Project Cycle Management

Module 4: Project Implementation

A c c or d U n i v er si t y

Date: September 2023 Phone:+252616466071 Date: October 2023

By Abdullahi Ahmed Dool
Master in M&E
Master in MBA
Contents

•Overview of Project Implementation

•Managing Issues

•Managing People

•Managing Internal Controls

Overview of Project
Implementation
Overview of Project Implementation

• The day-to-day work of project implementation is to lead

and manage the project implementation plan.
• This task can be relatively simple, or can become extremely
complex, depending on the nature of the project.
• As in all project management, success during implementation is
partially an art (managing people, leading teams, communicating
with clarity), but it is also a science. In its simplest form, the
responsibility of the project manager is to implement the project
plan.
Overview of Project Implementation

• However, upon closer inspection, it becomes clear that the

project manager must apply a number of technical skills to
succeed during implementation.These skills include:
✓ Managing Issues
✓ Managing People
✓ Managing Internal Controls
Managing Issues
Managing Issues
• An issue is an unresolved decision, situation or problem that will
significantly impact the project and that the project team cannot
immediately resolve.
• Issues management consists of having a process for identifying
these problems and managing them until they are resolved. Resolving
issues is frequently beyond the authority of the team.
• However, even if an issue needs to be escalated to the next level or
delegated to another person to resolve, it still needs to be tracked by
the project manager.
Managing Issues…..Cont’d
• The project manager needs to be ready throughout the
Project Implementation Phase to apply resources to address and
resolve these issues.
• Issues Management is a collaborative endeavor. Consequently,
everyone on the project team is responsible for the following:
✓Identifying project issues;
✓ Contributing to the resolution of project issues
✓Escalating important issues to the Project Manager as soon as
possible.
Managing Issues…..Cont’d
• Nevertheless, while issue management is a collaborative
endeavor, the project manager is ultimately accountable for
issue management
• Having a well-documented issue management process is
crucial to communicating and enforcing that process across
the team.
Managing Issues…..Cont’d
If issues are not resolved, the negative consequences
can include the following:
▪ Inability to meet project timelines, cost, and schedule;
▪ Poor or unacceptable project quality;
▪ Poor reputation among communities,
donors and others; and
▪ Post implementation disputes.
Managing Issues…..Cont’d
the Project Manager needs to manage all issue management processes:
1. Issue Identification and Tracking – Identifying outstanding questions, decisions and
other problems before they adversely affect the project. As such, the issue
identification and tracking process is closely related to the topic of risk management
2. Issue Analysis – Understanding the issue sufficiently to consider future
consequences of action plans designed to resolve it.
3. Issue C om munication – Communicating issues to the right level of the
organization to get them resolved. Furthermore, it is important to communicate when
and how issues are resolved.
4. Issue Control –The project manager is responsible for establishing an environment where the
project team and implementing partners can carry out actions to ensure issues are resolved in a
timely and effective manner.
Managing People
Managing People
• The importance of strong people management cannot be overstated.
Project managers work in teams and often are only able to achieve
their goals as a result of the commitment, cooperation and
contributions of the people on the project team. As a result, managing
people can become the project manager's most important, and most
difficult job.
Managing People… Cont’d
• Most often, when we think of project managers who are especially talented
at managing people, we tend to focus on their mastery of “soft skills” of
people management.
• These are the project managers who are especially effective at motivating
team members, communicating vision, empowering staff, recognizing
achievements, listening, leading by example, resolving conflicts and building
trust.
• All of these “soft skills” are related to the inter-personal competency of the
project manager and are extremely important to project success.
Therefore, project managers should strive to enhance their capacity to
lead, motivate, inspire, mediate, communicate andencourage
Managing People… Cont’d
• This does not mean, however, that there are no “hard skills: involved
in people management.
• A comprehensive project plan will not rely solely on the inter-
personal skills of the project manager to ensure success in managing
people. Instead, a comprehensive project plan will identify the
concrete activities required to proactively manage all elements of the
project team.
These concrete activities will be implemented during the Project
Implementation Phase and will include:
Managing People… Cont’d
• Developing Project Staff – What skills are needed? What are the
training needs? Are there certification requirements.
• Conducting Performance Assessments – Performance assessments
are the documented formal or informal assessment of the project team
members’ performance. After analyzing the information, project managers
can identify and resolve problems, reduce conflicts, and improve overall
team work.
• Establishing Team Communication Norms – As the leader of the
project team, the project manager must concretely plan the
communications (via meetings, workshops, reports, memos, newsletters,
blogs, etc.) that allow the project team to share information, actively work
to identify issues and conflicts, and interact creatively to resolve these
issues.
Managing People… Cont’d
• Acquiring Project Staff – As part of the function of managing the
team, the project team leader must be clear on the systems for
identifying staff candidates, interviewing candidates, identifying
selection criteria and making final selections of project staff.
• Creating Staff Job Descriptions – Staff job descriptions include
the list of project duties, roles and responsibilities for team members.
Job Descriptions are not only used to recruit, orient and manage staff,
but are also use to evaluate individual team member performance.
• Documenting Project Organization Charts – Project charts
represent the reporting relationships among the project team.
Managing Internal
Control
Managing Internal Control
• One of the challenges of the project manager is to oversee the
valuable assets that have been allocated to conduct the work
of the project.

• To assist with this challenge, internal control systems should be

put in place to provide reasonable assurance regarding the
responsible use of project assets.
Managing Internal Control… Cont’d
Internal control processes should be designed with
the objectives of
• Promoting the effectiveness and efficiency of operations;
• Increasing the reliability of project outcomes;
• Promoting compliance with applicable laws and regulations;
• Protecting organization resources, both physical (e.g.,
machinery and property) and intangible (e.g., reputation,
intellectual property);
• Reducing risk of fraud and corruption.
Managing Internal Control… Cont’d
• Internal controls include the processes through which an
organization's resources are directed, monitored, and measured.
• It plays an important role in preventing and detecting fraud and
protecting the organization's resources, both physical (e.g.,
machinery and property) and intangible (e.g., reputation or
intellectual property such as trademarks).
• At the organizational level, internal control objectives relate to
the reliability of financial reporting, timely feedback on the
achievement of operational or strategic goals, and compliance
with laws and regulations.
Managing Internal Control… Cont’d
A key component of the organizational capacity of the project
includes establishing internal controls that comprehensively
address the entirety of the support, administrative and logistic
systems required for successful implementation. Areas that
benefit from internal controls include
Human Resources Capacity and Systems
✓Are Human Resources policies documented and in compliance
with local laws and organizational regulations?
✓Do systems exist for timesheets, performance reviews, and
employee separation?
Managing Internal Control… Cont’d
Procurement-
• Do systems exist to select suppliers? Do supplier selection criteria
• exist? Do systems exist to manage
suppliers? Do similar systems exist for consultants?
Financial
• Do systems exist for cash management? Expense management?
• Financial reporting? Is there a
segregation ofduties for financial roles?
Inventory
• Do systems exist for the identification and tracking of inventory?
• Do systems exist for the use/transfer/disposal of equipment
following project closure?
Managing Internal Control… Cont’d
Contracts and Agreements
Do systems exist for grants management? ü Do systems exist to
manage relationships with implementing organizations?
Infrastructure
What systems exist for communications? Telephones, internet,
radio? What systems exist to manage vehicles and transport?
Security protocols
Is there need for special security arrangements? Travel
guidance? Accompaniment programs? Other?
Managing Internal Control… Cont’d
Fleet Management
Are there mileage logs that control the use of service vehicles?
Information Management
Is there a record keeping system (paper/electronic) in place? Do
policies and standards exist for information management? Are
documents, contracts and receipts accessible to meet the audit
requirements of the project?
Thanks for Your Attention