meltem Özturan a work breakdown structure (wbs) is a hierarchical decomposition of the project into...

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Meltem Özturan

www.mis.boun.edu.tr/ozturan/samd

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Defining the Problem

Objective is to define precisely the business problem to be solved and thereby determine the scope of the new system.

Three key activities are;1. Review the business needs that originally intiated

the project; describe the current situation

2. Identify, at an abstract or general level, the expected benefits of the new system; describe the target (or future) situation

3. Develop a transition plan and strategy

Activity 1 - Review the business needs that

originally intiated the project; describe the

current situation

Activity 1 includes 2 sub activities:1.a. Reviewing the business needs for the selected project

1.b. Describing the current situation for the selected project


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Activity 1.a - Reviewing the business needs for the selected project

Business needs are selected taking the source of the project into consideration

– Planning documents are reviewed if the project is initiated as part of the strategic plan

– Key users are consulted to help to understand the problem if the project is originated from departmental needs

– Business benefits list is reviewed if the project is initiated for developing a new system


Activity 1.b - Describing the current situation for the selected project

– Identification of organizational locations, units, functions, processes, data & information systems

– Matrices are developed to cross-reference units• Location-to-Function• Location-to-Unit• Unit-to-Function• Function-to-Objective• Function-to-Process• Function-to-Data Entity• Process-to-Data Entity• Process-to-Information System• Data Entity-to-Information System• Information System-to-Objective

– Listing of manual and automated processes– Listing of manual and automated data– Technology inventory– Human resources inventory


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Activity 2 - Identification of the expected capabilities of the system aims to define the scope of the problem in terms of the requirements of the information system that can solve it. Activity 2 includes 3 sub activities:

2.a. Documentation of the expected system capabilities

combined with the list of business benefits of Activity 1

2.b. Description of the future situation for the selected

project

2.c. Development of the graphical context diagram for

showing the scope of the system


Activity 2.a - Documentation of the expected system capabilities combined with the list of business benefits of Activity 1

– The problem should be analyzed from the

view-point of the required system capabilities

– The system capabilities are the mechanisms

that will enable the organization to achieve the

business benefits


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Activity 2.b - Description of the future situation for the selected project

– Matrices are updated to reflect future states– Update list of organizational locations, units,

functions, etc. to reflect desired locations, units, functions, etc.

– Blueprints of of manual and automated processes

– Blueprints of manual and automated data– Technology blueprints– Human resources blueprints

– Planners focus on differences between current lists and matrices and future lists and matrices


Activity 2.c - Development of the graphical context diagram for showing the scope of the system

Context diagram, a graphical diagram showing the

scope of the system, primary users of the system and

the information the users and the system exchange, is

to be developed by the project team.

Followings are the symbols used for drawing context

diagrams.

External Agent Data Flow Process


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Activity 3 - Developing a transition plan and

strategy

Assures that customers and development group have a

complete understanding of the proposed system and

requirements.

− Project Overview

− Recommendation

− Alternatives

− Systems Description


Developing the Project Schedule

Project Schedule Tools & Techniques

A CPM/PERT chart is a graphical network model that depicts a project’s tasks and the relationships between those tasks.

A Gantt chart is a simple horizontal bar chart that depicts project tasks against a calendar. Each bar represents a named project task. The tasks are listed vertically in the left-hand column. The horizontal axis is a calendar timeline.

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Project Scheduling Activities

1. Identify Tasks

2. Estimate Task Durations

3. Specify Intertask Dependencies

4. Assign Resources

5. Schedule Tasks


Activity – 1 : Identify Tasks

A work breakdown structure (WBS) is a hierarchical

decomposition of the project into phases, activities, and

tasks.

Milestones are events that signify the accomplishment

or completion of major deliverables during a project.

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Developing the Project Schedule – Activity 2

Activity 2 – Estimate Task Durations

1. Estimate the minimum amount of time it would take to perform the task. We'll call this the optimistic duration (OD).

2. Estimate the maximum amount of time it would take to perform the task. We'll call this the pessimistic duration (PD).

3. Estimate the expected duration (ED) that will be needed to perform the task.

4. Calculate the most likely duration (D) as follows:D = (1 x OD) + (4 x ED) + (1 x PD)

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Activity 3 – Specify Intertask Dependencies

• Finish-to-start (FS)—The finish of one task triggers the start of another task.

• Start-to-start (SS)—The start of one task triggers the start of another task.

• Finish-to-finish (FF)—Two tasks must finish at the same time.

• Start-to-finish (SF)—The start of one task signifies

the finish of another task.

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Activity 4 – Assign Resources

• People—inclusive of all the system owners, users, analysts, designers, builders, external agents, and clerical help that will be involved in the project in any way, shape, or form.

• Services—a service such as a quality review that may be charged on a per use basis.

• Facilities and equipment—including all rooms and technology that will be needed to complete the project.

• Supplies and materials—everything from pencils, paper, notebooks, toner cartridges, etc.

• Money—A translation of all of the above into the language of accounting—budgeted dollars!


Activity 5 – Schedule Tasks → Basic Computations

Forward scheduling establishes a project start date and then schedules forward from that date. Based on the planned duration of required tasks, their interdependencies, and the allocation of resources to complete those tasks, a projected project completion date is calculated.

Reverse scheduling establishes a project deadline and then schedules backward from that date. Essentially, tasks, their duration, interdependencies, and resources must be considered to ensure that the project can be completed by the deadline.

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Earliest Start Time that a task can begin as determined by completeion time of predecessor tasks, calculated as the latest completion time of all immediate predecessor tasks. ESTs are calculated left to right starting at the beginning of the project.

Late Start Time that a task can begin and still keep the project on schedule, calculated as the required start time of a successor task minus the task duration. LSTs are calculated right to left, starting at the end of the project.



The critical path for a project is that sequence of dependent tasks that have the largest sum of most likely durations. The critical path determines the earliest possible completion date of the project.

The slack time available for any noncritical task is the amount of delay that can be tolerated between the starting time and completion time of a task without causing a delay in the completion date of the entire project.

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Activity 5 – Schedule Tasks → Resource Leveling

Resource leveling is a strategy used to make resource

allocations for limited and unlimited resources by some

combination of delaying or splitting tasks.

To achieve resource leveling for unlimited resources, the tasks

that have slack time can be delayed or the critical tasks can be

split without causing delay in project duration.

For limited resources Maximum Remaining Path Length (MRPL)

algorithm can be used for limited resource planning


Activity 5 – Schedule Tasks → Budgeting

• Projects are planned to be completed in time.

• Projects are planned to be completed within budget.

• Project duration may be required to be decreased.

• Decrease in project duration may cause extra cost.

• Time-Cost Trade Off algorithm can be used for time-cost

analysis.

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Staffing the Project

Staffing the project demonstrates the project managers’s organizational and teamwork skills and involves five activities.

1.Develop a resource plan for the project

2.Identify and request specific technical staff

3.Identify and request specific user staff

4.Organize the project team into work groups

5.Conduct preliminary training and team-building exercises

Launching the Project

Launching the project involves mainly two

activities.

1. Final go-ahead for the project

2. Formal announcement for the project within

the organization

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