The Need for Planning: Implementation Planning

William Tibben

SITACS

University of Wollongong. August 2002

Outline

• Definition

• Important Questions that you need to ask during Implementation Planning Phase

• Building Project Networks

• What is a Critical Path and why are these important

‘…Spectacular achievements are always preceded by calculated preparation…’ (GCRH, 2002)

How long is a piece of string?

Management says we need a piece of string….but ‘how long is a piece of string?

Implementation Planning is required to define – how long the string will be,

– where you will get the string,

– who will cut it and

– how much this will cost.

Definition

• ‘…Implementation Planning ensures the compatibility of the planning and budgeting processes to support …[strategic goals]…It prescribes commensurate milestones, resource requirements, schedules and performance criteria at both the program and task levels…’ (NASA, 1996)

The Crouch Diagram

Why are we in business?

How do we do business?

Where are we now?

Where do we want to be?

How do we get there?

How will we know we’ve arrived?

• Tactics• Resources

The Crouch Diagram

Why are we in business?

How do we do business?

Where are we now?

Where do we want to be?

How do we get there?

How will we know we’ve arrived?

• Co-Ordination• Budgets• Controls• Reports• Milestones

Implementation Planning is an Information Intensive Process

There is a need to communicate both

1. the detail

2. the vision

Implementation Planning is an Information Intensive Process

• Implementation Planning (Gray and Larson, 2002,

p.89) – provides the basis of scheduling labour and

equipment;

– determines how much money is required

– becomes an instrument that melds managers and groups together into meeting time, cost and performance objectives

– answers the question how long is it going to take?

Information Intensive Processes are usually…

• Information Intensive Processes are usually those that must deal with a high degree of uncertainty. We must try to fill this void (create certainty) with information.

• With that we are plagued with the normal information management problems of communication, structuring information, information overload, tacit knowledge etc…

Practical Example of an Implementation Plan

• Northern Territory University’s Callista Project (Student Records System)

Essential Question 1.(Courtesy of Commworks, 2001)

• What is the timeline for network deployment?

Essential Question 2 - Does your budget support the timeline?

Gray & Larson, 2000, Figure 3-8

Cost

Direct Costs Low Average High

Design engineers $ 80 $100 $150Proto engineers 130 150 280Materials 25 25 25Equipment rental 25 25 30

Total direct costs $260 $300 $485

Work package cost estimate

Essential Question 2 - Does your budget support the timeline?

Gray & Larson, 2000, Figure 3-9

Project Duration

CommittedActual costScheduled budget

Cos

ts

$6,000

5,000

4,000

3,000

2,000

1,000

Essential Question 3 - Have you accounted for all tasks required to deploy the network?

Gray & Larson, 2000, Figure 3-3

1

2

3

4

Project

Deliverable

Subdeliverable

Lowest subdeliverable

Cost account*

Work package

5

Complete project

Major deliverables

Supporting deliverables

Lowest managementresponsibility level

Grouping of work packagesfor monitoring progress andresponsibility

Identifiable work activities

Gray & Larson, 2000, Figure 3-3

Cost accountnumber

Personal computerprototype

Vendor,software,

applications

Mouse,keyboard,

voice

Diskstorageunits

Microprocessorunit

Moreitems

Floppy HardOptical Internalmemory

unit

BIOS (basicinput/output

system)

ROM RAM I/O File Utilities

Motor Circuitboard

Chassisframe

Read/writehead

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~

~ ~

Lowest manageablesubdeliverables

Level1

2

3

4

5

1.01.2 1.3 1.1 1.4

1.1.1 1.1.2 1.1.31.4.1 1.4.2

1.4.1.1 1.4.1.2 1.4.2.1 1.4.2.2 1.4.2.3

1.1.3.1 1.1.3.2 1.1.3.3 1.1.3.4

Cost1.1.3.4.1

accountCost Cost

account accountCost Cost

accountaccount

Costaccount

Costaccount

Work packages WP1.1.3.4.2.1 WP1.1.3.4.2.2 WP1.1.3.4.2.3

Budget byperiod

Production

Design

Test

Purchasing

Software

Manufacturing

Organization

Essential Question 4 - Who will do the work required to deploy the network?

Essential Question 5 - Do you have a strong Project Manager in place to coordinate aspects of

deployment?

Essential Question 6 - Who will manage all of the vendors needed for deployment?

Question

• Are Implementation Planning processes the same for small projects as for large projects?

Project Network

• ‘…The project network represents ¾ of the planning process…’ (Gray and Larson , 2000, p. 90). Why?

Gray and Larson, 2000,Figure 5-1

Risk

High

Cost

LowProject life cycle

Chances of risksoccurring

Cost to fixrisk event

WP-2

A

B

C

D

E

F

WP-1

WP-4

WP-3

Level 1 - Milestone Plan

Level 2 - Plans

Level 3 - Plans

Gray and Larson, 2000, p. 91

The Project Network melds managers, workers…together

• Level 1 – Milestones – used by Project Management, Top management and the client.

• Level 2 – Work packages shown in relation to each other for Department Managers

• Level 3 – Work packages used by first-line managers

Figure 4-2

Circuitboard

Designcost

account

Productioncost

account

Testcost

account

Softwarecost

account

Lowestelement

Organizatio

Units

DesignWP D-1-1 SpecificationsWP D-1-2 Documentation

ProductionWP P-10-1 Proto 1WP P-10-2 Final Proto 2

Test systemsWP T-13-1 Test

SoftwareWP S-22-1 Software preliminaryWP S-22-1 Software final version

BProto 1

5

DFinal

proto 24

ASpecifications

and documentation2

CPreliminary

software3

FFinal

software2

KTest

3

AD-1-1D-1-2

BP-10-1

DP-10-2

FS-22-2

KT-13-1

CS-22-1

Gray and Larson, 2000, p. 92

Gray and Larson, 2000,Figure 4-10

Engineeringdepartment

R A C

Kim C C

Ron C R A A A

Holly R

James R

Chuck A A

Wendy A R

Documentsdepartment

R R C

Sys

tem

spec

ific

atio

ns

Cod

ing

Use

rm

anua

l

For

ms

Cro

ssov

erpl

an

Tra

in s

taff

Tes

t

Activities

Org

aniz

atio

nU

nit/

Indi

vidu

al Legend

R = ResponsibilityC = ContributesA = Advises

Constructing a Network1. Networks flow typically left to right2. An activity cannot begin until all preceding activities have

been completed3. Arrow on each network indicate precedence and flow.

Arrows can cross over each other4. Each activity should have a unique identification number5. An activity number must be larger than that of any activities

that precede it.6. Looping is not allowed 7. Conditional statements are not allowed8. A common start and end node clearly delineates start/finish

respectively

Activity Description Preceding Activity

Time

(Mins)

A Gain Approval to a Make a Cup of Tea

None 1

B Boil the Jug A 5

C Rinse the tea pot A 1

D Prepare sugar and milk

A 2

E Make the tea B,C 5

F Serve the tea D, E 1

Approval

1

A.

Boil Jug

5

Make Tea

5

E.

Serve Tea

1

F.

Milk Sugar

1

D.

Rinse Pot

1

C.

B.

Critical Time Path & Free Slack

• The Critical Time Path is the longest path through the network. If one of the activities on this path is delayed the project completion time will be extended.

• Free slack refers to those activities that are not critical and who’s start/finish time can be varied (e.g to suit resource allocation)

Calculating Critical Time Path & Free Slack

• Forward Pass (start with first activity)– How soon can an activity start? (Early Start – ES)

– How soon can the activity finish? (Early Finish – EF)

– How soon can the project finish?

• Backward Pass (start with last activity)– How late can an activity finish? (late finish – LF)

– How late can an activity start? (late start – LS)

0 Approval

0 1 1

0 A. 1

0 Boil Jug

1 5 6

0 Make Tea

6 5 11

6 E. 11

0 Serve Tea

11 1 12

11 F. 12

9 Milk Sugar

10 1 11

4 Rinse Pot

5 1 6

1 C. 2

1 B. 6

ES EF

SL

LS Dur LF

ES EF

LS Dur LF

ES EF

ES EF

ES EF ES EF

LS Dur LF

LS Dur LF

LS Dur LF LS Dur LF

1 D. 2

SL

SL

SL SLSL

Items that have SL = 0 are Critical Path ActivitiesItems that have SL >0 are activities with Slack

Scenario 1• A Project leader for a television news organisation had been

working on a major refurbishment of the operational area. The changes included new data cabling and new terminals for about 20 journalists. New video and audio facilities were to be provided to enable journalists to monitor news from other stations. The plan was to move all operations to another floor while work took place. Projects groups were surprised to learn one day that the project manger was redeployed and that the new project manager had been given the directive to get the work done over a single night. This was subsequently organised and executed 2 months later. Though the new installation suffered minor ongoing commissioning problems for some months after, the change in project implementation schedule was generally viewed as a success.

• Why was this so?

Why shorten the critical path?

• Imposed project finish date:– Unforeseen event– Political or marketing reason

• The need to get a software product out in order to grab market share

• Shortening the critical path will usually result in higher cost.

The cost equation…

Gray & Larson, 2000, Figure 6-1

60

50

40

30

20

10

04 6 8 10 12 14 16

Totalcosts

Optimumcost-time

point

Directcosts

Indirectcosts

Low-costplan duration

point

Project duration

Cos

ts

Direct Costs – labour, materials, equipmentIndirect costs – overheads such as administration, consultants, interest

How to shorten the Critical Path

• Reduce quality (not recommended)• Use better technology (machine, methods etc)

– e.g Outsource

• Work longer hours • Reassign labour to critical path activities (eg

outsource non-critical activities to enable internal specialist staff to be redeployed). – A management and communication penalty exists if too

many people are required to coordinate their activities within a single task.

References

• Gray, Clifford F and Larson, Erik W. 2000, Project management : the managerial process / Irwin/McGraw-Hill, Boston.

• NASA, 1996 ‘NASA Strategic Management Handbook’, NASA. Available at: http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/codez/strahand/implemen.htm Accessed on: 12 August 2002

• Karunaratne, Ishan 2002, ‘Callista Implementation Project’, Northern Territory University, Available from: http://mindil.ntu.edu.au/ntu/apps/callistaimp.nsf/vwURL/Implementation+Planning?OpenDocument Accessed; on 12 August 2002

• Commworks, 2001, ‘As you Implement: Planning for Deployment’. Commworks Available from http://www.commworks.com/Professional_Services/Implement/Planning_Deployment/ Accessed on 12 August 2002.

• GCRHCorporation 2002, ‘Implementation Planning: When its Got to be Appropriate, Now’, GCRHCorporation, Midland Michigan. Available from http://www.rightanswer.com/english/plan.html Access on 12 August 2002.