PROJECT MANAGEMENT Set - II

Q1. Write a short note on the following: a. Work Breakdown Structure b. Estimation Approach Ans.: Work Breakdown Structure: A work breakdown structure (WBS) in project management and systems engineering, is a tool used to define and group a project's discrete work elements in a way that helps organize and define the total work scope of the project. A work breakdown structure element may be a product, data, a service, or any combination. A WBS also provides the necessary framework for detailed cost estimating and control along with providing guidance for schedule development and control. Additionally the WBS is a dynamic tool and can be revised and updated as needed by the project manager The Work Breakdown Structure is a tree structure, which shows a subdivision of effort required to achieve an objective; for example aprogram, project, and contract. In a project or contract, the WBS is developed by starting with the end objective and successively subdividing it into manageable components in terms of size, duration, and responsibility (e.g., systems, subsystems, components, tasks, subtasks, and work packages) which include all steps necessary to achieve the objective. The Work Breakdown Structure provides a common framework for the natural development of the overall planning and control of a contract and is the basis for dividing work into definable increments from which the statement of work can be developed and technical, schedule, cost, and labor hour reporting can be established. A work breakdown structure permits summing of subordinate costs for tasks, materials, etc., into their successively higher level parent tasks, materials, etc. For each element of the work breakdown structure, a description of the task to be performed is generated. [3] This technique (sometimes called a System Breakdown Structure ) is used to define and organize the total scope of a project. The WBS is organised around the primary products of the project (or planned outcomes) instead of the work needed to produce the products (planned actions). Since the planned outcomes are the desired ends of the project, they form a relatively stable set of categories in which the costs of the planned actions needed to achieve them can be collected. A well-designed WBS makes it easy to assign each project activity to one and only one terminal element of the WBS. In addition to its function in cost accounting, the WBS also helps map requirements from one level of system specification to another, for example a requirements cross reference matrix mapping functional requirements to high level or low level design documents. ESTIMATION APPROACH: Estimation Approaches There are two types of estimation approaches: Bottom up approach The bottom up approach consists of the following Project manager first divides the product under development into major modules Each module is subdivided into smaller units Project manager defines a standard for manufacturing and self-testing as

o Identify modules in the system and classify them as simple, medium or complex. o As much as possible, use either the provided standard definitions or definitions from past projects o If a project specific baseline exists, get the average build effort for simple/medium/complex (S/M/C) programs from the baseline. o If a project specific baseline does not exist, use project type, technology, language and other attributes to look for similar projects in process database. Use data from these projects to define the build effort of S/M/C program. o If no similar project exist in the process database and no project specific baseline exist refine the estimates based on project specific factors. Top-Down Approach The top down approach consists of the following Get the estimate of the total size of the product in function points Using the productivity data from the project specific capability baseline from the general process capability baseline, or from similar projects, fix the productivity level for the project Obtain the overall effort estimate from the productivity and size estimates. Use effort distribution data from the process capability baselines or similar projects to estimate the effort for the various phases. Refine the estimates taking project specific factors into consideration. Q2. List and define in Brief all the tools for Post Implementation Review. Ans.: Tools for Post Implementation Review Completing a project is not the same thing as ending the project management process. Simply finishing doesnt ensure that the organization benefits from the projects outcome. For example, after completing a yearlong project to establish a new quality management process for your organization, you want to make sure that what you set out to do was actually achieved. Your objective wasnt to simply deliver a process but rather, to deliver the process that addresses the specific business need you intended to meet. This is the real measure of success. To make the most of the benefits that the project can deliver, however, you also need to check to see if further improvements will deliver still greater benefit. You also need to ensure that the lessons learned during the project are not forgotten. You can more effectively design and execute future projects when you take advantage of lessons learned through experience of previous projects. So how can you properly measure a projects success, and work toward continuous improvement? This is where the process of Post-Implementation Review (PIR) is helpful. It helps you answer the following key questions: Did the project fully solve the problem that it was designed to address? Can we take things further, and deliver even bigger benefits? What lessons did we learn that we can apply to future projects?

The key to a successful PIR is recognizing that the time spent on the project is just a small part of an ongoing time-line.

For people and organizations that will be working on similar projects in the future, it makes sense to learn as many lessons as possible, so that mistakes are not repeated in future projects. And for organizations benefiting from the project, it makes sense to ensure that all desired benefits have been realized, and to understand what additional benefits can be achieved. A good time to start thinking about the Post Implementation Review is when members of the project team remember the most shortly after the project has been delivered, and when most of the problems have been ironed-out. Start to list ideas and observations while they are still fresh in peoples minds. However, to adequately assess the quality of the implementation and complete this process, youll need to wait long enough for the changes caused by the project to truly take effect. Here are some tips for conducting the PIR: Ask for openness Emphasize the importance of being open and honest in your assessment, and make sure that people arent in any way punished for being open. Be objective Describe what has happened in objective terms, and then focus on improvements. Document success Document practices and procedures that led to project successes, and make recommendations for applying them to similar future projects. Look with hindsight Pay attention to the unknowns (now known!) that may have increased implementation risks. Develop a way of looking out for these in future projects. Be future-focused Remember, the purpose is to focus on the future, not to assign blame for what happened in the past. This is not the time to focus on any one person or team. Look at both positives and negatives Identify positive as well as negative lessons.

There are various tools for post project implementation review that may be considered for improving and developing processes of the project. Reports are prepared on the same which becomes the basis for all future discussion. Some of the tools that may be considered for post implementation review are a) Final Product Evaluation: This may be done through regularly organized meetings and quality reviews. b) Outstanding Project Work Evaluation: All outstanding works of a project can be reviewed to check its output quality, its performance compared to planned and evaluate the same. c) Project Review: Review questionnaire may become important if the reviews are to be structured and group discussion may be initiated depending upon the points to be discussed d) Process Evaluation: Evaluation of any process is one of the key issues of the project Q4. Write a short note on the following: a. Professional Responsibility b. Business Orientation c. Personnel Productivity d. Conflict Management

Ans.: Professional Responsibility: With increasing competition, organizations have to finds new ways of customer retention and adopt innovative measures to increase their customer base. However, one common requirement is productivity improvement. Professional responsibility is very much expected by customers. They want to ensure that the project managers and executives take the baseline responsibility and follow all the codes of conduct. Managerial and executive productivity are measured with respect to zero defects and overall team performance. Installing Development Methodologies and Quality Systems is the responsibility of managers. Another area of Professional Responsibility for managers is reduction in process cycle time. This is defined as the total time taken to complete an entire single process. It is also termed as turnaround time. A few examples of high cycle time activities are: a) Procurement Time: This is for outsourced software and hardware. There are multiple factors which go into a procurement process. Activities like identification of the requirements, their details, verification and authorization, inputs from the company, the start of the activities by the vendors are all parts of this process. Due to extreme dependencies on various parties, procurement cycle has a high turnaround time b) Processing Time: This refers to the time lag which goes into and between each of the processes mentioned above. c) Order Confirmation Time: This refers to the time taken by the company as well as the vendors to take a final call on a particular discussion. Business Orientation: Business Orientations is a term used by Jaroslav Tyc in his book Business Orientations published at www.LuLu.com. Business Orientation is the basic offer addressed by a business to its customers. The author affirms that there can only be four basic forms of such an offer: 1. The Expert (who provides individual solution for his clients) 2. The Product (product makers invention sold on the general market) 3. The Self-Service (an access to the self-satisfaction of customers needs 4. The Commodity (the basic resources) 5. The main point is that any other Business Orientation is just a mix of these 4 basic forms. Likewise all the mathematical calculations are based on only four basic mathematical operations. The author compares the 4 Business Orientations from many various standpoints and shows how the 4 Business Orientations are revealed in economic history, business competition, development of economy sectors and management decisions. He also shows how the quartet of Business Orientations corresponds to other basic category quartets like 4 mathematical operations, 4 types of markets, 4 forms of business environment protection etc. Personnel Productivity: Personnel productivity is an important parameter which determines project performance. Personnel productivity can be at various levels right from top management to a project team member. Productivity at the junior level can be assumed and controlled only if all other supporting elements of business are well balanced. Higher productivity cannot be expected if they are not motivated enough. The ways in which you can boost their productivity is given below. They can be motivated through:

a) Sufficient content of development activities. The work should be interesting and challenging enough. It should bring a sense of satisfaction and achievement. b) Favorable working condition. Productivity decreases if the environment is not supportive. The environmental conditions should make one feel comfortable to stay at the workplace c) Proper delegation of activities. It is important to have a clear line of authority and balanced delegation of work. d) Timely reward and recognition. Acknowledging a good task or work always boost morale of the resource. e) Adequate availability of resources. If adequate resources are not present, it would lead to frustration and finally loss of focus and commitment. f) Properly planned system of quality control and process control. If the process is not supportive and flexible, even the best efforts will not be enough to get tolerable quality. g) Adequate maintenance support for hardware and software. These ensure that no work gets held up on this account efficiencies bring in productivity and time lag decreases it. As far as productivity as well as quality is concerned, especially where projects are concerned, it is good to follow Demings philosophy, which states create conditions for performance, do not use rhetoric, pay him well and give the pride of working. Conflict Management: Conflict management involves implementing strategies to limit the negative aspects of conflict and to increase the positive aspects of conflict at a level equal to or higher than where the conflict is taking place. It is possible to manage conflicts in one of the following ways a. Avoid the issue b. Approach the problem in such a way as to obtain the solution quickly c. Discuss and share the problem d. Resolve any misunderstanding by means of a discussion among project members e. Work on a common solution technique that will lead to a win win situation f. Emphasize on collaboration Q5. Comment on the following a. Importance of DMAINS in project management Cycle b. Knowledge areas of project management Ans.: Importance of DMAIS in project management cycle The projectised mantras of production management can be broadly identified as Define Measure, Analyze, Improve, Standardize (DMAIS). These projectised mantras help in identifying, evaluating, and selecting the right improvement solutions for

managing a project. The mantras also help in identifying the critical issues thus assisting the organization to adapt to the changes introduced through the implementation of different solutions. The phases associated with each projectised mantra of production management are: 1. Define: benchmark, customer requirement, process flow map, quality function deployment, project management plan 2. Measure: data collection, defect metrics, sampling 3. Analysis: cause and effect, failure modes and effect analysis, decision and risk analysis,root cause analysis, reliability analysis 4. Improve: design of experiments, modeling, and robust design 5. Standardize: control charts, time series, procedural adherence, performance management, preventive activities displays the various phases of DMIAS. b. Knowledge areas of project management 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. There are nine knowledge areas in Project Management: Project Project Project Project Project Project Project Project Project Integration Management Scope Management Time Management Cost Management Quality Management Human Resource Management Communications Management Risk Management Procurement Management

Each of the nine knowledge areas contains the processes that need to be accomplished within its discipline in order to achieve an effective project management program. Each of these processes also falls into one of the five basic process groups, creating a matrix structure such that every process can be related to one knowledge area and one process group. Q6. What are the various SCMo Soft wares available in project management? Explain each in brief. Ans.: The process documentation system is intranet based to provide immediate access to current, up-to-date process documentation. The system allows users to navigate through graphical structures to relevant documentation and processes which were created with the ARIS-Toolset. The content of the process documentation system includes the area supply chain management from the Odette Supply Chain Management Group. The system includes graphical process documentation, in the form of process chains, as well as the entire range of documentation related to the processes. The Process Documentation System gives, according to its objectives, an overview and a detailed view of the relevant processes for SCMo. The entry point in the documentations system is the model Process Overview SCMo. This model is the starting point for the navigation to other models. The navigation between models is done via the assignment symbol. The assignment symbol of a function / process Interface indicates that there is a link to another model. The linked / assigned models can be opened by double-clicking on the assignment symbol. This can be classified into two different navigations as shown in figure.

a) Vertical Navigation: The vertical navigation is the navigation on different levels. Starting on the work package level and going downwards into more detail, the first models of processes are found on the sub-process level. In the model Process Overview SCMo those processes are assigned to the functions on Level 2. In the models there can be assignments for some functions, e.g. for a Function Allocation Diagram or a sub-process that describes that function. These two examples are currently the models on the lowest level. b) Horizontal Navigation: The horizontal navigation is on the same level. Some processes have a link to other processes, which can be at the start or end or even in the process itself, when another process is imbedded in the process. Those links are represented by Process Interfaces. Microsoft has a team project management solution that enables project managers and their teams to collaborate on projects. The Microsoft Project 2002 products in these solutions are: 1. Microsoft Project Standard 2002 2. Microsoft Project Server 2002 3. Microsoft Project Server Client Access License (CAL) 2002. Support Software Having learnt the basics of application software, you would have a fair idea of how and to what extent project management processes could be automated. However, the challenge of making things work remains unchanged. While software vendors are confident of making it work, two yawning gaps still remain: 1. Business processes which are not covered in such software 2. Integration of multi vendor supported software applications The enterprise is normally in a dilemma whether to look at the same vendors to support such customisation or not. This normally works out too expensive for their comfort or within their tight budgets. Several software vendors have seized the opportunity with offerings that substantially fill these gaps effectively at a fraction of the costs quoted by the major vendors. The other carrot which these vendors offer is a unilateral transfer of the facility to customise themselves which is seen as a huge advantage. The various support software that may be used for managing projects are: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. ARROW FEDORA VITAL PILIN MS EXCHANGE SERVER 2003

The ARROW Project It is a consortia of institutional repository solution, combining open source and proprietary Software .Arrow is preferred support software because it: Provides a platform for promoting research output in the ARROW context Safeguards digital information Gathers an institutions research output into one place Provides consistent ways of finding similar objects Allows information to be preserved over the long term Allows information from many repositories to be gathered and searched in one step Enables resources to be shared, while respecting access constraints Enables effective communication and collaboration between researchers The vision of project ARROW: The ARROW project will identify and test software or solutions to support best practice institutional digital repositories comprising eprints, digital theses and electronic publishing. ARROW project wanted to be a solution for storing any digital output. Their initial focus was on print equivalents such as thesis and journal articles among others. It provided solution that could offer on-going technical support and development past the end of the funding period of the project. Fedora ARROW wanted a robust, well architected underlying platform and a flexible objectoriented data model to be able to have persistent identifiers down to the level of individual data streams. It accommodates the content model to be able to be version independent. Since the beginning of the project ARROW has worked actively and closely with Fedora and the Fedora Community. The ARROW projects Technical Architect is a member of Fedora Advisory Board and sits on Fedora Development Group. This association is reinforced by VTLS Inc. VTLS President is a member of Fedora Advisory Board and VITAL Lead Developer sits on Fedora Development Group VITAL VITAL refers to ARROW specified software created and fully supported by VTLS Inc. built on top of Fedora. It currently provides: 1. VITAL Manager 2. VITAL Portal 3. VITAL Access Portal 4. VALET Web Self-Submission Tool 5. Batch Loader Tool 6. Handles Server (CNRI) 7. Google Indexing and Exposure 8. SRU / SRW Support 9. VITAL architecture overview VITAL is part of creative development of ARROW institutional repositories. VITAL has the following features: 1. Inclusion of multimedia and creative works produced in Australian universities 2. Limited exposure nationally or internationally 3. Addition of annotation capability 4. Inclusion of datasets and other research output not easily provided in any other publishing channel 5. Being developed in conjunction with the DART (ARCHER) Project 6. Exploration of the research-teaching nexus tools that will allow value added services for repositories

7. Integration with or development of new tools that will allow value added services for repositories (for instance the creation of e-portfolios or CVs of research output of individual academics) PILIN Persistent Identifiers and Linking Infrastructure There has been a growing realisation that sustainable identifier infrastructure is required to deal with the vast amount of digital assets being produced and stored within universities. PILIN is a particular challenge for e-research communities where massive amounts of data are being generated without any means of managing this data over any length of time. The broad objectives are to: 1. Support adoption and use of persistent identifiers and shared persistent identifier management services by the project stakeholders 2. Plan for a sustainable, shared identifier management infrastructure that enables persistence of identifiers and associated services over archival lengths of time 3. Deploy a Worldwide Site Consolidation Solution for Exchange Server 2003 at Microsoft 4. Add Picture 5. Use Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 to consolidate more than 70 messaging sites worldwide into seven physical locations In this context, let us look at Microsoft Model Enterprises (MME). Microsoft Model Enterprises (MME) Objectives Maximising the number of management tasks performed centrally Decreasing the number of sites through the consolidation of the smaller locations into a smaller number of RDCs Reducing the total number of infrastructure and application servers Standardising infrastructure and devices worldwide Solution Consolidation of 75 tail sites into 6 regional data centers (RDCs) using local storage area networks (SANs) Key Focus Areas Proactive, detailed monitoring and analysis of WAN bandwidth utilisation and latency Effective but flexible approach to project planning, scheduling, and cross-group coordination Coordination and control of deployment of successive pre-release versions of Office System 2003 (including Outlook 2003) Business Benefits Four percent overall direct cost savings Key enabler of the Microsoft ME initiative which through fiscal year 2003 has produced millions in overall consolidation savings including USE IT Benefits Improved server utilisation Improved server management Strengthened security Increased reliability