PROJECT CHARACTERISTICS

(i) Objectives: A project has a set of objectives or missions once the objectives are achieved
the project is treated as completed.

(ii) Every project operates within predefined budget constraint

(iii) Life cycle: A project has a life cycle where it consists of the following

Conception stage: where project ideas are conceived

Design stage: where detailed design of different project is worked out

Implementation stage: where the project is implemented as per the design

Commissioning stage; where the project is commissioned after implementation,

commissioning of the project indicates the end of its life cycle.

Definite time limit: A project has a definite time limit it cannot continue forever. What
represents the end would normally be spelt out in the set of objectives.

Uniqueness: every project is unique and no two projects are similar even if the plants are
exactly identical or are merely duplicated the location the infrastructure the agencies and the
people make each project unique.

Team work: A project normally consists of delivered areas there will be personnel specialized
in their respective areas any project calls for the services of experts from a host of disciplines.
Co-ordination among the diverse areas calls for team work. Hence a project can be
implemented only with team work.

Complexity: A project is a complex set of thousands of varieties. The varieties are in terms of
technology of equipment and materials, machinery and people work culture and ethics but
they remain interrelated and unless this is so they either do not belong to the project or will
never allow the project to be completed.

Sub- contracting: some of the activities may be entrusted to sub- contractors to reduce the
complexity of the project. Sub contracting will be advantageous if it reduces the complexity
of the project so that the project manager can co-ordinate the remaining activities of the
project more effectively. The greater the complexity of the project, the larger will be the
extent to which sub- contracting will be resorted to.

Risk and uncertainty: Every project has risks and uncertainty associated with it. The
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degree of risk and uncertainty depends on the nature of the project.

Customer specific nature: A project is always customer specific this is because the products
produced or services offered by the project are necessarily to be customer oriented. It is the
customer who decides upon the product to be produced or services to be offered and hence it
is responsibility of any organization to go for projects/services that are suited to customer
needs.

Change: Changes occur throughout the lifespan of a project as a natural outcome of many
environmental factors. The changes may vary from minor changes to major changes which
may have a big impact or ever change the very nature of the project.

Forecasting: Forecasting the demand for any product/services that the project is going to
produce is an important aspect. All projects involve forecasting and in view of the importance
attached to forecasting they must be accurate and based on sound fundamentals.

Optimality: A project is always aimed at optimum utilization of resources for the overall
development of the organization economy. This is because resources are scarce and have a
cost.

Control mechanism: All projects will have pre-designed control mechanism in order to ensure
completion of projects within the time schedule, within estimated cost and the save time
achieve the desired level of quality and reliability.

Characteristics A Good Project Manager

1. Planning and organization skills

2. Personnel management skills

3. Communication skills

4. Change orientation

5. Ability to solve problems in their totality

6. High energy i.e. levels work under pressure

7. Ambition for achievements

8. Ability to take suggestions

9. Understanding the views of the project team members

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10. Ability to develop alternative actions quickly

11. Knowledge of project management methods and tools

12. Ability to make self evaluation

13. Effective time management

14. Capacity to relate current events to project management

15. Ability to handle project management software tools /packages

16. Flair for sense of humour

17. Solving issues /problems immediately without postponing them

18. Initiative and risk taking ability

19. Familiarity with the organization

20. Tolerance for difference of opinion, delay ambiguity

21. Knowledge of technology

22. Conflict resolving capacity

Responsibilities of A Project Manager

To plan thoroughly all aspects of the project involving the active involvement of all
functional areas involved in order to obtain and maintain a realistic plan that satisfies their
commitment for performance.

To control the organ of manpower needed by the project

To control the basic technical definition of the project ensuring that “technical” versus “cost”
trade –offs determine the specific areas where optimization is necessary.

To lead the people and organs assigned to the project at any given point in time

To monitor performance, cost and efficiency of all elements of the project and the project as a
whole, exercising judgment and leadership in determining the causes of problems and
facilitating solutions.

To complete the project on schedule and within costs, these being the overall standard by
which performance of the project manager is evaluated.

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REASONS WHY PROJECTS GO WRONG

Projects can go wrong for many reasons including the following:

(i) Project goals are not clearly defined

(ii) Complaints arising from:

 short time scale

 resource availability
 quality factors
 human factors

1. Problems with Project Goals

 Project sponsor or client has an inadequate idea of what the project is about at the
start.
 There may be failure of communication between the client and the project manager.
 Specification may be subject to constant changer due to problems with individual
clients, environmental changes etc.
 Project goals may be unrealistic and unachievable and it may be that this is only
realized once the project is underway.
 The client may become carried away with the idea of the project and may be unable to
see clearly what can be achieved.
 Projects may be highly complex and may have a number of objectives that actually
contradict each other.

Solutions

 Ensure that the client’s specifications are clear and understandable

 Preparation of project brief should take the objectives set out in the previous exercise
and translate them into targets and goals. This brief should be agreed by the
sponsor/clients and communicated to the project manager.
 Establishment of success criteria:

Success criteria can be described as being hard or soft

Hard criteria

Are tangible and measurable and can be expressed in quantitative terms. This poses the

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question “what” should be achieved, it includes the following.

o performance specification: these may be set out in terms of the ability to deal with
certain demands
o specific quality standards: - This could relate to achievement of a favorable report
from an outside inspection agency.
o Meeting dead lines
o Cost of budget constraints: completing the project within cost limit or budget which
has been determined.
o Resources constraints: e.g., making use of existing premises or labour force.

Soft criteria:

are often intangible and qualitative and difficult to measure they would tend to ask the
question “how” they include the following:

 demonstrative co-operation: This would be about showing that the project team could
work together effectively and without a degree of conflict. It could be an important
consideration to develop and implement solutions for the organization which have an
element of consensus and stem from co-operative attitude.
 presenting a positive image: This important though difficult to quantify
 Achieving total quality approach: This would be more about the adoption of a
philosophy of continuous improvement than the achievement of specific performance
target on quality.
 Gaining total project commitment: This is about how the project is managed and the
attitude of the project team to it.
 Ensuring that ethical standards are maintained
 Showing an appreciation of risk: This would ensure that no unacceptable risks were
taken in the pursuit of other project objectives.

2. Constraints on the Completion of Project

 Time: there is a relationship between the time taken for the project and its cost. A
trade-off between the two constraining factors may be necessary.
 Resource availability: There is always a budget for the project and this will be major
constraint. while the overall resource available may in theory be sufficient to
complete the project, there may be difficulties arising out of the way in which the
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 project has been scheduled. I.e. there may be a number of activities scheduled to take
place at the same time and this may not be possible given the amount of resources
available.
 Quality factors: This refers to whether the project delivers the goods to the right
quality the following techniques can be used to overcome the problems -budgeting,
and the corresponding control of the project budget through budgetary control
procedures. -Project planning and control techniques e.g. Gantt Charts and network
analysis.

PROJECT LIFE CYCLE

All projects have to pass through the following five phases: -

i Conception phase

ii Definition phase

iii Planning and organizing phase

iv Implementation phase

v Project clean-up phase

Conception phase

This is the phase during which the project idea germinates, sources of ideas may be

from the following sources:

 Find solution to certain problems

 Non-utilization of the available funds, plant capacity, expertise or simply unfulfilled
aspirations.
 Surveying the environment
 Idea put across by well wishers

The idea needs to be put to shape before they can be considered and compared with
competitive ideas. The ideas need to be examined in light of objectives and constraints. If
this phase is avoided or truncated, the project will have innate defects and may eventually
become a liability for the investors. A well conceived project will go a long way for
successful implementation and operation of a project; ideas may undergo some changes as
the project progresses because pertinent data may not be available at inception

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Definition phase

This phase develops the idea generated during the conception phase and produce a document
describing the project in sufficient details covering all aspects necessary for the customer and
for financial institutions to make up their minds on the project idea the areas to be examine
during this phase are:

i Raw materials: quantitative and qualitative evaluation

ii Plant size /capacity enumeration of plant capacity for the entire plant and for the main
deportments

iii Location and site: description of location supported by map.

iv Technology/process selection: selection of optimum technology, reasons for selection and

description of selected technology.

v Project layout; selection of optimum layout, reasons for selection and appropriate drawings.

vi Utilities –fuel, power, water, telephone, etc

vii Manpower and organization pattern

viii Financial analysis

ix Implementation schedule: This phase clears some of the ambiguities and uncertainties
associated with the formation made during the conceptual phase this phase also establishes
the risk involved in going ahead with the project in clear terms. A project can either be
accepted or get dropped at this stage.

Planning and Organizing Phase

This phase includes the following

a) Project infrastructure and enabling services

b) System design and basic engineering package

c) Organization and manpower

d) Schedule and budgets

e) Licensing and governmental clearances

f) Finance

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g) Systems and procedures

h) Identification of project manager

i) Design basis, general conditions for purchase and contracts

j) Site preparation and investigations

k) Work packaging

Thus, this phase is involved with preparation for the project to take off smoothly. This phase
is often taken as a part of the implementation phase since it does not limit itself to paperwork
and thinking but many activities including field work it is essential that this phase is
completely done as it forms the basis for the next phase i.e., implementation phase.

Implementation Phase

Preparation of specification for equipment and machinery, ordering of equipment lining up

construction contractors, trial run, testing etc takes place during this phase. As far as the
volume of work is concerned 80-85% of the project work is done in this phase only. The bulk
of the work is done during this phase therefore the need to complete this phase as fast as
possible with minimum resources.

Project Clean –Up Phase

This is a transition phase in which the hardware built with the active involvement of various
agencies is physically handed over for production to a different agency who was not so
involved earlier. Drawing, documents, files, operation. and maintenance manuals are
catalogued and handed over to the customer. Project accounts are closed, materials
reconciliation carried out, outstanding payments made and dues collected during this phase.
Essentially this is the handing over of the project to the customer.