** Course Dates 2010: 

3rd March // 13th April // 5th May // 9th June // 6th July //4th Aug // 13th Sept // 5th Oct // 3rd Nov // 9th Dec

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First of all, what is a project? It may be a business opportunity, such as a new product. Or it may simply be a problem which is scheduled for solution. Projects usually have the following characteristics:

·       Finite lifetime

·       Team responsibility for completion

·       Focused by a clear project definition

So what is project management? It is planning and controlling project activities to ensure goals and objectives are achieved on time, to the desired quality and within budget. It involves ensuring that a common level of understanding exists on the following issues:

·       What are we trying to achieve?

·       How will we know if we've succeeded?

·       What resources are available?

·       How should we plan and organise ourselves?

Who is involved in project management?

There could be four levels of hierarchy involved in planning and managing projects:

§  Corporate Centre - responsible for overall corporate strategy

§  Project Sponsor - the person who ultimately ‘owns’ the problem or project. The sponsor should have sufficient authority to make decisions and resolve conflicts, and be able to commit resources, both physical and budgetary to the project

§  Project Manager - the individual who is responsible for the day-to-day management of the project team, monitoring and reporting its progress, and delivering the final outcome

§  Project team members - the group of individuals executing the project. The team includes all the people assigned to the project, or who contribute towards it in a significant way

THE PROJECT MANAGER'S ROLE

The Project Manager is ultimately responsible for delivering a specific end result, within agreed quality, cost and time restraints. This requires a disciplined approach to ensure that:

·       The project is established and planned effectively

·       An appropriate project team is selected and established

·       Tasks are planned and scheduled

·       The project plan is implemented, and problems are resolved

·       On completion, results are reviewed, and the project team is disbanded

KEY SKILL SETS OF A PROJECT MANAGER

§  To identify areas of non-routine work suitable for project management methods

§  To set clear specifications and objectives to achieve the highest quality of outcome

§  To design a detailed budget to analyse and effectively predict project resource costs

§  To retain independence of mind and think flexibly during all stages of your project

§  To motivate staff directly or indirectly involved with the completion of your project

§  To recognise and resolve problems, conflicts and differences that arise in projects

§  To negotiate for the resources required by your project at the appropriate time

§  To monitor progress against the budget and schedule you set out for your project

§  To measure project performance against the quality of outcome objectives set by you

§  To communicate effectively with all concerned before, during and after completion

FIVE KEY PROJECT MANAGEMENT STAGES

To give your project every chance of success you will need a staged process to work through, to ensure that all the requirements of effective project management are covered.

1.   Project definition and proposal

This is when you develop the purpose of the project into an initial definition of potential gain against time and cost required. You then create an initial strategy and skills profile to achieve the defined results. This creates your proposal that is verified by the project stakeholders.

2.   Overview planning

The project is broken down into a sequence of activities that allow you to oversee the project and communicate this breakdown to the project team.

3.   Detailed planning and scheduling

Once the overall plan has been agreed you begin to detail the specifications for each of the major activities, agree objectives with the key staff responsible and for each activity, budget for the resources required, and create a project summary sheet for use during the implementation stage.

4.   Managing implementation

Once work begins, your role is to co-ordinate progress and control quality, time and cost factors. You need to get and give feedback on progress, inspect results, negotiate for resources, and resolve any conflict or problems threatening to delay the progress of your project.

5.   Post implementation review

This is where you check results against the quality targets from your specifications, ensuring that all objectives have been met within planned times, and analyse budget outcomes. You then report results to senior management and other interested parities, giving full recognition to staff for achievement.