28-11-2012, 02:47 PM
Project Management
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Introduction
Project management is an activity to ensure smooth implementation of any as per its specification. The following sections detail out the key concept project management.
Project Life Cycle
The Project Life Cycle refers to a logical sequence of activities to accomplish the project’s goals or objectives. Regardless of scope or complexity, any project goes through a series of stages during its life. There is first an Initiation or Birth phase, in which the outputs and critical success factors are defined, followed by a Planning phase, characterized by breaking down the project into smaller parts/tasks, an Execution phase, in which the project plan is executed, and lastly a Closure or Exit phase, that marks the completion of the project.
Project activities must be grouped into phases because by doing so, the project manager and the core team can efficiently plan and organize resources for each activity, and also objectively measure achievement of goals and justify their decisions to move ahead, correct, or terminate. It is of great importance to organize project phases into industry-specific project cycles. Why? Not only because each industry sector involves specific requirements, tasks, and procedures when it comes to projects, but also because different have industry sectors had different needs for life cycle management methodology. And paying close attention to such details is the difference between doing things well and excelling as project managers.
The Project Initiation Phase
The project imitation phase is the first Project Phase and is usually represented by the conceptualization of the project. The purpose of this phase is to specify what the project should accomplish.
The basic processes of the Project Initiation Phase are: Creation of a Product /Project Description Document. This is an informal, high-level statement describing the characteristics of the product / project / process to be created.
Execution and Controlling
The most important issue in this phase is to ensure project activities are properly executed and controlled. During the execution phase, the planned solution is implemented to solve the problem specified in the project's requirements. In product and system development, a design resulting in a specific set of product requirements is created. This convergence is measured by prototypes, testing, and reviews. As the execution phase progresses, groups across the organization become more deeply involved in planning for the final testing, production, and support. The most common tools or methodologies used in the execution phase are an update of Risk Analysis and Score Cards, in addition to Business Plan and Milestones Reviews.
Closure
In this last stage, the project manager must ensure that the project is brought to its proper completion. The closure phase is characterized by a written formal project review report containing the following components: a formal acceptance of the final product by the client, Weighted Critical Measurements (matching the initial requirements specified by the client with the final delivered product), rewarding the team, a list of lessons learned, releasing project resources, and a formal project closure notification to higher management. No special tool or methodology is needed during the closure phase.
Project Planning and Scheduling
Scheduling is a process which tries to organize activities in logical sequence. While it is not possible to know with certainty how long a project will take, there are techniques that can increase your likelihood of being close. If you are close in your planning and estimating, you can manage the project to achieve the schedule by accelerating some efforts or modifying approaches to meet required deadlines.
One key ingredient in the scheduling process is experience in the project area; another is experience with scheduling in general. In every government organization area there will be a body of knowledge that associates the accomplishment of known work efforts with time duration. In some industries, there are books recording industry standards for use by cost and schedule estimators. Interviewing those who have had experience with similar projects is the best way to determine how long things will really take.
Bar Chart –Gantt Schedule
Taking its name from early project management innovator Henry L. Gantt, the basic Gantt chart or now one know it as Bar Chart is an easy way to document schedules. It is a horizontal-bar schedule showing activity start, duration, and completion. It shows the connection between events and the calendar, and provides a graphical analogy of the activity duration.
The Gantt schedule can illustrate the relationship between work activities having duration, events without duration that indicate a significant completion, and milestones that represent major achievements or decision points. Various comments can be used to communicate the progress of the project effort compared to the baseline plan, as well to depict in a graphical way areas where there are modified expectations from the baseline plan.
Evolution of Network Techniques
By the end of 18th century, the decision-making process was mainly depended on the managerial capabilities, experiences and academic background of managers. In the early stage of 19th century, the pioneers of scientific management started developing the scientific management techniques. During World War I, Henry L. Gantt developed Gantt Chart for production scheduling which was later on modified to bar chart for the purpose of project and production scheduling.
The network techniques of PERT and CPM were concurrently developed in 1957. In the beginning, CPM was used for planning and scheduling of constructional projects. It was also used for scheduling the maintenance shutdown. The construction industry in general and the petro-chemical industry in particular were the major areas of CPM applications.
PERT was developed by US Navy for scheduling the research and development work for the Polaris Fleet Ballistic Missiles Programmed whose activities were subject to a considerable degree of uncertainty. Initially, this technique was named as “Programmed Evaluation and Review Technique” after 1958, this technique was used by Russian Scientists for the utilization and management of their huge ammunition. But after 1960, this technique came up as a revolutionary technique for the purpose of decision-making.