Unit - 1

Introduction to Project Management

Q1) What is a project?

A1) A Project is a chapter of tasks that need to be completed at a stipulated time in order to accomplish a particular task. Projects can vary from simple to complex and can be managed by one people to hundred persons. A Project is generally deemed to be a success if it achieves the objectives according to their acceptance criteria, within an agreed timescale and budget. Time, Cost and Quality are the building blocks of every project.

Q2) Define Project Management.

A2) Project Management is the process of enforcing the team work to achieve the goals at a time constraint. The primary challenge of project management is to accomplish all the project tasks within the given time period. This information is usually described in project documentation, created at the initial of the development process. The initial constraints are scope, time and budget. The secondary challenge is to utilize the sharing of necessary inputs and apply them to meet pre-defined goals.

A key factor that differentiates project management from just " management" is that it has this final deliverable and a definite time period, unlike management which is an ongoing process. Because of this a project professional needs a large range of skills, often technical skills and certainly people management skills and good business awareness.

Project Management is the art of arranging all the components of a project. For example, the launching of a new service, a marketing campaign, or the development of a new product are projects. In fact, even arranging a wedding is a project that requires management.

Q3) What are the ten need of project management?

A3) Control scope creep and manage change: - Small changes in demands occur on every project. They come from management, the customer, our project team, suppliers or other shareholders. Individually, they may be acceptable, but as a whole these project demands can add up to an important project expansion (referred to as "scope creep" which can overturn our budget.

b) Deliver project results on time and on budget: - The project management process starts with a well thought out business case justification that generally comprises some type of cost calculation associated with Return on Investment (ROI). After these measures are established, the project manager ensures that on time, on budget performance is maintained, otherwise the project will never give the desired results.

c) Focus the project team on the solution: - The project team can easily go off the topic and spend their valuable time on the wrong tasks. A good project manager keeps the project team focused by using an intelligible and incisive project charter, sort out hurdles or cover the team work from unwanted difficulties.

d)Obtain project buy-in from disparate groups: - A good project manager uses the tools in the fundamental stage of project management to collect user requirements, project constraints and a feasibility study to build a strong business case justification. Utilizing input from various sources, the project manager overcomes dissent and obtains buy-in by communicating the project benefits as the different shareholders groups see them.

e) Define the critical path to optimally complete your project: - Every project is made up of a chapter of attached activities, each of which has its own limitations. The project manager identifies the critical path of activities - the optimal sequence of actions that best warrant the projects successful completion.

f) Provide a process for estimating project resources, time and costs: - Making use of project management software, earlier project experiences and a solid project fundamental stage can provide the discipline needed to decrease project estimating wrongs, increasing the likelihood that the project will finish on time and on budget.

g) Communicate project progress, risks and changes: - As a project progresses, shareholders must be kept informed of the outcomes, changes, etc. The need for project management exists partly because it creates a project communication plan to address these communication issues, provide a format and lay out a process for execution.

h) Surface and explore project assumptions: - Every project is based, to some extent, on assumptions. A good project manager searches into user requirements, project limitations and management expectations to understand what is said and not said.

i) Prepare for unexpected project issues: - Every project runs into unforeseen issues such as changes in market conditions and is hit with sudden cause variability. Accomplished project managers plan for the unexpected by lining up other courses of action.

j) Document, transfer and apply lessons learned from your projects: - The last phase of project management centre on "closing out" the project. The project manager reviews how well each prior phase - project initiation, project planning, project execution and project monitoring and control was performed.

Q4) What are the features of Project Management?

A4) Characteristics of Project Management: -

Nowadays, project management is regarded as a very high priority as all companies or organizations, whether small or large, are at one time or another involved in implementing new undertakings, creativities and changes.

Effective project management call for having the following attributes that are necessary in becoming an effective project manager.

a) Effective communication skills: - The project manager must vividly explain the project goals as well as each member's tasks, responsibilities, expectations and feedback.

b) Strong leadership skills: - The project manager must have strong leadership qualities such as power to motivate his team to give the best performance to accomplish the goals.

c) Good decision maker: - The project manager must have decision making skills as there will always have some important decisions that need to be acted on.

d) Technical expertise: - An effective project manager needs to have sound technical knowledge to understand the issues that are related to the technical aspect.

e) Inspires a shared vision: - An effective project manager can lead his team to the right direction if he can eloquent the vision to his team members very well.

f) Team building skills: - Project managers need to know how to give the team work the importance they need by focusing on their positive attributes. He has to be fair and just in the way he treats them.

g) Cool under pressure: - As the project continues, certain incidents could take place on the project's momentum which could test the manager's patience. Therefore, it is essential that a project manager keeps his patience at each step and not to lose himself that could adversely affect his relationship with the team.

h) Good negotiation skills: - In times, conflicts could arise due to differences in opinion, project managers need absolute negotiating skills to sort out the issue and maintain harmony and peace.

i)Empathetic: - Being grateful, understanding and caring are a few of the things that an empathetic leader shows to his members. It includes understanding the needs of the project and its shareholders.

j) Competence: - What a good manager is performing can initiate new projects as well as face the challenges that come with them.

It is essential for an effective project manager to have these characteristics for him to succeed in managing the project.

Q5) What are the objectives of Project management?

A5) The successful development and implementation of all project's procedures. A project, regardless of its size, usually involves five distinctive stages of equal importance: Initiation, Planning and Design, Construction and Execution, Monitoring and Control, Completion. Running a smooth and easy-going development and execution of all the above phases lead to a project succession. 

b) Productive guidance, efficient communication and apt supervision of the project's team. Always one has to consider that the success or failure of a project is highly dependent on teamwork. Efficient communication is important where information needs to be presented in a vivid, unambiguous and in complete way.

c) The achievement of the project's main goal within the given constraints. The most important constraints are scope, time, quality and budget. Staying within the constraints always feeds back into the measurement of a project's performance and success.

d) Optimization of the allocated necessary inputs and their application to meet the pre-defined targets is a matter where is always space for improvement. All processes and procedures can be reformed and upgraded to enhance the sustainability of a project and to lead the team work through the strategic change process.

e) Production of a complete project which follows the client's exclusive needs and objectives. One need to shape and reform the client's sight or to work with them as regards the project's objectives, to modify them into feasible goals. Once the client's aims are vividly described they usually smash on all decisions taken by the project's stakeholders. Keeping the clients happy and fulfilling their expectations not only conduct a successful collaboration which probably eliminate surprises during project execution but also warrants the feasibility of one's professional status in the future.

In brief, project management objectives are the successful development of the project's procedures of initiation, planning, execution, regulation and closure as well as the guidance of the project team's operations towards achieving all the targets within the set scope, time, quality and budget standards.

Q6) What are the functions of Project management?

A6) Selection

Definition

Planning

Control

Risk Management

Quality Management

Close Out

Definition:

After a project is selected, a project manager is assigned who is the foundation for the success of the project. The project definition activities include the following:

Identify all stakeholders in the project and document their goals and involvement. Stakeholders include customers, suppliers, members of the core team and the company's supporting management.

Develop a relationship with the project sponsor. A sponsor is a leader in the organization who is responsible for the success of the project. While the project manager carries out the daily monitoring of the project, the sponsor provides the executive powers necessary to overcome organizational obstacles.

Record the objectives and limitations of the project using a work report or similar document. The goals and constraints can include scope, budget, key milestones on the schedule, authority structure for the project, measures of success, communication standards, and other facts or assumptions that affect the project. This document is then signed by the project participants and defines a basic agreement.

Planning:

The project manager sets clear goals documented by the scope description and business case and creates an action plan that describes who, what, when, where, and how to achieve the project. Planning typically includes the following activities:

Use a work breakdown (WBS) to create a detailed description of the work in your project. WBS divides the overall work of a project into smaller, individual tasks in much the same way that a company's org chart categorizes permissions.

Analyze the sequence of tasks. For all WBS tasks, understand which tasks need to be performed before others. The classic diagram of this analysis is called a network diagram. (Both PERT charts and critical path charts are in the form of network diagrams.)
Estimate your tasks and determine the skills, effort, equipment, and materials you need. Business cases provide high-level cost estimates, but you need detailed estimates to allocate resources to perform tasks.

Create a "bottom-up" estimate for your project using detailed information from work exploded views, network diagrams, and task estimates. That is, sum the costs and schedule estimates for individual tasks to determine the overall cost and duration of the project.

Establish a detailed project schedule that documents specific start and end dates, responsibilities, and completion criteria for each task.

Determine the number of teams and the skills you need. For part-time team members, identify the dates on which their skills and efforts are needed. Staffing a project team often requires negotiation with other project managers or feature managers.

Prepare a contract for the vendors participating in the project.

Control:

The control operation is often likened to driving a car. the driving force monitors the vehicle and environment, deliberately steers towards the destination, and takes corrective action within the event of obstacles or unexpected events. For project managers, project promotion includes:

Monitor the progress of your project against your plans. Projects are usually too big and worthless to subjectively assess progress. Instead, you would like specific measurements, like the share of budget consumed thus far. The detailed nature of the project plan allows you to live cost and schedule progress intimately. you'll see which tasks are late, which are early, and which tasks are consuming more or less effort than estimated.

Communicate with project teams and stakeholders. Life and projects rarely go consistent with plan, so continuous and deliberate communication is required to tell, harmonize and collaborate with all project participants. Communication with stakeholders includes formal reporting to customers and management.

Form a project team and concentrate to their health. Forming a team means bringing together different groups of individuals into a team with a standard goal. Consciously build and maintain relationships of trust within your team. Monitor the standard of team decisions to make sure proper participation and productivity.

Maintain a balance of cost-schedule-quality. Between project selection and definition, stakeholders agreed on what to make, what proportion to spend, and when to deliver it. the most important threat thereto balance is adding scope (additional work) during the project. Changes to projects that affect costs, schedules, or products must be approved by project managers, customers, and other affected stakeholders.

Take corrective action to urge the project on target.

Risk Management:

Every project is unique, so every project contains a high degree of uncertainty. Risk management is a systematic method of identifying and reducing threats that exist in a project and in the project's environment. Risk planning begins during the development of a business case and continues through definition and planning as each successive feature provides a more detailed view of the project. During the control function, risk management activities reflect other control activities as they monitor and communicate each risk and take action to address the risk as needed.

Quality management:

It's no coincidence that we provide the right products or services that work as our customers expect. Practices developed and established within the quality area (defined by Deming, Crosby, etc.) can be applied to the project management area. This integration begins when the project is conceived and continues until the project results are created and accepted by the customer. These practices focus on clearly understanding what your customers want and consciously planning to deliver it, including how to ensure that your product builds correctly. . Close out:

The completion of the project goes beyond the delivery of the product. In addition to ensuring customer acceptance, the project manager dismantles the project team and dismantles the project infrastructure. An important goal at the end of the project is to be able to capture the lessons of the project and pass them on to the organization.

Q7) What are the categories of project management?

A7) Civil Engineering, Construction, Petrochemical, Mining, and Quarrying

Projects in this category are those which spring to mind most readily whenever industrial projects are mentioned. Once common feature is that the fulfilment phase must be conducted on a site that is exposed to the elements, and usually remote from the contractor's main office.

These projects incur special risks and problems of organisation. They often require massive capital investment, and they deserve (but do not always get) rigorous management of progress, finance, and quality.

Manufacturing Project Manufacturing projects aim to produce a piece of equipment or machinery, ship, aircraft, land vehicle or some other item of specially designed hardware.

The finished product might be purpose-built for a single customer, or the project could be generated and funded from within a company for the design and development of a new product intended for subsequent manufacture and sale in quantity.

Manufacturing projects are usually conducted in a factory or other home-based environment, where the company should be able to exercise on-the-spot management and provide an optimum environment.

Some manufacturing projects can involve work away from the home base, for example in installation, commissioning and start-up, initial customer training and subsequent service and maintenance. More difficult is the case of a complex product (such as an aircraft) that is developed and manufactured by a consortium of companies, very possibly overlapping international borders, with all the consequent problems of risk, contractual difficulties, communication, coordination, and control.

This class of projects proves the point that every company, whatever its size, can expect to need project management expertise at least once in its lifetime. These are the projects that arise when companies relocate their headquarters, develop and introduce a new computer system, launch a marketing campaign, prepare for a trade exhibition, produce feasibility or other study report, restructure the organisation, mount a stage show, or generally engage in any operation that involves the management and co-ordination of activities to produce an end result that is not identifiable principally as an item of hardware or construction.

Although management projects might not result in a visible, tangible creation, much often depends on their successful outcome. There are well-known cases, for instance, where failure to implement a new computer system correctly has caused serious operational breakdown and has exposed the managers responsible to public discredit. Effective project management is at least as important for these projects as it is for the largest construction or manufacturing project.

Q8) What are the reasons of project failure?

A8) The reasons for project failure are:

Poor leadership

Leadership is critical – and a common success or failure point. The project manager can't go around complaining about the team being out of control.

The team shouldn't be left feeling that they don't know what to do or expect from one day to the next – it's a huge recipe for failure.

Make sure everyone knows what is expected of them, and hold them accountable for reaching those goals or completing those tasks.

Sometimes the team members who are consistently underperforming, haven't responded to feedback, and things are just not working - then there still lies a responsibility to raise the flag that you need to replace a team member or team members and the push to make that happen.

 No team ownership

Project managers and the team must own the projects that they are working on.

If something is needed for the project, then it is the project manager's responsibility to get it or at least ask for it, and it is the project team members' responsibility to raise flags when they need something.

Each and every project team member is expected to own the tasks they are responsible for and be accountable for the work performed on each of those tasks, as they contribute to the overall success or failure of the project.

Clearly delegate responsibilities to team members, and establish what types of decisions they can make without you (e.g., emailing a supplier about a shipment), and what they need your approval for (a key decision about costs).

 Budget management

Scope oversight

Scope is one of those four letter words we usually struggle with and try to avoid bringing up unless we absolutely must. The worst thing that can happen is for the project manager to ignore the scope management part of his responsibilities, as the end result will usually be a project that experiences extra, non-paid and unplanned work driving the project over budget and over time.

Inadequate documentation and tracking

Inadequate documentations and tracking are the responsibility of the project manager. How you are going to know whether you are meeting expectations is known by tracking milestones. PM identify where they need more resources to complete a project on time by proper recording and monitoring.

Lack of preparations

 You need to possess a transparent idea of what you're trying to try to. Otherwise, you'll end up upstream without a paddle. You would like to understand what your project's success will appear as if first. And you will not lose specialise in your project. If you do not have a transparent focus early within the process, you are making things difficult on your own. Even within the end of the day, meet with stakeholders to debate costs, time, and expectations for product quality. Understand the way to perform tasks to satisfy everyone's expectations.

Failures to define parameters and enforce them

It is imperative that the project manager work well with the team. If the task or goal does not meet the criteria, it should have an impact. Rank tasks by priority and assign them to the most skilled individuals.

Inexperienced Project Managers

You need to possess a transparent idea of what you're trying to try to. Otherwise, you'll end up upstream without a paddle. you would like to understand what your project's success will appear as if first. And you will not lose specialise in your project. If you do not have a transparent focus early within the process, you are making things difficult on your own. Even within the end of the day, meet with stakeholders to debate costs, time, and expectations for product quality. Understand the way to perform tasks to satisfy everyone's expectations.

Q9) What are the five phases of project life cycle?

A9) The Initiation Phase: Starting of the project

The Planning Phase: Organizing and Preparing

The Execution Phase: Carrying out the project

The Monitoring and Controlling Phase

The Termination Phase: Closing the project

The Initiation Phase:

The initiation phase aims to define and authorize the project. The project manager takes the given information and creates a Project Charter. The Project Charter authorizes the project and documents the primary requirements for the project. It includes information such as:

Project’s purpose, vision, and mission

Measurable objectives and success criteria

Elaborated project description, conditions, and risks

Name and authority of the project sponsor

Concerned stakeholders

The Planning Phase:

The purpose of this phase is to lay down a detailed strategy of how the project has to be performed and how to make it a success. Project Planning consists of two parts:

In strategic planning, the overall approach to the project is developed. In implementation planning, the ways to apply those decisions are determined.

At this stage the most important activities are:

The Execution Phase:

In this phase, the decisions and activities defined during the planning phase are implemented. During this phase, the project manager has to supervise the project and prevent any errors from taking place. The execution phase of a project can be quite time consuming and requires a lot of attention to the project manager. They direct the performance of the team and manage the technical and organizational aspects of the project. Project managers often carry out quality evaluation activities at this stage, either officially or informally. Then, using the estimation results, you need to do the following:

Correction activities to match team performance to the project plan.

Preventive action to anticipate and mitigate possible adverse effects associated with project risk.

Repair defects to resolve ongoing issues during the project, or stop project development altogether and change direction in a particular way.

Communication with stakeholders is an important part of the execution phase. Regular meetings with team members and stakeholders can help you avoid misunderstandings and better coordinate your work process for results. Of course, if the team is remote, this presents additional challenges to keep everyone up to date. Therefore, it is best to use the appropriate tools and techniques first.

Monitoring and Controlling Phase

The project monitoring and control phase is often implemented alongside the project execution phase. This happens shortly after the team gets the first deliverable or has already completed the work.

This phase aims to measure project development and its performance according to the project plan.

Key performance indicators (KPIs) are key measurable values   at this stage that define the success of a project. Project KPIs are based on project reports that monitor:

For effective performance during the monitoring and control phase of your project, we recommend that you automate the reporting process rather than assigning this task to a specific team member. For this you can use work management software such as time tracking apps, Gantt charts, burn-up and burn-down charts.

The Termination / Closing Phase

 This is the last phase of any project, and it marks the official closure of the project.

The project manager can include the following activities at this stage:

Q10) What is Project Management knowledge?

A10) Project management knowledge areas coincide with the process groups, which are project initiation, project planning, project execution, monitoring and controlling, and project closing. These are the chronological phases that every project goes through.

The knowledge areas take place during anyone of these process groups. Think of the process groups as horizontal, while the knowledge areas are vertical. The knowledge areas are the core technical subject matter, which are necessary for effective project management.

Q11) What are the different types of organisational structure?

A11) Different types of organizational structures include:

Functional

Instead of product lines, organizational structures are arranged according to functional areas. Experts in a particular skill are grouped into separate units of functional structure. Ideal for organizations that manufacture certain uniform products. Organizations with a single major core product are best suited for functional structures, as all subunits of the structure will be specialized in performing a particular set of actions. This type of organizational structure is inflexible, but economically efficient. Different functional areas face difficulties in communicating with each other.

Functional or centralized structures are the most widely used because they are the cheapest and simplest of all other alternative organizational structures. Specific tasks and activities are assigned to different groups based on the specific capabilities of the organization, such as marketing, production, R & D, finance / accounting, and computer information systems. If the university decides to create a functional structure as an organizational structure, group its activities into the following functions:

Divisional Structure

When an organization is divided into various self-contained business units, it shows a divisional structure in which each subunit of the organization acts as the center of profit. The sector structure is based on the market, the product, or a combination of both. Each department unit operates on specific basic functions such as finance, corporate planning, and human resources, and may also have several functional areas or product lines. Department units are typically centrally managed through the headquarters of the organization.

American companies used a decentralized sectoral structure. Expanding organizations find it difficult to manage different products and services in different markets. There are certain types of departmental structures that can be very helpful in managing operations, motivating employees and successfully competing in different locations. There are four ways to organize a departmental structure.

Functional activities are carried out both centrally and departmentally within the department structure.

There are obvious benefits related to the organizational structure of the department. The main advantage is clear accountability. This means that the department manager holds responsibility for the department's sales and profits. Extensive delegation of authority is the basis of the department structure, so employees and managers can easily see the results of bad or good performance. As a result, employee morale is increased, which is not possible with a centralized structure. In addition to these advantages, the split structure has several other advantages. Departmental managers have many career development opportunities. Local conditions are effectively managed on a department-by-department basis. The organization has a competitive environment. New products and businesses can be easily added by department structure.

There are some restrictions on the departmental design of the organizational structure. The main limitation is that it is very expensive for many reasons. The first reason is that each highly paid and rewarding departmental unit needs a functional specialist. Second, there is duplication in specific activities for each departmental unit, such as personnel, facilities, and staff services. Third, each high-paying department unit requires a qualified manager, as it requires proper delegation of authority effectively managed by qualified professionals. Another reason the department structure is expensive is the need to extend the headquarters-led control system. Another limitation of the departmental structure is that some customers, regions, or products require special treatment, making it very difficult for an organization to consistently maintain national practices. However, for most organizations, the benefits of departmental structure go beyond that limitation.

Strategic Business Structure

A Strategic Business Unit (SBU) has everything you need to be considered a complete corporate business entity, including a vision and mission statement, a specific external market with the right products and customers, and management of that business unit. The business unit is able to carry out strategic planning. If your organization grows to a very large scale, it is better to be involved in a strategic business unit structure.

Strategic factors that affect the performance of similar SBUs can be better controlled by large organizations. The SBU is considered a self-contained planning unit that requires the development of a separate business strategy. An SBU is a complete company with a particular product line and market, or a smaller unit of a particular company formed to perform a particular task. In addition, there are seven SBU competitors, individual objectives and strategies that are significantly different from those of the parent company.

As departments grow in size, number, and diversity, it becomes more difficult for strategists to manage and evaluate expanded departmental operations. Increasing sales volume does not improve profitability. At the top level of the organization, the scope of control is very large. For example, the CEO of a complex that includes 90 departments cannot remember the name of the department's president. Strategy implementation work is greatly facilitated by the multi-department SBU.

Similar SBUs are grouped as departments of the SBU, and delegation of authority and responsibility is given to senior management in each unit who reports directly to the CEO. This structural change makes it easier to implement strategies by improving coordination between different departments and making specific business units accountable.

There are two drawbacks associated with the SBU structure. First, salaries have increased due to the addition of a layer of management. Second, the role of Vice President of the Group is largely ambiguous. However, the advantages of SBU construction always outweigh the disadvantages.

Matrix

The matrix structure is the most complex of all other options because it is based on both horizontal and vertical flow of communication and authority. The structure of departments and functions, on the other hand, is based on the vertical flow of communication and authority. Due to the large number of managers in the matrix structure, the overhead is significantly increased. Other matrix structures that increase structural complexity, such as dual sources of punishment and reward, double lines of budget authority, dual reporting channels, shared authority, and potential and effective communication system requirements. Has certain features.

Although the matrix structure is very complex, it is still used in many industries such as healthcare, construction, defense and research. There are certain benefits related to the matrix structure, such as a clear purpose of the project, many communication channels, an employee's clear view of their performance, and an easy end to the project.