Introduction

Project management is the discipline of managing a series of tasks within a given amount of time and
within a budget.This Unit is designed to develop an understanding of the concepts and principles and
the boundaries and scope of project management with emphasis onissues and problems faced by
managers of projects. The Unit also offers the candidate the opportunity to develop a project
schedule using project management software to demonstrate how the use of such software can assist
a project manager to deal with these particular issues and problems when managing projects.

Project management plays a large role in the development of a wide range of organisational
requirements, eg government, construction, engineering, medicine, and especially, in computing and
information technology. This Unit is intended to provide candidates with the pre-requisite knowledge
and skills required to conduct and manage a project. Candidates should acquire knowledge about the
fundamental issues and problems of project management, as well as gain skills in the use of project
management techniques. This may include the use of project management software solutions.

Wikipedia has a comprehensive Introduction to Project Management .

In this first section we consider the terminology and definitions used in Project Management, and
introduce the issues involved in the managing of projects, as distinct from the issues of conventional
management. You should become familiar with relevant terminology and make use of it in describing
project management.

Definition of a Project

A clear and accurate project definition is critical to the success of a project. The definition process
consists of setting clearly defined objectives, determining the key success criteria and evaluating
the risks involved. The final outcome should be a Project Definition document, sometimes referred to as
a Project Charter.

The Project Definition should include a statement of the business need that the project aims to address
and a description of the product, service or other deliverables that will be its output. It can be
constructed by asking a series of questions:

 What is the purpose, or project mission, ie the reason for doing the project?

 What are the goals, ie what targets does the project aim to achieve.

 What is the scope of the project, ie how will the organisation gain?

 What are the quality standards and performance criteria?

 What are the measurable objectives of the project?

 What are the key success criteria?

 What are the project deliverables?

  What are the project constraints, eg time, resources, performance criteria?

 What risks are involved?

You can find a more detailed explanation of Project Definition on Spottydog's Project Management
Website.

The project definition process produces the information needed to begin constructing a Project Plan.

Next: Task

Project Management Terms and Concepts

Before we start looking at project management in detail it's worth defining some of the basic terms and
concepts. Over the next few pages we'll look at the following:

 Definition of a project

 Task

 Resource

 Schedule

 Performance risk

 Scope and scope creep

 Critical path

 Estimating project duration and costs

Task
A task is an activity that needs to be accomplished within a defined period of time. Tasks are
generally pieces of work that require effort and resources and have a concrete outcome or
deliverable.

In theory a task can be of any size. Indeed, a project could be regarded as a very large task.
However, the term task is normally used to refer a smaller piece of work.

Tasks take place over a period of time and usually consume resources. Projects are made up of
tasks, sometimes grouped together into work packages. In practice, the term task can be
applied to almost any project activity. Task durations can be long or short and there can be huge
variations in costs and resource requirements.
The deliverables from many small tasks may be combined together to create the deliverable for
a larger task. For example, a project manager may be allocated the task of producing a project
plan. This task may involve obtaining information from a number of people. Each meeting could
be regarded as a task in its own right. Some of the people the project manager meets with may
also have to carry out tasks themselves in order to provide the required information.

Resource

Resources can be defined as the personnel, equipment, materials and services required to complete
tasks in a project.

 Personnel are the people employed to the organisation to work on a project or task.

 Equipment is the machinery allocated to the project, whether mechanical or electronic, eg

engineering machines, computers.

 Materials are the property that may be included in or attached to a deliverable or consumed or
expended in performing a task. They include assemblies, components, parts, fuels and
lubricants, raw and processed materials, and small tools and supplies.

 Services are areas where labour is expended without producing a tangible commodity, eg
accounting, secretarial or legal services.

Schedule
A schedule is a timeline of events and activities which can be used as an operating timetable. It
can be presented on a calendar framework or on an elapsed time scale and specifies the
occurrence, times of events and the relative start and finish times of activities.

The schedule specifies the timing and sequence of tasks within a project, as well as the project
duration. It consists mainly of tasks, dependencies among tasks, durations, constraints and
time-oriented project information.

A display of project time allocation, in the form of milestones, deliverables, activities or Gantt
charts, is often referred to as the project schedule.

Risk Analysis and Risk Management

A risk is an event, which is uncertain and has a negative impact on some activity.

Risk analysis is the process of quantitatively or qualitatively assessing risks. It involves estimating both
the uncertainty of the risk and its impact.

Risk management is the use of risk analysis to devise management strategies to reduce risk.
In project management, these techniques are used to address the following questions:

 Will the project go over schedule? (Schedule Risk)

 Will the project overrun its budget? (Cost Risk)

 Will the output of the project fail to satisfy the goals? (Performance Risk)

At the beginning of a project and throughout its duration, the answers to these questions are unknown,
but a 'yes' answer to any of them is obviously undesirable. Each of these elements should therefore be
subjected to a risk analysis, to help project managers decide whether the project is in danger of failing
to meet its commitments and whether or not anything can be done to improve the project's chances of
success.

Schedule Risk

Schedule risk is the risk that the project takes longer than scheduled. It can lead to cost risks, as longer
projects always cost more, and to performance risk, if the project is completed too late to perform its
intended tasks fully. Apart from the cost estimation and resource allocation used in CPM, most of the
techniques used in quantitative cost risk analysis are different from those used in schedule risk analysis.

The earliest technique used for schedule risk analysis was the Gantt chart, developed by Henry Gantt in
1917. A Gantt chart gives a graphical summary of the progress of a number of project activities by listing
each activity vertically on a sheet of paper, representing the start and duration of each task by a
horizontal line and then representing the current time by a vertical line. This makes it easy to see where
each activity should be and to show its current status. You can read more about Gantt charts on
Wikipedia.

Many tasks require that prior tasks are completed before they can be initiated, but unfortunately, Gantt
charts are not a good method of showing theinterrelationship between tasks, so computers must be
used to set up and maintain the network of tasks. One commonly-used technique is Program Evaluation
Review Technique (PERT) which uses a detailed diagram of all anticipated tasks in a project, organised
into a network to represent the dependence of each task on those that must precede it.

PERT can be used to analyse the tasks involved in completing a project, especially the duration of each
task, and identify the minimum time needed to complete the total project. PERT makes it possible to
schedule a project without knowing the precise details and durations of all the activities. You can read
more aboutPERT on Wikipedia.

The Critical Path Method (CPM) is a similar project planning and management technique which also
uses a network representation. Earlier versions did not try to estimate probability distributions for task
durations, making it easier to derive the critical path, ie the set of tasks that determined the final project
length. Various enhancements were made to CPM to allow alternative resource allocations to be
explored, within specified cost constraints.
The increasing availability of computing power allowed led to the inclusion of probability distributions
for task durations in CPM. This allowed Monte Carlosimulation to be substituted for the PERT
assumptions. (Monte Carlo simulations are a type of algorithm used to simulate the behaviour of
systems. They are described as stochastic or nondeterministic because they are based on the use of
random numbers. A stochastic model is a method of estimating probability distributions of potential
outcomes by allowing for random variation in one or more inputs.)

The addition of stochastic task durations means tasks can be placed on the critical path with some
probability, also estimated using the Monte Carlo method.Stochastic CPM is now the preferred
methodology for assessing schedule risk.

Cost Risk

Cost risk is the risk that the project costs more than budgeted. It can lead to performance risk if cost
overruns lead to reductions in scope or quality. Cost risk can also lead to schedule risk if the schedule is
extended because not enough funds are available to complete the project on time.

The main technique used for cost analysis of complex projects is based on the Work Breakdown
Structure (WBS) which organises project tasks into hierarchical stages or phases.

WBS is a project management technique for defining and organising the total scope of a project using a
hierarchical tree structure. The first two levels, known as the root node and Level 2, define a set of
planned outcomes representing the entire project scope. At each subsequent level, the children of a
parent node represent the entire scope of their parent node.

A well-designed WBS describes planned outcomes instead of planned actions. Outcomes are the desired
ends of the project and can be predicted accurately, whereas actions make up the project plan and may
be difficult to predict accurately. A well-designed WBS makes it easy to assign any project activity to one
and only one terminal element of the WBS.

WBS cost estimation attaches a cost to each component and sums these to obtain a total. Experts in
relevant areas are asked to specify a probability distribution for each part of the WBS and then Monte
Carlo simulation is used to estimate a probability distribution for the total project cost.

Performance Risk

Performance risks include the risks that the completed project, when complete, fails to perform as
intended or fails to meet business requirements that justified it. Performance risks can lead to schedule
and cost risks if technological problems increase the duration and cost of the project.

The methods used for schedule and cost risk analysis are similar for all types of projects, but methods of
performance risk analysis can depend more on subject area. Quantifying the relationships between
different aspects of performance can be difficult.
There have been some attempts to construct quantitative estimates of performance risk, eg for
aerospace systems, but current practice seems to be to use a mix of quantitative methods and models.

Scope and Scope Creep

The scope of a project is the sum total of all project products and their requirements or features.
Sometimes scope is used to refer to the totality of work needed to complete a project.

In traditional project management, the tools to describe a project's scope are the product breakdown
structure and product descriptions. The primary tool to describe a project's scope is the work
breakdown structure.

If requirements are not completely defined and described and if there is no effective change control in a
project, scope or requirement creeps may occur.

Creep is a problem that occurs in project management where the initial objectives of the project are
placed in jeopardy by a gradual increase in overall objectives as the project progresses.

The requirements of the new objectives can exceed the resources allocated to the project resulting in
the project missing deadlines, overrunning budgets or failing completely.

Scope Creep refers to uncontrolled changes in a project's scope. It can happen when the scope of a
project is not properly defined, documented and controlled and can result in time or budget overruns.

Scope creep can involve a scope increase, consisting of new products or new features of existing
products. This can happen if the project team drifts away from its original purpose. Scope creep can also
cause a project team to overrun its original budget and schedule. As the scope of a project grows, more
tasks must be completed at the same cost and in the same time frame as the original series of project
tasks.

Scope creep is often a result of weak project management, poor change control or incorrect
identification of the products and features required to achieve project objectives.

Critical Path

Critical Path Analysis (CPA) is an effective method for planning and managing projects. Let's consider a
very simple example, cooking and serving a fried breakfast. We can begin by listing all the tasks required
in roughly correct order:

 assemble plates and cutlery

 assemble ingredients

 prepare cooking equipment

 make toast
  fry sausages and eggs

 grill bacon and tomatoes

 set table

 warm plates

 serve breakfast

The order isn't quite right as some of these tasks need to

take place simultaneously. Also, some tasks must be started before others, and some tasks must be
completed before others can be started, eg:

 The plates need to warm while other tasks are taking place

 The toast needs to be made while the sausages are frying, and the bacon and tomatoes are
grilling.

 The eggs need to be fried last.

The critical path analysis represents what tasks need done, and when they need done, as a diagram.
Timescales and costs can be attached to each activity and resource. The diagram alongside shows the
CPA for making a fried breakfast.

This is a fairly trivial example which only shows a few activities taking place over a few minutes. Real
business projects are likely to have far more activities and to take place over weeks or months.

A spreadsheet like Microsoft Excel, or a specialised project management package like Microsoft Project
can be used to carry out Critical Path Analysis.

Gantt Charts

Gantt Charts are a very useful tool for project management. Project management packages like
Microsoft Project generally offer a Gantt Chart function, but you can easily construct one using Excel or
a similar spreadsheet. A Gantt chart can be used to keep track of progress for each activity and how the
costs are running.

Create a time-line for the duration of the project. Each activity is represented by a separate line. In our
Breakfast example the timescale is given in minutes, but normally you would use weeks, or even
months, for long-term projects. You can colour code the time blocks to denote type of activity, eg
intense, watching brief, directly managed, delegated and left to run, and you can schedule review and
break points. You can also move the time blocks around to report on actual versus planned, to re-
schedule and to create new plan updates.

At the end of each line you can show as many cost columns as required for the activities. Our Breakfast
example shows capital cost (Cap) of the consumable items and the revenue cost (Rev) for labour and
fuel. Cost columns can show planned and actual expenditure and variances, and calculate totals,
averages, ratios, etc.

Gantt Charts are flexible and useful project management tools, but they do not show the importance
and inter-dependence of related parallel activities, and they don't show the need to complete one task
before another can begin, like a critical path analysis. Both tools are necessary, especially at the planning
stage.

Next: Estimating Project Duration and Costs

Estimating Project Duration and Costs

The duration of a project can only be estimated once you know what resources are available, for
example, if a project is estimated to require 1000 hours of effort and only one person is available to
work on it, it may take six months or more. However, if three people are available, it may be possible to
complete the project in two months.

Costs are normally split into labour costs and non-labour costs. The labour cost can be determined by
examining the number of hours of effort required and the cost per hour. If you are using external
labour, eg contractors or consultants, the costs should be estimated and budgeted in advance. This is
straightforward if you already know your exact requirements, but if the final staffing requirements are
not yet known you may need to make some assumptions based on the general type of staff required, eg
use standard hourly cost for accountants, programmers, office administrators.

Methods of calculating the costs of internal labour vary from company to company. In some cases, the
labour costs for internal employees are assumed to be zero, since they are already accounted for in a
departmental budget. This does not mean that there is no cost; it simply means that there are no
further costs in addition to what the company is already paying. Other companies use an average hourly
cost per employee when calculating project budgets. This may be an average cost per hour for all
employees or it may vary depending on job function.

Non-labour costs include everything not directly related to salary or contractor costs. Some of these,
such as training and team-building costs are employee-related, but they are not regarded as labour costs
as they do not relate directly to employee salary or contractor costs. Every project manager should be
familiar with the accounting rules in his or her own company to ensure that labour and non-labour costs
are allocated correctly. Non-labour costs generally include:

 Hardware and software

 Equipment

 Materials and supplies

 Travelling expenses

 Training

 Team building

 Facilities

If parts of a project are outsourced, this is normally regarded as a non-labour cost since the company is
paying for deliverables and is not concerned about the supplier's labour costs.

Project Manager Skills

The project manager is the individual who has the overall responsibility for the successful planning and
execution of a project.

Although this course concentrates on IT project management, the title is widely used in other industries
which are involved in producing a product or service, including the construction industry, architecture
and engineering.

A project manager must possess a combination of skills including planning, organising,

communicating and problem-solving.
One of the prime responsibilities of the project manager is risk management and a good project
manager will ensure that risks are carefully monitored throughout the duration of the project as they
can have a major impact on its eventual success or failure.

Good communication can play a major role in minimising risk by ensuring that all members of the
project team are able to express their opinions and concerns.

Most project managers use project management software, such as Microsoft Project or Open
Workbench to organise their tasks and resources, as this allows them to produce charts and reports that
might otherwise take hours of work.

Planning Skills

Project managers must be able to organise staff and tasks into a schedule and monitor its progress. This
schedule should define the scope of work to be undertaken and a timetable for the project. It includes
all activities that are to be resourced, scheduled and undertaken over a period of time to achieve the
required project outcomes.

For large and complex projects the project manager will normally direct the work of others who are
involved in the detailed scheduling of the project. On smaller projects the project manager may be
expected to carry out some or all of this work.

A project manager should understand the general principles and processes of developing project
schedules, know the legislative and regulatory frameworks, understand the relevant software and be
familiar with project management methods and techniques.

Organisational Skills

Project managers must be able to understand the internal functioning of an organisation and know how
it achieves its specific objectives. This is particularly important in public sector organisations which are
often riddled with bureaucracy and the need to go through multiple levels of approval.

They should also be skilled in personal organisation, as they may be required too to keep track of
requirements and design documents, contracts, schedules, personnel records, project reports,
communication records (including e-mail), hiring history, meetings and status reports.

They must also be able to work with and develop teams and create appropriate environments with the
aim of achieving common objectives. The effort spent motivating a team to perform at its peak is always
worthwhile. The four critical components are rewarding achievements, providing feedback, recognising
strengths and providing challenges.

Team leadership is seldom easy. It is difficult to persuade your team to go with your idea without
making them feel that the idea is being thrust on them. The team looks to the Project Manager to
provide direction and vision. To achieve this successfully the project manage must constantly enhance
his/her breadth and depth of knowledge.
Communication Skills

Project managers must be able to speak well in public and present information in both positive and
negative scenarios. They must also be able to communicate effectively in writing, so that they can
transmit ideas and objectives. They must also be able to interpret the verbal and non-verbal
communications of others in order to know their requirements and opinions.

A project manager is expected to produce high-quality project planning and design documents and
send out meeting agendas, updates, status reports and courteous and effective email.

A good manager can get his/her ideas across clearly and in a non-confrontational manner, without
appearing to impose views on subordinates.

Next: Problem-Solving Skills

Problem-Solving Skills

Project managers must be able to reason well and use a logical, analytical process to solve problems,
identify solutions and choose the most appropriate.

They must be able to seek creative and innovative solutions to the problems that will arise in the course
of the project.

Issues Affecting Project Teams

In this section we will examine some of the issues affecting project teams, including the following:

 Assessing Internal Skills: Technical skills are obviously important in project teams, but a first-
class team also needs to have the right mix of soft skills, personalities and attitudes. Project
teams shouldn't be too large, ideally being restricted to four or five members. The attitude and
work ethic of team members is at least as important as their skills and experience. Diversity is
also important when building a team, so that the team can benefit from different points of view.
It can be useful if team members have worked together before, as the team will gel more
quickly. One factor which is often underrated is the availability of team members. If your first
choice isn't available, you may have to make do with someone else.

 Creating a Team: Many project teams have two types of members:

 Core members will be with the project from beginning to end and normally have a broad range
of skills which will be applicable throughout the project.

 Non-core members may also be brought in where specific skills are needed for a short period or
to carry out a particular task.

We will look at a number of desirable characteristics which should be taken into account when selecting
team members.
  Managing Team Issues: Conflicts will inevitably arise in any team, eg where members have a
difference of opinion or where a customer disagrees with actions taken by the team. Obviously,
such conflicts must be resolved. This can be a sensitive area as conflicts are, by their nature,
confrontational. We will consider some of the most important skills involved in resolving
conflicts.

 Using External Resources: We've already noted that resources can be defined as the personnel,
equipment, materials and services required to complete tasks in a project. In many cases it will
be possible to obtain all the resources required to complete a project from within the
organisation, but in some cases external resources may be required. We will consider some of
the implications of this, particularly the factors involved in bringing in external contract staff.

ssessing Internal Skills

Technical skills are obviously important in project teams, but a first-class team also needs to
have the right mix of soft skills, personalities and attitudes.

Project teams shouldn't be too large, ideally being restricted to four or five members.
Unfortunately, all the departments involved in a project normally want to have a representative
on the project team. This can lead to an overly-large team where members have uneven skills,
knowledge and levels of commitment. In a small team everyone understands the overall
direction and their role in it. A team like this can work several times faster than a large one.

The attitude and work ethic of team members is at least as important as their skills and
experience. Team members who have a positive attitude and behaviour, respect the views of
others and learn continuously can lift a team's spirit, but one cynic can destroy the entire team.

Diversity is also important when building a team. Many people with an IT background think in a
very similar manner and like to make decisions quickly. It can be useful if the team includes
someone a bit more introspective to ensure that options and alternatives are fully considered
before making a final decision.

It can be useful if team members have worked together before. Everybody has their own
communication style and approach. If people have to get used to new and unfamiliar team
members it can take more time and energy to build a team.

One factor which is often underrated is the availability of team members. Good people are
often committed months in advance. However, this can be overcome by good planning. If you
know you're going to want a particular person in three months time, try to get this requirement
added to their schedule now. If the required person is unavailable you may need to look for an
alternative or reschedule the project.

Creating a Team

Many project teams have two types of members.

 Core members will be present for the duration of the project and have a broad range of skills
which will be applicable throughout.

 Non-core members may also be brought in where specific skills are needed for a short period or
to carry out a particular task.

Core members are normally allocated to a project team on a full-time basis, but in some organisations
the same individual may be allocated to several project teams on a part time basis, particularly if he or
she has valuable skills which are in short supply. The core members of the team should be selected as
early as possible so that they can participate fully in the definition and planning of the project.
Responsibility for selecting the team normally lies with the project manager, who will liaise with other
managers to obtain the required staff. Sometimes it can be difficult for a project manager to obtain the
staff that he or she wants. There can be a variety of factors involved, eg:

 The organisation may be running several large projects simultaneously, leading to a high
demand for the best staff

 Individuals may feel that they already have sufficient work commitments and be reluctant to
undertake more

 High staff turnover may cause shortages of specialist staff.

A project manager will often have to make trade-offs between the people who would be the first choice
for the project team and those who are actually available. In an ideal situation, the first-choice team
members would be allocated critical tasks, while other team members would be allocated the less
critical tasks. This has the advantage of allowing the other team members to develop their skills in a low
risk environment and perhaps become the first choice for a future project.

Characteristics of Team Members

Many authors have compiled lists of the important characteristics for project team members. Wysocki
and McGary (Effective Project Management, Wiley, 2003) suggest the following:

 Commitment

 Shared responsibility

 Flexibility
  Task-orientedness

 Ability to work within schedule and constraints

 Willingness to give trust and mutual support

 Team-orientedness

 Open-mindedness

 Ability to work across structure and authorities

 Ability to use project management tools

The authors point out that many of these skills can be difficult to ascertain by interview, so it may be
necessary to rely on your own experience (or the experience of other project managers) of the
performance of individuals in previous projects.

Managing Team Issues

Conflicts will inevitably arise in any team, eg where members have a difference of opinion or where a
customer disagrees with actions taken by the team. Obviously, such conflicts must be resolved. This can
be a sensitive area as conflicts are, by their nature, confrontational.

The Conflict Resolution Network suggests that there are 12 skills that can be useful in resolving conflicts.
Further details can be found on their website.

1. The win/win approach: identify attitude shifts to respect all parties' needs.

2. Creative response: transform problems into creative opportunities.

3. Empathy: develop communication tools to build rapport. Use listening to clarify understanding.

4. Appropriate assertiveness: apply strategies to attack the problem not the person.

5. Co-operative power: eliminate "power over" to build "power with" others.

6. Managing emotions: express fear, anger, hurt and frustration wisely to effect change.

7. Willingness to Resolve: name personal issues that cloud the picture.

8. Mapping the conflict: define the issues needed to chart common needs and concerns.

9. Development of options: design creative solutions together.

10. Negotiation: plan and apply effective strategies to reach agreement.

11. Mediation: help conflicting parties to move towards solutions.

 12. Broadening perspectives: evaluate the problem in its broader context.

Using External Resources

We've already noted that resources can be defined as the personnel, equipment,
materials and services required to complete tasks in a project. In many cases it will be possible to obtain
all the resources required to complete a project from within the organisation, but in some cases external
resources may be required.

There may be occasions when it is not possible for an organisation to recruit the required personnel for
a project team internally, eg due to shortage of staff or shortage of skills within the organisation. Often
the solution is to recruit external staff, normally on a contract basis.

Contract staff are often recruited to fill a skills gap and may only be required for a short period.

Whilst they can provide a useful means of getting round skills shortages they can present particular
problems:

 They may only be available at specific times, resulting in a need to schedule project activities
around their availability.

 They may lack the commitment of core team members, resulting in a lower quality of work.

 They may need additional briefing to familiarise themselves with the project and need more
supervision than core members.

It may also be necessary to obtain additional equipment from outside the organisation, eg renting or
leasing additional computers.

Services, such as accounting, secretarial or legal services may also need to be sourced from outside the
organisation.

Meetings

The project manager is responsible for calling and chairing team meetings. There are a number of issues
to be considered, including frequency, duration, meeting dates, agenda and minutes. It is important that
the entire team understands the role of teem meetings and participates in them.

Team meetings may be held for different purposes, including problem definition and resolution, work
scheduling, planning, performance monitoring and decision making.

Meeting frequency is an important consideration. Meeting too often can be a waste of time, but not
meeting often enough can also cause problems, eg minor problems can grow into major ones before
they are discussed and resolved. If meetings are too infrequent, the project manager may lose control of
the project.
Meeting frequency may vary with the size of the project and the current stage. Large projects may need
more meetings than small ones and more meeting may be required at the beginning or end of a project
than in the middle.

Meeting documentation, including agendas and minutes, is another important area. If the project team
has an administrative assistant, he or she may be able to collect agenda items and produce and
distribute agendas. Failing this, the project leader may have to undertake these tasks.

One useful variation is to have each team member take turns at producing and distributing
the agenda. This helps give members a feeling of ownership of the meetings. It can be useful if the
project manager produces an agenda template, so that agendas have a similar look and feel, irrespective
of who produces them.

Minutes are an important part of the project documentation as they provide evidence of issues
discussed, actions taken and the rationale for these. The task of recording and distributing the minutes
should rotate between team members. Again, this helps give members a feeling of ownership.

The Project Life Cycle

The project life cycle consists of four phases, initiation, planning, execution (including monitoring and
controlling) and evaluation. The MPMM Project Management Methodology is an excellent resource for
this part of the Unit. The Initiation phase begins by defining the scope, purpose, objectives, resources,
deliverables, timescales and structure of the project. The next step is to develop a Business Case,
including several possible solutions and a cost/benefit analysis for each. A Feasibility Study should then
be carried out to ensure that the chosen solution is feasible and has an acceptable level of risk. The next
step is to define the Terms of Reference, followed by the appointment of the project team. The final
step is to carry out Phase Review before seeking approval to proceed. The first step of the Planning
phase is the creation of a detailed Project Plan which the project manager will refer throughout the
project to monitor and control time, cost and quality. The project manager will then create the following
plans:

 Resource Plan: to identify the staffing, equipment and materials needed

 Financial Plan: to quantify the financial expenditure required

 Quality Plan: to set quality targets and specify Quality Control methods

 Risk Plan: to identify risks and plan actions needed to minimise them

 Acceptance Plan: to specify criteria for accepting deliverables

Finally, a Phase Review is carried out to assess the deliverables produced to date and approve the start
of the Project Execution phase. During the Project Execution phase the project team produces the
deliverables while the project manager monitors and controls the project delivery by undertaking:

 Time Management: tracking and recording time spent on tasks against the Project Plan
  Cost Management: identifying and recording costs against the project budget

 Quality Management: reviewing the quality of the deliverables and management processes

 Change Management: reviewing and implementing requests for changes to the project

 Risk Management: assessing the level of project risk and taking action to minimize it

 Issue Management: identifying and resolving project issues

 Acceptance Management: identifying the completion of deliverables and gaining the customers
acceptance

 Communications Management: keeping stakeholders informed of project progress, risks and

issues

Once the customer has accepted the deliverables and a Phase Review has been carried out to determine
whether the project objectives have been achieved, the project is ready for Closure. A Project Closure
Report should list all of the actions required. When this has been approved, the listed actions are
completed to release project resources, hand over deliverables, and inform all stakeholders that the
project is now closed. Shortly after the project has been closed, anEvaluation (also known as a Post-
Implementation Review) should be carried out to determine the project's overall success and find out
whether the benefits stated in the original Business Case were actually realised. Any lessons learned
should be documented for future projects.

Initiation

The Initiation Phase involves defining the purpose and scope of the project, the justification for
undertaking it and the solution to be implemented. It also involves recruiting the project team and
carrying out a Phase Review, before proceeding to the next stage.

 A Business Case is developed, describing the business problem to be addressed by the project,
the alternative solutions and the potential costs and benefits associated with each. The Business
Case is foundation for the project as it fully describes the project, the reasons for creating it and
the key benefits to be produced.

 A Feasibility Study is then completed to ascertain the likelihood of the alternative solutions
actually delivering the stated benefits in the Business Case. This is used to identify the preferred
solution, which must be approved before proceeding.

 The Terms of Reference describe what the project intends to achieve and the boundaries within
which it must achieve it. This includes the project vision, objectives, scope, deliverables, project
organisation and an Implementation Plan.
  Once the project is defined, it is time to appoint the Project Team. The Project Manager is
recruited to take on responsibility for the project and recruit the remaining members of the
team.

 Finally, a Phase Review is carried out to ensure that all of the required activities have been
completed and to provide formal approval to proceed to the next phase of the project.

Planning

The Planning phase involves the creation of a set of planning documents which will guide the team
throughout the project.

The key stages are as follows:

 A comprehensive Project Plan is critical to the success of the project. It identifies the Work
Breakdown Structure (WBS) of phases, activities and tasks to be undertaken to complete the
project. It also identifies the sequencing, duration and dependencies of tasks and the resources
and financial expenditure required to complete the project.

 The Resource Plan should give a detailed assessment of the resources required to undertake the
project. It should list the required labour, equipment and materials and quantify the amount of
each resource. It should also give a resource usage schedule to give the Project Manager with a
complete view of the total amount of resources needed at each stage.

 The Financial Plan describes the financial resources required during each stage of the project.

 The total cost of each item of labor, equipment and materials is calculated, as well as the total
cost of undertaking each activity.

 The Quality Plan lists the quality targets that need to be achieved to ensure that the project
deliverables meet customer requirements. Quality Assurance and Quality Control activities are
scheduled to make sure that the required level of quality is achieved throughout the project.

 The Risk Plan identifies all foreseeable project risks and rates them in terms of their likelihood
of occurrence and potential impact on the project. The risks are prioritised and actions
identified to reduce the likelihood of each risk and minimize its impact on the project.

 An Acceptance Plan is created to ensure that customer acceptance is sought for each
deliverable produced by the project. The Acceptance Plan provides a schedule of Acceptance
Reviews.

 The Communications Plan describes the information to be provided to project stakeholders to

keep them informed of the progress of the project. A schedule of communication events and
activities is drawn up to make sure that the right information is communicated to the right
people at the right time.
  Finally, a Phase Review is carried out to ensure that all of the required Planning activities have
been completed and to provide formal approval to proceed to the next phase.

Execution

During the Execution phase the deliverables are physically built and presented to the customer for
acceptance. While each deliverable is being constructed, a group of management processes are carried
out to monitor and control activities. Once all the deliverables have been produced and accepted by the
customer, the project is ready for closure.

The first and most important step is to build the deliverables specified in the Terms of Reference.
During this activity, a detailed design of each deliverable is created and the deliverables are physically
constructed, tested and reviewed to determine whether they meet the quality criteria and the
acceptance criteria. When all the criteria have been met the deliverables are signed off on by the
customer and handed over. At this stage, the project is ready for closure. During the construction of the
deliverables the project manager performs several management processes to monitor and control the
time, cost and quality of each deliverable as follows:

 Time Management involves monitoring and controlling the time spent by staff on the project.
Timesheets are used to track and record time spent, so that the project manager can ascertain
the overall progress of the project.

 Cost Management involves identifying project costs and recording the rate of consumption of
the project budget.

 Quality Management involves undertaking the Quality Assurance and Control activities
specified in the Quality Plan, to manage a project's level of quality and ensure that the project
deliverables meet customer requirements.

 Risk Management involves monitoring and controlling project risks by taking the steps
necessary to prevent risks and minimise the impact on the project should those risks occur.

 Issue Management involves resolving any unforeseen issues that may arise before they affect
the ability of the project to meet its stated objectives.

 Acceptance Management involves carrying out Acceptance Reviews to gain the customer's
approval of each deliverable. If the customer does not accept that the deliverables meet their
requirements the success of the project will be compromised.

 Communications Management involves completing the activities specified in the

Communications Plan to ensure that every stakeholder receives the right information, at the
right time.

 Finally, a Phase Review is undertaken to ensure that all of the required activities in the
Execution phase have been completed and the project is ready to proceed to the next phase.
Closure and Evaluation

The Project Closure phase involves releasing the final deliverables to the customer, handing over project
documentation, terminating supplier contracts, releasing project resources and communicating project
closure to all stakeholders. The final step is to undertake an Evaluation to determine the extent to which
the project was successful and note any lessons learned for future projects. The Project Closure
Report should list all the activities required to close the project, to ensure that project closure is
undertaken smoothly and efficiently. Once the report has been created and approved, the closure
activities specified within the report are undertaken and the project is then officially closed. One to
three months after the project has been closed and the business has begun to experience the benefits
provided by the project, it is important to undertake an Evaluation, often referred to as a Post
Implementation Review (PIR). This allows the business to identify the level of success of the project and
list any lessons learned for future projects.

Evaluation is often carried out by an independent person to provide an unbiased opinion of the project
outcome. The first step is to review the project performance to determine whether the project
delivered the benefits, met the objectives, operated within the scope, and produced the deliverables on
time, within budget and using the allocated resources. The review also needs to determine whether the
project conformed to the management processes specified in Terms of Reference. It should also identify
the key project achievements, failures and any lessons learned for future reference. The evaluation
should review how the project performed against each of the targets set during
the Initiation and Planning phases of the project, ie has the project:

 Delivered the business benefits described in the Business Case?

 Achieved the objectives specified in the Terms of Reference?

 Deviated from the original scope as defined in the Terms of Reference?

 Met the quality targets defined in the Quality Plan?

 Proceeded according to the planned Delivery Schedule?

 Deviated from the budgeted project expenditure as defined in the Financial Plan?

 Deviated from the forecast resource levels as defined in the Resource Plan?

The next stage is to identify the extent to which the project has conformed to the management
processes (as set out in the Terms of Reference) during the Execution phase of the project. These are:
Time Management, Cost Management, Quality Management, Change Management, Risk Management,
Communications Management and Acceptance Management. Finally, the Evaluation should:

 List the major achievements for this project and describe the positive effect that each
achievement has had on the customer's business.

 List any project failures and describe the effects they have had on the customer's business.
  Describe the lessons learned from undertaking this project and list any recommendations for
similar projects in the future.

Successful project management models can often be used as templates for future projects.