Ch 4: Project Management

What are the 5 steps to project management

Identify the different ways to structure projects
Understand various ways to track project progress
Determine the critical path for project
Find the slack for each activity of a project
Demonstrate how to reduce the length of a project

series of activities (using time and money) for a major output that require a significant period of time to perform

project

something that takes time and money to complete; part of a project

activity

the planning, scheduling, and controlling of resources (labor, equipment, materials) to meet the technical, cost, and time constraints of a project

project management

What are some examples of project management (4)

Construction and renovation
Microsoft Windows 11 Project
Ford Model Redesigns
Test Preparation

What are the 4 general types of projects?

Product change
Process change
Research and development
Alliance and Partnership

What are the 3 basic degrees of change for projects (from more change to less change)

Breakthrough projects (new products and processes)
Platform projects (additional products or upgrades)
Derivative projects (incremental change to product)

What is an example of breakthrough products

EV cars

What is an example of platform projects

F250 trucks

What is an example of a derivative project

iphone 16 from the 15

goal setting, project definition, and team organization

planning

scheduling and controlling parts of project managemet

execution

What are the two high level activities for project management

planning and execution

What are the 3 types of project structure?

Pure project
Functional project
Matrix project

self contained team works full time on the product (not common in US)

pure product structure

responsibility for the project lies within each functional area of the firm; employees from that area work on the project, usually only part time (US used this most during industrial revolution)

functional project structure

a blend of pure and functional project structures; people from different functional areas work on the project, possibly only part time

matrix project structure

What are the advantages of the pure project structure? (4)

PM has full authority
Team members report to one boss
Shortened communication lines
Team pride, motivation, and commitment are high

What are the disadvantages of the pure project structure? (4)

Duplication of resources
Organizational goals and policies ignored
Lack of technology transfer
Team members have no functional area home

What are the advantages of the functional project structure? (4)

Team members can work on mult projects
Technical expertise maintained within functional area (even if team members leave project)
Functional area is a home after project completion
Critical mass of specialized functional area experts creates synergistic solutions to project technical problems

What are the disadvantages of the functional project structure? (3)

Aspects of project that are not directly related are ignored
Team motivation is weak
Needs of client are secondhand

What are the advantages of the matrix project structure? (5)

Improved communication between functional division
PM is responsible for success/fail
Duplication of resources minimized
Team members remain in functional home after project
Policies of parent org remain intact

What are the disadvantages of the matrix project structure? (3)

Two bosses (functional manager over PM)
Project failure risk is high (PM cant negotiate across functional zones)
Sub optimization high risk

a written description of the objectives to be achieved

statement of work

a further subdivision of a project- usually shorter than several months and performed by a single group or organization

task

a group of activities combined to be assignable to a single organizational unit

work package

specific events in the life of the project

project milestone

defines the hierarchy of project tasks, subtasks, and work packages

work breakdown structure

pieces of work that consume time

activities

a project is made up of a sequence of activities that form a network representing a project; this sequence is mapped using:

network planning models

the path that takes the LONGEST time through the network of activities

critical path

What does CPM stand for

Critical path method

Why does the CPM use the longest path?

there is no benefit shortening a path that does not control the overall project time (must stop things that slow the project down)

What are the 4 steps to the critical path method of network planning (CPM)

Identify each activity to be done and estimate how long it will take
Determine the required sequence and construct a network diagram
Determine the critical path
Determine the early start/finish and the LATE start finish schedule

slack =

Late start - Early start

slack means that the work is:

already fast enough

The ___ and ___ points are always where you want to make a change because they are always on the critical path

start and end

If both events happen at the same time and both have no slack, then they must

be changed at the same time to stay equal

extends the CPM model to consider the trade off between time required to complete an activity and the total project cost; goal is to reduce overall duration

time cost model (project crashing)

What are the 4 steps in Project Crashing

Make CPM network diagram
Determine cost per unit of time to expedite each activity
Complete the critical path
Shorten the critical path at the point where costs are lowest

What is the goal of project crashing?

reduce overall duration

Cost per unit time = (abbreviated)

(CC-NC) / (NT-CT)

CC means

crash cost

CT means

Crash time

NC means

Normal Cost

NT means

Normal Time

Cost per unit time = (written out)

(Crash cost - normal cost) / (Crash time - normal time)

We choose to crash the activity to shorten by the cost if and only if:

that activity is on the constraining critical path

Only make changes by ___ time for each crashing

1 unit of time

After each time of crashing, you must determine the critical path because

it will change as you shorten the time

If there are resources left to crash but the last crash would not reduce overall project time:

dont crash

technique for measuring project progress in an objective manner; has the ability to combine measurements of scope schedule, and cost in a project; provides a method for evaluating the relative success of a project at a point in time

Earned Value Management (EVM)

What are the 3 essential features of EVM (earned value management)

Project plan that identifies activities to be accomplished (budget)
Valuation of each activity work
Predefined earning or costing rules to quantify the accomplishment of work

What are the 3 variables that are graphed on a EVM chart

Budgeted cost of work schedule
Actual cost
Budgeted work performance

The combined view of an EVM gives an overview of project performance in terms of:

the orignial plan

The Basic EVM chart is a ___ graph used for determining if a project is ___

bar, behind schedule

Schedule Variance (SV) =

BCWP - BCWS

Schedule Performance Index (SPI )

BCWP / BCWS

SPI < 1 means the project is:

behind schedule

SPI = 1 means the project is:

on time

SPI > 1 means the project is:

ahead of schedule

Cost Variance (CV) =

BCWP - AC

Cost Performance Index (CPI) =

BCWP / AC

CPI < 1 means the project costs are:

higher than planned (bad)

CPI = 1 means the project costs are:

on target (exactly as planned)

CPI > 1 means the project costs are:

lower than planned (good)