Project managagent

• Project management


  Applying a process to enable the completion of a project on time and within budget
• Project management stages


  1. Initiation

  2. Planning

  3. Execution

  4. Monitoring and close
• Project management software


  • Assists a project team throughout a project
  • Tools such as Gantt charts, PERT and CPM can be used to aid project planning
• Failure to complete projects on time and within budget can be embarrassing for organizations who have made promises on delivery and frustrating for the end user
• Project Initiation


  • Initial ideas for a project are identified and goals are set
  • Key stakeholders are identified and decisions are made about whether or not it's appropriate to undertake a project by creating a feasibility study
  • Requirements for project are identified so all stakeholders are aware of the expectations of the project
  • Objectives of the project its scope, risks, approximate budget and approximate timescales will be defined and agreed with all stakeholders
  • An estimate of required resources will be made and a high level schedule will be created that identifies proposed dates for completion and aspects of the project
  • A project brief or project initiation document (PID) or initial statement of work (SoW) is created
  • A phase review will take place to check if all aspects have been completed and all stakeholders understand and agree the project brief
• Project Planning


  • A comprehensive budget will be formulated along with details of timescales for the progress of the project
  • Milestones will be set, that show by which time certain aspects of the project must be completed
  • Tasks will be identified and prioritized that have to be completed between each milestone
  • A Gantt chart will be produced to show which tasks need to be completed and in which order
  • Resources including personnel will be allocated to tasks in coordinated manner so they are available at right times
  • A phase review will be carried out to check if the plan is achievable and it meets the objectives of the project

  
• Project Execution


  • It is critical that the plan is followed so that resources are used at the appropriate times
  • Any delays to a task can have a knock-on effect to successor tasks
  • The project manager will be expected to communicate roles and responsibilities to team members and set interim targets for each member to achieve within the timescales of the overall plan
  • An execution phase review will take place to learn lessons from what went wrong and to note examples of good practice
• Project Monitoring and Control

  • The project manager must monitor the progress and control what is happening as they will be responsible for ensuring tasks are completed on time and for rescheduling any tasks incase of delays
  • Project manager will need to monitor the performance of team members to ensure they are carrying out their agreed roles effectively
  • They will need to monitor expenditure and compare it against the budget to ensure no overspend occurs and keep a close eye on the scope of the project to ensure it doesn't extend beyond the agreed boundaries
  • Objectives will be regularly reviewed to ensure the project is meeting its original objectives
  • There should be regular project review meetings where key stakeholders can discuss the progress of the project
  • The project plan will need to be adjusted, so there is regular iteration between the execution, monitoring and control, and planning phases
• Project Close


  • Contracts will be terminated, which means some people may need to be deployed elsewhere or may need to look for alternative employment
  • Resources that have been assigned to the project will be released
  • A review of the project will take place between the client and the project management team, where requirements will be evaluated and successes will be celebrated
  • The client will be expected to sign off the project as completed, so that it is clear there is no further work to carry out and closure will have been achieved
• Project management software - Planning


  • Key milestones can be identified in advance
  • Documents that are likely to be required can be allocated to milestones
  • Templates can be used for setting up an initial project plan
  • Through the use of project templates, company standards can be set up for the way projects should be planned

  
• Project management software - Scheduling of Tasks

  • Tasks will be assigned an estimated number of hours or days that they will take to complete, together with a deadline for completion
  • The project manager will be able to identify which tasks are dependent upon other tasks and so cannot start until those other tasks have been completed
  • Tasks can be delegated to other members of the team and put in a priority order to identify which should be completed first
  • Team members will be able to record how many hours have been spent on each task and identify when the task is complete
  • Milestones can be identified for crucial points of the project and these can be highlighted

  
• Project management software - Allocation of Resources


  • Resources can be equipment, property or people that are required to complete a task
  • Costs can be assigned to any resource, so the project manager can see how their use will affect the budget
  • Resources can then be assigned to tasks and a number of hours or days be assigned to the use of that resource
  • The software will help the project manager to avoid resource conflicts and also identify clearly situations where team members could experience overload
• Project management software - Costings

  • All resources will have costs allocated to them, so the project manager will be able to calculate the total cost of each task based on how many hours each resource is used for each task
  • The software can be used to keep a record of any expenses incurred by team members and account for these in the overall costs
  • Daily, weekly, monthly or custom analysis of expenditure and its comparison to the budget can be provided
  • The software can report on the total costs for each individual resource or set of resources
  • The costings information will be able to be exported to common formats such as spreadsheets for further manipulation and analysis
• Project management software - Communication and Collaborative Working

  • Calendars: each team member will have a calendar showing what they are doing at any time
  • Instant messaging/video chat/video conferencing: these tools enable team members who are working remotely from each other to communicate real time
  • Shared documents: all documents should be stored in a central repository so that they are available to the team members who require access to them
  • Discussions/forums: these can be set up for tasks, documents or milestones so that discussions between team members can be held
  • Progress: the software can inform team members and the project manager of progress that is being made
• Project management software - Decision Making

  All communications within the project management software can be logged and tracked so that if decisions have been made, then it is possible to clearly identify who made each decision and for what reasons
• Project management software


  • Enables discussions between team members when all are not available at the same time
  • Allows team members to see comments and suggestions made by others and respond to them
  • Can send email notifications of new contributions to discussions or display alerts on project dashboards
• Project management software


  • Can inform team members and project manager of progress being made
  • Team members can update tasks to show how near to completion they are, and this progress can be fed into the whole project plan
  • Can send automated email notifications to all affected team members if changes are made to the project timeline
• Project management software


  • Can log and track all communications within the project so that decisions can be clearly identified
  • Can highlight problems or issues experienced and support decision making on adjustments needed, such as changing the timeline or allocating additional resources
  • Can provide graphs, charts and reports to analyze the budget, scheduling and task progress
  • Can identify a critical path showing all tasks that must complete on time if the project is to meet its deadline
  • Can show an overview of resource availability, time allocated and respective costs to allow the project manager to relocate them as necessary

  
• Gantt chart


  A tool used to show the start and finish dates of each task, the predecessors for each task, the progress of each task and the current position within the project

  
• Creating a Gantt chart


  1. Identify the list of tasks

  2. Determine how long each task will take

  3. Identify which tasks are dependent upon predecessors

  4. Determine the start date of the first task

  5. Allocate resources to each task

  
• Critical Path Method (CPM)

  A method that finds the project's critical path, which identifies which tasks must complete on time for the whole project to complete on time, and defines the minimum time in which the project can be completed

  
• Critical Path Method (CPM)


  • Appropriate for projects where the time needed for each task is known, usually because they are common recurring tasks
  • Some tasks have 'float time', which is the time an activity can be delayed without affecting the rest of the project
• Creating a network activity diagram

  1. Identify the list of tasks

  2. Determine how long each task will take

  3. Identify which tasks are dependent upon predecessors

  
• Earliest Start (ES) and Earliest Finish (EF)


  The ES of the first task is 0 and the EF of the first task is the length of that task. The ES of all other tasks is the latest EF of its predecessors. The EF of any task is calculated as EF = ES + length of task
• Float time


  The time an activity can be delayed without affecting the rest of the project, calculated by subtracting the EF of a task from the ES of the next task
• Crashing


  Allocating additional resources to a task that needs to be completed earlier than planned, using resources from tasks with high float time
• PERT (Performance Evaluation and Review Technique)

  Similar to CPM, but more suitable for research and development projects which are non-repetitive, as it uses estimated times rather than definitive times
• Estimating time in PERT

  1. Most optimistic time

  2. Most likely time (assuming everything goes right)

  3. Most pessimistic time (assuming anything that can go wrong will go wrong)

  4. Estimated time is calculated as (optimistic + 4 x likely + pessimistic) / 6
• Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

  A hierarchical decomposition of the project to help manage tasks and show the scope of the project to stakeholders and participants
• Characteristics of a well-designed WBS

  • Content/description easily understood by all participants
  • Work can be managed/divided into manageable units that are independent/separate from each other
  • Work units can be clearly assigned to individuals
  • Duration of work can be estimated to allow time and costs to be determined
  • Work is measurable allowing start/end dates/times to be calculated
  • Work units can be integrated/collected together to create the whole project
  • WBS is adaptable to cope with amendments/alterations/changes to project scope
• Timings


  The specific durations or timeframes assigned to tasks or activities within a project schedule, to help in planning and coordinating project activities

  
• Float/Slack


  The amount of time by which an activity or task can be delayed without affecting the project's overall completion date, providing flexibility in managing the project schedule
• End points


  The conclusion or completion points of activities, tasks or phases within a project, helping to track and assess the completion of specific components
• Milestones


  Significant points or events within a project that represent key achievements, completion of major phases or the meeting of crucial deadlines, serving as markers to track progress, celebrate achievements and align the team's efforts