ME3101 / ME3102

Mechanical Systems Design

Chapter 9
Project Planning and Management
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Project Planning and Management
Welcome to Project Planning and Management!

Instructor: Mr. Goh Seach Chyr (Ernest)
Email: ernest.goh@nus.edu.sg
Tel: 6516 2553

Teaching plan for Project Planning and Management:
1 hour lecture (this week, week 3)
1 hour classroom exercise (attend one session in the next 5 weeks)

Assessment:
1) IVLE Quiz after the lecture
2) Team worksheet during or after the classroom exercise
This assessment constitutes CA3, which has a weightage of xx% of the total
marks for this module.

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Project Planning and Management
Lesson plan for lecture and classroom exercise

Week Date Teams to attend
Week 3 27 Aug 2014 Mass lecture (all teams to attend)
Week 4 3 Sep 2014
Week 5 10 Sep 2014
Week 6 17 Sep 2014
Week 7 1 Oct 2014
Week 8 8 Oct 2014
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Project Planning and Management
What is a project?

A unique effort to:
accomplish specific work scope,
using defined resources,
within defined schedule.
SCOPE
Log in to IVLE and answer Question 1. Continue to answer the other questions
as we go along.
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Project Planning and Management
Application to ME3101/2:

Complete product life cycle consists of
phases such as:
market analysis
design
prototyping
testing
marketing and selling
etc.
Each phase is a project (scope,
schedule, resources).

APPLY PROJECT MANAGEMENT!
ME3101 (Aug 2014 Nov 2014)
ME3102 (Dec 2014 Mar 2015)
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Project Planning and Management
Three phases of project management:
DEFINE &
ORGANISE
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Project Planning and Management
Define & organise

Define the project with:
1) Statement of objectives
2) Flexibility matrix

3) Major deliverables
4) Project description
Concise
More detailed
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Project Planning and Management
Define & organise

Statement of objectives should be:
complete (scope schedule resources)
concise (< 50 words)
clear (avoid jargon)

Example: To design and fabricate the components and assemble a 1:2 scale
model of a motorcycle enclosure suitable for wind tunnel testing by 20 Mar 2015
with a budget of $500

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Project Planning and Management
Define & organise

Flexibility matrix

Flexibility
Least Moderate Most
Schedule
Scope
Resources
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Project Planning and Management
Define & organise

Major deliverables

Major deliverables should be tangible, with completion criteria and dates if
applicable
Develop the deliverables in consultation with the sponsor and end users

Example:
1) CAD files of sensor enclosure by 14 Nov 2014
2) Bill of materials by 14 Nov 2014
3) Components fabricated according to CAD files by 12 Jan 2015
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Project Planning and Management
Define & organise

Project description

Depending on the nature of the project, this document may include the
following:
Purpose, target customers, impact assessment (risk of doing vs. not doing),
cost/benefit analysis, scope in terms of what the project will and will not
include, completion criteria (or acceptance criteria for the sponsor), start and
end dates, staffing, hardware and software required.

Length varies depending on the complexity of the project but several pages is
typical.

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Project Planning and Management
Define & organise

For ME3102:
Sponsor: the company (staff) requesting the (in-house) project
Project manager: student appointed/elected/volunteered as the team leader
Core team: all team members
Extended teams: NUS technicians, sub-contractors

For other projects in general, the sponsor is the one providing the official
backing. Usually also appoints the project manager.

Sponsor:
Approves the scope and schedule
Obtains resources
Provides strategic direction
Approves changes
Sets priorities and resolve conflicts
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Project Planning and Management
Three phases of project management:
DEFINE &
ORGANISE
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Project Planning and Management
Plan

The project plan consists of:
1) Work breakdown structure and ownership
2) Dependencies and Gantt chart
3) Risk analysis and risk management plan

Project management software may be used.

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Project Planning and Management
Plan

Work breakdown structure (WBS) and ownership.

Identify 4 7 major components of work (level 1 tasks)
For each level 1 task, breakdown into 2 or more level 2 tasks
Repeat the process until a task has
1 owner
A clear deliverable
Estimated 2 20 days duration
The estimated duration is credible
Can be tracked

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Project Planning and Management
Plan

Work breakdown structure example:

1. Buy materials and components
1.1 Find suppliers
1.2 Send out RFQs
2. Fabricate components
2.1 3D print external case
2.2 Machine internal chassis
3. Assemble prototype
3.1 Assemble chassis
3.2 Install off-the-shelf components onto chassis
3.3 Install wiring
4. Etc.
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Project Planning and Management
Plan

Ownership.

Each lowest level task must have one, and only one assigned owner.
Owner is not necessarily the doer.
Owner is responsible for ensuring that the work gets done to specifications,
within schedule and resource constraints.
Owners can be assisted by contributors, a matrix can be drawn:
Find
suppliers
3D print ext.
case
Machine int.
chassis
Ali Owner
contributor
Ben
contributor contributor
Owner
Chitra
contributor
Owner
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Project Planning and Management
Plan

In order for each lowest level task to be tracked, define its completion criteria
and thus a table as shown below, called the WBS Dictionary can be written.
WBS code Task name Completion criteria Owner
1.1 Find
suppliers
Supplier carrying the product and
able to ship to SG, contact person,
contact address found.
Ali
2.1 3D print
external case
All parts of the case printed, post
processed and tested to fit together
seamlessly.
Chitra
2.2 Machine
internal
chassis
All the internal chassis components
machined, degreased and tested to fit
together properly.
Ben
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Project Planning and Management
Plan

Dependencies and Gantt chart

Tasks are dependent on the completion or start of other tasks. Eg:
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Machine internal chassis
Assemble chassis
Collect datasheets of components
Design baseplate
The above show logical dependencies, not resource dependencies.
Start-start
Finish-start
Project Planning and Management
Plan

After logical dependencies drawn up, mark milestones (completion of
significant tasks)

From the logical dependencies, estimate the task durations, considering:
the person may devote only part of his time to the assigned task
waiting time
non-working days

to arrive at the Project Schedule.

The Project Schedule is then presented in a Gantt Chart

Tools:
Offline application: Gantt Project http://www.ganttproject.biz/
Online SAAS: AceProject http://www.aceproject.com/
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Project Planning and Management
Plan

Gantt Chart
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Project Planning and Management
Plan
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Project Planning and Management
Plan

The Gantt Chart allows us to see the Critical Path, the longest path from
Start to Finish.

Any delay in the tasks in the critical path delays the project.
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Project Planning and Management
Plan

Project management software is able to track manpower resources and
loading.

Assigning manpower resources to tasks in Gantt Project.

(For full instructions watch the video tutorial and read the Gantt Project
Handbook on IVLE)

Workload of each manpower resource is visible at a glance.

Provides basis for modifying the original plan (scope and schedule)
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Project Planning and Management
Plan

Modifying the plan, possible approaches:
Break/change logical dependencies, eg finish-start to start-start (with lag)
Break into sub-tasks and do in parallel
Use of new, more productive technology
Reassign people to critical tasks
Re-assign resources (under-loaded to over-loaded)
Sub-contract, hire temps
Negotiate scope or phased roll out
Buy off-the shelf components instead of making

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Project Planning and Management
Plan

Risk analysis & management.

Identify areas of high risk
Quantify risk factors
Develop risk management plans
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Project Planning and Management
Plan

Identify areas of high risk:

Schedule:
Tasks on critical path
Tasks with multiple predecessors
Start-start dependencies
Tasks reliant on external groups
Resource:
Tasks with only one person assigned
Tasks requiring special tools, venues, software, etc.
Tasks using scarce or large amount of resources
Scope:
Uncertainty of new technologies
Changing customer requirements
Extreme performance requirements
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Project Planning and Management
Plan

Quantify risk factors:
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Risk item Potential
impact
Likelihood of
occurrence
Difficulty of
timely detection
Overall
threat
Use a suitable scoring method to complete the above matrix.
Rely on experience, past history to assign scores.
Threats are prioritised and the most severe ones are tackled with risk
management plans.
Project Planning and Management
Plan

Develop risk management plans:

Prevention is better than cure. Hence, to ways to manage risk: preventive
action, contingency action.

Preventive actions reduce likelihood that the risk event will occur. Focus on
the causes of risk and take action to eliminate or mitigate the causes.

In spite preventive actions, the risk event still occurs. Triggers are the
mechanism for detecting the conditions/deviations that tells the team that
the event has occurred.

When the risk event occurs, take contingency action, purpose is to minimise
the impact of the risk event.
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Project Planning and Management
Plan

Develop risk management plans:

Draw up the risk management matrix as follows.

Owner is to ensure that the plan is implemented.
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Risk item Preventive
action
Contingency
action
Trigger Owner
Project Planning and Management
Three phases of project management:
DEFINE &
ORGANISE
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With defining and planning done, present to sponsor and higher management
for approval.

Freeze the Gantt chart to establish a baseline.

The next phase is the execution of the plan, with appropriate tracking.
Project Planning and Management
Track and Manage

Tracking and managing the project consist of:
1) Collection of status & analysis of variances
2) Planning adaptive action & executing them
3) Periodic status reporting & final closeout
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Project Planning and Management
Track and Manage

Collection of status & analysis of variances

Hard data: whether tasks started as planned, start and end dates, remaining
time needed to complete tasks in progress, whether milestones achieved

Soft data: problems/foreseeable problems encountered by members, things
needed to complete tasks effectively

Frequency of collection, minimum once per month, higher frequency for
ME3102 since it is a short project

Update hard data into Gantt Chart as percentage completion, it gives a
overview of variance from baseline.

Analyse both the cause of the variance and its impact.
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Project Planning and Management
Track and Manage

Planning adaptive action & executing them

Similar to plan modification on Slide 25:
Re-arrange the logical dependencies
Re-look at the flexibility matrix
Re-deploy resources

Once adaptive actions have been planned, communicate the changes to the
team and get buy-in from sponsor and management.
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Project Planning and Management
Track and Manage

Periodic status reporting & final closeout

Collection of status can be carried out in preparation for regular team
meetings.

Variance analysis can also be carried out during such meetings.

Information raised during these meetings must be properly kept so that new
members or even a new project manager can become effective quickly.

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Project Planning and Management
Track and Manage

Periodic status reporting & final closeout

End of project when either
Customer approves all project deliverables
Management decided to terminate the project early

Closing activities:
Return confidential information
Return equipment
Assess actual project cost
Complete any paperwork
Final closeout meeting to debrief key learnings and honour & reward team
members
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In conclusion
Key points in project management have
been covered.

Answer quiz questions in IVLE.

Attend one session over the next 5
weeks for a class exercise.

Install Gantt Project or signup for Ace
Project for the class.

Apply project management to ME3102
prototype building phase.
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Feedback (both complaints and compliments) welcome!
Project Planning and Management
Glossary of Project Management terms
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