Prepared by: Mr.M.SYED SHAHUL HAMEED CHAPTER 3 SYSTEMS PLANNING - MANAGING SYSTEMS PROJECTS

Transcription

1 CHAPTER 3 SYSTEMS PLANNING - MANAGING SYSTEMS PROJECTS 1

2 Project Management: - Is the process of planning, scheduling, monitoring and controlling and reporting upon the development of an information system. - A successful project must be completed on time within budget satisfies user requirements(project scope) deliver a quality product - As long as everything is in balance, the project will be successful. - However, if one factor changes, adjustments must be made to maintain the balance. Project Scope Budget Limits Time Constraints Project Success Quality Standards Project managers (called senior system analyst) typically perform four main tasks 1. Project Planning - Includes identifying project tasks and estimating completion time and costs 2

3 2. Project Scheduling: - Involves the creation of a specific timetable, usually in the form of charts that show tasks, task dependencies and critical task that might delay the project. - Project scheduling uses Gantt charts and PERT/CPM charts. 3. Project Monitoring and Controlling: - Requires guiding, supervising and coordinating the project team s workload. 4. Project Reporting: - Tasks include regular progress reports to management, users and project team itself. Project Planning: - Provides the overall framework for managing costs and schedules. - The planning process starts with a list of tasks (or) activities which are the basic units work. - A task (or) activity is any work that has a beginning and an end requires the use of company resources such as people, time or money. - The project manager plans, monitors and tracks the tasks. So tasks should be relatively small and manageable. - An event (or) milestone is a recognizable reference point that can be used to monitor progress and manage the project. - If the project is a large task, it is impossible to manage the project. 3

4 - So the project should be break down into smaller tasks, called a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). - In creating a WBS, first step is to identify all tasks, then estimating the task completion time and cost. Identifying Tasks: When identifying tasks, a project manager considers many factors. Project size: the amount of work increases dramatically as project scope increases. Relationship between project resources and project size: As the size of the project grows, the resources needed to develop it grow even faster. Capabilities of project team members: a less experienced analyst will need more time to complete a task than an experienced team member. Scheduling people and tasks: Adding manpower to a late software project only makes it later. This principle was developed by Frederick Brooks. So it is called Brooks Law. Brooks reached this conclusion when he saw that new workers on a project first had to be educated and instructed by existing employees. Other factors: attitudes of users, the degree of management supports, and the priority of the project compared with other projects. Estimating Task Completion Time and Cost: Task completion times and related cost estimates usually are expressed in person-days 4

5 Person-days represent the amount of work that one person can complete in one day. This approach however can represent some problems. For Example: If it will take one person 20 days to perform a particular task, it might not be true that two people could complete the same task in 10 days or that 10 people could perform the task in two days. Some task can be divided evenly so it is possible to use different combinations of time and people. For example, two people takes one day to install the cables for a LAN, one person might do the task in two days, or four people in half a day. So project managers often use a weighted formula for estimating the duration of each task. Project managers first makes three time estimates for each task: 1. Best case estimate (B) 2. Probable case estimate (P) 3. Worst case estimate (W) The expected task duration is calculated as follows: (B+4P+W)/6 Solve the following: A project manager might estimate that a fileconversion task could be completed in as few as 20 days or could take as many as 34 days, but mostly like will require 24 days. Calculate the expected task duration. 5

6 Project Scheduling: is a specific timetable, usually in the form of charts that show tasks, task dependencies and critical tasks that might delay the project. Several graphical (diagram) planning can help a project manager in the scheduling process. We will see two of the tools. 1. Gantt Charts 2. PERT/CPM Charts. Gantt Charts: - A Gantt chart is a horizontal bar chart that represents a series of tasks. - The chart displays time on the horizontal axis and arranges the tasks vertically from top to bottom. - The position of the bar shows the planned start and end of the task, and the length of the bar indicates its duration. - The above chart shows the 11 tasks in an IT project. - The chart shows 11 activities on the vertical axis and the elapsed time on the horizontal axis. - Gantt charts can present an overview of the project s status, but they do not provide detailed information that is necessary when managing a complex project. 6

7 PERT/CPM Charts: - Are better tools for managing large and complex projects. - The Program Evaluation Review Technique (PERT) was developed by the U.S Navy to manage very complex projects. - At the same time the Critical Path Method (CPM) was developed by private industry to meet similar project management needs. - Today the technique is called either PERT, CPM or PERT/CPM. - PERT/CPM is called a bottom-up technique, because it analyzes a large, complex project as a series of individual tasks called project tasks. PERT/CPM Task Box Format: Project tasks are shown as rectangular boxes, arranged in the sequence in which they must be performed. Each rectangular box, called a task box, has five sections as shown in the figure. Task Name Start Day/Date Task ID Finish Day/Date Task Duration Task Name: should be brief and descriptive. Task ID: can be a number or code that provides unique identification. Task Duration: is the amount of time it will take to complete a task. Start Day/Date: is the time that a task is scheduled to begin 7

8 Finish Day/Date: is the time that a task is scheduled to be completed. Task Patterns: can involve dependent tasks, multiple successor tasks and multiple predecessor tasks. Dependent Task: when task must be completed one after another, like the relay race are called dependent tasks, because one depends on the other. Example Prepare outline Create Document Start: Day 1 ID: 1 Start: Day 6 ID: 2 Finish: Day 5 Dur: 5 Finish: Day 14 Dur: 9 Multiple Successor Tasks: When several tasks can start at the same time, each is called a concurrent task. Often two or more concurrent tasks depend on a single prior task, which is called a predecessor task. In this situation, each concurrent task is called a successor tasks. Create Document Gather Data Start: Day 31 ID: 2 Start: Day 1 ID: 1 Finish: Day 40 Dur: 10 Finish: Day 30 Dur: 30 Design Survey Start: Day 31 ID: 3 Finish: Day 60 Dur: 30 8

9 Multiple Predecessor Tasks: A task requires two or more prior tasks to be completed before it can start. Obtain Authorization Start: Day 1 ID: 1 Conduct Interviews Finish: Day 15 Dur: 15 Start: Day 16 ID: 3 Create Job Description Finish: Day 45 Dur: 30 Start: Day 1 ID: 2 Finish: Day 5 Dur: 5 Critical Path: is a series of tasks which, if delayed, would affect the final completion date of the overall project. Slack Time (Relaxed Time): is the amount of time that the task could be late without pushing back the completion date of the entire project. Draw the PERT/CPM chart for the following: 1. Task1 starts on Day 1 and has the duration of 10 Days. Task2, which is depend on Task1 with the duration of 30 Days. Task3 and Task4 are multiple successor tasks, and depend on Task2. Task3 has duration of 5 Days and Task4 has duration of 25 Days. Task5 depends on Task3 and Task4, which are multiple predecessors. Task5 has duration of 30 Days. 2. Task1 starts on Day1 and has the duration of 15 Days. Task2, which is depend on Task1 with the duration of 5 Days. Task3 and Task4 are multiple successor tasks, and 9

10 depend on Task2. Task3 has duration of 20 Days and Task4 has the duration of 65 Days. Task5 and Task6 are multiple successor tasks, and depend on Task3. Task5 has duration of 15 Days and Task6 has duration of 10 Days. Task7 depend on Task5 and Task6 which are multiple predecessors. Task7 has the duration of 40 Days. Task8 depends on Task7 and Task4 which are multiple predecessors. Task8 has the duration of 25 Days. 3. Draw the PERT/CPM chart and find the critical path, slack time for the following DURATION PREDECESSOR TASK DESCRIPTION (DAYS) TASKS 1 Develop Plan 1-2 Assign Tasks Obtain Hardware Programming Install Hardware Program Test Write User Manual Convert Files System Test User Training 20 7,8 11 User Test 25 9,10 10

11 Project Risk Management: - Every IT project involves risks that system analyst and project managers must address. - A risk is an event that could affect the project negatively. - Risk Management is the process of identifying, analyzing, anticipating and monitoring risks to minimize their impact on the project. - Example: Microsoft Office Project