Joint project planning & controlling project
INFO 638
Glenn Booker
INFO 638 Lecture #5 1

 Joint Project Planning (JPP) uses a goldfish-bowl approach to conducting early analysis of a project
 Its scope is typically to define the
POS and/or PDS
 For software, this might include defining the system scope and key requirements, and/or developing high level system design
INFO 638 Lecture #5 2

 JPP is similar to Joint Application
Design (or Joint Application
Development) (JAD)
 JPP is more general than JAD
 JPP could be used for planning any kind of project
 JAD is software-specific
INFO 638 Lecture #5 3

 JPP needs to create an environment in which key decisions can be made about the project
 Planning JPP is crucial to its success
 It is critical that key people be required to attend a JPP session
 Notice “required,” not “invited”
 JPP doesn’t work unless the players are all present
INFO 638 Lecture #5 4

 All significant stakeholders in a project need to attend JPP
 The tough part is identifying what
‘significant’ means
 Attendees typically include:
 Facilitator – an outsider whose role it to lead the JPP session
 Typically have training in JPP, and are excellent negotiators
INFO 638 Lecture #5 5

 Project manager – whoever will lead the project is an obvious choice to attend
 Technographer – a scribe who will record the results of the session
 Might be proficient in tools for recording brainstorming sessions, prototyping a system, or other appropriate skills
 Other key project people – such as a system architect, managers who will report to the project manager, etc.
INFO 638 Lecture #5 6

 Customer rep is often included
 Resource managers, such as IT staff, HR, or other relevant support personnel
 Project champion (aka sponsor) – whoever has been pushing to make the project happen, other than the manager
 Process experts – to help make sure the project will follow sound processes
 Anyone else you deem necessary!
INFO 638 Lecture #5 7

 JPP needs to take place in an isolated environment, to help everyone focus on the same thing
 Generally held offsite, such as a hotel or conference center
 Typically allow a few days for the JPP, depending on the scope of the project and the goals of the session
INFO 638 Lecture #5 8

 JPP might use various tools to capture the results
 MS Visio for process flowcharts
 Axon or Mind Mapper for capture of brainstorming
 These are in addition to the usual conference equipment – computer & projector, sticky notes, etc.
INFO 638 Lecture #5 9

 JPP needs to have a specific agenda defined before the session starts
 The agenda must define what is expected to come out of the session
 A completed POS, and/or
 A completed PDS, and/or
 A project plan, etc.
INFO 638 Lecture #5 10

 More specific deliverables could include
 WBS
 Activity duration estimates
 Resource requirements
 Project network schedule (Pert)
 Activity schedule (start/end dates)
 Resource assignments
INFO 638 Lecture #5 11

 The JPP might result in a project proposal, including
 Background
 Objective
 Approach
 Statement of work
 Time & cost summary
 Appendices
INFO 638 Lecture #5 12

INFO 638 Lecture #5 13

 By now you have been able to create a detailed project plan, including task definitions, estimates of duration, & assignment and leveling of resources
 Then the project actually starts
 Now you need to monitor what really happens, and control the future of the project
INFO 638 Lecture #5 14

 This is great stuff for control freaks
 You get to define what people will do, when they’ll do it, and even tell them who is their boss
 Now you get to decide if they are doing their job right, and what you’ll do if they aren’t
 Isn’t this a great world?
INFO 638 Lecture #5 15

 Controlling a project is closely linked to risk management
 You want to minimize the risk that the project won’t finish successfully
 Successfully generally means “ on time and within budget ”
 To do so, you need measurements to help decide if the project is on track
INFO 638 Lecture #5 16

 Graphics are key to presenting information well
 Most senior managers don’t have time to read tons of words
 A well thought out graphic will convey critical information quickly and with minimal explanation
 If something’s wrong, need to address what corrective action will be taken
INFO 638 Lecture #5 17

 Without good controls, a project will wander like a 6-year-old on summer vacation
 Controls allow us to
 Track progress – what has been accomplished?
 Detect variance – have we departed from the plan?
 Take corrective action – fix it!
INFO 638 Lecture #5 18

 More controls on a project
 Costs more for planning and tracking
 Reduces risks and creativity
 So a critical question for every project is “how many controls do I need?”
 Need enough to know what’s going on, without micromanaging the project
 The answer might change during the project
INFO 638 Lecture #5 19

 Too little control will increase project cost, because effort will be wasted
 In theory there’s an ideal balance possible between control and risk
 Also need to consider that the product quality will also be affected by the amount of control over its development process
INFO 638 Lecture #5 20

 Some form of progress reporting system needs to be established
 Want timely, complete, clear, and accurate status reported
 Avoid adding too much to overhead to create the status reports
 Results are readily available
 Warns of problems with time to fix them
INFO 638 Lecture #5 21

 Typically there are five kinds of status reports
 Current period reports – report status during the current reporting period, e.g. this week’s status
 Cumulative reports – report history of project from start to the present, or at least a significant amount of time
 Good for finding trends
INFO 638 Lecture #5 22

 Exception reports – are generated only when something is amiss
 Summarizes what’s wrong, and what action is desired to fix it
 Stoplight reports – aren’t really a separate kind of report
 They add a simple red/yellow/green indicator of status – green is all happy, yellow is a problem that needs fixing, and red means project is out of control
INFO 638 Lecture #5 23

 Variance reports – tell how far the project is ahead of, or behind the plan
 Variances generally pertain to the schedule and/or costs, showing planned and actual values, and the difference between them
 Present results from the current reporting period, and maybe one previous period
 May be tabular data, or graphic
INFO 638 Lecture #5 24

 Status reports are critical to understanding a project, yet can also be a waste of time and/or interfere with getting the project done
 Need to decide how often reporting is done
 Academia tends to be monthly, most of industry is weekly or biweekly
INFO 638 Lecture #5 25

 Need to determine reporting period
(what day is the start of the week?)
 This often feeds a repeating process, e.g.
 Reports are due Friday to your manager,
 They report to their boss by Monday noon,
 A collected report is issued on Tuesdays
 Reports contain actual status to date, start and finish dates for tasks
INFO 638 Lecture #5 26

 Reports might also include
 Projections of work remaining,
 Percent completion of tasks, and
 The amount of resources spent on each task (e.g. 12 hours on WBS task 1.3.2)
INFO 638 Lecture #5 27

 Variances are the difference between actual events and the project plan
 Positive variances are often good
 They mean you are ahead of schedule or under budget
 But could mean the schedule has slipped, and little has been accomplished
INFO 638 Lecture #5 28

 Conversely, negative variances are generally bad
 Behind schedule and/or over planned cost
 Rarely, can mean more work has been done than planned
INFO 638 Lecture #5 29

 There are three major ways to display the status of a project graphically
 Gantt chart
 Milestone trend chart
 Cost schedule control chart
INFO 638 Lecture #5 30

ID
3
 We covered the Gantt chart in week 3
 It is probably the most commonly used tool to plan and track projects
 To show progress, dark thinner bars are used to show how much work has been accomplished
 This example is 30% complete
Task Name
Solve World's Problems
Duration
30 days
Start
August
Mon 8/18/03
Finish
Fri 9/26/03
September
8/17 8/24 8/31 9/7
October November December January
9/14 9/21 9/28 10/5 10/12 10/19 10/26 11/2 11/9 11/16 11/23 11/30 12/7 12/14 12/21 12/28 1/4 1/11
INFO 638 Lecture #5 31

 The Milestone trend chart is a plot of how well specific events and decisions
(milestones) were accomplished
 The horizontal lines represent 1-3 standard deviations above and below the expected completion date of each milestone
 Presumably you have historic data to determine the standard deviations
INFO 638 Lecture #5 32

 Like monitoring a control chart, poor trends (especially downward) or odd leaps in the data are keys to identifying problems
INFO 638 Lecture #5 33

On Schedule
-1
-2
-3
3
2
1
1 2 3 4 5 6
Project month
Lecture #5 34 INFO 638

 Cost schedule control refers to the system used by the many agencies called earned value or C/SCSC
 We have already defined a project plan with tasks and resources
 Each task therefore has some defined dollar value (its resources times their hourly rate)
INFO 638 Lecture #5 35

 To use Cost Schedule Control, we need to define when we get ‘credit’ for accomplishing each task
 Only when the task is done
 Half at the task start, and half at finish
 Etc.
 The total planned value of work done on the project typically forms a long S curve over time
INFO 638 Lecture #5 36

 The planned amount of work, in terms of its value, over time form a curve called Planned Value (PV)
(formerly BCWS)
 As the project happens, we record the actual costs incurred (AC) and how much work we really got done (EV)
(formerly ACWP and BCWP)
INFO 638 Lecture #5 37

 We can find variances in terms of cost
(related to whether we finish within budget) and schedule (will we finish on time)
 At any time during the project:
 Cost variance = AC - PV
 Schedule variance = EV – PV
 Recall that negative variances are bad
INFO 638 Lecture #5 38

 We can also define indices to tell us if we have a good trend in getting work done
 Schedule performance index
SPI = EV/PV
 Cost performance index CPI = EV/AC
 Indices >1 are good (got more work done than planned or budgeted)
INFO 638 Lecture #5 39

 So monitoring a project with cost schedule control generally means using
 A plot of PV, AC, and EV versus time
 Plots of cost and schedule variances
 Cost and schedule performance indices
 Based on these, look for negative variances and/or indices < one
INFO 638 Lecture #5 40

 The amount of detail in status reporting depends on the management level of its audience
 First line managers generally want lots of detail
 Project managers generally want to focus on problems they must resolve
 Senior managers need a very brief synopsis of status
INFO 638 Lecture #5 41

 Some form of meeting is often desired to
 Share the current status of each part of the project
 Look for collaboration opportunities
 Make decisions about problems
INFO 638 Lecture #5 42

 Record the actions and decisions in a meeting with minutes
 Identify who was there
 Identify what happened
 Review previous action requests
 Review old issues
 Review new issues
 Identify what new actions need to be followed up on, by whom, and when
INFO 638 Lecture #5 43

 A change control process is needed to manage changes to the scope of a project
 See this example from the FAA
 The example cited was used for managing problems reported with an air traffic control system, but the basic principles are universal
INFO 638 Lecture #5 44

 It describes the activities needed to analyze a problem, estimate how much work it is to resolve, determine its priority, fix it, and incorporate it into a system change with other problem fixes
 The names of the organizations which perform each of the steps may vary wildly, but some sort of review board or change control board is typically used
INFO 638 Lecture #5 45

 Escalation here means how a problem can be resolved
 Little problems might be resolved by the project manager
 Bigger problems might be resolved by getting additional resources from your organization
 Huge problems might need cooperation from your customer to resolve
INFO 638 Lecture #5 46