IFSM 438 ITP-4 - Project Resources and Costs
- university-of-maryland / IFSM 438
- 05 Oct 2018
- Price: $30
- Other / Other
ITP-4
- Project Resources and Costs (Team project)
(PMBOK
7)
Addresses Course Outcome #6c
Please be
sure to read the Team Contribution Assessment and Grading of Team Assignments
and the Project Documentation Requirements sections of this ITP Master
Document.
Assignment for the ITP-4 Project Deliverable
By now, your project team should have a well-fleshed out WBS
in MS Project with a schedule and durations and dependencies. This is what is described in the textbook and
LEO Conferences. So start by reviewing your previous
deliverable assignments and by looking at what the other teams have posted in
the SHARED LEARNING ENVIRONMENT Discussion for both the Project Charter and the
Project Schedule with Dependencies.
This assignment
includes 3 Parts.
1. Adding
Resources to the WBS – Part 1
·
In Microsoft Project, each team will add
resources to each task at each level of the WBS. Remember that resources are
persons, places and things necessary to complete each task. EVERY
task will have a resource, even if it is only one project team member who, at
something less than 100%, monitors and tracks the higher level tasks. Remember that WORK is done at the lower level
tasks, so your labor and non-labor resources will be more heavily utilized at
those levels.
- PLEASE use the
RESOURCE SHEET View in Project to list the resources and then use the
pull-down menu in the Gantt View to add the resources. Resources must be categorized as
labor or as the proper non-labor category on the Resources Sheet
in Microsoft Project. For non-labor
resources, make sure that they are properly categorized as expendable
material resources and supplies, or as non-expendable equipment and other
costs. Then add a descriptive label
showing a useful resource type or sub-category. CONTRACTORS
ARE NON-LABOR because we typically pay one price for the whole
job. If you have a reason to list
contractors as labor, please contact me so we can discuss it.
- Microsoft Project defaults
labor to an 8 hour a day, 5 day a week work schedule. You may (and should) change this
schedule, if you find a need. If
you, for example, assign James to review a one-day duration decision
point, remember that Microsoft Project will allocate 8 hours of James’s
time to that decision point. If the
decision point is a meeting, the duration should reflect 2 hours, not 1
day. Some labor might not work
full-time on tasks. In those cases,
you might want to assign that labor resource to something less than 100%
(8 hours a day/5 days a week). This
is particularly important when you are assigning resources to the Major
Task level. There is, typically,
very little actual “work” at this level – more monitoring, controlling,
reviewing -- so the person (and it MUST be a project team member) who is
assigned to the Major Task is likely assigned at something less than 8
hours per day of effort.
- When you finish assigning
resources, go to the RESOURCE GRAPH to see if any resource is
over-allocated (working more than 8 hours a day on assigned tasks shows as
a RED bar). Try to resolve the
over-allocations.
·
Make sure
that all the tasks are covered, that
none are left out, and that if team members work on different portions
of the WBS, all team members' submissions are put together so that the entire
project and all its tasks will be covered.
Also, make sure that everyone gets tasks with all required types of
resources, and that everyone gets both lowest level leaf-node (sub-sub) tasks
and roll-up summary and major task groups.
2. Adding costs to the WBS – Part 2a - Excel
In Microsoft
Excel, the team is to duplicate the Work Breakdown Structure and the
resources. Assign costs (units and
extensions) to all resources and then to all tasks. So, for example, if your task is to buy the
paint, your resources might include:
Task Manager (Project Team Member)
– 4 hours @ $20.00 = $80.00
Paint (5 gallons @$40/gallon =
$200)
Brushes (3 wall brushes, 3 trim
brushes each at $4.00 = $24)
Gas to get to paint store (12 miles
is ½ gallon of gas @ $4.00 per gallon = $2.00)
Don’t forget to include equipment you might need (copiers,
printers, carts to transport equipment), maybe facilities (such as a storage unit for staging equipment),
and, of course the people who are doing the work. If you include a vendor/contractor on a
contract or purchase order that has ONE price for the entire effort, you will
include ONE [email protected] $xx,xxx.xx (contract price). Think about how you will address this
contractor in the Resource Sheet – labor or non-labor? Remember that the contractor is NOT likely to
charge by the hour…! You must include EVERYTHING it takes to do every task at
every level.
Details:
·
Enter resources and costs for each task. Remember that ALL tasks must have resources;
major level tasks must have a project team member assigned some small percentage
of time to monitor and track the task.
·
For all cost
categories provide the unit costs or rates (e.g., for labor costs, supplies,
etc.), then for each line item, make sure to include the unit costs (e.g.,
labor rates, costs per each, etc), and the quantities used (e.g., hours,
quantities ordered or used, etc), and the extended costs (rates or unit costs
times quantity).
·
Don’t forget to
include expendable materials and supplies (e.g., paint, brushes, construction
materials, etc), non-expendable equipment you might need (copiers, printers,
carts to transport equipment, computer furniture, etc.), maybe facilities (such
as a storage unit for staging equipment), and, of course the people who are
doing the work along with their labor rates, hours, and costs per person. A rough
example is below:
|
Task |
Labor |
Hours x Rate |
Supplies |
Unit x cost |
Total |
|
4.2.5 Install
computers in gymnasium |
1 Installer 1 Software tester |
20 hrs x $40.00 6 hrs x $20.00 |
4 computers 4 USB cables |
4 each x $1500 4 each x $30.00 |
$7020.00 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
·
If you include a
vendor/contractor on a contract or purchase order that has ONE price for the
entire effort, you will include ONE [email protected] $xx,xxx.xx (contract
price). Think about how you will address
this contractor in the Resource Sheet – labor or non-labor? Which makes sense?
·
You must include EVERYTHING it takes to do every task
at every level. The project sponsor and project manager should be able
to see how much EACH task (and lower
level tasks) costs individually.
·
Make sure that
the spreadsheet includes a clear
bottom line total of all project costs so that you and your
stakeholders can tell whether your plan is within the project budget or
not. And make sure that all required
data are included. In Excel, there is an expectation that the math will be accomplished by
the use of formulas.
·
You may want to
determine subtotals by cost type (labor, supplies, equipment, etc); and/or by
person if a person is assigned to work on than one task. But you still must
show the cost of each major task plus the total cost of the project.
·
The Cover Sheet
text document should include the SOURCES of your costs. For example, if you used a Department of
Labor category, the discussion should include why you used this source and the
appropriate citations.
Adding costs to
the WBS – Part 2b - Project
·
Assign costs (units and extensions) to
all resources and then to all tasks in the WBS.
·
In MS Project, make sure to insert the columns
as needed, into the appropriate views (e.g., Resource Sheet, Gantt chart,
etc.), to show the data required here (e.g., total costs, unit costs, rates,
cost type, etc). Remember that your
version of MS Project may use different names or labels for those data items /
columns than the textbook or tutorials.
Example
So,
for example, for a task to buy the paint to paint a bathroom, your resources
might include:
· Paint (5
gallons @$40/gallon = $200)
· Brushes (3 wall
brushes, 3 trim brushes each at $4.00 = $24)
· Gas to get to
paint store (12 miles is ½ gallon of gas @ $4.00 per gallon = $2.00)
Tips
·
Enter resources and
costs for each lowest level leaf node task. Add them up
for higher level roll-up summary and major task groups or phases. Do not directly enter costs for such summary
and major task groups individually
except by adding up the costs of the lower level tasks subordinate to the
summary and major task group and except for the task manager for the summary and
major tasks. MS Project should do the math at the higher levels automatically.
·
For all cost categories with unit costs or rates
(e.g., for labor costs, expendables and supplies, etc.), then for each line
item, make sure to include the unit costs (e.g., labor rates, costs per each, etc),
and the quantities used (e.g., hours, quantities ordered or used, etc), and the
extended costs (rates or unit costs times quantity).
·
Don’t forget to include expendable materials and
supplies (e.g., paint, brushes, etc), non-expendable equipment you might need
(copiers, printers, carts to transport equipment), maybe facilities (such as a
storage unit for staging equipment), and, of course the people who are doing
the work along with their labor rates, hours, and costs per person. If you include a vendor/contractor on a
contract or purchase order that has ONE price for the entire effort, you will
include ONE contractor @ $xx,xxx.xx (contract price). Think about how you will address this
contractor in the Resource Sheet – labor or non-labor? Which makes sense?
·
You must include EVERYTHING it takes to do every
task at every level.
·
Don't forget to include the costs the costs of
project management, change control processes, risk management processes, etc.
·
Make sure that there is a clear bottom line
total of all project costs so that you and your stakeholders can tell whether
your plan/proposal is within the project budget or not. (MS Project will do this for you
automatically, but you should check the appropriate views to make sure that it
does and that it includes everything you want.)
And make sure that all required data (fields, columns) are
included. Make sure to read the rubrics,
below.
·
You may want to determine subtotals by cost type
(labor, supplies, equipment, etc); and/or by person if a person is assigned to
work on than one task. (Again MS Project
should do this for you, but you may need to make sure it's set up properly, and
you should check the appropriate views to make sure that it does and that it
includes everything you want.) And don't
forget those roll-up summary and major task groups or phases.
Please ensure that your (MS Project (.mpp) file includes at
least the following fields (columns) visible in the left-hand table portion of
the Gantt chart view or the Tracking Gantt view and also in
the Resource Sheet view:
·
All fields from
ITP-2 and ITP-3
·
Resource Name
·
Material
·
Type
·
Group
·
Standard Rate
·
Cost per Unit
·
Cost
·
Work
3. Text Document
– Part 3
Please be sure to include an APA format Cover Sheet
and the Executive Summary with appropriate changes in the accompanying Word
document or text discussing the following questions:
1. How
did the team determine the appropriate resources? Were other similar projects
used to help determine resources that might be needed?
2. Was
a salary website or the Department of Labor website used to help determine the
hourly rate of the labor resources? If
not, how were hourly rates determined?
3.
Were other credible sources used to help the
team determine what non-labor
resources might be required?
4.
Did the team revisit the project charter to
ensure resources were consistent with the SCOPE of the project? This is particularly important in the case of
non-project team resources. For example,
if a server or telecom closet is to be built, do the resources include
construction types of resources? And did
the team consider appropriate mountings or furniture for the IT equipment in
the bakery areas?
5. Was
some work was contracted out? Why or why
not?
6. What
contractors or vendors might be involved in the project and what products or
services would they provide?
7. Were
the totals by task in Excel and the MS Project (.mpp) file the same? Was the total cost of the project the
same? If not, why not?
- Please have one person on the team stitle page information -- team name and table of team roles. Then just attach the .mpp.
·
ubmit the
MS Project (.mpp) file, the Excel file, and the Word file to your Assignment
Folder.
Approximate
breakdown by areas include:
o General:
Structure, Format, Mechanics, Style (~2%)
o Tasks
(~15%)
o Resources
(~15%)
o Non-labor
costs (~35%)
o Labor
/ human resources costs (~17%)
o Vendor
/ contractor costs (~4%)
o Roll
up (~5%)
o Other
(~3%)
o Questions
and rationale (~4%)
To earn 90-100% of
the points available for this assignment –
The TEAM WBS should have corrections made to durations and
predecessors as a result of sharing and looking at fellow classmates' MS
Project team efforts and in response to comments from the instructor.
Durations, predecessors and resources are assigned for all tasks.
Resources include all people, facilities, supplies, materials,
facilities, and contractors, etc. required to accomplish EACH task at EVERY
level. Anything that will be needed to accomplish the task is included as
a resource for that task. The RESOURCE SHEET View shows labor and
non-labor. Non-labor resources are properly categorized as expendable
material resources and supplies, or as non-expendable equipment and other costs. The
RESOURCES GRAPH shows no red bars for over-allocations. The accompanying
Word document or text answers all questions, explaining how the team determined
the appropriate resources, whether or not some work was contracted out and why,
what vendors might be involved in the project and what products or services they
would provide, and at least two academically credible resources plus the textbook
are used in the text and included in a Reference page.
Additionally, all costs are
included for expendable materials and supplies, non-expendable equipment,
facilities, and contractors or vendors. All people assigned to do the work of the
tasks are identified, along with their labor rates, hours, and costs per person. Include EVERYTHING
it takes to do every task at every level.
Make sure that there is a clear bottom line total of all project costs. Include costs for each lowest level leaf node
task. Add them up for higher level
roll-up summary and major task groups or phases. Do not assess costs against such summary and
major task groups individually except by adding up the costs of the lower level
tasks subordinate to the summary and major task group. Include subtotals by cost type (labor,
supplies, equipment, etc); and/or by person if a person is assigned to work on
than one task.
To earn 80-89% of
the points available for this assignment –
The TEAM WBS should have corrections made to durations and
predecessors as a result of sharing and looking at fellow classmates' MS
Project team efforts and in response to comments from the instructor.
Durations, predecessors and resources are assigned for all tasks.
Resources include the majority of people, facilities, supplies,
materials, facilities, and contractors, etc. required to accomplish EACH task
at EVERY level. Things that will be needed to accomplish the task are included
as resources for that task. The RESOURCE SHEET View shows labor and
non-labor. The RESOURCES GRAPH shows no more than 3 red bars for
over-allocations. The accompanying Word document or text answers most
questions, with some discussion related to how the team determined the
appropriate resources, whether or not some work was contracted out and why,
what vendors might be involved in the project and what products or services
they would provide, and at some reference sources are used in the text and
included in a Reference page.
Additionally, the majority of costs
are included for expendable materials and supplies, non-expendable equipment,
facilities, and contractors or vendors.
Most people assigned to do the work of the tasks are identified, along
with their labor rates, hours, and costs
per person. Include EVERYTHING it takes
to do every task at every level. Make
sure that there is a clear bottom line total of all project costs. Include costs
for each lowest level leaf node task.
Add them up for higher level roll-up summary and major task groups or
phases. Do not assess costs against such
summary and major task groups individually except by adding up the costs of the
lower level tasks subordinate to the summary and major task group.
To earn 70-79% of
the points available for this assignment –
The TEAM WBS should have most corrections made to durations and
predecessors as a result of sharing and looking at fellow classmates' MS
Project team efforts and in response to comments from the instructor.
Durations, predecessors and resources are assigned for all tasks.
Resources include people, facilities, supplies, materials, facilities,
and contractors, etc. required to accomplish most tasks. Things that will
be needed to accomplish the task are included as resources for that task.
The RESOURCE SHEET View shows labor and non-labor. The RESOURCES
GRAPH shows no more than 5 red bars for over-allocations. Some of the questions
are addressed.
Additionally, the majority of costs
are included for several categories such as expendable materials and supplies,
non-expendable equipment, facilities, and contractors or vendors. Most people assigned to do the work of the
tasks are identified, along with their labor rates, hours, and costs per person. Include most of what it takes to do every
task at every level. Make sure that there
is a clear bottom line total of all project costs. Include costs
for each lowest level leaf node task.
Add them up for higher level roll-up summary and major task groups or
phases. Do not assess costs against such
summary and major task groups individually except by adding up the costs of the
lower level tasks subordinate to the summary and major task group.
To earn 60-69% of
the points available for this assignment –
Durations, predecessors and resources are assigned for most
tasks. Resources include people, facilities, supplies, materials, facilities,
and contractors, etc. The RESOURCE SHEET View shows labor and non-labor.
The RESOURCES GRAPH shows no more than 7 red bars for over-allocations.
Additionally, the majority of costs
are included for categories such as expendable materials and supplies,
non-expendable equipment, facilities, and contractors or vendors. Most people assigned to do the work of the
tasks are identified, along with their labor rates, hours, and costs per person. Make sure that there is a clear bottom line
total of all project costs. Include costs
for each lowest level leaf node task.
Add them up for higher level roll-up summary and major task groups or
phases. Do not assess costs against such
summary and major task groups individually except by adding up the costs of the
lower level tasks subordinate to the summary and major task group.
Less than 60% -
Team efforts that do not meet the requirements will earn a
zero. Team efforts that are not original
work will earn a zero. Team efforts that
do not have proper APA references and citations to any included or quoted work
will earn at most 50%.
Please notice that there is a STRONG incentive for ALL team members to carefully proofread team documents before submitting. This incentive will continue through the semester.
Case Scenario – Mamma’s
Bakery and Sandwich Shoppe
Your team has been asked to prepare a project plan to
install an IT system in a local bakery.
Mamma Mia has been the
primary baker and bakery owner since its opening 15 years ago. The bakery is one of a dozen shops in a strip
mall in an up-and-coming part of town. The bakery is a walk-up-and-order
configuration with no seating space. Because the bakery has become more
successful over the years, Mamma Mia has decided that the time is right to
expand the bakery into the next store, which is now vacant, and she has signed
a contract for the two stores to be connected and remodeled. This space will more than double the size of
the current bakery. With this added-on/extra space, Mamma Mia would like to offer
her customers sandwiches and bakery items, as well as café-type seating. At the moment, the bakery employs 1 other
baker and 2 persons who wait on the customers at the counter. All paperwork,
bookkeeping, ordering supplies, hiring and firing, and keeping track of
inventory is done by Mamma. When the expansion construction is complete,
Mamma Mia anticipates hiring 4 additional people full time – 2 food-service
certified sandwich makers, 1 more baker, and 1 more counter server. She also intends to hire 1 person to track
inventory and order supplies, and 1 person to manage the bookkeeping, bill
paying, and finance parts of the business.
Because the bakery is now a small operation, all business is
done by telephone and with paper documents.
There is one cash register and all bakery goods are purchased with cash
or check. To coincide with the construction/expansion effort, Mamma would like
to have an IT system installed for point-of-sale, inventory, bookkeeping,
purposes. Mamma would like the system to
“connect” to her suppliers, the health department for food services, and other
business relationships. She would also
like a website so that she has an Internet presence and so her customers can
make advance orders for pick-up. Related
to that, she would like the system to be able to process debit and credit
cards.
Mamma Mia has identified $100,000 to provide an IT system
that will be modern, easy to use/employee and customer friendly, and will make
her bakery and sandwich shop more efficient. The cost estimate is just that –
an estimate.
Mamma has very little experience working with computers and
IT systems. She feels a bit “old
fashioned” but she is willing to learn and wants to be sure that her employees learn,
too, how to work with the IT system.
Mamma is your point of contact and the person yu will be working with as
you “fill-in” and finalize the requirements for the IT system, and then move to
the design and implementation of the IT system.
This means you will have a need to define and explain terms as you work
with her.
As you begin to plan the ITP project, keep in mind that
until now the client has had little or no IT system and has had no IT
staff. In addition, there is no networking,
LAN, or Internet installed, and no productivity software or other applications. You may assume that Internet connectivity is
available in the area, however (whether via ISP or satellite or whatever). Mamma Mia is the major stakeholder and your
point of contact for this proposal. Your
instructor will fill the role of Mamma and the major stakeholder. So all questions for the client should be
directed to your class instructor. Your team may consider clarifying the
requirements, including the available funding, through Private Message
email interviews with Mamma Mia.
Explanatory Notes and Tips
For those not intimately familiar with food services, please
consider the complex government regulatory requirements and electronic finance
requirements for e-banking, e-ordering, and e-commerce to deal with. You may need to address some basic privacy
requirements regarding the employees of the bakery.
Reminder: The project scenario was purposely designed
to leave some things up to you -- for a reason -- so that you can make it
whatever inspires you about the bakery and its automation and sounds fun to do.
Other things were omitted in order to both minimize the length
of the assignment document so that you don't bite off more than you can chew,
and to be realistic. In real world project management, it is very
typical for the clients to be experts in their own business areas but have
little knowledge of IT or especially of projects. Consequently they have little understanding
of what kinds of information are needed to do a project, and especially of what
levels of detail are needed. They also
have little knowledge of technical IT details that may be important for an IT
project but aren't their field of expertise.
The clients often genuinely don't know what they want or need. They don't know what IT can and can't do for
them, so they don't know what to ask for or what's reasonable or unreasonable
to request. They also speak a different
language than we do. The result is that
their requests are often quite vague from our point of view (even on the
occasions that they seem specific from their point of view). This will be the case with Mamma Mia!
So what happens? The project team must ask. The
project team has to spend a lot of time eliciting requirements, assumptions,
constraints, business rules, and so forth; especially requirements. This is usually iterative, takes a lot of
time, and continues (though hopefully decreasing) throughout the project. I'll try to reduce the iterative and
incremental nature a bit in order to speed things up a bit for this class. Nevertheless, we intentionally want the
project management experience to be realistic, so there are a lot of open ended
things in the project scenario that the teams will simply have to ask about.
Who does the team ask?
The client, of course. In this ITP
class project, the professor serves in the role of instructor and also in the
roles of the client, project sponsor, and functional business
stakeholders. So when you need more
information than you are given -- which will occur, especially during the
project charter and WBS phases -- don't
guess, please ask!
USA 
India