Study Guide

Project Management 2
(PRM202B)

This module forms a compulsory core module for the following undergraduate academic
programme:

• BCom in Marketing and Management Science

Notional Hours: 200

Credits: 20
NQF: 6

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 Published by IMM Graduate School © Copyright Reserved
January 2021

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Contents
SECTION A: GENERAL INFORMATION ................................................................................ 7

Word of Welcome .............................................................................................................. 7

Programme Structure – Bachelor of Commerce in Marketing and Management Science

............................................................................................................................................ 7

Programme Exit-Level Outcomes: ..................................................................................... 9

Project Management 2 (PRM202B) Overall Purpose And Module Outcomes ................ 10

Module Purpose:.............................................................................................................. 10

Module outcomes: ........................................................................................................... 10

Planning Your Project Management 2 Studies ................................................................ 11

Student Support At Your Fingertips ................................................................................. 11

Your Checklist for Your Learning Process ........................................................................ 14

SECTION B – STUDY UNITS .............................................................................................. 15

Study Unit 1 – Project Management Concepts ............................................................. 15

Study Unit 1: Relevance ................................................................................................... 15

Study Unit 1: Module Outcomes ..................................................................................... 17

Study Unit 1: Unit Specific Outcomes ............................................................................. 17

Study Unit 1: Assessment Criteria ................................................................................... 17

Study Unit 1: Glossary of Terms....................................................................................... 18

Study Unit 1: Content ...................................................................................................... 23

Study Unit 1: Revision Exercises ...................................................................................... 59

Study Unit 1: Progress check ........................................................................................... 59

Your progress checklist: ................................................................................................... 60

Study Unit 1: Answers To Revision Exercises................................................................... 60

Study Unit 2 – Initiating a project ................................................................................ 68

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 Study Unit 2: Relevance ................................................................................................... 68

Study Unit 2: Module Outcomes ..................................................................................... 69

Study Unit 2: Unit Specific Outcomes .............................................................................. 69

Study Unit 2: Assessment Criteria ................................................................................... 69

Study Unit 2: Content ...................................................................................................... 70

Study Unit 2: Revision Exercises ...................................................................................... 87

Study Unit 2: Progress Check ........................................................................................... 87

Your Progress Checklist:................................................................................................... 88

Study Unit 2: Answers to exercises ................................................................................. 89

Study Unit 3: Planning, Performing and Controlling the Project ..................................... 91

Study Unit 3: Module Outcomes ..................................................................................... 91

Study Unit 3: Specific Unit Outcomes .............................................................................. 91

Study Unit 3: Assessment Criteria ................................................................................... 92

Study Unit 3: Content ................................................................................................. 93

Section 1: Defining Scope, Quality, Responsibility and Activity Sequence and Developing
the Schedule. ................................................................................................................... 94

Section 2: Resource Utilisation, Determining Costs, Budget and Earned Value ........... 118

Study Unit 3: Revision Exercises .................................................................................... 127

Study Unit 3: Progress Check ......................................................................................... 127

Your Progress Checklist:................................................................................................. 128

Study Unit 3: Answers To Exercises ............................................................................... 129

Study Unit 4: Managing Risk and Closing the Project .................................................... 145

Study Unit 4: Relevance ................................................................................................. 146

Study Unit 4: Module Outcomes ................................................................................... 146

Study Unit 4: Specific Unit Outcomes ............................................................................ 147

Study Unit 4: Assessment Criteria ................................................................................. 147

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 Study Unit 4: Content ............................................................................................... 149

Section 1: Managing Risk ............................................................................................... 149

Section 2: Closing the Project ........................................................................................ 156

Study Unit 4: Revision Exercises .................................................................................... 160

Study Unit 4: Progress Check ......................................................................................... 161

Your Progress Checklist:................................................................................................. 161

Study Unit 4: Answers to exercises ................................................................................ 162

Study Unit 5 – The Project Manager and the Project Team ........................................ 165

Study Unit 5: Relevance ................................................................................................. 165

Study Unit 5 – Module Outcomes.................................................................................. 166

Study Unit 5: Unit Specific Outcomes ............................................................................ 166

Study Unit 5: Assessment Criteria ................................................................................. 167

Study Unit 5: Content .................................................................................................... 168

Section 1: The Project Manager..................................................................................... 169

Section 2: The Project Team .......................................................................................... 170

Study Unit 5: Revision Exercises .................................................................................... 178

Study Unit 5: Progress Check ......................................................................................... 178

Your Progress Checklist:................................................................................................. 179

Study Unit 5: Answers to exercises ................................................................................ 180

Study Unit 6 – Project Communication and Documentation....................................... 184

Study Unit 6: Relevance ................................................................................................. 186

Study Unit 6: Module Outcomes ................................................................................... 186

Study Unit 6: Unit Specific Outcomes ............................................................................ 187

Study Unit 6: Assessment Criteria ................................................................................. 187

Study Unit 6: Content ............................................................................................... 188

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 Study Unit 6: Revision Exercises .................................................................................... 205

REFERENCE LIST ............................................................................................................ 206

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SECTION A: GENERAL INFORMATION

Word of Welcome

“Operations keeps the lights on, strategy provides a light at the end of the tunnel, but
project management is the train engine that moves the organisation forward.”

- Joy Gumz

Project management is the art of managing all the aspects of a project from inception to
closure using a scientific and structured methodology. The term project may be used to define
any endeavour that is temporary in nature and with a beginning or an end. The project must
create something unique whether it is a product, service or result and must be progressively
elaborated. As the definition implies, not every task can be considered a project. It would be
worthwhile to keep this definition in mind when categorising projects and studying their role
in the success of the organisation. With the above definition of the project, one gets a clear
idea of what a project is.

The purpose of the module Project Management 2 is to assist students to be able to plan and
implement projects successfully. Students must be able to foresee or predict as many dangers
and problems regarding a project as possible, and to plan, organise and control activities so
that the project is completed as successfully as possible in spite of all the risks. The ever-
present element of risk and uncertainty means that events and tasks leading to completion
can never be foretold with absolute accuracy.

Programme Structure – Bachelor of Commerce in Marketing and

Management Science

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Herewith a brief summary of the BCom in Marketing and Management Science programme
indicating where Project Management 2 (PRM202B) fits in.

Overall Programme Purpose and Outcomes

Once you have successfully completed the modules and achieved the module outcomes
covered within the BCom in Marketing and Management Science programme you will be
competent to do the following:

Programme Purpose
The purpose of this qualification is to provide candidates in the private, public and voluntary
sectors with comprehensive and in-depth knowledge of the principles, major theories, and
paradigms, skills, methods and technology of the science and profession of the field of
marketing, management, supply chain and project management. This, in order to:

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• promote sustainable growth and development and maximise prosperity in all sectors of
the economy and society at large.
• To develop competent leaders with applied economic, management, supply chain,
project management, and marketing skills as well as generic cross-functional knowledge
and skills to steer sustainable development, growth and prosperity in the most
appropriate direction.
• To provide students who want to enroll for advanced studies in management, supply
chain, project management, and marketing, with a sound academic base, to apply their
skills and for further advancement in careers and academic studies in the field of
marketing, supply chain, project management and management science.

Programme Exit-Level Outcomes:

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Demonstrate an integrated understanding of a broad scope of management knowledge
and how it practically applies to the disciplines of marketing, sales management, supply
chain and project management.
• To demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of the knowledge regarding
economics, financial management, research as applied to marketing, sales, supply chain
and project management activities in relation to the organisation and the business
environment in general.
• Students must be able to collect, analyse, organise and critically evaluate relevant
economic, financial, marketing and project related information to make sound decisions
in the organisation.
• To demonstrate the ability to identify, analyse, evaluate and critically reflect on complex
problems related to sales, marketing, operations and supply chain in the organisation
with the aim of finding evidence-based solutions.
• Evaluate, apply, and integrate sales, marketing, supply chain, project management
knowledge and skills and general business principles to real-life situations taking into
account societal, ethical and cultural considerations.

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• Students must access, process and manage information, demonstrating the ability to
develop appropriate processes of information gathering for a given context or use, also
independently validating the sources of information and evaluating and managing the
information.
• Students use appropriate academic/professional/occupational discourse to produce
and communicate information in a business environment, demonstrating their
understanding and own ideas and opinions on business science, marketing sales, project
management and supply chain-related matters. Students must do so whilst respecting
conventions around intellectual property, copyright and plagiarism.
• Critically analyse contemporary business information and evaluate the potential future
outcomes of sales, marketing, supply chain and project management decisions.
• Students must show an understanding of the scope of responsibilities required of a
management position in the sales, marketing, supply chain, human resources
operations, project management functions, and understand the accountability to senior
management in an organisation.

Project Management 2 (PRM202B) Overall Purpose And Module

Outcomes

Module Purpose:
To assist the student in acquiring a comprehensive and interrelated understanding of project
management theories and practices.

Module outcomes:

By the end of this module, students should be able to:

• Identify, implement and manage advanced project management concepts
• Analyse, interpret, evaluate and apply principles and processes that are necessary for
the systematic implementation of projects

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• Evaluate the creation and management of effective and efficient project and process
teams in resource utilisation to achieve project objectives at low risk and costs.
• Engage in high-level and successful communication with project stakeholders.
• Identify and solve problems, make the right decisions, apply critical and creative
thinking when dealing with issues relating to project management

Planning Your Project Management 2 Studies

The IMM Graduate School has designed student pacers for each module. These pacers will
assist you in planning your studies to ensure you cover the entire syllabus and to schedule
your studies at manageable intervals. Distance learning requires careful planning and
scheduling of your studies and the student pacer will provide you with a guideline on how to
plan and not fall behind. Adhering to the student pacer will guide you and provide you with a
good start to achieve the targets set out for each module and to ensure you plan beforehand
to hand in your assignments before or on the due date and to ensure you have sufficient time
to study for your examination.

“First, have a definite, clear practical ideal; a goal, an objective. Second, have the necessary
means to achieve your ends; wisdom, money, materials, and methods. Third, adjust all your
means to that end.” ~ Aristotle

Student Support At Your Fingertips

You are registered for this module on a distance learning basis and you are expected to work
on your own 70% of the time. However, this does not mean that you are completely on your
own. Please use the available IMM Graduate School Student Support resources to help you
during your studies.

The IMM Graduate School is committed to assisting students with all queries, and have
introduced [email protected], to answer all general queries. This is supported by a

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ticketing system, that issues students with a unique ticket number and ensures we are able
to track the progress of queries, ensure prompt response and swift resolution times.

NB: Please ensure that all module specific questions and queries are still posted on the
module specific discussion forums, available on eLearn. Do not leave your queries to the last
day before you write your examination or before the assignment submission due dates.

You are required to regularly visit eLearn as it is an essential source of information that is
continuously updated with topical material, additional guidance, messages and tutorial
letters.

• eLibrary is an excellent place for you to read additional material on your own. This tool
will be extremely valuable when conducting research for your assignments / projects /
research reports. For access to the virtual library, please follow the instructions
available on eLearn.
• Information Centres - the IMM Graduate School has libraries in all Student Support
Centres with textbooks and additional materials that could help you in your assignments
when you need to reference additional sources. For opening times at facilities please
enquire at your Student Support Centre. You have access to free Internet at the
Information Centre.
• eMasterclasses - in our on-going efforts to support our students, the IMM Graduate
School hosts online tutorials in all our modules for additional guidance and support.
Subject matter experts share their knowledge through the use of a presentation or
video conferencing addressing learning outcomes, assignment and examination
preparation, etc., giving ample opportunity for student feedback and interaction.
• eDiscussion – join group forums for discussions, to post questions and to receive
updates on specific modules.

The Journal of Strategic Marketing - the official publication of the IMM Institute of Marketing
Management, which keeps you up-to-date with the latest news and trends of what is

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happening in the industry. Another publication is the Strategic Marketing Africa magazine,
which addresses the unique marketing challenges and opportunities in Africa. These
magazines are released quarterly and could assist you in providing examples to use in
assessments to back up your theoretical knowledge. Both of these magazines are available
electronically on eLearn.

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Your Checklist for Your Learning Process

At this point, you should understand the learning process explained above, as well as what
Project Management 2 (PRM202B) is all about and you should be ready to start your journey
towards the successful completion of your module.

Checklist Done / still to do / still to buy or access

Do you have access to all the prescribed – and

additional learning material?
• Gido, J., Clements, J.P. & Harinarain, N.
(2018) Successful Project Management.
CENGAGE.
• PRM202B study guide
• IMM Graduate School eLearn platform
• IMM Graduate School eLibrary platform

Do you have a quiet place to study?

Do you have support from your close

family/friends/ colleagues?

Do you know who to contact at the IMM

Graduate School when needed?

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SECTION B – STUDY UNITS

Study Unit 1 – Project Management Concepts

The starting point in discussing how projects should be properly managed is to first
understand what a project is and, just as importantly, what it is not.

People have been undertaking projects since the earliest days of organised human activity.
The hunting parties of our prehistoric ancestors were projects, for example, they were
temporary undertakings directed at the goal of obtaining meat for the community. Large
complex projects have also been with us for a long time. The pyramids and the Great Wall of
China were in their day of roughly the same dimensions as the Apollo project to send men to
the moon. We use the term ‘project’ frequently in our daily conversations. A husband, for
example, may tell his wife, “My main project for this weekend is to straighten out the garage.”
Going hunting, building pyramids, and fixing faucets all share certain features that make the
projects.

Study Unit 1: Relevance

The relevance of a project is measured by how well the project outcomes meet the priorities
of the target group. The efficiency of a project is measured by assessing the extent to which
resources have been used cost-effectively to achieve the desired results. The project’s
effectiveness is the extent to which the project objectives are met. The sustainability of the
project and its impact on the target group are examined during the evaluation. These
measures are in addition to the traditional project success criteria measures of objectives,
time and budget.

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Quotes from successful project managers

“Being a project manager is like being an artist, you have the different coloured process
streams combining into a work of art.”

-– Greg Cimmarrusti

“Project management can be defined as a way of developing structure in a complex project,

where the independent variables of time, cost, resources and human behaviour come
together.”

-– Rory Burke

“Project management is like juggling three balls – time, cost and quality. Programme
management is like a troupe of circus performers standing in a circle, each juggling-three
balls and swapping balls from time to time.”

— G. Reiss

“Project management is the art of creating the illusion that any outcome is the result of a
series of predetermined, deliberate acts when, in fact, it was dumb luck.”

– Harold Kerzner

“Project managers function as bandleaders who pull together their players each a specialist
with individual score and internal rhythm. Under the leader’s direction, they all respond to
the same beat.”

— L.R. Sayles

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“Project managers rarely lack organisational visibility, enjoy considerable variety in their
day-to-day duties, and often have the prestige associated with work on the enterprise’s
high-priority objectives.”

–- Meredith and Mantel

“The P in PM is as much about ‘people management’ as it is about ‘project management’.”

-– Cornelius Fichtner

Study Unit 1: Module Outcomes

After completing this module, students should be able to:

• Identify, implement and manage advanced project management concepts
• Analyse, interpret, evaluate and apply principles and processes that are necessary for
the systematic implementation of projects
• Engage in high-level and successful communication with project stakeholders.

Study Unit 1: Unit Specific Outcomes

After completing this study unit, you should know the following:
• Define a project, project management.
• Identify project attributes, stakeholders, elements of the project management process
and balance project constraints.
• Explain the project life cycle
• Discuss the role of the PMI, implications of global project management and the benefits
of project management.

Study Unit 1: Assessment Criteria

• A project is correctly defined using practical examples

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• Project management is fully defined.
• Project attributes, stakeholders, and elements of the project management process are
accurately identified.
• The need for balancing project constraints is discussed in full
• The project life cycle is explained adequately.
• The role of the PMI is investigated.
• Implications of global project management are evaluated
• Project management benefits are enumerated.

Study Unit 1: Glossary of Terms

A detailed glossary can be found at the end of the prescribed textbook. In the table below,
some of the most used concepts are explained.

An item of work, task or job. A list of activities can be

Activity developed from the WBS and is required for the CPM
calculation.

After completing the CPM’s forward pass, the backward

Backward pass
pass calculates the late start and late finish.

Bar chart Another name for a Gantt chart.

The approved original project plan that can be changed only

Baseline plan through formal change control procedures. Used as a basis
for comparison of actual progress vs. planned progress.

Outlines how to make the project with the facilities

Build-method
available.

The business case develops a solution to address the

Business case problems, needs, and opportunities outlined in the
statement of requirements. The business case then seeks

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 justification and permission to use company resources for
undertaking a project.

The key customer who has the requirements for the project
Client (or project sponsor) initiates the project, accepts the project and will pay for the
project.

The process of finalising all project matters, carrying out

Closeout report final project reviews, archiving project information and
redeploying the remaining project team members.

Outlines how to achieve the project communication

Communication plan
objectives.

The identification of boundaries the project has to work

Constraints within. Could be internal or external constraints and are
formally assessed during the feasibility study.

An allowance or plan of action to respond to unforeseen

Contingency
problems.

The process of measuring the project’s actual progress with

Control planned progress and making corrective changes to keep the
project on track.

Develops a network diagram and calculates the start date,

finish date and float of all the activities to determine the
Critical path method (CPM)
critical path. Activities on the critical path have no
slack/float.

The people who receive and pay for the benefit of

Customers
consuming the project (product, facility or service).

Any distinct, unique and verifiable product, result or

capability which a project phase produces that combines
Deliverables
with other deliverables to produce the project’s main
deliverable.

Duration The total time to complete an activity from start to finish.

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 A technique to predict the likely outcome in the future and
Estimating
is usually applied to cost, resources, effort and duration.

Makes the project as per the project plan, build-method and

Execution
execution strategy.

A process conducted to assess if the project can be

Feasibility study performed according to the requirements, with the effective
use of resources and within the defined constraints.

Also referred to as slack. It is the amount of time activity,

Float not on the critical path, which can be delayed without
delaying the total project.

A scheduling tool where each activity is represented as a

Gantt chart horizontal bar. The length of the bar is proportional to the
duration of the activity.

A safety feature that ensures that the project selection

process follows established procedures. It assists in ensuring
that the selected business case/project will address the
Governance
requirements. Project governance also ensures that the
management of the project is consistent with corporate,
cultural and ethical values.

Implementation strategy Describes how the project is implemented.

The first of the project management processes that starts

the project. The output from this process is the phase
charter or project charter that outlines what the project is to
Initiation process
achieve, how to achieve it and assigns responsibility to the
project manager as well as the authority to use company
resources.

Pulls together all aspects of the project. Integration

Integration management techniques include the project management process, the
project plan, and the project life cycle.

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 Outlines the person’s duties, responsibilities and authority
Job description
on the project.

An event that serves as a marker of achievement also known

Key date
as a milestone.

Level of effort A measure of the amount of work planned or performed.

An organisation structure where the project manager is

responsible for coordinating multi-disciplined teams and the
Matrix
functional managers responsible for supplying the
resources.

A significant event that acts as a progress marker of

Milestone
achievement. Also known as a key date.

Capturing of data and determining what happened on the

Monitoring
project and its status.

A graphic presentation of the logical sequence of activities.

Network diagram
Developing the network diagram is part of the CPM analysis.

Percentage complete Measuring to work actually completed up to date.

The intended future course of action in order to achieve a

Plan
defined objective.

PMBOK Project Management Body of Knowledge

PMI Project Management Institute

Project management methodology. An acronym standing for

PRINCE2
PRojects IN Controlled Environments (second edition).

Project breakdown Subdivides the project into a number of deliverables. The

structure (PBS) deliverables combine to form the complete project.

The document outlines the purpose of the project and how

Project charter
it should be managed.

Subdivides a project into a number of sequential phases. A

Project life cycle phase consists of a number of related activities that come
together to produce a specific deliverable. A project life

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 cycle consists of strategy phases, project phases and
operational phases.

The management of a project using the project

Project management management principles and special planning and control
tools and techniques.

A person appointed to manage and achieve the project’s

Project manager
objectives (time, cost and quality).

Also known as project management office (PMO). The

‘home’ of the project team members responsible for the
Project office (PO)
supporting of the information and administration needs of
the project manager.

The integration of all the individual plans through a process

of trade-offs and compromises that converge on an
Project plan
optimum arrangement leads to the development of the
project plan.

Owns the business case and is responsible for the initiation

Project sponsor
of the project and to realise the benefits for the company.

A temporary endeavour to create a unique product, service

Project
or result. It has a definite start and end date.

A joint venture between the public and private sectors

Public-Private-Partnership
adding value for both sectors in the implementation of
(PPP)
projects.

Forecasting resource loading and smoothing resources to

Resource management level out the demand on a resource and to match supply
and demand.

Resource The machine or person who performs the work.

The process of identifying, analysing and assessing risks,

Risk management plan
quantifying risks, responding to risks and controlling risks.

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 The timetable for the project showing how the project
Schedule activities and milestones are planned. It can be presented in
Gantt chart format.

The management of scope changes through the approved

Scope change control
scope change control system and helps to limit scope creep.

The continual extension of the scope that does not add

Scope creep
significant value to the project.

Identifying and defining what is included and excluded in the

Scope management
project scope in order to achieve the stated objectives.

An individual or group that can be impacted or that can have

Stakeholders
an impact on the project.

Terminating a phase or The process to formally end the work. Closing of the project
project and final hand-over to the client.

Tools refer to project management templates and checklists

Tools and techniques and techniques describe how to use the tools or procedures
to accomplish a specific activity or task.

Providing evidence that the project meets the needs of the

Validation
project sponsor, users, customers, and other stakeholders.

The process of confirming the project complies with specific

Verification
requirements and regulations.

A division of the work required for the project into work

Work breakdown structure
packages which can be more easily planned, controlled and
(WBS)
have responsibilities assigned to.

Study Unit 1: Content

1.1. Project Management Attributes

A project has distinctive attributes that distinguish it from ongoing work or business
operations. Projects are temporary in nature. They are not an everyday business process and

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have definitive start dates and end dates. This characteristic is important because a large part
of the project effort is dedicated to ensuring that the project is completed at the appointed
time. To do this, schedules are created showing when tasks should begin and end. Projects
can last minutes, hours, days, weeks, months or years.

Projects exist to bring about a product or service that hasn’t existed before. In this sense, a
project is unique. Unique means that this is new; this has never been done before. Maybe it’s
been done in a very similar fashion before but never exactly in this way. For example, Ford
Motor Company is in the business of designing and assembling cars. Each model that Ford
designs and produces can be considered a project. The models differ from each other in their
features and are marketed to people with various needs. An SUV serves a different purpose
and clientele than a luxury car. The design and marketing, of these two models, are unique
projects. However, the actual assembly of the cars is considered an operation (i.e., a
repetitive process that is followed for most makes and models).

In contrast with projects, operations are ongoing and repetitive. They involve work that is
continuous without an ending date and with the same processes repeated to produce the
same results. The purpose of operations is to keep the organisation functioning while the
purpose of a project is to meet its goals and conclude. Therefore, operations are ongoing
while projects are unique and temporary.

A project is completed when its goals and objectives are accomplished. It is these goals that
drive the project, and all the planning and implementation efforts undertaken to achieve
them. Sometimes projects end when it is determined that the goals and objectives cannot be
accomplished or when the product or service of the project is no longer needed and the
project is cancelled.

1.2. Project Constraints

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On any project, you will have a number of project constraints that are competing for your
attention. They are cost, scope, quality, risk, resources and time.

• Cost is the budget approved for the project including all necessary expenses needed to
deliver the project. Within organisations, project managers have to balance between
not running out of money and not underspending because many projects receive funds
or grants that have contract clauses with a ‘use it or lose it’ approach to project funds.
Poorly executed budget plans can result in a last-minute rush to spend the allocated
funds. For virtually all projects, the cost is ultimately a limiting constraint; few projects
can go over budget without eventually requiring corrective action.
• The scope is what the project is trying to achieve. It entails all the work involved in
delivering the project outcomes and the processes used to produce them. It is the
reason and the purpose of the project.
• Quality is a combination of the standards and criteria to which the project’s products
must be delivered for them to perform effectively. The product must perform to provide
the functionality expected, solve the identified problem, and deliver the benefit and
value expected. It must also meet other performance requirements, or service levels,
such as availability, reliability, and maintainability, and have acceptable finish and
polish. Quality on a project is controlled through quality assurance (QA), which is the
process of evaluating overall project performance on a regular basis to provide
confidence that the project will satisfy the relevant quality standards.
• Risk is defined by potential external events that will have a negative impact on your
project if they occur. Risk refers to the combination of the probability the event will
occur and the impact on the project if the event occurs. If the combination of the
probability of the occurrence and the impact on the project is too high, you should
identify the potential event as a risk and put a proactive plan in place to manage the
risk.
• Resources are required to carry out the project tasks. They can be people, equipment,
facilities, funding, or anything else capable of definition (usually other than labour)
required for the completion of a project activity.

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• Time is defined as the time to complete the project. Time is often the most frequent
project oversight in developing projects. This is reflected in missed deadlines and
incomplete deliverables. Proper control of the schedule requires the careful
identification of tasks to be performed and accurate estimations of their durations, the
sequence in which they are going to be done, and how people and other resources are
to be allocated. Any schedule should take into account vacations and holidays.

You may have heard of the term ‘triple constraint’, which traditionally consisted of only time,
cost and scope. These are the primary competing project constraints that you have to be most
aware of. The triple constraint is illustrated in the form of a triangle to visualise the project
work and see the relationship between the scope/quality, schedule/time, and
cost/resource. In this triangle, each side represents one of the constraints (or related
constraints) wherein any changes to any one side cause changes in the other sides. The best
projects have a perfectly balanced triangle. Maintaining this balance is difficult because
projects are prone to change. For example, if scope increases, cost and time may increase
disproportionately. Alternatively, if the amount of money you have for your project
decreases, you may be able to do as much, but your time may increase.

Figure 1 Project Constraints

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Your project may have additional constraints that you must face, and as the project manager,
you have to balance the needs of these constraints against the needs of the stakeholders and
your project goals. For instance, if your sponsor wants to add functionality to the original
scope, you will very likely need more money to finish the project, or if they cut the budget,
you will have to reduce the quality of your scope, and if you don’t get the appropriate
resources to work on your project tasks, you will have to extend your schedule because the
resources you have might take much longer to finish the work.

The constraints are all dependent on each other. Think of all of these constraints as the classic
carnival game of Whac-A-Mole. Each time you try to push one mole back in the hole, another
one pops out. The best advice is to rely on your project team to keep these moles in place.

Figure 2 Whac-A-Mole

Whac-A-Mole. Go to www.dorneypark.com/public/online fun/mole.cfm to play Whac-a-

mole.

Here is an example of a project that cut quality because the project costs were fixed. The P-
36 oil platform was the largest footing production platform in the world capable of processing
180,000 barrels of oil per day and 5.2 million cubic metres of gas per day. Located in the
Roncador Field, Campos Basin, Brazil, the P-36 was operated by Petrobras.

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Figure 3 The Petrobras P-36 Platform

In March 2001, the P-36 was producing around 84,000 barrels of oil and 1.3 million cubic
meters of gas per day when it became destabilised by two explosions and subsequently sank
in 3,900 feet of water with 1,650 short tons of crude oil remaining onboard, killing 11 people.
The sinking is attributed to a complete failure in quality assurance, and pressure for increased
production led to corners being cut on safety procedures. It is listed as one of the most
expensive accidents with a price tag of $515,000,000.

The following quotes are from a Petrobras executive, citing the benefits of cutting quality
assurance and inspection costs on the project.
• “Petrobras has established new global benchmarks for the generation of exceptional
shareholder wealth through an aggressive and innovative programme of cost-cutting on
its P36 production facility.”
• “Conventional constraints have been successfully challenged and replaced with new
paradigms appropriate to the globalised corporate marketplace.”
• “Elimination of these unnecessary straitjackets has empowered the project’s suppliers
and contractors to propose highly economical solutions, with the win-win bonus of
enhanced profitability margins for themselves.”
• “The P36 platform shows the shape of things to come in the unregulated global market
economy of the 21st century.”

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The dynamic trade-offs between the project constraint values have been humorously and
accurately described in the sign below seen at an automotive repair shop.

1.3. Project Life Cycle

Project management life cycle comprises four phases:

• Initiation involves starting up the project, by documenting a business case, feasibility
study, terms of reference, appointing the team and setting up a Project Office.
• Planning involves setting out the roadmap for the project by creating the following
plans: project plan, resource plan, financial plan, quality plan, acceptance plan and
communications plan.
• Execution involves building deliverables and controlling project delivery, scope, costs,
quality, risks and issues.
• Closure involves winding-down the project by releasing staff, handing over deliverables
to the customer and completing a post-implementation review.

1.4. Project Management Process

You’ve determined that you have a project. What now? The notes you scribbled down on the
back of the napkin at lunch are a start, but not exactly good project management practice.
Too often, organisations follow Nike’s advice when it comes to managing projects when they
“just do it.” An assignment is made, and the project team members jump directly into the
development of the product or service requested. In the end, the delivered product doesn’t
meet the expectations of the customer. Unfortunately, many projects follow this poorly

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constructed path, and that is a primary contributor to a large percentage of projects not
meeting their original objectives, as defined by performance, schedule and budget.

When are companies going to stop wasting billions of rands on failed projects? The vast
majority of this waste is completely avoidable: simply get the right business needs
(requirements) understood early in the process and ensure that project management
techniques are applied and followed, and the project activities are monitored.

Applying good project management discipline is a way to help reduce the risks. Having good
project management skills does not completely eliminate problems, risks or surprises. The
value of good project management is that you have standard processes in place to deal with
all contingencies.

Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques applied to
project activities in order to meet the project requirements. Project management is a process
that includes planning, putting the project plan into action, and measuring progress and
performance.

Managing a project includes identifying your project’s requirements and writing down what
everyone needs from the project. What are the objectives of your project? When everyone
understands the goal, it’s much easier to keep them all on the right path. Make sure you set
goals that everyone agrees on to avoid team conflicts later on. Understanding and addressing
the needs of everyone affected by the project means the end result of your project is far more
likely to satisfy your stakeholders. Last but not least, as project manager, you will also be
balancing the many competing project constraints.

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1.5. Identification And Engagement Of Stakeholders

1.5.1. What do we mean by stakeholders and their interests?

Stakeholders are those who may be affected by or have an effect on an effort. They
may also include people who have a strong interest in the effort for academic,
philosophical, or political reasons, even though they and their families, friends, and
associates are not directly affected by it.

One way to characterise stakeholders is by their relationship to the effort in question.

• Primary stakeholders are the people or groups that stand to be directly affected,
either positively or negatively, by an effort or the actions of an agency, institution,
or organisation. In some cases, there are primary stakeholders on both sides of
the equation: a regulation that benefits one group may have a negative effect on
another. A rent control policy, for example, benefits tenants but may hurt
landlords.
• Secondary stakeholders are people or groups that are indirectly affected, either
positively or negatively, by an effort or the actions of an agency, institution or
organisation. A programme to reduce domestic violence, for instance, could have
a positive effect on emergency room personnel by reducing the number of cases
they see. It might require more training for police to help them handle domestic
violence calls in a different way. Both of these groups would be secondary
stakeholders.
• Key stakeholders, who might belong to either or neither of the first two groups,
are those who can have a positive or negative effect on an effort, or who are
important within or to an organisation, agency or institution engaged in an
effort. The director of an organisation might be an obvious key stakeholder, but
so might the line staff – those who work directly with participants – who carry out
the work of the effort. If they don’t believe in what they’re doing or don’t do it
well, it might as well not have begun. Other examples of key stakeholders might
be funders, elected or appointed government officials, heads of businesses, or

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 clergy and other community figures who wield a significant amount of influence.

While interest in an effort or organisation could be just that – intellectually,

academically, philosophically, or politically motivated attention – stakeholders are
generally said to have an interest in an effort or organisation based on whether they
can affect or be affected by it. The more they stand to benefit or lose by it, the stronger
their interest is likely to be. The more heavily involved they are in the effort or
organisation, the stronger their interest as well.

1.5.2. Why identify and analyse stakeholders and their interests?

The most important reason for identifying and understanding stakeholders is that it
allows you to recruit them as part of the effort. in most cases, a participatory effort
that involves the representation of as many stakeholders as possible has a number of
important advantages:
• It puts more ideas on the table than would be the case if the development and
implementation of the effort were confined to a single organisation or to a small
group of like-minded people.
• It includes varied perspectives from all sectors and elements of the community
affected, thus giving a clearer picture of the community context and potential
pitfalls and assets.
• It gains buy-in and support for the effort from all stakeholders by making them
an integral part of its development, planning, implementation and evaluation. It
becomes their effort, and they’ll do their best to make it work.
• It’s fair for everyone. All stakeholders can have a say in the development of an
effort that may seriously affect them.
• It saves you from being blindsided by concerns you didn’t know about. If
everyone has a seat at the table, concerns can be aired and resolved before they
become stumbling blocks. Even if they can’t be resolved, they won’t come as
surprises that derail the effort just when you thought everything was going well.
• It strengthens your position if there’s opposition. Having all stakeholders on

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 board makes a huge difference in terms of political and moral clout.
• It creates bridging social capital for the community. Social capital is the web of
acquaintances, friendships, family ties, favors, obligations, and other social
currency that can be used to cement relationships and strengthen the
community. Bridging social capital, which creates connections among diverse
groups that might not otherwise interact, is perhaps the most valuable kind. It
makes possible a community without barriers of class or economics, where people
from all walks of life can know and value one another. A participatory process,
often including everyone from welfare recipients to bank officers and physicians,
can help to create just this sort of situation.
• It increases the credibility of your organisation. Involving and attending to the
concerns of all stakeholders establishes your organisation as fair, ethical and
transparent, and makes it more likely that others will work with you in other
circumstances.
• It increases the chances of the success of your effort. For all of the above reasons,
identifying stakeholders and responding to their concerns makes it far more likely
that your effort will have both the community support it needs and the
appropriate focus to be effective.

1.5.3. Who are potential stakeholders?

As discussed, there are primary and secondary stakeholders, as well as key stakeholders
who may or may not fall into one of the other two categories. Let’s examine possible
stakeholders using that framework.

Primary stakeholders
Beneficiaries or targets of the effort.

Beneficiaries are those who stand to gain something – services, skills, money, goods,
social connection, etc. – as a direct result of the effort. Targets are those who may or

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 may not stand to gain personally, or whose actions represent a benefit to a particular
(usually disadvantaged) population or to the community as a whole.

Some examples are:

• A particular population – a racial or ethnic group, a socio-economic group,
residents of a housing project, etc.
• Residents of a particular geographic area – a neighborhood, a town, a rural area.
• People experiencing or at risk for a particular problem or condition –
homelessness, lack of basic skills, unemployment, diabetes.
• People involved or participants in a particular organisation or institution –
students at a school, youth involved in the justice system, welfare recipients.
• People whose behavior the effort aims to change – delinquent youth, smokers,
people who engage in unsafe sex, people who don’t exercise.
• Policymakers and agencies that are the targets of advocacy efforts.

Secondary stakeholders

Those directly involved with or responsible for beneficiaries or targets of the effort
These might include individuals and organisations that live with, are close to, or care for
the people in question, and those that offer services directly to them. Among these you
might find:
• Parents, spouses, siblings, children, other family members, significant others,
friends.
• Schools and their employees – teachers, counsellors, aides, etc.
• Doctors and other medical professionals, particularly primary care providers.
• Social workers and psychotherapists.
• Health and human service organisations and their line staff – youth workers,
welfare caseworkers, etc.
• Community volunteers in various capacities, from drivers to volunteer instructors
in training programs to those who staff food pantries and soup kitchens.

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 Those whose jobs or lives might be affected by the process or results of the effort
Some of these individuals and groups overlap with those in the previous category.
• Police and other law or regulation enforcement agencies. New approaches to
violence prevention, dealing with drug abuse or domestic violence, or other
similar changes may require training and the practice of new skills on the part of
members of these agencies.
• Emergency room personnel, teachers, and others who are legally bound to report
possible child abuse and neglect or other similar situations.
• Landlords. Landlords’ legal rights and responsibilities may be altered by laws
brought about by campaigns to stop discrimination in housing or to strengthen
tenants’ rights.
• Contractors and developers. Open-space laws, zoning regulations, and other
requirements, as well as incentives, may affect how, where, and what contractors
and developers choose to build.
• Employers. A workplace safety initiative or strengthened workplace safety
regulations, health insurance requirements, and other mandates may affect
employers’ costs. Those that hire and make a commitment to workers from at-
risk populations may also have to institute worker assistance programmes
(personal and drug/alcohol counselling, for example, as well as basic skills and
other training).
• Ordinary community members whose lives, jobs, or routines might be affected by
an effort or policy change, such as the location of a homeless shelter in the
neighborhood or changes in zoning regulations.

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 Key stakeholders

Government officials and policymakers.

These are the people who can devise, pass, and enforce laws and regulations that may
either fulfill the goals of your effort or directly cancel them out.
• Legislators. Federal and state or provincial representatives, senators, members of
parliament, etc. who introduce and pass laws and generally control public budgets
at the federal and state or provincial levels.
• Governors, mayors, city/town councillors, selectmen, etc. The executives that
carry out laws, administer budgets and generally run the show can contribute
greatly to the success – or failure – of an effort.
• Local board members. Boards of health, planning, zoning, etc., through their
power to issue permits and regulations, can be crucial allies and dangerous
opponents.
• State agencies. Government agencies often devise and issue regulations and
reporting requirements, and can sometimes make or break an effort by how they
choose to regulate and how vigorously they enforce their regulations.
• Policymakers. These people or groups often have no official power – they may be
‘advisers’ to those with real power – but their opinions and ideas are often
followed closely. If they’re on your side, that’s a big plus.

Those who can influence others

• The media
• People in positions that convey influence. Clergy members, doctors, CEOs, and
college presidents are all examples of people in this group.
• Community leaders – people who others listen to. These might be people who are
respected because of their position of leadership in a particular population or
maybe long-time or lifelong residents who have earned the community’s trust
over years of integrity and community service.

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 Those with an interest in the outcome of an effort
Some individuals and groups may not be affected by or involved in an effort, but may
nonetheless care enough about it that they are willing to work to influence its
outcome. Many of them may have a following or a natural constituency – business
people, for instance – and may, therefore, have a fair amount of clout.
• Business. The business community usually will recognise its interest in any effort
that will provide it with more and better workers, or make it easier and more likely
to make a profit. By the same token, it is likely to oppose efforts that it sees as
costing it money or imposing regulations on it.
• Advocates. Advocates may be active on either or both sides of the issue you’re
concerned with.
• Community activists. Organisations and individuals who have a philosophical or
political interest in the issue or population that an effort involves may organise to
support the effort or to defeat it.
• People with academic or research interests related to a targeted issue or
population. Their work may have convinced them of the need for an intervention
or initiative, or they may simply be sympathetic to the goals of the effort and
understand them better than most.
• Funders. Funders and potential funders are obvious key stakeholders, in that, in
many cases, without their support, the effort won’t be possible.
• The community at large. When widespread community support is needed, the
community as a whole may be the key stakeholder.

1.5.4. When should you identify stakeholders and their interests?

Regardless of the purpose of your effort, identifying stakeholders and their interests
should be among the first, if not the very first, of the items on your agenda. It’s generally
the fairest course you can take, and the one that is most likely to keep your effort out
of trouble.

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 • If you want to involve stakeholders in a participatory process, the reasons are
obvious. They should be part of every phase of the work so that they can both
contribute and take ownership. Their knowledge of the community and
understanding of its needs can prove invaluable in helping you to avoid mistakes
in your approach and in the people you choose to involve.
• If your intent is a participatory action research project, stakeholders should be
included in any assessment and pre-planning activities as well as planning and
implementation. That way, they’ll understand the research process and project
much more clearly, and can add to them.
• If you want your process to be regarded as transparent, stakeholder involvement
from the beginning is absolutely necessary. The community will only believe in an
open process if it’s truly open.
• If your effort involves changes that will affect people in different ways, it’s
important that they are involved early so that any concerns or barriers show up
early and can be addressed.
• In situations where there are legal implications, such as the building of
development, involving stakeholders from the beginning is both fair and can help
stave off the possibility of lawsuits down the road.

In short, in most cases, the earlier in the process stakeholders can be involved, the
better.

1.5.5. How do you identify and analyse stakeholders and their interests?
The first step in identifying and addressing stakeholder interests is, not surprisingly,
identifying the stakeholders. We’ve discussed in general terms the categories that
stakeholders might fall into, but the list is different for each community and each
project. It’s an important part of your job to determine who all your stakeholders are
and to try to involve them in a way that advances your goals.

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 Once you’ve identified stakeholders, the next task is to understand their
interests. Some will have an investment in carrying the effort forward, but others may
be equally intent on preventing it from happening or making sure it’s
unsuccessful. Stakeholder analysis will help you decide which stakeholders might have
the most influence over the success or failure of your effort, which might be your most
important supporters, and which might be your most important opponents. Once you
have that information, you can make plans for dealing with stakeholders with different
interests and different levels of influence.

Identifying stakeholders
In identifying stakeholders, it’s important to think beyond the obvious. Beneficiaries,
policymakers, etc. are easy to identify, whereas indirect effects – and, as a result,
secondary stakeholders – are sometimes harder to see. A push for new regulations on
a particular industry, for instance, might entail greatly increased paperwork or the
purchase of new machinery on the part of that industry’s suppliers. Traffic restrictions
to control speeding in residential neighbourhoods may affect commuters who use
public transportation. Try to think of as many ways as possible that your effort might
bring benefits or problems to people not directly in its path.

Given that, there are a number of ways to identify stakeholders. Often, the use of more
than one will yield the best results.
• Brainstorm. Get together with people in your organisation, officials and others
already involved in or informed about the effort and start calling out categories
and names. Part of the point of brainstorming is to come out with anything that
comes to mind, even if it seems silly. On reflection, the silly ideas can turn out to
be among the best, so be as far-ranging as you can. After 10 or 15 minutes, stop
and discuss each suggestion, perhaps identifying each as a primary, secondary
and/or key stakeholder.
• Collect categories and names from informants in the community (if they’re not
available to be part of a brainstorming session), particularly members of a

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 population of residents of a geographic area of concern.
• Consult with organisations that either are or have been involved in similar efforts
or that work with the population or in the area of concern.
• Get more ideas from stakeholders as you identify them.
• If appropriate, advertise. You can use some combination of the media – often
free, through various community service arrangements – community meetings,
community and organisational newsletters, social media, targeted emails,
announcements by leaders at meetings and religious gatherings, and word of
mouth to get the word out. You may find people who consider themselves
stakeholders whom you haven’t thought about.

Discovering and understanding stakeholder interests

As already mentioned, stakeholder interests may vary. Some stakeholders’ interests
may be best served by carrying the effort forward, others’ by stopping or weakening
it. Even among stakeholders from the same group, there may be conflicting
concerns. Some of the many ways that stakeholder interests may manifest themselves:
• Potential beneficiaries may be wildly supportive of an effort, seeing it as an
opportunity or the pathway to a better life… or they may be ambivalent or
resentful toward it. The effort or intervention may be embarrassing to them (e.g.,
adult literacy) or may seem burdensome. They may not understand it, or they
may not see the benefit that will come from it. They may be afraid to try
something new, on the assumption that they’ll fail, or will end up worse off than
they are. They may be distrustful of any people or organisations engaged in such
an effort and feel they’re being looked down on.

Some stakeholders may have economic concerns. Sometimes these concerns are
merely selfish or greedy – as in the case of a corporation with billions in annual profits
unwilling to spend a small part of that money to stop its factories from polluting – but
in most cases, they are legitimate.

Stakeholder analysis

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 Let’s suppose, then, that you’ve identified all the stakeholders, and that you understand
each of their concerns. Now what? They all have to understand what you want to do,
you have to respond to their concerns in some way – at least by acknowledging them,
whether you can satisfy them or not – and you have to find a way to move forward with
as much support from stakeholders as you can muster.

Stakeholder analysis is a way of determining who among stakeholders can have the
most positive or negative influence on an effort, who is likely to be most affected by the
effort, and how you should work with stakeholders with different levels of interest and
influence.

Most methods of stakeholder analysis divide stakeholders into one of four groups, each
occupying one space in a four-space grid:

Figure 4 Stakeholder Analysis

As you can see, low to high influence over the effort runs along a line from the bottom
to the top of the grid, and low to high interest in the effort runs along a line from left to
right. Both influence and interest can be either positive or negative, depending on the
perspectives of the stakeholders in question. The lines describing them are continuous,

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 meaning that people can have any degree of interest from none to as high as possible,
including any of the points in between.

The people we’ve described as ‘key stakeholders’ would generally appear in the upper
right quadrant.

The purpose of this kind of diagram is to help you understand what kind of influence
each stakeholder has on your organisation and/or the process and potential success of
the effort. That knowledge, in turn, can help you decide how to manage stakeholders –
how to marshal the help of those that support you, how to involve those who could be
helpful, and how to convert – or at least neutralise – those who may start out feeling
negative.

An assumption that most proponents of this analysis technique seem to make is that
the stakeholders most important to the success of your effort are in the upper right
section of the grid, and those least important area in the lower left. The names in
parentheses are another way to define the same stakeholder characteristics in terms of
how they relate to the effort.
• Promoters have both great interest in the effort and the power to help make it
successful (or to derail it).
• Defenders have a vested interest and can voice their support in the community,
but have little actual power to influence the effort in any way.
• Latents have no particular interest or involvement in the effort but have the
power to influence it greatly if they become interested.
• Apathetics have little interest and little power, and may not even know the effort
exists.

The World Bank, which is responsible for this characterisation, couches it in generally
positive terms, assuming that those in the upper right will promote the effort. In fact,
they could be either promoters or staunch opponents, and the same – with different

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 degrees of power and interest – goes for the other three sections of the grid. In many
cases, there will be people in both camps in each quadrant, and among the tasks of the
organisation(s) conducting the effort are to turn negative influential stakeholders to
positive, and to move as many current and potential supporters as possible closer to
the top right of the chart.

The interest here means one or both of two things: (1) that the individual, organisation,
or group is interested intellectually or philosophically in the effort; and/or (2) she or it
is affected by it. The level of interest, in this second sense, corresponds to how great
the effect is. A welfare recipient who stands to receive increased benefits, childcare,
and employment training from a back-to-work programme, for example, has a greater
interest in the effort than someone who simply thinks the programme is a good idea
but has no intention of being involved in it in any way.

Influence can be interpreted in several ways:

• An individual or group can wield official power in some way – as a government
official or agency, for example.
• As an administrator, board member, or funder, an individual or group has some
power over the organisation conducting the effort.
• Another possibility is influence as a ‘community leader’ – a college president,
hospital CEO, clergy member, bank president, etc. These people are often listened
to as a result of their positions in the community and may hold one or more actual
or honorary positions that give them even more influence: chair of the United
Way campaign, officer of one or more corporate or non-profit boards, etc.
• Key stakeholders are often connected to large networks, and thus can both reach
and sway many community members. Such connections can be through work,
family, long generations or years of residency, membership in many clubs and
organisations, or former official status.
• Great influence can be exercised by people (or, occasionally, organisations) who
are simply respected in the community for their intelligence, integrity, concern
for others and the common good, and objectivity.

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 • Some people and organisations exercise influence through economics. The largest
employer in a community can exert considerable control over its workforce, for
example, or even over the community as a whole, using a combination of threats
and rewards.

Influence and interest can be either internal or external to the organisation or the
community. Most of the descriptions above pertain to external influence and interest,
but they could be internal as well. Organisations and institutions, as well as
communities, have official and unofficial leaders, people in positions that confer power
or influence, people with large networks, etc. In addition, those who actually carry out
the effort – usually staff people in an organisation – can have a great deal of control
over whether an effort is conducted as intended, and therefore over its effectiveness.

1.5.6. Stakeholder management

Stakeholder analysis is only useful if it’s used. Stakeholder management is where
analysis and practice meet. It allows you to use the analysis to help gain support and
buy-in for your effort. Although, as we’ll see, it can be quite helpful in health and
community work, the stakeholder analysis model we are using comes out of business
and is largely meant to help people make sure to get the power on their side for any
project they attempt. Community-based and community-focused organisations and
institutions may be more likely to have other purposes in mind when the issue of
stakeholder management arises.

A big question here is whether the whole concept of stakeholder management is in fact
directly opposed to the idea of a participatory process, where everyone has a voice. In
practice, we all try to manage people constantly, from attempting to convince a
skeptical three-year-old that broccoli tastes good to motivating students and employees
to do their best.

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 If management turns into manipulation, without any respect for the other person or
organisation involved, it’s definitely not in the spirit of participation. Persuasion,
negotiation, education, and other methods of managing stakeholders that acknowledge
their concerns, however, do not violate that spirit and are often a necessary part of
making the participatory process work.

The first step in stakeholder management is to understand clearly where each

stakeholder lies in the grid. Someone who has both a major interest in and considerable
power over the organisation and/or the effort – a funder, for example, or a leader of a
population of concern – would go in the upper right-hand corner of the upper right
quadrant. Stakeholders with neither power nor interest would go in the lower left-hand
corner of the lower left quadrant. Those with a reasonable amount of power and
interest would go in the middle of the upper-right quadrant, etc. Eventually, the grid
will be filled in with the names of stakeholders occupying various places in each of the
quadrants, corresponding to their levels of power and interest.

The next step is to decide who needs the most attention. In general, the business people
who use this model would say that you should expend most of your energy on the
people who can be most helpful, i.e., those with the most power. Powerful people with
the highest interest is most important, followed by those with power and less interest.
Those in the lower right quadrant – high interest, less power – come next, with those
with low interest and low power coming last.

Another way to look at stakeholder management – and remember that all the people
and groups we’re talking about here are stakeholders, those who can affect and are
affected by the effort in question – is that the most important stakeholders are those
most dramatically affected. Some of those, at least before the effort begins, maybe in
the lower left quadrant of the grid. They may be too involved in trying to survive – either
financially or physically – from day to day to think about an effort to change their
situation.

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 So, your stakeholder management depends on what your purpose is in involving
stakeholders. If your purpose is to marshal support for the effort or policy change, then
each group – each quadrant of the grid – calls for one kind of attention. If your purpose
is primarily participatory, then each quadrant calls for another kind of attention.

1.5.7. Stakeholder management for marshaling support for the effort, especially for
advocacy or policy change:

• The promoters – the high influence/high-interest folks – are the most important
here. They’re the ones who can really make the effort go, and they care about and
are invested in the issue. If they’re positive, they need to be cultivated and
involved. Find jobs for them (not just tasks) that they’ll enjoy, and that contribute
substantively to the effort, so they can feel responsible for part of what’s going
on. Pay attention to their opinions, and accede to them where it’s appropriate. If
their ideas aren’t acted on, make sure they know why, and why an alternative
seems like the better course. As much as possible, make them integral parts of
the team.

When people who could be promoters are negative, the major task is to convert them.
If you can’t, they become the most powerful opponents of your effort, and could make
it impossible to succeed. Thus, they need to be treated as potential allies, and their
concerns should be addressed to the extent possible without compromising the effort.

• The latents – high influence/low interest. These are people and organisations
largely unaffected by the effort that could potentially be extremely helpful if they
could be convinced that the effort is important either to their own self-interest or
to the greater good. You have to approach and inform them, and to keep contact
with them over time. Offer them opportunities to weigh in on issues relating to
the effort, and demonstrate to them how the effort will have a positive effect on

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 issues and populations they’re concerned with. If you can shift them over to the
promoter category, you’ve gained valuable allies.

Once again, there’s the possibility that these folks could be negative and oppositional.
If that’s the case, it might be best not to stir a sleeping dragon. If they’re not particularly
affected by or concerned about the effort, even if they disapprove of it, the chances are
that they’ll simply leave it and you alone, and it might be best that way. If they begin to
voice opposition, then your first attempt might be at conversion or neutralisation,
rather than battle. If that doesn’t work, then you might have to fight.

• The defenders – low influence/high interest. In the business model, since these
people and organisations can’t help you much, you can simply keep them
informed and not worry too much about involving them further. In health and
community building, however, they can often provide the volunteer time and
skills that an effort – particularly an advocacy initiative – needs to survive. These
are often the foot soldiers who stuff envelopes, make phone calls, and otherwise
make an initiative possible. They are also often among those most affected by an
effort, and thus have good reason to work hard for or against it, depending on
how it affects them.

• The apathetics – those with low interest and low influence. These people and
organisations simply don’t care about your effort one way or the other. They may
be stakeholders only through their membership in a group or their position in the
community; the effort may, in fact, have little or no impact on them. As a result,
they need little or no management. Keep them sporadically informed by
newsletter or some similar device, and don’t offend them, and they won’t bother
you or get in the way.

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 While this formulation is no more compelling than other similar ones, it has the
advantage of giving a label to each quadrant. We’ll use these labels in the rest of the
section for convenience.

1.5.8. Stakeholder management for developing a participatory process or including

marginalised populations:
The model of stakeholder management described above isn’t applicable only to
business. Organisations must cultivate supporters in support of any effort. Deciding
whom to cultivate by analysing how much they can help is a standard part of health and
community service work, as well as of advocacy. If your purpose is primarily to create a
participatory process, however, you’ll try to create an effort that takes all perspectives
into consideration, hashes out differences, and makes participants its owners.
Stakeholder management in that situation means trying to attract representatives of all
stakeholders, and treating them all as equals and colleagues, while at the same time
leveling the field as much as possible by providing training and support to those who
need it.

The four-cell grid is still useful here, but the attention given to those in each quadrant
will be different from that in the other model. Here, the largest amount of attention
may go to the people in the two lower quadrants, since those with little power often
have less experience in such areas as meeting and planning, and less confidence in their
ability to engage in them. They’ll definitely need information about what they’re being
invited to do, and they might need training, mentoring, and/or other support in doing
it.

A successful participatory process may require that the people in the upper right
quadrant – the promoters – understand and buy into the process fully. They can then
help to bring stakeholders in the other positions on board, and to encourage them to
participate in planning, implementing and evaluating the effort. That means working
with the promoters to explain the concept of participating fully and to convince them

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 that pulling all stakeholders in is the best way to accomplish your – and their – goals.
They might also serve as mentors or partners to those who are not used to having seats
at the table.

Obviously, not all stakeholders in the lower two quadrants are low-income, unused to
managing things or lacking in educational and organisational skills. Some simply don’t
see themselves as much affected by the effort. Others may have no influence in this
particular situation, though they may have a great deal in other circumstances.

Very often, however, those who do lack skills and experience find themselves in those
two lower quadrants. When that’s the case, they may need training and other support
in order to participate fully. That may be one aspect of stakeholder management, and
it may help to move them into positions of more influence and teach them how to
exercise it.

The tasks of converting the negative or skeptical still exist in this situation, as does the
need to create interest among the latents – those stakeholders who could be helpful
but don’t have a strong investment in the effort. Often, the stories of those who have
or will benefit from the effort can be effective motivators for people who might
otherwise be indifferent. Such stories are particularly powerful if the listeners know the
people involved, but never suspected the difficulties they face.

If the latents become involved, their influence can help to greatly strengthen the effort.
The more people, groups, institutions, and organisations with influence that are
involved, the greater the chances are for success. The task with latents is to convince
them that they are true stakeholders and that the effort will benefit them either directly
or indirectly. If it’s not direct, the benefit in question may be as removed from them as
increasing the community’s tax base by making more people employable or creating a
more just community by eliminating discrimination.

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 Bringing people and organisations into the process and moving them toward the upper
right quadrant of the stakeholder grid generally demands that you keep them involved
and informed by:
• Treating them with respect
• Providing whatever information, training, mentoring, and/or other support they
need to stay involved
• Finding tasks or jobs for them to do that catch their interest and use their talents
• Maintaining their enthusiasm with praise, celebrations, small tokens of
appreciation, and continual reminders of the effort’s accomplishments
• Engaging them in decision making
• Employing them in the conception, planning, implementation, and evaluation of
the effort from its beginning
• In the case of those who start with little power or influence, helping them learn
how to gain and exercise influence by working together and developing their
personal, critical thinking, and political skills
• Evaluation of the stakeholder process.

As with anything else you do, it’s important to monitor and evaluate how well
stakeholders have been identified, understood, and involved in the course of your
effort. It’s obviously best to involve stakeholders from the very beginning, but it’s never
too late to learn from what you’ve done so that you can improve your work. Evaluation
of the stakeholder process should be an integral part of the overall evaluation of the
effort, and stakeholders themselves should be involved in developing that evaluation.
They can best tell you what did and didn’t work to pull them in and keep them engaged.

Here are some evaluation questions you might consider:

• What could you have done to identify stakeholders better?
• Which strategies worked best to involve different populations and groups?
• How successful were you in keeping people involved?
• Did you provide any training or other support? Was it helpful? How could it have

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 been improved?
• Did your stakeholder analysis and management efforts have the desired effect?
Were they helpful?
• Did stakeholder involvement improve the work, effectiveness, and/or political
and community support of the effort?

The answers to these and similar questions could both help you improve the current
effort and make a big difference the next time – and there will be a next time – you
involve stakeholders.

1.5.9. Keeping at it to keep stakeholders involved

That brings us to the final piece of working with stakeholders. As with any other
community-building activity, you have to keep at it indefinitely, or at least as long as the
effort goes on. New stakeholders may need to be brought in as time goes on. Old ones
may cease to be actual stakeholders, but may retain an interest in the effort and may,
therefore, continue to be included. You have to maintain stakeholders’ and supporters’
motivation, keep them informed, and/or continue to find meaningful work for them to
do if you want to keep them involved and active. Understanding and engaging
stakeholders can be tremendously helpful to your effort, but only if it results in their
ownership of it and long-term commitment to it. And that depends on your continuing
attention.

Stakeholders of a project are those who have a vested interest in it, either as those who
develop and conduct it or as those whom it affects directly or indirectly. Identifying and
involving stakeholders can be a large part of ensuring the effort’s success. In order to
gain stakeholder participation and support, it’s important to understand not only who
potential stakeholders are, but the nature of their interest in the effort. With that
understanding, you’ll be able to invite their involvement, address their concerns, and
demonstrate how the effort will benefit them.

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 Managing stakeholders – keeping them involved and supportive – can be made easier
by stakeholder analysis, a method of determining their levels of interest in and influence
over the effort. Once you have that information, you can then decide on the
appropriate approach for each individual and group. Depending on your goals for the
effort, you may either focus on those with the most interest and influence, or on those
who are most affected by the effort.

As with any community-building activity, work with stakeholders has to continue for the
long term in order to attain the level of participation and support you need for a
successful effort.

1.6. Global Project Management

Probably the biggest challenge project leaders face in managing global teams is the cultural
diversity of team members and stakeholders who are working in multiple locations. It is
common for remote teams to not have regular contact with their project manager. To
complicate issues further, language and cultural barriers can create unclear expectations for
all parties involved. As a result, challenges in effective communication and the sharing of
timely information can be stalled or hindered, thus impacting a project’s success. In many
cases, global project teams and their leaders are making critical decisions based on second-
hand or miscommunicated information.

The other challenge project leaders face in a global environment is the common application
of traditional project management techniques to their global reality. In general, traditional
project management methodologies focus on planning and tracking the details of timelines,
specifications, and costs. The methods of communication and sharing of information tend
not to be formalised and are left up to individual project management practitioners to employ
their own style of communication among stakeholders. Traditionally, project managers were
fortunate to have primarily local face-to-face interactions with their teams and
customers. However, with the globalisation of business, the luxury of face-to-face
communication among project teams and their stakeholders is limited. Long-distance

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interaction has led to miscommunication that has negatively impacted project timelines and
results.

In part, the significant cause of this miscommunication can be attributed to the use of
communication and documentation tools that are not easily accessible and difficult to share
among dispersed teams. The unstructured exchange of project information living in emails
and documents on people’s desktops make it difficult to keep all project stakeholders
effectively on the same page in terms of a project’s progress, issues and process. The fact is
global project teams demand a communication and project management platform that will
centralise information and create the necessary face-to-face benefits teams are leveraging
among local project teams.

1.6.1. Developing a global communication strategy for success

The first step an organisation should take to address the unique needs of a global
project team is to establish a formal communication strategy to minimise barriers in
exchanging, sharing and interpreting information critical to a project’s success. This
strategy needs to include the global team’s buy-in and requires the necessary tools to
implement the proposed steps effectively to improve collaboration.

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 Figure 5 Characteristics of Global Projects

When developing a global communication strategy, organisations should consider the

following characteristics unique to global projects:
• Distance – global projects mean dispersed teams and stakeholders. As a result,
face-to-face interactions will be limited. Developing a strategy where face-to-face
meetings are scheduled periodically will ensure better team cohesion and more
quickly address bottle necks and other performance issues. The fact is nothing
can replace real human interaction that will keep leaders, stakeholders and team
members grounded in reality so setting aside time for these meetings is critical.
• Language – it is common for global teams to work in multi-lingual
environments. Language barriers can result in delays and the relaying of
inaccurate information. Finding a standard language of communication is critical,
and where this is not possible, appointing a lead resource to address translation
will improve communication.
• Business culture – especially with global teams, leadership and work styles will
vary. These styles must be recognised and addressed so that the entire global
team can maximise performance and leaders and stakeholders can establish
similar expectations when encountering issues.
• Time zones – working with international teams will result in activities and issues
emerging around the clock. Project leaders need to design a strategy where
regular strategic meetings include a group of selected key members to relay the
overall goals and objectives to their respective regions. In addition, these regional
representatives can act as the conduit of information from their regions to the
global leadership.
• Access to information – more than any other project environment, a global
team’s access to information can be the most challenging. In many cases, global
project team members and stakeholders do not have the luxury of walking over
to their colleague’s desk to ask questions. Consequently, a formal strategy
documenting project details and providing the means to readily access
information 24/7 is critical in effectively moving a project on a successful path.

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 Due to the obvious communication barriers inherent in globally dispersed teams, global
projects demand a more formal process not only to ensure a project remains on track,
but also more importantly, to create a fluid and cohesive group dynamic that is
constantly at risk when exchanging information that will ultimately impact the success
of a project.

1.6.2. The cloud is your friend!

With cloud computing permeating every aspect of the business world, the common
challenges faced by global project teams are quickly eroding. Cloud technology has
empowered global teams by providing the ideal collaboration platform to establish a
formalised communication strategy consolidating project information under a single
roof. Whether organisations choose to deploy an on-demand solution or implement a
cloud platform behind their firewall, the ubiquitous nature of the Internet has provided
the most optimal platform to improve global collaboration, thus allowing mission
critical information to be both accessible and mobile.

Beyond the obvious access of information, cloud-based project and portfolio

management solutions can also deliver the necessary tools to control the flow of
information. It is one thing to provide ease of access; it is something else to have the
ability to map a global team’s business processes across multiple locations with the
appropriate security profiles. The right cloud-based offering will deliver the most
relevant information to a globally dispersed project team so that timely decisions and
improved results will be experienced by all project stakeholders. In addition to
leveraging the cloud to improve decision making, the manner in which stakeholders
interact with the information should be considered as well. In today’s mobile
workforce, this means having the ability to effectively access information on mobile
devices and leveraging familiar social media capabilities enhancing the collaboration
experience. Furthermore, audio and video communication delivered via the cloud can
provide the value of local communication in global or geographically dispersed settings.

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 Although global projects can pose unique challenges of communication and decision
making, for many organisations the advantages of leveraging global talent can deliver
an added value to their portfolio of projects. The facts are, with the accessibility and
affordability of mission critical information over the web and a more competitive global
talent pool, today’s organisations are leveraging these economies of scale to deliver
better results to their customers.

1.7. Role Of The PMI

The Project Management Institute, Inc. (PMI) is the project management industry's non-profit
standards body. With almost 270 project chapters and 500,000 members worldwide, PMI is
the largest project management membership group. PMI is a volunteer organisation that
supports and drives our industry forward.

PMI, in conjunction with its volunteer membership, developed A Guide to the Project
Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide), which is the agreed upon book of
standard language, terminology and principles governing project management.

In the past, project managers 'fell' into the role. There was no formal degree in project
management. PMI has been instrumental in creating the Project Management Professional
(PMP) certification, which professionalised the career of project management. Now, project
managers worldwide have been studying the agreed upon principles and passing the PMP
examination. The PMP certification is formalising and validating the profession.

1.8. Benefits Of Project Management

Project management is not rocket science, yet it often gets dressed up that way. At its
foundation lies a bedrock of basic organisational skills, which – come to think of it – might as
well be rocket science the way some managers grapple with the concept.

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In reality, project management is just a set of tools – a roadmap if you will, that enables
managers to guide a project from point A to point B and do so in a way that demonstrates
efficiency, cost-savings and plain old ingenuity.

1.8.1. When project management is done right

That being said, the benefits of project management are ten-fold: the manager actually
gets to manage (easier said than done at times) as they lead his/her team and
implement a strategy that will see a specific project reach fruition. The client benefits
because he/she is allowed to provide feedback, while relishing in the knowledge that
his/her input really means something.

And finally, the production team benefits because without the production team the
project wouldn’t get started in the first place, much less finished. Additionally, the
production team is able to take a stake in something, work with it and see a project
through from start to finish.

So right off the bat you have the trinity of Project Management: manager, client and
worker collaborating for the common good. In fact, it’s this very application of
knowledge, skills, tools and techniques that ultimately will meet or exceed a
stakeholder’s needs and/or expectations on any given project.

Some of the benefits of project management are:

• Better efficiency in delivering services: Project management provides a
‘roadmap’ that is easily followed and leads to project completion. Once you know
where to avoid the bumps and potholes, it stands to reason that you’re going to
be working smarter and not harder and longer.
• Improved/increased/enhanced customer satisfaction: Whenever you get a
project done on time and under budget, the client walks away happy. And a happy
client is one you’ll see again. Smart project management provides the tools that
enable this client/manager relationship to continue.

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 • Enhanced effectiveness in delivering services: The same strategies that allowed
you to complete one project successfully will serve you many times over.
• Improved growth and development within your team: Positive results not only
command respect but more often than not inspire your team to continue to look
for ways to perform more efficiently.
• Greater standing and competitive edge: This is not only a good benefit of project
management within the workplace but outside of it as well; word travels fast and
there is nothing like superior performance to secure your place in the
marketplace.
• Opportunities to expand your services: A by-product of greater standing. Great
performance leads to more opportunities to succeed.
• Better flexibility: Perhaps one of the greatest benefits of project management is
that it allows for flexibility. Sure, project management allows you to map out the
strategy you want to take to see your project completed. But the beauty of such
organisation is that if you discover a smarter direction to take, you can take it. For
many small-to-midsize companies, this alone is worth the price of admission.
• Increased risk assessment: When all the players are lined up and your strategy is
in place potential risks will jump out and slap you in the face. And that’s the way
it should be. Project management provides a red flag at the right time: before you
start working on project completion.
• Increase in quality: Goes hand-in-hand with enhanced effectiveness.
• Increase in quantity: I saved the best for last. An increase in quantity is often the
result of better efficiency, a simple reminder regarding the benefits of project
management.

By implementing fundamental project management strategies, you will narrow your

focus, reach desired goals and achieve those goals within specific time and cost
perimeters. The final result is that everyone comes out a winner – which just may be
project management’s best benefit of all.

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Study Unit 1: Revision Exercises

1. Define a project and explain its attributes in your own words.

2. Explain the project life cycle.
3. Explain the process to identify and engage stakeholders.
4. What are the implications of global project management?
5. Discuss the benefits of project management.

Study Unit 1: Progress check

You have come to the end of Study Unit 1.

Time to do a progress check to determine whether you have gone through all the required
content and completed all the exercises.

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Your progress checklist:

Progress checklist YES / NO?

Did you read through each study unit outcome?

Did you go through all the learning material?

Did you complete all the relevant revision exercises and check your answers
against the answers provided?

At this point, you should know the following:

• Definition of a project and its attributes

• Balancing project constraints
• Life cycle of a project
• Definition of project management
• Elements of the project management process
• Identification and engagement of stakeholders
• Implications of global project management
• Role of the PMI
• Benefits of project management.

Are you ready to tackle the Study Unit 2?

Study Unit 1: Answers To Revision Exercises

1. Define a project and explain its attributes in your own words.

Project: Planned set of interrelated tasks to be executed over a fixed period and within
certain cost and other limitations.

Project attributes:
• Clear objective
• End product or deliverable, schedule and budget

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 • Expected benefits or outcomes
• Interdependent activities or tasks
• Utilises resources
• Specific time frame
• Unique or one-time endeavour
• Has a sponsor or customer
• Involves a degree of uncertainty.

2. Explain the project life cycle.

Project management life cycle comprises four phases:

• Initiation involves starting up the project, by documenting a business case,
feasibility study, terms of reference, appointing the team and setting up a project
office.
• Planning involves setting out the roadmap for the project by creating the
following plans: project plan, resource plan, financial plan, quality plan,
acceptance plan and communications plan.
• Execution involves building the deliverables and controlling the project delivery,
scope, costs, quality, risks and issues.
• Closure involves winding-down the project by releasing staff, handing over
deliverables to the customer and completing a post implementation review.

3. Explain the process to identify and engage stakeholders.

Project stakeholder identification is a combination of steps to identify all individuals or

institutions that are interested in, or have a concern in current project, and to document
all relevant information regarding their expectations, involvement, and influence on the
project outcomes. Project stakeholder identification essentially contributes to
increasing the probability of the project success because it allows developing and using
approaches to identifying and documenting interests and impacts of organisations or

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 people involved in the project. Stakeholder identification steps are usually combined
into the respective process.

Identifying project stakeholders is a subsidiary, step-wise analytical process that aims

at identifying project stakeholders who have an impact on the project, and analysing
such critical information as their interests, concerns, and involvement in the project, for
the purpose of maximising positive influence and minimising potential negative
impacts. The process is managed by the project manager who develops project
stakeholder identification strategies which allow focusing on relationships necessary to
ensure the project success.

The process requires using the following identifying project stakeholder

documentation:
• Project Charter
• Procurement documents which result from project procurement activities.
• Enterprise environmental factors (EEF) which may have an impact on the process.
The factors may be company structure, industry standards, competition, etc.

The identifying project stakeholder process can be represented as a coherent sequence

of the following steps:
• Stakeholder analysis. Analysing project stakeholders is a systematic activity that
aims at collecting and reviewing quantitative and qualitative information on
project stakeholders for the purpose of identifying whose concerns and interests
should be taken into account throughout the project executing activities.
Stakeholder analysis allows using the project stakeholder analysis matrix to rank
all existing stakeholders, determine relationships between them, and identify
their expectations and influence. The activity results in creating a list of identified
stakeholders.
• Expert judgement. Providing expert judgement to the project is an activity that
includes judgement and expertise to ensure appropriate identification and

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 comprehensive listing of stakeholders. The activity is undertaken by senior
management, key stakeholders, project managers, SMEs (subject matter experts),
and professional and technical associations. It aims at investigating the identified
stakeholders list and all its elements, including names, interests, influence,
responsibilities and rights.

The identifying project stakeholder process results in developing the project

stakeholder register. This public document is critical to stakeholder management and
includes all the details on the identified stakeholders. The following information is
included in the project stakeholder register:
• Identification data: names, positions, roles
• Contact information: phone numbers, emails
• Assessment information: requirements, expectations and potential impact on
project
• Stakeholder classification: using stakeholder typology to select and prioritise
stakeholders by power (influence) and interest.

The project manager is in charge of creating the stakeholder register. The document is
the basis for developing the stakeholder management strategy. Such a strategy defines
an approach to be used to minimise potential negative impacts of the identified
stakeholders. The project manager uses the strategy and the stakeholder analysis
matrix to determine the stakeholder impacts, identify the level of participation and
involvement, and get a representation of stakeholder groups.
• Identifying project stakeholders
• Planning communications and distributing information
• Managing stakeholder expectations
• Reporting communication performance

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 Stakeholder engagement is the practice of interacting with, and influencing project
stakeholders to the overall benefit of the project and its advocates. The successful
completion of a project usually depends on how the stakeholders view it.

Their requirements, expectations, perceptions, personal agendas and concerns will

influence the project, shape what success looks like, and impact the outcomes that can
be achieved. Successful stakeholder engagement is therefore a vital requirement for
professional project management.

4. What are the implications of global project management?

Global projects involve team members from various cultures and organisations, spread
in locations across countries and time zones, and speaking different native languages
(Exhibit 1). Each of these dimensions can contribute to the success of the team and the
quality of the project deliverables, while adding challenges to project and programme
managers, PMOs, and the team members.

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 Exhibit 1: Dimensions of global projects

Multicultural teams can increase the level of innovation, when various standpoints are
fostered and harvested. Experienced project managers can organise very rich
brainstorming sessions to collect different ideas and to assess their risks and
opportunities. Similar strategies can be applied for problem-solving situations and when
identifying international strengths and weaknesses from social, economic, political,
environmental, religious, and technical perspectives. However, most global project
managers would have already faced some form of misunderstanding generated by
conflicting views on values or behaviours. Very often, these conflicts can take precious
time and energy to get under control.

Team members from different organisations can have access to a more affluent set of
tools, knowledge, facilities, raw materials, intellectual properties and equipment. They
may also bring their own processes, standards, procedures, and corporate objectives,
which must be perfectly aligned or synchronised for the execution of the project work
packages within the time, scope, cost and quality constraints.

Most team members are allocated to projects according to their knowledge and
availability. Global projects allow these team members to work together independently
of their geographical situation, without the added costs and time needed for relocation.
On the other hand, meetings across locations can generate many misunderstandings,
as they rely mostly on verbal communication, losing an important part of the content
that could be exchanged by visual cues.

Some projects can also benefit from the ‘around-the-clock’ effect for activities that
require 24-hour support. Teams spanning various time zones can perform long
sequential activities, such as executing a series of tasks that require supervision during
15 non-interrupted hours, starting with a team in Australia and handing off to a team in
Spain for completion. The different time zones can also facilitate maintenance work,

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 one example being a team in Brazil repairing during their office hours an online
application used in Japan, without impact during the Japanese office hours. This
requires agreements and understanding between stakeholders without a shared office
time. In the last situation, the Brazilians must have some meetings at 9 p.m. with their
Japanese counterparts at 9 a.m. (or vice versa), and prioritise asynchronous
communication by email.

And do you believe that English is the universal business language? Perhaps, but is this
accepted in diverse countries such as France, Italy, Russia, and China? This is often a
controversial discussion, but assuming that you get a common agreement that English
(or any other language) is the ‘official’ project language during meetings and for
documentations, what are the levels of understanding from stakeholders around the
globe in that language? Can they understand technical terms, measurement units,
jargon and slang? Are they able to have informal discussions – very important for
teambuilding activities – outside their native language? Only a few projects can benefit
from having multilingual team members to translate requirements and communication
in order to increase the commitment from specific stakeholders.

Global projects have clear advantages, and also challenges. It is very important to
consider them carefully during project initiation, and put in place a set of good practices
that will guarantee effective implementation.

5. Discuss the benefits of project management.

• Better efficiency in delivering services: Project management provides a

‘roadmap’ that is easily followed and leads to project completion. Once you know
where to avoid the bumps and potholes, it stands to reason that you’re going to
be working smarter and not harder and longer.
• Improved/increased/enhanced customer satisfaction: Whenever you get a
project done on time and under budget, the client walks away happy. And a happy

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 client is one you’ll see again. Smart project management provides the tools that
enable this client/manager relationship to continue.
• Enhanced effectiveness in delivering services: The same strategies that allowed
you to complete one project successfully will serve you many times over.
• Improved growth and development within your team: Positive results not only
command respect but more often than not inspire your team to continue to look
for ways to perform more efficiently.
• Greater standing and competitive edge: This is not only a good benefit of project
management within the workplace but outside of it as well; word travels fast and
there is nothing like superior performance to secure your place in the
marketplace.
• Opportunities to expand your services: A by-product of greater standing. Great
performance leads to more opportunities to succeed.
• Better flexibility: Perhaps one of the greatest benefits of project management is
that it allows for flexibility. Sure, project management allows you to map out the
strategy you want to take see your project completed. But the beauty of such
organisation is that if you discover a smarter direction to take, you can take it. For
many small-to-midsize companies, this alone is worth the price of admission.
• Increased risk assessment: When all the players are lined up and your strategy is
in place potential risks will jump out and slap you in the face. And that’s the way
it should be. Project management provides a red flag at the right time: before you
start working on project completion.
• Increase in quality: Goes hand-in-hand with enhanced effectiveness.
• Increase in quantity: An increase in quantity is often the result of better
efficiency, a simple reminder regarding the benefits of project management.

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Study Unit 2 – Initiating a project

This section covers Chapter 2 and 3 of Gido, Clements & Harinarain (2018).

The purpose of the initiating a project process is to understand the work that needs to be
done to deliver the required products. This understanding is needed before deciding to
continue with the project. Like any project there are a number of important items to discover,
and so there are a number of questions to ask about the project, such as:
• What are the reasons for doing the project and the benefits and risks?
• Scope: What is to be done and what will not be included?
• When can the products be delivered?
• How can it be ensured that quality will be achieved?
• How are risks, issues and changes identified and followed up?
• How the project progress is monitored and who needs to be informed and how often?

Study Unit 2: Relevance

Let us put initiating a project into context and look at what it really does for the project. The
Starting up a project process checks if the project is viable, while initiating a project is about
building a correct foundation for the project so that all stakeholders are clear on what the
project will achieve.

The alternative would be to allow projects to start after the starting up a project process
without knowing any of the following: planning, milestones, cost and level of quality. It is a
bit like building a house on little or no foundation.

Initiating a project can be a big investment for a company but it’s a necessary investment to
plan and run the rest of the project. During initiating a project, the Project Manager will be
creating a collection of management products to show: how the project will be managed, the
cost, how quality will be checked, planned, how communication will be done, etc.

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Study Unit 2: Module Outcomes

After completing the module, students must be able to:

• Identify, implement and manage advanced project management concepts
• Analyse, interpret, evaluate and apply principles and processes that are necessary for
the systematic implementation of projects
• Identify and solve problems, make the right decisions, apply critical and creative
thinking when dealing with issues relating to project management

Study Unit 2: Unit Specific Outcomes

After completing this study unit, you should be able to:

• Explain how projects are identified and selected and develop a project Charter for that
project.
• Explain the outsourcing of projects using a request for proposal and describe the
proposal solicitation process
• Develop relationships with customers and partners
• Prepare a proposal/quotation in response to a customer’s RFP and discuss how
customers evaluate the proposal.
• Explain types of contracts and various terms and conditions.
• Measure the success of proposal efforts.

Study Unit 2: Assessment Criteria

• The source of projects in organisations is correctly explained.

• A selection of the appropriate project among many is done using the correct criteria
• The project charter for the project is developed
• The use of a RFP to outsource projects is adequately explained
• The project solicitation process is fully explained.

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• The need to develop relationships with customers and partners is strongly motivated.
• A proposal or quotation is prepared in response to a RFP from a customer.
• The criteria for evaluating proposals are discussed.
• The different types of contracts and their associated terms are explained.
• An organisation’s success rate with bidding for projects is accurately measured.

Study Unit 2: Content

2.

2.1. Project Identification

Project identification is a repeatable process of analysing and approving of candidate projects

as reasonable to be undertaken by the organisation. This process is applied when an
organisation needs to make the right choice between several candidate projects in order to
undertake the most advisable one. Project identification includes studying, documenting,
validating, ranking and approving candidate projects to be included into an organisation’s
portfolio.

Identification of a project is started from identification of a problem underlying it, so the

problem is based upon a ‘root’ – a problem it addresses and concentrates on delivering a
solution for, and then it gets identified with more details, such as resources, etc. Project
identification is necessary to:
• Validate a business need and justification for each candidate project
• Accept and apply objective criteria to rank the candidate projects
• Control and limit involvement of resources into projects’ reasoning from their
reasonability
• Plan the workforce to serve the anticipated HR needs of the candidate projects
• Allow a more reasonable investment policy based upon profitability of candidate
projects.

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2.2. Project Selection

Project selection is the first important part of project management. The responsibility is with
the leadership team of the organisation. Typically, they establish a steering committee that
overlooks the process of selecting projects, including project monitoring, and directly
reporting to the CEO – if the CEO is not a member of that steering committee already.

The leading question is:

"How can we make sure that we are doing the right projects?"

We assume that the organisation has a strategy in place that covers the next three to ten
years, depending on the type of business the organisation is in. This strategy identifies areas
where the organisation:
• needs to improve or change in terms of organisational structure, research and
development capacity, development of products, office space, manufacturing capacity,
etc.,
• wants to serve customers in order to earn money.

Then, our leading question for the selection of projects turns into:
"How can we make sure that we are doing only projects that supportour strategy in these
two areas?"

Answering this question for the first area leads to investment projects; for the second area it
leads to customer projects.

All these projects need resources partially or fully provided by the organisation itself. Since
these resources are limited not all of the projects we would like to pursue can be staffed or
funded adequately. So, projects in different areas will compete with each other in order to
get support of the organisation in terms of staffing and funding.

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The generic process of project selection looks as follows.

Figure 6 Project Selection Process

2.2.1. Identification of projects

The first step of this process, identification, requires a clearly defined and
communicated strategy. The best option would be to set up a strategy development
process that contains project identification and project selection as an integral part. In
fact, most organisations identify investment projects within their strategy development
process, but delegate the identification of customer projects to their key account and
sales departments.

Like in strategy development, we find four different ways to identify projects. We

categorise them in the following table.

Figure 7 Project Identification Approaches

The following examples may illustrate these four basic approaches.

• Example 1 (intuitive identification): The family who owns our company wants to
add a new product to our portfolio. Therefore, they tell our CEO to start a

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 development project for this new product.
• Example 2 (evolutionary identification): Quite a few of our colleagues in our
engineering department find it necessary to have a more efficient knowledge
management system. In their coffee and tea breaks, they discuss some basic ideas
for requirements of such a system, and, some weeks later, propose to start a
project to purchase a software package with the necessary functionality and
adapt it to our needs.
• Example 3 (holistic identification): Following the tradition of periodical meetings,
all employees of our division join beginning of this fiscal year again; as usual, one
point on the agenda is the session with presentations and Q & As for new projects
which have division-wide impact.
• Example 4 (expert oriented identification): Our CEO invites an external
consultancy organisation to benchmark our customer service organisation. Two
months later, this organisation proposes to start a project in order to change our
service organisation's structure.

2.2.2. Evaluation and prioritisation of projects

Central part of the project selection process is evaluation and prioritisation of
identified projects. There are a couple of methods available:
• Net Present Value (NPV)
• Internal Rate of Return (IRR)
• Benefit / Cost Ratio (BCR)
• Opportunity Cost (OC)
• Payback Period (PP)
• Initial Risk Assessment.

These methods require a certain minimum level of ‘planning’ for each one of the
projects to be evaluated. We need to know
• project life cycle duration, in number of accounting periods,
• expected project cost per accounting period,

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 • expected project revenue per accounting period,
• overall risk values of the projects to be evaluated.

Usually, we do this whole evaluation in definition or early planning phase. Then, we only
have estimates of those values and should make sure that the estimation accuracies are
comparable.

The Net Present Value (NPV) of a project is defined as the difference between present
value of cash inflow (revenue, PV in) and present value of cash outflow (cost, PV out) of
that project over the project life cycle time. Here is the formula to calculate the present
value (PV) for given future value (FV), interest rate (r), and number of accounting
periods (n):

Project Selection, Example 1:

Investment project ‘Blue’: development of a new version of product ‘Blue Dolphin’. The
cost for development is R100,000.00 this year. Next year, we will be able to sell the first
batch for R70,000.00, in two years the second batch for R50,000.00. Given an interest
rate of 10%, what is the net present value of that project?

Project Selection, Example 2:

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 Investment project ‘Red’: development of a new version of product ‘Red Shark’. The
cost for development is R150,000.00 this year. Next year, we will be able to sell the first
batch for R90,000.00, in two years the second batch for R85,000. Given an interest rate
of 10%, what is the net present value of that project?

If we would have to choose between project ‘Blue’ and project ‘Red’ we would choose
the one with the higher NPV, i.e. project ‘Blue’.

Another evaluation method uses the concept of Internal Rate of Return (IRR). The
internal rate of return of a project is defined as the interest rate at which the net present
value of that project equals zero. Here, we spare you the mathematical details of
calculating IRR's, and give you the results for the two examples, projects ‘Blue’ and
‘Red’, obtained by trial and error with a simple MS Excel sheet.

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 Again, we choose project ‘Blue’, the one with the higher IRR.

In project selection, we usually account for an overall view of benefits and costs of
proposed projects, trying to express all benefits and all costs in monetary terms of
present values at given interest rates. This is the concept of the benefit cost ratio (BCR).
Here is the formula:

In our examples, at an interest rate of 10%, we obtain for

1. Project ‘Blue’: BCR = 104,959 / 100,000 = 1.050
2. Project ‘Red’: BCR = 152,066 / 150,000 = 1.014 (rounded to 3 decimal digits.)

If we only consider cash inflow as benefits and cash outflow as costs, we end up with
our familiar decision to choose project ‘Blue’.

With the concept of opportunity cost (OC) we consider that choosing one option means
to give up other options we might have. In our example, we choose project ‘Blue’
(because of the higher NPV or IRR or BCR) and give up project ‘Red’, at an opportunity
cost of NPV = R2,066.00.

Using the method of payback period (PP) gives us the simplest approach. We have the
following formula.

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 In our examples, we obtain as payback period for
1. Project ‘Blue’: PP = 100,000 / 40,000 = 2.50 (years)
2. Project ‘Red’: BCR = 150,000 / 58,333 = 2.57 (years) (rounded to 2 decimal digits.)

We decide in favour of the project with the shorter payback period, and our choice
would be project ‘Blue’. Notice that we do not apply present values explicitly.

In general, we emphasise that the methods using Net Present Value (NPV), Internal Rate
of Return (IRR), Benefit / Cost Ratio (BCR), or Opportunity Cost (OC), are all based upon
the calculation of present values of estimated future cash inflows and outflows. In a
mathematical sense, they usually lead us to the same project selection results. Typically,
application of one of these methods is enough.

If available, we can take initial risk assessments into consideration of the evaluation of
project proposals. The following chart shows an example of this comparative analysis.

Figure 8 Comparative Analysis

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 We represent each project by a bubble with the size of the bubble indicating the project
volume. Those with high NPV and low risk value we should choose, those with low NPV
and high-risk value avoid. For the others we need to consider other criteria like
estimated profit, payback period, etc. We find our two projects, ‘Blue’ and ‘Red’, but
now, the picture does not immediately lead to the selection of ‘Blue’ since it seems to
have a much higher risk value than ‘Red’.

Remarks:
The examples used above are rather simple and therefore, the corresponding results
suggest equivalent selection decisions.

2.2.3. Selection and initiation of projects

Project selection and initiation is the step that naturally follows evaluation and
prioritisation. A particularly delicate step of project initiation turns out to be the staffing
of project teams. As mentioned earlier, resources are scarce, and in most organisations
appear to be the most limiting factor in project selection. If we take in too many
projects, we overload our resources, if we do not take in enough, we do not utilise them
economically enough. Having too many staff members working in multi-tasking mode,
i.e. on two or more projects at the same time, decreases overall productivity of the
organisation. On a medium/long-term scale, it seems to be the better option to initiate
projects in a way so that the teams can focus and work on one project at a time, thus,
avoiding disturbances of one project by the others. Of course, that needs clear
prioritisation of the selected projects, based on evaluation done in the previous step.

2.2.4. Review of projects

After project selection we need to regularly review projects that are under way in order
to find out if they are still in line with our strategy. Thus, the first way of checking them
is repeating the initial evaluation with more accurate estimates as they become
available; the second way is holding regular project management review meetings in
order to identify major problems on a per-project basis, via project status reports. The

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 minimum requirements of project management reviews along each project's life cycle
are as follows.

From the perspective of a project owner (for an internal project the organisation is the
project owner as well, and partially even the supplier):
• Acceptance of feasibility studies
• Request for proposal (RFP) or request for quotation (RFQ)
• Vendor selection/signature of contract
• Design freeze/approval of detailed planning documents
• Preliminary acceptance
• Final acceptance.

Figure 9 Minimum Requirements for a Project

From the perspective of a supplier:

• Bid/no bid decision
• Bid approval
• Signature of contract
• Order approval for sub-contractors
• Declaration ‘ready for preliminary acceptance’
• Project closure.

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 Figure 10 Minimum Requirements for a Supplier

This way, an organisation can monitor all their projects by ‘standardised’ project
management reviews.

Figure 11 Standardised Project Review

Final remark: The whole organisation should have a clear understanding about when to
terminate a project. Like in project selection, the criteria are similar: If a project cannot
fulfil expectations in terms of strategy support or originally estimated figures like net
project value (NPV), payback period (PP), etc. it should be terminated.

2.3. Project Charter

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A project charter is a formal, typically short document that describes your project in its
entirety — including what the objectives are, how it will be carried out, and who the
stakeholders are. It is a crucial ingredient in planning out the project because it is used
throughout the project life cycle.

The project charter typically documents:

• Reasons for the project
• Objectives and constraints of the project
• Who the main stakeholders are
• Risks identified
• Benefits of the project
• General overview of the budget.

How to create a Project Charter?

• Understand project goals and objectives. Identify the project vision and determine the
scope of the project.
• Define project organisation. List all of the essential roles for the project, including
customers, stakeholders, and day-to-day project team.
• Create an implementation plan. Outline major milestones, dependencies and timeline
for the entire team and stakeholders.
• List potential problem areas. No one wants to be a downer, but adding potential risks
and issues to the project charter helps everyone think ahead should the worst happen.

The final section of the project charter is the approvals section. The project manager and
project sponsor (or the person who kicked off the work, if a longer-term sponsor has yet to
be appointed) should sign and date the document. Today, that’s likely to be via email, so keep
a copy of the email authorisation in your project files in case you need to refer back to it.

2.4. Request For Proposal

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While many projects are completed using internal resources there are often times when an
organisation needs to reach out for additional resources. In this case, they often issue a
Request for Proposal (RFP). Although each RFP is unique, they should all contain enough
information so that bidders can fully understand what is required and expected. In the RFP it
is helpful to include information about your organisation, relevant information for the project,
the project scope, bidder qualification requirements, timeline and guidelines for the proposal.

2.4.1. What needs to be included in an RFP?

An RFP generally includes background on the issuing organisation and its lines of
business, a set of specifications that describe the sought-after solution and evaluation
criteria that disclose how proposals will be graded.

The RFP typically contains a section, sometimes called a statement of work (SOW),
defining the scope of work or the scope of service(s) to be provided. This section
discusses the tasks to be performed by the winning bidder and a timeline for providing
deliverables.

The request for proposal also includes guidance to bidders on how to prepare a
proposal. This section will provide the details on the proposal format, as well as
instructions on how the RFP response is to be constructed and organised.

2.5. Soliciting Proposals

A solicited proposal is when customers ask for a proposal. They may ask verbally or they may
issue a written Request for Proposal (RFP). An unsolicited proposal is when you send them a
proposal they haven’t even asked for because you think they should buy from you or take
some action.

Solicited proposals are usually sent to customers who issue an RFP. When customers want
something that is too complicated to pick up at the store or order from a vendor, they often

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write down a description of it and issue it as an RFP. If it is a commodity, they may issue a
Request for Quotation (RFQ). An RFQ usually requires minimal information and a price. An
RFP may require an extensive description of your approach or offering, as well as its price.
A solicited proposal provides you with a description of what the customer wants. Many also
provide you with formatting instructions for your proposal and the evaluation criteria that
will be used to make a selection.

Sometimes you will make a suggestion to a potential customer and they will ask you to submit
a proposal so that they can consider your suggestion. This counts as a solicited proposal
because they are expecting it and you have a chance to talk to the customer and gain an
understanding of their needs.

An unsolicited proposal is sent to a customer who has not requested it. Unsolicited proposals
must be especially convincing since the customer has not anticipated, planned, or budgeted
for the proposal. With an unsolicited proposal you run the risk that the customer won't even
bother to read it, since they didn't ask for it. However, the lack of competitive pressure with
an unsolicited proposal often makes up for the risk.

If you send the same unsolicited proposal to a bunch of customers, what you really have is a
brochure and not a proposal. A proposal should take into consideration the customer's
specific environment, needs and concerns. Proposals have a much higher win rate than
brochures, because they better align what you offer with what matters to the customer.

2.5.1. Developing Project Proposals

The following project proposal outline is in a generic format so it can be applied to
several kinds of circumstances and projects.

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 As you sit down to write your own document keep in mind that although some details
will necessarily change to accommodate your particular project type, scope and
industry, the general structure is more or less the same for any kind of project proposal.

Included in each section are also a few tips and examples to help you produce a proposal
that is clear, accurate and focused.

2.5.2. Project Information

This section is meant to provide an overall picture of the project that can be seen at a
glance as well as convey important project details.
Name of the Organisation:
Project Title:
Project Summary: Write a 2-4 sentence summary of the project scope
Project Time-frame:
Prepared by:
Attached Documentation:

2.5.3. Project contacts:

List those individuals who are involved with the project and can be contacted. Be sure
to include their name, title, role in the project, as well as phone numbers and email
addresses.

2.5.4. Project summary:

The goal of this section is to present the reasons for doing this project as well as stating
all of the project's objectives. In this section in particular it is very important to write
concisely and clearly. Some project professionals even suggest writing the project
summary last. Before you begin writing you should be able to answer the following
questions:
• Why are you doing this project?

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 • What will you be doing?
• How will you be doing it?
• Who will be doing it?
• Where will it be done?
• How long will it take?
• How much will it cost?

Project background
Explain what needs/problems you are trying to solve, and why these needs/problems
are worth solving. You should also provide a brief setting and history behind the project.
This section should be no more than a page. Include references to supporting
documentation, such as research papers and articles. This information can be placed in
the index at the end.

Project objectives
State explicitly what goals the project is aiming to achieve.
• Objective 1
• Objective 2
• Objective 3.

Project methodology
This section details the plan for how the project objectives will be achieved. It usually
starts with a description of the overall approach. Then it provides details on
methodology, the population being addressed, and how anticipated problems will be
managed.

The project approach summary

Write a few short paragraphs or bullet points on your overall approach to the project.
Include how the project team will be organised, what development and collaboration
tools will be used, and how the plan will be updated along the way.

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 Work breakdown and task time estimates
In this section you should create a detailed project schedule. Make a list of tasks that
will be performed for this project, make sure the list is detailed enough and the tasks
broken down enough to expose risks and make reasonable estimates in man hours
required. You may want to include a milestone chart in this section.

Project deliverables
Make a list of the project ‘deliverables’. (These are the products, information, reports,
etc. that will be delivered to the client at the end and throughout the duration of the
project). Make sure to include a description of the deliverable and an estimated delivery
date.

2.5.5. Project risk management

This section details the major project risks and delineates the plans to alleviate or
control them. Make sure to address each risk's likelihood of occurring as well as its
impact on the project and the organisation.

• Risk management plan: This is the detailed plan of action to minimise and contain
any risk factors that may come up as the project progresses.
• Risk register: Be sure to include this line-item list of risks and counter efforts.

2.5.6. Project costs

In this section you will need to estimate the overall cost of the project.

• Project budget: A detailed, line-item budget should be divided into categories

such as salaries, fringe benefits, travel, supplies, and equipment. Make sure to
also include any overhead costs (called ‘indirect costs’) that will be associated with
the project.
• Budget narrative: The budget narrative is basically a list of commentary needed

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 to clarify and justify the figures on your budget.
• Additional financial statements: Some project proposals may require additional
financial statements, such as a profit and loss statement, a recent tax return, an
annual report, or a list of funding sources.

Conclusion
In this section you should try to tie up all the above information in a short summary that
explains the potential value of the project and emphasises its feasibility.

Appendix
This is where you should put additional charts, graphs, reports, etc. that were cited in the
proposal, but were not appropriate to place in the main body of the document.

Study Unit 2: Revision Exercises

1. Why is needs identification important before starting a project?

2. Describe how a business selects which projects to work on when there are numerous
projects that could be performed.
3. Why is it important for contractors to submit their proposals according to a standard
format?
4. Explain why building relationships with customers and partners is important. How can
this be achieved?
5. How do customers evaluate proposals? What factors might they consider?

Study Unit 2: Progress Check

You have come to the end of Study Unit 2.

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Time to do a progress check to determine whether you have gone through all the required
content and completed all the exercises.

Your Progress Checklist:

Progress checklist YES / NO?

Did you read through each study unit outcome?

Did you go through all the learning material?

Did you complete all the relevant revision exercises and check your answers
against the answers provided?

At this point, you should be able to:

 Understand how projects are identified and selected.

 Develop a project charter.

 Understand outsourcing projects using a request for proposal.

 Explain the proposal solicitation process.

 Develop relationships with customers and partners.

 Prepare a proposal/quotation in response to a customer’s RFP.

 Discuss how customers evaluate proposals.

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  Explain types of contracts and various terms and conditions.

 Measure the success of proposal efforts.

Are you ready to tackle the Study Unit 3?

Study Unit 2: Answers to exercises

1. Why is needs identification important before starting a project?

It is important to thoroughly study the problem or opportunity in order to develop a
quality RFP and/or quality solution. If the need isn’t clearly defined, you can’t expect
the proposed solutions to be clearly defined either.

2. Describe how a business selects which projects to work on when there are numerous
projects that could be performed.
A four-step process is recommended:
• Develop a set of criteria against which the opportunity will be evaluated.
• List assumptions that will be used as the basis for each project.
• Gather data and information for each project
• Evaluate each opportunity against the criteria.

3. Why is it important for contractors to submit their proposals according to a standard

format?
This is done so that all proposals have a standard form and are thus easier to evaluate.
Otherwise, for example, one proposal might be five pages and another might be 50
pages. One might include technical specifications and another might not.

4. Explain why building relationships with customers and partners is important. How can
this be achieved?
It is important to build relationships with customers and partners since they prefer to
work with people they know and can trust. Relationships establish the foundation for

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 successful funding and contract opportunities. Relationship-building requires being
proactive and engaged. Relationship-building, in many ways, is a contact sport. It
requires getting out of the office and having face-to-face contacts. It cannot be done as
effectively through email or phone conversations.

5. How do customers evaluate proposals? What factors might they consider?

Customers evaluate contractors’ proposals in many different ways. Some customers
first look at the prices of the various proposals and select, for example, only the three
lowest-priced proposals for further evaluation. Other customers initially screen out
those proposals with prices above their budget or those whose technical section doesn’t
meet all the requirements stated in the RFP. Other customers, especially on large
projects, create a proposal review team that uses a scorecard to determine whether
each proposal meets all requirements in the RFP and to rate the proposal against
predefined evaluation criteria, such as price, schedule, capabilities and experience.

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Study Unit 3: Planning, Performing and Controlling the Project

It is important that the people who will be involved in performing the work are also involved
in planning the work. They have the most knowledge about the activities required to perform
and the duration of those activities. By being part of the planning of the work, commitment
towards achieving it according to the plan and within the constraints are achieved. While the
work on the project is being performed, it is necessary to monitor and control the progress to
ensure that everything is going according to the plan.

Study Unit 3: Module Outcomes

After completing this module student must be able to:

• Identify, implement and manage advanced project management concepts
• Analyse, interpret, evaluate and apply principles and processes that are necessary for
the systematic implementation of projects
• Identify and solve problems, make the right decisions, apply critical and creative
thinking when dealing with issues relating to project management

Study Unit 3: Specific Unit Outcomes

After completing this study unit, you should be able to:

Section 1: Defining Scope, Quality, Responsibility, Activity Sequence and Developing the
Schedule.
• Establish a clear project objective and prepare a project scope document
• Discuss the importance and elements of a project quality plan
• Develop a work breakdown structure, a responsibility assignment matrix, define the
specific project activities and create a network diagram
• Estimate the resources required for activities and their durations

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• Perform the forward and backward passes, identify and explain the critical path
• Discuss the project control process and develop updated schedules based on actual
progress and changes
• Discuss and apply approaches to control the project schedule
• Explain agile project management

Section 2: Resource Utilisation, Determining Costs, Budget and Earned Value

• Create a network diagram that takes resource constraints into account
• Prepare a resource requirement plan
• Explain resource levelling
• Discuss resource limited scheduling
• Estimate the cost of activities and aggregate the total budgeted cost
• Develop a time-phased baseline budget and describe how to accumulate actual costs
• Determine the earned value of work performed, calculate and analyse key project
performance measures
• Discuss and apply approaches to control the project budget
• Explain the importance of managing cash flow

Study Unit 3: Assessment Criteria

Section 1: Defining Scope, Quality, Responsibility and Activity Sequence and Developing the
Schedule.
• Clear project objectives are identified.
• A project scope document is correctly developed
• The importance of a project towards achieving organisational goals is discussed.
• Elements of a project quality plan are fully explained.
• A WBS and a RAM are developed from a scenario
• Project activities are correctly defined and used in developing the relative network
diagram

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• The resources required for activities and their durations are estimated using the correct
methods.
• The forward and backward passes of the precedence diagram are accurately calculated
• The critical path is identified and explained.
• The project control process is discussed
• Updated schedules based on actual progress and changes are developed.
• Approaches used to control project schedules are applied to a case study and explained
fully.
• The concept of agile project management is fully explained

Section 2: Resource Utilisation, Determining Costs, Budget and Earned Value

• A network diagram that takes resources and constraints into consideration is accurately
constructed.
• A resource requirement plan is correctly drawn up.
• Resource levelling is correctly explained
• Resource limited scheduling is adequately discussed
• Use the correct tools to as reasonably as possible estimate the cost of activities as well
as aggregate the total budgeted cost
• Correctly draw up a time phased baseline budget and describe how the actual costs are
accumulated and used in drawing the relative graph.
• The EV is accurately calculated.
• Key project performance measures are correctly and accurately calculated, analysed
and interpreted.
• Approaches use to control the budget are fully discussed.
• The approaches are then correctly applied to a practical case
• The significance of managing the cash flow is adequately explained.

Study Unit 3: Content

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Section 1: Defining Scope, Quality, Responsibility and Activity
Sequence and Developing the Schedule.

This section covers Chapter 4 and 5 of Gido, Clements & Harinarain (2018).

2.6. Project Objective

The project objective describes the project’s outcomes: intended and direct, short- and
medium-term effects on the target group. The project objective must lie within the scope of
the project, and one must be able to attribute the effects to the project directly. The project
objective is often formulated in terms of the project’s utility for the target group: “Better…
higher…” It also makes sense to formulate the project objective as a situation to be achieved
in the future.

The project objective ought also to describe an outcome, meaning the effect or change that
the project is supposed to cause for the target group. In practice it is often not quite so simple
to distinguish outcomes from outputs, i.e. the project’s products and deliverables. Well-
formulated, genuine outcome (and impact) objectives are therefore of great importance if
the outcome and impact assessment is to have any significance.

A well-formulated project objective

• provides a concrete description of the project’s effect at the outcome level;
• was developed in a participatory process;
• is accepted by the target group and other stakeholders;
• is clear and concise.

N.B. Do not simply summarise the outputs, but describe the effects that should be triggered
at a higher level.

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Distinguish clearly between objectives and indicators. There are various ways to distinguish
between objectives and indicators. However, individual variants should not be mixed up.
Examples:
• Child health programme

Improvements are made in the health of children in the poorest parts of the country.
• Health course project

Young mothers in regions x, y and z should use clean drinking water more often or boil
dirty water.
• Well-building project

The population of regions x, y and z should have better access to clean drinking water.
• Medical care project

Children suffering from diarrhoea in regions x, y and z should be able to be treated

successfully.
• Education programme

The communities have better access to formal and informal education.

• Empowerment project

Socially and economically disadvantaged people influence decision making in the

region.
• Project to support farmers’ organisations

The farmers’ organisations improve their institutional and organisational capacities.

The farmers’ organisations improve the management of their business activities.

2.6.1. How to Define S.M.A.R.T. Objectives

It can be stressful and difficult to write a clear objective, especially with the many
moving pieces of any project and so much dependent on the objective itself. Luckily,
there are several ways to approach the writing. Consider that objectives will contain key
performance indicators (KPIs) that are specific to your business or area of interest. Think
about how you would know that your project was successful. Does it serve a certain

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 population group or customer base? What change do you want to see as a result of the
project?

An easy way to ensure that you include enough detail in your objective is to follow the
mnemonic S.M.A.R.T.:
• Specific: Define your objectives clearly, in detail, leaving no room for
misinterpretation. Think of the 5Ws (who, what, when, where, and why).
• Measurable: State the measures and performance specifications you’ll use to
determine whether you’ve met your objectives.
• Achievable or Attainable: Choose objectives that the team has a reasonable
expectation of successfully completing.
• Realistic: Set objectives the project team believes it can achieve. Relevant
objectives align with group or company goals.
• Time-bound: Include the date or specific period by which you’ll achieve the
objectives.

2.7. Project Scope

Project scope is the part of project planning that involves determining and documenting a list
of specific project goals, deliverables, tasks, costs and deadlines. The documentation of a
project's scope, which is called a scope statement, terms of reference or statement of work,
explains the boundaries of the project, establishes responsibilities for each team member and
sets up procedures for how completed work will be verified and approved. During the project,
this documentation helps the project team remain focused and on task. The scope statement
also provides the project team with guidelines for making decisions about change requests
during the project. Please note, a project's scope statement should not be confused with its
charter; a project's charter simply documents that the project exists.

It is natural for parts of a large project to change along the way, so the better the project has
been ‘scoped’ at the beginning, the better the project team will be able to manage change.

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When documenting a project's scope, stakeholders should be as specific as possible in order
to avoid scope creep, a situation in which one or more parts of a project ends up requiring
more work, time or effort because of poor planning or miscommunication. Effective scope
management requires good communication to ensure that everyone on the team
understands the scope of the project and agrees upon exactly how the project's goals will be
met. As part of project scope management, the team leader should solicit approvals and sign-
offs from the various stakeholders as the project proceeds, ensuring that the finished project,
as proposed, meets everyone's needs.

2.7.1. The importance of defining a project's scope

Here are the benefits a project scope statement provides to any organisation
undertaking a new initiative. It:
• articulates what the project entails so that all stakeholders can understand what's
involved;
• provides a roadmap that managers can use to assign tasks, schedule work and
budget appropriately;
• helps focus team members on common objectives; and
• prevents projects, particularly complex ones, from expanding beyond the
established vision.

Project managers generally find that establishing project scope ensures projects are
focused and executed to expectations. The scope provides a strong foundation for
managing a project as it moves forward and helps ensure that resources aren't diverted
or wasted on out-of-scope elements.

2.7.2. How to define the scope of a project?

Defining project scope requires input from the project stakeholders, who together with
project managers establish the key elements of budget, objectives, quality and timeline.
To determine a project scope, project managers must collect requirements for what the
stakeholders need from the project -- this includes the project's objective or the

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 project's deliverables, when the project needs to be completed, and how much they
can pay for it. The goal is to gather and record precise and accurate information during
this process, so that the project scope effectively reflects all requirements and thus
improves the chances for project leaders to deliver products that meet stakeholder
expectations on time and on budget.

See how a project's scope fits into an overall project proposal.

2.7.3. Writing a project scope statement

A project scope statement is a written document that includes all the required
information for producing the project deliverables. More detailed than a statement of
work, the project scope statement helps the project team remain focused and on task.
The scope statement also provides the project team leader or facilitator with guidelines
for making decisions about change requests during the project. It is natural for parts of
a large project to change along the way, so the better the project has been scoped at
the beginning, the better the project team will be able to manage change.

The project scope statement also establishes what is not included in initiatives, either
implicitly or explicitly. Objectives and tasks not listed in the project scope statement
should be considered out of scope. Project managers can also list specific work that will
not be part of the project. As such, this statement establishes the boundaries of each
specific project. Project leaders need to take those requirements and map out what
should happen and in what order those items need to occur. This generally leads to the
creation of a work breakdown structure (WBS). As the name states, the work
breakdown structure breaks down the totality of planned work into smaller portions
and required tasks.

A well-articulated scope statement is considered a critical part of effective project

management and project scope should be determined for every project, regardless of
what project management methodology is used. Stakeholders for the project should

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 have the opportunity to review the project scope statement, revise it as necessary and
then approve it. Once a project scope is completed and approved, project managers can
effectively allocate tasks and give their teams directions on what they each need to do
to meet the target timelines and costs.

2.7.4. Scope management and planning

Project managers should anticipate the need for updates and changes as projects
progress, carefully control what changes are made to the established project scope and
document all changes made during the process. This requires strong project
management skills. It also requires project managers and stakeholders to adhere to the
project scope statement by recognising what pieces are within the project scope and
what requests are out of scope.

Project managers should rely on change management processes that determine how
such requests should be evaluated while considering updates and alterations to the
project. The ability to distinguish between which requests are truly needed and which
are out of scope allows organisations to avoid scope creep. Scope creep happens when
more and more work is tacked onto projects as they're underway. Scope creep
frequently adds extra costs and unnecessary work while muddling objectives and
threatening the quality of the intended deliverables.

2.7.5. Project scope vs. product scope

Project scope should not be confused with product scope. Product scope defines the
capabilities, characteristics, features and functions of the end result of the project.
Project leaders should create a product scope statement and they should use both the
project scope and the product scope statements to support each other and establish
for their organisations a clear understanding of what every project aims to achieve.

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2.8. Project Quality

Project quality management is all of the processes and activities needed to determine and
achieve project quality.

But what does ‘quality’ really mean?

At its most basic level, quality means meeting the needs of customers. This is also known as
‘fit for use’.

This simple definition of quality places the focus where it should be, on the customer. This
basic definition also implies that the requirements of the project have been met since the
requirements should reflect the customer's needs if collected properly.

As the project manager, there are three key quality management concepts that will help you
deliver a high-quality project
• Customer satisfaction
• Prevention over inspection
• Continuous improvement.

Customer satisfaction
Customer satisfaction is a key measure of a project's quality. It's important to keep in mind
that project quality management is concerned with both the product of the project and the
management of the project.

If the customer doesn't feel the product produced by the project meets their needs or if the
way the project was run didn't meet their expectations, then the customer is very likely to
consider the project quality as poor, regardless of what the project manager or team thinks.

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As a result, not only is it important to make sure the project requirements are met, but
managing customer expectations is also a critical activity that you need to handle well for
your project to succeed.

Prevention over inspection

The cost of quality (COQ) includes money spent during the project to avoid failures and
money spent during and after the project because of failures. These are known as the cost of
conformance and the cost of nonconformance.

Cost of conformance Cost of nonconformance

Prevention costs Internal failure costs
• Training • Rework
• Document processes • Scrap
• Equipment
• Time to do it right

Appraisal costs External failure costs

• Testing • Liabilities
• Destructive testing loss • Warranty work
• Inspections • Lost business

The cost of preventing mistakes is usually much less than the cost of correcting them.

Continuous improvement
Continuous improvement is a concept that exists in all of the major quality management
approaches such as Six Sigma and total quality management (TQM). In fact, it is a key aspect
of the last concept, prevention over inspection.

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Continuous improvement is simply the ongoing effort to improve your products, services, or
processes over time. These improvements can be small, incremental changes or major,
breakthrough type changes.

From a project perspective, this concept can be applied by analysing the issues that were
encountered during the project for any lessons learned that you can apply to future projects.
The goal is to avoid repeating the same issues in other projects.

2.8.1. Quality management for projects

Project quality management has three key processes that should be performed in
projects
• Plan quality

Plan quality involves identifying the quality requirements for both the project and
the product and documenting how the project can show it is meeting the quality
requirements. The outputs of this process include a Quality Management Plan,
quality metrics, quality checklists and a Process Improvement Plan.
• Perform quality assurance

Quality assurance is used to verify that the project processes are sufficient so that
if they are being adhered to the project deliverables will be of good quality.
Process checklists and project audits are two methods used for project quality
assurance.
• Perform quality control

Quality control verifies that the product meets the quality requirements. Peer
reviews and testing are two methods used to perform quality control. The results
will determine if corrective action is needed.

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2.9. Work Breakdown Structure

A work breakdown structure (WBS) is a key project deliverable that organises the team's work
into manageable sections. The Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) defines the
work breakdown structure as a "deliverable oriented hierarchical decomposition of the work
to be executed by the project team." The work breakdown structure visually defines the scope
into manageable chunks that a project team can understand, as each level of the work
breakdown structure provides further definition and detail.

An easy way to think about a work breakdown structure is as an outline or map of the specific
project. A work breakdown structure starts with the project as the top-level deliverable and
is further decomposed into sub-deliverables using the outline hierarchy.

The project team creates the project work breakdown structure by identifying the major
functional deliverables and subdividing those deliverables into smaller systems and sub-
deliverables. These sub-deliverables are further decomposed until a single person can be
assigned. At this level, the specific work packages required to produce the sub-deliverable are
identified and grouped together. The work package represents the list of tasks or ‘to-dos’ to
produce the specific unit of work. If you've seen detailed project schedules, then you'll
recognise the tasks under the work package as the ‘stuff’ people need to complete by a
specific time and within a specific level of effort.

From a cost perspective, these work packages are usually grouped and assigned to a specific
department to produce the work. These departments, or cost accounts, are defined in an
organisational breakdown structure and are allocated a budget to produce the specific
deliverables. By integrating the cost accounts from the organisational breakdown structure
and the project's work breakdown structure, the entire organisation can track financial
progress in addition to project performance.

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 2.9.1. Why use a work breakdown structure?
The work breakdown structure has a number of benefits in addition to defining and
organising the project work. A project budget can be allocated to the top levels of the
work breakdown structure, and department budgets can be quickly calculated based on
each project's work breakdown structure. By allocating time and cost estimates to
specific sections of the work breakdown structure, a project schedule and budget can
be quickly developed. As the project executes, specific sections of the work breakdown
structure can be tracked to identify project cost performance and identify issues and
problem areas in the project organisation.

Project work breakdown structures can also be used to identify potential risks in a given
project. If a work breakdown structure has a branch that is not well defined, then it
represents a scope definition risk. These risks should be tracked in a project log and
reviewed as the project executes. By integrating the work breakdown structure with an
organisational breakdown structure, the project manager can also identify
communication points and formulate a communication plan across the project
organisation.

When a project is falling behind, referring to the work breakdown structure will quickly
identify the major deliverables impacted by a failing work package or late sub-
deliverable. The work breakdown structure can also be colour coded to represent sub-
deliverable status. Assigning colours of red for late, yellow for at risk, green for on-
target, and blue for completed deliverables is an effective way to produce a heat-map
of project progress and draw management's attention to key areas of the work
breakdown structure.

2.9.2. Work breakdown structure guidelines

The following guidelines should be considered when creating a work breakdown
structure:
• The top level represents the final deliverable or project.

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 • Sub-deliverables contain work packages that are assigned to an organisation’s
department or unit.
• All elements of the work breakdown structure don’t need to be defined to the
same level.
• The work package defines the work, duration, and costs for the tasks required to
produce the sub-deliverable.
• Work packages should not exceed 10 days of duration.
• Work packages should be independent of other work packages in the work
breakdown structure.
• Work packages are unique and should not be duplicated across the work
breakdown structure.

2.9.3. Tools to create a work breakdown structure

Creating a work breakdown structure is a team effort and is the culmination of multiple
inputs and perspectives for the given project. One effective technique is to organise a
brainstorming session with the various departments that will be involved with the
project. Project teams can use low-technology tools like a white board, note cards, or
sticky note pads to identify major deliverables, sub-deliverables, and specific work
packages. These cards can be taped to a wall and reorganised as the team discusses the
major deliverables and work packages involved in the project.

The low-technology approach is easy to do; however, it does not work well with
distributed teams or translate easily into an electronic format. There are several tools
available that support mind mapping, brainstorming, and work breakdown structures,
for example Microsoft Project.

A natural extension of the work breakdown structure is the project schedule. By

brainstorming the project scope in a mind mapping tool, the project manager can easily
assign budget and duration estimates. These budget and duration estimates can easily
be exported into Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Project for additional planning and

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 analysis. Project managers want tools that help accelerate their work and reduce the
administrative burden that accompanies project management processes.

2.10. Responsibility Assignment Matrix

The responsibility assignment matrix (RAM) or RACI matrix is a useful project planning tool.
Yet we often see it used incorrectly. Let’s keep things simple and offer a concise RACI matrix
definition that makes it clear who does what.

How to use the responsibility assignment matrix?

This is really straightforward and people will be certain what role they fulfil in the project or
business change endeavour.

• The RACI matrix definition

The responsibility assignment matrix or RACI matrix is used to clarify the roles in
projects or processes. There are four key roles that are included in the RACI matrix
definition. These are:
o Responsible – the person who does something as part of his/her job or role to do
a specific task or activity.
o Accountable – the person who is expected to justify actions taken or decisions
made to deliver the completed task or activity.
o Consulted – groups or people whose opinions are sought by the person
responsible for the task or activity.
o Informed – those groups or people who should be kept up-to-date on progress
with the task or activity.
o Correct use of the RACI matrix

When preparing a responsibility assignment matrix, we need to remember the following

rules:

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• The roles that are responsible and accountable are only ever assigned to one person.
• Sometimes the role that is accountable for a task is also responsible for achieving it ―
in such circumstances the responsible role is omitted since it is implied.
• Excluding the previous exception, all roles are mutually exclusive ― for instance, you
cannot have roles that are both responsible and consulted or consulted and informed.
• The role that is responsible seeks advice from the makes ― this involves two-way
communication.
• The role that is responsible updates the informed ― this is one-way communication.
• Roles that are responsible may delegate tasks to others in their team.

If you break these simple rules, you create uncertainty and confusion. And, when someone is
made responsible for something, be sure he/she has the necessary authority to make it
happen.

2.11. Sequencing Activities

Once the activities have been identified, the next stage is to sequence them according to their
dependencies. In other words, any relationships between activities need to be identified so
that dependent activities can be scheduled to follow those that they are dependent upon.

Figure 12 Sequencing Activities

It is important to classify any dependencies properly because they indicate the sequence in
which activities must occur. There are four types of dependency relationships.

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• A finish-to-start relationship exists if one activity must finish before another activity
starts.
• A start-to-start relationship exists if one activity cannot start until another activity starts.
• A finish-to-finish relationship exists if one activity cannot finish until another activity
finishes.
• A start-to-finish relationship exists if one activity must start before another can finish.

Dependencies may be external or internal. For example, an organisation may subcontract the
production of some deliverable from a supplier organisation and the delivery of this would
represent an external dependency, one that involves some relationship outside of the project
and its control.

Figure 13 Activity Dependencies

Some dependencies may exist within the project. For example, an engineer may only be able
to contribute half of his time to a project, although his skills could potentially be used full
time.

The principal output from this process is a network diagram showing the sequence of
activities and their relationships. Always bear in mind that the purpose of this process is
simply to find and illustrate dependencies, there are assumed to be no resource constraints.

There are three interrelated techniques that can be used to sequence activities.

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Figure 14 Activity Sequencing Methods

A precedence diagram is a graphical tool for scheduling activities in a project plan. It uses
boxes or rectangles, referred to as nodes to represent activities and connect them with
arrows to show the logical relationships that exist between them. This technique is also called
Activity On Node (AON) and is the method used by most software project management
packages.

Figure 15 Activity on Node Technique (AON)

In this example:
• 'Begin' and 'End' are both milestones.
• Activities A and B are not dependent on each other.
• Activity C is dependent on both A and B (shown as a circle).

Many of the project planning software packages available use this method, which simply plots
the tasks to be completed and connects them with arrows that show the dependencies. Note
that each activity has an input arrow and an output arrow.

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The only two elements that do not are the 'Begin' and 'End' milestones (which are not really
activities). If an activity within a diagram has only one arrow, then this represents an error
and needs to be corrected.

Three types of dependencies are used to define the sequence among the activities:
• Mandatory
• Discretionary
• External.

The table below shows the dependency and gives an explanation for this.

Figure 16 Nature of Dependencies

Mandatory dependencies are inherent in the work or process, e.g. when constructing a new
building, building the walls is dependent on laying the foundations. The project team
determines which dependencies are mandatory to reach during the process of sequencing
the activities. They are also sometimes referred to as hard logic.

Discretionary dependencies are those defined by the project manager and his/her team.
They should be defined based on best practices or previous experience within a particular

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area. Discretionary dependencies are sometimes referred to as preferred logic and based on
knowledge of best practices within a particular application area or some unusual aspect of
the project where a specific sequence is desired even though there may be other acceptable
sequences.

Discretionary dependencies should be fully documented since they can create arbitrary total
float values and can limit later share dealing options.

External dependencies involve a relationship between project activities and non-project

activities. These dependencies are usually outside the project team’s control. For example,
the testing activity in a software project can be dependent on the delivery of hardware from
an external source.

Once the dependencies are agreed they can be mapped into a precedence diagram (on a PC,
on paper, or using post-it notes). When drawing the precedence diagram the project team
needs to decide:
• Which tasks can only be completed after another task
• Which tasks can be done at the same time
• Which tasks don't depend on other tasks at all (e.g. project review meetings).

It can be useful to work backwards when compiling the precedence diagram and ask yourself
what do we need to have done immediately before this task?

You will then need to apply leads and lags. A lag directs a delay in the successor activity. For
example, an IT project requires two different but similar user interfaces to be designed,
interfaces A and B. Each task is scheduled to take 5 days. There is no reason why these tasks
cannot be started at the same time, but it makes sense to design A first and obtain user
agreement before starting work on interface B which can then be largely based on A.

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Figure 17 Lead and Lag Relationships

Therefore, the time between the start dates of the two tasks can be defined as a lag (The
project manager has specified two days in this case). It is important to note that task B does
not need to be completed before task A can begin but because some of the lessons learned
in the design stage of task A can be directly applied to task B it will reduce the overall amount
of work required if this lag is specified.

Lead refers to a relationship whereby the successor activity begins before the predecessor
activity has completed. Lead is only found activities with finish-to-start relationships: A must
finish before B can start. In order to leverage a lead, which will compress the total combined
duration of both activities, the dependency must be discretionary, meaning that there is no
physical limitation on completing A before B begins.

Standardised schedule network diagram templates can be used to expedite the preparation
of networks of project activities. They can include an entire project or only a portion of it.
Portions of a project schedule network diagram are often referred to as a sub-network or a
fragmented network.

Sub-network templates are especially useful when a project includes several identical or
nearly identical deliverables, such as floors on a high-rise office building, clinical trials on a
pharmaceutical research project, coding program modules on a software project, or the start-
up phase of a development project.

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These give rise to project schedule network diagrams, which are schematic displays of the
project's schedule activities and the logical relationships among them, also referred to as
dependencies.

Figure 18 Network Diagram

A project schedule network diagram can be produced manually or by using project

management software. It can include full project details, or have one or more summary
activities. A summary narrative can accompany the diagram and describe the basic approach
used to sequence the activities. Any unusual activity sequences within the network should be
fully described within the narrative.

Key points to remember:

• The relationships between activities need to be identified so that dependent activities
can be scheduled to follow those that they are dependent upon.
• There are three interrelated techniques that can be used to sequence activities:
precedence diagrams, dependency determination, and sequencing leads and lags.
• Three types of dependencies are used to define the sequence among the activities:
mandatory, discretionary and external.

2.11.1. Planning the timing and sequence of project activities

Organise your schedule methodically
Can you imagine starting a long car trip to an unfamiliar destination without a map or
navigation system? You're pretty sure you have to make some turns here and there, but

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 you have no idea when or where, or how long it will take to get there. You may arrive
eventually, but you run the risk of getting lost, and feeling frustrated, along the way.

Essentially, driving without any idea of how you're going to get there is the same as
working on a project without a schedule. No matter the size or scope of your project,
the schedule is a key part of project management. The schedule tells you when each
activity should be done, what has already been completed, and the sequence in which
things need to be finished.

Luckily, drivers have fairly accurate tools they can use such as GPS. Scheduling, on the
other hand, is not an exact process. It's part estimation, part prediction, and part
‘educated guessing’.

Because of the uncertainty involved, the schedule is reviewed regularly, and it is often
revised while the project is in progress. It continues to develop as the project moves
forward, changes arise, risks come and go, and new risks are identified. The schedule
essentially transforms the project from a vision to a time-based plan.

Schedules also help you do the following:

• They provide a basis for you to monitor and control project activities.
• They help you determine how best to allocate resources so you can achieve the
project goal.
• They help you assess how time delays will impact the project.
• You can figure out where excess resources are available to allocate to other
projects.
• They provide a basis to help you track project progress.

With that in mind, what's the best way of building an accurate and effective schedule
for your project?

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 Schedule inputs
You need several types of inputs to create a project schedule:
• Personal and project calendars – understanding working days, shifts, and
resource availability are critical to completing a project schedule.
• Description of project scope – from this, you can determine the key start and end
dates, major assumptions behind the plan, and key constraints and restrictions.
You can also include stakeholder expectations, which will often determine project
milestones.
• Project risks – you need to understand these to make sure there's enough extra
time to deal with identified risks – and with unidentified risks (risks are identified
with thorough risk analysis).
• Lists of activities and resource requirements – again, it's important to determine
if there are other constraints to consider when developing the schedule.
Understanding the resource capabilities and experience you have available – as
well as company holidays and staff vacations – will affect the schedule.

A project manager should be aware of deadlines and resource availability issues that
may make the schedule less flexible.

Scheduling tools
Here are some tools and techniques for combining these inputs to develop the
schedule:
• Schedule network analysis – this is a graphic representation of the project's
activities, the time it takes to complete them, and the sequence in which they
must be done. Project management software is typically used to create these
analyses – Gantt charts and PERT charts are common formats.
• Critical path analysis – this is the process of looking at all of the activities that
must be completed, and calculating the ‘best line’ – or critical path – to take so
that you'll complete the project in the minimum amount of time. The method
calculates the earliest and latest possible start and finish times for project

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 activities, and it estimates the dependencies among them to create a schedule of
critical activities and dates.
• Schedule compression – this tool helps shorten the total duration of a project by
decreasing the time allotted for certain activities. It's done so that you can meet
time constraints, and still keep the original scope of the project. You can use two
methods here:

o Crashing – this is where you assign more resources to an activity, thus

decreasing the time it takes to complete it. This is based on the assumption
that the time you save will offset the added resource costs.
o Fast-tracking – this involves rearranging activities to allow more parallel
work. This means that things you would normally do one after another are
now done at the same time. However, do bear in mind that this approach
increases the risk that you'll miss things, or fail to address changes.

Use of project stages:

One of the biggest reasons that projects over-run is that the ‘final’ polishing and error-
correction takes much longer than anticipated. In this way, projects can seem to be ‘80%
complete’ for 80% of the time! What's worse, these projects can seem to be on schedule
until, all of a sudden, they over-run radically.

A good way of avoiding this is to schedule projects in distinct stages, where final quality,
finished components are delivered at the end of each stage. This way, quality problems
can be identified early on and rectified before they seriously threaten the project
schedule.

Project review
Once you have outlined the basic schedule, you need to review it to make sure that the
timing for each activity is aligned with the necessary resources. Here are tools
commonly used to do this:
• ‘What if’ scenario analysis – this method compares and measures the effects of

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 different scenarios on a project. You use simulations to determine the effects of
various adverse, or harmful, assumptions – such as resources not being available
on time, or delays in other areas of the project. You can then measure and plan
for the risks posed in these scenarios.
• Resource levelling – here, you rearrange the sequence of activities to address the
possibility of unavailable resources and to make sure that excessive demand is not
put on resources at any point in time. If resources are available only in limited
quantities, then you change the timing of activities so that the most critical
activities have enough resources.
• Critical chain method – this also addresses resource availability. You plan
activities using their latest possible start and finish dates. This adds extra time
between activities, which you can then use to manage work disruptions.
• Risk multipliers – risk is inevitable, so you need to prepare for its impact. Adding
extra time to high-risk activities is one strategy. Another is to add a time multiplier
to certain tasks or certain resources to offset overly optimistic time estimation.

After the initial schedule has been reviewed, and adjustments made, it's a good idea to
have other members of the team review it as well. Include people who will be doing the
work – their insights and assumptions are likely to be particularly accurate and relevant.

Key points to remember:

Scheduling aims to predict the future, and it has to consider many uncertainties and
assumptions. As a result, many people believe it's more of an art than a science.

But whether you're planning a team retreat, or leading a multimillion-rand IT project,

the schedule is a critical part of your efforts. It identifies and organises project tasks into
a sequence of events that create the project management plan.

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 A variety of inputs and tools are used in the scheduling process, all of which are designed
to help you understand your resources, your constraints and your risks. The end result
is a plan that links events in the best way to complete the project efficiently.

Section 2: Resource Utilisation, Determining Costs, Budget and

Earned Value

This section covers Chapter 6 and 7 of Gido, Clements & Harinarain (2018).

While there are several important metrics and key performance indicators (KPI) in the project
management world, few are as important to the success of projects and the health of
portfolios as resource utilisation.

What is resource utilisation?

Resource utilisation in project management focuses on how much time team members spend
on various tasks. While there are multiple ways to measure resource utilisation, the simplest
and most common method is by taking the actual number of hours worked by a resource, and
dividing it by the total number of hours that the resource could have worked. For example, if
over a six-month period a resource worked for 840 hours and there were 960 hours of work
available, then the resource utilisation is .875 (840/960).

Lower-than-expected resource utilisation often indicates that the project is over-staffed, or

that incomplete tasks are blocking other scheduled tasks. If any of these tasks fall along the
critical path, then deadlines will be missed, deliverables will be delayed, and costs will rise.
Higher-than-expected resource utilisation might not be good news, either. Instead of
indicating that resources are being more efficient and productive, it could mean that the
project is under-staffed — or might even be in crisis.

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Obviously, the goal of every project leader (e.g. project manager, resource managers, PMO
executive, etc.) is to optimise resource utilisation. Granted, this is easier said than done;
especially on complex, multi-faceted projects. However, it’s certainly not a case of dreaming
the impossible dream.

The key is to shift the emphasis away from frenetically correcting resource imbalances during
a project — which is like trying to keep a bunch of spinning plates in the air from slowing down
and crashing! — and instead taking a more strategic approach that minimises the frequency
and severity of resource imbalances when (not if) they occur.

To that end, here are five best practices for resource utilisation that will help all project
leaders, regardless of whether they’re at the helm of their 1st project or their 300th:

• Start by creating a global pool of resources

Before allocating individual resources to specific projects, it’s wise to take a step back
and create a global inventory pool that is comprised of resources that are currently
needed, and of the anticipated resources that will be required for projects coming down
the pipeline. This inventory helps project leaders know whether it is necessary to dial-
up recruitment efforts, as well as determine resource constraints that could (and
probably will) impact project deadlines and delivery dates.

• Leverage full visibility to allocate resources

Once a global inventory pool has been created, project leaders should leverage visibility
to allocate resources based on availability and need. This visibility is driven by project
management software (read: keep spreadsheets out of this!), and is characterised by
the ability to look across the entire project pool, quickly determine overall capacity, and
compare current load with future demand.

• Create a detailed project plan

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 New project managers — as well as non-project managers who have had the glory of
project management thrust upon them! — may think that this best practice should be
at the top of this list. After all, shouldn’t project building start with the plan? The short
answer is no, it shouldn’t — although it often does.

The simplest, smartest, and most successful approach is (as described above) to create
an inventory of resources, and then assign individual resources to specific projects as
required. From there, the project manager (sometimes with support from the resource
manager) has the inputs required — i.e. people — to build a detailed and above-all-else
realistic project plan. Indeed, it frankly doesn’t matter how intricate a project plan is,
and whether the work breakdown structure is beautiful to behold. If the plan isn’t
realistic because it’s not aligned with available resources, then it is doomed to fail
before it starts.

• Inform and schedule resources

All project leaders know that they need to tell resources that their services are required
and schedule them accordingly for tasks. However, what makes this process time
consuming and error-riddled is when it must be done manually through emails, sending
spreadsheets back-and-forth, and so on. Granted, on very small and simple projects this
isn’t too much of a burden. But on larger and more complex projects — which is the
norm in enterprise environments — trying to get on-site and remote resources in the
loop can be an exercise in frustration and often futility as well.

Using powerful (but easy to use) project management software to assign individual
resources to specific work items is essential here, as it turns an uphill and unwelcome
challenge into a smooth, streamlined and largely automated process.

• Monitor under-loading and over-loading

As noted above, resource imbalances in either direction are a major — and in some
cases, catastrophic — project threat. To mitigate this risk, project leaders need to

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 monitor load and availability for all resources regularly, and perform real-time balancing
that automatically updates schedules and budgets, and informs and re-schedules
resources as required.

Resource utilisation can be a difficult objective, but it shouldn’t give project leaders
nightmares as they watch in horror as their projects veer off-track, and their portfolios
fail to generate ROI. It is possible to turn resource utilisation from a risky challenge into
a competitive advantage.

2.12. Cost Estimate Vs Budget

There are two processes within the cost knowledge area: Estimate Costs and Determine
Budget. Both are required in order to develop the project cost performance baseline.

Cost estimate
The cost estimates are simply the costs associated with the work packages or activities within
the project schedule. Depending on the work package or activity, the cost estimate may be
determined using parametric, three-point, or analogous estimating techniques.

It is important for all cost estimates to include any assumptions that were made, where did
the estimate originate, who provided the information, level of confidence, etc?

Budget
The budget is built using the cost estimates and the project schedule. The budget provides a
view of how much the project is estimated to cost both from a total and a periodic
perspective. This budget feeds the cost performance baseline which is then used as a critical
ingredient in performing earned value analysis and other cost management variance analysis
techniques.

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The project budget must be in alignment with the organisation’s funding limits in order to
ensure the funding is available and has been appropriated.

Example:
A bathroom remodeling project will include the following cost estimates:

Demolition R3,000 Week 1

Sheet rock R2,000 Week 2

Tile floor R3,500 Week 3

Fixture installation R1,500 Week 4

Painting R800 Week 4

Therefore, the total budget is R10,800:

Week 1: R3,000
Week 2: R2,000
Week 3: R3,500
Week 4: R2,300

Both cost estimates and budgets are needed in order to determine the cost performance
baseline and the project funding requirements.

Cost estimates are the estimated costs for each work package or activity, whereas the budget
allocates the costs over the life of the project to determine the periodic and total funding
requirements.

2.13. Budgeted Cost Vs Actual Cost

Most organisations prepare a budget for every activity they engage in, as well as their normal
operations. At the end of the time period or project, the budget is compared with the actual

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costs and income and any differences between the budget and the actual costs and expenses
analysed. This practice, called ‘variance analysis’, is important in management accounting,
which focuses on producing forward-looking information, such as developing budgets and
measuring performance, to assist managers in formulating business strategies, planning
business activities and evaluating business results.

2.13.1. Creating a budget

Based on information from financial accounting, management accountants often create
budget plans for various aspects of a business's operations, and managers can then use
them as a guide to make more informed decisions. While financial accountants stress
compliance and record keeping, management accountants forecast and plan future
business developments and suggest courses of action. Budget planning provides the
basis against which actual results can be measured and evaluated.

2.13.2. Measuring results

Measuring actual results against budget is aimed at monitoring and recording business
activities, the results of which are used for further performance evaluation. The
comparison of actual vs. budget often shows a difference, or ‘variance’, that can be
either favourable or unfavourable. For example, in a cost budget, a lower actual number
than the budgeted figure would be considered favourable, while in a sales budget, a
higher actual number than the budgeted figure would be seen as favourable.

2.13.3. Analysing variance

Variance is analysed to find out what caused the variation between actual and budget.
Planning budgets and measuring results are only the start of the process of comparing
actual vs. budget. Management uses the budget report to identify the reasons for any
variation so that it can recommend appropriate corrective actions. Potential causes for
unfavourable variances may include unrealistic budget or subpar performance.

2.13.4. Taking actions

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 Variance analysis better informs managers about current business operations. Knowing
what has performed and what has not, managers can take reinforcing measures or
corrective actions. The purpose of comparing actual vs. budget is to add value to the
business through better planning, monitoring, evaluating and controlling. Management
may adjust a budget upward or downward to reflect reality better and implement new
cost-cutting or sales-promoting measures.

2.14. Value Of Work Performed

Current performance is the best indicator of future performance, and, therefore, using trend
data, it is possible to forecast cost or schedule overruns at an early stage in a project. The
most comprehensive trend analysis technique is the earned value method.

In a nutshell, earned value is an approach where you monitor the project plan, actual work,
and work completed value to see if a project is on track. Earned value shows how much of the
budget and time should have been spent, considering the amount of work done so far.
Earned value differs from the general budget versus actual costs incurred model, in that it
requires the cost of work in progress to be quantified. Earned value allows the project
manager to compare how much work has been completed, against how much he expected to
be finished at a given point in time.

The project manager needs to agree on the project scope, create a work breakdown structure
and assign a budget to each work package, the lowest level of the WBS. Next, he or she will
create a schedule showing the calendar time it will take to complete the work. This overall
plan is baselined (this is the planned value) and used to measure performance throughout the
project. As each work package is completed (earned) it is compared with planned value,
showing the work achieved against the plan. A variance to the plan is recorded as a time or
schedule deviation.

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It is necessary to get the actual costs incurred for the project from the organisations'
accounting system. This cost is compared with the earned value to show an overrun or
underrun.

Earned value provides the project manager with an objective way of measuring performance
and predicting future outcomes. Earned value can enable him or her to report progress with
greater confidence and highlight any overrun earlier. This, in turn, allows the management
team to make cost and time allocation decisions sooner than would otherwise be the case.

It is true that past performance is a good indicator of future performance. Earned value is a
useful tool for predicting the outcome of projects in terms of time to completion, the cost to
completion and expected final costs.

Earned value is sometimes known as performance measurement, management by objectives,

budgeted cost of work performed and cost schedule control systems.

2.15. Cash Flow

Just as project managers must secure the availability of the project team members and the
materials or equipment required for the tasks, they must also secure the project cash
flow availability. While some contractors will wait until the completion of the project to
receive payment, others must be paid when they have finished their assignment. Still, other
contractors may require periodic payments during the course of the work. Some materials
and equipment may be available within the performing organisation but other equipment
must be leased or rented. And materials must be ordered from suppliers who have their own
payment terms.

2.15.1. Project cash flow forecast

Having contractors stop work because they haven’t been paid or suppliers refuse to
deliver necessary items because they haven’t been paid is the kind of mistake good

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 project managers don’t make. These project managers always develop a forecast of the
project cash flow. This can be developed in an Excel spreadsheet but the easier way is
to use project schedule software. Professional-level software gives you the ability to
forecast the cost of contractors and materials directly from your project schedule. As
an example, from the schedule you could identify the materials that have been
delivered, the equipment that has been leased and the professional or consulting
fees the project will have incurred at the end of each month. Having this data allows
you to discuss the project cash flow requirements before consultants or vendors have
gone unpaid and stopped work.

2.15.2. Project cash flow problems

Executives who are owners of the project should approve the cost-benefit analysis, the
project plan, and the required cash flow before work starts on the project. If that
doesn’t occur, problems like this one will arise. During the execution stage, the project
manager submits a request to pay a supplier. The finance manager replies that there is
no cash! The project manager argues that the executives approved the project budget.
The finance manager agrees that is true but he cannot reserve all funding amounts at
one time. As a result, this problem affects the entire project duration. This is an example
of not planning for cash flow during the project planning phase. The project manager
should have gotten the finance manager’s commitment to payments.

2.15.3. Project cash flow plan

All receivables and payables during the project’s life cycle should be planned and
secured. The project manager should plan for the cash flow on a monthly basis, and get
the finance manager’s approval.

The project manager should also create an actual cash flow document and compare it
with the planned cash flow each month. The cash flow project plan should be secured
and if either the project manager or finance manager wants to modify it, they should
ask for a change request. That is because the change will affect the project dimensions,

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 scope, duration, budget and risk. By adding this cash flow plan to the project
management plan, the project manager reduces the risk and enhances the
organisation’s project management performance culture.

Study Unit 3: Revision Exercises

1. Why should a project have a regular reporting period?

2. The Microsoft project you started in Question 3.3 will now be completed further. Work
through appendix 2 on p.205 of Gido, Clements & Harinarain (2018), and work further
on the Consumer Market Study example.
3. When developing a schedule, why is it important to consider resources?
4. How does resource levelling keep a project on schedule?
5. The Microsoft project you started in Question 3.3 will now be completed further. Work
through the appendix on p.234 of Gido, Clements & Harinarain (2018) and work further
on the Consumer Market Study example.
6. Why is it important to develop a baseline budget for a project?
7. Define the following: TBC, CBC, CAC, CEV, CPI, CV, FCAC, and TCPI. How is each
calculated?
8. Continue with the Microsoft project you started in Question 3.3. Work through
appendix 2 on p.276 of Gido, Clements & Harinarain (2018) and complete the work on
the Consumer Market Study example.

Study Unit 3: Progress Check

You have come to the end of Study Unit 3.

Time to do a progress check to determine whether you have gone through all the required
content and completed all the exercises.

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Your Progress Checklist:

Progress checklist YES / NO?

Did you read through each study unit outcome?

Did you go through all the learning material?

Did you complete all the relevant revision exercises and check your answers
against the answers provided?

At this point, you should be able to:

• Establish a clear project objective.

• Prepare a project scope document.
• Discuss the importance and elements of a project quality plan.
• Develop a work breakdown structure.
• Prepare a responsibility assignment matrix.
• Describe how to define specific activities.
• Create a network diagram.
• Estimate the resources required for activities.

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 • Estimate the duration for an activity.
• Determine the earliest start and finish times for activities.
• Determine the latest start and finish times for activities.
• Explain and determine total slack.
• Prepare a project schedule.
• Identify and explain the critical path.
• Discuss the project control process.
• Develop updated schedules based on actual progress and changes.
• Discuss and apply approaches to control the project schedule.
• Explain agile project management.
• Create a network diagram that takes resource constraints into account.
• Prepare a resource requirement plan.
• Explain resource levelling.
• Discuss resource limited scheduling.
• Estimate the cost of activities.
• Aggregate the total budgeted cost.
• Develop a time-phased baseline budget.
• Describe how to accumulate actual costs.
• Determine the earned value of work performed.
• Calculate and analyse key project performance measures.
• Discuss and apply approaches to control the project budget.
• Explain the importance of managing cash flow.

• Are you ready for study unit 4?

Study Unit 3: Answers To Exercises

1. Explain how you would go about writing a project scope document. Why is it
important to clearly define the project scope?

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 A project scope document includes sections for the customer requirements, statement
of work, project deliverables, acceptance criteria and work breakdown structure. The
contents of these sections include many items contained in a project charter, RFP, or
contractor's proposal in greater detail.

It is important to define the project scope clearly to establish a common understanding

among project stakeholders regarding what needs to be done to produce all the
deliverables for the project.

2. Under what circumstances would you use laddering in a network diagram?

Laddering should be used when a project has a set of activities that are repeated several
times and appropriate resources are available to handle tasks concurrently. Specific
examples will vary. Responses should contain a set of activities that are repeated and
that have adequate resources to do the tasks concurrently.

3. Work through the appendix on p.139 of Gido, Clements & Harinarain (2018) and begin
building the Consumer Market Study Project in Microsoft Project.

Appendix: Microsoft Project

Microsoft Project is the most widely used project management software system in the
business environment today. It is powerful, easy to use, and available at a very
reasonable price. A trial version of the Microsoft project is available on the Microsoft
website.

The Gantt Chart View and the Task ribbon are the default view when Microsoft Project
is first opened. Other views are chosen by clicking on the arrow in the View group on
the Task ribbon and selecting the name from the drop-down list.

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 This first appendix has the students enter the work breakdown structure in a
hierarchical indentured list format, determine predecessors for tasks, assign
responsibility for each activity, and create the network diagram.

Figure 4A.1, Project Properties, depicts entering information

about the project file in the Project Information Project
Properties window. Entering information about the project is important to
communicate to project members and to others in the organisation the name of who is
responsible for the project file.

Figure 4A.2, Project Information, depicts the entry of the

start date for the project. Students have to decide if they
want to schedule from the project start date or from the project finish date. If they
schedule from the project start date and the calculated finish date is earlier than the
project due date, the project has slack or float. If they schedule from the finish date and
start on the calculated start date, there is no time in the schedule for any delays. If the
project is delayed, other tasks have to be fast-tracked in order to finish by the project
finish date.

Figure 4A.3, Project Summary Task, depicts the summary

information about the project. Check the box next to
Project Summary Task in the Show/Hide group on the Format ribbon for Gantt Chart
Tools. The project summary task is assigned a 0 as its task identification number.

Figure 4A.4, Work Package, and Activity Entry depicts the entry
of the work breakdown structure work items and work
packages. The work packages are the activities that start with
a verb. The summary tasks all start with a verb. The project
title is entered on the first task line to help students see the summary information.
Project 2013 has the capability to hide and view the summary tasks and the project title.

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 If the project summary is used to enter the title, the project title would be entered as
task 0 and not have to be entered as task 1. This is more advanced than the presentation
in the text for the introduction lessons for using Microsoft Project. For more advanced
students, it will be beneficial to know this feature that is on the Gantt Chart Tools
Format ribbon in the Show/Hide group. A check in the box next to Summary Tasks shows
the summary tasks and a check in the box next to Project Summary Task shows the
project title entered in the Project Properties window (Figure 4.1) as task 0 and next to
the project title.

Figure 4A.5 depicts the entry of the predecessor data. The

predecessor data is determined by following the network
diagram presented in the chapter for the Consumer market
study. Remember that the task number entered in the Predecessor column is the task
number for the line where the task is listed in Microsoft Project and not the task number
as shown on the network diagram.

Figure 4A.6 depicts the entry of the resources on the Gantt

Chart View in the Resources column. Resources can be
entered on the Resource Sheet and then selected from a drop-
down menu in the cells for the Resource column on the Gantt
Chart View. The entry of work resources after the first entry may trigger Microsoft
Project to ask whether the task should be shortened or there is more work. This change
is not triggered after the entry of fixed-duration tasks in the next chapters, because the
task requires a set amount of time and the resource is being assigned for only a part of
the total time for the task.

Figure 4A.7, Network Diagram, depicts a portion of the

network diagram generated by the entry of the tasks,
predecessors and resources. At this time, the task
durations have not been added, so they are not

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 reflected in the start and finish times shown in the activity boxes in the network
diagram. The duration of the tasks does not change the sizes of the boxes in the network
diagram. Only the length of the bars in the Gantt chart change to show the length of the
tasks. The dates in the network diagram will change.

Figure 4A.8, Set Baseline for Project, depicts how to set a

baseline for the project. This is shown in this section to have
students develop the habit of setting a baseline to examine
changes to the project after planning is complete. A
comparison of the project's actual performance to the planned performance that is
saved in the baseline shows how the project has changed and reveals where it may have
problems that need to be addressed.

4. Why should a project have a regular reporting period?

The team should establish a regular reporting period so team members can compare
actual progress to planned progress and deal with any discrepancies as early as possible.

5. The Microsoft project you started in Question 3.3 will now be completed further.
Work through appendix 2 on p.205 of Gido, Clements & Harinarain (2018) and work
further on the Consumer Market Study example.

Appendix 2: Microsoft Project

The Appendix in this chapter introduces Microsoft Project. Students must produce
displays that are shown in the chapter.

Figure 5A.1 depicts the duration data for the project. The time can
be entered in as m for minutes, h for hours, d for days, w for weeks,
or mon for months. The duration time needs to be to the level that
the project task can be monitored and controlled. The default time duration is days. The

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 project title in the first row serves as a summary of the total time necessary for the
project.

Figure 5A.2 depicts the schedule table for the project. Microsoft
Project automatically calculates the ES, EF, LS, and LF for the
project. Other tables are available on the Tables menu. Students
must explore the different types of tables. The information presented in the tables and
the choices of table types are dependent upon the view prior to choosing the table.

Figure 5A.3 depicts the Gantt chart with the highlighted critical
path in red. The highlighting of the critical path is important to help
show the tasks that, if delayed, would delay the completion of the
project.

Figure 5A.4 depicts the critical task report that shows information
about each of the tasks on the critical path. This is a valuable report
for communication with the project team about the tasks on the
critical path. Reports are now accessed on the Reports ribbon. Use the menu on the
Report ribbon to select the type of report necessary to display the summary information
about the project. Students must examine the different reports that can be generated.

Figure 5A.5 depicts the change in the schedule of the ‘Mail

questionnaire & get responses’ task from 65 days to 55 days. This
change was made to reduce the project duration. The total time for the project was 138
days. The reduction of time for the task from 65 to 55 days reduces the total time to
128 days.

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 Figure 5A.6 depicts the input screen within the General tab in the
Task Information window. The General tab is used to record the
task progress. Entering information about the actual performance
of the tasks permits other analysis to be done on the schedule and costs.

Figure 5A.7 depicts the insertion of a new manually scheduled

activity. In some projects, the project team defines a new task that
needs to be completed for the project. The new task is entered by
clicking on the task name for the row of the task that will be below the new task.
Microsoft Project will automatically adjust the task numbers and the predecessor
numbers.

Figure 5A.8 depicts the updated predecessors on the task list after
adding a new task. Note that Microsoft Project has automatically
adjusted the task numbers and the predecessor numbers.

Figure 5A.9 depicts the tracking table. The tracking table shows
how the project is progressing relative to the baseline that was set.
If the baseline was not set, then Microsoft Project will not have
anything to compare for the tracking table calculations. The percentages display the
amount of completion for the tasks and the summary tasks.

Figure 5A.10 depicts the tracking Gantt. Each of the bars has two
bars. One is for the baseline plan. The other is for the actual
progress of the project. This report shows the effects of changes to
the project for tasks that are completed early, late or on time.

Figure 5A.11 depicts the variance table. The variance table shows
the start and finish of each activity and summary task, the baseline

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 start and finish, and the variance of the start and finish. This variance table evaluates
the impact on project completion of changes in the task start dates.

6. When developing a schedule, why is it important to consider resources?

Resources need to be considered when developing a schedule because if sufficient

resources are not available, some activities may have to be rescheduled for a later time
when resources are available.

7. How does resource levelling keep a project on schedule?

Resource levelling keeps the project on schedule because activities are delayed only to
the point where all their positive slack is used up, since any further delays would cause
the project to extend beyond the project due date.

8. The Microsoft project you started in Question 3.3 will now be completed further.
Work through the appendix on p.234 of Gido, Clements & Harinarain (2018) and work
further on the Consumer Market Study example.

Appendix: Microsoft Project

The Appendix in this chapter continues discussing Microsoft Project. Students must
produce the displays that are shown in the chapter. In Chapter 5, two files were saved.
They should use the file they saved (without the actual finish times) to continue the
planning. Examination for over-allocation and resource levelling should occur in the
planning phase. Based on changes that occur through the project, there may be times
that the project manager will need to address future over-allocations that result from
the changes.

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 Figure 6A.1 depicts the resource sheet for the
consumer market study project. The
Resource sheet allows you to enter
information about your resources, including specific work calendars for each. Human
resources are entered as Work resources. Other types of resources are entered as
Material or Cost resources. The Type column of the Resource sheet shows the type of
resource as Work, Material or Cost.

Add material and cost resources by entering the name in the Resource name column.
Select the type as material or cost in the Type column by clicking on the down arrow in
the Type column for the entry. The ‘Consumer market study’ requires two material
resources and one cost resource, in addition to the four work resources.

Figure 6A.2 depicts adding Notes for a resource to

provide additional information. Notes are helpful
for keeping track of something that is not common
in the project, for adding a needed reminder to a special case, and for recording lessons
learned.

Figure 6A.3 depicts adding a resource to a task. If work resources

are added to a task and the task is not set to fixed duration,
Microsoft Project will cue you to say whether the task length
should be shortened in duration with the addition of the new work resource on the task.
The name of the assigned resource will show in the Resource name column. The number
of units for material resources and the cost for cost resources is shown in brackets after
the name of the material or cost resource in the Resource name column. These can be
edited in the Task information window.

Figure 6A.4 depicts the assignment of work times to fixed-

duration tasks. Summary tasks automatically change to fixed

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 duration. Activities need to be changed if the amount of work will not extend for the
entire duration of time, for example, installing concrete in a construction project. The
installation may take a day and the drying may have to take a week. The activity needs
to be scheduled for the installation and the drying time, but the work resource is
assigned only during the installation. In the consumer market study, Steve has to wait
for responses to be collected in the ‘Mail questionnaire & get responses’ activity.

Changing a task from Effort driven to not effort driven allows for the entry of work time
that does not equal the duration of the task. Making the change on the Task usage sheet
lets the system make the change for the specific resource within the task. This is a finer
detail than if the work time is changed on the Gantt chart entry view.

Figure 6.A.5 depicts the Task usage sheet. Microsoft

Project schedules a fraction of the work time for each day
for a work resource. On the Task usage sheet, the number
of hours scheduled each day can be changed and the other fraction of time removed.
The Work column will show the total time for the project that a resource is assigned to
the task. The Resource usage sheet will show summaries for the resources and the time
for each task.

Figure 6A.6 depicts the Over allocated resources report. In the

consumer market study project, Steve is over-allocated. The
report shows only the over allocations in the project. The project
manager and the team must decide what action to take to manage the over-allocation,
whether to satisfy the over-allocation manually or automatically or to ignore it.

Figure 6A.7 depicts the Team planner view of over-

allocated resources. The Team planner shows the details
of the over-allocation to help with planning on how best to address the over allocation.

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 Figure 6A.8 depicts the Resource levelling screen in
Microsoft Project. Shown here is an automatic
technique for levelling the resource. Explore the
different levelling options by clicking on the Resource levelling and then clearing the
levelling and examining the next technique and its outcomes.

Figure 6A.9 depicts the change for Steve after

the resource levelling has been completed. The
task for Steve shifted to March 2. The shift occurs
within the slack of the project. If there is no slack, the project time will be extended,
causing the project to go overtime.

Figure 6A.10 depicts the Resource usage report. This report summarises
the work done by each resource for each task by week. The total working
time for each resource is shown at the top of each week's cell for each
resource. This report is helpful for communicating with other project managers who
may be using these same resources; it can help reduce conflicts from over-allocating
shared resources.

Figure 6A.11 depicts the Resource usage sheet. The Resource

usage sheet displays an overview per day of the total amount
of work assigned to a work resource and the number of units
assigned to a material resource. Project managers use the resource usage sheet to help
determine the assignments for the resources for the project.

9. Why is it important to develop a baseline budget for a project?

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 It is necessary to prepare a budget, or plan, for how and when funds will be spent over
the duration of the project to ensure that everything is within budget.

10. Define the following: TBC, CBC, CAC, CEV, CPI, CV, FCAC, and TCPI. How is each
calculated?

• TBC: total budgeted cost

a) top-down = a portion of the total project cost is allocated to each work package.
b) bottom-up = the sum of the costs of all the activities that make up that work
package.
• CBC: cumulative budgeted cost = the amount budgeted to achieve the work
scheduled to be performed up to that point in time.
• CAC: cumulative actual cost = the amount actually spent to achieve the work
scheduled to be performed up to that point in time.
• CEV: cumulative earned value = % complete X TBC (for the work package)
• CPI: cost performance index = CEV/CAC
• CV: cost variance = CEV – CAC
• FCAC: forecasted cost at completion

a) FCAC = TBC/CPI
b) FCAC = CAC + (TBC – CEV)
c) FCAC = CAC + Re-estimate of remaining work to do
• TCPI: to-complete performance index = (TBC – CEV)/(TBC – CAC)

11. Continue with the Microsoft project you started in Question 3.3. Work through
appendix 2 on p.276 of Gido, Clements & Harinarain (2018) and complete the work on
the Consumer Market Study example.

Appendix 2: Microsoft Project

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 The Appendix in this chapter continues discussing Microsoft Project. Students must
produce the displays that are shown in the chapter. The images and text give direction
on how to enter costs for resources, produce cost reports, and examine cash flow and
earned value.

Figure 7A.1 depicts the Resource sheet with

work and material rates. Material and work
resource rates are entered on the Resource
sheet. Cost resource names can be entered in the Resource sheet. The cost associated
with a cost resource is added in the Task information window for the specific task.
Resources are assigned either in the entry table or in the Task information window.

Figure 7A.2 depicts the Cost resource entry for the task.
The cost of a cost resource is entered as a cost on the
Resource tab in the Task information window. To open
the Task information window, double-click on the task's name in the Task name column
and click on the Resource tab. Choose the name of the cost resource using the drop-
down arrow in the Resource name column for the next open row of Resources. There is
no entry for a cost resource in the Unit column. Only the amount of the cost is entered
in the Cost column.

Figure 7A.3 depicts the Work overview report. The reports in Microsoft
Project 2013 are in the Reports ribbon. If the task resource information is
updated, then this report will show the actual versus baseline for work
resources. The Work overview report provides a quick report for stakeholders about the
key performance information for the project.

Figure 7A.4 depicts the Cash flow report. During the planning phase,
the cash flow report communicates the amount expected to be
expended during each week of the project. The cash flow report

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 helps inform the plan for payments from the sponsor. The dates printed in the report
can be selected on the print menu to communicate costs to the stakeholders.

Figure 7A.5 depicts the Visual cash flow report, displayed in

Microsoft Excel. You can set visual cash flow reports to display
quarters, weeks or days by clicking on the plus or minus next to the
data label on the data worksheet in Microsoft Excel. The chart is linked to the data
worksheet and will adjust the display. The histogram bars depict the periodic amount
of expenses. The line depicts the cumulative budgeted cost for the project.

Figure 7A.6 depicts the tracking Gantt to display actual finish

dates. The tracking Gantt chart has two bars for each task.
One bar depicts the planned time duration for the task. The
second bar depicts the actual time duration for the task that has been recorded for the
task. As the project moves forward and the project manager enters actual information
for each task, the tracking Gantt chart displays the project progress as the graphical
comparison display.

Figure 7A.7 depicts the Task cost overview report. The budget report
displays the total cost, baseline cost, and variance for each activity. Be
sure to save the project baseline when planning is complete in order to
populate a report like the budget report and track the actual costs versus the planned
costs. As with other reports, you can select the number of pages and the dates for the
report on the print menu for the budget report.

Figure 7A.8 depicts the Cost variance table for tasks. This cost
table is one of the table views available in Microsoft Project.
Entry, Schedule, and cost are table types. If you view the Resource sheet and choose the
cost table view, you can see the costs for the resources by resource. To make sure that
you view the costs for the tasks, be sure to have the Gantt chart entry table visible

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 before choosing to view the cost table. The Tracking Gantt is visible in the Gantt chart
window by selecting Tracking Gantt in the Task views group.

Figure 7A.9 depicts the Cost variance table for Resources. To

view the costs for resources, first view the Resources sheet in
the Resource views group. Choose the Cost table view in the
Data group on the View ribbon. As with viewing the cost of the tasks, the baseline for
the project must have been created for the comparison to be made to the actual
progress of the project. If tasks finish early, the variance will indicate that the project is
operating under budget.

Figure 7A.10 depicts the Change in status date. To calculate

the earned value of a project, the status date must be set to
the current or a prior date. If you are practising with the
project, be sure to change the Current date setting to a date equal to or after the desired
status before setting the status date for the project.

Figure 7A.11 depicts the Earned value table. The table

depicts the budgeted cost of work scheduled, earned
value of work performed, actual cost of work performed,
budgeted cost at completion, estimated cost at completion, and any variances. Tracking
actual progress and setting the baseline are required to populate this table. Like the
Cost, Schedule, and Entry tables, the Earned value table is another view in the Data
group on the View ribbon.

Figure 7A.12 depicts the Visual reports – create report

window to indicate the choices for creating the Earned
value visual report. Visual reports are generated and open in Microsoft Excel and
Microsoft Visio. The icon next to the name indicates whether the report will open in
Excel or Visio.

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 Figure 7A.13 depicts the Visual earned value overtime report,
Displayed in Microsoft Excel. The graph displays the earned value,
the planned value, and the actual costs for the project. Setting a
baseline and entering the project progress is necessary to provide the data to generate
this report.

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Study Unit 4: Managing Risk and Closing the Project

Managing risk
One attribute of a project is that it involves a degree of uncertainty. Such uncertainty can
impact the outcome of a project. Risk is an uncertain event that, if it occurs, can jeopardise
achieving the project objective. Risk management involves identifying, assessing, and
responding to project risks in order to minimise the likelihood of occurrence and/or potential
impact of adverse events on the achievement of the project objective. Addressing risks
proactively will increase the chances of achieving the project objective. Waiting for
unfavourable events to occur and then reacting to them can result in panic and costly
responses. Managing risk includes taking action to prevent or minimise the likelihood of
occurrence or the impact of such unfavourable events.

Some level of risk planning should be done during the initiating phase of the project life cycle
to make sure, for example, that a contractor understands the risks involved with bidding on
a proposed project. With knowledge of potential risks, the contractor can include contingency
or management reserve amounts in the bid price. On the other hand, if the risks seem too
great, the contractor may decide not to bid on a proposed project. Subsequently, more
detailed risk planning should be done during the planning phase of a project.

A project manager cannot be risk-averse. A project manager must accept that risk is a part of
project management and has to address it head-on. Furthermore, the project manager needs
to set the tone for encouraging open and timely discussion of risks among the project team.

Closing the project

After the project work is completed and all the deliverables are accepted by the customer,
the performing phase of the project is ended. The project then moves into the fourth and final
phase of the project life cycle – closing the project.

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Study Unit 4: Relevance

Managing risk:
Would you buy a T-shirt that said, ‘Risk Happens’?

If you answered yes, then you’re thinking like a project manager. Risk is part of your planning
make-up. When you start the planning process for a project, one of the first things you think
about is: what can go wrong?

It sounds negative, but it’s not. It’s preventative. Because issues will inevitably come up, and
you need a mitigation strategy in place to know how to manage risks on your project.

But how do you work towards resolving the unknown? It sounds like a philosophical paradox,
but it’s not. It’s very practical. There are many ways you can get a glimpse at potential risks,
so you can identify and track risks on your project.

Closing the project:

Many seem to think that project closure is not an important process in project management,
but that’s not true. Closing a project is as important as other processes in project
management. Until and unless your project has been closed with the planned procedures, it
officially provides no value to the organisation.

Study Unit 4: Module Outcomes

After completing this module student must be able to:

• Identify, implement and manage advanced project management concepts
• Analyse, interpret, evaluate and apply principles and processes that are necessary for
the systematic implementation of projects
• Identify and solve problems, make the right decisions, apply critical and creative
thinking when dealing with issues relating to project management

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Study Unit 4: Specific Unit Outcomes

After completing this study unit, you should be able to:

Section 1: Managing Risk

• Discuss what is involved in managing risks
• Identify and categorise risks
• Assess and prioritise risks
• Prepare a risk response plan
• Develop a risk assessment matrix
• Control risks

Section 2: Closing the Project

• Identify actions that should be taken during the process of closing a project
• Conduct a post-project evaluation
• Discuss the value and use of lessons learnt
• Explaining the importance of organising and archiving project documents
• Obtain customer feedback about the project
• Describe situations that could result in early project termination

Study Unit 4: Assessment Criteria

Section 1: Managing Risk

• The risk management process is discussed using a practical example.
• Risk is correctly identified in the project context
• Risk is accurately assessed and quantified using the risk assessment matrix
• The appropriate risk responses are generated.
• Deviations are correctly identified and evaluated during the control process and
corrective action is correctly identified

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• Risk within a project is correctly classified into the following categories:

o Technical
o Schedule
o Cost
o Human resources
o External and
o Sponsor/ customer

• The likelihood and impact of risk are accurately determined using a risk assessment
matrix.
• Appropriately prioritise risk on a scale from most likely to less likely
• Evaluate and identify the correct risk response with valid reasons from the following
options:

o Avoid the risk

o Mitigate the risk
o Accept the risk

• Responsibility for the implementation of each response is appropriately assigned to a

person who will action it.
• The risk assessment matrix must be correctly drawn and used to quantify risk using a
practical example.
• Clearly explain how risk responses are implemented when their trigger point is reached.
• Clearly explain how the monitoring process unfolds and how the risk matrix changes
along the way.
• Adequately evaluate the need for meetings during the control process.

Section 2: Closing the Project

• Correctly identify the actions performed during the closing of a project as follows:

o Collecting and making the final payment

o Recognising and evaluating staff
o Conducting a post-project evaluation
o Documenting lessons learnt

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 o Organising and archiving project documents

• Correctly detail the procedure for conducting the post-project evaluation meeting.
• Accurately select the criteria for the evaluation
• The value of the lessons learnt exercise is discussed using practical project examples
• The importance of organising and archiving project documents is correctly explained.
• Design a filing system
• The provision of project benefits to the customer is objectively assessed
• The level of customer satisfaction is correctly assessed.
• The feedback that will be helpful for future business relationships is exhaustively
identified.
• The various circumstances that could lead to early project termination are described
fully and applied to a practical scenario.

Study Unit 4: Content

3.

Section 1: Managing Risk

This section covers Chapter 8 of Gido, Clements & Harinarain (2018).

What is risk management on projects?

Project risk management is the process of identifying, analysing and then responding to any
risk that arises over the life cycle of a project to help the project remain on track and meet its
goal. Risk management isn’t reactive only; it should be part of the planning process to figure
out the risk that might happen in the project and how to control that risk if it in fact occurs.

A risk is anything that could potentially impact your project’s timeline, performance or
budget. Risks are potentialities, and in a project management context, if they become

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realities, they then become classified as ‘issues’ that must be addressed. Risk management,
therefore, is the process of identifying, categorising, prioritising and planning for risks before
they become issues.

Risk management can mean different things on different types of projects. On large-scale
projects, risk management strategies might include extensive detailed planning for each risk
to ensure mitigation strategies are in place if issues arise. For smaller projects, risk
management might mean a simple, prioritised list of high, medium and low priority risks.

3.1. How To Manage Risk

To manage risks effectively, it is crucial to start with a clear and precise definition of what
your project has been tasked to deliver. In other words, write a very detailed project charter,
with your project vision, objectives, scope and deliverables. This way risks can be identified
at every stage of the project. Then you’ll want to engage your team early in identifying any
and all risks.

And if you are not working in an organisation with a clear risk management strategy in place?
Then you have to talk openly to your boss or project sponsor about risk. You, as the project
manager want them to be aware of what risks are lurking in the shadows of the project. Never
keep this information to yourself, you’ll just be avoiding a problem that is sure to come up
later.

And with every risk you define, you’ll want to put that in your risk tracking template and begin
to prioritise the level of risk. Then create a risk management plan to capture the negative and
positive impact on the project and what actions you will use to deal with them. You’ll want to
set up regular meetings to monitor risk while your project is ongoing. It’s also good to keep
communication with your team ongoing throughout the project. Transparency is critical so
everyone knows what to be on the lookout for during the project itself.

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Of course, not all risks are negative. Positive risks can be a boon for your project, and will
likely be managed differently than your typical negative risk.

3.2. What Is Positive Risk?

Not all risk is created equally. As mentioned, risk can be either positive or negative, though
most people assume risks are inherently the latter. Where negative risk implies something
unwanted that has the potential to irreparably damage a project, positive risks are
opportunities that can affect the project in beneficial ways.

Negative risks are part of your risk management plan, just as the positive risk should be, but
the difference is in approach. You manage and account for known negative risks to neuter
their impact, but positive risks can also be managed to take full advantage of them.

There are many examples of positive risks in projects: you could complete the project early;
you could acquire more customers than you accounted for; you could imagine how a delay in
shipping might open up a potential window for better marketing opportunities, etc. It is
important to note, though, that these definitions are not etched in stone. Positive risk can
quickly turn to the negative risk and vice versa, so you must be sure to plan for all eventualities
with your team.

3.3. How To Respond To Positive Risk

Like everything else on a project, you are going to want to strategise and have the
mechanisms in place to reap the rewards that may be seeded in positive risk.
• The first thing you’ll want to know is if the risk is something you can exploit. That means
figuring out ways to increase the likelihood of that risk occurring.
• Next, you may want to share the risk. Sometimes you alone are not equipped to take
full advantage of the risk, and by involving others you increase the opportunity of
yielding the most positive outcome from the risk.

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• Finally, there may be nothing to do at all, and that’s exactly what you should do.
Nothing. You can apply this to negative risk as well, for not doing something is
sometimes the best thing you can do when confronted with a specific risk in the context
of your project.

We have all been conditioned to think of risks as negative, but the risk is a way to safeguard
yourself by preparing for the possibility of failure or danger. If you have prepared for risk,
understand its potential to both serve and derail your project, then risk can help you widen
the aperture and see things that may have beforehand been invisible.

3.4. Steps In The Risk Management Process

So, how do you handle something as seemingly elusive as project risk management? The same
way you do anything when managing a project. You make a risk management plan. It’s all
about the process.

The process can make the unmanageable manageable. You can take what looks like a
disadvantage and turn it into an advantage if you follow these steps.

3.4.1. Identify the risk

You can’t resolve a risk if you don’t know what it is. There are many ways to identify
risk. As you do go through this step, you’ll want to collect the data in a risk register.

One way is brainstorming or even brainwriting, which is a more structured way to get a
group to look at a problem.

As mentioned earlier, you can tap your resources. That can be your team, colleagues or
stakeholders. Find those individuals with relevant experience and set up interviews so
you can gather the information you’ll need to both identify and resolve.

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 Look both forward and backward. That is, imagine the project in progress. Think of the
many things that can go wrong. Note them. Do the same with historical data on past
projects. Now your list of potential risks has grown.

As you’re identifying risk, you’ll want to make sure you that your risk register isn’t filling
up with risks that are really outliers and not risks at all. Make sure the risks are rooted
in the cause of a problem. Basically, drill down to the root cause to see if the risk is one
that will have the kind of impact on your project that needs identifying.

When trying to minimise risk, it’s good to trust your intuition. This can point you to
unlikely scenarios that you just assume couldn’t happen. Remember, don’t be
overconfident. Use the process to weed out risks from non-risks.

3.4.2. Analyse the risk

Okay, you’ve got a lot of potential risks listed in your risk register, but what are you
going to do with them? The next step is to determine how likely each of those risks is to
happen. This information should also go into your risk register.

When you assess project risk you can ultimately and proactively address many impacts,
such as avoiding potential litigation, addressing regulatory issues, complying with new
legislation, reducing your exposure and minimising impact.
So, how do you analyse risk in your project? Through qualitative and quantitative risk
analysis, of course. What does that mean? It means you determine the risk factor by
how it impacts your project across a variety of metrics.

Those rules you apply are how the risk influences your activity resources, duration and
cost estimates. Another aspect of your project to think about is how the risk is going to
impact your schedule and budget. Then there are the project quality and procurements.
These points must be considered to understand the full effect of risk on your project.

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 3.4.3. Prioritise the risk
Not all risks are created equally. You need to evaluate the risk to know what resources
you’re going to assemble towards resolving it when and if it occurs. Some risks are going
to be acceptable. You would grind the project to a halt and possibly not even be able to
finish it without first prioritising the risks.

Having a large list of risks can be daunting. But you can manage this by simply
categorising risks as high, medium or low. Now there’s a horizon line and you can see
the risk in context. With this perspective, you can begin to plan for how and when you’ll
address these risks.

Some risks are going to require immediate attention. These are the risks that can derail
your project. Failure isn’t an option. Other risks are important, but perhaps not
threatening the success of your project. You can act accordingly.

Then there are those risks that have little to no impact on the overall project’s schedule
and budget. Some of these low-priority risks might be important, but not enough to
waste time on. They can be somewhat ignored because sometimes you just should let
stuff go.

3.4.4. Assign an owner to the risk

All your hard work identifying and evaluating risk is for naught if you don’t assign
someone to oversee the risk. In fact, this is something that you should do when listing
the risks. Who is the person who is responsible for that risk, identifying it when and if it
should occur and then leading the work towards resolving it?

That determination is up to you. There might be a team member who is more skilled or
experienced in the risk. Then that person should lead the charge to resolve it. Or it might

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 just be an arbitrary choice. Of course, it’s better to assign the task to the right person,
but equally important in making sure that every risk has a person responsible for it.

Think about it. If you don’t give each risk a person tasked with watching out for it and
then dealing with resolving it when and if it should arise, you’re opening yourself up to
more risk. It’s one thing to identify risk, but if you don’t manage it then you’re not
protecting the project.

3.4.5. Respond to the risk

Now the rubber hits the road. You’ve found a risk. All that planning you’ve done is going
to get implicated. First, you need to know if this is a positive or negative risk. Is it
something you could exploit for the betterment of the project?
For each major risk identified, you create a plan to mitigate it. You develop a strategy,
some preventative or contingency plan. You then act on the risk by how you prioritised
it. You have communications with the risk owner and, together, decide on which of the
plans you created to implement to resolve the risk.

3.4.6. Monitor the risk

You can’t just set forces against risk without tracking the progress of that initiative.
That’s where the monitoring comes in. Whoever owns the risk will be responsible for
tracking its progress towards resolution. But you will need to stay updated to have an
accurate picture of the project’s overall progress to identify and monitor new risks.

You’ll want to set up a series of meetings to manage the risks. Make sure you’ve already
decided on the means of communication to do this. It’s best to have various channels
dedicated to communication.

You can have face-to-face meetings, but some updates might be best delivered by email
or text or through a project management software tool. They might even be able to
automate some, keeping the focus on the work.

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 Whatever you choose to do, remember: always be transparent. It’s best if everyone in
the project knows what is going on, so they know what to be on the lookout for and
help manage the process.

Section 2: Closing the Project

This section covers Chapter 9 of Gido, Clements & Harinarain (2018).

So much time and effort are put into the planning of a project, it is often forgotten that the
end of a project is equally important. There’s a lot of work involved even once a project is
technically complete.

For example, there are many tasks that you still must complete. They might be procedural,
but that doesn’t make them any less important. There are approvals, signatures, payments,
all of which might seem like pushing paperwork to you, but tell that to the team member
waiting to get paid.

Not to mention, when you are ending one project, you’re likely beginning another. Therefore,
you want to get transition support for this changeover. You’ll have to release resources,
archive documents and don’t forget to acknowledge the project's success with a party or
some type of celebration. That’s important, too.

3.5. STEPS TO CLOSING A PROJECT

The close of the project is the final phase of your job, it’s the last turn of the project life cycle,
and like any other aspect of a project, it requires a process. The following are five steps you
should take to make sure you’ve dotted all the I’s and crossed all the T’s, as well as taken full
advantage of the experience.

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 3.5.1. Arrange a post mortem
Managing a project isn’t only about tasks and resources, budget and deadlines, it’s an
experience you can constantly learn from. While you should have been learning
throughout the project, now is a great time to look back without the pressure and
distractions that might have dulled your focus.

Gather the core team to invite feedback about what worked and what didn’t. Encourage
honesty. By documenting the mistakes and the successes of the project, you’re building
a catalogue that offers historic data. You can go back and look over the information for
precedents when planning for new projects. Projects are never standalone things, but
part of a continuum, where the specifics might vary, but the general methods usually
remain the same. There’s a wealth of knowledge produced after any project closes.

3.5.2. Complete paperwork

As noted, projects generate reams of documents. These documents are going to have
to get sign off and approval from stakeholders. Everything needs attention and must be
signed for, which is the legal proof that in fact, these documents have concluded. That
includes closing all contracts you might have made with internal partners or vendors or
any other resources you contracted with.

This includes addressing all outstanding payments. You want to make sure that all
invoices, commissions, fees, bonuses, etc., are paid. Complete all the costs involved
with the project. It’s not done if it’s not paid for.

3.5.3. Release resources

You assemble a team for the project, and now you must cut them loose. It’s a formal
process, and a crucial one, which frees them for the next project. Each team is brought
together for the mix of skills and experience they bring to a project. The project
determines the team members you’ll want to work with, and each project is going to be
a little bit different, which will be reflected in the team hired to execute it.

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 This is true for internal as well as external resources. The external ones might be more
obvious, as you contracted with them, and that contract is going to have a duration.
When it’s over, make sure they’re all paid in full so they can sign off and leave. But
internal resources remain, so you have to remind yourself that their time on the project
is also limited, and you might be blocking other team’s projects if you don’t release your
resources once the project is done.

3.5.4. Archive documents

There are lessons to be learned from old projects, which is why you meet with your
team regularly during the project and look back on the process afterwards. However, if
you don’t have an archive in which to pull the old records, then whatever knowledge
you gain is lost because of poor organisation and management. You worked hard to
have great project documentation, don’t lose it.

Before you close a project, archive all the documents and any notes and data that could
prove useful. Even if you never access it, there’s a need to keep a paper trail of the work
done on any project for other people in the organisation. This might include legal teams,
or HR teams, or even your successor. You never know when someone might have to go
back and respond to a question or want to learn how an old issue was resolved. Consider
it like putting away provisions for the winter.

3.5.5. Celebrate success

If it sounds silly to you, then you’re not doing your job. There’s nothing silly about
rewarding your team to acknowledge a job well done. It creates a closure, which is what
this part of the project is all about, but it also plants a seed that will bloom in later
projects when you work with members of the old team.

That’s because when you note a job well done, you’re building morale. It makes team
members feel better. You might have been a hard taskmaster in the project, but you

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 give them their due for a job well done. That creates loyalty, and they’re going to work
even harder for you the next time. And there will be the next time because a happy
team is a team that you retain. Why would you want to close a project and lose the very
resources that made it a success? Loosen up!

3.6. Project Closure Checklist

To make sure that every i is dotted and t crossed, follow this step-by-step project closure
checklist.
• Start at the beginning with the project scope document you created and make sure that
you’ve met all the requirements listed there.
• Make sure that all deliverables have been handed off and signed by stakeholders,
getting their approval and satisfaction.
• Other project documents must also be signed by the appropriate person, this includes
any outstanding contracts and agreements with vendors and other contractors.
• Once documents are signed off on, then process them and pay off all invoices and close
out any project-related contracts.
• Add all documents together, including finalising all project reports, then organise and
archive them as historical data to be used for future reference.
• Use collected paperwork to identify and document the lessons learned over the course
of the project, including any feedback from stakeholders, so you don’t make the same
mistakes in future projects.
• Assign a transition support person to shepherd the project after completion so that the
project closure is thorough.
• Release or reassign the project resources, which includes your team and other project
personnel and any equipment or site rentals used for the project.
• If you’ve not used project management software program, get one, as it helps control
not only the life cycle of the project but also the process of closing the project
thoroughly.

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• Finally, but perhaps most importantly, celebrate with your project team. They did the
work and deserve credit and an opportunity to blow off steam until the next project is
started.

3.7. Why Ending A Project Properly Makes Your Next Project Better?

Once you’ve closed out the project, you now have the documentation to share and talk about
with your team. You also get an opportunity to hear from the team in a more intimate and
casual way that allows them to express their opinions on the management of the project.

All this information might not be used later, but it’s all useful in that it provides perspective
and gives everyone involved a more rounded view of the project mechanics. Taking the time
to have a post-mortem after the project closure is complete, puts you and your team in a
position to start the next project from a more informed place.

Study Unit 4: Revision Exercises

1. At what stage of the project would you start managing risk?

2. Do you believe a risk assessment matrix can assist in managing risk? If so, how?
3. What types of risk for a project should be give the highest priority? Does the priority for
a risk change as the project progresses?
4. As the project progresses, how does the project risk change? Would you make any
changes to the risk assessment matrix? If so, what changes would you make?
5. As part of closing a project, which activities would you perform and why?
6. How would you obtain feedback from a customer after a project has been completed?
How would you use this information?
7. Explain the reasons as to why some projects are terminated before they are completed.
When do you think it would be wise to do so?

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Study Unit 4: Progress Check

You have come to the end of Study Unit 4.

Time to do a progress check to determine whether you have gone through all the required
content and completed all the exercises.

Your Progress Checklist:

Progress checklist YES / NO?

Did you read through each study unit outcome?

Did you go through all the learning material?

Did you complete all the relevant revision exercises and check your answers
against the answers provided?

At this point, you should be able to:

• Discuss what is involved in managing risks.

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 • Identify and categorise risks.
• Assess and prioritise risks.
• Prepare a risk response plan.
• Develop a risk assessment matrix.
• Control risks.
• Identify actions that should be taken during the process of closing a
project.
• Conduct a post-project evaluation.
• Discuss the value and use of lessons learnt.
• Explaining the importance of organising and archiving project
documents.
• Obtain customer feedback about the project.
• Describe situations that could result in early project termination.

Are you ready to tackle Study Unit 5?

Study Unit 4: Answers to exercises

1. At what stage of the project would you start managing risk?

Identification and assessment of risk occur throughout the project. Project team
meetings are good times to review risks and the risk management plan.

2. Do you believe a risk assessment matrix can assist in managing risk? If so, how?
The risk assessment matrix helps the process by organising the identified risks and
assessing the risks' impact, likelihood, degree of impact, the action trigger for the risk,
who is responsible, and the response plan.

3. What types of risk for a project should be given the highest priority? Does the priority
for a risk change as the project progresses?
Risks that have the highest priority are those on the critical path and those that have a
high degree of impact and a high likelihood of occurrence. Yes, the priority of risk can

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 increase or decrease in priority as the project progresses due to the evolving project
environment.

4. As the project progresses, how does the project risk change? Would you make any
changes to the risk assessment matrix? If so, what changes would you make?
As the project progresses, some initial risks may no longer be a factor and other risks
may be identified that need to be addressed. The risk assessment matrix is adjusted to
update the likelihood of occurrence, the degree of impact, the action trigger, the
responsibility, and the response plan.

5. As part of closing a project, which activities would you perform and why?
The process of closing the project includes collecting and making final payments,
recognising and evaluating staff, conducting a post-project evaluation, documenting
lessons learnt, and organising and archiving project documents. These activities are
important to make sure that the customer is satisfied, to gather information about how
to improve for future projects, to determine whether additional opportunities are
available with the customer, and to obtain permission to use the customer as a
reference.

6. How would you obtain feedback from a customer after a project has been completed?
How would you use this information?
The post-project evaluation can be conducted as a meeting with open-ended questions
or through a customer evaluation survey. The information is used to assess the level of
satisfaction of the customer, opportunities for future work, and permission to use the
customer as a reference.

7. Explain the reasons as to why some projects are terminated before they are
completed. When do you think it would be wise to do so?
The sponsor or customer can terminate a project for a variety of reasons including
changes in financial situation or project return on investment, dissatisfaction with

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 project progress, and changed project needs. It is wise to terminate a project if the cost
of completing it is greater than the benefits, the project is no longer needed, or it is not
being completed in a satisfactory manner.

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Study Unit 5 – The Project Manager and the Project Team

This study unit focus on the importance of the people involved in a project. It is the people,
not the procedures and techniques, who are critical to achieving the project objective.
Procedures and techniques are merely tools that help people do their jobs.

Study Unit 5: Relevance

A project manager is a person who has the overall responsibility for the successful initiation,
planning, design, execution, monitoring, controlling and closure of a project. The project
manager must have a combination of skills including an ability to ask penetrating questions,
detect unstated assumptions and resolve conflicts, as well as more general management
skills.

Key among a project manager's duties is the recognition that risk directly impacts the
likelihood of success and that this risk must be both formally and informally measured
throughout the lifetime of a project. Risks arise from uncertainty, and the successful project
manager is the one who focuses on this as his/her primary concern. Most of the issues that
impact a project result in one way or another from risk. A good project manager can lessen
risk significantly, often by adhering to a policy of open communication, ensuring every
significant participant has an opportunity to express opinions and concerns.

A project manager is also responsible for making decisions, both large and small. The project
manager should make sure he/she controls risk and minimises uncertainty. Every decision the
project manager makes must directly benefit the project.

But the project manager cannot do it alone. An effective project team is needed. The project
team comprises those people who have a role in the same project. Team members can be
grouped but each individual has a certain role and function and thus can be assigned certain
tasks. The project team fulfils these roles and functions within the time frame of the project

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and is usually dismantled after the project completion. During that time, the project team
works towards the common goal of delivering the project's scope within time and
budget/costs. Each team member has certain responsibilities based on his/her role, function
and assigned tasks.

Good cooperation among the project team is vital for project success. Especially
communicating efficiently and effectively is important to ensure that everyone has the
necessary information to complete his/her tasks and fulfil his/her role properly. Ideally,
opinions, solutions and also conflicts are considered, debated and resolved within the project
team.

Study Unit 5 – Module Outcomes

After completing this module, students must be able to:

• Evaluate the creation and management of effective and efficient project and process
teams in resource utilisation to achieve project objectives at low risk and costs.
• Engage in high-level and successful communication with project stakeholders.
• Identify and solve problems, make the right decisions, apply critical and creative
thinking when dealing with issues relating to project management

Study Unit 5: Unit Specific Outcomes

After completing this study unit, you should be able to:

Section 1: The Project Manager

• Explain the responsibilities of a project manager
• Demonstrating an understanding of and, describing and practising at least five skills and
abilities a project manager should have
• Explain how one would develop competence as a project manager
• Describe how one can effectively use delegation

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• Explain how one can manage changes

Section 2: The Project Team

• Describe how teams are assigned and formed
• Explain each stage of team development
• Plan and conduct a project kick-off meeting
• Discuss the characteristics of effective teams
• Identify and describe at least five barriers to team effectiveness
• Be an effective team member
• Take actions to support team building
• Identify at least five dimensions of diversity and discuss the value of team diversity
• Behave ethically in a project environment
• Identify at least four sources of conflict on projects, and explain how to handle conflict
• Apply the problem-solving process and the brainstorming technique
• Manage time effectively

Study Unit 5: Assessment Criteria

Section 1: The Project Manager

• The responsibilities of a project manager relating to planning, organising, and
controlling are explained within the project management context and applied to project
scenarios.
• At least five skills and abilities that the project manager should have are correctly
described and applied using simulations and case studies.
• The process of developing competencies that are required for project management is
fully explained using practical examples.
• The effective use of delegation is described and critically evaluated.
• The barriers to delegation are adequately discussed.
• The management of change is correctly explained and a case study is used to critically
analyse the application of the change management process.

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Section 2: The Project Team
• Team acquisition and assignment is fully described.
• The formation of teams is clearly described using the stages of team development
• The team development stages of forming, storming, norming and performing and
explained and applied to a project scenario.
• The project kick-off meeting is correctly planned for and the process of conducting is
applied in a project context.
• Design an appropriate agenda given a scenario
• The characteristics of effective project teams are fully discussed using a practical
example.
• Recommendations for making teams more effective are enumerated.
• The barriers to team effectiveness are identified in a case study and critically discussed.
• Recommendations on how to overcome these barriers in a case are proposed.
• The attributes of effective team members are evaluated within the context of a project
scenario.
• Actions required to support the team-building process are correctly identified and
applied in context.
• In a case study, the dimensions of diversity are identified and critically discussed to
highlight the value and benefits of team diversity.
• The requirement and need for ethical behaviour in projects are explained in the context
of a project setting.
• Students are presented with a case in which they correctly identify four sources of
conflict and recommend, with reasons how the conflict can be resolved.
• The problem-solving process and the brainstorming technique is correctly applied to a
case study.
• The concept of effective time management is correctly explained using practical
examples.

Study Unit 5: Content

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Section 1: The Project Manager

This section covers Chapter 10 of Gido, Clements & Harinarain (2018).

Leading a project towards success requires the manager to get the work done by the team
members efficiently and effectively. It requires the person to have a clear vision, clarity in
reason, be practical in scheduling and have the ability to attract a talented and efficient team.

Figure 19 Leading a Project to Success

The stress in project management is about ensuring that things get done while motivating the
project team towards delivering project success. Good leadership can be cultivated and
modified as per the organisational culture so as to gain results.

The basic distinction between the manager focus and the leadership focus can be captured
as given below:

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Figure 20 Manager Focus vs Leadership Focus

The application of leadership and management in the project execution is usually dependent
on the type of project and the life cycle stage that the project is in. For projects which are
huge impact, large scale, complex and global in nature the standards to be achieved, the goals
and the deliverables are constrained by the time frame, budgets and market dynamics. These
types of projects involve large and distributed project teams, comprising members from
diverse disciplines. Also, the implementation is going to be multi-phased. In such a situation
the project success and business sustenance can be achieved only through effective and smart
leadership.

The leadership style should be flexible, sharing, and innovative so as to bring about the
project's success. At the same time, the leader should emphasise team building and
motivation so that the divergent members can work together as a team.

During the planning phase of the project, the leader should lead the team and the
stakeholders through a fine-tuned project study so as to understand the project needs. This
phase needs to be stressed so as to gain complete awareness of the requirements. Similarly,
the project leader has a pivotal role to play in change management. A good leader should be
able to anticipate the change and address it effectively. The leader should be able to steer
and direct the team members on the methods to cope with change and utilise change to one’s
advantage.

Most importantly the leader should be able to give credit, nurture creativity and support team
members in taking calculative risks so as to deliver project success.

Section 2: The Project Team

This section covers Chapter 11 of Gido, Clements & Harinarain (2018).

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At the core of any team are individuals who interact independently in order to accomplish
mission goals. Each individual brings characteristics that influence the ability of the team to
reach its task-related goal, in addition to characteristics that can both enhance and detract
from the team’s internal states and processes. in other words, characteristics that influence
how the individuals will work together as a team. Team performance is dependent on the
individual capabilities of team members and how those members interact with each other.

Researchers concur that team selection should consider two critical questions:
• Are the skills required for the team’s task represented in the selected members?
• Do the selected team members possess the skills necessary for effective collaboration
and interaction among them?

Traditionally team members get selected by matching individual demographic characteristics

(training, rank, experience) to generically functional roles and known project requirements.
Team composition should reflect the full range of performance requirements mandated by
both the team task itself and the collaborative quality of teamwork needed by the project.

Therefore, project parameters that are likely to influence team selection and composition
must be identified before choosing individual members of the team. Team member selection
should focus initially on selecting a potential membership pool based first on task skills and
then on teamwork skills and not the other way around. Knowing one another and familiarity
is no good if the task cannot be completed as per specification.

3.8. Identify What Needs To Be Accomplished

When choosing individuals to staff a team, the goal is to simulate high output by the team.
Task parameters associated with the emerging projects are likely to influence the need for
various personnel capabilities in teams, for example, change management projects may
require a greater emphasis on certain communication skills or an assignment that has a very
tight deadline for completion may require greater familiarity among team members. Thus,

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the specification of skills, particularly task-specific and team-specific competencies, needs, to
be driven clearly by the qualitative nature of the task.

3.9. Select Team Members Based On What’s Needed

The goal of this step is to identify a possible pool of team members based on the task skills
needed for team effectiveness. Task skills refer to the individual capabilities that enhance
one’s ability to act effectively in broadly defined performance task domains. Accordingly, such
skills are transportable across teams and performance domains. Different team members
have different levels of different skills, but the team, as a whole would possess all required
task skills.

In addition to this, one needs to look at teamwork skills. Teamwork skills refer to the
capabilities to work effectively in any generic team environment, regardless of the task. The
possession of these skills should be a second factor to weigh when considering individuals for
team membership. Teamwork skills reflect fundamental requirements for collaboration and
integrated action on team tasks.

3.9.1. Orchestrate the team performance

Once the potential mix of experts has been identified for each team, the final step is to
optimise those teams by considering members’ teamwork skills and other attributes
that will contribute to high calibre functioning. Your role as a manager is to continuously
reinforce the belief that together they can accomplish the specific tasks necessary for
successful performance.

3.10. Resolving Team Conflict

Building stronger teams by facing your differences. Extinguish any ‘fireworks’ in your team by
resolving conflict quickly. Conflict is pretty much inevitable when you work with others.

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People have different viewpoints and, under the right set of circumstances, those differences
escalate to conflict. How you handle that conflict determines whether it works to the team's
advantage, or contributes to its demise. You can choose to ignore it, complain about it, blame
someone for it, or try to deal with it through hints and suggestions, or you can be direct, clarify
what is going on, and attempt to reach a resolution through common techniques like
negotiation or compromise. It's clear that conflict has to be dealt with, but the question is
how: it has to be dealt with constructively and with a plan, otherwise it's too easy to get pulled
into the argument and create an even larger mess.

Conflict isn't necessarily a bad thing, though. Healthy and constructive conflict is a component
of high-functioning teams. Conflict arises from differences between people, the same
differences that often make diverse teams more effective than those made up of people with
similar experiences. When people with varying viewpoints, experiences, skills and opinions
are tasked with a project or challenge, the combined effort can far surpass what any group of
similar individuals could achieve. Team members must be open to these differences and not
let them rise into full-blown disputes.

Understanding and appreciating the various viewpoints involved in the conflict are key factors
in its resolution. These are key skills for all team members to develop. The important thing is
to maintain a healthy balance of constructive differences of opinion and avoid negative
conflict that's destructive and disruptive.

Getting to, and maintaining, that balance requires well-developed team skills, particularly the
ability to resolve conflict when it does happen, and the ability to keep it healthy and avoid
conflict in the day-to-day course of the team working.

3.11. Resolving Conflict

When a team oversteps the mark of a healthy difference of opinion, resolving conflict requires
respect and patience. The human experience of conflict involves our emotions, perceptions,

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and actions, which we experience on all three levels, and we need to address all three levels
to resolve it. We must replace the negative experiences with positive ones.

The three-stage process below is a form of the mediation process, which helps team members
to do this:

• Step 1: Prepare for resolution

Acknowledge the conflict – the conflict has to be acknowledged before it can be

managed and resolved. The tendency is for people to ignore the first signs of conflict,
perhaps as it seems trivial, or is difficult to differentiate from the normal, healthy debate
that teams can thrive on. If you are concerned about the conflict in your team, discuss
it with other members. Once the team recognises the issue, it can start the process of
resolution.

Discuss the impact – as a team, discuss the impact the conflict is having on team
dynamics and performance.

Agree to a cooperative process – everyone involved must agree to cooperate to resolve

the conflict. This means putting the team first and may involve setting aside your
opinion or ideas for the time being. If someone wants to win more than he or she wants
to resolve the conflict, you may find yourself at a stalemate.

Agree to communicate – the most important thing throughout the resolution process is
for everyone to keep communications open. The people involved need to talk about the
issue and discuss their strong feelings. Active listening is essential here because to move
on you need to really understand where the other person is coming from.

• Step 2: Understand the situation

Once the team is ready to resolve the conflict, the next stage is to understand the
situation and each team member's point of view. Take time to make sure that each

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 person's position is heard and understood. Remember that strong emotions are at work
here so you have to get through the emotion and reveal the true nature of the conflict.
Do the following:

Clarify positions – whatever the conflict or disagreement, it's important to clarify

people's positions. Whether there are obvious factions within the team who support a
particular option, approach or idea, or each team member holds their own unique view,
each position needs to be clearly identified and articulated by those involved.
This step alone can go a long way to resolve the conflict, as it helps the team see the
facts more objectively and with less emotion.

Sally and Tom believe the best way to market the new product is through a TV
campaign. Mary and Beth are adamant that Internet advertising is the way to go, whilst
Josh supports a store-led campaign.

List facts, assumptions, and beliefs underlying each position – what does each group or
person believe? What do they value? What information are they using as a basis for
these beliefs? What decision-making criteria and processes have they employed?
Sally and Tom believe that TV advertising is best because it has worked very well in the
past. They are motivated by the saying, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

Mary and Beth are very tuned-in to the latest in technology and believe that to stay
ahead in the market, the company has to continue to try new things. They seek
challenges and find change exhilarating and motivating. Josh believes a store-lead
campaign is the most cost-effective. He is cautious and feels this is the best way to test
the market at launch, before committing the marketing spend.

Analyse in smaller groups – break the team into smaller groups, separating people who
are in alliance. In these smaller groups, analyse and dissect each position, and the
associated facts, assumptions and beliefs.

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 Which facts and assumptions are true? Which are the more important to the outcome?
Is there additional, objective information that needs to be brought into the discussion
to clarify points of uncertainty or contention? Is additional analysis or evaluation
required?

By considering the facts, assumptions, beliefs and decision making that lead to other
people's positions, the group will gain a better understanding of those positions. Not
only can this reveal new areas of agreement, but it can also reveal new ideas and
solutions that make the best of each position and perspective.

Take care to remain open, rather than criticise or judge the perceptions and
assumptions of other people. Listen to all solutions and ideas presented by the various
sides of the conflict. Everyone needs to feel heard and acknowledged if a workable
solution is to be reached.

Convene back as a team – after the group dialogue, each side is likely to be much closer
to reaching an agreement. The process of uncovering facts and assumptions allows
people to step away from their emotional attachments and see the issue more
objectively. When you separate alliances, the fire of conflict can burn out quickly, and
it is much easier to see the issue and facts laid bare.

• Step 3: Reach agreement

Now that all parties understand the others' positions, the team must decide what
decision or course of action to take. With the facts and assumptions considered, it's
easier to see the best of action and reach an agreement.

In our example, the team agrees that TV advertising is the best approach. It has had
undeniably great results in the past and there is no data to show that will change. The
message of the advertising will promote the website and direct consumers there. This

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 meets Mary and Beth's concern about using the website for promotions: they assumed
that TV advertising would disregard it.

If further analysis and evaluation are required, agree what needs to be done, by when
and by whom, and so plan to reach agreement within a particular timescale. If
appropriate, define which decision making and evaluation tools are to be employed.
If such additional work is required, the agreement at this stage is to the approach itself:
Make sure the team is committed to working with the outcome of the proposed analysis
and evaluation.

When conflict is resolved take time to celebrate and acknowledge the contributions
everyone made toward reaching a solution. This can build team cohesion and
confidence in their problem-solving skills and can help avert further conflict.

3.12. Preventing Conflict

As well as being able to handle conflict when it arises, teams need to develop ways of
preventing conflict from becoming damaging. Team members can learn skills and behaviour
to help this. Here are some of the key ones to work on:
• Dealing with conflict immediately – avoid the temptation to ignore it.
• Being open – if people have issues, they need to be expressed immediately and not
allowed to fester.
• Practicing clear communication – articulate thoughts and ideas clearly.
• Practicing active listening – paraphrasing, clarifying, questioning.
• Practicing identifying assumptions – asking yourself ‘why’ on a regular basis.
• Not letting conflict get personal – stick to facts and issues, not personalities.
• Focusing on actionable solutions – don't belabour what can't be changed.

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• Encouraging different points of view – insist on honest dialogue and expressing feelings.
• Not looking for blame – encourage ownership of the problem and solution.
• Demonstrating respect – if the situation escalates, take a break and wait for emotions
to subside.
• Keeping team issues within the team – talking outside allows conflict to build and fester,
without being dealt with directly.

Study Unit 5: Revision Exercises

1. Using examples, explain how a project manager performs the planning, organising and
controlling functions for a project.
2. Explain why good verbal and written communication skills are important to project
managers.
3. How can a project manager help create an environment in which a project team feels
motivated?
4. Explain each of the stages of team development by addressing the process, problems,
and level of productivity of each stage.
5. Do you agree or disagree with the statement that there is ‘no I in TEAM’? What steps
can you take to be an effective team member?
6. Describe the project manager’s role in relation to ethical behaviour of the team. How
can one encourage a high level of ethical behaviour?

Study Unit 5: Progress Check

You have come to the end of Study Unit 2.

Time to do a progress check to determine whether you have gone through all the required
content and completed all the exercises.

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Your Progress Checklist:

Progress checklist YES / NO?

Did you read through each study unit outcome?

Did you go through all the learning material?

Did you complete all the relevant revision exercises and check your answers
against the answers provided?

At this point, you should be able to:

• Explain the responsibilities of a project manager.

• Understand, describe and practice at least five skills and abilities a
project manager should have.
• Explain how one would develop competence as a project manager.
• Describe how one can effectively use delegation.

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 • Explain how one can manage changes.
• Describe how teams are assigned and formed.
• Explain each stage of team development.
• Plan and conduct a project kick-off meeting.
• Discuss the characteristics of effective teams.
• Identify and describe at least five barriers to team effectiveness.
• Be an effective team member.

Are you ready to tackle Study Unit 6?

Study Unit 5: Answers to exercises

1. Using examples, explain how a project manager performs the planning, organising
and controlling functions for a project.
The project manager must clearly define the project objective, reach an agreement with
the customer on this objective and communicate this objective to the project team. The
project manager involves the project team in developing the plan and setting up a
system for comparing actual to planned progress. Specific examples will vary. Answers
should include the activities of a project manager performing project planning.

Organising includes securing the appropriate resources to perform the work. The
project manager must decide which tasks should be done in-house and which by
subcontractors or consultants. The project manager gains commitment from the
specific people who will work on the project and assigns responsibility and delegates
authority, thus creating an environment in which the individuals are highly motivated
to work together as a project team. Specific examples will vary. Answers should include
the activities of a project manager organising the project's tasks and resources.

To control the project, the project manager implements a project management

information system designed to track actual progress and compare it with planned
progress. If actual progress falls behind planned progress or unexpected events occur,

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 the project manager takes immediate action. Specific examples will vary. Answers
should include examples of how the project manager controlled the tasks, resources,
and analysed the project's progress.

2. Explain why good verbal and written communication skills are important to project
managers.
Communication is the key to success. Project managers need to communicate regularly
with the project team, as well as with the customer, any subcontractors, and their own
company’s upper management. Effective and frequent communication is crucial for
keeping the project moving, identifying potential problems, soliciting suggestions to
improve project performance, keeping abreast of customer satisfaction, and avoiding
surprises.

3. How can a project manager help create an environment in which a project team feels
motivated?
The capable project manager understands what motivates team members and creates
a supportive environment in which individuals work as part of a high-performing team
and are energised to excel. A project manager can create such an environment by
encouraging participation and involvement by all members of the project team.
Techniques include facilitating project meetings so as to draw all individuals into the
discussions, soliciting an individual’s ideas when meeting separately with that person,
and having various team members participate in presentations to the customer or the
company’s upper management. The project manager shows that he or she values the
contributions of each team member and also fosters motivation through recognition of
the project team as a whole and of individual members.

4. Explain each of the stages of team development by addressing the process, problems,
and level of productivity of each stage.
• Forming is the initial stage of the team development process. It describes the
transition from an individual to a team member. Team members generally have

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 positive expectations. The group begins to establish an identity and attempts to
define and plan the tasks that need to be done. Little actual work is achieved
because of the high level of anxiety.
• The second stage of team development is known as storming. The project
objective is clearer in this stage. Members start to apply their skills to work on
their assigned tasks, and work begins to progress slowly. Reality sets in, though,
and it may not match individuals’ initial expectations. As team members begin to
perform their tasks, they feel increasing dissatisfaction with dependence on the
direction or authority of the project manager. Team members now begin to test
the limits and flexibility of the project manager and the ground rules. During the
storming stage, conflict emerges and tension increases.
• The project team then moves into the norming stage of development.
Relationships have become settled. Interpersonal conflicts have been resolved.
The project team has accepted its operating environment. Control and decision
making are transferred from the project manager to the project team. Cohesion
and trust begin to develop. Team members give and ask for feedback. There is a
feeling of camaraderie. The project manager minimises directiveness and takes
on a more supportive role. Work performance accelerates and productivity
increases.
• The fourth and final stage is the performing stage. The team is highly committed
and eager to achieve the project objective. The level of work performance is high.
Communication is open. Members frequently collaborate. The team feels fully
empowered.

5. Do you agree or disagree with the statement that there is ‘no I in TEAM’? What steps
can you take to be an effective team member?
It is said that ‘there is no ‘I’ in TEAM’, because effective team members put the success
of the project above personal gain.

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 An effective team member helps create and foster a positive and effective project
environment. Effective team members plan, control, and feel accountable for their
individual work efforts. They have high expectations. They make things happen. They
are self-directed and follow through on assignments, taking pride in doing quality work.
Effective team members participate and communicate, identify problems and solve
problems.

6. Describe the project manager’s role in relation to the ethical behaviour of the team.
How can one encourage a high level of ethical behaviour?
The project manager must set the tone and expectations and must exemplify ethical
behaviour. If the project team sees the project manager taking actions or making
decisions that are ethically questionable, they will think it is acceptable for them to do
the same thing. The project manager must be committed to always doing what is right
and fair and communicate the same expectations to the project team.

The project manager should discuss the importance of ethical behaviour at a project
team meeting at the beginning of the project and mention it regularly at meetings
throughout the project. Ethical actions, such as a project team member’s raising an
issue about an unsafe design, should be encouraged, acknowledged and appreciated.
Misconduct and conflicts of interest must be addressed and appropriate disciplinary
action is taken to show that such behaviour is unacceptable and will not be tolerated.

Two actions a project organisation can take to help prevent any wrongdoing are to have
a written policy on ethical behaviour and to provide training about ethics in the
workplace.

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Study Unit 6 – Project Communication and Documentation

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Nothing is more important to the success of a project than effective communication. About
90% of the time in a project is spent on communication with the project manager. If this
continues in a project, there is a danger of missing the deliverables or other outcomes as
required by the sponsor. It is important to understand what communication means in a
project, the steps required for effective communication, the major obstacles in
communication, how to overcome obstacles through communication sharing, the importance
of communications in diverse workgroups and to provide a process for effective
communication.

In order to have effective communication, the project manager must also understand the
project organisation structure wherein the project must be completed. A project organisation
is a structure that facilitates the coordination and implementation of project activities. Its
main reason is to create an environment that fosters interactions among the team members
with a minimum amount of disruptions, overlaps and conflict. One of the important decisions
of project management is the form of organisational structure that will be used for the
project.

Each project has its unique characteristics and the design of an organisational structure
should consider the organisational environment, the project characteristics in which it will
operate, and the level of authority the project manager is given. A project structure can take
on various forms with each form having its own advantages and disadvantages.

One of the main objectives of the structure is to reduce uncertainty and confusion that
typically occurs at the project initiation phase. The structure defines the relationships among
members of the project management and the relationships with the external environment.
The structure defines the authority by means of a graphical illustration called an organisation
chart.

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Study Unit 6: Relevance

Communication is an essential process in our day-to-day life, and the entire world revolves
around it. Communication is “who says what to whom in what channel with what effect”.
Communication is exchanging of information from one point of the project to the other point
in an efficient manner. Communication is an essential tool in the field of project management.
The success of a project largely depends on the efficiency of its communication network. It
starts working from day one of the ventures and continues for the entire life span of the
project. It provides regular updates to notify the status of the project as well as its
performance capacity. But surprisingly, it has been found that most projects experience a
breakdown in communications. It has been said that 90% of a project manager's time is spent
communicating what is going to be done.

A properly designed project organisation chart is essential to project success. An organisation

chart shows where each person is placed in the project structure. An organisation chart is
drawn in a pyramid form where individuals located closer to the top of the pyramid have more
authority and responsibility than members located toward the bottom. It is the relative
locations of the individuals on the organisation chart that specifies the working relationships,
and the lines connecting the boxes designate formal supervision and lines of communication
between the individuals.

Study Unit 6: Module Outcomes

After completing this module, the student must be able to:

• Evaluate the creation and management of effective and efficient project and process
teams in resource utilisation to achieve project objectives at low risk and costs.
• Engage in high-level and successful communication with project stakeholders.
• Identify and solve problems, make the right decisions, apply critical and creative
thinking when dealing with issues relating to project management

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Study Unit 6: Unit Specific Outcomes

After completing this study unit, you should be able to:

• Discuss and apply techniques to enhance personal verbal and written communication
• Describe four barriers to effective listening and apply techniques to improve listening
and understanding
• Prepare for and facilitate effective project meetings
• Prepare for and make informative and interesting presentations
• Prepare useful, readable and understandable reports
• Explain how to control changes to project documents
• Create a project communication plan
• Apply collaborative tools used to enhance communication on projects

Study Unit 6: Assessment Criteria

• The techniques to enhance personal verbal and written communication are fully
discussed and correctly applied to a project scenario.
• Accurately describe four barriers to effective listening
• The techniques to improve listening and understanding are correctly applied to a
project scenario.
• The preparation and facilitation of an effective project meeting are correctly explained
within the context of a project task.
• An agenda for a given scenario is correctly designed.
• The preparation and making of informative and interesting presentations are accurately
explained and demonstrated using a case study.
• A useful, readable, and understandable project report is drafted from a project
scenario.
• The controlling of changes to project documents is correctly explained.
• A project communication plan is correctly designed from given information
• The tools for collaboration and enhancement of communication are identified and
correctly applied to appropriate scenarios.

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Study Unit 6: Content

4.
This section covers Chapter 12 of Gido, Clements & Harinarain (2018).

4.1. Communication – The Life Blood

Communication is an essential process in our day-to-day life, and the entire world revolves
around it. Communication is exchanging of information from one point of the project to the
other point in an efficient manner. Communication is an essential tool in the field of project
management. The success of a project largely depends on the efficiency of its communication
network. It starts working from day one of the venture and continues for the entire life span
of the project. It provides regular updates to notify the status of the project as well as its
performance capacity. But surprisingly, it has been found that most projects experience a
breakdown in communications. It has been said that 90% of a project manager's time is spent
communicating what is going to be done.

4.2. Communication – Project Management Starts With A Big ‘C’

The word communication comes from the Latin word communis, which means common.
When we communicate, we are trying to establish ‘commonness’ with someone. That is, we
are trying to share information, an idea, or an attitude among the team involved in that
particular project.

One can never take for granted that the receiver will interpret the message the same way as
the sender intended it. Communication is not an absolute, finite thing. To do this effectively,
the project manager needs to consider all the factors like the different realities, the space the
communication takes place in, verbal as well as non-verbal messages, and the intended
meaning versus the perceived meaning, etc. Figure 1 depicts the cost of bad communication.

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Figure 21 The Price of Poor Communication

Therefore, the communication process needs to be efficient and effective.

4.3. Understanding The Communications Process

To communicate effectively, project managers must have a good understanding of the

communications process.

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Figure 22 The communication Process

To understand the communications process, project managers must understand all the
relevant factors.
• The communications process requires a sender and receiver. The sender formulates the
message to communicate, which is meant for a receiver. The sender creates the content
with some intent in mind. The receiver, of course, receives the message and then deals
with it according to personal reactions. He or she may accept, revise, or reject the
message. For example, a project manager informs the customer that a slide on a major
milestone will occur and provides reasons. The customer, in turn, may make a decision
based upon that information.
• The communications process requires a medium to communicate the content of a
message. The medium may take just about any form, each unique in its ability to
influence the receptivity of the receiver. As with the message itself, the receiver may
elect to accept or reject the medium employed. The receiver may even elect to alter the
medium so that he or she can receive and interpret the message according to his or her
preferences. In the earlier example with the schedule slide, a project manager may send
the message as email rather than have a face-to-face meeting with the customer.
• The communications process requires a message. The message can take many different
forms, usually in hard or soft format. The hard format is usually written on paper
whereas soft format is electronic. Regardless of the format, a message is necessary to
initiate communication and stimulate a relationship between two or more people. In
the previously mentioned example, the message is that the project will slide a major
milestone and it is sent in a soft (e.g., electronic) format.
• The communications process requires feedback between the sender and the receiver.
Feedback may be positive, negative, or neutral, indicating the receptivity of the sender
or receiver. Feedback can also be simple or complex. Simple feedback occurs when it
involves just two people; complex feedback is when the process involves three or more
people. The movement from simple to complex is because the number of channels and
opportunities for misinterpretation increases geometrically as each one codes their
message and the other decodes the same. In the last example, the customer gives

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 negative feedback in soft copy format but suggests a follow-up meeting to discuss the
results.
• The communications process is rarely ‘clean’, meaning that what the recipient receives
may not be necessarily what the sender sent. A number of variables can affect the
quality of a message including the following: beliefs, values, the emotional impact of a
message, and the medium employed. These variables and others often referred to as
‘noise’, can affect the degree of receptivity of a message and the feedback on the part
of the sender or receiver. For example, the sender may not really believe in a message
he or she formulates, but this person may be compelled to send it; the content of the
message and its mode of delivery may influence the quality of the message and,
ultimately, its receptivity. For example, a project manager may decide to communicate
via email rather than in-person to key stakeholders. The reason may be to avoid direct
conflict with the recipients of the message due to the personalities involved.
• The communications process will always be in a setting or context that influences
results. This context often involves time, space and structure. Time may refer to the day
of the week. Space may be as simple as the location of a person, or it may involve a
project spread over a wide geographical area. The structure may be the organisational
network in place for supporting the communications process of a project. For example,
a project manager may want to communicate negative information about a schedule
performance only in a specific setting, such as a project status review. Understanding
the influence and interplay of the different variables involved requires a deep
appreciation of these elements: sender and receiver, message, medium, feedback,
variables, and setting.

The basic communication model is explained here using a facsimile (fax) machine as an
example:

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Figure 23 A communication Model

Figure 2 explains how communication moves from one person to another. If we imagine each
portion of the model as a fax machine, it would be easier to visualise the components.

• Sender: This refers to the person who first initiates communication. Let's say a
document related to the project is being faxed by the project manager.
• Encoder: This device encodes the message to be sent. In this case, it is the fax machine.
• Medium: This is the device or technology to transport the message between the
encoder and the decoder. Here it is the telephone line.
• Decoder: This device decodes the message to be received. Here it is the fax machine
itself.
• Receiver: This refers to the person who receives the communication finally. The
receiver may interpret the information, make a comment, and send it back to the
sender.
• Feedback: The communication may be disrupted by noise and misinterpret the
message. A part of the message may be faded out or discolored, etc. This would have
been caused by the distortion of the telephone line.

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Similarly, there may be many reasons for misinterpretation of information within the project
team. In order to avoid this, each project manager should follow some basic steps to be
effective in this communication process.

4.4. Effective Communication Steps: To Keep Communication Alive

Communication is a vital element of a well-managed project. There are two main groups of
people with whom the project manager needs to ensure clear and effective communication,
the stakeholders and the project team. Every project will be sponsored by a part of the
business with a stake in the outcome. They will likely be represented on the project board,
which sets the objectives for the project and monitors progress over time. The project board
will include others with a stake in the outcome, for example, those who will need to
implement the project outcomes and those who will need to supply resources once the
project outcomes have been met. All of these stakeholders will need regular updates, and it
is imperative that communication with them is regular, clear and complete.

In addition, projects often involve the need for the project manager to coordinate the work
of a large group of people working on different aspects of the project (often referred to as
workstreams). The project manager is required to ensure that everyone is clear about what
he or she must achieve and he or she also needs to clearly report on progress to the project
board and/or project sponsors. There are many opportunities for things to go badly wrong if
effective communication is not established and maintained.

The following steps will help the project manager to communicate effectively:

• An Effective Communications Plan In Place Is The Key

Based on stakeholder analysis, the project manager and the project team can determine
the communications that are needed. There is no advantage of supplying stakeholders
with information that isn't needed or desired, and the time spent creating and
delivering such information is a waste of resources.

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 A communications management plan can organise and document the process, types,
and expectations of communications. It provides the following:
o The stakeholder communications requirements in order to communicate the
appropriate information as demanded by the stakeholders.
o Information on what is to be communicated. This plan includes the expected
format, content, and detail – project reports versus quick email updates.
o Details on how needed information flows through the project to the correct
individuals. The communication structure documents where the information will
originate, to whom the information will be sent, and in what modality the
information is acceptable.
o Appropriate methods for communicating include emails, memos, reports, and
even press releases.
o Schedules of when the various types of communication should occur. Some
communications, such as status meetings, should happen on a regular schedule,
while other communications may be prompted by conditions within the project.
o Escalation processes and timeframes for moving issues upwards in the
organisation when they can't be solved at lower levels.
o Methods to retrieve information as needed.
o Instructions on how the communications management plan can be updated as
the project progresses.
o A project glossary.

The communications plan may also include information and guidelines for project status
meetings, team meetings, e-meetings (electronic meetings) and even email. Setting
expectations for communications and meetings early in the project establishes
guidelines for the project team and stakeholders.

• Four Steps Process for Effective Communication

1. Identify communication requirements

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 The project manager and the project team work together to identify who needs what
information. In other words, project management needs to know what the
requirements of successful communications are in order to plan on how to achieve
those requirements.

First, the team to whom communication is essential needs to determine the number of
channels of communication possible using the communication formula as illustrated in
Project Management Institute (2008). This is a very simple equation that any good
program and project manager should know which is: N(N-1)/2.

Using the formula, let us take an example with a small project team of five people where
the formula calculates that there are 10 possible channels of communication as:

5(5-1)/2 = 5(4)/2 = 20/2 = 10. So, the project manager must ensure that five people on
the team are communicating in real-time and that there are no gaps in everyone's'
understanding that they need to manage only 10 communication channels among the
team.

Stakeholders will need different types of information, depending on their interest in the
project and the priority of the project. The project manager will need to complete the
analysis of the identified stakeholders to determine what information they actually
need as well as how often the information is needed. The project manager and the
project team can identify the demand for communications using the following:
• Organisation charts
• The project structure within the performing organisation
• Stakeholder responsibility relationships
• Departments and disciplines involved within the project work
• The number of individuals involved in the project and their locales
• Internal and external information needs
• Stakeholder information.

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 2. Identify the 5Ws (Why, What, When, Where, Who) and 1H (How)
• Who needs to be communicated to? This is based on the communication formula
and needs to be determined.
• What needs to be communicated? All information related to the project need not
be communicated to everyone in the team.
• When it should be communicated? The timeline of communication should be
monitored.
• Where should it be communicated? If the team involves many people, then
individual level and team level communications need to be resolved.
• Why is communication of information essential and to what level is it important?
• How is the communication supposed to be carried? Is it conducted via email,
phone, or a presentation done to the team members?

Figure 24 The 5Ws and 1H of Communication

3. Identify and accommodate the enterprise environmental factors

Much of the communications management processes are linked to the enterprise
environmental factors. Enterprise environmental factors that affect project
communications are as follows:
• Organisational culture and structure

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 • Standards and regulations the project must comply with
• The logistics and the organisational infrastructure
• The human resources the project will rely on and interact with
• The policies and procedures for personnel administration
• The project's work authorisation system
• The marketplace conditions
• Stakeholder risk tolerances
• Commercial databases that the project may use for estimating
• Project management information system.

These enterprise factors should be identified and reviewed and the project manager
should align his or her project initiative considering all of these factors.

4. Identify organisational process assets

The organisational process assets affect how the project manager, project team, and
the stakeholders will communicate within a project. The primary organisational process
assets that affect communication include the following:
• Standards and policies unique to the organisation
• Organisational guidelines, work instructions and performance measurement
criteria
• Organisational communication requirements for all projects considering required
and approved technology, security issues, archiving and allowed communication
media
• Project closure requirements
• Financial controls and procedures
• Issue and defect management procedures for all projects
• Change control procedures
• Risk control procedures
• Work authorisation systems
• Process measurement database

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 • Project file structure, organisation, and retention
• Historical information and lessons learned requirements
• Issue and defect management databases
• Configuration management databases
• Project financial databases detailing labour hours, costs, budget issues, and cost
overruns.

These process assets may be unique for each organisation, but if this is reviewed before
the initiation of the project and reflected in the communication to the team, then there
will never be a problem throughout the project.

4.5. What Are The Major Obstacles In Communication?

In order to understand the major obstacles in communication, it is essential to know the

interfaces any project may have. The interfaces are as follows:
• Between organisations (e.g., customer-supplier)
• Between departments within an organisation (e.g., marketing-IT)
• Between teams within a department (e.g., testers-developers)
• Within distributed teams (e.g., part of the team is in Seattle and the other in Sydney).

The main communication obstacles (across interfaces listed earlier) can be drilled down to
the following three broad areas:
• Political: Whenever there are many groups involved, there is the possibility of vested
interests and power games getting in the way of dialogue. Such political obstacles
usually originate in the upper ranks of an organisational hierarchy, a step or two above
levels at which projects are planned and executed. Project managers need to be aware
of the key political players in the organisation. In traditional corporate environments,
these might be functional or senior-level managers who are not always obvious project
stakeholders. Once the political players have been identified, the project manager
should take steps to gain their confidence and buy-in on project goals. This should help

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 eliminate political barriers to project communications. It is best to settle political issues
at the level where they originate; escalating political problems up the hierarchy (i.e., to
the manager's manager) generally does not help, and may even be counterproductive.
• Cultural: Organisational culture, which is essentially the totality of assumptions and
values commonly held within an organisation need to be dealt with. Clearly, this can
vary considerably between organisations – some may be more open than others may,
for example. Communication at the interface between two organisations with vastly
different cultures can be difficult. For example, one might expect some differences of
opinion at a joint project planning session involving a very forward-looking, can-do
supplier and a conservative, risk-averse customer. Project managers can ease such
difficulties by understanding the divergences in attitudes between the parties involved,
and then acting as intermediaries to facilitate communication. In geographically
distributed (or virtual) teams, differences between regional cultures can come into play.
These could manifest themselves in a variety of ways, such as differences in the fluency
of language or social attitudes and behaviour. Here again, the project leader, and the
rest of the team for that matter, need to be aware of the differences and allow for them
in project communications.
• Linguistic: Linguistics needs to be understood in the sense of specialised terminology
used by different disciplines such as accounting, IT, marketing, etc. Often when
specialists from diverse areas get together to discuss project-related matters, there is a
tendency for each side to make assumptions (often tacitly) regarding a common
understanding of specialised jargon. This often leads to incomplete (at best) or incorrect
(at worst) communication. So practical techniques that would solve the above three
obstacles need to be identified and implemented. In other words, communication
sharing should be best at any project level.

4.6. Communication Sharing Is The Solution

There are many different avenues a project manager and a project team can take to
communicate. Project teams can effectively communicate through hallway meetings or
formal project status meetings. Information can be transferred from stakeholder to

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stakeholder through anything from written notes to complex online databases and tracking
systems.

As part of the communications planning, the project manager should identify all of the
required and approved methods of communicating. Some projects may be highly sensitive
and contain classified information that not all stakeholders are privy to, while other projects
may contain information that is open for anyone to explore. Whatever the case, the project
manager should identify what requirements exist, if any, for the communication modalities.

Communication modalities can also include meetings, reports, memos, emails, etc. The
project manager should identify the preferred methods of communicating based on the
conditions of the message to be communicated. Consider the following, which may have an
effect on the communication plan:
• Urgency of the information: When the information is communicated can often be as
important as what is being communicated. For some projects, the information should
be readily available, while other projects are less demanding.
• Technology: Because of the demands of the project, technology changes may be
needed to fulfill the project request. For example, the project may require an internal
website that details project progress. If such a website does not exist, time and money
will need to be invested in this communication requirement.
• Project staffing: The project manager should evaluate the abilities of the project team
to determine if appropriate levels of competency exist to fulfill the communication
requirements or if training will be required for the project team.
• Project length: The length of the project can have an influence on project technology.
Advances in technology may replace a long-term project's communication model. A
short-term project may not have the same technical requirements as a long-term
project but could benefit from the successful model a larger project uses.
• Project environment: How a team communicates often depends on its structure.
Consider a collocated team versus a virtual team. Each type can be effective, but there
will be differing communication demands for each type of team.

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The project manager may need to be in touch with people in the same location or various
other locations in which project work is being performed. It is the project manager's duty to
determine how to do this information sharing and he or she should categorise the means of
communication. Information sharing in the current world makes us think of fax machines,
telephone, email, and similar tools. How do you prioritise the means of communication and
convey what is really required?
• In person: The best communication is still face-to-face. The project manager can
determine the person's body language and get his/her tone and nuances. Very
importantly, this often tells more about what is going on in the project.
• Telephone: The tone of the voice can be heard. Note that you should always smile into
the telephone, which gives a feeling of positivity and confidence in the project.
• Video conferencing: This is very useful in saving travel costs.
• Email: The most popular of these is obviously email (after to the telephone). It is
amazing that people are taught how to use an email system, but are not provided with
any guidelines on effective use. Here are some specific guidelines that would help to
increase the efficiency of communication via email:

o Avoid using email for any sensitive topics.

o Assume that everyone in the company will read your emails.
o Think about what medium to use for communications before you resort to email.
o Make sure that the title of the email is either very specific or very general.
o Avoid using email to discuss an issue in any depth. An email was never intended
to be used as groupware.

• Fax: This is not recommended, as it is not possible to confirm if the sent fax was received
until the receiver confirms.

4.7. Examining Communication Factors

The most common type of communication between a sender and a receiver is verbal
communication. When verbal communication is involved, the project manager should

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remember that half of communication is listening. This means that the project manager must
confirm that the receiver understands the message being sent. The confirmation of the sent
message can be seen in the recipient's body language, feedback, and verbal confirmation of
the sent message. Five terms are used to describe the process of communicating. They are as
follows:
• Paralingual: The pitch, tone, and inflections in the sender's voice affect the message
being sent.
• Feedback: The sender confirms that the receiver understands the message by directly
asking for a response, questions for clarification, or other confirmation of the sent
message.
• Active listening: The receiver confirms that the message is being received through
feedback, questions, prompts for clarity, and other signs of confirmation.
• Effective listening: The receiver is involved in the listening experience by paying
attention to visual clues from the speaker and paralingual characteristics and by asking
relevant questions.
• Nonverbal: Approximately 55% of communication is nonverbal. Facial expressions,
hand gestures, and body language contribute to the message.

4.8. Did You Know?

Only 7% of our communication is verbal – the content of our communication. Thirty-eight

percent is conveyed through the quality of voice – tone, volume, speed, and pitch. Fifty-five
percent is through posture, movements, gestures, facial expressions, breathing and skin-color
changes.

Today in this globalised world, communication between diverse groups is a major challenge.

4.9. Importance Of Communication In Diverse Work Groups

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Workforces today reflect diverse backgrounds, experiences and perspectives. However, while
the term diverse includes a larger range of differences: economic level, educational level,
lifestyle, sexual orientation, geographical and regional differences, plus many other
descriptors, the presence and acknowledgment of these kinds of differences in people can
help a workgroup communicate effectively and work productively.

Figure 25 Diversity in the Workforce

Communicating in diverse workgroups is a business issue. Many organisations are realising

the value of different perspectives that come with a diverse workgroup. Diversity can lead to
more ideas and higher levels of creativity, giving the organisation more options and choices,
thus, resulting in better outcomes for the organisation and better products and services for
its customers.

However, communication within a diverse workgroup can create complex and challenging
situations. People with varying perspectives and experiences have different meanings and
contexts for words and phrases. They also use nonverbal expressions differently. What is
appropriate to one person may be offensive to another.

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Figure 26 Mechanics of Basic Communication

Successful communication in diverse workgroups extends beyond mastering the mechanics

of basic communication (Figure 6); it involves learning to understand and effectively use
words and phrases. Effective communicators gain knowledge about other people's
backgrounds and develop positive workgroup relationships.

4.10. Tips For Individuals To Communicate To Achieve Success In A Team

• Recognise and understand the differences

Know who you are communicating with. What is the background of each team member?
What are their experiences and how do they shape the team members' views, opinions,
perspectives and biases? It is imperative to keep an open and flexible mind.

Recognising differences means acknowledging and respecting individuals for who they
are, but it does not necessarily imply agreement with their perspectives, nor is it a
like/dislike dimension.

You (the sender) need to consider how you are different from the intended audience.
What is your background and experience, and how does the past shape your views?
What are your opinions and biases? Communication is a two-way process, and you, as
the sender, play an important role.

• Create the appropriate message to communicate

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 Be clear about the content and goal of your message. Are you communicating to
inform? Asking for input? Clarifying an issue? Resolving a problem? How should your
message be formulated given the differences between yourself and your audiences?
Should your message be direct and to the point, or should it be more subtle and
indirect?

• Deliver the message

Your message can be delivered in many different ways such as written documents, a
team meeting, voice mail, email, or face-to-face communication. Each communication
mode has its own advantages and disadvantages. Select the type that will maximise the
successful delivery of your message given the diversity issues involved. Knowing your
audience can greatly help determine when and how to deliver the message.

• Obtain the feedback

You will want to check for understanding and ensure that your message was accurately
received. The important point is to ensure accurate comprehension, not necessarily
agreement.

Study Unit 6: Revision Exercises

1. Why is communication, both verbal and written, important to project success?

2. Explain the importance of communication when dealing with the composition of a
diverse project team.
3. Explain the importance of controlling changes made to project documents. How can you
achieve effective control?

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REFERENCE LIST

The overall content of this study guide is based on the prescribed textbook of this module:
Gido, J., Clements, J.P. & Harinarain, N. (2018) Successful Project Management. CENGAGE.

Alphabetical list
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Rajkumar, S. (2010). Art of communication in project management. Paper presented at PMI®
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Wright, R.J. (1996) Beyond Time Management: Business with Purpose. London: Butterworth-
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In terms of the Copyright Act 98 of 1978, no part of this study material may be reproduced,
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