MEM491

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MEM491 Senior Design Project Lecture Topic
Project Management, Scheduling and
Budgeting Wei Sun MEM Department Drexel
University
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Reasons not turn your proposal

• No idea, and do not know how to do the project
• Too many ideas, and do not know which one should
  use
• John did not pull his weight
• Running out the time
• My manager sent me out of town
• We did not have time to get together
• Advisor ???
• gtgtgtgt

• Common Factors
• Lack of anticipation
• Poor allocation of responsibility
• Poor time management

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How can you avoid these problems

• Development of a formal project management plan
• Why not do it
• It takes time and effort to develop a plan
• It is difficult to follow the plan
• Why worth to do it
• Understand the project
• Allocate team work equality
• Anticipate deadlines and crunch periods
• Communication tool with your advisor
• Monitor progress
• Document problems with team work if necessary

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Project Management
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Getting Start - Project Management and Scheduling
Project Management Process
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Project Management By Prof. James Mitchell

• Summary of Key Points
• Project management (PM) can save time and improve
  quality
• Be clear on your project goals
• Form the team for necessary skills, not just from
  friendship
• Remember that you will need other resources
  people, money and machines.
• Develop and continually assess your teamwork
  skills
• Detailed scheduling is extremely helpful for a
  project as complex as senior design.
• Scheduling can be considered at multiple levels
  from napkin lists to full-time job.
• The greatest benefits come from the least complex
  level but dont neglect considering the more
  complex levels
• The essence of effective scheduling consists of
  defining tasks, their logical relationship, the
  resource necessary, and the time required to
  complete the task.
• Keep the number of tasks to a reasonable level, a
  maximum of about one hundred
• The computer is highly beneficial in dealing with
  scheduling because of the number of elements
  involved.

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Project Management
Goals The first step in managing a project is
defining the aim or goal of the project. From a
seniors point of view it is often as unformed as
achieving another grade or fulfilling the last
graduation requirement (the advisor is usually
focused on something different - what you learn).
The first term of senior design is devoted to
converting these goals to a more specific set of
goals related to the desired characteristics of
the completed design. The sooner the team is
clear on these goals the more effective they will
usually be in making progress through the endless
range of distracting possibilities towards a
successful result. In Chapter 1 youll find
advice on the techniques and metrics for
achieving useful specific goals. Time Frame For
a Senior Design group the time frame is
established by the senior year course
requirements so little specific effort is needed
to establish the overall deadlines. Each year,
however, a number of groups start early to expand
the time available. Within these overall limits,
however, the group has great leeway in how to
achieve their goals. The scheduling section of
this chapter is devoted to an exploration of how
defining the necessary tasks, their logical
sequence and the people responsible for them can
assist you in meeting the deadlines.
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Project Management
The Resources People As in almost all projects,
people are your most important resources. Those
important in Senior Design are addressed in
Chapter 1, so there is no elaboration here.
Money The following chapter addresses the
subject of money in detail. Remember that
planning for real moneys acquisition
(sponsors, your own pockets) and when it will be
needed will save you grief during the year big
copying bills can be a very unpleasant surprise.
Chapters 1 and 3 discuss the need for contingency
plans, you will also need to schedule time for
these emergency situations. Machines
Software For certain projects you must use a
particular machine or piece of software usually
an expensive, fully scheduled piece like an
electron microscope, a chip fabricator or a
testing machine. Planning the process and
talking to the individual responsible so that the
machine will be available when you need it can
make a big difference. Once that commitment is
made you may need to shape much of your design
process around that need. In that case the
importance of scheduling increases dramatically.
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Project Management
Teamwork Eight months is a long time, the period
youll be working with your Senior Design team.
No matter how strong your initial friendship,
its almost certain to stress your friendship
with your teammates during the dark months of the
winter or when that last report is due in the
spring. Both for the sake of friendships and to
maximize the efficiency of the process (less time
and higher quality) it is beneficial to address
the question of effective teamwork in some detail
at the beginning and repeatedly during the
project. Talk About it In many ways the most
important thing you can do is make teamwork an
explicit agenda topic during your meetings. At
initial meetings discuss each of the suggestions
of this section. Elicit each teammates opinion
on each topic and come to a consensus (a vote is
less desirable) on the teams attitude towards
each. Discuss the teams decisions about
teamwork with your advisor too. They may have
their own preferences or suggestions that you
need to incorporate into your way of working
together. Repeat the conversation once or twice
more each term, probably in an abbreviated form.
Youll probably find that the realities dont
quite agree with what you projected initially.
If everyones happy and the project is
progressing smoothly accept the change. If not,
the conversation can be a way to address
difficulties and find a way to resolve them.
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Project Management
Clear Teamwork Roles As part of that initial
discussion you should decide how you as a group
wish to handle the various roles that are almost
always necessary in a team. It is not necessary
that the roles be fixed for the entire length of
the project indeed rotating them will probably
help everyone. Some roles, such as decision
maker have enough prestige that they are overtly
or covertly contested. It may well be that the
group avoids a decision on these roles while
rotating the less desirable but still necessary
ones between members. If thats the case youll
probably be working in a consensus mode which
requires that all significant decisions (you
would be well to decide what significant means)
be made by mutual agreement of all the
members. There isnt anything like universal
agreement on the roles necessary for a successful
group. The following make sense in the context
of senior design. Note that these roles are
usually separate from the discipline (e.g.
electrical, structural, etc.) roles that team
members perform in a group. Since this is an
educational project most advisors will expect
that each team member perform significant
engineering work in addition to whatever teamwork
role they fulfill.
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Project Management
Assigning and Rotating Teamwork Roles Each team
will evolve a different method of addressing all
the project roles both teamwork and
discipline. Whats most important is that each
team recognizes the necessity of these roles
being addressed in some way. Probably the best
method is to hold an early meeting in which the
primary agenda is the variety of roles and how
they shall be covered. Several useful methods of
addressing the teamwork roles may help the
discussion Assignment by volunteer ask each
member which role they wish to fill. You may be
lucky and find that all the roles are covered
without disagreement. Rotating assignment the
team agrees that some or all of the roles will be
rotated on a fixed time schedule between the
members. This usually applies to the less
desirable tasks. Sharing roles desirable roles
may be shared, although there is always a danger
of lack of responsibility clarity.
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Project Management
Clear Task Responsibilities And Schedule If any
issue rivals the importance of being clear about
teamwork goals it is the worth of being clear
about the tasks necessary to complete the project
and who is responsible for each task. Senior
Design is so large an undertaking that few if any
teams have an initial understanding of all the
tasks involved, the relationships between them
and the impact of each on the schedule. The
issue is so important and relatively complex that
the last portion of this chapter is devoted to a
detailed discussion of how to accomplish
worthwhile scheduling within the bounds of a
Senior Design project.
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Project Management
Communications Regular Meeting With Food It
should be obvious that meeting as a full group on
a regular basis is essential for a successful
project. The groups that have done well in
senior design in past have treated those meetings
as critical. For most groups the characteristics
of those meetings have been At least once a
week in addition to the meeting with the advisor
sometimes twice a week. At a regularly
scheduled time so that each member can predict
and schedule the meeting All team members attend
each meeting more than one or two missed
meetings is a major indication of trouble
developing in the team. Food of some sort
establishes a relaxed atmosphere
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Project Management
Running a Successful Meeting Too many (most?)
meetings are wasteful and boring. Meetings are,
nonetheless, essential to be sure that the team
works together. Agreeing how to run your
meetings to be short and effective will save both
time and tempers. You may wish to have informal
meetings as well, but given the demands of Senior
Year youre wiser to make that kind social
meetings hose kind social meetings with side
conversation about the project. Save important
decisions for formal meetings. There are four
essentials for running a good meeting
apparently simple but taking considerable effort
to achieve in practice. Have an agenda This
should be prepared in advance, probably by the
organizer after review of the prior meeting
minutes and polling of those coming to the
meeting for new issues. Organize the agenda so
that the most important issues are resolved first
that way anything that isnt complete can be
allowed to wait till the next meeting.
Eliminate anything that can be resolved by Email
or one-on-one communication. Listen to
everyone Its almost inevitable that one or two
members of the group will be more vocal. If
youre to keep the silent ones involved and
committed its essential that you hear everyones
opinions. The facilitator is particularly
important to monitor the conversation so that
each person is heard. It may be important to
agree in advance that youll have an informal
time limit for comments to give time for each
person. Stick to the agenda This is usually
the role of the organizer politely but firmly
reminding the group of their prior agreements and
the passage of time. Assigning a time to
discussion items is often very helpful. Agree in
advance what to do if discussion of an item isnt
complete. Finish on time your friends will
remain your friends. Keep good records so you
dont spend time repeating discussions see the
section that follows on methods of keeping good
records.
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Project Management
Keep Records of Team Meetings Agreements Human
memory is fallible. Your advisor may require you
to keep minutes of team meetings. Even if they
do not you would be wise to learn from centuries
of experience that keeping a record of at least
the decisions and task assignments made at each
meeting is highly beneficial. First, it is a
reminder of who is responsible for what that can
be reviewed at any time. Second, if there is a
dispute of some sort a written record exists to
trace the history and to show the advisor if
that sad necessity arises. Third, the process of
writing down a decision often illuminates its
relationship to other tasks in process. There are
a variety of ways of circulating and storing the
records. Probably the best is to take advantage
of a service like eProject (see below) with a
folder holding all meeting minutes. The recorder
can assign a task (or send an Email) whenever a
new meeting minute is put in the
folder. Explicit Assessment During The
Process Periodically discussing not only the
technical issues of design, but also the overall
process of the team and the manner in which each
member is meeting their commitments can avoid
later strife. A useful tool would be a copy of
the list of teamwork roles defined above. If
each member fills independently fills out their
assessment of what roles they have filled and
what roles they perceive the other team members
as filling it can be the basis of a very
productive discussion.
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Project Management

• Communication with the Outside World
• When communication with people outside your
  university (sponsors, code officials,
  manufacturers, etc.) remember that they may be
  important to you in future. Always conduct such
  communications in a professional manner as
  though you were representing your firm on Co-op.
  Particular issues to remember include
• Use formal titles and correct addresses in
  anything written.
• Be sure to identify yourselves clearly. Its
  particularly important that anyone you contact
  understand that youre doing so in your capacity
  as a student, not as a professional. For some
  types of projects there could be very serious
  legal consequence for misrepresentation.
• Never promise a sponsor the results of a project
  for a fee. Instead make it clear that they
  are sponsoring you in a scholarship manner and
  that you may/will provide them with a copy of
  your results as a courtesy.

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Project Management
Electronic Communication Electronic
communication assumes an ever-increasing role in
any project. Indeed some participants in
professional projects complete highly successful
projects without ever meeting (although the
continued growth of conference rooms at airports
testifies to the continued role of face-to-face
meetings). There are some issues worth
considering about each method, both politeness
and efficiency. Email Almost every student is
now proficient with Email. Nonetheless some
general suggestions may be helpful Use it
between meetings its great to keep a project
moving. Be sure to copy all concerned. Save any
Emails containing important information or
decisions as separate files Email is notorious
for disappearing at the wrong time. Consider
using a dedicated project management service such
as eProject, which incorporates ready Emailing to
all participants at their regular Email
address. Watch out for flames, rapidly
escalating exchanges of insults, which often grow
out of a simple misunderstanding that would be
resolved in ten seconds in a face-to-face
meeting. Telephone Remember its ephemeral
nature. If you make a decision or receive some
information during a telephone call be sure to
write it down. Also be sure to pass it on to
other concerned team members.
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Project Management
Shared Folders Deciding on a central location for
all electronic documents can greatly increase
team efficiency. Many services now provide that
ability including IDrive and eProject. When
using this kind of sharing its wise to consider
the following issues Upload and download time
for files some files may just be too big for
centrally storing and ready use at home. Naming
conventions agree on how files will be named so
that everyone can understand whats in a file
rapidly. A date as part of a file name can be
particularly helpful. Folder organization as
with naming conventions, agreeing on a hierarchy
of folders can make retrieval of the correct
information much easier. Checkout conventions -
agree on the methods for ensuring that more than
one person doesnt alter the same file
simultaneously.
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Project Management
SD Project Webpage A project web page can be
extremely beneficial when communicating with
multiple groups or as a final product documenting
your work. Remember that it is visible
everywhere on the web so be sure to treat it with
the same care that you give to any communication
to the outside world.
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Project Planning and Scheduling
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How to develop a project plan

• In your head
• On paper
• Use computer
• Micro-soft project management
• Excel/project planning tool - Gantt Chart in Excel

Task-based Project Planning and Monitoring
Start with tasks/activities Assign logical
relation within tasks Assign responsibilities,
efforts, and timelines
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Getting Start define objectives
Clarify the project objectives Object tree method
An objective tree for a regional transportation
system
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Getting Start - Project Management and Scheduling
Typical Bar Chart Schedule
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Getting to Details

• Developing design specifications
• Knowing what is the function requirements
• In terms of size, shape, dimension
• In terms of materials
• In terms of manufacturing process
• Evaluating design alternatives
• Defining the criteria for success
• Defining decision matrices
• Plan for testing and design verification
• Analytical solution
• Numerical validation
• Computer simulation
• Physical testing

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Getting Start define objectives
Clarify the project objectives Object tree method
An objective tree for a regional transportation
system
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Getting Start Decision Matrix
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Getting Start Decision Matrix
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Getting Start - Project Management and Scheduling
Typical Bar Chart Schedule
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Getting Start - Project Management and Scheduling
MS Project Management Software
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Gantt Chart in Excel
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Gantt Chart in Excel
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Example Project Summary Gantt (Prof. James E.
Mitchell)
 


 
 
 
 
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Decision Matrix for alternative solution
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Budgeting

• Business hierarchy
• People who can bring in and deliver on contracts
  (projects) that produce revenues and profits
• people who can manage the complex project
• people who can manage and do the engineering
  work associated with a small project or a
  portion of a large project that is assigned to
  them
• people who can do engineering work, but who
  cant manage their own projects

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Budgeting

• A cost budget is a part of a project plan or a
  business plan
• A cost budget is equivalent to a conceptual
  agreement
• You estimate the cost
• You deliver according to or less

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Type of Budget

• budget of a concept - demonstration prototype
  (your SD) project
• engineering development budget
• budget associated with business plan

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Budgeting

• Business hierarchy
• People who can bring in and deliver on contracts
  (projects) that produce revenues and profits
• people who can manage the complex project
• people who can manage and do the engineering
  work associated with a small project or a
  portion of a large project that is assigned to
  them
• people who can do engineering work, but who
  cant manage their own projects

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Budgeting

• A cost budget is a part of a project plan or a
  business plan
• A cost budget is equivalent to a conceptual
  agreement
• You estimate the cost
• You deliver according to or less

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Type of Budget

• budget of a concept - demonstration prototype
  (your SD) project
• engineering development budget
• budget associated with business plan

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Budgeting - budget of a concept - demonstration
prototype

• budget of a concept - demonstration prototype
  (your SD) project
• A list of tasks (a work breakdown structure) and
  for each of the task
• The number of hours and your costs
• Items (Equipment/Software) that needed, but not
  need
• to purchase (e.g., use Drexel/Companys
  facilities)
• Items need to be manufactured and purchased
• Miscellaneous expenses to be incurred

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Typical Product Manufacturing Cost

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Project Costs
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Company Start-up Costs
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Project Budgeting
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Budgeting

• Engineering development budget
• Marketing/sales
• Manufacturing/production cost
• General administration (GA)
• Product support
• Revenues
• A chart showing cumulative cost vs revenues

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Budgeting

• A budget associated with a business plan
• Labor (salary fringe benefit)
• Purchase materials, software, equipment,
  supplies
• purchase services
• Travel/living expenses
• Overhead

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Important Deadline 10/20 600 pm Pre-proposal
11/24 600 pm Written-proposal Week of
11/24 Proposal Presentation (Time TBA)
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Design for Manufacturability and Assembly - DFMA
Example of using DFM - Estimate of cost of a
designed machined casting intake manifold
Variable Cost Materials 5.7 kg aluminum at
2.25/kg 12.83 Processing(casting)
150 units/hr at 530/hr 3.53 Processing
machining 200 units/hr at 340/hr 1.70 Fixed
Cost Tooling for casting - 160,000/tool at
500K units/tool (lifetime) 0.32 Machine tools
and fixtures - 1,800,000/line at 10M units
(lifetime) 0.18 Total Direct Cost 18.56
Overhead charges 12.09 Total Unit Cost
30.65
Original Design

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Design for Manufacturability and Assembly - DFMA
Example of using DFM - Cost estimate for the
redesigned intake manifold
Variable Cost Materials (manifold housing) -
1.4 kg glass-filled nylon at 2.75/kg
3.85 Materials (intake runner insert) - 0.3
kg glass-filled nylon at 2.75/kg 0.83 Molding
(manifold housing) - 80 units/hr at
125/hr 1.56 Molding (intake runner insert)
- 100 units/hour at 110/hr 1.10 Fixed
Cost Mold tooling (manifold housing) -
350,000/tool at 1.5M units/tool 0.23 Mold
tooling (intake runner insert) - 150,000/tool
at 1.5M units/tool 0.10 Total Direct
Cost 7.67 Overhead charges 5.99 Total Unit
Cost 13.66 Original Design 30.65 Cost
Saving 16.99
Redesign Model

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DFM Example - Cost Analysis - Process Cost
Do we need fillet? Yes. How does it impact on
machining cost? Do we need to use CNC instead of
manual operation? Yes. How much can we save?
No fillet

Fillet r 0.5
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DFMA - Select Machining Processing
DFMA - Select Specific Material

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DFMA - Specify Machine Tooling Type

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DFM Example - Machining Processing Timing

Fillet r 0.5
No fillet
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DFM Example - Machining Cost Analysis (fillet)

No fillet
Fillet r 0.5
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DFM Example - Cost Analysis Set up Cost
No fillet
Fillet r 0.5
No fillet
Fillet r 0.5
Time per part

All set-up cost
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DFM Example - Machining Cost Analysis

Manual operation
CNC machining
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DFM Example - Machining Cost Analysis
CNC machining
Manual operation
Batch 1

Batch 100
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DFM Example - Machining Cost Analysis
CNC machining
Manual operation
Batch 1

Batch 100
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Example - Cost for Injection Molding
Bracket Part ABS (Acrylonitrite Butadiene
Styrene)

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Example - Cost for Injection Molding

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Example - Cost for Injection Molding
Mold Base Costs
Cost Breakdowns
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Example - Cost for Injection Molding

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Example - Cost for Injection Molding

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Example - Cost for Injection Molding
1 cavity
2 cavities

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Budgeting

• Engineering development budget
• Marketing/sales
• Manufacturing/production cost
• General administration (GA)
• Product support
• Revenues
• A chart showing cumulative cost vs revenues

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Budgeting

• A budget associated with a business plan
• Labor (salary fringe benefit)
• Purchase materials, software, equipment,
  supplies
• purchase services
• Travel/living expenses
• Overhead