UNIT II STUDY GUIDE
Defining the Project and the Organization
Course Learning Outcomes for Unit II
Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to:
3. Discuss guidelines for creating a work breakdown structure (WBS).
3.1 Describe the importance of a WBS.
3.2 Outline a WBS for a project.
8. Formulate a project plan to present to stakeholders.
8.1 Select a project for a project plan.
8.2 Define a project for a project plan.
8.3 Compose a project scope statement for a project plan.
Course/Unit
Learning Outcomes
3.1
3.2
8.1
8.2
8.3
Learning Activity
Unit Lesson
Chapter 4
Unit II Project Topic
Unit Lesson
Chapter 4
Unit II Project Topic
Unit Lesson
Chapter 4
Unit II Project Topic
Unit Lesson
Chapter 4
Unit II Project Topic
Unit Lesson
Chapter 4
Unit II Project Topic
Reading Assignment
Chapter 4: Defining the Project, pp. 101–122
Unit Lesson
Project Planning
To access the following resources, click the links below.
Knights, R. (Director). (2017). Define the project (Segment 3 of 8) [Video file]. Retrieved from
https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?auth=CAS&url=http://fod.infobase.com/PortalPla
ylists.aspx?wID=273866&xtid=124190&loid=455600
Click here to view the transcript for the video above.
Video Education America. (2012). Thorough project planning (Segment 2 of 8) [Video file]. Retrieved from
https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?auth=CAS&url=http://fod.infobase.com/PortalPla
ylists.aspx?wID=273866&xtid=49889&loid=171088
BBA 4126, Project Planning
1
Click here to view the transcript for the video above.
UNIT x STUDY GUIDE
Title
The actual processes of a project (i.e., the technical aspects, such as planning and monitoring) are applicable
globally for projects in almost any field. However, those same processes are impacted by social and cultural
norms within fields, countries, and organizations. Projects at Google or Microsoft might be managed with
adjustments for the information technology (IT) industry they work in as well as for the cultural differences in
China, India, or the United States. The process of executing a project (doing the actual work defined in the
scope statement) may be influenced by religious or legal restrictions within the country, local politics, or
standard practices, such as hiring family members or paying for access to roads or land. Politics within an
organization can also affect the technical aspects of a project. For example, project managers or team
members may be chosen because of who they are within the community, how they are viewed by senior
leadership, or their length of time with the company. Often, internal politics are the most influential
sociocultural aspect of a project.
Another influence on the technical aspects of a project is the organizational structure of the company doing
the project (Larson & Gray, 2018). Functional organizations tend to develop silos, in which each department
or division works independently with little interaction with other departments or divisions. Many large
organizations, such as some governments and militaries or international corporations, are functional
organizations with a hierarchal chain of command. Most of the interaction between divisions comes in the
form of executive meetings and reports.
Companies with a strong functional structure can be experts in their field (e.g., finance, IT, human resources),
but they can sometimes miss the big-picture application of a project. Projectized companies can do very well
with the big picture of a project, but they may have a greater need for outside experts because they are
structured to be flexible and adjust to each project as it is implemented, as opposed to being field experts.
Companies in fields where the customer demand and market conditions change often and quickly, such as
Apple, are often projectized. Matrix organizations have a balance between the two so that when power is
evenly distributed between functional managers and project managers, the company can provide field
expertise and big-picture project management and results. Most companies have a matrix organizational
structure, in which project teams are created from functional departments as projects are undertaken to
achieve specific business goals.
To facilitate project success, project managers can use various leadership skills such as exercising influence,
team building, motivations, negotiation, and conflict management (Larson & Gray, 2018). The skills that
provide the most benefit to the project manager can depend on the type of organization structure where they
work. In functional organizations, where the functional manager has the most power, influencing and
negotiation skills can be effective for making progress on project work. Projectized organization structures put
the power in the hands of the project manager, so team building and coaching might be the better leadership
skills to have in order to accomplish project goals (Larson & Gray, 2018). Project managers working in matrix
organizations, depending on whether a strong- or weak-matrix structure is present, might find that decisionmaking and trust building are the go-to leadership skills they use to bring the functional managers into the
project for their expertise and know-how.
Developing an Effective Scope Statement for a Project
We now turn our attention to the development of an effective scope statement for a project. According to
Larsen and Gray (2018), when creating a scope statement, you should include the components below.
BBA 4126, Project Planning
2
UNIT x STUDY GUIDE
Title
Here is an example of how to develop a scope statement.
You are in charge of organizing a dinner-dance concert for a local charity. You have reserved a hall that will
seat 30 couples and have hired a jazz combo.
Project Objective: Organize a dinner dance for 30 couples by March xx at a cost no greater than yy to raise
money for a local charity.
Deliverables:
Sixty catered dinners
Jazz combo
Rented hall
Tickets
Milestones:
Rent hall by x.
Sell 30 tickets by y.
Arrange caterer by z.
Technical Requirements:
Hall has sufficient space for tables and dance floor
Convenient parking available
Hall has infrastructure to support catered dinner and jazz combo
Meals include vegetarian option
Limits and Exclusions:
Caterer responsible for preparing, serving, and cleaning
Ticket price set to generate at least $50 profit per couple
Jazz combo responsible for sound system
Event transpires between 7 p.m. to 12 a.m..
Customer Review: Charity official
BBA 4126, Project Planning
3
Creating a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
UNIT x STUDY GUIDE
Title
The work breakdown structure (WBS) gives project managers a realistic idea of the actual work needed to
complete the project and where to begin analyzing time and cost figures (Larson & Gray, 2018). It is important
to get information for the WBS from experts and the people actually doing the work (or their managers).
Gathering information from experts, historical data, and employees gives the project manager the most
accurate data available to make cost and scheduling estimates and to determine project and phase deadlines
and milestones. If the WBS is too detailed, the project manager can become bogged down in the details of
the work. If it is not detailed enough, the project manager may miss large portions of work that have a
significant impact on scheduling and cost.
The WBS is designed to provide different information for decision-making. For example, it provides
information for the following types of decisions:
how to link deliverables, organization units, and customers,
how to provide for control,
how to isolate problems to source,
how to track schedule and cost variance,
how to assign responsibility and budgets,
how to focus attention on deliverables, and
how to provide information for different levels in the organization (Larson & Gray, 2018).
Click the following link to learn more about how to create a WBS:
http://doit.maryland.gov/SDLC/FormServerTemplates/WBS.doc
A Closer Look
In the video segment for this unit, we see that the project manager for the office relocation project has a
distinct lack of leadership skills.
To access the following resource, click the link below.
Knights, R. (Director). (2017). Initial team meeting (Segment 2 of 8) [Video file]. Retrieved from
https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?auth=CAS&url=http://fod.infobase.com/PortalPla
ylists.aspx?wID=273866&xtid=124190&loid=455599
Click here to view the transcript for the video above.
Getting your team on board with a project can be tough, but it is essential for project success. One notable
reason that projects fail is that the leadership is lacking. For this reason, leadership is considered a critical
success factor (CSF) (Turner & Muller, 2005).
Let’s take this opportunity to learn more about CSFs. A life insurance company in Houston determined that
there were four CSFs for its agents to master: (1) prospecting, (2) presentation, (3) closing, and (4) follow-up.
If the agents were weak in any of these critical success areas, they were going to fail. The point here is that
CSFs are essential to success and are not optional.
For a project manager, leadership is a CSF. Most companies today provide leadership training for project
managers. Further, colleges and universities incorporate leadership studies in the curriculum. However, there
is no replacement for on-the-job training. The more projects that we manage, the more we will learn this CSF.
While project managers lead and direct projects, they must be excellent listeners. Team members will do the
work, which means the project manager must take input from these individuals. In some cases, the project
team has more knowledge and experience related to the actual work than the project manager, thus the
project manager assumes more of a facilitator role.
BBA 4126, Project Planning
4
References
UNIT x STUDY GUIDE
Title
Larson, E. W., & Gray, C. F. (2018). Project management: The managerial process (7th ed.). New York, NY:
McGraw-Hill Education.
Turner, J. R., & Müller, R. (2005). The project manager's leadership style as a success factor on projects: A
literature review. Project Management Journal, 36(2), 49–61. Retrieved from
https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/leadership-style-success-factor-projects-5536
BBA 4126, Project Planning
5
Unit II Project Topic
Please complete the information below based on the project you have chosen for your project plan.
Project name:
Project manager name (your name):
Project’s goal (reason for undertaking the project/anticipated benefits):
Cost estimate (this is hypothetical so do not spend too much time on this aspect):
Project structure (functional, matrix, or projectized):
People/departments involved:
Potential risks/issues to overcome:
Timeline for completion (start date/completion date):
Project scope (please see the Unit II Lesson for an example):
Project objective:
Deliverables:
Milestones:
Technical requirements:
Limits and exclusions:
Reviews with customer:
Project Stakeholders:
Work breakdown structure (WBS):
Importance of the WBS:
UNIT III STUDY GUIDE
Estimating Project Times and Costs and
Developing a Project Plan
Course Learning Outcomes for Unit III
Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to:
3. Discuss guidelines for creating a work breakdown structure (WBS).
3.1 Describe how creating a WBS can impact time and cost estimates.
4. Develop a process for determining the critical path method (CPM).
4.1 Assemble a project network diagram.
4.2 Describe the critical path of a project.
4.3 Describe how delays in the critical path can affect a project and the options that can be used to
get it back on schedule.
Course/Unit
Learning Outcomes
3.1
4.1
4.2
4.3
Learning Activity
Unit Lesson
Chapter 5
Unit III Project Topic
Chapter 6
Unit III Project Topic
Unit Lesson
Chapter 6
Unit III Project Topic
Unit Lesson
Chapter 6
Unit III Project Topic
Reading Assignment
Chapter 5: Estimating Project Times and Costs, pp. 129–152
Chapter 6: Developing a Project Plan, pp. 163–189
Unit Lesson
Planning the Project
In the video segment for this unit, we will learn about the importance of planning a framework to complete the
project.
To access the following resource, click the link below.
Knights, R. (Director). (2017). Plan the project (Segment 4 of 8) [Video file]. Retrieved from
https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?auth=CAS&url=http://fod.infobase.com/PortalPla
ylists.aspx?wID=273866&xtid=124190&loid=455601
Click here to view the transcript for the video above.
Estimating Project Times and Costs
Many times, in an effort to get a project started as soon as possible, project managers will sometimes skip the
all-important process of estimating the length of time a project will take to complete and how much it will cost
BBA 4126, Project Planning
1
to complete. It is important to take the time to do this so that one does not encounter
costly
and ugly
UNIT x some
STUDY
GUIDE
surprises down the road!
Title
It is important to estimate time and cost of a project for several reasons, some of which are listed below.
With these estimates in hand, project managers are empowered to make better decisions about who
should work on specific tasks within the project and can plan ahead of time for issues that may arise
during the project.
The project manager can inform stakeholders about how long the project will take and its cost before
beginning. This way, a determination can be made about whether the project is truly cost effective for
the organization and whether the project should be continued.
The project manager will be able to see at a glance how well the project is progressing by comparing
the actual time it is taking to the estimated time.
The project manager can have an idea about how much money he or she should have on hand to
handle cash flow needs (Larson & Gray, 2018).
Guidelines for estimating time and cost are listed below.
Have people who are familiar with what a task entails to make the estimate on how long it will take. It
is always best to utilize an individual who actually does the job rather than someone who has a
preconceived notion regarding it.
Utilize more than one person to make estimates. Different people notice different things about tasks
that must be taken into account. This way, a project manager can be certain that all of his or her
bases are covered.
Estimates should be based on normal conditions and the normal number of resources in place.
Use consistent units of time throughout. If you start with hours, maintain the use of hours to avoid
confusion down the road.
Treat each task as independent in order ensure that each task has enough time to be completed.
Do not make allowances for unforeseen events. There should be an extra fund in place for such
occurrences.
Create a risk assessment plan so that stakeholders will not be surprised if something takes a little
longer or costs a bit more than it should (Larson & Gray, 2018).
Developing a Project Plan
Project planning begins with the development of a project network (Larson & Gray, 2018). This tool is used to
help a project manager plan, schedule, and monitor the progress of his or her project and is developed from
information that was collected and used to create the project’s work breakdown structure (WBS) (Larson &
Gray, 2018). Project managers for large-scale projects have a higher reliance on the accuracy of the WBS
than those of small-scale projects (Larson & Gray, 2018). Many of the projects used every day involve a WBS
that was created from multiple WBSs overlapping. The interstate highway system, major airports, cell phones,
and the Internet all involved phased projects that required overlapping WBSs. A change in one WBS affects
the entire project both in time and cost. Although they may not have created actual WBSs at the time, the
most famous historical projects were phased projects involving overlapping WBSs, such as construction of
the Eiffel Tower, the Statue of Liberty, the transcontinental railroad, the New York subway system and Grand
Central Station, and the pyramids in Egypt. Military maneuvers and wars, such as WWI and WWII, Vietnam,
and the Civil War, are large-scale projects requiring a WBS to identify who is responsible for what. Knowing
who is responsible for what activity within a project is critical to the project’s success.
Following the concept of who is responsible for what is the idea of identifying when the identified action(s)
need to occur to determine the most time- and cost-efficient order of operations. The process of identifying
the various paths to get a project from start to finish and determining which activities are dependent on a
previous one is called network diagramming (Larson & Gray, 2018). By noting the activity order based on
dependency restriction, a project manager can identify the longest time from start to finish. This is the critical
path. The critical path of a project has no wiggle room or float. Any variance on the critical path will affect both
time and cost. Activities that take longer than planned will cause delays in that start of subsequent activities,
and activities that finish sooner than planned can require an adjustment of all subsequent activities to begin
earlier. Changes to the schedule incur a cost, whether from contractual obligations, loss of early completion
incentives, wasted staff time, increased supply costs, or any number of other reasons.
BBA 4126, Project Planning
2
When projects get behind schedule, the network diagram should be reviewed UNIT
to determine
if fast-tracking,
x STUDY
GUIDE
crashing, or both are viable options to get the project back on schedule (Larson
& Gray, 2018). Some
Title
projects, such as the building of the New York subway system, can be fast-tracked so that various trades are
working on different areas of the project site concurrently, but other projects, such as war, have limited
options for fast-tracking because the main components of the project are personnel and equipment. One does
not work without the other. Similarly, some projects can be crashed to get correct schedule delays. Projects
like the Hoover Dam had additional resources added to speed the completion, while projects like the building
of the transcontinental railroad would have had limited benefit from additional resources because supplies
could only be moved to job sites so fast.
Outsourcing can also be used to reduce project slippage, improve utilization of critical resources, and avoid
resource bottlenecks (Larson & Gray, 2018). For example, project delays can be avoided by contracting key
activities when resources are not available internally. Likewise, hiring consultants to help with on an
information technology (IT) project, for example, allows critical IT people to work on specific problems, while
the outsiders work on standard programs. Not only does the project get done on time, but also the company
avoids hiring extra IT personnel to meet a short-term need.
Indirect (overhead) costs are costs that cannot be attributed to a specific activity or work package (Larson &
Gray, 2018). Examples of indirect costs are supervision, consultants, debt interest charges, machinery
common to several activities, accounting and information processing, public relations, or penalties or
incentives for early or late completion. In practice, it is amazing how many project compression decisions are
made without serious consideration of indirect costs.
A Closer Look
The project manager should complete the project on time and within budget. However, even when these two
goals are met, project success is not guaranteed. The final project deliverable must meet customer
satisfaction. If the customer is not happy, being on time and within budget is of little value.
Let’s assume the project manager is working on a project to build a new community swimming pool for the
City of San Antonio (CoSA). An early step is to collect the requirements from the stakeholders. The project
manager will meet with key CoSA stakeholders to learn what is important to them.
Who is going to use the swimming pool? What is the anticipated capacity? What are the safety
issues? What are the important features?
Once the requirements are collected, the project manager and project team will define the scope,
which means the work that will be included in the project. Just as important, the scope includes any
work that falls outside of the project. For example, perhaps a diving board is a safety concern and will
not be included in the scope.
After the scope is defined, the WBS is created. A project cannot exist without a WBS. In essence, the
WBS is broken down to the work-package level, which allows the project manager the ability to
assign the right resources at the right time.
The WBS is an essential input to the project schedule. The project manager must be committed to the
schedule even more than the budget. In other words, the schedule drives the budget.
Managing projects is tough. For this reason, it is vital to follow a framework. The project manager must
assemble a committed and organized team to ensure the project is on time, within budget, and to the
customer’s satisfaction.
Reference
Larson, E. W., & Gray, C. F. (2018). Project management: The managerial process (7th ed.). New York, NY:
McGraw-Hill Education.
BBA 4126, Project Planning
3
Unit III Project Topic
Please complete the information below based on the project you have chosen for your project plan.
Project Network Diagram:
Description of the critical path in your project:
Description of how your project might be affected by delays in the critical path and how you could
get the project back on schedule if such delays happen:
Description of project time and cost estimates and how your WBS impacts those estimates:
Purchase answer to see full
attachment