IT 402 Project Management

C H A P TER 3 - P R O JEC T
M A N A G EM EN T P R O C ESS G R O U P S
A N D P R O JEC T LIFE C YC LES

Learning O bjectives
Describe the five project

management (PM) process groups,

the typical level of activity for each,
and the interactions among them
Understand how the PM process
groups relate to the PM knowledge
areas
Discuss how organizations develop
information technology PM
methodologies to meet their needs

Project M anagem ent Process G roups

A process is a series of actions directed

toward a particular result

Project management can be viewed as a
number of interlinked processes
The project management process groups
include:
Initiating processes
Planning processes
Executing processes
Monitoring and controlling processes
Closing processes

LevelofActivity and O verlap ofProcess G roups

O ver Tim e

D eveloping an IT Project M anagem ent

M ethodology

Just as projects are unique, so are

approaches to project management

Many organizations develop their
own project management
methodologies, especially for IT
projects
A methodology describes how things
should be done

Project Initiation

Project Initiation
Initiating a project includes recognizing

and starting a new project or project phase

The main goal is to formally select and
start off projects
Key outputs include:
Assigning the project manager
Identifying key stakeholders
Completing a business case
Completing a project charter and getting

signatures on it

Project Initiation
Every organization has its own

variations of what documents are

required for project initiation
Its important to identify the need for

projects, who the stakeholders are, and

what the main goals are for the project

Project Initiation
During the initiating process, you will refine the

project goals, review the expectations of all

stakeholders, and determine assumptions and
risks in the project.
You will also start project team selection -- if the
project team has been imposed, then you need to
familiarize yourself with their skill set and
understand their roles in the project.
At the end of this phase you will produce a
Statement of Work (SOW), which is a document
that provides a description of the services or
products that need to be produced by the project.

U sing the Statem ent ofW ork (SO W )

A crucial document that you will

constantly update and use as a

baseline for your project.
Depending on the size and
complexity of the project, and your
knowledge about the subject matter,
you will need to organize meetings
with the stakeholders in order to
refine the SOW and get it approved.

SO W Sections
An Executive Summary. Provides a short

overview on the purpose of the project, its

background, its scope and sometimes a high-level
project plan.
Objectives. Describes the objectives of the
project. The majority of project management
literature recommends SMART objectives that are:
Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Realistic
Time-Specific

SO W Sections
Scope. Details the scope that you identified

in the Executive Summary of the SOW. In

this section, describe the work that will be
done.
Deliverables. A list of the deliverables to
be produced by the project.
Project assumptions and risks. There
might be a number of unknown issues while
you are planning your project.
Stakeholders. A list of all the stakeholders
identified so far in the project.

Project Planning

Project Planning
The main purpose of project planning is to

guide execution
Key outputs included in the JWD project
include:
A team contract
A project scope statement
A work breakdown structure (WBS)
A project schedule, in the form of a Gantt chart

with all dependencies and resources entered

A list of prioritized risks

Exam ple ofan Intranet Site Project Baseline

G antt Chart

List ofPrioritized Risks

Project Planning
During the planning process, you will detail the

project in terms of its outcome, team members

roles and responsibilities, schedules, resources,
scope and costs.
At the end of this phase, you will produce a
project management plan, which is a document
that details how your project will be executed,
monitored and controlled, and closed.
Such a document also contains a refined
project scope, and is used as the project
baseline

Using the W ork Breakdow n Structure (W BS)

The WBS allows you to group all the

tasks under main activities ensuring

that you have a clear overview of
what you need to execute during the
project.
A good way of developing your
projects WBS is by using the major
milestones/deliverables that you
identified in your SOW.

Exam ple ofW BS

Here is a simplified WBS for the

design of a website:

N etw ork D iagram s

The WBS allows you to identify

groups of activities that you need to

accomplish in your project.
However, the WBS does not show the
dependencies or sequence between
these activities.
A network diagram will allow you to
illustrate this.

N etw ork D iagram s

Here is a simplified network diagram

for the Build Shed project:

N etw ork D iagram

The above network diagram shows the

relationships (arrows) between the main

activities (rectangles) that are required to build
a shed.

U sing the G antt Chart

A Gantt chart is a very useful project

management tool that provides you

with an overview of your schedule
(something that the network diagram
did not).

Creating a Project Plan

Project management

approval page
Executive summary
Project charter
Objectives
Project Assumptions
and risks
Project scope

Project organization
Work breakdown

structure
Network diagram
Gantt chart
Resources
Costs
Procedures
Project directory

Project Execution

Project Execution
Usually takes the most time and

resources to perform project

execution
Project managers must use their
leadership skills to handle the many
challenges that occur during project
execution
A milestone report can help focus on
completing major milestones

Exam ple ofa M ilestone Report

Project Execution
During the executing process, you

apply your project management

plan.
In other words you direct your team
so that it performs the work to
produce the deliverables as detailed
in the plan.
The executing process also involves
implementing approved changes and
corrective actions

Project Execution Process

Managing & leading. The role of the

project manager has often been

described as an ambiguous one
chances are you will not have any clearcut real authority over the people in your
project team.
Directive. Make decisions and set directions
Participative. Encourage participation in

decision-making
Task-oriented. Focus on achieving the
project objectives

Project Execution Process

Ensuring your team works well.

Building a team involves much more

than just putting the right people
together
Communicating. Good
communication is a major key
success factor of any project. As a
project manager you will surely
communicate via phone, emails,
meetings, and so on.

Project M onitoring

Project M onitoring and

Controlling
Involves measuring progress toward

project objectives, monitoring

deviation from the plan, and taking
correction actions
Affects all other process groups and
occurs during all phases of the
project life cycle
Outputs include performance
reports, requested changes, and
updates to various plans

Project M onitoring and

Controlling
During the controlling and monitoring

process, you supervise project activities to

ensure that they do not deviate from the
initial plan and scope.
When this happens, you will use a change
control procedure to approve and reject
change requests, and update the project
plan/scope accordingly.
The controlling and monitoring phase also
involves getting approval and signoff for
project deliverables.

Project M onitoring and Controlling Process

Project control consists of ensuring

that your project is progressing

according to plan, and taking action
if any deviation from the plan is
identified.
Review meetings. Hold review
meetings at regular intervals to
control project progress.

Procedures on Review
M eetings
Have an informal discussion with your key team

members before the meeting.

Do a detailed project review on your own
carefully review all the tasks that need to be
completed in the next three to six weeks. By doing
so you may identify issues that need to be
discussed during the meeting.
Now circulate a meeting agenda to all participants.
If decisions need to be made at the meeting, make
sure that the person with the authority to make
the decisions attends the meeting.
Start a meeting by specifying its objectives.

Procedures on Review
M eetings
Quickly compare the projects current status with the

original project plan.

Follow the initially established agenda and avoid
straying from it.
Ensure that the meetings are not too long and make
efficient use of the participants time.
Always end by recapitulating the decisions made, and
the next steps.
Write a meeting report and circulate it within 24
hours of the meeting. Depending on the situation,
you might want to write a detailed report or just a
simple list of decisions that were made, and actions
to be taken.

Project M onitoring and Controlling Process

Resolving conflicts. Conflicts are inevitable

when people (especially from different

backgrounds) work together on a project.
Resolving project problems. Every project
has its share of problems, which can be
classified into the following categories:
People
Your project is falling behind schedule
Project costs are exceeding the established budget
The scope of the project keeps changing

Project Closing

Project Closing
Involves gaining stakeholder and

customer acceptance of the final

products and services
Even if projects are not completed,
they should be closed out to learn
from the past
Outputs include project archives and
lessons learned, part of
organizational process assets
Most projects also include a final

Project Closing
During the closing process, you

formally accept the deliverables and

shut down the project or its phases.
You will also review the project and
its results with your team and other
stakeholders of the project.
At the end of the project you will
produce a formal project closure
document, and a project evaluation
report.

Project Closing Process

The project evaluation report. At the end

of the project, write a project evaluation

report. Such a report can contain the
following sections:
Project Performance. Cost, schedule and

outcome
Team Member Appraisal. Should be
confidential
Lessons Learned. What is worked and did
not work
Recommendations for Future Projects

The Project Life Cycle

Processes