the biggest cost on most projects, but
  other costs should be considered
• Indirect costs are admin assistants,
  facilities, insurance, etc. paid by the project,
  or from overhead?
• Sunk costs from previous bad projects
• Learning curve might be covered by prototypes

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Other costs

• Reserves most projects keep back a 10-15
  reserve from the total actual budget, in
  anticipation of some cost overruns
• Project-specific hardware and software plan for
  infrastructure costs (servers, network equipment,
  software) which arent part of normal office
  facility environment
• Travel, e.g. to the customer?

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Resource allocation

• Again, make sure that individuals arent
  scheduled for over 100 of their time
• Also consider resource leveling
• Are there times when people are needed, then not,
  then needed again?
• What will those people do in the middle?

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Baseline plan

• Once all these issues have been identified and
  agreed upon, you have the baseline project
  schedule, which feeds the project plan
• All measurements of planned versus actuals
  hinge upon this plan!