Anticlue

Activity Definition

Activity Definition is the process of decomposing a project into a number of tasks which are needed to complete the deliverables. The inputs to the Activity Definition process are:

1. Enterprise Environmental Factors – Enterprise environmental factors are all of the external and internal organizational influences which may impact the project’s success. Within the process of activity definition it is useful to review all enterprise environmental factors. Afterwards the pm should determine with factors are important to the project and plan accordingly.
2. Organizational Process Assets – Organizational process assets are the historical information from current or previous projects. The process information can be plans, standard operating policies and procedures, and lessons learned from other projects. These assets are a good qualifying check to determine is the activity appearance of being simple or complex is actually the case.
3. The Project Scope Statement – The project scope statement provides a description of the project scope, major deliverables, objectives, assumptions, constraints, and the statement of work.
4. Work Breakdown Structure –The work breakdown structure is the hierarchical decomposition of the work to be completed to deliver the project. The WBS comprises the scope of the project at a work package level. This document can be in outline and/or graphical format.
5. The WBS Dictionary – The WBS dictionary provides additional information about each component in the WBS. Normally this encompasses a statement of work, the deliverable, associated activities, responsible party, resources needed, cost estimate, quality requirements, and technical reference materials needed among other items. It is useful to identify what other activities may need to be defined.
6. The Project Management Plan – Two components of the project management plan are used as inputs to Activity Definition. They are:
   • The Project Scope Management Plan – The Project scope management plan describes how the project scope will be defined, developed, verified, and controlled. This is a useful checkpoint to assure only activities which are within scope are defined.
   • Schedule Management Plan – The Schedule Management provides how the schedule will be tracked, how changes to the schedule will be managed and how the work will be monitored.

With these inputs, the project manager can use the information provided to clearly define what activities are to be done to complete the project objectives. As we all know re-invention of the wheel is costly in time and effort, there are tools and techniques which can be utilized to assist in the Activity Definition process.

The tools and techniques are:

1. Decomposition – Decomposition is the process dividing each work package into smaller manageable parts. Employing the decomposition technique involves reviewing the work packages and deliverables, then defining the activities required to complete the work package and/or deliverable. The Activity List is then created by this process.
2. Templates – Templates are an organization’s standard documents on how to do things that are similar. So, need an activity list, look at a similar project as a template.
3. Rolling wave planning – Rolling wave planning is an iterative planning approach commonly used with the larger projects. The project begins with a plan at a high level, as time progress the activities necessary to complete the project become more tangible. The planning process is revisited to refine the high level planning to a detail level. A key point is that the planning wave is always moved to stay ahead of the execution wave.
4. Expert Judgment – Expert Judgment is the art of listening to those with experience so one can benefit from that expert. Relevant expertise in similar project can be worth its weight in platinum. For example, when implementing a CPOE, isn’t it better to have people on the team who have been there and done that?
5. Planning component – A planning component is employed when it is difficult to create detailed work packages, because there isn’t sufficient information. A planning component estimates the time and resources necessary to produce the identified work package.
   A planning component comprises two aspects:
   • The control account - A control account is a level within the WBS that can be used to monitor cost and schedule performance. It represents work within a single WBS element, and it is the responsibility of a single organizational unit.
   • The planning package - A planning package describes the work to be done within a control account that has not yet been defined as work packages and schedule activities.

Using the tools and techniques, the project manager will be able to transition the inputs to outputs for the Activity Definition process.

The four outputs of the Activity Definition process are:

1. Activity List – The Activity List is a list of all the activities that will be performed in the project.
2. Activity attributes – Activity attributes are details about schedule activities that allow scheduling, sorting, and ordering. Activity attributes have been known to include activity codes, related activities, physical location, responsible persons, assumptions, and constraints.
3. Requested changes – Request Changes are modifications to the project. When defining activities, requested changes typically pertain to schedule activities and attributes. Requested changes must go through the Integrated Change Control process.
4. Milestones - Milestones are important events that are either reached within the project—such as the completion of a particular phase—or imposed on the project—such as an ordering deadline. The Milestone List is a component of the Project Management Plan.

Simply stated Activity Definition helps you plan ahead and get results.