Project
Management is the acquired knowledge and skills applied using a formal set of
tools and techniques to initiate, plan, execute, monitor, control and close projects.
Project
management is a carefully planned and organised effort to accomplish a specific
(and usually) one-time objective, for example, construct a building or
implement a major new computer system. Project management includes developing a
project plan, which includes defining and confirming the project goals and
objectives, identifying tasks and how goals will be achieved, quantifying the
resources needed, and determining budgets and timelines for completion. It also
includes managing the implementation of the project plan, along with operating
regular 'controls' to ensure that there is accurate and objective information
on 'performance' relative to the plan, and the mechanisms to implement recovery
actions where necessary. Projects usually follow major phases or stages (with
various titles for these), including feasibility, definition, project planning,
implementation, evaluation and support / maintenance.
Project
Management has brought profitability to various Business Lines in numerous
ways. Few of the important ones have been summarised below. Project Management
has provided:
o A clear project
framework for achieving
project specific goals and business goals.
o An emphasis on phased development i.e. regular and
measurable progress.
o A systematic approach to resolving high-risk factors associated with an objective.
o A focus on team thus inculcating the concept of teamwork and skill
specialisation – delegating
tasks to team members selected for their skills that correspond to the requirements
of the project, leading to specialized input into the development process.
o A built-in mechanism for assessing the feasibility of a proposed project – assessing
requirements and matching available resources to those requirements.
o A process for involving all concerned parties into project
execution, ensuring that the end product perfectly matches the requirements and
thus avoiding last minute glitches.
o A measure for incorporating Quality
Assurance within the project
life cycle thus producing Quality
Outputs.
The above list
is by no means exhaustive, but it gives very accurate picture of what value add Effective Project Management can do to the business and its
projects.
To get a
better understanding on what Project Management is lets us now have a look on
the various Project Management Objectives.
Project Management Objectives
o Coordinate the various interrelated processes of the project.
o Ensure project includes all the work required, and only the work
required, to complete the project successfully.
o Ensure that the project is completed on time and within budget.
o Ensure that the project will satisfy the needs for which it was
undertaken.
o Ensure the most effective use of the people involved with the
project.
o Promote effective communication between the projects team members
and key stakeholders.
o Ensure that project risks are identified, analyzed, and responded.
In practice,
Project Management follows a Phased
Approach for Project
Execution and have a standard defined Project
Life Cycle. Teamwork and Quality
Assurance are few important
inherent characteristics of successful Project Management.
The Project
Life Cycle refers to a logical sequence of activities to accomplish the
project’s goals or objectives. Regardless of scope or complexity, any project goes through a
series of stages during its life. There is first an Initiation or Birth phase, in which the outputs and critical success factors
are defined, followed by a Planning phase, characterised by breaking down the project into smaller
parts / tasks, an Execution phase, in which the project plan is executed, and
lastly a Closure or Exit phase, that marks the completion of the project.
Project activities must be grouped into phases because by doing so, the project
manager and the core team can efficiently plan and organise resources for each
activity, and also objectively measure achievement of goals and justify their
decisions to move ahead, correct, or terminate. It is of great importance to
organise project phases into industry-specific project cycles. Why? Not only
because each industry sector involves specific requirements, tasks, and
procedures when it comes to projects, but also because different industry
sectors have different needs for life cycle management methodology. And paying
close attention to such details is the difference between doing things well and
excelling as project managers.
Diverse
project management tools and methodologies prevail in the different project
cycle phases. Let’s take a closer look at what’s important in each one of these
stages:
1) Initiation
In this first
stage, the scope of the project is defined along with the approach to be taken
to deliver the desired outputs. The project manager is appointed and in turn,
he selects the team members based on their skills and experience. The most
common tools or methodologies used in the initiation stage are Project Charter,
Business Plan, Project Framework (or Overview), Business Case Justification,
and Milestones Reviews.
The Project
Initiation Phase is the first Project Phase
and is usually represented by the conceptualization of the project. The purpose
of this phase is to specify what the project should accomplish.
The basic
processes of the Project Initiation Phase are:
o Creation of a Product / Project Description Document. This is an informal, high-level statement describing the
characteristics of the product / project / process to be created.
o Development of Project Feasibility Document. This identifies project constraints, alternatives and related
assumptions applied to the end product to be developed. Project feasibility is
characterized by four basic components:
o Business Problem Description.
o Approach Overview to be used to develop.
o Potential Solutions of the problem.
o Preliminary Recommendations.
o Development of Project Concept Document. It determines what is to be done? How will it be done? And why
is it to be done? Thus determining the business value achieved after project
completion.
o Creation of Project Charter. Project
Charter formally communicates the initiation of the project. It consists of
Project Scope, Project Authority and Critical Success Factors.
During this
phase, Project Team is responsible for the following activities:
o Conducting Interviews and yellow pad sessions with customers and
stakeholders.
o Conduct research and brainstorming sessions for generating more
necessary information.
o Preparation of Project Feasibility Document, Project Concept
Statement and Project Charter.
o Preparation of other ancillary documents as defined in the
organization standards.
o Some common barriers and problems are faced by Project Managers
during the Initiation Phase which hamper the project to get started. Some of the common problems are:
o Project Team Frustration builds up as the project does not seem to
get started.
o There is a Lack of Commitment from the Management and Key
Stakeholders.
o Customer Indecision may arise due to non-visibility of the end
product by the customer.
o Locating the right people can be difficult while assembling the
Project Initiation Team.
o Lack of consensus on Project Objectives can kill the project
before it starts.
2) Planning
The second
phase should include a detailed identification and assignment of each task
until the end of the project. It should also include a risk analysis and a
definition of criteria for the successful completion of each deliverable. The
governance process is defined, stake holders identified and reporting frequency
and channels agreed. The most common tools or methodologies used in the
planning stage are Business Plan and Milestones Reviews.
The Project
Planning Phase follows the Project
Initiation Phase and is the most important phase in project management. The
effort spent in planning can save countless hours of confusion and rework in
the subsequent phases.
The purpose of
the Project Planning Phase is:
o Establish Business Requirements.
o Establish Cost, Schedule, List of Deliverables and Delivery Dates.
o Establish Resource Plan.
o Get Management Approval and proceed to next phases.
The basic
processes of the Project Planning Phase are:
o Scope Planning. This specifies the
in-scope requirements for the project.
o Preparing the Work Breakdown Structure. This specifies the breakdown of the project into tasks and
sub-tasks.
o Organizational Breakdown Structure. This specifies who all in
the organization need to be involved and referred for Project Completion.
o Resource Planning. This specifies who will do what work at which time of the project.
o Project Schedule Development. This specifies the entire schedule of the activities detailing
their sequence of execution.
o Budget Planning. This specifies the budgeted cost to be incurred in the completion
of the Project.
Project
Initiation Phase defines a few facilitating
processes as well that are
required for successful Project Completion. These
can be:
o Procurement Planning. Planning for procurement of all resources (staff and non-staff).
o Communication Planning. Planning on the communication strategy with all project
stakeholders.
o Quality Planning. Planning for Quality Assurance to be applied to the Project.
o Risk Management Planning. Charting the risks, contingency plan and mitigation strategies.
o Configuration Management Planning. Defines how the various
project artifacts will get stored.
Both the basic
processes and facilitating processes produces a Project Plan.
During this
phase, Project Team is responsible for
the following activities:
o Project Managers are responsible for
developing the Project Plan thus ensuring that all the project planning
requirements are fulfilled.
o Functional / Management personnel are responsible ensures that adequate resources are
available for the project.
o Key Stakeholders should approve the Project
Plan before moving to the next phase.
Project
Planning is essential for a project's success. Project Planning helps team
members to understand their responsibilities and expectations from them.
Project Planning Phase identifies scope, tasks, schedules, risks, quality and
staffing needs.
3) Execution
and controlling
The most
important issue in this phase is to ensure project activities are properly
executed and controlled. During the execution phase, the planned solution is
implemented to solve the problem specified in the project's requirements. In
product and system development, a design resulting in a specific set of product
requirements is created. This convergence is measured by prototypes, testing,
and reviews. As the execution phase progresses, groups across the organisation
become more deeply involved in planning for the final testing, production, and
support. The most common tools or methodologies used in the execution phase are
an update of Risk Analysis and Score Cards, in addition to Business Plan and
Milestones Reviews.
Project
Execution and Control Phase follows the Project
Planning Phase and ideally starts once the Project Plan has been approved and
base-lined. Project Execution is characterized by the actual work on the tasks
planned and project Control involves the comparison of the actual performance
with the planned performance and taking appropriate corrective action to get
the desired output.
During this
phase, Project Team is
responsible for the
following activities:
o Team Members execute the tasks as planned by the Project Manager.
o Project Manager is responsible for performance measurement which
includes finding variances between planned and actual work, cost and schedule.
o Project manager is responsible for providing Project Status Report
to all key stakeholders to provide visibility.
o All Project Key stakeholders are responsible for the review of the
metrics and variances.
o All Project Key stakeholders are responsible for taking necessary
action of the variances thus determined so as to complete the project within
time and budget.
The basic processes of the Project Execution and Control
can be:
o Project Plan Execution.
o Review of Metrics and Status Reports.
o Change Control Process. This defines the procedures to handle the
changes that are introduced
o During Project Execution and Control.
The facilitating processes during Project Execution and Control
can be:
o Quality Assurance and Quality Control.
o Performance Monitoring.
o Information Distribution or Status Reporting.
o Project Administration.
o Risk Monitoring and Control.
o Scope Control.
o Schedule and Cost Control.
o Contract Administration.
Project
Execution and Control Phase has a direct correlation to project progress and
stakeholder's expectations. Even the minor issues, if unnoticed, can cause
major impact on cost, schedule and risk and deviate the project from the
Project Plan, thus emphasizing the importance for the Project Execution and
Control Phase.
4) Closure
In this last
stage, the project manager must ensure that the project is brought to its
proper completion. The closure phase is characterised by a written formal
project review report containing the following components: a formal acceptance
of the final product by the client, Weighted Critical Measurements (matching
the initial requirements specified by the client with the final delivered
product), rewarding the team, a list of lessons learned, releasing project
resources, and a formal project closure notification to higher management. No
special tool or methodology is needed during the closure phase.
Project
Closure Phase is the last phase of the Project Life Cycle. The commencement of
the Project Closure Phase is determined by the completion of all Project
Objectives and acceptance of the end product by the customer.
Project
Closure includes the following tasks:
o Release of the resources, both staff and non-staff, and their
redistribution and reallocation to other projects, if needed.
o Closure of any financial issues like labour, contract etc.
o Collection and Completion of All Project Records.
o Archiving of All Project Records.
o Documenting the Issues faced in the Project and their resolution.
This helps other projects to plan for such type of issues in the Project
Initiation Phase itself.
o Recording Lessons Learned and conducting a session with the Project
Team on the same. This helps in the productivity improvement of the team and
helps identify the dos and don’ts of the Project.
o Celebrate the Project Completion. Its party time folks!!!
The basic process of the Project Closure Phase involves:
o Administrative Closure. This is the process of preparation of closure documents and
process deliverables. This includes the release and redistribution of the
Project Resources.
o Development of Project Post Implementation Evaluation Report. It includes
·
Project Sign-Off
·
Staffing and Skills
·
Project Organizational
Structure
·
Schedule Management
·
Cost Management
·
Quality Management
·
Configuration Management
·
Customer Expectations
Management
·
Lessons Learned
Lessons
Learned forms an integral part of the Project Closure Phase. It helps
answer the following typical question during Project Closure.
o Did the delivered product / solution meet the project requirements
and objectives?
o Was the customer satisfied?
o Was Project Schedule Met?
o Was the Project completed within Budgeted Cost?
o Were the risks identified and mitigated?
o What could be done to improve the process?
The outputs
from Project Closure Phase provides as a stepping stone to execute the next
projects with much more efficiency and control.
