This chapter discusses the project scope document, quality, how to define what activities need to be done, who will be responsible for them, and in what sequence they will be performed. It describes techniques and tools used to plan the work items and activities that need to be performed in order to accomplish the project objective successfully. The project scope defines what work needs to be done and what deliverables need to be produced. Then, specific activities are defined and arranged in a sequence of dependent relationships to determine how the work will be performed.
Based upon this chapter, you will become familiar with:
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Clearly defining the project objective
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Preparing a project scope document
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Understanding the importance of planning for quality
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Creating a work breakdown structure
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Assigning responsibility for work items
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Defining specific activities
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Creating a network diagram
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Utilizing a project management methodology called the systems development life cycle for information systems development projects
After studying this chapter, the you should be able to:
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Establish a clear project objective
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Prepare a project scope document
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Discuss the importance and elements of a project quality plan
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Develop a work breakdown structure
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Prepare a responsibility assignment matrix
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Describe how to define specific activities
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Create a network diagram
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Project Integration Management
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Project Scope Management
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Project Quality Management
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Project Time Management
- Real-World Project Management Examples
David English is given the green light for a project and creates a project team with experts in charge of the aspects that are within their expertise rather than the project manager. The planning is set to be scheduled to allow a legitimate cushion in the timeline for the borrowed resources for the project.
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A project was needed to help the $150 million company with 750 employees in 45 cities in Canada and the United States to integrate finance, customer relationship, and human resource management systems.
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The CFO assembled the right members to create a cross-functional team.
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The team members had the expertise he lacked.
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Subject-matter experts were assigned oversight on the portions of the project of their expertise.
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The CFO provided overall project management of the team.
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Team members were assigned to his project for only a portion of their workweek.
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A common impedance of project progress is the distraction of tasks required by the team member’s regular workweek.
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Understood the significant communication necessary and the concern for the team members’ time
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Activity sequence and assigning responsibility were forefront in English’s plan.
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Kept the team motivated
A good definition of the project scope with stated quality plans helps to secure a green light for the project from management. Careful selection of the project team, assigned responsibility, and an appropriate activity sequence will help to avoid a project runaway.
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Ertis describes what a project manager should consider if planning a construction project abroad.
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Projects are guided by unique circumstances, especially if they are in foreign countries.
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“One thing that is constant, however, is relationship is king. You have to be comfortable with your local representative. You can’t be cavalier about contracts. If you think they carry the same weight as they do in the U.S., you’re wrong.”
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Ertis advises other project managers about the critical steps and considerations when planning a construction project outside the United States.
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The project scope is the critical first step.
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The subsequent critical steps are dependent upon the project scope and dictate the project planning.
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Protocols for following government regulations define quality requirements to ensure the proper infrastructure.
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Requirements such immigration implications, regulations, submission processes, and substitutions all impact project quality.
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Ertis cautions project managers to develop procedures to have an in-country advocate inspect materials and processes to ensure each is adequate and correct for the project requirements
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Assignment of responsibility to an in-country partner is a means of improving the likelihood of meeting deadlines and having a successful project outcome.
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- Establish Project Objective
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The planning process is based on the project objective, which establishes what is to be accomplished.
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Often the project objective is stated in the project charter or request for proposal.
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The objective is the tangible end product that the project team or contractor must produce and deliver in order for the sponsor or customer to achieve the expected benefits from implementing the project.
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The project objective should include the following elements:
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Expected benefits that will result from implementation of the project and define success
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Primary project end product or deliverable
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Date by which the project is required to be completed
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Budget within which the project must be completed
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There can be situations where the project objective needs to be modified as the project proceeds because of extenuating circumstances or new information. The project manager and the customer must agree on all changes to the project objective. Any such changes might affect the remaining work scope, deliverables, completion date, and final cost.
- Define Project Scope
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The project scope defines what needs to be done.
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A project scope document includes many of the items contained in the project charter, RFP, or contractor’s proposal, but in much greater detail. The document is valuable for establishing a common understanding among project stakeholders regarding the scope of the project.
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The project scope document usually contains the following sections:
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Customer requirements define the functional, operational, and performance specifications or capabilities that must be met for the project’s end product and other project deliverables. They should also include or reference applicable technical specifications, standards, and codes that must be used and met regarding quality and performance of the project work and deliverables.
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Statement of Work (SOW) defines the major tasks that will need to be performed to accomplish the work and produce all the project deliverables.
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Deliverables are the products or outputs that the project team or contractor will produce and provide to the customer during and at the completion of the performance of the project.
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Acceptance criteria for all project deliverables must be described in greater detail than what is stated in the project charter or request for proposal
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Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is a hierarchical decomposition of the project work scope into work packages that produce the project deliverables.
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The agreed-upon project scope document establishes the baseline for any changes that may be made to the scope during the performance of the project.
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A change control system needs to be established to define how changes will be documented, approved, and communicated. The project team or contractor must avoid scope creep, which is informally making changes to the project scope without appropriate approval.
- Plan for Quality
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It is important to plan for quality in performing the project to ensure that the work is done according to specifications and applicable standards and that deliverables meet acceptance criteria.
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Planning for quality is a necessary, yet often forgotten or dismissed, function on a project. It is essential to have a plan for ensuring the quality of project deliverables and results, rather than waiting until the end of the project to check that sponsor/customer requirements and expectations have been met.
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A project quality plan includes or references the specifications, industry or government standards (for design, testing, safety, construction, etc.), and codes that must be used and met during the performance of the project work.
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To help ensure quality, the project quality plan should contain written procedures for using various quality tools and techniques.
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The key to quality control is to monitor the quality of the work early and regularly throughout the performance of the project, compare results with quality standards, and make any necessary corrective actions immediately, rather than waiting until all the work is complete before checking or inspecting for quality.
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The focus must be on doing it right the first time by doing the work in accordance with quality standards, and therefore preventing quality problems, rather than relying on after-the-fact inspections or testing and then having to do additional work to correct quality problems.
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People who think they do not have enough time to do the work right the first time must then take the time later to redo it correctly—haste makes waste!
- Create Work Breakdown Structure
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Once the project scope document has been prepared and agreed on, the next step in the planning phase is to create a detailed work breakdown structure (WBS), which is a deliverable-oriented hierarchical decomposition of the project work scope into work packages that produce the project deliverables.
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Creating a WBS is a structured approach for organizing all the project work and deliverables into logical groupings and subdividing them into more manageable components to help ensure that all the work and deliverables to complete the project are identified and included in the baseline project plan.
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The work breakdown structure subdivides the project into smaller pieces called work items.
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The WBS should be decomposed to a level that identifies individual work packages for each specific deliverable listed in the project scope document.
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The level at which a specific deliverable is produced as the output or end product of the work associated with a work package.
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The level at which there is a high degree of confidence that all the activities that need to be performed to produce the deliverable can be defined, the types and quantities of resources can be determined, and the associated activity durations and costs can be reasonably estimated.
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The level at which a single organization (marketing communications, materials engineering, human resources, a subcontractor, etc.) or individual can be assigned responsibility and accountability for accomplishing the work package.
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The level at which the project manager wants to monitor and control the budget, and can collect data on actual costs and the value of the work completed during the performance of the project.
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The WBS can be created using a graphic chart format or as an indentured list.
Figure 4.1 depicts the work breakdown structure in a graphic chart format for a community festival project. Not all the branches in a WBS have to be broken down to the same level.
Figure 4.2 depicts the WBS for the consumer market study project example. This project is the example used in the Microsoft Project appendices. Have students examine the relationship between Figure 4.2 and the entries into the Microsoft Project task list.
Figure 4.3 depicts an indentured list for the work breakdown structure. For each of the work packages, the deliverable is listed. This format is helpful for large projects in which a diagram would be too large and unwieldy.
- Assign Responsibility
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A responsibility assignment matrix (RAM) defines who will be responsible for the work. It is a tool to designate the individuals responsible for accomplishing the work items in the work breakdown structure. Figure 4.4 depicts the RAM for the WBS in Figure 4.1, community festival project.-
The responsibility assignment matrix may use a P to designate primary responsibility and an S to indicate support responsibility for a specific work item.
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The RAM shows all the individuals associated with each work item in the work breakdown structure, as well as all the work items associated with each individual.
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Only one individual should be designated as the lead, or primary, person responsible for each work item.
- Define Activities
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Using the work breakdown structure, the individual or team responsible for each work package must next define all the specific activities that need to be performed to produce the end item or deliverable for the work package.
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When all the specific activities have been defined for all of the work packages, they should be consolidated into a comprehensive activity list. -
Figure 4.5, the work breakdown structure for a consumer market study project, depicts the specific activities that need to be performed for each work package. Have the students compare this list to the entries for the tasks in the Microsoft Project appendix.
- Sequence Activities
A network diagram defines the sequence of how the activities will get done. It is a tool for arranging the specific activities in the appropriate sequence and defining their dependent relationships.
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The three most common techniques of network diagramming are program evaluation and review technique (PERT), the critical path method (CPM), and the precedence diagramming method (PDM).
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In the past, there were distinguishable methodological differences between PERT and CPM. Today, however, when most people refer to a CPM diagram or PERT chart, they mean a generic network diagram.
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Each activity is represented by a box in the network diagram, and the description of the activity is written within the box, as shown in this figure. -
Activities consume time, and their description usually starts with a verb.
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Activities have a dependent relationship—that is, they are linked in a logical sequence to show which activities must be finished before others can start.-
Certain activities have to be done in serial sequence.
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Some activities can be done concurrently.
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An illogical relationship among activities is known as a loop. In preparing a network diagram, drawing activities in a loop is not acceptable because it portrays a path of activities that perpetually repeats itself.
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Some projects have a set of activities that are repeated several times. -
Figure 4.6 indicates that all the activities must be done in serial sequence, which means that at any one time only one person is working while two other people are waiting. -
Figure 4.7 indicates that all three rooms can be done concurrently, which is not possible because only one expert is available for each type of activity.
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Figure 4.8 shows a technique known as laddering. -
This approach will allow the project to be completed in the shortest possible time while making the best use of available resources (the experts).
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A network diagram is a drawing of the activities for a project, showing them as boxes in their logical sequence and connected by arrows to indicate the required dependent relationships, as the project should be performed from start to completion.
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Three questions need to be asked for each activity, and the network diagram is based upon the answers:
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Which activities must be finished immediately before this activity can be started?
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Which activities can be done concurrently with this activity?
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Which activities cannot be started until immediately after this activity has been finished?
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Guidelines for the level of detail in the network diagram are:
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Based on the work breakdown structure for a project, specific activities should be defined for each work package.
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It may be preferable to draw a summary-level network first, showing a small number of higher-level activities, and then expand it to a more detailed network.
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The level of detail may be determined by certain obvious interface or transfer points: where there is a change in responsibility or a tangible output results from an activity.
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Activities should not be longer in estimated duration than the time intervals at which actual project progress will be reviewed and compared to planned progress.
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It is not unusual to progressively elaborate the network diagram as the project progresses and more information is known or becomes clear.
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Subnetworks can represent similar projects for different customers, and certain portions of projects can include the same types of activities in the same sequence and dependent relationships. -
Figure 4.9 shows a complete network diagram for the consumer market study project, including the person responsible for each activity.
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Figure 4.13 shows a network diagram for the web-based reporting system project.
- Planning for Information Systems Development
This example continues through Chapters 4 to 8 and highlights the concepts for each. The Microsoft Project file for the example will be available with the instructor materials.
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An information system (IS) is a computer-based system that accepts data as input, processes the data, and produces useful information for users.
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Information systems include computerized order entry systems, e-commerce systems, automatic teller machines, and billing, payroll, and inventory systems.
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The development of an IS is a challenging process that requires extensive planning and control to ensure that the system meets user requirements and is finished on time and within budget.
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A project management planning tool, or methodology, called the systems development life cycle (SDLC) is often used to help plan, execute, and control IS development projects.
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Problem definition -- data are gathered and analyzed, and problems and opportunities are clearly defined.
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System analysis -- the development team defines the scope of the system to be developed, interviews potential users, studies the existing system (which might be manual), and defines user requirements.
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System design -- several alternative conceptual designs are produced and evaluated. The best is selected for further design and development.
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System development -- the actual system is brought into existence.
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System testing -- the development team looks for logical errors, database errors, errors of omission, security errors, and other problems that might prevent the system from being successful.
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System implementation -- the existing system is replaced with the new, improved system, and users are trained.
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A. An IS Example: Internet Applications Development for ABC Office Designs
A corporation called ABC Office Designs has a large number of sales representatives who sell office furniture to major corporations. Each sales representative is assigned to a specific state, and each state is part of one of four regions in the country. To enable management to monitor the number and amount of sales for each representative, for each state, and for each region, ABC has decided to build a Web-based information system that will track prices, inventory, and the competition.
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The IS department within the corporation has assigned Beth Smith to be the project manager of the Web-based reporting system development project. -
Figure 4.10 depicts the major tasks that were identified for the project. The WBS follows the SDLC.
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Figure 4.11 depicts the responsibility assignment matrix for the project with the primary and secondary responsibilities for each task assigned. Have students note that all the tasks in the WBS appear in the responsibility assignment matrix. -
Figure 4.12 depicts a list of all tasks to be done, with the immediate predecessor for each task listed to the right of the task. Have the students examine the interdependencies of the tasks.
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Figure 4.13 depicts the network diagram created by Beth and the project team and represents the interdependencies listed in the immediate predecessor list.
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A wide variety of affordable project management information systems is available for purchase.
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These systems allow the project manager and the project team to plan and control projects in a completely interactive mode.
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Planning and testing different options for task durations, dependencies, constraints, resources, schedules, and costs can be completed in a project management information system.
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Reports, change management, network diagrams, and Gantt charts can be created.
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Project management information systems interface with other software applications.
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Appendix A contains information related to project management information systems.
- Critical Success Factors
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Plan the work and then work the plan. Taking the time to develop a well-thought-out plan is critical to the successful accomplishment of any project.
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Participation builds commitment. By participating in the planning of the work, individuals will become committed to accomplishing it according to the plan.
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The project must have a clear objective of what is to be accomplished and defined in terms of end product or deliverable, schedule, and budget, and it must be agreed upon by the customer and the project team that will perform the project.
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The project scope document is valuable for establishing a common understanding and agreement among project stakeholders regarding the scope of the project.
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Having a quality plan at the outset of the project is extremely beneficial because it will help prevent incurring additional costs and schedule extensions due to rework caused by failure to meet quality requirements and customer expectations.
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The key to quality control is to monitor the quality of the work early and regularly throughout the performance of the project, rather than waiting until all the work is complete before checking or inspecting for quality.
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The network diagram is also is a communication tool for the project team because it shows who is responsible for each activity and how each person’s work fits into the overall project.
- Summary
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The planning process is based on the project objective, which establishes what is to be accomplished.
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The project scope defines what needs to be done.
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The project scope document usually contains the customer requirements, statement of work, deliverables, acceptance criteria, and a work breakdown structure.
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The quality plan must include or reference the specifications, industry or government standards, and codes that must be used and met during the performance of the project work.
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The work breakdown structure establishes the framework for how the work will get done to produce the project deliverables.
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A responsibility assignment matrix defines who will be responsible for the work.
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Activities define more specifically how the work will get done.
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A network diagram defines the sequence of how the activities will get done.
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Project planning is a critical activity in developing an information system (IS).
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A project management planning tool, or methodology, called the systems development life cycle (SDLC) is often used to help plan, execute, and control IS development projects.
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Numerous project management information systems are available to help project managers plan, track, and control projects in a completely interactive way.