CS 413 Software Project Management

BS (CS) - SSUET

LECTURE 6
TIME MANAGEMENT FOR SOFTWARE PROJECT
Project Time Management
The process required to manage timely completion of the project.
It includes how activities are prioritized and sequenced so that work is done in order.
Time Management Processes
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Plan Schedule Management

Define Activities
Sequence activities,
Estimate activity resource
Estimate activity duration
Develop Schedule
Control Schedule

In small project, defining & sequencing activities, estimating activity resource & duration,
developing schedule are viewed as a single process.

Plan Schedule Management Process

Plan schedule management is the process of how to plan, manage and control schedule.
It involves information such as

How to determine measures of performance,

How and when to capture data for measuring,
How to use the data to keep the project on track with schedule baselines,
What actions should be taken when variances occur?

Define Activities Process

Define Activities is the process where specific actions required to producedeliverables are
identified and documented.
In this process, the work packages from the WBS are broken down into activities.

Activities

Activities are tasks or actions required to produce deliverables. It is the actual work that
goes into making a product.

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CS 413 Software Project Management

BS (CS) - SSUET

Defining activities involves decomposing work packages into activities required to

produce the deliverables of a work package. In other words, the deliverables are broken
down into the tasks or actions required to produce them.

Decomposition - Tool for breaking down into smaller parts.

The activities are broken down into small levels so that they can be estimated, scheduled,
monitored and controlled.

Both work packages and activities can be used as a basis for estimating, scheduling,
executing, monitoring and controlling the project work. This is because they are items
which have been broken down to the lowest level.

Output of define activities process

Define activities results in the development of:

Activity list(All activities required to produce the deliverables of the project)

Activity Attributes (details and descriptions of the activities in the activity list)
Milestones - Significant events on the project that have no duration. Example:
Checkpoints, Due dates.

Activity attributes contain information such as

Resource requirements - What resources are required to perform the activity
The person responsible for the activity
Predecessor activities - Which activity comes before
Successor activities - Which activity comes after
Leads, Lags
Activity code Code by which activity will be identified on the project
Rolling Wave planning technique
The requirements were vague: we couldnt possibly plan for the entire project. However, at least
some degree of planning was required to get the project started. So, I used the Rolling Wave
Planning technique to plan as far as the requirements were clear, and you can learn this, too.
Rolling Wave Planning is used when you just dont have enough clarity to plan in detail the
entire project. This lack of clarity could come from various factors, such as
emerging requirements. Rolling Wave Planning is particularly useful in projects with
high uncertainty.
Prepared by: Engr. M. Nadeem

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CS 413 Software Project Management

BS (CS) - SSUET

Sequence Activities Process

The sequence activities process involves putting the activities and milestone in a sequence.
The activities and milestones will be organized according to the order in which the work
will be done on the project.
The output of Sequence Activities Process is Project Schedule Network Diagram.

Precedence Diagram Method /Project Network Diagram

The Precedence Diagramming Method (PDM) consists of rectangles known as nodes, and the
project activities are shown in these boxes. These rectangular boxes are connected to each other
through an arrow to show the dependencies; therefore, these diagrams are also known as the
Activity on Node (AON) diagrams.
The main benefit of Precedence Diagramming Method (PDM) is that it shows the activity
dependencies and it also an important communication tool for stakeholders.

The Precedence Diagramming Method uses four types of dependencies. Those dependencies are
as follows:
1.

Finish to Start (FS)

2.

Finish to Finish (FF)

3.

Start To Start (SS)

4.

Start to Finish (SF)

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CS 413 Software Project Management

BS (CS) - SSUET

Finish-to-start: The predecessor activity must finish before the successor activity can start. This
is the most common relationship type. Example: The Web server must be running before the
SQL database can connect.
Finish-to-finish: Two activities must finish at the same time. The two activities dont have to
begin at once, but they must end at the same time. Example: The user acceptability testing and
the third-party reviews of the build must complete at the same time.
Start-to-start: Two activities must begin at the same time. The two activities may be of varying
duration, so they dont have to end at the same time, but they have to start at the same time.
Example: The final build of the software and the creation of the online help system should start
at the same time.
Start-to-finish: The predecessor activity must start in order for the successor activity to finish.
This is the most unusual of all the relationship types and is rarely used. You might run across it if
you do just-in-time scheduling or manufacturing. Example: The software testing cant be
completed until the quality control department reviews the testing results.
Leads and Lags

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CS 413 Software Project Management

BS (CS) - SSUET

Example: Activity List and its Project Network Diagram

Step 1- Draw the Network Diagram

Step 2 - Add Deterministic Time Estimates and Connected Paths

Step 3 - Calculate the Project Completion Times

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CS 413 Software Project Management

BS (CS) - SSUET

Step 4 Find the critical path

Use the critical path method to avoid big problems.

The critical path method is an important tool for keeping your projects on track. Every
network diagram has something called the critical path.
A delay in any one of the critical path activities will cause the entire project to be delayed.

Estimate Activity Durations Process

Once youre done with Estimate Activity Resources, youve got everything you need to figure
out how long each activity will take. Thats done in a process called Estimate Activity
Durations.
Youll use these five tools and techniques to create the most accurate estimates.
1. Expert judgment will come from your project team members who are familiar with the
work that has to be done. If you dont get their opinion, then theres a huge risk that your
estimates will be wrong!
2. Analogous: uses data from similar/past projects
3. Parametric: The parametric estimation uses historical data and other parameters to
calculate the estimate. For example, if constructing a ten foot wall took one day, then
how long will it take to build a hundred foot of wall? You will multiply the time taken
to build ten foot of wall in the old project by ten. (Not Recommended in SPM)
4. Three-point estimates are when you come up with three numbers: a most likely
estimate that probably will happen, an optimistic one that represents the best-case
scenario, and a pessimistic one that represents the worst-case scenario. The final estimate
is the average.
5. Reserve analysis means adding extra time to the schedule (called a contingency reserve
or a buffer) to account for extra risk.

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CS 413 Software Project Management

BS (CS) - SSUET

PERT (Program Evaluation Review Technique)

One approach to creating an accurate time estimate is something called PERT. PERT means
program evaluation and review technique; its an estimating approach that requires three
estimates for every activity to account for uncertainty:

Optimistic: The best-case scenario

Most likely: The most-likely time
Pessimistic: The worst that can happen

Example:
A project manager used data from past projects to come up with an estimate for an upcoming
software system replacement project. She felt confident about 25-day duration, but also noted
that adding an extra resource could bring the schedule down to 10 days. The test team felt that
the complexity of some completely new features would add additional test cases, adding a few
weeks for a 40-day estimate. Find the Optimistic, Most Likely, Pessimistic and Expected
durations respectively.
Solution:
Optimistic duration = 10d; Most likely duration = 25d; Pessimistic duration = 40d
Expected duration = 40+10+4(25) / 6
Expected duration = 25days

Develop Schedule Process

The Develop Schedule process is the core of Time Management. Its the process where you
put it all togetherwhere you take everything youve done so far and combine it into one
final schedule for the whole project.

The Outputs of Develop Schedule process is Project schedule

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CS 413 Software Project Management

BS (CS) - SSUET

Control Schedule Process:

As the project work is happening, you can always discover new information that makes you reevaluate your plan, and use the control schedule process to make the changes.
Control Schedule tools and techniques:
The tools and techniques for Control Schedule are all about figuring out where your project
schedule stands. By comparing your actual project to the schedule you laid out in the baseline
and looking at how people are performing, you can figure out how to handle every schedule
change.
Performance reviews:
There are two important calculations called schedule variance (SV) and schedule performance
index (SPI) that give you valuable information about how your project is doing. Youll learn all
about them in the lecture

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