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Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781567264579 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Berrett-Koehler Publishers |
| Publication date: | 12/01/2001 |
| Series: | Project Management Essential Library |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 122 |
| File size: | 6 MB |
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Project Planning and Scheduling
By Gregory T. Haugan
Management Concepts Press
Copyright © 2002 Management Concepts, Inc.All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-56726-457-9
CHAPTER 1
Introduction to Project Planning and Scheduling
Many people and organizations do not manage time well. If time is managed well, other factors are much easier to manage, and projects will be more effective and efficient. Lack of time management can and probably will result in failure of the project. Time management, therefore, is crucial to project success. In fact, many years of project management experience have demonstrated over and over that an integrated project plan and schedule is the single most important factor in project success.
DEFINITIONS
The world of project management is full of jargon and acronyms. The purpose of this section is to provide a set of definitions of the most common project management terms used frequently in this book. Most of these definitions are commonly used in the project management field and are also included in similar form in the Glossary of the Project Management Institute's Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, known as the PMBOK® Guide. This document and its role in project management are discussed later in the section Planning, Scheduling, and the PMBOK® Guide.
THE PURPOSE OF PLANNING
The dictionary has several definitions of "plan" and "planning." For our purposes, the most relevant one is: "any detailed method, formulated beforehand, for doing or making something." "Planning" is the process of establishing objectives and determining beforehand the best way of achieving those objectives. The dictionary also lists the word "project" as a synonym for "plan" and goes on to state: "project implies the use of enterprise or imagination in formulating an ambitious or extensive plan (they've begun work on the housing project)." Also, according to the dictionary, the word "plan" is derived from a French word meaning "earlier." The key words here are "beforehand" and "earlier." A plan is something you prepare prior to the work to achieve specific objectives.
The same dictionary defines the noun "schedule" as "a timed plan for a procedure or project" and the verb "schedule" as "to appoint or plan for a certain time or date."
Planning is therefore the process of determining in advance the work to be done on a project, and scheduling is assigning specific times or dates to the work. Why a project manager should plan is another question. Three answers follow:
1. Koontz and O'Donnell explain it very concisely: "Planning is to a large extent the job of making things happen that would not otherwise occur." They go on to state: "Planning is thus an intellectual process, the conscious determination of courses of action, the basing of decisions on purpose, facts, and considered estimates."
2. The Cheshire Cat in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland has another, but similar response:
"Cheshire-Puss, would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"
"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said the Cat.
"I don't much care where —" said Alice.
"Then it doesn't matter which way you go," said the Cat.
"— As long as I get somewhere," Alice added as an explanation.
"Oh, you're sure to do that," said the Cat, "if you only walk long enough."
Alice felt that this could not be denied.
Like Koontz and O'Donnell, the Cat suggests that if you want to get somewhere in particular, you need to know where it is and prepare a plan to achieve it.
3. A plan provides the basis for control. Without a plan, there is no basis for determining when variances occur and no basis for any corrective action. If it makes no difference which path Alice takes, then no control is needed, and eventually she will get "somewhere."
There are three purposes of planning: (1) to think out the steps that should be taken to achieve an objective, (2) to give direction to the persons working on the project to help ensure that they are synchronized in working toward the same objective, and (3) to provide a basis for identifying variances so that you can take corrective action when necessary.
However, there are several reasons that more and better planning and scheduling are not performed:
1. Laziness: It is often more fun or interesting to start working than to sit down and plan.
2. To avoid accountability: If there is plan, there is no basis for measuring performance.
3. Inability: Some people have difficulty thinking out the logical steps in a process.
4. Ignorance: Some people may not know how to plan and schedule.
The first two items are management and internal discipline problems, and the third is a characteristic of some otherwise valuable project team member that needs to be worked around. The fourth is the purpose of this book — to provide a basis for developing plans and schedules.
When people are part of a planning effort, they develop ownership of at least a part of the results. This internalization is constructive and, perhaps more than any other single activity, builds a strong project team with a desire to have a successful project.
The work breakdown structure, Gantt charts, and activity networks are the key tools used in the planning and scheduling of projects. These will be discussed in turn.
PLANNING AND SCHEDULING IN THE PROJECT MANAGEMENT PROCESS
Managing projects is a continuous process. Figure 1-1 illustrates the basic project management process. It focuses on achieving the project objectives within the project management triple constraint of time-cost-quality (performance).
Each of the ten steps has a specific output that is defined and documented. The steps are frequently iterative, that is, circumstances that arise in accomplishing later steps may require revision of an earlier step and subsequent repetition of all or part of the succeeding steps. This constant iteration and replanning characterize the day-to-day activities of the project manager and the project team.
The basic project management process has five phases or types of activities: initiation, planning, executing, controlling, and closing, as illustrated in Figure 1-1. This categorization emphasizes the importance of planning before extensive project work begins and of bringing the project to closure once all the work is done.
Because project management is a process with feedback loops, whenever the information system that collects the data for Step 6 and the analysis conducted during Step 7 indicate an adverse variance, the process is repeated for those portions of the project that are affected. This may include one or more steps of the planning phase and perhaps a rethinking of the initiation phase.
PLANNING, SCHEDULING, AND THE PMBOK® GUIDE
The lead in monitoring and documenting project management practices transitioned from the public to the private sector in the 1980s with the reductions in the space program, the end of the Cold War, and the rapid growth of the public sector's awareness of the importance of formal project management.
The Project Management Institute (PMI®), a professional association of more than 70,000 members, through its conferences, chapter meetings, monthly magazine PMNetwork, and quarterly journal, provides a forum for the growth and development of project management practices. In August 1987, PMI® published a landmark document, The Project Management Body of Knowledge, which was followed in 1996 by A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge. This was last updated in 2000. The PMBOK® Guide reflects the 30 years of experience gained in project management since the seminal work of the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), other government organizations, and the aerospace industry in the 1960s.
The PMBOK® Guide documents proven traditional practices that are widely applied as well as knowledge of innovative and advanced practices that have seen more limited use but are generally accepted. The material in this book is consistent with the material contained in the PMBOK® Guide.
The PMBOK® Guide is not intended to be a "how-to" document, but instead provides a structured overview and basic reference to the concepts of the profession of project management. The PMBOK® Guide focuses on the project management processes. Planning and scheduling are addressed in the PMBOK® Guide in two sections: Project Integration Management and Project Time Management.
CHAPTER 2Concepts and Tools of Planning and Scheduling
The term "planning" is so broad, as reflected in the dictionary definition mentioned earlier, that it invites miscommunication when referring to the activity. Dr. Robert N. Anthony analyzed this issue and suggests a framework for discussing and analyzing planning and control systems. He describes three types of planning that occur in an organization: strategic planning, management control, and operational control.
Strategic planning is defined as the process of deciding on objectives of the organization, changes to these objectives, the resources to attain these objectives, and the policies that are to govern the acquisition, use, and disposition of these resources. This type of planning is done at the upper levels of the organization and guides the direction of the organization as a whole.
The next type of planning, which is associated with the ongoing administration of the enterprise, is called management control (as a simplified version of "management planning and control"). Management control is the process by which managers ensure that resources are obtained and used effectively and efficiently to accomplish the organization's objectives. The term "control" is not used in the narrow sense of ensuring that operations conform to plans, but rather that resources are used effectively and efficiently. This type of planning includes formulating budgets, establishing advertising campaigns, deciding on plant rearrangement, formulating decision rules for operational control, deciding on projects, and planning projects.
Management control systems are constructed around a financial core in the operation of a business, as dollars are the common denominator for the heterogeneous elements of inputs and outputs. Projects fall within Anthony's definition of management control systems but also are subject to the triple constraint of resources, time, and performance.
The third type of planning is called operational control, again as a contraction of the term "operational planning and control." Operational control is the process of ensuring that specific activities are carried out effectively and efficiently. It includes such activities as controlling hiring, implementing policies, controlling placement of advertising, controlling inventory, and developing production schedules. It assumes that exact data will be available and is deterministic as compared to management control, which uses approximations.
Operational control system data often consist of non-monetary metrics such as number of items or hours, pounds of waste, machine-minutes, and person-minutes. There are elements of operational control in many project activities, especially in non-labor categories. Schedule control has many aspects of operational control, especially as practiced in some organizations after the schedule is "baselined."
In our context, project and program planning fits under management control, but with some overlap, as shown in the Venn diagram in Figure 2-1.
Project planning and scheduling is not an exact process, like a production facility turning out thousands of identical products each day, although certain activities can be planned and managed operationally. For the most part, our metrics are not precise, all projects are unique, and management judgment is required for planning and control.
Projects must relate to the overall strategy of the organization, and the project can affect the strategy and in turn be affected by changes in strategies. Our goal is to complete the project successfully and deliver the product, service, or result to our customers for their use and benefit.
Figure 2-2 presents a hierarchy of the major planning and control systems.
STRATEGIC PLANNING
Strategic planning is defined as the process of deciding on objectives of the organization, changes to these objectives, the resources to attain these objectives, and the policies that are to govern the acquisition, use, and disposition of these resources.
There are many different types of strategic plans — probably as many as there are organizations that do strategic planning. The common denominators are the display format, which is usually a written document, and the goal of providing long-term guidance to the organization.
Applied Strategic Planning Model
Applied strategic planning is the process by which the leaders of the organization envision its future and develop the necessary procedures and operations to achieve that future. To be effective, the leaders must ensure that the strategic plans become the basis for decision-making and management decisions at all levels.
Figure 2-3 presents a generic version of the applied strategic planning model as presented by Goodstein, Nolan, and Pfeiffer.
The steps in the process can be briefly described as follows:
1. Planning to plan: Clarify expectations, obtain management commitment, establish the planning team.
2. Values review: Establish stakeholder values and the culture and philosophy of the organization.
3. Mission formulation: Develop a statement of what business the organization is in or plans to be in, for whom the organization performs this business, how it fills this function, and why this organization exists.
4. Strategic business modeling: Define in detail the paths by which the organization's mission is to be accomplished, critical success factors, strategic thrusts, and supporting culture.
These steps are all related to the organization's future and where it wants to go. The next steps determine what the organization's capabilities are and what they need to improve:
5. Performance audit: Develop a clear understanding of the organization's current performance and perform a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis.
6. Gap analysis: Identify the gaps between the current performance of the organization and the desired performance required for the successful realization of the strategic business model direction. For each gap that cannot be closed by a specific strategy, the planning team must return to the strategic business modeling step and rethink the model until the gap can be closed.
Once the strategic business modeling, performance audit, and gap analyses are in balance, the next steps can proceed. This set of steps represents a reality check to ensure that the desires of the organization can be met:
7. Integrating action plans: A master business plan must be developed for each line of business, and each organizational unit of the business must develop detailed management control plans and operational control plans based on the overall organizational plan.
8. Risk management: Every business is subject to internal and external factors that require contingency planning or risk analysis and planning; the key internal and external risks must be identified, as well as action steps to be taken if the risks arise.
9. Implementation: The concurrent initiation of the various management control plans at all levels of the organization and their monitoring by the strategic planning team and upper management.
Enterprise Resource Planning
Enterprise resource planning, or ERP, is an ambitious activity that attempts to integrate all departments and functions across a company onto a single computer system that can serve all those different departments' particular needs. ERP is a logical extension of manufacturing resource planning (MRP) systems, which have been around for years.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Project Planning and Scheduling by Gregory T. Haugan. Copyright © 2002 Management Concepts, Inc.. Excerpted by permission of Management Concepts Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Table of Contents
Contents
Foreword,Preface,
CHAPTER 1 Introduction to Project Planning and Scheduling,
CHAPTER 2 Concepts and Tools of Planning and Scheduling,
CHAPTER 3 Steps in Project Planning and Scheduling,
CHAPTER 4 Advanced Planning and Scheduling Considerations,
CHAPTER 5 Summary and Checklist,
Bibliography,
Index,