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Project Management

Project management is about applying a process to enable the completion of

a project o time and within budget. It can be broken down into initiation,
planning, execution monitoring, and close stages.

The stages of the project life cycle

Every project needs to be managed properly in order to ensure the deadlines

are met, resources are available.

Project initiation

In project management the conception and initiation stage is the first phase
of the project life cycle.

Conception is where the initial idea or need for a project is born. A business
case is often developed here to justify the need and show the value or
impact the project would have.

Identify the idea - an initial idea or need is recognized.

Consider the purpose- think about why the project is needed and what
benefits it could bring.

Check feasibility- do a quick check to see if the idea is realistic. This could
involve thinking about available resources, permissions, or potential
challenges.

Define the goal- clearly state what the project aims to achieve in simple
terms.

Get initial support- talk to stakeholders to see if they support the idea or
interested in moving forward.

Initiation stage is where after that identifying the project idea, a feasibility
study or analysis is conducted to Determine whether the project is of benefit
to an organization based on resources, time and finance.

Outline project goals- Clearly state what the project aims to achieve.

A brief document or project initiation document (PID) or initial statement of

work (SoW) that outlines the projects purpose objectives and main tasks will
be created.

The Requirements for the project will be identified all stakeholders are aware
of the expectations of the project. Objectives of the project, its scope, risks,
approximate budget and approximate time scales will be defined and agreed
with all stakeholders.

Resources that will be required will be made and a high level schedule
created which identifies proposed dates for completion of the project.

Assess feasibility- ensure that the project has the necessary resources, like
time, budget, and skills, to be successful.

Project planning

Assign roles- it is essential that the project is planned well So that all
stakeholders know their responsibilities during all stages.

Create a budget - A comprehensive budget will be formulated along with

details of time scales for the progress of the project.

Set goals and objectives-

Breakdown the overall goal into smaller, measurable objectives to track

progress.

Develop a timeline – create a schedule with deadlines for each task.

milestones will be set.

These milestones show by which time certain aspects of the project must be
complete.

Tasks that have to be completed between each milestone will be identified

and prioritized.

Gantt chart - Chart will be produced to show which tasks need to be

completed and in which order.

Resources, including personnel [manpower] will be allocated to tasks in a

coordinated manner So that they are available at the right times.

Set up communication - determine how team members will stay updated on

the project’s progress. Ensure the tasks can be completed on time, resources
[especially personnel] are not overused.

At the end, a phase review will be carried out to check that the plan is
achievable and that it meets the objectives of the project.

Project execution
Handle communication- The project manager will be expected to
communicate roles and responsibilities to team members.

Ensure that each team member understands their responsibilities and starts
working on their tasks.

Manage risks – Address any problems or delays that arise to keep the project
on track.

Control Quality – Review work to make sure it meets the set standards and
project requirements.

At the end, an execution phase review will take place to learn lessons from
what went wrong and to note examples of good practice.

Project monitoring and control

Monitor progress – Project Manager must regularly check that tasks are being
completed on schedule and address any delays or issues.

The project manager will be responsible for ensuring tasks are completed on
time and rescheduling any tasks if there are delays.

The project manager will need to monitor the performance of team members
to ensure they are carrying out their agreed roles effectively.

The project manager will need to monitor expenditure and compare it

against the budget to ensure that overspends don’t occur and keep a close
eye on the scope of the project to make sure it doesn’t extend beyond its
agreed boundaries.

Objectives will be regularly reviewed to ensure that the project is meeting its
original objectives.

Keep stakeholders informed and hold regular team meetings to discuss

updates.

Project close

Finalize deliverables – Complete any remaining tasks and ensure the final
product is ready for handover.

When the project is ready, handover will take place from the project team to
the client.
Contracts will be terminated, which means some people may need to be
deployed elsewhere or may need to look for alternative employment.

Resources that have been assigned to the project will be released.

A review of the project will take place between the client and the project
management team, where requirements will be evaluated and success will
be celebrated.

The client will be expected to sign off the project as completed.

Project management software

Planning .

Planning is breaking a project into small tasks and deciding what needs to be
done. Software you listS all tasks needed to complete the project.

Most of the planning involved using project management software is

concerned with scheduling tasks and allocating resources to those tasks. Key
milestones can be identified in advance. These are when crucial points in
the project should be reached, so tasks should be scheduled to meet these
milestones. Templates can be used for setting up an initial project plan.
These templates can be provided by the software or they could be templates
that are created based upon an organization's previously successful projects.

Through the use of project templates. Company standards can be set up for
the way projects should be planned so employees have a common
collaborative and recognizable structure.

Scheduling of tasks

Scheduling of tasks mean setting timelines for each task to ensure the
project is completed on time.

Project management software will enable a project manager to create a gantt

chart Or calendar an overview of the tasks that need completing on a
timeline.

Tasks will be assigned an estimated number of hours or days that will take to
complete, together with a deadline for completion.

. The project manager will be able to identify which tasks are dependent
upon other tasks and so cannot start until those other tasks have been
completed.
Tasks can be delegated to other members of the team and put in a priority
order to identify which should be completed first.

Team members will be able to record how many hours have been spent on
each task and identify when the task is complete.

Carry out critical path analysis to discover shortest and longest time of
project.

Online calendars are used to organise meetings and reminders.

Allocation of resources

Allocation of resources means assigning people equipment or any materials

required to each task.

The software helps you to track the available resources like budget or
equipment. Based on their availability the project manager knows when they
can be used.

Resources can be assigned to tasks and a number of hours or days be

assigned to the use of that resource.

The software will help the project manager to avoid resource conflicts and
also identify clearly situation team members could experience overload.

Costings

. Records all transactions and payments before and during a project.

This includes maintenance of lost of materials , IT services, maintanence of

IT equipment ,etc.

Import data in spreadsheets which automatically calculates and displays all

expenses.

Tracking the project's budget and ensuring you don't overspend.

All resources will have costs allocated to them,. The project manager will be
able to calculate the total cost of each task based on how many hours each
resource is used for each task.

During meetings or discussions can export data as graphs, presentations for

analyzation
The software expenses for each task. Daily, weekly, monthly or custom
analysis of expenditure and its comparison to the budget can be provided.

The costings information will be able to be exported to common formats such

as spreadsheets for further manipulation and analysis.

It alerts If costs exceed the budget.

Communication and collaborative working

Helping team members share ideas, updates, and files easily.

Project management software provides a large variety of communication

tools which helps team members to collaborate throughout the project.

Calendars - each team member will have a calendar showing what they are
doing at any time. these can be synchronized with Google or outlook so that
each members availability is always up to date. This enables meetings to be
scheduled with each team member. . documents can be attached to these
meetings so that they are readily available to each participant.

instant messaging / video chat / video conferencing - Enables team

members who are working remotely from each other to communicate.

shared documents - all documents should be stored in a central repository

so that they are available to the team members who require access to them.
documents can be assigned to tasks, resources are. milestones so that they
are available at the right time to the right people.

If any changes are made in the documents each team member to come to
know that some modifications have been made in the document. The
software can e-mail team members to inform them when changes to
documents have been made.

Discussions / forums – this is particularly useful when all team members are
not available at the same time. these can be set up for tasks,. documents or
milestones so that discussions between team members can be held. team
members will be able to see comments and suggestions that have been
made by others and respond to them.

Progress - The software can inform team members and project manager of
progress that is being made. team members can update tasks to show how
near to completion they are and this progress can be fed into the whole
project plan. , if changes are made to the project timeline,. automated e-mail
notifications can be sent out to all affected team members.

decision making

Using project data to make better decisions about changes or solving

problems.

all communications within the project management software can be logged

and tracked so that if decisions have been made then it is possible to clearly
identify who made each decision and for what reasons.

Software helps to track progress highlights delays, problems or issues. The

software shows resource availability and project performance. so decisions
can be made accordingly such as changing the timeline are allocating
additional resources.

Displays data in various formats so that they can be readily or easily

understood by project managers, members, stakeholders and clients.

Export data to prepare graphs, charts and reports can be used to analyze
the budget, scheduling and task progress. comparisons can be made
between the plan and what is actually happening during the execution of the
project, decisions can be made to make changes if necessary.

the software will identify a critical path which will show all tasks on time if
project is to meet its deadline.
weakness of project management software

cost - Good quality project management software is a large financial

investment. advanced tools can be expensive.

Complexity - Some software is complex because it covers so many different

aspects of project management. so It is hard to learn project managers
need training to use the software. . team members also needs training to use
the components that are relevant to their tasks.

over dependence - Users can become too dependent on the software to

remind them the tasks need to be completed. this can result in a task not
being done until an alert pops up on someone's screen telling them they
have missed a deadline. if the software crashes progress may be lost.

Risk - online project management creates a risk that unauthorized users

may access sensitive data that they shouldn't have access to.

PMS may not be appropriate for very small projects, due to following reasons:

Tools and techniques for project management tasks

Critical path method.

Critical path method (CPM) also known as critical path analysis (CPA), finds a
project’s critical path. The critical path identifies which tasks must complete
on time in order to complete whole project on time.

It also helps in defining the minimum time in which the project can be
completed.

It provides the time needed for each task.

Some tasks aren’t critical and have what is known as float time. The float
time is the time an activity can be delayed without affecting the rest of the
project.

To create a network activity diagram you need to know the following

information:

 The list of tasks

 How log each task will take.
 Which tasks are dependent upon predecessors

Predeccesor – a task in a project that must be completed before another

task can start.

Using A network activity diagram can help to allocate the right number of
resources to a task. For example when a task needs to be completed earlier
than planned, additional resources can be allocated to the task. This is
known as crashing. Those additional resources could come from tasks with
high float times because its not critical that those tasks finish at their
planned earliest finish time.

When there aren't any float tasks available or the necessary resources can’t
be found from float tasks, additional resources have to be found which incur
additional costs.

Use of the critical path method in project management.

 Helps in scheduling tasks.

 Defines the minimum time in which the project can be completed.
 Reduces the risks of delays by involving all managers in details of
planning so all are aware of the overall project details.
 Allows resources required for each activity to be made available at the
appropriate time which reduces costs.
  Tasks can be de dated simultaneously or parallel to reduce overall
duration of project.
 This shows the dependencies of the tasks. This helps to focus on the
critical ones to improve Chances of project ‘s success.
 Performance evaluation and review technique (pert)

Pert is similar to CPM.it is used to plan schedule and manage projects and
activities are based on predecessors.it is suitable for research and
development projects. Because instead of definitive time estimates of time
are used.

Tasks or activities are represented by arrows and milestones are represented

by nodes.

To estimate the time, the following are used.:

• most optimistic time – optimistic time is based on the assumption that

everything will go right and there will be no problems.

• most likely time

• most pessimistic time – pessimistic time is based on the assumption that

anything that can go wrong will go wrong.

The estimated time is calculated as:

Estimated time = 4 x most likely time + optimistic time + pessimistic time

divided by 6.

Gantt charts:
It is used to show start and finish date of each task, the predecessor for each task, the
progress of each task and the current position within the project.
Tasks are listed with their start and finish dates.

A bar represents each task.

Shaded part in the bar represents the percentage of the task that has been
completed.

Arrows are used to show which tasks one dependent upon other tasks.

A line can be used to show the current position within the project.
It’s also possible to identify the resources required.

To create Gantt chart the following informations are needed:

• the list of tasks.

• how long each task will take.

• which tasks are dependent upon predecessor

‘ • resources that are allocated to each task.

Features of Gantt charts

 Shows the start and finish dates for each task.

 Timeline shows the duration of tasks in hours, days, weeks, months
and quarters.
 Table shows subtasks.
 Milestones are shown as checkpoints. Special markers for important
deadlines or project goals.
 Each task is represented by a horizontal bar on the timeline. The
length of the bar shows the task’s duration.
 It uses shaded bars or color coding to display progress. This represents
the percentage of completion of each task.
  Critical path is shown by arrows. Arrows connecting task bars indicates
relationships between tasks. (Dependencies of tasks - One task must
complete before another starts).


For showing overdue tasks.

Use of a % bar within the task bar.

Use a red line on the chart.

Different colors of bars can be used.

Work breakdown structure (wbs) :

Very large projects will be broken down into hundreds of tasks.

To help manage those tasks, a hierarchical decomposition of the project can

be created as a work breakdown structure (wbs).

A WBS forms a hierarchical diagram with tastes allocated to sub – tasks or

project phases.

In a software development project, the project might be broken into the

phases of development life cycle.

A team manager would then be responsible for each phase. Assistant project
manager might be responsible for the testing phase of the software
development project.

Each phase would be broken down further to show the stages involved in
each phase.

Purpose of a WBS::

• to show hierarchical description of the scope of a project.

 Hierarchical diagram with tasks allocated to sub-tasks.

 Assigns tasks to individuals or teams, clarifying roles and
responsibilities.
  Describes in detail all the work required in all the stages of a project so
that everyone knows what has to be done.
 Provides increasing details as you move down the levels.
 Helps to create a clear visual structure for the team. Ensuring
everyone understands the project scope and objectives.
 Describes the planned outcomes of the project so that they can be
tested or evaluated in later stages.

Characteristics of a well designed WBS:

 Content can be easily understood by all participants.

 Content can be managed or divided into manageable units.
 Each task or component can be assigned to a person or team. The
progress of tasks should be measurable
 Duration of work can be estimated and allows to determine costs.
 This allows for adjustments if the project scope changes.