Program Management Office - Karl Knapp



A Project Manager’s Handbook

Revised June 20, 2000

Table of Contents

Table of Contents 2

Introduction 3

Basis for this Handbook 3

The Project Management Processes 4

Initiating Processes 5

Planning Processes 5

Core Planning Processes 5

Facilitating Planning Processes 6

Executing Processes 6

Controlling Processes 7

Core Controlling Processes 7

Facilitating Controlling Processes 7

Closing Processes 7

Project Management Process 10

Project Manager 10

Project Sponsor 10

Prioritization Committee 10

The Project Center 10

Initiation 10

Introduction

Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project activities in order to meet or exceed stakeholder needs and expectations from a project. Meeting or exceeding stakeholder needs and expectations invariably involves balancing competing demands among:

• Scope, time, cost and quality

• Stakeholders with differing needs and expectations

• Identified requirements (needs) and unidentified requirements (expectations)

Organizations performing projects will usually divide each project into several project phases to provide better management control and appropriate links to the ongoing operations of the performing operation. Collectively, the project phases are known as the project life cycle.

Each project phase is marked by the completion of one or more deliverables.

The conclusion of a project phase is generally marked by a review of both key deliverables and project performance in order to (a) determine if the project should continue into its next phase and (b) detect and correct errors cost effectively. These phase-end reviews are often called phase exits, stage gates, or kill points.

Project stakeholders are individuals and organizations who are actively involved in the project, or whose interests may be positively or negatively affected as a result of project execution or successful project completion. Key stakeholders on every project include:

• Project manager – the individual responsible for managing the project

• Customer – the individual or organization who will use the project product

• Performing organization – the enterprise whose employees are most directly involved in doing the work of the project

• Project Sponsor – the individual or group within the performing organization who provides the financial resources, in cash or in kind, for the project

Basis for this Handbook

Much of this document is based on the principles, concepts and content outlined by the Project Management Institute (PMI) in their Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge.

Since its founding in 1969, Project Management Institute (PMI®) has grown to be the organization of choice for project management professionalism. With over 55,000 members worldwide, PMI® is the leading nonprofit professional association in the area of Project Management. PMI establishes Project Management standards, provides seminars, educational programs and professional certification that more and more organizations desire for their project leaders.

The Project Management Processes

Projects are composed of processes. A process is “a series of actions bringing about a result”. Project processes are performed by people and generally fall into one of two major categories:

• Project management processes are concerned with describing and organizing the work of the project

• Product-oriented processes are concerned with specifying and creating the project product

Project management processes can be organized into five groups of one or more processes:

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• Initiating processes – recognizing that a project or phase should begin and committing to do so

• Planning processes – devising and maintaining a workable scheme to accomplish the business need that the project was undertaken to address

• Executing processes – coordinating people and other resources to carry out the plan

• Controlling processes – ensuring that project objectives are met by monitoring and measuring progress and taking corrective action when necessary

• Closing processes – formalizing acceptance of the project or phase and bringing it to an orderly end

The process groups are linked by the results they produce – the result or outcome of one becomes an input to another.

Initiating Processes

Initiation is the process of formally recognizing that a new project exists or that an existing project should continue into its next phase.

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Planning Processes

Planning is of major importance to a project because the project involves doing something which has not been done before. However, the number of planning processes does not mean that project management is primarily planning – the amount of planning performed should be commensurate with the scope of the project and the usefulness of the information developed.

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Core Planning Processes

• Scope planning – developing a written scope statement as a basis for future project decisions

• Scope definition – subdividing the major project deliverables into smaller, more manageable components

• Activity definition – identifying the specific activities that must be performed to produce the various project deliverables

• Activity sequencing – identifying and documenting interactivity dependencies

• Activity duration estimating – estimating the number of work periods which will be needed to complete individual activities

• Schedule development – analyzing activity sequences, activity durations, and resource requirements to create the project schedule

• Resource planning – determining what resources (people, equipment, materials) and what quantities of each should be used to perform project activities

• Cost estimating – developing an approximation (estimate) of the costs of the resources needed to complete project activities

• Cost budgeting – allocating the overall cost estimate to individual work items

• Project plan development – taking the results of other planning processes and putting them into a consistent, coherent document

Facilitating Planning Processes

Although these facilitating processes are performed intermittently and as needed during project planning, whey are not optional. They include:

• Quality planning – identifying which quality standards are relevant to the project and determining how to satisfy them

• Organizational planning – identifying, documenting, and assigning project roles, responsibilities, and reporting relationships

• Staff acquisition – getting the human resources needed assigned to and working on the project

• Communications planning – determining the information and communications needs of the stakeholders: who needs what information, when will they need it, and how will it be given to them

• Risk identification – determining which risks are likely to affect the project and documenting the characteristics of each

• Risk quantification – evaluating risks and risk interactions to assess the range of possible project outcomes

• Risk response development – defining enhancement steps for opportunities and responses to threats

• Procurement planning – determining what to procure and when

• Solicitation planning – documenting product requirements and identifying potential sources

Executing Processes

Project execution is the accomplishment of the objectives of the project by the performing organization.

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The following are the processes involved in project execution:

• Project plan execution – carrying out the project plan by performing the activities included therein

• Scope verification – formalizing acceptance of the project scope

• Quality assurance – evaluating overall project performance on a regular basis to provide confidence that the project will satisfy the relevant quality standards

• Team development – developing individual and group skills to enhance project performance

• Information distribution – making needed information available to project stakeholders in a timely manner

• Solicitation – obtaining quotations, bids, offers, or proposals as appropriate

• Source selection – choosing from among potential sellers

• Contract administration – managing the relationship with the seller

Controlling Processes

Project performance must be measured regularly to identify variances from the plan. Variances are fed into the control processes in the various knowledge areas. To the extent that significant variances are observed (i.e., those that jeopardize the project objectives), adjustments to the plan are made by repeating the appropriate project planning processes. Controlling also includes taking preventative action in anticipation of possible problems.

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Core Controlling Processes

• Performance reporting – collecting and disseminating performance information. This includes status reporting, progress measurement, and forecasting

• Overall change control – coordinating changes across the entire project

Facilitating Controlling Processes

• Scope change control – controlling changes to project scope

• Schedule control – controlling changes to the project schedule

• Cost control – controlling changes to the project budget

• Quality control – monitoring specific project results to determine if they comply with relevant quality standards and identifying ways to eliminate causes of unsatisfactory performance

• Risk response control – responding to changes in risk over the course of the project

Closing Processes

• Administrative closure – generating gathering, and disseminating information to formalize phase or project completion

• Contract close-out – completion and settlement of the contract, including resolution of any open items

Roles in the Project Management Process

|Project Management Process |Project Manager |Project Sponsor |Prioritization Committee |The Project Center |

|Initiation |Draft initial scope and estimates |Approve initial scope and estimates |Approve or decline project requests |Provide the project initiation form |

| |Complete project initiation form & effort |Approve and sign project initiation form | |Provide the project charter form |

| |worksheet | | |Provide the resource and effort worksheets|

| |Complete project charter | | | |

|Planning |Working with customer, complete scope |Review project scope description and give |Review scheduled projects and make |Collect project plans and schedules |

| |description |go/no go |schedule adjustments according to |Compose overview report for the |

| |Plan activities, resources, costs, |Review and approve project plan, schedule |priorities |prioritization committee |

| |sequence and overall project schedule |and budget | |Provide the project plan templates, |

| |Create project plan using templates | | |software and training |

| |Gain resource commitments from department | | |Create and manage the resource pool |

| |heads | | | |

| |Report current planned schedule to Project| | | |

| |Center | | | |

|Execution |Working with customer, obtain sign-off on |Review project scope document |Review project progress and completion |Provide the delivery acceptance form |

| |project scope document |Review customer sign-off |Shift resources and roles as necessary |Provide the meeting agenda and minutes |

| |Train resources and project team | | |forms |

| |Obtain project sign-off from customer upon| | | |

| |completion of project | | | |

|Control |Report issues |Resolve issues |Resolve cross project / cross departmental|Provide the status and issues report forms|

| |Track, report & communicate project status|Review project status |issues |Report overall project status to |

| |bi-weekly |Approve scope change requests |Review project progress and completion |prioritization committee bi-weekly |

| |Complete scope change requests |Obtain resources and remove roadblocks as |Shift resources and roles as necessary |Provide the scope change request form |

| |Control schedule, quality, risk and cost |necessary to project success |Review scope change requests | |

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ILICo Processes

• Draft these:

• Work breakdown structure (WBS)

• Resource Plan

• Project Charter (if necessary)

• Meet with department heads to obtain commitment of resources

• Finalize schedule

• Gain Final Commitment of Project Sponsor

• Update prioritization committee on final plan (if >$250k)

ILICo Processes

• Gain support of an executive sponsor

• Draft these:

• Project Initiation

• Effort Estimate

• Present to the Prioritization Committee (if >$250k)

• Upon approval, proceed to planning

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ILICo Processes

• Gain input from project team

• Submit bi-weekly status & Issues Management to Project Sponsor and Project Center

• Update plan

• Update resource projection and inform dept heads as needs change

• Complete scope change requests for approval of executive sponsor as material scope changes arise

• Present material scope change impacts to prioritization committee

•

ILICo Processes

• Draft a delivery acceptance agreement upon the completion of project

• Gain acceptance of the executive and/or business sponsor

• Complete project review

• Conduct lessons learned meeting with project sponsor

ILICo Processes

• Monitor progress

• Lead regular project tracking meetings

• Communicate to stakeholders according to communication management plan

A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product or service. Temporary means that every project has a definite beginning and a definite end. Unique means that the product or service is different in some distinguishing way from all similar products or services.

•

A deliverable is a tangible, verifiable work product such as a feasibility study, a detail design, or a working prototype.

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