Project management and its control processes and procedures

Running Head: PROJECT MANAGEMENT

PROJECT MANAGEMENT 11

Project Management

Multiple Projects

Project management is a complex task, with the project manager made responsible for ensuring all components of a project progress towards a shared objective, whilst simultaneously eliminating, or at least diminishing, unnecessary processes which end up wasting precious organizational resources. It is vital to delegate tasks in a team, and effective managers are required to comprehensively understand projects assigned to them, from diverse viewpoints. Respecting and acknowledging subordinates’ perspectives helps earn their loyalty and respect (Quick, James Aaron; New, Cheryl Carter, 2014). That said, one can clearly see that if managing a single project is so challenging, management of multiple projects simultaneously across several teams is exponentially more challenging, though not impossible.

Project management control processes and procedures

Hold meetings

The rationale behind holding meetings prior to project commencement and throughout the time the project is underway is: assembling and managing the project team effectively and guaranteeing team members can achieve set targets and goals in a timely manner (Hartman, Francis; Ashrafi, 2012). The manager planning the meeting ought to first prepare an agenda for the meeting, on paper, followed by sharing the document with every staff member invited to participate in the meeting. Further, the manager ought to begin the meeting by providing a project overview (describing the current stage of work), and current challenges and goals.

Meetings facilitate accomplishment of the following key tasks in the project control process:

· Providing project execution direction to team members

· Evaluation and reassignment (if needed) of team members’ individual responsibilities and roles

· Providing general guidance to team members

· Notifying members of current work status; this includes any open issues

· Establishment and appraisal of success criteria

· Executable decision-making with regard to further project related actions

Perform Quality Control

The project quality control process helps confirm effective completion of the project according to client expectations. This process involves technical and business personnel performing various activities ranging from establishing technical standards and setting expectations to establishing project requirements, among other things.

The quality control process commences during project commencement itself, lasting throughout the project lifecycle (Hartman, Francis; Ashrafi, 2012). This process’s objective is: ensuring all tasks and activities at a particular phase in the project lifecycle are signed off, to facilitate smooth progress to the subsequent phase.

An effective project manager carries out the following key project quality control-related tasks:

· Quality review plan creation delineating stage-based control timing

· Development of an agenda determining the major responsibilities of control personnel

· Assigning of reviewers to conduct quality control at different project stages, coupled with establishment and review of stage goals, commitments, products, responsibilities, roles, and so forth.

· Allocation of the roles of author (in charge of providing all requisite data and taking approved corrective action following control process completion), facilitator (in charge of ensuring compliance with project agenda and proper follow-up), and other key roles

· Documentation and recording of all decisions and actions undertaken all through the course of quality control

· Ensuring team members take suitable follow-up action

· Informing stakeholders of the status of the project following completion of control process

Track Work Progress

This stage of project quality control entails the monitoring, control and measurement of project progress. The goal is ensuring the project proceeds according to schedule. The manager must track project work progress at all stages for ensuring the project is heading in the desired direction (Hartman, Francis; Ashrafi, 2012).

An effective project manager adopts the following main steps for tracking progress and facilitating effective control of the project:

· Capturing all relevant task performance information, which includes actual task commencement/ completion dates, actual or desired hours worked, latest estimated time (in hours) for task completion, etc.

· Capturing all non-staff expenses incurred

· Updating project schedule with actual performance information

· Estimation of remaining expenditure and updating cost estimates by adding the actual expenses incurred in a given time period

· Allocation of more resources where required

· Considering re-planning for a particular stage based on cost estimate and schedule updates

· Gauging personnel availability and making necessary re-assignments

· Measurement of team performance, followed by looking into issues responsible for lowering performance

· Elimination of performance issues through taking corrective action

· Providing personnel motivation in routine project status meetings

Respond To Changes

Controlling change aims at defining and implementing additional work at distinct project stages. Effective response to changes aids project managers in capably ensuring project schedule, cost and scope continue to be relevant to the present situation.

Effective project managers are expected to complete the following tasks when requesting as well as responding to change:

· Accepting and assessing change requests that describe proposed changes with priority

· Signing qualified members of the project team on, when change requests emerge, for the purpose of looking into alternative options

· Evaluation and approval or rejection of alternatives, and accordingly updating change requests

· Approval of updated change requests

· Creation of a change implementation-related action plan

· Monitoring change quality and progress

· Defining time of implementation for all changes

· Allowing for change to finished products

Manage Issues

The issue management process attempts at resolving all problems that impact project success. The process involves numerous steps including issue identification, assessment of issue impacts, development of resolution actions, action-taking, and tracking of progress.

Effective project managers must tackle issues that emerge for ensuring the project proceeds smoothly, according to plan (Hartman, Francis; Ashrafi, 2012). They may have to perform the following broad issue management- related tasks:

· Identification and recording of all issues having a negative impact on the project

· Assessment of issue effect on project expenditure, scope and schedule

· Issue log development, covering details of issues. This includes issue description, status, type, assigned personnel, and priority, among other things

· Determination of issue resolution techniques

· Resolution execution

· Review, correction and approval of recommendations pertaining to issue management

· Monitoring progress on resolution

Project Management Procedures

Project Proposal

A project, once identified, is subsequently documented. All personnel, with the approval of their direct superiors, are authorized to submit project proposals (Hartman, Francis; Ashrafi, 2012). The employee who puts forth the proposal will need to submit a detailed proposal document, followed by preparing and providing supporting documents and information.

Project Planning

The project planning process will result in a comprehensive PMP or Project Management Plan, which may be defined as a far more in-depth version of a Project Proposal (that has to be initially submitted) (Hartman, Francis; Ashrafi, 2012). Following approval of the project, the Proposal template ought to be updated with completion of the planning phase.

Project Team Nomination

After the project receives approval, the subsequent step is project team nomination. The following key roles will need to be assigned:

· Steering Committee. – This constitutes a senior staff team that will be made in charge of overall project governance.

· Project Sponsor. – The individual in this role will be ultimately in charge of the overall project and of guiding the individual selected as Project Manager.

· Project Manager. – As mentioned previously, the Project Manager reports to the Sponsor on everyday project management and project milestone delivery.

· Project Officers. – These are personnel in charge of delivering project activities and who report to the Project’s Manager.

Scope Definition

Scope definition refers to the contract between project stakeholders and the team in charge of carrying out the project, pertaining to project outcomes. Projects usually fail if their scope isn’t explicitly defined. Hence, it is imperative for team members and stakeholders to share a clear understanding of precisely what is expected to be delivered upon project completion.

Project Management Tools

The project management task is tricky, involving several complex responsibilities. Luckily, a large number of tools exist for facilitating accomplishment of project tasks and execution of related responsibilities. Some are manual tools whereas others need a computer/laptop having supporting software. Project managers ought to opt for the tool ideally suited to their management approach (Quick, James Aaron; New, Cheryl Carter, 2014). However, they need to bear in mind the fact that there is no single tool that handles every project management need. Gantt Charts and PERT (Program Evaluation Review Technique) represent the most widely utilized tools for project management. Both may be manually developed or developed with the aid of commercially-available software for project management.

Project Scheduling

Web-based Gantt charts are not the sole constituents of project scheduling. Hence, project managers need to focus on software capable of, for instance, giving them visibility of all project aspects, in addition to bringing team members into the scheduling process through the creation of e-schedules.

E-scheduling enables the project manager to create lists of tasks to hand out to team members, which may be updated anytime and anywhere (Hartman, Francis; Ashrafi, 2012). The tasks may be viewed in the form of an individual task list specifically developed for the manager or other team members, on calendars, or even the dashboard.

Calendars represent a fine schedule management tool. An even better function of calendars is their capability of managing team workload. Resource or workload management capabilities allows the project manager to effectively schedule team working days, check out their availability, reallocate tasks where needed, and manage hourly work rates. Color-coding of workload calendars helps the manager see which team members are available, working, vacationing, and under- or over- allocated. Furthermore, effective managers need to look for such tools capable of integrating other calendars to ensure all are in a single place.