Week 6 lecture Summary - exam review:

We need to understand what Project Management is because it is a management process and we are in a business program and it is a commonly used practice that has proven to get specific results. It is a science and an art. We can use it in our personal lives or on huge projects. If you look for ways of applying this course to your daily activities you can avoid a lot unnecessary expenses, time delays, and conflict with people and achieve your goals.

It has now been accepted in all industries and grown in popularity and demand. To control the standards related to this growing discipline the PMI (Project Management Institute) was formed. All the knowledge stored in books, web sites and other sources used by PMI members is called PMBOK (project management BODY of knowledge). The PMI will certify Project Managers who have passed their exam and give the designation of PMP (Project Management Professional). To qualify to write the exam you need to have 4000 hours of project experience (2 years), 32 hours of classroom or equivalent instruction and answer a 200 multiple choice exam. If you pass you put the P.M.P. on your business card after your name.

Informal (not in books) Project management has been used throughout history to manage projects,e.g since the pyramids were built. In the 1950's new processes were developed, documented and standardized by the military to control the huge projects such as building the atomic bomb (the Manhattan Project) and the Nautilus Submarine and missile.. The main reason was to control the thousands of subcontractors who were engaged for the project. Companies such as Dupont and General Motors who were major Stakeholders on these projects continued to use and develop methods for managing projects within their own companies.

Project Management spread because it works, it gets results. On time, on budget with the desired "quality" levels. It is in a continuous state of development because new industries using it adapt it to their needs. It is both a science and an art. Process (Planning and scheduling and controls) and people skills (team building, Stakeholder management).

The first stage of the cycle is the Definition Stage. It purpose is to carefully Define what is going to be done and answer all the "W" words and relevant questions. Many management techniques are used in this process to gather as much as relevant information (input) as possible. In this course we have identified a few of these. Many other methods could be used. All of this information gathering will be used to produce the Statement of Work which is the document which specifies everything that has been agreed upon. So it becomes the contract and or the basis for sub contracts. It will be the point of reference for all disputes during the the contract. It may not be a legal contract if it is used within a company.

Methods to gather and evaluate information. Meetings, Brainstorming, review of previous projects, Needs Assessments, Cost Benefit analysis, Weighted Decision Matrix and other project selection methods, financial (% and rate) and political considerations, Business Case,

The people involved are called Stakeholders. They all should be given to opportunity to contribute to ensure no essential information is overlooked. This helps define the budget, time and quality (or relevant specifications) and ensures all Stakeholders including the customer agree on what is going to be done and how and where and....There are five main types of Stakeholders: Customer, Project manager, Sponsor (one person who has a personal/processional interest in the success of project), Team members (all the people who do the work including the contractors) and Functional Management (the people who supply the resources (including providing team members).

The S.O.W. will include the purpose, the Scope ( assumption and exceptions), deliverables (what is the end product or service), cost and schedule, objectives (goals), Stakeholders and chain of command.

When the S.O.W. is agreed upon we take the Defined Project we announce its start in a Charter document. A Responsibility Matrix is started to assign who is going to do what - this will grow throughout the project. We decide how we are going to communicate and give everyone a Communication Matrix so they know the methods and timing. We then start a Risk management process which helps establish controls early in the project.

All of the above may be called hi level planning. Now we need to develop some detailed planning This s the beginning of the Planning stage or cycle.

We start to break down (decompose) the Project into Summary tasks and work packages using the WBS (Work Breakdown Structure) method. This practice helps find the relationships between tasks, which is necessary to determine the skills and resources needed, without wasting money or time. This is called looking for efficiencies. The work packages are added to the Responsibility Matrix. Team members may help estimate the time and cost of completing their work packages. If you and all of these costs you have an estimate of time and budget for the project.

Time or $ estimate use P.E.R.T formula. R = P+O+ 4M / 6

R= Realistic. P=Pessimistic. O=Optimistic. M=Most probable.

Now you know how long each work package is going to take you can Schedule it using a Network diagram and decide what comes first, next and what can be done at the same time. By calculating the Earliest Start (ES) and the Latest Start (LS) using a Forward Pass (adding the time for each task to the next one) you can get a total time for the whole project. The path on your Network diagram which is the longest is the Critical Path. If you take the total time of the project and then work backwards (backward pass) you can calculate the Earliest Finish (EF)and the Latest Finish (LF).

Float. By subtracting the ES from the LS or the EF from the LF you have the Float for each task. This means you don't have to do it on a certain day - you have Float/Slack. The tasks on the critical path have ZERO float.

Because you know the order or sequence you are going to do the tasks in you can assign a Predecessor # (what comes before) to each task. Now the lists of tasks, the Summary for each group and and the time can be entered manually or onto software to create a GANTT chart. This is given to the Team Members so they can see how their work related to other team members. The GANTT also contains a baseline of time and budget which can be used to control the project when we actually start Executing the project. the GANTT will contain some Milestones which are important points of the project. There is no time involved in a milestone. It is just a notable point reached. For instance once you have the house foundations poured for a house project you may call this a Milestone on the project. Milestones are targets to aim for and can help create a sense of Team purpose and can be used for celebration.

Estimates can also be set by management which is called Top Down Estimating (this is how much you are getting to do the work. If the team Members estimate, this is called Bottom Up (this is how much we need).

When the estimates are complete we have a list of resources, equipment, people and materials needed on the project. To minimize the risk of waste and to get maximum utilization of each person and equipment we use a process called Resource utilization and leveling.

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