Project management tools & processes

Section 1 Project Management: Basics and Tools................................................................................2 1.1 Project Management...................................................................................................................2 1.2Project Structure and Frameworks..............................................................................................5 1.3 Project Stakeholders...................................................................................................................8 1.4 Project Management Tools.........................................................................................................9 1.4.1 Project initiation document..................................................................................................9 1.4.2 Feasibility............................................................................................................................9 1.4.3 SWOT analysis..................................................................................................................10 1.4.4 Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)...................................................................................10 1.4.5 Costing and Budgeting......................................................................................................10 1.4.6 Gantt Chart........................................................................................................................10 1.4.7 Histogram..........................................................................................................................10 1.4.8 Network analysis/critical path analysis.............................................................................11 1.4.9 PERT (project evaluation and review technique)..............................................................11 1.4.10 Project Management Software.........................................................................................11 Section 2 Project Management: Methodologies and Managing the Team.........................................12 2.1 Project Management Methodologies and System....................................................................12 2.2 The Key Stages of Project Management..................................................................................14 2.3 The Project Initiation Stage......................................................................................................15 2.4 Strategy and Scope for a Project..............................................................................................15 2.5 Management of Configuration, Change & Risk.......................................................................16 2.6 The Project Planning Stage.......................................................................................................18 Section 3 Project Control ...................................................................................................................19 3.1 Project Control Systems...........................................................................................................19 3.2 Control of Time, Cost and Quality...........................................................................................20 3.3 Quality in the Project Environment..........................................................................................21 3.4 Project Completion...................................................................................................................22

Section 1 Project Management: Basics and Tools

Project Management Project Structures and Frameworks Project Stakeholders Project management tools

1.1 Project Management

A project is a temporary process, which has a clearly defined start and end time, a set of tasks and a budget, that is developed to solve a well defined goal or objective. Examples of projects include implementing a new business process, producing a new product, organising a wedding, or decorating the dinning room. Characteristics of a projector (Trevor Young, The Handbook of Project Management): has specific purpose is unique customer focused a series of activities has time constraints is complex has cost constraints

The project life cycle

Stage The defining or initiation phase The planning phase

Description Identification of a need, opportunity or problem. Establish requirements and achievability. Submission of proposals to the customer. A feasibility study and cost benefit analysis is generally used to help evaluate the best choice and the contract is then agreed. The actual performance, resulting in the accomplishment of the project objective. Monitoring and controlling the project, through budget milestones Deliverables provided, appraised, accepted and paid for.

The implementing phase

The controlling phase

The completing phase

Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project activities in order to meet or exceed stakeholder needs and expectations from a project. Process of Project Management Initiation Formation Objective setting Task planning Feasibility 1. Initiation stage a. Project initiation document b. Work breakdown structure c. Budget schedule d. Task list e. Network diagram f. List of resources g. Feasibility studycost/benefit analysis Fact finding Position analysis Options generation Options evaluation 2. Planning stage a. SWOT analysis b. Scenario building c. NPV d. Working breakdown structure e. Gantt charts f. Critical path analysis g. PERT h. Resource histogram Design & development Implementation Review Completion Project Stages Managerial Stages And Tools And Techniques

3. Implementing stage Budget report Progress report

4.Controlling stage Cost analysis

5.Completing stage Completion report Post completion audit

Objective of project management Define the project Produce manageable tasks Obtain resources Build a team or teams Plan the work and allocate responsibilities Monitor and control the work Report progress to senior management and/or the project sponsor Close down the project when completed Review to ensure lessons are learnt

1.2Project Structure and Frameworks

Mckinseys 2S model

The 2S model can be used in to identify: Strengths and weakness How a change made in any one of the S factors will have an impact on all of the others

Appreciative Inquiry (AI) A traditional Appreciative Inquiry is based on four steps (the AI 4-D Cycle)

Assumptions of AI include the following: Something works What we focus on becomes our reality Asking questions of an organisation or group influences the group in some way. People have more confidence and comfort to journey to the future ( the unknown) when they carry forward the best parts of the past (the known). It is important to value differences. the language we use creates our reality.

Note: The AI framework can be applied a variety of interventions such as: strategic planning, instructional system design, diversity, organisational redesign, mergers and evaluations.

The Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) The Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) is a collection of processes and knowledge areas accepted as best practice within the project management discipline.

The PMBOK The PMBOK describes nine Project Management Knowledge Areas: 1) Project Integration Management 2) Project Scope Management 3) Project Time management 4) Project Cost Management 5) Project Quality Management 6) Project Human Resource Management 7) Project Communication Management 8) Project Risk Management 9) Project Procurement Management

1.3 Project Stakeholders

Outcome and process stakeholders Outcome stakeholders have an interest in seeing that the projects objectives are achieved. Process stakeholders have an interest in the way in which the project is conducted. Based on the principles of one person- one boss and a decision-making authority, the hierarchy shown below is adapted from the one shown in Successful Project Management, Gido Jand Clements J, 1999.

Note: Other stakeholders that we can include are the organisation, customers, steering committee, vendors, specialists and users.

Project champions and agents of change A project champion- someone who grasps the benefits of and is enthusiastic about the project can be one of the most critical elements of any project team. Change agents are those people in the business that have the expertise that the project team requires to successfully delver the project and will ensure that all of the requirements of the business are met.

1.4 Project Management Tools

1.4.1 Project initiation document The project initiation document ( PID) is a formal document listing the goals, constraints and success criteria for the project- the rules of the game. Note: The PID is sometimes called a statement of work or project charter. A PID should contain at least the following sections: Purpose statement Scope statement Deliverables Cost and time estimates Objectives Stakeholders Chain of command 1.4.2 Feasibility The feasibility study should be undertaken during the early stages of project planning, once the requirements and specifications of the project have been identified. The purpose of project feasibility is to establish if the proposed project can achieve its objective in a cost effective manner. It enables the organisation to filter out proposed projects that would either cost too much disruption, make excessive demand on resources or have side effects that are undesirable and outweigh the advantages. Feasibility can be considered in a number of areas for example technical, social, environmental, financial and business feasibility. Technical feasibility will vary depending of the type of project being undertaken. The idea is to assess the nature of the technology required to build and run the new system/venture. Social feasibility is all about ensuring the project fits with the business and its social environment. Environmental or ecological feasibility which could include complying with heath and safety legislation and also making sure the system/venture is ecologically sound and not harmful to the surrounding environment. Financial feasibility is undertaken to explore whether the project provides benefits to the organisation and is usually assessed through cost benefit analysis. Business feasibility should be considered in terms of whether the project fits with the business goals of the company.

1.4.3 SWOT analysis Strengths The things that are going well (or have gone well) in the projects The skills that are prized Major successes Parts of the project that are well received by the users or were completed early Weaknesses The things that are going badly (or have gone badly) in the projects The skills that area is lacking Major failures Parts of the project that are poorly received by the users or were completed late Threats Events or changes outside the project (elsewhere in the organisation or its business environment) that should be defended against Things likely to go badly in the future

Opportunities Events or changes outside the project (elsewhere in the organisation or its business environment) that can be exploited to the advantage of the project Things likely to go well in the future

1.4.4 Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) This technique is a critical part of project planning involving an analysis of the work required to complete the project. The activities in the project are broken down into manageable components, referred to as work packages. The process defines the activities that must be carried out for each work package. Each work package will have defined responsibilities and deliverables.

1.4.5 Costing and Budgeting The WBS can be used to produce a cost breakdown structure. Detailing labour, subcontractors, material, overheads, etc

1.4.6 Gantt Chart This provides a visual way of illustrating the sequence of activities in a project. Complex project activities are converted into constituent tasks and a graphical and understandable picture is provided. Although it does not show dependencies internal relationship, it will show the time taken for each activity, resources required and responsibilities. 1.4.7 Histogram This technique shows the resource requirement usage and availability against a timescale. (stacked bar chart)

1.4.8 Network analysis/critical path analysis Construction of a diagram showing the sequence and dependencies between activities or deliverables on a project. Using a work breakdown structure, network analysis arranges each work package/task into a logical sequence and estimates the time to complete each. The outputs from the work breakdown structure analysis will help the identification of which tasks are dependent on others. Dependencies are critical to project planning. Having identified dependencies it is then possible to calculate the critical path, which is the longest sequence of consecutive activities. It identifies those activities which, if delayed beyond the allotted time, would delay the completion of the project. How much certain activities could slip before there is an impact on the expected item completion for project. This then enables the minimum possible time to be determined.

1.4.9 PERT (project evaluation and review technique) Development on network analysis, the technique is designed to account for uncertainty in the project life cycle. Each activity in the project PERT uses three times estimates: 1) the optimistic time based on the duration the Shopping Centre project would take if conditions were ideal; 2) the most likely/probable duration if conditions were normal or as expected; 3) the pessimistic estimate which is the duration it would take if a number of things went wrong. These estimates are then converted into a mean time and standard deviation which means it is then possible to establish the duration of the project using the expected times, but also to calculate a contingency time allowance. 1.4.10 Project Management Software Software can be used for: planning- network diagrams and gannt charts can be produced automatically once data is entered monitoring- actual data can be used to facilitate monitoring, with regular updates to diagrams estimating- actual data from one project can be used to estimate the next project reporting- they allow standard and tailored reports to be produced

Section 2 Project Management: Methodologies and Managing the Team

Project management, methodologies and systems The key stages of project management The project initiation stage Strategy and scope for a project Management of configuration, change and risk The project planning stage

2.1 Project Management Methodologies and System

Prince is a project management system developed by the UK Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency. The acronym PRINCE stands for Projects IN Controlled Environments. The latest version of PRINCE is PRINCE 2. Prince Structure The basic PRINCE prefect organisational structure

The PRINCE structure defines the roles of: project committee

project manager team leader project assurance project support

PRICE 2 PRINCE2 (Projects IN Controlled Environments, version 2) is a process-based approach for project management providing an easily tailored, and scaleable method for the management of all types of projects.

2.2 The Key Stages of Project Management

PRINCE2 Process Directing a project the higher aspects of control and decision making Starting up a project- a pre-project process, selecting the team and setting aims Initiation- akin to a feasibility study, is it justified? Planning- analysis into technical, quality and management. Establishment of targets of time, cost and quality. Controlling a stage- monitoring and control activities are carried out by the project manager at each stage of the project. Managing stage boundaries- the primary objective at this stage is to ensure that all planned deliverables are completed as required. One stage is completed before next begins. Managing product delivery- this includes effective allocation of Work packages and ensuring that the work is carried out to the required quality standard. (specialist and contractors) Project closure- bringing the project to a formal and controlled close approved by the Project Board, it establishes the extend to which the objectives have been met.

The JISC infoNet method The JISC infoNet method pares down PRINCE2 to the bare bones of a framework suitable for managing any project.

2.3 The Project Initiation Stage

Project initiation The PID lists the goals, constraints and success criteria for the project. Project definition The main elements of a project definition include: purpose goals beneficial gains

2.4 Strategy and Scope for a Project

To ensure the strategic fit of the project the organisation needs to be clear about the following: description of the business need and its contribution to the organisations business strategy objectives why it is needed now key benefits to be realised critical success factors and how they will be measured. Project strategy Project scope- agreement between customer and supplier, series of tasks or activities to be performed in reaching the project solution Project objectives and basic plans for time, cost and quality time constraint and budget an expected quality level associated with each task budget available for project completion, which the project manager should not exceed without authorisation Trade offs between key project objectives Every project has constraints. The primary ones are the trade off between time, cost and scope which also impact on quality.

2.5 Management of Configuration, Change & Risk

Risk management Five stages of risk management 1) Identify and record the risk in a risk register 2) Access the risks and record the assessment 3) Plan and record risk strategies 4) Carry out risk strategies 5) Review and monitor the success of the risk management approach

Dealing with risk involves four basic approaches Avoidance removes the factors bringing about the risk Reduction- identify ways to reduce the risk Transference pass the risk to someone else (insurer) Absorption accept the risk and cope with the consequences Common causes of problems Poor project management Conflicting requirements Unrealistic deadline User requirements not established correctly

Management of change Change management activities: identify need for change make recommendation check feasibility to change get steering committee approval get project sponsor approval amend plan make change Elements of the change management plan: initiating a change request logging and tracking change requests assigning change requests for analysis and recommendation implementing change request resolution actions ( acceptance, delayed acceptance or rejection of change request) how accepted changes will be integrated into the project control documents ( schedule and task plan, risk management plan, acquisition plan, etc) roles and responsibilities in the change management process Change management Causes of change to the project plan Slippage New technology New legislation Business environment changes Poorly defined user requirements Staff changes What to consider when changing the plan What happens if the change is not implemented? Costs and benefits of the change Impact on time, cot and quality Change control procedure Impact on stakeholders Communication to all those affected

2.6 The Project Planning Stage

Advantages: communicate what has to be done, when and by whom encourage forward thinking provide the measures of success for the project make clear the commitment of time, resources ( people and equipment), and money required for the project determine if targets are achievable identify the activities the resources need to undertake Three main types of planning are required within PRINCE projects: Project planning Stage planning Exception planning Detailed planning Resources for a detailed plan: The plan can be discussed with the project sponsor and users, to gain their agreement for the project to proceed. The plan will give a clear view to the project team of what is expected form them. This will improve their motivation level. The plan can be used as a basis for performance review. Evaluation of plans for projects Methods of evaluation include: examining existing records structured observation individual interviews group interviews expert opinion Note: For more details about methodology please refer to the study text Section on project methodologies and planning.

Section 3 Project Control

Project control systems Control of time, cost and quality Quality in the project environment Project completion

3.1 Project Control Systems

Project control Project control is the continuous monitoring of the project for deviations from plan (time, cost and quality) and the execution of corrective action. Components of a basic control system: A plan- a statement of what is to happen Observations- measurements of what is happening Comparisons- between expectations and actual Corrections- actions designed to re-direct what is happening back to what should happen. Updates- of forecasts and or plan as appropriate. This involves scheduling, monitoring and controlling. Project control system The purpose of a project control system is to develop a plan of the work that is to be accomplished and to develop a system that monitors that plan and the performance of the work. The decision to introduce a formal control system and the selection of a specific system should be based largely on two aspects of the project: The risk involved The cost of the control system and its expected benefits

3.2 Control of Time, Cost and Quality

Time, cost and quality performance measurement Time and money, budgets and schedules are the most basic resources within which every project must operate. Measurements can include: Expenditure (cost) measures- start with the establishment of budgets Schedule (time) performance measures- refer to the timely completion of project deliverables. Scope performance measures- are primarily concerned with product scope (the set of functions and features that characterise the product or service). Functional quality- refers to the quality or correctness Technical quality performance refers to the technical infrastructure that provides the foundation for product and service delivery. Client satisfaction measures- include client perceptions on various aspects. Earned value analysis (EVA) EVA involves calculation of three measurements: Budgeted cost of work scheduled (BCWS) Actual cost of work performance (ACWP) Budgeted cost of work performed (BCWP)

3.3 Quality in the Project Environment

Quality is: Totality of features and characteristics of a product or service which bear on its ability to satisfy stated and implied needs. (ISO) Fitness for use (Juran) Conformance to requirements (Crosby) Dimensions of quality: Conformance quality depends upon compliance with technical specifications. Perceived quality relates to the customers expectations and experiences with the product. Quality management Quality management is a systematic way of ensuring that the activities necessary to design, develop and deliver products and services which are more likely to be fit for their intended purpose, take place a planned and are carried out efficiently and effectively. Conformance management systems Conformance management systems focus on: inspection quality control quality assurance Total Quality Management (TQM) TQM is managing the entire organisation so that it excels on all dimensions of products and services that are important to the customer. TQM deals with: quality standards and specifications cost of quality continuous improvement

3.4 Project Completion

Closing a successfully completed project Elements in project finalisation: acceptance by client review outputs against goals disbanding the team post-completion review closure by steering committee Closing an unsuccessful project Signs of an unsuccessful project that may need to be closed before being completed include: The project team is unable to meet major project milestones. The activities do not match with the stated objectives of the project. It is clear the clients will not accept the outputs and/or outcomes of the project. Key project team members leave the project. Completion report Contents: The project objectives and the outcomes achieved The extend to which the required quality has been achieved System efficiency during live operation compared with the agreed levels of performance The cost of the system in comparison with budgeted cot, and explanations for variances Comparison of actual time taken to complete the project with the budgeted time anticipated The effectiveness of the management process The significance of the problems encountered, and the effectiveness of the solutions generated to overcome them. Post-completion audit Main purposes of post-completion audit: checks whether benefits have been achieved reduces the tendency towards over-optimism Post-implementation review(PIR) Post-implementation review (PIR) is a formal review of a programme or project. It is used to answer the question: Did we achieve what we set out to do in business terms and if not, what should be done?

Elements of the PIR Project history description- provides an executive overview of the solution selected to satisfy the project objectives. Cost history- provides a set of accounts for the actual costs of the development of the project using the cost schedule formats as prepared for the project plan. Project management and systems development methodology- describe the methodology used to develop the system. Performance measures provide a list of the performance measures initially used to justify the project. Lessons learned- describe the lessons learned during this project Impact of the system-briefly describe the general impact of the system on the mangers, users and customers. The PIR process