DIPPMPP15 - Study Guide - For Web PDF

STUDY GUIDE
DIPPMPP15
Project Management Principles
STUDY GUIDE Project Management Principles
Contents
Introduction .............................................................................................. 5 This module will help you: .................................................................. 24
Objectives of subject ................................................................................ 5 Scope Creep ........................................................................................ 24
Module 1 Project Initiation ................................................................. 6 Triple Constraint Triangle.................................................................... 27
Introduction .......................................................................................... 6 Stakeholder Profiles ............................................................................ 29
This module will help you: .................................................................... 6 Stakeholder influence and impact on project..................................... 31
Project life-cycle and the Project Manager .......................................... 6 Stakeholder management................................................................... 33
Initiation phase ..................................................................................... 7 Benefits Review Planning .................................................................... 34
Planning Phase...................................................................................... 7 Topic Resources .................................................................................. 36
Closing Phase ........................................................................................ 8 Further Reading and Useful Websites ................................................ 36
Waterfall Model ................................................................................... 8 Assessment ......................................................................................... 37
PDSA Cycle ............................................................................................ 9 Module 3 Project Quality ................................................................... 38
Stakeholder analysis ........................................................................... 11 Introduction ........................................................................................ 38
Quality management theory .............................................................. 12 This module will help you: .................................................................. 38
Project Scope ...................................................................................... 16 Quality Management Standards ......................................................... 38
Scope Baseline .................................................................................... 18 Project Managers and Quality ............................................................ 40
Project Scope Statement .................................................................... 18 Where Responsibility Lies ................................................................... 40
Project Initiation Documentation ....................................................... 21 Establishing and maintaining an effective quality management system
Section Summary ................................................................................ 22 ............................................................................................................. 42
Topic Resources .................................................................................. 22 Determining Quality Requirements .................................................... 44
Further Reading and Useful Websites ................................................ 22 Quality Management Plan .................................................................. 46
Quality Management Manuals ........................................................... 48
Module 2 Project Planning ................................................................ 24
Establishing quality management methods, techniques and tools .... 48
Introduction ........................................................................................ 24
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Quality Planning Flowchart ................................................................ 51 Critical path analysis ........................................................................... 75

Implementing quality assurance ........................................................ 52 Creating a critical path network diagram ........................................... 75
Control Measures to Apply Immediate Corrections........................... 53 Project schedule vs project baseline................................................... 76
Development of a Control Chart ........................................................ 54 Scope Management Plan .................................................................... 77
Section Summary ................................................................................ 55 PROJECT SCOPE MANAGEMENT PLAN................................................ 79
Further Reading and Useful Websites ................................................ 55 Section Summary ................................................................................ 81
Module 4 Project Schedule................................................................ 56 Topic Resources .................................................................................. 81
Introduction ........................................................................................ 56 Further Reading and Useful Websites ................................................ 81
This module will help you: .................................................................. 56 Assessment ......................................................................................... 82
Work Breakdown Structure ................................................................ 56 Module 5 Project Monitoring ............................................................ 83
'Chunking' Project Work ..................................................................... 57 Introduction ........................................................................................ 83
Identifying Levels and Elements ......................................................... 61 This module will help you: .................................................................. 83
Gathering Data for the WBS ............................................................... 62 Quality Management Roles and Responsibilities................................ 83
Bottom-Up Planning and the WBS ..................................................... 62 Quality Management Plan .................................................................. 85
Top-Down Planning and the WBS....................................................... 64 Quality Management Manuals ........................................................... 86
Time Estimations ................................................................................ 65 Audit of Quality Management Systems .............................................. 86
Estimation techniques ........................................................................ 67 Role of the Project Manager in the Audit Process .............................. 87
Formula............................................................................................... 67 Change Requests ................................................................................. 87
Estimating Time with Bottom-Up and Top-Down Planning ............... 70 Analysing Information ......................................................................... 89
Identifying dependencies ................................................................... 71 PERT Charts ......................................................................................... 90
Identifying Lag and Lead Times .......................................................... 72 Estimating Time Variance for PERT Diagrams ..................................... 92
Developing a Gantt chart.................................................................... 73 Section Summary ................................................................................ 95
Embedding milestones ....................................................................... 74 Topic Readings .................................................................................... 95
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Further Reading and Useful Websites ................................................ 95

Assessment ......................................................................................... 96
Module 6 Project Review ................................................................... 97
Introduction ........................................................................................ 97
This module will help you: .................................................................. 97
Project Closure Phase ......................................................................... 97
Project Outcome Analysis................................................................... 99
Authority to Close the Project .......................................................... 100
Project Review and Lessons Learned ............................................... 102
Project Recommendations ............................................................... 103
Section Summary .............................................................................. 104
Further Reading and Useful Websites .............................................. 104
Assessment ....................................................................................... 104
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Introduction
This unit describes the skills and knowledge required to determine
and manage project scope, time and quality during projects. It
involves obtaining project authorisation, developing a scope
management plan, managing the application of project scope
controls, determining and implementing the project schedule,
assessing time management outcomes, determining quality
requirements, implementing quality control and assurance
processes, and using review and evaluation to make quality
improvements in current and future projects.
It applies to individuals responsible for managing and leading a

project in an organisation, business, or as a consultant.
Objectives of subject
• Conduct project authorization activities
• Define project scope
• Manage project scope control process
• Determine project schedule
• Implement project schedule
• Assess time management outcomes
• Determine quality requirements
• Implement quality processes
Implement project quality improvements
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Module 1 Project Initiation

Introduction This module will help you:
Welcome to Module 1 of Project Management Principles. • Explain project life-cycle phases and scope management
• Outline roles and responsibilities of project manager in
In this module we will be examining the roles and responsibilities relation to project planning
of a project manager in managing the various stages of a project • Identify types of project initiation documentation
life-cycle. • Explain quality management theory
• Explain methods for managing continuous improvement
We will look at stakeholders who have influence over a project’s
outcomes and quality and how you as a project manager will Project life-cycle and the Project Manager
eventually deal with the impact of those influences and The Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK®) definition of
constraints. We will also discuss initial project documentation and a project is: A temporary endeavour undertaken to create a unique
authorisation as we learn how a project scope defines a project’s product, service or result. (PMBOK® Guide – 5th edition glossary)
Every project is unique yet every project evolves through a similar
outcomes.
set of phases known as the project life-cycle. The life-
cycle is the transformation of an idea from its conception, through its

development and onward to its actualisation, and therefore, the end
of the project life, i.e. initiation, planning, implementation and
closure.
The project team and the project management are the catalysts for
the evolution of the original idea and are responsible for processing
and delivery outcomes through the four standard phases of the
project.
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Initiation phase • What work tasks have to be done?

An initiation phase identifies the business opportunity or problem • When should each work task start and end?
and documents solutions for its development. The project manager • Who will perform each work task?
asks questions such as: • How are we all going to communicate with each other to
• What are the project objectives? get the work done?
• How do the objectives tie in to the organisation’s • What other resources will be necessary?
strategies? • How much is it all going to cost?
• Are the objectives feasible? • How long is it all going to take?
• What does the project include? • Are we going to produce a quality outcome?
• What does the project not include? • What might go wrong?
• Who is going to benefit from the project? By answering all of those questions and co-ordinating all of the tasks
• Who or what is going to influence or constraint the necessary to produce the required outcomes, a project manager is
project? How? preparing what are known as scope management and quality
• Who or what will be required to develop the project? management plans and the project can then move to the next
When? How much will they cost? phase.
• Are those requirements justifiable? Implementation/Execution Phase
• What will the project’s success or failure depend on? With all contingencies identified and assessed, the project can be
• Who is going to be accountable for authorisations during implemented and the project manager can measure performance
the project life-cycle? against initial projections and initiate corrective or remedial actions
when necessary to keep the project on course.
• How will the project manager document all of the
The project manager will ensure that all stakeholders are kept
requirements?
informed of variances, performance and target achievements during
this phase. When all deliverables have been delivered to and
When all of those questions have been answered, and when all of
accepted by the client, the implementation phase is over and the
the answers have been documented, a project manager is effectively
project moves forward to the final stage.
outlining the scope of the project. When the approvals and
authorisations have been made and when a project manager has
been appointed, the project can move to the next phase.
Planning Phase
The planning phase is an extension of the initiation phase and
develops the details to achieve the project objectives. The project
manager asks questions such as:
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Closing Phase These four life-cycle phases can be illustrated by a series of steps
The project closure phase involves the involvement of the project taken to perform each phase. This is known as a waterfall model due
manager in: to the way it is represented graphically.
• Termination or transition of human resources
• Communication of project closure to stakeholders The waterfall model can be applied to all projects but there are other
• Review of project to identify lessons learned and make models which can be useful for specific project plans such as, but not
future recommendations limited to:
• Completion of all project documentation and handover
to client • Agile- essentially used in software design projects and allows
for responsive changes to requirements without providing
Waterfall Model concrete steps for development.
• Spiral – a risk reduction oriented model which breaks up
projects into mini-projects, each addressing one or more
risks.
Analyse - Project Initiation • Modified waterfall – rather than waiting for each phase to
finalise
as in the traditional waterfall model, this model allows for
phases to overlap.
Design - Project Planning
• Evolutionary prototyping – gathers requirements in
multiples, creates planning for each requirement, each
analysis creates the next requirement.
Implement - Project
Implementation Choosing which model to use is totally dependent on the
characteristics of the project but all will include all project life cycle
phases adjusted to the context of the project.
Verify - Project Review Typically the transition between project life-cycle phases occurs
when the project manager transfers a deliverable to a stakeholder,
e.g. documentation, product, report, etc.
Maintain - Post Project This transition process follows a flow of Plan, Do, Study and Act.
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PDSA Cycle Let's apply PDSA in the context of a project. Your role as project
The Plan, Do, Study, Act (PDSA) cycle or Plan, Do, Check, Act (PDCA) manager is to initiate and lead the continuous improvement process
cycle was defined by Walter Shewhart (1931: 45) and modified by his throughout the project life cycle. The systems you and your team
student W. Edwards Deming (1982: 88) and illustrates how the establish should assist to identify and prioritise problems requiring
phases of PDSA are linked together by results. improvement. The PDSA cycle in a project is usually triggered by an
This cycle is a model for continuous improvement as it maps out a event that indicates that a required outcome or milestone is not
process for determining the quality of a process and its outcomes. being achieved. Project team members should be given
responsibility for collecting and analysing data, and planning and
The continuous improvement cycle is continuously turning causing implementing action.
the wheel to move up the slope. Once you put an improvement You can ensure this happens by:
strategy in place and standardise it, the cycle starts again. • including these responsibilities in the team members' job
descriptions, project procedures and performance appraisal
The next turn of the wheel may not be immediate. As circumstances criteria
change (e.g. new resources become available or legislation changes), • putting in place procedures to guide collecting and analysis of
a process can once again be improved. data
• identifying corrective action to be taken when problems arise
• training team members to use the techniques and tools
required to collect and analyse data
• empowering them to take action
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The figure above illustrates the activities and amount of detail that Some of the activities listed can be quite simple and quick to action
have to be managed in any given project to ensure in a small project and very complex and time consuming in a large
project. Some can be handled in a few minutes, others may take a
a quality outcome. It is a good idea to develop a feel for the overall large team several weeks. Some continue throughout the project life
picture of what happens in a project and the relative importance of cycle, others, such as recruitment, are done in the development
the items in any given project. stage of the project (often with the assistance of human resource
personnel). Yet, all of these contribute in some way to the
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achievement of a quality project that satisfies client and stakeholder Stakeholder analysis
requirements and other constraints imposed on the project. The term 'stakeholders' is frequently used in project management, but
Continuous improvement may be achieved during a project, but you what does it really mean? If we take the definition of stakeholders
have to balance this against the need to deliver on time and within
provided by the International Standard AS/NZS ISO 31000: 2009 Risk
budget. Working with the client and stakeholders early on is an
Management – Principles and Guidelines and adapt it to the context of
advantage, but ongoing consultation during the project life cycle may
project management, stakeholders are:
give you information about those players on which to base decisions
about compromises that have to be made and constraints that must be
taken into account. Those people and organisations who may affect, be affected by, or
perceive themselves to be affected by [our project and its outcomes].
We use the language 'project and its outcomes' in order to capture

those stakeholders who may not be affected by the project
outcomes, but will be affected, for whatever reason, by the project
works whilst the project is being undertaken.
Stakeholders can be internal or external to the project organisation, e.g.
clients, higher authorities, senior managers of the project organisation,
project team members and external contractors. Once the project
stakeholders have been identified the project manager would need to
know which stakeholders:
• Hold positions of authority in the organisation

• Are directly responsible for decisions on important issues
• Are influential in the project
• Will be affected by the project
• May hinder or obstruct the project
• May support and promote the project
The rationale behind seeking to understand stakeholder requirements is

quite simple. Stakeholders who perceive that the project team is
interested in their requirements will often be more supportive and
helpful to the project team; those who sense the project team doesn't
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care too much about their requirements are likely to be, at best,
indifferent and, at worst, perhaps hostile to the project. Quality management theory
"Quality is free...it’s not doing things right the first time that is
Different stakeholders have different levels of importance to the project expensive."
and therefore require different responses strategies. By prioritising W.Edwards Deming
stakeholders and identifying appropriate ways to respond to their PMBOK® defines “Project Quality Management” as:
needs, there are two things the project manager is trying to achieve:
… all of the activities of the performing organization that determine
quality policies, objectives, and responsibilities so that the project will
satisfy the needs for which it was undertaken. It implements the
REDUCE the risk of stakeholders quality management system through the policy, procedures, and
behaving poorly during project processes of quality planning, quality assurance, and quality control,
implementation. with continuous process improvement activities conducted
throughout, as appropriate.
REDUCE any damage a
stakeholder may cause during The project quality manager will be responsible for documenting a
project implementation. quality plan, providing quality targets, assurance, and control measures,
along with an acceptance plan, and listing the criteria to be met to gain
Ultimately, all projects depend on team cohesion amongst all customer acceptance.
stakeholders. By initially identifying and analysing stakeholders the
project manager can address stakeholder concerns and give them a Quality is a widely used word and most of us have formed our own
sense of ownership and control over their roles and responsibilities concept of quality. Advertisements often speak of a product as being of
throughout the project. The aim of all stakeholder consultations is to best quality. We think of the clothes we wear to a formal function as
ensure all contingencies are highlighted before attempting to produce a being of better quality than the clothes we wear to do some gardening
quality outcome. or house painting. We might think of a Mercedes Benz as being a
quality car. However, we probably drive something less expensive.
Think about it. Both sets of clothes are appropriate for their particular
use. Would you pay more to replace your car with a Mercedes if your
present car satisfies your needs? These examples illustrate how quality
is a relative concept and its meaning is different in different contexts.
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What about quality in the context of project management? When A project manager needs to estimate very early on in the project, the
we start planning a project, we need to get a clear concept of what is resources (e.g. financial, human, physical) the project will require to
meant by quality. Think about these ideas for a start. achieve a quality outcome.
• What a client wants may not be what a client can afford So let’s look at what defines quality. When completing a process
• What a client perceives as quality may not be what a client such as a project, it is more useful to develop a concept of quality,
enunciates as a want. rather than just focus on definitions.
• A client needs to be realistic about the outcomes able to be Turner (1999: 150) gives us four useful descriptions of a quality
achieved with the resources at hand. project outcome. It:
• Constraints such as time, cost and resources will affect the • meets the specification
quality output. • is fit for purpose
• meets customer's requirements
• satisfies the customer.
Think about these. Do the last two criteria seem the same? There is
a subtle difference. Have you ever been to a restaurant and had a
meal that you would not complain about, and at another restaurant
had a meal for about the same price that you felt was special? What
was the difference?
Client Client
Reality Perception
Project Client
Constraints Budget
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You may have heard of the eight dimensions of quality. The eight time in our careers we will probably work on projects where we have
dimensions are the things a customer might reasonably expect in a to consider some or all of the eight dimensions.
quality product (or service). This concept was developed for
consumer products, but it provides a useful framework to help us
understand the multidimensional nature of product quality. At some
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Total quality management (TQM) is a management philosophy in The three main elements of a quality management system are:
which:
• customer satisfaction is assured by involving the customer in
the process Management Management Quality CONTROL
• management and workforce work together to achieve quality ACTION SYSTEMS processes
objectives
•create positive •conform to •establish
• responsibility is delegated and workers are empowered to attitude to quality Australian and sampling and
take action to improve quality in project International inspection
• continuous measurement and evaluation are used to guide Standards processes to
•develop systems
decision making (facts, rather than feelings) measure quality
to define •ensure processes
• continuous improvement and 'Get it right first time' are standards of to define, •identify corrective
encouraged. quality to be maintain and measures needed
achieved certify quality are to maintain
With TQM, the inspection process is designed to achieve defined set in place quality standards
•provide facilities
levels of quality in any project. A quality outcome is achieved by and resources to •regularly audit •suggest action for
ensuring that the standards of quality that the client expects are achieve those system to ensure continuous
met, rather than detecting bad quality. TQM is about a commitment standards effectiveness and improvement
necessary
to excellence. From senior management down, everyone is focused •motivate
improvements
on continuous improvement, teamwork and customer satisfaction. workforce to
Continuous improvement benefits everyone involved in the project strive to achieve
and provides those carrying out the project with improved practices those standards
they can use on future projects.
It is the responsibility of the project quality manager to ensure all of
these elements work simultaneously to achieve positive outcomes.
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Project Scope receive an email from them outlining their initial idea of their
Projects don’t fail at the end, they fail at the beginning. requirements. Rather than seeking further clarification, there is often
Failures may not be apparent until the end of a project but upon pressure to 'get on and do the project'.
review of the reasons why the failures happened, indicators often
point to ineffective definition of project parameters at the beginning
of the project. Successful projects are the culmination of a number of
planning and management components. Regardless of what the
project’s objectives are, it is crucial that it be defined as accurately as
possible in the first stage of the life-cycle.
This is known as stating a project's scope.
Definition of a project scope focuses on ensuring a project includes

everything it needs to complete the tasks described and does not do
anything outside of the project boundaries. It defines the project's
PROJECT PRODUCT
objectives, its end products or deliverables and the principal work
activities that are to be carried out. SCOPE SCOPE
There is a distinction between project scope and product scope.
It is not uncommon, at this early stage, for a project client to have a HOW WHAT
somewhat scant view of their project. There are many reasons for •the work that needs to be •the features and functions that
this, not the least of which is that the people proposing projects are accomplished to deliver a characterise a product,
sometimes 'big picture' people for whom detail (at least at this stage) product, service, or result with service, or result
the specified features and
is not all that important. functions.
Whatever the reason for this lack of detail or clarity of the project
deliverables, it is essential that you persist in discussions with the
client until they have given you a thorough understanding of their
needs and have committed to enough details to enable you to
develop a thorough and sound project plan.
A mistake often made when establishing project scope is having too

little dialogue with the client. For example, you might speak to the
client briefly during the initial stages of the project, or perhaps
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There are four components that need discussion and consideration

when determining a project’s scope. It is critical that you determine the project's parameters by
documenting those work activities that are and are not included in
the project scope. This ensures that you contain the efforts of the
project team to those things that are actually required and prevent
effort from being wasted on those things that are not.
•What is the project supposed to
achieve? It is common for work activities that are included in the scope of a
project to be much better documented than those that are not
Goal •What is the project NOT supposed
to achieve? included. An example of in-scope and out-of-scope activities are:
INCLUSIONS in Project SCOPE EXCLUSIONS from Project Scope
Development of customer Training of operators in how to

•How long have we got to produce resource management software use the new software
the deliverables?
that is compatible with client’s
Time •Time means money, money dictates
time. existing software and will
operate on their computer
hardware
•How much time will employees

need to do their tasks?
Employees •Where do employees come from?

•Who is going to perform each task?
Testing of software prior to Changes to software once the
installation, and fixing any final testing is completed and
problems any problems have been fixed.
•How much are the individual

resources going to cost?
Budget By documenting precise and unambiguous parameters a project

manager reduces risk, e.g. there is a significant difference between:
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Testing of the software after installation project parameters, and this can cause both the client and the
and project manager considerable grief.
Testing of the software after installation, and fixing any problems. Documenting assumptions is a valuable way of getting these sorts of
issues out into the open at the beginning of the project so that they
The identification of project parameters includes documenting a can be discussed and addressed.
project’s constraints and assumptions. One way to identify assumptions is to conduct a brainstorming
session with a small group of people that may include both project
Constraints are things that are 'known' or 'given' and will need to be team members and outsiders. By intentionally using a group for this
taken into account when the project plan and work breakdown process, rather than having it performed by one person, you will
structure are developed. reduce the risk of overlooking any critical assumptions
Examples of constraints could include:
• An event deadline, i.e. no extension of time is possible.
• A fixed budget, i.e. no additional cost can be met. Scope Baseline
• A set of mandatory functions in a computer software project, By identifying in-scope and out-of-scope tasks a baseline can be
i.e. these functions must be available when the software is created from which all variances to scope can be tracked and
implemented, which will affect both planning timeframes managed throughout the project life-cycle. This baseline will include
and testing regime thoroughness. at a minimum:
• Compliance requirements, i.e. the outcome of the project • Project Scope Statement
must be compliant with the nominated law, standard, • Work Breakdown Structure (This will be discussed in Module
regulation, etc. 4 of Project Management Principles)
• Resource restrictions, i.e. the project is only able to access
internal resources, or resources from certain departments
Project Scope Statement
Assumptions are things that are unstated and untested and are A project scope statement describes in detail the project’s
capable of causing project problems because we are not aware of deliverables and the work required to create those deliverables. It
their existence. For example, it is common to hear expressions like uses active verbs such as deliver, produce, create to describe
'everybody understands it to be that way' or 'I was sure the other objectives. It provides documented understanding of the project
party was responsible for that'. Assumptions are often made about scope amongst all stakeholders. It also provides the scope baseline.
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STATEMENT OF PROJECT SCOPE

(Table modified from http://www.projectmanagementdocs.com/)
Introduction The purpose of the Project Scope Statement is to provide a baseline understanding of the scope of a project to include the
project’s scope and deliverables, the work required to complete the deliverables, and ensure a common understanding of
the project’s scope among all stakeholders.
Project Purpose and It is important that project stakeholders understand the purpose and justification of a project. Projects are conceived to
Justification support various business goals and objectives and these must be communicated to ensure understanding of how the
project will improve business. This also helps stakeholders understand the investments being made and how this translates
into better business performance.
Scope Description The Scope Description should include all known characteristics of the project’s product or service. It is important to note
that as the project moves further along in its lifecycle, this scope description will become more defined. All details may not
be known at the onset of the project and this may be progressively elaborated as the project moves forward. This section is
key as it serves as a primary reference for project planning and execution later in the lifecycle. This section should contain
descriptions of what is included in the product or service as well as the desired outcome of the project.
High Level Requirements This section should describe the capabilities to be met by successful completion of the project. Depending on the size of the
project, there may be very many or very few requirements. However, during the creation of the scope statement, it is
important to capture, at least, the high level requirements as many detailed requirements may not yet be known.
Boundaries Project boundaries are an important part of the scope statement as they identify what should be included in the project as
well as what should not be included. Without specific boundaries as a part of the project scope statement, it is possible to
introduce scope creep as stakeholders may assume certain items to be included in the project that aren’t clearly stated.
Strategy This section should describe the strategy the project team will use in executing the project. Depending on the size and
complexity of the project, strategy can differ significantly. As the number of stakeholders, deliverables, and complexity
grow, the strategy may become more difficult to plan. Strategy is sometimes referred to as the approach the team will take
to complete the project.
Deliverables Project deliverables are the products or outputs that project is intended to produce. Deliverables may also include various
reports or documentation. This section should describe the project’s deliverables which may be in general terms and not a
high level of detail. During the project lifecycle more detail can be added as it is determined.
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Acceptance Criteria Acceptance criteria are the criteria which must be met for the project to be considered complete and accepted by
management. This section is important as it sets the expectations of what will and will not constitute acceptance of the
project. Without clear definition of what will be accepted, there may be uncertainty across the project team and
stakeholders. Acceptance criteria may be both qualitative and quantitative.
Constraints Project constraints are limitations that the project faces due to funding, scheduling/time, technology, or resources.
Constraints may also be physical (i.e. inadequate space or facilities). Constraints must be carefully planned for and
communicated to all stakeholders as they may require an elevated level of urgency or flexibility to work within and
successfully complete the project. This section should describe the project’s constraints to ensure that all stakeholders
understand the limitations within which the project must be completed.
Assumptions Project assumptions are factors affecting the project that we believe to be true but that we have not verified to be true. It
is important to document our assumptions because there is a level of uncertainty associated with them which introduces
risk to a project. This section should describe the assumptions for the project so all stakeholders are aware and so that they
can be analysed going forward in order to mitigate risk.
Cost Estimate The project cost estimate is the foundation for budgeting for the project. It represents an estimate of the funding which will
be needed to successfully complete the project. While all costs may not be exactly known until later in the project lifecycle,
it is extremely important to develop as accurate an estimate as possible. This section should provide a project cost estimate
with all known details so that there’s a common understanding among all stakeholders.
Cost Benefit Analysis The project cost benefit analysis is a measure of a project’s costs vs. its benefits to determine a course of action most
beneficial to an organization in terms of cost. Projects are undertaken to provide some benefit to an organization assuming
the project is completed successfully. If there is no benefit provided by a project, then it will not be approved. However,
there must be a quantitative way to measure the benefit provided by the project. This section must provide this
quantitative analysis and ensure all stakeholders understand why the project has been approved as well as the benefits.
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Project Initiation Documentation • Project Controls

The project Scope Statement becomes the most integral part of the • PID Sign Off
project initiation documentation which must be authorised before a • Summary
project can be implemented.
Project Initiation Documentation (PID) can include: (depending on Project Authorisation is the general process of verifying the PID and
the size of the project or the enterprise guidelines) authorising the proposed project for initiation and further
• Project Goals development.
• Scope Statement It is important that the Project Initiation document used is fully
• Project Organisation understood and agreed upon by all stakeholders and authorising
• Business Case bodies. This authorisation process confirms that the project is
• Constraints feasible, cost-effective, and is ready to move from the initiation to
• Stakeholders the planning phase. It allows the project to begin.
• Risks
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Section Summary
Preparation is the key to success when undertaking any project.
Prepare by:
• determining exactly what the project sponsor requires the project to deliver
• knowing who the key stakeholders are who are likely to impact or influence the project
• determining the quality expected of the project deliverables
• documenting all findings in detail
• formalising authorities to proceed.
Topic Resources
• The ePMBook by Simon Wallace: http://www.epmbook.com/
• Anthony Yeong’s Personal Page: http://www.anthonyyeong.com/project-management.html
• PM World Library: http://pmworldlibrary.net/
• Projects at Work: http://www.projectsatwork.com/
• Max Wideman’s Comparative Glossary of Project Management Terms v3.1: http://www.maxwideman.com/pmglossary/index.htm
All About Project Management: http://managementhelp.org/projectmanagement/index.htm
Further Reading and Useful Websites

• The Role of the Project Manager by Jason Dodd is strongly suggested as a summary of the roles and responsibilities that effective project
managers have. The video runs for 17:33 minutes and finishes with a link to download free project management templates. As part of
your studies you should consider gathering templates and saving the ones you feel are most relevant to your area of project management
for modification at a later date. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUhJuB69ZBo (Accessed 11th November 2015)
• Watch this 5:07minute video on The Project Lifecycle in Project Management by PMP Training for simplified explanations of project
phases https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9ETcQ0OtUE (Accessed 11th November 2015)
• This one won’t take you very long at all! The Deming Cycle in One Minute summarises PDCA very well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4gOPeHSRo8 (Accessed 11th November 2015)
• What is a Stakeholder? by Making Projects Work is a simple 2:58 minute illustration to help you identify your stakeholders.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIeqIN90dK0 (Accessed 11th November 2015)
• The Ingredients of Quality Management by CAQ AG (International) is an example of quality management theory
P a g e | 22
explained in an amusing analogy from real life. This video is 8:03 minutes duration
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3xyX4yVqzI&list=PLMjhWG4OJdKupbZQk8RFM-gQaFn7wS7tM (Accessed 11th November 2015)
• A very interesting 19:11 minute video - Titanic - Project Management Blunders by Mark Kozak Holland looks at the story of the Titanic
project and examines why the project failed. This video is a very good summary of this module’s topics and well worth watching.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbvfir2x344 (Accessed 11th November 2015)
• Examples of Project Scope Statements can be found at:
o http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9780470432723.app2/pdf
o
o https://blog.udemy.com/scope-of-work-example/
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Module 2 Project Planning

Introduction This module will help you:
Welcome to Module 2. In this module we will be examining the effect • Describe methods for measuring work outcomes and
changes have on project scope, the influence of time, cost and scope progress against plan
requirements on a project’s quality, how stakeholder’s personal and • Identify and describe problem areas likely to be
professional interests can be calculated for management purposes and encountered In scope management
how to plan to maximise a project’s benefits.
• Scope Creep
Be afraid. Be very afraid…of project scope creep.
It begins innocuously enough. You may not even think it is worth

worrying about but slowly it insidiously eats away at the very core of
your project management plan, the scope statement, until it no longer
has any resemblance to the once pristine and manageable document it
was. Scope creep hurtles you uncontrollably toward total project failure
while it snowballs through all areas of your management plan,
destroying it piece by piece until there is nothing left to destroy.
OK. Maybe that was a bit melodramatic but if you allow scope creep to
take hold in your project, your dreams at night may resemble that
scenario. Scope creep is also known as focus creep, feature creep,
function creep or requirement creep. It happens when uncontrolled
changes or added goals are snuck into a project.
If you have ever been involved in house renovations you may well be
aware of scope creep, that is, variations to the original project scope
once the project is underway, e.g. Your partner wanted a new sink and
you budgeted for a basic but effective double sink with silver taps, but
after seeing a neighbours new rainbow coloured eco-friendly sink with
inbuilt waterfall sound system, nothing will stop family arguments until
P a g e | 24
you change from your original basic to the same deluxe sink as the
neighbour. Ouch, that hurts the budget, the team cohesion, the
schedule and it diminishes the value of the scope statement. Did you
think that rainbow coloured eco-friendly sink installations need
specialist plumbers, changed planning
permissions and press releases? No, and if you had, your entire project
scope and resource requirements would have been completely
Original
different.
Scope Creep
Establishing the scope of a project and sticking to it is what makes
Project Scope
project management easier to control; but that is in an ideal project
management world. In reality there are many influences during the
project implementation that cannot be foreseen and it is those
influences that can initiate scope creep. The project sponsor may
suddenly think of an added extra that he feels will enhance the project
deliverable and wants it built in to the project scope. That poses a
considerable risk to the project because it can cause a project to run
over budget or over time.
Documenting the changes, estimating the affect the changes will have
on time, cost and quality and having those changes authorised by
delegated authorities takes some of the danger away from the scope
creep threats.
A project manager should never be afraid to say 'no'. It is much better

to refuse to expand a project beyond its original scope and disappoint
some people than to end up with a project that runs badly over time,
badly over budget and makes a lot of people stressed, frustrated and
angry.
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There are a series of steps you can take to manage project scope. estimations of Establishing accurate estimations
time and cost. prior to authorisations will lead to a
1. Firmly establish e.g. The project sponsor wants a project being successful. Failing to
the reasoning new website built for her home estimate correctly is going to ruin
behind the desired business. WHY? Without your credibility as a competent
project questioning you will not understand project manager. The Work
deliverable. that she is an author and wants it to Breakdown Structure is crucial here,
increase book sales. Without that as are your abilities in costing and
knowledge you may build a website scheduling estimations.
that may not suit that purpose at all.
When the client views the progress 4. Get it Get the Project Initiation
and demands changes made authorised!!!! Documents authorized and then, in
because it wasn’t what she wanted, instances where you decide to
your scope has crept. accept changes to a project's scope,
get the changes properly
2. Be dynamic in Collaborate with the client to firmly documented and authorised along
helping your client establish project scope. A client has with any flow-on changes to other
establish their an idea, a dream, a goal but does aspects of the project. Again, make
ideas not have project management sure the client completely
knowledge. You have the PM understands what they are signing.
knowledge but don’t understand
the ideals of the client, so
collaboration is a must. Don’t be
afraid to be assertive when Let’s go back to your nightmares. To be honest, you can rest easy if you
discussing specific outcomes. Ensure view scope creep as not something to be feared, but something to be
the client reads and understands removed from the project altogether. If you and your client both
the project scope before signing it.
understand the project scope, pre-empt conditions that may cause
Never allow them to come back and
say “but I thought you meant….” changes during project implementation, make accurate estimations on
time, cost and quality boundaries and work together to achieve the
3. Get thorough Scope creep affects time and cost. project deliverables, scope creep will not be an issue.
P a g e | 26
Triple Constraint Triangle Imagine this scenario:

The most basic features of a project are:
You are hungry and go to a café for a meal. The café serves meals which
• Projects must be delivered within cost take a little time to prepare (time) but they are proud that (scope) all
• Projects must be delivered on time their meals are of high quality (quality). Do you expect to pay the price
• Projects must meet the agreed scope – no more, no less of a bag of chips (cost) from the local take-away shop? No, of course
• Projects must also meet customer quality requirements
Cost
These are known as the project constraints.
The three constraints that affect a project scope are time, cost and
quality requirements and can be illustrated graphically in a triangle
known as the triple constraint or iron triangle of project management.
The entire triangle is the perfect project with equality between all four
Scope Expectations Quality
quadrants. Take away one sub-triangle and the triangle is no longer a
perfect shape: the project suffers.
The triangle can be represented in many ways. Often it is only the sides
of the triangle that are used to represent time, cost and scope.
Regardless of how the illustrated triangle is drawn, the fact remains that
the concept of each constraint affecting the others holds true.
Time
not. You expect to pay a bit more (expectation) to get the quality and
you don’t mind waiting the extra time it takes to make that.
Scope
But let’s say you wanted a meal in a hurry. You pop into the local take-
Quality away who pride their outlet (scope) on fast, (time) cheap (cost) meals,
for a bag of chips. You get them quickly and cheaply but…well; the
quality leaves a little to be desired (quality). You expect that
Cost Time
(expectations) because you sacrificed quality for fast and cheap.
P a g e | 27
It is what matters most to you that dictates the outcome of your quest There is an old project management adage which says “Fast, Cheap,
to satisfy your hunger. Good. Pick any two” and it does have more than a grain of truth in it.
Show your client that weighing each constraint against the other will
Recently, the triple constraint triangle has been reinvented as a
ultimately lead to the success of their project.
diamond shape where customer expectations are affected by cost, time,
scope and quality.
Think of the project sponsor as the customer in this scenario. As

project manager you need to ask what the expectation is for the
outcome of the project.
There will be fixed constraints; budget, schedule or quality, and they will
affect the scope of the project. Firm decisions must be made and
documented as to which constraints are fixed and which are variable.
• Will the project allow for more time in the schedule to ensure
quality control measures are carried out at an extra initial cost,
but to produce a more satisfying long term outcome?
• Will the tight project budget determine the ultimate quality and
resource schedule?
• Will the project deadline determine the quality output and
budgetary constraints?
• By cutting the project scope will the timeline, costs and quality
be affected?
• What does the customer expect?
It is a project manager’s responsibility to juggle the conflicting
constraints by using effective management measures which give the
desired project outcomes. The most effective measure is to educate
your client on the affects each of the constraints has on project
outcomes. Give examples so they will understand the way each
constraint affects the other.
P a g e | 28
Set Goals and

identify costs related
Manage and to stakeholders
understand
Prioritise stakeholders
stakeholders
Identify
stakeholders
Stakeholder Profiles
In Module 1 we briefly looked at who project stakeholders could be and By definition,
defined a stakeholder as any person or group that has contact with, or is
influence is the level of involvement a person has
affected by the organisation’s operations. Stakeholders may or may not
benefit from the project but may affect its outcome. There are basically and
two types of stakeholders:
impact is the ability of the stakeholder to bring out a desired change.
• those who contribute to the project
• those who are impacted by the project
Stakeholder analysis is about identifying everyone who may have

influence or interest in your project and taking steps to manage them so
that the project runs smoothly. It won’t always be easy to identify a
stakeholder’s interest. Some are obvious, some are not. An interest
could also be in contradiction to the interest of the project. Some
interests could be multiple. So the analysis of stakeholders is far from
just identifying who will be involved in the project. Now remember, all
of this is done during the initiation phase in the project life cycle.
It is basically a four step process.
P a g e | 29
Stakeholders have been profiled by Stephen Hartley in his book Project expertise to perform all project tasks.
management : principles, processes and practice published by Pearson
Education Australia, c2009. Hartley lists primary stakeholders who may • End users Will use the delivered project, product or
service and should be involved in project
be involved in a project and examines the main functions for each one.
development.
• Sponsor Identifies with and confirms the business need.
(client, Initiates the project. Often provide funding, It is important for a project manager to identify the stakeholders and to
owner) resource allocations and change approvals. also gain full understanding of the effect each of the stakeholders may
have on the project itself. This effect could be positive or it could be
• Project All projects are performed within an destructive.
organisation organisational unit. This organisation must
align with and support the project. Dr Lynda Bourne is an international authority on stakeholder
engagement and she highlights the different stakes a person or
• Project The central repository for all matters organisation may have in a project by using the acronym IRONIC. This
Management concerning the project.
stands for:
Office
I Interest A person or group of people believe they are
• Project Members come from a wide range of affected indirectly or directly affected by the work or its
steering departments/organisations and provide outcomes
committee governance to ensure objectives align with
corporate and strategic direction. They can also R Rights To be treated in a certain way or to have a
approve, prioritise and stop projects. particular right protected, including legal rights and
moral rights.
• Portfolio Oversee all project tasks within their functional
managers areas. Interested in strategic alignment, client O Ownership A circumstance when a person or group of people
liaison, performance outcomes and benefits, has a legal title to an asset or a property affected
measurement and reporting. by, or needed for, the work.
• Program Manage a number of interdependent projects. N kNowledge This is where she has taken a little poetic license
managers with the spelling but the N stands for Specialist
knowledge or organisational knowledge needed for
• Project Have single point authority, accountability and the work
manager visibility to manage project from start to finish.
I Impact or Impacted by the work or its outcomes, or can
• Project team Reports to project manager, provide technical influence impact (or influence) the execution of work or its
P a g e | 30
outcomes. activities of the project in some way. Answering the following questions
will help you identify the interests of the stakeholders.
C Contribution Of support or assets including the supply of
resources, the allocation of funding, or providing • What does the stakeholder expect from the project?
advocacy for the objectives of the project. • What benefits are likely to eventuate from the project for the
stakeholder?
• What stakeholder interests conflict with project goals?
Stakeholders can also be categorised by their interests in a project: • What resources might the stakeholder be able to contribute or
withhold?
Stakeholder Interest
Output delivery - responsible for delivery of project outputs
In some cases, the questions can be answered by your knowledge of the
Product usage -directly or indirectly use the output industry. More often, though, consultation with the stakeholder will be
necessary to determine the answers.
Product support -ensure product is available for application and
technical support A project manager should analyse the stakeholders and examine each
stakeholder’s influence and probable impact on the project.
Funding -grants approval and releases funds and provides
authority resources Is the influence:
Contributor -provides inputs and services to project • High – has the capacity to make project success or failure?
• Medium – can gain support for or against project ?
Review / audit -ensures proper processes are followed
• Low – little or no influence on project?
Outcome -are those such as public or media and competitors
affected to name a few
Is their probable impact:
Related project -may impact on ability to meet objectives
• High – key player directly impacted by the project?
• Medium – influenced by higher level of leadership?
Stakeholder influence and impact on project • Low – impacted by change, follower of high and medium
To help you identify stakeholder’s interests you need to focus on the stakeholder?
fact that each stakeholder is related to the proposed objectives and
P a g e | 31
When you have developed your list of stakeholders and have thought A large proportion of the risks in project management are people based.
about the influence and impact they may have on the project depending The only way to identify, manage and/or remove these risks is by the
on their interests, you can now assign certain priorities to each of them understanding of and management of your stakeholders. Understanding
in terms of how critical they are in helping deliver the outcomes of the a stakeholder involves knowing their likely attitudes to the project, the
project. project team and the risks associated with the project.
This will help prioritise communication and engagement activities with After performing an Influence/Impact study you must next develop a
the people most likely to affect the project’s success, that is, the strategy to manage those identified stakeholder attitudes and this will
stakeholders. For example, a stakeholder who has the ability to set be based around how you engage with the stakeholder. Your goal is to
deadlines and obviously affect the project schedule would be classified minimise any risks that the stakeholder poses to the project and to
as having a high impact. increase their commitment to, and indeed their appreciation of the
projects goals.
Different methodologies suggest different ways of analysing
stakeholders. Some are complex and some are very simple. A common
approach is to translate the interest and influence of each stakeholder
Project
group into a table or a picture known as an Influence/Impact Matrix. Strategies to
manage Project team
stakeholder
attitudes to: Project risks
Minimise risks
Goal: Increase commitment
Increase appreciation
Stakeholders who have both high interest and high impact are the key
players in the project. This is the group that should be managed most
closely and must be involved in all levels of project planning and change
management. As key players you should focus efforts on this group,
involve them in decision making, meet face to face with them to get
their views - engage and consult with them regularly.
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The stakeholders who fit into the low influence and low interest box are Every stakeholder presents the project manager with an opportunity or
the least powerful and require minimum effort in management. These a challenge. The trick is to find the strategy or action to take to manage
stakeholders should be participatory members in all project status that opportunity or challenge.
meetings and ad hoc meetings as required. You could possibly
communicate with them via mailings, newsletters or perhaps a website. As a project manager, ask yourself these questions:
Your goal is to spend the least time on this group, but you should aim to • Should I deal directly or indirectly with stakeholders?
increase their interest. • Should I take the offense or the defense in dealing with
Stakeholders who have high influence but low impact are powerful stakeholders?
• Should I accommodate, negotiate, manipulate or resist
enough to cause problems with the project if they are not satisfied with
what is happening…or should I say their perception of what is stakeholder overtures?
• Should I employ a combination of the above strategies or pursue
happening. These stakeholders must be kept satisfied by ensuring
concerns and questions are addressed adequately. Meet their needs - a singular course of action?
engage and consult with them on their interest area, try to increase There are seven basic principles of stakeholder management which are
level of interest and aim to move them into right-hand box on your known as the Clarkson Principles.
matrix. 1. Acknowledge and monitor– Managers should acknowledge and
The final group of stakeholders are those who have high interest but actively monitor the concerns of all legitimate stakeholders, and
low influence and they must be kept informed through frequent should take their interests appropriately into account in decision
communication on project status and progress. These stakeholders can making and operations.
be useful supporters so involve them in low risk areas and consult them 2. Communicate - managers should listen to and openly communicate
on their interest areas. These stakeholders are potential ambassadors of with stakeholders about their respective concerns and
your project. contributions, and about the risks that they assume because of their
involvement with the corporation.
Responsibilities and roles need to be designated to the project team to 3. Adopt – managers should adopt processes and modes of behaviour
undertake the areas of management necessary such as communications that are sensitive to the concerns and capabilities of each
and setting of timelines for stakeholders. stakeholder group.
4. Recognize – managers should recognise the interdependence of
Stakeholder management efforts and rewards among stakeholders, and should attempt to
It is all very well to say that you know WHAT you have to do to manage achieve a fair distribution of the benefits and burdens of corporate
the stakeholders but HOW you achieve that is the key to success. activity among them, taking into account their respective risks and
vulnerabilities.
P a g e | 33
5. Work – managers should work co-operatively with other entities, Take a moment to think about where you are in your current
both public and private, to insure that risks and harms arising from understanding of the project initiation and planning phases. So far you
corporate activities are minimised and, where they cannot be have:
avoided, appropriately compensated.
6. Avoid – managers should avoid altogether activities that might • determined what the project manager’s roles and
jeopardize inalienable human rights (e.g. the right to life) or give rise responsibilities will be
to risks which, if clearly understood, would be patently • identified all the phases of the project life cycle
unacceptable to relevant stakeholders. • understood that managing quality is going to be a major factor
7. Acknowledge conflict – managers should acknowledge the • prepared initial project documentation including a scope
potential conflicts between (a) their own role as corporate statement with full knowledge of avoiding scope creep
stakeholders, and (b) their legal and moral responsibilities for the • conducted a stakeholder analysis and determined stakeholder’s
interests of stakeholders, and should address such conflicts through influence and impact on the project including who has authority
open communication, appropriate reporting, and incentive systems for authorisations throughout the project life
and, where necessary, third party review.
Benefits Review Planning
One more item to take care of is planning for the final review of the
benefits of the project.
There will come a time when this project finishes and at that time will
come the final justifications. Part of a project manager’s role is to keep
that in mind and prepare in advance for the review.
A benefits review plan is used to define how and when a measurement

of how well the project deliverables achieved the benefits expected by
the users can be made. The plan needs to list the activities to undertake
to find out whether expectations of project benefits have been met. It
also needs to find out how the deliverables perform when in
operational use.
A benefits review plan creates a baseline for measurement of post-

project benefits and is presented for approval during the project
initiation phase. It is reviewed regularly and updated at given milestone
P a g e | 34
dates. It is also used during the closure of a project to define any post- As a project evolves through its various life-cycle phases, some
project reviews that are required. deliverables may pass into operation at various stages rather than at
project closure. It is at those milestones that benefits should begin
It is created by examining the initial project business case and being reviewed. If changes are needed to realise the expected benefits
identifying how the achievement of each benefit is to be measured. It it should be done via the authorised change process outlined in the
looks at the skills or individuals required to carry out the measurements original project documentation.
and ensures effort and cost to undertake the benefits are realistic when
compared against the anticipated benefits.
Scope Accountability Measurement Resources Baseline Performance
The scope of the Who is accountable for How to measure What resources Baseline measures from How the performance
Benefits Review the expected benefits achievement of expected are needed to which the improvements of the project product
Plan covering benefits, and when they carry out the will be calculated will be reviewed
what benefits are can be measured review work
to be measured
P a g e | 35
Section Summary
You are now firmly in the project planning phase of project management but it is not over yet. There are still more crucial tasks that need to be done
before you are ready to implement your project. Always remember the words of Stephen Covey - American educator, businessman, and author of The
Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Covey said:
“All things are created twice: first mentally; then physically.
The key to creativity is to begin with the end in mind, with a vision
and a blue print of the desired result.”
Topic Resources
• Project Planning, A step by step guide by Duncan Haughey: https://www.projectsmart.co.uk/project-planning-step-by-step.php
• Project Management Foundations: Managing the Creep: http://www.pmhut.com/project-management-foundations-managing-the-creep
• Scope, Time and Cost: Managing the Triple Constraint: https://programsuccess.wordpress.com/2011/05/02/scope-time-and-cost-managing-the-
triple-constraint/
• Benefits Review Plan: http://www.prince2primer.com/benefits-review-plan

• The Theory of Triple Constraint: A conceptual review by C. J. Van Wyngaard , J. H. C. Pretorius , L. Pretorius is available for download at
https://www.academia.edu/8294762/Theory_of_the_Triple_Constraint_a_Conceptual_Review (Accessed 12th November 2015) If you are not a
member of Academia.com you will be required to do a short registration process before you can download the document. This is a free site, you
will not be charged to download anything.
• Project Stakeholder Management eBook is available for free from: http://www.free-management-ebooks.com/dldebk-pdf/fme-project-
stakeholder.pdf (Accessed 12th November 2015)
• A comprehensive study co-authored by Lynda Bourne and Derek H.T. Walker is available at
https://mosaicprojects.com.au/PDF_Papers/P044_Visualising_mapping.pdf (Accessed 12th November 2015) by Mosaic Project Services Pty Ltd:
Visualising and Mapping Stakeholder Influence. https://mosaicprojects.com.au/PDF_Papers/P044_Visualising_mapping.pdf
P a g e | 36
• Department of Primary Industries: Who really matters? A stakeholder analysis tool. Available:
http://www.csu.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0018/109602/EFS_Journal_vol_5_no_2_02_Kennon_et_al.pdf (Accessed 12th November 2015)
• Principles of Stakeholder Management: The Clarkson Principles. Available:
http://www.valuebasedmanagement.net/methods_clarkson_principles.html (Accessed 12th November 2015)
• An ebook written by Simon Buehring is available for download at: http://www.knowledgetrain.co.uk/prince2-processes-ebook.php (Accessed
12th November 2015) This book illustrates PRINCE2 processes and includes references to benefits review planning. T
• ake a little time out and watch this 8:08 minute video The WASA – A true story of scope creep by RiskDoctorVideo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmJ59yyYza4 (Accessed 12th November 2015) Seeing a theoretical concept visualised in simplified true
stories often helps with understanding
Assessment
After completing modules 1 and 2, you will now be equipped to complete Assessment 1. Refer to the learning portal for the assessment brief.
P a g e | 37
Module 3 Project Quality

This module will help you:
Introduction
• Explain relevant standards that apply in the organisation
Welcome to Module 3 of Project Management Principles. In Module 1
• Describe quality assurance and control techniques, key tools
we looked at the ideas behind quality management and the definition of
and methodologies
quality in relation to project management. Take some time to review
• Work with others to decide a projects’ quality requirements
that section if you would like to refresh your memory.
• Document a quality-management plan
In this module we will be focussing on quality standards and quality
assurance tools, techniques and methodologies used to manage quality Quality Management Standards
throughout the project life-cycle. You may already know that Australia and New Zealand have adopted
international standards for quality management and standards for
quality control sampling and testing procedures are available. More
than likely these standards will apply to projects that you work on.
The earlier versions of these standards were prescriptive and very

precisely defined what had to be done. In 2000 the standards for quality
assurance were revised and changed from taking a prescriptive
approach to a performance or desired outcome-based system. In this
new system, a performance-based standard defines the outcome and
any necessary constraints, but leaves the user free to achieve the result
by the most appropriate available methods.
These standards deal with management systems only and apply to a

wide range of organisations and projects. They comprise a large set of
documents that between them define the general principles of quality
management. The standards most widely used in projects are:
• AS NZS ISO 9000:2000 Quality management systems –

Fundamentals and vocabulary
• AS NZS ISO 9001:2000 Quality management systems –
Requirements
P a g e | 38
• AS NZS ISO 9004:2000 Quality management systems – International website: www.standards.org.au to see all the standards
Guidelines for performance improvement available. When using standards, always check that they are current as
• AS NZS ISO 19011:2011 Guidelines for auditing management standards are constantly being revised and updated.
systems
Certain stakeholders have defined authority and influence, notably
• AS ISO 10006:2003 Quality management systems – Guidelines
senior management and the statutory bodies or a higher authority that
for quality management in projects
issue approvals, e.g. the EPA. Senior management has a responsibility to
set the quality management system for the organisation and to ensure
that the systems for individual projects are compatible with the
organisation system. They must ensure that the appropriate specific
standards are adopted in projects completed by their staff. A building
surveyor may need to approve plans for a building. Other government
Notice the last of these—AS ISO 10006: 2003—deals specifically with
inspectors have authority to enforce safe working practices. Some will
the quality management of projects. There is a link to this standard in
have greater influence than others. Financiers may impose conditions
the Learning Resources section of this module.
before making a loan. Others, such as designers, lawyers and
There are also specific standards for certain industries, products and contractors have specific expertise. They can significantly influence the
processes. structure of the project, the final requirements and the way it is carried
out.
Product standard defines

what is required to Quality management
achieve a quality product standard defines management
processes and systems to
enable the achievement of a
quality project outcome
Some standards contain specific prescriptive requirements to ensure

uniformity of practice. You may like to visit the Standards Australia
P a g e | 39
Project Managers and Quality However you can't just focus on the processes. Effective quality
Let’s recap your responsibilities as a project manager in managing management is as much about managing people as it is about managing
quality. processes. A quality management system requires everyone on the
project to be committed to achieving quality and an effective project
• Motivating staff and ensuring adequate resources are available manager should be able to lead staff and establish a team culture that
is an important role promotes quality.
• Designing the quality control system at the project proposal and
development phases As a project manager, you need to have a complete view of the project.
• Ensuring that monitoring and auditing is done properly during You cannot afford to become involved in detail at the expense of
the implementation phase managing the whole project. The skill in project quality management lies
• Completing a final project review and identify any improvement in delegating detail to reliable and expert team members. You cannot
opportunities for future projects during the project closure do the work of experts, but must make sure they complete the task
phase according to project schedules and the standards set. The challenge is in
handling complexity, rather than in solving specific technical problems.
You and others in your organisation are responsible for setting up the Where Responsibility Lies
quality management system for the project. In designing a quality A word of warning regarding quality management in projects,
management system for a project you need to consider a number of particularly projects where the consequences of failure can be severe.
factors: Ultimately, someone has to take responsibility if things go wrong—
usually this is the project manager. There are areas requiring complex
• What is to be managed and controlled? technical decisions to be made that cannot be made by people with a
• How is the particular quality to be defined and measured? limited appreciation of the problem. While everyone has to operate
• How is sampling to be carried out? (How frequently will it be responsibly within his/her capability, there is a limit to collective
measured?) responsibility.
• What criteria for comparison are to be set?
• How is the measure of output to be compared with the set It is hardly fair to blame the shop floor mechanics if an aircraft fails as a
criteria? result of a bad technical design decision. They are culpable, however, if
they fail to observe and report obvious cracking in a component. Their
• How are unacceptable deviations from the criteria to be
supervisors also have responsibility to make sure that the mechanics are
corrected?
aware of the seriousness of such defects and that they are given the
procedures, training and resources to inspect them properly.
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There are compelling reasons to establish a workable project project outcome. In most technical work there are levels of
management system where responsibilities are clearly defined, responsibility and the more highly trained people usually carry a greater
allocated and documented. It is an essential part of achieving a quality share of the responsibility.
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Establishing and maintaining an effective quality management system

Quality management requires three main elements:
A management system
Quality assurance and
Positive management aimed at achieving the QUALITY
quality control
action combined with defined standards of
procedures equals MANAGEMENT
quality combined with
A quality system is the means by which an organisation controls the processes or activities that directly influence the quality of goods and services it
produces. It provides us with a general process that we can adapt to each specific project we encounter.
The model emphasises the importance of information and communication on a project.
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P a g e | 43
Determining Quality Requirements What Is To Be Achieved?

The first thing that occurs in the project life cycle in relation to quality
As we noted earlier, it is crucial to project success that the quality
management is to establish the client's quality requirements. This
criteria and the project outcome required are identified early on in the
involves you working with closely with a range of stakeholders who will
production stages of the project life cycle. The client's and other
have different needs and can influence project success in different
requirements (e.g. statutory requirements such as planning legislation,
ways.
occupational health and safety legislation) have to be identified. This is
Once the project is underway the consultation process continues. an iterative process and all the relevant stakeholders must be
Assuring quality throughout the project is the collective responsibility of consulted. Generally, a number of stakeholders participate in
all the stakeholders, who have a vested interest in the success of the identifying project requirements, e.g. senior management, contractors
project. When issues of quality arise or opportunities for improvement and the project designer.
are identified the project manager may need to consult particular
It is vital that the:
stakeholders for their input, advice and/or agreement. They can be
internal to the project organisation (e.g. project team members, senior • project manager participate in all negotiations from the outset.
management), or external stakeholders (e.g. client, end-users, He/she should attend all meetings and clearly document what is
contractors, local council building authorities). considered, what is achieved and the actions that are needed. If
tenders are called, this documentation becomes the basis of the
tender.
• project client be involved as changes to the initial proposal may
be needed as details are worked out. Meetings should be
scheduled to consider successive proposals until a proposal
acceptable to the client and achievable within the project
constraints is achieved.
Suppliers of goods and services must also be involved, e.g. specialist
consultants and others to whom work may be outsourced. Effective
communication with suppliers is essential if they are to deliver work of
acceptable quality on time.
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Once the project requirements have been identified, the project manager should ensure that:
• the project requirements are documented in a project brief

• the project specifications that define the scope of the project are developed. These specifications include
the quality outcome required, e.g. design requirements, physical specifications like dimensions, material
properties, and component or equipment performance.
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Quality Management Plan incomprehensible to those who rely on them to assist them to
Once the project specifications have been documented, a quality coordinate and control their work activities. Good documentation
management plan needs to be developed before the production stage clearly defines what is to be achieved and is capable of being followed
starts. The quality management plan is an important part of the project by those who use it.
information system and sets the framework for achieving quality in both
In a quality management plan there are a number of sections:
the management of the project and the project outcome.
The introductory section clearly defines the project. It describes how
Project managers have the responsibility for overseeing the
quality will be managed throughout the lifecycle of the project. It also
development and implementation of the quality management plan, but
includes the processes and procedures for ensuring quality planning,
do so in consultation with other stakeholders. As we noted earlier,
assurance, and control are all conducted. All stakeholders should be
senior management puts in place the organisation's quality
familiar with how quality will be planned, assured, and controlled.
management system and ensures that individual projects are conducted
Information give should include:
according to these systems. They also have responsibility to see that the
appropriate specific standards are adopted in projects. • methods for identifying critical issues
• identifying stakeholders
You rarely have to develop the plan from scratch as your organisation
• ensuring effective communication is established
will probably already have existing quality and business plans that will
• the need for a clear project brief and elements that should be
include relevant policies, work processes and procedures that apply to
included in it.
your project. Don't double up when what you need already exists
The next sections of the plan will define the processes in the design,
elsewhere in the organisation. You may have to modify existing plans,
planning and execution of the project such as:
but only develop project specific procedures, inspection and testing
plans and sample forms, etc. if they do not already exist and if your • QUALITY MANAGEMENT APPROACH
particular project requires them. This section describes the approach the organisation will use for
What Goes Into A Project Quality Management Plan? managing quality throughout the project’s life cycle. The organisation
may already have a standardised approach to quality, however, whether
A project quality management plan identifies the specific quality it is standard or not, the approach must be defined and communicated
practices, resources and sequence of activities relevant to a particular to all project stakeholders.
project.
• QUALITY REQUIREMENTS / STANDARDS
The contents of a quality management plan should reflect the scope and This section should describe how the project team and/or quality group
complexity of the project. It is no good having an elaborate maze of will identify and document the quality requirements and standards.
policies, procedure manuals and testing plans that are Additionally, there should also be an explanation of how the project will
P a g e | 46
demonstrate compliance with those identified quality standards. The Other sections may include:
quality standards and requirements should include both the product • communication, maintenance of records
and processes. • risk management
• matters dealing with the administration of the project contract
• QUALITY ASSURANCE
which are not covered in the formal contract documents
This section should explain how you will define and document the
• cost estimation, financing of the project, financial recording,
process for auditing the quality requirements and results from quality
reporting and control
control measurements in order to ensure that quality standards and
• specific QA procedures not covered in the project specifications
operational definitions are used. This section should also document the
• Human Resource Management (HRM)
actual quality assurance metrics used for this project.
• the management of the closure and the project overview
• QUALITY CONTROL A number of common problems in project documentation that can
This section describes how you will define and document the process for affect the work carried out during a project and what is achieved at the
monitoring and recording results of executing the quality activities to end of a project are:
assess performance and recommend necessary changes. Quality control
• lack of a consistent approach to documenting specifications,
applies to the project’s product as opposed to its processes. It should
briefs, policies and procedures, e.g. inconsistent levels of detail
include what the acceptable standards and/or performance are for the
• inaccurate documentation
product and how these measurements will be conducted.
• inaccessible documentation
• QUALITY CONTROL MEASUREMENTS • difficult to follow, poorly sequenced and inconsistent
This section should contain a sample or useable table/log to be used in procedures and work instructions
taking quality measurements and comparing them against • out of date information
standards/requirements. These forms may be found in many different • lack of version control
styles or formats. The most important aspect of this log is to provide
documentation of the findings. If actual measurements do not meet the
standards or requirements then some action must be taken. This may You should try to avoid these when developing your project
be done in regularly scheduled project status meetings or as necessary management plan by making the plan 'fit for its purpose'.
throughout the project lifecycle.
The final sections of the plan will define the processes in the
termination of the project and measures to ensure continuos
improvement. It will also include an area for authorisation signatures.
P a g e | 47
requirements. You need to establish this early on in the proposal stage,

before you start to develop the quality management manual for that
project.
If you have responsibility for developing a quality management manual,

is readily clearly documents
accessible to all how work is to be make sure its format and content are consistent with organisational
staff safely carried out policies and any certification conditions that the organisation must
comply with. This manual should be regularly updated and there should
be restrictions placed on who is authorised to make changes to it.
However, project team members must have access to those sections of
explicity outlines clearly identifies the plan that they need to carry out their work.
roles and any critical project
responsibilities quality issues
The Quality
Management
Plan Establishing quality management methods, techniques and
tools
With the project quality management plan in place, ideally all project
staff know their roles and responsibilities, have the resources to carry
out their project work, have procedures to follow and are clear about
the quality standards they are to achieve. In other words, we have built
in quality from the project beginning. But we all know that reality is
always different. All the planning in the world does not mean things will
Quality Management Manuals go smoothly—problems always arise.
On a small project a quality management plan may simply be a small
Data and analysis, not trial and error or guesswork, are the only ways to
number of procedures, checklists and inspection and test plans. On a
promote quality and continuous improvement. Monitoring specific tasks
large project, however, a quality management manual may be required
and project results to minimise variation, eliminate unsatisfactory
in hard copy or electronic format. This manual may include individual
performance, and ensure compliance with the defined project
quality plans for design, procurement, installation and testing, as well as
specifications and quality standards are important.
inspection and test plans, procedures for all project activities (e.g.
human resource management, procurement, document control). In Through inspection, data analysis, and other techniques project teams
some projects clients require manuals to be prepared in accordance can deliver quality improvements and eliminate rework.
with specific standards or according to their own organisational
P a g e | 48
Before we look at some techniques to use, let's discuss some principles • Cause and Effect Diagrams
to apply to data collection.
Project managers and their teams often use a cause and effect diagram
To avoid data overload and ensure we are not collecting data for its own to classify the likely causes of a problem and their possible effects. The
sake, any data we collect should: diagram gives a basis for systematic analysis of the problem. The causes
are divided into broad areas of activity noted at the tip of each branch.
• be relevant to the process we are examining The likely causes that have been identified in the area are noted on each
• be collected and recorded systematically branch. The effect is noted in the box at the right hand side of the
• be readable, clear and understandable diagram.
• focus on a process not a person
• be presented in a manner that aids decision making • Pareto Charts
• be fed back to the person who collects the data and the team
You might have noticed that the cause and effect diagram does not
responsible for the process
show the relative importance of the causes. Rectifying some causes
• be used to improve the capability of the process.
produces a greater effect on the final outcome than others. You may
Let's look at some useful techniques to use when you identify quality have heard of the Pareto principle, sometimes called the 80:20
problems and need solutions. principle. This suggests that a few causes, perhaps 20%, might cause
80% of the problem. A tool you can use to identify and prioritise those
• Brainstorming problems that require immediate attention is the Pareto chart. You
construct the chart by ranking the data in frequency of occurrence and
Brainstorming is useful in project planning and problem solving where plotting the bars in descending order.
we have alternatives that we need to evaluate. Brainstorming is a
method project managers can use to draw on the collective knowledge • Tolerances
and skills of team members and other stakeholders.
We can explain tolerances by thinking about the manufacture of
Brainstorming is a process where a number of people put in ideas about bearings to carry a shaft. If the bearings are too tight, they will seize up.
a specific problem that has to be solved. Initially it is a free wheeling If the bearings are too loose, they cannot be properly lubricated and the
process where any remotely relevant or outrageous idea can be put shaft will rattle in the bearings and wear. The shaft has to be
forward. All ideas are noted, classified and sorted to sift out the most manufactured so that its diameter lies within two limits. These are the
relevant and feasible ideas. Basically it needs a group of people to spend tolerances on the shaft. The bearings also have to be manufactured
some time together using a whiteboard to record ideas and sort them within two limits.
into usable information. The process must be open and have a positive
outcome.
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Designers choose these tolerances so that the smallest permissible gap

(smallest bearing diameter—largest shaft diameter) and the largest
permissible gap (largest bearing diameter—smallest shaft diameter)
allow the bearing to properly function. A sample of bearings is
measured to see if they lie within the tolerances. If the sample fails, the
whole batch might be rejected. Generally independent inspectors, not
the workers who make the bearings, conduct the quality control
inspections.
How does quality control apply to projects? Right at the start of the
project life cycle in the proposal stage, the project manager, in
consultation with the client and other stakeholders, particularly the
designers, ensures that the required project outcomes, allowable
tolerances, the required resources and the SQC procedures are
identified. These are defined in the specifications for the project at the
project development stage.
These techniques are not the only techniques available to help identify
problems and generate solutions. Other techniques that you may use in
your workplace or have heard of include: check sheets, benchmarking,
histograms, process capability charts.
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Quality Planning Flowchart

At this point a project manager could develop a quality management flow chart.
A flow chart outlines the pathway that will be travelled by the project management team through the project life-cycle. A quality management flowchart
would look similar to this:
Identify area, product or Determine reasonable Ensure monitoring and

service being produced sample size and frequency recording tools are
(Scope of Quality Plan) of checking available
Assign overall
Review potential problems Standardise methods of accountability for
in delivery (Risk) checking using procedures monitoring, compliance
and results
Identify causes of
Devise appropriate checks Set Review frequency and
problems and define
and responsibilities to update Quality Plans as
acceptable/unacceptable
monitor/control risk necessary
parameters
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Implementing quality assurance

In the implementation stage when the project is underway we move to
a point where we have to measure the progress of a project and ensure
that the quality requirements are being met. It is the project manager's
responsibility to coordinate this process.
We have to measure the parameters in two processes:
• the process which is producing the project outcome or end

product
• the management process that should ensure that the
production or implementation process is effectively carried out.
We have to develop effective methods of measurement that give us
valid information for making decisions. In a project, which is moving
rapidly, prompt feedback of information is essential.
Project managers need to classify issues that arise. They can fix minor
issues themselves and are expected to do so. They can deal directly with
the client over minor issues, but more serious issues need to be referred
to senior management and higher authorities. Additional resources may
be needed, changes to legislation could mean project outcomes have to
be revised and budgets renegotiated. Serious contractual issues with
the client are not something you can deal with and should be referred
to your senior management.
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Control Measures to Apply Immediate Corrections A process can have two types of input, controllable and uncontrollable.
In Module 1 we looked at the PDSA process as a process for identifying We try as far as possible to move to a situation where we can exercise
items for improvement. Let's now look at feedback control and apply it control over inputs. We cannot stop it raining, but we can put a roof
to the control of quality on a project. Feedback control is similar to the over our heads to control the rain. If the roof leaks, we can repair the
PDSA cycle in that it involves a cycle of actions. It is a more general leak.
process and can readily include continuous improvement.
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Basic Statistics Control charts can tell you:
Measuring the progress of a project and ensuring that the defined • the downtime of one machine compared to another
quality requirements are being met usually involves the collection and • how long a process takes (resolving a customer complaint, time
analysis of statistical data. This process known as statistical process taken by IT to install software programs, making a sale)
control (SPC) gives us methods to deal with variability and procedures • how often delays are occurring.
for Here's how it works. A process is regularly sampled, a characteristic or a
number of characteristics of the sample are measured and the results
• summarising and ordering large amounts of numerical data
are plotted on a graph over a period of time. This provides a picture of
• drawing conclusions from this data to guide future action.
the variability of the process over that period and gives a warning if the
In the feedback process we measure an output, compare it with a
process is going out of control. A process is in control if the variability is
required value and if necessary, apply a correction to the process to
random and within the prescribed limits. Any wide variation needs your
modify the output. It is important to achieve a stable situation. For
attention as it might indicate that a problem is occurring and a process
example, taking too long to measure the output and apply a correction
is out of control.
can cause the system to go out of control. We can apply the following
model to include a learning loop that progressively updates the
reference standard using both internal and external sources of
information.
The reference standard defines what is to be achieved. It may be a

simple number like the output of a power supply. It must be something
that the measurement can be compared with. It will generally have
tolerances within which no action is to be taken. If the output goes
above or below the tolerances, correction must be taken to bring the
process back into control.
Development of a Control Chart

The control chart is a basic device you can use in statistical process
control. It charts how much variation there is in a process, and whether
this variation is random or follows a pattern. Are things getting worse,
staying the same or improving? A control chart can help you identify
whether a problem exists and help you implement solutions.
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Section Summary
A quality project is one that satisfies the needs of the client after external constraints have been considered. The role of the project manager in a
challenging one and is as much about people management as the management of processes.
Throughout the project life cycle the project manager must interact with a range of stakeholders to ensure the project meets their requirements and is
completed using processes and working methods that will achieve a quality outcome. Effective quality management involves focusing on the total
management of a process and all of the people involved.
Project managers must take responsibility for project quality assurance and for ensuring that the required standards of quality are attained. They can
achieve this by implementing a quality management plan that provides a framework with appropriate management processes, quality control
procedures and documentation for achieving a quality outcome.
Topic Resources
• The Difference Between Quality Assurance and Quality Control: http://www.dialog.com.au/open-dialog/the-difference-between-quality-

assurance-and-quality-control/
• Project Management/PMBOK/Quality Management: https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Project_Management/PMBOK/Quality_Management

• View AS ISO 10006:2003 Quality management systems – Guidelines for quality management in projects at:
https://www.iso.org/obp/ui#iso:std:iso:10006:ed-2:v1:en (Accessed 13th November 2015)
• Information on how to develop flowcharts is available at: http://www.technologystudent.com/designpro/flowc1.htm (Accessed 14th November
2015)
• A Practical Guide to Quality Control published by CPA Australia is available for download at:
https://www.cpaaustralia.com.au/~/media/corporate/allfiles/document/professional-resources/practice-management/comprehensive-guide-
quality-control.pdf?la=en (Accessed 13th November 2015) This is an excellent example of a quality management plan in action.
• Sample Quality Management Plans can be found at:
o https://wiki.cac.washington.edu/display/pmportal/Sample+Project+Quality+Plan (Accessed 13th November 2015)
o Quality Management Plan 8:36 minute video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdgRMorj8H8 (Accessed 13th November 2015)
o http://www.pma.doit.wisc.edu/plan/3-2/print.html (Accessed 13th November 2015)
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Module 4 Project Schedule

Introduction
• Identify project management tools used for managing scope
Welcome to Module 4 – Project Schedule of Project Management
• Identify components of a scope-management plan
Principles.
• Describe methods for segmenting and documenting a work
Appropriate and detailed planning results in successful projects. breakdown structure
Obviously, the level of detail involved in the planning will depend on the • Explain work breakdown structures and their application to
risk of the project—the higher the risk, the greater the level of detail project schedules
that is warranted. The culmination of this planning effort is often • Explain estimation techniques to determine task duration and
summarised in a schedule or timeline of one sort or another. This resource effort
schedule describes what needs to happen, when it needs to happen and • Explain procedures for identifying critical path
the order in which it is to happen for the project to be satisfactorily • Explain procedures for managing project baselines,
completed. To plan and manage a project schedule and budget you establishment and variance
need to complete three steps. • Explain best-practice time management methodologies, their
capabilities, limitations, applications and outcomes
These are:
• Summarise key tools for project scheduling
1. Determine what work has to be done (the project steps—often
Work Breakdown Structure
described as the work breakdown structure [WBS]).
A large project is the sum total of many smaller tasks. By breaking down
2. Determine when this work must be done (in order to complete
the work tasks into smaller and smaller tasks a project manager
the overall project on time).
eventually is left with a collection of ‘work parcels” which inter-relate.
3. Establish milestones throughout the plan (to identify where we
expect to be at these points in time, and to measure how we The reason for breaking down work into the smallest possible tasks is to
are traveling once the project has started). provide the level of detail you need to identify duration, quality, cost
and resourcing needs. Of course, the question could be asked as to how
Most project planning activities are carried out during the development
far down does the breakdown go? That would depend entirely on the
stages of the project life cycle. During the implementation and closure
complexity of the project and the amount of management required. It
stages control mechanisms are used to manage any proposed changes
would also depend on the accuracy of the project scope and the extent
to the project's schedule.
of the standards and specifications required.
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Breaking down and identifying tasks enables the project manager to 'Chunking' Project Work
prepare an accurate budget and to accurately schedule the work. It The WBS is the representation of a project into 'chunks' of work. These
shows an indication of the actual effort required by each person chunks are devised to facilitate the management of the project. A
performing a task. rough, but appropriate analogy is to use a cake to represent our project.
Let’s call our image a wedding cake to continue our example. In order to
Let’s use an example here of a wedding plan.
consume the cake (undertake the project), we need to cut the cake into
There are two main areas of planning needed, that is, the wedding and smaller pieces (break the project down into doable chunks of work).
the reception. We will ignore the reception for this part of the example.
Let's say the idea is to cut our cake (chunk our project) into four roughly
It’s quite often full of distant relatives you don’t really want to talk to
equal pieces. How might we do this?
anyway. (Just joking) In the wedding we need to plan to do a number of
things such as organise the venue, organise the celebrant, write the
vows and buy the rings. So at this point we have broken the wedding
down into 4 smaller tasks or ‘chunks’.
But within each task there are even more smaller tasks to be done.
• To organise the venue we have to visit the venue and then book
the venue.
• To organise the celebrant we have to source celebrants,
interview them and then select one.
• Writing the vows could be broken down into writing the vows
Our first option is a rather simple option—we have made two vertical
and then having them proofread and approved
cuts, roughly at right angles to each other to provide four roughly equal
• Buying the rings could mean actually going shopping, comparing portions of cake in the shape of quadrants of a circle.
possible purchases and then purchasing the rings.
Each of those smaller tasks may have more detailed tasks within but for
this example, you should be able to see the basic process. These tasks
can then be represented pictorially in what is known as a work break
down structure or WBS.
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Although our analogy is somewhat crude, it serves to illustrate that

there are options available in the breakdown process. It is true in the
case of our cake and it is true in the case of any project. The key to
effective project planning and management is the selection of the
appropriate WBS that will facilitate the ongoing monitoring and
management of the project.
A Work Breakdown Structure document helps to answer some

fundamental project questions.
• What work must be performed?

Our second option, while still quite simple, takes a different approach. • How long will each task take?
Instead of ending up with quadrants, we will end up with four flat discs • What resources can perform the work?
as a result of the three horizontal cuts we make of our cake. Still the • How much investment is required?
same cake, but a very different piece to consume from our first option!
So before we launch into creating a WBS, identifying the tasks and task
parcels is critical.
You need to look at a number of things such as:
• The name of the task being performed – try to group related

tasks together and give them a descriptive task name that
clearly identifies what work is to be performed
• An identifier code number for each task – this enables accurate
identification particularly when issuing cost assignments
• Expected duration of the task – think about how you are going
to measure your time units. Are you going to record time as
For our third option, we have made three concentric cuts to form three actual hours, weeks or days. The accuracy of this, at this stage
hollow cylinders and one solid cylinder, all roughly equal portions—as in the project may not be too high but this is where you have
was the original requirement. Our third option, however, may be more the chance to show a time tolerance level. You could indicate
challenging to eat than the first two options! for example, 8 hours plus or minus 25%
P a g e | 58
• Identification of the relationships that exist between each task

–some tasks will occur independent of each other and therefore
have no relationship. Some will start when others finish and so
have a finish-start relationship and some will finish when others
start which is a start finish relationship.
• Determination of start and end dates of each task – depends
on the relationship identified
• Resource assignment to the task – if you are lucky, the resource
pool will be available to you to assign resources to particular
tasks. If you are even luckier, none of those resources will need
extra training or modification to get the job done. Have you
won lotto lately? No. Hmm. Don’t think you are going to be
one of the lucky project managers. Factor in training or
modification time if necessary.
• Estimates of the costs involved in each task – you will have
fixed costs (for example fixed pricing regardless of hours
worked) and you will have variable costs (for example per litre
rates or per hour rates). This process of preparing for a Work
Breakdown structure will give you a more accurate estimate of
budget needs than the project scope did.
Remember that the WBS is an expansion of the project scope

document into greater detail.
If a task isn’t identified in this document, it’s not going to be completed

in the project.
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ID Task Duration Relationship Dates Resources Costs
1. Buy wedding rings
1.1 Choose rings 4 days N/A 4pm 1/9- Margaret, $0

5pm 4/9 Stephen
1.2 Pay deposit on ring 1 day 1.1 8am 5/9- Stephen $1000
5pm 5/9
1.3 Get ring sizing done 1 day 1.1 8am 5/9– Margaret $80
5pm 5/9
1.4 Pay off ring 3 months 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 8am 6/9– Stephen $2000
5pm 6/12
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Identifying Levels and Elements

At the most macro level, the 'project' is referred to as level 1. We have
called this the 'project outcome'. Our first chunking of the project into
smaller parts is referred to as level 2 and we have called these chunks
'activities'. Further chunking down of our project is referred to as level
3, which we have called 'tasks'.
We give a generic label to each of the components of a WBS. Either:
• a 'summary' element, or
• a 'detail' element.
A summary element is a unit of work that is decomposed further.

Another way of saying this is that it is a 'parent' to a lower level
element.
A detail element is a unit of work that is not broken down any further.
It is located at the lowest level of each branch of the WBS and it is at
this level that you determine detailed time and cost estimates,
resources and dependencies.
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Gathering Data for the WBS Bottom-Up Planning and the WBS
Frequently asked questions are: 'How many levels should my WBS This process involves team members or a group of project stakeholders
contain?' or 'How detailed should my WBS be when I am at the lowest working together through four key steps. This ensures those involved in
level?’ While the issues may seem complex, the answer is, in fact, quite the project have input into and are committed to the project schedule
straightforward. It relates to getting the data you need. You will know right from the project beginning.
that your project has been broken into sufficient detail when you are
able to answer the following key questions: Step 1
• How long will the element take to perform (often referred to as

elapsed time)?
• How much will the element cost to perform (if labour is
involved, often referred to as effort)?
• What resources will be required to perform the element (often
referred to as resource allocation)?
• What must be completed or partially completed prior to Arrange a number of large blank sheets of paper, e.g. butcher's paper or
starting this element (often referred to as the dependency)? charts, along a wall. Each chart represents a potential project activity
(or WBS level 2 label). You might ask how many charts or sheets of
The answers to these questions could well be available at level 2 in a paper should be used. The answer has to be somewhat qualified—but
small project. On the other hand, it is not uncommon for very large as a rough guide, four or five charts would be used for a smaller project
projects to run to level 15 or even level 20 before it is possible to make and six or seven for a larger project. Blank 'post-it' notes are attached
these detailed estimates. to the top left hand corner of each chart to be used later in the process.
These post-it notes are a different colour to the ones used in Step 2.
When this data is established, we can manage our project with a higher
level of certainty, particularly in regard to on time and within budget
completion.
Project managers can use two methods to establish the level of detail
we need in our WBS:
• bottom-up planning
• top-down planning.
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Step 2 • The outcome of this process is called different names, but its
generic label is the 'affinity diagram', which is one of the seven
new quality tools.
Step 3 usually takes between five and ten minutes
Step 4
Ask participants to brainstorm the micro level actions that will be Tell participants that our aim is to reach a consensus about the
description of the piece of work that is represented by each chart. Ask
required to deliver the project from start to finish. Direct them to:
them as a group to:
• Do this in silence, without consulting anyone.
• Look at each separate chart and agree on a label for it.
• Focus on actions that are within the scope of the project and
leave out what are outside the project scope. • Write the label on a post-it note and place it in the top left hand
corner of the chart.
• Write only one action on each post-it note.
• Record only specific actions (not generic actions). The rules for these labels are that:
The time you will need varies from project to project, but ten minutes is • they may be single word labels, or
usually enough. • they may be 'verb' initiated short action statements.
Step 3 Whichever form is chosen, it must be used consistently. Single word
Ask participants to place post-it notes with a similar theme on the same labels tend to be used for larger projects and short action statements
chart. The affinity or similarity that a person sees between their post-it for those projects that are not so large or complex.
notes and others on the chart is what the process is seeking to achieve. The purpose of bottom-up planning is not to provide a detailed plan for
To reduce the risk of one person 'directing' where everybody places the whole project. Rather, it is to identify the labels for the 'chunks' of
work that it has been decided to break the project down into. Bottom-
their post-it notes, instruct them to:
up planning is often used for projects that are somewhat different from
• Do this in silence, without consulting anyone. those usually undertaken by an organisation. It is a useful method, as it
• Take turns to place post-it notes on the different charts one at a reduces the risk of omitting necessary project activities.
time, i.e. don't put all your post-it notes on the charts before
other team members.
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Top-Down Planning and the WBS Step 2

Top-down planning takes up where bottom-up planning leaves off. As
we've discussed, bottom-up planning is used to develop the level 2
labels in the WBS. Once these level 2 labels have been determined, the
bottom-up planning process has fulfilled its function and the balance of
the WBS is determined using the top-down planning method. Whereas
the bottom-up planning process used micro level actions to determine
high level labels (level 2), the top-down planning process uses the high
Ask the team to:
level labels (level 2) to determine the next level down labels (level 3).
• Brainstorm the labels that will represent the level 3 chunks of
Top-down planning is usually used on projects that an organisation is
work for the level 2 label we have chosen.
used to managing. In other words, project managers have a good idea
• Write these level 3 labels on new post-it notes.
of what the labels will be.
• Place them underneath and to the right of the top post-it note,
As for bottom-up planning, a proven process can be used to improve as they would appear if we were performing this process using a
the robustness of the outcome. This process involves the team software planning package.
members or a group of project stakeholders working together through
two key steps. As a general rule in planning projects, the number of lower level
'chunks' compared to higher level chunks should be a minimum of two
Step 1 (otherwise there is no point in driving the plan to a lower level) and a
maximum of around ten, but preferably eight.
In what is often referred to as the transition process, we start where we
left off in the bottom-up planning process. That is, we begin with pages The reason for limiting these breakdowns is that if our project is quite
of post-it notes on charts with the level 2 labels represented on the complex, this complexity is better dealt with by adding levels, rather
post-it note in the top left hand corner of each chart. than by increasing the number of 'chunks' for a given higher level
'chunk'. This is often described as dealing with complexity by using a
Starting with any chart, but usually the end one, we strip off all the post-
it notes except the level 2 notes. We place the rest of the post-it notes
from this chart in a group out of sight.
P a g e | 64
hierarchical structure—often referred to as the 'tree, branches and Time Estimations

twigs' model. What is an estimate? According to the Oxford Dictionary it is: an
approximate calculation or judgement of the value, number, quantity,
There are obvious advantages to the creation of a WBS but there are
or extent of something.
also disadvantages.
Estimating is predicting the time to be allocated to, and cost of,
Projects work to deadlines and if that deadline is too tight because of
completing
bad time estimations, chances are there will be a lot of unhappy
stakeholders. People often underestimate the amount of time needed project deliverables and should be done by the person most familiar
to implement projects, particularly when they're not familiar with the with the task.
work that needs to be done.
So why is it important to estimate time? When you undertake
For instance, they may not take into account unexpected events or estimations you are trying to balance the needs and expectations of the
urgent high priority work; and they may fail to allow for the full stakeholders during the project implementation.
complexity of the job. This is a trigger for scope creep to set in. So it is
crucial to estimate time correctly. • Good estimates support good project decisions.
• Your estimations help to schedule work; to determine how long
the project should take. You are developing time-phased
budgets and you are establishing the project baseline.
• This helps to determine whether the project is worth doing or
not and if it is worth doing, you can keep an eye on how well it
is progressing through the implementation.
A project sponsor often judges whether a project has succeeded or

failed depending on whether it has been delivered on time or under
budget. To have a chance of being successful as a project manager, you
need to be able to negotiate achievable deadlines.
The project manager will need to follow 4 steps to estimate the time a
project will take.
1. Firstly you have to understand what is required. By completing a

Work Breakdown Structure and ensuring that time is allowed
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for meetings, reports, communications, testing and every other schedule to build in time for unexpected events such as sickness,
activity required to complete the project you are on the way to equipment or supply failures, accidents, meetings, etc.
full understanding of the project requirements
In the early stages of project planning, you often won't know who will
2. List these activities in the order they need to happen. At this
point you don’t need to think about how long they will take but do each task – this can influence how long the task will take. For
you will need to work out the relationships depending on start example, an experienced chef should be able to cater for a 3 course
meal for 100 people much more quickly than someone less experienced.
and end dates as we discussed in the last lesson.
3. Decide who to involve because a project manager cannot do all Until that chef is hired, the schedule should be planned to be for the
of this alone. Regardless of how self important a project less experienced chef.
manager may feel, in reality he doesn’t know everything about You can build this into your estimates by giving best, worst, and most
everything and so he should brainstorm this section with all the likely estimates, stating the basis for each view.
subject matter experts, that is, the people who actually will be
doing the work. That also helps to cement relationships with a When estimating an activity’s duration, consider past experience, expert
team because if they work out how long it will take, they will opinion, and other available sources of information to clarify the
work harder to make sure they meet the deadlines set. But following components of the activity:
remember that people are often overly optimistic, and may
Knowing the types of resources an activity requires can help you
significantly underestimate the amount of time that it will take
improve your estimate of the activity’s duration. For example, not all
for them to complete tasks.
printers print at the same rate. For example, a printer that produces 100
4. Make your estimations. To begin, estimate the time needed for
copies per minute can complete a job in half the time a printer that
each task rather than for the project as a whole. List all of the
produces 50 copies per minute requires. Likewise, a large printing job
assumptions, exclusions and constraints that are relevant; and
can take half as long if you have access to a printer for eight hours a day
note any data sources that you rely on. This will help you when
rather than four hours a day. Specifying the characteristics of the
your estimates are questioned, and will also help you identify
particular machine you’ll use to make copies can improve the activity’s
any risk areas if circumstances change.
duration estimate.
It is a general project management rule to assume that resources will be
productive for only 80% of the time. Using this presumption allows the
P a g e | 66
during the planning stage of the project. Estimates are created for all
tasks at the lowest level of the WBS and then these are accumulated to
determine the estimates for the whole project. One disadvantage of the
bottom-up method is that it is much more time-consuming than other
methods.
3. Comparative Estimating
With comparative estimating, you look at the time it took to do similar

tasks, on other projects.
Estimation techniques 4. Parametric Estimating

There are 5 main estimation techniques
With this method, you estimate the time required for one deliverable;
1. Top-Down Estimating or Macro Estimation and then multiply it by the number of deliverables required. For
example, if you need to create pages for a website, you'd estimate how
In top-down estimation, you develop an overview of the expected much time it would take to do one page, and you'd then multiply this
timeline first. You use the actual durations, effort or costs from previous time by the total number of pages to be produced.
projects as a basis for estimating the effort or costs for the current
project. For accuracy it's often helpful to compare top-down estimates 5. Three-Point Estimating
against the next method which is bottom-up estimates.
To build in a cushion for uncertainty, you can do three estimates – one
2. Bottom-Up Estimating or Micro Estimation for the best case, another for the worst case, and a final one for the
most likely case. Although this approach requires additional effort to
This is considered to be the most accurate method for generating create three separate estimates, it allows you to set more reasonable
project estimates. expectations, based on a more realistic estimate of outcomes.
Bottom-up estimating allows you to create an estimate for the project Formula
as a whole. To analyse from the "bottom up," break larger tasks down
Before we look at formulas to calculate your project schedule we need
into detailed tasks, and then estimate the time needed to complete
to define some basic terms related to project time.
each one. Because you're considering each task incrementally, your
estimate of the time required for each task is likely to be more accurate. • Duration is important for scheduling and for determining how
You can then add up the total amount of time needed to complete the long project activities will take to complete.
plan. The method uses the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) developed
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• Effort is used to determine how much it will cost to complete Resource units = Effort / duration
the activity in terms of human resources. These are usually
And also, if we know the effort is 100 man days and divide that by the
measured in labour units, e.g. hours or days.
10 days duration we can allocate 10 men as resources.
• Project calendar time is the days from project start to project
finish based on a normal calendar. It includes all days of the A cautious way to generate your time estimates is to use a simple
week regardless of whether project work is carried out on these formula. The formula works like this:
days.
• Most Optimistic (TO) – best case scenario
A factor that may be taken into consideration when estimating time is • Most Likely (TL) “normal” scenario
the amount of effort required to do a task. This is usually calculated • Most Pessimistic (TP) Worst case scenario
when allocating resources to tasks, but in some projects, there may be a
finite number of resources pre-allocated and so duration will rely on ((TO x 1) + (TL x 4) + (TP x 1)) / 6 = TE
effort.
i.e. sum of (optimistic x 1) + (likely x 4) + (pessimistic x 1) / by 6 =
Effort = duration x resource units expected task duration
For example: you have allocated 10 days duration to a task and you TE is earliest possible completion time.
know that it will take 10 men to complete the task in ten days (that is
Go on; try it for another simple example:
the effort of 10 men). Therefore your effort calculation is 100 man
days. If the project sponsor said that the duration was too long and You have to go to the shop to buy the cat food. You need to estimate
needed to be halved, your calculation would then have to show a how much time that might take. In the best case, with no traffic holdups
doubling of your resource units to reach the same result. or chance meetings that require you to converse with anyone it usually
takes about 15 minutes. But what usually happens, that is, the most
That is the duration of 5 days multiplied by 20 men (double the original
likely scenario, is that you go around the time school is getting out and
10 men)
the speed zones drop to 40kph and children press the button on the
Duration = Effort / resource unit pedestrian crossings. So, usually, it takes you about 20 minutes to get
the cat food. The worst case scenario is that you avoid the school time
Taking that same example, if we wanted to calculate the duration but zone but just as you get into the car to begin the journey, Great Aunty
knew the effort and resource units we could say that 100 man days (the Mary comes up the street on her walking frame and you feel obligated
effort) divided by 10 men (the resources) would give us duration of 10 to give her a lift to the shops and by the time she gets into the car and
days measures you up for your next knitted Xmas jumper the school zones
have been activated and, guess what?, it’s fete day and there are 3
P a g e | 68
times the number of people pressing the pedestrian button as usual. Taking another example with a more thorough approach, let's assume
Worst case scenario… 35 minutes. that we have a part-time painter and decorator to prepare and paint a
room. For this particular room, we have decided to include a feature
Let’s use the formula now. ((15 * 1) + (20 * 4) + (35*1))/6 = 22. Based on dado border around the room and to finish all timberwork in a mirror
that formula you would leave yourself 22 minutes to get the cat food. finish. We know this painter is meticulous in his work and we are happy
to wait until he is available for our job. The painter gave us the following
availability and plan for work.
We now take that information and use it to calculate effort, duration

and project calendar time. Notice that we have assumed that our
painter does not work weekends or public holidays and, therefore, we
do not take them into account when we calculate duration.
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Estimating Time with Bottom-Up and Top-Down Planning If we were to take the same example and perform a top-down estimate,
Let's look at how bottom-up and top-down planning can be applied to we would not be exposed to the same level of detail, but rather a more
the way in which time is estimated for a project. macro view of the project. For example, in a brief discussion with our
painter we would learn that there was between say 6–8 person days of
In our painter example, the project was broken down into daily blocks effort required to complete the project and that this would be done
of time and work was allocated to these days. This enabled a micro level over approximately a fortnight starting around the middle of the month.
view of the project and a detailed estimate of the effort and duration.
When estimating at this level of detail, we need to complete a bottom- If we said that sounded fine, the painter might then suggest that we
up estimate, which will produce the micro level view of the project that engage him on a time and materials basis. That is, we would incur
we need. whatever cost (in labour and materials) that it takes to complete the
project. For example, if the painter had difficulty painting one of the
walls because of rising damp and this added two days of effort to the
project, we would be obligated to pay this extra.
If on the other hand, we had a fixed price contract with the painter, this
may well have been struck at the six, seven or eight days' effort price.
We could then expect our painter to complete the project for this price,
regardless of the effort involved. The upside for the painter is that if
things went well and the job did not take as long as expected, he would
benefit from the fixed price agreement
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Identifying dependencies Finish-to-finish dependency means that the next activity cannot finish
As with our painter example, very few projects consist of activities that until the finish of the previous activity, however activities may overlap.
start and finish on the same day. On most projects, activities are For example:
interdependent and relate to other activities in some way. While
projects will include a number of independent activities that have no Previous Next
relationship to other activities, most project activities are constrained Complete spreadsheet
by or dependent on other activities.
Four types of logical dependency can exist between two project Analyse data
activities.
1. Finish-to-start
4. Start-to-finish
Finish-to-start dependency means that the start of the next activity
Start-to-finish dependency means that the start of the next activity
must wait for the finish of the previous activity. For Example:
must occur before the finish of the previous activity. Both activities
must overlap. For example:
Previous Next
Prepare room Paint room
Previous Next
Legacy systems
2. Start-to-start
Replacement system
Previous Next
Move furniture
Arrange furniture
Start-to-start dependency means that the start of the next activity must
wait until after the start of the previous activity, however activities may
overlap. For example:
3. Finish-to-finish
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Identifying Lag and Lead Times 1. Finish-to-start dependency

When talking about the four types of dependency, the terms lag time or
It might be desirable to allow sanding dust from the preparation to
lead time are used. Let's see how they might apply to our previous
settle before we paint the room. The lag time between the two
examples.
activities might be four hours, especially for a good quality paint finish.
2. Start-to-start dependency
We might wish to have more than half the furniture available before we
attempt to arrange it. Depending on the distance over which the
furniture has to travel and how much furniture there is, the lag could be
anywhere from hours to days.
3. Finish-to-finish dependency
We might know that the data analysis will be complicated, requiring

quality time between the end of populating the spreadsheet and
completing the data analysis. So, we might nominate a lag time of say
five days. The data analysis will not be completed until five days after
the spreadsheet is populated.
4. Start-to-finish dependency
We may wish to run the replacement system for one full accounting
period before the legacy systems are turned off. The start up of the
replacement system would have a lead time of 31 days over the
decommissioning of the legacy systems.
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Developing a Gantt chart • Activity G is scheduled to conclude on day 22, provided the
One of the most widely used scheduling tools is the Gantt chart—a project is running to schedule.
timeline that shows activities, their duration, their sequence and their
dependency. It is a useful graphical (and therefore easy to understand)
representation of a project.
The Gantt chart was named after Henry Gantt and first appeared in the
early 1900s. It is one of a number of bar charting techniques that plots
the activities of projects as bars of time on a chart showing duration or
calendar time. The activities are listed to the left hand side of the chart
in a vertical column with the earliest at the top and the latest at the
bottom. On rows beside each activity are bars representing the amount
of time that the activity is expected to take (duration or calendar time).
Vertical lines with arrows are drawn between the bars to indicate
dependency. The illustration shows a project consisting of activities A–J,
starting on day 1 and concluding on day 22.
If we were to write the plan in text form, it might be something like:
Activity A commenced on day 1 and concluded on day 3.
• Upon conclusion of Activity A, but not before, Activity B will

commence, and will conclude on day 5.
• Following completion of Activity B, both Activity C and D can
start simultaneously.
• Following completion of Activity D, Activity E and H can start
simultaneously.
• Following completion of Activity E, Activity F may commence.
• Activity J can start following completion of Activity C, but not
before.
• Activity I can start any time after Activity H is complete.
• Activity G can start upon completion of all of Activities F, I and J.
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Embedding milestones Let’s now add milestones to our illustration. These appear as numbered
Milestones are significant events or points in time in a project. They are diamond shapes in the graphical part of the diagram and are listed as
a useful way of signalling the start or finish of some part of the project text in the left hand column. The diamonds are as they would be in a
and where approvals, reporting requirements and inspections have live project. Notice they are placed at a point in time (e.g. Milestone 4 is
been completed. They provide us with a useful measure of project at the end of day 10). A milestone does not have the concept of a
progress. duration or effort associated with it. Rather, it is always the culmination
(or start) of duration or effort.
A key, but perhaps obvious, differentiator between activities and

milestones is in the language used to represent them. From level 3 in
the work breakdown structure and beyond, the generally accepted
description of an activity starts with a verb, e.g. 'Build prototype
product'. In contrast, milestones start with a noun, e.g. Prototype built
and signed off.
Milestones:
• must be concise
• should start with a noun
• must be clear and unambiguous.
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The critical path is simply all the tasks that determine the end date of
Critical path analysis your project schedule.
Now you have your task durations, scheduling and milestones all clearly
illustrated in a Gantt chart and you are thinking you have covered all the Creating a critical path network diagram
bases and that your project is going to be a marvellous success. There are 6 steps to creating a critical path network diagram.
Hopefully it will be!
1. Specification of activities – The WBS is used to identify the
There is just one more tool you should investigate prior to handing your activities at all levels but in the critical path method, only the
hard work over for final approval and that is determining your critical higher-level activities are selected.
path. A critical path analysis identifies the tasks which must be 2. Establish activity sequence – In this step 3 questions are asked:
completed on time for the whole project to be completed on time, i.e. • Which tasks should take place before this task happens?
the CRITICAL TASKS. • Which tasks should be completed at the same time as this task?
• Which tasks should happen immediately after this task?
It also determines which tasks can be delayed in the event of
3. Gantt chart – When the activity sequence has been correctly
catastrophes in scheduling and which tasks you could accelerate to
determined, the diagram can be drawn.
complete a project within remaining available time. Whilst a critical
4. Activity estimates – duration of critical tasks is estimated.
path analysis is very useful, it can be a disadvantage if you use it to only
5. Critical path is identified – For this step a project manager must
manage your project because it does not show the full gamut of tasks
determine 4 parameters of each activity of the network
necessary for project completion.
diagram:
As with Gantt Charts, the essential concept behind Critical Path Analysis • Earliest start time (ES) – the earliest date an activity can start
is that you cannot start some activities until others are finished. These once the previous dependent activities are over.
activities need to be completed in a sequence, with each stage being • Earliest finish time (EF) – ES + activity duration
more-or-less completed before the next stage can begin. These are • Latest finish time (LF) – the latest time an activity can finish
'sequential' activities. Critical path identifies the sequence of activities without delaying the project
that will allow the earliest finish of the project. • Latest start time (LS) – LF - activity duration
The critical path is the longest sequence of activities from project start The time between ES and LS or between EF and LF is known as float
to end that should be started and completed EXACTLY as scheduled. time. During float time and activity can be delayed without delaying the
Imagine you have a project that will take 100 days to complete project finish date. The critical path is the longest path of the network
according to your Gantt chart. If the first task on the critical path is 1 diagram. If a project needed to be accelerated, the critical path activities
day late in completion, your project will now take 101 days to complete would have to be reduced.
UNLESS another task can be reduced in time by 1 days.
P a g e | 75
6. Draw critical path diagram – the diagram becomes a live • clearly identify critical work activities and tasks
artefact and will be updated with actual values once the • be in sufficient detail to enable the timing and monitoring of
activities are completed to give a more realistic date for project resources
meeting the deadline. • be in a similar format to and be aligned to other organisational
plans that share common resources
Critical path diagrams offer a visual representation of the project
• be included as part of the project information system
activities, determine project duration and allow for tracking and
• be easily updated and modified.
monitoring during project implementation.
The last point is important because although a great deal of work may
Project schedule vs project baseline have gone into the project schedule, once the project is underway
According to A Guide to the Project Management Body Of Knowledge changes may need to be made. Despite laying out a tentative project
(PMBOK GUIDE, 5th Edition), a schedule baseline is the approved timeline and a scope of work document for the endeavour, due to
version of a schedule model that can be changed only through formal
changing market trends and shifting stakeholder interests sometimes
change control procedures and is used as a basis for comparison to project objectives and the flow of activities tying the beginning to the
actual results. It is accepted and approved by the appropriate
end have to be altered.
stakeholders as the schedule baseline with baseline start dates and
baseline finish dates. During monitoring and controlling, the approved From these contingencies rise the concepts of baseline schedule (also
baseline dates are compared to the actual start and finish dates to referred to as schedule baseline) and project schedule.
determine whether variances have occurred. The schedule baseline is a
component of the project management plan. A baseline schedule and a project schedule are two different documents
entirely.
Having looked at the different scheduling tools, you will realise that
project schedules can take different formats. For example, sometimes Baseline schedule – original (frozen) project schedule that was decided
schedules are displayed in hard copies on boards in the project upon prior to implementation.
management office, other times they are developed using software Project schedule – the working (live) schedule that is updated to
packages and are only available as electronic copies. On some projects accommodate all changes, delays and problems encountered
Gantt charts will be used, other projects may use a combination of throughout the project life-cycle. Milestone dates, completion dates,
project scheduling formats. start dates are shuffled and juggled as the project schedule works
Whichever format is chosen for a project, for a schedule to be effective towards trying to keep to the baseline schedule.
it must: As the project hurtles towards completion a project manager compares
the variances between the baseline schedule and the actual project
• be easily understood by all project stakeholders
P a g e | 76
schedule, determining courses of remedial action when necessary and

documenting causes of variance for future projects.
Scope Statement
Scope Management Plan
In Module 1 we discussed project initiation documentation including the
project scope statement. During this initial concept or initiation phase of
the project, a lot of raw data had been collected. You looked at
stakeholders, timelines, specifications, organisational briefs and mission
Work Breakdown Structure
statements and made a solid and realistic document that would
consolidate all of that data and produce the final project scope. (realistic
is the optimum word here)
The project scope can be called by a few other names so please don’t be
confused by the other terms when you are doing your own research. It
can be called a project charter, a project brief, a project overview How WBS will be approved and maintained
statement and sometimes a Scope of Work statement. There is no hard
and fast rule about which terminology to use. There is also no hard and
fast rule about which template to use to document it.
Now, with the additional work you have done in determining quality
and scheduling requirements, you can now start thinking about how you Formal acceptance process
are going to manage the project scope and avoid scope creep and
schedule variances if possible.
This involves creating a scope management plan in collaboration with

the project sponsor, selected team members, stakeholders or other
project managers. The plan must define how to develop, monitor,
control and verify formal changes to project scope. The key elements of Formal change process
a project scope management plan are:
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I can hear a sigh of relief as you see that you have already done most of
the work required for the scope management plan; the scope statement
and the WBS. By previously analysing your stakeholders and
determining influence, impact, roles and responsibilities of each you
also know who has authority over various tasks. So rest easy, from here
on it isn’t too difficult to have the relevant ‘authorities’ verify your work
and validate your quality control processes.
Changes or alterations that occur during implementation must adhere

to the project’s change control procedure. We will look at these in more
detail in Module 5, but for now we need to allocate who are the
stakeholders delegated to authorise those changes.
It is vital to have strict controls over such changes to halt risks that may
incur scope creep. All interested parties must be informed and kept up-
to-date on the projects progression and your scope management plan
outlines this in writing.
A scope management plan ensures that everyone has a common and

thorough understanding of the projects overall objective and how this
need will be met. It defines the role and responsibility of every
individual linked to the project and the communication that must occur
between different parties to ensure it success.
Let’s have a look at what makes up a scope management plan in a little

more detail:
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PROJECT SCOPE MANAGEMENT PLAN

DESCRIPTION Displays a top-level summary of essential
ROLES & • Lists names, contact details and
information relating to the Scope Management RESPONSIBILITIES responsibilities of anyone involved in
Plan such as: scope management.
• States who is responsible for and has
• Author: Project Manager (include
authority to accept the scope’s project
contact details)
deliverables
• Project Name.
• States who has overall authority to
• Version # of Scope Management Plan
accept the final project deliverable.
• Approval: Lists the names and job titles
of each person who as given approval
SCOPE • Describes how project deliverables will
and sign-off of this plan.
DEFINITION be defined so that each one has a
• Circulation list of who (name, location
detailed description.
& organisation) has received the plan
• Refers to any other documents that it
uses as part of this process i.e. Project
charter, scope statement etc.
INTRODUCTION • Describes how scope of project will be • Describes tools and techniques that will
defined, developed and validated be used in scope definition process.
• Describes process used to control and
manage scope during its lifespan, so
PROJECT SCOPE • Describes work required for each of the
that project creep can be avoided.
STATEMENT project deliverables in detail.
SCOPE • Summarises scope management WORK • WBS outlines how the scope has been
MANAGEMENT approach for project. BREAKDOWN divided up or decomposed into
APPROACH • Defines who has overall responsibility STRUCTURE (WBS) manageable chunks.
and authority for this area as well as
what documents and measures will
firstly define and then validate the scope.
SCOPE • Describes how each project deliverable
• Describes entire change request process.
VALIDATION will be validated or verified against initial
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scope baseline. third-parties and to relevant

• Describes how each deliverable will be stakeholders.
formally signed off and accepted by the
‘customer’ during project lifecycle
• Describes single end deliverable that
defines the end of the project.
SCOPE CONTROL • Describes how project creep will be

prevented and changes to the scope
baseline assessed, evaluated, approved
and integrated into a new version of
project scope.
• Outlines how progress will be monitored
and status reported
• Outlines how any approved changes will
be communicated within project team,
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Section Summary
A quality project is one that satisfies the needs of the client after external constraints have been considered. The role of the project manager in a
challenging one and is as much about people management as the management of processes.
Throughout the project life cycle the project manager must interact with a range of stakeholders to ensure the project meets their requirements and is
completed using processes and working methods that will achieve a quality outcome. Effective quality management involves focusing on the total
management of a process and all of the people involved.
Project managers must take responsibility for project quality assurance and for ensuring that the required standards of quality are attained. They can
achieve this by implementing a quality management plan that provides a framework with appropriate management processes, quality control
procedures and documentation for achieving a quality outcome.
Each project needs to be audited and the quality management system must also be audited to ensure that continuous improvement takes place. It is the
project manager's role to ensure that audits are scheduled throughout and at the end of the project life cycle to promote continuous improvement on
that project and on future projects. We will discuss this in more detail in Module 5.
Topic Resources
• The Difference Between Quality Assurance and Quality Control: http://www.dialog.com.au/open-dialog/the-difference-between-quality-
assurance-and-quality-control/
• Project Management/PMBOK/Quality Management: https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Project_Management/PMBOK/Quality_Management

• Look at what can happen when you get the scheduling wrong by reading this article from the LA. Times:
http://mynewsla.com/government/2015/11/12/over-budget-scheduling-delays-plaguing-mta-rail-project/ (Accessed 14th November 2015)
• Some scope management plan component templates are available in various formats from here: http://project-
management.magt.biz/templates/02-scope-mgmt/ (Accessed 14 November 2015)
• The Ultimate Guide to Critical Path Method is a website full of expert articles on creation and use of critical path analysis.
https://www.smartsheet.com/critical-path-method (Accessed 14th November 2015)
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• Examples of Work Breakdown Structures are available from: http://www.stakeholdermap.com/plan-project/example-work-breakdown-

structures.html (Accessed 14th November 2015)
• A set of short animated videos outline project scheduling in simple to understand language. I suggest you watch them in order:
• Project Time Planning – Process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBZVxz2HS00 (Accessed 14th November 2015)
• Project Time Planning – Resources: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhk2EwtoVw0 (Accessed 14th November 2015)
• Project Time Planning – Break Down: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4tlexWOaNI (Accessed 14th November 2015)
• Project Time Planning – Critical Path: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJ0TlbcbL-A (Accessed 14th November 2015)
Assessment
After completing modules 3 and 4, you will now be equipped to complete Assessment 2. Refer to the learning portal for the assessment brief.
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Module 5 Project Monitoring

Introduction
Welcome to Module 5 – Project Monitoring of Project Management
• Describe factors likely to impact the project scope
Principles. In this module we will examine the roles and responsibilities
• Explain formal change-control processes
of a project manager as he creates a plan to manage quality throughout
• Explain procedures for reporting scope change
the project, and develops methods to manage changes to the scope and
• Describe roles and responsibilities of quality management
to track the variances that occur throughout the project life-cycle.
personnel
Quality Management Roles and Responsibilities

What responsibilities do you, the project manager, have in establishing
and maintaining quality throughout a project? Obviously motivating
staff and ensuring adequate resources are available is an important role.
You also have to be involved in designing the quality control system at
the project proposal and development stages. During the production
stage you must ensure that monitoring and auditing is done properly.
At the termination stage you need to work with project team members
to complete a final project review and identify any improvement
opportunities for future projects. However you can't just focus on the
processes. Effective quality management is as much about managing
people as resources.
In an ideal situation the project manager is involved from the outset of

the project. So in the proposal stage he establishes the specific
requirements of the client and is involved in the development of project
scope and specifications and identifying the resources required; but the
reality is often different.
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On some projects you may find yourself working for a contractor. Working with the client early on is an advantage, but ongoing
Consultants who interpreted the client's needs may have designed the consultation during the project life cycle may give you information
project. Specialists on the contractor's staff may have conducted the about the client on which to base decisions about compromises that
tendering process. There may be two project managers. One may work have to be made and constraints that must be taken into account.
for the client and manage the project development to the award of
tender. The other may work for the contractor and only start at the
project production phase.
The first project manager may still have some authority or influence on
behalf of the client.
You could be handed a defined situation with the client relationship

established and the project scope, including specific quality
requirements, defined. If this has been well done, you have a sound
basis to work on. If it has been badly done, you may find yourself
managing a poorly thought out project which cannot be completed to
the required quality standard within budget and on time. Continuous
improvement may be achieved during a project, but you have to
Certain stakeholders have defined authority and influence, notably
balance this against the need to deliver on time and within budget.
senior management and the statutory bodies or a higher authority that
issue approvals, e.g. the EPA. Senior management has a responsibility
to set the quality management system for the organisation and to
ensure that the systems for individual projects are compatible with the
organisation system. They must ensure that the appropriate specific
standards are adopted in projects completed by their staff. A building
surveyor may need to approve plans for a building. Other government
inspectors have authority to enforce safe working practices. Some will
have greater influence than others. Financiers may impose conditions
before making a loan. Others, such as designers, lawyers and
contractors have specific expertise. They can significantly influence the
structure of the project, the final requirements and the way it is carried
out.
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Quality Management Plan • Quality This section should explain how you will
If you have forgotten any of the basic principles of quality management Assurance define and document the process for auditing
the quality requirements and results from
we have discussed earlier, refer back to Module 3 – Project Quality to
quality control measurements in order to
refresh your memory before we look at what a quality management ensure that quality standards and operational
plan looks like. definitions are used. This section should also
document the actual quality assurance
The Quality Management Plan is an integral part of any project metrics used for this project.
management plan. The purpose of the Quality Management Plan is to
• Quality Control This section describes how you will define
describe how quality will be managed throughout the lifecycle of the
and document the process for monitoring
project. All stakeholders should be familiar with how quality will be and recording the results of executing the
planned, assured, and controlled. quality activities to assess performance and
recommend necessary changes. Quality
A Quality Management Plan includes the processes and procedures for control applies to the project’s product as
ensuring quality planning, assurance, and control are all conducted opposed to its processes. It should include
including: what the acceptable standards and/or
performance are for the product and how
• Introduction states the purpose of the quality these measurements will be conducted.
management plan
• Quality This section describes the approach the • Quality Control This section should contain a sample or
Management organisation will use for managing quality Measurements useable table/log to be used in taking quality
Approach throughout the project’s life cycle from both measurements and comparing them against
a product and process perspective. standards/requirements. These forms may be
This section should describe how the project found in many different styles or formats.
• Quality
team and/or quality group will identify and The most important aspect of this log is to
Requirements /
document the quality requirements and provide documentation of the findings. If
Standards
standards. Additionally, there should also be actual measurements do not meet the
an explanation of how the project will standards or requirements then some action
demonstrate compliance with those must be taken. This may be done in regularly
identified quality standards. The quality scheduled project status meetings or as
standards and requirements should include necessary throughout the project lifecycle.
both the product and processes. • Sponsor This section is for authorisation to implement
Acceptance the quality management plan.
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Quality Management Manuals Audit of Quality Management Systems

On a small project a quality management plan may simply be a small Every aspect of the quality management plan and the output of the
number of procedures, checklists and inspection and test plans. On a production process should be reviewed during and at the end of the
large project, however, a quality management manual may be required project life cycle. Auditing the project processes allows you to
in hard copy or electronic format. This manual may include individual thoroughly review what happens in a project. Audits should be
quality plans for design, procurement, installation and testing, as well as scheduled in any project management plan you prepare.
inspection and test plans, procedures for all project activities (e.g.
A quality audit is an independent and systematic assessment of project
human resource management, procurement, document control). In
some projects clients require manuals to be prepared in accordance activities and outputs to determine if they comply with the
with specific standards or according to their own organisational requirements documented in the project management plan. An audit
requirements. You need to establish this early on in the proposal stage, involves a thorough examination of how the project was managed and
before you start to develop the quality management manual for that conducted. They can be conducted by internal or external auditors who
project. review the project’s:
If you have responsibility for developing a quality management manual, • specifications

make sure its format and content are consistent with organisational • procedures
policies and any certification conditions that the organisation must • project information systems
comply with. This manual should be regularly updated and there should • documentation
be restrictions placed on who is authorised to make changes to it. • budgets
However, project team members must have access to those sections of • expenditures
the plan that they need to carry out their work. • schedules.
The timing of an audit depends on what is being audited. Early on in the

project life cycle it is useful to review the technical processes being used
in a project. Later in the project life cycle, budget and schedule audits
are useful for senior management to track project progress.
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Role of the Project Manager in the Audit Process Due to the fixed duration of projects only limited improvements may be
The project audit usually has a number of stages. Typically these are: possible. Usually a formal, final audit is needed at the end of the project
to ensure that the project processes produce the desired quality.
• Audit team is briefed on project requirements
• On-site audit is carried out Question: What happens if there is a need to make changes to scope,
• Audit report is written either as a result of a quality management audit realising risks to
• Audit report is distributed. product or processes, or due to other impacts such as changes to
Project managers are usually involved in the briefing of the audit team. business, stakeholder, resources, funding or schedule needs?
Before and during the audit, you need to provide auditors with the Answer: A corrective action needs to occur.
information and data they need to carry out the audit. This usually
involves giving them access to staff familiar with the project, including
project team members. You also need to inform the project team that
an audit is taking place and that the purpose of the audit is to identify Change Requests
opportunities for improvement. Change is inevitable. Change is variable. Change means different things
to different people.
When the audit report is completed, it is up to the project manager to:
Some of the more common terminologies are:
• analyse the report
• identify areas that need attention • Scope change changes the agreed scope and objectives
of a project to accommodate a need not
• implement any necessary improvements
originally defined in scope of project
• where relevant notify project stakeholders, including senior
• Change control management process used to review,
management of the information included in the audit report
approve and implement controlled
• ensure that the audit report is made available on the project changes to project deliverable
information system.
• Version control administrative control of multiple versions
Some examples of what an audit report might identify include:
of a deliverable which track changes after
initial completion
• weaknesses in the procedures for dealing with the client in the
early stages to clearly define the project outcome • Change applies to changes in human resources
• design and documentation processes need amending management (behaviours) and how those changes are
handled
• procedures for supervision of contractors may need review to
ensure that contractors clearly understand requirements and
deliver an outcome that conforms to the project specifications.
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Question: Are all changes to be feared? An example of a timing deviation could be that a deliverable is
completed a week late because the sequence had been switched with
Answer: No. another deliverable, as opposed to an example of a permanent
Project managers should be focussed on delivering projects on time and deviation, being a deliverable completed a week late because it took a
in budget and so should be rigourously monitoring scope creep to week longer to complete than anticipated, thereby losing a weeks time
ensure this. But project managers also have a duty to optimise the that cannot be recovered.
benefits generated by the project which may mean making changes that The change is identified and measured upon the impact on the baseline
will be beneficial in the long term rather than detrimental in the short (that is the scope, schedule and budget). It should be quite obvious that
term. This is particularly relevant in quality management. the further the project is along in its lifecycle, the more dangerous (in
In instances where you decide to accept changes to a project's scope, terms of cost and impact) a change is to a project.
these must be properly documented along with any flow-on changes to It is therefore imperative to be able to identify and monitor the early
other aspects of the project. They also must be backed up with evidence
warning signs of potential change.
as to why the changes should be authorised.
Some of these include:
Question: How is evidence provided?
• Schedule slippage - tasks that aren’t started or completed on
Answer: By analysis of a properly developed and baselined schedule.
time or don’t progress as quickly as estimated.
Remember that projects have defined life-cycles. A project does not go • Variance Trends – variations to cost, schedule, risk, scope or
on forever. It’s start and end dates are there to give substance to the quality can be caused by actual work effort differences, new
allocation of resources and achievement targets. Any variances from deliverables added to the project, which in reality is probably
that baseline have flow on effects throughout the project life-cycle. due to gaps in the planning process, or many other
Variance is the difference between what is expected and what is inconsistencies in the overall project.
actually accomplished. All of these should ring alarm bells alerting to potential changes from
the baseline.
The project scope, schedule and budget are all part of the project
baseline. Change control should be equivalent in a project manager’s mind to
prevention of changes taking a project off track. The goal of change
A change represents a permanent deviation from that baseline. The control is not to prevent all change, but to steer inevitable changes in
word “permanent” is important because it is possible that a deviation line with the project’s successful completion.
can occur intermittently that is self correcting and is only classed as a
deviation because of the timing of the event.
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There are 5 steps in that change management process.
1. Identify the change

2. Assess the impact of the change
3. Review and approve the change
4. Implement and verify the actions required to implement the
change. This establishes a new baseline for the project if the
change is implemented effectively.
5. Follow up verification with a review to confirm the change had
the anticipated impact on the project
Good project managers should be able to describe the difference
between the original baseline and the actual results. They do this by
being proactive in monitoring trends and identifying potential changes
before they happen.
Analysing Information
Match the level of control around analysis and change approvals Analysis is the process of turning detailed information into an
appropriate to the organisation and project. Don’t create overly understanding of patterns, trends, interpretations. To analyse
complex solutions to simple problems, but on the other hand, if the meaningful variances there must be two things: a properly developed
change is going to have different impacts on different stages of
project schedule and a project team who give accurate status updates.
development, do make rigorous analyses to ensure control is over the
broad spectrum of variances. The starting point for analysis is quite often very unscientific. It is your
intuitive understanding of the key themes that come out of the
Be transparent in what you do. Be visible. Ensure everyone in the information gathering process. Once you have the key themes, it
project can see the status of changes at any time. Be focused on proper becomes possible to work through the verifiable information;
implementation after the analysis and approval is done. structuring and organising it. The next step is to write up your analysis
Follow up to confirm the implementation steps have been completed of the findings as a basis for reaching conclusions, and making
and compare the actual impact on the cost and schedule to the recommendations.
estimated project impact. There are 2 main variances that can be destructive in managing a
project: schedule variance and cost variance.
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Schedule Variance shows how far ahead or behind a project baseline If the result of the calculation is a positive number the project is under
the project is running. planed costs. If the result is a negative number the project is over
planned costs and 0 means the project is on target.
To calculate schedule variance use the following formula:
PERT Charts
Schedule Variance (SV) = Earned Value (EV) − Planned Value (PV)
The word PERT is an acronym, standing for program evaluation and
or review technique and was developed in the 1950s in North America to
assist in the management of large (defence) projects. Today it is still
Schedule Variance (SV) = BCWP – BCWS used extensively in these environments. PERT charts are useful for
analysing the variances in a project’s schedule.
where EV (Earned Value) is the budget associated with the work that
has been completed to the point in time of variance analysis Instead of taking just one time for each activity, PERT enables three
estimates of time to be made for each activity (Refer to Module 4 for
and
background information on time estimations):
PV (Planned Value) is the budget for the work planned to be completed
• optimistic time (O)—the best time we believe will be possible,
to the point in time of variance analysis.
should everything go well
• most likely time (M)—the time we think the activity will take
under normal conditions
If the calculation results in a positive number the project is ahead of
• pessimistic time (P)—the time we believe the activity could take
schedule, a negative number means the project is behind schedule, and
should things not go as we expect.
0 means the project is on schedule.
We will look at an example to understand the value of PERT charts in
Cost variance shows how well the project is being managed to the analysing baseline variances.
approved budget.
To calculate cost variance use the following formula:
Cost Variance (CV) = Earned Value (EV) – Actual Cost (AC)
where AC is the actual cost of work performed to the date of variance

analysis.
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The following table shows time estimates for project activities (tasks) • the pessimistic time.
Activity Optimistic Most Pessimistic Expected

Time Likely Time Time
O Time P
M
A 1 3 5 3
B 1 2 4 2
C 3 5 7 5
D 2 3 6 3
E 6 8 14 9
F 1 2 3 2
•
G 2 4 7 4
H 3 4 9 5
I 1 3 6 3
J 4 6 11 8
Expected Time was calculated by:
O + 4M + P
6
Using these figures we can now represent our data as a PERT diagram:
Notice that we have shown three time estimates for each activity in a
PERT diagram:
• the optimistic time, followed by

• the most likely time, followed by
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Estimating Time Variance for PERT Diagrams The results for our example are:
A useful extension of this diagram is to calculate the likelihood of a set
Activity Optimistic Most Likely Pessimistic Expected
of activities being completed in a nominated time. Let’s work through
Time Time Time Time
our example to estimate the likelihood of the project path between the O M P
end of activity B and the start of activity G being completed in 13 days. A 1 3 5 0.44
B 1 2 4 0.25
Step 1 C 3 5 7 0.44
D 2 3 6 0.44
Calculate the variance for each activity in our PERT diagram.
E 6 8 14 1.78
Firstly calculate the standard deviation by subtracting optimistic time F 1 2 3 0.11
G 2 4 7 0.69
from pessimistic time and dividing the result by 6:
H 3 4 9 1.00
SD = P – O I 1 3 6 0.69
6 J 4 6 11 1.36
Next caculate the variance by multiplying Standard Deviation by itself : Step 2
SD2 Add the variances of the activities comprising each of the paths being
investigated, i.e. C-J, D-E-F, D-H-I
• CJ = 0.44 + 1.36 = 1.80

• DEF = 0.44 + 1.78 + 0.11 = 2.33
• DHI = 0.44 + 1.00 + 0.69 = 2.13
Step 3
Calculate the standard deviation for each path—that is the square root
of the variance.
• CJ =1.80 =1.34
• DEF =2.33 =1.53
• DHI =2.13 =1.46
Step 4
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Calculate the Z values for each path, where Z = [path objective –

expected time] divided by the standard deviation.
Z = PO – ET
SD
The path objective in this case is 13 days.
• Z (for CJ) = [13 – 13] / 1.34 = 0.00 Step 6

• Z (for DEF) = [13 – 14] / 1.53 = -0.65 Calculate the probability that all three paths will be completed in 13
• Z (for DHI) = [13 – 11] / 1.46 = 1.37 days by multiplying the probabilities of the individual paths together.
That is 0.5000 x 0.2578 x 0.9147 = 0.1179

Step 5
In other words, the chance or likelihood of C-J, D-E-F and D-H-I being
Refer to a Z-values table (try completed in 13 days is rated at 11.79% or just under 12%.
http://www.statsoft.com/Textbook/Distribution-Tables#z to begin but
there are many others available) and determine the probability of each Calculation Summary for Baseline Variance
path being completed within the path objective (in this case 13 days). Path Path variances Standard Z Probability of
Deviation completion in
From the table it can be established that: 13 days
C–J 0.44 + 1.36 = 1.34 (13 – 13) / 0.5000
• When Z = 0.00 the probability is 0.5000 1.80 1.34 = 0.00
• When Z = -0.65 the probability is 0.2578 D–E– 0.44 + 1.78 + 1.53 (13 - 14) / 0.2578
• When Z = 1.37 the probability is 0.9147. F 0.11 = 2.33 1.53 = -0.65
D–H 0.44 + 1.00 + 1.46 (13 - 11) / 0.9147
That is:
–I 0.69 = 2.13 1.46 = 1.37
• Path CJ has a 50% chance of completion in 13 days
• Path DEF has a 26% chance of completion in 13 days All of this analysis will give you the tools to make the decision on
• Path DHI has a 91% chance of completion if 13 days. whether the current processes are affecting the baseline and need to be
changed or left well alone. If the decision arises to make a change then
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a formal structure should be taken to ensure the decision is approved • changes to legislations may effect and need approvals from
by those with authority. local government bodies
A change management process should never be taken too lightly or Change request processes should be outlined in the project initiation
documentation and should provide guidance for decisions made
made too simple. Changes must be applied with sufficient thought and
regarding change.
analysis to warrant their implementation. On the other hand, the
process should not be too onerous or change may never happen. Sometimes changes do not follow the approval process and this can
lead to risks to the project. The changes without approval are usually
The balance is to define various responsibilities and authority levels so minor matters where it seems to be a waste of time to go through the
that routine changes can be dealt with efficiently but significant changes formalities, but, if the change request and control processes are not
receive due management attention. followed, even in practical simple situations, ensuing more costly
changes may follow the same path, thus jeopardising project outcomes.
For example:
Change Request forms are relatively simple in layout and address the
• a change to scope may have to be sanctioned by business specific changes to be reviewed, authorised and made. The project
owners as it affects the deliverables, resources, costs, schedule manager would need to identify the exact nature of the changes, if they
• changes to technical specifications may have to be sanctioned affect the project scope, what stage of the project life-cycle they are in,
by technology experts what documentation needs attention, what deliverables are affected,
etc.
• changes to staffing may require authorisation by human
resource managers
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Section Summary
For a project plan to be effective it must equally address the parameters of ‘activity time’ and ‘activity logic’. This logical relationship is required to model
the effect schedule variance will have down stream in the project. -– Rory Burke, Author of Project Management Series of Books- Levels of Project
Management. Rory has an MSc in Project Management (Henley) and degrees in Naval Architecture (Solent University) and Computer Aided Engineering
(Coventry). He has worked internationally on capital projects.
Rory’s words ring true as you have seen from your studies to this point. It is the juggling of time, cost, quality and resources that ultimately determines
your skill at project management and identifies your project’s outcome as a success or failure.
In this module you have seen that your initial preparation work at establishing quality management metrics and a schedule baseline give you the
opportunity to measure your project and product development’s progress and to give creditable advice for change when necessary.
Rory also mentioned another home truth in one of his books:
The project manager must be able to develop a fully integrated information and control system to plan, instruct, monitor and control large amounts of
data, quickly and accurately to facilitate the problem-solving and decision- making process. – Rory Burke
Topic Readings
• Using WBS for Effective Project Estimation: http://www.projecttimes.com/articles/usinu-work-breakdown-structure-wbs-for-effective-project-
estimation.html
• Managing Project Baselines: http://thepmcoach.blogspot.com.au/2010/08/managing-project-baseline-changes.html
• Poor scope-management practices could precipitate project failure: http://www.techrepublic.com/article/poor-scope-management-practices-
could-precipitate-project-failure/
• Benefits of a Scope Management Plan: http://www.projecttimes.com/articles/benefits-of-a-scope-management-plan.html

• View How to Manage Project Scope Change. This is a 4:59 minute video and is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMR7jVefRIQ
(Accessed 14 November 2015)
• Some quality management plan examples are available from:

o http://www.quality.co.uk/example/manual.htm (Accessed 19 November 2015)
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o http://www.management-zone.com/performance_management_library/Quality-Management-Plan-Example/index.php (Accessed 19
November 2015)
o http://www.mass.gov/eea/agencies/agr/pesticides/quality-management-plan.html (Accessed 19 November 2015)
• Examples of change control processes in the design and construction industry at:
http://www.designingbuildings.co.uk/wiki/Change_control_procedure_for_building_design_and_construction (Accessed 19th November 2015)
Assessment
After completing this module, you will now be equipped to complete
Assessment 3. Refer to the learning portal for the assessment brief.
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Module 6 Project Review

Introduction
Welcome to Module 6 – Project Review of Project Management This module will help you:
Principles. In this module we look at how we review the project you • Review scope-management implementation, project
have been working on. Congratulations on reaching this point in your scheduling and quality outcomes
course. • Document and recommend improvements in processes for
future projects
A quality project is one that satisfies the needs of the client after
external constraints have been considered. The role of the project
manager is a challenging one and is as much about people management
as the management of processes. The most valuable asset of many Project Closure Phase
organisations is the knowledge and skills of the staff. Closure is the final stage in the project life cycle and is triggered when
the sponsor formally accepts the project. The objectives of this stage
What you need to be aware of when winding up a project is the idea of are to: transition the product, services and deliverables to the project
harnessing the knowledge of the project team and the results of the sponsor; logically complete administrative and logistical close-out
project management. One of the dangers of projects is that departing activities including contracts; release project resources and capture
team members take valuable knowledge with them. A detailed project performance information that will help improve future projects.
report that is
A project life cycle incorporates everything from the planning phases to
the closing activities that complete the work. Projects are temporary,
meaning they have specific end dates slated for completion. The project
disseminated to key people in the organisation and stored on the
conception, planning and execution stages are the stages that make you
project information system ensures this knowledge is not lost and can
feel like you are in the midst of it all but this final stage should not be
inform future projects.
passed over as something to be done quickly and with little thought.
When the project is finished it is important that a post-project review
This stage is where you learn the lessons of how your project went. You
takes place with the project team members and other key stakeholders
now have all the real time data on the teams performance, the
to discuss the successes and failures of the project while they are fresh
stakeholders contributions, the accuracy of the estimations and all
in everyone's minds.
other aspects of the project.
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Project closure activities ensure the product you created meets project
requirements. This project closure stage allows you to review the
successes and shortcomings for future reference.
The main thing you have been working towards throughout the entire
project is the completion of deliverables. In the project closure stage
you get to deliver them. You handover the deliverables to the client or
sponsor.
Handing them over isn’t the end of it though, having them accepted by
the client is a formal process. Having the deliverables accepted signifies
that the customer agrees that the scope of the project and its
deliverables are complete and were delivered as agreed upon by all
parties.
Acceptance is based on the success criteria defined in the initiating and

planning phases of the project.
“Virtually every company will be going out and empowering their

workers with a certain set of tools, and the big difference in how much
value is received from that will be how much the company steps back
and really thinks through their business processes…thinking through
how their business can change, how their project management, their
customer feedback, their planning cycles can be quite different than they
ever were before.”
Bill Gates
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Project Outcome Analysis contracted services should be completed, as should all final payments
This analysis involves the project participants looking back over the and appropriate financial documentation organised.
project successes and failures and it includes a comparison of the
During the Close out stage a final Project Report is produced and
project’s practices and the planned and actual outcomes. This can be
submitted for approval. All other relevant documentation is also closed
done a number of ways. You could conduct a group meeting or hold
and filed for future reference.
individual interviews of the people who worked on the project.
As part of this post-project review you should review the outcomes of
The project’s actual outcomes are also compared against industry
the scope management process to gauge its effectiveness. Issues to
average results for similar projects. It also compares the project’s
consider include:
practices against industry Best Practices for similar projects.
• Did the project align adequately with the organisation's current
The analysis benefits project teams and project sponsors as it:
business strategy?
• Allows teams to look back at a project after it has been • Was the feasibility study robust, and were its outcomes
completed to identify both the positive and negative actions accurate?
and gain an understanding of how these actions influenced the • Was the project given an appropriate level of priority within the
project outcomes organisation?
• Provides a set of industry Best Practices that can be used to • Were enough resources available to successfully complete the
improve future performance project?
• Provides a set of lessons learned and/or recommendations • Were all of the project deliverables identified at the beginning
based on the project’s practices and outcomes and industry of the project, and were appropriate performance criteria
Best Practices that can be applied to future projects identified for each deliverable?
• Provides a better understanding of the probable root causes for • Were the project's parameters, constraints and assumptions
the good or poor performance of this project to allow both the adequately identified and documented?
project team members and the company as a whole to avoid • Were all of the stakeholders identified at the beginning of the
the same mistakes on other projects project, and were they appropriately prioritised?
• Were the stakeholders' requirements adequately identified and
All projects include documentation of the process, including the initial addressed?
project requirements, documentation of the development phases, and • Was an adequate risk analysis undertaken?
the testing records. Any documentation related to the project should be • Did any undocumented scope creep occur?
retained for future reference if necessary. All paperwork required for
P a g e | 99
Authority to Close the Project The most honest approach would be to speak to the sponsor and ask
Does the project manager and his team make the final decision about them for honest, open feedback on the project performance. This could
when a project is finished? be in the form of a minuted meeting or by completion of a project
feedback form.
If you answered yes, you are wrong. The final decision is made by the
project sponsor – the client. The project manager conveys the results of You would be asking questions such as these:
the final project review to the sponsor who then officially authorises the
• Was the project delivered as specified and in the timeframe
project closure.
predicted? Were all documents accurate and did the project
• Project Sponsor manager and team when presenting these instill confidence in
If you are a good project manager you would have involved your their abilities?
sponsor in the final stages of the project so that they are comfortable • Did the communication channels remain open at all times and
with the testings and reviews of all the major deliverables and can see did the sponsor feel engaged in decision making?
how the project is coming to an end. • Were all issues resolved in a win-win situation and was the
sponsor happy with how the project evolved over time?
They would have seen the formalities of the written acceptance • Was the budget met?
procedure: Always finish the questioning with something along the lines of ‘what
improvements could the sponsor suggest in regards to future projects?
• The completion checklist
• The specification inspections and testings • Project Stakeholders
• Reviews and evaluations Remember that a stakeholder is ANYONE with a vested interest
You would be giving them all the information they need to take to the (positive or negative) in the project’s outcome. They could be suppliers,
final executive meeting to formalise the closure and make all the final contractors, government bodies, subject matter experts, in fact anyone
acceptance reports and payments. But the sponsor isn’t the only one who you have dealt with on a professional basis throughout the project.
who is involved in the formalisation of the closure.
At this point in the project their individual performance has to be
Whilst the project team may feel the project is over once the reviewed to determine what their value was to the project – that is
deliverable is taken by the sponsor, that possession is not necessarily an whether they added to, or detracted from, the overall project success or
indication of closure. What happens if the sponsor isn’t happy with the failure.
output? Sponsor satisfaction must be taken into account at this stage
and there are a number of ways of gauging this. Each stakeholder should be questioned and as with the sponsors you
could ask the following types of questions:
P a g e | 100
• Were they satisfied with their level of involvement and did they Lindsay Scott
feel like they were part of the team?
• Did they feel they were consulted with adequately and were
they kept informed of the projects progress? • Project Team
• Did they feel valued for their expertise and experience and were Yes, you’ve done a great job as project manager, but let’s get your head
they happy with their role in decision making? out of the clouds for one moment to remember that you didn’t do it
Finish again with questions about improvements for future projects. alone. You had a team. They may not be a team anymore, but they
were a team, with a specific goal and their opinions need to be heard in
• Project Manager
this final stage.
And don’t think you, as project manager, are immune to evaluation.
Your job has been to take control of all of this and be the single point of They made the project happen. They dug the holes, cleaned the
authority in managing the project. You are one step only down from equipment, typed up the documents; they know what it was all about
the project sponsor and you’ve had a lot of work to do and a lot of right down at the roots. So ask them the same questions you’ve asked
pressure to bear right throughout the process. before but tailor it to their particular duties.
You need to debrief just the same as everyone else does! Ask them about the workload, the level of skill required, the access to
training if needed, the management team and their interactions with it,
All the questions you asked the sponsor and stakeholders can be asked
the timeframes they were given, the budget they were given and as
of yourself as well.
always, finish it with suggestions for improvements.
• Did you feel satisfaction and support in all stages of the project
lifecycle and with all resources, processes and stakeholders?
• How do you rank yourself in regards to your effectiveness as a Individual commitment to a group effort -- that is what makes a team
manager? work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.
And again, finally, think about improvements you can suggest for future
projects. Vince Lombardi
One option to consider when bringingon a project manager for the first
time is to consider someone who will not only deliver the project you
have but also provide foundations for the future.”
P a g e | 101
Project Review and Lessons Learned compiling a project close-out report is to improve and consolidate the
When all the project requirements are achieved, it is time to hand over planning and management of future projects.
the implemented system and closeout the project. If the project
The report has nothing to do with any additional revisions or forward
deliveries are on par with the acceptance criteria defined by the
adjustments of the project. It is more a summary, a chronicle, of the
sponsor, the project will be duly accepted and paid for.
project life cycle. It will go through the highs and lows, the successes
After the project closeout takes place, it is time to review the entire and failures, in fact, the life and times of the project’s journey through
project. You have gathered all the feedbacks during the stakeholder all the stages of it’s life – from conception to finalisation.
debriefings and now it’s time to analyse it all and evaluate the projects
People are usually anxious to complete a project and start the next one
overall success or failure. In this evaluation, the mistakes made by the
and as a result the termination phase is often neglected. It is important
project team will be identified and necessary steps to avoid them will be
that you don't lose all the lessons learned and improvements made on
recommended to be taken in future projects.
the project. It's a continuous improvement opportunity, as no matter
Every project, large or small, will have ‘lessons learned’ from the how carefully the project was planned and how well the project
analysis of the debriefing feedbacks. Identifying the lessons is one outcome was received, there will be some lessons learned that you
thing; documenting them is another. The information gleaned should want to use to use to inform future projects.
be shared with all stakeholders in a final report, or possibly even in a
You need to critically review both of the following:
presentation or meeting, and that documentation filed away for
reference material when the next project manager starts another • the way the project was implemented and conducted
project. • the overall management processes used.
The production of a final report is important. The extent of the report
Remember, there is no sense collecting information and reporting on it
will depend upon the size and complexity of the project.
if no one is ever going to read it. As we have said, the major reason for
There are many styles of project close-out reports but they all contain project.
the same basic major elements:
Organisational This is a review of how the parent
Project performance This should be a thorough review structure organisational structure aided or impeded
comparing what the project achieved with the progress of the project.
what the project set out to achieve in the
project scope. Project teams This review provides an opportunity to
profile the performance of team
Administrative This is a review of the administrative members.
performance practices that helped or hindered the
P a g e | 102
Project management This review is of the project management to be explained and corrective strategies taken must be documented
techniques approach adopted throughout the project. with the resultant implications to the project outcomes noted.
The close-out report, once completed is a trigger for the final “must A project manager is basically asking:
do’s” for the project manager.
• What went right?
These include: • What went wrong?
• What improvements can we make in future projects?
• Confirming and explaining actions required on outstanding work
These gaps may focus on (but not limited to):
and agreement and confirmation of responsibilities for ongoing
work • project processes
• Confirmation of who will monitor and report on project benefits • time management
if that is required • personnel performance
• Termination of all financial documents, that is, completing all • team cohesion
payments, money collections and preparing financial reports • quality of work
• Closure of all reporting systems • quality of product
• Updating of all asset registers • technical support
• Archiving of all project files • training and development
• Returning of all project equipment • communication
• Closure of all project sites and offices and release of all • cost or time estimations
remaining project staff. • budget administration
• resource engagement
Project Recommendations
• risk management
It is the duty of the project manager to make recommendations to the
organisation regarding future projects and how they should be
implemented and managed. A recommendation written after gap analysis would explain the
situation the gap occurred in, or as a result of, the lesson learnt from
After review of the project performance against scope and other
that situation and then the process or procedure recommended by you
constraints, identified variances and gaps in deliverables or quality need
to ensure the situation is not repeated in future projects.
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Section Summary
A project is complete when it starts working for you, rather than you working for it.”
Scott Allen
Topic Resources
• Post Implementation Reviews: https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newPPM_74.htm

• Examples of post project reviews can be found at: http://www.utas.edu.au/project-management-methodology/project/closure-and-review
(Accessed 19th November 2015)
• The Closing Phase of Project Management: 1:55 minute video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Txmfkr1r1HA (Accessed 19th
November 2015)
• How to write a project review videos can be viewed at:
o Project Planning: How to Write a Postmortem Report - Project Management Made Easy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJbWAeERakc (Accessed 19th November 2015)
o How to write effective project reports: 6:00 minute video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-vvrcQdpZQ (Accessed 19th
November 2015)
Assessment
After completing this module, you will now be equipped to complete Assessment 4. Refer to the learning portal for the assessment brief.
P a g e | 104

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STUDY GUIDE

Topic Resources .................................................................................. 22 Determining Quality Requirements .................................................... 44

Quality Planning Flowchart ................................................................ 51 Critical path analysis ........................................................................... 75

Further Reading and Useful Websites ................................................ 95

It applies to individuals responsible for managing and leading a

Module 1 Project Initiation

cycle is the transformation of an idea from its conception, through its

Initiation phase • What work tasks have to be done?

We use the language 'project and its outcomes' in order to capture

• Hold positions of authority in the organisation

The rationale behind seeking to understand stakeholder requirements is

This is known as stating a project's scope.

Definition of a project scope focuses on ensuring a project includes

A mistake often made when establishing project scope is having too

There are four components that need discussion and consideration

INCLUSIONS in Project SCOPE EXCLUSIONS from Project Scope

Development of customer Training of operators in how to

•How much time will employees

Employees •Where do employees come from?

•How much are the individual

Budget By documenting precise and unambiguous parameters a project

STATEMENT OF PROJECT SCOPE

Project Initiation Documentation • Project Controls

Further Reading and Useful Websites

Module 2 Project Planning

It begins innocuously enough. You may not even think it is worth

A project manager should never be afraid to say 'no'. It is much better

Triple Constraint Triangle Imagine this scenario:

Think of the project sponsor as the customer in this scenario. As

Set Goals and

Stakeholder analysis is about identifying everyone who may have

It is basically a four step process.

A benefits review plan is used to define how and when a measurement

A benefits review plan creates a baseline for measurement of post-

Scope Accountability Measurement Resources Baseline Performance

“All things are created twice: first mentally; then physically.

and a blue print of the desired result.”

Further Reading and Useful Websites

Module 3 Project Quality

The earlier versions of these standards were prescriptive and very

These standards deal with management systems only and apply to a

• AS NZS ISO 9000:2000 Quality management systems –

Product standard defines

Some standards contain specific prescriptive requirements to ensure

Establishing and maintaining an effective quality management system

The model emphasises the importance of information and communication on a project.

Determining Quality Requirements What Is To Be Achieved?

• the project requirements are documented in a project brief

requirements. You need to establish this early on in the proposal stage,

If you have responsibility for developing a quality management manual,

Designers choose these tolerances so that the smallest permissible gap

Quality Planning Flowchart

Identify area, product or Determine reasonable Ensure monitoring and

Implementing quality assurance

We have to measure the parameters in two processes:

• the process which is producing the project outcome or end

Basic Statistics Control charts can tell you:

The reference standard defines what is to be achieved. It may be a

Development of a Control Chart

• The Difference Between Quality Assurance and Quality Control: http://www.dialog.com.au/open-dialog/the-difference-between-quality-

Further Reading and Useful Websites

Module 4 Project Schedule

Although our analogy is somewhat crude, it serves to illustrate that