Tools and Measures: Project Planning and Control

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Tools and Measures: Project Planning and

Control

Presented to the NIH Project Management Community Presented to the NIH Project Management Community October 10, 2007October 10, 2007

Michele Duell, VP, Apptis Healthcare SolutionsMichele Duell, VP, Apptis Healthcare Solutions


Case Study – Ice Cube Maintenance System

The chilly ice cube department needed an enterprise software program to control routine and special ice cube maintenance and procurement procedures

Beltway custom systems integrations (CSI Beltway) brought a COTS application to chilly and managed the project

COST-LOTS owned a proprietary client-server ice cube maintenance program


Project Kick-off

Chilly presented their 307 system requirements

CSI beltway’s project manager accepted the requirements and agreed to the FFP costs and the schedule

COTS-LOTS agreed to modify their client-server architecture to a browser-based solution (at no cost)


Meltdown in Progress

•Software configuration – now development – continued for months beyond the original schedule

•Testing failed

•Progress reports were missed or misleading

•Cost overruns were at 300%


What’s Missing?

•Project Plans/Lifecycle – loose/non-existent

•WBS - missing

•Progress Measurements/Reviews – missing

•Requirements Stability – missing


A Detailed Project Plan Is the First Line of Defense Against Project Problems

• Establishes vision and scope

• Establishes budget and schedule

• Identifies risks and their mitigations

• Project resource identification (time, money, staff)

• Stakeholder involvement (reviews, change management)


Gaining Benefit From the Project Plan

• Simulation of the project

• Approval document

• Internal contract

• Budget document

• Reality check


How to Simulate the Project?

• To start very simply, go with the rule of thirds

• Iterations = phases = milestones

• Divide and conquer


High Level Work Breakdown Structure


Detailed Work Breakdown Structure


Use the Resource Tab in the WBS to Track Budget

• Assign staff to tasks• Record the costs for using each resource• Earned value is now easy to calculate


Project Plan May Be Used to Track Earned Value

• Steps to view earned value totals for a task:– On the view menu, click more views.– In the views list, click task sheet, and then click apply.– On the view menu, point to table, and then click more

tables.– In the tables list, click earned value, and then click

apply.


All the Earned Value Formulas Will Be Displayed

Tip: To get detailed information about each Earned Value field, hover over its heading to see more information.


Why Earned Value?

• Earned Value is a standardized method for measuring performance

• Common Earned Value measurements across PMO

• Used consistently, Earned Value contributes to success


Most Common Earned Value Formulas

• BCWS – Budgeted Cost of Work Scheduled

• BCWP – Budgeted Cost of Work Performed

• ACWP – Actual Cost of Work Performed

• EAC – Estimate at Complete


Ice Cube Maintenance – Gap From Requirements to Solutions

• Quality requirements and avoiding mistakes

• Provide for negotiation and iteration

• Discover missing information or incorrect assumptions

• Define relative priorities

• Eliminate ambiguous language


Three Purposes of Requirements Management

• Gain agreement on requirements between all stakeholders

• Provide a basis for software design

• Produce a specification for testing


More Than Project Planning and Requirements Management

• Many other aspects of project management• Balancing act • Confusing process with goals


One Framework for Assessing Current and Future Needs Is the Maturity Model Approach

• Adoption of a known model is a highly effective method of determining performance measures

• All of the formal models provide the ability to measure ROI

• Continuous improvement is inherent in the formal models, allowing for increased service without increasing resources

• Formal models include the CMMI, ITIL, EVMS, PMI, NIST 800-26


Contact Information

Joyce Hunter

703.332.9868

[email protected]

Michele Duell703.625.0057

[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

Documents

Tools and Measures: Project Planning and Control