are budgeted and tracked to keep the project within that budget.
5.Project quality management. One cause of project failure is the tendency to overlook or sacrifice quality in order to meet a tight deadline. It is not very helpful to complete a project on time, only to discover that the thing delivered won’t work properly. Quality management includes both quality assurance (planning to meet quality requirements) and quality control (steps taken to monitor results to see whether they conform to requirements).
6.Project human resource management. Managing human resources is often overlooked in projects. It involves identifying the people needed to do the job; defining their roles, responsibilities, and reporting relationships; acquiring those people; and then managing them as the project is executed.
7.Project communications management. As the title implies, communication management involves planning, executing, and controlling the acquisition and dissemination of all information relevant to the needs of all project stakeholders. This information includes project status, accomplishments, events that may affect other stakeholders or projects, and so on.
8.Project risk management. Risk management is the systematic process of identifying, analyzing, and responding to project risk. It includes maximizing the probability and consequences of positive events and minimizing the probability and consequences of adverse events to project objectives.
9.Project procurement management. Procurement of necessary goods and services for the project is the logistical aspect of managing a job. It involves deciding what must be procured, issuing requests for bids or quotes, selecting vendors, administering contracts, and closing them when the job is finished.
The following are some examples of projects:
►Developing and introducing a new product
►Designing and implementing an information technology (IT) system
►Modernizing a factory
►Consolidating two manufacturing plants
►Designing and producing a brochure
►Executing an environmental clean-up of a contaminated site
►Building a shopping mall
►Rebuilding a town after a natural disaster
►Designing a business internship program for high school students
►Building a Wi-Fi system.
CHAPTER 2Planning and Controlling Projects
The purpose of the project should be clearly defined. The management of a project requires proper planning and control of a project’s completion time, budgetary resources, and desired results. Without proper planning and control, it is highly unlikely that the project will be completed within the deadline or with limited resources, or that the desired results will be achieved.
Key Questions to be Asked
In planning and controlling a project, the following questions should be asked:
Project Objective
►What are the desired results?
►What do we expect to achieve by undertaking this project?
►What problems are likely to be encountered?
►How will those problems be solved?
Time Considerations
►What is the magnitude of the project?
►Is it a large project or a small project?
►If it is a large project, how can it be divided into a series of shorter tasks?
►How long will it take to complete the project?
►What is the project’s deadline?
►What are the consequences of not meeting the deadline or postponing the deadline?
►For longer projects, when should each phase of the project be completed?
Financial Considerations
►What is the project’s budget?
►What are the major expense categories?
►Will capital expenditures be undertaken?
►How much of the budget should be allocated to planned expenses?
►How much of the budget should be allocated to unexpected expenses and contingency planning?
►What are the consequences of going over or under budget?
►What resources, including human resources, are needed to complete the project?
►What tools and methods will be used to ensure that the project is within budget?
Management
►What is my responsibility?
►Who will be on my project team?
►What is the responsibility of each team member?
►Who will manage and coordinate the various activities in a project and ensure that they are proceeding as planned and that the project will be completed before the deadline?
►Who will monitor that the project is proceeding as planned and within budget?
►How will deviations be identified and corrected for?
►Interim Analysis
►Are the intermediate results consistent with the final desired results?
►Is the project arriving at the desired results for each major step along its completion path?
►How will the pace be accelerated if your team falls behind schedule?
►How will costs be reduced if actual costs begin exceeding the budget?
►If problems are developing, what actions will be taken to correct them?
Final Report
►How will the results of the project be documented?
►What type of final report will be prepared and by whom? For whom?
To successfully complete the project, the project manager must have a clear understanding of the desired results and how these results will satisfy the needs of the end-user.
To successfully complete the project, the project manager must have a clear understanding of the answers to these questions and of how the desired results satisfy the needs of the end-user.
