Project management Flashcards
Project management:
-Project management is applying a process to enable the completion of a product on time and within budget.
-Project management softwares such as gantt charts, PERT, and CPM could be used to assist a project team and aid project planning
Resources:
People, equipment, facilities or funding required to complete a project
-Every project needs to be managed properly in order to ensure deadlines are met, resources are available and everybody knows what they are doing
Stages of product life cycle
-Initiation
-Planning
-Execution
-Monitoring and control
-Close
Project initiation:
1.During the conception and initiation stage, the initial ideas for a project are identified and goals set.
2.Key stakeholders are identified, and decisions are made whether it is appropriate to undertake a project by conducting a feasibility study. The feasibility study will determine whether the project is of benefit to an organization based on resources, time, and finance.
3.Requirements for the project will be identified so that all stakeholders are aware of the expectations of the project.
4.Objectives of the project, its scope, risks, approximate budget, and approximate timescales will be defined and agreed with all stakeholders.
- An estimate of the resources that will be required will be made and a high-level schedule created which identifies proposed dates for completion of aspects of the project.
6.A project brief or Project Initiation Document (PID) or initial statement of work (SoW) will be created.
7.At the end, a phase review will be carried out to check that all aspects of initiation have been completed and that all stakeholders understand and agree the project brief
Project planning
It is essential that the project is planned well so that all stakeholders know them responsibilities during all stages.
1.A comprehensive budget will be formulated along with details of timescales for the progress of the project.
2.Milestones will be set. These milestones show by which time certain aspects of the project must be complete.
3.Tasks that have been completed between each milestone will be identified and prioritized.
4.Resources, including personnel, will be allocated to tasks in a coordinated manner so that they are available at the right times.
5.Time is allocated to each task and resource so that tasks can be completed on time.
6.At the end, a phase review will be carried out to check that the plan is achievable and that it meets the objectives of the project.
Project Execution
Once all plans are in place and the start date arrives, the project can commence.
1.It is critical that the plan is followed so that resources are used at the appropriate times.
2.Any delays to a task can have a knock-on effect to successor tasks.
3.The project manager will be expected to communicate roles and responsibilities to team members
4.At the end, an execution phase review will take place to learn lessons from what went wrong and to note examples of good practice. The review will cover questions such as:
- Was the project schedule maintained?
- Was the project within budget?
- Were all resources available when required?
- Has the project met the original requirements?
Project monitoring and control
Throughout the execution of the project, the project manager must monitor the progress and control what is happening.
1.The project manager will be responsible for ensuring tasks are completed on time and rescheduling any tasks if there are delays.
2.The project manager will need to monitor the performance of team members to ensure they are carrying out their agreed roles effectively.
3.The project manager will need to monitor expenditure and compare it against the budget.
4.There should be regular project review meetings where key stakeholders can discuss the progress of the project. At times, the project plan will need to be adjusted, so there is regular iteration between the execution, monitoring and control, and planning
Project close
When the project is ready to complete.
1.A handover from the project team to the client, takes place. Contracts will be terminated
2.Resources that have been assigned to the project will be released.
3.A review of the project will take place between the client and the project management team, where requirements will be evaluated, and successes will be celebrated.
4.The client will be expected to sign off the project as completed, so that it is clear there is no further work to carry out and closure will have been achieved.
Benefits of project management software
-Planning
-Scheduling of tasks
-Allocation of resources
-Costings
-Communication and collaborative working
Planning (benefits Project management software)
-Concerned with scheduling tasks and allocating resources to those tasks. However, key milestones can be identified in advance. These are when crucial points in the project should be reached, so tasks should be scheduled to meet these milestones.
-Documents that are likely to be required can be allocated to milestones, such as success criteria and specifications. Templates can be used for setting up an initial project plan. Can be provided by the software, or they could be templates that are created based upon an organization’s previously successful projects.
Scheduling of Tasks (benefits Project management software)
-Will enable a project manager to create a Gantt chart to show an overview of the tasks that need completing on a timeline. Tasks will be assigned an estimated time that they will take to complete, together with a deadline for completion.
-The project manager will be able to identify which tasks are dependent upon other tasks thus cannot start until those other tasks have been completed. Tasks can be delegated to other members of the team and put in a priority order to identify which should be completed first.
-The project manager will be able to see an overall calendar of all tasks that need to be completed, together with calendars for each team member that is responsible for those tasks
Allocation of Resources (benefits Project management software)
-Can be equipment, property or people that are required to complete a task. These resources will need to be defined within the project management software and their availability can be identified so the project manager knows when they can be used.
-Costs can be assigned to any resource, so the project manager can see how their use will affect the budget. Resources can then be assigned to tasks and time can be assigned to the use of that resource. The software will help the project manager to avoid resource conflicts.
Costings (benefits Project management software)
-All resources will have costs allocated to them, so the project manager will be able to calculate the total cost of each task based on how many hours each resource is used for each task.
-The software can be used to keep a record of any expenses incurred by team members and account for these in the overall costs. Daily, weekly, monthly, or custom analysis of expenditure and its comparison to the budget can be provided.
Communication and Collaborative Working (benefits Project management software)
-Project management software can offer a large variety of communication tools which help team members to collaborate throughout the whole project:
1.Calendars: This enables meetings to be scheduled with each team member. Documents can be attached to these meetings so that they are readily available to each participant.
2.Instant messaging/video chat/video Conferencing: Enables team members who are working remotely from each other to communicate in real time so that they can share ideas and discuss progress.
3.Shared Documents: all documents should be stored in a central repository so that they are available to the team members who require access to them. Changes to the documents can be tracked so that each team member knows what modifications have been made and which is the latest version of the document
4.Discussions/Forums: Can be set up for tasks, documents, or milestones so that discussions between team members can be held. Useful when all team members are not available at the same time. Team members will be able to see comments and suggestions that have been made by others and respond to them. Email notifications of new contributions to discussions can be sent or alerts can be displayed on project dashboards.
5.Progress: the software can inform team members and the project manager of progress that is being made. Team members can update tasks to show how near to completion they are, and this progress can be fed into the whole project plan. If changes are made to the project timeline, automated email notifications can be sent out to all affected team members.
6.Decision Making: All communications within the project management software can be logged and tracked so that if decisions have been made, so able to clearly identify who made each decision and for what reasons. Problems or issues experienced, can be highlighted by the software and decisions can be made as to what adjustments need to be made, such as changing the timeline or allocating additional resources.
7.Graphs, Charts and Reports: Used to analyse the budget, scheduling, and task progress. Comparisons can be made between the plan and the execution of the project, and then decisions can be made to make changes if necessary. The software will identify a critical path which will show all tasks that must complete on time if the project is to meet its deadline.
Weaknesses of Project Management Software
1.Good quality project management software is a large financial investment, especially if it needs to be used by several users.
2.Project managers need extensive training to use the software effectively and team members also need training to use the components that are relevant to their tasks.
3.The complexity of the software can also over complicate simple projects which could have been managed more effectively without the software.
4.Users can become too reliant on the software to remind them that tasks need to be completed.
5.Online project management software will enable access for many users which is good for collaboration, but it creates a risk that unauthorized users may access sensitive data that they shouldn’t have access to.
