What is a Project?

 A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken

to produce a unique product or service

Temporary Characteristics of Unique

Projects

 Temporary – Definitive beginning and end

 Unique – New undertaking, unfamiliar ground
What is Project Management
 Project Management is the application of
skills, knowledge, tools and techniques to
meet the needs and expectations of
stakeholders for a project.
The purpose of project management is
prediction and prevention, NOT recognition
and reaction
Role of a Project Manager

• Project issues
• Disseminating project information • Implementing standard processes
• Mitigating project risk • Establishing leadership skills
• Quality • Setting expectations
• Managing scope • Team building
• Metrics • Communicator skills
• Managing the overall work plan

Process People
Responsibilities Responsibilities
Triple Contraint

Time

Quality
Cost Scope
Communications Management
 This process is necessary to ensure timely and
appropriate generation, collection, dissemination,
and storage of project information
Risk Management
 Risk identification and mitigation strategy
 Risk update and tracking

Risk… POTENTIAL negative impact to project

Tree – location, accessibility, Weather

ownership
Change Control Management
 Define how changes to the project
scope will be executed
Scope Change Technical Specification Changes

Schedule changes

All changes require collaboration and buy in via the project sponsor’s signature
prior to implementation of the changes
Project Life Cycle
 Initiation
 Planning
 Executing
 Monitoring & Controlling
 Closing
Initiation Phase
 Define the need
 Select the PM
 Document business need
 Develop project charter
Planning Phase
 Determine goals, scope and project
constraints
 Identify members and their roles
 Define communication channels, methods,
frequency and content
 Risk management planning
 Create WBS and timeline
Executing Phase
 Execute project plan and accomplish project
goals
 Send and receive information
 Implement approved changes
 Continuous improvement
 Team building
 Lessons learned (surveys)
Monitoring & Controlling
 Scope verification
 Measure according to your plan
 Risk Audits
 Use issue logs
 Measure Team member performance
 Create forecasts
Closing Phase
 Contractual Closeout
 Confirm the work is done to requirements
 Lessons Learned (Survey)
Project Management Tools

 PERT Chart- designed to

analyze and represent the tasks
involved in completing a given
project
Work Breakdown Structure
 For defining and organizing the
total scope of a project
 First two levels - define a set of
planned outcomes that collectively
and exclusively represent 100% of
the project scope.
 Subsequent levels - represent
100% of the scope of their parent
node
Project Status Dashboard view
Project Success

Customer Requirements Completed within allocated

satisfied/exceeded time frame

Completed within allocated Accepted by the customer

budget
Project Failure

Scope Creep Poor Requirements Gathering

Unrealistic planning and Lack of resources

scheduling
What is a PMO?
All PMO’s must have:
Templates
Policies and Procedures
Common areas for project information
A person in the PMO that is an expert user of your PM
process, including any applications you plan to use

All PMO’s do not necessarily need to have:

Microsoft Project, or Project Server (it is not a PMO in a
box)
Microsoft SharePoint
New Project sign-off
Scope of the project?
Do we have the resources (people and money)
Estimate of the timeline?
ROI
Sign off on the project
Project Charter (you must have)
Who is the PM
Scope? Out of scope?
Milestones
Who is on the project?
Project assumptions/constraints
Communication Strategy
Risk Management Plan/are there any known Risks?
Project Team Sign off

http://www.pma.doit.wisc.edu/templates.html
WBS (must have)
Action Logs:

Actions from meetings need

to come out of Meeting
Minutes and into a Log

Keep it simple in Excel or

utilized tasks in SharePoint
 Updates

Build a plug and play timeline

Executive Reports
Executive Reports

Microsoft Project Server can help add more metrics to your reports
Project Management Manual
Describes from the start to the close of the project
which templates and processes to follow
Small company
Common location in a folder on your server
Medium Company
Create your own website with project information
SharePoint

Communicate project plans and to distribute task

assignments to team members
Great for large companies and worldwide projects
It can interface with Outlook and Project
Easy to create your own databases (ie: help desk requests)
Email notifications
Processes take away problems

With Processes you will spend less time fire-fighting

problems

With Processes you will have fewer things that slip

through the cracks
Process improvement: Review your program performance
against established baselines, identify significant variances
in program results, and recommends corrective actions.

Take one of your PM processes and review all of your

organizations projects to make sure the PM is compiling
with your policies.

Review the lessons learned from projects (lessons learned are

done throughout the lifecycle of a project not just at the
end).
Project Management 2.0
 Mind Mapping
 Wiki’s
 Blogs
 Twitter
 Facebook