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6.2 DEFINE ACTIVITIES

 Define activities is the process of identifying and documenting the specific
actions to be performed to produce project deliverables.

 Its key benefit is that it breakdown work packages into activities that
provides a basis for estimating, scheduling, executing, monitoring and
controlling the project work.

6.2 Define Activities

6.2 Define Activities
(INPUTS) INPUTS
 Schedule Management Plan  EEF
a) Organizational Culture, Structure & Demographics.
 Scope Baseline b) Published commercial information e.g resource
productivity and any other relevant statistics.
c) Project Management Information System.

 OPA
a) Lessons learned.
b) Standardized processes.
c) Any template for of schedule activity list.
d) Existing formal & informal activity planning related
policies, procedures, guidelines and scheduling
methodology.

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6.2 Define Activities 6.2 Define Activities

OUTPUT
TOOLS & TECHNIQUES
ACTIVITY LIST
 DECOMPOSITION
Dividing the project scope and deliverables into smaller and more
•A comprehensive list consist of all schedule
manageable parts. Activities represent the effort needed to activities required on the project.
complete a work package.

 ROLLING WAVE PLANNING •It includes the activity identifier and a scope
It is a form of progressive elaboration and an iterative
planning technique.
of work description for each activity in
• Short term/ Immediate work – Detail Planning sufficient detail to ensure that project team
• Long term/ Future work – High level planning without much details
members understand what work is required to
 EXPERT JUDGMENT be completed.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WBS & ACTIVITY LIST WBS & THE ACTIVITY LIST
 A WBS is a list of the components of the deliverable.  Creating a WBS involves lot of communication between customer, key
stakeholders and project team and Project Manager is responsible to
 An Activity List is a list of the activities we will engage cascade the entire project scope in the form of deliverable oriented WBS.
in during the project.
 We should make WBS first followed by the Activity List.  Activity List which is a main component of Work Package and it is best
 The creation of the WBS and the Activity List are a prepared by the actual team members who will be doing the work.
turning point in project planning. The WBS is created as
the finest level detail of defined project scope. It
completes our work on scope planning & prepares us to
plan all nine other areas of project management,
including time. The first step in detailed time & cost
estimation is the creation of Activity List.
 A good WBS makes the transition from scope
planning to time planning easy. Once we know
clearly what we are making, it is easy to
plan how we will make it.

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CLASS EXERCISE - UTILITY SHELF IN LAUNDRY

WBS & THE ACTIVITY LIST
ROOM
When team members define how they will do their own
work, then the Activity List becomes more accurate.

 Importantly, guided by project manager, the team can

find very efficient ways to work quickly and prevent
problems.

 Teams who plan their own work are self managed

and create great stuff at low cost.

 As team members prepare the activity list they get highly

motivated, focused and significantly contributes towards
project success.

CLASS EXERCISE - UTILITY SHELF IN LAUNDRY

ACTIVITY LIST # 1: DO-IT-YOURSELF
ROOM APPROACH
1. Buy anchors, screws, wall mounts, and braces.
This class exercise should help in understanding the difference
2. Buy two 8' x 8" x 3/4" pine shelving boards and walnut stain
between a Work package (lowest level of WBS) and an Activity
list. 3. Cut three 3' shelves from the boards.
4. Stain the boards, and let them dry.
Make a set of utility shelves in laundry room. There are three 5. Measure locations in the wall for the wall mounts.
shelves on one wall, each 3 feet long. Here is the WBS: 6. Mark locations of the screw holes.
7. Check screw hole locations with a level.
wood shelves, 3' x 8" x 3/4“ 3 Nos.
8. Drill 6 holes, and place 6 anchors in walls.
braces, 9" long, two to hold each shelf 6 Nos.
adjustable wall mounts to hold the braces 2 Nos. 9. Mount 2 adjustable wall mounts with 6 screws, screws set loosely.
10. Tighten all screws.
11. Attach braces to wall mounts.
12. Check braces with a level.
13. Place shelves on braces.
14. Clean up.

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ACTIVITY LIST # 2: HOME REPAIR HOBBYIST APPROACH ACTIVITY LIST # 3: BUY MATERIAL & OUTSOURCE LABOR
1. Buy all items on the to-do list, including pre-cut, pre-stained
shelves.
1. Buy all items on the to-do list, including pre-cut, pre-stained
2. Measure locations in the wall for the wall mounts. shelves.
3. Mark locations of the screw holes. 2. Hire a carpenter to install the shelves.
4. Check screw hole locations with a level.
3. Housekeeping with own resources.
5. Drill 6 holes, and place 6 anchors in walls.
4. Pay the carpenter.
6. Mount 2 adjustable wall mounts with 6 screws, screws set loosely.
7. Tighten all screws.
8. Attach braces to wall mounts.
9. Check braces with a level.
10. Place shelves on braces.
11. Clean up.

6.2 Define Activities

3 DIFFERENT ACTIVITY LISTS FOR ONE WBS OUTPUT
1. There is always more than one way to
ACTIVITY ATTRIBUTES
do a job. We just see three different
Each activity evolves over time. Initial attributes are
ways of doing the same project; three Activity ID, WBS ID, and Activity Name.
different activity lists.
2. And you can see that each one would Progressively they may include activity codes,
activity description, predecessor activities,
have a different schedule, a different
successor activities, logical relationships, leads
budget and last but not the least a and lags, resource requirements, imposed
different monitoring mechanism as dates, constraints, assumptions, person
well. responsible for execution, geographic area etc.

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6.2 Define Activities

OUTPUT
MILESTONE LIST
A milestone is a significant point or event in
the project. They have zero duration because
milestone only represent a moment in time
with a predefined target. Its list identifies all
milestones and indicates whether the
milestone is mandatory, such as those
required by contract, or optional, such as
those based upon historical information.

6.3 SEQUENCE ACTIVITIES

 Sequence activities is the process of identifying and documenting
relationships among the project activities.

 Its key benefit is that it defines the logical sequence of work to obtain
the greatest efficiency given all project constraints.

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6.3 Sequence Activities 6.3 Sequence Activities

INPUTS
INPUTS
 EEF
 Schedule Management Plan a) Government or Industry standards.
b) PMIS (An information system consisting of the T&T’s used to gather,
 Activity List integrate and disseminate the outputs of PM processes and provide
complete information support to project from initiation to closing).
 Activity Attributes c) Scheduling tool
d) Work authorization System.
 Milestone List
 OPA
 Project Scope Statement a) Lessons learned.
b) Standardized processes.
c) Any template for sequencing activities and developing
relationships.
d) Existing policies, procedures, guidelines.

6.3 Sequence Activities 6.3 Sequence Activities

TOOLS & TECHNIQUES TOOLS & TECHNIQUES

 PRECEDENCE DIAGRAM METHOD (PDM)  PRECEDENCE DIAGRAM METHOD

PDM is a graphical technique used for scheduling

activities in project plan. It is used in critical path
 DEPENDENCY DETERMINATION methodology to develop schedule network diagram.
This uses boxes or rectangles referred as nodes to
represent activities and graphically linked by logical
relationships to show the sequence in which the
 LEADS & LAGS activities are to be performed.

This technique is also called activity on node AON & is

used by most project management software
applications.

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4 Types of Logical Relationships

4 Types of Logical
Relationships  Finish-to-Start (FS):
A logical relationship in which a successor activity cannot start
until a predecessor activity has finished.
 Finish-to-Finish (FF):
A logical relationship in which a successor activity cannot
finish until a predecessor activity has finished.
 Start-to-Start (SS):
A logical relationship in which a successor activity cannot start
until a predecessor activity has started.
 Start-to-Finish (SF):
A logical relationship in which a successor activity cannot
finish until a predecessor activity has started.

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6.3 Sequence Activities

TOOLS & TECHNIQUES

 DEPENDENCY DETERMINATION

In project scheduling, we came across different

dependencies that has to be considered in
schedule development. It has following four
attributes:

 Mandatory
 Discretionary
 External
 Internal

LEADS & LAGS Critical Path: Related terms

Early Start – "the earliest date that uncompleted

activities can be started given the network logic and any
schedule constraints&“

Early Finish – "the earliest date that uncompleted

activities can be finished“

Late Start – "the latest date that an activity can begin

without compromising a specified milestone e.g. project
finish date“

Late Finish - "the latest date than an activity can finish

without compromising a specified milestone"

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Total Float - "the time an activity can be delayed

from its early start date without delaying the project
finish date"
Free Float - "amount of time an activity can be
delayed without delaying the early start of any
dependent following activity";

Formula to calculate Slack or Total Float:

= Late Finish - Early Finish, or Late Start - Early

Start

6.3 Sequence Activities

Consider the following activities in a business planning to
launch a new product:
OUTPUT
Activities
 PROJECT SCHEDULE NETWORK DIAGRAM Conduct Customer Search
Notify Suppliers of requirement
Design Product Concept
Design and Test Product Prototype
Commence Production
 Conduct Launch Production
Develop and test product tooling

 PROJECT DOCUMENT UPDATE

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Sequence Activities

Exercise!
Consider the following series of activities in a business
planning to launch a new product:

Activities

Conduct Customer Search

Design Product Concept

Design and Test Product Prototype

Develop and test product tooling

Notify Suppliers of requirement

Commence Production

Conduct Launch Production

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Below are all the activities that john needs to plan, to complete
foundation of the house. These by themselves look sequential, but
there are some dependencies. These will come to light when he
prepares the network diagram.

•Finalize house blueprint

•Mark footprint
•Hire an excavator
•Dig earth
•Procure building materials
•Hire workers
•Pour footings
•Lay sub-slab systems
•Lay drainage tile system
•Build foundation walls
•Anchor bolts, beam pockets in place
•Build concrete slab in between walls
•Cure the foundation

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