Project Time Management-I

1
 Objectives
• Produce an activity plan
• Estimate the overall duration of a project
• Create critical path and precedence network
for the project

2
 Project Time Management: Processes

Project time management involves the processes required

to ensure timely completion of a project. Processes
include:

Activity Planning
1) Activity definition
2) Activity sequencing
Activity Schedule
3) Activity Resource Estimating*
4) Activity duration estimating
5) Schedule development
 CPM (ideal plan)
 Risk Analysis
 Resource Allocation
6) Schedule control

3
 PROJECT TIME MANAGEMENT
6.1 Activity Definition
1. Inputs
1. Enterprise Environment Factors
2. Org. Process Assets
3. Project Scope statement (Constraints,
Assumption)
4. Work breakdown structure
5. WBS Dictionary
6. Project Management Plan
2. Tools and Techniques
1. Decomposition
2. Templates
3. Outputs
3. Rolling Wave Planning 1. Activity list
4. Expert judgment 2. Activity attributes
5. Planning Component 3. Milestone list
1. Control Account 4. Requested Changes
2. Planning Package
6.2 Activity Sequencing
1. Inputs
1. Project Scope Statement
2. Activity List
3. Activities Attributes
4. Milestones List
5. Approved Change Requests
2. Tools and Techniques
1. Precedence Diagramming Method (PDM)
2. Arrow Diagramming Method (ADM)
3. Schedule Network templates 3.Outputs
4. Dependency Determination 1. Project schedule network diagram
5. Applying Leads and Lags 2. Activity list (updates)
3. Activity Attributes (Updates)
4. Requested Changes
6.3 Activity Resource Estimating
1. Inputs
1. Enterprise Environmental Factors
2. Organizational Process Assets
3. Activity List
4. Activity Attributes
5. Resource Availability
6. Project Management Plan
2. Tools and Techniques
1. Expert judgment
2. Alternatives Analysis
3. Published Estimating Data
4. Project Management Software
5. Bottom-up Estimating
3. Outputs
1. Activity Resource Requirements
2. Activity Attributes (Updates)
3. Resource Breakdown Structure
4. Resource Calendar (Updates)
5. Requested Changes
6.4 Activity Duration Estimating
1. Inputs
1. Enterprise Environmental Factors
2. Organizational Process Assets
3. Project Scope Statement
4. Activity list
5. Activity Attributes
6. Activity Resource Requirements
7. Resource Calendar
8. Project Management Plan
• Identified risks
2. Tools and Techniques
1. Expert judgment
2. Analogous estimating
3. Parametric Estimating
4. Three-Point Estimation
5. Reserve Analysis (contingency reserves, time reserves or buffers)
3. Outputs
1. Activity duration estimates
2. Activity Attributes (Updates)
1. Inputs
1. Organizational Process Assets 6.5 Schedule Development
2. Proj. Scope Statement (Constraints, Assumptions)
3. Activity List
4. Activity Attributes
5. Project Schedule network diagrams
6. Activity Resource Requirements
7. Resource Calendars
8. Activity duration estimates
9. Project Management Plan
• Risk management plan 3. Outputs
2. Tools and Techniques 1. Project schedule
1. Schedule Network Analysis 2. Schedule Baseline
2. Critical Path Method 3. Resource requirement (updates)
3. Schedule Compression 4. Activity Attributes (Updates)
4. What-If Scenario Analysis 5. Project Calendar (Updates)
5. Resource leveling heuristics 6. Requested Changes
6. Critical Chain Method 7. Project Management Plan
7. Project management software (Updates)
8. Applying Calendars
6.6 Schedule Control
1. Inputs
1. Schedule management plan
2. Schedule Baseline
3. Performance reports 3. Outputs
4. Approved Change 1. Schedule Model Data (Updates)
2. Tools and Techniques 2. Schedule Baseline (Updates)
1. Progress Reporting 3. Performance Measurements
2. Schedule change control system 4. Requested Changes
3. Performance measurement 5. Recommended Corrective action
4. Project management software 6. Organizational Process Assets
5. Variance analysis (Updates)
6. Schedule Comparison bar chart 7. Activity List (Updates)
8. Activity Attributes (Updates)
9. Project Management Plan (Updates)
Activity Sequencing; Where to Start from?

Project Charter

Estimates
WBS
Precedence
Analysis
Task List

Network Plan
Detailed Plan
Risk Analysis

Resource
Leveling

10
 Activity Definition
• An activity or task is an element of work normally found
on the WBS that has an expected duration, a cost, and
resource requirements.
• Project schedules grow out of the basic documents that
initiate a project.
– The project charter includes start and end dates and budget
information.
– The scope statement and WBS help define what will be done.
• Activity definition involves developing a more detailed
WBS and supporting explanations to understand all the
work to be done, so you can develop realistic cost and
duration estimates.
11
 Milestones
• A milestone is a significant event that normally
has no duration.
• It often takes several activities and a lot of work
to complete a milestone.
• Milestones are useful tools for setting schedule
goals and monitoring progress.
• Examples include completion and customer
sign-off on key documents and completion of
specific products.

12
 Network Diagrams
• Network diagrams are the preferred
technique for showing activity sequencing.

• A network diagram is a schematic display of

the logical relationships among, or sequencing
of, project activities.

• Two main formats are the arrow and

precedence diagramming methods.
Information Technology Project Management,
13 Fourth Edition
 Figure 6-2. Sample Activity-on-Arrow
(AOA) Network Diagram for Project X

Information Technology Project Management,

14 Fourth Edition
 Figure 6-2. Sample Activity-on-Arrow
(AOA) Network Diagram for Project X

Information Technology Project Management,

15 Fourth Edition
 Arrow Diagramming Method
(ADM)
• Also called activity-on-arrow (AOA) network
diagram.

• Activities are represented by arrows.

• Nodes or circles are the starting and ending

points of activities.

• Can only show finish-to-start dependencies.

Information Technology Project Management,
16 Fourth Edition
 Process for Creating AOA Diagrams
1. Find all of the activities that start at node 1. Draw their finish
nodes and draw arrows between node 1 and those finish
nodes. Put the activity letter or name and duration estimate
on the associated arrow.
2. Continuing drawing the network diagram, working from left to
right. Look for bursts and merges. A burst occurs when a
single node is followed by two or more activities. A merge
occurs when two or more nodes precede a single node.
3. Continue drawing the project network diagram until all
activities that have dependencies are included in the diagram.
4. As a rule of thumb, all arrowheads should face toward the
right, and no arrows should cross in an AOA network diagram.
Information Technology Project Management,
17 Fourth Edition
Precedence Diagramming Method (PDM)
• Activities are represented by boxes.

• Arrows show relationships between activities.

• More popular than ADM method and used by project

management software.

• Better at showing different types of dependencies.

18
 Activity/Task List
• Tasks (Leaves of WBS/PBS as Activity Plan ) and the precedence
analysis (as Activity Sequencing) results in this management deliverable.
• Example format: We can make first two columns and start working on the
next two (durations estimation and precedence requirements in parallel).
Activity Duration Precedents
(weeks)
A Hardware selection 6
B Software design 4
C Install hardware 3 A
D Code & test software 4 B
E File take-on 3 B
F Write user manuals 10
G User training 3 E,F
H Install & test system 2 C,D
19
 Precedence Analysis

 Involves reviewing activities and determining

dependencies
 Mandatory dependencies: inherent in the nature of
the work; hard logic (like testing after coding)
 Discretionary dependencies: defined by the project
team; soft logic (Wait for feedback on prototype before
detail design)
 External dependencies: involve relationships
between project and non-project activities (e.g.
supply of hardware)
 You must determine dependencies in order to use
critical path analysis

20
 Project Activity Network

Project Activity Network (activities and sequence)

Design Code/test
Specify module A module A
module A
start
Specify Design Code/test
Specify Check module B module B
module B
overall specifications
system Specify Integrate/test
Design Code/test system
module C module C module C
Specify
Design Code/test
module D stop
module D Module D
 Network Planning Models
 Approaches to scheduling; that achieve separation between the logical
(relationships) and the physical (constraints/execution); use networks to
model the project.
 i.e. represent project’s activities and their relationships as a network.
 first stage in creating a network model: represent the activities and their
interrelationships as a graph.

Task Dependencies (relationships) A

B
Finish-to-start (FS): Task (B) cannot start until task (A) finishes
A
Start-to-start (SS): Task (B) cannot start until task (A) starts
B
Finish-to-Finish (FF): Task (B) cannot finish until task (A) finishes
A
Start-to-finish (SF): Task (B) cannot finish until task (A) starts
A B

22
 Scheduling as precedence
S
F
A: Testing
A: Designing
B: Debugging
B: Coding
S S

F S
A: Coding A: Release
B: Unit Testing B: Bug Fixing

F F

23
 Project Network Diagrams
 Project network diagrams (PND) are the preferred technique for showing activity
sequencing
 A project network diagram is a schematic display of the logical relationships
among, or sequencing of, project activities
 Arrow Diagramming Method (ADM)
 Also called activity-on-arrow (AOA) project network diagrams
 Activities are represented by arrows
 Nodes or circles are the starting and ending points of activities
 Can only show finish-to-start dependencies

 Precedence Diagramming Method (PDM)

 Activities are represented by boxes
 Arrows show relationships between activities
 More popular than ADM method and used by project management
software
 Better at showing different types of dependencies
24
 Schedule Development
• Uses results of the other time management
processes to determine the start and end dates of
the project.

• Ultimate goal is to create a realistic project schedule

that provides a basis for monitoring project progress
for the time dimension of the project.

• Important tools and techniques include Gantt charts,

critical path analysis, critical chain scheduling, and
PERT analysis.
25
 D H Basic Project Network Diagrams (PND)…..
A=? 2 5
E
B=? J AOA (ADM);
1 3 F 6 8 CPM adds more inf at nodes
C=? I
4 7
G
A D
Start: ID: Start: ID: PDM
Finish: Dur: Finish: Dur:
H
Res: Res:
Start: ID:
Finish: Dur:
B E
Res:
Start: ID: Start: ID:
Finish: Dur: Finish: Dur:
Res: Res: J
Start: ID:
F Finish: Dur:
Start: ID: Res:
Finish: Dur:
Res:

C G I
Start: ID: Start: ID: Start: ID:
Finish: Dur: Finish: Dur: Finish: Dur:
Res: Res: Res:

Task Box of MS Project 2000: Activity Name Start: ID: Finish: Dur: Resource:
26
 Using the Critical Path to Shorten a
Project Schedule
• Three main techniques for shortening schedules:

– Shortening the duration of critical activities or tasks by

adding more resources or changing their scope.

– Crashing activities by obtaining the greatest amount of

schedule compression for the least incremental cost.

– Fast tracking activities by doing them in parallel or

overlapping them.

27
 Network model
CPM
 represents activities as links (arrowed lines) in the graph
 nodes (circles) represent the events of activities start and finish.
Rules for CPM network construction
Nodes:
 A project network may have only one start node (node 1) that
designates the points at which the project may start. All activities
coming from that node may start immediately; resources are available.
 Network may have only one end node; designates the completion of the
project and a project may only finish once.
 Nodes are events have no duration (instantaneous points in time).
 source node: event of the project becoming ready to start and
 Sink node: is the event of the project becoming completed.
 Intermediate nodes: represent two simultaneous events – the event of
all activities (leading in to a node) having been completed and the
event of all activities (leading out of that node) being in a position to be
started.
A link represents an activity (and has duration)
28
Examples:

Node 3 is an event indicates that both “Code’ and “Data

take-on” have been completed and
“program Testing” can be started
Cod
e
Program Release
ke-on 3
Testing
4
Program
at a ta
D

Precedents are the immediate preceding activities

both activities “Code’ and “Data take-on” are called Precedents of “program
Testing” (not of ”Release Program”) and;
“program Testing” is Precedent of ”Release Program”.

 Time moves from left to right

 Nodes are numbered sequentially

29
 Co
4
ose
r n
err rect iag ram
D og
ors
 Network may not contain loops Pr
1) If we know the # of times to repeat Code Test Release
1 2 3 5
a set of activities (e.g. test- Program Program Program
diagnose-correct) then we can
A loop represents impossible sequence
draw that set a straight sequence,
repeating it the appropriate
number of times.
2) If we do not know then we cannot
calculate the duration of the
project.
Network may not contain dangles
Design Code Test
1 2 4 5
A dangling activity such as Program Program Program
“Write user manual” cannot

Wr anu
exist, as it would suggest two

ite al
completion points. m

us
er 3

30
 Using dummy activities
Two paths within a network have a common event although they are, in other respects
independent, a logical error like the following might occur.
Practical Situation (Case1): C:Place
A > C (A precedent of C) 1 A:Specify order 4
hardware
A, B > D (A & B precedent of D)
Network shows (incorrectly): 3
A, B > C, D (Both precedent of Both)
We can resolve this problem by separating the B:Design Data D:Code
2
two (more or less) independent paths and structures software 5
introduce a dummy activity to link broken Two paths with a common node.
event (3). This effectively breaks unwanted
link between “design data structure” and
“place order”.
A: Specify C: Place
1 hardware 3 order 4
dummy
B:Design Data D: Code
2 structures 3a software 5
Two paths linked by a dummy activity
 Dummy activities, shown as dotted lines in the network diagram, have a zero
duration and use no resources.
 Case 2: The use of a dummy activity where two activities share the same
start and end nodes makes it easier to distinguish the activity end-points*
A A 3 Dummy

2 3 1 B 4
B
Representing lagged activities
• We might come across situations where we wished to undertake two activities
in parallel but there is a lag between the two (time difference between start or
finish).
• Impossible to show (like “amendment recording” can start after “testing” and
finish a little after the completion of “testing”).
• It is better to show Each stage as a separate node.
Test prototype
Such parallel activities with a time lag 1 3
between them are represented with pairs of 1 day (SS) 2 day (FF)
dummy activities
Document
2 amendments 4
 B
1 D E
A C
4 5

F G
H 3 6
Begin End

J
I 7
K
L
2
12 Activities and 2 Dummies

33
 Precedence Networks (PN/PDM)

 Where CPM networks use links to represent activities and nodes to represent
events, precedence networks use boxes (nodes) to represent activities
(known as work items) and links to represent dependencies.
 The boxes may carry task descriptions and duration estimates and the links
may contain a duration denoting a lag between the completion/start of the
next.
 It contains much more information than the CPM network and we do not need
to keep a separate activity table.
 Analysis of precedence networks proceeds in exactly the same ways.

An other advantage of PN is that they can represent parallel lagged activities

(Which required use of dummy activities in CPM network) much more elegantly.

Build Test Revise

Parallel lagged
Prototype Prototype specification
activities in a
precedence
network. 1
Document 2
amendments When can start

34
 PDM
A B

C D E

Begin H F G End

I J

K L
12 Activities 23 Logic Dependencies

35
 Sequencing and Scheduling activities
 We require a schedule that clearly indicates when each of the
project’s activities is planned to occur and what resources it will
need.
 We might present a schedule for a small project using a bar chart
(next slide).
 The chart shows taking account of the nature of the development
process (i.e., certain tasks must be completed before others may
start) and the resources that are available (e.g., activity C follows
B as Ali cannot work on both simultaneously).
 We have sequenced the tasks (i.e., identified the dependencies)
and scheduled them (i.e., specified when they should take place).
 For small projects, this combined sequencing-scheduling
approach might be quite suitable, particularly where we wish to
allocate individuals to particular tasks at an early planning stage.
 On larger projects it is better to separate out these two activities:
to sequence the task according to their logical relationships and
then to schedule them taking into account resources and other
factors.

36
 Schedule for small Project: plan as a bar chart

Weeks 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 1 1 1 1 1
Task Person 0 1 2 3 4 5
A Ali
B Ali
C Ali
D Akram
E Aslam
F Aslam
G Aqib
A: Overall Design *Part-I concludes by Having:
B: Specify Module 1 1. Activity List and
C: Specify Module 2 2. Sequencing and
D: GUI Design We continue for: In Part-II
E: Code Module 1 1. Activity Resource Est
F: Code Module 2 2. Activity Duration and
G: Testing Module 1 3. Scheduling +
+ 37
 Program Evaluation and Review
Technique (PERT)
• PERT is a network analysis technique used to
estimate project duration when there is a high
degree of uncertainty about the individual
activity duration estimates.

• PERT uses probabilistic time estimates:

– Duration estimates based on using optimistic, most
likely, and pessimistic estimates of activity durations,
or a three-point estimate.
Information Technology Project Management,
38 Fourth Edition
 PERT Formula and Example
• PERT weighted average =
optimistic time + 4X most likely time + pessimistic time
6
• Example:
PERT weighted average =
8 workdays + 4 X 10 workdays + 24 workdays = 12 days
6
where:
optimistic time= 8 days
most likely time = 10 days
pessimistic time = 24 days
Therefore, you’d use 12 days on the network diagram instead of 10
when using PERT for the above example.
39
 Activity Duration Estimating
• Duration includes the actual amount of time worked on an
activity plus the elapsed time.
• Effort is the number of workdays or work hours required to
complete a task.
• Effort does not normally equal duration.
• People doing the work should help create estimates, and an
expert should review them.

40
 Schedule Development

41
 Gantt Charts
• Gantt charts provide a standard format for
displaying project schedule information by listing
project activities and their corresponding start and
finish dates in a calendar format.
• Symbols include:
– Black diamonds: Milestones
– Thick black bars: Summary tasks
– Lighter horizontal bars: Durations of tasks
– Arrows: Dependencies between tasks

42
 Figure 6-5. Gantt Chart for Project X

43
Gantt Chart for Software Launch Project

44
 Adding Milestones to Gantt Charts
• Many people like to focus on meeting
milestones, especially for large projects.

• Milestones emphasize important events or

accomplishments in projects.

• You typically create milestone by entering

tasks that have a zero duration, or you can
mark any task as a milestone.
45