CHAPTER FOUR

Defining the Project
Lecturer: Dr James Rotimi

McGraw-Hill/Irwin
Copyright © 2011 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Where We Are Now

'Ergonomics for Log Truck Drivers

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Lesson Objectives
• To recognise the importance of scope statements as a condition for project success
• To layout guidelines for creating a work breakdown structure (WBS) for a project • To demonstrate the importance of WBS to the management of projects and how it serves as a database for planning and control

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Steps involved in Project Definition
Step 1: Defining the Project Scope

Step 2: Establishing Project Priorities
Step 3: Creating the Work Breakdown Structure Step 4: Integrating the WBS with the Organization Step 5: Coding the WBS for the Information System

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Step 1: Defining the Project Scope
• Project Scope
Defines the end result or mission of a project - a product or service for the client/customer - in specific, tangible, and measurable terms.

• Purpose of the Scope Statement
–To clearly define the deliverable(s) for the end user.
–To focus the project on successful completion of its goals. –To be used by the project owner and participants as a planning tool and for measuring project success.
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Project Scope
1. Project objective – why?
2. Deliverables – what?

3. Milestones – what, when, who?
4. Technical requirements – how? 5. Limits and exclusions – what?

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Project Scope: Terms and Definitions
• Scope Statements
–Also called statements of work (SOW)

• Project Charter
–Can contain an expanded version of scope statement –A document authorizing the project manager to initiate and lead the project.

• Scope Creep
–The tendency for the project scope to expand over time due to changing requirements, specifications, and priorities.

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Example (p105)

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Project Scope Checklist
1. Project objective
2. Deliverables 3. Milestones

4. Technical requirements
5. Limits and exclusions

6. Reviews with customer

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Step 2: Establishing Project Priorities
• Causes of Project Trade-offs
–Shifts in the relative importance of criterions related to cost, time, and performance parameters
• Budget–Cost • Schedule–Time • Performance–Scope

• Managing the Priorities of Project Trade-offs
–Constrain: a parameter is a fixed requirement. –Enhance: optimizing a criterion over others. –Accept: reducing (or not meeting) a criterion requirement.

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Project Management Trade-offs

FIGURE 4.1
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Project Priority Matrix

FIGURE 4.2
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Step 3: Creating the Work Breakdown Structure
Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
–An hierarchical outline (map) that identifies the products and work elements involved in a project.

–Defines the relationship of the final deliverable (the project) to its sub-deliverables, and in turn, their relationships to work packages.
–Best suited for design and build projects that have tangible outcomes rather than process-oriented projects.
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Hierarchical Breakdown of the WBS
* This breakdown groups work packages by type of work within a deliverable and allows assignment of responsibility to an organizational unit. This extra step facilitates a system for monitoring project progress (discussed in Chapter 13).

FIGURE 4.3
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WBS Presentation Types

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WBS Examples

(Nicholas & Stein 2012)

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Different Approaches to WBS
• Methodology-focused

• Objective-focused
• Physical decomposition

• Functional decomposition
• Geographical • Business function • Departmental

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WBS Examples

(Nicholas & Stein 2012)

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WBS Development
Some Guiding Rules
– 100% Rule: Includes 100% of the work defined by the project scope and captures all deliverables – internal, external, interim (in terms of the work to be completed) including project management – Anything that is not defined in the WBS is outside the scope of the project –Others