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College of Engineering

GE 401: Project Management

Dr. Mansour Almatawa

• I am Mansour Almatawa
• Email: m.s.almatawa@gmail.com
• Office: SR-144
• Office phone number:
• Office hours:

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Assessment
• Exams:
• Assignments:
• Attendance:
• Quizzes:

Course outline
• Hard copy

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Lecture 1: Introduction

• Individuals, groups and organizations perform work or

task. All these works or tasks can be generally organized
in two ways:
Project: Operation:
A…. A…..
B.... B.....
C.... C.....

Work

• The way how work is organized will influence how it is

managed.

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What is a Project?
• A PROJECT is a temporary endeavor
performed to produce a unique product,
service or result.

Source: (PMBOK, 2000)

• The definition highlights the following:

Temporary means:
1. It is a one off event. Projects are not ongoing or repeated.
2. It is to be done within a limited and defined time frame.

Note:
Temporary does not necessarily mean short in duration; many
projects last for several years. In every case, however, the
duration of a project is predetermined; It has a start date and
an end date, it does not go on forever.

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• Endeavor means a deliberate effort:

3. Project is a deliberate effort undertaken to

achieve certain objectives or goals.

For many organizations, project is a way of making strategic

changes that cannot be done within it’s normal operational
limits.

These changes may fall into one or both of the following:

- to create a new product or services;
- to change the way of doing something.

When the objective is achieved project will be stopped

(terminated)

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• Unique means different:

4. A project is different in some way from other product or

service.

Projects involve doing something that has not been done

before and which is therefore, unique. A product or service may
be unique even if the category to which it belongs is large.

For example, many thousands of office buildings has been built,

but each individual facility is unique - different owner, different
design, different site, different contractors etc.

5. Projects are progressively elaborated.

Progressive elaboration is a technique which helps

create project plans and estimations more accurately.

Example:
• Project usually starts-off with a predefined scope.
As project progresses and more detail information
received, changes are made so that new project
plans and estimates reflects the new situation.

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Characteristics of Projects:
5-Progressively elaborated
(dynamic)

4- unique 1. One-off
Project

3- Terminates when 2-Limited & defined

objective is achieved life span

What is an Operation?
• OPERATIONS are permanent endeavors that
produce repetitive outputs, with resources
assigned to do basically the same set of tasks
according to the standards institutionalized in a
product life cycle.

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• Operations are routine activities or tasks that

keeps organization functioning. It is ongoing
and not intended to stop even if organizational
objectives are met. No defined Life –span.

classes of production
1. Mass production
– A product or a service
– Orientation is fixed
– Application are limited
2. Batch production
– Several products and services
3. project

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Characteristics of Operation:

4.Same product

1. Continuous. Will not

3. Repetitive Operation stop even if objective is
achieved

2. No Defined Life span

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SIMILARITIES OF PROJECT &

OPERATIONS
Projects are undertaken as part of an organization’s
operation.

It can be:
• Anything - that an organization do or wanted to
do;
• Size - can be large or small or any size in between;
• Time - may take any amount of time to complete;
• Cost - may cost any amount of money;
• People - may involve any number of people;

Projects and Operations do have similarity:

• They are performed by people.

• They are constrained by limited resources.
• They must be planned, executed and
controlled to ensure success.

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• Example of project:
Building a bridge. The process of building a bridge
takes a finite amount of time, and produces a
unique product.

Characteristic Remodeling a Building a Building a Building an

house shopping mall factory underground

Has a stare date √ √ √ √

Has an end date √ √ √ √

Temporary √ √ √ √

Unique √ √ √ √

New creation √ √ √ √

Have a goal √ √ √ √

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• Example of Operation:
Generating bills every month, and broadcasting
news.

Characteristic Maintaining a car Processing bank Production of car

loan

It is ongoing √ √ √

No end date √ √ √

Not unique √ √ √

Reproduction/ new √ √ √
creation

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Difference between project and

operation

Variety of project level:

Projects can be initiated at various levels:
• Personal Projects.
• Local Neighborhood Projects.
• Organizational Projects.
• National Projects.
• Global Projects.

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Variety of reasons:

Projects can be performed for various reasons:

• For a Person/Group/Organization need.

• For Public or Society need.
• For Investment.

Variety of field of work:

• Research Projects.
• Engineering Projects.
• Industrial Projects.
• Administrative Projects.
• Economic Development Projects.
• Physical Development Projects.
• Social Projects.
• Political Projects, etc.

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Other Examples:
• Developing a new product or service.
Effecting a change in structure, staffing, or style of an
• organization.
• Designing a new transportation vehicle.
• Developing or acquiring a new or modified information
• system.
• Constructing a building or facility.
• Building a water system for a community in a developing
country.
• Running a campaign for political office.
• Implementing a new business procedure or process.

Summary
One-off

Limited and defined life span

unique
project
Terminated when objective is
achieved
Progressively Elaborated (dynamic)
work
Continuous

No Defined Life-Span
operation
Repetitive

Same product

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References:
• Maylor, H, Project Management, Prentice Hall,
Pearson Education Ltd. (3rd Ed. 2003).
• Hendrickson, C., Project Management for
Construction, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Carnegie
Mellon University, Pittsburgh, 2008.
• Meredith, J.R. & Mantel Jr., S.M. Project
Management: A Managerial Approach. John Wiley
and sons (4th Ed., 2000).
• A Guide to the Project Management Body of
Knowledge (PMBOK@ Guide). English and
Arabic edition.

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