Hands-on Project Management

Practice your Skills with Simulation Based Training

Avraham Shtub, Moshe Rosenwein

• Publisher: WSPC
• Year: 2017
• eBook ISBN: 9789813200555
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Operations
• Index: Business

-->

Teaching project management is not an easy task. Part of the difficulty is the one-of-a-kind nature of projects. This book and the software that comes with it (Project Team Builder) present a unique approach to the teaching and training of project management — an approach based on a software tool that combines an interactive, dynamic case study and a simple yet effective Project Management System. The book focuses on problems that the project manager faces in planning, monitoring and controlling projects.

Together with the software, the book provides the user with the opportunity to experience complex Project Management situations, understand the situation, develop alternative ways to cope with it and select the best alternative based on rigorous analysis.

For more information on the Project Team Builder simulator, please contact SandboxModel ( http://www.sandboxmodel.com ).

--> Contents:

• Introduction to Project Management
• Introduction to the Simulator
• Stakeholders Requirements and Value
• Scheduling
• Resources Management
• Budgeting
• Risk Management
• Project Control
• Integration Management

-->
--> Readership: Project managers, project teams, students, professionals and general readers interested in effective project management. -->
Keywords:Project Management;Simulation-based Training;Hands-on;SimulationReview: Key Features:

• It is comprehensive as it covers all aspects of project management and yet it is simple to understand
• Integration of the different aspects of project management is made easy as the user can simulate project management scenarios at different level of complexity
• It comes with a simulator that supports Simulation Based Training and is used by leading universities throughout the world

Chapter 1

Introduction to Project Management

1.1.Terms, Concepts and Difficulties of Project Management

The term project is defined by the Cambridge Dictionary Online as a piece of planned work or an activity that is finished over a period of time and intended to achieve a particular purpose. This broad definition suggests that everyone is involved in projects, and project management is important for anyone performing “planned work”. The Project Management Institute publishes the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) which, in its fifth edition, defines a project as a “temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result.”

The temporary, non-repetitive nature of projects suggests that anyone who manages a project faces several problems including the following:

(1)Since projects are unique, project managers and project teams are not repeating the same projects; they are not “riding the learning curve”, i.e., improvement by mere repetition is limited. Structured learning and training activities are needed to enable project managers and their teams to practice, repeatedly, the tools and techniques they may use to manage a project. It is important to keep the cost of learning low and, more importantly, to minimize the cost and likelihood of making mistakes on real projects. One way to support learning and to get ready for a new project is by simulating previous, current, and future projects in a lab-like environment.

(2)As a result of the non-repetitive nature of projects, project managers and project teams have little opportunity to collect data from identical, historical projects and to use it to support future decision making. This lack of data or “knowledge gap” is the source of risk in projects and the cause of many project failures. There is a need for “dry runs” or simulation of project activities and project plans prior to their actual implementation along with a well-structured process of data collection and analysis to improve project plans.

(3)Project teams are assembled for specific projects and, frequently, team members do not have prior experience of working together as a team. Team members need shared understanding of how project success is defined and measured, what needs to be done to achieve project success, how it should be done, when, and by whom. There is a need for team training and team building to create shared understanding of project goals and the best way to achieve those goals. A simulated environment where the team of a new project can “manage” the project together and develop shared understanding is one possible solution to this problem.

Our goal, in writing this book and using the student version of the simulation software, the Project Team Builder, that accompanies it, is to help anyone involved in projects deal with the above three problems. Specifically, this book is written for project managers and project teams, as well as graduate and undergraduate students, who want to learn and practice the basic tools of project management. This book presents tools and techniques commonly used to manage projects. It also describes and provides a simulation platform with which it is possible to simulate a large variety of projects in a safe, user-friendly environment.

Project management is defined by the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) fifth edition as “the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project activities to meet the project requirements.”

To achieve its goals, this book focuses on two issues:

1.It describes the simplest and commonly used knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques that project managers and their teams are using to manage projects; and

2.It facilitates hands-on training of individuals and teams by applying the knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques in a simulated environment.

The Project Team Builder, the software that comes with the book, provides a simulation environment in which project managers and their teams can practice these tools and techniques in a safe and inexpensive environment.

There are nine chapters in this book:

1.Introduction to Project Management
In this chapter, we present some of the terminology commonly used in project management. We also discuss the history of project management, focusing on the last one hundred years, as most of the tools and techniques presented in this book were developed during this period. The selection and initiation of projects is discussed and illustrated.

2.Introduction to the Project Team Builder (PTB) Simulator
In this chapter, we present the Project Team Builder simulator, its logic, and the major functions it supports. The PTB is based on the following principles:

I.A simulation approach: The PTB simulates real or imaginary projects. Any project can be simulated by creating a scenario based on that project data and simulating the scenario using the PTB simulator.

II.A case study approach: In the PTB, the information on the simulated project is presented in two ways — as scenario data and as a case study file that introduces the user to the “story” of the simulated project.

III.A dynamic approach: Unlike traditional case studies that present a snapshot of reality as a specific situation at a given point of time, the user of PTB can control the simulation time and “execute” the project to see the dynamic behavior of the project and the interaction over time between project scope, schedule, and cost.

IV.A model-based approach: Simple tools and techniques commonly used for project management are built into the PTB including tools for scheduling, value analysis, budgeting, resource management, and risk management.

V.A data-based approach: All the data required to prepare a project plan and to execute it is available as part of the case study or scenario. The user does not have to input any data and can concentrate on analysis and decision making.

These principles are discussed in detail later in this book along with examples and screenshots to introduce the PTB to the reader.

3.Stakeholder Requirements and Value
Project success is measured by its ability to satisfy the needs and expectations of the stakeholders. In this chapter, we present the concepts of stakeholders and their needs and expectations. We discuss the terms benefit and value and ways to measure both. We show how the tools related to benefit and value are implemented in the PTB.

4.Scheduling
Project scheduling tools are probably the most commonly used tools. The need to estimate the duration of a project, to acquire long lead-time items, and scarce resources motivated the development of scheduling tools during the 20th century. Such tools, like the Gantt chart, are widely used today because they are simple to construct and to understand and, yet, provide essential information to the project manager, the project team, and other stakeholders. We present the concepts of the critical path and slack; we show how they are implemented in the PTB and how they are presented to the user. The impact of uncertainty on scheduling and the resulting risk are discussed and illustrated by the Monte Carlo simulation built into the PTB.

5.Resource Management
Resources are needed to perform project activities. Human resources, machines, equipment, and materials are frequently limited in their availability, and therefore the project plan must account for resource constraints. Furthermore, the efficient and effective use of resources is an important consideration in project planning. Tools like the resource graph or histogram are discussed, and their usage for projectplanning is illustrated by the PTB. By integrating resource management with scheduling considerations, feasible schedules (with respect to resource availability) are developed. The availability of many types of resources is subject to uncertainty: machine breakdown, absenteeism of workers, and loss of material are examples of sources of risk that impact project success. Such uncertainties are introduced in the PTB, and the user can learn how to factor uncertainty into project planning processes.

6.Budgeting
The project budget represents financial sources and the use of funds throughout the project life cycle. The budget is an important part of the plan, and it is based on estimates of income and cost. The direct cost of resources, as well as other costs, such as the cost of idle time or the penalty due to missed due dates, are presented in the project budget. The PTB shows historical (past) costs along with future (estimated) costs, as well as the cash flow and cash position of the project at any time.

7.Risk Management
The non-repetitive nature of projects limits the amount of past information available to the project manager and the project management team as a basis for planning. A risk is an event with some probability and some expected outcomes that may occur during the course of a project and have an adverse effect on the project. A project manager must assess which risks are most likely to impact the ability of the project team to achieve the project goals and to satisfy its constraints. Risk management is an important consideration in project management. This activity should start very early in a project life cycle in an effort to identify risks and to analyze them as a basis for riskrelated decisions. The initial analysis is performed as part of project initiation, as the level of risk associated with a proposed project is an important factor in the go/no go decision, i.e., a decision to start the project. Furthermore if the decision is “go”, there might be different technological and operational alternatives to perform the project. The risk associated with each of these alternatives is a major factor in the decision as to which alternative to select for implementation. During the project planning phase, the decision whether to mitigate the risks (by eliminating, reducing, or transferring all or part of the risks identified) is crucial. Risk mitigation is an effort to reduce the risk or eliminate it altogether before the risk event takes place. Risks that are not mitigated, as well as residual risks left over after mitigation, may need a contingency plan or some sort of buffer or reserve as a protection. Such risks are monitored during project execution. Corrective actions are taken whenever a risk event takes place and derails a project from its original plan.

8.Project Integration — Planning, Executing, Monitoring, and Controlling the Project.
Project plans represent the way management would like the project to be executed. Since these plans are based on limited information and there are risks that might derail the project from its planned course, a monitoring and control system is implemented. This system monitors the actual progress of the project and compares it to the plans. When actual progress deviates from project plans, root cause analysis is performed, and possible corrective actions are evaluated. A corrective action is taken when management decides that such an action is needed to bring the project back to the original plan.
The different aspects of project management discussed so far are not independent. In other words, project scope management, project scheduling, cost management, resource management, and risk management are dependent on each other, and a decision may impact all or several of the above aspects.
The project manager and the project team must understand the complex relationship between the different dimensions of the project. The PTB simulator is designed to demonstrate these complex relationships and to help the user understand how a potential decision may impact the project — for example, how a decision to add resources might impact cost or quality. By executing, monitoring, and controlling different scenarios, the user engages in the art and science of project management while minimizing the cost of making poor decisions.

9.A Review of how Simulation-Based Training is Integrated in Project Management Courses.
In this chapter, we present short reports of users of the PTB simulator. Simulation-Based Training (SBT) can be integrated with lectures, books, and traditional case studies. We hope that the experience of several users will help the reader decide how SBT can fit into a specific setting.

1.2.Project Life Cycle and Major Components of Project Management

Project management has been widely practiced throughout history, dating back to the construction of the Egyptian pyramids almost 5000 years ago. As a discipline, project management is becoming increasingly important for business and government. For example, as product life cycles continue to decrease, new products and services are introduced with increased pressure on firms to rapidly go to market. Even if a firm cannot be the first entrant in a particular market, it can achieve greater profits by being as fast as possible in entering into an existing market. McKinsey estimated that a firm loses 12% of its profitability from a product over its life cycle if the product is three months delayed in getting to market. The penalty for being late to market increases to 25% reduced profitability if a delay is five months.

Project management is a very empirical discipline. Hands-on work experience is necessary for an individual to develop into a capable and successful project manager. The key methodologies in the field were developed in industry — not in academia. In the 1910s, the Gantt chart scheduling method was developed by Henry Gantt. In the 1950s, the Critical Path Method (CPM) was developed at DuPont. At roughly the same time, the consulting firm, Booz, Allen, and Hamilton, working on behalf of the US Navy’s Special Project Office, developed the Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) to support the Polaris missile project. Since then, numerous tools and techniques were developed to support project management. This effort is still on-going; practitioners and researchers in academia are working on new tools and techniques, as well as on the improvement of existing ones.

The project management function was often handled in an ad hoc fashion by many organizations. A m...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface
• About the Authors
• Chapter 1 Introduction to Project Management
• Chapter 2 Introduction to the Project Team Builder Simulator
• Chapter 3 Stakeholder Requirements and Value
• Chapter 4 Scheduling
• Chapter 5 Resource Management
• Chapter 6 Budgeting
• Chapter 7 Risk Management
• Chapter 8 Project Integration — Planning, Executing Monitoring, and Controlling the Project
• Chapter 9 Integration of Simulation-Based Training in Project Management Courses
• Appendix The Next Step — Creating and Managing Multiple Scenarios