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.

May 20th, 2008 1

Project Management& Control

May 20th, 2008 2

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”

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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

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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.

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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)

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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.

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What is a Program???

A program is different from a

project. Programs are larger in

scope and comprise multiple

projects.

May 20th, 2008 8

What is a Project (Contd)

• The Scope Triangle: Time, Cost,

Resources

TimeCost

Resources

Scope and

Quality

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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

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Classification of Project Types

Development Harbors, dams, irrigation,

Research Health, space, agriculture

Defense Military equipment and

systems

Conservation Forests, shorelines, pollution

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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.

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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.

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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

May 20th, 2008 14

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

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Modern Tools - Technique

• PERT (Program Evaluation & Review Tech)

• Linear Responsibility Charts

• Gantt Charts

• Milestone Charts

• Work Breakdown Structures

• Project Action Plans

• Computers

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Project Life Cycle• Conception/selection

• Planning

• Implementation

• Control

• Evaluation

• Termination

– What is the difference between a project and a

process??

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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

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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.

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Project Management Processes

Planning provides documented executing and the updates as the project progresses

Initiating Processes

Planning Processes

Controlling Processes

Executing Processes

Closing Processes

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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.

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Project Planning Considerations

– Cost estimating and budgeting.

– Technology strategies scheduling.

– Specification of deliverables.

– Resource usage estimating.

– Delineation of organizational structure.

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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.

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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.

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Control and Evaluation

• Control entails continual monitoring of project

progress, while evaluation involves periodic stock-

taking.

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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)

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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.

May 20th, 2008 27

Functional Manager Vs PM ????????

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Project OrganizationFunctional 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.

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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.

May 20th, 2008 30

Pure Project Organization

P rog ram M an ag er V .P . M arke tin g V .P . M an u fac tu rin g V .P . R & D

P resen d en t

MarketingManufacturingR&D FinancePersonnel

Manager, Project A

Manager, Project B

MarketingManufacturingR&D FinancePersonnel

May 20th, 2008 31

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.

May 20th, 2008 32

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.

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– 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.

May 20th, 2008 34

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.

May 20th, 2008 35

Matrix Organization

Progra m m a na ger Ma nufa cturing Ma rketing Fina nce R & D Personnel

President

PM1 3 1 2 4 2

PM2 1 4 4 2 4

PM3 3 2 3 2 1

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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.

May 20th, 2008 37

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.

May 20th, 2008 38

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.

May 20th, 2008 39

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.