QQI6 project management course

What is a stakeholder? “Persons or organisations (customers, sponsors, performing organisation or the public) who are actively involved in the project or whose interest may be positively or negatively affected by the performance or completion of the project” (PMBOK® Guide 5th Edition). Identification of all stakeholders is an important activity of the project manager to ensure project success.

Methods to Analyse Stakeholders:

• Power & Interest Grid: This model classifies stakeholders based on their power and interest in the project. It allocates the stakeholders to one of the categories:
• Power and Influence Grid: this model is somehow similar to the first model and two attributes are assigned to the project stakeholders.
• Salience Model: A classification of stakeholders based on power to influence, the legitimacy of each stakeholder’s relationship with the organisation, and the urgency of the stakeholder’s claim on the organisation.

Project Integration Management: Project Integration Management includes the processes and activities needed to identify, define, combine, unify and coordinate the various processes and activities within the project management process groups.

The following project planning and execution models are used for medium to large projects within organisations where most of the team members are subordinate of the project manager.

Project Charter: Project Charter refers to a statement of objectives in a project. This statement also sets out detailed project goals, roles, and responsibilities identify the main stakeholders, and the level of authority of a project manager.

Business Case: The Business Case is a one-off, start-up document considered by senior management to assess the pros and cons of proposed projects (initiatives), or to assess the options for a project that has already had resources allocated. The Business Case presents the business issue, identifies project options, benefits, costs, risks and defines the scope. A project manager should answer two crucial questions before producing a business plan:

1. Is the project aligning with company and market?
2. Do we have the capabilities?

The business case will analyse the following economic models:

• Benefit Cost Ratio
• Payback Period
• Present Value
• Net present Value

Work Breakdown Structure: A work breakdown structure (WBS) is a key project deliverable that organises the team’s work into manageable sections. The work breakdown structure visually defines the scope into manageable chunks that a project team can understand, as each level of the work breakdown structure provides further definition and detail.

The key stakeholders need to be constantly reminded of the agreed scope of the project and that any changes will only occur according to the agreed procedures. The Scope Statement or Goal, which was developed at the end of the Initiation Phase is very useful to help control scope creep.

Time management is another key aspect of managing a project. As such, it is considered to be a core knowledge area, and is closely knit to scope and cost areas.

Techniques for Cost and Time Estimation:

• Expert Judgment
• Analogous Estimating Top Down
• Parametric Estimating
• 3 point Estimating
• Reserve Analysis

The Cost Management Plan is part of the general project plan, it sets out to answer how the PM will manage cost. The Cost Management plan should be done early in the planning process. Elements of Cost Management Plan include:

• Accuracy: Establish levels of rounding
• Units of measure: Currency, staff hours
• Links to the PM Plan: WBS, RBS, Control Accounts
• Control thresholds: Variance +/-, %
• How will we measure performance: Earned Value
• Reporting Structure: Format, Frequency, Stakeholders
• Descriptions of Process for: Estimating costs. Cost Budgets, Control Costs

The quality of the outcomes of the project is linked to the processes introduced to ensure quality. What is Quality? Degree to which the project fulfils requirements! There are 4 types of quality project report as listed below:

• Proposal Document
• Project Plan
• Variance Requests
• Status Report

Statement Of Work (SOW): The state of work allows the project team to fully understand their need and communicate these needs to protective seller. This will allow the sellers to determine if they can provide the product or service. The SOW includes the following:

• Specifications – performance, functions, designs
• Quantities
• Quality levels
• Performance data
• Period of performance
• Work locations
• Other – e.g. Response specification, length, deadline

The project manager should also set a legal professional to write the right contract. Common contract types are as below:

• Fixed Price Contracts
• Cost Reimbursable Contracts
• Time & Material Contracts T&M

All projects are subject to uncertainty and therefore to risk. Risk should be identified and ranked in terms of impact and probability. Responses are to be developed for those risks incurring medium to high impact or probability. Project Managers responsibility is to identify as many risks as they can. There are strategies to manage the risk as outlined below:

• Avoidance – plan in such a way to avoid the risk altogether
• Mitigation – plan to reduce the risk
• Acceptance – simply accept the risk if there is no alternative or if it is very unlikely or of little impact
• Procurement – contract out the risk – however the contract still needs to be managed carefully
• Contingency Planning – determine alternative strategies if the risk is triggered
• Insurance – transfer the risk through insurance (also a risky strategy)

The purpose of procurement management plan is to document purchasing decisions, specify purchasing approach, and identify vendors. Procurement management sequential steps are as following:

1. Plan
2. Conduct
3. Close
4. Administer

Human Resources management focus on Project Team recruitment, organization and management until the end of a given project and includes the following steps:

• Develop Human Resource Plan
• Acquire Project Team
• Develop project Team
• Manage Project Team

RACI Chart: RACI stands for Responsible Accountable Consulted Informed and is a matrix of all the activities or decision making authorities undertaken in an organisation set against all the people or roles.