Workshop 3 Flashcards
What is the definition of stakeholder
The organisations or people who have an interest or role in the project or are impacted by it
Examples of stakeholders
Sponsor Senior management End users Peers Sub-contractors/vendors External regulatory bodies Government bodies Trade unions Customers Pressure groups Local residents
Define the importance of stakeholder management
Stakeholders must be managed to ensure that support is maintained and opposition to the project is removed, or at least minimised. Stakeholder positions and perceptions can be a major source of risk to any project. Ultimately, stakeholders will have a key role in defining the projects benefits and success criteria and judging whether these have been achieved or not. Their influence and interest can not be overstated.
How is identifying and managing stakeholders intrinsic for good project management?
- although success criteria will be established for a project, who judges whether or not they have been met
- stakeholders may have enormous knowledge specific to a project that can increase the validity of needs statements, designs, plans and operations
- stakeholders will have historical knowledge that may assist in estimating and risk assessment
- a broad perspective stakeholders avoids the issue being dominated by a minority view. Stakeholders with polemically different views can be offset against each other
- appropriate stakeholder management prevents biased or incorrect interpretation or reporting of events and plans
- stakeholder management prevents individuals holding unreasonable expectations of a projects outcome or benefits
Define the stakeholder management
The systematic identification, analysis, planning and implementation of actions designed to engage with stakeholders
Define the stakeholder management process
Although the stakeholder management process starts in the concept phase, it is very much a dynamic and iterative functions as opposed to being sequential in nature. As the project progresses, the situation will change. New stakeholders will arrive, others will fade into the background and some may change their views. The situation therefore has to be monitored and managed throughout the project
What is the process to structure and formally organise the engagement with the projects stakeholders
- identify the stakeholders
- assess their respective positions and capabilities in relation to the project and use this information to prioritise the stakeholders
- plan how to engage and communicate with them
- engage with them by means of ongoing management of the relationship with them (and their successors)
What are the steps of stakeholder identification
- organisations, groups or individuals who will directly affect or be affected by the project
- organisations, groups or individuals on the periphery of projects who will influence attitudes and behaviours
- resources needed for the project
- statutory and regulatory bodies
What are the key objectives to communication planning
- keep a high level of awareness and commitment
- ensure that expectations do not deviate out of line with what will be delivered
- explain what’s changed will be made and when these will be effected
- describe the desired future outcome
What do you need to consider for comms plan
Audience
- who needs to receive or send information?
- what you should know?
- names/roles/departments
- who are they? (Decision Makers/Finance/technical/users)
- their knowledge of me/my department/role
- their hopes/expectations about what I hope to communicate
- how will they react - agree, disagree, neutral
- their knowledge about the subject so far
- their point of view/concerns
- what do they need?
- why are they attending/reading the communication (to get information/facts, to be persuaded, to find out what to do next, to make trouble)
Purpose
- why do they need to send or receive the information?
Some typical purposes of comma are:
- set out instructions to be followed
- describe something by providing facts to help ‘picture’ it
- explain how or why something works or happens
- persuade someone that something is a good or bad idea
Timing - when do they need to send or receive the information? Media used in comma - oral, face to face - oral, not face to face - written - electronic - visual
Format and medium
- What type of communication will the audience want?
- Presentation, short prose document, discussion,
formal report
- Electronic or hard copy.
The main media used to communicate in a business setting include, but are not limited to:
- Oral, face to face
- Oral, not face to face
- Written
- Electronic
- Visual
There are four main communication paths for project managers
- Upward to management
- Laterally to internal groups
- Laterally to external groups
- Downward to team members and subordinates
Feedback
-how will feedback be provided or obtained?
Other planning considerations
- what to include in the plan could be a full record of contact details per stakeholder - this would include aspects such as contact telephone numbers; email addresses; physical address and postal address; as well as alternate contact in the even that stakeholder in unavailable
Outline stakeholder engagement and ongoing management
Engagement with the stakeholders will entail monitoring and controlling the communications activities in relation to what has been planned and, ultimately, closing down the communications activities as stakeholders depart and/or at the end of the project.
Throughout the projects, lessons should be sought and acted upon
The project manager will need a full awareness of the contractual factors that may influence the project, not least of which will be the relative level of power the project manager possesses when compared to his or her stakeholders. Projects managers may need to utilise their personal networks and/or undertake a certain amount of lobbying to ensure that objectives remains in track.
The sponsor is responsible for ensuring that all the early Information relating to the project stakeholders is captures and included in the business case. The sponsor also has a key role throughout the project as the ultimate arbiter or ‘referee’ of any disputes between the project stakeholders
What is information management
The collection, storage, dissemination, archiving and destruction of information. It enables teams and stakeholders to use their time, resource and expertise effectively to make decisions and to fulfil their roles.
Describe information management
Collection - the information management system should define how data is collected in order that quality information may be derived from this data. The information management policy should define roles and responsibilities relating to acquisition of project information, including the required timescales for its collection
Storage - a decision needs to be taken as to what I formation is stored, how it is stored and where. Ease of access and retrieval are likely to be prime considerations as will security and confidentiality; for example, password protection and certain pieces of information.
Data storage capacity may also be a key factor in determining what level of information to on should be stored within each project repository (project folder, intranet)
Dissemination - information needs to be distributed to the right people at the right time. Electronic media can help to expedite this process whilst also providing evidence of the informations distribution and retrieval. Organisational policies, stakeholders analysis and the project communication plan are primary inputs to this process.
Archiving - information is likely to be archived throughout the project life cycle. Factors to consider will be similar to those discussed when deciding how to store information. Ease of use and access will play an important part in determining the usefulness of archiving systems
Destruction - organisational policies regarding the retention and destruction of project information will be heavily influence by legislation and statutory obligations. Retention schedules should be clearly defined. Redundant information can be found in archival systems. It is typical for a large amount of project information to be purged at project handover and closure, allowing a more concise and effective archival system. It may also be important to consider whether business-as-usually activities might require future access to project information.
What questions should help plan an effective information management approach?
- what are the sources and types of information?
- what is the indexing systems?
- what are the access permissions?
- what is the retention approach?
- what are the information flows?
- what is the information collection and distribution approach?
- what are the production scheduled - reporting cycle?
- what are the methods of handling changes?
- what is the audit trail - document management?
- what computer-based information systems will be used?
- what are the roles and responsibilities?
- what are the information management regulations, procedures, standards and guidelines?
- how does it fit within the overall project management structure?
What system can be designed from the questions asked from the information management plan?
- storage
- format of information
- acquisition of information
- document creation
- timely retrieval
- distribution
- version control
- retentions schedules
- security
Define the business case
The business case provides justification for undertaking a project or programme. It evaluated the benefits, cost and risk of alternative options and provides a rationale for the preferred solution.
What is the purpose of a business case
the business case defines ‘why’ a project is being undertaken by providing a justification for the investment in the project. This justification is typically supported by a comparison of the projects quantifies costs and benefits.
The business case provides a clearly presented rationale for the investment, to gain management commitment and approval for investment in business change. It provides a framework for informed decision making in planning and management of the business change and subsequent benefits realisation.
Projects are a means to an end, not an end in their own right. Project justification for their project as it will provide them with the information. They need to make day-to-day decisions during their planning and delivery of the project.
What are the contents of a business case
Background
- sometimes referred to as ‘reasons’
- where does this project fit into the bitter picture
- this section will also list the main objectives of the project
Options
- alternative strategies should be investigated including the do nothing option
- assumptions used as a basis for any assessment should also be listed here
Benefits
- this section of the business case will identify and value the expected benefits in order to justify the project
- it should also contain information about any dis benefits I.e. adverse consequences of pursuing the investment in the project
Commercial aspects
- high level costs
- an investment appraisal should be performed and the results included in the business. See
- funding arrangements
Risks
- the major risks and overall risk levels will be covered in this sec to on to the extent that the form part of the balance of justification
Timescale
- a summary or high level view of the likely timescales for the project
Explain the business case development and maintenance
The business case is the key output of the products concept phase and documents the initial idea as well as providing the information required to subsequently scope and plan the project in detail.
The business case is revisited throughout the project life cycle to confirm that the project is still a viable and worthwhile investment. It is the sponsor who is responsible for ensuring that the business case remains viable throughout the project life cycle. At a minimum this will involve formally revising the business case at each stage-gate to ensure that it is not impacted by factors internal or external to the project
The primary use of the business case at project closure is to determine whether the prod CG manager and team have managed to deliver the product g in compliance with the agreed success criteria.
Finally, during the products operational phase, the sponsor is responsible for undertaking a formal review of whether the project benefits defined in the business case have been realised or not.
What is the 8-stage process for successful change
- establish a sense of urgency
- create a guiding coalition
- develop a vision and strategy
- communicate change vision
- empower broad based action
- general short term wins
- consolidate gains and produce more change
- anchor new approached on the culture
What is benefits management
The identification, definition, planning, tracking and realisation of business benefits
Describe benefits management
- drives stakeholders perception of success
- by focusing on ‘what’s in it for men benefits can be developed which are specific to stakeholder groups
- drives effective organisation structure
- balancing change delivery against operational effectiveness
- effective transition management - anchoring capability in business as usual
- drives effective prioritisation of delivery
- influences delivery/implementation timescales to fit with operational needs - adds clarity to decision making
- effective change control driven by benefits delivery as well as time, cost and quality
- puts plan slippage in the context of business as usual
- puts a real value in enhancements/changes
- places a focus on risks to the realisation of benefits - focuses attention on embedded ‘business change’
- goes beyond the delivery of outputs and technical enablers alone
What does success mean?
- meeting business objectives or benefits
- achieving customer or client satisfaction
- satisfying other stakeholders
- conformance to define requirements
Define success criteria
The qualifications or quantitative measures by which the success of project, programme and portfolio management is judged.
What does successful benefits management depend on
- ensuring early agreement of benefits and strategic objectives of the organisation to in
- assign ownership of benefits and responsibility for their management
- use the benefits to provide a focus for project deliver
- understand what threats exist to the realisation of benefits and taking steps to mitigate these risks
Define requirements management
The process of capturing, assessing and justifying stakeholders wants and needs
What are the factors that contribute to successful requirements management
Scope;
The requirements form the basis of the projects scope. Having a good understanding of the business need will help define the most appropriate requirements as early as possible in the project life cycle
Estimating time and cost;
This will only be a worthwhile activity if the estimated relate to a well-informed set of clear requirements
Quality;
Without this understanding, the quality of each deliverable may be significantly undermined.
Change control;
Changes to the project scope will also have an obvious impact on the project requirements and part of the change control impact analysis should determine what effect and change has on the projects requirements, feature set and ultimately, its ability to satisfy the stated business need
Customer acceptance;
The customer is unlikely to accept the final deliverables if they do not meet their original requirement. One problem facing the project manager, however, is that the customer may have an unclear or changing perception of their requirements, and so poor or inadequate requirements must be viewed as a risk to the successful completion of the project.
What are the elements of requirements model
Business needs (why) - multiple techniques might be used to elicit the users requirements including interviews, brainstorming, focus groups, prototype models, questionnaires and story-boarding l. Care just be taken to identify stakeholders true needs which might be quite different from what they are actually asking for.
Features (how)
- the business needs should not indicate a specific solution whereas the product feature will indeed define how this need will be satisfied
Requirements (what)
- requirements will help the project team understand exactly what is to be provided and forms the basis of the project scope. Requirements must be clearly defined, consistent, complete, traceable and verifiable
Acceptance criteria
- each requirement should have clearly defined acceptance criteria in order that there is no ambiguity as to whether the requirement has been satisfied or not.
What is the requirements management process
Capture;
Gathering, documenting and structuring the requirements. These are identified form many sources including the currently available project documentation and stakeholders. Other sources may include corporate goals, existing systems and their interfaces and subject matter experts
Analyse;
Analyse the requirements based on their ability to realise benefits whilst taking into account the business priorities, avaliability of resources, available a budgets etc. Also consider: requirements types (organising the requirements into e.g functional and non/functional requirements), testing (both functional and non-functional requirements must have specific assessment tests defined that will demonstrate their compliance. This will support customer acceptance by objectively demonstrating that the requirements have been met)
Justify
The requirements to distinguish wants from needs. This will result in appropriate prioritisation of the requirements and the justification of the investment by the project in meeting them.
Baseline
The requirements before deciding solutions and then creating requirements that are met by the solution!
Explain payback period
The payback period of a project refers to the time taken for the project financial returns to cancel out the initial project costs. Normally, the shorter the payback period; the more desirable the project, based on the fact that the money invested is at risk for a reduced period. It is a very simple technique that is often used as a quick ‘litmus test’ to determine whether a prod field should be considered at all.
This method limits risk to the organisation (a threshold for a maximum payback period may also be mandated). However, it is argued to be short-term as it ignored returns after the payback period.
How does the business case work as a working document
Preparing a business case required the summarisation and integration of information from all the fundamental components of scope, schedule, cost, risk, quality and resources.
Consequently, the business case is a living document that is constantly reference and used over the extended project life cycle.
-concept
-justification of investment in the initial
idea
-definition
-viability of the investment in light of the
detailed planning that has now been
undertaken
-development
-continued viability of the investment as
the deliverables are produced
-handover and closure
-evaluation of the project in terms of the
project objectives and success criteria
-operations
-have the benefits set out in the business
case actually been realised?
The sponsor is ultimately accountable for the successful running of the project and the realisation of benefits. For this reason, the business case is owned by the project sponsor but it is likely that additional input to its creation and/or maintenance will be provided by other project stakeholders including the project manager, subject matter experts, specialist estimators, suppliers, the project office, financial department. The work is these contributors will need to be coordinated and brought together under the overall direction of the project sponsor.
The sponsor needs to ensure that a planned logical process is out in place to integrate and deliver successful business change. It is really important that the sponsor, project manager and their team understand and buy into the business case.
The business case should answer these questions
- what are we doing and why?
- are the estimates robust, is it affordable?
- is it value for money -could I get it 80% of the benefit from the 50% costs?
- is it achievable from all perspectives - commercially/ppm set-up, governance, stakeholders, to timescale?
- how we planned to realise benefits?
Define Communication
he means by which information or instructions are exchanged. Successful communication occurs when the received meaning is the same as he transmitted meaning.
What are the requirements for effective communication?
- Stakeholder identification and analysis to establish and understand the needs of the target audience and manage the relationship
- A system for message delivery in order to ensure hat the appropriate message is provided to the appropriate stakeholder at the appropriate time in the project in line with plans.
- A system of monitoring and feedback to assess the effectiveness of the communication process
- The clarity of the message in order to ensure understanding and, in accordance with the governance of project management, to foster trust and commitment
What are the benefits of stakeholder engagement
- Increased support, Stakeholders who have a positive view on the project can prove to be valuable allies in negotiation and conflict situations
- Access to resources, project managers who actively manage stakeholder expectations have greater likelihood of gaining access to the key resources required to achieve the agreed project success criteria.
- Minimise resistance, reducing the level of negative interest in the project will allow the project manager to focus on factors that positively contribute to project delivery as opposed to worrying about negative distractions
- Deliverable acceptance, stakeholders who have been fully consulted during the definition and execution of the project are more likely to feel that their needs have been considered and therefore more readily accept deliverables.
- Enhance/maintain communication. A safe and trusting climate amongst the stakeholder community will help to foster open and timely communication leading to better decision making within the project.
- Improve quality, ensuring that key stakeholders are appropriately consulted will help to ensure that their needs are met and that project deliverables are indeed ‘fit for purpose’
Describe document management
All project documentation needs to be organised in a way that will allow both an easy retrieval of information and an audit trail to be created. Therefore each document should include at least:
- Unique project identifier
- Unique document identifier and title
- Latest version number and date
- Person responsible for the document (owner)
- Record of past alterations
- Record of people who received copies of the document.
A typical document management process for review and approval of individual documents will include the following steps: Document Creation - Document Review - Document Approval - Document Release - Document update.
What are the characteristics of Information Quality
Accuracy - Data needs to sufficiently accurate for its intended use. The reliability of information provided will help to establish the credibility of the project team.
Relevance - Information must be applicable to the users’ needs. The expected response to a communication will help to determine what level of information is required. Redundant information may cause the key message to be misunderstood.
Timeliness - Information must be up to date and available as and when required. This is essential if key project stakeholders are to make effective decisions in a timely manner. The project manager must consider how different versions of information are handled
Completeness - Information can be misrepresented if only partial data is provided. The level of detail required to make a decision must also be considered. Care must still be taken to ensure that the data is presented in a concise and understandable format. 3
