OAS COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Calzada, Oas, Albay

BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN OFFICE ADMINISTRATION

INTRODUCTION TO PROJECT MANAGEMENT

LESSON 3: ELEMENTS OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Traditionally (depending on what project management methodology is being used),

project management includes a number of elements: four to five project management
process groups, and a control system.

References:

apm.org.uk (n.d.) What is project management? Retrieved from

https://www.apm.org.uk/ resources/ what-is-project-management/#:~:text=Project%
20management%20is% 20the%20application,a%20finite%20timescale%20and
%20budget.

Alain Thierstein (2012) “Sustainable Urban planning and development: Interplay of top-
down and bottom-up Approaches,” retrieved from
http://www.raumentwicklung-tum.de/upload/.../135_2_1161003741.pdf.

Lecture
Regardless of the methodology or terminology used, the same basic project
management processes or stages of development will be used. Major process groups
generally include:

 Initiation
 Planning
 Production or execution
 Monitoring and controlling
 Closing
In project environments with a significant exploratory element (e.g., research and
development), these stages may be supplemented with decision points (go/no go
decisions) at which the project's continuation is debated and decided. An example is
the Phase–gate model.
Initiating

Initiating process group processes

The initiating processes determine the nature and scope of the project. [36] If this stage is
not performed well, it is unlikely that the project will be successful in meeting the
business’ needs. The key project controls needed here are an understanding of the
business environment and making sure that all necessary controls are incorporated into
the project. Any deficiencies should be reported and a recommendation should be made
to fix them.
The initiating stage should include a plan that encompasses the following areas. These
areas can be recorded in a series of documents called Project Initiation documents.
Project Initiation documents are a series of planned documents used to create order for
the duration of the project. These tend to include:

 project proposal (idea behind project, overall goal, duration)

 project scope (project direction and track)
 product breakdown structure (PBS) (a hierarchy of deliverables / outcomes and
components thereof)
 work breakdown structure (WBS) (a hierarchy of the work to be done, down to daily
tasks)
 responsibility assignment matrix (RACI) (roles and responsibilities aligned to
deliverables / outcomes)
 tentative project schedule (milestones, important dates, deadlines)
 analysis of business needs and requirements against measurable goals
 review of the current operations
 financial analysis of the costs and benefits, including a budget
 stakeholder analysis, including users and support personnel for the project
 project charter including costs, tasks, deliverables, and schedules
 SWOT analysis: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to the business

Planning
After the initiation stage, the project is planned to an appropriate level of detail
(see example of a flow-chart). The main purpose is to plan time, cost, and resources
adequately to estimate the work needed and to effectively manage risk during project
execution. As with the Initiation process group, a failure to adequately plan greatly
reduces the project's chances of successfully accomplishing its goals.
Project planning generally consists of:
 determining the project management methodology to follow (e.g. whether the plan
will be defined wholly up front, iteratively, or in rolling waves);
 developing the scope statement;
 selecting the planning team;
 identifying deliverables and creating the product and work breakdown structures;
 identifying the activities needed to complete those deliverables and networking the
activities in their logical sequence;
 estimating the resource requirements for the activities;
 estimating time and cost for activities;
 developing the schedule;
 developing the budget;
 risk planning;
 developing quality assurance measures;
 gaining formal approval to begin work.
Additional processes, such as planning for communications and for scope management,
identifying roles and responsibilities, determining what to purchase for the project and
holding a kick-off meeting are also generally advisable.
For new product development projects, conceptual design of the operation of the final
product may be performed concurrent with the project planning activities, and may help
to inform the planning team when identifying deliverables and planning activities.

Executing

Executing process group processes

While executing we must know what are the planned terms that need to be
executed. The execution/implementation phase ensures that the project management
plan's deliverables are executed accordingly. This phase involves proper allocation, co-
ordination and management of human resources and any other resources such as
material and budgets. The output of this phase is the project deliverables.

Project Documentation
Documenting everything within a project is key to being successful. To maintain budget,
scope, effectiveness and pace a project must have physical documents pertaining to
each specific task. With correct documentation, it is easy to see whether or not a
project's requirement has been met. To go along with that, documentation provides
information regarding what has already been completed for that project. Documentation
throughout a project provides a paper trail for anyone who needs to go back and
reference the work in the past. In most cases, documentation is the most successful
way to monitor and control the specific phases of a project. With the correct
documentation, a project's success can be tracked and observed as the project goes
on. If performed correctly documentation can be the backbone to a project's success.

Monitoring and controlling

Monitoring and controlling process group processes

Monitoring and controlling consists of those processes performed to observe project

execution so that potential problems can be identified in a timely manner and corrective
action can be taken, when necessary, to control the execution of the project. The key
benefit is that project performance is observed and measured regularly to identify
variances from the project management plan.
Monitoring and controlling includes:

 Measuring the ongoing project activities ('where we are');

 Monitoring the project variables (cost, effort, scope, etc.) against the project
management plan and the project performance baseline (where we should be);
 Identifying corrective actions to address issues and risks properly (How can we get
on track again);
 Influencing the factors that could circumvent integrated change control so only
approved changes are implemented.
Two main mechanisms support monitoring and controlling in projects. On the one
hand, contracts offer a set of rules and incentives often supported by potential penalties
and sanctions. On the other hand, scholars in business and management have paid
attention to the role of integrators (also called project barons) to achieve a project’s
objectives. In turn, recent research in project management has questioned the type of
interplay between contracts and integrators. Some have argued that these two
monitoring mechanisms operate as substitutes as one type of organization would
decrease the advantages of using the other one, while others have suggested that they
can complement each other.
In multi-phase projects, the monitoring and control process also provides feedback
between project phases, to implement corrective or preventive actions to bring the
project into compliance with the project management plan.
Project maintenance is an ongoing process, and it includes:

 Continuing support of end-users

 Correction of errors
 Updates to the product over time

Monitoring and controlling cycle

In this stage, auditors should pay attention to how effectively and quickly user problems
are resolved.
Over the course of any construction project, the work scope may change. Change is a
normal and expected part of the construction process. Changes can be the result of
necessary design modifications, differing site conditions, material availability, contractor-
requested changes, value engineering, and impacts from third parties, to name a few.
Beyond executing the change in the field, the change normally needs to be documented
to show what was actually constructed. This is referred to as change management.
Hence, the owner usually requires a final record to show all changes or, more
specifically, any change that modifies the tangible portions of the finished work. The
record is made on the contract documents – usually, but not necessarily limited to, the
design drawings. The end product of this effort is what the industry terms as-built
drawings, or more simply, "as built." The requirement for providing them is a norm in
construction contracts. Construction document management is a highly important task
undertaken with the aid of an online or desktop software system, or maintained through
physical documentation. The increasing legality pertaining to the construction industry's
maintenance of correct documentation has caused the increase in the need for
document management systems.
When changes are introduced to the project, the viability of the project has to be re-
assessed. It is important not to lose sight of the initial goals and targets of the projects.
When the changes accumulate, the forecasted result may not justify the original
proposed investment in the project. Successful project management identifies these
components, and tracks and monitors progress, so as to stay within time and budget
frames already outlined at the commencement of the project. Exact methods were
suggested to identify the most informative monitoring points along the project life-cycle
regarding its progress and expected duration.
Closing

Closing process group processes.

Closing includes the formal acceptance of the project and the ending thereof.
Administrative activities include the archiving of the files and documenting lessons
learned.
This phase consists of:

 Contract closure: Complete and settle each contract (including the resolution of
any open items) and close each contract applicable to the project or project phase.
 Project close: Finalize all activities across all of the process groups to formally
close the project or a project phase
Also included in this phase is the Post Implementation Review. This is a vital phase of
the project for the project team to learn from experiences and apply to future projects.
Normally a Post Implementation Review consists of looking at things that went well and
analyzing things that went badly on the project to come up with lessons learned.

Assessment:
1. Describe the elements of project management.

PREPARED BY:

ENGR. JOSEPH R. PULVINAR, MBA, MPA

Instructor