Environments & Operations Management Flashcards
What is an ‘environment’?
The circumstances and conditions within which the project, programme or portfolio must operate
What is the ‘setting’?
Setting describes the relationship between the project, programme or portfolio and the host organisation.
What is the ‘internal environment’?
- Includes the working environment in which the project is undertaken
- Governed by policies, standards and processes that are externally defined and adopted by the organisation, such as regulatory, industrial and professional standards
- Governed by the organisation’s own policies, standards and procedures (governance)
What is the ‘external environment’?
The external environment includes a number of influences that
- May affect the organisation and, consequently, the project
- May directly impact project objectives
For example, new Health & Safety legislation may require changes to both BAU procedures and new methods that could be under development within a project
What should the project context consider?
The project context should consider how the internal and external environments could influence, or be influenced by, the project, and any resulting impact on the project’s objectives
What are some key questions to ask in terms of the project context?
- What influenced the requirement?
- How will the business affect the project?
- What is the project’s status relative to other projects?
- Is the project in line with key company strategies?
- What will be undertaken after project completion?
- How will deliverables be operated?
What is one of the most popular analysis techniques to analyse the project environment?
SWOT
What is another technique for analysing the project environment?
PESTLE analysis. This may help to establish influences during the Concept phase.
What does PESTLE stand for?
- Political - internal and external politics, hidden agendas, etc.
- Economic - exchange rates, inflation, commercial Ts&Cs, etc.
- Sociological - stakeholder analysis, local culture, project team, etc.
- Technological - does the tech exist or have to be developed? Can the solution be built, operated and maintained? Technical interface requirements?
- Legal regulatory - local laws, national/international law applicable to project delivery
- Environmental/ ecological - heritage sites, carbon footprint
What is Operations management?
Operations management relates to the management of those activities that create the core services or products by an organisation.
In the context of project management, operations management is activity affected by, but not part of, the project (i.e. it’s BAU).
What are some common characteristics of a project?
- Have the highest stakeholder influence, risk and uncertainty at the start
- Introduce change
- Are temporary/transient in nature, each having a defined start and finish
- Have an element of uniqueness
- Create specific results or products, with their objectives typically being measures in terms of time, cost, and quality parameters
- Deliver outputs that enable BAU to gain benefits
- Follow a life cycle made up of specific phases
- Comprise complex interrelationships and are often cross-functional in nature
- Incur costs for changing any of the project’s objectives that rise faster as completion nears
List some ways that projects differ from operations/BAU
- A project has a defined start and end, while BAU is ongoing in nature
- A project is unique while BAU is repetitive
- A project has a transient team, while BAU has a dedicated, constant team
- A project accepts high degrees of uncertainty (risk tolerant), while BAU demands certainty (risk averse)
