Fundamentals of Project Management with Microsoft Project 2010

Transcription

1 Fundamentals of Project Management with Microsoft Project Contact Hours Instructor: Michael McDonald Training Manager Information Services Massachusetts Eye & Ear 1 Project Management Fundamentals 5/2014

2 Topical Outline: Goal: Learn, understand and practice the skills to manage your projects effectively from beginning to end; with a focus on using Microsoft Project Fundamentals of project management Defining a project Identify the problem to solve and how you re going to solve it Planning your project Identify the work that needs to be done by breaking the project into tasks and the tasks into specific work item Building a schedule Defining the ground rules for how you run your project (including change control) Budgeting for time and materials Launching a project Monitoring a project Controlling a project for its performance (time and budget) MS Project as a primary scheduling / tracking tool how to use it effectively 5/2014 Project Management Fundamentals 2

3 WHAT IS A PROJECT? A unique endeavor With a specific goal A beginning and an end A budget (usually) Unique Not part of routine work. A project is not operations operations is steps taken every day to maintain a company or process Specific goal: Solve a problem Take advantage of an opportunity Beginning and an end Only when a goal is clear can we know when a project is done Budget Financial budget Resource budget (limited resources such as people) Time budget (limited time) WHAT IS PROJECT MANAGEMENT? Project management is more than organizational skills and supervising others Successful Project management can be summed up by being able to answer few crucial questions: What problem are you solving? How are you going to solve this problem? Has a decision been made on what is the best strategy to approach the problem? What is your plan? Identify the work to be done in detail. How long the work will take. The needed resources and how much they cost. How will you know when you are done? Having clearly success criteria that is quantifiable and measurable results that show the project is complete. How well did the project go? What worked well and what did not and why? What could we have done better? 3 Project Management Fundamentals 5/2014

4 WHAT MAKES A GOOD PROJECT MANAGER? Rate yourself (10 is best) Technical skills specific to project management knowing the process of project management Business expertise understanding your organization and its values. Interpersonal Skills ability to work with and motivate people. Leadership inspire your people, guide them to do the right things and motivate them to give their best Your goal should be to honestly assess yourself and look to improve in the areas you have identified a weakness. Notes: 5/2014 Project Management Fundamentals 4

5 THE PROCESS OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT Project management can be categorized into 5 major processes 1. Initiating getting the commitment to start the project and assigned resources. This is where we answer What problem are you solving? and How are you going to solve it? 2. Planning is where you figure out how you are going to perform the project. This is where we answer the questions What is your plan? and How will you know when you re done? 3. Executing starts with launching the project. Bring your resources on board and introduce to one and another if needed and explains the rules you ll use to run the project. 4. Monitoring & Controlling the responsibility to determine if the project is going according to plan and if it is not you work our ways to get it on track 5. Closing you get the client/customer/stakeholder to accept the project is complete. It s also important to document the project performance, gather lessons learned, close contracts and help resources move on to their next assignment (if needed) 5 Project Management Fundamentals 5/2014

6 APPROACHES TO PROJECT MANAGEMENT Two common approaches to project management (you ll choose what method to use during the initiation phase) Traditional Project Management - When the 5 processes occur one after the other. This approach works best when: 1. The project is relatively familiar 2. The goal and solution are easy to identify 3. Scope and deliverables are clear 4. Familiar technology and or/tools are used 5/2014 Project Management Fundamentals 6

7 Agile Project Management best used of the solution is not clear or if information is missing. After the project is initiated, the Planning - Executing Monitoring & Controlling and Closing are repeated several times. After multiple iterations there is a final closing. Features of this approach 1. During initiating and planning you still set an overall goal 2. You also plan what you are trying to achieve with each iteration, and develop a detailed plan for that iteration. 3. The executing process can be easier as it will be made up of smaller / more focused groups (specific skills) 4. You monitor and control the project more closely and communicate faster and more frequently 5. Each iteration has a closing process that accepts it s specific deliverables What approach to project management do you anticipate using with your Project? 7 Project Management Fundamentals 5/2014

8 SOFTWARE TOOLS Scheduling software o Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet - $99 o Microsoft Project - $589 o Oracle Primavera - $2,500 o OpenProj Free Word Processing (Word) (remember the value of templates) Spreadsheet (Excel) (for some financial analysis) Presentation program (PowerPoint) Collaboration Software (SharePoint) o Share files o Keep track of issues o Manage workflows Enterprise Resource Management Software (for large organizations with many ongoing projects and shared Resources. When choosing software, consider: 1. Your organization s culture (what products are already widely used.) 2. Costs 3. The number or projects you manage 4. The complexity of your projects What software tools do you anticipate using on your project? 5/2014 Project Management Fundamentals 8

9 INITIATING A PROJECT The purpose of the Initiating process is to obtain commitment to start a project. You need to be sure that the management team /customer have all the information they need to make an informed decision on whether to move forward with the planning process. Steps include: 1. Identify the problem the project is supposed to solve 2. Gather more information to define the project The result is a document called a Project Definition or Project Summary Note: In cases where you enter the project after it has already been approved be sure that the project is clearly defined with a clear problem to be solved. WRITING A PROBLEM STATEMENT Every project has a specific goal (usually to solve a problem or take advantage of an opportunity). The goal should be clear enough to drive every decision in the project. With that in mind it must truly reflect the real problem to be solved or the specific opportunity to be take advantage of. This information is presented on a document called the Problem Statement. It does not need to be long, but - it does need to be clear and compelling. The problem statement should not express the result we want; just the problem or opportunity driving the project. Tip: Keep asking WHY? until you find the true problem or opportunity. What is your Problem Statement? 9 Project Management Fundamentals 5/2014

10 DEFINING A PROJECT GOAL AND OBJECTIVES A project goal is a statement of what the project is designed to achieve. It s a high level goal that describes the end result of the project. The goal should be easy to understand. An easy to understand goal makes it easier to get buy in. What is your Goal of your project? In addition to the goal, we need to establish objectives. Objectives are smaller, more detailed goals. Having a complete set of objectives is important to help define the scope, your approach, and the success criteria you have to meet. Objectives should be as specific as possible. Specific types of Objective Include: Business objectives are specific strategies or tactics that support your organization s goals Note: Strategy: A long term broad approach that does not change often Tactic: A set of specific steps that are flexible / easy to change Financial Objectives financial goals related to the project (generate revenue, create a cost savings) Quality Objectives drive improvements in the organization. Technical Objectives measurable results from the use of technology. Performance Objectives can cover a wide variety of objectives (like meeting deadlines, what resources need to be used, expected workflow changes or efficiencies) When documenting objectives. Objectives must be: 1. Specific 2. Measureable 3. Realistic 4. Time related 5/2014 Project Management Fundamentals 10

11 What are the objectives of your project? SPECIFIC, MEASURABLE, REALISTIC, TIME RELATED * * * * * Identify if the objective is Business, Financial, Quality, Technical, or Performance. Projects do not have to have some of each kind, but many will have at least 2 kinds. 11 Project Management Fundamentals 5/2014

12 CHOOSING A STRATEGY Once you have goals and objectives you are able to set a strategy. A strategy is the general approach or method you will use to achieve the goal. The steps to compare multiple strategies to choose the best are: 1. Assemble the project team (or a small subgroup that know the project) to brainstorm strategies. Get as many ideas on the table as possible. Most importantly don t just assume that methods used in the past are the best for the current project. 2. Evaluate all strategies. One method is to use a Strategy Matrix. The strategy Matrix allows you to weigh required and other objective. a. For required objectives, each strategy can be evaluated with a simple Yes/No. Any strategy that gets a no is automatically eliminated. b. For optional objectives they can be score on a scale from 1-10 and weighed differently and when all the math is done you ll have a score to see the best strategy. 3. All strategies must be reviewed to determine if the strategy is feasible. If a strategy has any possibilities of failure it is either eliminated or a feasibility study must be performed. 4. All strategies must also be evaluated for risk. If the risk is too high, it also must be eliminated or a risk analysis / assessment performed. 5. Finally, ask does this strategy fit the culture of the organization. What Strategy have you chosen to implement your project? 5/2014 Project Management Fundamentals 12

13 Strategies (answer yes or no if strategy is possible) #1 #2 #3 #4 Required Objectives #1 #2 Other Objectives 1 Weight for Importance (1-4 points, 4 being most important) Strategies (1-4 points, 4 being most effective) #1 #2 #3 # Totals: 13 Project Management Fundamentals 5/2014

14 GATHERING REQUIREMENTS Requirements provide the details of what the outcome must look like. This is a list of specific expected outcomes. Gathering requirements can be the most difficult part of the project. The requirements represent the specific needs of the project. Things to be aware of or avoid: 1. Project managers need to review stated requirements to determine if they truly are requirements or wish list items. 2. Non stake holders may attempt to add requirement onto your project. Techniques to gather requirements: 1. Reuse requirements if the current project is similar to a past project, and review for changes 2. Build a prototype (a sample product, or a pilot program that is scaled down from the final project) 3. Business process modeling (detailed workflow diagrams and documentation) 4. Use cases (interview stakeholder for specific real world examples.) 5. Hold requirements meetings to get multiple groups together. This can serve to also get buy in. May need to hold different meetings for different audiences. 6. Work with end users directly (perform observations, conduct interviews) What method(s) will you use to gather requirements for your project? 14 Project Management Fundamentals 5/2014

15 What are the requirements of your project? * * * * * * 15 Project Management Fundamentals 5/2014

16 UNDERSTAND DELIVERABLES AND SUCCESS CRITERIA Deliverables are the products and/or services delivered. They can be tangible or intangible. Deliverables help to define the project s scope (specifically what is or isn t in the project.) Once the project starts deliverables will be how you measure progress. The easiest way to start a deliverables list is to start with the end Deliverables. They are usually easiest to visualize. Then document intermediate deliverables. These are items or services delivered during the course of the project. Not all these will be things the customer / stakeholder will ever see. Tip: Break up big deliverables into smaller parts so you have more frequent opportunities to report on progress. Think of deliverables as work being done that can be measured. What deliverables can you expect in your project? Think of deliverables as work being done that can be measured. 5/2014 Project Management Fundamentals 16

17 Success criteria will be measurable outcome (not always tied to a deliverable). Such as positive customer feedback or changes in revenue. Think of success criteria as results that can be measured. What success criteria can you expect in your project? Think of success criteria as results that can be measured. 17 Project Management Fundamentals 5/2014

18 IDENTIFY ASSUMPTIONS AND RISKS To protect you plan you need to identify assumptions and risks. Assumptions are things believed to be true but not confirmed. The goal is to get assumptions out in the open and get everyone on the same page. If you ask often about expectations, you ll uncover assumptions. Any easy way to start this conversation ask people what results they expect from the project. Ask them to define project success. What assumptions have you uncovered while planning your project? 5/2014 Project Management Fundamentals 18

19 Risks A risk is a situation or event that has some probability of occurring that would negatively affect the project. Spend time to identify risks; and plan accordingly. What risks have you uncovered while planning your project? What steps do you plan to take to minimize risk? 19 Project Management Fundamentals 5/2014

20 CREATING A SCOPE STATEMENT The scope is the boundaries of the project. It covers what is included and what is not included. It is a statement of the work and deliverables that the project team is responsible for. Your scope statement should also include a specific list of what is out of scope. A scope statement prevents project Creep. Creep is a project being modified by the customer / stakeholder or outside forces during the time the project is running (be wary or terms like modify, new feature, adjust, revise, reorganize, add-on, vary, transform, little change). Changes to scope have to be thoroughly reviewed. Changes to scope must be processed by a formal Change Management Process What is in scope for your project? 5/2014 Project Management Fundamentals 20

21 What is out of scope for your project? 21 Project Management Fundamentals 5/2014

22 IDENTIFY STAKEHOLDERS A Stakeholder is someone who has a stake in the outcome of the project. Major Roles that contain stakeholders include: 1. Project Customer (can be an internal or external customer). They are the ones with the problem that is being solved. The customer is likely the one that funds the project and will have the most to say about the objectives of the project, and must approve deliverables. 2. Project Sponsors they are other people who want the project to succeed, and who have authority to influence the success of the project. Sponsors help prioritize objective, talk to uncooperative stakeholders, and suggest improvements 3. Functional Manager they are responsible for department goals and manage team members in their areas. 4. Team Members people working directly on the project. To effectively work with stakeholders you need to know what their role is on the project, who they represent, what their objectives are, and what they may contribute. To do this you may want to keep a stakeholder analysis (see next page). This tool allows you to meet the prioritize the needs of your most important stakeholders and communicate with the right stakeholder to address problems with specific objectives. 5/2014 Project Management Fundamentals 22

23 Name Department Advisers Represents Objective they care about Objective Priority (1 to 4) 4 most important Project Contribution Notes: Advisers (who is the stakeholder s boss or someone who influences them) Represents (who they speak for (customer, department, company) Project Contribution (what resources they provide if any) 23 Project Management Fundamentals 5/2014

24 OBTAINING APPROVAL Once the project is defined you need the final approval to move on to detailed planning. Approval is defined as a commitment from all the stakeholders to support the success of the project. It s recommended that a face to face sign off meeting be used to insure the stakeholders know what they are committing to. The meeting should be specifically for project sign off, and have the following basic agenda of: Reviewing project summary Obtain signature What is in your plan for getting formal approval for your project? 24 Project Management Fundamentals 5/2014

25 WRITING A PROJECT CHARTER Once the project is approved a charter can be written. The charter is a clear statement of what the project manager is authorized to do. Typically, the project sponsor publishes the charter to formally announce the project and communicate with the organization what the project manager s responsibility and authority is. A typical project charter includes: Project Name Purpose (a short summary of goals and objectives) Name of project manager Project manager s responsibilities (including a brief description of the work the project manager will do) Project manager s authority (to sign contacts or request resources) A clear statement of sponsor support The charter is distributed to everyone affected by the project. For your project charter what specific responsibilities / authority would you assign to yourself as project manager? 25 Project Management Fundamentals 5/2014

26 PLANNING A PROJECT The goal of the planning phase is to create the project plan documents that will: Give direction to the people working on the project Track how the project is progressing (milestone, deliverables, etc.) Offer strategies to adjust the direction of the project if it gets off track Establish how communication will take place on the project WORK BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE [WBS] The WBS is the process by which we divide the entire project into specific phases and tasks. These smaller chunks of work are easier to review for needed resources (work hours, materials and expenses.) The WBS is made up of Summary Tasks and Work Packages Summary tasks are high level overviews of groups of specific work Work packages are the lowest level of the WBS and spell out the specific work that needs to be done BUILDING A WBS Start at the Top and work your way down Use your scope statement and deliverables to identify your summary tasks Intermediate deliverables would normally appear as work packages (with specific tasks) One tip is to break down your tasks so that you can see progress at each of your status report meeting Another tip is to look for work packages that take from 8-80 hours to complete. If time and cost are not easy to estimate for your task, then you may need to break it down more. 5/2014 Project Management Fundamentals 26

27 If you have not already done so use MS Project to document your Summary Tasks, Work Packages, and Specific Tasks: 27 Project Management Fundamentals 5/2014

28 DEFINING A WORK PACKAGE [creating a work package document] A single line on a project plan may not be enough to understand the needed work for a TASK/WORK Package. To better communicate the score of a task you can create work package documents (see example below) Note: Description: specific steps that are not detailed on the WBS Completion Status: how you know the step is done Reference Documents: other documents used to support this task What tasks may need a WORK PACKAGE DOCUMENT in your project? 5/2014 Project Management Fundamentals 28

29 BUILDING A SCHEDULE Building a schedule is a function of: Listing your tasks in the order that they should be completed Identify what tasks are dependent on other tasks Identify what tasks can be completed simultaneously Make a reasonable estimate the duration of each task Ensure the schedule has all existing deadlines and milestones. If you have not already done so use MS Project to put in order all your tasks, and assign durations and start and end time for each one. Also, use MS Project to assign dependencies to tasks that may only start when another task has completed. Finally, in MS Project, insert Milestone where needed to identify key dates (start, end and deliverables) 29 Project Management Fundamentals 5/2014

30 IDENTIFY RESOURCES AND ESTABLISH RESPONSIBILITIES [responsibility matrix] For each of the work resources in you project document them on a responsibility matrix. The matrix will show the level of responsibility they have for major elements of the project (i.e. specific deliverables or phases) RESOURCE: Desktop Training Apps Deliverables: Install Software R I C A Research Key Points I R Create Presentation R A R = Responsible for Doing I = Needs to be informed C = Consult before decision (but not accountable) A = Accountable for decision Stakeholders could be involved in this process at many points (commonly in the I,C,A, and sometimes even R) Every task needs an A (someone who is accountable to make decisions) Using MS EXCEL or MS Word establishes your responsibility matrix. 5/2014 Project Management Fundamentals 30

31 IDENTIFY TYPE AND NUMBER OF SKILLED TEAM MEMBERS / RESOURCES Examine each work package and identify what skills are required for each one and create a skills matrix. SKILLS: Desktop Support Network infrastructure Interface Design Apps TASKS: Establish Server Closet X X Configure Software X Develop Interface X X Test Software X Every box with an X will be a specific resource needed at that phase of the project [time needed will be determined later] Using MS EXCEL or MS Word establishes your skills matrix. 31 Project Management Fundamentals 5/2014

32 DEVELOP YOUR COMMUNICATION PLAN A major element of the project plan is your communication plan. Determine: Identify all the audiences that you will need to communicate with during the project. (i.e.: your own project staff, managers, sponsors, customers, vendors, etc.) Assign a communication method/strategy for each audience: o Regular staff meetings o Regular update meetings o Presentations at other existing meetings o updates o Shared documents on network/sharepoint o Signs/Posters/Progress charts o Webinars, conference calls o Etc. Identify what level of detail each audience needs to know (some want a high-level progress report, others will have specific interest in a certain deliverables.) Get all communication dates on your project calendar. Identify your key audience members and the communication strategy you will use. 5/2014 Project Management Fundamentals 32

33 DEVELOP YOUR CHANGE MANAGEMENT PROCESS Changes are unavoidable, so a process must exist to deal with them- You need a Change Management Process. Establish first, what items you want the process to control. Minimum recommended items are: The Project Scope Project Requirements The change management process will make its decisions and the results of those decisions will create a new version of your baseline documents. Change control is processed through a change review board; made up of key stake holders. The board should require a formal written change control request (on paper or electronic.) The actual process may be a regular meeting, conference call or an automated SharePoint voting/task driven process. The decision is made by the board or a designated person with the knowledge to evaluate the specific request. The result of the evaluation is to determine the impact (positive and negative) of accepting the change. Note: there is value in having a rapid decision making process for times when the standard change control process may be too slow. Identify your strategy for change control: 33 Project Management Fundamentals 5/2014

34 CREATE A PROJECT ORGANIZATION CHART A useful tool for most large projects is a clear organization. Done in MS Visio or some other diagraming software; it will be a useful tool for project members to identify the relationship between all levels of the project. Determine if your project would benefit from an Org chart; and if yes, create it. 5/2014 Project Management Fundamentals 34

35 ESTIMATING Estimating time and costs accurately are important as they affect your project s schedule and budget. Low estimates could cause your project to be approved because on the surface it looks more attractive, and the right project may not be chosen. Also low estimates make meeting goals and expectations almost impossible High estimates could cause a worthwhile project to be rejected, of the project could take more time and money than needed (because people tend to use the amount of time and money you give them.) Estimates are educated guesses You must estimate Time is composed of hours of work (labor costs), equipment costs (rentals), leased office space, consultants Cost is composed of materials and fees that are not time based (supplies, travel, permits, Etc.) You have two choices to create accurate estimates 1) is to form a project planning team (made up of your own staff) or 2) hire outside experts. When possible base your estimates on the actual results of previously completed projects that are similar. Generally Speaking, Estimates Can Be Calculated With Two Methods: Bottom Up Estimating: Works best for projects that have most of their tasks identified. Calculate time and money for each task then total everything up for an overall budget. Top Down: Estimating: Works best for large projects, or for early estimates when all the specific tasks have not been identified. Start with large phases and assign time and money to them refine the budget as the tasks are clarified. Always allow for contingency time and money. For the entire projects, or for each phase in larger project, attempt to have the sponsors approve contingency time and money. Time buffers and reserve staff can prevent the plan from failure. 35 Project Management Fundamentals 5/2014

36 Decide how you will gather the best information for your time and cost estimates: For each phase, establish in MS Project your Work Costs, Materials Costs, and Variable Costs /2014 Project Management Fundamentals 36

37 CREATING DEPENDENCIES BETWEEN TASKS A dependency exists when the start or end of a task can t occur until another task has started or ended. There are 4 kinds of task dependencies: Finish-to-start dependencies: When one task must finish before another may start. Start-to-start dependencies: When the start of one task triggers the start of another task. Finish-to-finish dependencies: When the finish of one task controls the finish of another. Start-to-finish dependencies: (are rare) but the start of one task trigger the finish of another. Examples: Finish-to-start dependencies: The task to hire the moving company must complete before the start of the move. Start-to-start dependencies: The task to edit the newsletter will trigger the start of the task add graphics to pages. Finish-to-finish dependencies: the completing of the task to shred all outdated documents trigger the end to the summary task: clean out old file cabinets. Start-to-finish dependencies: the start of the entertainment in the main ball (a time we don t control) room will trigger the end of the dinner phase of our plan. Review your plan and identify the major dependencies: 37 Project Management Fundamentals 5/2014

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39 UNDERSTANDING WORK, DURATION, AND UNIT Work (Effort) is the number of hours or days needed to complete a task. Duration is the length of time from when a task starts and when it ends. If a task is 16 hours long, it would take 16 days at 1 hour a day, or 2 days at 8 hours a day. Units is the % of time a person spends on a project. In most projects a unit is based on an 8-hour day. o 100% would represent a person s availability to work 8 hours a day o 50% would represent a person s availability to work 4 hours a day. o Two persons who can both work 4 hours (50% )(if grouped into one resource would be a 100% resource. Using MS Project: 1. Assign WORK and DURATIONS for each task using the usage view of the task grid of the Gantt chart. (Work can also be assigned on the Task form view in the details area) 2. Create RESOURCES on the Resource Sheet. Be sure to assign a MAX % (if using a standard calendar, it s based on 8 hour day). Also, assign a rate (if needed) 3. Assign the Resources to each task by using the entry view of the task grid of the Gantt chart. 39 Project Management Fundamentals 5/2014

40 USE MILESTONES Projects use milestones to identify significant progress items and key points. The most common milestones are the 1 st and last items in the project (kick off and completion.) The benefit of a starting milestone is that you can easily reschedule the project just by dragging the milestone. Placing an ending milestone will allow you to easily determine if the project is still on schedule. Milestones are useful to show progress on deliverables. When a deliverable is complete you can mark the milestone as complete. Can also use milestone for Approvals or Major Decisions. What milestone do you plan to place in your project?: 5/2014 Project Management Fundamentals 40

41 MAKING A REALISTIC SCHEDULE 1. Assign people to work on projects using realistic estimates of the actual number of hours worked each day. People don t work 100 % of the time. A task that needs a true 16 hours may not be complete in 2 days because people need to attend meeting, answer s, deal with interruptions, etc. 2. Be aware of workers that are not available 100% of the time (i.e. part time workers, workers with other projects, workers that have management or supervisory responsibilities.) 3. Adjust task time based on the skills of the staff assigned. If you know in advance you have an exceptionally skilled worker reduce the task time. 4. Don t assign a person to work on more than 3 tasks at the same time. Requiring multitasking will affect productivity. 5. Look to model your schedule on reality. Plan for as may time variables as possible: Weather delays, sickness, vacation, etc. Using historical averages if available. What unique situations can you identify that will affect your ability to build a unique schedule? 41 Project Management Fundamentals 5/2014

42 THE CRITICAL CHAIN / CRITICAL PATH TECHNIQUE The critical chain / critical path technique is a method to choose what order tasks can be scheduled and how best to manage scare resources. Schedule tasks to occur as late as possible o Benefit: you are not spending money on the project until you absolutely must o Strategy: If your project starts running ahead of schedule you can always move tasks to earlier Focus on resource limitation o Strategy: schedule early the tasks that have the most limited resources. This uses these people/items as effectively as possible. Use Buffers: o Strategy: add an extra time buffer at the end of each phase where no tasks are scheduled. This buffer makes it more likely that the next phase will start on time. Also add a project buffer at the end to ensure you complete on time or early. What limited resources have you identified that should be scheduled early in the project? 5/2014 Project Management Fundamentals 42

43 FAST TRACKING AND CRASHING YOUR PROJECT If a request is made to shorten the project, there are two general techniques to speed up project tasks: 1. Fast tracking is when tasks that have been set to begin after a previous task as been complete (First-to-start dependencies) are started early. This is common with tasks that have been identified as critical path items. Strategy: fast track the longest tasks on the critical path Note: fast tracking increases risk 2. Crashing will speed up the project by spending money to shorten the schedule. Usually this is extra cost for more staff to complete the tasks early. Strategy: crash the most resource intensive tasks on the critical path. They key is to find the tasks that will shorten the schedule the most for the least amount of money. Calculate the total cost and the total time saved to calculate the cost per hour to crash tasks and choose the cheapest. What limited resources have you identified that should be scheduled early in the project? 43 Project Management Fundamentals 5/2014

44 DOCUMENTING A BASE LINE Soon after the project plan is approved you need to save your project baseline. A project baseline is a collection of approved documents, your budget and schedule. Progress is normally compared to the baseline to determine how things are going. Anything in the baseline becomes part of the change control process; meaning that a formal change control process must be used to change approved baseline items. Within MS Project from the PROJECT Tab choose the SET BASELINE drop down and record a baseline (you can have up to 10 saved per project) always select the BASELINE (with no number after it as your initial baseline) Note: a number of reports use BASELINE as well as the VARIANCE view and the WORK VIEW on the Task tab 5/2014 Project Management Fundamentals 44

45 RUNNING A PROJECT The Executing Phase can begin as early as when the project plan is approved or at the scheduled start date. One of the early items that occur in most projects is to complete procurement: 1. Procurement the purchasing of goods and services, equipment and materials needed for the project. The majority of this may occur the start of the project, but will can happen at any phase. For Resources that need to be acquired from outside the company the procurement process is: i. Solicitation using a request for proposal [RFP] process to get proposals/bids for goods and services. The RFP should include the scope of the services, deadlines, budget [maybe], evaluation criteria, any requirement, deadline to submit and when the award decision will be made. ii. Evaluation/Selection develop criteria to review the RFPs. The team with or without the stake holders will evaluate each RFP and make a final section. This could 45 Project Management Fundamentals 5/2014

46 iii. Contracting prepare and sign a contract with the selected vendor. The contract will normally contain a statement of work, terms and conditions, deliverables, deadlines and price. Contract can be fixed price contracts (when things are clearly defined), time and materials contracts (are variable based on the actual work needed to complete the contract but it s common to set a maximum not to exceed ). Also it could be a Cost-plus contact- to include the cost of the work with penalties or rewards based on vendor performance. What, if any, procurement do you anticipate for your project? 5/2014 Project Management Fundamentals 46

47 Other Management Tasks that occur early in the project: Hold a kick off meeting to formally launch the project and introduce all the team members and as many stakeholder as possible. The project sponsor and customer can describe the goal of the project and get everyone motivated. Review the project plan with all team members What tools/methods will be used for communication (regular meetings, , SharePoint, conference calls) Explain how the change control process will work. Identify where all project information will be stored. Confirm where you will store project supplies. Save BASELINE copies of all documents (electronic and paper.) 47 Project Management Fundamentals 5/2014

48 GATHERING DATA AND REPORTING ON THE PROGRESS OF PROJECT The two most commonly tracked items of progress are: On Schedule hours worked On budget money spent As projects are running you need to keep track of: 1. Actual start time and end time of a task 2. Actual work hours for a task Note: (MS Project has a tracking view that will allows you to manually add actual start and finish dates) and complete a regular review of progress by: 1. Examine the project schedule vs. what is actually being worked on 2. Look at costs currently accumulated vs. expected costs that were expected at the current phase in the project. Decide how often will you review your work plan and what method will you use to gather from team members their status updates? 5/2014 Project Management Fundamentals 48

49 REPORTING ON PROGRESS Using your already developed communication plan you need to deliver information to the stake holders that is: Accurate Meaningful Timely The steps to have a smooth reporting system is to: 1. Set dates where team members are required to send updates to you (weekly, daily, etc) and get these dates on the project plan. These dates should be 1 2 days before you plan to report. 2. Update your tools (MS Project, etc.) using the information reported to you. 3. Perform analysis by running reports and looking at key data elements. 4. Produce reports (electronic or paper) a. Report on work scheduled, work complete and any variances b. Report on how you will correct negative variances c. Report problems or issues and how you plan to fix them 5. Distribute reports (at scheduled reporting meetings or via ) to all the stakeholders identified in your communication plan. Note: Dashboards are a common tool to help report progress on tasks at a high level. (using colors like Green, Yellow, Red) to make a quick project review easy for senior leaders. 49 Project Management Fundamentals 5/2014

50 What schedule will you set for reporting progress? What method will you use to distribute reports? What level of detail do you plan to report to each type of stakeholder? (stoplight report for Senior managers, detailed reports for main customers.) 5/2014 Project Management Fundamentals 50

51 RUNNING EFFECTIVE MEETINGS Meetings are some of the most expensive project tasks because they usually involved many of your key resources who have the highest work costs. If you re going to have a meeting make it count. 1. Identify the purpose of the meeting and the results you hope to accomplish (i.e. resolve an issue) 2. Create an agenda and publish it in advance of the meeting (so people can be prepared to talk about the topics identified) 3. Limit the attendees to only the people that have real input on topics or have a responsibility for one of the topics. 4. Start and end meetings on time 5. Stay focused. The person conducting the meeting should feel empowered to control the conversation. 6. As the project manager you may not always want to be the facilitator of the meeting, you can assign another team member or a sponsor to facilitate. (The facilitator s job is to kick off the meeting, reviews the agenda and the ground rules for how the meeting will run. Also they keep control of the meeting as it progresses.) 7. Take good notes. These should be published as the meeting minutes as soon as possible after the meeting for everyone to review decisions and assignments. When possible have a separate note taker from the facilitator. What regular meetings will you have? Who will fill the role of facilitator? Who will take notes? 51 Project Management Fundamentals 5/2014

52 CLOSING YOUR PROJECT At completion there are several steps to end the project. The most important being to get the customer to agree the project is complete. Then record success and lessons learned. 1. Obtain acceptance. The customer should agree the project is complete and all deliverables are acceptable. 2. Document lessons learned. This is vital if this plan is ever used as the template for future projects that are similar. This should include things that worked really well and should be done again, as well as things that did not work as well. 3. Produce a close out report. This is the final set of documentation with the details of time and money spent. Reporting on resources used and what are to be done with any items purchased for the project that can be re-used. 4. Close contract. Notify vendors and contractors that the project has ended and any outstanding invoices need to be submitted promptly. 5. Archive all documents. Put all project documents in a location / archive that will make them available for future use or review. 6. Thank your team and see they move on to their next assignment. 7. Plan for follow-up support. In some projects you need to transition long term follow up tasks to the organization so they may support them as part of their existing staffing structure. Your project team may move on to other projects, but resources will have to be permanently responsible to the support of the process/product/software your project put into place. Plan to communicate to the new support structure all the necessary information they need to do their job. 5/2014 Project Management Fundamentals 52