CONCEPT AND NEED OF PROJECT
MANAGEMENT
In simple terms, project management is the process of achieving set goals within the specified time, budget, and other resources. It helps to get maximum out of the available resources like manpower, money, materials, facilities, information, and many more. This process helps management or teams in an organization to plan, execute, and complete tasks on specific date or time and within a limited budget.
Following are three stages or phases of project management:
1. Planning
2. Controlling
3. Managing
PLANNING PROJECTS
Project planning is a part of project management related to the use of schedules, such as Gantt charts, that help to plan and manage projects in the project environment. While planning a project, first the scope of the project is defined by the duration of various tasks
necessary to complete the work. These tasks are listed and grouped in Work Breakdown Structure. The duration of tasks is often estimated through an average of optimistic, normal, and pessimistic cases.
Second, the resources necessary for the given project can be estimated and the costs of activities can be calculated according to the resources assigned to those activities to get the total project cost. The project is then optimized to achieve the balance between the resource usage and project duration to comply with the objectives. This phase of project planning is followed by project schedule, and project management plan.
Purpose of Planning
The purpose of project planning is to achieve project objectives and to predict which activities and resources are critical for timely completion of the project. Therefore, planning helps in making strategies to attain the desired goals and thus ensuring that the
project will be delivered on time and within the budget.
Planning helps in identifying the total scope of project and the resources to perform the work. It helps to optimize the resources according to the project needs. It also helps to identify the risks, plan to minimize them, and then set priorities of the project according to the risk. It also helps to provide a baseline plan based on which the progress of the project is measured.
Planning Cycle
When constructing a building, one of the first steps is to lay foundation. Similarly, before building-up projects using the Project Management module, one has to start from the foundation to be laid in the construction of Enterprise Project Structure.
The below figure shows the flowchart of project planning.
The following steps are the detailed description of project planning using the Primavera P6 module.
• Establish Goals:
The first step of the planning process is to identify and establish goals.The next step is to get the detailed information of goals including the reasons for the selection and the anticipated outcomes of the projects.
• Established Goals to be achieved by Organization:
The Organizational Breakdown Structure (OBS) represents the hierarchical arrangement of the company management to fulfill the established needs. The OBS should be structured in such a way that each task in the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) must be assigned to a person or committee. The OBS displays organizational relationships between the employees of an organization and according to that helps in assigning work resources in a project to the employees.
Each goal should have tasks or projects associated with its achievement. To achieve the goals, most useful and important structure for a project is the WBS. The WBS is continuation to the EPS for an individual projects in an organization. WBS can be
identified as breaking down complex projects into simpler, manageable, and interrelated tasks. A good work breakdown structure encourages a systematic planning process that
covers all the key elements in a project and simplifies the project into manageable units. A WBS is used as a road map for planning, monitoring, and managing all the elements of a
project such as scope of work, cost and time estimation, resource allocation and scheduling, productivity and many a more.
• Identifying Resources:
EPS is the hierarchical arrangements of the projects. It helps in
managing multiple projects from higher to individual level and thereby facilitates the performance of specific tasks in an organization.
• Prioritize Goals and Tasks:
Prioritizing goals and tasks process is to arrange goals or
tasks in terms of their importance. The most important tasks will be theoretically and practically approached and completed first.
• Goals Assigned to Resources:
Each goal has some financial and human resource
requirements associated with it. To achieve the goals, certain resources are required to be assigned. In Primavera P6, Resources Breakdown Structure (RBS) is an hierarchical structure of resources which are needed to accomplish the objectives of project. It is logical and useful classification of resources that can be used to optimize resource utilization.
• Create Assignments and Baselines:
As the projects are prioritized, it is required to establish baselines for completing associated tasks and assign resources to complete them. This portion of the management planning process should consider the abilities of the staff members and the time necessary to complete the assignments.
• Tracking the Project’s Progress:
A management planning process includes a strategy for evaluating the progress toward goal completion throughout an established time period. To evaluate the progress of a project, you need to keep a track of it.
CONTROLLING PROJECTS
Project control processes are performed to observe the project execution so that problems can be timely identified and corrective action can be taken, when necessary, to control the
execution of the project. Project control includes measuring the ongoing project activities, monitoring the project variables such as cost, effort, scope and identifying the corrective actions to address risks and issues.
MANAGING PROJECTS
Project management is done by the Project Manager responsible for accomplishing the stated project objectives. Project management includes development of the project plan, managing project stakeholders, managing communication, managing project team,
managing project risk, managing project schedule, managing project budget, managing project conflicts, and managing project delivery. Project Management depends upon the industry type, size, maturity, and culture of the company.
MANAGEMENT
In simple terms, project management is the process of achieving set goals within the specified time, budget, and other resources. It helps to get maximum out of the available resources like manpower, money, materials, facilities, information, and many more. This process helps management or teams in an organization to plan, execute, and complete tasks on specific date or time and within a limited budget.
Following are three stages or phases of project management:
1. Planning
2. Controlling
3. Managing
PLANNING PROJECTS
Project planning is a part of project management related to the use of schedules, such as Gantt charts, that help to plan and manage projects in the project environment. While planning a project, first the scope of the project is defined by the duration of various tasks
necessary to complete the work. These tasks are listed and grouped in Work Breakdown Structure. The duration of tasks is often estimated through an average of optimistic, normal, and pessimistic cases.
Second, the resources necessary for the given project can be estimated and the costs of activities can be calculated according to the resources assigned to those activities to get the total project cost. The project is then optimized to achieve the balance between the resource usage and project duration to comply with the objectives. This phase of project planning is followed by project schedule, and project management plan.
Purpose of Planning
The purpose of project planning is to achieve project objectives and to predict which activities and resources are critical for timely completion of the project. Therefore, planning helps in making strategies to attain the desired goals and thus ensuring that the
project will be delivered on time and within the budget.
Planning helps in identifying the total scope of project and the resources to perform the work. It helps to optimize the resources according to the project needs. It also helps to identify the risks, plan to minimize them, and then set priorities of the project according to the risk. It also helps to provide a baseline plan based on which the progress of the project is measured.
Planning Cycle
When constructing a building, one of the first steps is to lay foundation. Similarly, before building-up projects using the Project Management module, one has to start from the foundation to be laid in the construction of Enterprise Project Structure.
The below figure shows the flowchart of project planning.
The following steps are the detailed description of project planning using the Primavera P6 module.
• Establish Goals:
The first step of the planning process is to identify and establish goals.The next step is to get the detailed information of goals including the reasons for the selection and the anticipated outcomes of the projects.
• Established Goals to be achieved by Organization:
The Organizational Breakdown Structure (OBS) represents the hierarchical arrangement of the company management to fulfill the established needs. The OBS should be structured in such a way that each task in the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) must be assigned to a person or committee. The OBS displays organizational relationships between the employees of an organization and according to that helps in assigning work resources in a project to the employees.
Each goal should have tasks or projects associated with its achievement. To achieve the goals, most useful and important structure for a project is the WBS. The WBS is continuation to the EPS for an individual projects in an organization. WBS can be
identified as breaking down complex projects into simpler, manageable, and interrelated tasks. A good work breakdown structure encourages a systematic planning process that
covers all the key elements in a project and simplifies the project into manageable units. A WBS is used as a road map for planning, monitoring, and managing all the elements of a
project such as scope of work, cost and time estimation, resource allocation and scheduling, productivity and many a more.
• Identifying Resources:
EPS is the hierarchical arrangements of the projects. It helps in
managing multiple projects from higher to individual level and thereby facilitates the performance of specific tasks in an organization.
• Prioritize Goals and Tasks:
Prioritizing goals and tasks process is to arrange goals or
tasks in terms of their importance. The most important tasks will be theoretically and practically approached and completed first.
• Goals Assigned to Resources:
Each goal has some financial and human resource
requirements associated with it. To achieve the goals, certain resources are required to be assigned. In Primavera P6, Resources Breakdown Structure (RBS) is an hierarchical structure of resources which are needed to accomplish the objectives of project. It is logical and useful classification of resources that can be used to optimize resource utilization.
• Create Assignments and Baselines:
As the projects are prioritized, it is required to establish baselines for completing associated tasks and assign resources to complete them. This portion of the management planning process should consider the abilities of the staff members and the time necessary to complete the assignments.
• Tracking the Project’s Progress:
A management planning process includes a strategy for evaluating the progress toward goal completion throughout an established time period. To evaluate the progress of a project, you need to keep a track of it.
CONTROLLING PROJECTS
Project control processes are performed to observe the project execution so that problems can be timely identified and corrective action can be taken, when necessary, to control the
execution of the project. Project control includes measuring the ongoing project activities, monitoring the project variables such as cost, effort, scope and identifying the corrective actions to address risks and issues.
MANAGING PROJECTS
Project management is done by the Project Manager responsible for accomplishing the stated project objectives. Project management includes development of the project plan, managing project stakeholders, managing communication, managing project team,
managing project risk, managing project schedule, managing project budget, managing project conflicts, and managing project delivery. Project Management depends upon the industry type, size, maturity, and culture of the company.
