BSBPMG522 Undertake Project Work. Learning Guide. Northern Sydney Institute Northern Beaches

Transcription

1 BSBPMG522 Undertake Project Work Learning Guide Northern Sydney Institute Northern Beaches

2 Table of Contents Table of Contents... 2 Introduction to the Learning Guide... 3 Introduction to Project Management... 3 Topic 1 Define the Project... 5 Topic 1 Activities Topic 2 Develop the Project Plan Topic 2 Activities Topic 3 Administering and Monitoring the Project Topic 3 Activities Topic 4 Finalise the Project Topic 4 Activities Topic 5 Review the Project Topic 5 Activities References Page 2 of 82 Revision Date: 11/04/2013

3 Introduction to the Learning Guide Learning Guide This learning guide has been designed to cover all subject matter for BSBPMG522 Undertake Project Work. The topics follow the project lifecycle and the elements in the units of competence. Introduction to Project Management What is a project? A project is a sequence of activities that is intended to achieve a unique purpose. Projects are different from ordinary daily work activities. Most projects are done only once. For example, a Human Resources (HR) Manager would monitor staff training and professional development and record this information in staff records. This would be ordinary work. However, if the head of the HR department requested that the HR Manager plan, design and implement new OH&S training for all staff, then that would be a project. Five features that differentiate projects from ordinary work are that they: have defined beginning and end dates have a unique purpose with specific objectives that meet the client goals and requirements within specified quality and performance criteria use resources, such as money, time, people and equipment that have been allocated to the project usually follow a planned and structured approach to meet their objectives have a primary sponsor or stakeholder that provides direction and funding. Projects can be simple and easily handled by one person or large and complex projects requiring many resources and the specialised skills of a dedicated project manager. What is project management? Project management is about striving to meet specific time, cost, quality and resource objectives for projects. At the same time it must facilitate the entire process so as to meet the needs and expectations of all people affected by project activities. Project management is about making change through the use of techniques, tools and resources that manage change throughout the life of the project. General management skills Managing projects is more than simply listing tasks and entering them into a computer program. It is about managing people and resources to ensure the successful completion of the project. Like all management activities, managing projects is based on sound general management principles, so that all activities of a project are managed in order to achieve a desired goal on time, and within budget. These general management principles include: planning the objectives, work estimates, work schedules, and budgets to reach the project goal Page 3 of 82 Revision Date: 11/04/2013

4 Learning Guide organising the people and initiating the activities needed to complete the project assembling all the necessary resources needed to complete the project (as per your plan) controlling the project, by tracking and monitoring the progress against the initial project plan leading the project team communicating, which involves creating a reporting structure to ensure that all stakeholders and other interested parties receive timely and proper information during the life of the project. What makes a good project manager? Project managers need strong management skills to be able to lead people, to communicate, negotiate, organise and plan, solve problems, influence people, analyse, set goals, listen to people, motivate people, and achieve targets. A project manager must focus on leadership and teamwork skills to lead the team in the most effective way to achieve the project goals. They must use their communication and political skills to build positive relationships that enable them to understand and meet stakeholders needs and expectations. A project manager must also have good organisational skills, to be able to plan, analyse, set and achieve project objectives, work plans and schedules. Organisations employ specialised project managers because they have skills in collectively managing aspects of a project including: the budget the schedule the team members stakeholders functional managers (other managers within the organisation) They do not manage a permanent department like functional managers do. They manage a given team over a given time period. Then, with a new project, they do it all over again with a different team, budget and schedule. The 5 phases in a project There are five general phases in a project: 1. initiate phase 2. plan phase 3. organise phase 4. control phase 5. close phase. Page 4 of 82 Revision Date: 11/04/2013

5 During each phase, you need to use the principles of general management needed for that phase. This usually involves using a set of controlled steps and procedures to ensure that each phase is completed satisfactorily. The following table shows the main activities that are required in each of these five general phases of a project life cycle. They usually are grouped into: planning processes, and implementation processes. This topic takes a close look at the initiate phase. Major activities that occur during each project phase Initiate Plan Organise Control Close Define the overall project goal Develop detailed task list Obtain necessary resources Lead and support the team Complete final deliverables Identify all stakeholders, their needs and expectations Estimate all task times and all costs Recruit necessary personnel Establish control tools and methods Write and issue final report, close the accounts, hand over project files Identify the project objectives Arrange best sequence of all tasks Organise and lead the project team Monitor the project plan and make any necessary corrective actions Release all resources Identify initial work and resources and basic milestones Develop workable schedule and identify critical milestones Assign all project tasks Assess and implement change Obtain stakeholder acceptance and signoff Identify all constraints, assumptions and risks Write detailed project plan and obtain approval from stakeholders Communicate with stakeholders and all necessary parties Prepare and distribute status reports Evaluate the project Topic 1 Define the Project In the initiate phase you will: define the overall project goal identify all stakeholders, their needs and expectations identify the project objectives identify initial work and resources and basic milestones Page 5 of 82 Revision Date: 11/04/2013

6 identify all constraints, assumptions and risks. Project scope One of the most difficult aspects of project management is defining the scope of a project. The word scope means extent or depth. When applied to project management, it refers to how much work there is to do. The scope is all work needed to fulfil the project goals. It includes all the resources and processes used to do this. The project scope must provide a clear and refined description of: the project goal what is to be achieved how is it to be achieved who will achieve it when it will be achieved with what resources it will be achieved. Once these have been determined, they are written down in a scope document. A scope document shows the scope, or extent, of a project. Let s look at the key sections and an example of a project scope document. Key sections of a scope document The things you will find in a project scope document Section Scope statement Project constraints Details This clearly states the project goal, objectives and deliverables. If it is not specified in the scope statement then it is outside the scope of the project and is not relevant. Project tasks should only address work that is relevant to the project goal and objectives. These are any limiting factors that prevent the project from moving in a particular path. Examples include: You have dependent tasks that impact on specific areas of the project, for example, tasks that cannot begin unless another one has Page 6 of 82 Revision Date: 11/04/2013

7 Section Assumptions Tasks list Estimates (cost, time and human resources) Contract statement Details started. You have a deadline that cannot be changed. The implementation work for a system upgrade can only be done on the weekend, when staff are not at work. These are aspects that the project manager builds into the scope document to allow for any uncertainties that may occur. Examples of assumptions include: Fifteen new personal computers need to be purchased for the project. All staff need yearly training in OHS. All resources for the project will be sourced from outside of the company. You need to specify a list of tasks (and deliverables) to be achieved during the project. They are all the activities that need to take place to bring the project to completion. The deliverables include all the documentation, reports, contracts and products that need to be produced and signed-off on by those in authority. You need to make initial estimates in relation to cost, time and human resource requirements. These identify the boundaries of the project to enable you to expand into the more detailed estimates that are needed to develop the full project plan. This will include the names of those authorised to initiate contract work, sign contracts and completion acceptances. It also includes any contractual limitations and penalty statements for possible contract variations. (Variations and penalties apply equally to the client and providers.) The following is an example of a scope document, in this case for a project to install animal litter bins in local parks. Sample scope document Project Scope Project Information (Please complete all) Project Sponsor Bob Smith General Manager Project Name Animal litter bins Page 7 of 82 Revision Date: 11/04/2013

8 Sponsoring Department/Client Directive from Council Meeting Parks & Gardens Project Leader Arens Sirkel Scope the project The project will encompass the installing of animal litter bins and bag dispensers in all council parks. The bins and bags are to be purchased from Animal Litter Limited after recommendations from neighbouring councils. Description of the project What is the vision? What will the finished product look like? The animal litter bins will be installed in prominent locations in each park, while also being close to entrances to allow efficient removal of waste by our waste management contractor. Identify the strategic objectives which relate to this project To reduce animal litter by encouraging owners to pick up after their pets. Identify the main target audience Pet owners. What are the intended outcomes/deliverables of the project? That pet owners will use the bags provided to clean up their pets litter and deposit the bags in the bins provided, other bins or their own bins at home. What are the particular aspects of the project? Installation of bins. Other comments Collection of waste and replacement of bags has been contracted to our waste management contractor. A public awareness campaign will be conducted by council after the bins have been installed. Proposed high-level project timeline Phase Dates/Time Notes Phase 1: Scoping and feasibility not required Directed by council, scoped by General Manager Phase 2: Planning Phase 3: Implementation Phase 4: Evaluation 4 days 3 weeks 2 days Proposed high-level budget Page 8 of 82 Revision Date: 11/04/2013

9 Detail proposed budget or financial constraints for the project. Overtime wages/contractor payments $ 7,000 Bins & posts $ 15,000 Materials (cement, etc) $ 2,000 Annual bag replacement program $ 6,000 Annual additional charge by Waste Management Co. $ 18,000 Scope signoff This scope has been approved by: Bob Smith Project Sponsor Department: General Manager Date / / Use the scope document during the whole project It is a good idea to revisit the scope document while the project is running, to check that the project is meeting its objectives and to make sure that activities are within its scope. During the plan phase you should use the scope document as a basis to expand into a detailed activity list of the project deliverables. Project sponsor A good scope document will clearly define the project sponsor. The project sponsor is a key stakeholder for the project. The sponsor is the person or organisation that has taken the idea for a project and developed it into a structure, or who has identified the idea for the project and initiated its further development. The sponsor may be the manager, client, department or work team that has initiated the project. The sponsor usually provides the resources and approvals for the project, and has the final say on project deliverables, costs, schedules and risk. Project stakeholders Stakeholders are the individuals or organisations that are involved in, or may be affected by, the project. These might include the project sponsor (company management, department head, client etc), staff, contractors, suppliers, project team, external clients, government agencies and the public. This group will vary greatly from one project to another. There are always a number of stakeholders involved in workplace projects. For example, stakeholders could include members of the following groups: employees, contractors unions and labour hire companies managers customers Page 9 of 82 Revision Date: 11/04/2013

10 suppliers. Learning Guide Internal and external stakeholders Stakeholders can be internal or external to an organisation, and beyond the main group of interested parties, they can be quite diverse, depending on the nature of the project. The table below lists some possible internal stakeholders and what their interest is. Examples of internal stakeholders are as follows: Stakeholder Sponsor Project Team Senior management Functional Managers Shareholders Details The person or business unit that initiated the project and provides funding for the project. The project manager and team members who carry out all of the tasks required to complete the project on time and within budget. Senior management obviously have an interest in projects undertaken by their organisation, and their approval will be required. They become involved when they are directly affected by the project or offer their staff to take part in the project. As they usually provide the funding they have a vested interest in the success of the project. External stakeholders can include: clients or customers industry steering committee members environmental associations media government representatives suppliers and contractors general public relevant interest groups unions end users. Consider this example. A new payroll system is to be put in place at Happy Pizza P/L. The stakeholders include: Happy Pizza P/L and its staff (who are paid through the system) Page 10 of 82 Revision Date: 11/04/2013

11 Learning Guide the tax office (that receives tax payments identified by the system) the bank (that makes the direct deposits into the staff bank accounts) superannuation funds unions other organisations receiving direct payments from the staff wages the company s accounts and HR departments the project team the developer and vendor of the payroll system. A good scope document will identify some of the stakeholders, but as the project manager, you will usually need to do more research to identify all of them. This is important because: it allows all the parties that are affected by the project to be consulted before it has progressed it ensures that all possible issues are identified, and factored into the planning it deals with any obstacles or concerns about the project. The needs of stakeholders must be considered when setting targets and planning the attainment of these targets. They may wish to make some contribution to the process or be involved in discussions. You will need to manage communication with all stakeholders to ensure that their expectations of the project are appropriate and that their input is valued. The impact stakeholders have on a project Stakeholders in any given project play an important and continuous role in the life of that project. They may be able to offer suggestions, describe the requirements of a project, evaluate a project and provide extra funds. Successful project managers are excellent communicators and develop good relationships with all project stakeholders to make sure that their needs and expectations are not only understood and agreed to, but are constantly met during the life of the project. The project manager will perform a stakeholder analysis. The analysis will help identify all groups that must be interacted with and all common interests, develop appropriate strategies for negotiating competing requirements, and help allocate resources to accomplish project goals. Stakeholders are important because have a vested interest in the outcomes of a project. This may be because: they may have staff involved in work activities they have invested funds in the project their department will be using affected by the project outcomes. Page 11 of 82 Revision Date: 11/04/2013

12 Project team responsibilities Learning Guide As the project manager, you need to clearly identify the limits of each project team member s responsibility. Questions to ask include: What is the overall responsibility of the project manager? What is the responsibility of individual project team members? How will changes to project specifications, deliverables, scheduling, resource usage, and other aspects of the project be managed? Who is responsible for each of these? Each team member should have clearly defined responsibilities to ensure that they understand what they are and are not allowed to do. Otherwise one person may go off and approve changes that have not been authorised and cause the project to go in the wrong direction, go over budget, or eventually fail. Project reporting requirements When you are developing or reviewing the scope of a project, make sure to include reporting guidelines, such as when to report to the project sponsor, stakeholders and project team. (It should be on a regular basis.) There are a few different ways to meet reporting requirements; you may need to use several of these methods together: hold project team meetings where each team member reports on the progress of the project sponsor or stakeholder meetings where you report on the progress of the project provide written reports send reports use the reporting facilities in any project management software you may be using. Reporting requirements for a project are put in place to ensure that all those involved are kept upto-date with the project s progress. They also provide the opportunity to report any changes or unforeseen events. This means that such things can be rectified quickly before they get out of hand. The important thing is that everyone involved has a clear understanding of their reporting requirements, and that these requirements are met. Relationship to other projects A lot of projects are stand-alone and do not interact with any other projects. However, sometimes an individual project may be related to, or have an impact on one or more other projects. Consider Happy Pizza P/L if the payroll system upgrade project is carried out at the same time as an upgrade of the entire accounting system, then regular exchanges of information between the payroll system project and the accounting system projects would be necessary to make sure that each system is compatible with the other. Page 12 of 82 Revision Date: 11/04/2013

13 Relationship to organisational objectives Learning Guide Every organisation has a range of organisational objectives. Some examples might include providing environmentally friendly products, supporting Australian companies, providing outstanding customer service or providing cutting-edge technologies. When developing or managing a project, you need to consider how it will fit within these organisational objectives. For example, outsourcing the call centre to an offshore supplier might cut costs, but will it meet the company s objectives of supporting Australian companies? Project resources Resource planning is a critical part of project cost management. To estimate budget and control costs, project managers and their teams must determine what physical resources (people, money, time, equipment and facilities) and in what quantity they are required to complete the project. Expert judgement and the availability of alternatives are the only real tools available to assist in resource planning, but to help with this process ask yourself some questions. Will it be difficult to accomplish specific tasks in the project? Is there anything unique about the project that might cause problems in the future? Has your organisation done anything similar before? Who did the work? Does your organisation have staff, equipment and resources that are capable of doing the job? Do you need to outsource some of the work? Does your organisation have any policies that might affect obtaining resources? If the resources are not available within the organisation or easily obtainable from outside, then it may not be a good idea to pursue the project any further. Topic 1 Activities Activity 1: In Class Project As a class, work on the following scenario to demonstrate a project from start (initiation) to finish (close). TAFE has given the students of this class $20 per head for an end of year celebration. TAFE want this money to be used to celebrate the successful completion of this Course. They have left it up to the students to determine how the money is spent (the scope) but you must conform to relevant TAFE policies and ensure TAFE is a major stakeholder in the project. Throughout this subject you will put together a project plan as well as monitor and control and close the project. Page 13 of 82 Revision Date: 11/04/2013

14 Activity 2: Workplace Activities Research the answers to these questions in your own workplace or a workplace you are familiar with. You can check your answers against the guidelines below, but naturally your answers will vary depending the workplace. Questions 1. Who are the stakeholders for your project? Answer: 2. What concerns may these stakeholders raise? Answer: 3. What are your responsibilities and level of authority as a member of your project team? Answer: 4. What are the reporting requirements for your project? Answer: Page 14 of 82 Revision Date: 11/04/2013

15 5. Does your project have a relationship with any other project? Answer: 6. How does your project fit with your organisation s objectives? Answer: 7. Does your organisation have the resources required to complete your project? If they are not available from within your organisation, how can they be obtained from outside the organisation? Answer: Check your answers Question 1 Your list should include all those who are involved or affected by your project, including sponsors, management, staff, contractors, suppliers, clients, etc. Think about the extent of your project so you can identify all stakeholders. Question 2 Think of the individual ways in which your project may affect these stakeholders and what concerns they may raise. Consider issues such as: Will client orders be delayed? Will staff have to work additional hours? Page 15 of 82 Revision Date: 11/04/2013

16 Question 3 Will routines be disturbed? Learning Guide You need to have a clear understanding of your power to approve budgets, project changes, and time frames. If you do not have this responsibility you need to identify and consult with those who do. Question 4 In your response you should include a list of the reports you will need to prepare, to whom these reports are sent, what they include and when they are due. Question 5 A good source of information for this would be to ask managers across various departments within your organisation and higher levels of management. If your project is part of a larger or related project within your organisation, then establish how this might affect your project and identify points at which your project team needs to communicate, or would benefit from communication, with those involved in the other project/s. Question 6 The best place to start is to review the mission and objectives of your organisation and think about how your project is designed to meet these objectives. Question 7 Think of all the resources you will need for your project, such as people, equipment, finance, knowledge, and look at their availability from within your organisation. When looking at procuring resources you should consider: What does the budget allow? Are there established links with resource suppliers? Do you need to tender these purchases? Activity 3: Quiz Use this quiz to check your knowledge of the project definition stage. Question 1: What is the main job of the project manager? 1. identify project tasks 2. produce a project management timeline 3. plan and manage the project 4. conduct project meetings Page 16 of 82 Revision Date: 11/04/2013

17 Question 2: Learning Guide People who are involved in or affected by project activities are 1. project mangers 2. project stakeholders 3. project steering committee 4. organisational employees Question 3: Which of the following characteristics are important for project managers to have? Select all correct answers. 1. good communicator 2. strong negotiator 3. authoritative 4. able to set goals 5. works staff hard Question 4: A scoping document outlines the extent or depth of the project. True or false? 1. True 2. False Question 5: What is a project sponsor? 1. a company financially supporting then project 2. a group of company stakeholders 3. a key stakeholder who is responsible for reporting on the outcomes of the project 4. a key stakeholder who has developed the idea for the project Question 6: All stakeholders sign-off on the project outcomes. True or false? 1. True 2. False Question 7: Why is it important to allocate project team responsibilities? Select all correct answers. Page 17 of 82 Revision Date: 11/04/2013

18 1. to prevent team members from doing tasks not allocated to them 2. to identify areas of staff weakness 3. to clarify who can provide support for certain project tasks 4. to better understand how tasks can be managed by stakeholders Question 8: Which of the following are common project reporting techniques? Select all correct answers. 1. project team meetings 2. stakeholder meetings 3. progress reports 4. reports 5. reporting facilities in project management software Question 9: Projects should be designed to stand alone from other projects. True or false? 1. True 2. False Question 10: Project objectives should be aligned with 1. technical objectives 2. organisational objectives 3. staff development 4. business processes Page 18 of 82 Revision Date: 11/04/2013

19 Topic 2 Develop the Project Plan Learning Guide Once a project has been established and defined during the initiate phase the task of the project manager, and others, is to formulate a project plan. It cannot be understated how vital this phase of project management is to the final success or failure of the project. Typically, the better the planning the better the project result in terms of it being on time, on budget and fulfilling the projects objectives. The 5 phases in a project There are five general phases in a project: 1. initiate phase 2. plan phase 3. organise phase 4. control phase 5. close phase. This topic takes a close look at the plan phase. Major activities that occur during each project phase Initiate Plan Organise Control Close Define the overall project goal Develop a detailed task list Obtain necessary resources Lead and support the team Complete final deliverables Identify all stakeholders, their needs and expectations Estimate all task times and all costs Recruit necessary personnel Establish control tools and methods Write and issue final report, close the accounts, hand over project files Identify the project objectives Arrange the best sequence of all tasks Organise and lead the project team Monitor the project plan and make any necessary corrective actions Release all resources Identify initial work and resources and basic milestones Develop a workable schedule and identify critical milestones Assign all project tasks Assess and implement change Obtain stakeholder acceptance and signoff Identify all constraints, assumptions Write a detailed project plan and obtain Communicate with stakeholders Prepare and distribute Evaluate the project Page 19 of 82 Revision Date: 11/04/2013

20 Initiate Plan Organise Control Close and risks The plan phase approval from stakeholders In the plan phase you will: 1. develop a detailed task list 2. estimate all task times and costs and all necessary parties 3. arrange the best sequence of tasks status reports 4. develop a workable schedule and identify critical milestones 5. write a detailed project plan and obtain approval from stakeholders. You can use the scope document as a basis for the project plan but you will need to expand on it and create a detailed activity list of the project deliverables. Planning your project To effectively plan and implement a project, you must remember that the project has: an overall goal several objectives a number of separate tasks attached to each objective. Your job will be to identify all of these objectives and tasks, and turn them into an effective project plan. Now, consider the skills you will need to do this. As you develop your project plan you will find yourself using these skills: Planning skills to define the task list, estimate task times and task costs, define the task sequence and timing. Communication skills to help communicate and consult with staff, suppliers and contractors to determine how long each task should take, as well as job functions during the estimation process. These same skills will also help you to write the project plan and get approval from the stakeholders. Skills in the use of project management tools to assist in the development of the project plan. Risk management skills to identify and classify all project risks including OHS issues. Budgeting skills to help estimate and cost the project. Page 20 of 82 Revision Date: 11/04/2013

21 Project goals Learning Guide Every project has a major purpose or direction. Once a project has been identified, the major stakeholder or sponsor will make a clear statement of what they want to achieve. This is often called the goal of the project. The sponsor s goal will be defined by end products or services the sponsor wishes to acquire. The following are examples of particular project goals. Design and complete staff training on new OH&S regulations. Increase company sales by the end of the financial year. Relocate the company to new premises by next year. Project objectives To successfully complete a project, several major steps need to take place. These steps usually represent the major parts of the project. These are the project objectives, sometimes called milestones. As the project manager you will work with stakeholders to identify the key project objectives for the project goal. Objectives are not actual work but are sub-goals that are used to focus work activities during the life of the project. Objectives have outputs that are clearly defined in terms of results, goods, or services produced during the project or at its completion. These outputs are sometimes referred to as deliverables and may include reports, plans, products, or even organisational changes. It is extremely important to be precise about the project objectives because they are the foundation from which the project plan is developed. Project objectives can influence: the selection of the project team task definition task schedule resource allocation budget. Objectives are also compared against outcomes at the end of the project and continuously during the life of the project, to make sure that expectations have been met and that the project is moving in the right direction. Tasks Once you have defined project goals and objectives you can begin to focus on the actual work required to complete the project. This work is divided into tasks. Tasks must be: clearly defined Page 21 of 82 Revision Date: 11/04/2013

22 prioritised sequenced, and scheduled. Learning Guide Defining tasks Task definition involves identifying all of the specific tasks and task activities for the project. A task is an element of work that is contained in the work breakdown structure found in the scope document. Each task has: an expected duration an estimated cost resource requirements. Task definition usually results in a very detailed work breakdown structure from which the project team has a complete understanding of the work that is required to achieve the project deliverables. Tasks must first be determined. Some guidelines for determining tasks are as follows: Identify tasks as precisely as possible. Each task should be short compared to the overall project duration. For example, if you plan to put up a frame house, you may want to break up the put up the frame process into three or more tasks, one for each part of the house (outer walls, inner walls, roof etc). This helps you make a more reliable estimate of the time and resources required to complete a task. Tasks must be significant enough to include in the project plan. Insignificant or unscheduled tasks only clutter your project task list. For example, in the pour the concrete task mixing the concrete may be important, but it may not be significant enough to include as a separate step if it doesn t affect how the task is scheduled. The level of detail in your list of tasks should be appropriate for the amount of planning and control you want. For example, if you are hiring outside consultants to do a study, you are interested in when the consultant starts the study and when the study will be completed but you are not interested in the detailed tasks performed by the consultants. In your list of tasks, you would include one task for the study, showing the duration for the whole, rather than many tasks indicating each step of the study. However, if you are doing the study yourself, the separate steps would need to be included in your task list. When you list your tasks, you must be aware of the scope of the tasks and the assumptions on which the tasks are based. This helps you identify changes and measure progress. Be comprehensive. Remember to include reports, reviews and coordination activities in your list of tasks and remember to include tasks for anticipated rework or modifications after a task has been completed, such as revising a manual or reworking and retesting a new product. Name a task using a verb and a noun, such as pour the concrete, build the outer wall frame and tile the roof. Make the names as explicit as possible and keep the style of the Page 22 of 82 Revision Date: 11/04/2013

23 names consistent throughout. This consistency will help others understand each task in your schedule. Task sequencing At this point in the planning phase, our project is a list of tasks, what must be done in order to complete it, deliverables, and milestones to measure its progress. Now it s time to work out the sequence in which the tasks can be done to achieve these milestones and deliverables. Obviously we could just put them in a logical order like a 'to do' list and then do them one after the other. This is fine for small, simple projects but for a complex project with many tasks this has the potential to be a long and inefficient path to completion. Many activities in a project can be done simultaneously to increase efficiency, while other tasks will be done sequentially because they are dependent on earlier tasks. Estimating task duration After the sequence of tasks is set, you must estimate the duration of the tasks. The duration includes both the work time that is needed to do the task plus the time over which this work is done. For example it may take 14 hours of work to perform a task, but this work may be done over four days because the assigned person may only do 3.5 hours work per day on the task. Holidays and weekends must also be considered when estimating task duration. To complete the duration estimates you need to know: the activities within the task the sequence of the activities the availability of resources the skill levels of the personnel any constraints and assumptions that have been made any historical information from previous projects. When estimating task times, there are five options that you can use to gather information to help you make the estimates as accurate as possible: 1. Ask the people who will actually do the work because they have the experience. 2. Get an expert's opinion in the task field. 3. Use an identical or similar task in a completed project as a guideline. 4. If you have time and the task is ready to be undertaken, perform a test task. 5. If all else fails, make your best educated estimate. The results then are: a detailed list of activity durations a document describing the background of the estimates. Page 23 of 82 Revision Date: 11/04/2013

24 Scheduling Learning Guide The schedule for the project will draw on all the information about the tasks that you have gathered and estimated. In the schedule show for each task the: calendar dates task duration resource capacity. The desired result is to have a realistic project schedule that will provide a baseline for monitoring and measuring the project performance. An accurate schedule is the most important tool for implementing a project and coordinating resources. If you are too short or too long with your time frame then the project will likely go over time or over budget. You must be realistic about the time required to complete a project. A schedule lists tasks, in step-by-step order, and indicates what to do, who is to do it and the time that is allocated to complete it. To schedule effectively you need to know: fixed deadlines details of each task the order in which tasks will be done how each task will be done the number of staff and/or resources available to complete the task estimates of the time needed to complete each task when each task must be completed how task completion will be measured the number of tasks to be completed within a time frame external and internal environmental factors that may influence performance. Developing a project schedule Once you have correctly sequenced all tasks, you should schedule all the activities required for each task. There are seven common steps to follow to create the schedule: 1. estimate the time required to complete each activity 2. determine if there is a critical path sequence for activities 3. determine the likely dates for each activity 4. review the schedule against resource availability 5. chart the final schedules and distribute it to the project team 6. make adjustments based on team feedback 7. approve the schedule and distribute. Page 24 of 82 Revision Date: 11/04/2013

25 A simple schedule Page 25 of 82 Revision Date: 11/04/2013

26 Schedule control Learning Guide There are many reasons to amend or change a project schedule and many issues arise from doing so. This is why a realistic project schedule is important to successful project management. Strong leadership is important to make sure that project schedules are met. There is constant pressure from stakeholders/sponsors to shorten schedules and from suppliers and contractors to lengthen schedules, so you will need to have strong negotiation skills to maintain control of the project timetable. The importance of correctly negotiated and realistic milestones in the scope document will be the measuring tool for any rescheduling requests. Requests for changes in the schedule should go through a change management process, be assessed for relevance and impact, and then approved by a properly implemented change control group. Tools for prioritising and scheduling tasks Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) Of the many methods available to define the activity and tasks that make up a project the one that is most used and is easiest to understand is the work breakdown structure, usually referred to as a WBS. Using WBS, we represent the goal, objectives, tasks, sub-tasks and work activities using a hierarchical tree which shows all of the levels of breakdown. The top branch represents the goal of the project and the bottom branches represent the individual work activities to be performed. It could be a hierarchical listing like a table of contents in the front of a book or a graphical diagram for displaying the WBS, like the WBS chart shown below. You will notice that it looks a little like an organisational chart for a company. Page 26 of 82 Revision Date: 11/04/2013

27 An example of a WBS chart for installation of animal litter bins and bag dispensers in all council parks Gantt charts Gantt charts are the most common means for displaying project schedule information. Gantt charts use a list of tasks or activities required to complete the project. The timing for each task is represented as a series of horizontal lines or bars under a calendar scale. Page 27 of 82 Revision Date: 11/04/2013

28 Here is an example Gantt chart. Notice that task timings can overlap, be broken up or have gaps between tasks. Critical path method Critical path analysis is a technique for calculating the duration of the project by analysing and calculating the duration of the longest path (the critical path) through the project. Typically you are trying to determine the shortest path to complete a project. However, the critical path method looks at all tasks within the project and based on their sequence measures the path through this sequence that could potentially take the longest time. This helps estimate a realistic timeframe in which to complete the project. In the example critical path chart below the shortest path is task A to C to G and would take only 7 days. However, a more realistic timeframe is represented via task A to C to E to G which could take up to 12 days. Page 28 of 82 Revision Date: 11/04/2013

29 1 day Task B 4 days 5 days Task E 6 days Task A 1 day Task C 6 days Task G 3 days Task D 6 days Task F 2 days PERT analysis Example critical path for a series of project tasks PERT analysis is a technique that is used when there is a high degree of uncertainty about the individual activity duration estimates. PERT calculates the critical path method but uses statistically weighted average duration estimates. PERT uses probabilistic estimates, which are activity duration estimates based on three criteria: optimistic duration most likely duration pessimistic duration. The three estimates are then statistically averaged using a formula called the weighted average formula. Deriving this formula is outside the scope of this topic but an example is provided below. The formula is: BD + (4 LD) + WD ED = 6 Where: ED = Estimated event duration BD = Best duration shortest time needed to complete the activity LD = Likely duration the time most likely needed to complete the activity WD = Worst duration the longest time required to complete the activity. Risk management Risk management is a major issue in project management. Your project plan should include a risk management plan. A risk is something that may happen and if it does, it will have a negative impact on the project. A risk must also have a probability of occurring that is something above 0% and less than 100%. If there is no chance of it happening, then it is not a risk. If it has a 100% chance of occurring it is a certainty rather than a risk and must be factored into the project planning. Page 29 of 82 Revision Date: 11/04/2013

30 The second thing to consider is what type of impact it will have on the project. If it will have a neutral or positive impact, it is not a risk. Suppose we said a risk was that we would find the project less complicated than we thought, and could finish early. Unless finishing early has a negative effect on the project, it is not a risk. There are four stages to risk management planning: 1. risk identification 2. risk quantification 3. risk response 4. risk monitoring and control. Risk identification In this stage, we identify and name the risks. The best way to do this is to run a workshop with the project team. Use a combination of brainstorming specific project risks and reviewing standard risk lists. There are different sorts of risks for each project and you need to decide on a project-byproject basis what to do about each type of risk. Business risks are ongoing risks that are best handled by the business. Consider Happy Pizza P/L. If the project to install a new accounting system cannot meet the end of financial year deadline, the business area may need to keep their existing accounting system for another year. Happy Pizza P/L can respond by developing a contingency plan to use the existing system for another year. Generic risks are risks to all projects, for example the risk that suppliers might not meet project deadlines. Each organisation will develop standard responses to generic risks. Risks should be defined in two parts: the cause of the risk (such as suppliers not meeting deadlines, staff absences, contractors not available, etc) the impact of the risk occurring (such as exceeding the budget, milestones not achieved, etc). Risk quantification Risks need to be quantified in two dimensions. You need to assess the probability of the risk occurring as well as the likely impact on the project if the risk does occur. For simplicity, rate each on a 1 to 4 scale using a matrix similar to the one below the larger the number, the larger the impact or probability. Page 30 of 82 Revision Date: 11/04/2013

31 Risk quantification matrix Note that if probability is high and impact is low then this is a medium risk, whereas if the impact of a risk is high and probability is low it is high risk. A remote chance of a project-destroying risk warrants more attention than a high chance of a small problem. Risk response There are four things you can do about a risk: 1. Avoid the risk. Do something to remove it, for example, use another supplier if the current supplier cannot deliver on time. 2. Transfer the risk. Make someone else responsible. Perhaps a vendor can be made responsible for a particularly risky part of the project, or insurance can be obtained to provide cover in the event of the risk occurring. 3. Mitigate the risk. Take action to lessen the impact or chance of the risk occurring. If the risk relates to availability of resources, identify alternative suppliers and draw up agreements to allow suppliers to be changed if deadlines are not met. 4. Accept the risk. The risk might be so small that the effort to do anything about it is not worthwhile. A risk response plan should include the strategy and action items to address each risk. The actions should include what needs to be done, who is going to do it, and when it should be completed. Below is a sample risk response plan. Sample risk response plan for installation of animal litter bins and bag dispensers in council parks Risk Title Risk Details Risk Priority Mitigation Strategy Failure to meet schedule Failure to meet schedule due to bad weather, staff shortages. Constant bad weather over the short project time frame could delay the project. Low Accept. If this does happen it will only push back the project a short time. Cost overruns for installing bins External costs include contractor for installing some of the bins, possible overtime, cement and damage to tools. Low Fixed price quote obtained from contractor for their two days of work. The cost of the bins has not been included as these have already been purchased. Bins will be stolen The bins may be stolen from park locations. Low Cement bins in to minimise risk of being removed, pushed over or stolen. Insure Council must maintain insurance to cover the theft of council property Page 31 of 82 Revision Date: 11/04/2013

32 in public reserves. Risk monitoring and control Risk management is not a complex task. If you follow the four steps (risk identification, risk quantification, risk response, risk monitoring and control) you can put together a risk management plan for a project in a short space of time. Without a plan, the success of the project, and your reputation as a project manager, are on the line. Follow these steps and you will increase your chances of success. Cost management Cost management is and important area of project management especially in profit-focused corporate contexts. Companies are always conscious of budget overruns and cost restrictions in today s competitive markets. Project cost management includes all the processes required to make sure the project is completed within the approved budget. As the project manager, it is crucial for you to make sure that the scope document is as accurate as possible, so that the approved budget is based on estimates that are as realistic as possible. An accurate scope document also helps to make sure that the only work that is done on the project is work that is defined in the scope. Remember it is your job as the project manager to constantly satisfy the needs of the stakeholders while keeping costs down and under control. Project cost management processes include: resource planning estimating costs estimated costs and budget. Resource planning To estimate, budget and control the costs of a project, you, as the project manager, must determine what resources are required and in what quantities, to complete all the project tasks. This includes people, equipment, facilities and materials. When you have determined this, you will have a detailed list of resource requirements. To make sure that resource estimates are as accurate as possible, draw upon the skills of people with experience and expertise in similar projects. Estimating cost Costing a project is not an easy task. All projects are different and you may not have a previous example to assist you in costing the current project. You can refer to audit reports and budgets from previous projects, but these may only provide ideas, rather than real costs. One of the key inputs to the costing process is the detailed WBS that you developed at the start of the planning phase. With very large projects this estimation process is usually undertaken in three stages. Page 32 of 82 Revision Date: 11/04/2013

33 1. Early rough estimate is usually done well before the start of a project or even before a project is initiated. This estimate is usually made with a -25% to + 75% accuracy. 2. Budgetary estimate is used to allocate funds into a company budget for forecasted expenditure in the upcoming months. The accuracy of this estimate is usually tighter and about -10% to + 25%. 3. Definitive estimates are made after the project has started and usually provide the accurate estimate for project costs. These estimates are usually based on the performance of the project to date. The accuracy of this estimate is usually approximately -5% to + 10%. There are typically four major cost areas that are involved in any task. They are: 1. labour costs 2. equipment/materials costs 3. other direct costs (travel, telephone, contracted services etc) 4. indirect costs (for example company overheads, depreciation etc). You can take either a top down or a bottom up approach to costing. The top down method The top down method of costing can be difficult it relies on senior management estimating a budget for a project from their experience and then allocating funds to the project team for execution. This only works if the senior management have allocated carefully and they have significant project experience and precedents of similar projects on which to base costs. Estimation done this way puts a limit on the project, which can severely limit the tasks that can be included in the project. The bottom up method The approach to costing preferred by most project managers is to estimate from the bottom up to cost each task and subtask then work out the total cost from that. If the task is repeated many times throughout the project then you can use this as a standard unit of work cost. This is also the most accurate method as it involves input from the staff and providers of materials and services. This method reduces the risk of tasks or subtasks being left out of the total costing for the project. Contingency allowances When all task costs have been totalled and you have a final cost for the project, don t forget to add in a contingency allowance. In project management terms this is padding to allow for errors in estimating or unexpected cost occurrences. Estimated costs and budget Once you have added up all the costs for all the tasks and activities and you have a final cost estimate for the project, you usually present it to the project sponsor and stakeholders who are providing the funds. After assessment and negotiation, the project sponsor will either accept the costing for the project and approve funds or the project scope or methodology may have to be re- Page 33 of 82 Revision Date: 11/04/2013

34 evaluated to reduce costs. When the funds are allocated this becomes the project budget, which you will use to control and track the project expenditure against. A sample budget is shown below. Sample budget for installation of animal litter bins and bag dispensers in council parks Proposed budget or financial constraints for the project Overtime wages/contractor payments $ 7,000 Bins & posts $ 15,000 Materials (cement, etc) $ 2,000 Annual bag replacement program $ 6,000 Annual additional charge by Waste Management Co $ 18,000 Total cost $ 48,000 Compile your project plan document It s now time to consolidate all the work you ve done into your project plan document. It is a document that you and others can refer to for all the vital information about stakeholders, schedules, team members, tasks, quality management, cost management, and risk management. Sections in a project plan document For medium to large projects, the project plan is definitely the key document in the project. If you have a project like this you should consolidate all of your planning documents created so far into one project plan document. For smaller projects with established work teams, you may be able to use just the scope document, along with budget, work schedules and the risk management plan as your total project planning tools. Page 34 of 82 Revision Date: 11/04/2013

35 Remember that the project plan is a positive document that represents the move from planning to execution. It is simultaneously a tool for guiding management decisions, control and reporting. It is a master plan to pull together all the various pieces of information that you have developed in the planning phase. It tells you: where you are where you are going, and how you are going to get there. Project plans can vary from a very simple single page document with some objectives, a task list, resources and budget, to a complex report accompanied by books of estimates, task lists, Gantt charts, critical path analyses etc. Here is a suggested format for a large project with a detailed project plan. The plan has several sections: executive summary, or overview, including the project goal project objectives and deliverables project milestones project assumptions project risks project work breakdown structure resource details - human resources - equipment - materials and supplies - budget details - project organisation - operating procedures - assessment and review criteria - contacts - project approvals. There is no fixed rule for the level of detail that should go into the project plan. The aim is to balance the time taken to plan the project with the importance and time taken to implement the plan. If a new telephone system is to be installed in an office of five staff then a two week planning phase is unnecessarily detailed. If your project is to build a new office building that will cost $25 million, take 16 months to complete and involve over 100 people, then three months of planning will be a small cost to pay for successful completion of the project. Page 35 of 82 Revision Date: 11/04/2013

36 Remember, the most important general management skills you will use are planning and communication. You have to meet with many people to help determine the information that you need to correctly estimate work durations, costs and resources. Project Plan Sign-off It is important that you receive agreement on the project plan. Agreement on what will be dleivered, how it will be deivered, when, and costings. It will be decided at the start of the project who needs to be involved in this sign-off and what needs to happen to allow those parties to signoff. For example you may be asked to present the project plan in a formal meeting and allow discussion or you may have a one on one meeting to review the physical plan. Regardless the relevant parties need to sign the plan to formalise it s acceptance before you move to the next phase. Page 36 of 82 Revision Date: 11/04/2013

37 Topic 2 Activities Learning Guide Introduction Activity 1: Workplace Activities Research the answers to these questions in your own workplace or a workplace you are familiar with. You can check your answers against the guidelines below, but naturally your answers will vary depending on the workplace. Questions 1. What reasons can you think of that may cause the duration of a task to be longer than the actual work hours? Answer: 2. What are the costs that relate to your project and how can you budget for them? Answer: 3. Identify the risks associated with your project and fill out a plan. Answer: Check your answers Question 1 Page 37 of 82 Revision Date: 11/04/2013

38 You may have included such things as delays caused by suppliers, rain, strikes, illness, etc. Question 2 Every project will have a very different budget and different costs associated with it. If you have talked with the various people involved and identified where the costs will lie and what they are estimated to be, you should be able to itemise them with some accuracy. Remember to include all labour, materials, other direct costs and where necessary, indirect costs. Question 3 Each project has risks associated with it. Remember to talk with others in the team to help you to both identify risks and devise a strategy to manage them. Background: Activity 2: Time Planning ACME Bathroom Renovations are a busy bathroom renovation company. Mr and Mrs Smith received a quote for their bathroom from ACME for $6,000. $3,000 for materials and the rest for the 40 hours labour needed to complete the work. The following information is known at this time: The materials including the tiles to do the work will not be able to be delivered until 8am Wednesday 19 th March. Easter is from Friday 21 st Monday 24 th March inclusive. Gary and Tim are paid $50 per hour each with double time after the first 8 hours and double time on weekends and public holidays. ACME want to maximize the profit from the renovation. Mr and Mrs Smith want minimum inconvenience to their bathroom. Currently their bathroom is not usable as the old tiles have been removed and their bathroom is not waterproof. Activity: 1) Produce a time line showing each day the work will be undertaken along with the resources, cost and total cost. E.g.: Monday 24 th March Gary and Tim 4 hours each Tuesday 25 th March Gary and Tim 8 hours each single Page 38 of 82 Revision Date: 11/04/2013

39 Monday 24 th March double time Tuesday 25 th March time Cost = $800 Cost = $800 Total Cost = $5000 Note: There is more than one right answer. 2) How does this show the relationship between time and: a) Resources: b) Risk: c) Costs: d) Procurement: Page 39 of 82 Revision Date: 11/04/2013

40 Activity 3: Budgeting You work for a global manufacturer of consumer electronics. There is an international tradeshow in Brisbane to which seven of your sales team will be attending. This team comes from offices all over the world. Before attending the Brisbane tradeshow the sales team will be stopping off in Sydney to attend a one day, new product training session. You have been given the task of budgeting this project. The international offices are covering the cost of flights to Sydney. However you must research the estimated costs for the following: Transport from the airport to the training venue. Hire of a training venue at a hotel near the airport. Hire of computer and audio visual equipment for conducting the new product training. Staff costs for yourself and a products specialist. A catered lunch on-site for the attendees. Overnight accommodation for the seven attendees. Transport from the training venue to the airport. Weekday morning flights from Sydney to Brisbane for the seven attendees. Activity 3: Quiz Use this quiz to check your knowledge of the project planning stage. Question 1: What is the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) used for? 1. to identify project risks 2. to show the goal, objectives, tasks, sub-tasks and work 3. to estimate cost 4. to provide a project timeline and schedule Question 2: Which of the following is not a risk? 1. that the project may be delayed by tardy suppliers 2. that work will need to redone due to quality issues 3. that the sponsor will change the scope part way through Page 40 of 82 Revision Date: 11/04/2013

41 4. that public holidays will disrupt the schedule Question 3: You should ensure that the project budget is as close to achieving actual costs plus 20 percent for error 2. low as can be achieved 3. realistic as possible 4. comprehensive as possible to allow for every possible risk Question 4: Which of the following is a common tool used in schedule planning? 1. resource list 2. Gantt chart 3. work break down structure 4. quality audit Question 5: The critical path is the sequence of tasks that forms the: 1. most likely duration of the project 2. shortest duration of the project 3. least likely duration of the project 4. longest duration of the project Question 6: The PERT technique is generally used: 1. because it is a more graphical technique than others that are available 2. because it involves less work 3. when there is a high degree of uncertainty about the activity duration estimates 4. because it avoids complex calculations Question 7: Projects should be broken down into the following units from largest to smallest 1. project goal, project objectives, tasks, and activities 2. project objective, project goals, tasks, and activities 3. project tasks, activities, objectives, and goals 4. project activities, tasks, objectives, and goals Page 41 of 82 Revision Date: 11/04/2013

42 Question 8: Learning Guide A defined task should contain which of the following. Select all correct answers. 1. duration 2. cost 3. resources 4. staffing Question 9: Task duration is the number of hours required to complete the task. True or false. 1. True 2. False Question 10: A risk that is highly probable but will have a low impact represents what level of overall risk? 1. low 2. medium 3. high 4. critical Page 42 of 82 Revision Date: 11/04/2013

43 Topic 3 Administering and Monitoring the Project All of your planning will be wasted if the plan is not implemented and monitored properly. In this topic we will look at the elements that lead to the successful implementation of a project: recruiting the right team, obtaining resources, monitoring and assessing the project, and managing risk. For a project to be successful administration and monitoring systems need to be established early in the life of the project. An understanding of these systems must start in defining stage when formulating the scope of the project. These systems should then be detailed in the project plan. It will be up to the project manager then, to make sure that these systems are maintained throughout the project. Administration is essentially the management of all the activities that allow a system or organisation to function. There are many major and minor procedures to sort out. The budget needs to be managed and measures for accountability need to be set in place. You need to establish work flow patterns, and there will be day-to-day office work to be done. Administration also includes the organisation, attendance and taking of minutes at meetings. It includes management of correspondence, ensuring that project files are well structured, appropriately stored, named and maintained, and there is a regular review of processes for improvement. In a project, there is a tendency to take administration duties for granted, or to resent them, and leave these tasks for someone else to do. However, ignoring them can lead to major problems, particularly when something unexpected happens, or when a dispute arises. Some of the systems that may be required for the successful management of projects include systems for: planning and monitoring financial management including, budget allocation/funding, income generated and expenditure record keeping of correspondence, surveys, test results, and contracts to record time allocated and spent on each aspect of the project as well as reports of progress, performance against milestones and project outcomes archiving and management of documentation, samples, prototypes etc The 5 phases in a project There are five general phases in a project: 1. initiate phase 2. plan phase 3. organise phase Page 43 of 82 Revision Date: 11/04/2013

44 4. control phase 5. close phase. This topic takes a close look at the organise and control phases. Major activities that occur during each project phase Initiate Plan Organise Control Close Define the overall project goal Develop a detailed task list Obtain necessary resources Lead and support the team Complete final deliverables Identify all stakeholders, their needs and expectations Estimate all task times and all costs Recruit necessary personnel Establish control tools and methods Write and issue a final report, close the accounts, hand over project files Identify the project objectives Arrange the best sequence of all tasks Organise and lead the project team Monitor the project plan and make any necessary corrective actions Release all resources Identify initial work and resources and basic milestones Develop a workable schedule and identify critical milestones Assign all project tasks Assess and implement change Obtain stakeholder acceptance and signoff Identify all constraints, assumptions and risks Write a detailed project plan and obtain approval from stakeholders Communicate with stakeholders and all necessary parties Prepare and distribute status reports Evaluate the project The organise phase In the organise phase you will: obtain resources recruit personnel organise and lead the project team assign all project tasks communicate with stakeholders and all necessary parties. Page 44 of 82 Revision Date: 11/04/2013

45 Obtaining resources Learning Guide There are seven fundamental resource types that are required to implement almost any project. The actual quantity of each resource should be identified in the detailed work breakdown structure (WBS) and schedules that make up the project plan. The seven fundamental types of resource are: 1. people 2. money 3. equipment 4. facilities 5. materials and supplies 6. information 7. technology. Always start with the people first. Other materials and facilities are useless without the right project team. Recruiting personnel As the project manager, you may not be solely responsible for determining who will be part of the project team. Your organisation may have particular recruitment processes and human resources staff that can assist you in finding the right people for the project. During the recruiting process you must: determine the skills required for each activity by developing a skills requirement list determine where the people will come from existing internal or new external staff or contractors select the right team members, either internally or externally assign activities to each team member establish an appropriate staff hierarchy and chain of responsibility for the project. Identifying the skills you need on your team Your WBS (Work Breakdown Structure) will list all activities that are to occur during your project. It is now time to use this to develop a skills requirements list based on what you need to complete each activity. Here is an example: Activity Estimate building costs Skills required Building project estimator with experience in estimating building costs for a building of this type and size As you work through the skills requirements list, you list each activity required and then the skills needed to complete that activity. You may need more than one person to provide the skills Page 45 of 82 Revision Date: 11/04/2013

46 required. In fact in many cases the skills might need to be provided by teams made up of a number of people with the same skills, for example, a team of architects. Selecting the right candidates for your team You can compare a project team with any other team that works together in a department. When you are selecting staff, it is important that you look for people who have as many of the following characteristics as possible: commitment to the project goal and its completion flexibility in changing work activities from one task to another technical competence being task-oriented and able to work with schedules and resource constraints being a team player, and not self-oriented ability to work across formal structures and if necessary reporting to multiple managers being open to suggestions, and showing a willingness to admit error and be corrected knowledge and experience with project management tools. As a project manager, you will also need to keep a team member record. This lists all project members, their skills, when they joined the project and when they left the project. A simple table document or spreadsheet can be created to record this information. See the example below. An example of a team member record Team member name Skills Date entered Date departed George Williams project management skills construction supervisor 12/3 9/12 Beth Carillios Building quantity surveyor and estimator 15/4 - Alan Peters Construction foreman and WorkCover OHS accredited trainer 20/4 17/12 Employing external project staff in either permanent positions or as contractors is all part of the process. Hiring or contracting staff is necessary when appropriate internal staff are not available. Developing your team As the project manager you are usually responsible for the management of all aspects of the project, such as cost, resources and deliverables. But just as important is the responsibility to the project staff to build a cohesive and effective team, by providing a positive and supportive working environment. Your people are the most important resource of the project, and without them the project will fail. Page 46 of 82 Revision Date: 11/04/2013

47 You must apply all your principles of communication, leadership and organisation to build the best team. It is your job to: listen support resolve conflict motivate train advise lead recognise and reward achievement communicate. Assigning all project tasks Once the key team members are in place and the structure is set up, you can start gathering together the other resources required for the project and then assign the tasks and work activities to the team members. When we break down the project into the complete list of tasks, we produce the WBS. Tasks should be broken into manageable, unitised chunks of activities that share common skills, resources and can be started and completed within a reasonable timeframe. It is important that you clearly document all work activities, providing a description of the tasks and resources that make up each activity. Work activity documentation is then standardised across the project. This is helpful because: It informs all parties of the tasks in sufficient detail, what the deliverables are, the expected completion date, and the relationship to other tasks. It is presented in a format that can be used to record progress. This in turn can be used for regular status reporting. It serves as a clear reference for any conflicting issues that may occur. Scheduling of work activities always depends on resource availability and time constraints imposed by the project itself. You will usually schedule tasks to maintain a consistent use of available human resources over the life of the project and, where possible, try to avoid times of peak activity. Communicating with stakeholders It is important to have an open communication and consultation process with all stakeholders throughout the project to: determine whether targets are realistic make changes to the plan to accommodate the feedback received and reasonable concerns of stakeholders Page 47 of 82 Revision Date: 11/04/2013

48 Learning Guide monitor the implementation process to ensure that everything is on target ensure that everyone is aware of progress and how their performance is impacting on others organise training for people who need it in order to deal with new work methods. Once you have established a team of project staff and assigned project tasks the core activities of the project can begin. It is during this stage that you must maintain control of the project to keep it on track. The next section of this reading provides an overview of the control phase. The control phase In the control phase you will: provide team leadership and support establish control tools and methods monitor the project plan and make any necessary corrective actions assess and implement change prepare and distribute status reports. Team leadership There are many textbooks on the subject of team leadership and leaders. It is beyond the scope of this topic to teach these skills, but it is important that you recognise the skill areas that you must develop to succeed as a project manager. You can successfully do all of the management parts of the project: planning, reporting, analysing and organising, but if you fail as a leader, then your project is also in danger of failing. Here are some useful tips. As the team leader you can arrange discussions around the needs of the organisation for innovative ideas. You can introduce team members to techniques such as brainstorming that can help the innovation process. You can support team members when setbacks happen. If the team puts a proposal to senior management and it is rejected, that can demoralise team members. Your role as a team leader is to work with your team to find out why an idea was rejected, and discuss what they will do in the future. Teams need feedback so that they can improve their skills. Studies have found that successful project managers have several common characteristics that make them successful. Successful project managers: are leaders by example are technically competent are decisive are good communicators are team players Page 48 of 82 Revision Date: 11/04/2013

49 Learning Guide support their team members can stand up to upper management when necessary are visionaries. Leadership styles There is a wide range of leadership styles that are effective across many situations, but we will consider three basic styles that you can use to manage your projects: People-oriented leaders develop rapport with team members and generate an open, positive environment for the team. Task-oriented leaders focus on getting the tasks decided on, organised and assigned, as well as evaluating performance. Reward-oriented leaders use meaningful rewards that correlate to the level of results and the person's efforts. These rewards can range from money to simple support and acknowledgment for work well done. A successful project manager has the ability to vary the leadership style to suit to individuals and teams. Controlling the project Any number of foreseeable and unforeseeable events can quickly prevent a project from progressing as you had planned it. These might include: failure to meet schedules cost overruns not managing risks specifications not being met. As the project manager, you are responsible for ensuring that the project goal and objectives are met and that everything progresses as planned. The quickest way for a project to go off track is for the project manager to fail to ensure that effective control and quality assurance systems are put in place. Control is an ongoing activity, just like quality assurance. To control a project you need to: monitor usage of human, financial and physical resources compare the planned status of the project to its actual status take corrective action if necessary. Corrective action may include modifying the work being done modifying the project objectives modifying the timeline modifying expenditure Page 49 of 82 Revision Date: 11/04/2013

50 Learning Guide coaching, training or performance counselling for staff. Corrective action may also mean you must make changes to the original plan. If so, you must do this in consultation with project stakeholders and the project sponsor. Managing a project is an ongoing cycle involving monitoring, controlling and directing work Why are project controls necessary? Project controls are usually designed to focus on the three major aspects of project measurements cost, time schedules and performance levels as well as managing change. Project controls are necessary to: monitor and track progress, by having in place a periodic reporting system that identifies the status of every activity in the project, for the current reporting period as well as for the entire project detect variation from the plan, by using exception and variance reports that provide information on activities and resources that vary from what is expected take corrective action by examining alternatives, and making modifications to the schedule and resource usage to correct any detected deviation from the plan assess, approve and manage change. If you use these controls effectively you will find that any discrepancy from the plan is identified quickly. For example, if progress reports are made on a monthly basis, an event at the beginning of the reporting period may have thrown the project off track, and by the time the monthly report is made any delays caused by this event may not be able to be made up. Daily or weekly monitoring may help you to solve the problem quickly and get the project back on track. Page 50 of 82 Revision Date: 11/04/2013

51 Project controls from the Project Management Body of Knowledge This relates to the Project Management Body of Knowledge Monitoring and Controlling process group. This lists a number of methods to measure and analyse progress against the plan, identify variances and take corrective action. These include: Change control processes which review all suggested changes to the project, evaluate the impact of these to scope, time, cost and other impacts, decide whether to accept or reject the change (as well as the people who are authorised to make this decision) and if accepted ensure project deliverable reflect the change, update the scope, time, cost and other aspects of the project plan. Control of the schedule by gathering work performance information and forecasting ahead. Work performance information can be gathered by a number of means such as meetings, timesheets, inspections. Control of costs again by collecting work performance information (remember time = money) and forecasting costs for the future. Quality control is covered in detail below. Control of risks by implementing risk strategies, tracking identified risks, identifying new risks, monitoring risk ratings. When change requests are evaluated ensure they are evaluated for change is risk to the project. Control of resources by ensuring they understand the tasks to be completed and that only tasks in scope are undertaken. Change control Change control gives control over the scope of the project. The three main focuses of change control throughout the life cycle of the project are: identifying that a change is necessary and making sure that the change is beneficial determining that a change has taken place managing the actual changes as they occur. Change control is also called change management, and in a project it can use a formal documented process called a change control system. The aim of change management is to: maintain the integrity of the performance measurement baselines (all changes must be reflected on the scope and time line) ensure that changes required to the project scope are reflected in the scope definition. A project change request form can be used for all requests for a change in the project. Such requests might be submitted to the project manager for consideration and processing. The form should include: a request number (for tracking) the name and contact details of the person making the request Page 51 of 82 Revision Date: 11/04/2013

52 the date of the request the change and reason for the change project manager s approval or denial reasons for denial Learning Guide special conditions attached to the approval the project manager s signature a summary of the effect of change on the project in regard to technical issues, budget, deadlines, and other projects Quality control Quality control an important sub-part of the overall control mechanisms for a project. Quality control is the means of consistently meeting the negotiated expectations of stakeholders in a project. It is something that every organisation strives to achieve to give it a competitive edge in industry. Quality objectives are often expressed in a policy document that reflects the standards the organisation wishes to achieve and the responsibilities associated in meeting those objectives. Project management needs to follow organisational policy in this regard. Quality management is perhaps the most difficult area of expertise in project management to define. It helps to remember that the customer ultimately decides if quality is acceptable, the basis for quality exists in the original intentions of the project and that quality control a continuous process of evaluation and improvement. Project quality management has three main processes. Quality planning includes identifying which quality standards are required and how to measure and satisfy them. Quality assurance involves the regular evaluation of overall project performance against the quality standards. Quality control involves monitoring specific project deliverables to ensure that they meet the relevant standards and identifying ways to improve overall quality. Planning for quality assurance and control At the start of a project it is critical to plan for quality assurance. Planning for quality involves a simple three-part process. Identifying all quality stakeholders in the project such as the sponsor, functional managers, suppliers, end-users, and you as the project manager. You will then meet with all interested parties and determine their expectations of quality, and get agreement on the objectives and standards for the project. Determining quality objectives based on the stakeholders requirements. These are statements that broadly describe the quality outcomes that will be achieved. Determining quality standards and levels of achievement that must be met must during the project. These are developed to support the quality objectives set by the stakeholders and may also be set by industry benchmarks, such as ISO 9000 (quality management). Page 52 of 82 Revision Date: 11/04/2013

53 The project manager must make sure that quality standards are incorporated into the project plan and that there are tasks and milestones in the schedule to measure quality at the appropriate time. Quality assurance For large projects, a quality assurance group may be formed, and for smaller projects quality assurance may fall to one person. Quality assurance includes all of the activities related to satisfying the relevant and agreed quality standards that have been set for the project. Another goal of quality assurance is continual quality improvement. Quality assurance is usually determined by ISO 9000 standards, which are a series of international guidelines on quality management. If a company has ISO 9000 accreditation then these guidelines are part of normal business. Quality audits Quality audits are a review of specific quality management activities and are one of the tools of quality assurance. Project plans and design specifications are reviewed to ensure that all the steps of the development process are being carried out correctly. As project activities are completed they are usually formally documented. This documentation can become one measure of quality. Quality control and continuous improvement One of the main goals of quality control is to improve, and there are three main outputs from quality control evaluation. Acceptance decisions determine which of the outputs/products of the project are accepted or rejected by stakeholders. Rework directives are actions taken to bring products up to stakeholder expectations when they have failed to meet quality measurement. Process adjustments correct or prevent further quality problems that have been identified. Adjustments can be procedure change, supply improvement, material change or increased resource allocation. There are many tools and techniques that use statistical sampling methods to analyse quality in a continuous way. Theses will usually use data tables or graphs to show variance from an expected level. A detailed look at these methods is beyond the scope of this reading. How do I manage problems? No matter how closely you monitor your project, problems will usually occur. This means that as a project manager you will need good problem-solving and decision-making skills. Here is a process that will help you. Page 53 of 82 Revision Date: 11/04/2013

54 Three steps in problem-solving and decision-making When you apply this process to project management, it s important to remember: track progress of the project to identify problems early respond quickly to problems once they occur identify the cause of the problem, not the symptoms that highlighted it find the best solution to solve the problem quickly and efficiently, and involve relevant team members compromise if necessary to get back on track consult stakeholders and gain their approval when required. Find the real cause of the problem When a problem happens, you need to find the real cause behind it. You can usually do this by asking a series of 'why' questions: Why did the issue arise? When this question is answered, ask yourself 'why' again and again. When there is no longer an answer to the 'why' question you are probably close to the cause, and from there you can develop a strategy for solving the problem. Here s an example. Your project tracking shows that your workforce on your building site is not completing as many tasks as had been planned. An easy solution would be to add additional workers to get back on track or to work overtime. But what is the cause of the problem? If you talk to the workers you might find, for example, that the materials they are fitting have not been cut accurately by the supplier. They have to modify them before they can be fitted. This is the cause of the problem, and the supplier should be made to deliver as contracted and, if the contract has penalty clauses, to pay for the additional work. Keep an eye on the risks to your project In the planning phase of your project you will have completed a risk analysis and quantification, and developed contingency plans to reduce the negative impact these can have on the project. In the control phase, you must monitor these risks. Page 54 of 82 Revision Date: 11/04/2013