1. Integration
Management,
Integration is the management
of the overall project scope in the context of schedules, budgets, risk
and contracts towards establishing agreed baselines for supplier and
client requirements.
Integration involves the
management of the other eight areas of project management, and making
trade-offs among competing objectives and alternatives in order to meet
or exceed project objectives throughout the project life cycle, taking
into consideration the often conflicting influences of the internal and
external environments.
2. Scope Management,
A fundamental aspect of
effective project planning, and therefore of effective project
management, is the process of defining the scope of the project and of
breaking this into manageable pieces of work (work packages).
This is achieved by
first producing a scope definition, then breaking the project scope
into a product oriented hierarchy, i.e. a Product Breakdown Structure
(PBS) also known as a "Program" or "Campaign", and finally into a task
oriented hierarchy, i.e. a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS).
The Scope definition
describes what the product deliverables of the project are.
The PBS is a product
oriented hierarchical breakdown of the project into its constituent
items without the tasks/work packaging being developed.
The WBS is a task oriented
detailed breakdown, which defines the work packages and tasks at the
level defined in the networks and schedules.
The WBS initiates the
development of the Organizational Breakdown Structure (OBS), and the
Cost Breakdown Structure (CBS).
It also provides the
foundation for generating activity networks and schedules, and
determining the Earned Value "Return on Investment" for the Project.
3. Time Management,
The effective planning and
accomplishment of activities' timing and phasing is a central skill of
project management.
Time scheduling/phasing
comprises specifying the processes required to ensure timely completion
of the project.
Scheduling comprises
activity definition, activity sequencing, activity duration estimating,
schedule development, and schedule control.
Phasing is more concerned
with the strategic pacing of the project and the overlapping between
different activities or blocks of activities. (For example, a decision
on whether or not to use Rapid Application Development prototyping,
Concurrent Engineering, Simultaneous Design, Fast Track, Phased
Hand-over, etc.)
The phasing and overlapping
of activities is also an important aspect of the project management
team's skills. Properly done, it can have a major impact on the
performance of the project.
Activities are normally
scheduled using techniques such as Bar charts (Gantt Charts, Milestone
Charts) or networks (PERT, CPM, CPA, Precedence, Activity-on-Arrow,
Activity-on-Node).
The concept of
critical path is central to network scheduling.
Resource Management also
significantly affects this item.
4. Cost Management,
The completion of the project
within its budget is a central objective of project management.
Budgeting and Cost
Management is the process of estimating the proper cost that should
reasonably be expected to be incurred against a clear baseline,
understanding how and why actual costs occur, and ensuring that the
necessary response is taken promptly to ensure that actual costs come
under budget.
Successful cost management
on a project is forward-looking.
Typical information needed
for cost management includes:
- Budgeting (including
estimating), generally based on work breakdown structure or chart of
accounts;
- Obtaining and recording
commitments/accruals;
- Measuring work
accomplished and value earned/valuation of work, including treatment of
changes (change control) and claims;
- Cash flow;
- Forecasting out-sourced
costs;
- Analyzing variance of the
trend in forecast versus previous out-turn cost.
5. Quality Management,
Quality refers, obviously, to
more than just technical performance.
Quality applies to
everything in Project Management: Commercial, Organization, People,
Control, Technical, etc.
Quality Management covers
Quality Planning, Quality Control and Quality Assurance.
Quality Planning is
the preparation, checking, and recording of actions that are necessary
to achieve the standard of product or service that the customer
requires.
Quality Control is the set
of processes for planning and monitoring the project to ensure that
quality is being achieved.
Quality Assurance is the
set of processes and procedures required to demonstrate that the work
has been performed according to the quality plan.
Total Quality Management is a
much broader and more ambitious system (philosophy) for identifying
what the client really wants, defining the organization's mission,
measuring throughout the whole process how well performance meets the
required standards, and involving the total organization in the
implementation of a deliberate policy of continuous improvement.
6. Resource Management,
Planning, allocating and
scheduling resources to tasks, generally including people, machine
(plant and equipment), money, and materials, is another fundamental
requirement of effective project planning and management.
Resource Management typically
covers resource allocation and its impact on schedules and budgets, and
resource levelling and smoothing.
7. Communication
Management,
Just as the project life
cycle is fundamental to structuring the process of project management,
communication is fundamental to making it work.
Effective
communication with all stakeholders is absolutely mandatory to project
success.
Hence a communications plan
is often developed at the start of a project.
Communications can cover
several media: oral, body language, written (textural, numerical,
graphic), paper, electronic, etc.
The content and the
manner of delivery are perhaps more important however than simply the
medium.
Formal meetings are one
important aspect of communication but can, if not managed properly,
result in the waste of time, money and energy.
Certain meetings
play a structural or process role in projects, for example, the
inaugural meeting which is required at project launch.
Other meetings include
design reviews, periodic progress reviews, etc.
Information Management is
also extremely important to effective communications
8. Risk Management,
Risks are present in all
projects, whatever their size or complexity and whatever industry or
business sector.
Risks exist as a
consequence of uncertainty.
Risk Management covers the
process of identification, assessment, allocation, and management of
all project risks.
In project
management terms, risks are those factors that may cause a failure to
meet the project's objectives.
Project risk management
recognizes a formal approach to the process as opposed to an intuitive
approach.
Risks, once identified,
assessed and allocated are managed in order to minimize or completely
mitigate their effect on a project.
This is achieved by
developing either immediate or contingency responses to the identified
risks.
Such responses may remove,
reduce, avoid, transfer, or accept the risks or lead to the abandonment
of the project.
While risks are, according to
the dictionary, associated with the possibility of failure, they may
also be associated with opportunities.
The usual definition
of a risk in project management is that the risk is the product of the
probability of an event occurring times its impact if it did.
Risk management balances the
upside opportunities with downside risks, doing so in an open, clear
and formal manner.
9. Project Procurement
Management.
Procurement is the process of
acquiring new services or products.
It covers the
financial appraisal of the options available, development of the
procurement or acquisition strategy, preparation of contract
documentation, selection and acquisition of suppliers, pricing,
purchasing, and administration of contracts.
It also extends to storage,
logistics, inspection, expediting, transportation, and handling of
materials and supplies.
Procurement covers all
members of the supply chain.
Operations and
maintenance, for example, need to be supported through a supply chain
management process.
For many projects,
procurement represents the highest percentage of expenditure.
It is essential that
value for money is realised.
All major procurements are
subject to careful appraisal and management.
As with the business
case, all feasible options are considered.
A procurement strategy is
prepared very early in the project.
It is often a
function of the state of the project definition, and of the supplier
market.
The procurement strategy
includes potential sources of supply, terms and types of
contract/procurement, conditions of contract, the type of pricing, and
method of supplier selection.
1. Propose the
Opportunity,
During the Opportunity phase
initial work on defining the opportunity should be enthusiastic and
open-minded.
Definitional work
should be comprehensive, several different options should be
investigated, and should lead to a full statement of the
Strategy/Project Management Plan.
The aim is:
- to find ways of meeting
the project objectives more effectively,
- to check if the proposed
way forward is feasible, and
- to understand the risks
and opportunities associated with each potential option.
Modeling of the options and
their realization should be as extensive as is cost effective.
The experience of
project management has consistently shown that project personnel
generally wish they had been more thorough and/or spent longer at the
project "front end".
2. Plan, Design and Present
During this phase, detailed
technical, commercial and organizational decisions are taken.
There is often
substantial opportunity to optimize these decisions without the
expenditure of significant resources.
Modeling, prototyping and
testing is always an effort well spent.
Management approval is
necessary where major decisions are to be made, technical and design
for example, or procurement and commercial.
In some industries this phase
is dealt with as two separate phases with a management gate between the
two.
This is to allow the design
to be developed in further outline form before approval is given for
significant resource expenditure on full design/development.
Equally, the gate may be
required before major procurement decisions and commitments are made
after initial design but prior to full design/development.
3. Setup and
Implementation,
Implementation is the phase
where the rate of resource expenditure is greatest.
Planning management
ensures that this proceeds as efficiently as possible.
There should normally be a
minimum of changes in project definition at this stage.
4. Manage Completion and
"Hand-Over",
Hand-Over is the completion
of the project to the satisfaction of the sponsor.
It involves the
introduction to management of the product or service being delivered by
the project.
During Hand-Over, project
records together with audit trail documentation are completed and
delivered to the sponsor.
This documentation
is required for post project review and support.
All documentation includes
any operations and maintenance plans.
There should also be a review
of the original business case (Benefits Assessment) at this time,
and/or in the next phase Post Project Support.
5. Transfer and Post
Project Support
Increasing recognition is
being given to the importance of reviewing project performance and
lessons that can be derived from the project.
Post project support can
begin once the operations phase has started.
This support should
cover all pertinent topics of the Project Management Body of Knowledge.
Although often considered
only after completion of the project, in practice Project Support can
and should be a fully integral part of the project.
It should therefore
be carried out periodically during the course of the project, with the
resultant information/lessons fed back into this and other projects.
