OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT - LIFE PROJECT

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Planning - goal setting, defining the project, team organization

Scheduling - relate people, money, and supplies to specific activities and activities to each other

Controlling - monitor resources, costs, quality, and budgets; revise plans and shift resources to meet time and cost demands

A task involving an end goal requiring:

What does the term PROJECT mean to you?
What are some types of possible projects?

Name some other types of projects?

What are some possible challenges of a project?

Individual – decorating your bedroom
Group – organising a wedding
Organisation – construction company, building the Millennium bridge in London
Project Organisation – creation of a separate independent organisation specifically for accomplishing a particular project, e.g. the Olympic games committee
Multinational – design construction of Concorde

Planning - goal setting, defining the project, team organization

Scheduling - relate people, money, and supplies to specific activities and activities to each other

Controlling - monitor resources, costs, quality, and budgets; revise plans and shift resources to meet time and cost demands

A task involving an end goal requiring:

“An activity with a fixed start and end point, managed with finite resources, involving change and often achieved by the collective effort of a team of people” – IPM

“the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project activities in order to meet (or exceed?) stakeholder needs and expectations from the project”

“A project is a sequence of unique, complex, and connected activities. Having one goal or purpose that must be completed by a specific time, within budget, and according to specification” (Artto, 2002)

A start and a finish
Is a unique activity with a visible output
May involve uncertainty and risk
Involves a team coming together specifically for the project
A budget
Non repetitive tasks, sequential order
Use of resources (including human resources)
A single point of ultimate responsibility
Clearly defined team roles
Clear aims, objectives, goals

Process – a series of steps needed to perform a routine activity (e.g. purchasing). A project may contain many processes.
Programme – work performed towards achieving a long term goal (e.g. a health awareness programme). Programmes may never achieve all their goals, and may comprise a series of projects.

Highly visible

Responsible for making sure that:

All necessary activities are finished in order and on time

The project comes in within budget

The project meets quality goals

The people assigned to the project receive motivation, direction, and information

Highly visible

Responsible for making sure that:

All necessary activities are finished in order and on time

The project comes in within budget

The project meets quality goals

The people assigned to the project receive motivation, direction, and information

Project managers should be:

Good coaches

Good communicators

Able to organize activities from a variety of disciplines

Offers of gifts from contractors

Pressure to alter status reports to mask delays

False reports for charges of time and expenses

Pressure to compromise quality to meet schedules

Project managers face many ethical decisions on a daily basis

The Project Management Institute has established an ethical code to deal with problems such as:

You can have any two of three things in a project:

You can get it done on time

You can get it done within budgeted cost

You can get it done properly/well

If you are willing to wait, you can get the job done right, within cost.
If you are willing to spend the money, you can get the job done on time.
Or you can get the job done on time and within budget; only it might not do what it was supposed to do.

Stages in the Development of a project:

Define/Initiate/ Analysis (Conception/ Idea) – Phase I

Planning/Development (The Plan outlined) – Phase II

Organize/Execution (Develop the process/ team) – Phase III

Monitoring/Control (is it correct?) – Phase IV

Close out (The Wrap Up) – Phase V

5-Phase Project Management

Key Components of a Project

Planning

Objectives

Resources

Work break-down structure

Organization

Scheduling

Project activities

Start & end times

Network

Controlling

Monitor, compare, revise, action

Essentially - What are we going to do?
For small projects an informal discussion might adequate
For larger projects, a more formal review and discussion processes required.
Key questions to answer should be:
Should you do it? What is the benefit and do the benefits outweigh the costs?
Can you do it? Is it technically feasible and are there enough resources?

Ensure that people only work on activities which are needed, and do them correctly the first time, not waste time doing unnecessary activities.
Anticipate potential problems and take preventative action to deal with them before they happen.
Do things in the right order at the right time, which should prevent things going wrong later.

Assign people to project roles, ensure they are available when needed. Negotiation may be necessary.
Give and explain all tasks to team members.
Set up systems and accounts to track personnel information and financial expenditure.
Announce the project’s start, what it will produce. When it will start when it will finish

Doing the tasks as laid out in your plan
Regularly comparing the actual performance with the plan, knowing and anticipating when things are not going according to schedule
Fixing problems that arise.
Keeping everyone informed

Get the customer’s approval of final results.
There may be formal project hand over to the client
Complete any paperwork.
Hold a post project evaluation to recognise achievements and discuss lessons learned

Work can be defined with a specific goal and deadline

The job is unique or somewhat unfamiliar to the existing organization

The work contains complex interrelated tasks requiring specialized skills

The project is temporary but critical to the organization

The project cuts across organizational lines

Get the customer’s approval of final results.
There may be formal project hand over to the client
Complete any paperwork.
Hold a post project evaluation to recognise achievements and discuss lessons learned

One of the the benefits of project management techniques is the opportunity to clarify roles.

Project sponsor – person who’s paying for it
Project champion - person who wants to see it happen
Project manager – will ensure it happens
Project team – will make it happen
Stakeholders – those affected by it and with an interest in it, but not necessarily part of it.
Audience – we’ll consider them later!

Group exercise

What you think are the attributes/qualities required to be an effective project manager?

Excellent time management skills
‘Can do’ proactive attitude
Adaptable, flexible.
Fair – respecting different people’s viewpoints
Committed to the team and the project’s goals
Decisive and realistic
Excellent communication skills
Leadership
Assertiveness

Be prepared to ‘roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty’
Foresight
Planning skills
Knowledge of the subject / area of work
Be prepared to walk, if necessary i.e. leave!
A sense of humour ?

Figure 3.2

Technician

Project No. 2

Project

Manager

Electrical

Engineer

Computer
Engineer

Test

Engineer

Mechanical

Engineer

Project No. 1

Project

Manager

Technician

Marketing

Finance

Human

Resources

Design

Quality

Mgt

Production

President

3 - *

Marketing Operations Engineering Finance

Project 1

Project 2

Project 3

Project 4

3 - *

Close monitoring of resources, costs, quality, budgets

Feedback enables revising the project plan and shift resources

Computerized tools produce extensive reports

Level

1. Project

2. Major tasks in the project

3. Subtasks in the major tasks

4. Activities (or “work packages”)
to be completed

Figure 3.3

Level 4

Compatible with Windows 7

Compatible with Windows Vista

Compatible with Windows XP

1.1.2.3

1.1.2.2

1.1.2.1

(Work packages)

Level 3

Develop GUIs

Design Cost Tracking Reports

Module Testing

Ensure Compatibility with Earlier Versions

Develop Cost/Schedule Interface

Defect Testing

1.1.1

1.2.2

1.3.2

1.3.1

1.2.1

1.1.2

Level 2

Software Design

Cost Management Plan

System Testing

1.1

1.2

1.3

Level 1

Develop Windows 8 Operating System

1.0

Gantt chart

Critical Path Method (CPM)

Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT)

A Gantt chart is a horizontal bar chart developed as a production control tool in 1917

Typically created in Microsoft Project, Excel

Provides a graphical illustration of a schedule that helps to:

plan

coordinate

track specific tasks in a project

Time

J F M A M J J A S

Design

Prototype

Test

Revise

Production

Figure 3.4

Passengers

Baggage

Fueling

Cargo and mail

Galley servicing

Lavatory servicing

Drinking water

Cabin cleaning

Cargo and mail

Flight services

Operating crew

Baggage

Passengers

Deplaning

Baggage claim

Container offload

Pumping

Engine injection water

Container offload

Main cabin door

Aft cabin door

Aft, center, forward

First-class section

Economy section

Container/bulk loading

Galley/cabin check

Receive passengers

Aircraft check

Boarding

0 10 20 30 40

Time, Minutes

Detailed cost breakdowns for each task

Total program labor curves

Cost distribution tables

Functional cost and hour summaries

Raw materials and expenditure forecasts

Variance reports

Time analysis reports

Work status reports

Perform a Critical Path Analysis

The critical path is the longest path through the network

The critical path is the shortest time in which the project can be completed

Any delay in critical path activities delays the project

Critical path activities have no slack time

Methods for identifying Critical Path

Identify every path through the network and the time to complete each path. Critical path is the longest path.

Identify the sequence of activities with zero slack time. Path with zero slack time is Critical path.

Slack time is the amount of delay that could be tolerated in the starting time or completion time of an activity without causing a delay in the completion of the project

It is not uncommon to face the following situations:

The project is behind schedule

The completion time has been moved forward

Shortening the duration of the project is called project crashing

The amount by which an activity is crashed is, in fact, permissible

Taken together, the shortened activity durations will enable us to finish the project by the due date

The total cost of crashing is as small as possible

If there is only one critical path, then select the activity on this critical path that (a) can still be crashed, and (b) has the smallest crash cost per period. If there is more than one critical path, then select one activity from each critical path such that (a) each selected activity can still be crashed, and (b) the total crash cost of all selected activities is the smallest. Note that the same activity may be common to more than one critical path.

There are several popular packages for managing projects

Primavera

MacProject

MindView

HP Project

Fast Track

Microsoft Project

Program 3.1

Program 3.2

Program 3.3

Pollution Project Percentage Completed on Aug. 12
ACTIVITY	COMPLETED
A	100
B	100
C	100
D	10
E	20
F	20
G	0
H	0

ANY QUESTIONS?