Chapter 08 Network Project Management.

What is a Project ?

• A project, technically, is a temporary endeavor With a defined beginning and end (usually time

constrained , and often constrained by funding or deliverables), undertaken to meet

unique goals and objective, typically to bring about beneficial or added value.

• The project dimension deals with properly planning and controlling the engineering activities to meet project goals for cost, schedule, and quality.

What is a Project ?

• All projects begin with a problem statement.• The Solution of this problem must be the project

objectives.• All the objectives must be very clearly written

down, otherwise the project may go on forever.• Similarly, the project must have a very clearly

ending point, otherwise it can go on forever.• This is because there will always be changed by

the time the project gets near the end.

What is Management.

• Management : is the process of Planning, Organizing, Controlling and Measuring.

• Planning: is the most critical and gets the least amount of our time

• Organizing: orderly fashion.• Controlling : is critical if we are to use our

limited resources wisely.• Measuring: to determine if we accomplished

the goal or met the target?

What is Network?• In information technology, a network is a series of

points or nodes interconnected by communication paths

• A network is a group of two or more computer systems linked together

• A group of interconnected (via cable and/or wireless) computers and peripherals that is capable of sharing software and hardware resources between many users. The Internet is a global network of networks. See also local area network and wide area network.

Why we need Computer Network?

• Computer networks help users on the network to share the resources and in communication.

• Can you imagine a world now without emails, online newspapers, blogs, chat and the other services offered by the internet?

Why we need Computer Network?

• File sharing: Networking of computers helps the network users to share data files.

Why we need Computer Network?

• Hardware sharing: Users can share devices such as printers, scanners, CD-ROM drives, hard drives etc. Without computer networks, device sharing is not possible.

Why we need Computer Network?

• Application sharing: Applications can be shared over the network, and this allows to implement client/server applications

• User communication: Networks allow users to communicate using e-mail, newsgroups, and video conferencing etc.

Why we need Computer Network?

• Network gaming: A lot of network games are available, which allow multi-users to play from different locations.

• Voice over IP (VoIP): Voice over Internet Protocol (IP) is a revolutionary change in telecommunication which allows to send telephone calls (voice data) using standard Internet Protocol (IP) rather than by traditional PSTN.

Network Design plane

• Network planning and design – Scope – Cost– Time– Quality

Triple Constraints• The Three Constraints:

– The three constraints in a project management triangle are time, cost and scope.

1 - Time

• A project's activities can either take shorter or longer amount of time to complete. Completion of tasks depends on a number of factors such as the number of people working on the project, experience, skills, etc.

• Time is a crucial factor which is uncontrollable. On the other hand, failure to meet the deadlines in a project can create adverse effects. Most often, the main reason for organizations to fail in terms of time is due to lack of resources.

2 - Cost• It's imperative for both the project manager and

the organization to have an estimated cost when undertaking a project. Budgets will ensure that project is developed or implemented below a certain cost.

• Sometimes, project managers have to allocate additional resources in order to meet the deadlines with a penalty of additional project costs.

Scope

• Scope looks at the outcome of the project undertaken. This consists of a list of deliverables, which need to be addressed by the project team.

• A successful project manager will know to manage both the scope of the project and any change in scope which impacts time and cost.

Scope of the Network

• Design and construct a modern network infrastructure to upgrade existing voice/data services, to support IP-based telephony, gigabit network connections, and building-wide wireless coverage.

• Design and upgrade or construct telecommunications rooms to meet Cornell and industry standards. Design and install card access for newly constructed telecommunications rooms.

• Install, terminate, test, and label all cabling. • Install wireless access points and UPS equipment. • Install emergency phones in locations approved by CU Police.• Cut over the existing voice and data network to the new cable

plant.

Quality• Quality is not a part of the project management

triangle, but it is the ultimate objective of every delivery. Hence, the project management triangle represents implies quality

• Many project managers are under the notion that 'high quality comes with high cost', which to some extent is true. By using low quality resources to accomplish project deadlines does not ensure success of the overall project

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Network Project design phase

Project Management Knowledge Area

• An area of project management defined by its knowledge requirements and described in terms of its associated process, practices, inputs, outputs, tools and techniques

• Identified knowledge areas(the “things”)– Project Scope Management– Project Time Management – Project Cost Management– Project Quality Management– Project communication Management

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• Define scope of project• Identify stakeholders,

decision-makers, and escalation procedures

• Develop detailed task list (work breakdown structures)

• Estimate time requirements• Develop initial project

management flow chart• Identify required resources

and budget • Evaluate project

requirements

• Identify and evaluate risks• Prepare contingency plan• Identify interdependencies• Identify and track critical

milestones• Participate in project phase

review• Secure needed resources• Manage the change control

process• Report project status

Project Management Job Functions

Importance of Project Schedules• Managers often cite delivering projects on time

as one of their biggest challenges• Time has the least amount of flexibility; it

passes no matter what happens on a project• Schedule issues are the main reason for

conflicts on projects, especially during the second half of projects

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Project Time Management Processes• Activity definition: identifying the specific activities/tasks that

the project team members and stakeholders must perform to produce the project deliverables

• Activity sequencing: identifying and documenting the relationships between project activities

• Activity resource estimating: estimating how many resources a project team should use to perform project activities

• Activity duration estimating: estimating the number of work periods that are needed to complete individual activities

• Schedule development: analyzing activity sequences, activity resource estimates, and activity duration estimates to create the project schedule

• Schedule control: controlling and managing changes to the project schedule

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Project Time Management Summary

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Activity Sequencing• After defining project activities, the next step

is activity sequencing– Involves reviewing the activity list and attributes,

project scope statement, milestone list and approved change requests to determine the relationships between activities

• A dependency or relationship is the sequencing of project activities or tasks

• You must determine dependencies in order to use critical path analysis

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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

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Sample Activity-on-Arrow (AOA) Network Diagram for Project X

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Activity Resource Estimating• Before estimating activity durations, you must have a

good idea of the quantity and type of resources that will be assigned to each activity

• Consider important issues in estimating resources– How difficult will it be to do specific activities on this project?– What is the organization’s history in doing similar activities?– Are the required resources available or need to be acquired?

• A resource breakdown structure is a hierarchical structure that identifies the project’s resources by category and type

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Activity Duration Estimating

• Duration includes the actual amount of time worked on an activity plus 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

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Schedule Development• Uses results of the other time management

processes to determine the start and end date 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

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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

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Figure 6-5: Gantt Chart for Project X

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Note: Darker bars would be red in Project 2007 to represent critical tasks

Critical Path Method (CPM)• CPM is a network diagramming technique used

to predict total project duration• A critical path for a project is the series of

activities that determines the earliest time by which the project can be completed

• The critical path is the longest path through the network diagram and has the least amount of slack or float

• Slack or float is the amount of time an activity may be delayed without delaying a succeeding activity or the project finish date

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Calculating the Critical Path

• First develop a good network diagram• Add the duration estimates for all activities on

each path through the network diagram• The longest path is the critical path• If one or more of the activities on the critical

path takes longer than planned, the whole project schedule will slip unless the project manager takes corrective action

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Determining the Critical Path for Project X

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What is Cost and Project Cost Management?

• Cost is a resource sacrificed or foregone to achieve a specific objective or something given up in exchange

• Costs are usually measured in monetary units like dollars

• Project cost management includes the processes required to ensure that the project is completed within an approved budget

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Basic Principles of Cost Management

• Tangible costs or benefits are those costs or benefits that an organization can easily measure in dollars

• Intangible costs or benefits are costs or benefits that are difficult to measure in monetary terms

• Direct costs are costs that can be directly related to producing the products and services of the project

• Indirect costs are costs that are not directly related to the products or services of the project, but are indirectly related to performing the project

• Sunk cost is money that has been spent in the past; when deciding what projects to invest in or continue, you should not include sunk costs

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Basic Principles of Cost Management (continued)

• Learning curve theory states that when many items are produced repetitively, the unit cost of those items decreases in a regular pattern as more units are produced

• Reserves are dollars included in a cost estimate to mitigate cost risk by allowing for future situations that are difficult to predict– Contingency reserves allow for future situations that may

be partially planned for (sometimes called known unknowns) and are included in the project cost baseline

– Management reserves allow for future situations that are unpredictable (sometimes called unknown unknowns)

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Cost Estimating

• Project managers must take cost estimates seriously if they want to complete projects within budget constraints

• It’s important to know the types of cost estimates, how to prepare cost estimates, and typical problems associated with IT cost estimates

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Cost Management Plan

• A cost management plan is a document that describes how the organization will manage cost variance on the project

• A large percentage of total project costs are often labor costs, so project managers must develop and track estimates for labor

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Cost Control

• Project cost control includes:– Monitoring cost performance– Ensuring that only appropriate project changes

are included in a revised cost baseline– Informing project stakeholders of authorized

changes to the project that will affect costs• Many organizations around the globe have

problems with cost control

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What Is Project Quality?

• The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) defines quality as “the degree to which a set of inherent characteristics fulfills requirements” (ISO9000:2000)

• Other experts define quality based on:

– Conformance to requirements: the project’s processes and products meet written specifications

– Fitness for use: a product can be used as it was intended

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What Is Project Quality Management?• Project quality management ensures that the project

will satisfy the needs for which it was undertaken• Processes include:

– Quality planning: identifying which quality standards are relevant to the project and how to satisfy them

– Quality assurance: periodically evaluating overall project performance to ensure the project will satisfy the relevant quality standards

– Quality control: monitoring specific project results to ensure that they comply with the relevant quality standards

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What Is Project Quality Management?• Project quality management ensures that the project

will satisfy the needs for which it was undertaken• Processes include:

– Quality planning: identifying which quality standards are relevant to the project and how to satisfy them

– Quality assurance: periodically evaluating overall project performance to ensure the project will satisfy the relevant quality standards

– Quality control: monitoring specific project results to ensure that they comply with the relevant quality standards

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Project Quality Management Summary

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Quality Assurance• Quality assurance includes all the activities related to

satisfying the relevant quality standards for a project– Another goal of quality assurance is continuous quality improvement

• Benchmarking generates ideas for quality improvements by comparing specific project practices or product characteristics to those of other projects or products within or outside the performing organization

• A quality audit is a structured review of specific quality management activities that help identify lessons learned that could improve performance on current or future projects – Perfomed by in-house auditors or third parties

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Quality Control• Although one of the main goals of QC is to

improve quality, its main outcomes are:– Acceptance decisions- are the products/services

acceptable or should they be rejected and rework is then necessary

– Rework – action taken to bring rejected items into compliance with products specs. Can be very expensive

– Process adjustments – correct or prevent further quality problems based on quality control measurements (purchase faster server if response time is too slow)

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