Software Application: Information System Elements. Project Management in Information Technology (IT) Projects. Project Scheduling basics

Transcription

1 Software Application: Information System Elements Project Scheduling Basics Working With Resources Fine Tuning the Project Managing the Project Project Presentations Project Management in Information Technology (IT) Projects Introduction to IT Projects Rapid Development of IT Projects Life Cycle Planning in IT Projects Time and Cost Estimation and Matrices in IT Projects Project Scheduling basics Understanding Project Scheduling Microsoft Project Basics Using Project Tasks Outlining the project 1

2 Understanding Project Scheduling Define the Goal of the Project Project Management Organizational Structures Determine the tasks to be performed Creating the Work Bread-down Structure (WBS) Identification of Resources Production of Requests for Proposals (RFP) Understanding Project Scheduling Responses from the RFP should include Approximate Costs (Budgets) Commencement and Completion Dates (Duration) Risk Analyses, Identifying key tasks and possible contingencies What is a Project? A well defined sequence of events with an identifiable beginning and ending The function of the Project Manager is to guide the Project to the goal, within the constraints of Time, Cost and Quality 2

3 Setting Project Goals Project goals need to be as specific as possible They must be Qualifiable and Quantifiable The Project manager Primary responsibilities are: Coordination Collation Dissemination With respect to Project Information Parts of the Project A typical project consists of: Tasks Milestones Resources 3

4 Project Tasks Defines the Project Scope of the Project Goal These are obtained from the WBS Durations are to be estimated for each task identified Historical, Participative, Intuitive, unknown The relationships among tasks should also be identified Project Milestones A milestone marks the completion of a group of related tasks or a phase of the project Used to logically sequence the project Used to note the progress of the project Steps in Defining Project Tasks & Milestones Lists all tasks for the project Determine the dependencies among tasks Simultaneous, Duplication, Constraints Determine if tasks are related Parts of the same process, completion of a phase Identify and specify the Milestones 4

5 Project Resources Resource Type People Equipment Facilities Examples Welders Snipers Names of Specific individuals Welding Units Rifles Helicopters Warehouse Conference Rooms Shooting Range Project Resources Seldom available on a 24/7 basis Availability of resources need to be considered Additional Planning Issues Are there budget or cost constraints? Who needs to know the project status and how would they benefit? How flexible are deadlines? What are the consequences of missing the deadlines? 5

6 Use of Microsoft Project Creating a realistic Project Schedule Provides planning tools to keep track of decisions made Manage the project and adjust to changes Tracking and determining weather the tasks are proceeding as planned and adjusts the schedule automatically, based on changes made Communicate results and progress Contains reports that can be customized to communicate the project information concisely Evaluate Project Performance Collects and stores all information relating to tasks, making it easy to assess the effectiveness of the original plan Phases of a Project The GANTT Chart Tasks represented by a horizontal bar, positioned on a horizontal timescale Lengths of each bar represents the tasks duration Used from quick assessment of the progress of the project Link lines between bars, represents the relationships among the tasks 6

7 The GANTT Chart The PERT Chart Focuses on the relationships between tasks rather than on duration Displays the interdependencies between tasks Critical Tasks Those tasks that, if delayed, will result in the delay of the entire project The Critical Path consists of the Critical Tasks Knowing the critical tasks helps in the assignment of resources, priorities and to determine the effect of changes in the project 7