Project Management

Note: very long and extensive → not really a summary

Overview

• Project Planning and implementation
• Cost and Schedule Managements
• Project control
• Procurement Management
• Risk Management
• Quality Management
• Project communication and Information management

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Facts to memorize

• Magic Triangle
• Management Methods: Agile vs Classic
• Major Milestones
• Project Organization
• There are different types of costs
• Impacts of cost estimation
• How to estimate costs?
• Deming Cycle
• Know how Milestrone Trend Analysis works
• Risk Probability matrix
• ….

Important Formulas

Earned Value Analysis

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0. Introduction

Why PM?

• master complexity
• enhance transparency
• manage risks

The magic triangle

Scope: quality, functionality, convenience, service etc.

Extended triangle: Quality and Risks

The Process

• Initialization
  • Decision to implement the project
  • Define boundary conditions/scope
  • Which PM approach shall be used?
• Definition
  • Goals & Requirements
  • Project organization, interfaces & core team
• Planning
  • Tasks, schedules, resources & costs
• Execution
  • Realization of project content
  • Monitoring of Project status
  • Measures to adhere to plan/Plan Changes
• Closing
  • Formal conclusion of project with client
  • Discuss & Secure project findings to improve future projects
  • Dissolving of project organization

Changes over project phase in impact of decisions, risk, costs and knowledge

The Methods

Planbased (classic)

Definition: Activities structured into phases & work packages. Sequential processing of project phases.

Note: Less used as not one single person can know the whole product → distribution of responsibility

• Example: Waterfall

  Beginning of new phase only after previous phase fully completed

  Phase-rollback if phase NOT sucessfully completed

  

Agile

Definition: Self-organizing team, continuous review and adaptation of team. Focused on: fast, iterative delivery of results & prototypes

• Example: SCRUM

  Method:

  1. Product Backlog: prioritized organization of Project tasks
  2. Sprints: Iterations during project execution at pre-planned intervals
  3. Product Increment: Product achievement → is improved in retrospective
  4. Sprint review: regular review of product increment

  Roles:

  • Product Owner: interface to costumer
  • Team: acts autonomously & are self-organized
  • Scrum Master: moderator of process

  Overview:

  

Hybrid approach

$\to$ Combination of elements form plan-based & agile method

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1. Project Planning and Implementation

1.1 Mission, Vision, Goals

1. Mission - Why?

   → Core purpose of project

2. Vision - Where do we want to be?

   → Long-term outcome

3. Goals - What is to be achieved?

   → broad targets necessary to fulfill mission & vision

4. Objectives - How is it achieved?

   → SMART: Specific, Measurable, Ambitious ,Realistic, Time-bound

   ⇒ Narrower, more focused than goals

5. Requirements - What criteria must be met?

   → precise technical specification necessary to meet objects&goals

1.2 Project Phases & Milestones

Milestones	Phases (According to ESA)
• MDR: Mission Definition Review
• PRR: Preliminary Requirements review
• SRR: System Requirements review
• PDR: Preliminary Design Review
• CDR: Critical Design Review
• QR: Qualification review
• AR: Acceptance review
• ORR: Operational readiness review
• FRR: Flight Readiness Review
• LRR: Launch Readiness Review
• CRR: Comissioning Result Review
• ELR: End-of-life Review
• MCR: Mission Closeout Review	• Phase 0: Mission analysis/needs identification
• Phase A: Feasibility
• Phase B: Preliminary Definition
• Phase C: Detailed Definition
• Phase D: Qualification and Production
• Phase E: Utilization
• Phase F: Disposal

1.3 Project Organization

Phase plan $\to$ Organization Breakdown structure

Product tree $\to$ Work breakdown structure $\to$ Work packages

Organization Breakdown structure:

→ Who does what and how do people relate to each other?

Contact officer: Change negotiations, System Engineer: make sure all fits together, Product assurance: quality management, Project Manager: Make team perform

Work breakdown structure (WBS):

• Subprojects for general structurung
• Subtasks per Subproject
• Workpackages in Subtask or Subproject incl. Workpackage Nr containing code of WBS → smallest unit of WBS

Principle: From Broad to detail

Work Packages:

→ What needs to be done?

Characteristics	Typical Content
• Clearly defined & separated from other packages
• Self-contained
• Basis for planning
• Assigned to responsible Person	• Title & Number
• Person responsible
• Star & End date
• Inputs & prerequisites
• Description of Task
• Deliverables

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2. Cost & Schedule Management

2.1 Cost Estimation and Planning

Cost Categories

• Labour Costs
• Infrastructure & Facility Costs
• Other Costs
  • Materials
  • Procurements
  • Various

Cost estimation Methods

Top down vs. Bottom up

• Bottom-up Estimate (Grass-root estimate)
• Multiplier Method
• PERT

	Top Down	Bottom Up
Description	• Quick
• Simple
• Ballpark figure	• Higher Effort
• Project Specific
• More precise
Methods	• heuristic Method
• Parametric estimate
• Percentage Method	• Bottom-up Estimate/Grass-root estimate
• Multiplier Method
• PERT: Program Evaluation & review technique

Other Methods:

• Comparative Estimate/Analogy
• Expert Judgement → Delphi

Impact of Estimation Errors

• Overestimation: estimated effort > actual effort
  • Student Syndrome: Work is done as late as possible → inefficient/delays
  • Parkinson’s Law: Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion
• Underestimation: estimated effort < actual effort
  • Additional efforts required to manage discrepancy btw. estimated & actual effort

Total effort of project depends on whether the actual effort is under- or overestimated.

How to properly handle the situation?

→ Margin-Management: actively estimated based on project situation, know-how and Environment

2.2 Project Schedule

Gantt-Chart: → visualizes throughput time

• Float: Margin on activity till it will delay the other work package/project
• Critical Path: any delay in work package will extend project duration

Important: Effort ≠ throughput time

2.3 Resource Planning

Shows the effort one has to put in.

→ Visualizes if people are “überlastet”

Important: People cannot be switched on/off → time to get to know the project/problem

Iterations necessary (even during project)

• project always have change of plans
• resources are limited

2.4 Project Budgeting

Cost plan → cost curve

⇒ cost curve is never directly linear

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3. Project Control

Deming Cycle:

Adaptations:

• Adjust resources → hire more people: limited because more people = longer information transfer
• reduce efforts
• Increase productivity → Trainings, focus, invest in more expensive tools
• Improve process quality → Important in limited time scopes (like now 😅)
• Modify/change scope

Hint:

• Scope has to be adapted with costumer
• Effort: intern → lower precision = lower effort but SAME Scope

3.1 Cost control

Importance of Schedule: Large projects are controlled by schedule → time = $

Key performance indicators: → always compare planned & actual

• Duration
• Costs
• Progress percentage (%)

If deviation between planned & actual, determine:

• Time-to complete
• Cost-to-Complete

• Example Method: Earned Value Analysis (EVA)

  → Combines magic triangle: Scope, Cost & Time

  

  Only Aspects that have been fully completed & reviewed contribute to EV

3.2 Schedule Control

Milestone trend Analysis

Concept: → Horizontal line reaches pink diagonal line work package/project needs to be done

horizontal line: if everything works as planed

vertical line: changes in plans, delay

3.3 Change and Claim Management

Def: Claim = not instructed change of scope

Change management

Schematic Change Management Process

Claim Management

1. Initialization → Prevention
   1. Scope of delivery & services
   2. Contractual agreement on claim process
2. Definition → Preparation
   1. In contract consider negotiation results on: scope, cost, schedule
   2. Implement procedural guidelines withing project
3. Planning → Implementation
   1. Identify potential claim events
   2. Documentation
   3. Objective and commercial review
   4. clarify facts
   5. settle claim-related demands
4. Execution → Implementation (see step 4)
5. Closing → Knowledge Management
   1. Checklists
   2. Strategy - Procedural guidelines

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4. Procurement Management

Plan-based

1. Clarify procurement requirements
2. Create procurement plan
3. Prepare tender documents →Draft of contract, requirements & scope = Proposal
4. Conduct Tender evaluation → Tender evaluation board, confidential
5. Negotiate Contract & complete procurement → clarify scope!

Procurement Methods:

• Request for Information (RFI)
  • Obtaining non-binding price and performance information. Suitable for market assessment.
  • first bidding, only ROM cost (rough order of magnitude) & technical evaluation
  • Early stage, lot of design freedom
• Request for Quotation (RFQ)
  • Request for non-binding prices for a defined procurement item
  • No defining price, sometimes also bidding offer
  • More detailed than RFI
• Request for Proposal (RFP)
  • Tendering in true sense. Invitation to submit a binding offer
  • Clear poproposal to company
• Invitaiton to Tender (ITT)
  • Used in public tendering → invitation to all

Tender Process types (who can apply): → type based on amount of money

• Restricted competition → defined number of companies are invited to submit RFI, RFQ, RFP → pre-selection is already done in advance by person who chooses

• Open competition → Tender documents are publicly published on tandering platform. → all interested & qualified can submit a bit

• Selective Tender

  1. Pre-qualification documents published publicly.
  2. All interest & suitable companies register to participate
  3. min 3 pre-qualified companies taken into procedure → closed to public

  → highly complex procurement

• Direct Negotiations: → low costs. Public authority directly awards contracts. Must be justified

Agile

1. Clarify procurement requirements
2. Select suitable suppliers
3. Implement pilot project →several companies in parallel (2-3), ask team what added value is
4. Negotiate contract and finalize procurement

Best practice:

• Focus on acquiring the most suitable resources → conduct small pilot project with several providers
• Ideally a product concept & initial product backlog is developed before starting procurement process
• Do not outsource role of product owner → ensure necessary expertise is maintained

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5. Risk Management

Risk evaluation depends on environment/culture!

5.1 Risk management Process

Risk potential = Probabilty of occurence * Damage potential

Risk type	What does it contain
Rechnical Risk	New procuct, material properties, complexity, approach..
Schedule Risk	Availability of inputs, facilities, resources
Commercial	Cost cap, creditworthiness of business partners…
Resource	Availability, adequacy, …
Market	Competitor product is better/cheaper
Legal	Product liability, contracts, …
Political	Changes in corporate strategy, legislation

The Process:

1. Identify
   1. all possible fields of risk
   2. collect all risk-relevant information (maybe prepared list of risks)
2. Analyze
   1. Asses & weigh identified risks
   2. evaluate the probability of occurrence and the extent
3. Manage/Do sth about it
   1. Develop measures and prepare strategies
      1. Avoidance
      2. Reduction
      3. Transfer
      4. Acceptance
4. Monitor
   1. Regular checks and status announcements
   2. ensure that new risks are identifies

5.2 Risk Management in Space Projects

Risk index

do risk assessment before beginning of project

Goal: Mitigate risk \to severity $\downarrow$

Risk trend Chart

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6. Quality Management

6.1 Quality and Product Assurance

Product Assurance

Objective: Ensure space products meet mission (performance) objectives across all stages of their lifecycle regarding:

• safety
• availability
• reliability

$\to$ Quality is part of the product assurance!

Quality Management

$\to$ Consists of Quality Assurance and Quality Control

• Quality assurance

  Objective: Ensure consistent adherence to methods and processes during the project life cycle in order to produce a high-quality product

  

6.2 Quality Management Tools

The seven tools of quality (Q7)

1. Checklist or Tally sheet
2. (Quality) Control Chart
3. Correlation- or scatter plot
4. Fishbone-Diagram
   1. Goal: visualize & analyze causes and effect for problem diagnosis → See exercise Apollo 13 root cause analysis
5. Flowchart
6. Pareto-Diagram
7. Histogram

Potential problem Areas

Potential problem Areas	Description
Personnel	- project team members

• Project organization
• Future user groups and stakeholders | | Machine | - Tolls and infrastructure of project | | Environment | - context of project (parent organization/cultural differences in international projects)
• … | | Material | - resources needed to execute project
• incl $$ | | Method | - type of project management
• specific methods and techniques at technical level | | Measurement | - heavily dependent on method used
• key performance indicators and measurement criteria
• acquisition of data and facts |

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7. Project Communication and Information Management

7.1 Kick-off

Form: Meeting

Present:

• Costumer
• Project Manager
• Project Team
• Other: participants, subject matter experts, stakeholders

→ stakeholders are not necessarily present!

Content:

• Present: Product vision, benefits to be realized & the background
• Discuss: Current project status & scope
• Explain: Intentions & objectives
• Clarify relationships between individual areas of responsibility
• Outcome: Team members have shared understanding of tasks

Relationship

• Teammembers: Get to know eachother
• Define & Approve ground rules
• Make informal platforms for interpersonal exchange of options available
• create a sense of we through: project meaning, highlighting unique characteristics of team

Organization

• Define project organization & make resources of individual members known
• Outline methodological aproach
• Present project plan/release planning
• Address potential problem areas & assign team member responsible for its resolution
• Establish Communication
• Assign tasks, responsibilities & competences to team members
• Define meeting rhythm!

7.2 Project communication & stakeholder management

→ Communication is key!

Forms of communication

• Formal communication: team meetings, monthly progress report
• Informal communication: daily mails, chat groups etc
• Important information: fact oriented, documented in writing
• Project results: usually project-or company specific guidelines for the communication of it

What is communication & how should it be done:

→ Mainly form of information exchange

• Clear project alignment of communication
• Recognition of interim success
• Productive working relationships within the project team
• Rapid problem identification and decision-making
• Maintaining motivation and support for other members

Communication Forms

• Example: Project Status report

  Basis for all necessary management and control measures of project. Answers to the following questions:

  • Highlights
  • Issues

  

  Typical content:

  • Technical status → project progress
  • Schedule → achieved milestones
  • Cost development → status & forecast
  • Achieved Quality → conducted review, tests, quality management measures etc
  • Risks → status of initiated mitigation measures
  • Other → personnel changes

Successful Project Meetings

7.3 Configuration and Data Management

Configuration management process

Objective: Establish and maintain a consistent record of the product’s physical and functional characteristics

→ in comparison with products operational requirements and design

CI: Configuration item

CM: Configuration Management

Process:

1. Configuration Management Planning
   • Product Tree
   • CDM Plan
2. Configuration identification
   • Configuration Items
   • CI List
3. Configuration Control
   • Changes
   • RDFs
   • RFWs
   • NCRs
4. Configuration Status Accounting
   • Configuration Item Data List
   • As-built configuration list
5. Configuration verification
   • Verified baseline
   • Audit Reports

Information/Documentation Management

1. Establish
2. Review
3. Deliver
4. Store&Retrieve
5. Archive & Retrieve

7.4 Project Closeout

Retroperspective on all project phases

Product: Project closeout report

Contents:

• Business case
• Project or program objectives
• Project organization
• Approach and key methods
• adherence to deadline, costs and efforts
• Result qualiy, process quality
• satisfaction of stakeholders & project team members
• Transferable lessons learned from the project
• summary of project succes