TDB3173 : IT PROJECT MANAGEMENT COURSE (JANUARY SEMESTER 2020)

ASSIGNMENT #1

SAM DANIEL A/L FRANCIS XAVIER (24457) (ICT)

1. Briefly describe what happens in each of the five project management process groups:

i. Initiation
Initiation phase includes significant processes such as authorizing a project and defining
the purpose of the project or a particular phase of the project. It is during the initiation
process; the scope, objectives and challenges of a project or phase will be laid out and
defined. Stakeholders and the current need of executing the project will be also addressed
as well. It is also essential for a project manager and teams to execute the initiating
processes before each phase to determine the project is worth continuing or not. Project
manager should re-examine the business need for the project before executing the next
phase. Through initiating processes for a new project, the organization recognizes that a
new project exists, and completes a project charter as part of this recognition. Finalizing
the initial work orders, work permits and authorizations to secure an effective and
efficient progression throughout the phase. Team managers also should ensure a
complete clear phase has been set for work, necessary resources and enough budget to
support the processes for a strong start to a phase or a project.

ii. Planning

Planning phase includes revising and maintaining a feasible scheme to ensure that the
project is still meeting the organization’s need. What would a project manager try to
accomplish in this phase is converting the broader ideas deduced in the initiating phase
into a greater detailed plan. The scope of the project will the fleshed out and defined in
greater detail including the budgets, risks, summaries and milestones to be achieved.
Once the essential details are finalized and approved, the project manager will begin to
recruit teams and team leaders for the project. Besides that, during the planning phase,
the teams will be also coming up with effective plans to maximize the workflow in the
different areas of the project. Project manager should also make sure all the necessary
infrastructures are in hand to the achieve the objectives of the project within the time
limit and the provided budget. Project manager will also finalize and establish a
 communication plan for the team’s members and stakeholders to avoid any
miscommunications and to control the engagement of stakeholders and members.

iii. Executing

The third phase mainly involve assigning team members and other resources to execute
various tasks or plans to achieve the results of the project or the phase. Examples of
executing processes such as conducting procurements, performing quality assurance,
managing stakeholder expectations and distributing information. While the team assigned to
specific tasks, project manager would be monitoring the work progress, availability of the
resources and the budget restraints. Provided a detailed work schedule, the team members
will be performing their duties in the specified order necessitated by any dependencies
between the tasks. The executing phase is also when the provided budget will be mostly
spent and as well as where the stakeholders will or may try to get involve in the project and
make requests or changes. The project manager must ensure the teams are performing
effectively during the executing phase while also managing the timeline expectations of the
stakeholders and reaching the benchmark goals within the timeline. The project manager
should also need to establish and maintain a proper communication channel with his team
and the stakeholders at all levels so that their concerns or challenges faced can be easily
addressed and solved with the provided budget and time.

iv. Monitoring & Controlling

The monitoring and controlling phase include consistent measuring and monitoring the
work progress to make sure the team achieves the project objectives or the organization’s
needs. The project manager and the monitoring staffs should be regularly monitoring the
progress against the project timeline and plans and take corrective actions when necessary.
One of the processes in the monitoring and controlling phase would be reporting the
progress to the stakeholders, where the stakeholders can propose and necessary changes that
could be made to improve the projects effectiveness. Monitoring and controlling process are
consistently performed throughout the project cycle. As mentioned before, the core
objective of this phase is to address the on-going budget restraints and considerations and to
reduce any unwanted situations which could delay the team in achieving the objectives.
Project managers keep the momentum going forward and protect the project from being
 interrupted by actively monitoring progress and using foresight and quick response to
address project challenges. It is very important for the project manager to always have scope
of the project in mind, as with keeping the broader goals of the project in mind while
monitoring the daily operations, the project managers can definitely ensure the goals are
achieved.

v. Closing

The final phase will be mainly about the documentary of acceptance of the project or a
phase of a project and completing it efficiently. It is during this phase; the project manager
will prepare a final report on all the objectives that was accomplished throughout the
project. The team will make a presentation to the stakeholders or clients to acquire their
final approval and acceptance of the project. The project manager should make sure there
are no loose ends, all final payments should be made, and existing contracts should be
closed. Project team also should deliver a project closure report to address how the project
has improved the business plan for budget and workflow. The project manager should also
create a ‘lessons learnt’ report by involving the team members to discuss on what are the
positives decisions taken for projects and what could be improved in the future projects. As
a final process in the closing phase, the project team should archive all reports and
documents in an organized manner for future reference.

2. Read the case study: JWD CONSULTING’S PROJECT MANAGEMENT INTRANET

SITE PROJECT from your textbook (Chapter 3: pg 96 -122).
Summarize the main outputs produced during each project process group in this case
Provide your answer in a table:

No Project process group name Main outputs

1 Initiation i) Project Charter
A formal, typically short document that
describes the project in its entirety. Should
include info such as objectives, budget, time
period, stakeholders and the main project
success criteria. Should be signed and approved
by all stakeholders and stakeholders may state
any comments or concerns about the projects in
the comments section.

ii) Stakeholder Register

Documentation of identified project
stakeholders’ information and results of
stakeholder analysis. Should not contain
 sensitive info and would be useful to develop a
stakeholder management strategy.

iii) Stakeholder Management Strategy Formal

Documentation of a brief description on the
stakeholders’ behaviour towards the project,
their working attitude, how they could
contribute to the project and how to utilize them
effectively.

iv) Project Kick-Off Meeting

An initiation meeting at the beginning of a
project for the stakeholders to meet one another,
discuss further plans and goals of the project.
The review of project background, project
related documents, organizational structure and
other important topics should be also included
in the agenda.

2 Planning i) Project Management Plan

A Project management plan is a formal,
approved document that defines how
the project is executed, monitored, and
controlled.

ii) Scope Management Plan

A scope management plan is the component of
the project management plan that describes how
the scope will be defined and developed.
Documentation of the requirements and
developing a WBS for scope baseline.

iii) Schedule Management Plan

Planning where the involved activities and their
attributes are defined. Required resources will
be identified and documented through resource
breakdown structure. Timeline for each activity
will be discussed and finalized project schedule
will be developed.

iv) Cost Management Plan

Cost management planning where estimation of
cost for each activity will be done and an overall
budget will be determined. Cost baseline and
project funding requirements details will be
finalized and updated in the project documents.

v) Risk Management Plan

Planning where the involved risks in the project
will be identified through performing required
qualitative and quantitative risk analysis. Risk
responses will be also developed to encounter
any unwanted situations.
 vi) Procurement Management Plan
The planning describes how items will be
procured during the project and the approach
that will be used to managing vendors on the
project. Procurement processes and roles and
responsibilities related to procurement. Source
selection criteria, procedures for make-or-buy
decisions and changing requests will be also
developed in this meeting.

3 Executing i) Deliverables
Project works are managed, and outputs are
delivered. Work performance data are
documented and will be presented to the
stakeholders. Any change requests from the
stakeholders will be analysed and the project
documents and management plan will be
updated.

ii) Change requests in quality of the performance.

Quality assurance will be performed and any
required changes will be made and updated in
the project management plan and documents.

iii) Project Staff Assignments

Project team will be acquired and assigned
tasks. A resource calendar will be created to
reflect specific working hours, vacations,
leaves of absence, and planned personal time
for individual resources.

iv) Project Communications

Project Communications
Management includes the processes that are
required to ensure timely and appropriate
planning, collection, creation, distribution,
storage, retrieval, management, control,
monitoring, and the ultimate disposition
of project information.

v) Procurements related to selected sellers and

agreements.

vi) Issue logs from the stakeholders.

Involves analysis of stakeholders expectations
and influences, development of appropriate
strategies to work with the stakeholders and
executing the process.
4 Monitoring & Controlling
i) Monitor and control project work
Any change requests will be analysed and
documented. Work performance reports will be
generated and analysed for improvements.

ii) Integrated Change Control

As this process involves reviewing change
requests, some outputs are approved change
requests, the change log, updated project
management plan, and updated project
documents.

iii) Validate and Control Scope

Involves the formal acceptance of the completed
project deliverables, some outputs are accepted
deliverables, change requests, work
performance information, and updates to the
project documents.

iv) Control Cost

The key outputs of this process are work
performance information, cost forecasts, and
change requests. The project management plan
and project documents may also need to be
updated. In this process, the Earned Value
Management technique is used.

v) Control Quality
The main output for this aspect will be Quality
control measurements, validated changes and
verified deliverables and work performance
information and change requests.

vi) Control Stakeholder Engagement

It involves managing stakeholders and the
strategy used to engage them. Key outputs of
this process are work performance information
and change requests. Meetings and expert
judgment are key techniques used in this
process.

5 Closing
i) Close Project or phase
The final product or service or result should be
presented. Organizational process assets updates
should be also presented to the stakeholders.

ii) Close Procurements

Procurements for closing the project or phase
should be delivered. Procurements such as final
report and ‘lessons learnt’ report.