CHAPTER 2 - PROJECT MANAGEMENT PROCESS GROUPS

Project management is an integrative endeavor; decisions and actions taken in one

knowledge area at a certain time usually affect other knowledge areas. Managing these
interactions often requires making trade-offs among the project scope, time, and cost
(The triple constraint of project management). A project manager may also need to make
trade-offs between other knowledge areas, such as between risk and human resources.
Consequently, you can view project management as a number of related processes.

Project Management is the utilizes skills, tools and management processes to undertake a
project successfully. A project management methodology includes:
▫ A Set of Skills: Specialized knowledge, skills and experience help reduce a project’s
level of risk and thereby increase its likelihood of success.
▫ A Suite of Tools: Project Mangers use various types of tools to improve a project’s
success rate. Examples include; templates, forms, registers, software and checklists
▫ A Series of Processes: A suite of management processes are needed to monitor and
control the project, such as time management, cost management, quality management,
change management, risk management and issue management.

A process is a series of actions directed toward a particular result. Project management

process groups progress from initiating activities to planning activities, executing activities,
monitoring and controlling activities, and closing activities.

Initiating processes include defining and authorizing a project or project phase.

Initiating processes take place during each phase of a project. Therefore, you cannot
equate process groups with project phases. Recall that there can be different project
phases, but all projects will include all five process groups. For example, project managers
and teams should re-examine the business need for the project during every phase of the
project life cycle to determine if the project is worth continuing. Initiating processes are
also required to end a project. Someone must initiate activities to ensure that the project
team completes all the work, documents lessons learned, assigns project resources, and
that the customer accepts the work.
The following are done in initiating process:
1. Develop a Business Case
2. Undertake a feasibility study
3. Establish the project charters
4. Appoint the project team
5. Set up the project office
6. Perform a phase review

Planning processes include devising and maintaining a workable scheme to ensure that
the project addresses the organization’s needs. There are several plans for projects, such
as the scope management plan, schedule management plan, cost management plan,
procurement management plan, and so on, defining each knowledge area as it relates to
the project at that point in time. For example, a project team must develop a plan to
define the work that needs to be done for the project, to schedule activities related to that
work, to estimate costs for performing the work, to decide what resources to procure to
accomplish the work, and so on. To account for changing conditions on the project and in
the organization, project teams often revise plans during each phase of the project life
cycle.

The following are done in planning process:

1. Create a project plan
2. Create a Resource plan
3. Create a Financial plan
4. Create a quality plan
5. Create a risk plan
6. Create acceptance plan
7. Create a communication plan
8. Create a procurement plan
9. Contract the suppliers
10. Perform a phase review
Executing processes include coordinating people and other resources to carry out the
various plans and produce the products, services, or results of the project or phase.
Examples of executing processes include acquiring and developing the project team,
performing quality assurance, distributing information, managing stakeholder
expectations, and conducting procurements.

The following are done in executing process:

1. Perform time management
2. Perform cost management
3. Perform quality management
4. Perform change management
5. Perform risk management
6. Perform issue management
7. Perform procurement management
8. Perform acceptance management
9. Perform communication management
10. Perform a phase review

Monitoring and controlling processes include regularly measuring and monitoring

progress to ensure that the project team meets the project objectives. The project
manager and staff monitor and measure progress against the plans and take corrective
action when necessary. A common monitoring and controlling process is reporting
performance, where project stakeholders can identify any necessary changes that may be
required to keep the project on track.

Closing processes include formalizing acceptance of the project or project phase and
ending it efficiently. Administrative activities are often involved in this process group, such
as archiving project files, closing out contracts, documenting lessons learned, and
receiving formal acceptance of the delivered work as part of the phase or project.

The following are done in closing process:

1. Perform project closure
2. Review project completion
The process groups are not mutually exclusive. For example, project managers must
perform monitoring and controlling processes throughout the project’s life span. The level
of activity and length of each process group varies for every project. Normally, executing
tasks requires the most resources and time, followed by planning tasks. Initiating and
closing tasks are usually the shortest (at the beginning and end of a project or phase,
respectively), and they require the least amount of resources and time. However, every
project is unique, so there can be exceptions. You can apply the process groups for each
major phase of a project, or you can apply the process groups to an entire project.

Each of the five project management process groups is characterized by the completion of
certain tasks. During initiating processes for a new project, the organization
recognizes that a new project exists, and completes a project charter as part of this
recognition.

Outputs of the planning process group include completing the project scope statement,
the work breakdown structure, the project schedule, and many other items. Planning
processes are especially important for information technology projects. Everyone who has
ever worked on a large information technology project that involves new technology
knows the saying, A dollar spent up front in planning is worth one hundred dollars spent
after the system is implemented. Planning is crucial in information technology projects
because once a project team implements a new system, it takes a considerable amount of
effort to change the system. Research suggests that companies working to implement
best practices should spend at least 20 percent of project time in initiating and planning.

The executing process group takes the actions necessary to complete the work
described in the planning activities. The main outcome of this process group is delivering
the actual work of the project. For example, if an information technology project involves
providing new hardware, software, and training, the executing processes would include
leading the project team and other stakeholders to purchase the hardware, develop and
test the software, and deliver and participate in the training. The executing process group
should overlap the other process groups and generally requires the most resources.
Monitoring and controlling processes measure progress toward the project
objectives, monitor deviation from the plan, and take corrective action to match progress
with the plan. Performance reports are common outputs of monitoring and controlling.
The project manager should be monitoring progress closely to ensure that deliverables are
being completed and objectives are being met. The project manager must work closely
with the project team and other stakeholders and take appropriate actions to keep the
project running smoothly. The ideal outcome of the monitoring and controlling process
group is to complete a project successfully by delivering the agreed-upon project scope
within time, cost, and quality constraints. If changes to project objectives or plans are
required, monitoring and controlling processes ensure that these changes are made
efficiently and effectively to meet stakeholder needs and expectations. Monitoring and
controlling processes overlap all of the other project management process groups because
changes can occur at any time.

During the closing processes, the project team works to gain acceptance of the end
products, services, or results and bring the phase or project to an orderly end. Key
outcomes of this process group are formal acceptance of the work and creation of closing
documents, such as a final project report and lessons-learned report.

Project Pre-Initiation and Initiation

In project management, initiating includes recognizing and starting a new project. An
organization should put considerable thought into project selection to ensure that it
initiates the right kinds of projects for the right reasons. It is better to have a moderate or
even small amount of success on an important project than huge success on one that is
unimportant. The selection of projects for initiation, therefore, is crucial, as is the selection
of project managers. Ideally, the project manager would be involved in initiating a project,
but often the project manager is selected after many initiation decisions have already
been made. Organizations must also understand and plan for the ongoing support that is
often required after implementing a new system or other product or service resulting from
a project.

It is important to remember that strategic planning should serve as the foundation for
deciding which projects to pursue. The organization’s strategic plan expresses the vision,
mission, goals, objectives, and strategies of the organization. It also provides the basis for
information technology project planning. Information technology is usually a support
function in an organization, so it is critical that the people initiating information technology
projects understand how those projects relate to current and future needs of the
organization.

An organization may initiate information technology projects for several reasons, but the
most important reason is to support business objectives. Providing a good return on
investment at a reasonable level of risk is also important, especially in tough economic
times.
Pre-Initiation Tasks
It is good practice to lay the groundwork for a project before it officially starts. Senior
managers often perform several tasks, sometimes called pre-initiation tasks, including the
following:
• Determine the scope, time, and cost constraints for the project
• Identify the project sponsor
• Select the project manager
• Develop a business case for a project
• Meet with the project manager to review the process and expectations for
managing the project
• Determine if the project should be divided into two or more smaller projects

Initiating

To officially initiate the Project Management, main tasks are to identify all of the project
stakeholders and to develop the project charter. The main outputs are a project charter,
stakeholder register, and stakeholder management strategy. Another output found very
useful for initiating projects is a formal project kick-off meeting. Recall that every project
and every organization is unique, so not all project charters, stakeholder registers, etc. will
look the same.
Identifying Project Stakeholders

The role is to help identify key stakeholders for this project. Stakeholders are people
involved in or affected by project activities and include the project sponsor, project team,
support staff, customers, users, suppliers, and even opponents to the project.

The stakeholders roles, names, organizations, and contact information are documented in
a stakeholder register, a document that includes details related to the identified project
stakeholders. A stakeholder management strategy is an approach to help increase the
support of stakeholders throughout the project. It includes basic information such as
stakeholder names, level of interest in the project, level of influence on the project, and
potential management strategies for gaining support or reducing obstacles from that
particular stakeholder. Since much of this information can be sensitive, it should be
considered confidential. Some project managers do not even write down this information,
but they do consider it since stakeholder management is a crucial part of their jobs.

Drafting the Project Charter

Note the items included on the project charter and its short length. Project charters should
preferably be one or two pages long, and they may refer to other documents, such as a
business case, as needed. It should include project title, Start and finish date, project
manager, project objectives, approaches, names and roles and responsibilities of project
stakeholders.

Holding a Project Kick-off Meeting

Experienced project managers know that it is crucial to get projects off to a great start.
Holding a good kick-off meeting is an excellent way to do this. A kick-off meeting is a
meeting held at the beginning of a project so that stakeholders can meet each other,
review the goals of the project, and discuss future plans. The kick-off meeting is often
held after the business case and project charter are completed, but it could be held
sooner, as needed. Even if some or even all project stakeholders must meet virtually, it is
still important to have a kick-off meeting. All project meetings with major stakeholders
should include an agenda.

Notice the main topics in an agenda:

• Meeting objective
• Agenda (lists in order the topics to be discussed)
• A section for documenting action items, who they are assigned to, and when each
person will complete the action
• A section to document the date and time of the next meeting should be

Software project versus other types of project

•The product of software project have certain characteristics which make them different
▫ Invisibility: When a physical artifact such a bridge or road is being constructed the
progress being made can actually be seen. With software, progress is not immediately
visible.
▫ Complexity: Per rands spent, software products contain more complexity than other
engineered artifacts.
▫ Conformity: The traditional engineer is usually working with physical systems and
physical physical materials materials like cement and steel. These systems systems can
have some complexity complexity but are governed by physical laws that are consistent.
Software developers have to confirm to the requirements of human clients that certainly
keeps on fluctuating.
▫ Flexibility: The ease with which software can be changed is usually seen as one of its
strengths. Software systems are subject to a high degree of change.

Problems with Software Project

• One way of deciding what ought to be covered in SPM is to consider what the problems
are that it should address.
Commonly experienced problems from manager’s point of view
• Poor estimates and plans
• Lack of quality quality standards standards and measures measures
• Lack of guidance about making organizational decisions
• Lack of techniques to make progress visible
• Poor role definition definition – who does what?
• Incorrect success criteria

Commonly experienced problems from other stakeholders (Staff who make up

the members of the project team)
• Inadequate specification of work
• Management ignorance of IT
• Lack of knowledge of application area
• Lack of standard
• Lack of up to date documentation
• Narrow scope of technical expertise
• Changing software environment
• Changing statutory requirements
• Deadline pressure
• Lack of quality control
• Remote management
• Lack of training
• Lack of communication between users and technicians
• Lack of commitment

Suggested Skills for Project Managers

Project managers need a wide variety of skills. They should be comfortable with change,
understand the organizations they work in and with, and be able to lead teams to
accomplish project goals.

Project managers need both “hard” and “soft” skills. Hard skills include product
knowledge and knowing how to use various project management tools and techniques,
and soft skills include being able to work with various types of people.
 • Communication skills: listening, persuading

• Organizational skills: planning, goal-setting, analyzing

• Team Building skills: empathy, motivation, esprit de corps

• Leadership skills: set examples, be energetic, have vision (big picture), delegate,
be positive
• Coping skills: flexibility, creativity, patience, persistence
• Technological skills: experience, project knowledge

Characteristics of Effective Project Managers

• Lead by example
• Are visionaries
• Are technically competent
• Are decisive
• Are good communicators
• Are good motivators
• Stand up to upper management when necessary
• Support team members
• Encourage new ideas

Why are Projects late?

• An unrealistic deadlines established by outsiders
• Changing customer requirements that are not reflected in the schedule
• An honest underestimate of effort and/or resources required
• Risks that were not considered when the project started
• Technical difficulties that could not have been foreseen
• Human difficulties difficulties that could not have been foreseen
• Miscommunication among project staff
• Project management failing to recognize schedule slippage and not taking corrective
action