I just need responses to the following questions: 1) What is meant by a work bre
ID: 437343 • Letter: I
Question
I just need responses to the following questions:1) What is meant by a work breakdown structure, and how does it help manage projects?
2) Identify and describe the five steps of defining a project.
3) Identify and briefly describe the two major categories of estimating project time and cost. How are these used during the estimating process?
4) describe the ideal approach for a project manager to develop optimal estimates for a project's time and cost.
5) 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.
Develop a scope statement for this project that contains examples of all of the elements. Assume that the event will occur in four weeks, and provide your best guess estimate of the dates for milestones.
You are not expected to produce a comprehensive scope statement, but to demonstrate your ability to correctly identify the right kind of information for each element.
Explanation / Answer
A work breakdown structure (WBS) in project management and systems engineering, is a tool used to define and group a project’s discrete work elements in a way that helps organize and define the total work scope of the project.
The WBS provides the project manager and team with the necessary framework of tasks going forward to create detailed cost estimates and also to provide major input to project task scheduling at the most detailed and accurate level possible. By going through the WBS motions, the project manager and team will have a pretty good idea whether or not they’ve captured all the necessary tasks, based on the project requirements, that are going to need to happen to get the job done.
2)
Step 1: Define the Project
If this step is not carefully undertaken, the end result may be disappointing at the very least, and expensive at its worst. Goals are defined in measurable terms. Business Needs are analyzed. A Project Charter is written to reflect business need and goals, along with costs, deliverables, available resources and the schedule. Stakeholders are clearly identified. Stakeholders may include users, support personnel, managers and champions.
Step 2: Plan the Project
Many projects get bogged down here. Either the organization spends too much time worrying about the details or not enough. Effective project design depends on a balance of both. A good project design will: satisfy the business requirements, meet quality standards, and fulfill time and budget constraints.
Step 3: Execute the Project Plan
But no plan is worthy without execution. Or in terms of the Nike commercial, “Just Do It!” This step requires skillful coordination of people and resources. Progress is carefully tracked. Deliverables are produced as promised.
Step 4: Analyze Results and Implement Controls
And no plan is flawlessly executed. Unforeseen difficulties will arise. In this step, problems with theimplementation and design are identified and corrected. Once the project is determined to be effective, controls are put into place to ensure continued success.
Step 5: Close the Project
Closing out the project includes gaining formal acceptance of the project results, archiving the files and documenting lessons learned. Then communicate it to all stakeholders
3)
One of the main outputs of project cost management is a cost estimate. Project managers normally prepare several types of cost estimates for most projects. These estimates -- rough order of magnitude, budgeting, and definitive -- vary primarily on when they are done, how they will be used, and how accurate they are.
4)
Step 1: Understand What's Required
Start by identifying all of the work that needs to be done within the project. Use tools such as Business Requirements Analysis, Work Breakdown Structures, Gap Analysis and Drill-Down to help you do this in sufficient detail.
As part of this, make sure that you allow time for meetings, reporting, communications, testing and other activities that are critical to the project's success. (You can find out more on these activities in our article on Project Management Phases and Processes.)
Step 2: Order These Activities
Now, list all of the activities you identified in the order in which they need to happen.
At this stage, you don't need to add in how long you think activities are going to take. However, you might want to note any important deadlines. For example, you might need to get work by the finance department finished before it starts work on "Year End."
Step 3: Decide Who You Need to Involve
You can do the estimates yourself, brainstorm them as a group, or ask others to contribute.
Where you can, get the help of the people who will actually do the work, as they are likely to have prior experience to draw upon. By involving them, they'll also take on greater ownership of the time estimates they come up with, and they'll work harder to meet them.
Tip:
If you involve others, this is a good time to confirm your assumptions with them.
Step 4: Make Your Estimates
You're now ready to make your estimates. We've outlined a variety of methods below to help you do this. Whichever methods you choose, bear these basic rules in mind:
To begin with, estimate the time needed for each task rather than for the project as a whole.
The level of detail you need to go into depends on the circumstances. For example, you may only need a rough outline of time estimates for future project phases, but you'll probably need detailed estimates for the phase ahead.
List all of the assumptions, exclusions and constraints that are relevant; and note any data sources that you rely on. This will help you when your estimates are questioned, and will also help you identify any risk areas if circumstances change.
Assume that your resources will only be productive for 80 percent of the time. Build in time for unexpected events such as sickness, supply problems, equipment failure, accidents and emergencies, problem solving, and meetings.
If some people are only working "part-time" on your project, bear in mind that they may lose time as they switch between their various roles.
Remember that people are often overly optimistic, and may significantly underestimate the amount of time that it will take for them to complete tasks.
5)Scope statements should contain:
Dinner-dance Concert(The project name)
Entertainment by jazz combo(The project charter)
Local Charity(The project owner, sponsors, and stakeholders)
Seat reserved for 30 couples(The problem statement)
Recreational event(The project goals and objectives)
Funds(The project requirements)
Profit this year(The project deliverables)
Donation to charity(Milestones)
Rs 60,000(Cost estimates)