Page 53 - DCAP304_DCAP515_SOFTWARE_PROJECT_MANAGEMENT

Unit 2: Step Wise Project Planning

To understand WBS, we must know about activity. Notes
An activity is nothing but simply a chunk of work. Activities turn to tasks at some level in the
hierarchy. A task is a smaller chunk of work. The terms activity and task have been used
interchangeably among project managers and project management software packages.

Work Package

A work package is a complete description of how the tasks that make up an activity will actually
be done. It includes a description of the what, who, when, and how of the work.

Decomposition

Breaking down work into a hierarchy of activities, tasks, and work packages is called
decomposition. For example, take a look at the top of the WBS in Figure 2.2. Notice that:
 The goal statement from the POS is defined as a Level 0 activity in the WBS.
 The next level, Level 1, is a decomposition of the Level 0 activity into a set of activities
defined as Level 1 activities. These Level 1 activities are major chunks of work. When the
work associated with each Level 1 activity is complete, the Level 0 activity is complete.
For this example, that means that the project is complete. As a general rule, when an
activity at Level n is decomposed into a set of activities at Level n+1 and the work associated
with those activities is complete, the activity at Level n, from which they were defined, is
complete.

Notes Importance of decomposition: Decomposition is important to the overall project
plan because it allows you to estimate the duration of the project, determine the required
resources, and schedule the work. The complete decomposition will be developed by
using the completeness criteria discussed later in this unit. By following those criteria, the
activities at the lowest levels of decomposition will possess known properties that allow
us to meet planning and scheduling needs.

WBS is explained briefly in Unit-3
2.1.4 Scope Verification

Verification is a quality guarantying procedure or technique applied by Project Management
whereby a valuation of a component, product or service is finished at the end of a phase or
project to verify or confirm that it assures all of the regulations or specification requirements.
Verification can take place during production or development, and is usually an internal process.
In contrast, validation is the process by which the Project Management set up that the component;
product or service meets the needs of the intended end-user or customer. It can be said that
validation assures that the correct component, product or service was created, and verification
guarantee that it was built or produced correctly. Building the correct component speaks to end-
users needs, while doing it correctly checks that the actual development process was followed
suitably. In some applications, requirements are such that it is necessary to have written
requirements for verification and validation, as well as formal protocols for determining
compliance. Project Management efficiently implementing a verification/validation process
can save the producer from the financial burden of expensive recall campaigns, costly product
rework, and unexpected delays in product releases.

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