IT Chapter 15th Project Management Fahim Siddiq +923336581412

Stages of Project Life Cycle

Every project needs to be managed properly to ensure deadlines are met,

resources (people, equipment, facilities, or funding required to complete a
project) are available and everybody knows what they are doing.

Project Initiation

1. During the conception and initiation stage, the initial ideas for a project are
identified and goals set.
2. Key stakeholders are identified, and decisions are made about whether it is
appropriate to undertake a project by conducting a feasibility study. The
feasibility study will determine whether the project is of benefit to an
organization based on resources, time, and finance.
3. Requirements for the project will be identified so that all stakeholders are
aware of the expectations of the project.
4. Objectives of the project, its scope, risks, approximate budget, and
approximate timescales will be defined and agreed with all stakeholders.
5. An estimate of the resources that will be required will be made and a high-
level schedule created which identifies proposed dates for completion of
aspects of the project.
6. A project brief or Project Initiation Document (PID) or initial statement of
work (SoW) will be created.
 7. At the end of the project initiation stage, a phase review will be carried out
to check that all aspects of initiation have been completed and that all
stakeholders understand and agree the project brief.

Project Planning

It is essential that the project is planned well so that all stakeholders know them
responsibilities during all stages.

1. A comprehensive budget will be formulated along with details of

timescales for the progress of the project.
2. Milestones will be set. These milestones show by which time certain
aspects of the project must be complete.
3. Tasks that have been completed between each milestone will be identified
and prioritized.
4. Resources, including personnel, will be allocated to tasks in a coordinated
manner so that they are available at the right times.
5. Time is allocated to each task and resource so that tasks can be completed
on time.
6. At the end of the project planning phase, a phase review will be carried out
to check that the plan is achievable and that it meets the objectives of the
project.

Project Execution

Once all plans are in place and the start date arrives, the project can commence.

1. It is critical that the plan is followed so that resources are used at the
appropriate times.
2. Any delays to a task can have a knock-on effect to successor tasks.
3. The project manager will be expected to communicate roles and
responsibilities to team members
4. At the end of the project execution phase, an execution phase review will
take place to learn lessons from what went wrong and to note examples of
good practice. The review will cover questions such as:
• Was the project schedule maintained?
• Was the project within budget?
• Were all resources available when required?
• Has the project met the original requirements?

Project Monitoring and Control

Throughout the execution of the project, the project manager must monitor the
progress and control what is happening.

1. The project manager will be responsible for ensuring tasks are completed
on time and rescheduling any tasks if there are delays.
2. The project manager will need to monitor the performance of team
members to ensure they are carrying out their agreed roles effectively.
3. The project manager will need to monitor expenditure and compare it
against the budget.
4. There should be regular project review meetings where key stakeholders
can discuss the progress of the project. At times, the project plan will need
to be adjusted, so there is regular iteration between the execution,
monitoring and control, and planning

Project Close

When the project is ready to complete.

1. A handover will take place from the project team to the client. Contracts
will be terminated, which means some people may need to be deployed
elsewhere or may need to look for alternative employment.
2. Resources that have been assigned to the project will be released.
3. A review of the project will take place between the client and the project
management team, where requirements will be evaluated, and successes
will be celebrated.
4. The client will be expected to sign off the project as completed, so that it is
clear there is no further work to carry out and closure will have been
achieved.
Benefits of Project Management Software

1. Planning

Most of the planning involved using project management software is concerned

with scheduling tasks and allocating resources to those tasks. However, key
milestones can be identified in advance. These are when crucial points in the
project should be reached, so tasks should be scheduled to meet these
milestones.

Documents that are likely to be required can be allocated to milestones, such as

success criteria and specifications. Templates can be used for setting up an initial
project plan. These templates can be provided by the software, or they could be
templates that are created based upon an organization’s previously successful
projects.

2. Scheduling of Tasks

Project management software will enable a project manager to create a Gantt

chart to show an overview of the tasks that need completing on a timeline. Tasks
will be assigned an estimated number of hours or days that they will take to
complete, together with a deadline for completion. The project manager will be
able to identify which tasks are dependent upon other tasks and so cannot start
until those other tasks have been completed. Tasks can be delegated to other
members of the team and put in a priority order to identify which should be
completed first. The project manager will be able to see an overall calendar of all
tasks that need to be completed, together with calendars for each team
member that is responsible for those tasks.

3. Allocation of Resources

Resources can be equipment, property or people that are required to complete a

task. These resources will need to be defined within the project management
software and their availability can be identified so the project manager knows
when they can be used. Costs can be assigned to any resource, so the project
manager can see how their use will affect the budget. Resources can then be
assigned to tasks and several hours or days be assigned to the use of that
resource. The software will help the project manager to avoid resource conflicts.

Costings

All resources will have costs allocated to them, so the project manager will be
able to calculate the total cost of each task based on how many hours each
resource is used for each task. The software can be used to keep a record of any
expenses incurred by team members and account for these in the overall costs.
Daily, weekly, monthly, or custom analysis of expenditure and its comparison to
the budget can be provided.

Communication and Collaborative Working

Project management software can offer a large variety of communication tools

which help team members to collaborate throughout the whole project:

1. Calendars: each team member will have a calendar showing what they
are doing at any time. This enables meetings to be scheduled with each
team member. Documents can be attached to these meetings so that they
are readily available to each participant.
2. Instant messaging/video chat/video Conferencing: these tools
enable team members who are working remotely from each other to
communicate in real time so that they can share ideas and discuss progress.
3. Shared Documents: all documents should be stored in a central
repository so that they are available to the team members who require
access to them. Documents can be assigned to tasks, resources, or
milestones so that they are available at the right time to the right people.
Changes to the documents can be tracked so that each team member
knows what modifications have been made and which is the latest version
of the document
4. Discussions/Forums: these can be set up for tasks, documents, or
milestones so that discussions between team members can be held. This is
particularly useful when all team members are not available at the same
time. Team members will be able to see comments and suggestions that
have been made by others and respond to them. Email notifications of new
 contributions to discussions can be sent or alerts can be displayed on
project dashboards.
5. Progress: the software can inform team members and the project
manager of progress that is being made. Team members can update tasks
to show how near to completion they are, and this progress can be fed into
the whole project plan. If changes are made to the project timeline,
automated email notifications can be sent out to all affected team
members.
6. Decision Making: All communications within the project management
software can be logged and tracked so that if decisions have been made,
then it is possible to clearly identify who made each decision and for what
reasons. If problems or issues have been experienced, then these will be
highlighted by the software and decisions can be made as to what
adjustments need to be made, such as changing the timeline or allocating
additional resources.
7. Graphs, Charts and Reports: They can be used to analyse the budget,
scheduling, and task progress. Comparisons can be made between the plan
and what is happening during the execution of the project, and then
decisions can be made to make changes if necessary. The software will
identify a critical path which will show all tasks that must complete on time
if the project is to meet its deadline.

Weaknesses of Project Management Software

1. Good quality project management software is a large financial investment,

especially if it needs to be used by several users.
2. Project managers need extensive training to use the software effectively
and team members also need training to use the components that are
relevant to their tasks.
3. The complexity of the software can also over complicate simple projects
which could have been managed more effectively without the software.
4. Users can become too reliant on the software to remind them that tasks
need to be completed.
5. Online project management software will enable access for many users
which is good for collaboration, but it creates a risk that unauthorized
users may access sensitive data that they shouldn’t have access to.
Tools and Techniques for Project Management Tasks:

Critical Path Method (CPM)

The critical path method (CPM), also known as critical path analysis (CPA), finds a
project’s critical path. The critical path identifies which tasks must complete on
time for the whole project to complete on time and defines the minimum time in
which the project can be completed. It is appropriate for projects where the time
needed for each task is known, usually because they are common recurring tasks,
for example construction tasks.

The circles represent milestones in the project and are numbered for identification
purposes. The tasks are represented by arrows. The numbers next to each task
represent the number of seconds the task will take. For example, pouring water
into the cup will take 10 seconds. Some tasks can be completed in parallel to other
tasks. For example, boiling the kettle can take place at the same time as putting
tea in the cup, putting sugar in the cup and getting milk out of the fridge. Where
there are parallel tasks, the longest timeline forms the critical path. In this case,
180 seconds to boil the kettle is longer than the 60 seconds it takes to do the three
parallel tasks.
Sequential tasks cannot be carried out at the same time because they are
dependent upon other tasks completing first. For example, boiling the kettle is
dependent upon the kettle being filled with water and so cannot start until the
kettle is filled with water. In this case, the kettle being filled with water is a
predecessor to boiling the kettle.

The total length of the critical path is calculated by adding up all the sequential
tasks plus the longest of each of the parallel sets of tasks. In this case that is 15 +
180 + 10 + 5 + 10 = 220 seconds, which is the shortest time it will take to complete
the project. If any of the tasks on the critical path takes longer than planned, then
the whole project will be delayed.
The earliest start time (ES) for dig for foundations is day 0 because it is the first
task. The earliest finish time (EF) for dig for foundations is day 5 because the task
will take 5 days. This means that the ES of the next task (lay foundations) is also
day 5 because it can only start when the foundations have been dug.

EF for lay foundations = ES for lay foundations + length of lay foundations EF for
lay foundations = 5 + 2 = 7.

When it comes to parallel tasks, the ES of a task is the latest EF of its

predecessors. The EF for installing windows is day 30, but the EF for tiling the roof
is day 42. As these are both predecessors for first fix electrics, the ES for first fix
electrics must be day 42.

The ES for first fix electrics is day 42 but the EF for installing the windows is day 30
meaning there are 12 days of float time.

Performance Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT)

PERT is similar to CPM in that it is used to plan, schedule and manage projects and
activities are based on predecessors. It is more suitable for research and
development projects which are non-repetitive because estimates of time are
used rather than definitive times.
Tasks or activities are represented by arrows and milestones are represented by
nodes, usually a circle. PERT and network activity diagrams therefore look
very similar.

The key difference with PERT is that the time for each task is estimated. To
estimate the time, the following are used:
• most optimistic time
• most likely time
• most pessimistic time.

The most optimistic time is based on the assumption that everything will go right
and there will be no problems. The most pessimistic time is based on the
assumption that anything that can go wrong will go wrong.

Gantt Charts

A Gantt chart is used to show the start and finish dates of each task, the
predecessors for each task, the progress of each task and the current position
within the project. Tasks are listed with their start and finish dates. A bar
represents each task. Each bar can be shaded in to show the percentage of the
task that has been completed.

Arrows are used to show which tasks are dependent upon other tasks. A line or
other indicator can be used to show the current position (time) within the project.
It’s also possible to identify the resources required, usually by listing the person
responsible for each task.

To create a Gantt chart, you need to know the following information:

• the list of tasks
• how long each task will take
• which tasks are dependent upon predecessors
• start date of the first task
• resources that are allocated to each task.

Note that some programs used to create Gantt chart (like Gantt Project) only
work in days/months, so sometimes you might need to adapt this accordingly
when the context is minutes/seconds or hours/minutes.
Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

All the methods discussed so far have broken the project down into manageable
tasks. However, very large projects can become quite daunting if looking at
hundreds of tasks all at once. To help manage those tasks, a hierarchical
decomposition of the project can be created as a work breakdown structure
(WBS). A WBS forms a hierarchical diagram with tasks allocated to sub-tasks or
project phases.

A team manager would then be responsible for each phase, so for example, an
assistant project manager might be responsible for the testing phase of a
software development project. Each phase would be broken down further to
show the stages involved in each phase.