Project Time IST4055 Chapter 6 Now that you have the Scope and Work Breakdown Structures done, we address the other 2 aspects of the triple constraint – time and money. Focus here is looking at the entire project, sequence the steps, and then cost them. 1 Importance of Project Schedules Managers often cite delivering projects on time as one of their biggest challenges Average time overrun from 1995 CHAOS report was 222%; improved to 84% in 2004 study; 74% in 2012 study; down to 51% in 2016 Time is the most precarious element of the triple constraint: Time has the least amount of flexibility; it passes no matter what! Scope and cost can be adjusted; time goes on regardless of what you do or don’t do. Traditionally IT project managers have underestimated the amount of time needed to complete the tasks – they are overly confident in their abilities to get the job done and sometimes are too simplistic in their approach. You must be realistic in the time constraint. Note also that it might take you 10 hours, but you also may be working on other projects or doing daily operations too…..so time is how long and over what period of time – 10 hours spread over 60 hours. Schedule issues are the main reason for conflicts on projects, especially during the second half of projects. So where are we now with time overruns? 2 Attitudes toward deadlines Cultures have different attitudes about time Individual Work Styles and Cultural Differences Cause Schedule Conflicts 3 One dimension Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator focuses on peoples’ attitudes toward structure and deadlines Some people prefer schedules and deadlines while others do not Difference cultures and countries have different attitudes about schedules/time 3 Time Robbers Task rework Calls, texts, e-mail Land mail Incomplete work Lack of needed authority Inefficient change procedures Waiting on people Day-to-day administration Too many levels of review Casual office conversations Poorly run meetings Micromanagement Those activities that at first seem to be short and unobtrusive but when they are all added together can completely fill an entire work day It is important to realize that some time increments can lead to major time wasters. This slide covers some time robbers that occur in your everyday work life. In addition to the ones listed on the slide you can add Poorly motivated or educated customers Vague goals and objectives Poor time management Ill defined project scope Company politics Working on under-funded projects 4 Project Time Management Activity Definition Activity Sequencing Project Time Management describes the processes and methods required to create and manage appropriate schedules to complete the project: Activity Definition – identifies the lowest level of work on the WBS, “work packages”, that needs to be performed to create the finished product deliverable; An activity or task is an element of work normally found on the work breakdown structure (WBS) tha.

1. Project Time
IST4055
Chapter 6
Now that you have the Scope and Work Breakdown Structures
done, we address the other 2 aspects of the triple constraint –
time and money.
Focus here is looking at the entire project, sequence the steps,
and then cost them.
1
Importance of Project Schedules
Managers often cite delivering projects on time as one of their
biggest challenges
Average time overrun from 1995 CHAOS report was 222%;
improved to 84% in 2004 study; 74% in 2012 study; down to
51% in 2016
Time is the most precarious element of the triple constraint:
Time has the least amount of flexibility; it passes no matter
what!
Scope and cost can be adjusted; time goes on regardless of what
you do or don’t do.
Traditionally IT project managers have underestimated the
amount of time needed to complete the tasks – they are overly
confident in their abilities to get the job done and sometimes
are too simplistic in their approach. You must be realistic in the

2. time constraint. Note also that it might take you 10 hours, but
you also may be working on other projects or doing daily
operations too…..so time is how long and over what period of
time – 10 hours spread over 60 hours.
Schedule issues are the main reason for conflicts on projects,
especially during the second half of projects. So where are we
now with time overruns?
2
Attitudes toward deadlines
Cultures have different attitudes about time
Individual Work Styles and Cultural Differences Cause
Schedule Conflicts
3
One dimension Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator focuses on
peoples’ attitudes toward structure and deadlines
Some people prefer schedules and deadlines while others do not
Difference cultures and countries have different attitudes about
schedules/time
3
Time Robbers
Task rework
Calls, texts, e-mail
Land mail
Incomplete work
Lack of needed authority
Inefficient change procedures
Waiting on people

3. Day-to-day administration
Too many levels of review
Casual office conversations
Poorly run meetings
Micromanagement
Those activities that at first seem to be short and unobtrusive
but when they are all added together can completely fill an
entire work day
It is important to realize that some time increments can lead to
major time wasters. This slide covers some time robbers that
occur in your everyday work life.
In addition to the ones listed on the slide you can add
Poorly motivated or educated customers
Vague goals and objectives
Poor time management
Ill defined project scope
Company politics
Working on under-funded projects
4
Project Time Management
Activity Definition
Activity Sequencing
Project Time Management describes the processes and methods
required to create and manage appropriate schedules to
complete the project:

4. Activity Definition – identifies the lowest level of work on the
WBS, “work packages”, that needs to be performed to create the
finished product deliverable; An activity or task is an element
of work normally found on the work breakdown structure
(WBS) that has an expected duration, a cost, and resource
requirements; Activity definition involves developing a more
detailed WBS and supporting explanations to understand all the
work to be done so you can develop realistic cost and duration
estimates
Activity Sequencing – identifying and documenting the logical
and sometimes physical relationships among schedule activities;
what needs to be done before something else can be done? What
can occur together? What can be done at anytime?
It includes planning schedule meeting (policies, procedures,
documentation), define activities, sequencing, estimating
resources, durations, develop schedule, and control schedule
5
Where Do Schedules Come From?
Schedules come from the tasks (WBS) that need to be completed
to meet the objectives of the project within the scope, time, and
costs. You must use the WBS as a starting point to the schedule,
then you break them down into work packages (group like tasks
together). Once this is completed, you assign task sequences in
order to build the schedule.
Attributes – includes items like predecessors, successors,
logical relationships, leads and lags, resource requirements,
constraints, imposed dates, assumptions

5. 6
Step 0. Build the WBS
Step 1. Define Activities
Step2. Identify Attributes
Step3. Sequence Activities
Step 1. Defining Activities
1) assigned to one person who is held responsible for the
completion of the task,
2) generate time and cost estimates accurately
3) scheduled
4) tracked on some metrics
Create activity list-name, identifier, description
Each activity is decomposed into smaller and smaller units until
the deliverable can be:

6. Depending on the technique used to create the WBS (refer to
chapter 5), typically the work packages are built by
decomposing parent activities down into smaller and smaller
units of work.
The 100% rule is in affect; all of the work packages defined
must add up to 100% of the total scope of the project and Not
all of the work packages will be defined at the same level of
detail.
With this done, it becomes easier to place a duration and cost on
the work packages. It also facilitates creation of the schedule
for the purpose of tracking it.
Activity list: Include the activity name, an activity identifier or
number, a brief description of the activity
7
Activity Characteristics
Measureable
Start-End
Time and Costs
One Deliverable
This slide describes the characteristics of activities.

7. Status and/or completion is measurable and can be reported
easily at any time
Start and end events are clearly defined and easily
communicated
Each activity has a single deliverable
Time and cost is easily estimated
Activity duration is within acceptable limits no longer than 10
work days. This is not a hard unbreakable rule but a suggested
guideline that no activity be defined with an effort longer than
two weeks.
Work assignments are independent, you shouldn’t need to
interrupt the work in the middle of an activity due to another
activity not working as planned
8
Step 2. Activity Attributes
Predecessors-Successor relationship: project task that upon
completion is followed by another task (successor)
Lead and lags: lead-overlap between two tasks; lag – time break
between predecessor and successor tasks
Constraints/assumptions/resources
Imposed dates
Activity Attributes:
Predecessors-a project task that, upon completion, is
followed by another task
Successors-project task that cannot start until another task
finishes
Logical relationships
leads and lags

8. Lead This is an overlap between two tasks that are linked by a
dependency
lag - manually specified time break between predecessor and
successor tasks
resource requirements – what does it take to complete this
task??
constraints
Imposed dates – dates beyond our control
Assumptions
9
Step 3. Activity Sequencing
Mandatory dependencies: inherent in the nature of the work;
write software and then test
Discretionary dependencies: defined by the project team; offer
the most flexibility
External dependencies: based on work being performed by an
entity outside of the organization
This step involves identifying and documenting the logical and
sometimes physical relationships among schedule activities ;
there are dependencies that are mandatory, some are
discretionary, some are external.
Advantages of proper sequencing
Provides a consistent framework for repeatable project
successes
Effectively illustrates the interdependence of all tasks
Clearly denotes the dates that resources need to be available
Determines milestone and project completion dates
Identifies critical path activities that if delayed will delay the
project completion date
Identifies which activities are not on the critical path and thus

9. can be delayed if needed without affecting the project
completion date
Identifies resource availability
Shows which tasks can or are being done in parallel
10
Why Use?
Clearly denotes date resources need to be available.
Determines milestones and completion dates
Identifies critical path activities that if delayed delay the whole
project.
Illustrates interdependence of tasks
Identifies what activities can be delayed if necessary without
delaying project
11
Advantages
Date Resources Needed
Interdependencies/delayed if needed

10. Milestones/completion dates
Critical path activities
Schedules
Activity on Arrow Method
Precedence Diagram Method
Lines=activities
Circles=start/end points
Boxes=activities
Lines-dependencies
Regardless of which scheduling method is chosen, they all
strive to graphically demonstrate the sequential relationships
between activities.
This slide shows two techniques of activity sequencing are the
precedence diagram method and the activity on arrow
diagramming method

11. Arrow Diagramming Method (ADM) - Also called activity-on-
arrow (AOA) project network diagram; Activities are
represented by lines with arrows; Nodes or circles are the
starting and ending points of activities; Key Drawback: Can
only show finish-to-start dependencies; Lines with arrows
represent tasks; Circles with words or numbers represent the
begin or end of a task
Precedence Diagram Method – Boxes represent activities
(nodes); lines with arrows the dependencies; Begin and end
12
Estimate Activity Resources
How difficult/complex will it be to complete specific activities
on this project?
What is the organization’s history in doing similar activities?
Are the required resources available? Internal or External?
Do we have the right person with the right task?
You must have a good idea of the quantity and type or level of
resources that will be assigned to each activity. This slide
presents you with some questions to ask and answer.
As happens with many of the processes discussed in this course,
activity resource estimating, activity duration estimating, and
cost estimating generally occurs at the same time on many
projects
Techniques include Expert judgment; Analogous (similar
project); and Alternatives analysis (what is available, deadlines

12. like during break, etc)
13
Activity Duration Estimating
After defining activities, determining their sequence, assigning
appropriate resources, the next step in time management is
duration estimating
Duration includes the effort (actual amount of time worked on
an activity) plus elapsed time
This slides presents the difference between duration and actual
effort. Most IT workers multi-task working on more than one
project so it may take only 8 hours to complete an activity but
will take 40 hours of duration to find time to get the 8 hours of
work accomplished.
Duration is over what period of time you will work on the
project, sometimes called elapsed time.
Actual effort is the actual amount of time you worked on the
project.
Three point estimate – optimistic, most likely and pessimistic
14
Activity Duration Estimating: Methods
This slides presents the difference between duration and actual
effort. Most IT workers multi-task working on more than one
project so it may take only 8 hours to complete an activity but
will take 40 hours of duration to find time to get the 8 hours of
work accomplished.

13. Duration is over what period of time you will work on the
project, sometimes called elapsed time.
Actual effort is the actual amount of time you worked on the
project.
Three point estimate – optimistic, most likely and pessimistic
15
Methods
WBS
Historical
Analogy
Expert
Effort
Unit

14. Control the Schedule
Progress reports
Schedule change control system
Software tools like MS Project; comparison tools for variance
analysis
Schedule compression or fast tracking
Performance measurements
16
Review draft schedule
Work with the project team
Make sure it is realistic & followed
Alert management in advance if there are schedule problems
17
Working with People
Demonstrate leadership in working with the project team
Motivation – things one might do to motivate people

15. Empowerment – give them a sense of control; involve them in
decision making; listen to their point of view
Incentives – what form can incentives take? Money? Time off?
Verbal praise?
Discipline – positive reinforcement for staying on target and in
budget; how do you help them manage time and be disciplined
on this project when they are also working on other projects
Negotiation – try to find a win/win solution to issues that arise
18
Locate.a healthcare.law “Reporting Medical Errors” issued by
the Saudi Ministry of Health or another governmental agency in
Saudi Arabia. Describe the law as a healthcare administrator to
your staff include the following:
· internal policies that are required due to this law “Reporting
Medical Errors”
· the underlying purpose of the law “Reporting Medical Errors”,
and
· an assessment of the importance of compliance with this
regulation for healthcare facilities in Saudi Arabia.
Your presentation should meet the following structural
requirements:
· Be 5 pages in length, not including the cover or reference.
· Be formatted according to APA writing guidelines.
· Provide support for your statements with in-text citations from
a minimum of eight scholarly articles.
· Utilize headings to organize the content in your work.
· Introduction
· Internal Policies
· Underlying Purpose
· The Importance of Compliance
· Conclusion
· References
You can use the following materials as a start

16. Medication Errors Reporting from the Saudi Ministry of Health
1. Policy
1.1. The Pharmacy Department has an effective and consistent
policy on how to handle medication errors, give appropriate
instructions and precautions on how to identify, report,
intervene, and analyze medication errors, and have a system in
place for monitoring, and preventing future incidences.
1.2. Medication error reporting is an anonymous, non-punitive
and strongly encouraged process.
1.3. Adherence to hospital medication policies by concerned
individuals will avoid and/or minimize medication errors.
1.4. Medications errors, near misses, and hazardous situations
shall be documented in the patient’s medical record.
2. Purpose
2.1. To outline the process for monitoring, identifying and
reporting Medication Errors, and initiating appropriate
corrective measures.
2.2. To prevent and/or control potential and actual medication
errors in order to enhance patient care, improve patient safety,
and decrease liability and hospital cost.
Ministry of Health (MOH). (2018). Medication Errors Reporting
Retrieved from:
https://www.moh.gov.sa/depts/Pharmacy/Documents/Medication
%20Errors%20Reporting.pdf
Reporting Medical Errors
It is difficult to estimate the exact number of medical errors in
the Kingdom. Nonetheless, we acknowledge that these incidents
present a problem and need to be addressed. Check the link
http://portal.cbahi.gov.sa/english/patient-safety/reporting-
medical-errors