Information Technology

PRODUCING THE PROJECT SCHEDULE

Activity- is made up of a group of related tasks or other smaller activities; also

identified, named, and scheduled

Task- is the smallest piece of work that is identified and scheduled

3 main steps in developing a project schedule

• Develop a work breakdown structure.
• Build a schedule using a Gantt chart.
• Develop resource requirements and the staffing plan.

DEVELOPING A WORK BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE

Work breakdown structure (WBS) - is simply a list of all the required individual activities and tasks for the project; activities that were identified earlier as the key activities for project planning; the hierarchy of phases, activities, and tasks of a project; one method to estimate and schedule the tasks of a project        

2 general approached for building a WBS

• By deliverable – identifies immediate and final deliverable that must be developed and necessary task to create the deliverable
• By a sequential timeline – normal sequence of activities that are required to perform the final deliverable

4 most effective techniques for identifying the tasks of the WBS

• Top-down: Identifying major activities first and then listing internal tasks
• Bottom-up: Listing all the tasks you can think of and organizing them later
• Template: Using a standard template of tasks for projects that are fairly standard
• Analogy: Finding a similar, or analogous, project that is finished and copying its tasks

*template or analogy is used if possible but top-down and bottom-up can be used to brainstorm a good list of tasks

4 levels of WBS

• Top level – overall iteration
• 2nd level – major deliverables
• 3rd level – major activities
• 4th level – individual tasks

DEVELOPING THE SCHEDULE

• Both steps are estimated at lowest level on each vertical branch

        1st step – identify dependencies between the tasks

*dependencies – identify which tasks must be complete first or must precede other tasks (predecessor & successor tasks)

        Common ways to relate tasks

                Finish-start relationship

                Start-start relationship

                Finish-finish relationship

        *these three are adjusted to include lead/lag time

        2nd step – estimate the actual employee effort required for each task

PERT/CPM Chart - a technique for scheduling a project based on individual tasks or activities

GANTT Chart - a technique for scheduling a project based on individual tasks or activities

Critical Path - a sequence of tasks that cannot be delayed without causing the project to be completed late

Slack Time / Float - the amount of time a task can be delayed without affecting the project schedule

Milestone - a precise point on the project schedule that indicates a specific completion point; is often accompanied by a deliverable or end-product

DEVELOPING THE RESOURCE REQUIREMENT AND STAFFING THE PLAN

SCHEDULING THE ENTIRE SDLC

IDENTIFYING PROJECT RISKS AND CONFIRMING PROJECT FEASIBILITY

Project feasibility analysis - is an activity that verifies whether a project can be started and successfully completed; reasonable chance of success; identifies all risks of failure