Practical Scaled Agile (CIPSA) Certification: Differences – Product Backlog, CIPSA Sprint Backlog and Team Sprint Backlog

Recently, I wrote an article demonstrating Product Backlog, CIPSA Sprint Backlog and Team Sprint Backlog. I also listed out a few differences. In this article, we learn more on these differences for projects using Scrum at Scale and the CIPSA Framework.

I’d strongly recommend that you read the article first here. Alternative link is here.

Now more differences between these backlogs. There can be other differences and by no means these are exhaustive. 

Difference – 1: Creation

The Product Backlog is a single one and stands on its own. The CIPSA Sprint Backlog is prepared from the Product Backlog. The Team Sprint Backlog is prepared from the CIPSA Sprint Backlog.

Difference – 2: Content

The Product Backlog will have the product backlog items. Some of the product backlog items – the high-order ones – will be part of the CIPSA Sprint Backlog. The Team Sprint Backlog will have mostly the tasks which will be executed in the upcoming Sprint.

Difference – 3: Goals

The Product Backlog will have the Product Goal, whereas the CIPS Sprint Backlog will have a CIPSA Sprint Goal. Finally, the Team Sprint Backlog will have the Team Sprint Goal.

Alignment: Related to the goals, we have alignment. The Team Sprint Goal is in alignment with the CIPSA Sprint Goal, whereas the CIPSA Sprint Goal is in alignment with the Product Goal. 

Difference – 4: Dependencies

We don’t note usually note the dependencies in the Product Backlog because is dynamically changing. The inter-team dependencies are usually noted in the CIPSA Sprint Backlog, but the intra-team dependencies will be part of the Team Sprint Backlog.  

Difference – 5: Events and Meta-Events

The Product Backlog doesn’t contain any meta-events. The CIPSA Sprint Backlog will contain meta-events such as CIPSA Sprint Planning, CIPSA Daily Scrums, among others. The Team Sprint Backlog contains team-level Scrum events such as Team Sprint Planning, Team Sprint Retrospectives, among others.

Difference – 6: Ownership

The Product Backlog is owned by the Chief Product Owner (CPO). The CIPSA Sprint Backlog is owned by the entire CIPSA Scrum Team. On the other hand, the Team Sprint Backlogs are owned by the individual Scrum Teams’ Product Owners. 

Difference – 7: Increments 

The CIPSA Integrated Increment comes from the CIPSA Sprint backlog. The individual Team Increments come from the Team Sprint Backlogs. With every integrated increment, we move closer to the Product Goal, which is part of the Product Backlog.

Difference – 8: Lifecycles

Product Backlog is a live document and continuously updated. The CIPSA Sprint Backlog will be for a Sprint and when the Sprint is over, it’s discarded. The Team Sprint Backlog will for a Sprint and when the Sprint is over, it’s discarded.

Difference – 9: Refinement

The Product Backlog is cross-team refined. The CIPSA Sprint Backlog is not cross-team refined. It’s final! Similarly, the Team Sprint Backlog is also not refined. However, there are possibilities of scope changes during the Sprint for both the CIPSA Sprint Backlog and Team Sprint Backlogs. 

Difference – 10: Super- or Sub-sets

The sum of the CIPSA Backlog (considering multiple Sprints) will be a subset of the Product Backlog. The sum of Individual Team Sprint Backlogs will constitute a subset CIPSA Sprint Backlog.

In other words, you can say that the Product Backlog is the super-set, but without the tasks, events, meta-events and other line items. 

The Team Sprint Backlog is the subset of CIPSA Sprint Backlog, but with additional line items. The CIPSA Sprint Backlog is the subset of the Product Backlog with its own line items.

Conclusion

The CIPSA Scrum Framework uses the underlying CIPSA Framework. It’s world’s only Practical Scaled Agile Framework. 

Instead of focusing on theory, theory and more theory, with the CIPSA Certification, you learn how to actually build these backlogs, find out the dependencies, load the resources, solve the overallocations, create a variety of charts or reports, among many others. 

As always, the best time to learn and get certified is now! 

References

[1] *NEW* Certification Course: Certified In Practical Scaled Agile (CIPSA)

[2] New Practical Scaled Agile Framework – The CIPSA Framework Guide

[3] Understanding the CIPSA Scrum Framework – Practical, Hands-on Scrum at Scale

[4] The CIPSA Framework Clock - A Unique Way

[5] Scrum at Scale: Product Backlog, CIPSA Sprint Backlog and Team Sprint Backlog with MS Project Agile

Primavera P6 – Scheduling and Tracking A Level of Effort (LOE) Activity

Here’s is to the Engineers, brave and bold,

Here’s to the Planners, wise and old.

Here’s to the Architects, strong and proud,

Here’s to the Developers, good and loud.

Here’s to the Entrepreneurs, taking the risks,

Here’s to the Managers, making it tick.

The above one is a paraphrased poem, initially written by Todd Rundgren, as per the web (internet). I really liked the poem and used it in the context of real engineers, entrepreneurs, managers and others, who use a wide array of tools, frameworks, and concepts such as Level of Effort (LOE) activity. 

I wrote about the LOE activity earlier and informed how it’s planned. This raised some questions related to scheduling and tracking LOE activities, which some engineers and managers find difficult to use. In this post, we will check the scheduling and tracking aspect of LOE activities.

It’s a good time to remind you that the LOE activity is not like Task or Resource Dependent Activities. 

Planned LOE Activity

Below is the plan for the LOE activity. It’s a simple plan with few activities so that your understanding is easier. (Click on the image to enlarge)

As shown above, we have the following:

• Two milestones – Start and Finish Milestones
• Activity A – Duration of 5 days
• LOE Activity – Duration of 5 days
• The LOE Activity is hanging between the Start and Finish milestones. 

However, note that for the LOE Activity, the predecessor setting should include the Activity A, not just the Finish milestone. 

This also has been scheduled by going to Tools > Schedule … command in the menu. 

Enter the Data and Track

Next, we enter the data. Let’s say our status date is 2 days into the plan, i.e., 06-Oct-27. When I do that, we will have the following view.  

The Progress Spotlight can be seen by setting the Data Date using the Update Progress… command from the Tools toolbar. 

On this Data Date (06-Oct-27), we have the following updates:

• Start milestone is 100% complete.
• Activity A is 50% complete, with 3 days remaining.
• LOE Activity is 50% complete, with 3 days remaining.
• Finish milestone is yet to start.

This is shown below. 

As you can see the LOE Activity is 50% Complete, but the Schedule % Complete is 0%. This is because we have not scheduled. 

Schedule to Check the Progress

Next, we are going to schedule by going to Schedule … command from the Tools toolbar. 

As we schedule, we will get the update on the already entered data. The Schedule % Complete will be different from the Activity % Complete. The latter is dependent on the Duration % Complete, which has been set for all the activities. 

Below is the view for our schedule plan.  

As shown above, for the LOE Activity:

• The Schedule % Complete is 40%, which is correct because 2 days have gone as on the Data Date.
• The Activity % Complete is 50%, which is also correct as it maps to the Duration % Complete.

In addition, there are two important parts in the graphical side of the Gantt Chart. On the Tracked LOE Activity:

• Left part of the activity is blue color coded.
• Right part of the Activity bar is green color coded.

You can visualize this by double-clicking and enlarging the above image.

Video Demonstration

The below video [Duration: 4m, 32s] explains the above steps briefly and demonstrate the usage of a LOE activity. You can go full screen HD and plug-in your earphones for better experience. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wZwwsPShIo

Conclusion

It’s not that complicated to understand LOE activities. As noted earlier, these activities are quite useful when you go for the project management plan. Specifically, for management related work, you can have the LOE activity.  

Not all project-portfolio management software tools provide this capability, but Primavera P6 does. So, make good use of it.

References

[1] Primavera P6 Pro Live Lessons Online Course, by Satya Narayan Dash

[2] Article: Level of Effort Activity in Primavera P6, by Satya Narayan Dash

[3] Article: Primavera P6 – Understanding Various Activity Types, by Satya Narayan Dash

[4] Course: Practical RMP with Oracle Primavera Risk Analysis, by Satya Narayan Dash

[5] Course: Practical PMP with Oracle Primavera P6, by Satya Narayan Dash

Level of Effort (LOE) Activity in Primavera P6

The Level of effort (LOE) is one of the activity types in Primavera P6. As noted in the earlier post, it is dependent on its predecessors and/or successors. It can be used in certain scenarios. In this article, we will explore this type of activity hands-on with Primavera P6, compare with the Hammock Activity and conclude with some key points.  

Definition

As per Primavera P6, a Level of Effort activity can be defined as follows:

“If activity's duration is dependent on its predecessor and/or successor activities, then you can indicate that activity to be a Level of Effort activity.”

Re-read the previous line. It may not be a single predecessor and/or successor, but multiple predecessors and/or successors.

We go for LOE activities when we have on-going tasks, which depends on other activities. 

Now, let’s take an example for the creation of Level of Effort activity. 

Create the LOE Activity

To create a LOE activity, add an activity with Activity Type as “Level of Effort”. This is shown below. 

As shown above, we have created an activity:

• Name = Management Work
• Activity Type = Level of Effort
• Duration = 5 days (default)

Set the Bar Style(s)

As you’d have noticed in the graphical side, we don’t have a visualization for the LOE activity. It’s empty. To visualize, we have to set the bar styles. This can be done by going to View menu > Bars command or Layout toolbars > Bars command. You can also put your cursor in the graphical side of the Gantt Chart, right click and choose Bars command.

As shown, we have set the bar for the LOE activity. Do note that there are two bars for LOE activities. 

• Remaining Level of Effort
• Actual Level of Effort

Both should be enabled if you want to track both the planned and actual data related to LOE activities. And all conditions, as shown above, should be properly set. Now it’ll be visible in the graphical side of the Gantt Chart. This is shown below.

Set the Predecessor(s) and Successor(s)

Next, we have to set the predecessor(s) and successor(s) of this activity. Our management work will span across the entire project. Hence, in our case:

• Predecessor is the Start Milestone
• Successor is the Finish Milestone

After you set the milestones, the LOE activity will look as follows.

As can be seen above, the LOE activity is now scheduled between the Start and Finish milestones. Like a Hammock, it looks to be handing between two milestone activities. The LOE activity has:

• A Start-to-Start (SS) relationship with the Start Milestone
• A Finish-to-Finish (FF) relationship with the Finish Milestone

Next, as you schedule with the Primavera P6 software, our LOE activity hangs between these milestones and spans across the entire project. Do note that a LOE activity is similar to Hammock Activity, but not exactly the same. 

Key Points to Note

Following are the key points to note when you go for LOE activities.

• It’s used for on-going tasks such as project management, shift monitoring work, work related to security guards etc. 
• While going for Resource Leveling, the LOE activities are not included!
• Unlike Hammock Activities, the LOE activities use its assigned calendars to summarize the dates.

Conclusion

Specifically, in a project management plan, I'd recommend using the LOE activities for the project management work. Because a PM may not be working on a plan for the entire day, but will be working a few hours on each project. In such cases, you can assign the PM to the LOE activity at a reduced unit/time.

References

[1] Primavera P6 Pro Live Lessons Online Course, by Satya Narayan Dash

[2] Article: Primavera P6 – Understanding Various Activity Types, by Satya Narayan Dash

[3] Course: Practical PMP with Oracle Primavera P6, by Satya Narayan Dash

Primavera P6 – Understanding Various Activity Types

[NEW] Want to learn Primavera P6 in-depth, hands-on? A new course is now available! 

• Primavera P6 Pro Live Lessons Online Course 
  (supports R8.x, R15.x and R22.x,R24.x)
• Primavera P6 Pro Live Lessons (All Benefits)

The free article follows. 

-- 

The Primavera P6 software has a number of activity types considering various aspects of project or project-portfolio management. It covers areas such as milestones, WBS related, level of effort (LOE) and the normal ones. In this article, we will understand the activity types available.

The Fundamentals

Each activity (or task in simple terms) must be assigned an activity type. This is because a plan is basically activity driven and as the plan proceeds, we execute the activities. 

Activity types are important because they will control the duration and dates. Taking some examples: 

• When you add more resources to an activity, the duration will be reduced. In project management parlance, it’s called crashing. 
• When you have different calendar associated with an activity, the activity finish date will be impacted.
• When you have resources with different calendars, agian the activity's duration and finish dare will be impacted.

Overall Information

There are six types of activities in Primavera P6:

• Task Dependent activity
• Resource Dependent activity
• Start Milestone activity
• Finish Milestone activity
• Level of Effort (LOE) activity
• WBS Summary activity

This can be seen by going to the bottom half of the Activities window > General tab > Activity Type drop-down menu. (click on the images to enlarge) 

As shown, we have a web-based Information Management System project. The default activity type chosen is the Task Dependent activity for the selected activity. Rest of the activity types are also seen in the drop-down list.

This is the default one because when we create and open a new project within the Primavera Enterprise Project Structure (EPS), we need to set the default activity type. This can be done by going to the bottom-half of the Projects window > Default tab > Activity Type drop-down menu.  

Based on this setting, when you create a new activity, that will be seen in the Activities window. 

Next, let’s see these activity types one by one.

Task Dependent Activity

As explained earlier, this is the default activity type in Primavera P6. 

In this activity, when you assign resources, the scheduling engine of Primavera does NOT consider the resource calendars. Rather, it considers the activity calendar. 

For example: A resource is assigned to work on an activity. The resource calendar informs that the assigned resource will not be available on the coming Monday, but the activity calendar (separate one) informs of no holiday on Monday. 

This activity calendar will override the resource calendar. The duration of the activity will be determined by the activity calendar.   

Resource Dependent Activity

This, in a way, is the opposite of the Task Dependent activity. In this case, the resource calendar will be the driver of the activity. 

Here, the resources assigned to an activity will be scheduled on the resources’ calendars, not the activity’s calendar. 

Start Milestone Activity

Milestone, in formal project management terms, is a significant event in a project, program or portfolio. It’s not considered to be an activity. It's of zero duration. 

However, Primavera 6 software considers Start Milestone as an activity with zero duration. You can also call it a “Zero Duration Activity". As the duration is zero, there is no impact of resource assignment on this activity. However, you can have expenses associated with it!

Finish Milestone Activity

Like the Start Milestone, Primavera 6 also considers Finish Milestone as an activity with zero duration. As the duration is zero, there is no impact of resource assignment on this activity. Here too, you can have expenses associated.

The figure shows both Start and Finish milestones for the Information Management System project.  

As you can see in the “Start” and “Finish” column of the table in the left-side:

• The Start Milestone has the Start date set, not the Finish date.
• The Finish Milestone has the Finish date set, not the Start date.
• Both are of zero days duration. 

Level of Effort (LOE) Activity

This is an activity type that confuses many. But it’s actually simple. It’s like a hammock activity, but not exactly the same.  

The LOE activity’s duration is dependent on its predecessors and/or successors. In fact, it's linked to them, but its behavior is based on the predecessor and/or successor activities. Do note that while leveling resources, these activities are ignored.

The below figure shows a LOE activity associated with Management Work. 

WBS Summary Activity

This is another one which is considered to be complicated, but it’s not. To use this activity, you need to understand the basics of Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). 

As the name tells, the WBS Summary Activity summarizes at a WBS level. One example is shown below. 

As shown above, under the Requirements and Analysis phase (WBS level is WEB 2.5.2), we have added a WBS Summary Activity:

• Summarizes the activities of the Requirements and Analysis Phases WBS and its elements.
• Has the same Start and Finish dates.
• Has the same duration.

This can be reconfirmed with the following view, where I’ve added:

• WBS Name, and
• WBS 

As shown the WBS activity summarizes all elements at a WBS level, which is WEB 2.5.2.

Video Demonstration: P6 Activity Types  

The below video explains various activity types used in Primavera P6. The duration is around 5 minutes [5m:40s]. Put your earphones and go full HD in order to have a better experience. 

In Summary 

When you go for scheduling with Primavera P6, you’ll find various types of activities. They are complex, or even complicated. However, you need to have the right material and proper content to understand and visualize them practically.

When you understand the activity types, you can effectively apply them into your project management plan.

References

[1] Primavera P6 Pro Live Lessons Online Course, by Satya Narayan Dash

[2] Course: Practical PMP with Oracle Primavera P6, by Satya Narayan Dash

[3] Article: Level of Effort Activity in Primavera P6, by Satya Narayan Dash