Using PMPlan Standard A presentation in the use of PMPlan Standard, a PC based stand alone, project management software application, by AlNik Solutions.

Using PMPlan Standard

A presentation in the use of PMPlan Standard, a PC based stand alone,

project management software application, by AlNik Solutions.

Auto-Presentation Duration = ~20 minutes

PMPlan© “Avenues to a Smart Plan”

A Tools for Project and Line Management

Introduction

PMPlan© is a project management software application developed by project managers to aid users in developing a project plan that includes; WBS objectives, scheduling and budgets; auditable project plan justifications; support detail for management and customer review, and for proposal preparation; and methodologies to measure and report project performance. The primary attributes are its ease of use and its flexibility.

Introduction (cont.)

• PMPlan helps the user to:– Construct a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) to break

down the project into activities with tangible results (i.e. Deliverables)

– Record objectives and assumptions information within each WBS element.

– Estimate and schedule the project using Precedence Dependency Method (PDM) which can be viewed in Gantt or Logic Network Charts.

– Develop resource loading to identify staff required to complete the project.

– Generate reports for communicating with stakeholders.– Obtain early (Difficult to Ignore) problem identification

using Earned Value Tracking Methods.

Project Plan Agenda

• Setting up Project File• Developing Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)• Determining Schedule (Activity Sequencing)• Creating Resource and Job Category Pools• Loading and Costing, which is estimating work

effort, thus determines costs• Setting up Work Packages and marking

deliverables• Reviewing outputs for communicating with

stakeholders• Reviewing managing tools

Elements of a Project’s Life Cycle

Client Statement of Work

Client Statement of Work

Preliminary Project Plan

Preliminary Project Plan

Internal Review

Internal Review

Proposal Project Plan

Proposal Project Plan

Client Review/ Negotiations

Client Review/ Negotiations

Baseline Project Plan

Baseline Project Plan

Work Authorization

Work Authorization

Project Execution

Project Execution

Client Requested Changes

Client Requested Changes

Project Monitoring

Project Monitoring

RevisedProject Plan

RevisedProject Plan

PMPlan can be used effectively for most of the elements of a project’s life cycle.

Elements of Developing a Project Plan

ClientSOW

WorkBreakdown Structure

ActivityDefinition

ResourcePlanning

ResourcePool

ActivitySequencing

ActivityDuration

Estimating

CostEstimating

ScheduleDevelopment

WorkPackages

Project PlanDevelopment

PMPlan can address these elements when developing the project plan.

PMPlan Work AreasApp Title Bar

Menu Bar

Toolbars Area

Input/Output Area

Tab Select Area

Status Bar

Project Plan Development Workflow

• Initial Project Information

• Create Project WBS• List Major Milestones• Develop Sequence of

Activities• Create Resource Pool• Develop Initial Budget

and Schedule

• Review Schedule• Review Budgets• Submit to Finance• Fine Tune Budget and

Schedule• Generate Reports and

Graphics• Submit Proposal to

Client

PMPlan© “Avenues to a Smart Plan”

Developing the Plan

New Project Form

• Title• Start Date• Objective• Fiscal Month• Default Loading

Method• Work Days• Starting Day of Work

Week

Information Tab - Other Project Information

Project Title

Contractor Information

Project Type

Client Information

Project Fee

Project Contract Number from Client

Project Appropriations

Management ReserveFiscal Month

Project Start DateProject Finish Date (Calculated)Project Cost Control Number

WBS Tree Tab

The WBS Tree Tab is divided into Window Panes to accommodate the implementation of the multiple construction tools required to develop a project plan.

PMPlan is based on the premise that the WBS should be the focus of activity during the development of the project plan, under the Rules appropriate to such WBS development. Consequently the WBS Tree Pane, the default starting view for PMPlan, is key to the project plan's development

Developing WBS – General Notes

Active Pane color matches your desktop settings

Light Grey hotspots for inserting elements with left-click, or other actions with right-click

Blue dashed Box shows tasks that would be affected by move, cut, or copy

Clicking one of these tool buttons affects selected yellow element.

Changing WBS View Settings

To display, select Tools | Options | WBS

Control size of text boxes.

Controls what is included in each text box

Developing WBS – Action Behaviors

• Cutting or Copying an WBS Element– Cuts or copies all of its subtasks– Copies all internal logic linkages, and – Copies all planned resource loadings and cost

• To Select several WBS Elements for cut/copy– Select first element, then while holding down Shift, select last element.– Only select siblings

• Adding Activity A to Activity B, causes Activity B to become a subtask and all of Activity B resources and linkages are transferred to Activity A.

• Demote moves an element (and its children) down a level• Promote moves an element (and its children) up a level

Developing WBS – Activity Definition

Click on Panes button to display Objective and Notes, etc. It is a good idea to enter

objectives and assumptions for each of the elements, which can be put into a report for distribution to team members.

Developing WBS – PMPlan Rules

• The general order of WBS elements is– Project (Level 1)– Task (Level 2)– Subtask (all other lower elements, that

are not Activities)– Activities/Deliverables

• Automatically numbers outline

• An Activity <A> is at the end of any branch

• All changes to Activities roll up the WBS

• Milestones are major events, thus are not included in the WBS

• Only Activities can be deliverables

• A Work Package <$> is where actual costs will be tracked

WBS Development in PMPlan

The WBS can be developed in the Outline mode or Tree mode.

PMPlan can import MS Project *.mdb or *.mpx Files

Activity Definition

Entering the text required for the definition of element objectives, including assumption notes.

Panes Button allows for selection of different Panes

Milestones Tab

Milestones being separately developed scheduled events, may be developed and edited in text mode in the Milestone Tab. This view provides the capability of printing the complete list of project milestones. The completion date, approved by whom, and notes specific to each milestone can be maintained here.

Milestones are critical events, and not Activities for planning costs. Therefore, Milestones are scheduled events that depict major project milestones such as IDR, PDR, etc, and are linked logically to WBS elements.

Schedule Tab

The Integrated Project Schedule format of the Schedule Tab reflects the time phasing performance of line items of the WBS. While various types and methods of scheduling and planning techniques may exist, the Integrated Project Schedule, as developed in PMPlan, establishes the baseline time parameters for the Project Organization at the lowest level of each WBS element. The Integrated Project Schedule, in Gantt form, reflects all contractual schedule requirements and can be graphically adjusted reflecting the days of the month, weeks of the month, or months of the year.

Activity Sequencing – Schedule View

Activity and Milestone sequencing in the Schedule View.

Calendar Scroll Control provides flexible adjustment

to displayed period.

Clicking Tabs displays different

Views

Activity Formatting – Schedule View

You can control the auto-formatting of the first 5 levels plus activitiesYou can change format of individual elements in the schedule view to have additional emphasis.

Activity Sequencing – PMPlan Rules• Manual placement of activity (either by selecting start, finish, or duration

or dragging start, finish, or moving in Schedule View)• Sequencing using Precedence Diagramming Method (PDM) which is the

process of placing activities in boxes and connecting them with arrows that show the dependencies (which may include a lag) which are of the following type:– Finish-to-start - the 'from' activity must finish before the 'to' activity can

start. This is the most commonly used dependency and most reliable getting the expected result.

– Finish-to-finish - the 'from' activity must finish before the 'to' activity can finish. A common use of this dependency is to assign a lag which indicates that the 'to' activity must be completed lag days after completion of 'from' activity for example must submit a survey report 30 days after completion of survey.

– Start-to-start - the 'from' activity must start before the 'to' activity can start. A common use of this dependency is to assign a lag, which indicates that, the 'to' activity cannot start until lag days have passed after starting 'from' activity.

– Start-to-finish - the 'from' activity must start before the 'to' activity can finish. This dependency is rarely used.

• Only Activities and Milestones can be linked.

Activity Sequencing – Logic Network

Currently selected Activity

Blue Activities must be completed before selected Activity

Magenta Activities can start after selected Activity is completed

Red lines and borders indicate Critical Path(s)

This view only shows Activities and Milestones

This Activity isn’t in any paths

Click on Panes button to display Logic Network.

Critical Path means if an activity is completed late, project completion will be delayed without taking corrective actions.

Activity Sequencing – Linking Modes

Start - Finish

Start – Start

Finish – Finish

Finish – Start

Over Successor

Over PredecessorDefaultLinking Modes

Depressed button determines next linkage mode, which will display cursor as shown in table below. This value determines lag (positive) or

lead (negative) of next link created.

Center Circle is hotspot of Cursor.

Activity Sequencing – Schedule (Gantt)

Can drag the start, move, or end of any Activity or Milestone. The cursor will change image to match type of dragging allowed.

Calendar Scroom Control provides flexible adjustment to displayed period.

Dashed blue line is showing slack in schedule for‘Survey Data Loading’

Activity Sequencing – Using Calendar Scroom Control

Drag Scale

Back One Month

Drag Start

Drag Start

Forward One Month

Back Six Month

Add One Month

Forward Six MonthRemove One Month

Add Six Month

Remove Six Month

Activity Sequencing – Changing Default Gantt Bar Format

Toolbar selections effects this type of element.

To display, select Tools | Options | Schedule

Activity Sequencing – Handling Repeating Tasks

The ability to put groups of activities on the same row provides a compact schedule for display.

For creating repeating tasks use the following approach:

• Create initial set of tasks setting schedule, linkages, and resource loading.

• Select ‘Project | Outline | Repeating Tasks’ menu choices

• In Dialog box, select repeat period and number of repeats (which includes selected set).

Each Set must not overall next set

Resource Pool Tab

Project resources are composed in units of labor, materials, travel, use of equipment and any other "cost items" necessary to meet performance requirements, and can be loaded daily, weekly or monthly. In PMPlan, these items are properly identified and unit priced with appropriate rates, Indirect Cost (Overheads & Burden) and inflation & escalation factors, calculated and input manually or down loaded from a corporate database. The rates can be adjusted for estimated, or actual, increases through the life of the project. The rates can be optionally adjusted by setting an appropriate Increase Factor. This rate table may be password protected, if appropriate.

Resource Pool

Resource Pool is not limited to just labor and material.

Click here to display Job Categories

Creating Resource and Job Category Pools

Click here to display Job Categories

Effective Date must be on or before Project Start Date

Allows creation of scheduled salary actions

If have Job Categories, make selection in ‘Type’ listing

Resource Totals Tab

PMPlan deals with the development of the project budget at the lowest level of each WBS element (the Activity). Once the base WBS Tree development has reached a tangible point of development, resources can then be identified and loaded into the project plan. As the Resource Pool is populated, the resources may be loaded across all Planed Activities at the project level by selecting the Res. (Resource) Totals Tab.

Loading and Costing – PMPlan Rules

• Planned Resource Loading can only be entered at the Activities. You can review rollup impacts on the upper levels of the WBS.

• Loading can be accomplished at three locations:– Resource Totals Tab– Individual Tab– Loading by WBS Element in the Planned Loading Pane

• Actual Costs and Resources can only be entered at Work Package Level.

• Shorten the duration of an Activity with resource loading, results in all loading occurring after end shorter activity to be assigned to the last workday.

Loading and Costing – Resource Totals

Data may be entered in the following ways:  ·142 = 142 hours  ·48% = 48% of Full Time (8 hours per day)  ·FT = 100% of Full Time (ft, Ft, and fT also works)  ·.5 = 50% of Full Time (any value less than 1)  

Light grey cells are rollup hours

Hours or FTE’s entered here are spread evenly over the duration of the activity

Can ‘Export’ or ‘Copy/Paste’ any table to MS Excel

If using Job Categories, Cost Variance will display here.

Resource Planning – Using Res. Totals

Hours or percent of Full Time Equivalent (FTE) by Activity can be entered in this table, while tracking total budget.

These are rollup hours Hours or FTE’s entered here are spread

evenly over the duration of the activity

Can Export any table to MS Excel

Basis of Estimates

Loading and Costing – Individual Tab

Planning for individual labor resource, by activity and schedule.

Light grey cells are rollup hours

Dark grey cells are periods outside of activity’s time frame.

You can enter hours in white cells

Loading and Costing – By WBS Element

Resource loading can be planned by WBS element and schedule.

Clicking here will display details of

Materials

Clicking here adds

Resource to pane on right

Loading and Costing – Travel and Material Costs

Detailed information can be entered for travel, material, services, etc., providing evidence to support the estimates.

Loading and Costing – Viewing Budgets

Budgets can be viewed in daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, annual, or fiscal time periods.

Resource Planning – Individual Loading

Planning for individual labor resource, by activity and schedule.

These are rollup hours

Periods outside of activity’s time frame.

Resource Planning – Details

Detailed information can be entered for travel, material, services, etc., providing evidence to support the estimates.

Resource Planning – Project Allocation Levels

The scaled color-coding of allocation gives you a quick overview of how well you are utilizing resource in the project.You can set the desired allocation level of each resource. For example, Mark as been set for 25%, thus he is green for full utilization.

Cost Estimating - Budgets

Budgets can be viewed in daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, annual, or fiscal time periods. The numbers can also be cumulative.

PMPlan© “Avenues to a Smart Plan”

Managing and Reporting the Plan

Work Packages Tab

Table for identifying Work Packages, Deliverables, and for entering text in different fields of each task/activity. Can Customize!

Narrative Outline Report

The narrative outline can be exported from PMPlan into a RTF Word Processor.

Deliverables with Schedule Report

A List of Deliverables can be exported to a proposal.

Task Manager Work Authorization

Work Authorization (Cont.)

All information in this Work Authorization is available from information entered into PMPlan.

Work Packages (Cost Accounts)

WBS No: CWBS Title: CWBS Start Finish Budget

1.1 Porject Manager PM 5/3/2004 7/29/2005 $156,578

1.2 Schedule and Cost Control SC 5/3/2004 7/29/2005 $35,586

1.3 Monthly Progress Reports MR 6/16/2004 7/18/2005 $19,041

1.4 Quarterly Meetings QM 6/10/2004 6/16/2005 $50,965

2.1 System Engineer SE 5/3/2004 7/29/2005 $34,556

2.2 Requirements Document RD 5/3/2004 5/21/2004 $14,400

2.3 Review Meetings RM 7/26/2004 7/18/2005 $24,432

2.4 System At-Sea Test SysTest 10/4/2004 7/11/2005 $44,303

3.1 SAF Concept Design 3100 5/24/2004 6/25/2004 $28,800

3.2 SAF Preliminary Design 3200 8/2/2004 9/24/2004 $48,600

3.3 SAF Detail Design 3300 10/4/2004 12/24/2004 $68,880

3.4 SAF Fab and Assembly 3400 2/3/2005 5/16/2005 $59,326

3.5 SAF Factory Acceptance Test 3500 2/3/2005 5/23/2005 $26,932

4.1 SDW Concept Design SDW-CD 5/24/2004 7/2/2004 $50,400

4.2 SDW Preliminary Design SDW-PD 8/2/2004 9/24/2004 $54,000

4.3 SDW Detail Design SDW-DD 10/4/2004 12/17/2004 $86,880

4.4 SDW Fab and Assembly SDW-FA 2/3/2005 3/28/2005 $51,550

4.5 SDW Factory Acceptance Test SDW-FAT 2/3/2005 4/7/2005 $36,009

5.1 SBC Concept Design 5100 5/24/2004 6/15/2004 $13,680

5.2 SBC Preliminary Design 5200 8/2/2004 9/13/2004 $22,320

5.3 SBC Detail Design 5300 10/4/2004 11/24/2004 $35,280

5.4 SBC Fab and Assembly 5400 2/3/2005 3/23/2005 $36,990

5.5 SBC Factory Acceptance Test 5500 2/3/2005 3/25/2005 $13,184

6.1 Labs Concept Design 6100 5/24/2004 7/23/2004 $42,240

6.2 Labs Preliminary Design 6200 8/2/2004 9/16/2004 $29,920

6.3 Labs Detail Design 6300 10/4/2004 1/26/2005 $80,973

6.4 Labs Fab and Assembly 6400 2/3/2005 4/13/2005 $127,634

6.5 Labs Factory Acceptance Test 6500 2/3/2005 4/21/2005 $17,222

7 Electrical Generator 7000 10/4/2004 3/8/2005 $72,556

Work Packages for Outfit RV Fulton

PMPlan can generate Work Package Listing for submitting to Business Office.

PMPlan© “Avenues to a Smart Plan”

Performance (Status) Reporting of the Plan

Status Tab – Performance Reporting

PMPlan can import actual costs from an intranet source.

Cost/Schedule Status Report

Earned Value reporting.

Graphic Performance Report

The Variance Trend graph provides a better indication of performance issues.

Work Packages and Deliverables

Table for identifying Work Packages, Deliverables, and for entering text in different fields of each task/activity. Can Customize!

Rollup of Work Packages

Cost Control Accounts

Activities that are used for earned value tracking

Work Package ID (Subaccount)

Marked as deliverable

Grayed out because it is a task or subtask

Customizing WBS Table

• You can add new columns to display other fields including custom fields, use your own name for the column, select rollup feature of a ‘Numberx’ or ‘Costx’ field. To insert a column or make other changes to a column, right click on the Column Header, which will display the popup menu shown upper right.

• Selecting ‘Insert Column’ or ‘Edit Column’ will display a dialog box as shown lower right.

• You can even enter a formula, which can consist of field name inside square brackets, and other literal numbers.

Outputs for communicating with stakeholders

• PMPlan can provide printouts of all screen views plus several others.

• To generate printouts that are not screen views, select menu ‘Project | Print Reports’, then click desired report.

• Many reports provide several choices on what information is displayed.

Work Breakdown Structure Report

Displayed WBS matches WBS Tree Pane settings.

Fully Expanded WBS of one shown at right WBS can be configured to

display other info such as Task Leader

Narrative Outline ReportThe narrative outline can be imported into a RTF Word Processor.

Schedule Report

PMPlan’s schedule matches Schedule Tab settings

Graphic Spend Plan Report

A graphic spend plan can be generated within PMPlan.

Deliverables with Schedule Report

A List of Deliverables can be exported to a proposal.

Task Manager Work Authorization

Work Authorization (Cont.)

All information in this Work Authorization is available from information entered into PMPlan.

Developing Status

PMPlan can import actual costs from an intranet source.

Cost/Schedule Status Report

Earned Value reporting.

Graphic Performance Report

The Variance Trend graph provides a better indication of performance issues.

Bullseye Report

Gantt Status Report

A visual picture of project status against schedule.

This activity is incomplete and is behind schedule

This activity is ahead of schedule

Thank you for your participation!

AlNik Solutions