Planning For Success Flashcards
What is a business case?
Provides justification for undertaking a project or programme. It evaluates the benefit, cost and risk of alternative options and provides a rationale for the preferred solution.
Why is a business case important?
It is important because:
- It documents the justification for the project stating why the forecast effort and time is worthwhile.
- It gets reviewed when the project is underway to ensure that the project is still viable.
- It gets reviewed when considering change requests
- It is a key input into the benefits review.
What is meant by benefits management?
Those things tangible or intangible that justify the time, money and resources spent on delivering a project.
What should the business case contain?
An outline of the objectives, deliverables, time, cost, technical, safety, quality and other performance requirements, benefits and the major risks.
Who owns the business case?
The project sponsor and is responsible for ensuring its ongoing integrity.
What are benefits?
The things, tangible or intangible, that justify the time, money and resources that are spent on delivering a project.
What are the benefit categories?
Indirect - better image, staff morale (intangible)
Direct non financial - greater accuracy, employee efficiency (tangible)
Direct financial - staff reductions, increased revenue (tangible)
What is the DOAM criteria to test benefits?
Each benefit must be identified carefully to test them against the DOAM criteria:
DESCRIPTION
- What is the benefit?
OBSERVATION
- What differences should be noticeable between pre and post project?
ATTRIBUTION
- Where will this benefit arise?
MEASUREMENT
- How will this benefit be measured?
What are the benefits realisation process steps?
Step 1 - Identify (discuss with stakeholders)
Step 2 - Define (state them)
Step 3 - Plan - how do we realise them?
Step 4 - Track - monitor BAU activities post transition
Identify, define, plan and track.
What are the steps of info management?
Collection
Storage
Curation - retrieve at a later date
Dissemination - sent to stakeholders
Archive
Destruction
What is a project MANAGEMENT plan?
The output or process of integrated planning for a project or programme.
It documents the 5WH of a project and is owned by the project manager, approved by the project team and the sponsor.
Why is a project plan important?
It is the basis for a successful project and outlines the why.
What is in a project management plan?
What - detail of project scope, acceptance criteria
When - project schedule (Gantt chart) showing tasks, when they occur
How - strategies for hoe the project will be delivered, stakeholder strategies, quality plan, control strategy
Where - location of teams
Who - the organisation structure and job description
How much - budget, cash flow
What approaches are there to produce estimates?
Analogous, analytical, parametric and Delphi
What is the Delphi model to produce estimates?
Subject matter experts that independently estimate and send them in to PM who then plots them on a chart.
It is anonymous and ensures people aren’t swayed by each other. After initial discussion, they then provide another anonymous estimate three or four times until accurate estimate provided.
Can be very time consuming but does mean you get several views.
