Individual Assignment: Project Planning Tools

In this Individual Activity, you will continue to explore project planning tools, focusing on the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) and Gantt chart.

The first tool you will use is the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). A WBS is a chart that breaks a project down into smaller components. It also highlights project tasks and illustrates how those tasks relate to each other, and to the project as a whole. A WBS can help a project manager predict situations and outcomes, provide a clear hierarchy of the work that needs to be accomplished, identify milestones, simplify cost estimation and allow better decision making. To create a WBS, a project manager analyses the project objectives, and then creates the tasks required to meet each objective. Tasks can be broken down into subtasks, or even broken down further until a specific resource can be identified.

The second project planning tool you will use is the Gantt chart. The Gantt chart is a bar chart that is named after its creator, Henry Gantt. Gantt focuses on the schedule of a project. It includes start and estimated finish dates, and can follow a monthly, weekly or even daily timeline. A Gantt chart is beneficial in applying a schedule to smaller projects, but can often become cumbersome with larger projects that have numerous activities. In order to create a Gantt chart, a WBS must be created first so that activities can be clearly defined.

To prepare for this Assignment:

- Reflect on your readings for this unit and familiarise yourself with the project planning tools explored.

- Pay specific attention to the Work Breakdown Structure and Gantt chart from your Resources.

- Review your scenario. Begin to conceptualise which project planning tools you would use for your scenario.

To complete this Individual Assignment:

- Identify and briefly describe the project planning tools you would use for your scenario, explaining why you would use each one. Be specific and use examples to support your answer.

- Perform a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) and Gantt analysis for the project in your scenario.

- Create two Microsoft PowerPoint slides, one titled, ‘Work Breakdown Structure', and the other titled, ‘Gantt Analysis', and include information from the WBS and Gantt analysis you performed.
Please remember to submit all slides into a single PowerPoint document

To complete your Individual Assignment, do the following:

Please answer the Individual Assignment in a single Microsoft PowerPoint presentation.

Shared Activity: Project Planning Tools

Project planning tools can help a project manager keep his or her projects on schedule and budget. Each tool is unique and has different strengths and limitations. Each may be more or less useful in different organisational contexts. One example of a project planning tool is the ‘Bottom-Up Analysis', which is used to improve the accuracy of the overall estimate of the project. The advantage of this tool is that the project is broken into smaller components, which allows for better accuracy in estimating. A disadvantage is that it is a very time consuming process to complete. So, a Bottom-Up Analysis could be helpful on a large project that had many tasks and milestones with a lengthy schedule, but not helpful on a project that has a very quick turnaround time.

Informed, critical practitioners must be able to evaluate a variety of tools in order to understand their value and applicability in different situations, and to propose improvements to planning tools and strategies when needed. Though you may find yourself adopting a favourite set of project planning tools that you will use regularly, it is good practice to explore the various project planning tools you have available to you, and gain a general understanding of each. In this way, you can select the best tool in a given situation and increase your odds of success, even if it is a tool you do not use frequently. In other words, keep all the tools in your ‘toolkit' sharpened; you never know when you might need them.

For the second part of your Final Project, you will prepare a critique of two project planning tools. This Shared Activity will enable you to begin working on this critique.

To complete this Shared Activity:

- Make a list of all the project planning tools you have encountered from the Resources or from independent research. Next to each project planning tool, identify the tool's best use, any unique characteristics of the tool and any additional information you consider useful.

- Select two of the project planning tools from your list, not including the Bottom-Up Analysis that was used as an example.

- Post your analysis of the strengths and limitations of these two tools, comparing their usefulness when appropriate.

- Respond to your colleagues' analyses by expanding on, questioning or offering further support for their ideas, or by suggesting new or alternative viewpoints.