PROJECT

MANAGEMENT

Dr. Neha Gulati

Assistant Professor
University Business School
Panjab University
Project
A project is an endeavor designed to produce a unique product,
service.
 Unique(endeavor)
 Specific Goal(s)
 Solve a problem
 New opportunity
 Well-defined beginning and an end based on the goal(s)
 Constraints
 Scope
 Time
 Quality
 Budget
Project Management
It is the way of planning, organizing and controlling resources
to achieve specific goals within the constraints.

 Primary constraints are :

 Scope
 Time
 Quality
 Budget

 Secondary challenge is to optimize the allocation of

necessary inputs and integrate them to meet pre-defined
objectives.
Phases of Project Management

Phases of project management are:

 Initiation

 Planning

 Execution

 Monitoring

 Close / Abandon
Project Management Software
Project Management Software has the capacity to help managers
plan, organize, and manage resource pools and develop resource
estimates.

Depending on the sophistication of the software, it can manage:

 Estimation
 Scheduling
 Cost Control and Budget Management
 Resource Allocation
 Collaboration and Communication
 Decision Making
 Quality Management, Documentation or Administration System
• Historical information on how projects have progressed, and in
particular, how actual and planned performance are related.
• Optimum utilization of available resource
• Cost Maintenance
Project Management Life Cycle
Project Planning
A roadmap to guide the project towards completion.
 Project Objective(s) and scope
 Project Deliverables and Success Criteria
 Project Strategy
 Work Breakdown Structure (WBS): Acc. to the Project
Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK5), it is
hierarchical decomposition of the total scope of the work
to be carried out by the project team to accomplish the
objective(s) and create the required deliverables.
 Decomposing the work into manageable pieces
 Scheduling – Start and End dates, Sequencing
 Resource Assignment Matrix
 It is a process, which relates to the use
of schedules such as Gantt chart to plan and
subsequently report progress within the project
environment.

 The logical dependencies between tasks are defined

using an activity network diagram that enables
identification of the critical path.
Steps in
Project
Planning
GANTT CHART
Each activity is represented by a bar; the position and length
of the bar reflects the start date, duration and end date of the
activity.
PERT Chart
PERT charts can manage large projects that have numerous complex tasks and a
very high inter-task dependency. The charts have an initiation node, which
further stems into a network of individual tasks.
 Project Float or slack time in the schedule can
be calculated using project management
software. Then the necessary resources can
be estimated and costs for each activity can be
allocated to each resource, giving the total
project cost.
 At this stage, the project schedule may be
optimized to achieve the appropriate balance
between resource usage and project duration to
comply with the project objectives.
Providing Information
Project planning software can be expected to provide
information to various people or stakeholders, and can
be used to measure and justify the level of effort
required to complete the project(s).

Typical requirements might include:

 Overview information on how long tasks will take to
complete.
 Early warning of any risks to the project.
 Information on workload, for planning holidays.
 Evidence
Types of Project Management Software :
Desktop

 There are different ways in which project

management software is made available by
vendors and service providers.

 Organizations can buy it as a desktop package,

and this typically gives the most responsive
and graphically-intense style of interface.
 Desktop project management applications
typically store their data in a file, although
some have the ability to store their data in a
central database.

 Multiple users can share file-based project

plans or data held on a database, if only one
user accesses it at a time.
Types of Project Management Software :
Client Server
 These are designed to support multiple users
who are working on different parts of project.

 Server-based project management systems hold

data centrally and can also incorporate
collaboration tools so that users can share
knowledge and expertise.
Types of Project Management Software :
Web-based
 Project management software can be
implemented as a Web application. This is
accessed through the internet itself, using a Web
browser.
Benefits :
 They can be accessed from any type of computer
without installing software.
 The software is also automatically updated and
maintained by the service provider, and the nature
of the system makes it naturally multi-user.
 Web-based software tends to come with a monthly
charge which is cheaper than buying and
maintaining the application yourself.

 However, Web-based project software tends to be

slower to respond than desktop applications, and
project information is not available when the user
is offline.
 Types of Project Management Software :
Integrated
 An integrated system combines project management or
project planning, with many other aspects of company
activities.
 For example, projects can have bug tracking issues
assigned to each project; or the list of project customers
can become a customer relationship management
module, with each person on the project plan having their
own task lists, calendars, and messaging functionality
associated with their projects.
What do businesses tend to use project
management software for?
 Projects can be complex and dependent on many
different factors, departments, and outcomes.
 It can help to determine which events depend on one
another, how exactly they depend on each other, and what
happens if things change or go wrong.
 They can schedule people to work on various tasks, and
detail the resources – physical, financial or anything else -
that are required, and this is called resource scheduling.
 People also use project management software to deal with
uncertainties in the estimates of the duration of each task;
arrange tasks to meet various deadlines; and juggle
multiple projects simultaneously, as part of an overall
objective.
Project Management Software Features
 Collaborate on Projects with Clients and Employees: With the
multi-user logins, we can control who has access to Project
Management Software. Clients, Employees, Vendors, Outsource
Resources and Home Workers will all be kept up to date on the
projects they are assigned to.

 Multi User Logins: There is no limit on the number of users the

system can hold. Each user can be granted different privileges to
access only the areas of the program specified and may also have

"Read Only" or "Read Write" access .

 Project based discussion forum: It gives the company
the ability to set up project based discussion areas. The
areas are directly tied to the projects and the ongoing
discussion will show up in the Projects as well as on the
Forums tab.

 Friendly Project Names: Assign Projects & Tasks any

name you wish, no specialized codes here.
Project Categorization
They are broken down into 8 categories:
 "In Progress",
 "Not Defined”
 "Proposed”
 "In Planning”
 "On Hold”
 "Complete”
 "Archived“
 "All"

 These names are completely customizable. Additionally, the

system allows to assign color codes to projects, grouping types
of projects together for easy visual reference.
 Project Ownership: The system keeps track of the creator of
the project and whomever is assigned to the tasks in the
project. The projects can also be set to be Private, Public or
Participant based within the users on the system.

 Delegate Project Tasks to Users: One of the best features of

the program is the ease of which tasks can be assigned to users.
Select the users and they will be automatically e-mailed with
all of the pertinent information and a link that when clicked
automatically takes them directly back to the Project
Management Software Task you assigned for them.

 Automatic E-mail notification: Anytime a project is updated

by any users all participants in the project will be automatically
notified by e-mail of the exact progress and a link back to the
specific Project task.
 Project Target Dates, Hours, Days & Budgets: Set the
Project target finish date and track your progress on the
graphical Gantt charts. By setting the Task Target dates, target
hours or days to monitor, manage, and report on every hour
that is spent on a project, by whom and how they did with
regards to staying within your expected target durations.

 Dependant Project Tasks: The Project Management Software

utilizes a hierarchical task list. You can set up dependant
project tasks "child tasks". The times can be dynamic and the
Project folder like view will allow you to see the dependant
tasks much like windows explorer hierarchical folder view.

 Milestones: Easily identify project milestones within a project

by setting any task to be a milestone.
File Sharing, (Centralized File Repository):
 Attach files to projects or tasks. The files are stored
centrally on the web server allowing access to anyone you
grant permission to.

 "Check In" & Check Out" feature. This feature will alert
users when a document they want to access is checked out
for editing. It also provides a complete historical
versioning system allowing you to view all of the
historical versions of the file.
 Calendar: The calendar is directly tied to the
ongoing projects. The project calendar show a
graphical calendar interface with all of the
pertinent ongoing projects. It is able to filter by
month, week or day.

 Contact List: All of your contact lists can also be

stored in the project management software. It also
has the V-card capability making importing and
exporting simple.
Popular Project Management Applications
 Microsoft Project
Microsoft Project is one of the more popular
packages and it now offers a web interface and
deep Office, Outlook and Sharepoint
integration.
 Matchware MindView
MindView has an easy-to-use spreadsheet-like
layout, and its mind map option lets you see
your project in visuals, reminiscent of
brainstorming bubbles.
Popular Project Management Applications

 Project Kickstart
Project KickStart is an easy-to-use project management
package that integrates with other applications like
PowerPoint, Outlook, Excel, Word, Microsoft Project, and
ACT!.
 RationalPlan Multi Project
RationalPlan Multi Project has features to manage resources
and budgets as well as multiple projects. It has an interactive
Gantt chart, normally available only in higher-end suites.
 Basecamp
Basecamp is a low-cost web-based project management and
collaboration package which is gaining momentum.
MS Project – Starting Project
Selecting Start Date
MS-Project – Creating Tasks
Assigning Resources
Timeline & Gantt Chart
 Limitations
 As every other software, applications like MS Project are just
tools; they do not execute the entire job for the PMs.
 It is unacceptable to expect a computer to manage the project, it
just manages the vast amount of data that large projects require to
store. Project management software is incapable of -
 establishing project objectives,
 implementing project tasks or dependencies,
 determine and manage project constraints• .
 Project management software should consciously take a
secondary role in a project system since their power can only be
exploited when the project is defined correctly.