The Project

Chapter 4

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 Learning Objectives

 The elements involved in establishing a project plan

 Identifying and assessing risks
 The steps in the project control process
 Actions that should be taken when a project is
terminated

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 Planning the Project
 Clearly define the project objective
 Divide and subdivide the project
 Define the specific activities to be performed
 Graphically portray the activities in a network diagram
 Make a time estimate for how long it will take to complete each
activity.
 Make a cost estimate for each activity.
 Calculate a project schedule and budget
 Determine if project can be accomplished within time, funds,
and available resources
 Develop a baseline plan

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 Planning the Project (Cont.)

 Keep in mind:
– Projects overrun their budgets, miss completion dates, or
only partially satisfy their technical specifications because
there is no viable baseline plan
– The people involved in performing the project should
participate in planning the work; they are most
knowledgeable
– Participating in the planning helps individuals become
committed to accomplishing it

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 Managing Risk
 Risk is defined as the possibility that an unwanted
circumstance will occur that can result in some loss
 Project managers must accept that risk is part of project
management
– They must encourage discussion of risks among the project team
 Risk management consists of four components:
– Risk Identification
– Risk Assessment
– Risk Response Planning
 Contingency Plan
– Risk Monitoring

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 Risk Identification

 Risk identification includes determining which risks

may adversely affect the project objective and what
the consequences of each risk might be if they occur
 Most common approach to identifying the sources of
risks is brainstorming
 Another source helpful in identifying possible risks is
historical information from past projects

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 Risk Assessment

 Assessing each risk involves determining likelihood

that the risk event will occur and the degree of
impact the event will have on the project objective
 Based on the potential likelihood of occurrence and
potential impact, the risks can be prioritized
– Refer Figure 4.2 – Risk assessment Matrix

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 Risk Assessment Matrix
Figure 4.2

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 Risk Response Planning
 Risk response planning includes:
– Developing an action plan to reduce the impact or likelihood of each
risk
– Establishing a trigger point for when to implement action plans to
address each risk
– Assigning responsibility to specific individuals for implementing
each response plan
 A risk plan is used to: avoid, mitigate, or accept the risk.
 Contingency Plan: Predefined set of actions that would be
implemented if the risk event occurs
– A contingency or management reserve should be included to pay
for the additional expenses of implementing contingency plans.
– It should also account for working overtime
– Must include a trigger point (warning flag)

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 Risk Monitoring
 Involves regularly reviewing the risk management
matrix throughout the project
 It is important to determine if there are any changes
to the likelihood of occurrence and/or the potential
impact of any of the risk throughout the duration of
the project
 New risks may also be identified, and need to be
added to the risk assessment matrix
 The agenda for project status review meetings
should include risk assessment
– Particular attention should be given to the trigger points

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 Performing the Project

 Once the baseline plan has been developed, project

work can proceed
 The project team, led by the project manager, will
implement the plan and perform the activities or work
elements
 The pace of project activity will increase as more and
various resources become involved

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 Controlling the Project

 Monitor progress
 Measure actual progress and compare it to planned
progress
 Track which activities have been started and/or
completed, when, and how much money has been
spent
 Take corrective action to get back on track
 Compare on a timely and regular basis and take
corrective action

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 Controlling the Project (Cont.)

 A regular reporting period should collect:

– Data on actual performance
– Information on any changes in scope, schedule, and budget
 Keep in mind:
– Data should be collected in a timely manner and used to
update the schedule and budget
– Compare updated schedule and budget to the baseline and
analyze
– Shorter the reporting period, better the chances of
identifying problems early and taking effective corrective
actions

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 Controlling the Project (Cont.)

 Project management is proactive

 This third phase ends when the requirements have
been met, project objective has been accomplished,
and the customer is satisfied

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 Terminating the Project

 The purpose of properly terminating a project is to

learn from the experience in order to improve
performance on future projects
 Termination activities should be identified in the
baseline plan
 Verify that all agreed-on deliverables were provided
 Organize and file project-related documentation

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 Terminating the Project (Cont.)

 Assure that all payments have been collected from

the customer
 Assure that all payments for materials and
subcontractors have been paid
 Prepare a written performance evaluation of each
member of the project team
 Hold post-project evaluation meetings
 Celebrate

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 Internal Post-Project Evaluation

 Have individual meetings with team members and a

group meeting with the project team
 Hold soon after the completion
 Announce meeting in advance so people can be
prepared
 Individual meetings allow team members to give their
personal impressions

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 Internal Post-Project Evaluation (Cont.)

 Develop an agenda for a group meeting

 Group meeting should discuss performance and
recommendations for improvement
 Issue a brief written report to management with a
summary and recommendations

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 Internal Post-Project Evaluation (Cont.)

 Some topics that might be discussed:

– Technical performance
– Cost performance
– Schedule performance
– Project planning and control
– Risk management
– Customer relationships
– Team relationships
– Communications
– Problem identification and resolution
– Lessons learned
– Recommendations

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 Customer Feedback

 Meet to discuss whether the project provided the

customer with the anticipated benefits, assess the
level of customer satisfaction, and obtain any
feedback
 Participants include the project manager, key project
team members, and key representatives of the
customer
 Ask open-ended questions
 Customers can express their level of satisfaction and
provide detailed comments

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 Customer Feedback (Cont.)

 If the customer is satisfied with the project:

 Ask about other projects you could do—perhaps
without going through a competitive RFP process
 Ask permission to use the customer as a reference
 Get feedback regarding satisfaction through a post-
project customer evaluation survey

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 Early Project Termination

 If research shows costs will be much more than

originally anticipated
 If there is a change in a company’s financial situation
 Because of dissatisfaction of the customer
 Avoid early termination due to customer
dissatisfaction by monitoring customer satisfaction
continually and taking corrective action

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