AACE INTERNATIONAL PLANNING

(including top management) before any actual planning is

begun. The basic approach to planning involves segmenting GLOSSARY TERMS IN THIS CHAPTER
the total endeavor into manageable parts, planning each part
in detail, combining the parts, testing the total against project planning ◆ scheduling
objectives, and then refining the planning as necessary to work breakdown structure (WBS)
eliminate variances from the objectives.

In addition, great attention should be paid to accurately
defining the scope of work since scope definition in and of
itself provides a means of identifying areas where planning
for changes (as discussed later in this chapter) should take
place. The most effective tool to use in ensuring that all work
scope is planned is the work breakdown structure (WBS).
The WBS is a tree structure of successively further break-
downs of work scope into component parts for planning,
assigning responsibility, managing, controlling, and report-
ing project progress. All planning efforts should be organized
to the WBS developed for the project.
Planning takes place in numerous categories, but the most
important of these are time, cost, resources, and quality.
Time Planning
Time planning entails developing plans, usually in the form of
summary schedules, to accomplish all elements of an objective
within an established time period. Later in the life cycle, these
summary schedules are developed into detail schedules for
accomplishing discrete tasks. This process begins with estab-
lishing a need date or other milestone at which all actions must
be complete, and works backward from that point.
The second step in time planning is dividing the total effort
into component parts. After components are identified, they
should be arrayed in the order of their accomplishments.
This goes beyond merely preparing a list, however, since
some activities must be handled in strict sequence while oth-
ers may be executed simultaneously. For still others, a num-
ber of options may exist. One of the most advantageous for-
mats for arraying activities is the critical path logic diagram.
In this format, arrows or nodes representing each component
or activity are displayed in logical sequence, showing
dependencies among all activities where an actual constraint
is present (e.g., one activity cannot start before another is fin-
ished). Since several ways of handling the overall project
may exist, it may be appropriate to develop two or more logic
diagrams and then test each option. Figure 12.1 contains a
simple logic diagram for marketing a new project manage-
ment software program.
After the logical display is complete, a duration is assigned to
each activity, based either on data contained in a software
program or on experience of the planning participants. Then,
using critical path techniques (as discussed in chapter 13), the
total time requirement for the endeavor is determined. If the
total exceeds the available time, planners must reevaluate
their work and take whatever action is needed to meet time
objectives: perhaps optional activities can be dropped and
others can be shortened by applying more resources or other
schedule compression techniques. The results of time plan-
ning can be displayed in numerous ways: the critical path
logic diagram mentioned above, a bar chart, or a simple time
table. Scheduling is discussed in greater detail in chapter 13.

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Figure 12.1—Simple Logic Diagram

12.3