|
Schedule
Now that you have identified what needs to be done and who needs do it, you can determine the schedule for completing the work. Ask all team members to complete a work package plan for each work package to which they have been assigned.
Each work package should include the following information:
- Team or individual responsible for the work package
- The WBS number for the work package
- A breakdown of all tasks that must be completed to build the work package, showing these details for each task:
- Task name and description
- Names of people doing each task
- Work, usually in hours or days, required to complete each task
If you are using project management software, such as MS Project, you can enter each of your work packages, along with resource allocations and required work, as tasks. If necessary, you can also enter all of the tasks identified by your project teams, but this may be a little bit too much detail to effectively manage.
Next, indicate the order in which the work packages need to be completed. This produces a basic network diagram. E-learning often uses a flow such as this: (click to enlarge)
|
|
FS means the previous work package must be finished to start the next one, while FF means the previous work package must be finished before the next one is finished. For example, development can start once the storyboards are finished, but it cannot finish until the graphics and audio are completed.
Finally, enter the start date for the work and, if required, the end date.
Once all of this information is entered, you can either manually set the schedule or use the software's leveling tools. Your output is a schedule showing when work occurs on each work package.
The leveling process also tells you if your schedule is unrealistic, at which point you need to decide what changes you need to make in order to complete the project. Typical strategies for a creating a realistic schedule are:
- " Assigning more resources
- " Reducing the scope of the project
- " Changing the deadlines
Budget
After creating all work packages, you can tell how much your development will cost. Your budget should include the following information:
- Human resources (Multiply the hours of work from all Work Packages by the hourly rates of the resources responsible for performing the work)
- Infrastructure procurement (List the cost of any software or hardware you need to pay for, as identified in the Infrastructure Analysis (see Defining the Curriculum & Communication Times, December 2005)
- Development procurement (List the cost of any software or hardware you need to pay for, as identified by what your resources tell you they need for developing e-Learning)
- Translation costs, publishing costs, and other costs that you think may be incurred during the project
|
|
Project Charter
The project charter is the compilation of all the project information you have created. It should be presented in a single document to your sponsors for review and sign-off
The project charter is your authorization by the sponsor to work on the project and provides an agreement between you and your sponsor regarding scope, schedule, and costs.
Your sponsor may require changes to the project charter, and these changes should be agreed upon before any work begins.
Conclusion
The information I've addressed above covers the core information you should gather as part of your project planning. Additional details which could have a significant effect on your project include how you plan to manage risk, communications, and the effects of change on your audience. Each of these topics merits its own article, so perhaps I will cover them in the future. In the meantime, the information presented here will get you started on planning your E-learning projects.
My next article discusses the principles of good design for E-learning, including how users access E-learning, effective instructional design strategies, and the difference between presenting procedural information and reference information.
|
