the concept of project management Flashcards
what does the project mgment institute say are the 5 process areas of a project?
initiation - goals/objs defined. team formed. scope/expectations determined
planning - define reqs, time/budget, specs
controlling - measure progress, correct/change goals, problem solving
executing - plan to action, lead/coordinate, keep focus
closing - ensure achievements met
what are the main points in project initiation?
establish project requirements > assess project feasibility > manage risk and uncertainty > project initiation documentation
why can turning objectives into realisable projects prove difficult?
prioritising objs isn’t always straightforward, different members of the org will have different priorities. also there is likely to be multiple ways to achieve each objective.
how do orgs decide what projects to take?
as orgs rarely have resources to carry out all strategies, important to identify strategies that provide most benefit/achieve org’s most important objectives. also as org identifies key objs more clearly proposals for action become more detailed/more accurate judgement can be made on costs and benefits.
what is the project specification vs requirement?
project specification = statement of detailed characteristics of product/project
project requirement = statement of what is expected of a project/product. must be clearly defined and will meet org’s objs, as this gives greater chance of success and less chance of cost escalation due to rework/continual changes/customer dissatisfaction.
how should orgs prioritise potential projects?
list potential projects
determine need or opportunity for each project
establish rough delivery dates
establish preliminary costings and budget schedule
establish overall proj feasibility
establish risk with each project
review project list, objs, feasibilities, risks
eliminate unfeasible or inappropriate projects
prioritise the rest
select the most important project
what are feasibility studies?
identifying strategies that should be examined to explore feasibility. may be carried out on number of potentials with aim to decide on which to choose.
important for PMs to understand process of feasibility assessment. compare ‘no change’ option of achieving objs with 2-3 alternative proposals. criteria used are technical capability, fit with business goals, financial benefit, social impact and risk sensitivities.
what technical features of a strategy need to be considered for feasibility?
development - further testing or has material/tech/process been tested and readily available for use?
applicability - is tech suitable to satisfy objective and project effectively?
also important to assess varity of technical aspects of proposals. likely to vary greatly and require numerous experts for evaluation.
how important are social and ecological feasibility?
increasingly neccesary to assess. may include awareness of social issues of introducing (e.g.) a computer system or larger social awareness regarding effect of projects/products on workers or employment. relevant considerations - will intro lead to redundancy? how will general public be affected/what position would people take about project like constructing new road or power plant?
eco considerations may be driven by understanding that customers would prefer purchsing alternative ecologically sound products. may be stimulated by legislation. important for orgs to consider raw material input, production processes and disposal of product at end of life.
also need to consider fit with business goals
what needs to be identified for a cost benefit analysis?
- value - monetary terms or in terms of benefits
- whether it is capital or revenue
- when it occurs
- whether it is one-off or recurring
- whether funding will be available at necessary times for significant payments
what capital investment techniques may be used for financial feasibility analysis?
payback method
DCF for PV
ARR ((average annual profit/average investment)/100)
ROI (profit before interest and tax/average capital employed)
ARR is ration based on profits, and exclusive use of ARR not recommended
ROI often used to assess mgr performance
financial feasibility of a project cannot be determined by a single measure alone.
what are the stages of risk management?
identification
assessment
response development
response control
what is risk identification?
sources of risk may be identified by listing risks through brainstorming/other thinking tools. risk profile must include: list of questions assessing traditional areas of uncertainty, questions that address both technical and mgment risks, murphy’s law
what is risk assessment?
some risks identified will not merit attention. deciding this through scenario analysis required. assess loss probability and magnitude for each item, each risk to be assessed in terms of: undesirable event, all outcomes of event’s occurence, severity of event’s impact, probability of event happening, when event might occur.
risk prioritisation necessary and involves producing ranked ordering of risk items
what is risk response development?
involves deciding how to address each risk item (avoid/transfer/reduce/accept).
risk resolution = producing situation in which risk items avoided or reduced. mitigate, transfer, accept (with contingency plans) or share (partnerships/consortia).
what is risk response control?
execute risk response strategy, monitor risks, initiate contingency plans and watch for new risks. org culture shold encourage reporting probs and admitting to mistakes. risk profiles need updating regularly. responsibility should be documented. risk monitoring tracks progress toward resolving risk items and taking corrective action
what is uncertainty?
impossible to evaluate because cannot assign probability. instead contingency planning used to construct action plans to be implemented if uncertain event occurs.
what is project initiation documentation? why use it?
defines overall scope, mission and devlierables. also roles and responsibilities to provide overriding terms of reference for life of project. reasons for PID:
authorisation by project steering committee/board
act as base document against which progress and changes can be assessed
what is included in project initiation documentation?
background of project and why necessary
project scope and objectives
approach to be taken (in house/suppliers etc)
key deliverables/desired outcomes
interfaces between this project and others
assumptions on which PID is based
project org structure, project mgrs and team
communication plan
controls in place in project
what are the basic questions a project plan should answer?
what is the project trying to achieve
roles and responsibilities
timeline of project
methodology/how things will be done
what are the types of project plans that need to be made?
time plan - timeline for project
cost plan - uses rate per hour for each activity in plan, plus cost of resources from resource plan + contingency costs to create budget for whole project. can be used for cash flow forecasting
quality plan - identify customers, outcomes expected by them, acceptance criteria agreed with them, test plan and safety and security planning. includes audit plan for project mgment process
resource plan - check peaks/troughs of activity to ensure plan feasible and list purchases
contingency plan - assessment of risks, decide what additional activities/buffers of cost and time need to be added to ensure reliable budget and completion date. risk register identifies contingency plan for each key risk and allocates monitoring responsibility for them
communication plan - key people, likely concerns, message needed, planned method of comms
what are the 4 steps of project planning?
- divide project into work packagesbreaking project into work packages requires identifying individuals responsible for elements of work. work breakdown structure (WBS) is hierarchical tree of elements needing to be accomplished by project team. shows responsibility for each activity, allowing mgr to delegate. can be further divided by defining tasks and activities that comprise them, but only where essential to allow delegation and control otherwise motivation/creativity reduced and becomes costly.
- estimate resources and costsusing rates per hour and cost of purchased resources needed, can calculate total cost for project. use past projects to increase accuracy of estimates on time/cost. plan how long it’ll take and how much of each resource is required per activity, then a cost estimate on type of resources and quantities anticipated for each activity. risk analysis done to estimate what additional contingency allowance is needed for time and cost.
- define activities graphicallysome work packages occur in parallel, so to calculate total time a network diagram/critical path analysis created showing required sequence/interdependencies of packages to achieve objs in user friendly format.
- determination of project schedule/budgetbaseline budget that presents realistic assessment of time and funding requirements, available resources to complete project obj. complete guide for on time and within cost. should include: start/end dates for project and each activity, resources needed for activity, cost estimate for each period, final cost for whole project
why is project control important?
as project evolves important to monitor continually to ensure going as expected towards obj. continually measure actual activities:
activities started and completed, how long it has taken so far vs estimate, how much money has been spent per activity
measurement of actual resources committed must be compared against plan to monitor deviations.
if BvA shows deviations, report and take corrective action if authorised to.
most important aspect of control is ensuring monitoring progress is carried out regularly and corrective action is considered and implemented immediately. effective control involves system to regularly gather data on progress and performance and correcting asap when needed.
PROGRESS REPORT - detail needed
