6. Understand planning for success Flashcards
6.1 explain the importance of a business case throughout the project
life cycle
■ Justifies the initial and continued investment in the project.
■ Reviewed at gate reviews to check the viability of the project.
■ As a contract between the project and the business so that
stakeholders are clear on what benefits should be achieved
once the project has delivered the outputs.
Answers the ‘why’ of a project.
6.2 explain what is meant by benefits management (including
identification, definition, planning, tracking and realisation)
- Identification - captured via stakeholders / users. Recorded with justification + outline measurement criteria
- Definition - how they will be realised. Each benefit (or disbenefit) should be documented, prioritised, the priority, interdependencies, value, timescales & ownership.
- Planning - capture baseline measurements & agree targets. Will include timeline and milestones for realising.
- Tracking - PM + Sponsor agree what are tracked and how. Sponsor is accountable.
- Realisation - Benefits happen when something changes. Long term actions and monitoiring for continued realisation should be documented for handover to BAU.
6.3 explain investment appraisal techniques used by a project manager (including Internal Rate of Return (IRR) and Net Present Value (NPV)
■ Net Present Value:
■ A technique which uses the value of money across time to
calculate the net return of a project over a period of time.
■ Benefits: Easy to use, takes into account value of money across
time.
■ Internal Rate of Return:
■ A technique similar to Net Present Value, however it focuses
on finding the discount value that will return a Net Present
Value of zero.
■ Benefit: Takes into account value of money across time and
allows easy comparison of different projects.
6.4 explain an information management process (including collection, storage, curation, dissemination, archiving and the destruction of
information)
- Collection - PM to ensure there is a suitable filing structure for information produced on the project.
- Storage - Document management system. Must account for classified data and be aware of personal data and ensure compliance with any policies, legislation.
- Curation - important decisions made re: when is data now obsolete and can be destructed? Data ordered and sequenced in a way that it meets future needs.
- Dissemination - IM & Comms plan interact to ensure stakeholders who need info get it in a timely manner, in the format they require to enable necessary decision to be made.
- Archiving - provides an audit trail of changes.
- Destruction - at some point it will be necessary to destroy info - frees up space on IM system storage.
6.5 explain factors which would typically be reported on to help
ensure successful project outcomes
- Schedule status
- Cost status
- Status of quality progress - the task owner should report any changes that might affect the form, fit or function of the task deliverables.
- Risk exposure system - status of risks or opportunities.
- Issues log
Items from APM:
■ Progress against the schedule: this would allow the
stakeholders to understand how much the project is achieving
and how this compares to the baseline plan.
■ Project actual spend against the planned spend: this would
allow the stakeholders to understand how the project is
performing against a set spend curve
6.6 explain the relationship between the deployment baseline and the development of a project management plan in linear and iterative life cycles
■ The PMP details the who, how, when, where, what, how much
and why. The deployment baseline details the scope, quality,
resourced schedule and associated cost and is approved with
the project manager.
■ For a linear life cycle: the deployment baseline is developed
with a focus on fully developed scope and quality.
■ For an iterative life cycle: the deployment baseline is
developed based on the resources and schedule available to
the project.
6.7 explain the importance of producing a project management plan
- referred to as the contract between PM + sponsor and clearly illustrates the extent of that agreement.
- PMP will guide the project team and act as a baseline - will be used in performance reviews
- to measure progress against the plan.
- reference source for all other stakeholders.
6.8 describe the typical contents of a project management plan
Should answer the ‘why’, ‘what’, ‘when’, ‘where’, how the project. The ‘how much’ may also be answered.
- Why - reference business case
- What - Scope and detail of acceptance criteria - also note constraints.
- when - timeline to outline, referencing supporting doc such as schedule.
- who - OBS, RAM, reporting lines and role descriptions
- How much - CBS. Likely to also include a cashflow.
- where - logistics of the project location and site conditions
- How - most comprehensive. Would include processes, templates, roles and responsibilities. May specific management plans for:
o Risk
o quality
o procurement
o stakeholders and communication
o safety
o scope
o project controls / change control
o cost
6.9 explain approaches to producing estimates (including parametric, analogous, analytical and Delphi)
■ Analogous method – use of metrics from previous comparative
projects to inform the estimates for the project.
■ Analytical method – use of detailed breakdown of the scope
of work with tasks being estimated at the lowest level and
estimates rolled up to project level.
■ Delphi method – use of a set of experts to independently
provide estimates for a task or project.
6.10 explain the reasons for and benefits of re-estimating throughout
the project life cycle
■ Clarification of the scope: re-estimating, at this point, would
help the project team to understand the impact of the
clarification on budget and timescales.
■ Progress of the work not as expected: re-estimating, at this
point, using the latest productivity data, would allow the
project team to have a better understanding of the final out
turn costs and associated timescale for the project.
6.11 explain the relationship between stakeholder analysis, influence and engagement
■ A stakeholder analysed to have high power, high interest
and negative attitude to the project may need intensive
engagement from the project manager, and possibly the
project sponsor, to try to change their attitude towards the
project.
■ A stakeholder group analysed to have low power, high
interest and positive attitude to the project may need regular
engagement with just enough information to keep them
onside.
6.12 explain the importance of managing stakeholder expectations to the success of the project
■ To ensure acceptance of the project outputs.
■ To get the appropriate level of support from the project
sponsor.
6.13 explain why a project manager would use earned value management
■ Helps the project manager measure and understand
accomplishment against the plan.
■ Enables trend analysis to support project control.
■ Enables understanding of performance variances against the
plan.
- Provides an objective measure of progress - may help identify positive and negative trends on the project.
6.14 interpret earned value data (including variances and performance indexes)
■ When cost variance is negative then the project is spending
more than it is earning.
■ When schedule performance index is > 1 then the project is
ahead of schedule
6.15 explain the benefits of using the interpretation of earned value data
Examples may include (not exhaustive)
■ Provides consistent reporting so that, at a senior management
level, project progress can be compared across a set of
projects.
■ Supports better forecasting against time and budget
