NURS 6441: Project Management: Healthcare Information Technology | Week 7

Have you ever seen a spider web outside in the first light of day? The dew of the early morning outlines the complex interconnections of the web. Though delicate, each strand is integral to the strength of the whole. To guarantee the success of a project, it is essential that the project manager is able to see the interconnections between each of the elements of a plan. The more complex a project, the more interconnections there will be. The ability to identify these interconnections and to discern how tasks depend on each other allows a project manager to construct precise schedules that reflect the key processes and timing of a project implementation. This information is vital during the planning phase of any project. Discussion: Task Dependencies Nursing Essay

In this week, you assess the importance of accurately identifying dependencies in a project timeline. In addition, you explore the specifics of planning a project, from the identification of the specific tasks in the project to the step-by-step development of the project schedule.

Learning Objectives – NURS 6441: Week 7: Project Planning, Part II 

Students will:

• Illustrate dependencies between tasks in a health information technology project timeline
• Assess the importance of accurately identifying dependencies in a project timeline
• Construct a schedule in Microsoft Project that illustrates dependencies*
• Produce a work breakdown structure (WBS) for a project in healthcare
• Synthesize insights related to evaluation and lessons learned*
• Synthesize insights related to scope, budgeting, risk management, and team building

* The Assignment related to these Learning Objectives are introduced this week and submitted in Week 9.

Learning Resources

Note: To access this week’s required library resources, please click on the link to the Course Readings List, found in the Course Materials section of your Syllabus.

Required Readings

Coplan, S., & Masuda, D. (2011). Project management for healthcare information technology. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

• Chapter 3, “Project Management”
  • • “Time Management” (pp. 59–68)

  This section of Chapter 3 focuses on how project managers may plan and control a project schedule to complete a project in a given timeframe. The chapter explains the various aspects of tasks, resources, and scheduling that are necessary for effective time management.

Project Management Institute. (2017). A guide to the project management body of knowledge (PMBOK® guide) (6th ed.). Newtown Square, PA: Author.

• Chapter 6 “Project Time Management”This chapter provides an overview of processes that can be used to manage a project so that it is completed on time: defining activities, sequencing activities, estimating activity resources, estimating activity durations, developing a schedule, and controlling a schedule.

Biffi, M.-H. (2008). Linking the estimate, the schedule and the cost control through a standardized WBS. AACE International Transactions, 1–11.

This article explores how a WBS can link almost all the aspects of a project. The author describes how a WBS can be the starting point for many other documents that organize a project.

Fretty, P. (2012). On the right track. PM Network, 26(9), 50–55.

This article examines the consequences of accelerating a project schedule and provides guidelines for when a project should be “fast-tracked.”

Pells, D. L. (2012). Seek the truth! [Special section, Editorial]. PM World Today, 14(2), 1–10.

The author of this editorial stresses the importance of honesty in project planning and project management in general, providing numerous examples in which honesty leads to better outcomes.

Somani, S. (2008, August). On deadline. PM Network, 22(8),  26.

In this article, the author discusses the importance of adhering to set timelines in project management.

Wing, K. T. (2010). The discipline of finishing. Strategic Finance, 92(1), 17–18.

This article provides guidelines for successfully completing projects. The author examines topics such as schedule conflicts, ineffective time management, and self-imposed discipline.

Office Online (2014). Link tasks in a project. Retrieved from https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Link-tasks-in-a-project-31b918ce-4b71-475c-9d6b-0ee501b4be57?ui=en-US&rs=en-US&ad=US

In this article, the author describes the different types of task dependencies and offers suggestions for choosing the correct dependency type.

Heather. (2008, July 28). Back to basics: Understanding task dependencies [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://blogs.msdn.com/b/project/archive/2008/07/29/back-to-basics-understanding-task-dependencies.aspx

This article reviews the four types of dependencies available in Microsoft Project. The author provides guidelines for when each dependency type is appropriate.

Document: Individual Project Overview (PDF)

This document provides an overview of the Individual Project you will work on throughout this course.

Required Media

Laureate Education (Producer). (2013d). Planning, part II: Scheduling project activities and resources[Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu

Note: The approximate length of this media piece is 19 minutes.

In this presentation, the participants discuss the scheduling of project activities and resources and the software tools that can be used to do so. They also explain what is meant in project management by “the critical path.”

Discussion: Task Dependencies Nursing Essay

Inserting an intravenous (IV) line is a multi-step process. Before attempting to find a suitable vein, nurses must gather the appropriate materials (tourniquet, catheter, IV tubing, etc.). Before puncturing a patient’s vein, nurses must first find one that is suitable. This process illustrates the project management principle of task dependencies. Each task in the process depends upon the previous one’s completion in order to begin.

Once a project’s scope has been defined and its work breakdown structure created, the next step is to generate a detailed and precise schedule for all activities in the project. This schedule allows for monitoring the project’s progress and provides a strategy for mitigating risk during the project’s life cycle. The identification of the relationships (dependencies) between the tasks in a health information technology project is critical as you determine a project timeline.

In this Discussion, you construct a brief example of a health information technology project that illustrates three of the four types of dependencies. In addition, you assess the importance of accurately identifying dependencies in a project timeline.

To prepare:

• Review this week’s Learning Resources, focusing on identifying dependencies and sequencing activities.
• Bring to mind a health information technology project on which to focus for this Discussion. Note: You will use this same project idea to complete this week’s Assignment.
• Consider the tasks necessary to complete the project you selected.
• Think about the relationship between the tasks (i.e., the dependencies).
• Reflect on why it is important to accurately identify the dependencies in a project timeline.

By Day 3

Post an example that illustrates dependencies, or relationships, between tasks in a health information technology project timeline. Include at least three of the four types of dependencies between tasks in the example. Assess the importance of accurately identifying dependencies in a project timeline.

By Day 6

Respond to at least two of your colleagues on two different days, critiquing the validity of the tasks and dependencies in your colleagues’ example. Note any additional dependencies that might be important to consider. Discussion: Task Dependencies Nursing Essay

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION;

Discuss dependencies between tasks in a health information technology project timeline

Introduction

Any project that involves multiple tasks is subject to dependencies. The degree of dependency between two or more tasks determines how your project timeline will be affected if one or more of those tasks get delayed, canceled, or completed on time. A Gantt chart can help you visualize these relationships between projects and identify any delays or potential problems caused by them.

Any task that requires another task to be completed before it can begin is a dependent task.

A task that requires another task to be completed before it can begin is a dependent task.

The following are examples of dependencies:

• Task 1 depends on Task 2, which in turn depends on Task 3. The tasks are children of one another; they’re all adjacent in the project timeline and therefore have very similar workflows. They also share common parent tasks for example, if you’re creating an inventory system for a hospital’s radiology department, then at least two items will depend on your creation: the purchase order system and the scanning software itself (because without those two pieces working together properly there won’t be any way to scan films).

Precedent tasks can be thought of as the parent task or tasks in a project.

Precedent tasks are the parent tasks that must be completed before other tasks can begin. Precedent tasks are also called parent tasks because they have to be completed before another task can start. They’re usually the first task in a project timeline, so you should pay attention to them and make sure they get done on time!

Dependent tasks are said to be a child of the precedent task.

Dependent tasks are said to be a child of the precedent task. The precedent task is the parent of all its child tasks, and it is not a parent of any other tasks.

A task has a parent when it is created as part of an existing project and saved with that project. A child task can be created from the parent task or from another child task.

Tasks are not related to each other in any way. One task cannot be considered a child of another task, and two tasks cannot be considered siblings. The only way to create relationships between tasks is by using the Task dependencies feature.

The order in which dependent and precedent tasks are presented influences the way people interpret them.

In the context of health information technology, the order in which tasks are presented can influence how people interpret them. The order in which tasks are presented can affect your perception of the timeline and may lead to confusion when attempting to understand what needs to be done next.

When you read through a project plan or timeline, it’s important that you take note of all dependent and precedent tasks so you know which ones need to be completed before others can begin work on their projects. This will ensure that everyone has enough time for each task while also knowing where they stand within their own schedules

Critical path analysis (CPA) is a method used to identify dependencies between tasks or events in a project timeline.

CPA is a method used to identify dependencies between tasks or events in a project timeline. The concept of critical path analysis was introduced by Dr. Frederick Pinchot in 1960, and it has since been widely used by project managers and engineers. Critical path analysis involves identifying the shortest possible sequence of activities that will result in the completion of all required tasks on time and within scope, as well as identifying any constraints on those activities (i.e., resources).

CPA can also be used for determining which activities have priority over others when scheduling tasks within an overall project plan; this type of analysis helps determine if there are any bottlenecks along the way that may need attention before moving onto another phase/step

It is important to note that some tasks depend on other tasks but are not related to one another by cause and effect, such as when one must be completed before another can begin but does not have an impact on the other.

It is important to note that some tasks depend on other tasks but are not related to one another by cause and effect, such as when one must be completed before another can begin but does not have an impact on the other. For example, if you have a task titled “develop test cases” and another titled “test cases complete,” this means that both tasks will require you to write tests for your software but only one of them requires you work with other people or systems (such as users).

For example, one “parent” task may have several “child” tasks that depend directly on it.

For example, one “parent” task may have several “child” tasks that depend directly on it. For example, the parent task could be responsible for allocating resources to other tasks or communicating with other stakeholders. The child tasks would include updating a website and creating a plan for marketing the system after launch.

However, as you might expect in any project organization structure, there are some differences between what we call “parents” (the person who oversees everything) versus those under their authority (the people they oversee). In our example above this would be like saying someone is your boss but not really because they aren’t responsible for anything else besides making sure everyone else does what they’re supposed to do and how fast.

A Gantt chart might be used to visualize the dependencies between the tasks you identified in your project timeline.

A Gantt chart might be used to visualize the dependencies between the tasks you identified in your project timeline.

Gantt charts are bar charts that show the duration of tasks and their dependencies, as well as any critical paths or bottlenecks in your project. They can be used to identify critical paths and bottlenecks in a project, as well as show progress at a glance.

Understanding the relationship between project tasks helps you visualize and manage your overall timeline.

Understanding the relationship between project tasks helps you visualize and manage your overall timeline. This can be done by creating Gantt charts for each task, which are used to visualize dependencies between tasks. Gantt charts show how long a task will take and where it’s located on the project timeline.

To create a Gantt chart:

• Open Microsoft Office Project 2010 or 2013 (or another version of Microsoft Project).

• In the upper-left corner of your screen, click File > New > Task Schedule Diagram or Project Planner Chart Displayed in Multiple Views…

Conclusion

From this information, you can determine which tasks are more important than others and where they should be placed on your Gantt chart. For example, if one of your task dependencies is “dependent” but does not have an impact on another task, then it may be omitted from consideration for the next time around. In addition to using CPA to identify dependencies between tasks or events in a project timeline, it is also helpful to use Gantt charts as visual aid for organizing these relationships into manageable chunks by changing colors when new information has been added or removed from the timeline.