You are on page 1of 46

AMOUD UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES & RESEARCH

Course Instructor: Charles W. Gathano, Email: charleswachira62@gmail.com 1


FUNDAMENTALS OF
PROJECT PLANNING AND
MANAGEMENT
Course Code: PPM 8111

Course Instructor:
Charles W. Gathano
.

Course Instructor: Charles W. Gathano, Email: charleswachira62@gmail.com 2


Introduction
Definition of a Project
■ It is a set of activities which have been chosen, planned and carried out to
achieve specific objectives and an overall goal. They consume resources ,
have a scope and are time-bound. A project calls for an inflow of
investment of materials and human effort with the expectation that in
future there will be an output of products or services to help solve an
existing problem.

Course Instructor: Charles W. Gathano, Email: charleswachira62@gmail.com 3


Project Management
Definition
■ It is an organized venture for managing projects. It involves the
application of modern tools and techniques in planning, financing,
implementing, controlling and coordinating unique activities to produce
desirable results according to the predetermined objectives.

Course Instructor: Charles W. Gathano, Email: charleswachira62@gmail.com 4


Characteristics of a Project
(a) Objectives
■ A project has a set of objectives such that once the objectives have been
achieved the project is treated as complete. All project activities are
meant to achieve specific objectives. As the project outputs are generated,
the outputs lead to achievement of the set objectives and the overall goal.
(b) Life-Cycle
■ A project life-cycle consists of the Conception/Initiation/Definition Stage
(project ideas are conceived and analyzed), Planning/Design Stage
(Planning is done), Implementation Stage (actual undertaking of project
activities in the project site) and Monitoring and Evaluation Stage
(Assessment of project activities, results and processes).

Course Instructor: Charles W. Gathano, Email: charleswachira62@gmail.com 5


Characteristics of a Project Continued
(c) Definite Time Limit
■ A project cannot continue forever. Its activities are time-bound. They have a beginning and end
time.
(d) Uniqueness
■ Every project is unique since it is intended to achieve unique objectives.
■ Also the uniqueness is in terms of the project organization, infrastructure, location, technical
specifications and the staff behind the project.
(e) Team Work
■ A project consists of diverse areas/professions. It therefore needs team work among the
professionals from different disciplines. Coordination among these diverse areas call for team work.
(f) Rational Choice
■ The choice of a project is done after making an appraisal/assessment/analysis of all available project
ideas. Investment of resources should not be done without certainty that there will be good results in
future.

Course Instructor: Charles W. Gathano, Email: charleswachira62@gmail.com 6


Project Complexity
■ Complexity has to do with size, magnitude or the scope.
■ It entails how expansive the project is.
■ At different levels of complexity, project demands different amounts of resources.
■ Then they will require application of different tools, techniques and management ideas.
– There is correlation between the level of project complexity and the amount of
resources required to start and complete each project.

Course Instructor: Charles W. Gathano, Email: charleswachira62@gmail.com 7


Project Complexity

The level of complexity depends on:


■ Resources complexity:
– The volume of resources involved is assessed through the allocated budget.
■ Organizational complexity:
– This entails the number of departments involved, countries or number of stakeholders involved.
■ Technical complexity:
– This is about the level of innovation involved in the product or the service development, the project
process and the interfaces between different parts of the process (different technical issues).
NB:
■ As overall complexity increases so is the difficulty of the management task, to ensure that goals of the
project are reached.
■ Therefore the management needs to increase the standards so as to deal with the increasing complexity.

Course Instructor: Charles W. Gathano, Email: charleswachira62@gmail.com 8


Program

■ Program is a number of projects being undertaken with a particular element in mind which could
be a strategic objective (e.g. an environmental management programme, education programme).
■ It entails various activities being done to achieve objectives.

Program Management is facilitated by 2 aspects:


a) An aggregate Project Plan:
■ This plan helps to keep control of the projects that the programme or the organization is
undertaking.
– In this case organizations often have a good picture of their routine operations.
■ Projects on the other hand are less visible.
– Therefore an overall project plan provides a concise statement of all project activities.

Course Instructor: Charles W. Gathano, Email: charleswachira62@gmail.com 9


Program continued
■ An aggregate project plan…..continued:
■ Its functions are:
■ To assess the contribution of each project to the organizational goals
■ To determine what projects are to be undertaken
■ To rank relative importance of projects being done
■ Set timing of projects
■ Assess the capability and resource requirements of each project.

b) Project Office:
■ Organizations use project offices to assist in all aspects of management of the project work.
■ This office provides recognition of important project activities and need for project management
professionals to run projects.
– This office provides key project staff, the manager, project planners, accountants, consultants etc.
NB: Project management techniques apply to both individual projects and the programmes.

Course Instructor: Charles W. Gathano, Email: charleswachira62@gmail.com 10


Uncertainty
■ Risk and Uncertainty management:
■ A number of different definitions of risk and uncertainty are currently being used.
■ The term “Risk” is considered and perceived as a negative outcome and contains elements of
fear.
■ The term “Uncertainty” is the lack of certainty, involving variability and ambiguity of
parameters in a project.
■ Uncertainty, contains Risk and opportunities
■ Uncertainty is therefore the ability to predict outcome of parameters or foresee events that
may impact the project.
■ Uncertainty can describe discrete events or continuous ranges of outcomes.

Course Instructor: Charles W. Gathano, Email: charleswachira62@gmail.com 11


Uncertainty continued
■ Risk is a negative result, event
■ Opportunity is a positive result.
Uncertainty management:
■ Uncertainty management in projects is a project management area that is comprised of
management and control of risks and opportunities in the project.
■ Then uncertainty management is divided into risk management and opportunity management.
Risk management:
■ A continuous process to identify, analyze/assess/quantify and mitigate uncertainties which could
cause negative effects on the project by implementing response actions to avoid risks endangering
a successful completion of the project.
Opportunity management:
■ A continuous process to identify, analyze/analyze/quantify and follow up uncertainties which
could lead to positive impacts on the project by implementing response actions to benefit from
these opportunities.

Course Instructor: Charles W. Gathano, Email: charleswachira62@gmail.com 12


Principles of Project Planning and
Planning:
Management
■ Definition: Planning is the fundamental management function, which involves deciding
beforehand, what is to be done, when is it to be done, how it is to be done and who is going
to do it. It is an intellectual process which lays down an organization's objectives and
develops various courses of action, by which the organization can achieve those
objectives. It shows exactly how to attain a specific project or organizational goal.
■ Planning is nothing but thinking before the action takes place. It helps us to take a view
the future and decide in advance the way to deal with the situations, which we are going to
encounter in future.
■ It involves logical thinking and decision making.

Course Instructor: Charles W. Gathano, Email: charleswachira62@gmail.com 13


Planning
Characteristics of Planning:
■ Managerial function: Planning is a first and foremost managerial function provides the base for other
functions of the management, i.e. organizing, staffing, directing and controlling, as they are
performed within the periphery of the plans made.
■ Goal oriented: It focuses on defining the goals of the organization, identifying alternative courses of
action and deciding the appropriate action plan, which is to be undertaken for reaching the goals.
■ Pervasive: It is pervasive in the sense that it is present in all the segments and is required at all the
levels of the organization. Although the scope of planning varies at different levels and departments.
■ Continuous Process: Plans are made for a specific term, say for a month, quarter, year and so on.
Once that period is over, new plans are drawn, considering the organization's present and future
requirements and conditions. Therefore, it is an ongoing process, as the plans are framed, executed
and followed by another plan.
■ Intellectual Process: It is a mental exercise at it involves the application of mind, to think, forecast,
imagine intelligently and innovate etc.

Course Instructor: Charles W. Gathano, Email: charleswachira62@gmail.com 14


Planning continued
■ Futuristic: In the process of planning we take a sneak peek of the future. It encompasses
looking into the future, to analyze and predict it so that the organization can face future
challenges effectively.
■ Decision making: Decisions are made regarding the choice of alternative courses of
action that can be undertaken to reach the goal. The alternatives chosen should be best
among all, with the least number of the negative and highest number of positive
outcomes.
NB:
■ Planning is concerned with setting objectives, targets, and formulating plans to
accomplish them.
■ Planning helps project managers to analyze the present condition to identify the ways of
attaining the desired position in future.
■ It is the responsibility of managers.

Course Instructor: Charles W. Gathano, Email: charleswachira62@gmail.com 15


Planning continued
Importance of Planning:
■ It helps managers to improve future performance, by establishing objectives and selecting a course of
action, for the benefit of the organization.
■ It minimizes risk and uncertainty, by looking ahead into the future.
■ It facilitates the coordination of activities. Thus, reduces overlapping among activities and eliminates
unproductive work.
■ It states in advance, what should be done in future, so it provides direction for action.
■ It uncovers and identifies future opportunities and threats.
■ It sets out standards for controlling. It compares actual performance with the standard performance
and efforts are made to correct the same.
■ Planning is present in all types of organizations, projects, sectors, economies, etc.
■ We plan because the future is highly uncertain and no one can predict the future with 100% accuracy-
conditions can change anytime.
■ Then, planning is the basic requirement of any project or organization for its survival, growth and
success.
Course Instructor: Charles W. Gathano, Email: charleswachira62@gmail.com 16
Organizing
■ Arranging elements into a purposeful sequential order or structure.
■ It is the relationship between people, work and resources used to achieve the common
objectives.
■ Therefore, it is the process of identifying and grouping the work/activities to be done,
defining and delegating responsibility and authority as well as establishing relationships for
the purpose of enabling people to work most effectively and harmoniously together in
accomplishing objectives.

Course Instructor: Charles W. Gathano, Email: charleswachira62@gmail.com 17


Organizing continued
Steps to be followed:
■ The top management first specifies the common objectives of the organization/project.
■ In the second step, they identify all the activities (works) which need to be done to achieve
these predefined objectives.
■ In the third step, similar or related activities are grouped together.
– Relevant departments are made.
■ In the fourth step, they define the responsibilities (duties) of all the staff members.
■ In the fifth step, they delegate authority to the staff members.
■ In the sixth step, the authority relationships between superiors and subordinates are established.
■ In the seventh step, they provide the staff members with all essential requirements (resources)
like money, machines, materials, etc. to be used to achieve set objectives.
■ In the final step, they coordinate the efforts of all staff members and direct it towards achieving
the common objectives of the organization/project.

Course Instructor: Charles W. Gathano, Email: charleswachira62@gmail.com 18


Importance of Organizing
Facilitates Efficient Management:
■ A good organization avoids confusion, delays and duplication of work.
■ Increases the promptness and efficiency.
■ It motivates the employees to do their best.
■ NB: All these aspects facilitate efficient management.
– Then good organization facilitates efficient management.
Optimum Utilization of Human Resources:
■ A good organization facilitates division of labour and specialization.
■ It helps to select the Right person for the right Job.
■ It defines the authority and responsibility of every staff member.
■ It also motivates them to do their best.
■ NB: All these enables optimum utilization of human resources.
Helps in Growth of the organization:
■ A good organization helps in the growth and diversification of the enterprise. Today's big and giant enterprises
are the results of their best organization.
Course Instructor: Charles W. Gathano, Email: charleswachira62@gmail.com 19
Importance of Organizing continued
Utilizes Science and Technology:
■ A good organization exploits the benefits of science and technology.
■ It provides the latest machines for use.
■ It produces and provides the clients with the latest products.
■ NB: These aspects lead to reduction of cost and clients/users are delighted.
Facilitates Coordination (bringing together):
■ Organization coordinates/harmonizes the activities of different individuals, groups and
departments to achieve the set objectives of the project.
Encourages Creativity and Innovation:
■ Organizing encourages creativity in the project.
NB: It brings in new ideas, imaginations, visions and methods.

Course Instructor: Charles W. Gathano, Email: charleswachira62@gmail.com 20


Importance of Organizing continued
Motivates the Employees:
■ It provides the staff with a better working environment, good remuneration and reasonable
freedom.
NB: All this enables job satisfaction.
■ Organization motivates the staff to give good results.
Facilitates Delegation of Authority and duties:
■ Organization facilitates delegation of authority.
■ Senior managers can keep the important and sensitive work for themselves, and delegate less
important tasks to lower level staff.
■ NB: This develops leadership qualities among lower level staff and enhances achievement of
the objectives.

Course Instructor: Charles W. Gathano, Email: charleswachira62@gmail.com 21


Characteristics of Organizing
Coordination:
■ Under organization different persons are assigned different works but the aim of all these
persons happens to be the same the attainment of the objectives of the enterprise.
Organization ensures that the work of all the persons depends on each other’s work even
though it happens to be different. Hence, it helps in establishing coordination.
Division of Work:
■ Division of work is the basis of an organization. In other words, there can be no organization
without division of work. Under division of work, the entire work is divided into many
departments. The work of every department is further subdivided into sub works.
Plurality of Persons:
■ Organization is a group of many persons who assemble to fulfill a common purpose. An
individual cannot create an organization.

Course Instructor: Charles W. Gathano, Email: charleswachira62@gmail.com 22


Characteristics of Organizing continued
Organization is key in Management:
■ Organization is considered to be a machine of management. It is that machine in which no
part can afford to be non-functional. In other words, if the division of work is not done
properly or posts are not created correctly the whole system of management collapses.
Common Objectives:
■ There are various parts of an organization with different functions to perform but all move in
the same direction to achieve the general objective.

Course Instructor: Charles W. Gathano, Email: charleswachira62@gmail.com 23


Coordinating

■ Project coordination involves managing the day-to-day operations of a project, making sure
the people are aware of deadlines and tasks that they are responsible for, managing meeting
minutes, etc.
– A project coordinator works very closely with a project manager and is aware of the goals
of a project.
■ Working besides project managers, project coordinators are responsible for overseeing specific
stages of a larger project. The project manager oversees the project as a whole. Project
coordinators may work on more than one aspect of a project, depending on its nature and scope.
■ The project coordinator tracks each applicable stage throughout its lifecycle and makes sure that
critical information is shared among the various team members.
NB:
■ Projects need someone to work with different people who are responsible for different parts of
the project, to check their status periodically, keep them moving on schedule and pull all the
pieces together. This is project coordinating normally done by a project coordinator and
overseen by a project manager.

Course Instructor: Charles W. Gathano, Email: charleswachira62@gmail.com 24


Duties of the Project Coordinator
■ A project coordinator will coordinate the schedule, the budget and the issues and risks
of the project.
■ He does administrative work such as managing meetings, minutes of the meetings,
following up on project schedules, reminding staff about the schedules etc.
■ Coordinator makes sure the project is well-organized and that it runs smoothly.
– This include communicating with various departments in the organization to make
sure everyone is on the same page.
■ Project coordinators must work in a fast-paced and challenging work environment.
There are issues that need attention all the time. Then a good project coordinator must
be comfortable working in a very stressful atmosphere.

Course Instructor: Charles W. Gathano, Email: charleswachira62@gmail.com 25


Qualities of a Project Coordinator

■ A successful project coordinator has the following attributes:


■ Detail Oriented: Attention to detail is critical when overseeing many different aspects of the project, especially its
well-being and success.
■ Dependable: The project manager depends on the project coordinator to handle the details of the project management
– Then project coordinator is dependable and can be relied on to uphold their responsibilities without being
micromanaged.
■ Good Communicator: Project coordinator as the bridge connecting the project manager to other project team
members,
– Then he/she needs superior communications skills.
– They need to understand the messages and deliver them clearly to the target audience.
■ Productive: The project, demands productivity from its participants and this is especially so for the project coordinator.
– Coordinators are grease the keeps the wheels of the project turning,
– so it’s doubly important that they’re productive.
■ Get Things Done: Project managers want project coordinators who receives tasks and then does not any follow-up. The
project coordinator has a great autonomy.
– The ability to get things done is one of the biggest necessities on a project coordinator’s job description.

Course Instructor: Charles W. Gathano, Email: charleswachira62@gmail.com 26


Importance of a Project Coordinator
■ maintains the workflow of a project, ensuring a smooth operation;
■ plans and monitors budget and timelines to achieve the project objectives;
■ acts as the communication hub for the team, clients, and other stakeholders
■ records project decisions and tracks responsibilities/task allocation;
■ anticipates problems and solutions and brings them to the attention of the Project
Manager.

Course Instructor: Charles W. Gathano, Email: charleswachira62@gmail.com 27


Project Coordinator’s Objectives
To Run Project Meetings:
■ Project coordinator has objective of leading project-related meetings.
– From the planning up to implementation, project coordinators send meeting
invitations to important stakeholders.
– They write meeting agendas to ensure that time-sensitive and critical issues are
covered first within the meeting, followed by other activities.
– A junior coordinator can take minutes in the meeting and issue them to the project
team.
■ During the meetings, the coordinator moderates the conversation.
■ They guide the meeting through the agenda, focusing on urgent matters first.
■ If the discussion gets diverted to other topics, the project coordinator brings the discussion
to the agenda item.

Course Instructor: Charles W. Gathano, Email: charleswachira62@gmail.com 28


Project Coordinator’s Objectives continued
To Manage the Team
■ Project manager goals and objectives are similar to those of the project coordinator,
including managing the project team.
– The project manager may oversee overall human resource management, while the
project coordinator usually focuses on tasks and tactical activities.
– Both ensure that the project team is working on the assigned activities and is making
progress.
– When in problems, team members consult the project coordinator first to get solutions.
■ In addition to overseeing the project team, the project coordinator liaises with other
departments in the organization.
– They work with other project coordinators or department managers on specific
activities related to the project.
– This ensures that the timelines and messaging correspond with the project’s goals.

Course Instructor: Charles W. Gathano, Email: charleswachira62@gmail.com 29


Project Coordinator’s Objectives
To Oversee the Budget and Timeline
■ Project coordinators ensure that the project remains within budget.
– They track expenses and add them to the budget for the organization to compare cost
estimates to actual expenses.
– They may be required to amend the budget at specific project milestones based on the
progress and actual expenses.
■ Keeping the team on schedule is a key role of the project coordinator.
■ They often create the schedule with the project manager, since they understand how long
specific tasks take.
■ They are highly familiar with the project’s schedule and important milestones and make
sure the team meets all deadlines.
■ If a project is behind schedule, the project coordinator works with the team to establish how
to increase performance and restore the schedules.

Course Instructor: Charles W. Gathano, Email: charleswachira62@gmail.com 30


Directing
■ Directing and Managing the implementation process is a method used to perform a
project work that expresses the project management plan.
■ On initiating a project, it involves various departments working towards a common
goal.
■ When the teams involved are from various departments, the reporting process becomes
difficult hence the importance of directing.
■ Directing also has to do with leadership where the manager or the senior staff are
expected to show leadership, motivation and inspiration.
■ People are motivated by different factors such as money, need for recognition, security
of tenure etc.
■ There is need to look at what motivates each person

Course Instructor: Charles W. Gathano, Email: charleswachira62@gmail.com 31


Components Involved in Directing and
Managing Project Execution
Directing and Managing Project Work – Inputs
Project Management Plan:
■ This is the main agenda/item of the Directing and Managing Execution Process,
■ as it contains all the other plans (scope baseline, cost baseline, schedule baseline, scope
management, etc.)
■ There is need to establish how to manage, execute, monitor and control the project.
Project Documentation:
■ Changelog - a process which records all the information of the changes that are done in the
project from its initiation stage.
■ Lessons learned register - the process helps to improve the performance of the project
through the lessons learned from the previously handled projects.
■ Milestone list - a process which describes and shows the project scheduled dates and their
specific signs.
Course Instructor: Charles W. Gathano, Email: charleswachira62@gmail.com 32
Components Involved in Directing and Managing
Project Execution
■ Project communications - Any reports that are generated through the project should
be communicated and understood by the audience. E.g. performance reports,
deliverable status, and other information.
■ Project schedule - Describes the list of work activities, the work durations, the
resources allocated, and the project's scheduled initiation and completion stage.
■ Requirements traceability matrix - This process links the product requirements to
the project deliverables that satisfies and helps to focus on the outcomes.
■ Risk register - Risk register provides information on threats that may occur and
impact the execution of the project.
■ Risk report - Provides information about the sources of the overall project risks
along with a detailed summary of the identified individual project risks.

Course Instructor: Charles W. Gathano, Email: charleswachira62@gmail.com 33


Components Involved in Directing and Managing
Project Execution
Approved Change Requests
■ The Change Requests are the predictable changes that concentrate on expanding or reducing the project scope.
■ Directing takes into account all the defects in the project, quality assurance and preventive measures. Every little
aspect is taken care of and is corrected accordingly. One important thing to remember is that changes occur in every
project, but making too many changes will hamper the quality of the project and will also affect the outcome.
Organization’s Environmental Factors
■ Stakeholder risk tolerances: Risk tolerance is the willingness to accommodate a high level of risk when
undertaking a task or making a decision.
– i.e. the desire to lose determines the risk tolerance of an individual or an organization. E.g. individuals
spending money on products with no performance assurance or paying more for the same product which has a
guaranteed performance.
■ Culture and structure of an organization: Culture and structure play an important role in determining the success
rate of an organization.
■ In an organization the term culture should be given much attention as it specifies how the organization works
towards accomplishing a project successfully.
■ On the structure, it mainly focuses on how the organization is structured. It shows how the workload is managed
and distributed across various departments involved in the project.

Course Instructor: Charles W. Gathano, Email: charleswachira62@gmail.com 34


Components Involved in Directing and Managing
Project Execution
■ Infrastructure: Infrastructure is mainly about availability of proper facilities and equipment in
an organization to achieve the set targets by the project manager.
Organizational Process Assets:
■ Standardized guidelines and work instructions: Every organization must set and implement
standardized guidelines to be followed by all departments mainly as the work instruction.
– These are the official rules and regulations that are to be followed by all teams during the
project life cycle.
■ Communication requirements: A form where communication takes place between various
interfaces of the organization (electronic and manual), to collect previous project details and
records to have a clear vision.
■ Issue and defect management procedures: A project is likely to experience problems and
defect in one or the other areas of the project.
■ It is the responsibility of the team to identify the problems that are to arise and ensure that they
have proper solutions.
Course Instructor: Charles W. Gathano, Email: charleswachira62@gmail.com 35
Components Involved in Directing and
Managing Project Execution
■ Project files from previous projects: The availability of project files from previous projects
helps to provide scope for improvement in identifying the loopholes in the current project and
bridging the gap wherever necessary. i.e. aspects of scope, cost, schedule, performance
measurement baselines by focusing on the project calendars and project schedule for
allocating and undertaking the work.
■ Issue and defect management database: The database will contain information on the status
of historical issues and defects, methods used to control them, the resolutions that were made
to tackle the problems and the results of actions that were carried out. The process, in general,
contains results for all the procedures carried out during the issue and defect management
procedures stage.

Course Instructor: Charles W. Gathano, Email: charleswachira62@gmail.com 36


Components Involved in Directing and
Managing Project Execution
Directing and Managing Project Work - Tools and Techniques
Expert Judgment
■ Expert Judgment is an essential stage in directing and managing project implementation process.
– involves taking opinions from various units within the organization, consulting subject experts for reviews, and
views from professional and technical associations.
Management Information System (PMIS)
■ Is the main tool to direct and manage project execution.
– It is a collection of tools and techniques used to gather, integrate and disseminate the output of project
management processes. It is a process used for collecting and using project information from initiation stage to
the closure stage.
Meetings
■ Meetings should take place on a timely basis during the life cycle of the project.
■ Regular meetings allow project managers to track proceeding and to interact with all the departments and share
important details with the stakeholders.
■ conducting meetings keeps things in an organized manner.

Course Instructor: Charles W. Gathano, Email: charleswachira62@gmail.com 37


Components Involved in Directing and Managing
Project Execution
Directing and Managing Project Work - Outputs
Deliverables
■ The most important output of the process is achieving an approved deliverable. The purpose of
doing the project management plan is to produce deliverables.
Work Performance Data
■ A process where the project manager is monitoring the status of the project executed. It's the
collection of project status information and distributing it amongst the stakeholders during
implementation.
Issue Log
■ The issue log is a project document where all the issues are recorded.
Data on issues include:
■ Type of Issue, Who raised the issue and when, Definition and priority, Who is assigned to the
issue, Target resolution date, Status and Final solution.
Course Instructor: Charles W. Gathano, Email: charleswachira62@gmail.com 38
Components Involved in Directing and
Managing Project Execution
Change Requests
■ During project implementation, issues occur unprecedentedly.
■ These changes are requested to be performed and may affect some parts of the project and
modify the project policies and procedures. Most importantly they will leave effects on:
■ Corrective Action - An activity that readjusts the performance of the project work with the
project management plan.
■ Preventive Action - An activity that ensures the future performance of the project work is
appropriately aligned with the project management plan.
■ Defect repair - An activity to modify a nonconforming products. All the products that do not
comply with the project are repaired and replaced.
■ Updates - Implementing changes to the officially controlled project documents, project
management plans, etc., to reflect modified or additional ideas or content.

Course Instructor: Charles W. Gathano, Email: charleswachira62@gmail.com 39


Components Involved in Directing and
Managing Project Execution

■ Project Management Plan Updates


■ Necessary to accommodate changes based on the real world environment

Course Instructor: Charles W. Gathano, Email: charleswachira62@gmail.com 40


Controlling
■ This is all about monitoring and evaluation.
■ It puts in place systems which could show whether there is a problem. E.g. budgetary controls,
budget variance analysis, individual operating plans (time frame charts), Periodic reports,
minutes of the meetings, monitoring field visits, Audits, observation (MBWA-management by
walking around)
■ Carry out periodic evaluation
– Mid term, end term and ex-post evaluations
■ Ensure there are budget/cost estimate, scope and schedule controls
■ Controls enhance quality of the project and its expected results

Course Instructor: Charles W. Gathano, Email: charleswachira62@gmail.com 41


Control Process
The following processes are used to achieve objectives in the project control:
■ Compilation of the actual data, target/actual comparison (Variance analysis assesses the
variance between actual values or services and expected values), definition and
analysis of deviations, estimation of the consequences and suggestions for the corrective
actions, participation and monitoring of the implementation of corrective measures.
The aim of the control is therefore:
■ time orientation, early warning, coordination of the segment plan (e.g. cost estimate
plans), decision making, division and dissemination of the information.

Course Instructor: Charles W. Gathano, Email: charleswachira62@gmail.com 42


Staffing
■ It involves
■ Recruitment and retention of qualified staff members
■ It is to recruit right staff for the right positions in the project.
Project staffing plan
■ Developing a project staffing plan involves selecting and assembling a project team.  
■ Staffing plan specifies when and how to meet the requirements for staffing the project.  
■ Staffing plan builds on the high-level staffing needs.

Course Instructor: Charles W. Gathano, Email: charleswachira62@gmail.com 43


Items to Consider in Project Staffing Plan

■ How the staff will be acquired


■ How long the staff will be needed
■ The skills required
■ What training is or may be needed on them

Course Instructor: Charles W. Gathano, Email: charleswachira62@gmail.com 44


The Staffing Process
■ Write the job descriptions and the job specialization
■ Budget for the staff benefits.
– Before you recruit, you must have budget for the position/job and the staff benefits
■ Write an advertisement based on the job description. I must summarize the job to be
done.
■ We advertise so as to:
– Have a transparent recruitment process
– Get the right people
– Advert could be internal or external
■ Serialize the applications

Course Instructor: Charles W. Gathano, Email: charleswachira62@gmail.com 45


The Staffing Process continued…
■ Set a panel to do shortlisting. Short list about 6 applicants.
■ Form an interview panel comprising key people who are involved in the project
■ Invite the candidates for the interview
■ Circulate their applications to the interview panel members 3 days in advance
■ Interview the candidates humanely.
– Avoid offensive questions
■ Write a report of the interview process to create confidence on the recruitment process
– This makes the interview process credible
– Stakeholders may wish to know how staff were recruited

Course Instructor: Charles W. Gathano, Email: charleswachira62@gmail.com 46

You might also like