Comprehensive Overview of Project Management Concepts and Practices

hey everyone welcome to simply learn today we will be learning the project management's fill course we will begin

this video by talking about what project management is project planning how can it be done using excel cost quality

communication and other forms of management the best project managing tools how you can prepare for the pmp

exam the role of a project manager interview questions and much more by the time you are done you will be well

versed with some of the most important concepts in project management for this training with me we have a specialist

chandra mr and ishan together they will take you through these different topics so let's start by answering our first

question what is project management so before we begin make sure to subscribe to our

youtube channel and don't forget to hit that bell icon so that you can never miss an update from simply learn

hi welcome to project management tutorial from simple learn i am chandra mr a

professional consultant and coach in best practices related to project management and i.t service management

today as part of this tutorial we are going to learn the basic understanding about the project

management and the required knowledge for a project manager to become successful in managing projects so as

part of this tutorial we are going to look at what is project management what is

project components of project management project life cycle key focus areas in project management job roles in project

management and project management certifications so what is project management now as defined in pmis pmbok

project management is application of knowledge skills tools and techniques to project activities to meet project

requirements so every project will have an objective to accomplish similarly the objective of project management is to

make the final deliverables in a finite time and budget this involves having clear understanding about the

deliverables of the project require resources for the project resource in terms of human resources technical

resources financial resources etc project managers should have a full picture of those aspects we can call it

as constraints or aspects and manage those throughout the project life cycle for which a project manager should have

a full view about a project and what is that this project has to accomplish that objective should be clear

so as part of project management the six constraints which project manager should look at are scope time quality cost risk

and resources so each of these areas has very important role to play in project management the clarity in scope the

clarity in terms of schedule within which the project has to be delivered the cost what it incurs to that

particular project once it is finalized one cannot vary when cannot change without any proper approvals similar to

that we have quality management which has to ensure the scope the specifications what are defined project

output will be accordingly achieved risk every project is taken up for a specific reason by organization so organization

should assess the risk associated with the project and similarly as project progresses various different risks has

to be identified like risk related to project management risk related to technology area risk related to

resources risk related to financial things so broadly risk management plays a very important role so there will be

something called contingency reserve kept for a identified risk above the cost what is estimated for various

deliverables from the project so every projects require resources resources may be in terms of human resources financial

resources technology resources environmental resources so all these resources are used to produce the output

of the project so these resources has to be managed with the sufficient optimization and standardizations

required now let us understand the definition of a project so what is the project pmi defines a project as a

temporary endower undertaken to create a unique product service or result the temporary nature of a project indicates

that the project has a definite beginning and end so when i say product unique product it means every output it

may be similar products you are producing with the same features and functionality but the output of every

project is unique because it is unique in terms of all the six constraints what we just discussed now now when i say

product it is very easy for us to visualize it may be a desktop it may be a laptop

it may be a car it may be a machine etc but how do i visualize a service a project output is a service now it is

it's about building a capability a project by through a project a capability can be built to ensure

services can be provided that's what the output of project is service for example if i think about a taxi services for

providing a taxi services i need a mobile app i need taxi i need a server i need a data center

so all these are various different products and services here service example can be internet service so

combination of all the services and products builds the capability for an organizations who can provide the taxi

services so building that capability we say it is an output of a particular project which is called service

similarly results can be improvement of something improvement in customer satisfaction increase in

some specific objectives or specific results needs to be achieved in performance perspective so

output of every project will be unique product or a service or a result this we need to clearly understand so when we

say there is a definite beginning and end every project starts at a certain point in time and ends at certain point

in time so it has a definite beginning and end that is the reason it is temporary in nature it is not an ongoing

business activity right so every project will have a life cycle a beginning and end so when it starts till end until the

result or a service or a product which comes as an output of a project project lifecycle is not ended so interestingly

in a product life cycle or in a service lifecycle you come across many project life cycles so one project

life cycle means one project is initiated to introduce a product or services next project or

initiated would be to enhance the capability of a service or a product next project initiated after some time

is to optimize something similarly at the end of the product lifecycle project is initiated to retire that product or

services so in a given product life cycle there will be multiple project life cycle so what is involved in the

project life cycle it involves five areas five groups we can call it as so initiation planning execution monitoring

and closure so when i say initiation it's all about understanding what is project giving the basic understanding

of the project collating the details and having key stakeholders identified once that is done one will move towards

planning so here in the initiation it is very clearly one has to understand is project is worthwhile of doing so one

has to check the feasibility one has to measure that particular investment is making sense

and then confirm yes it makes sense to invest now next planning as we have a basic understanding of yes this project

has to be done and a discussion with the key stakeholders have happened now that moves towards planning now in

planning one will understand the project in entirety if it is a waterfall approach one has to have a clear

articulation of entire project a comprehensive details holistic approach now if you go if you are going in a

project in a agile way of approach now in this planning you may have a big skeleton as you go in each of the

iteration you may go deep dive into detailed planning if it is agile approach so planning provides you the

clear insight towards what needs to be done in this project how it has to be done and what are the results which can

be achieved out of that particular project so this involves making that a clear blueprint often project objectives

what we are supposed to achieve so this will become a reference point throughout the project lifecycle then execution as

you have a blueprint of the project as the direction of that project is set detailing of the project has been made

one will go ahead and execute the project executing the sense implementation acquiring resources and

implementing it so execution phase involves the allocation of resources and making the deliverables as required you

acquire resources you configure a resource you ensure right resources are required if it is human resource one has

to educate that human resource with the project required knowledge or details or one has to

provide that assignment in such a way that skills of that individuals what they should have is acquired by those

individuals so that deliverables can happen and they need to be managed the entire team needs to be managed for that

a clear structure has to be created similarly when you do technology resource perspective those components

has to be tested configured then integrated again tested for uncheck the performances so collective action of

this results in a deliverable during the execution so as the deliverables are happening in the execution it is quite

obvious project manager has to monitor review control that particular deliverable and also the processes tools

resources used during the project even those needs to be monitored so that they are complying to the defined processes

so during monitoring there may be a deviation one can found during monitoring there may be the project is

running the way it is required so in this monitoring phase it involves an action from project manager to monitor

and control the work of the project so comparing with the blueprint of plan what is accomplished what is created

during the planning phase of this project and as the execution happens monitoring and control

is monitoring it and checking is that activities what is being done is according to the plan or not similarly

the deliverables which comes as an output of our projects are tested thoroughly whether those have a specific

features and functionality and are they functioning the way it is required now project has to be delivered to the scope

what is defined it should not go beyond that or below that similarly the schedule what is made for the project

within that schedule project deliverables needs to be accomplished within the cost what is budgeted for the

project so during the project your project manager may find there are certain

deviations which are occurred there are additional challenges which has come in so for this reason one has to ensure

continued monitoring as the execution happens and identify those deviation and ensure whenever there is a deviation

there is a correction whenever there is an additional things coming in that needs to be considered carefully whether

that need to be involved as part of this deliverable or should be taken it separately so this requires lot of

conversation with all the stakeholders of the project during the entire project life cycle especially during planning

execution monitoring and control since they are not the one which is happening in sequence so planning can also come

back again where there is something which you may require to modify so may require to have a change in the

blueprint itself by adding that new change which is coming in so you go back to planning so planning execution

monitoring and control are going hand in hand so that project deliverables are happening as needed

similarly all the process work instructions all those templates what is given are used one is complying to those

requirement it is very important and project is done within the scope schedule and time and the quality

metrics defined then as the completion of the project happens as the monitoring and control says yes deliverable has

happened according to the requirement then the project moves to the closure the closure may be closure of a specific

project phase a milestone deliverable or a faisal deliverable or it can be a deliverable at the end of

the project which is the ultimate deliverable so processes in closing has to be triggered whenever there is end of

the phase whenever there is a deliverable to conclude and also at the end of the project to conclude the

entire project so during the closure one has to ensure capturing all the details in terms of what is accomplished against

what is defined what went wrong what went well what is a learning one has to take to the next level or the next phase

or to the next project and at the same time a sign-off has to be obtained formally and everything should be

summarized and have a good handshake with the project stakeholder mainly a business or customer and also

disseminating of team means you will dismantle the entire team and send them back to their specific units or

specialization and they may get assigned to new project or if it is a functional they can go back to their functions to

do their functional activities so that was about entire project lifecycle what happens now while doing this i mentioned

there are six constraints that is scope schedule cost quality risk and resources so keeping these in mind one has to

ensure project is successful in all aspects so to become successful there are few key areas which has to be looked

at so first six key areas are scope schedule cost quality resources and stakeholders

now let us look at the scope what does scope means scope is about what needs to be delivered what is in scope what is

out of the scope so this refers to all those deliverable scope all those activity scope basically we speak about

two things one is product scope and project scope product scope is all about ensuring the features functionality of

products are well defined and understood and signed off and while delivering that product that is tested against those

defined features and functionalities whereas projects go focus on all the activities needs to be done all those

templates which has to be used all the process which has to be complied with all the skills which is required to be

applied so it is going as defined so by doing this activities which is defined as part of project scope the result the

deliverable will come out which will be in line with the deliverables features and functionality which is defined as

part of product scope it is very important to ensure entire projects happens within this particular scope

there should not be any deviations from this schedule perspective for that specifications what were defined for a

product and project so these needs to be done in a specific point in time means in a specific schedule there will be

start time and time right so one has to plan how long a project would take and what are the deliverables

should happen in what sequence what activities are required to accomplish this

so all these needs to be understood so while performing the schedule management one has to look at a specific

deliverable at a specific point in time by applying a specific set of activities required so this will tell you the

duration of the project this will provide the sequence of project this will also help you to understand the

dependency between one task to another task this will also help you to understand how the deliverables

happening in what sequence which helps in prioritizing your deliverables third is cost so as we know to do any project

it is very essential to ensure project happens within that budget so project cost is estimated initially then that

estimated cost will be checked checked in terms of is the assumptions considerations are right or wrong is

that really so much of a monetary resource are required for the project and then after understanding the

justification and obtaining the clarity budget is i mean monetary resources are allocated and confirmed approved then it

will become a budget that will be a cost baseline so these estimation allocation of budget once it happens that will

become a base and any deviations from that cannot happen so easily so any deviations because of additional of

scope that can be handled through change management but idealistic scenario the cost should not escalate or come down

organization can also set certain tolerances at the project level considering various different scenarios

like scenario of risks scenario of something which deviated from the deliverable so to what extent it can

deviate that tolerance will also be set at the economic or monetary value perspective that is about cost

now quality as we know quality is a very important area which ensures the project is

delivered in time with all the specifications defined by using all the methods means by

following all the processes work instructions templates and delivering as needed where it

enables the project to monitor it easily so basically the requirement of compliance and standardization and

optimization is to ensure everyone follows the same steps do the activity so what quality management focus is to

ensure the intended objectives of a projects are achieved already there is a definition done in terms of various

different practices or processes needs to be followed similarly specification of each of the products are defined and

from that there should not be any deviation so quality management should focus on ensuring those activities are

done as defined those deliverables are done according to the specifications what is different it is very important

that way so for that there is a layer of quality management there should be a layer of quality management where

auditing or control activities are initiated periodically so that any deviations can be seen easily and

remember a project manager can become cannot become part of quality management like

project manager cannot audit project manager should have a team or take the help of a team who can able to do mostly

the one which is who is not part of the project is always better resources now as i mentioned earlier every project

need resources it may be human resources it may be technology resources it may be any other resources which are required

to do the project so organization acquires resources configured and then deployed

for example in the project you acquire a server you configure a server you deploy a

server technology resource human resource is on board recruited project induction is given then at the same time

the skills and capabilities of individuals are according to the requirement of project that needs to be

ensured and what needs to be delivered and how it has to be delivered should be clear to the particular human resource

so looking at all the aspects of resources to acquire to build and manage it is very important to look at the

resource management so this will help in carrying out a specific task in the project in the best possible manner so

interestingly when i say human resource always there is a possibility that a conflict can occur so when i say

conflict conflict of interest may be in terms of what the individuals has to do conflict in terms of the preferences in

terms of solutions what they are looking at conflict in terms of using resources different opinions different preferences

various reasons conflict can come across so it is very important to project manager to understand this dynamics of

human resources and manage this conflicts project manager cannot shy away from handling

conflicts project manager has to hone and resolve those conflicts in the favor of project not in the fear of any

individuals so there are various techniques to look at resolving conflicts so that is like compromising

problem solving smoothening accommodating so whichever helps for that project

scenario for the project objectives that needs to be applied that technique has to be taken up so here the resolution is

not at the specific individual's preference it is with the objective of other projects as any impact what kind

of impact positive or negative if it is negative no that's not the direction the direction should be ensuring project

gets that value through this conflict resolution so project manager should own it it's an accountability of a project

manager then as the human resources are acquired there are five stages team dynamics are involved so one has to

bring them then educate them about a project as education on the project happens one has

to go and do the job on floor that needs to be observed means one has to manage by looking at it and

any corrections needs to be done that needs to be guided so it is very dynamic thing when it comes to human resources

similarly in technology resources standardization there is no ambiguity as such but right resources with the right

configurations should be acquired that is very important the next stakeholders so who can be stakeholders every project

will have a stakeholder who are internal and external to the project so the internal stakeholders are those who are

part of the project who are part of the organization who are part of the customer organization or part of

supplier organization a competition to my business means my organization's business all this we can call it as a

stakeholders now every stakeholders will have a specific interest a power an ability to influence now through their

position through their distance from the project they will get impacted at the same time

they will also impact the project similarly they influence and they get influenced because of the project so a

project manager should identify all the stakeholders and understand this what is the kind of stakeholder is this in terms

of power in terms of legitimacy in terms of influence in terms of impact after understanding that there should be a

strategy for handling the stakeholders how am i going to engage with these stakeholders it is very important and

accordingly the engagement should happen and then stakeholder engagement should resolve in the favor of projects again

so if it is a customer customer should get that inputs required through review or periodic updates and the engagement

required with the customer so that customer is having up-to-date information about the project if it is a

team continued monitoring and control and ensuring team delivers the results what is required so focus of a

stakeholder should be in such a way that your strategy should enable project to become successful and get a proper

response from the stakeholder means a supporting engagement so next few key focus areas to mention is communication

risk procurement critical success factors deliverables and work breakdown so this

list is not exhaustive as we deep dive into project i think you can just keep listing the key focus areas more than

this but whatever we have indicated are the minimum which needs to be looked at so when i say communication

communication is basically a conversation exchange of message which happens between two entities now

whenever we communicate it is necessary to understand that it has to happen with two individuals or two entities there

should be sender there should be a receiver in the absence of receiver if sending is happening that communication

doesn't make any sense there should be a receiver and there should be an acknowledgement from the receiver now

this is one of the most ignored area in many of the projects even the communication happens more often more

frequently but what people face difficulty in realizing that as they communicate generally informally

formally they just take those for granted now when you identify the stakeholder one has to understand what

is the communication requirement for those stakeholders what is that communication why is that communication

what is the content of that communication how frequently we should do that

interactions or communications intent of that particular communication what is the expected action or response from

that communication all this needs to be very very clear and this can be articulated it has to be articulated so

when it is articulated once there is a picture in terms of what kind of communication has to happen it is quite

obvious there should not be any deviation from the agreed communications requirements and whenever there is a

need of change to the communication requirements from the stakeholders that needs to be updated for this one has to

have a stakeholders identified so stakeholder management and communication are very closely linked and associated a

engagement with the stakeholder will become successful within effective communication approaches next is risk so

every project which is undertaken by organization that will have certain amount of risk which organization will

evaluate similarly within the project life cycle lot of risk comes up which would have such an impact to the project

now risk refers to by definition an uncertain event it has an uncertainty an event which is uncertain and when it

occurs it will have an impact on the project positively or negatively now current scenario in everywhere in the

projects what you observe closely people tend to look at the risk which are threats that is negative only but they

fail to recognize the risks which are opportunities the positive risks so another gap which we see when do the

risk management is that is done in the initial phase of the project as the project is kicked off someone will do

the risk assessment have a list of risk identified but unfortunately there is no categorizations for that risk and how is

that going to impact the project that is not clear thirdly risk management or list of risk

are created only once it is not done repeatedly so risk identification and analysis and assessment of that risk has

to be done throughout the life cycle of a project reason being the risk which looks as in high impact when project is

initiated as the project progresses the impact levels will vary maybe in the middle of the project the impact may be

very high or low so likewise the impacts of the risk will vary throughout the project life cycle it may be positive it

may be negative so as you identify the stakeholder throughout the project life cycle as i said that is also a dynamic i

cannot just have a list of stakeholders and i keep it as it is i need to update that also regularly risk identification

assessment and analysis should also be done regularly periodically so that one will have a clear understanding about is

that risk still valid is that risk is there still or not what is the level of variations in terms of impact of the

risks so this clarity will be there so that neces organization or project manager can get ready to face those risk

if it is a negative risk definitely should have a mitigation or avoidance or acceptance whatever the mitigation plan

you have to eliminate the negative impact of the risk when it occurs if it is a positive risk it's quite obvious

one has to take the advantage of that one has to enhance exploit share a positive risk so that organization is

benefited further procurement so whenever a project is initiated whenever a project is taken up the organization

who is doing the project cannot create everything cannot develop everything in that project life cycle so organization

would take a decision make a decision stating that some of the deliverables we make ourselves some of the products we

make ourselves some of the products we purchase some of the services we purchase so to purchase that has to

happen from a specific supplier you cannot go with every supplier you should evaluate the

suppliers qualify the suppliers and then select onboard the supplier and then get the services or products supplied by

that particular supplier so while doing this one has to understand what type of contracting they need to enter with so

three types of contracts we speak basically one is about a cost plus contract where cost is fully

known to the project manager and to the organization so apart from known cost a fee will be paid to the supplier another

one is fixed price where project manager or the organization who is awarding that contract to a supplier will not know

what is the cost instead it is a fixed price but important here is the scope of work needs to be clearly articulated and

defined another type of contracting can be time and material where the building will happen based on the

amount of time one is spent on that particular i hire a resource or on-board resource on a timeline material basis

and what is that effort that resource has been put based on that building will happen so three types of contracts

depending on the different scenarios of the project will be signed with the contractor however before doing that it

is very essential to identify those suppliers sign off with them and monitor and manage them so if deliverables are

not there it is very essential to look at the termination one has to terminate

otherwise one has to ensure instead of uh terminating should be able to put some

effort to educate them also so that they come up to the mark so project is benefited so depending on what needs to

be done that call has to be taken on a regular basis then critical success factor so for every project there should

be an articulation of critical success factor so based on that one can confirm yes project has achieved his objectives

our project has not achieved his objectives so key critical success factor should be supported through the

metrics key performance indicators so key performance indicators provide those metrics to say critical success factor

is achieved for example if i want to become successful in an exam critical success factor is scoring or passing the

examination or let me say to pass the examination key performance indicator is scoring 60 percent and above so critical

success factor for me to get promoted is to pass in this particular exam so to pass in this exam minimum i should score

is 60 percent that is kpi passing in the exam that is critical success factor so how will i measure that success factor

is kpi so every project which it produces a specific product or services by using a specific resources and each

of these the resources the processes the templates the deliverables all these needs to be measured on a continual

basis so there are critical success factors defined and those are measured by defining kpis to that critical

success factors so basically critical success factor provides the insight towards what needs to be measured and

when you measure what should be the focus and to achieve those critical success factors the indicator is key

performance indicators when you measure yes the moment you achieve that your csf is achieved next deliverables so

deliverables are those which comes as an output of the project right it may be a product it may be a service it may be a

result so this refers to the output within the scope of a project so there can be one or more deliverables within a

single project so these deliverables may be the items that are to be sent externally to a customer or a

stakeholder so every deliverable will have a defined scope will have a defined specification so those deliverables has

to be measured tested and one has to confirm yes this deliverable is performing as we are intended to have

the performance accordingly the decision will happen should we accept this particular deliverable or not if there

is deviation that has to go back for correction so that's the reason we have monitoring and control all the control

processes like control quality focused on the product state whether it has achieved the results or not is that

functional as needed or not one has to ensure these deliverables has all those features and functionalities only then

that can be handed over to the respective stakeholder customer or operation whoever the stakeholder it is

next is work breakdown structure so when we say work breakdown structure when i look at a specific piece of product or

services and have a bigger picture i cannot even visualize the various different components various different

actions involved in achieving that bigger deliverable so if i say a car so i can think of a body external i can

think of a mirror on that body i can think of a glass in the front side as well as the

back side and also i can think of interiors like seat then accelerator steering dashboard all this i can

visualize but since i am not a technology expert relating to car can i visualize all those parts which are

working inside for car to move like engine the battery assembly i don't know what to say further so all these can be

visualized by an expert so every product or services should be broken down into multiple pieces i'm not saying go and

break that product i am saying that product will have multiple components which are involved those needs to be

segregated for example if i say cars exteriors cars interior so cars exteriors external items you can see

whatever you visualize body body structure mirror mirror assembly headlights uh then tires so likewise

whatever i can visualize i will make it as a line items under the exterior so under for example under a mirror mirror

i can speak about mirror glass mirror cap mirror pedestal and mirror of assembly where it moves where you can

move the mirror so these are the various components involved in a mirror so i need to ensure

by breaking down the product into multiple levels but depos decomposing it to multiple levels i can able to

visualize the product very clearly what is there in detail so once i have the details i will articulate those what is

that particular work breakdown element is product breakdown element is then i will look at what skills and

capabilities required for that product and i will assign the resources accordingly so once activities resources

everything is assigned automatically this will become our breakdown structure further after creating our breakdown

structure one will go and sequence the activity look at sequencing will happen based on in what priority deliverable

should happen what order deliverable should happen then once the sequencing is done it will be checked to see

whether anything can be optimized anything can be done in such a way that smooth flow of

the project can happen there is no dependencies which will make project to delay like as the flow happens smoothly

so you would find the various techniques like critical path method network diagramming critical chain method so all

these are used the floats of an activities are checked then leads and lags of the activities the relationship

between activities so accordingly full visualization in terms of how the project will flow and how in what order

the deliverables are happening can be easily visualized so that is the reason first activity is to do the product

breakdown which would result in work regular structure so those are the points still now whatever i mentioned

are the basic understanding one should have about a project and project management so as you deep dive into

various best practices like pmp by pmi prince2 by axelos scrum mass fragile scrub master similarly you have

certified scrum master so many agile practices so when you look at any of the best practices that will tell you

clearly articulate what should be the practice for you to adopt and adapt that practices so that

your project can become successful so any of those approach you touch upon all those refers to these basic things in

the absence of these basic things none of those best practices discusses the project management now typically in the

industry there are a lot of job roles to the project management which we have seen so based on that this information

is captured here on various job rules in a project management so some of them are like project manager senior project

manager project lead resource manager pmo that is project management office analyst steering committee member

so not necessarily all the project management roles are limited to this so

these are the roles which commonly you see and we are trying to capture that to give the insight right when i say

project manager the project manager is the owner one has to take an accountability for the project right so

project managers takes the project according to the plan and plays a lead role in all the steps of the project

management right so responsibilities should be managing reviewing and prioritizing the task wherever necessary

looking after risk management stakeholder management and project communication management some of the

salary what we found while we were doing the survey the success ratio of a project depends majorly on the project

manager so the demand for project management is rapidly increasing in the market so accordingly uh

thousand four seven four per year that is the usd in inr it is fifteen hundred thousand so this is what the salary uh

on an approximation what was found next role we look at senior project manager where senior project manager is ahead of

the overall project management plan the role demands in-depth knowledge of all the project aspects on a specific on the

specifics of the project the responsibilities would be planning and coordinating complex projects visiting

project sites to check progress and handle complex issues so salary looks like one or four thousand dollars

per year here 20 92 000 inr per year so the role of senior project manager is one of the highest paying rules in the

industry as we have seen having several allowances and bonuses because of the criticality involved in the project and

the accountability level of that particular individuals in the organization next role project lead so

project leads are the one who leads the people throughout the project and provide them with all the information

required throughout so responsibilities involve motivating the team beneath taking care of their needs and paying

attention to what they feel ordering or controlling the project team since the project lead has more freedom than the

project manager salary project lead makes sure that project gives the best possible outcome and is hence the demand

for the project lead in the company never reduces so in usd 82 000 per year whereas in inr it is one million two

sixty nine thousand per year next role we look at on resource manager so resource manager is the human resource

needed to make the project success right so one has to manage those resources responsibility involved assigning the

right people to the right projects at the right time managing employees currently and determining hiring needs

depending on the project's requirements so salary would be around 64 000 usd which comes around 966 794 in inr

project management office analyst for this role the project management office analyst works with pmo means project

management office and does not look at the project or manage the project directly instead does most of the data

driven work which required for a project to have our project to get supported by that so that project managers will have

a better insight analyzing and interpreting the data concerning the project figuring out the future risks to

the project finding new ways to advance the idea of the project management so salary would be one or six thousand two

fifty three per year in usd whereas four forty nine thousand three thirty seven in inr per year so steering committee

member so the steering committee members are the members who do not work on the project themselves they are there to

help the project manager like providing inputs during the development of a project advising on the budget and

evaluating the project strategies taking regular feedback from the project managers and asking necessary questions

so salary would be around 68 497 dollars per year so those were the various roles and that is not that list is not an

exhaustive list various different roles we come across but these are the basic roles which is seen in the industry

these roles are being recruited now there are various project management certifications which are offered as i

mentioned earlier so those certifications are pmp that is project management professional from pmi agile

certified practitioner that is pmi acp again from pmi then certified associate in project management so difference

between capm and pmp is like capm would act as a basic level of certification for those who does not have a sufficient

project experience project management experience whereas pmp is for those who has some project management experience

similarly pmi sap is the one who is aspiring to look at agility in project management and they can go for it

certified scrum master yes it is a scrum master certificate which will explain the role of a scrum master in detail

similarly prince to a certification from axolotls which also speak about all the aspects of the

project what we discussed and provides the framework for project management axilla's also provides prince2

certification in agile also agile prince2 certification so we will look at each one of this certain details which

are required for us to know so project management professional as i mentioned is most acknowledged and value the

certificate value what it carries which has resulted to the certified professionals in landing up in highest

paid jobs in the world so certified managers gets 20 more salary than the average salary so to take up an

examination one has to go through the formal training of 35 hours that is one of the prerequisites and there should be

some experience of 400 hours of project managing project by leading various activities of a project and once the

person becomes eligible with that prerequisites person will become register in the pmi's website becomes

member and then go for examination so examination fee for pmp would be 4.5 dollars for the members who are

registered with pmi and for those who are not registered as a member with pmi it is 555 dollars the duration of the

examination is 4 hours and the number of questions will be 200 which are multiple choice questions so each questions

carries one marks there is no negative scoring now prerequisites one has to have 4 500 hours directing and leading

the projects that experience has to be filled in while filling the application if a person is a bachelor degree holder

and along with that 35 contractors of pmi pm education now prerequisites for the one who is not a graduate who may be

high school or diploma is 7500 hours of directing and leading projects 35 hours of pm education so those are the

prerequisites before one will go and appear for examination so once an individual passes pmp examination that

certificate is valid for three years so now after three years if the person aspires to keep the certificate

continued they need to produce 60 pdus professional development units which has to be acquired during those three years

how to acquire one has to go through additional learning one has to contribute towards project management

knowledge base so those needs to be evidenced and then renewable fee has to be paid and certificate has to be

renewed then agile certified practitioner as we saw for pmp here a gel certified practitioner demonstrates

that one has relevant experience and education to handle and lead agile projects the organization has started

shifting towards agile as we know in today's industry which makes this certification

fast growing in the world so examination fee would be 435 dollars for pmi members 495 for non-pmi members duration is

three hours and multiple choice questions 120 questions prerequisites is 2 000 hours project management

experience with 100 hours agile experience and 21 contact hours of agile practices so maintenance 30 videos are

required for every three years and after paying the renewal fee that can be renewed now certified associate in

project management so here this is an entry level certificate of pmi especially for those people who has less

project experience it intends to demonstrate fundamental knowledge terminologies and processes of effective

project management so examination fee would be dollar 225 for pmi members whereas three hundred dollars for

non-members of pmi so duration of examination is 3 hours and examination will have 150 multiple choice questions

so prerequisites someone who has secondary diploma 23 contact hours of pm education is enough there is no

experience of doing the project is required as we saw in pmp so maintenance is again three years

someone who need to continue the certification has to retake the examination every three years next

certified scrum master so certified scrum master is an entry level certification that helps the

professionals to begin as the scrum practitioners is one of the most sought-after certifications as other

after this one can get the designation of certified scrum master which is offered by scrum alliance so examination

fee which will change time to time which is not revealed so one has to approach the training organization where they

will get trained on certified scrum master so duration of examination is 60 minutes and pattern would be 16 hours 2

days of training and 50 multiple choice questions after that particular two days of training then prerequisite is done

for maintaining these credentials so one has to ensure it has renewed every two years then projects in controlled

environment that is prince2 so prince2 is a method which is effective mostly from the base of uk all the

organizations who are from uk region prefers to have prince to certification and it is as popular as any other

project management certifications like pmp so examination fee would vary from nine hundred dollars to thousand dollars

depending on where exactly you're taking the examination and certification will happen at two levels one is at

foundation level and other one is practitioner so in foundation it is 60 questions multiple choice and in

practitioner it's 68 questions now 60 questions or 68 questions each carries one marks for correct answer any wrong

answer there will not be any negative scoring one has to score 55 percent to clear the examination so prerequisites

for prince2 foundation is none whereas prince2 foundation is a prerequisite for princeton practitioner examination so to

maintain the certificate one has to achieve 20 cpds every year continued professional development hi guys my name

is ishan and i welcome you all to this session of project planning today we will be learning about different aspects

of project planning but before we begin let's have a look at an incident here's max an assistant project manager who

looks tensed and is pacing around the room then jack a project manager who works with him walks into the room and

asks him why does he seem so tensed to which max replies he is facing difficulty in estimating the budget jack

responds it might be because he is not planning the project properly jack reassures max and begins to tell him

about project planning so today we will be learning about what is project planning and check out the fundamentals

of project planning then we will see why project planning is so essential for a project to be successful after that we

will check the tools for project planning and finally we will have a look at the steps for project planning so

without any further ado let's begin with what is project planning project planning is the second step or phase of

the project life cycle project life cycle has five different phrases from initiation to closure today we will be

learning about this phase that comes immediately after initiation in which the project plan is documented and

further requirements are defined project planning includes the following things the first and foremost thing is

describing the objectives or outputs we are expecting the project to yield second we have is the elaboration of the

scope to make sure what the project is all about and what all can be expected from the project the third step we have

is forming a schedule this schedule is important to run or perform different tasks of a project each task having its

own start date and end date this helps the project to finish in the scheduled time and limit lastly we have making and

generating progress reports in which all that went during the tenure of the project is documented this helps in

evaluating the project and helps in the forthcoming projects now let's have a look at the project planning

fundamentals the first fundamental that we have is the determination of scope cost and resources that determination

helps us in having a rough estimate about the time that is required to finish the project it helps us in

determining the number of people required and what should be their skill set we can divide the project into

smaller manageable sections and this is made possible with the help of work breakdown structure the second

fundamental refers to identifying the problem there are several techniques by which we can collect information and

discover issues there may be several problems in a project and in that case several risks or issues are prioritized

and the risk that requires immediate attention is dealt with first then comes identification of stakeholders when we

can identify the stakeholders we can know who all will be affected and in what way which helps us having a better

understanding of the project stakeholders may be anybody they may be the part of the project team or project

managers or customers they help during the project and contribute to its success then the last fundamental we

will discuss is defining project objectives a project plan is made keeping in mind the requirements of the

project team and expectations of the stakeholders if the project team can meet the expectations of the

stakeholders then only we can say that the project is successful now when we know about project planning and its

fundamentals it's time to see why project planning is so important project planning reduces the cost and time of

the project as every step is monitored and optimized in the best possible manner project planning increases

employee satisfaction as every employee who is a part is engaged in the team for improved project performance project

planning helps in the implementation of quality assurance as the output of every step is duly tested lastly project

planning helps in reducing project risk as planning helps to analyze prioritize and deal with that risk moving on let's

have a look at the tools for project planning the first tool that we have is a gantt chart today gantt charts are one

of the most popular project management tools they help in tracking the status of the work at a particular time and

their independencies on each other gantt charts help in showing different phases and steps involved in a project the

second tool we will talk about is critical path method or cpm critical path method helps in scheduling the

project activities so that the project runs properly the critical path method focuses on the longest stretch of

dependent tasks and determines the time needed to complete them the next tool is project evaluation and review technique

or pert chart bird provides a graphical representation of the project's timeline explaining the independencies of

different tasks this tool not only helps in making a schedule but also helps in coordinating with all the team members

the fourth tool we will check is work breakdown structure work breakdown structure is a very common tool that

makes it possible for the team to break its work into manageable sections work breakdown structure is a step two step

process that helps in completing the project efficiently the last tool we will see is project documentation

project documentation is an integral part of the project life cycle project documentation helps in understanding the

mistakes done during the project and more importantly provides guidelines for the upcoming project now when we know

about different tools for project planning it becomes essential that we know the necessary steps of project

planning there are seven steps in project planning let's have a look at each of them in detail the first step is

identification of stakeholders as we have discussed stakeholders could be anybody they could be a part of the team

or a project manager or a customer when we identify stakeholders we can find out the expectations and requirements that

are to be looked upon in this project this gives us a clearer picture of the project and helps in establishing the

project scope so the next step we have is defining the project scope this helps in determining a list of specific

project goals and deliverables that are to be achieved during the course of the project after we have defined the

project scope it is time to set project objectives and prioritize them the initial ideas that were there before are

now elaborated and final steps to complete the project are defined in the next step the deliverables are

determined after all project deliverables are the only reason why the project is being created this step

involves finding out what these deliverables will be and the deadlines of the delivery then the step that comes

into picture is creating a project schedule the project schedule refers to the guidelines when a particular task is

to be started and when it is supposed to end this helps in monitoring the growth of the project and later helps in

generating progress reports the next step is the step of risk analysis this step plays an extremely important role

in the success of the overall project it helps in identifying the risk prioritizing them and taking steps to

limit them the last step in project planning is to generate progress reports in this step we update the stakeholders

about the project growth and it is done so that all the concerned team members can have a look at the progress of the

project after all this information max thanks jack for the explanation and looks forward to plan projects within

the budget and of better quality in this session we will talk about project plan in excel we will learn about a project

plan and how we can make an effective plan in microsoft excel before we begin let's have a look at all the topics we

will be covering today first we will see the basics of a project plan then we will check the process of project

management microsoft excel and why should one refer to microsoft excel apart from this we will learn about how

to make a gantt chart in excel towards the end we will check some microsoft excel templates so without any further

ado let's get started let's see what is a project plan project plan is a basic thing that is needed to execute a

project according to project management book of knowledge a project can be defined as an approved elaborative

document that guides the team during project execution and project control when we are making a project plan a

project plan must answer several questions for us these questions are like what are we expecting our project

to deliver how are we expecting to get our deliverables within the desired time who all will be a part of a project and

what tasks they will have in the project when will the project start and when it is expected to end that is the deadlines

of the project now let us learn about project management in excel microsoft excel is one of the most common

applications these days it is used in both offices and at homes microsoft excel is an easy project management tool

that allows the team members to easily see the tasks in a project develop a plan and track its progress before we

learn more about project management in excel let's first have a look why do we use excel microsoft excel is an easy

tool to plan a project so it can be used by people who are beginners in terms of project management in excel one can find

several analytical tools like concatenate len and counter so this makes data analysis easy and effective

as the entry of data is easy same is tracking and controlling of project status then there are several project

management templates in excel that help us to have an effective distribution of project data we will be checking several

project management templates towards the end of this video now let's have a look at the process of making a gantt chart

in excel before we begin this it's important we know what is a gantt chart a gantt chart is like an horizontal bar

chart that is used for project management with the help of a gantt chart we can check the status of the

task the date they start the date the end and the dependencies on each other gantt chart helps in coordinating and

monitoring different tasks in a project now let's have a look at the steps that will help us in making a gantt chart

first step we have is make a project table we have several rows and columns like here we have three columns in the

first column we have the tasks in the second we have our start date and in the third column we have the duration or

tenure of the task the second step is to make a bar chart in excel for this we will select the entire second column

then we will go on the insert tab and click on the bar graph chart there we can select stack bar graph in 2d bar

charts as a result we will have the entitled bar graph on the screen in the third step we will add the duration to

the bar graph we will right click on the chart and in the menu that appears we will select select data option a window

that appears on the screen in that window we will select add option as shown we can also see the start date is

already in the entry section then in the dialog box that appears type tenure in the series name and click on the rain

selection icon that's shown in the figure now select the relevant data from the tenure column and click on ok now we

can see a bar graph that has two colors on the screen this bar graph now has the duration of the tasks the fourth step we

have is adding description to the gantt chart now we will open the box again and in that box we will select the edit

option as shown in the figure then we will select the tasks as we had selected the duration of the tasks before and

click on ok we can now see the tasks have appeared towards the left side of the gantt chart the fifth and the

remarkable step will help us convert this bar graph into a gantt chart we will now click on the bars and select

the format data series option from the menu that appears then in the format data series dialog box we will select no

fill option we can find our gantt chart on the screen now in accordance with the data that we had entered now we can see

the tasks on the left side are in the reverse order so what we will do next is we will click on the task panel then go

to the format access dialog box and select the categories in reverse order option now we can find our tasks in the

right order one more thing we can notice is gantt chart is starting with some other date and not with the dates that

we had entered so for this we will copy the first date in some other cell then clicking on the copied cell we will go

to the home menu to select the dialog box as shown in the figure then in that drop down menu we will select the number

option we can now find a value displayed in the copied cell we'll copy that value click on the dates on the chart and as

the format access dialog box opens we will paste that value in the box that says minimum shown in the figure as a

result we will have our final gantt chart on the screen in the last step we can give several designs to a gantt

chart change colors and make it more presentable for us now when we know the basic steps of making a gantt chart i

will show that practically to you in microsoft excel our first step is to open microsoft excel and in microsoft

excel we will make a project table in our project table we will have three columns the first column will be task

the second column will have the start date the third column will have tenure or the duration of the task so beginning

with tasks we have task 1 in task 1 we have 1.1 1.2 1.3 then comes task 2. in task 2 we have 2.1

2.2 2.3 and 2.4 then we have task 3 in task 3 we will have two subsections 3.1 and 3.2 then we will start with the

starting dates in starting dates we will put 1 january the task 1 1.1 will be 1st of january then this will be 4th january

let's say this is 5th january then we will put this as 11th of january and this will be again 11th january only

this will be 15th january let's put this as 17th january let this be 19th january task 3 begins

on 23rd january and it the 3.2 section begins at 26th of january now let's put the tenure or the

duration of the task we will begin with task 1 it takes 12 days then 1.1 takes 7 days we say this takes 4 days and this

takes 8 days then for task 2 it again takes 12 days it takes 5 days 5 days

and let's say this takes six days and this takes four days then we come to task three this takes eight days and

let's say this takes six days and the three point two section takes five days so this is how our project table is

ready in the second step we will select the entire second column after we have selected this column we will go to the

insert tab in the insert tab we will go to the bar columns and in this we will select 2d stacked bar charts now we have

the entitled bar chart in accordance to our data on the screen then comes the third step we will add the duration of

the tasks to the bar graph we will click on the chart and after we click on the chart we will select

select data option in the select data source dialog box we find the start date is already there now we will click on

add and after we click on add in the series name section we will put tenure then in the series value

we will click on this icon and select the entire tenure series and click on ok so this is the bar graph that we have

now this is now in two colors the orange color and the blue color this bar graph now has the duration of all the tasks in

our project table now in the fourth step now it's time for us to add description to our gantt chart instead of this 1 2 3

4 5 we will put task 1 task 2 and the sub tasks so what we will do is we will again go to that box we will left click

on the gantt chart select the select data option and then we'll go to the start date here we'll select the edit

option in the edit option we will select all the tasks and click on ok now we can see all the tasks are aligned towards

the left of the bar chart as we can see this is a bar chart or a bar graph and not a gantt chart the next step we have

is converting this bar graph into a gantt chart so we will click on the bars and select the format data series option

from the menu that appears here we have this format data series option now we can see the dialog box on the screen

here we'll go into the color section fill section and then we will select no fill now we

can see the blue lines have disappeared so this looks like a gantt chart so now when we have a gantt chart on the screen

we can notice that the tasks here are in the reverse order so what we will do is we will click on these tasks and select

the format access option here we will select categories in reverse order we can see our gantt chart is now in order

like we have a task 1 on the top and task 3 at the bottom the dates are starting from 11th of december but the

dates we have provided are from 1st of january now we will copy this cell then go on the dates box here we'll go to

format access in the format axis we can see minimum in this minimum we will paste

this value and press enter as we press enter we can see our gantt chart starting from the date that we wanted to

start and that too in the correct order starting from task 1 to task 3. now as a result we have our final gantt chart on

the screen in the last step what we can do is make our gantt chart more representable we can change the color of

these bars we can give them shapes and we can do many other things to make it more presentable we will first select

the bars like what we will do is we will select task 1 and let's say we give it the color blue then task 2 we will give

it color green and in task 3 we'll give give it the color black so here the sub sections will give different colors to

the sub sections as well then we come to task 2.1 this is how we can change the color of these cells or apart from

changing colors we can select a bar graph and do the gradient fill so this is how we can make a gantt chart more

presentable after changing the colors or changing the shapes we have our final gantt chart on the screen finally let's

have a look at some microsoft excel templates for project management microsoft excel templates help in

collecting data putting them into order and check the dependencies with each other with the help of these templates

we can monitor the status of the tasks and we can also check the progress our project has made moving forward we will

check some important microsoft excel templates the first template we have is excel project review template this

template helps us have an overview of the project we can have a clear understanding of all the tasks that are

planned and that are completed this helps project managers to measure the progress of the project and take further

steps accordingly second template we will check is excel budget template in this template we can monitor all the

expenditures of our project it helps us in managing the budget of a project and also helps in comparing the budget of

our project at different phases let's have a look at the budget template in excel once we can download this template

from officetimeline.com the gantt chart towards the right is in accordance with the dates towards the left if we

fluctuate the date we can see the template working the start date for task 1 could be changed to 10th june if we

change this date to 10 june we can see the fluctuation in the gantt chart so this is how we can use this template

directly let's have a look at the third template now third template we will see is excel sprint project tracker template

this template is used majorly in agile projects where the project is made in several sprints or sessions this

template includes the start date the end date and the duration of each task we can also see the percentage completed of

each task let's have a look at this print project tracker template as well we can see the gantt chart towards the

right and the data towards the left so if we change any data we can see the gantt chart changing for example we can

change the data in sprint to feature 3. let's change the start date to july 2nd we can see the gantt chart changing

this is how we can use this template directly to track our sessions let's have a look at the fourth excel template

this template is excel project tracker in this template we have the data of all the tasks with the status and owners we

can track the percentage of tasks completed and also compare the plan duration of the task to the actual

duration of the task after the critical part tracker let's check the excel project schedule template this template

helps in effective management of the project as it helps in monitoring the time that each task of the project takes

it provides a clear view of all the work associated with the project let's have a look at this template in excel once we

can see the gantt chart in accordance to the data if we change the estimated hours at two places let's say at the

design review we make it 15 hours instead of 5 hours and at the create staffing plan we make it 2 hours instead

of 20 hours we can see the gantt chart fluctuating this is how we can use this template to manage the schedule in a

project moving forward the next template we will see is excel project status report template this template helps us

having a list of project deliverables and the risks associated with that project this template helps the project

managers about different crucial activities involved in a project after this we have excel milestone tracker the

milestone tracker helps us in tracking or monitoring different tasks in a project project managers use this

template to monitor the project performance with respect to the timelines the last template we will see

is excel project planner excel project planner includes a list of tasks with the respected owners along with the

start date and the end date of that task this helps in monitoring each task and comparing the estimated task date with

the actual ones let's have a look at this template in excel we can see the gantt chart with respect to the data

entered let's make changes at several places in the data we can make this 22 to 24 we will make this 23 go to 2 and

we can make this 5th september go to 15 september and when we make the changes we can realize the gantt chart is

fluctuating so this is how we can use this template to plan a project effectively and efficiently in this

lesson we will focus on project time management let us begin with the objectives of this lesson

after completing this lesson you will be able to define project time management

explain project schedule get charts and network diagrams identify the key terms used in project

time management describe the project time management processes

explain various schedule network analysis techniques in the next screen let us take a quick

look at the project management process map there are 47 processes in project

management grouped into 10 knowledge areas and mapped to five process groups in this lesson we will look at the third

knowledge area that is project time management and its processes let us begin with the first topic of

this lesson project time management the purpose of project time management

is to ensure that the projects get completed on time this knowledge area is primarily

concerned with developing a project schedule and ensuring that project goes as per the agreed schedule

if there is a need to change the project schedule the change should happen by following a proper change control

procedure another term used in the pmp examination is schedule management plan

schedule management plan is part of the project management plan and has information on the planned project

schedule and its management and control let us discuss the key activities of project time management in the next

screen the key activities that are part of the project time management include

identifying activities estimating time and resources and sequencing activities it is important to identify a list of

activities that would be a part of the project next an estimation of time and resources

required for completing the identified activities are done finally these activities need to be

sequenced as per the dependencies in the next screen let us discuss project schedule

project schedule represents the time dimension of the project plan and has information like when the project would

start when each of the project activities would happen in what order the project activities

would happen when project would be completed etc usually software system is used to

develop the project schedule the project team can enter the list of activities in the software as well as

their dependencies and the software can produce the project schedule as the output microsoft project is the most

popular tool used for project schedule development generally project schedule is considered similar to project

management plan project management plan is different from project schedule

project management plan not only has information about the project's schedule but also other important project related

plans like risk management plan cost management plan etc let us focus on gantt chart in the next

screen gantt chart is a type of bar chart that illustrates a project schedule

it shows the dependencies between the project activities as well as their percent completion

a sample gantt chart is shown on the screen two summary elements of the work

breakdown structure are depicted to complete those elements there are a number of activities under them

some of these activities have dependencies for example activity b and c have a dependency

activity c can start only when activity b is completed the chart gives you an idea about when

specific activities are planned to finish and when the overall wbs element will

get delivered create tasks and work with the gantt chart this will make answering gantt

chart based questions easy and fun in the next screen let us understand the relationships that exist among project

activities network diagram is extensively used in the project time management knowledge

area to plot the activity dependencies this is a graphical representation of the project activities in the form of a

network there are two ways to draw a network diagram

in precedence diagramming model pdm or activity on node aon boxes represent activities and the

arrows indicate the dependency this type of network can have all four types of relationships between the

activities in arrow diagramming model adm or activity on arrow aoa

the arrows represent activities the relationships and sequences can be inferred from the direction of the

arrows and linkages between the activities in such types of network only finish to

start relationships can be shown such diagrams may need to make use of dummy activities to indicate some

dependency between the activities there may be questions in the pmp exam based on the network diagram so create

and work with the diagram this will make answering network diagram based questions easy and fun

in the next screen let us look at a network diagram a sample network diagram is shown on the

screen activities a and c can happen in parallel

b and d require both a and c to complete whereas e requires both b and d to complete activity on aero network

diagram makes use of hammock activities they are used to show a comprehensive summary activity combining several other

activities underneath for control and reporting purposes in the next screen let us look at a few important terms in

time management when a successor activity can start before the predecessor activity can

complete it is considered lead for example you can start preparing the test environment two weeks before the

development activity finishes when the successor activity has to wait for a few days after the predecessor

activity has been completed it is considered lag for example one needs to wait for two

days for the foundation to settle before work on the pillars for the next floor starts

rolling wave planning is an iterative planning technique in which the work to be accomplished in the near term is

planned in detail while the work in the future is planned at a higher level it is a form of progressive elaboration

in the context of estimating techniques analogous estimating is based on the previous project data

therefore if the last five similar projects took six months to complete the next one will also take six months

this technique employs expert judgment another estimating technique is parametric estimating

this technique uses a mathematical model to calculate projected time for an activity based on the historical records

from previous projects and other information a few common parameters are identified

based on the previous project data and that parameter is used to predict the time required to complete the next

activity or project for example you can normally complete 10 kilometers of highway construction lanes a week

effort is the total amount of work required to complete the activity duration is the amount of time it takes

in terms of a lab store calendar days if you have an activity that requires 10 people to work for 5 days the total

effort is 50 person days but the duration is only 5 days in the next screen let us look at the

project time management processes there are seven project time management processes

they are plan schedule management define activities sequence activities

estimate activity resources estimate activity durations develop schedule and control schedule

the first six processes are executed during the planning process group the ultimate goal of these planning

processes is to develop the project schedule the seventh and the last process is a

part of the monitoring and controlling process group in the next few screens let us discuss

these processes in detail we will begin with plan schedule management

as defined in pmbok guide plan schedule management is the process of establishing the policies procedures and

documentation for planning developing managing executing and controlling the project schedule

it belongs to the planning process group let us look at the inputs to this process

the project management plan provides other subsidiary plans and will guide the schedule planning activities on the

project the project charter provides an overall context and the high level product and

project description which might help determine the approach for schedule management

few projects might have scheduling constraint for example

projects of olympics 2016 should be completed at the same time enterprise environmental factors provide

the organizational context to the project including the culture of the organization the infrastructure like

scheduling systems available key personnel and so on organizational process assets provide inputs such as

policies and procedures templates past performance data and estimates historical information and

knowledge base now let us look at the tools and techniques employed in this process

expert judgment refers to input received from knowledgeable and experienced resources

experts can draw from their previous experiences the proper approach to govern the schedule on a project

meetings may be organized to determine the schedule management plan anybody responsible for the project

schedule management such as the project manager sponsor customer and other stakeholders must attend these meetings

several analytical techniques may be used to determine the schedule management plan

these may include different planning approaches and philosophies such as rolling wave planning or

different scheduling software that allowed to build what-if scenarios

and study the effect of advanced scheduling techniques like leveling fast tracking and crashing

now let us look at the outputs of this process schedule management plan is a component

of the project management plan that describes the criteria and activities required to arrive at the project

schedule as well as how the project may be baselined monitored and controlled

in the next screen let us define activities process define activities is the process of

identifying the specific actions to be performed to produce the project deliverables

it belongs to the planning process group the important input for the define activities process is the scope baseline

scope baseline is a term used collectively to refer to project deliverables constraints and assumptions

of the project in addition to the scope baseline the other inputs in this process are

enterprise environmental factors organizational process assets and schedule management plan

a reason why enterprise environmental factors is an input to define activities is because the organization might be

using project management software to define activities and that may influence the activity definition process the

knowledge base containing historical information regarding activities lists used by previous similar projects is a

good example of organization process assets applied to scheduling the tools and techniques used in

defining activities are decomposition and rolling wave planning the last technique is expert judgment

where the experience of project team members is used in developing detailed activity lists

the output of the process is activity list activity attributes and milestone list

activity list contains a list of identified activities activity attributes are the additional

information about the activity itself a milestone is a significant point or event in the project

a milestone list identifies all the milestones and indicates whether the milestone is mandatory

or optional let us move on to the next process sequence activities

sequence activities is the process of identifying and documenting relationships among the project

activities and is also part of the planning process group for every activity and milestone except

the first and last one is connected to or at least one predecessor and one successor

the inputs to this process are activity list activity attributes and milestone list

all these are the outputs of the define activity process the other inputs are schedule management

plan and project scope statement schedule management plan provides guidance in terms of methodology to be

employed for many of the scheduling activities on the project organization process assets are also an

input to sequencing activities because the organization might have some kind of knowledge base for scheduling project

activities the enterprise environmental factors relevant to this process may be

scheduling tools in use project management information systems work authorization systems etc

one of the important tools and techniques used in sequencing activities is the precedence diagramming method

in this method the activities are drawn on a network diagram and all the different kinds of dependencies between

the activities are determined while determining activity dependency it is important to identify the type of

relationship or dependency between the activities the other technique is leads and lag

which is widely used for sequencing activities the output of the process is the project

schedule network diagram which is a graphical representation of the project activities in a form of

network which also shows the activity dependencies while designing the network diagram new

activities might be identified and that would result in some of the project document updates especially the ones

that list all the project activities in the next screen let us look at the estimate activity resources process

after sequencing the activities the next step in project time management is estimating the resources required to

accomplish each of the identified activities estimate activity resources process also belongs to the planning

process group here resources do not mean only the human resources but includes all other

resources like equipment raw materials machinery etc schedule management plan is the first

input schedule management plan provides guidance in terms of methodology to be

employed for many of the scheduling activities on the project the other inputs to this process are an

activity list and activity attributes that are the outputs of the time management processes

risk register is another input risks to the project may influence the decisions about the resources that need

to be deployed hence risk register becomes an input to this project in addition activity cost estimates are

another input cost and resource estimates on a project are interrelated and influence each

other for example the cost might dictate the number and type of resources that can be

employed or the time might dictate the cost that may need to be incurred along with this the resource calendar is

also an important input because it has the information about the availability of each of the resources

some of the enterprise environmental factors that can influence estimating activity resources are

availability of required resources within the organization the organizational process assets is

also an important input as the organization might have standard policies for staffing or for hiring

contractors on the project with all these inputs available for estimating activity resources

there are various techniques used for estimating the required resources the first technique is using expert

judgment in this technique an expert in resource planning and estimating can estimate

each of the activities the next technique used is alternative analysis

in this the activities are analyzed to identify different ways of completing them

this is to ensure only the required resources are assigned to each of the activities

this helps in resource optimization along with the two techniques many organizations routinely publish their

estimating data and this could be used in activity resource estimation another technique that is routinely used

in activity estimation is bottom-up estimating which is decomposing the activity

further down to understand it in more detail and estimating at that level later all such estimates are added to

arrive at the estimate of the activity in real projects one has to use all the estimate each of the activities

sometimes the project management software also helps in estimating the software estimates are based on the

inputs provided to it software should only be considered as a supporting tool in estimation and never

fully rely on its output clearly the output of this process is the activity resource requirements