Description

There are three parts to this assignment:

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. 

Then, individually, develop and submit a project work breakdown structure (WBS) as described in the textbook and LEO Conferences (and other valid sources, such as www.pmi.org) and submit in MS Project .mpp format.  If it is more convenient for you, then you may also start it in MS Word (e.g., as an outline) or some other software packages and copy or port it to MS Project.

The discussions in the Lectures in our weekly Content will help with our assignments, including this assignment. 

To use MS Project, you may now load the Microsoft Project demo onto your computer. Note that subsequent ITP deliverables will be in MS Project, so if you have not yet loaded Microsoft Project, please do so now. The software is somewhat similar to Excel, but it would still be a good idea to be familiar with MS Project features.  Additional support on how to use Microsoft Project for this assignment has been provided under Content, Week 3, Activities, Information for ItP-2 Instructions.

You will find that there are MANY ways to add information to your MS Project.  If you find yourself struggling with the software, please consider:  

Using MS Project's Help feature

Using the tutorials at Microsoft.com

Checking out online tutorials on YouTube

Looking for other on-line help

Considering using the library or a bookstore for supplemental texts 

Asking me for help

The WBS should list all tasks 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, time or duration, dates, or resource (cost, staff, etc.) data.  ONLY include the durations.  This is because Microsoft Project performs a complex algorithm with each project element that is added.  To SEE the impact of each project element, we need to add them one at a time.  For this assignment, after the WBS is completed, we will add ONLY durations in this assignment.

These project tasks 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.  Some suggested tasks might include those listed here: 

Tasks regarding design of the IT System

Tasks regarding ordering, delivering, and receiving hardware (as separate tasks)

Tasks regarding ordering, delivering, and receiving software (as separate tasks)

Tasks regarding ordering, delivering, and receiving networking (as separate tasks)

Tasks regarding installing hardware

Tasks regarding installing software

Tasks regarding installing networking

Tasks regarding testing and training

Tasks regarding managing, controlling, and monitoring the project and the team (as separate tasks)

Tasks regarding transitioning the project to the customer for normal operations and maintenance

Project meetings or project management meetings

Defined end of the project

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 at least 10 major tasks and between 30-60 total tasks, including subordinate subtasks and sub-subtasks.  Similarly, do not break it down more than 3 or 4 levels deep (not counting the project header / project name task itself). 

WBS Numbering should follow the traditional WBS numbering of 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, etc. for major tasks.  Sub-tasks will follow 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, etc. 

Remember, please, that all tasks should begin with a verb and an object and should be enough of a description that both team members and stakeholders will know exactly what will be accomplished when that task is done.  The task itself should be concise enough to be able to determine how much time it takes to accomplish the task and what resources (people, places and things) will be needed to accomplish the task. Task names should not be duplicated.

You MAY work with your teammates to determine the major tasks.  BUT, each team member should provide his/her own major tasks that may be different, plus sub-tasks and sub-sub tasks him/herself based on his/her own knowledge of the project, the project scope and what you know about IT systems.    

Example

For example, if your project were to paint a bathroom, the major tasks might be: 

1.      Prepare bathroom 

2.      Buy paint 

3.      Apply paint 

4.      Clean up 

Please note that these are each SINGLE verb statements.  Please do not merge tasks, such as “research and buy the paint.”  Each task should be ONE verb!

This is the beginning of your WORK BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE.  So your first draft WBS should look like this (example only shows first two major tasks – your WBS should look like this for ALL major tasks): 

 1)     Prepare bathroom 

a)      Scrub walls 

i)       Fill holes 

ii)     Sand holes 

b)     Tape edges 

c)      Cover floor 

2)     Buy paint 

a)      Measure bathroom 

b)     Select color 

i)       Select texture 

ii)     Purchase paint 

iii)   Purchase painting supplies 

Notice how each major tasks moves into lower and lower tasks.  This is called “decomposition” as something big becomes broken into smaller and smaller pieces. 

Your WBS deliverable for grading would be even more specific and concise.     

As you finish, please move to Part 2 of the assignment and include this effort with your WBS in Microsoft Project.

Assignment for the ITP-2 Project Deliverable - Part 2 - Durations

Add project task durations to the lowest level task (sub-sub tasks) to build to the project schedule. Do not add durations to the higher level (sub and major tasks) levels. (MS Project will eventually roll-up the durations to the higher level tasks, and calculate them automatically for the summary and major tasks.  Therefore, do not enter hard-coded durations or dates in the lower-level tasks or in the higher-level summary and major tasks.)  Durations should include hours, days, and weeks of time posted in the Gantt view.  If you are using Excel, provide the durations in the lowest level tasks ONLY, as you will do in Project.  For example:

Instruction Files