Workbook 1 Flashcards
What is a Project?
A unique process, consisting of a set of coordinated and controlled activities with start and finish dates, undertaken to achieve an objective conforming to specific requirements, including the constraints of time, cost and resources.
What is a project designed to do?
A project is designed to deliver one or more outputs in accordance with an agreed business case.
What are the key features of a project?
1- Projects are coordinated and controlled.
2-Projects have a start and finish dates-Projects should be formally started and formally closed out.
3-Projects are undertaken to achieve an objective-this is essential as the organisation must put a business case forward to justify why the project is needed and money is only spent on achieving approved objectives. If business case not sufficiently robust the project should not go ahead.
4-Projects have constraints of time, cost and resources-The impact of these constraints on achieving a project’s objectives that give rise to the need for coordination and control.
Scenarios
-Hartshap Hotel Chain
- Colswell City Council
-Cloud Airlines
All scenarios meet basic definition of a project and these scenarios are about an organisation to bring about change in organisational capabilities.
What is a successful project?
Is the one that achieves its objectives on time and within budget. Therefore, have a controlled start,middle and close for that project to be managed.
What is the most well known management method in the UK in the public sector?
PRINCE2
What is PRINCE2?
Is a project management method specifically designed to ensure that projects achieve their objectives.
What does PRINCE2 contain?
-Clear structures of authority and responsibility.
- Standard templates for all key documents.
-Coordination of all people and activities involved in the project.
- Built in quality controls.
-Methods for dealing with deviations from plan.
What are the criticisms of PRINCE2 method?
-Creates too much paperwork.
-Requires too much time to follow every process through.
-Is not necessary for small scale projects.
-Is not flexible enough for complex projects.
Who uses PRINCE2?
The basic principles of PRINCE2 are used by private companies and national government.
What is the most well known project methodology?
Waterfall method which takes a logical sequential approach to running projects.
Why is the traditional approach to project management known as the waterfall method?
This is because represents a steady flow of activities in defined project stages. Each waterfall phase is completed and signed off before the next one begins. The aim to ensure greater project and deadline control
What is are the stages of the waterfall method?
1-Project start up and initiation- The project team first analyses , then determines and priorities business requirements , needs and objectives. The project scope is determined and fixed so that designs can be based on exact requirements.
2- Project planning- The best way to meet user needs is established and project plans are developed and designed. It is essential to get the design stage right before any plans are implemented, to avoid expensive changes later.
3-Project implementation- Implementation activities take place to create the required products as defined in the plan. Each stage in the project is completed and must be signed off before the next one is started.
4-Project closure, evaluation and maintenance.
What are the advantages of the waterfall approach?
-Projects are easier to plan because the full project scope is defined in advance.
- Projects are simpler to communicate and manage as the project gas discrete, easily recognised stages and clear milestones to progress.
-The methodology is well known and understood.
-There is an emphasis on documentation so that if individual team member leave the project, no knowledge is lost.
Link to scenarios?
Yes we can use this methodology to our scenarios but does not for the ones we don’t know outcome in advance. Hartshap Hotel-different projects , different outcomes and different elements to the project need to be completed so harder to plan (disad of waterfall method).
What is Agile?
An alternative technique for managing the software development phase of projects. Techniques associated with agile can be applied to management and governance of projects where high degree of complexity and uncertainty- factors that make waterfall approach too cumbersome.
What are Agile methodologies based on?
Based on short , repeatable stages known as sprints to allow for an iterative approach to design.
What is Scrum?
Scrum is the most popular Agile methodology and more suited in projects where:
-Project requirements are not clear.
-Ongoing change is likely.
-Frequent and repeated testing will be required.
Scrum can better deal with?
-Speed (the need to progress and respond to change quickly).
- Changing client requirements.
What is a project mandate?
A project mandate is a short document which contains the basic terms of reference used to initiate the project. It should briefly explain the scope of the project, the hoped for outcomes, the anticipated timescales and the available budget.
Who approves the project mandate?
Senior management
What role does a project play?
The role it will play in achieving the organisation’s strategic objectives must be clearly identified.
What is required to convert a project from an abstract idea to a series of practical activities, designed to achieve the project objectives?
A clear plan of approach which explains what is to be delivered, when it will be delivered and how the promised outputs will be achieved is required.
At the end of the project start-up and initiation phase what details will be clear?
The project governance structures:
- Identifying who is doing what- the project stakeholders.
-Identifying other stakeholders with an interest in the project.
The project details:
-The business case.
-The expected outputs.
-The quality plan.
-The success criteria.
What is effective stakeholder engagement?
Is a key part of ensuring a successful project and failure to keep stakeholders involved and on-side is a common cause of project failure.
What happens when the stakeholder groups have been identified?
The various stakeholder groups will be included in the formal communications plan and a strategy for managing them will be developed.
What is the project stakeholder hierarchy?
The hierarchy represents project stakeholders who have particular roles and specific responsibilities for the success of the project.
What does the project stakeholder hierarchy show?
Named individuals or groups should be appointed to each of the roles in the hierarchy with a clear allocation of responsibility and authority between them. Information usually passes up through the hierarchy for review,approval or problem solving. The frequency, format and recipients of project reports from the different stakeholders in the hierarchy should be agreed in advance to ensure control and effective decision making.
What is a project sponsor?
May be a single senior manager or a project board that has the ultimate responsibility for the project’s success and final approval for the funding. Makes investment decision.
What is a project client?
The project’s client is the individual(s) or organisation that specifically requested or required the project outputs ( person/ organisation that requested the project). It is the client that details the project requirements. The sponsor and client can be the same person, but are also often different people , as it depends on the nature of the project.
What is a project customer?
The customer is the end user of the project outputs and it is their needs the project is designed to meet. For many projects there will be more than one customer.
What is a project manager?
The project manager is responsible for managing all aspects of the project, to achieve the stakeholder’s objectives and overall project output. It will be the project manager that feeds back information on schedules and status reports from the team to the other stakeholders.
What is the day to day work of the project manager?
Is known as managing the 3 P’s which are:
-People- project team,suppliers, stakeholders.
-Process-planning, organising and controlling all the activities required to achieve the project objective.
-Product-delivering the end result on-time, within budget and to the specification required.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of using a professional project manager?
Advantages- High quality outcomes as better communication between stakeholders and effective management of project team, reduced final cost resulting from efficient use of resources and careful adherence to the project plan.
Disadvantages- Project managers are expensive, reduction in creativity as project manager is focused on managing resources and delivering within agreed timeframe.
What is a project team?
A project team is responsible for achieving project tasks that make up overall project and is often brought together specifically for the project and will:
- Be responsible for carrying out the individual project tasks required to deliver the final project outcomes.
- Contain people from different departments and/or organisations and from different disciplines.
-Often be managed outside the normal management structure.
-Be led by the project manager.
What is a project accountant?
The project accountant is responsible for managing, updating and monitoring the project budget. The project accountant will use the concept of ‘project accounting’ and report directly to the project manager.
What are the key features of a project accounting?
The key features of a project accounting are:
-Project finances are recorded in a separate account from operational spending because they are not part of day to day activities.
-Because project spending is harder to predict than day to day operational spending, it is essential that a rolling budget approach is taken and the impact of current information is used to update future forecasts.
-One of the major components of many project budgets is the labour cost. The use of labour time will therefore need to be reforecast throughout the project and the updated predictions used to recalculate the expected labour cost.
-Cross department charges. Disagreements can arise when staff are taken from operational departments to work on a project. Departmental heads may wish to charge the project budget for the time spent by staff from their department and it is vital that the specifics of any such charges are determined and agreed in advance to prevent later difficulties.
What is a role of a finance director?
An organisation’s finance director usually sit on the project board of major project. Their specific focus will be on monitoring the objectives of the business case and determining the effect of any changes on the anticipated financial benefits. Also, responsible for resolving resource issues and the finance director will have the authority to review budgets and allocate resources as needed.
What is the role of project manager?
To identify the various stakeholder groups ( including external stakeholders) and provide the information needed by the project sponsor to ensure they are managed effectively. As the people will make a change, you need to establish who will be affected along with the potential impacts.
What has to happen before the detailed project planning can begin?
The justification for and expectations from the project must be properly understood by all those involved.
What must the project manager ensure?
They have defined the: business case, project outputs, quality plan and success criteria.
What is a business case
A business case provides the formal justification of the project and a base against which the ongoing viability of the project can be evaluated.
What should a project business case include?
It should include:
- The reasons for undertaking the project.i.e: project objectives.
-The other options considered and why this particular option has been chosen.
-The benefits expected from the project. i.e: increased revenues.
-Approximate costs.
-Approximate timescales- the date by which major milestones should be achieved.
-Summary of the main risks.
-Supporting investment appraisal calculations.
What if it is not possible to make a convincing business case for the project?
The process should not continue further. The project sponsor, along with the client and project manager, should review the options available and determine an alternative course of action.
In drawing up the business case there will always be a trade off between three key factors which are?
1- Cost -the budget agreed- Public service organisations are limited by resources available and little flexibility to provide additional funding if original budget is underestimated.
2- Timescales- the deadlines for delivery of the project’s outputs- often projects will have specific deadline by which it must be completed.
3- Project scope- the specific project characteristics, outputs and results which will be delivered- The greater the project scope ( the more that is asked for), the more time and money will be required to achieve it.
What must be required with project outputs?
The specific scope of the project and the outputs or deliverables required must be clear,y identified and agreed. The aim is not to detail every project task but to refine the five or six major milestones identified in the business case into major stages or steps required to achieve them
What is meant by Quality?
Must be determined reference to:
-Any legal or practical requirements for the project and
-The customer’s quality expectations
As part of the planning process the quality standard for each process or output must be determined and agreed.
What are indicators of success?
Once the outputs have been agreed, the stakeholders must agree indicators of success. These indicators relate directly to objectives for the project , which are capabilities that the organisation is looking to gain from its implementation.
What is hard criteria?
Relates to specific outputs, delivery dates and costs.
What is soft criteria?
The success of the project may be measured by soft criteria relating to user satisfaction. This relates to the experience of the customers ( both during the project and afterwards when using the result) and the performance of the organisation. This is important as a project may be deemed a success in terms of project management and yet a failure in terms of overall user experience.
Why is it important to measure soft criteria as well as measuring hard criteria?
-Has project been successful.
-Hard criteria is tick box but soft criteria is more informative feedback.
What is one useful way to develop KPIs?
Is to categorise the benefits for which measures should be determined:
-Direct monetary benefits- quantifiable in financial terms (cost savings).
-Direct non-monetary benefits-tangible and specifically measurable using KPIs (fewer customer complaints).
-Indirect benefits- Identifiable but harder to measure (greater staff motivation). KPIs may be developed but will require more inventive solutions (staff satisfaction surveys).
What is the Project Initiation Documentation (PID)?
The key information needed to start the project should be drawn together into Project Initiation Documentation. This can be one or several linked documents depending on the project.
What does the Project Initiation Documentation contain details of?
-What the project is intended to achieve.
-Why it is important to achieve it.
-Who is going to be involved in the project and their roles and responsibilities.
-How and when it is going to happen and how much it should cost.
-How success will be measured.
What happens after the PID is formed?
The project sponsor will review the PID to confirm that the project has a sound business basis before formally approving it to proceed to the detailed planning stage.The PID will also provide a base for the sponsor and the project manager to evaluate the subsequent progress and success of the project.
What happens once the PID is approved?
The detailed project planning can begin. Project planning is a key process in the achievement of the project objectives and can take months, if the project is complex.
How do you develop a detailed plan?
Each of the project milestones must be further broken down into stages,products or deliverables, and work packages.
What is a work breakdown structure?
Is a tree structure that subdivides the work needed to achieve an overall project objective into distinct, definable,measurable pieces (products). It shows all the steps which must be taken to achieve the objective. It has four main purposes:
1-To ensure the scope of the total project is defined and organised.
2-To help assign responsibilities and allocate resources.
3-To permit accurate estimation of time and costs and any potential risks.
4-To allow for monitoring and controlling the project.
To help the project sponsor retain control of the project it needs to?
First needs to be broken down into logical stages.This is done as part of the project initiation stage and will be included in the PID
What are products?
The separate outcomes or deliverables are known as products. All products to be achieved within a stage are identified and listed in detail.
What should be included in a product tree?
All the products defined by the project scope must be included in this structure and this rule applies at all levels of hierarchy.
What should deliverables be?
Each deliverable must be mutually exclusive- no overlaps. Ensures clear allocation of responsibilities.
When can a work package be developed and what does it contain?
Once the detailed product hierarchy has been produced, a work package for each product at the lowest level of hierarchy can be developed. Work package contains the details of actual work to be done.
What are the two key outputs software produces for use in managing the project day to day?
Network diagrams
Gantt chart
What does Network diagrams and Gantt charts show?
Both are pictorial representations of the project which show the interdependencies between the activities and the order in which they must be carried out. Also, highlight the critical path, the longest route through all the dependent activities and therefore shortest time in which the project can be completed.
What is the difference between Network diagram and Gantt charts?
A network diagram is particularly useful for understanding dependencies. But a Gantt chart’s strength is that it provides an overview of the project schedule and the duration of each activity can be clearly identified.
What are the key terms of Network diagrams?
- Activity: the individual tasks which must be carried out to complete
the project. Each activity takes time – this is its duration. - Event: each activity must have a start and a finish. These points are
called events. They have no duration; they are simply points in time.
Significant events, such as those on the critical path, are sometimes
referred to as milestones. - Critical path: the longest sequence of activities through a project
from the start event to the finish event. The critical path therefore
defines the project duration – the minimum amount of time the
project can take. Activities on the critical path are known as critical
activities.
-Non-critical activities: These activities have a float which means the
activity can be delayed by the length of the float without causing a
delay to subsequent tasks.
Can some activities be going on the same time?
Yes some can be going on at the same time if they are no dependencies ( one activity cannot start until another activity is complete).
Network diagram (look on pg41 workbook 1)
In the diagram, each activity is represented by a line with an arrowhead
which indicates the flow of time. Each activity is labelled to show its name
and / or its identifying code (in this case A, B, C, etc.). The time required for
each activity is also shown.
Activities start and finish at events, which are represented in the diagram as
circles. Each activity has a start event and a finish event. Each event circle
is numbered only to identify it and the numbers do not offer any additional
information.. The activities on this path take a total of 9 days, so that is
the shortest period in which the project can be completed, unless some way
can be found to speed up one or more of the critical activities.
What does Gantt charts show?
A Gantt chart uses the same information as a network diagram - activity
durations, dependencies, critical paths and floats. The information, though,
is presented in a different format.
In a Gantt chart the activities are shown as horizontal bars with their lengths
representing how many weeks each will take.
What is a Communication plan?
A communications plan is an essential tool for managing stakeholders
throughout the project. The importance of this plan cannot be overstated.
Lack of stakeholder engagement is a regular feature of failed projects.
What is the aim of a communication plan?
The aim of the plan goes beyond pacifying potentially problematic
stakeholders, to fostering support, incorporating relevant feedback into
the project’s activities in a timely fashion and ensuring that the users of the
project’s outputs are able to benefit from them after its completion.
What are the stages to develop a communication plan?
The first stage is to identify all those parties that:
* Will need to provide information to the project team.
* Will require information from the project manager.
The stakeholders to be included are not just those directly involved in the
project process but also relevant stakeholder groups with an interest in the
project outcomes.
For each stakeholder group identified, a plan should then be developed to
show in detail:
* The objective of the communication and the key messages to convey.
* How and when the information should be supplied.
What the factors to consider for the appropriate communication media (teams, email,phone) to use?
- Cost
- Degree of coverage required
- Degree of consistency required
- Speed of feedback required
- Complexity of the message
- Personalisation of the message
- Need for two-way communication
- Need to engender team spirit
- Demographic and expectations of the stakeholders
Standard Communication plan (Pg52 workbook 1)
A template for a standard communications plan is shown below. The specific relevant stakeholder groups will need to be adapted to suit the
specific context of the project.
In conjunction with the project accountant, the project manager will have 3 types of budget to manage what are they?
- Planned work budget – The planned work activities are costed
against the project plan. This budget is then allocated to the project
manager to manage the agreed, planned activities. - Change budget – The project manager may have an agreed level of
budget available to spend on requested changes to the project. If the
budget is exceeded, the project manager would need board approval
for budget changes to cover further costs arising from a change. In
some cases, an intermediate authority known as change authority
can be agreed as part of the project governance set up – this person
can then approve changes which are higher than allowed to the
project manager initially, up to the level where board approval is still
required. This would be set to balance a level of control with speed
of decision-making. - Risk budget – The project board can set a level of budget for the
project manager to use to manage risk. This budget cannot be used
for changes (changes in scope) or overruns (possible impact of a risk
materialising) but to take actions to mitigate a risk.