Vladimir Liberzon Shane Archibald Olga Makar-Limanov INTRODUCTION

Transcription

1 t c e j o r P r e d i p S Vladimir Liberzon Shane Archibald Olga Makar-Limanov INTRODUCTION

2 Spider Project Introduction Spider Project is powerful professional project management software, developed in Russia. The first SP version was launched in 1993 and since then it has been constantly improved. The current Version 11 is used in 30 countries. Spider Project is an integrated software that contains everything that is useful for good project and portfolio management. It supports all traditional methods and tools, and includes unique approaches and functions that have no analogues in other software packages. It is the only PM software that optimizes resource, cost, and material constrained schedules and budgets for projects and portfolios.

3 Spider Project Introduction The unique features of Spider Project include: Quantity Based Scheduling Conditional Scheduling Skill Scheduling Cost and Material Leveling Resource Critical Path Calculation Cash and Material Flow Calculation and Management Management of project archives and Trend Analysis Multidimensional Quantitative Risk Analysis

4 Spider Project Introduction The unique features of Spider Project include: Analysis of Success Probability Trends Management of Project Time and Cost Buffers Application and management of Corporate Norms Management of many Parallel Budgets Line of Balance Reporting and many others.

5 Spider Project Introduction This session is an Intro to Spider Project. We will show how new Spider Project users create their first projects and knowledge bases that are used in future projects. We will use sample project that will be created step by step. Your participation in this process will be highly appreciated. Any question shall be asked as soon as it appear.

6 Spider Project Introduction Spider Project installation is easy run the installation program and answer to only one question where to install. The process takes less than two minutes. No external software is needed, just any version of Windows. After two minutes you are ready to manage projects and portfolios of any size and complexity.

7 First Step Create new project and enter its name, code, start date and required finish date (used for backward scheduling). Other Fields may be filled later. Press OK and you will be moved to the project Activity Gantt Chart.

8 First Step A key to working with Spider Project is right mouse click: Any object properties and menus will appear after right mouse click on the object row number or Gantt Chart bar. Right clicking on the project row number (1) and selecting New Phase/One level lower you will be able to create the phase on the second WBS level. The same can be done just pressing Ctrl+Alt+Ins when the cursor is in the first row. This is one of the ways to create WBS. Let s create WBS for 1km road construction.

9 First Step There are 4 phases: Drainage Base Surface Utilities Another way to create WBS is to use WBS Chart.

10 2nd Step Next step is creating project activities. It may be done opening phase menu or using Ins key. We suggest to use following rules for creating activities: 1. Activity shall have certain physical measure for planning and monitoring its amount of work. We call it Activity Volume of work. 2. Certain resource team shall perform an activity from the beginning to the end. 3. Activity shall belong to only one work package. 4. If activity duration exceeds one week (usual period for performance analysis) its volume of work shall be easily measured.

11 2nd Step In Spider Project activities are of following types: 1. Duration (activity duration is an initial information and it does not depend on assigned resources) 2. Productivity (initial information is activity volume of work and duration is calculated when total productivity of assigned resources become known) 3. Hammock (activity lasts from one event to another) 4. Milestone zero duration activity that means some event 5. Switch (zero duration activity that have two positions Yes and No. Positions may depend on user defined conditions. If Yes one set of dependencies may be selected and succeeding activities performed, if No another. We call it conditional scheduling)

12 2nd Step 6. Triggers activities that represent risk events that may happen with user defined probabilities. If triggers happens project may proceed different ways, each with certain probability. Triggers are used in Monte Carlo risk analysis. In deterministic scheduling certain conditions of triggers are selected.

13 2nd Step In construction projects most activities are of productivity type. Their duration is defined by assigned resources. An example of Duration type activity is concrete curing. We shall enter activities of our project and define their volumes of work.

14 3rd Step Now we shall define project resources and enter their available quantities. Initial quantity may be adjusted later.

15 4th Step We have two different excavators that can do the same work and two different bulldozers. When we will assign them we shall define which to assign and may make wrong selection. We do not know before scheduling what resources will be available at any moment. So we will define resource skills (excavator and bulldozer) and will assign not resources but skills.

16 5th Step Now we will create construction crews and then will assign these crews to project activities. Crews may include Skills and we will know who will do what only after project leveling. At any moment the crew may be changed and it may change all future crew assignments if to select Update Content.

17 6th Step Now the crews may be assigned to project activities. Assigning multi-resource you assign all resources ans skills that belong to assigned multi-resource.

18 7th Step We shall define resource productivities. Usually productivities are assigned to main (driving) resources though in some cases productivities may be defined to the whole crews (multi-resources).

19 8th Step Now let s define activity dependencies. Spider Project supports all standard types of dependencies and additional strict and double dependencies. In Spider Project you can define Time lags and Volume lags (in volume units or percent). For Time lags it is possible to define special calendars. The number of links between any two activities is not limited.

20 9th Step Let s define project materials. Some of them will be assigned on project activities, others (like fuel) will be used by renewable resources (machines) to do their work.

21 Next steps We are almost ready for scheduling. Almost because we assigned resource skills and resource selection may depend on resource cost. Spider Project default priority is activity cost Spider Project selects those resources that will do the work cheaper. But Spider Project users are able to set other priorities for example maximize crew productivity. Now let s define project costs.

22 10th Step It is not enough just to know project cost. We would want to know labor cost, cost of materials, cost of machines, etc. Some of cost components may depend on other components like our Indirect cost (118% of the sum of other internal costs). We also want to control contract costs and compare them with internal costs.

23 11th Step Our cost components include both internal and contract costs. Now project total cost that is the sum of all cost components does not make sense. We shall create Cost Center Expenses that includes all internal costs.

24 11th Step Now we shall assign activity, resource, and material costs.

25 12th Step In Spider Project costs may be assigned to resource work hour, and material unit. For activities costs may be assigned as fixed, per work hour, and per unit of volume. Besides we can define the cost of resource assignment (fixed, per work hour, per volume unit). In our project we will pay the supplier per volume unit and define it as assignment cost.

26 13th Step Materials may be assigned the same way to activities, resources, and assignments. We assigned materials on activities per work volume units.

27 14th Step We also defined resource fuel consumption per work hour. Now Spider Project will calculate fuel requirements basing on resource usage.

28 15th Step The final touch to define activity, resource, and lag calendars. This is an Intro session and we will use the same calendar for all objects with 6 days per week, 10 hours per day.

29 16th Step - Ready for scheduling! Now we are ready for resource constrained scheduling. We defined project activities, resources, materials, We created and assigned resource skills and crews, We assigned materials to project activities and resources, We defined activity, resource, materials, and assignment costs, We defined activity dependencies, We defined activity, resource and lag calendars. Let s schedule!

30 Scheduling Options There are many scheduling options that will be discussed in Advanced session, including unique Resource constrained schedule optimization. Our project is easy and any option will create perfect schedule that is shown in the next slide.

31 Project Schedule

32 Budgeting and Reporting Project budget is created together with project schedule. We have parallel Expenses budget and Contract budget and may forecast and control future profits. Now let s discuss different types of reporting and analysis of the project data.

33 Cost S-curves

34 Reports Multiple Charts on the same screen (Resource Histograms and S-curves)

35 Reports Material Requirements

36 Reports Material Requirements Table Report

37 Reports Resource Gantt Chart

38 Reports Material Gantt Chart

39 Time-Location Diagram Line of Balance

40 Typical Fragments We created Typical Fragment small project that models execution of the typical part of company projects. We suggest to create Typical Fragment Library a set of typical fragments that may be used in future projects. It is easy to create project model if this library exists: 1) Create project WBS (or use the template), 2) Determine the volumes of work of the WBS work packages, 3) Replace the work packages by typical fragments automatically adjusting activity volumes and durations, 4) Link work package activities.

41 Typical Fragments When typical fragment is inserted into the schedule you will be asked to define what to do with phase and activity codes in added fragment (we decide to add prefix 01) and what to do with activity volumes and durations (we multiplied by 2.5 because in our project the length of the road part is 2.5 km). In Spider Project activities have special property scalability. It defines if activity volumes and durations shall be multiplied or not.

42 Corporate databases (Reference-books) Creating the fragment we entered a lot of data that may be used in future projects: Project Resources, Materials, Cost components, Cost centers, Calendars, Resource skills, Resource crews for different types of work (Multi-resources), resource assignment productivities, material consumption for volume unit of different types of work, unit costs, resource workloads on typical assignments, etc. It is reasonable not to enter these data again and again but to keep them in the corporate databases and use when necessary.

43 Examples of Referencebooks

44 Corporate databases (Reference-books) With Reference-books it is sufficient to enter resource and activity types and work volumes and to get activity cost and material requirements, resource assignments and productivities, activity durations and calendars, etc. With developed Reference-books it is hard to make an error and everybody can be sure that scheduling and cost data are based on the corporate standards. If anything changes it is sufficient to make changes in the reference-books and apply these changes to all future works in all projects that are based on these reference-books.

45 Risks and Uncertainties We created deterministic (most probable) project model for building of 1km road but all project estimates are uncertain. Resource productivity may be higher or less, real costs may be higher or less, risk events may happen, etc. Spider Project models uncertainties and risks and helps to define reliable project targets and create sufficient contingency reserves. Spider Project includes two methods of risk simulation that have own advantages and weaknesses: Three scenarios method and Monte Carlo analysis

46 Risks and Uncertainties Using three scenario method we create not one but three project models: optimistic, most probable, pessimistic. Basing on these models Spider Project creates probability distributions and suggests to create project buffers that are necessary for achieving project goals with user defined probabilities. The targets may be set basing on required probability to achieve them. But target dates and costs may be also set initially. In this case Spider Project calculates probabilities to meet set targets.

47 Risks and Uncertainties We recommend to use optimistic project scenario for managing project work force and estimate buffer consumption by analyzing success probability trends. If probabilities to meet project targets (success probabilities) have negative trends corrective actions shall be considered.

48 Risks and Uncertainties Probability Curve

49 Risks and Uncertainties Optimistic and Critical Schedules, time buffers.

50 Monte Carlo Analysis Spider Project Monte Carlo Risk Analysis is based on three estimates of quantitative project data and potential risk presented by triggers. Monte Carlo simulation is done taking into account all resource, material and cost constraints that makes Monte Carlo Risk Analysis in Spider Project outstanding. As for three scenarios method we recommend to use optimistic project schedule for workforce management and analyze success probability trends for decision making.

51 Safe Work Options Practically unlimited depth of undo s Auto save Backup copies

52 What was new in what we ve done? We created project model basing on volumes (amounts) of work to be done and assigned resource productivities. We used volume lags. We created resource skills and Spider Project selected which resources to use on schedule activities. We created and assigned resource crews. We created cost components and cost centers. We assigned costs as unit costs and assignment costs. We defined and assigned material consumption per work volume units. We created two parallel budgets for the same project.

53 What was new in what we ve done? We optimized project resource constrained schedule. We created project fragment that may be used in future projects. We created corporate reference-books and will be able to apply corporate norms and standards in future projects. We created different project plan reports including Resource and Material Gantt Charts and Time-Location Char. We simulated risks and created project time and cost buffers. There are many other useful and unique Spider Project features that will be discussed at the advanced session.

54 Thank you!