Chapter 1: Introduction to Project Management

Introduction

Project Management 1 Introduction Project management is an efficient tool that improves an organization’s ability to plan, implement, monitor and control its activities and more productive use of people and resources. The essential benefit of implementing project management techniques is to meet customer’s satisfactions. Accomplishing the project scope in a quality manner, on time, and within budget provides a great satisfaction.

The past several decades have been characterized by rapid growth in the field of technology and marketplace which led to an increase in the use of project management techniques. While project management was considered as “nice to have”, it is now recognized as a necessity by which organizations achieve their objectives. Nowadays, the project management concept is also being applied in diverse industries and organizations such as defense, construction, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, banking, hospitals, accounting, advertising, law, and state and local governments.

What Is a Project?

Many researchers and organizations have described the project in different ways. The most comprehensive definition is provided by Project Management Institute as follows:

“A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result”. As stated in the definition, a project can be a product, service or result. Thus, it can be found within a rich diversity of projects in our society.

Project Management Institute, which was founded in 1969, is a professional organization for project management specialists. Its services include the development of standards, research, education, publication, networking opportunities in local chapters, hosting conferences and training seminars, and providing accreditation in project management.

As long as human beings exist, there will be projects. The scale of the projects of the future will be different in terms of either level of effort or advanced technology. The followings can be given as examples of recent projects: the English Channel tunnel (Chunnel), the International Space Station, and SpaceShipOne. The Channel Tunnel is an undersea tunnel linking southern England and northern France. It is operated by the company Eurotunnel. The tunnel has one of the longest underwater section of any tunnel in the world.

Attributes of a Project

A project is usually a one-time activity with a well-defined set of expectations and objectives. The fundamental attributes of a project are given as follows:

1. A project states certain specific objective that can be defined in terms of schedule and cost.
2. As stated in the definition of project, projects are temporary activities. They have a definite beginning and ending point, and they can last minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, or years.
3. A project may be unique or may have some unique elements.
4. A project uses various resources to conduct project activities. Such resources can involve people, equipment, material, machines and facilities.

Outcomes of a project are generally evaluated by three factors: cost, schedule, and performance. The cost of a project is the budget which represents financial limits that are needed for the project implementation. It might include labor costs, material procurement costs, and operating costs.

Project Versus Program

The program is alternatively used with project due to their similarities. The objective of them is to accomplish within budget in quality manner and customer’s satisfaction at a given time. However, the main distinction lies in life span and objective. A program covers a longer time period and includes several parallel or sequential projects that share common goals and resources.

Project Life Cycle

Although projects are unique and highly unpredictable, most projects pass through similar phases on the way from origin to completion. These stages are called as the project life cycle. The life cycle indicates that projects have a specific time frame and that there are changes in the level of effort over the life of the project. In the project management literature, there are a large number of life cycle models.

1. Initiation Phase: This first phase of project life cycle involves identification and specification of the project. Project objectives and requirements are determined. The project team members are formed and their tasks are assigned.
2. Planning Phase: In this phase, the level of effort rises. More formal set of plans are established to determine when the project will be scheduled, what the budget will be and what quality level should be maintained. Then, individual tasks and requirements of the project are defined.
3. Performing Phase: A major part of the project occurs in this stage. The performing phase includes the stages of design, production and implementation. It can be referred as progression through which a system moves from being an idea to an end item. This phase results in the accomplishment of project objective in a quality manner within budget and on time.
4. Closure Phase: This phase can be referred as the “termination” phase. It includes certain close-out activities to be carried out such as completing all payments, releasing project equipment/materials,and transferring all related documents. In addition to these activities, this phase involves customer training and obtaining feedback from customers about whether their expectations are satisfied.

Project Management

Project management is the implementation of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project activities to accomplish project goals. Project management is a system approach to management. A project is a system of interrelated components such as tasks, resources, stakeholders, schedules, budgets, and plans. The aim of project management is to integrate the components to accomplish the project goal.

The Importance of Project Management

Project Management Institute had more than 24,000 members in 1997 and current membership is now over 500,000 with members from different countries. It is the best indicator of the rapid growth and interest in project management. An increasing percentage of the organization’s effort is being devoted to projects. In below, some of the reasons why importance of project management is increasing are described:

• Compression of the Product Life Cycle
• Global Competition
• Knowledge Explosion
• Corporate Downsizing
• Increased Customer Focus
• Rapid Development of Third World and Closed Economies

The Fundamentals of Project Management

Three main attributes of project management distinguish it from traditional forms of management: project manager, project team, and project methodology.

1. Project Manager: The most important characteristic of project management is the role of the project manager who is responsible for planning, directing, and combining the efforts of all project stakeholders to achieve the project goal. Project managers must also guarantee that appropriate tradeoffs are made between the time, cost and performance requirements of the project.
2. Project Team: Team members are people whom the project manager directs. Based on project requirements, the magnitude of the team size may change and the team may separate after the project is finished.
3. Project Methodology: The project manager and project team carry out the project work in phases according to a “project management methodology.” When a project continues from one phase to the next, the project management methodology helps the project manager to (1) identify the required project tasks, (2) identify the required resources and costs, (3) establish priorities, (4) plan and update schedules, (5) monitor and control end-item quality and performance, and (6) measure project performance.

According to the Project Management Institute (PMI®), the term project stakeholder refers to “an individual, group, or organization, who may affect, be affected by, or perceive itself to be affected by a decision, activity, or outcome of a project”. The primary stakeholders are customers, end users, and builders.

Project Management Process

The project integration management has a set of control access points that are undertaken by the Project Manager. According to Project Management Institute, project management consists of five sets of process groups.

Initiating Process Group

All projects start with an idea. Within the initiating process group, this idea turns into a project and is described. The initial scope and estimated budget are clearly defined and financial resources are committed. Project manager is also assigned. The official authorization of a project is handed over during this process group stage. There are two outputs of the initiating process group: developing a project charter and identifying stakeholders. Inputs of developing a project charter might be project statement of work, contract, business case, enterprise environmental factors, and so on. The process of identifying stakeholders includes defining all people or organizations affected by the project. Inputs of identifying stakeholders might be the project charter, procurement documents, organizational process assets, and so on.

Planning Process Group

This process involves detailing the project scope, time frames, resources, and risks. The project scope is also divided and subdivided into major pieces. Project management plan, in which a document is used to describe every phase of a project, is defined. This plan and the project document provide exploring all aspects of the scope, time, costs, quality, communication, risk, and procurement. An efficient planning process includes the following:

• Developing Project Management Plan
• Requirement of stakeholders
• Definition of scope of the reasons for your Project
• Creating Work Breakdown Structure: Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is a method for dividing the overall project into smaller elements that is called work packages. The WBS usually defines the organization or individual responsible for each work package. It also makes it easier to prepare schedules and budgets.
• A list of all activities and their sequence
• A detailed project Schedule
• Estimation of cost and determination of budget
• A description of how you plan to manage any significant risks and uncertainties
• Plans for project communications
• Plans for ensuring project quality

Executing Process Group

This process is performed to accomplish the work defined in the project management plan to meet customer’s satisfaction. It includes managing the project team such as giving and explaining tasks to all team members, defining how the team will perform, and so on. A large portion of the budget is expanded in this process group. It includes the following project management processes:

• Direct and manage project execution
• Perform quality assurance
• Acquire project team
• Develop project team
• Manage project team
• Distribute information
• Manage stakeholders’ expectations
• Conduct procurements

Monitoring and Controlling Process Group
This process consists of tracking and reviewing the performance of the projects. It also includes controlling changes and monitoring present project activities in accordance with the project management plan to help ensure project plans are successfully applied and the desired results are obtained. This process group provides that performance of project is regularly measured for identification of variances from the project management plan. The monitoring and controlling process group includes the following project management processes:

• Monitor and control project work
• Perform integrated change control
• Verify scope
• Control scope
• Control Schedule
• Control costs
• Perform quality control
• Report performance
• Monitor and control risks
• Administer procurement

Closing Process Group

The closing process group includes two project management processes: closing project or phase and closing procurements. Closing project or phase provides finalizing all activities across all of the management process groups to formally accomplish the project or phase. Closing procurements involves the completion of each project procurement.