The Tools of Project Planning
Learning Objectives
By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:
• Describe the project management processes involved in preparing a project management plan.
• Prepare a statement of work and determine whether it is accurate and complete.
• Develop a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) for an individual project.
• Identify different strategies for preparing a WBS and select the most suitable methodology for your project.
• Develop a WBS using both the “org chart” and outline formats.
• Prepare a WBS Dictionary and analyze individual tasks.
• Apply kanban task management to control activities on your project.
Estimated timing for this chapter:
| Reading | 35 minutes |
| Exercises | 1 hour 30 minutes |
| Review Questions | 10 minutes |
| Total Time | 2 hours 15 minutes |
The transition between project initiation and project planning tends to be fuzzy. Sometimes the analysis of user needs and the preparation of functional and technical requirements are complete before the project is accepted and a project charter (or contract) issued. Other times, only a preliminary problem identification is made before the work becomes a project. The project manager and project team, along with the customer and user, must then perform the detailed analysis of user needs and requirements as part of the work of the project. In the first case, formal planning can start as soon as the project is established. In the second, planning becomes more of a process of discovery, and neither customer nor project team quite knows at the beginning what it will take to accomplish the project.
Don’t confuse planning with scheduling. A schedule is, of course, an important element of any plan, but the plan doesn’t end there. A project plan must take into account resources, risks, quality, communication, procurement, and many other areas of the project. It must provide a map and a blueprint of what the project is, how it will be done, who will do it (and with what resources), how problems will be addressed, how progress will be reported, and how the project team will interact with the customer, the performing organization, and other stakeholders.
According to the PMBOK® Guide, a complete (integrated) project plan consists of eight subject areas (time, cost, scope, procurement, quality, risk, communications, and human resources), linked by a ninth area known as “integration management” — literally, pulling it all together into a plan. In the act of planning, you are supposed to think through your project on each of these levels, whether you have a stand-alone project or a collection of hundreds.
STATEMENT OF WORK
As noted, sometimes all user needs and requirements are developed prior to accepting the project. At other times, only a preliminary project scope has been established, and the project manager/project team must develop the full scope of work.
The statement of work is a narrative summary of the project, with the detailed project requirements forming a supplement. If it hasn’t already been developed, now is the time. It’s essential that all key stakeholders agree to the statement of work before the project moves forward. Failure to get agreement opens the project up to significant risks from miscommunication and misunderstandings.
A statement of work should be short and clearly written. When there are numerous details, develop those in a requirements format, using numbered statements organized by category. See the sample in Exhibit 4-1.
xhibit 4-1
Sample Statement of Work
The following statement of work is a model of a task order provided by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to contractors, edited to remove excessive detail for the purposes of this book. Your task orders need not always be this comprehensive, but you must always be sure you’ve answered all key questions about the project.
Statement of Work
A. Background
In the 2002 legislation known as PDUFA, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) agreed to meet specific performance goals. Under the PDUFA goals, FDA agreed to create a joint guidance for review staff and industry on good review management principles that apply to the first cycle review of new drug applications (NDA). These principles clarify the roles and responsibilities of review staff in managing the review process and identify ways in which NDA applicants may enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of the review process.
Under the PDUFA goals, FDA also agreed to provide applicants with early notification of issues identified during the filing review. The PDUFA goals specify that training must be provided to FDA staff in association with the implementation of these programs. FDA agreed to retain an independent expert consultant to evaluate first cycle reviews of NDAs. The analysis will include a study of the impact of the new programs associated with drug review.
B. Key Objectives of the Evaluation of First Cycle Review Performance
1. Determine current performance including a retrospective analysis of the cycles necessary for approval and the reasons for multiple cycle reviews for NDAs submitted in FY 2002. This retrospective analysis will determine the factors that have led to successful first cycle outcomes as well as the factors that have contributed to the need for multiple cycle reviews. Where possible, it should identify the underlying root causes for multiple reviews.
2. Track the steps of the first review cycle and determine whether there are correlations with the outcome of the first review cycle for NDAs submitted during FY 2003 through FY 2007.
3. Determine the impact of the implementation of the new procedures on the first cycle review process for NDAs submitted during these time periods. Performance before and after implementation of the first cycle initiatives, including notification of filing issues, will be compared. Also, determine the effectiveness of the training program.
C. Scope of Work
The primary goal of this study is to evaluate the impact of FDA’s implementation of initiatives to enhance first cycle review performance during the five-year period covered by the legislation. The evaluation will include prospective and retrospective analyses of review process management, communication between FDA and applicants, and other factors that contribute to first review cycle outcomes. The standards for scientific and regulatory decision making are not the subject of this evaluation. The evaluation will be conducted from the perspective of both FDA and applicants. For the first cycle review of applications, the contractor should assess the interactions between FDA and the applicants by examining documents and by observing events in the review process. The contractor should draw on many sources of information, such as FDA tracking databases, participation in review events, direct feedback through interviews with FDA and applicant staff, and other records of review activity.
1. Assess baseline review performance for NDAs submitted to FDA in FY 2002. This analysis will include the number and length of cycles for each review, and the primary reasons and root causes for multiple review cycles.
2. Assess the first cycle review activity for all NDAs submitted during FY 2003 through FY 2007, evaluating the events that occurred between submission and approval. Identify the best practices of FDA and industry that increased the effectiveness and efficiency of the review process, and identify the root causes of multiple review cycles. Sample evaluations include:
a) Quality and effectiveness of FDA-applicant interactions, including use of information request and discipline review letters
b) Characteristics of the product, application, applicant, and review team
3. Identify and describe the sources of variation in review practices by review divisions for tasks 1 and 2 above.
4. Investigate correlations between review actions and outcomes of the first review cycle. For a sample of applications, evaluate the impact of the use of the new processes in product review.
5. Assess the effectiveness of the training program on the new processes.
6. Recommend actions on a continuous basis that would improve first cycle review performance in the areas of increasing the quality of FDA-applicant interactions, the quality of applications, early notification of application deficiencies, and timely resolution of deficiencies.
7. These improvements should increase the quality and efficiency of reviews, and eliminate unnecessary multiple reviews without compromising patient safety and product efficacy standards. Preliminary recommendations will be summarized for FDA management on a yearly basis and final recommendations will be included as part of the final study report.
8. The contractor will prepare annual reports of the findings of the study and a final study report at the end of the five-year study period. The full (unredacted) study reports will be provided to the FDA Commissioner and a version of the study reports redacted to remove confidential commercial information or other information exempt from disclosure will be made available to the public.
E. Deliverables
1. Quarterly written progress reports to the Project Officer, with monthly oral reports (If needed, written reports may be required monthly.)
2. Periodic briefing(s) to the Steering Group
3. Annual reports and briefings to the Steering Group in December of each year, 2004–2006
4. Draft final report for FDA review and comment 60 days before due date of unredacted, final report
5. Final reports (two versions) addressing FDA comments, due in September, 2007
6. Electronic versions of all presentations, reports, databases, methodologies, and models in formats specified by FDA
Exhibit adapted from http://www.fda.gov/downloads/forindustry/userfees/prescriptiondruguserfee/ucm093951.pdf. (Downloaded 21 October 2010)
Exercise 4-1
Write a Statement of Work
Using the model in Exhibit 4-1 and the information in this chapter, write a statement of work for the project whose charter you developed in Exercise 2-3. Please note that you are not required to write something as extensive as the sample; statements of work should always be scaled to the scope and complexity of the project at hand.
This is likely to take more than a single page, so we recommend you use your computer or your own paper to complete it.
WORK BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE (WBS)
Although the statement of work is essential to ensure agreement among key stakeholders about the scope and objectives of the project, more detail is needed to enable the project team to manage the project. The Work Breakdown Structure, commonly known simply as a WBS, is a tool that breaks down the work of the project into packages, commonly called tasks, that must be accomplished for the project to succeed. For each work package, the project team then develops estimates for duration and resource usage, identifies risks, assigns responsibilities, and develops other important project management tools.
The WBS organizes and defines the scope of the project and serves as the underpinning of the other planning tools. The better the quality of the WBS, the better the quality of subsequent steps in the planning process. This WBS is displayed in “org chart” format; you will also see the WBS presented in outline form. Use sticky notes on a whiteboard or flip chart to create the WBS so you and your team can work collaboratively and explore different options.
Think of the WBS as the foundation and framing of a house. Even though the foundation and framing of the house is not very visible in the final construction, it’s clear that the quality of the house will surely be no better than the quality of the foundation and framing. The quality of your overall plan cannot be better than the quality of the WBS that underlies the other planning elements. Exhibit 4-2 shows the format of a WBS in org chart format; Exhibit 4-3 shows an actual WBS for a database development project.
In Exhibit 4-3, the project is organized by phase. From a management perspective, this implies that the work takes place largely within a single department, with a project manager from that department overseeing the project from start to finish. This, of course, is not the only option.
The WBS for your specific project should reflect the management and organizational structure that will actually be used for that project. For comparison purposes, assume that the company has a user group department and a separate research department, and will be using an external vendor for the actual development. This gives you the WBS approach shown in Exhibit 4-4.
xhibit 4-2
Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) Format
Use the following model to visualize how a WBS works.
Downloaded from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wbs.png on 21 October 2010. Creative Commons/GNU Free Documentation License.
xhibit 4-3
Sample WBS
xhibit 4-4
WBS Organized by Functional Work Group
The same project can be organized different ways with equal validity. To be useful, the WBS must be organized in the way you actually plan to manage the project. In Exhibit 4-3, the project is organized by phase, suggesting that a single team will manage the project from start to finish. In Exhibit 4-4, on the other hand, two departments and an outside contractor have responsibility for different aspects of the project, which will require a very different approach to managing the project.
In the first case, the project manager is a hands-on team leader. In the second, the project manager will most likely be someone of a higher managerial level, shepherding the project from department/vendor to department/vendor but not providing hands-on direction. The project manager will need to oversee the transitions when primary operational responsibility moves from work group to work group, but hands-on direction of the details will necessarily be provided within each work group.
Each approach has advantages and risks. The approach you follow may be determined by existing organizational structure and political realities of the organization. To be useful and relevant, a WBS must always reflect the actual management approach that will be followed.
Develop the WBS using sticky notes on a whiteboard or flip chart, rather than by using project management software. Although project management software has numerous advantages that increase along with the size of your project, the software is generally not conducive to group brainstorming. It’s important to stay flexible and explore different options for laying out the project.
Sticky notes with subordinate activities are known as “control accounts,” and they represent the management and organizational structure of the project. Sticky notes without subordinate activities are “work packages.” It is at the work package level that resources are spent and project work is accomplished. Control accounts allow you to “roll up” information to facilitate reporting and oversight of the project.
When you are certain the WBS is complete and reflects the management structure you will follow, then it’s time to enter the data into your project management program, if you choose to use one. Most project management software will display the WBS in the “outline” format rather than the “org chart” format used in Exhibits 4-3 and 4-4, as shown in Exhibit 4-5.
xhibit 4-5
WBS in Outline Format
WBS for ABC Database Project (Organized by Phase)
1.0 ABC Database Project
1.1 Assessment
1.1.1 Initial Needs Analysis
1.1.2 User Needs Survey
1.1.3 Recommendations
1.2 Design
1.2.1 Terminal Objectives
1.2.2 Subject Matter Research
1.2.3 Initial System Design
1.3 Development
1.3.1 Manual
1.3.2 Briefing Package
1.3.3 Training Program
1.4 Implementation
1.4.1 Testing
1.4.2 Implementation of Test Results
1.4.3 System Rollout
1.5 Evaluation
1.5.1 Technical Assessment
1.5.2 User Satisfaction Survey
WBS for ABC Database Project (Organized by Functional Work Group)
2.0 ABC Database Project
2.1 User Group
2.1.1 Problem Identification and Assessment
2.1.3 Development of Recommendations
2.1.4 Establishment of Functional Requirements
2.2 IT Vendor
2.2.1 System Design
2.2.2 System Development
2.2.3 Training Program
2.2.4 Implementation of Test Results
2.3 Training Department
2.3.1 Technical Assessment
2.3.2 Testing
2.3.3 System Rollout
2.3.4 User Satisfaction Survey
Exercise 4-2
Build a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
Using sticky notes, create a WBS for the project whose statement of work you developed in Exercise 4-1.
Each work package in your project needs to be developed. What is the work that must be accomplished? When is it due? What must be completed to allow this work package to proceed? What can’t start until this work package is completed? These are only a few of the important questions you need to answer, and the answers must be written down so neither you nor the members of your project team overlook important work. The Task Information Sheet (WBS Dictionary) shown in Exhibit 4-6 is a tool to help you organize this critical information.
xhibit 4-6
Task Information Sheet (WBS Dictionary)
Exercise 4-3
Fill Out a Task Information Sheet
Using the blank copy of the form provided, fill out a Task Information Sheet entry for one of the WBS work packages you created in Exercise 4-2.
You will normally have to develop the information for this sheet piecemeal. At the beginning of the process, you may only be able to identify the names of the individual work packages. Due dates, WBS numbers, detailed work description, and other information are added as they are developed. To save time and improve performance, consider having the team members who will perform each task do most of the work of developing the form (subject to project management approval, of course) and recycle task information sheets from previous projects.
Effective delegation is one of the keys to successful project management. When the task information sheet is fully developed, it makes an excellent tool for delegation. The technique of kanban task management, shown in Exhibit 4-7, helps you control activities on multiple projects.
USING A WORK BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE IN MANAGING MULTIPLE PROJECTS
The WBS is equally valuable in managing multiple projects, whether you’re running programs of independent projects, interdependent programs, or portfolios.
Because you can always look at a collection of projects as a collection of work packages, developing a WBS for multiple projects is exactly the same as developing a WBS for a single project. You can group multiple projects by portfolio, by organization, or by primary skill area, just as you do with a single project.
There are numerous payoffs in using the WBS for multiple project management. Among its benefits, the WBS tool:
• Establishes the management structure for all the projects.
• Makes sure you’re not overlooking any projects.
xhibit 4-7
Kanban Task Management
Use the Task Information Sheet to control project work, especially in a multiple project environment where shared resources are common, by following these steps:
1. Create a binder for the project that contains two copies of each Task Information Sheet.
2. To assign each work package, give one copy of the sheet to the person assigned. Write that person’s name in the “Assigned to” space, along with the date the work was assigned.
3. Write status information and updates on your copy of the form, adding additional sheets as necessary.
4. If the scope of the work changes, revise the Task Information Sheet as necessary. Give a copy of the revised sheet to the assigned person and collect the previous sheet. Do not allow multiple versions of the same assignment to circulate.
5. The assigned person completes the work package, verifies with checkmarks that specifications and deliverables are achieved, places his or her initials and date on the form, and returns it to the project manager. The work package is not considered complete until this step is done.
6. Keep both copies of the sheet, notes, changes, and other information in the master project binder to be reviewed during project evaluation and “lessons learned.”
• Identifies commonalities and overlaps among projects.
• Provides a communications tool so that individual project managers know how they fit into the overall work.
• Supports other planning tools, such as network diagramming and Gantt charts, both for single and multiple projects.
The transition between project initiation and project planning can be fuzzy, because problem identification and needs development spans the two phases. Project planning covers nine different areas: scope, time, cost, procurement, quality, risk, communications, human resources, and integration of all the elements.
Begin your project plan with a statement of work, developed from the project charter and other sources. Once you have a narrative statement developed, you’re ready to prepare the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). The WBS organizes and defines the scope of the project and serves as the underpinning of the other planning tools. It is vital to do a complete job on the WBS, because the information will be used repeatedly in later planning steps. The WBS can be displayed either in organization chart format or in outline format. The same project can be organized in different ways, depending on your judgment of the best way to run the individual project.
The WBS Dictionary contains all the known information about individual work packages. Keep the information on a WBS Dictionary form such as the task analysis worksheet provided. There are numerous advantages to using the WBS Dictionary approach. One of them is kanban task management, using the WBS Dictionary forms as a way of project control. It’s important to remember that the WBS, for all its importance, is not a complete project plan. Think of it like the framing and foundation of a house: you don’t see much of it when the house is complete, but the quality of the house depends on it being done right. A WBS for multiple projects offers additional advantages. It is prepared in the same way as a WBS for a single project.
Review Questions
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1. Which statement best describes the relationship between project initiation and project planning? (a) All project initiation activities must be complete before planning begins. (b) The statement of work must be prepared before any other activity in project management. (c) The transition between project initiation and project planning tends to be fuzzy. (d) The information gained in project planning is necessary for project initiation. |
1. (c) |
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2. The purpose of the WBS Dictionary is to: (a) define technical terms used in the project. (b) ensure every work package has an identification number. (c) determine how long the project will take. (d) organize important information about each work package. |
2. (d) |
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3. The WBS for your specific project should always: (a) be organized by phase. (b) reflect the management and organizational structure that will be used on the project. (c) have no more than four levels. (d) be prepared using appropriate software. |
3. (b) |
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4. WBS elements with subordinate activities are known as: (a) control accounts. (b) work packages. (c) tasks. (d) WBS Level 3. |
4. (a) |
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5. The project statement of work is a: (a) visual description of the work in the project. (b) narrative summary of the project. (c) legally binding contract between the project manager and the customer. (d) document used only by the project manager and the customer. |
5. (b) |