ITP2 UMUC Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) The purpose of this Individual project is to develop the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) for the ITP project. This

ITP2 UMUC Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) The purpose of this Individual project is to develop the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) for the ITP project. This involves hierarchically itemizing all the tasks that, when completed, result in the successful completion of the project defined in the charter and other documents. Put another way, the scope of the project as defined in the charter and other documents will be accomplished if and when all the WBS tasks are accomplished.In addition (an extension beyond typical WBSs), each work task in the WBS must also have its work duration estimated. That is, we need to know an estimate of how long it will take to do each task. (Group summary tasks higher up in the hierarchy need not be estimated, as later on, their durations will be automatically rolled up and calculated by MS Project.)Since this is an Individual project you must do your own work. ITP-2 – Project Work Breakdown Structure with Durations (Individual project)
Addresses Course Outcomes #4b and 6a
The objective of this assignment is for each member of the team to individually determine the tasks
that:
1. Will be required to build the IT project for the client organization
2. To put these tasks into a format that will be used to work on ITP-3 (next week)
Please post your ITP WBS assignment in your Assignment Folder; please include your last name and “ITP2” as part of the file name (example: Jones – ITP-2 – WBS).
There are three parts to this assignment:
1. Assignment for the ITP-2 Project Deliverable – Part 1 – WBS
Review your project charter and the overview of the ITP posted in the Syllabus and in the previous
project assignment. Read the Week 2 Lecture – How to Build Work Breakdown Structures. Then,
individually, develop and submit a project work breakdown structure (WBS). Use the eTextbook and LEO
Conferences (and other valid sources, such as www.pmi.org) and submit in MS Project .mpp format. The
discussions in the Lectures in your weekly Content will help with your assignments, including this one.
By this time, I assume you have loaded the Microsoft Project demo onto your computer. If you have not
yet loaded Project, please do so now. If you missed the configuration steps for MS-Project, do them
now!
Required:
Your copy of MS-Project needs some configuring before you get into this assignment. Hint: This step will
count towards your grade.
NOTE: This is a one-time setup. If you already did this with the Wedding-Reunion assignment, there is
no need to re-configure MS-Project.
Launch MS-Project and open a Blank Project
Open the Project Options dialog
Verify your calendar options settings look EXACTLY like this
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Verify your scheduling options look EXACTLY like this
Verify your calculation settings look EXACTLY like this
If you find yourself struggling with using MS-Project, please consider:
• My number one choice? Do a Google search
• Use MS Project’s Help feature
• Use the tutorials at Microsoft.com
• Check out online tutorials on YouTube
• Look for other on-line help
• Consider using the library or a bookstore for supplemental texts
• Ask a classmate for help
• Ask me for help
The WBS should include everything necessary to complete the project, in the approximate estimated
order in which you think they will probably be done. At this stage, this deliverable should not yet
include:
• Predecessor / successor linkages
• Dates
• Resource (cost, staff, etc.) data
For this deliverable I only want you to build a WBS and load durations. Project has what is called a
scheduling engine that calculates the effect of changes to the schedule. As you build this deliverable,
you will see what I mean.
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Your WBS should include all work necessary to complete the scope of the project, specifically including
the technical IT work of the project, but also including the project management work as well. Here are
some suggested Level 2 WBS elements:
• IT System Design
• System Hardware
• System Software
• System Networking
• System Test
• Project Management
• System Transition
With respect to hardware, software and networking – lower level WBS elements will deal with Orders,
Delivery, Receiving, Installation, etc.
To reiterate, there is a lot more to the WBS than this. Do not spend too much time getting “down into
the weeds”. A good size for this class would be no more than 10 Level 2 elements. Decompose these to
Level 3 elements (or Level 4 if absolutely necessary). Remember, the lowest level elements (in each
branch) will be your work packages.
Pay close attention to the Week 2 Lecture, How to Build Work Breakdown Structures, including:
• WBS Creation process
• Definitions
• Convention for WBS structure
• Considerations for building the WBS
• Schedule development process
• Terminology
You MAY work with your teammates to determine the level 2 WBS elements. However, you should
provide your own WBS elements that may be different, based on your own knowledge of the project,
the project scope and what you know about IT systems.
What NOT to do with your WBS
Here are some (hilarious) examples from actual projects that illustrate what you should avoid in your
WBS. The names have been changed to protect the innocent! But everything else is real.
Activity Name
Draft Charter and Project Management Plan and Draft Cost Tool
Review, finalize and present Proposal to JSP Customer Relations
Manager
Engineering install applications in test environment for initial
evaluation
PM Requests Service Design/Transition folder from Service Design
Validate Performance
V&V Scans & Generates/Delivers Initial V&V Report to A&A / PM
/ ENG
A&A Explains to Customer – System Categorization Document
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Editorial comment
Too many deliverables
Too many actions, named
resource doesn’t belong here
Too many actions
Doesn’t describe work
Nothing specific here
Uhhhhh . . .
Well, that’s cozy
IF NEEDED – Return FW Request to Customer for Rework
Engineer to submit CRQ Received by ECRB (latest 9am Friday)
Meet with the IMOs to see what applications they ID and
compare then against Mr. Smith’s and/or General Jones’
spreadsheet
Test servers have been built, some issues with firewalls being
worked on now to fully complete installation of application in test
environment; next steps after successful f/w implementation and
cBack up and restore the production data to a 3 cluster node
Tasks are never conditional
Oh my! What does this mean?
Are we having a conversation?
I’d like to see how implementation with our Enterprise Citrix is
going (we are still fixing some config items) – and then would like
to get with COOP manager to discuss. I’d also like to bring Joe
Snorkel on discussion since we are discussing
Hear from Mr. George that HQ has discussed with XYZ COOP
Oh, you’d like that?
Let me know if you can facilitate who would get this on the right
SQL Server for the SAM folks to use for HQ software. It was
mentioned today by Mr. Smersh that he agrees with my
assessment of using it to keep track of all software – eventually – b
It depends on which servers that are used for this application. If
the servers are decommissioned then I would like to pull the
licenses back. I just don’t know enough about the infrastructure
and application to say what they are at this point.
Are we writing a novel?
Didn’t know “Hear” was a project
activity!
Cute little emoji – OMG!
OMG – Again!
2. Assignment for the ITP-2 Project Deliverable – Part 2 – Durations
Now you are going to define and list activities under each work package. Once you have the activities
loade, load estimated durations for each one. When working with your schedule, you want to be careful
not to interfere with Project’s scheduling engine. This means only loading durations for activities, NOT
the WBS elements! Just because Project does not stop you from changing WBS element durations, it
does not mean changing them is a good idea!
Scheduling conventions in Project
• Do not enter activity dates (i.e., Start, Finish, etc). Only enter activity durations and let the MSProject scheduling engine calculate the dates.
• Try to avoid overly small (micromanaged) or overlay large durations (which bite off more than
you can chew). Rather, try to keep them reasonable and realistic.
Submit Parts 1 and 2 as a single Project (.mpp) file. Include your name in the file name and post in the
Assignment area for ITP-2. Be careful to post in the right place.
3. Assignment for the ITP-2 Project Deliverable – Part 3 – Questions
Read and think through the options and alternatives suggested by these questions before you build your
WBS. Then finally, when your WBS is completed, answer the following questions and submit them as a
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word doc in addition to your wbs file (above). As a 400-level class, writing should be of a style
appropriate for a senior level college class.
“Yes” or “No” answers with no explanations or discussions are not appropriate answers.
1.
Does your WBS include everything in your team’s charter and all deliverables (promised
deliverables to the client organization customer)? Does your WBS address tasks that were not
discussed in the Project Charter? If so, what are they and how did you decide you needed the
additional tasks?
2.
Does your WBS include project management tasks necessary to manage the project, as well?
3.
Did you develop your WBS top-down or bottom up approach? Why? To answer this question,
please define the terms first. This is an opportunity to include additional research to answer the
question completely.
4.
Did you use a product-oriented WBS, or a process-oriented (e.g., SDLC phases) WBS, or something
else? What are the definitions and how did those definitions affect your decision? Why?
5.
Some PMs prepare the WBS in an OUTLINE in Word instead of Excel, or Excel instead of Project.
This helps team members visualize the order of the tasks and how the tasks might decompose into
lower levels. Did you do this (use Word or Excel first) or did you only use Excel or Project? If you
only used Project, did you find yourself rearranging the order of the tasks as you were inputting
them or as you were finishing the WBS?
6.
Did you initially approach it graphically (e.g., like an organization chart) or tabularly (like a list or
table), or something else? Why?
7.
Did you work with your teammates to determine the major tasks or did you do it all on your own?
How well did it work?
As you prepare for the next assignment, please discuss with your teammates how you will manage the
WBS. One possibility is to divide up the major tasks among teammates. Each teammate would have
responsibility for that “area” and all areas will be consolidated into a single Microsoft Project document.
However, all the team members’ submissions taken together should cover the entire project WBS. You
may use any other approach that works well for your team. Any approach other than each team
member doing the entire project WBS must be explained in each submission.
Please post the Word document AND the .mpp (MS Project document) in the Assignment area. Please
include your name in the file name and be sure to post in the right place (ITP-2).
Afterward, each team member should post his/her WBS in the LEO Group area for merging and for
consolidation into a single team WBS for the next ITP assignment.
Does it seem as though perhaps there is not enough information to complete the project and the WBS?
If so, please ask the client/customer (your instructor).
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