Chapter 4 Defining Scope, Quality, Responsibility, and Activity Sequence

Defining Scope, Quality, Responsibility, and Activity Sequence

Planning process is based on the project objective

§  Establishes what is to be accomplished

§  Often stated in the project charter or RFP

§  Is the tangible end product

Project objective includes

§  Expected benefits

§  Primary project end product or deliverable

§  Date required to be completed

§  Budget

Changes agreed upon by customer and contractor

【•The planning process is based on the project objective.

•The project objective establishes what is to be accomplished.

•Often the project objective is stated in the project charter or RFP.

•It is the tangible end product that the project team or contractor must produce and deliver in order for the sponsor or customer to achieve the expected benefits from implementing the project.

•The project objective should include the following elements:

•Expected benefits that will result from implementation of the project and define success

•Primary project end product or deliverable

•Date by which the project is required to be completed

•Budget within which the project must be completed

•Situations can arise where the project objective needs to be modified as the project proceeds because of extenuating circumstances or new information. The project manager and the customer must agree on all changes to the project objective. Any such changes might affect the remaining work scope, deliverables, completion date, and final cost.】

Project Scope

Defines what needs done

Includes

§  Items contained in project charter, RFP, proposal

§  More detail

Establishes common understanding of scope with stakeholders

Project Scope Document

Usually contains

§  Customer requirements

§  Statement of Work

§  Deliverables（important）

§  Acceptance Criteria

§  Work Breakdown Structure（super important）（task from point A to B）

Establishes baseline

Change control system to avoid scope creep  （control）

【•The project scope defines what needs to be done.

•A project scope document includes many of the items contained in the project charter, RFP, or contractor’s proposal, but in much greater detail. The document is valuable for establishing a common understanding among project stakeholders regarding the scope of the project.

•The project scope document usually contains the following sections:

•Customer requirements define the functional or performance specifications for the project’s end product and other project deliverables.

•It should also include or reference applicable technical specifications, standards, and codes that must be used and met regarding quality and performance of the project work and deliverables.

•Statement of Work (SOW) defines the major tasks or work elements that will need to be performed to accomplish the work that needs to be done and produce all the project deliverables.

•Deliverables are the products or outputs that the project team or contractor will produce and provide to the customer during and at the completion of the performance of the project.

•Acceptance criteria for all project deliverables must be described in greater detail than what is stated in the project charter or request for proposal

•Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is a hierarchical decomposition of the project work scope into work packages that produce the project deliverables.

•The agreed-upon project scope document establishes the baseline for any changes that may be made to the scope during the performance of the project.

•A change control system needs to be established to define how changes will be documented, approved, and communicated. The project team or contractor must avoid scope creep, which is informally making changes to the project scope without appropriate approval.】

Why should scope creep be avoided?

（Increase cost and time）

Informal changes to the project

No approvals for changes

Additional work that is not documented

May cause errors

May cause rework

Could make the project overtime and over budget

It is often said that some people think they never have enough time to do the work right the first time, but then must take the time later to redo it correctly—haste makes waste!

（when speed up, you may make mistake and do it again）

Clearly list quality standards

Have monitors in place to see if the work is meeting quality standards

Submit sample work to be sure work meets standards

If it means a higher quality product, determine the effects and costs of a later delivery

Create Work Breakdown Structure

Deliverable-oriented hierarchical decomposition （I have bunch of task to do and have a order）

Organize project work and deliverables (when do I need this done?)

Create logical groupings

Subdivide into more manageable components

§  Deliverable is output of work package

§  Resource requirements and durations（important） can be assigned  （define resource, money ,people）

§  Accountability can be assigned

§  Project manager can monitor and control    （need boss Admin）

Graphic chart or indentured list

【Once the project scope document has been agreed on and prepared, the next step in the planning phase is to create a detailed work breakdown structure (WBS)

•This is a deliverable-oriented hierarchical decomposition of the project work scope into work packages, or activity groupings, that produce the project deliverables.

•Creating a WBS is a structured approach for organizing all the project work and deliverables into logical groupings. This helps to subdivide the deliverables into more manageable components called work items, to help ensure that all tasks required to complete the project are identified and included in the baseline project plan.

•The WBS should be deconstructed to a level that identifies individual work packages for each specific deliverable listed in the project scope document.

•Dividing a project into work packages and work items helps a contractor increase the level of confidence that:

•All the activities that need to be performed to produce the deliverable can be defined

•The types and quantities of resources can be determined

•The associated activity durations and costs can be reasonably estimated.

•Work items should be broken down to the level at which a single organization (marketing communications, materials engineering, human resources, a subcontractor, etc.) or individual can be assigned responsibility and accountability for accomplishing the work package.

•The WBS can be created using a graphic chart format or as a list.】

WBS with Breakdown to Different Levels（lack of duration）

Graphic Chart

Indentured List

【WBS

•The top figure depicts the WBS for the consumer market study project example. This project is also the example used in the Microsoft Project appendices.

•Have students examine the relationship between this figure and the entries in the Microsoft Project task list.

•The bottom figure depicts an indentured list for the work breakdown structure.

•For each of the work packages, the deliverable is listed.

•This format is helpful for large projects where a diagram would become too large and unwieldy.】

Planning for Information Systems Development

Definition

Computer-based system

§  Accepts data as input

§  Processes the data

§  Produces useful information

Examples

§  Computerized order entry

§  E-commerce

§  Automatic teller machines

§  Billing, payroll, and inventory

Process

Plan, execute, and control

Systems Development Life Cycle

§  Problem definition

§  System analysis

§  System design

§  System development

§  System testing

§  System implementation

Only one approach is having everybody create new.

Organization gets smarter; they bought order processing systems, etc

Outside company to create a system fit to you. You become only System testing and System implementation.

Outsourcing is cost effective that gives me 98% I want.

【The Microsoft Project example will continue through chapters 4 – 8. It highlights the concepts for each chapter in the example. The Microsoft Project file for the example is available with the instructor materials.

•An information system (IS) is a computer-based system that accepts data as input, processes the data, and produces useful information for users.

•Information systems include computerized order entry systems, e-commerce systems, automatic teller machines, and billing, payroll, and inventory systems.

•The development of an IS is a challenging process that requires extensive planning and control to ensure that the system meets user requirements and is finished on time and within budget.

•A project management planning tool, or methodology, called the systems development life cycle (SDLC) is often used to help plan, execute, and control IS development projects.

•It consists of the following steps:

•Problem definition -- Data are gathered and analyzed and problems and opportunities are clearly defined.

•System analysis -- The development team defines the scope of the system to be developed, interviews potential users, studies the existing system (which might be manual), and defines user requirements.

•System design -- Several alternative conceptual designs are produced and evaluated. The best is selected for further design and development.

•System development -- The actual system is brought into existence.

•System testing – This step involves looking for logical errors, database errors, errors of omission, security errors, and other problems that might prevent the system from being successful.

•System implementation -- The existing system is replaced with the new, improved, system and users are trained.】

IS Example: Responsibility Assignment Matrix（important）

Number means you cannot do 3 unless you finished 1 and 2.

【•Here we see the responsibility assignment matrix for the project, with the primary and secondary responsibilities for each task assigned.
•Make sure that students note that all the tasks in the WBS appear in the responsibility assignment matrix.】

Task List and Predecessors

【•This figure depicts a list of all tasks to be completed, with the immediate predecessor for each task listed to the right of the task.
•Have the students examine the interdependencies of the tasks.】

Project Management Information Systems

•A wide variety of affordable project management information systems are available for purchase.

•These systems allow the project manager and the project team to plan and control projects in a completely interactive mode.

•Planning and testing different options for task durations, dependencies, constraints, resources, schedules, and costs can be completed in a project management information system.

•Information systems help project managers to create reports, change management, network diagrams, and Gantt charts.

•Project management information systems also interface with other software applications.

•Appendix A contains information related to project management information systems.

Critical Success Factors

Plan the work and then work （follow）the plan

WBS, got resource, knew duration 

Participation builds commitment

Get people involved in it.

The project must have a clear objective

Major stakeholder（leader of organization）

Having a quality plan and monitor it.