INTRODUCTION TO PROJECT MANAGEMENT

What is a Project?
A project is “a unique endeavor to produce a set of deliverables within clearly specified time,
cost and quality constraints”.
Projects are different from standard business operational activities as they:
▪ Are unique in nature. They do not involve repetitive processes. Every project undertaken is
different from the last, whereas operational activities often involve undertaking repetitive
(identical) processes
▪ Have a defined timescale. Projects have a clearly specified start and end date within which the
deliverables must be produced to meet a specified customer requirement
▪ Have an approved budget. Projects are allocated a level of financial expenditure within which
the deliverables must be produced to meet a specified customer requirement
▪ Have limited resources. At the start of a project an agreed amount of labor, equipment and
materials is allocated to the project
▪ Involve an element of risk. Projects entail a level of uncertainty and therefore carry business
risk.

▪ Achieve beneficial change. The purpose of a project, typically, is to improve an organization

through the implementation of business change.

What is Project Management?

Project Management is the skills, tools and management processes required to undertake a
project successfully”.
Project Management comprises:
▪ A set of skills. Specialist knowledge, skills and experience are required to reduce the level of
risk within a project and thereby enhance its likelihood of success
▪ A suite of tools. Various types of tools are used by project managers to improve their
chances of success. Examples include document templates, registers, planning software,
modeling software, audit checklists and review forms
▪ A series of processes. Various management techniques and processes are required to monitor
and control time, cost, quality and scope on projects. Examples include time management, cost
management, quality management, change management, risk management and issue
management.

Effective Project Management Is Important To All Organizations

All projects must be well conceived and then well managed during their planning and
execution to achieve the desired results on schedule and within the specified cost (in money or
other critical resources).
Failures in project selection, risk analysis and conceptual planning have caused:
• The expenditure of scarce resources (money, skills, facilities and time) on efforts that are
doomed to failure even before they are started.
• The organization to be exposed to unacceptable financial, technological, and competitive
risks.
Failures in project planning and execution have caused
• Expected profit on commercial contracts to become losses through excessive costs,
delays, and penalties.
• New products to be introduced late with significant detrimental impact on established
business plan objectives and market penetration opportunities.
• New product development projects to be completed too late to benefit the related product
line or otherwise fail to produce the results expected. The Product Development and
Management Association (PDMA) determined in 1997 that North American companies
achieve ROI goals with an average of one new product development project in seven.
• Capital facilities to be delayed, causing missed objectives in product lines that depend on
the facilities.
• Information systems projects to exceed their planned cost and schedule, with negative
impacts on administration and general costs and operating efficiencies.
that only about one software development project in six met quality, schedule, and cost
objectives. Nearly half of the projects studied were terminated before completion.
Failure on one significant project can eradicate the profit of a dozen well-managed
projects. Too frequently the monitoring and evaluation of high exposure projects is ineffective,
and the failures are not identified until it is too late to avoid undesirable results. It is important,
therefore, that every organization holding responsibility for projects also has the capability to
manage the projects effectively.
Project-Driven and Project-Dependent Organizations
Two broad classes of organizations can be identified: First, those project-driven
organizations whose primary business is in fact made up of projects. Examples of this class
include architect/engineer/constructor, general contractor, and specialty contractor firms;
software
development firms who sell their products or services on a contract basis; telecommunications
systems suppliers; consultants and other professional services firms; and other organizations that
bid for work on a project-by-project basis. Growth strategies in such organizations are reflected
in
the type, size, location and nature of the projects selected for bidding, as well as the choices
made in how the required resources will be provided (in-house or out-sourced) to carry out the
projects,
if and when a contract is awarded or the project is otherwise approved for execution.
The second class of organizations—those that are project-dependent for growth—
includes all others that provide goods and services as their mainstream business. Projects within
these organizations are primarily internally sponsored and funded. Examples include
manufacturing (consumer products, pharmaceuticals, engineered products, etc.), banking,
transportation, communications, governmental agencies, computer hardware and software
developers and suppliers, universities, hospitals, and other institutions, among others. These
organizations depend on projects to support their primary lines of business, but projects are not
their principle offering to the marketplace. Many of these sponsors of internally funded projects
are important buyers of projects from project-driven organizations.

ADVANTAGES AND IMPORTANCE OF MODERN PROJECT MANAGEMENT

The formalized, systematic project management approach of modern project management
has several advantages and benefits when compared to the alternative approach of relying on the
functional managers to coordinate project activities informally, using procedures and methods
designed for managing their functional departments.
The fundamental reason that the approach described here and in the PM literature is used,
and its use continues to expand, is that it produces a substantial increase in the probability that
each and every project will be successful: achieving its strategic objectives by producing the
specified results on time and within the approved budget. This in turn directly increases the
success of the total organization.

The basic reasons for this increased success—when the principles and practices described
here are properly applied—are:

• Projects are selected and authorized only when they clearly support the organization’s
growth strategies, their risks have been sufficiently evaluated and understood, they have
been priority ranked with other competing projects, and the key limited resources
(people, money and facilities) have been allocated to each project as required for
successful execution.
• Project commitments are made only to achievable technical, cost, and schedule goals.
• Portfolio, program and project responsibilities are well defined and properly carried out.
• Every project is planned, scheduled, and controlled so that its commitments are achieved.
• Project teams work together with commitment to the project objectives, plans and
schedules.

The advantages gained by defining and assigning the integrative project responsibilities
as described, including appointing a project manager for each major project, are:

• Placing accountability on one person (the project manager) for the overall results of the
project while clearly making accountable the other key persons at the executive and
functional levels for their responsibilities on the project;
• Assuring that decisions are made on the basis of the overall good of both the project and
the organization, rather than only for the good of one or another contributing functional
department;
• More effectively coordinating all functional contributors to the project; and
• Properly using integrated planning and control methods, systems and tools, and the
information they produce.

The advantages of integrated planning and predictive control of all projects

include:

• Assuring that the activities of each functional area are being planned and carried out to
meet the overall needs of the project in full coordination with all other projects;
• Assuring that the effects of favoring one project over another are known (in allocation of
critical resources, for example); and
• Identifying problems early that may jeopardize successful project completion, to enable
timely and effective corrective action to prevent or resolve the problems.

The advantages of effective team-working, especially in conjunction with the above

primary concepts of project management—focused, integrative responsibilities, and integrative,
predictive planning and control—include:

• Bringing needed multiple disciplines together from diverse organizations to collaborate

creatively to achieve project objectives;
• Creating strong team commitment and understanding to the project and its objectives;
• Developing as a team jointly agreed plans, schedules, and budgets for executing the project,
with resulting commitment to achieving the specified results within the target schedule and
cost; and
• Achieving outstanding team performance on each project.
The Goals and Benefits of Project Portfolio Management
The three broad goals of project portfolio management are:
1. Maximization of Value: To most firms, the principal goal is to allocate resources so as to
maximize the value of the portfolio in terms of the major company objective (e. g., longterm
profitability, return on investment, or likelihood of success.) ….
2. Balance: Here the main concern is to develop a balanced portfolio—to achieve a desired
balance of projects in terms of a number of parameters….
3. Strategic Alignment: The main focus here is to ensure that, regardless of all other
considerations, the final portfolio of projects is strategically aligned and truly reflects the
business strategy
CAUSES OF PROJECT FAILURE
- incomplete requirements
- lack of the beneficiary involvement
- lack of resources
- unrealistic expectations
-lack of managers support
-change of requirements and specifications
- lack of planning,
-lack of technical ability

CAUSES OF PROJECT SUCCESS

- clear understanding of the requirements;
- an appropriate planning;
- realistic expectations
- the scope of the project must be clearly defined

- a competent project manager, also competent team members;

- the support of the manager;

- the sufficient and efficient allocation of the resources;

- an appropriate communication between the project team members;

- the existence of some control mechanisms;

- feedback capacities;

- receptive clients;

- consulting activities with the clients, the client acceptance;

- the identification and resolution of problems.