Computer_ArchitectureProject_1Building_AssemblerDr_Chris

Computer Architecture

Project 1

Building Assembler

Dr. Chris Martinez

Spring 2015

Computer architecture is made up of two main components the Instruction Set Architecture (ISA) and the RTL model for the CPU. In this class, we will have two software projects that will help in your understanding of the ISA and RTL model for the CPU. The projects can be done in any software language that you chose to use.

The first project is the creation of an assembler. The assembler will be use for you to write assembly language programs that will be executed on the CPU you will design in project #2. The CPU we will be using is based on the DLX design.

What is an assembler?

All computer software goes through a set of applications to create an executable file that can be used by the end user. The first program a programmer will used is a high level language program (C, C++, etc.). The programmer writes in a very high level abstract environment writing code such as:

For(x=0; x< 10; x++)

A[x] = x;

The high level language allows the programmer to write his program without knowing how the ISA and hardware architecture functions. The language hides all the hardware from the programmer. At some point, the source code needs to be transfer to a language that takes into account the ISA and hardware architecture. The complier is the next step in the development process.

The complier will take in high-level source code and translate the program into assembly language. Assembly language is the ISA for a computer. Assembly is the instructions that the computer can perform. The compiler will do the following:

C language: c = a + b;

Assembly: load r1, a

Load r2,b

Add r3,r1,r2

Store r3,c

The last part of the development process is taking the assembly code created by the complier and transferring into machine code that the computer will execute. A computer is not able to run written language such as ADD r1,r2,r3. The computer runs a program by reading data stored in memory. The memory does not the store the command ADD r1,r2,r3 but store machine code. Machine code is the binary representation of an assembly language instruction.

The DLX Machine code

All the information for the DLX machine code and assembly instructions can be found in the handouts given in class. Each of the DLX instruction is 32-bits in length. Each part of the instruction is assigned a set of bits in the instruction. DLX break down the instructions into three different types R,I, and J.

R-type instruction

An example of the R-type instruction is ADD rd, rs1, rs2

The instruction is 32-bits in length:

Bits 31-26 is the opcode. The opcode tell the CPU what instruction it is doing

Bits 25-21 is the rs1

Bits 20-16 is the rs2

Bits 15-11 is the rd

Bits 10-0 is the funct. Funct tells what type of ALU operation is being conducted.

I-type instruction

Ex ADDI rs1,rs2,immm

Bits 31-26 is the opcode

Bits 25-21 is rs1

Bits 20-16 is rs2

Bits 15-0 is immediate. The immediate value is the constant value to use in the instruction

J-type instruction

Ex J address

Bits 31-26 is the opcode

Bits 25-0 is the address to jump to

What is my assignment?

Project #1 Part 1 (Not graded. For you to understand what aspects of programming you will need.)

In order to get started on creating your assembler you must be able to have the program understand basic syntax of a text file containing a program. In this first part of the program you will deal with the basic functions of string processing and reading files. The following is a list of items to complete for part 1.

1) You will need to be able to read in arguments pass from the command line.

Ex: project1.exe inputfile.txt outputfile1.txt

2) You will need to be able to parse a string.

Ex: You will need to use the strtok() function in the string.h file.

3) You will need to convert all letters to lowercase letters.

4) You will need to compare a string to a list of know words.

(add, load, store, r0, r1, r2)

5) You will need to have a number in text 123 be converted to a number (integer) in the C program.

6) You will also need to be able to read and write files.

Project #2 Part 2

Your assignment is to make a simple assembler for the DLX processor. We will simplify the assembler by only using the core instructions, we will not do the floating point instructions. The registers will be named as r0, r1, r2, … r29, r30, r31. We will also not allow any advance naming for saving constant or memory locations the assembly source code we write will hard code any constant and memory location to read and write to. The only advance item we will do is use a label for branching and jumping in code.

Items to turn in for part 2. A report that tells how you created your program, source code, test files and a flow chart.

Tips

It is common to run an assembler in a two pass structure. The first pass goes through the source files and finds all the labels and addresses for each instruction. You can start your program by assuming the first line of code is at memory location 0. You will make a table of label and address. On the second pass you will then convert the assembly instruction into machine code and fill in any labels using your table.

EM660 PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Class 6

Class 6 Agenda

Finish Crashing
Case Study 3
Chapter 14 Pricing and Estimating
Chapter 15 Cost Control
Chapter 16 Trade-off Analysis

Chapter 14
Cost Estimating (p. 574)

Cost estimating is derived from prior experience.

Similar work

Professional reference material

Market surveys

Operations and process knowledge

Estimating software & databases

Interviews with subject experts.

Estimating tools can be formalized in manuals.

Types of Estimates

Cost estimates fall into two groups: conceptual

estimates and detailed estimates. Each can be broadly

defined as follows:

Conceptual Estimate

Conceptual estimating or parametric estimating is the process of establishing a project’s cost, often before a drawing of a facility has been developed.

Detailed Estimate

The detailed construction estimate is the product of a process whereby the cost of a proposed construction project is predicted. The estimate is prepared by breaking down the items of work in an orderly and logical basis, determining the cost of each item from experience, and summarizing the total.

Most Accurate

Estimates based on quotations

Classes of Estimates (p. 575)

Inputs to Estimating

Project Scope
WBS
Network Diagram
Schedule
Pricing Policy
Culture & Systems

Once costs have been estimated, it’s time to have a kick-off meeting to further define them.

Class	Types	Accuracy
I	Definitive	+/- 5%
II	Capital Cost	+/- 10 to 15%
III	Appropriation with some Capital Cost	+/- 15 to 20%
IV	Appropriation	+/- 20 to 25%
V	Feasibility	+/- 25 to 35%
VI	Order of Magnitude	> +/- 35%

Types of Costs

Costs can either be Variable or Fixed.
Variable costs change with the amount of use or consumption (labor & materials).
Fixed costs do not change (set-up costs).

Costs can either be Direct or Indirect.
Direct costs are directly attributable to the project work.
Indirect costs benefit more than one project.

Direct Costs

Costs usually charged directly:

Project staff
Consultants
Project supplies
Publications
Travel
Training

Indirect Costs

Costs usually allocated indirectly:

Utilities
Rent
Audit and legal
Administrative staff
Equipment rental
Petrol
Maintenance
Generator
Security
Telephone

Labor and Overhead

Functional managers determine

the labor hours required for each

project task, then calculate the

dollars using the appropriate labor

rates.

Projecting labor rates over projects longer than one year are done with historical averages.

Overhead rates generally remain fairly constant, but management decides how to best distribute the cost.

- New projects may have lower overhead rates so more of their budget is available for R&D.

Materials/Support Costs
(p. 586)

Calculating material costs is time

consuming. A costed bill of

material is prepared for all

vendor purchased parts, including scrap factors and shelf life of perishable products.

A procurement plan is then developed to monitor spending, forecast inventory, and look for variances.

Support costs, such a travel, freight, computer hours and consulting are budgeted as a percentage into the cost of materials.

Pricing out the Work
(p. 589)

Detailed WBS costs – pricing

out each task creates a cost

summary sheet

Manpower curves – the project manager needs to smooth out peaks and valleys; this is preferred by the functional managers

Components of the Cost Budget

The rolling up process is called cost aggregation.

Planning Steps	Examples
8. Cost Budget	Compilation of individual cost estimates
7. Management Reserve	Off-sets salary, price, material increases
6. Cost Baseline	Baseline; only changes are approved ones
5. Contingency Reserve	Used to off-set opportunities or threats
4. Project	Projected project costs
3. Control Account	Higher level oversight by function/dept.
2. Work Packages	Detailed cost for each WBS element
1. Activities	Lowest component possible for estimating

Dangers of Low-Ball
Pricing (p. 599)

While being the lowest cost bidder

may attract business, customers

are increasingly concerned about

cost realism and the ability to

perform under contract.

A compliant, sound, technical and management proposal, based on past experience with realistic, well-documented cost figures, is often chosen over the lowest bidder, who may project a risky image regarding technical performance, cost, or schedule.

Cost vs. Quality
(p. 606)

When faced with inflexible

schedules or cost overruns,

executives are tempted to

sacrifice quality to keep costs

in line. While they assume cost and quality are linearly related, the following chart tells the tale:

If cost cutting is necessary, conduct an impact study or eliminate non-competitive projects.

Project Costs	85-90%	10-15%
Tangible Quality	10%	90%
Time

Time Value of Money (p. 614)

The time value of money says $1 now

(cash in hand) is worth more now than

at some future date.

Looking at it a different way, companies having a future cash target want to know how much they need to invest today to hit that target.

Three methods to evaluate project cash flows are:

1. Net Present Value (NPV)

2. Internal Rate of Return (IRR)

3. Payback Period

Which Project to Choose?

Available Funds = $3,000,000

Project Cost Payback Period

Upgrade Production Line $2 M 2 yr

Emissions Reduction $1.5M ---

Reduce Safety Risks $1M ---

Upgrade packaging sys. $2M 1 yr

Net Present Value

$10,000 target,

with 10% interest

Where: FV = Future Value

PV = Present Value

k = Interest Rate

n = Number of yrs

The decision criteria for using NPV is:

If the NPV is > 0, accept the project.
If the NPV is negative, reject the project.

Year	Cash Inflow	Present Value
1	$1,000	$909
2	$2,000	$1,653
3	$2,000	$1,503
4	$5,000	$3,415
5	$2,000	$1,242
Present value of inflows	$8,722
Less initial investment	$10,000
NET PRESENT VALUE	- $1,278

Internal Rate of Return

Companies that use IRR to

compare projects, purchases or

investments typically have a

calculation template to make decisions.

The general rule is that you choose the project with the highest IRR, especially if it is more than your target or desired interest rate.

Example: You have 2 projects to choose from; Project A with an IRR of 21% or Project B with an IRR of 15%. Which do you prefer?

Payback Period

Payback period in capital budgeting

refers to the period of time required for

the return on an investment to "repay" the sum of the original investment. Uncertainties in future cash flows (which are typically estimates or extrapolations) make companies shy away from long-term payback periods.

Another reason to prefer short-term paybacks is the rapid obsolescence rate of technologies.

Example: You have 2 projects to choose from; Project A has a payback period of 6 months or Project B with payback period of 18 months. Which do you prefer?

Graphical Analysis of Discounted Cash Flows

Low Bid Dilemma

The low cost may be perceived by the customer as unrealistic
May be unnecessarily low thus eroding profits
Price may be irrelevent to the bid objective, such as entering new markets
Low pricing without market information is meaningless, price level is relative to competitive prices, customer’s budget, and the bidder’s cost estimate
The customer may have budgeted for a higher price

Chapter 15 Cost Control

Cost Control is not only monitoring

costs and recording data, but also

analyzing the data in order to take corrective action before it is too late.

Additionally, cost control should be practiced by all personnel involved in the project, not just the project manager.

Cost Controls (p.634)

The WBS is where all costs and

controls emanate. If you want

to know where the money is

going, go to the lowest denominator. Cost controls provide:

Verification – compare the actual to plans.

Decision making – reports provide feedback, identify deviations and variances, and highlight opportunities to take corrective action sooner.

Generating cost codes
(p. 637)

A cost account (or control account)

is an established level where the

work breakdown structure costs get assigned to functional departments. This is where the actual direct labor, material and overhead costs are compiled for management control purposes.

As the work is completed, the costs are assigned to a specific cost account (see figures 15-4 thru 15-6 – page 638). The result is reported (p. 643).

Budgets (p. 644)

A budget is a compilation of

individual cost estimates. Meeting

the cost baseline is a measure of

project success.

The project budget must be SMART and based on contractually negotiated costs, historical data, best estimates, or industrial engineering standards. The budget must identify planned manpower requirements, contract allocated changes, and dips into the management reserve.

Variance and Earned
Value (p. 647)

Cost account reports (pages &

pages of rows & rows of figures)

make it difficult to determine project status, except in a “bottom line” respect.

Looking only at cost variances ignores work scheduled vs. work accomplished.

Looking only at work performance and you miss the cost impact.

The Earned Value calculations join work & cost.

Variance and Earned Value

The PMP certification test stresses

knowing the following terms and

formulas (next slide).

Acronym	Term	Interpretation
PV	Planned Value	Estimated value of planned work.
EV	Earned Value	Estimated value of actual work.
AC	Actual Cost	What is the actual cost of the work?
BAC	Budget @ Completion	How much did we budget for the project?
EAC	Estimate @ Completion	What is our current expectation of budget?
ETC	Estimate to Complete	How much more do we expect to spend?
VAC	Variance @ Completion	How much over or under did we end up?

Acronym	Term	Interpretation
Cost Variance (CV)	EV - AC	NEGATIVE is over budget, POSITIVE is under budget.
Schedule Variance (SV)	EV – PV	NEGATIVE is behind schedule, POSITIVE is ahead of schedule.
Cost Performance Index (CPI)	EV/PC	We are getting $ ______worth of work for every $1 spent. Over 1 is good, under 1 is under performing.
Schedule Performance Index (SPI)	EV/PV	We are (only) progressing at _________% of the original rate planned. Over 100% is good, less is under performing.
Estimate at Completion (EAC)	BAC/CPI	As of now, how much do we expect the total project to cost? ________________What is our current expectation of budget?
Estimate to Complete (ETC)	EAC – AC	How much more will the project cost?
Variance at Completion (VAC)	BAC - EAC	How much over or under did we end up?

Cost Justification (p. 668)

Project pricing is often based upon

best guesses rather than concrete

estimates.

If cost is not your primary driver, then hitting your budget may be enough.

If you are in a competitive bid process, costing is generally scrutinized & justified for approval.

Forward pricing, weighted averages, margins and allowances can help cover hidden costs.

Reporting Variances
& Controls

The earned value system creates

reports:

Performance Reports
Status Reports
Projection Reports
Exception Reports

Once reviewed, management may:

1) Approve

2) Authorize

3) Take Action

Cost Overrun Dilemma

Alternatives:
Cut costs-reduce scope, reduce quality
Pull the plug and cancel Project
Accept Overrun

Chapter 16 Trade Off Analysis

The project manager constantly works to keep the “triple constraints” in line. Situations arise that make this difficult, requiring trade-offs.

Many factors go into trade-off decisions; sometimes it is not possible to sacrifice one item without

affecting the others.

Methodology

Project managers need to identify the problem, determine what needs to change, and then find a win-win situation if possible.

Situation 1: Performance
Must Hold

Customer is demanding or quality reputation must be maintained.

Add extra resources.
Change scope to delete work.
Shift labor from slack to critical path.
Try concurrent engineering; parallel paths.

It may be possible that additional resources and overtime may be used to meet the time target; costs will likely go up as a result.

Situation 2: Costs Remain
Fixed

When costs are fixed, performance

will vary as a function of time.

Performance requirements must be clearly written to determine what may be excluded or included.

Cut down on unnecessary paperwork.
Cross train; become more cross-functional.
Farm work out or delegate.

To maintain costs & not let performance suffer, system improvements need to be sought.

Situation 3: Time
Remains Fixed

When time is fixed, performance

will vary as a function of cost. The

question will become: can we pass off the cost/quality problem to the customer, and do we want any repeat business?

Work with the customer to see if they can help.

See if the customer is really ready for product.
Give early warning & coordinate w/customer.
They may be flexible to certain suggestions.

Situation 4: No Constraints
Fixed

This is where your project is

suffering (or is trending that way)

one or more triple constraint issues.

Generally, brainstorming will create a list of potential corrective actions, which will be compared to the project and/or company objectives.

Trade-offs are determined and approved, then the entire project team commits to the revision.

Project Planning: A Roadmap

Develop project charter
Establish work breakdown structure
Analyze sequencing relationships
Estimate “normal” activity durations
Perform network calculations and validate/revise initial
schedule
Perform time-cost tradeoff analysis
Load resources to activities and resolve any resource/workload imbalances
Develop budget and cash flow plan based on analysis of direct and indirect costs
Analyze schedule risk
Monitor and control project

Crashing the Network to
Shorten the Project Duration

It always makes sense to focus on activities that are on the critical path
That being said, there are numerous heuristics for choosing activities to crash
In this class, we will focus what is called the lowest acceleration cost heuristic
Think of this as “where can I get the most bang for my buck” i.e., what is most cost effective

Other Heuristics for Considering
What to Crash

Crashing so-called bottleneck activities (i.e., activities that are on multiple critical paths)
Crashing activities that occur relatively early in the project and are labor intensive
Crashing activities with relatively long durations
Crashing activities that are not likely to cause quality problems if crashed

Time/Cost Trade-off Analysis

You might think that total project costs will increase when we begin to crash activities
But, total project costs consist of both indirect (project-based) costs (PBC) and activity-based costs (ABC)
– ABC goes up when we crash activities in an effort to finish the project early
– But, PBC (the indirect costs) goes down if we finish the project early

Steps for Performing
Time/Cost Trade-off Analysis

Estimate project-based (indirect) cost per unit time
Select critical activity (or activities, if there are multiple critical paths) that are good candidates for crashing (use lowest acceleration cost heuristic)
Incrementally crash (i.e., shave a day off of) the selected activity where that is possible (or activities, if there are multiple critical paths and no bottleneck activities that are economical to crash)

Steps for Performing Time/Cost
Trade-off Analysis

Keep track of the activity-based (direct) cost of crashing the selected activity (or activities) and indirect cost savings associated with reducing overall project duration
Recalculate the forward pass and check for changes in critical path
Continue until acceptable duration is reached or it becomes uneconomical to continue crashing the project

Using the Lowest Acceleration
Cost Heuristic to Figure out What
to Crash

Considers both the normal cost and the crash cost
Normal cost is defined as the cost associated with the most economical way of doing something and results in what we call the normal activity duration
Crash cost is defined as the cost associated with the fastest way of doing something and results in what we call the crash duration
Acceleration cost = (Crash Cost – Normal Cost)
($/day) (Normal Duration – Crash Duration)

The Project Trade-Off
Twinkie

Think of projects as cream

filled Twinkies. When we squeeze one corner of the Twinkie the filling oozes out the others. That’s an elegant example of a project trade-off

Project Trade-Off
Twinkie

Take away resources and duration will increase
Increase the delivered business value, the cost and duration will both rise.
Increase the certainty of the finishing date, the cost will increase as we “buy” risk insurance.

Other Possible Actions to Utilize

Overtime
Double shifts
Expediting
Additional Manpower
More Money
Change vendors
Change specifications
Shift of project resources
Waiving equipment inspections
Change in statement of work
Change in work breakdown structure

Next week

Chapter 17 Risk Management
Case Study 4 Presentation
Project Proposals are Due March 26th
Quiz 2 Next Week on March 5th

EM660 PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Class 5

Class 5 Agenda

Chapter 12 Networks
Chapter 13 Report Format
Chapter 12 Homework problems due 2/19/15

Problems 12-14 and 12-17 in book

Change MS Projects to Work Saturdays

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/project-help/change-working-days-for-the-project-calendar-HA102809468.aspx

Change MS Projects to Work Saturdays (cont.)

MS Project Tutorial On Highlighting Critical Path

Network Scheduling Techniques Chapter 12

Scheduling techniques (below) present masses of complex, technical, cost, & deadline data to management, teams and customers.

1) Gantt or bar charts

2) Milestone charts

3) Networks

4) PERT – Program Evaluation and Review Technique

5) ADM – Arrow Diagram Method (critical path method)

6) PDM – Precedence Diagram Method

7) GERT – Graphical Evaluation and Review Technique

PERT CHART
Program Evaluation and Review Technique

The Program (or Project) Evaluation and Review Technique, commonly abbreviated PERT, is a statistical tool, used in project management, that is designed to analyze and represent the tasks involved in completing a given project. First developed by the United States Navy in the 1950s, it is commonly used in conjunction with the critical path method (CPM).

Activity on the Node

Computing Drag

Critical Path DRAG (Devaux's Removed Activity Gauge) is the amount of time that an activity on the critical path (i.e., the longest path through the project) is adding to the project’s duration or, alternatively, the amount of time by which the project completion would be pulled in by reducing a critical path activity’s duration to zero.

Computing Drag(cont.)

If an activity has nothing in parallel, its DRAG is equal to its duration.
If an activity has other paths in parallel, its DRAG is whichever is less: its duration or the total float of the parallel activity with the least total float.

Activity on the Arrows (we will only use activity on the nodes)

Terminology

PERT activity: the actual performance of a task which consumes time and requires resources (such as labor, materials, space, machinery). It can be understood as representing the time, effort, and resources required to move from one event to another. A PERT activity cannot be performed until the predecessor event has occurred.
optimistic time (O): the minimum possible time required to accomplish a task, assuming everything proceeds better than is normally expected
pessimistic time (P): the maximum possible time required to accomplish a task, assuming everything goes wrong (but excluding major catastrophes).
most likely time (M): the best estimate of the time required to accomplish a task, assuming everything proceeds as normal.
expected time (TE): the best estimate of the time required to accomplish a task, accounting for the fact that things don't always proceed as normal (the implication being that the expected time is the average time the task would require if the task were repeated on a number of occasions over an extended period of time).

TE = (O + 4M + P) ÷ 6float or slack is a measure of the excess time and resources available to complete a task. It is the amount of time that a project task can be delayed without causing a delay in any subsequent tasks (free float) or the whole project (total float). Positive slack would indicate ahead of schedule; negative slack would indicate behind schedule; and zero slack would indicate on schedule.
critical path: the longest possible continuous pathway taken from the initial event to the terminal event. It determines the total calendar time required for the project; and, therefore, any time delays along the critical path will delay the reaching of the terminal event by at least the same amount.
critical activity: An activity that has total float equal to zero. An activity with zero float is not necessarily on the critical path since its path may not be the longest.
fast tracking: performing more critical activities in parallel
crashing critical path: Shortening duration of critical activities

Terminology (cont.)

Time Management

NOTE: The PMP certification exam presents scheduling in the Time Management Chapter.

NOTE: There is no such thing as project management software. MS Project is helpful for scheduling “what if” scenarios and status report functions.

For this reason, this chapter involves a little manual math to understand MS Project.

Advantages of Network Scheduling

Plan and predict
Provide visibility
Evaluate alternatives
Identify slack
Obtain facts
Act a time network

Identify critical paths
Schedule risk analysis
Basic report structure
Reveal interdependencies
Facilitate “what if”

PERT & /CPM identify where the greatest effort should be placed to keep a project on schedule. Alternate plans may be developed & different scenarios tried, with the results presented in a well organized manner.

Disadvantages of Network Scheduling

Time and labor intensive.
Decision-making ability reduced
Lacks functional ownership in measurements
Lacks historical data for time-cost elements.
Assumes unlimited resources.
Requires too much detail.

Terms

EVENT – similar to milestones -when activities start or finish.

ACTIVITY – links the events.

DURATION – amount of time to finish activity.

EFFORT – amount of actual work performed during duration (50% or 2 weeks in 1 month).

CRITICAL PATH – The longest path; shows the shortest possible time to complete project.

House II Homework-Draw Network on Board

House III-Put in MS Projects

MS Project Gantt Chart

Definitions

Gantt Chart

Slack Time

Tracking Gantt in MS Project

Critical Path

The Critical Path helps the project manager to:

Proves how long the project will take.

Determines where to focus effort.

Signals immediate action.

Determines which items can be crashed and which can float.

Note: There is no slack on the critical path and crashing non-critical path items won’t help improve delivery times.

Slack of Task C

Earliest Start/Latest Start

Slack

Slack is the amount of time a task can be delayed without delaying the project end date.

Slack time = TLS – TES

where TES is earliest start date and TLS is latest start date that won’t delay project.

Slack lets you assign new employees to non-critical tasks, reallocate resources to shorten the overall project time, or gives the team some flexibility to juggle their schedules.

Calculating Slack

The critical path has no slack, so the ES and LS will be identical

Do a forwards and backwards path to determine the ES and LS for non-critical tasks.

Forward Pass

ES(successor)=ES(current)+DUR(current)
Use the highest value on “join”

Backward Pass

LS(Predecessor)=LS(current)-DUR(Predecessor)

Use the lowest value on “join”

Show videos

Forward Pass
ES of A =0

Forward Pass
ESB =ESA+DURA

Forward Pass
Similarly for C & D

Forward Pass
ESE =Greatest of 7,13,16

Backward Pass
LSE = ESE

Backward Pass
LSF = LSE-DurF

Backward Pass
LSB = LSE-DurB

Backward Pass
LSC = LSE-DurC

Backward Pass
LSD = LSF-DurD

Backward Pass
LSA = LSD-DurA

Backward Pass
Slack=LS-ES

Work Problem 12-13 on Board

Resource Allocation (p. 508)

Resource allocation involves moving resources from activities with slack to activities on the critical path, cutting overall project completion time.

Crashing

Crashing is making cost and schedule trade-offs to get the greatest schedule reduction for the least amount of cost.

Crashing, by definition, almost always results in increased costs.

If your estimated project completion date is after the customer’s desired date, you can ask for more time or crash the schedule and report the potential cost increase. It depends on which of your triple constraints is the primary driver.

Crashing Example (Fig. 12-16)

Activity	Normal Time	Crash Time	Time Savings	Normal $	Crash $	Extra Cost	Cost per Month
A	4	2	2	10,000	14,000	4,000	2,000
B	6	5	1	30,000	42,500	12,500	12,500
C	2	1	1	8,000	9,500	1,500	1,500
D	2	1	1	12,000	18,000	6,000	6,000
E	7	5	2	40,000	52,000	12,000	6,000
F	6	3	3	20,000	29,000	9,000	3,000

Crashing Example (Fig. 12-16)

Crash critical path activities only, lowest cost activity first!

While activity C is the lowest cost per month ($1,500), it is not on the critical path. Start with activity A ($2,000 per month).

Network Before Crashing
Crash A for 2mos

After Crashing A
Crash F for 3mos

After Crashing F

After Crashing E
Crash B for 1mo

After Crashing B 1mo

Project Cost versus Duration

Crash House II

Perform resource allocation and crash your House II for House III homework.

Reducing Project Time (p.510)

Elimination of some parts of the project.
Adding more resources (crashing).
Substituting easier activities or components.
Concurrent engineering (fast tracking).
Shortening critical path activities (allocation).
Increasing the number of work days (O.T.).

Project Graphics Chapter 13

Good graphical displays are a prime means for tracking cost, schedule & performance (triple constraints). The information can be used for:

Cutting project costs & reducing time scales.

Coordinating and expediting planning.

Eliminating idle time.

Obtaining better subcontractor control.

Better troubleshooting procedures.

Allow more time for making better decisions.

Reporting to an Audience

Upper management requires top level information, project costs & communication.

At the operational level, stakeholders are looking for operating costs, performance and greater detail.

The ability to communicate is a prerequisite for successful project management. The format of that communication depends on the audience.

Gantt Charts

Gantt charts list activities, their duration, schedule dates and progress.

Pros include: simple to understand and easy to change.

Cons include: No linkage or network interdependence, slack or critical paths.

Milestone Charts

Similar to Gantt charts but only show major events.

Pros include: good tools for reporting to management and the customer.

Milestone show when requirements are complete.

Network Diagrams

Critical path analysis, shows hidden linkages better than any other chart.

Complex, multi-step projects are hard to resolve manually, computer software helps.

Other charts……

Variation against a cost or time target or budget (performance measurements).

Distribution of wealth (where is our money going?).

Logic diagrams showing a process flow with no consideration of time or cost.

Statistical Process Control Charts.

Next Week

Chapter 12 Homework problems due on 2/19/15, Problems 12-14 and 12-17. For House III crash House II and add resources and costs—remember, only crash tasks on the critical path and start with the lowest cost
Quiz 2 on 2/26/15
Read Chapter 14 thru 16.

EM660 PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Class 4

Class 4 Agenda

Case Study 1

Presentation

Chapter 11 Planning
Smart Objectives

Note: chapters 11 & 12 will comprise a large portion of your final project. More on that later.

Planning

The most important responsibility of the project manager is planning, integrating and executing project plans.

The finished plan allows you to walk through the project and get it organized before the work is actually done.

1) Determines if the project charter can be done.

2) Shows how the project gets accomplished.

3) Planning saves time, resources and money.

Project Plan

At a minimum, a project plan answers basic questions about the project:
Why? - What is the problem or proposition addressed by the project? Why is it being sponsored?
What? - What is the work that will be performed on the project? What are the major products/deliverables?
Who? - Who will be involved and what will be their responsibilities within the project? How will they be organized?
When? - What is the project timeline and when will particularly meaningful points, referred to as milestones, be complete?

Show WWTP Project Charter

Project Planning & Control

Planning Responsibilities

Project Manager

Goals, Objectives, Milestones
Requirements, Ground rules, Assumptions
Time, Cost & Performance Constraints
Procedures, Policies & Reporting

2) Line Manager

Work Task descriptions to implement project
Schedules and Manpower Allocations
ID areas of concern, risk, uncertainty, conflict

3) Project Sponsor

Chief Negotiator, Clarifier, Communicator

Objectives

Since project planning is a shared responsibility, project objectives are really joint efforts.

Some common problems are:

Not everyone agrees with the objectives
Priorities change & objectives are too rigid
Not enough time to do proper planning
Objectives don’t have measurements
Objectives are not well defined & documented
Project team and end customer not in sync
Project personnel have other assigned duties

Objective Requirements Analysis

What work elements are needed to satisfy objectives & how are they interrelated?
Who will do the work and what is required?
Are enough resources available in-house?
How will project info & communication flow?

This analysis will create four important project planning outputs (p. 425):

Statement of Work (SOW)

Project Specifications

Major Milestone Schedule

Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

Statement of Work

The statement of work (SOW) is a narrative description of the work to be accomplished.

SCOPE: defines what is and is not included in the project & flushes out the needs of stakeholders.

OUTPUT: A scope statement by which project performance is measured.

The scope needs to be carefully worded or the project closure phase may end in conflict.

Project Standards

A project standards (specifications) list describes where man-hour, equipment and material estimates come from.

Often, there are legal or regulatory requirements to which organizations or customers must adhere to do business.

Specifications are standards for pricing out proposals. They can come from published sources or historical data from prior projects.

Milestone Schedules

A project milestone schedule

will contain:

Project start date

Project end date

Major milestones

Report dates or scheduled reviews

These dates can be either forward-generated by the work content or backward-generated by a required due date (trade show or roll-out).

Work Breakdown Structure

The work breakdown structure (WBS) is an expansion of the project objectives & defines:

All effort to be expended.

Responsibility of specific work elements.

The schedules & budgets for those elements.

The WBS is not a Gantt chart or Pert networks, but rather a very detailed list of work to complete a project.

WBS Format

Total Program (multiple current projects)

Project

Task

Subtasks

Work Package

1. Level of Effort

You see where this is going…add some times … instant schedule. But the devil is in the details.

WBS Decomposition

Before we start linking work tasks into a network, the work elements need broken down into the smallest details possible.

Why?

It keeps you from forgetting stuff.

Provides better time and cost estimates.

Sometimes work has a specific sequence; something needs to be done 1st.

Changes or additions, once the project network is established, are usually costly.

Network Diagrams

Network diagrams just show sequencing and dependencies and are not yet schedules.

Figure 11-3 shows good examples.

Network Diagrams

Figure 11-3

Network Diagrams

It is at this point that the project and functional managers start examining where the work, time and cost elements are piling up & can be spread out to get a better project flow.
Formal authorization is granted once the triple constraint elements are fully determined.

Simple Task List-Start of House II

Simple Network from Tasklist

LS of B?

ES of B?

ES of C?

LS of C?

EF of E?

ES of D?

LS of D?

Slack Time of C?

Slack Time of B?

Critical Path?

Possible Paths?

Path Duration

A-B-E 15

A-C-E 21

A-D-F-E 24

Critical Path is A-D-F-E with largest duration equal to 24

Simple Network from Tasklist

Critical Path A-D-F-E Shown in Sequence

Latest Start of B?

Earliest Start of B?

Latest Start of C?
C must finish before E starts

Earliest Start of C?

A must finish before C starts

Earliest Finish of E? (24 d.)
Earliest Start of D? (day 4)
Latest Start of D? (day 4)

For days on the critical path the earliest start and latest start times are the same.

Slack Time of C? (7-4 = 3 days)
Latest Start of C? (day 7)

Earliest Start of C? (day 4)

Slack Time of B?
Latest Start of B = Day 13

Earliest Start of B = Day 4

Slack Time of B = 13 – 9 = 4 days

Detailed Schedules

NOTE: We’ll cover network scheduling techniques & presentations in chapters 12 & 13.

The scheduling of activities is the next major requirement after go-ahead authorization.

Activity schedules show how resources are being used and allow “what if,” trade-off, schedule crashing fast tracking to draw in the final project completion date & create budgets.

Master Production Scheduling

An offshoot of the project schedule is the Master Production Schedule (MPS). The MPS is a statement of:

What will be made.

How many units will be made.

When it will be made.

The MPS compares the demand on a plant’s resources against the available capacity. The MPS is a very important step & must coincide w/the project dates promised to the customer.

Master Production Scheduling

A Master Production Schedule or MPS is the plan that a company has developed for production, inventory, staffing, etc. It sets the quantity of each end item to be completed in each week of a short-range planning horizon.

NOTE: We are only about halfway done with the project planning elements necessary prior to project execution. We’re not making anything yet, but we’re thinking about it at this point.

We still have to consider:

Price, costing, & trade-offs (CH 14, 15, 16)

Risk planning and management (CH 17)

Purchasing & contract management (CH 19)

Quality standards and requirements (CH 20)

These items are also planning components.

Configuration Management

Configuration management is a formal change review and approval process. It provides a focal point of input for internal and external parties wishing to add changes to the project.

The change requests need to be evaluated against the triple constraints (cost, time, scope).

- What is the cost of the change; is it justified?

What is the impact to the delivery date?

Do the changes preserve/improve quality?

Project Bottlenecks

Hurry up and wait The client wants the project to begin

as soon as possible, so you work overtime to get the scope

document, budget, and timeline together. But when you are ready, the client fails to make its resources — information and people — available in a timely manner.

Scope creep You work overtime to meet the client's expectations, even though their expectations included deliverables that weren't part of the original scope discussion. This is especially problematic for fixed-price contracts.
Endless brainstorming Sometimes the client has an idea of what they want you to discover during the course of a project, and if you don't find it, they want you to try again.
Two departments, one project objective Sometimes, especially at larger companies, you get involved in a project and you find out that another department is working on a similar project.
Late or no payment Some consultants fail to set proper payment expectations with clients, resulting in an excessively delayed payment.

Planning recommendations

Identify the project champion, they can:

1-Ensure that you have access to client staff and information to prevent bottlenecks that could affect your project timeline.

2-Gather feedback on project hypotheses by researching findings and status from within the organization as a litmus test for how other client executives might react.

3-Identify any other projects within the organization that have similar objectives. You want to make sure that the client resources are being used effectively and that any complementary efforts are coordinated.

4-Establish clear project scope

5-Clearly outline the project timeline

6-Define how to handle billing issues

7-Present your project plan in a kickoff meeting

8-Maintain clear communication

Project Champion Definition

A project champion is an individual who has the authority to use resources within or outside an organization for completion of a given project. A project champion is chosen by the management so as to ensure supervision of a specific project from its initiation phase to its execution phase.

MS Projects Tutorial

Next time

We’ll work on Network Diagrams and Graphics and review the project handouts.

Case Study 2 Feb 12th
Project proposals are due March 5th.

Network Homework is 12-14 & 12-17 Due Feb 19th

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