SW Project Management Project Charter and Plan

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SW Project ManagementProject Charter and Plan

• INFO 420
• Glenn Booker

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Digging deeper

• So far weve looked at projects from a fairly
  high level or strategic perspective
• The business case provided a high level
  justification of the project
• Now its time to focus on a single project in
  more detail, and start fleshing out the details
  needed to make it a reality

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Project charter and plan

• The second phase of the project life cycle
  develops the project charter and baseline project
  plan
• These are the foundation for guiding the project
  through its implementation
• A major role is to define subplans that,
  together, will achieve the projects goals

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Subplans

• Subplans help manage specific aspects of the
  overall project
• Scope, schedule, budget, quality, risk, and
  people could each be the basis for a subplan
• Combined with the projects methodology,
  processes, and tools, they define the projects
  infrastructure and framework

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Project planning overview

• Much of the course will focus on the details of
  these various subplans
• For now, introduce the project planning process
  and how it connects to the PMBOK
• And well link the MOV to the projects scope,
  budget, and schedule

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Project planning overview

• Ultimately the project plan will answer the basic
  concerns
• Who is involved in the project?
• How much will it cost?
• How long will it take?
• What will the finished product be able to do?

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Project processes

• A process is a set of activities to achieve a
  particular purpose
• Just like a kitchen recipe, or a programming
  algorithm
• A project uses two types of processes
• Project management processes
• Product-oriented processes

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Project processes

• Project management processes help run the project
  
• Initiation, execution, closing, managing, etc.
• Product-oriented processes are those that
  actually create the system or product
• System development life cycle (SDLC) processes
  mostly fit in this category
• You need both kinds of processes!

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PM process groups

• The five project management process groups in the
  PMBOK define a project by the kinds of work to be
  done
• They often overlap different project phases

• They are
• Initiating
• Planning
• Executing
• Monitoring and Controlling
• Closing

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Initiating process group

• Processes typically include
• Developing a business case
• Initializing a project
• Getting approval of the business case
• Preparation of the project charter

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Planning process group

• Processes typically include
• Planning of individual phases within a project,
  as well as planning the overall project
• Planning project scope, activities, resources,
  costs, schedule, and procurement
• Scope of processes should be consistent with the
  size of the project
• Includes updating plans during the project

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Executing process group

• Processes typically include
• Matching people and resources to carry out the
  plans
• Develop the system (software engineering
  processes, testing, etc.)
• QA, risk management, and team development

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Monitoring and Controlling process group

• Processes typically include
• Balancing project scope, schedule, budget, and
  quality objectives
• Monitor variances between planned actuals
• Take corrective action when needed
• Scope, change, schedule, cost, quality control
  processes and communications plan

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Closing process group

• Processes typically include
• Getting customer approval for final deliverables
• Contract closure
• Administrative closure
• Evaluate project against its MOV
• Document lessons learned

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Project integration management

• Project integration management (PIM) coordinates
  the other eight knowledge areas throughout a
  project life cycle
• Includes deciding where to concentrate resources
  day to day
• Proactive risk management
• Coordinating work, and making tradeoffs among
  competing needs

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Project integration management

• In many ways, PIM is a key role of the project
  manager
• How do you keep the project on track in spite of
  personnel issues, resource issues, technical
  problems, etc.?
• Understanding PIM processes is key to producing a
  good project plan

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PIM processes

• Define the project charter
• Gives the project manager authority to allocate
  resources
• Develop the preliminary scope statement
• This is part of the business case the broad
  scope of what is and isnt part of the system
• Develop project management plan

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PIM processes

• The subplans mentioned earlier need to be
  integrated within the overall PMP
• Direct and manage project execution
• The project manager integrates all the processes
  into one coherent project. Hopefully.
• Monitor and control project work
• Critical are corrective actions when project
  strays from the plan

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PIM processes

• Preventative actions can be a good part of risk
  management
• Defect repair and rework are needed to maintain
  quality
• Integrated change control
• Changes to the system need to be documented,
  reviewed, and approved

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PIM processes

• Need to ensure all affected parties are aware of
  changes before approval is given
• Close the project
• This could include premature closure of the
  project, if needed
• In any event, closure should be orderly

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Project management culture

• Some organizations beg for trouble by pretending
  that project management isnt really useful
• To help instill a sense of the overall project
  management approach, follow these six principles

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Project management culture

• Define the job in detail know the scope and
  boundaries precisely
• Get the right people involved
• Estimate time and costs, including allowances for
  risks and scope assumptions

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Project management culture

• Break the job down into a SOW
• The SOW is a contract of project objectives
• Establish and follow a change procedure
• Agree on acceptance criteria when are you done
  with each deliverable?

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Project sponsor

• The project sponsor is a critical role for the
  success of any project
• Its someone outside the development team who is
  not only paying for the project, but also acts as
  a champion to support the project and protect it
  from outside threats

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Project sponsor

• The sponsor
• Empowers the project manager
• Maintains project support (buy-in) from other
  key stakeholders
• Clears political and organizational roadblocks
• Ensures availability of resources
• Monitors project status and progress

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Project sponsor

• Approves plans, schedules, budgets, and
  deliverables
• Keeps the project focused on the goal
• Since the sponsor is outside the development
  team, the project manager doesnt control them
• Loss of a sponsor can kill a project

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Project charter

• The project charter is a high level agreement
  between the project sponsor and the project team
• Documents the MOV, which may have been refined
  since the business case
• Define project infrastructure
• What resources, technology, methods, and PM
  processes will support the project?

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Project charter

• Identify key personnel, facilities and tools
• Summarize the project plan
• Scope, schedule, budget, and quality objectives
• Deliverables, major milestones
• Define roles and responsibilities
• Identify project sponsor, manager, key leads, and
  how they will communicate and make decisions

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Project charter

• Express commitment to the project
• Describe the resources committed to the project
• Who will take ownership of the final product?
• Define project control mechanisms
• What processes will be followed for requesting,
  reviewing, and approving changes to project
  scope, cost, or schedule?

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Charter contents

• A charter typically can contain
• Project identification, such as the name or
  acronym or logo by which its known
• Critical for your team coffee mugs
• Project stakeholders
• Who are they?
• What roles do they play?
• Who reports to whom?

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Charter contents

• Project description
• Give a nice overview of the project, for someone
  whos never heard of it
• Might include the projects vision or overall
  goals
• Measurable organizational value
• Yes, its important enough to get its own section
• Project scope
• Could be a formal SOW, or less formal narrative

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Charter contents

• The project scope is less detailed than the
  project plan, but outlines the major features of
  the project, and what is not part of the project
  scope
• Project schedule at a high level, such as major
  phases and overall duration
• Project budget at least the totals
• Quality issues, such as the standards to be
  followed, or other overall quality objectives

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Charter contents

• Resources who is providing people, technology,
  facilities, etc. to support the project
• You dont want an office in your daughters dorm
  room
• Assumptions and risks
• Key people availability
• Events that could change project scope, budget,
  or duration

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Charter contents

• External constraints on the project, e.g. project
  interfaces to existing systems
• Internal constraints, such as resource
  competition
• Project impact on other parts of the organization
• Environmental, political, economic, or other
  issues
• Project administration
• What plans will be developed to support this
  project? Scope mgmt, communications, quality
  mgmt, quality mgmt, change mgmt, HR, etc.

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Charter contents

• Acceptance and approval
• Who signs off on this puppy?
• References
• Terminology
• Particularly helpful if the project scope spans
  many technical specialties, who dont know each
  others acronyms and phrases

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Project planning framework

• Now that the overall picture of the project has
  been defined (its charter), the detailed planning
  process can begin
• The project planning framework describes the
  planning process
• We start with the MOV

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Project planning framework

• The project plan seeks to answer our pet
  perennial management questions
• What needs to be done?
• Who will do it?
• When will they do it?
• How long will it take?
• How much will it cost?

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Project planning framework
Adapted from Fig 3.4 of text
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MOV

• We start with the MOV, which hopefully was agreed
  upon by all key stakeholders
• The MOV also connects to your organizations
  strategic goals and mission, so making the
  project happy will also support your organization

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Define the projects scope

• Now we need to establish what the scope of the
  project really is
• What features will be implemented?
• Might help to look at broad categories of
  features (manufacturing, sales, HR management,
  etc.) then get more detailed in each category
• What systems are/are not being replaced?
• What job roles will be affected?

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Define the projects scope

• The planning stage of this defines the scope in a
  requirements document, or SOW, or use cases, or
  something
• Then the definition stage groups the scope into
  work packages, each with a set of related
  features (both in functionality and priority)

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Define the projects scope

• Then verification must occur to make sure the MOV
  will be satisfied by the chosen scope
• The change control process is critical to manage
  adjustments to the scope

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Divide project into phases

• The project development needs to be broken into
  phases of some kind
• Waterfall life cycle phases?
• RUP iterations?
• n spirals, then another life cycle?
• The phases are very SDLC-dependent, and a key
  source for assumptions

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Divide project into phases

• Each phase needs to have clearly defined
  deliverables
• Phases also need decision points milestones
• How do you know when the phase is done?
• Give the sponsor a chance to approve the work,
  and start the next phase

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Task sequence, time resources

• Once the phases have been defined, need to define
  the tasks within each phase, both for product
  development and for project management processes
• Thats key to include both types of activities!
• Tasks can be sequential, or parallel, or have to
  start or stop together

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Task sequence, time resources

• Resources needed for a task might include
  development tools, facilities, test equipment,
  external system interfaces,
• and people
• Cost for labor needs to include overhead costs,
  which typically totals 2.0 to 2.5 times their
  salary (roughly 100k to 300k/yr)

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Task sequence, time resources

• Time for a task to be accomplished is the
  calendar time
• Not everyone is devoted to a project 100 of the
  time
• Some tasks might require many people at once
• Some tasks can be done in parallel, other require
  sequential action

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Baseline schedule and budget

• So all of the tasks, their costs, and other
  resources comprise the baseline plan for the
  project
• From that plan, you can determine the overall
  schedule (calendar months) and cost for the
  project
• This baseline plan is the basis for all planned
  vs actual measurements during the project

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Baseline schedule and budget

• EVERYONE should review the baseline plan for
  consistency, completeness, and make sure it will
  really result in a system that will achieve its
  MOV
• Remember, can only control two of cost, schedule,
  and scope which one can you give up?

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Kick-off meeting

• Many projects start with a formal event to start
  them, a kick-off meeting
• It provides a clear start to the project, helps
  introduce the major players (front line
  managers), and builds team morale

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Summary

• Weve examined the key processes, both to develop
  a product and to manage a project
• Reviewed the role of project integration
  management
• Outlined a project charter and the process for
  developing the baseline project plan