ITP-2 – Project Work Breakdown Structure with Durations (Individual project)

(PMBOK 5)

Addresses Course Outcomes #4b and 6a

Please be sure to read the Team Contribution Assessment and Grading of Team Assignments and the Project Documentation Requirements sections of this ITP Master Document.

The objective of this assignment is for each member of the team to individually determine the tasks that will be required to build the IT project for the client organization and to put these tasks into a format that will facilitate your team’s efforts (next week) to build a single WBS for the next ITP assignment.

Please post your ITP WBS assignment in your Assignment Folder; please include your last name and “ITP-2” as part of the file name (example: Jones – ITP-2 – WBS).

There are three parts to this assignment:

Assignment for the ITP-2 Project Deliverable – Part 1 – WBS

Review your project charter and the overview of the ITP posted in the Syllabus and in the previous project assignment.

Then, individually, develop and submit a project work breakdown structure (WBS) as described in the textbook and LEO Conferences (and other valid sources, such as www.pmi.org) and submit in MS Project .mpp format. If it is more convenient for you, then you may also start it in MS Word (e.g., as an outline) or some other software packages and copy or port it to MS Project.

The discussions in the Lectures in our weekly Content will help with our assignments, including this assignment.

To use MS Project, you may now load the Microsoft Project demo onto your computer. Note that subsequent ITP deliverables will be in MS Project, so if you have not yet loaded Microsoft Project, please do so now. The software is somewhat similar to Excel, but it would still be a good idea to be familiar with MS Project features. Additional support on how to use Microsoft Project for this assignment has been provided under Content, Week 3, Activities, Information for ItP-2 Instructions.

You will find that there are MANY ways to add information to your MS Project. If you find yourself struggling with the software, please consider:

Using MS Project’s Help feature

Using the tutorials at Microsoft.com

Checking out online tutorials on YouTube

Looking for other on-line help

Considering using the library or a bookstore for supplemental texts

Asking me for help

The WBS should list all tasks necessary to complete the project, in the approximate estimated order in which you think they will probably be done. At this stage, this deliverable should not yet include predecessor-successor linkages, time or duration, dates, or resource (cost, staff, etc.) data. ONLY include the durations. This is because Microsoft Project performs a complex algorithm with each project element that is added. To SEE the impact of each project element, we need to add them one at a time. For this assignment, after the WBS is completed, we will add ONLY durations in this assignment.

These project tasks should include all work necessary to complete the scope of the project, specifically including the technical IT work of the project, but also including the project management work as well. Some suggested tasks might include those listed here:

Tasks regarding design of the IT System

Tasks regarding ordering, delivering, and receiving hardware (as separate tasks)

Tasks regarding ordering, delivering, and receiving software (as separate tasks)

Tasks regarding ordering, delivering, and receiving networking (as separate tasks)

Tasks regarding installing hardware

Tasks regarding installing software

Tasks regarding installing networking

Tasks regarding testing and training

Tasks regarding managing, controlling, and monitoring the project and the team (as separate tasks)

Tasks regarding transitioning the project to the customer for normal operations and maintenance

Project meetings or project management meetings

Defined end of the project

To reiterate, there is a lot more to the WBS than this.

Do not spend too much time getting “down into the weeds”. A good size for this class would be at least 10 major tasks and between 30-60 total tasks, including subordinate subtasks and sub-subtasks. Similarly, do not break it down more than 3 or 4 levels deep (not counting the project header / project name task itself).

WBS Numbering should follow the traditional WBS numbering of 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, etc. for major tasks. Sub-tasks will follow 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, etc.

Remember, please, that all tasks should begin with a verb and an object and should be enough of a description that both team members and stakeholders will know exactly what will be accomplished when that task is done. The task itself should be concise enough to be able to determine how much time it takes to accomplish the task and what resources (people, places and things) will be needed to accomplish the task. Task names should not be duplicated.

You MAY work with your teammates to determine the major tasks. BUT, each team member should provide his/her own major tasks that may be different, plus sub-tasks and sub-sub tasks him/herself based on his/her own knowledge of the project, the project scope and what you know about IT systems.

Example

For example, if your project were to paint a bathroom, the major tasks might be:

1. Prepare bathroom

2. Buy paint

3. Apply paint

4. Clean up

Please note that these are each SINGLE verb statements. Please do not merge tasks, such as “research and buy the paint.” Each task should be ONE verb!

This is the beginning of your WORK BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE. So your first draft WBS should look like this (example only shows first two major tasks – your WBS should look like this for ALL major tasks):

1) Prepare bathroom

a) Scrub walls

i) Fill holes

ii) Sand holes

b) Tape edges

c) Cover floor

2) Buy paint

a) Measure bathroom

b) Select color

i) Select texture

ii) Purchase paint

iii) Purchase painting supplies

Notice how each major tasks moves into lower and lower tasks. This is called “decomposition” as something big becomes broken into smaller and smaller pieces.

Your WBS deliverable for grading would be even more specific and concise.

As you finish, please move to Part 2 of the assignment and include this effort with your WBS in Microsoft Project.

Assignment for the ITP-2 Project Deliverable – Part 2 – Durations

Add project task durations to the lowest level task (sub-sub tasks) to build to the project schedule. Do not add durations to the higher level (sub and major tasks) levels. (MS Project will eventually roll-up the durations to the higher level tasks, and calculate them automatically for the summary and major tasks. Therefore, do not enter hard-coded durations or dates in the lower-level tasks or in the higher-level summary and major tasks.) Durations should include hours, days, and weeks of time posted in the Gantt view. If you are using Excel, provide the durations in the lowest level tasks ONLY, as you will do in Project. For example:

2) Buy paint

a) Measure bathroom

b) Select color

i) Select texture – 3 days

ii) Purchase paint – 2 hours

iii) Purchase painting supplies – 2 hours

In MS Project do not enter hard-coded dates – in other words, do not enter dates at all. Just enter durations as measures of time and let MS Project calculate the dates.

In MS Project, do not use “manually scheduled” tasks. Rather, use “automatically scheduled” tasks. Auto-Schedule is on the tool bar at the top and includes push-pins and blue arrows. When manually scheduled, the dates are essentially hard-coded (set to a defined date) and not allowed to automatically adjust when the task durations and critical paths change

In MS project, the higher level tasks are “roll up” tasks and should have no work themselves. Do not enter a duration for these tasks. Their timespan will be automatically calculated by MS Project as the sum of the timespans of their component sub-tasks as part of the algorithm that Project uses to calculate the schedule.

Try to avoid overly small (micromanaged) or overlay large durations (which bite off more than you can chew). Rather, try to keep them reasonable and realistic.

Submit Parts 1 and 2 as a single Project (.mpp) file. Include your name in the file name and post in the Assignment area for ITP-2. Be careful to post in the right place.

It should look like this in Project:

Task Name	Duration	Start	Finish	Predecessors
1) Prepare bathroom	1 day	Fri 9/11/15	Fri 9/11/15
a) Scrub walls	1 day	Fri 9/11/15	Fri 9/11/15
i) Fill holes	1 day	Fri 9/11/15	Fri 9/11/15
ii) Sand holes	1 hr	Fri 9/11/15	Fri 9/11/15
b) Tape edges	1 day	Fri 9/11/15	Fri 9/11/15
c) Cover floor	1 hr	Fri 9/11/15	Fri 9/11/15
2) Buy paint	0.5 days	Fri 9/11/15	Fri 9/11/15
a) Measure bathroom	2 hrs	Fri 9/11/15	Fri 9/11/15
b) Select color	0.5 days	Fri 9/11/15	Fri 9/11/15
i) Select texture	1 hr	Fri 9/11/15	Fri 9/11/15
ii) Purchase paint	1 hr	Fri 9/11/15	Fri 9/11/15
iii) Purchase painting supplies	4 hrs	Fri 9/11/15	Fri 9/11/15

Lowest level tasks for Task 1.a and Task 2.b are Yellow highlights.

Lowest level tasks for Tasks 1.b and 1.c, and for 2.a are Gray highlights.

Only enter durations (NOT dates!) in the lowest level tasks.

Assignment for the ITP-2 Project Deliverable – Part 3 – Questions

Read and think through the options and alternatives suggested by these questions before you build your WBS. Then finally, when your WBS is completed, answer the following questions and submit them as a Word doc in addition to your WBS file (above). As a 400-level class, writing should be of a style appropriate for a senior level college class. “Yes” or “No” answers with no explanations or discussions are not appropriate answers.

Does your WBS include everything in your team’s charter and all deliverables (promised deliverables to the client organization customer)? Does your WBS address tasks that were not discussed in the Project Charter? If so, what are they and how did you decide you needed the additional tasks?

Does your WBS include project management tasks necessary to manage the project, as well?

Did you develop your WBS top-down or bottom up approach? Why? To answer this question, please define the terms first. This is an opportunity to include additional research to answer the question completely.

Did you use a product-oriented WBS, or a process-oriented (e.g., SDLC phases) WBS, or something else? What are the definitions and how did those definitions affect your decision? Why?

It is often a good idea to prepare the WBS in an OUTLINE in Word instead of Excel, or Excel instead of Project. This helps team members visualize the order of the tasks and how the tasks might decompose into lower levels. Did you do this (use Word or Excel first) or did you only use Excel or Project? If you only used Project, did you find yourself rearranging the order of the tasks as you were inputting them or as you were finishing the WBS?

Did you initially approach it graphically (e.g., like an organization chart) or tabularly (like a list or table), or something else? Why?

Did you work with your teammates to determine the major tasks or did you do it all on your own? How well did it work?

As you prepare for the next assignment, please discuss with your teammates how you will manage the WBS. One possibility is to divide up the major tasks among teammates. Each teammate would have responsibility for that “area” and all areas will be consolidated into a single Microsoft Project document. However, all the team members’ submissions taken together should cover the entire project WBS. You may use any other approach that works well for your team. Any approach other than each team member doing the entire project WBS must be explained in each submission.

Please post the Word document AND the .mpp (MS Project document) in the Assignment area. Please include your name in the file name and be sure to post in the right place (ITP-2).

Afterward, each team member should post his/her WBS in the LEO Group area for merging and for consolidation into a single team WBS for the next ITP assignment.

Does it seem as though perhaps there is not enough information to complete the project and the WBS? If so, please ask the client/customer (your instructor).

Grading approximate breakdown by areas include:

General: Structure, Format, Mechanics, Style (~5%)

WBS accomplishes the project (~20%)

WBS, technical (~30%)

Schedule (durations) (~35%)

Questions (~10%)

Rubrics and Grading for the ITP-2 Project Deliverable

Spelling, punctuation and formatting are worth a significant portion of the grade/points earned. In other words, if a WBS is graded as an 8.4 but has several writing/editing errors, the grade for the assignment could be as low as 6.0.

To earn 90-100% of the points available for this assignment –

All requirements of the assignment are met. The WBS includes more than at least 10 major tasks and at least 60 lower level tasks in 4 sub-levels (major task, sub-task, sub-sub task, sub-sub-sub task). The tasks are ALL single verb statements, and subtasks (lower level tasks) are indented to the appropriate level. The WBS is logical, complete, and flows well from beginning to end. The WBS includes a title line. A final task (with no sub-tasks) defines the end of the project. The textbook and at least 2 references are used from academically credible sources are used to help build the WBS. A Reference Page is included. All questions in Part 3 are answered in a writing style appropriate for a senior level course; background is included and decisions and reasoning for decisions are included. The WBS has durations for lowest-level leaf node tasks (work packages). Summary and major task roll-up groups have no hard-coded durations assigned (though if MS Project is used, it may automatically calculate their durations). Durations include minutes, hours, days, and weeks in whole numbers (no decimals!). There should be a single start task and a single end task, both with zero duration. MS Project is used (vice MS Word or Excel), the Notes feature is used to provide supplemental information, and at least two other features of Microsoft Project have been used and discussed in the text document. “Dangerous” MS Project features are not used. A Reference Page is included. All questions in Part 3 are answered.

Additionally, the WBS is logical and flows well from beginning to end. WBS has durations for lowest-level leaf node tasks (work packages). Summary and major task roll-up groups have no hard-coded durations assigned (though if MS Project is used, it may automatically calculate their durations). Durations include minutes, hours, days, and weeks in whole numbers (no decimals!). There should be a project header root task with the name of the project and zero duration. (Note: this is not the same as the start task). There should be a single start task and a single end task, both with zero duration. (Note: this is not the same as the project header root task). All questions are answered. MS Project is used (vice MS Excel), notes address extra features, and at least two other features of Microsoft Project have been used. “Dangerous” MS Project features are not used.

To earn 80-89% of the points available for this assignment –

All requirements are met. The WBS includes 8-10 major tasks and 40-60 total tasks. The tasks are verb statements, with 4 or fewer tasks that do not begin with a verb or 4 or fewer that are double verbs. Subtasks are indented to the appropriate level. The WBS is logical and flows well from beginning to end. The WBS includes a title line. A final task (with no sub-tasks) defines the end of the project. At least 1 reference is used from an academically credible source and the textbook is used. A Reference Page is included. The textbook is used and discussed in the text document. If references are used, a Reference Page is included. The WBS has durations for lowest-level leaf node tasks (work packages). Summary and major task roll-up groups have no hard-coded durations assigned (though if MS Project is used, it may automatically calculate their durations). Durations include hours, days, and weeks in whole numbers (no decimals!). There should be a single start task and a single end task, both with zero duration. All Part 3 questions are answered.

Additionally, the WBS is logical and flows well from beginning to end. WBS has durations for lowest-level leaf node tasks (work packages). Summary and major task roll-up groups have no hard-coded durations assigned (though if MS Project is used, it may automatically calculate their durations). Durations include minutes, hours, days, and weeks in whole numbers (no decimals!). There should be a project header root task with the name of the project and zero duration. (Note: this is not the same as the start task). There should be a single start task and a single end task, both with zero duration. (Note: this is not the same as the project header root task). All questions are answered. MS Project is used (vice MS Excel). “Dangerous” MS Project features are not used.

To earn 70-79% of the points available for this assignment –

All requirements are met. The WBS includes 7-9 major tasks and 30-40 total tasks. The tasks are verb statements, with 7 or fewer tasks that do not begin with a verb or 5 or fewer that are double verbs. Subtasks are indented to the appropriate level with 5 or fewer that are not at the appropriate level. The WBS is logical and flows well from beginning to end. A final task (with no sub-tasks) defines the end of the project. If references are used, a Reference Page is included.

To earn 60-69% of the points available for this assignment –

The WBS includes fewer than 7 major tasks and fewer than 14 lower level tasks. More than more than 7 tasks do not begin with a verb or are double verbs. More than 5 subtasks are not indented to the appropriate level. The WBS is not sequential or does not follow a logical order. The WBS does not include a final task.

Less than 60% –

WBSs that do not meet the requirements will earn a zero. WBSs that are not original work will earn a zero.

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