1.
Project Management Tools and Techniques Owen Stephens Royal Holloway, University of London

2.
Tools can help: <ul><li>Defining the project plan & tasks </li></ul><ul><li>Monitoring & evaluating progress </li></ul><ul><li>Managing budgets (money & time) </li></ul><ul><li>Risk analysis </li></ul><ul><li>Communication and Collaboration </li></ul>

3.
Project Plan: Tasks <ul><li>Task attributes </li></ul><ul><ul><li>What? Who? How long? How much? </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Success criteria? </li></ul></ul><ul><li>Dependencies </li></ul><ul><ul><li>What must be done before something else can start? </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>What can be done in parallel? </li></ul></ul><ul><li>Calendar </li></ul><ul><ul><li>When is everyone involved available? </li></ul></ul>

4.
Project Plan: Deliverables <ul><li>Overall objectives of the project </li></ul><ul><li>Objectives for every task </li></ul><ul><li>“ How will we know when this task (or the whole project) has been completed? …to what standard of quality?” </li></ul><ul><li>‘ Milestones’ in the project </li></ul>

5.
Divide and Rule <ul><li>Break down a BIG TASK </li></ul><ul><ul><li>… into several little tasks </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><ul><li>each with objectives & deliverables </li></ul></ul></ul><ul><ul><ul><li>each with a budget </li></ul></ul></ul><ul><ul><ul><ul><li>… maybe each one is made of smaller tasks </li></ul></ul></ul></ul><ul><ul><ul><ul><ul><li>… until each task is so small, it’s easy! </li></ul></ul></ul></ul></ul>

6.
Project Plan: Evaluation <ul><li>How long (has it taken)? </li></ul><ul><li>How much (has it cost)? </li></ul><ul><li>How good (was it for you)? </li></ul>

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Project Plan: Risks <ul><li>Risk Log </li></ul><ul><ul><li>Condition; Cause; Consequence </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Probability </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Impact </li></ul></ul><ul><li>Communication </li></ul>

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Project Plan: Risks <ul><li>Acceptable vs Unacceptable risk </li></ul><ul><li>Contingency </li></ul><ul><li>Risk Management Plan </li></ul>

10.
Tools <ul><li>MS Project </li></ul><ul><li>Integrated tools </li></ul><ul><ul><li>ProjectPlace.com </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>erooms </li></ul></ul><ul><li>Project Controls Database </li></ul><ul><li>Mindmapping </li></ul><ul><ul><li>Freemind </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>ConceptDraw </li></ul></ul>

11.
Computer-based tools <ul><li>Useful when a project is large or complex enough </li></ul><ul><li>Automatically calculate: </li></ul><ul><ul><li>dates & costs </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Estimated vs Actual costs & times </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Critical path </li></ul></ul><ul><li>Produce nice charts & reports </li></ul><ul><ul><li>(if it looks that good, its got to work) </li></ul></ul>

12.
Gantt chart (from Microsoft Project)

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<ul><li>Never let a good tool get in the way of a successful project </li></ul>

14.
Communication and Collaboration <ul><li>Meetings </li></ul><ul><li>Voice and video-conferencing (Skype, MSN, NetMeeting) </li></ul><ul><li>Reports, newsletters </li></ul><ul><li>Email </li></ul><ul><li>Websites (Wikis, Blogs) </li></ul>

15.
References <ul><li>JISCinfoNet – Project Planning </li></ul><ul><ul><li>http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/InfoKits/project-management/index_html </li></ul></ul><ul><li>JISCinfoNet – Risk Management </li></ul><ul><ul><li>http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/InfoKits/risk-management </li></ul></ul><ul><li>Nick Obolensky, (from) “Practical Business re-engineering – tools and technique for effective change” </li></ul><ul><ul><li>http://www.vthdimension.com/project.pdf </li></ul></ul><ul><li>Martin E. Modell, (from) “A Professional's Guide to Systems Analysis” </li></ul><ul><ul><li>http://studentweb.tulane.edu/~mtruill/dev-pert.html </li></ul></ul><ul><li>John Paschoud, “Techniques & Tools for Project Management” presentation </li></ul>