Project management

Dr. Kanwal Haqqani

Project

Word Project came from Latin word “Projectum” from a Latin verb “Proices” (to
through something forward) which in turns came from Pro which denotes
something that proceeds the action of the next part of the word.

Project is the combination of interrelated activities with well-defined objectives to

be completed in a specific time period.

According to Project Management Institute (PMI) project can be define as

temporary endeavor undertaken to achieve a unique objective/goal.
Such as Construction projects etc.
Project

 A project is temporary in that it has a defined beginning and end in time, and
therefore defined scope and resources.

 And a project is unique in that it is not a routine operation, but a specific set of
operations designed to accomplish a singular goal. So a project team often
includes people who don’t usually work together – sometimes from different
organizations and across multiple geographies.

 The development of software for an improved business process, the construction

of a building or bridge, the relief effort after a natural disaster, the expansion of
sales into a new geographic market — all are projects.
Characteristics of Project
• Well-defined objectives • Definite time limit
• Uniqueness )non-routine activities. • Teamwork
• Complexity • Connected activities
• Life Spare (Limited or specific time • One goal
period).
• Time specific
• Single entity (single product)
• Within budget
• Change in response to the
environment • According to specification
• Risk and uncertainty
• Duration of activities
• Forecasting
Project Management

 The application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities in order
to meet project requirement.

 Project management is the art of directing and controlling human and material resources
throughout life of a project by using modern management techniques to achieve pre-
determined objectives of scope, cost, time, and quality to the equal satisfaction of those
involved.

 Project management is the application of methodologies, tools and processes to

successfully plan and execute projects. Project management intelligently makes use of
teams and resources to complete project activities within the boundaries of time, cost
and scope.
Project Parameters/constrains
Project Constrains (Cont’d

 Scope: defining project scope. Scope defines boundaries of the project.

What will be done? What will not be done?
 Quality: Product quality, process quality. Defining quality
 Time: Managing Time
 Managing cost
 Resources: Managing Resources
 What is project life cycle?

 The Project Life Cycle refers to a logical sequence of activities to

accomplish the project’s goals or objectives. Regardless of scope or
complexity, any project goes through a series of stages during its life.
There is first an Initiation or Birth phase, in which the outputs and critical
success factors are defined, followed by a Planning phase, characterized
by breaking down the project into smaller parts/tasks, an Execution phase,
in which the project plan is executed, phase in which progress and
performance is monitored to ensure it stays within the schedule and
budget and lastly a Closure or Exit phase, that marks the completion of
the project.
 Cont’d

 Project activities must be grouped into phases because by doing so, the
project manager and the core team can efficiently plan and organize
resources for each activity, and also objectively measure achievement of
goals and justify their decisions to move ahead, correct, or terminate. It is
of great importance to organize project phases into industry-specific project
cycles. Why? Not only because each industry sector involves specific
requirements, tasks, and procedures when it comes to projects, but also
because different industry sectors have different needs for life cycle
management methodology. And paying close attention to such details is the
difference between doing things well and excelling as project managers.
Project Life Cycle
 1) Initiation
 This is the starting phase of your project when you must prove the project has
value and is feasible. This stage includes creating a business case, to justify
the need for the project, and a feasibility study to show that it can be executed
within a reasonable time and cost. This is also the time to create a project
charter, a document that sets out exactly what the project is going to deliver. A
project brief serves a very similar purpose.
 In this first stage, the scope of the project is defined along with the approach
to be taken to deliver the desired outputs. The project manager is appointed
and in turn, he selects the team members based on their skills and experience.
The most common tools or methodologies used in the initiation stage are
Project Charter, Business Plan, Project Framework (or Overview), Business
Case Justification, and Milestones Reviews.
 2) Planning
 The second phase is project planning, which occurs after the project has been
approved. The deliverable of this phase is the project plan, which will be the guide for
the execution and control phases. The project plan must include every component
associated with the execution of the project including the costs, risks, resources and
timelines.

 During this phase, the work required to complete the project, which is known as the
project scope, is defined using a work breakdown structure (WBS). The WBS divides
the project into activities, milestones and deliverables. This allows project managers
to create schedules and assign tasks to their team members.

 Project managers often visualize their project plan using a Gantt chart, which
represents the order of tasks and how they are interdependent. This gives you a
roadmap for the work until the project reaches its conclusion. There are different
project planning charts and techniques such as Gantt charts, CPM, WBS or PERT that
facilitate the development of a project plan.
3) Execution and controlling

 The third phase is project execution, which is where the majority of the
work happens. This is the phase where you complete the project
activities and milestones to produce the deliverables to the client’s or
stakeholder’s satisfaction by following the plan created in the previous
stage.

 Along the way, the project manager will reallocate resources as needed
to keep the team working. They will also work to identify and mitigate
risks, deal with problems and incorporate any changes.
4) Project Monitoring and Control

 The fourth phase is project monitoring and control, which occurs at the
same time as the execution phase of the project. It involves monitoring
the progress and performance of the project to ensure sure that it stays
on schedule and within budget. Quality control procedures are applied to
guarantee quality assurance.

 The biggest issues in a project are typically related to three things—

time, cost and scope, which collectively are referred to as the triple
constraint. The main goal of this phase is to set firm controls on the
project to ensure that those areas don’t go off track.
5) Project Closure

 The fifth phase is project closure, in which the final deliverables are
presented to the client or stakeholder. Once approved, resources are
released, documentation is completed, and everything is signed off on. At
this point the project manager and team can conduct a post-mortem to
evaluate the lessons learned from the project and learn from the
experience.

 Depending on the project, the closure phase may also include handing over
control to a different team, such as the operations management team. In
this case, it is the job of the project manager to ensure that such a
transition occurs smoothly.