UNIT-III

ACTIVITY PLANNING
16 MARKS
1. Question:
Write short notes on
(i) Objectives of activity planning
(ii) Project schedules
(iii) Sequencing and scheduling activities.
Answer:
(i) THE OBJECTIVES OF ACTIVITY PLANNING:
a) Feasibility assessment:
We have constructed a detailed plan that we can forecast a completion date with any,
reasonable knowledge of its achievability.
b) Resource allocation:
The project plan allows us to investigate the relationship between timescale and resource
availability and the efficacy of additional spending on resource procurement.
c) Detailed costing:
After producing an activity plan and allocating specific resources, we can obtain more
detailed estimates of costs and their timing.
d) Motivation:
Providing targets and being seen to monitor achievement against targets is an effective
way of motivating staff, particularly where they have been involved in setting those
targets in the first place.
e) Co – ordination:
This co – ordination will normally form part of programme management.

(ii) PROJECT SCHEDULES:

Before work commences on a project or possibly, a stage of a larger project, the project
plan must be developed to the level of showing dates when each activity should start and
finish and when and how much of each resource will be required. Once the plan has been

1
 refined to this level of detail we call it a project schedule, creating a project schedule
comprises four main stages.
 The first step, in producing a plan is to decide what activities need to be carried
out and in what order they are to be done.
 The 2nd step, we construct a ideal activity plan, that is a plan of when each activity
would ideally be undertaken were resources not a constraints.
 The 3rd step is resource allocation. The expected availability of resources might
place constraints on when certain activities can be carried out, and our ideal plan
might need to be adapted to take account of this.
 The final step is schedule production. Once resources have been allocated to each
activity, we will be in a position to drawn up and publish a project schedule,
which indicates planned start and completion dates and a resource requirements
statement for each activity.

(iii) SEQUENCING AND SCHEDULING ACTIVITIES:

Throughout a project, we will require a schedule that clearly indicates when each of the
projects activities is planned to occur and what resources it will need.

The chart shown has been drawn up taking account of the nature of the development process and
the resources that are available. In drawing, up the chart, we have therefore done 2 things – we
have sequenced the task and scheduled them.

2
The scheduling has had to take account of the availability of staff and the ways in which the
activities have been allocated to them. The schedule might look quite different were there a
different number of staff or were we to allocate the activities differently.
In the case of small projects, this combined sequencing scheduling approach might be quite
suitable, particularly where we wish to allocate individuals to particular tasks at an early
planning stage. However, on larger projects it is better to separate out these 2 activities: to
sequence the task according to their logical relationships and then to schedule them taking in to
account resources and other factors.

2. Question:
Explain in detail about network planning models?
Answer:
NETWORK PLANNING MODELS:
The network planning models is development in 1950’s. There are 3 different network planning
models are there.
(i) CPM (critical path method)
(ii) PERT (program evaluation review technique)
(iii) Precedence networks.
CPM (or) formulating a network model:
The first stage in creating a network model is to represent the activities and their
interrelationships as a graph.

In CPM, by representing activities as links (arrowed lines) in the graph – the nodes (circles)
representing the events of activities starting and finishing.

3
Constructing CPM networks:
Rules:
(a) A project network may have only one start node:
The start node designates the point at which the project may start. All activities coming
from that node may start immediately resources are available – that is they do not a have
to wait for any other activities to be completed.
(b) A project network may have only one end node:
The end node designates the completion of the project and a project may only finish once.
(c) Link has duration:
A link represents an activity and, in general, activities take time to execute.
(d) Nodes have no duration:
The source node is the event of the project becoming ready to start and the sink node is
the event of the project becoming completed. Intermediate nodes represent 2
simultaneous events – the event of all activities leading out of that node being in a
position to be started.

Node 3 is the event that both coding and data take – on have been completed and activity
program testing is free to start. Installation may be started only when event 4 has been
achieved, that is as soon as program testing has been completed.
(e) Time mores from left to right:
If at all possible, networks are drawn so that time moves from, left to right. It is rare that
this convention needs to be flouted but, in any case, the arrows on the activity lines give a
strong visual indication of the time flow of the project.
(f) Nodes are numbered sequentially:
There are no precise rules about node numbering but nodes should be numbered so that
head nodes always have a higher number than tail events (end of an activity).

4
(g) Network may not contain loops:

A loop is an error in that it represents a situation that cannot occur in practice. While,
loops in the sense of iteration, may occur in practice, they cannot be directly represented
in a project network.
(h) A network may not contain dangles:
A dangling activity such as write user manual cannot exist, as it would suggest there are2
completion points for the project.

(i) Precedents are the immediate preceding activities:

Code

Install
3
4
Program test

Data take – on

5
The activity program test cannot start until both code and data take – on have been
completed and activity install cannot start until program test has finished. Code and data
take –on can therefore be said to be precedents of program test and program test is a
precedence of install. We do not speak of code and data take – on as precedents of install
that relationship is implicit in the previous statement.

Problem:
What they wrong with each of them and where possible redraw them correctly.

6
3. Question:
What are the steps in forward pass and backward pass with example
Answer:
THE FORWARD PASS:
The forward pass is carried out to calculate the earliest date on which each event may be
achieved and the earliest date on which each activity may be started and completed. The
earliest date for an event is the earliest date by which all activities upon which it depends can
be completed.
The forward pass and the calculation of earliest start date is calculated according to the
following reasoning.

Fig CPM network after the forward pass

7
Activity Duration(week) Earliest start date Latest start date Earliest finish date Latest finish date Total float
A 6 0 6
B 4 0 4
C 3 6 9
D 4 4 8
E 3 4 7
F 10 0 10
G 3 10 13
H 2 9 11
Table activity table for forward pass

 Activities A, B and F may start immediately, so that earliest date for event 1 is zero
and the earliest start date for these 3 activities is also zero.
 Activity A will take 6 weeks, so the earliest it can finish is week 6. Therefore for the
earliest we can achieve event 2 is week 6.
 Activity B will take 4 weeks, so the earliest it can finish and the earliest we can
achieve event 3 is week 4.
 Activity F will take 10 weeks, so the earliest it can finish is week 10 – we cannot
however tell whether or not this is also the earliest date that we can achieve event 5
since we have not, as yet, calculated when activity E will finish.
 Activity E can start as early as week 4 (the earliest date for event 3) and since it is
forecasted to take 3 weeks will be completed, at the earliest, at the end of week 7.
 Event 5 may be achieved when both E and F have been completed, that is week 10.
 Similarly we can reason that event will have an earliest date of week 9. This is the
later of the earliest finish for activity D and the earliest finish for activity C.
 The earliest date for the completion of the project event 6, is therefore the end of
week 13. The later of 11 and 13.
THE BACKWARD PASS:
The backward pass rule:
The latest date for an event is the latest start date for all the activities that may commence
from that event. Where more than one activity commences at a common event we take the
earliest of the latest start dates for those activities.

8
 Fig CPM network after the backward pass
Activity Duration(week) Earliest start date Latest start date Earliest finish date Latest finish date Total float
A 6 0 2 6 8
B 4 0 3 4 7
C 3 6 8 9 11
D 4 4 7 8 11
E 3 4 7 7 10
F 10 0 0 10 10
G 3 10 10 13 13
H 2 9 11 11 13
Table activity table for backward pass

The latest event dates are calculated as follows.

 The latest date for node 6 is assumed to be week 13, the same as the earliest date.
 The latest date for event 5 is week 10, since activity G will take 3 weeks and must be
completed by week 13 if the project end date is not to be exceeded.
 The latest date for event 4 is week 11 since activity H does not need to be started until
week 11 if it takes 2 weeks and does not need to be completed until week 13.
 The latest date for event 3 is the latest date by which we must be in a position to start
both activities D and E. activity E need not finish until week 10 and need not
therefore start until week 7. Activity D need not finish until week 11 and, having

9
 duration of 4 weeks; need not start until week 7. The latest date for event 3 is
therefore week 7.
 The latest date for event2 is week 8 since C, which takes 3 weeks, need not be
finished until week 11.
 The earliest and latest dates for the start event must always be the same unless an
arithmetic error has occurred.
 The latest date for event 1 is the latest by which we must be in a position to start
activity A, activity B, and activity F. this event’s latest date is therefore zero. This is,
of course not very surprising since it tells us that if the project does not start on time it
won’t finish on time.

4. Question:
Write short notes on
(a) Activity float
(b) Shortening the project duration
(c) Activity on arrow networks.
Answer:
(a) ACTIVITY FLOAT:
Whereas events have slack, activities posses float. The total float is the difference between
the earliest start date of an activity and its latest start.
Activity Duration(week) Earliest start date Latest start date Earliest finish date Latest finish date Total float
A 6 0 2 6 8 2
B 4 0 3 4 7 3
C 3 6 8 9 11 2
D 4 4 7 8 11 3
E 3 4 7 7 10 3
F 10 0 0 10 10 0
G 3 10 10 13 13 0
H 2 9 11 11 13 2
Table total float for each activity

10
There are 2 types in activity float
1. Free float
2. Interfering float.
Free float:
The time, by which an activity may be delayed without affecting any subsequent activity, it is
calculated as the difference between the earliest completion date for the activity and the
earliest start date of the succeeding activity. This might be considered a more satisfactory
measure of float for publicizing to the staff involved in undertaking the activities.
Interfering float:
The difference between total float and free float, this is quite commonly used, particularly in
association with the free float. Once the free float has been used, the interfering float tells us
by how much the activity may be delayed without delaying the project and date – even
though it will delay the start of subsequent activities.
(b) SHORTENING THE PROJECT DURATION:
If we wish to shorten the overall duration of a project we would normally consider
attempting to reduce activity durations. In many cases, this can be done by applying more
resources to the task – working overtime or procuring additional staff.
There will come a point when we can no longer safely, or cost –effectively reduce critical
activity in an attempt to bring forward the project end date.
Further savings, if needed must be sought in a consideration of our work methods and by
questioning the logical sequencing of activities. Generally, time savings are to be found by
increasing the amount of parallelism in the network and the removal of bottlenecks.
(c) ACTIVITY – ON ARROW NETWORKS:
CPM and PERT both methods are used on activity on arrow networks.
In activity arrow on networks activities are represented by links (on arrows) and nodes are
represented events of activities starting or finish.

11
 Fig activity on arrow network

Activity on – arrow network rules and conventions:

(a) A project network may have only one start node:
This is a requirement of activity on arrow networks rather than merely desirable as is the
case with activity on node networks.
(b) A project network may have only one end node:
Again, this is a requirement for activity on arrow networks.
(c) Link has duration:
A link represents an activity and, in general, activities take time to execute.
(d) Nodes have no duration:
Nodes are events and as such are instantaneous points in time. The source node is the
event of the project becoming ready to start and the sink node is the event of the project
becoming completed. Intermediate nodes represent 2 simultaneous events the event of all
activities leading in to a node having been completed and the event of all activities
leading out of that node being in a position to be started.
(e) Time mores from left to right:
As with, activity on node networks, activity on arrow networks are drawn if at all
possible so that time moves from, left to right.
(f) Nodes are numbered sequentially:
There are no precise rules about node numbering but nodes should be numbered so that
head nodes always have a higher number than tail events. This convention makes it easy
to spot loops.

12
(g) Network may not contain loops:

The figure demonstrates a loop in an activity on arrow network. As discussed in the

context of precedence networks, loops are either an error of logic or a situation that must
be resolved by itemizing iterations of activity groups.
(h) A network may not contain dangles:
Dangles are not allowed in activity on arrow networks.

5. Question:
Explain in detail about Risk Management
Answer:
RISK MANAGEMENT:
Risk is defined as “an uncertain event or condition that, if it occurs, has a positive or negative
effect on a project ‘objectives’.
Key elements of risk:
1. It relates to the further
2. It involves cause and effect:
The key role of risk management is considering uncertainty remaining after a plan has
been formulated. Even plan is based on assumptions and risk management tries to plan
for and control the simulations where those assumptions become incorrect.
TYPES OF RISK:
There are 2 types of risk are available.
1. Business risk
2. Sociotechnical model of risk
13
Business risk:
Business risk is likely to be outside the direct responsibilities of the application
implementation team. However, the failure to meet any project objective could have a
negative impact on the business case for the project.
Sociotechnical model of risk:

It is a diagrammatic representation. The box labeled “technology” encompasses both the

technology used to implement the application and that embedded in the delivered products
risks here could relate to the appropriateness of the technologies and to possible faults within
them, especially if they are novel.
“Structure” describes the management structures and systems including those affecting
planning and control.
“Tasks” relates to the work planned. For instance, the complexity of the work might lead to
delays because of the additional time required integrate the large number of components.
The box labeled “actors” refers to all the people involved in the development of the
application in question. A typical risk in this area is that high staff turnover leads to expertise
of value to the project being lost.
All boxes are interrelated. Risks often arise from the relationships between factors. For
example between technology and people, if a development technology is novel then the
developers might not be experienced in its use and delay results. The novelty of the new
technology is really a characteristic of the developers: once they are used to the technology, it
is no longer novel.

14
MANAGING RISKS:
The objective of risk management is to avoid or minimize the adverse effects of unforeseen
events by avoiding the risks. There are a number of models for risk management. They
identify the two components – risk identification and risk management.
Risk identification:
It consists of listening all of the risks that can adversely affect the successful execution of the
project.
Risk estimation:
It consists of assessing the likelihood and impact of each hazard.

Risk evaluation:
It consists of ranking the risks and determining risk aversion strategies.
Risk planning:
It consists of drawing up contingency plans and, where appropriate, adding these to the
projects task structure. With small projects, risk planning is likely to be the responsibility of
the project manager but medium or large projects will benefit from the appointment of a full
– time risk manager.
Risk control:
It concerns the main functions of the risk manager in minimizing are reacting to problems
throughout the project. This function will include aspects of quality control in addition to
dealing with problems as they occur.

15
Risk monitoring:
It must be an ongoing activity, as the importance and likelihood of particular risks can
change as the project proceeds.
Risk directing and risk staffing:
They are concerned with the day – to – day management of risk. Risk aversion and problem
solving strategies frequently involve the use of additional staff and this must be planned for
and directed.
For effective risk management, it is important that the project teams are encouraged to
identify and discuss risks as early as possible in the project’s life.
RISK PLANNING AND CONTROL:
Risk planning:
The choices of risk planning is
 Risk acceptance
 Risk avoidance
 Risk reduction and mitigation
 Risk transfer
Risk acceptance:
This is the do – nothing option.
Risk avoidance:
Some activities may be so prone to accident that it is best to avoid them altogether.
Risk reduction:
If it is identified the risk, steps might have been taken to reduce possible departures of
staff. For instance, the developers might have been promised generous bonuses to be paid
on successful completion of the project.
Risk mitigation:
Risk mitigation is action taken to ensure that the impact of the risk is lessened when it
occurs. Mitigation is closely associated with contingency planning.
Risk transfer:
The risk is transferred to another person or organization.

16
THE NATURE OF RISK:
The purpose of identifying and managing those risks that may cause a project to overrun
its time scale or budget, it is convenient to identify 3 types of risk.
1. Those caused by the inherent difficulties of estimation
2. Those due to assumptions made during the planning process.
3. Those of unforeseen events occurring.
Estimation errors:
Estimation can be improved by analyzing historic data for similar activities and
similar systems. Keeping records comparing our original estimates with the final
outcome will reveal the type of tasks that are difficult to estimate correctly.
Planning assumptions:
At every stage during planning, assumptions are made which if not valid, may put the
plan at risk. Our activity network, for example, is likely to be built on the assumption
of using a particular design methodology – which may be subsequently changed. We
generally assume that, following coding, a module will be tested and then integrated
with others. We might not plan for module testing showing up the need for changes in
the original design but, in the event, it might happen.
At each stage in the planning process, it is important to list explicitly all of the
assumptions that have been made and identify what effects they might have on the
plan if they are inappropriate.
Eventualities:
The majority of unexpected events can, in fact, be identified – the requirements
specification might be altered after some of the modules have been coded, the senior
programmer might take maternity leave, the required hardware might not be delivered
on time. Such events do happen from time to time and although the likelihood of any
one of them happening during a particular project may be relatively low, they must be
considered and planned for.

17
 2MARKS
1. What is RISK management?
Risk management is the procedure that explains the process of managing risk through
analysis. This procedure does not provide solutions to perceived risks.
2. What is brainstorming?
Brainstorming refers to the process of a group of colleagues meeting and working
collaboratively to generate creative solutions and new ideas.
3. What is knowledge management?
Knowledge management is the combination of activities involved in gathering,
organizing, sharing, analyzing, and disseminating knowledge to improve an
organization’s performance.
4. How you can collect internal data and external data?
Internal data are collected within the organization, usually by transaction processing
systems, but also through employee and customer surveys.
External data is collected from a wide array of sources outside the organization.
5. What is unstructured data?
Unstructured data are the data drawn from meeting discussions, private conversations,
textual documents, graphical representations and other “non uniform” sources.
6. What is structured data?
Structured data are numbers and facts that can be conveniently stored and retrieved I an
orderly manner for operations and decision-making.
7. What are the phases in systems development life cycle (SDLC)?
1. Planning
2. Analysis
3. Design
4. Implementation
5. Support
8. What is ROI?
The Return on Investment is a calculation of the difference between the stream of
benefits and the stream of costs over the life of the system, discounted by the applicable
interest rate.
9. Write some ways to collect information for system requirements.
1. Interviews
2. Questionnaires
3. Examination of documents
4. On-the-job observation
10. Write the goals of project management.
1. Complete the project on time
2. Complete the project within budget.
3. Meet requirements.
4. Meet expectations
11. What is outsourcing?
Outsourcing-trusting all or part of an organization’s IS operation to an outside company.
12. Write any four competencies to define goal and scope of the software project.
Defining the product, documenting plan. Estimating cost, estimating effort.

18
13. Differentiate product view and project view
Product view-hierarchical relationship among product elements
Project view- hierarchical relationship among work activities.
14. Name any four guiding principles for selecting a project team.
Public, client and employer, product, judgment.
15. Write any two disadvantages of using LOC
LOC is difficult to estimate for new software early in the life cycle There are no industry
standards for counting lines of code.
16. What is regression model?
A regression model is derived from a statistical interpretation of historical data to
describe a mean or typical relationship between variables.
17. Write the network diagram methods?
1. PERT – Program Evaluation and Review Techniques.
2. CPM – Critical Path Method
18. Difference between earliest start and earliest finish?
The earliest time period that the activity can start, the earliest finish means that earliest
time period that the activity can finish.
19. What is critical path?
The path with zero flexibility is called the critical path, because it will have zero float
between all of its activities.
20. List the objectives of activity planning?
1. Feasibility assessment
2. Resource allocation
3. Detailed costing
4. Motivation
5. Co – ordination
21. What is project schedule?
Once the plan has been refined to detail level, then it is called as project schedule.
22. What are the four main stages of project schedule?
1. Ideal activity plan
2. Risk analysis
3. Resource allocation
4. Schedule production
23. List the approaches for identifying activities / tasks that produce a project?
1. Activity based approach
2. Product based approach
3. Hybrid approach
24. What is product flow diagram (PFD)?
The PFD indicates, for each product, which other products are required as inputs. The
PFD can therefore be easily transformed in to an ordered list of activities by identifying
that turn some products in to others.
25. List some of the rules for constructing CPM network?
1. A project network may have only one start node
2. A project network may have only one end node.
3. A line has duration.
4. Nodes have no duration.

19
 5. Time moves from left to right
6. Nodes are numbered sequentially.
7. A network may not contain loops.
8. A network may not contain dangles.
9. Precedents are the immediate preceding activities.
26. What is forward pass?
The network analysed by carrying forward pass is, to calculate the earliest dates as which
activities may commence and the project be completed.
27. What is backward pass?
It calculates the latest start dates for activities and the critical path.
28. What you mean by activity float?
Whenever an event have slack, then activity posses float.
29. What are the 2 types of activity float?
1. Free float
2. Interfering float
30. What is free float and interfering float?
Free float:
It is calculated as the difference between the earliest completion date for the activity and
the earliest start date of the succeeding activity.
Interfering float:
It is the difference between total float and free float.
31. What is hazard?
A hazard is an event that might occur and will, if it does occur, create a problem for the
successful completion of the project.
32. What are the 2 strategies for managing risks?
1. Reducing the risk exposure by reducing the likelihood or impact.
2. Drawing up contingency plans to deal with the risk should it occur.
33. What are the 5 strategies of reducing the risk?
1. Hazard prevention
2. Likelihood reduction
3. Risk avoidance
4. Risk transfer
5. Contingency planning.

20