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Thomsett M. C.
THE LITTLE BLACK BOOK OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Oxford, 1990.
6
THE RULES OF FLOWCHARTING
If you have a lot of time, you can develop and use a complicated schedule system to control your project. On the other hand, if time isn't a problem, then neither is the schedule. The secret is to find an effective method that can be put into action quickly but that also gives you the control information you will need every day.
The advantage of the Gantt chart is that it can be put together quickly. If properly tracked, it can also be used to manage time and look for problems—even during a specific phase.
The disadvantage of the Gantt chart is that it does not identify the "weak links": points where information is passed from one person to another within your team; where outside resources are depended on; and where an action cannot be taken until someone else does his or her part. A Gantt chart only shows you when a project phase starts and ends and how it's progressing. You may find that the network of your project team requires a more elaborate tracking system.
LISTING OUT THE PHASES
Chapter 5 presented an eight-phase project for improving procedures in a processing department. In that example, a specific number of phases were broken out and listed in order of precedence. This is the first step in devising the network; however, a problem may arise when you attempt to distinguish between an "event" and an "activity."
An activity is the step (or steps) involved at each phase, and an event is an end result (e.g., completion of a report) or some other necessary step (e.g., receipt of information from another team member). As a general rule, an activity occurs during a phase, and an event is the end result—or, within the project, the step required in order to proceed to the next phase.
These distinctions are important because they point out a common flaw in flowcharting. The diagram you draw will consist of a series of boxes (or circles) joined by lines. The tendency is to use the boxes to describe activities, meaning the lines are nothing more than connectors between boxes. Where does the time requirement go? You will be confused if the activities reside in the boxes but time estimates are tracked on the lines. It's more accurate to use one of the three other methods:
1. Placing events (end of phases) within the boxes and using the lines in between to describe activities and the time those activities require
2. Isolating activities in the boxes with events placed below in a separate box, and using the lines in between to describe the time requirements preceding the events
3. Placing activities in the boxes with events listed below, and tracking time on a separate line The first method is often appropriate for large-scale and exceptionally complex projects (it lends itself well to automated project management). The second method allows you to track activity and time—the critical elements of schedule control—and to isolate events that fall out of those elements. The third method may prove to be the most practical for a manually controlled project of limited duration and relatively small team size.
For any scheduling system more involved than the Gantt chart, begin by organizing phases in sequence, and by task or subtask within each phase. The purpose is to identify the precise order of activities and events. Remember, an activity occurs on the way to achieving completion of each phase. An event is the end of the phase.
For exceptionally complicated phases, scheduling may involve identifying and isolating two or more events that come up at the same time.
Example: You test a new procedure for two weeks. During the test, you compare results to the previous system four times and make any needed adjustments. In this case, the phase is broken down and identified by four separate events within the phase—one for each comparison—and by a final event; completion of the test.
Organizing a project in this way is called Work Breakdown Structuring (WBS), and it can be done using one of two formats.
The Outline Format
First is the outline, or tabular format.
Under the outline format, each phase is a major heading, and details are broken out by subheads. This format helps you in several ways:
1. You can identify responsibilities by team members. On the outline itself, each task or series of tasks is first broken out by description. Once you are satisfied with this, the project team member who will have primary responsibility for that task can be assigned a particular phase. If others are involved, they should be identified as well. Thus, starting with the simple outline, the details of responsibility are expanded into a series of defined steps.
2. You can control time on a detailed level. The time estimate for each phase should be specified, and subroutines broken out in terms of hours or days estimated for completion. With the outline done, you next map out time requirements and constraints. These may be dictated by team limitations, such as the number of hours each person is able to give to your project within a limited time frame. The time element is a further elaboration of the sequence outline.
3. You can look for possible weak links in the procedure—points where your involvement might he needed to keep work moving and on schedule. Identifying weak links—where responsibility passes from one person to another or where you must wait for someone outside your team to supply information—is the key to schedule control. The outline can be used to highlight these points. With this information in hand, you are best-prepared to control your schedule.
Achieving this control is? the ultimate benefit of organizing and mapping out your schedule. However, knowing where the weak links occur is only the first step. You need to take two additional steps: (1) bringing the weak link to the attention of two team members—the one who conveys the information and the one who receives it—and (2) following up and supervising the weak link itself to ensure successful and timely action.
Using the procedure revision project introduced in Chapter 5, the outline form looks like this:
Project: Procedure Revisions
1.0 Document current procedures.
1.1 Interview employees.
1.2 Review documentation.
1.3 Update documentation.
2.0 Prepare procedure flow charts.
2.1 Identify work flow.
2.2 Coordinate between employees.
2.4 Review flowcharts.
2.5 Adjust.
3.0 Summarize paperflow
3.1 Prepare final workflow.
3.2 Identify sources.
3.3 Identify destinations.
3.4 List department reports.
4.0 List problem areas and solutions.
4.1 List inefficient areas.
4.2 Identify weak links.
4.3 List possible solutions.
4.4 Summarize solution ideas.
5.0 Devise improved procedures.
5.1 Prepare flowcharts.
5.2 Develop narratives.
6.0 Track sample transactions for one week under existing procedures.
6.1 Identify test area.
6.2 Track daily totals.
6.3 Summarize.
6.4 Prepare summary report.
7.0 Track sample transactions for two weeks under proposed procedures.
7.1 Isolate daily test area.
7.2 Process information.
7.3 Summarize.
7.4 Compare to existing totals.
7.5 Prepare comparison report.
7.6 Adjust new system as needed.
8.0 Prepare and deliver final report
8.1 Explain problem/solution.
8.2 Summarize test data
The Tabular Format
The second method for WBS is the organizational format. The same information is arranged from top to bottom, with each phase broken down much like an organization chart, as shown here:
Either method can be employed. You may base your selection on personal preference, the complexity of the project, assignments, or team size. The purpose is to develop project information so that the scheduling controls you need can be mapped out and followed. Once the WBS job is complete, you can prepare a diagram and list activity time requirements.
CPM AND PERT METHODS
Between 1956 and 1958, two scheduling control systems were developed:
Critical Path Method (CPM) and Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT). Both of these systems were originally designed to track time for projects involving concurrent activity and to monitor and control time expenditures. Since then, CPM and PERT have been expanded and used in many applications on projects, including budgeting, resource management, process definition, and quality control. When the two systems are combined, as they are in many applications, the process is referred to as a PERT/CPM network.
CPM (see Figure 6-1) is a network diagram showing the critical path as well as noncritical junctures and activities. The time estimate for each activity is indentified by a range of start and finish periods (usually in terms of hours or days). This helps you visualize the flow of effort and identify how different segments of one project team must work together to achieve completion of each phase.
Figure 6-1. CPM diagram
When used for schedule time control alone, CPM tracks several factors: minimum and maximum time required, phase and project-to-date time expended, and identification of earliest start and finish times. Procedures have been developed for calculating these times, and for isolating "floats"—opportunities to make up time variances in the schedule. PERT identifies the time requirements for phases, as well as needed labor resources. It allows for rescheduling of phases with minimal delays, and also improves work flow between team members and outside resources.
PERT involves estimates of minimum, most likely, and maximum time requirements. Calculations of schedule requirements are done by way of a weighted average. Both CPM and PERT may be appropriate for very large scale projects, especially those controlled through a sophisticated computer program for project management. However, for smaller-scale projects operated on the departmental level, PERT/CPM does not provide you with the most useful level of information. PERT/ CPM may be too complex for the projects you will encounter.
AUTOMATED PROJECT MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
Project management, like many other business activities, may be efficiently managed through an automated system—assuming that automation does, in fact, save time and increase your effectiveness.'
Automation is a suitable alternative to manual control when a large body of information needs to be managed more efficiently. But, remember, to achieve the desired level of useful results, the information must be input; it must then be verified; as changes occur, it must be modified; and finally, it must be arranged in such a way that you can use it to control the project.
In too many instances, a project's nature as a one-time effort does not lend itself well to many programs advertised as project manager systems. Remember, a computer is designed to manage consistently processed information; it does not work as well for exceptions.
Before automating the project management task, consider the problems you may face in these areas:
1. Cost and time—input time versus the value of results. If it takes too long to input information, verify and modify it, and get results out of the automated system, ask yourself whether the cost of the system is justified. Would it be faster to coordinate the project by hand? If so, you're better off avoiding automation.
2. Learning curve. How much time will it take for you and your team to learn the system? With the great emphasis placed on hardware and software, the need for training and support is too often overlooked. It may be that the energy and investment in training will not justify what could be a marginal benefit from automated project management.
3. Investment. \bu will need to convince management that its investment in hardware, software, and training will be justified by benefits. Considering that projects—unlike departmental tasks—involve exceptions to the usual processing methods, this may be hard to do.
4. Software. Remember, the software package you buy for project management should provide the reports, organizational output, and information formats you want. If you do not find software that fits your special requirements, you may be tempted to alter your project management system to suit the existing or affordable software. This is a mistake! Why give up a proven system of control just to automate?
The answer to whether or-not the right software exists will vary with each case. Even with a system that is satisfactory for this month's project, you may achieve greater efficiency with the system in a different project in the future. The system you apply in managing a project should be modified according to its complexity, scheduling and budget demands, team size, and other attributes. Thus, no one software package will be suited exactly to every project you execute.
Extremely sophisticated systems, designed along the lines of PERT/CPM, are more suited to much larger projects than those you are likely to encounter. They will probably also be far beyond your budget. On the other hand the affordable programs come with limitations and tend to be less flexible.
For example, software programs advertised for project management and offering a wide range of applications cost between $300 and $900. Some imitate the PERT/CPM networking methods, using a rather simplified format, and are of questionable practical value for short-term projects. Other programs in this range—perhaps titled "Project Management"—are, in fact really programs for organizational activity: time management, address files, personal scheduling, word processing, basic reporting and graphics, or combinations of these facilities. While these routines are connected to project management, they are not project management programs. You may use them for parts of the overall management function, but not as a replacement for the budgeting and schedule controls you need to apply within projects.
Automation is not a substitute for direct and practical management of your team's schedule, nor does it eliminate the actions you will need to take in correcting time and budget variances. A common error is to automate a function that has presented problems in the past, in the mistaken belief that "the computer will solve the problem."
If you do decide to automate, follow these guidelines:
1. First solve the problems a/management over projects. Most of the difficulties you will encounter as a project manager have to do with issues you cannot automate: human relations, estimates of time and money, and overcoming obstacles to achieving a desired end result. You cannot improve in these areas exclusively through automation; rather, you must depend largely on experience, intuition, and knowledge, all modified by the facts in each case.
2. Identify recurring processes that can be better handled through automation. Within the project management task, certain recurring routines can be automated—not necessarily on an inflexible project management system as someone else views it but through use of the software designed for organization, and storage of large bodies of data.
3. Automate for efficiency of processing not as a replacement for your direct involvement as project manager. The most common pitfall is to automate in the belief that existing, nontransactional problems will be solved by the computer. Don't overlook the continuing demand for ongoing direct involvement with your team.
4. Don't confuse the objectives of the project with objectives of automation. Another common problem is to forget the real objectives of the project and to become deeply involved in the automated aspect of it. The objective of automation should be to organize information and to make it available in a useful format not to restrict what you can do with information according to program limitations.
5. Don't change your procedures to suit a program's limitations. If you can't find suitable software, automation won't make your job any easier;
it may only complicate and confine it. The solution, though, is not to abandon sensible procedures because the software can't support them. Instead stick with the best procedure given the nature of the project, and use automation when and where it does help.
6. Develop a practical, effective system for managing your projects manually. First, overcome the problems involved with project management; then look for ways to increase your efficiency, either through partial automation or improvement in your monitoring routines.
The most effective method for controlling a project with a limited time constraint and a relatively small team that is isolated to one or two departments probably will not involve a sophisticated computer program. It's more likely that you will gain the most from a flowchart that supplies you with the control mechanisms you need; and the graphic part of project management on a practical level is the least likely output you will get from project management software. Most supply Work Breakdown Structure and Gantt charts. However, these are no more than computerized versions of information you must first develop by hand and then input to the system. You will probably need to progress far beyond these tools on a day-to-day basis.
SETTING YOUR FLOWCHARTING RULES
The essential tool for the project manager is the flowchart. However, the project flowchart you design needs to list much more than activities and sequence. You also need to identify the critical elements of responsibility by team member, time control, events (reports, forms, information supplied by the outside), and coordination of concurrent processes.
For all of this, you need to move away from the restrictions of vertical flowcharting. You also need to set rules for yourself, as follows:
1. Always use the precedence method. In order to establish the appropriate sequence of activities and events, the entire project should be arranged in the most logical format. You can identify this by working from an outline (WBS). Does each event fit according to what precedes it and what comes after?
2. Make sure the path of activities and events makes sense. The task of building a flowchart is simplified by recognizing that the lines connecting boxes or circles are much more than mere connectors. The path of activities and events works when arranged logically. Every action is generated by a preceding action or event, and leads to a subsequent action or event. No one action can begin without a preceding one, and no action should lead to a dead end.
3. Remember, an activity cannot occur until a preceding activity or event has been completed. This rule assumes a direct connection between the current activity and the preceding activity or event. You may also have concurrent activities in different segments of your team. However, when scheduling your project, operate under the precedence constraint on each activity path.
4. Carefully plot, explain, and control concurrent events. Team members not accustomed to working from network diagram flowcharts will be confused when a number of concurrent events are taking place. Thus, plan these very carefully, remembering the precedence method and ensuring the logic of the path. You will also need to lead your team through what will look like a maze of activities and events, so be prepared to supervise each phase to ensure that the flowchart is being followed correctly.
5. Exercise control over weak lines, as this is the key to successful project management. More than anything else, the flowchart helps you identify the weak links in the process. The greatest threat of delay or error occurs when responsibility for work passes from one person to another. By knowing where the weak links occur, you will remove the scheduling delays that most often characterize projects. As a result of extra care over weak links, you provide the most effective method of project control.
6. Flowchart decision steps with great care to avoid confusion. A simple flowchart is not confusing; one step follows another. However, you will encounter decision point where the flowchart breaks into two segments:
one for a yes and one for a no decision. Each decision point should be accompanied by a narrative explanation for the team member affected by it. In addition, you should cover that phase with each team member directly to ensure that he or she understands and correctly follows the procedure.
WORK PROJECT
1. Describe three benefits of organizing your schedule using Work Breakdown Structuring (WBS) in outline form.
2. List and explain three guidelines for automating project management.
3. List and explain three rules for flowcharting.
7
THE PROJECT FLOWCHART
A visual summary of your project helps control the schedule and assign resources. Thus, your goal is to come up with a simple but effective flowcharting method. If it ends up being too complicated, you'll never get around to working on the project.
The Gantt chart will help you to identify the order of activities and events. But unfortunately, that's not all there is to scheduling. The real challenge is in keeping several activities on track at the same time.
Many projects involve complicated interaction among members of your team when a number of activities are going on at the same time. In these cases, a more elaborate and detailed flowcharting method is called for. To be practical, this method should be designed on the- precedence method. Your purpose is to devise a system that helps you control and monitor the activities of several people. Since some of those activities will be executed at the same time, you need to act as a coordinator, supervising the activities of several team members or groups. Chances are, if any one of those activities is delayed, the entire project will fall behind schedule.
Imagine how difficult a task you face when your team consists of ten or fifteen people, and five or six different phases are underway at the same time. You have a choice: Either run from one group to another and make sure they all meet their deadlines, or devise a method for keeping track of everything at once—no matter how many activities are taking place.
That goal demands that you also keep track of who is supposed to take responsibility for each activity. One problem with the Gantt chart is that it does not identify the individual team member who will be responsible for an activity or event; the emphasis is on sequence and time requirements. An alternative, the network diagram, gives you more information and combines scheduling and assignments on one form while specifying the precedence of activities and events.
ACTIVITY AND EVENT SEQUENCES
Most people think of flowcharts as moving vertically from a start point at the top to an end point at the bottom. This is the flowcharting method used in describing procedures or in writing programs for new routines. It works well when one person executes a series of steps or when a series of commands follow one another. However, most projects involve several people, often working together on the same phase, or working on different phases but at the same time.
Your purpose is to develop a useful working document for project control. It should incorporate the precedence method, which allows you to coordinate the concurrent efforts of your team as well as the overall schedule. Individual team members are likely to be concerned with the immediate task and phase, whereas you need to constantly keep an eye on the final deadline.
A good starting point is to identify the attributes of events that will occur in your project. In defining activities and events, we make several assumptions:
1. Events have predetermined sequences. An event must be completed before a subsequent activity can be undertaken (the precedence method). A future activity should be assumed to depend on completion of a previous event. This situation is called a singular event, and it is the simplest form of work completion. If you are solely responsible for a phase, you can break it down into a series of activities and events, one after another.
2. Events may depend on multiple activities. Some events do not occur even when a primary activity has been completed—for example, if another team member must also complete a related activity. This is one point where scheduling delays are likely to occur. If you are working toward a phase deadline but are depending on someone else to complete an activity on time, you will be able to meet that deadline only if the other person comes through. This situation is called a. joint effort: Two or more team members work on related activities, which must be completed before an event can occur.
3. Activities and events may take place apart from each other. Some events can occur only after someone else has completed a separate activity. This is another point where delays may occur: A team member responsible for an event can act only after someone else has completed an activity. This is called a dependent effort.
The three types of sequencing are summarized in Figure 7-1. Notice that the singular effort occurs on only one line, indicating that one person is responsible for the activities and the events. However, joint and dependent efforts involve two or more people.
These are important distinctions that help you to keep your projects on schedule. The weak links—points where scheduling is most likely to fail—occur where two or more people are involved. Weak links include joint and dependent activities on many levels: where information developed by one person is given to another, where processing is concurrent with a deadline in mind, and where there is a need for information or reports from someone outside of your team (e.g., another department).
THE VERTICAL FLOWCHART
Most people, when asked to prepare a flowchart, will put it into a top-to-bottom format, an acceptable way to describe a project, especially one with few steps and involving a limited number of people.
Figure 7-1. Activities and events
Using the same example described in Chapter 6 (revising procedures and testing them), the vertical flowchart can be quickly prepared from an outline of the phases, as follows:
Phase | Description |
1 | Document procedures. |
2 | Prepare flowcharts. |
3 | Summarize paper flow. |
4 | Describe problems and solutions. |
5 | Design improved procedures. |
6 | Track the old system for one week. |
7 | Track the new system for two weeks. |
8 | Prepare the final report. |
Recalling that steps 3 to 4 and steps 6 to 7 are executed during the same period, a vertical flowchart like the one in Figure 7-2 can be prepared.
While this format presents the steps directly and in proper sequence, it also has flaws:
Figure 7-2. Vertical flowchart
1. It does not show the time requirements for each phase. All the vertical flowchart shows is the sequence of activities.
2. Like the Gantt chart, this method does not give you a breakdown by team member, so there is no division of responsibility.
3. It does not show concurrent activity. Thus, it is not as useful as a Gantt chart, which does illustrate time-concurrent activities.
For effective scheduling control, the vertical flowchart has little value as a control tool. It's really just an outline, expressed in boxes joined by arrows rather than just listed out. However, it is useful as a preliminary step in developing a more practical flowcharting method: the horizontal network diagram.
You may need to prepare a vertical flowchart from your outline just to ensure that the steps are listed in a logical sequence. But for a very complicated project involving many steps, the order of execution may not be obvious from a preliminary list. Any problems in sequencing will probably be discovered as you break down the project into a vertical flowchart.
Example: In developing a schedule for a project to revise procedures, your outline begins with the step, "Describe problems and solutions." However, when you begin to build your flowchart, you realize that other steps must occur first. You will not be able to define the problems completely until you have documented procedures and summarized the paper flow. Thus, you revise the sequence of phases so that those preliminary steps can be completed first.
ADVANTAGES OF HORIZONTAL DIAGRAMS
Using the activity steps from a vertical flowchart, you can add more information. But activity sequence is only the skeleton of your scheduling control. To round it out, you must also identify and track:
• Deadlines for each phase
• Individual team members who will execute each phase
• Weak links—where effort involves two or more people
These goals can be met by constructing a horizontal flowchart, even for the most complex project.
The advantages of horizontal flowcharting are:
1. It shows interaction between team members. Project activities and events do not occur in isolation—if they did, each team member could execute his or her phase without the involvement of anyone else. The points of interaction should be your greatest concern, because you need to coordinate the efforts of the team, and not just of individuals. The precedence of activities may include two or more people. Thus you need to make sure that the schedule is followed through each phase, and that requires supervision, notably over weak links.
2. It establishes an exact sequence. Attempts to flowchart without application of the precedence method lead to problems. Some projects do not stay on schedule because an exact sequence of events has not been planned out. Thus, you come to a point where you expect an activity to occur, only to discover that a different activity must occur first. And if the team member responsible for that activity is not free at that moment, the entire project comes to a standstill.
3. It draws attention to the weak links. Knowing where the weak links are is an important advantage; a horizontal flowchart gives you an immediate overview of these points and shows you where your involvement is most needed.
4. It breaks down areas a/responsibility. A horizontal flowchart shows all of the activities for each team member. These activity areas are described as areas of responsibility rather than in terms of individuals. This is necessary because one person will not always be solely responsible for activities or events. You may break your team into individuals, team units, or small committees for a singular activity. Or, in some cases, a team "member" may actually be an entire department. The horizontal flowchart shows which activities will be executed for each area of responsibility—what each person or group will do during the project.
5. It shows concurrent activity flow. Project managers are often overwhelmed by the complexity of team performance. For a complicated project, you may have to oversee a large number of different activities at the same time. If you don't supervise each of these, you may suffer delays. The horizontal flowchart clearly breaks down concurrent activities, enabling you to keep the entire project on course.
6. It ties actions to time controls. The horizontal flowchart includes a time line. This combines the best features of the Gantt and vertical flowcharts. When each activity and event is broken down by completion time (hours or days), you will be able to manage the schedule directly.
7. It lists reports, forms, and other documents. Many projects require interim and final reports; development of worksheets, forms, and other documents; and documents from other departments. The horizontal flowchart incorporates this requirement.
8. It aids in communicating with your team. Schedule control does not take place in the project manager's office only. It depends on a team effort. A horizontal flowchart allows you to better demonstrate to your team where problems might occur, how you plan to solve them, and how different activities will occur at the same time. And team members will be better able to communicate their ideas and concerns to you.
9. It allows you to detect and correct variances. As your project moves ahead, you may experience scheduling variances for any number of reasons. That isn't a problem. The real problems come up when you don't have the information you need to find the variance when it occurs or when you don't take action to get the project back on schedule. A horizontal flowchart enables you to spot variances and to find ways to absorb the time overrun. That might involve shifting duties among team members, looking for ways to cut time requirements from a subsequent phase in the schedule, or doubling up the team effort. These solutions are best managed by reviewing the horizontal flowchart and looking for opportunities to solve time variance problems.
10. It identifies alternatives. The initial outline and schedule you develop in the form of a Gantt chart or vertical flowchart may seem to be the best way to proceed. But when problems do arise, either in scheduling or in team workload, you need the flexibility to change the original plan. The horizontal flowchart acts as a tool for achieving that flexibility.
BUILDING THE NETWORK DIAGRAM
The horizontal flowchart, or network diagram (see Figure 7-3), is a left-to-right breakdown of each activity. Events are listed beneath the flow section. Arrows connect activity boxes, but only as a means for showing how one action follows another and which actions take place in each area of responsibility.
Each box is an activity, with events listed below in a separate section. This makes sense. For example, in preparing a report, the process of preparation is the activity and the report is the result. The result does not require a step; thus, it can be listed directly beneath the activity box.
This format provides you with all of the scheduling and control information you need. For example:
1. Areas of responsibility are described in the first column. Each area has its own line. All of the activities on that line are executed in the area (most often by the person listed.)
2. Activities are shown in the order of execution. When activities take place concurrently, two or more activity boxes will appear. If one person has the primary responsibility but someone else will also be involved, the secondary action can be shown with a broken line.
3. Events are included on the "results" line. Also on this line are all forms, worksheets, reports, and other documents brought into the project or developed by the team.
4. The time line identifies the time requirement for each activity. In order to track time, you may list each activity's estimated completion on the top of the line and the cumulative estimate on the bottom. An alternative is to list estimated time above, and actual time below. However, plan to keep track of cumulative time as well as to compare estimated to actual.
A network diagram that contains all of these elements will enable you to manage your project without guesswork and without needing to refer to several sources (e.g., a labor estimate and a time estimate). All of the information you require for overseeing the project is contained in a single diagram.
When mapped out in this format, your project could run to many pages. For example, a network diagram for a project with twelve areas of responsibility and twenty-five phases broken down into one hundred or more activities will be extremely long. However, the information it provides will be much more useful than what you would have with a simple outline, a vertical flowchart, or a Gantt chart.
The complexity of the project is not a problem; the network diagram is perfectly suited to the most complicated of projects, because your concern at each phase is with keeping work on schedule. In a highly complex project, concurrent activities can become very confusing, and you need a method to track progress in several quarters and at the same time. You won't review the entire network diagram for each phase, but will concentrate only on a small section of it. At the end of each phase, you should ask:
Have we completed the activities that need to be completed in order to achieve the event or to proceed to the next activity? What weak links are we facing or will we be facing in the immediate future? What actions should we take now to ensure that we stay on schedule? What results do we need from outside people or departments? Can we make our requests early so that we will have results in hand when we need them? Are we on schedule? If not, where can we make up the variance?
Your management efforts will be devoted to a small cross-section of the network diagram. Once you successfully complete a phase, the diagram for the next phase will go into action. When you look over the steps involved, you will be able to quickly spot weak links, heavy activity periods, and results. And the ever-present time line gives you the management tool you need to move a complex project from inception to timely completion.
The diagram is built in steps. You begin with an initial outline, then prepare a vertical flowchart, if necessary. For more complex projects, this might be an important step, if only to ensure that the sequencing of phases makes sense. Then the final network diagram is constructed, with action now moving from left to right instead of from top to bottom. You may undertake this task in several ways:
1. You can build the network diagram on your own, without the involvement of your team. Before finalizing it, you may call a meeting and go over the steps, consulting with the group and asking for ideas to improve the schedule.
2. You may construct the diagram with the whole team involved. While this might seem like the most participative or democratic approach, it may prove to be the hardest. Committees do not work as efficiently as individuals, and an excessive amount of democracy, at least at the design stage, could add a lot of time and prevent a final decision. You can still achieve the desired level of participation by working from a sketch of the network diagram and then making changes in response to team ideas.
3. You may also construct the network diagram with a small group. For example, if you cannot define all of the activity steps, you will need the involvement of two or three team members. The result can then be presented to the entire team, and adjusted for ideas the group develops. If your team has ten or more members, the small group idea is vastly more practical and efficient than having everyone involved.
APPLYING THE NETWORK DIAGRAM
Using the eight-step project for redesigning procedures first described in Chapter 5 as an example, how should you organize the network diagram? In practice, you will want to list and describe each activity in the boxes so that every team member will be aware of what they and others will be doing. But for the purpose of illustrating how the diagram is constructed, we will describe each of the eight activities by number. And rather than listing out the names or titles of the people in each area of responsibility, we will simply refer to them as A,B, and C. This project is summarized on the network diagram shown in Figure 7-4. Several features of this example are worth noting:
1. Weak links are highly visible. They occur between steps 2 and 4, steps 5 and 6, steps 6 and 7, and steps 7 and 8. On the Gantt chart and the vertical flowchart, these many weak links were not identified. Only the network diagram shows you where you are most likely to experience delays.
2. The solid lines are primary activity steps, while the broken lines represent secondary activity. The broken lines and an extra feature you may want to use to make your activity flowchart more practical and still show the primary area of responsibility.
3. Each activity is shown in a box, while each event is listed in the "results" section directly below.
4. Results in this example include the flowchart of current procedures, the new procedures, and the final report. Each of these results from activities that occur directly above.
5. The time line shows the time required for each phase (above the line) and the cumulative time for the entire project (below the line). Because several phases take place concurrently, the project should be completed within twenty-eight days.
EXPANDED APPLICATIONS
Our sample project involves a limited team size and a small number of phases. This has been necessary for the purposes of illustration, but many of your projects will involve larger teams, more time, and many more phases.
The network diagram is especially useful when your projects involve documenting procedures, converting systems, and coordinating the efforts of many people or departments. Some examples:
Example 1: You are given the assignment of documenting all of the procedures in your department. The work flow involves interaction between department members as well as with other departments (for information received and for information and reports sent out). A narrative report will be confusing to someone not familiar with your department. And describing each employee's tasks in isolation does not show how the interaction works.
Solution: A network diagram enables you to list each employee on one flowchart. Each person's tasks can be tracked along his or her "area of responsibility" line. And the overall functions can be reviewed together, including identification of weak links, reports and other results, and the time line (tied to your department's monthly processing cycle).
Example 2: Your company is preparing for automation of several departments. Your project is to prepare the documentation that will be needed by the programmers, to identify input formats and fields and the type of information that will be processed, to describe the requirements of the data base, and to define the output desired (e.g., lists or reports).
Solution: The department's processes, when reduced to a network diagram, can be quickly identified and separated into two groups of activity: (1) the recurring routine, which can be easily automated, and (2) the exceptional routine, which may not lend itself to automation. In addition, the network diagram will enable you to estimate input format and data base storage requirements.
Example 3: Your current project is to design a marketing tracking procedure. When it is finalized, several departments will use the procedure: marketing management, field office supervisors, accounting, and marketing and sales support groups.
Solution: To best describe how the procedure you have designed will work, a network diagram does the job. A narrative explanation would not satisfy this need, nor would it clearly show how information is passed from one activity/event cycle to another.
Some projects will require documentation in addition to the network diagram. Because people are not accustomed to such complete visual descriptions of processes, you may need to supplement the schedule with narratives. Or, for certain projects, a network diagram is useful in execution but does not explain exactly what each activity involves or will achieve. This is likely to be the case for projects involving new procedures and conversions.
Chapter 8 shows how narrative sections are used in support of the network diagram, and how you can design the narrative to be the most effective.
WORK PROJECT
1. Explain the difference between an activity and an event in the
following cases:
a. Writing a report
b. Receiving a report from another department and using it to develop statistical summaries as part of a project phase
c. Summarizing sales activity information from four separate divisions, and using that information to describe a reporting problem
2. Explain the flaws of vertical flowcharting and how those flaws are overcome by using a network diagram.
3. Why is it essential to identify weak links? How is a network diagram used to ensure continuing schedule control where weak links are involved?
М. Томсетт
Маленькая чёрная книжка по управлению проектами
Окфорд, 1990
6
Правила составления блок-схем
Если у вас есть много времени, вы можете развить и использовать сложную систему графиков, которые помогут управлять вашим проектом. С другой стороны, если время для вас не проблема, то нет необходимости в использовании графиков. Секрет заключается в нахождении эффективного метода, который может быть приведен в действие быстро и, кроме того, помогает осуществлять необходимый ежедневный контроль.
Преимущество диаграммы Ганта состоит в том, что она позволяет соединить последовательные действия без значительных временных затрат. При должном использовании диаграмма позволяет управлять временем и искать проблемы, связанные с распределением задач во времени — даже в течение определенной фазы.
Неудобство диаграммы Ганта заключается в том, что она не идентифицирует "слабые связи": когда информация передаётся от одного члена вашей команды другому; когда выполнение зависит от внешних ресурсов ; когда меры не могут быть приняты, пока кто-то еще не завершил свою часть работы. Диаграмма Ганта лишь показывает вам, когда проектная фаза начинается и заканчивается, и на каком этапе вы находитесь. Вы можете обнаружить, что для вашей проектной группы требуется более тщательно продуманная система контроля.
Определение фаз
В главе 5 говорилось о восьмифазовом проекте, нацеленном на улучшение процедур в отделе обработки. В этом примере фазы были сгруппированы в опредённой порядковой последовательности. Это первый шаг в создании сети; однако, проблема может возникнуть тогда, когда вы попытаетесь различить "событие" и "действие".
Действие - шаг (или шаги) используемые в каждой фазе, а событие – конечный результат (например, завершение отчета) или некоторый другой необходимый шаг (например, получение информации от другого члена команды). Как правило, деятельность происходит во время фазы, а случай – конечный результат— или, в рамках проекта, шаг, необходимый чтобы продолжить двигаться к следующей фазе.
Эти различия важны, потому что они указывают на общий недостаток блок-схем. Диаграмма, которую вы составите, будет состоять из набора квадратов (или кругов) соединённых линиями. Квадраты используются, чтобы описать действия, а линии - не что иное, как обозначение связи между квадратами. Но как указывается время? Вы будете удивлены, если действия будут располагаться внутри квадратов, а временные оценки будут указываться с помощью линий. Более правильно использовать один из трех методов:
1. Расположение событий (концов фаз) в квадратах и использование линий, соединяющих их, чтобы описать действия и время, которые необходимо затратить на их выполнение;
2. Разделение действий в квадратах и событий, размещённых ниже в отдельных квадратов, использование линий, которые их соединяют для описания временных требований для предшествующих событий;
3. Размещение действий в квадратах с событиями, расположенными ниже, так чтобы время прослеживалось на отдельной линии.
Первый метод больше подходит для крупномасштабных и исключительно сложных проектов (он эффективнее действует в условиях автоматизированного проектного менеджмента). Второй метод позволяет отслеживать деятельность и время — критические элементы контроля за графиком — и исключать “выпадающие” события. Третий метод может оказаться самым практичным для проекта, которым управляют вручную, который имеет ограниченные временные рамки и выполняется комндой относительно маленького размера.
Используя любую систему планирования, следует начинать с выстраивания фаз в логической и разделения действий в пределах каждой фазы на задачи или подзадачи. Цель состоит в том, чтобы сформулировать чёткий порядок действий и событий. Помните, деятельность существует ради достижения завершения каждой фазы. Случай же - это конец фазы.
Для особенно сложных фаз в планировании иногда необходимо определять и выделять несколько событий, которые происходят в одно и то же время
Пример: Вы тестируете какое-нибудь нововведение в течение двух недель. Во время теста вы сравниваете результаты с предыдущей системой четыре раза и вносите необходимые корректировки. В этом случае фаза разделена и определяется четырьмя отдельными действиями в её пределах — по одному для каждого сравнения — и заключительным событием, завершением теста.
Организованный таким образом проект называют декомпозицией работ (Work Breakdown Structuring (WBS)), используя один из двух форматов.
Формат схемы
Сначала определяется формат таблицы или схемы.
Формат схемы подразумевает, что каждая фаза это главный заголовок, а более мелкие детали формируют подразделы. Такой формат может вам помочь в следующих случаях:
1. Вы можете распределить обязанности между членами команды. Каждая задаче или серия задач на схеме сначала поддаётся описанию. Как только вы удовлетворены этим, член проектной группы, который несёт основную ответственность за эту задачу, привязывается к определённой фазе. Если другие члены команды вовлечены в выполнение этой задачи, они должны быть также включены. Таким образом, начиная с простой схемы, вы всё более детализируете распределение ответственности в серию определенных шагов.
2. Вы можете подробно контролировать время. Время, выделенное на выполнение каждой фазы, должно быть распределено по дням и часам, вплоть до завершения проекта. Сделав это, вы можете устанавливать временные требования и ограничения. Они могут быть связаны с командой, например, количество часов, которое каждый её член способен уделить вашему проекту в пределах ограниченного времени. Фактор времени влияет на дальнейшуя разработку схемы.
3. Вы можете обнаруживать слабые места проекта те, где ваше непосредственное участие могло бы ускорить выполнение работы по графику. Идентификация слабых связей, где ответственность переходит от одного человека к другому, или где вы вынуждены ждать человека, не входящего в вашу команду, который предоставит вам необходимую информацию — является ключом для осуществления контроля. Схема используется, чтобы подчеркнуть эти слабые места. С этой информацией в руках вы способны наиболее эффективно управлять графиком.
Что подразумевается под достижением этого контроля? бесспорная выгода от организации и планирования вашего график. Однако, знание слабых связей - только первый шаг. Кроме этого, вам следует сделать два дополнительных шага: (1) привлечение внимания двух членов команды (передающего и принимающего информацию) к местам с ослабленной связью — и (2) контроль самой слабой связи для успешного и своевременного вмешательства.
Используя пересмотр операций проекта, введенный в Главе 5, можно определить следующую форму схемы:
1.0 Текущие процедуры документа.
1.1 Опрос сотрудников.
1.2 Обзор документации.
1.3 Обновление документации.
2.0 Подготовка блок-схем.
2.1 Определение производственного потока.
2.2 Координация между сотрудниками.
2.4 Обзор блок-схем.
2.5 Регулирование.
3.0 Суммирование документооборота.
3.1 Подготовка заключительного технологического процесса.
3.2 Идентификация источников.
3.3Определение целей.
3.4 Список отчетов.
4.0 Проблемные области отчетов и их решения.
4.1 Определение неэффективных областей.
4.2 Определение слабых связей.
4.3 Выявление возможных решений.
4.4 Обобщение вариантов решения.
5.0 Разработка процедур по улучшению.
5.1 Подготовка блок-схем.
5.2 Организация обсуждения.
6.0 Отслеживание эффективности предложенных мер в течение недели
6.1 Определение область испытания.
6.2 Отслеживание ежедневные результаты.
6.3 Подведение итога.
6.4 Подготовка итогового отчета.
7.0 Отслеживание эффективности предложенных мер в течение двух недель.
7.1 Ежедневное тестирование.
7.2 Информация о процессе.
7.3 Подведение итога.
7.4 Сравнение с существующими результатами.
7.5 Подготовка отчета о сравнении.
7.6 Постепенное приспособление новой системы.
8.0 Подготовка и объявление итогового отчета.
8.1 Объяснение проблем и их решения.
8.2 Суммирование данных об испытаниях.
Табличный формат
Второй метод для декомпозиции работ (WBS) - это организационный формат. Та же самая информация располагается в последовательном порядке внутри каждой фазы в соответствии с организационной структурой, как показано на схеме:
Название проекта
Фаза Фаза Фаза
-задача -задача -задача
-задача -задача -задача
-задача -задача -задача
-задача -задача -задача
Каждый из методов может быть использован. Вы можете основывать свой выбор на личных предпочтениях, исходя из сложности проекта, назначений сверху или размера команды. Цель состоит в использовании проектной информации так, чтобы планирование помогало в управлении, когда вы в этом нуждаетесь. Как только декомпозиция работ (WBS) выполнена, вы можете приступить к подготовке диаграмм и устанавливать временные ограничения.
Метод критического пути и система планирования
и руководства разработками
В 1956-1958 были разработаны две системы управления планированием: метод критического пути (CPM) и система планирования и руководства разработками (PERT). Обе эти системы были первоначально разработаны, чтобы контролировать время проектов, где многие задачи выполняются одновременно и управлять временными затратами. Постепенно CPM и PERT набирали всё большую популярность, и стали использоваться во многих других процессах, включая такие как распределение бюджета, управление ресурсами, определение процессов и контроль качества. Когда эти две системы используются совместно, как во многих современных организациях, их называют сетью PERT/CPM.
Метод критического пути (CPM) (см. рисунок 6-1) является сетевой диаграммой и показывает критический путь так же как некритические связи и действия. Временная оценка для каждого действия определяется диапазоном от начала до конца периода (обычно в часах или днях). Это помогает вам визуализировать ваши усилия и определить, как отдельные сегменты проектной группы должны сотрудничать, чтобы достигнуть завершения каждой фазы.
Рисунок 6-1. Критический путь.
Когда метод CPM используется отдельно для контроля времени, он помогает отслеживать несколько факторов, таких как: минимальное и максимальное требуемое время, фазу и то, сколько необходимо времени для завершения проекта и уже израсходованное время, и идентифицирует самое раннее возможно время начала и окончания проекта. А если говорить о методе PERT, то он даёт представление как о фазовых временных рамках, так и о количестве необходимых трудовых ресурсов. Это позволит перепланированировать фазы с минимальными задержками, а также улучшить сообщение между членами команды и внешними ресурсами.
PERT включает, как правило, оценки минимальных и максимальных требований времени. Подсчёты делаются посредством взвешенного среднего числа. И CRM, и PERT могут быть использованы в крупномасштабных проектах, особенно в тех, которыми управляют с помощью современных компьютерных программ для управления проектами. Однако, для проектов меньшего масштаба, которыми управляют на уровне отделов, CRM, и PERT, не способны предоставить информацию необходимого уровня. CRM и PERT может быть слишком сложной для проектов, с которыми вы столкнетесь.
Автоматизированные системы управления проектом
Проектным менеджментом, как многими другими бизнес дисциплинами, можно эффективно управлять с помощью автоматизированных систем, предполагая, что автоматизация действительно, фактически, экономит время и повышает эффективность.
Автоматизация - достойная альтернатива обычному контролю, особенно когда необходимо управлять большим объемом информации. Но помните, чтобы достигнуть желаемых результатов, информация должна быть получена на входе и проверена; если произойдут какие-то перемены, она должна быть изменена; и наконец, информация должна быть так организована, чтобы вы могли использовать её в управлении своим проектом.
В очень многих случаях, характер проекта, подразумевающий единичные усилия, уступает системам проектного менеджмента. Помните, компьютер разработан, чтобы последовательно управлять информацией, но конечно же существуют исключения. Прежде чем автоматизировать любую задачу проектного менеджмента, рассмотрите проблемы, с которым вы можете столкнуться:
1. Издержки время — потраченное время против ценности результатов. Если временные затраты на введение, проверку и изменение информации слишком велики, то стоит задаться вопросом, необходимо ли использовать автоматизацию и оправдана ли стоимость автоматизированной системы. Возможно, было бы гораздо эффективнее координировать проект вручную.
2. Кривая обучения. Сколько времени потребуется в
Загружено переводчиком: Омельков Лев Биржа переводов 01
Язык оригинала: английский Источник: http://www.thomsett.com.au/project-management