Project Management tools and Techniques

Project Management tools and Techniques Management Level – Paper E2 Project and Relationship Management Lecture - 029 Vidya Rajawasam ACMA CGMA MBA

Project Mgt Tools & Techniques In the previous lecture, we have discuss about the • Project feasibility • Risk and uncertainty

Project Mgt Tools & Techniques In this lecture, we will discuss about the • Project Management Tools and techniques • Work breakdown structure (WBS) • Gantt charts • Network analysis • Project evaluation and review technique (PERT) • Project Management software

Managing Projects Project Management Tools and techniques Because of the complexity of tasks involved in many projects, communication of responsibility for those tasks is often facilitated by means of graphical planning techniques. .

Managing Projects Project Management Tools and techniques By converting complex projects and their constituent tasks into a graphical and therefore more understandable picture, the project manager can more easily communicate the project activities to the project team and the project sponsors. The following sections will introduce a number of these planning techniques used by project managers.

Managing Projects Project Management Tools and techniques Work breakdown structure (WBS) As already discussed, one of the most important stages of project management is the definition of the project objective and the breakdown of work into a comprehensive list of activities.

Managing Projects Project Management Tools and techniques Work breakdown structure (WBS) The WBS provides a systematic approach for breaking projects into manageable units in order to ensure that all of the activities required to complete the project are included and carried out. ● Breaks complex tasks into manageable pieces.

Managing Projects Project Management Tools and techniques Work breakdown structure (WBS) ● Sets out the logical sequence of project events. ● Provides a logical framework for making decisions. ● Provides an input into subsequent project processes, such as estimating time and resources.

Managing Projects Project Management Tools and techniques Work breakdown structure (WBS) ● Provides a framework for continuous assessment of the project progression. ● Provides a communication tool.

Managing Projects Project Management Tools and techniques Gantt charts Gantt charts are a simple representation of a project from the view of the time taken for each activity and the resources required for each activity at any point in time. They are often used to monitor actual progress against plan on a week-by-week or possibly day-by-day basis

Managing Projects Project Management Tools and techniques Gantt charts Gantt charts can be produced separately for each person to show their total workload. Arrows can be added to show the interrelationship between different activities, and slack time shown on each activity, as discussed below.

Managing Projects Project Management Tools and techniques Gantt charts However, the main advantage of Gantt charts is that they are a useful communication tool, being easy to understand and providing a compact overview of responsibilities and progress on the project.

Managing Projects Project Management Tools and techniques Network analysis The main aim of network analysis (critical path analysis) is to analyze activities that occur in parallel, in order to identify start and finish times for each activity, and the project as a whole.

Managing Projects Project Management Tools and techniques Network analysis One of the key features of critical path analysis is the identification of activities that are critical, that is activities where any delay will lead to a delay in the project overall.

Managing Projects Project Management Tools and techniques Network analysis Critical path analysis can also be used as an aid to allocating resources by identifying those activities that are critical and therefore require additional resources to ensure they are completed on time.

Managing Projects Project Management Tools and techniques Milestones and control gates One of the main reasons for constructing a network diagram is to improve the control of the project duration. In order to facilitate this, a number of ‘milestones’ can be identified in the network. Milestones are not specifically shown on a network diagram (except, of course, for the end of activities), but they are often shown on a Gantt chart as a small triangle or other symbol.

Managing Projects Project Management Tools and techniques Milestones and control gates A milestone, as the name implies, is an event that is clearly identifiable as a measure of how far the project has progressed, and how far it has to run.

Managing Projects Project Management Tools and techniques Milestones and control gates This involves partitioning the project into identifiable and manageable phases that are well defined key events and unambiguous targets of what needs to be done and by when, and should be established during the project planning phase.

Managing Projects Project Management Tools and techniques Milestones and control gates Milestones are important in assessing the status of the project and quality of the work. Monitoring the achievement of milestones enables the project manager to keep control over the project’s progress, and allows any delays to be identified immediately.

Project Mgt Tools & Techniques Review MCQs What is true with regard to project management tools and techniques? • Reduces the complexity of tasks involved in many projects. • Improves Organizational change • Decrease in employee motivation • Non of the above

Managing Projects Review MCQs What is not part of project management tools and techniques are? • Network analysis • Financial feasibility • Additional allocation of overheads • Mile stones and control gates

Project Mgt Tools & Techniques Project evaluation and review technique (PERT) The issues of risk and uncertainty in project management were covered in earlier in these slides. Network analysis is often complicated by an uncertainty of events so that a single time given for an event is likely to have a degree of error. To overcome this uncertainty, PERT uses three time estimates for each activity in the network:

Project Mgt Tools & Techniques Project evaluation and review technique (PERT) 1. An optimistic estimate (denoted by the letter o) – the duration it would take if conditions were ideal. 2. A probable estimate (denoted by the letter m) – the duration it would take if conditions were normal, or as expected. 3. A pessimistic estimate (p) – the duration it would take if a number of things went wrong.

Project Mgt Tools & Techniques Project evaluation and review technique (PERT) The expected duration is then calculated (using expected values) and the network drawn. The degree of risk in each activity can be estimated using standard deviations. This would allow calculation of any necessary contingency to be added to the plan, in order to reduce the risk of overrun.

Project Mgt Tools & Techniques Coping with risk and uncertainty Although the use of PERT is one way to cope with risk in time planning, there are ways of planning in a contingency for risk that are less complex. Wherever risk is identified as taking the form of alternative outcomes, a series of contingency or scenario plans may be constructed for each alternative.

Project Mgt Tools & Techniques Coping with risk and uncertainty Not only would this allow the project manager to look at the project network incorporating each different alternative, but it would also allow the manager to ‘switch’ to the appropriate plan for whichever contingency arose.

Project Mgt Tools & Techniques Coping with risk and uncertainty Another, much more simplistic, way to incorporate risk is to add artificial slack into risky activities. This is known as ‘buffering’, but should not be encouraged because it leads to a build-up of slack in the program and may lead to complacency.

Project Mgt Tools & Techniques Project management (PM) software It is clear that many project management techniques are complicated and involve large amounts of constantly changing data. It is not surprising, therefore, to learn that all of these techniques can now be carried out quickly and effectively using project management software applications.

Project Mgt Tools & Techniques Project management (PM) software Today, numerous PC-based PM software packages exist, with features such as easy access to graphical user interface, planning activities, work-scheduling facilities, ability to view relationships among tasks and other projects, resource management and project progress monitoring and control.

Project Mgt Tools & Techniques PM software functions The following is a list of functions that would commonly be found within a standard project management software package, such as Microsoft Project: ● Budgeting and cost control. At any time during the project, actual costs can be compared with budgeted costs for individual resources or activities, or for the whole project..

Project Mgt Tools & Techniques PM software functions ● Calendars. Calendars can be used for reporting purposes and to define working periods. ● Graphics. The ability to create and modify graphics, such as Gantt charts, is a useful feature of PM software. It will allow the tasks in Gantt charts to be linked so that preceding activities can be shown.

Project Mgt Tools & Techniques PM software functions ● Multiple project handling. Large projects often have to be broken down into smaller projects to make them more manageable. Alternatively, project managers may be responsible for more than one project at a time. Most PM software packages will store numerous projects quite easily.

Project Mgt Tools & Techniques PM software functions ● Planning. All PM software allows the user to define the activities that need to be performed. It will maintain detailed task lists and create critical path analyses. It will allow the project manager to plan several thousand activities, by allocating resources, setting start and completion dates and calculating expected time to complete.

Project Mgt Tools & Techniques PM software functions ● Scheduling. Most systems will build Gantt charts and network diagrams based on the task and resource list and all of their associated information. Any changes to those lists will automatically create a new schedule for the project. It is also possible to schedule recurring tasks, to set priorities for tasks, to schedule tasks to start as late as possible, and to specify ‘must end by’ and ‘no later than’ dates.

Project Mgt Tools & Techniques PM software functions ● Resource planning. A critical issue in project planning is resource management, that is ensuring the project has the correct level of manpower, equipment and material at the right place at the right time and in right quantities.

Project Mgt Tools & Techniques PM software functions ● Reporting. The project manager has to report on the progress of the project to the stakeholders. PM software provides the facility to generate standard reports, such as progress to date, budget reports, allocation of resources reports, individual task or WBS reports and financial reports.

Project Mgt Tools & Techniques Review MCQs Project Management software has following features? • Budgeting • Forecasting • Planning • Non of the above

Project Mgt Tools & Techniques Review MCQs What is true related to Project evaluation and review technique (PERT)? • All objectives can be achieved without any failure. • There can be multiple objectives that needs to be achieved from a single project. • Used to overcome project uncertainty. • Non of the above.

Project Mgt Tools & Techniques Lecture Summary We have discussed the • Project Management Tools and techniques • Work breakdown structure (WBS) • Gantt charts • Network analysis • Project evaluation and review technique (PERT) • Project Management software

Project Management Tools & Techniques Management Level – Paper E2 Project and Relationship Management Lecture - 029 Vidya Rajawasam ACMA CGMA MBA

Project Management tools and Techniques