Defining Project and Developing a Project Plan

An activity with a specific and unique objective, • An activity with a start and end date, • Typically, any non-routine activity which has never done before, • An activity that have specific time, cost and performance requirements, • A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service or result.

A project is not related with every day’s routine and repetitive/ordinary work. While the routine work, often called Business As Usual (BAU), occurs/repeats in cycles, a project is performed just once, and when the desired result is reached, the project ends.

Scope definition is the process of developing a detailed description of the project and product. While preparing the project scope, the main decision would be what is and is not included in the project. Another definition of project scope is the work that needs to be accomplished to deliver a product, service, or result with the specified features and functions.

Clearly, project scope is the keystone engaging all elements of a project plan. To guarantee that scope definition is complete, the following checklist can be used: a. Project objective b. Deliverables c. Milestones d. Technical Requirements e. Limits and Exclusions f. Reviews with customer.

Project objective: In order to satisfy customer requirements, the total objective of the project needs to be defined at the first step. The project objective gives answers to the “what, when and how much” questions.

Deliverables: Deliverables define the expected results over the course of the project. For example, deliverables in the early design phase of a project might be a list of specifications.The second phase deliverables could be software coding and a technical manual. The next phase could be to test prototypes. The final phase could be the final tested and approved software.

Milestone: A significant point or event in the project. A milestone is a point with zero duration that indicates a cumulative sequence of events while performing the project. It also symbolizes an important achievement in a project. Because beginning and finish date of a milestone is highly related to a task’s beginning and finish date, task association is the major characteristic of a milestone.

Technical requirements: A product or service will have technical requirements to guarantee full performance. For example, a technical requirement for a laptop might be the ability to accept 120-volt alternating current or 240-volt direct current without any adapters or user switches. Another example would be the 112 emergency service, which has the ability of identifying caller’s phone number and the location of the phone.

Limits and exclusions: In all projects, the project scope and its borders/limits should be defined properly. Otherwise, to solve the problems, resources and time on the wrong issues can be overly consumed. On the other hand, a project scope should also define what is not included in the project.

Reviews with customer: To complete the scope checklist, a review with the client should be done. The principle issue here is the understanding and compromising on the anticipations. Are deliverables defining completely what the client desires? Does the client get what he/she wants? Does the project include budget, time and performance requirements? Are the project limits and exclusions defined properly? If a clear communication in all of these are performed, one could avoid claims and misunderstandings at the end of the Project.

After identifying scope and deliverables in a project, the work breakdown structure is defined. The task of work breakdown structure is to divide the project into smaller and manageable work elements. The Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is the output of this hierarchical decomposition process. The WBS organizes and defines the total scope of the project, and represents the work specified in the current approved project scope statement.

• The work package typically forms the lowest level in the WBS. Although some projects may employ the term subtask, the majority leave work package–level activities as the most basic WBS step. • A work package has a deliverable result. Each work package should have its own outcome. One work package does not summarize or modify another. Together, work packages identify all the work that must be contributed to complete the project. • A work package has one owner assigned—a project team member who will be most responsible for that package’s completion. Although other team members can provide support as needed, only one person should be directly answerable for the work package. • A work package may be considered by its owner as a project in itself. If we adopt the notion that all work packages, because they are of finite length and budget and have a specific deliverable, can be considered miniature projects, each package owner can view his activities as a micro project. • A work package may include several milestones. A milestone is defined as a significant event in the project. Depending on the size and complexity of a project work package, it may contain a number of significant checkpoints or milestones that determine its progress toward completion. • A work package should fit organizational procedures and culture. Tasks undertaken to support project outcomes should be in accord with the overall cultural norms of the project organization. Performing a work package should never lead a team member to violate company policy (either codified or implicit); that is, assigned activities must pass both relevant legal standards for ethical behaviour and also adhere to the accepted behaviours and procedures of the organization. • The optimal size of a work package may be expressed in terms of labour hours, calendar time, cost, report period, and risks. All work packages should be capable of being tracked, meaning that they must be structured to allow the project manager to monitor their progress. Progress is usually a measurable concept, delineated by metrics such as time and cost.

In order to develop project networks, there are two approaches that can be used: activity-on-node (AON) and activity-on-arrow (AOA) methods.

In the first one, a node represents an activity, while in the latter, an arrow represents an activity. The AON method is generally used by most projects.

• A network commonly flows from left to right. • When all preceding connected activities have been performed, a new activity can start. • Precedence relations and flows are represented by arrows on networks, arrows can also cross over each other. • An identification number should be given to each activity. • Activity numbers should be given in an order; it is not convenient to give a smaller number to an activity if other activities follow it. • Any loop of activities is not allowed in the network. • There should be no conditional statements between activities. • A typical begin and end node should be used to depict the start and end dates of the project.

Forward Pass: Early Start Time and Early Finish Time 1. What is the earliest possible time that an activity can be begun? (the early start time- ES) 2. What is the earliest possible time that an activity can be finished? (the early finish time- EF) 3. What is the earliest possible time that a project can be finished? (expected time- TE).

To be able to compute early times in the forward pass, there are three characteristics that need to be remembered:

1. Throughout each path in the network, the activity times are added to the predecessors’ activity times (ES+Duration=EF). 2. The early finish (EF) can be passed into the next activity in which it turns its early start (ES), except for; 3. If the next succeeding activity is a merge activity, the ES of that activity depends on the activity’s immediate predecessors, the choice would be the largest EF times of them

To be able to compute latest in the backward pass, there are three characteristics that need to be remembered;

1. Throughout each path in the network, starting with the last activity, the activity times are subtracted (LF-Duration=LS). 2. The late finish (LS) is passed into the next preceding activity in which it turns to the next preceding activity’s late finish (LF), except for; 3. If the next preceding activity is a burst activity; the LF of that activity depends on the activity’s immediate successors, the choice would be the smallest of LS.

We can compute the total slack of an activity by subtracting early start from latest start or by subtracting latest finish from early finish (Total Slack=LS-ES=LFEF). Another explanation of slack is that the amount of permissible difference between when an activity must start at the latest and when it can start at the earliest. Briefly, total slack gives the amount of time an activity can be delayed without delaying the project completion.

In AOA diagrams, a dummy activity depicts the precedence relationships. It behaves as a link, but it is not a “real” activity, so it does not have time duration. In the following example, the requirement for dummy activities in an AOA network can be observed.