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Project Management & Control. What is a Project ?. A project is a sequence of unique, complex and connected activities having one goal or purpose and that must be completed by a specific time, within budget, and according to specifications. “Projects are the Building Blocks of an
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What is a Project ? A project is a sequence of unique, complex and connected activities having one goal or purpose and that must be completed by a specific time, within budget, and according to specifications. “Projects are the Building Blocks of an Investment Plan”
Attributes/Characteristics • Complex Activities Not simple, repetitive acts, such as mowing the lawn, running the weekly payroll, washing the car, or loading the delivery truck
Attributes/Characteristics • Connected Activities • There is some order to the sequence in which the activities that make up the project must be completed. Connected-ness follows from the fact that the output from one activity is input to another.
Project Attributes (Contd) • One Goal • Projects must have a single goal as compared to a program • Specified Time • Projects have a specified completion date • Within Budget • Projects also have resource limits (people, money, machines)
What is a Project • According to Specification • The customer or recipient of the deliverables from the project expects a certain level of functionality and quality from the project. These may be self-imposed or customer-specified, and are fixed as far as the project manager is concerned.
What is a Program??? A program is different from a project. Programs are larger in scope and comprise multiple projects.
What is a Project (Contd) • The Scope Triangle: Time, Cost, Resources Cost Time Scope and Quality Resources
Classification of Project Types Projects can be classified as social sector and infrastructure. Some examples are: Transportation: Highways, mass transit, airports Utilities: Electric power, gas, telephones Education: Schools, colleges, dormitories Public Safety: Police, fire, National guard Recreation: Parks, playgrounds, historic sites
Classification of Project Types Development Harbors, dams, irrigation, Research Health, space, agriculture Defense Military equipment and systems Conservation Forests, shorelines, pollution
Project Management Project Management is an organized venture for managing projects. It involves scientific application of modern tools and techniques in planning, financing, implementing, monitoring, controlling and coordinating unique activities or tasks to produce desirable outputs in consonance with pre-determined objectives, within the constraints of time, cost, quality.
Projects in Contemporary Orgs • Project Mgt Provides organizations with powerful tools that improve its ability to plan, implement and control its activities as well as the ways in which it utilizes its people and resources.
Projects in Contemporary Orgs • The society demands new methods of management because: • expansion of knowledge • Growing demand for complex, sophisticated, customized goods and services • Creation of worldwide competitive markets for production and consumption of goods and services • The problems thus have to be solved by the teams rather than the individuals
Program, Task, Work package • Program: Refers to a an exceptionally large, long range objective that is broken down into a set of projects. • Projects are further divided into tasks • Tasks are split into work packages • Work packages are composed of work units
Modern Tools - Technique • PERT (Program Evaluation & Review Tech) • Linear Responsibility Charts • Gantt Charts • Milestone Charts • Work Breakdown Structures • Project Action Plans • Computers
Project Life Cycle • Conception/selection • Planning • Implementation • Control • Evaluation • Termination • What is the difference between a project and a process??
What is Project Planning ? • It is complete road map to go from point A to B. • Project planning is a determination of how to initiate, sustain, and terminate a project • Project planning starts with the development of a vision - the ability to see something that is invisible to others
Why Plan a Project ? • To eliminate or reduce uncertainty. • To improve efficiency of the operation. • To obtain a better understanding of the objectives. • To provide basis for monitoring and controlling work.
Project Management Processes Planning Processes Initiating Processes Planning provides documented executing and the updates as the project progresses Controlling Processes Executing Processes Closing Processes
Project Planning Considerations • Too often people perceive project planning as only techniques or concepts such as PERT, GANTT charts etc. However, project planning is much wider activity with following key considerations.
Project Planning Considerations • Cost estimating and budgeting. • Technology strategies scheduling. • Specification of deliverables. • Resource usage estimating. • Delineation of organizational structure.
Project Planning Considerations • People in general find that it is more comfortable to do than to plan • Not too surprisingly, the inclination of most PMs to skip the strategic phase of project management (planning) and to start the project.
The Vision • Project planning also starts with a vision. The most important factor for high performance is a clear and elevating vision. • When the vision statement is believed and frequently talked about by people, it takes on a life of its own and becomes important to everyone.
Control and Evaluation • Control entails continual monitoring of project progress, while evaluation involves periodic stock-taking.
Control and Evaluation • Control focuses on the details of what is occurring in the project, whereas evaluation is more concerned with the big picture Control activities are the responsibility of the project manager, while evaluations are typically carried out by an individual or group not directly working on the project (so as to maintain objectivity)
Project Manager • Project Manager is responsible for the project from cradle to grave. • This person will take responsibility for planning, implementing, and completing the project. • The PM can be chosen and installed as soon as the project is selected for funding or at any earlier point . • PM is chosen late in the project life cycle, usually to replace another PM.
Functional Manager Vs PM ???????? ????????????? ???????????????????
Project Organization Functional Organization • Project is made a part of one of the functional divisions of the firm. • Major Advantages • Maximum flexibility in the use of staff. • Individual experts can be utilized by many different projects. • Specialists in the division can be grouped to share knowledge and experience.
Functional Organization • Occasionally in functionally organized projects, no individual is given full responsibility for the project. • Response to client needs is slow and arduous • Project issues that are directly within the interest area of the functional organization may be dealt with carefully but those outside normal interest areas may be given cold response if not totally ignored.
Pure Project Organization Marketing Manufacturing R&D Finance Personnel Manager, Project A Marketing Manufacturing R&D Finance Personnel Manager, Project B
Pure Project Organization • The lines of communication are shortened and PM communicates directly with senior corporate management. • The project team that has a strong and separate identity of its own tends to develop a high level of commitment from its members. • Because authority is centralized, the ability to make swift decisions is greatly enhanced. • Unity of command exists.
Project Organization • Pure project organizations are structurally simple and flexible which makes them relatively easy to understand and to implement. • Disadvantages • When the parent organization takes on several projects, it is common for each one to be fully staffed. This can lead to considerable duplication of effort. • PM may stockpile equipment and technical assistance in order to be certain that it will be available when needed.
In pure project organizations, the project takes on a life of its own. Team members form strong attachments to the project and to each other.
The Matrix Organization Advantages of the pure project organization with some of the desirable features of the functional organization, and to avoid some of the disadvantages of each, the matrix organization was developed.
PM3 PM2 3 1 4 2 3 4 2 2 4 1 Matrix Organization PM1 3 1 2 4 2
Matrix Organization • Advantages • The project is the point of emphasis. PM takes responsibility for managing the project, for bringing it in time, within cost, and to specifications • There is less anxiety about what happens when the project is completed • Response to client needs is as rapid as in the pure project case.
Matrix Organization (Contd) • If several projects simultaneously under way, matrix organization allows a better company wide balance of resources to achieve the several different time/cost/performance targets of the individual projects. • Disadvantages • The movement of resources from project to project in order to satisfy the several schedules may foster political infighting among the several P.Ms.
Causes of Project Failure • Projects that have failed generally display several of the following characteristics: • The customer’s conditions of satisfaction have not been negotiated. • The project no longer has a high priority. • No one seems to be in charge. • The schedule is too optimistic • The project plan is not used to manage the project. • Sufficient resources have not been committed. • Project status is not monitored against the plan.
Causes of Failure • No formal communications plan is in place. • The project has lost sight of its original goals. • There is no change management process in place. • Foreign aided projects: bureaucracy of the Government.