PRESENTATION ON

PREPARATION OF PROJECTS
 POINTED OUTLOOK
• Definition Of A Project
• Project Identification Tips
• Project Selection
• Writing Project Reports
• Guidelines for Reports
• Network Analysis
• Project Appraisal: Methods and
Procedures
Project Definition: A Quick
Look
Project Definition
Fundable Idea
Define project
Alignment with institutional
priorities
Required documents
Ongoing (Formative) Project
Evaluation
Project Identification Tips
 Project Identification Different
Eligible Sectors
• Energy - Renewable/alternate energy, - Energy
efficiency/conservation, and - Fossil- fuel cogeneration
• Waste Management - Landfill gas capture - Recycling -
Energy from solid waste etc.
• Transportation - Alternative fuel vehicles - Mass transit
systems - Cleaner engines, CNG
• Industrial processes ( Cement, Fertilizer, Textile etc.)
Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry (watershed
management, sustainable forest management,
afforestation and reforestation)
• Agricultural and livestock practices
• Any other project resulting in GHG mitigation or carbon
sequestration.
 Project Selection
• Executive Decision-Making for
Choosing the Right Project
 What is Project Selection
• Strategic Planning
– Linking IT investment decisions to Strategic Objectives

• Opportunity Assessment
– ROI
– Cost Benefit Analysis
– Scoring & Ranking

• Portfolio Management
– Selecting the Right mix of Projects
Why do we need Project Selection?
• To Enable the Organization to choose
the right projects
– Projects that will lead to success
– Projects that have a positive Cost/Benefit
• Provide the organization a prioritized list of
projects
– Project choices are numerous
– Many stakeholders
• Improve the chance of Success
– Scope / Strategic Fit
– Stakeholder involvement
 Project Reality
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 How do we Choose the Right
Projects ?
• Strategic Planning process
– Guidelines for Strategic Planning Process
• Executive Decision Making
– Good Process
– Rigor in questioning assumptions
• Involving the right People
– Stakeholders
– Project Staff
 Executive Decision Making
Framework

Reconciliation

Execution
Definition Analysis Decision
 Guidelines and Tips for Project
Selection
• Set Criteria for Selection/Assessment
• Use agreed upon process for choosing the
projects
• Use a team which represents all of the
Stakeholders
• Use Rigor in challenging assumptions
• Use Key Personnel (Project Managers)
to guide selection
Clearly Define the Selection Criteria
• Wide range of criteria
– Strategic Fit
– Capacity
– Technical Feasibility
– Solution Re-use
– Funding
– Risks
– Organizational Readiness (Culture)
– Opportunity Costs
– Project Duration
 Guidelines and Tips for Project
Selection
• Set Criteria for Selection/Assessment
• Use agreed upon process for choosing
the projects
• Use a team which represents all of the
Stakeholders
• Use Rigor in challenging assumptions
• Use Key Personnel (Project Managers)
to guide selection
 Methods for Selection
• Return on Investment (ROI)
• Cost Benefit Analysis
• Scoring and Ranking Models
– Rank Projects based on Criteria and/or Weighting
– Produces a single score (or data point) for each project
• Portfolio Management Approach
– Balanced Approach for projects to assess risks
– Complicated Model
 Guidelines and Tips for Project
Selection
• Set Criteria for Selection/Assessment
• Use agreed upon process for choosing the
projects
• Use a team which represents all of the
Stakeholders
• Use Rigor in challenging assumptions
• Use Key Personnel (Project Managers)
to guide selection
 Stakeholders
• Perform a Stakeholder analysis
– Expectations, Perceptions, Constraints
• Get Key Stakeholders and staff involved in the selection process

• TIP:
Does the team performing the selection process have the
knowledge, experience and point(s) of view to Represent all of
the stakeholders ?
 Guidelines and Tips for Project
Selection
• Set Criteria for Selection/Assessment
• Use agreed upon process for choosing the projects
• Use a team which represents all of the
Stakeholders
• Use Rigor in challenging assumptions
• Use Key Personnel (Project Managers)
to guide selection
 Rigor in the Process
• Challenge Assumptions
• Challenge Data
• Challenge Criteria
• Challenge Everything
 Guidelines and Tips for Project
Selection
• Set Criteria for Selection/Assessment
• Use agreed upon process for choosing the
projects
• Use a team which represents all of the
Stakeholders
• Use Rigor in challenging assumptions
• Use Key Personnel (Project Managers)
to guide selection
 Team must include Key Personnel
• Staff will be the ones managing the projects
– They have a stake in the selection process
– They will understand the rationale for conducting the project
• Project Managers can add value in the selection process
– Experience
– Project Knowledge
Management

TIP:
People who have a role in selecting projects will be more energetic in
pursuing the project’s goals during execution
The New Project
Writing Project Reports
 Writing Project Report
• Outline of a Project
•Technological background
Report • System overview
 Title •Design and implementation
 Author of each component
 Abstract •System evaluation
 Introduction
Content
 Conclusion
 Theoretical background
 References
Theorem / algorithm descriptions
 Appendices
Proofs / Implementation
Performance evaluation
 Abstract
Tell the whole story in 100 to 200 words
A good abstract
Let people know you've done good work
Make people want to read more
 Introduction Section
• A more elaborated version of the
abstract
• Focuses on
o Motivation
o Project highlights
 Technological Background
• Introduce the tools/libraries/platforms you
used to build you project The purpose is
to help people understand your project,
i.e. not advertisement for the technologies
• Assume your readers are students
• Be clear about the connections between
different pieces
 System Overview
• The Big Picture of your project
• Descriptions of the interaction between
different components, overall work flow
etc.
 Design and Implementation
• Design (or feature design), is how things
should be • E.g. The system support
several types of users …
• Implementation is how things are done
E.g. Each user type is implemented as a
subclass of a User class ..
 System Evaluation
• Results produced
• Comparison with other systems
• Load testing
 Conclusion Section
• Reiterate your achievements
• Emphasize lessons learned and insights
gained
 Some Technical Writing Do's and
Don'ts
• Use formal language
• Use diagrams and figures
• Use tables
• Don't overuse pictures and screenshots
• Don't overuse bullets
• Don't overuse passive voice Use "We"
instead of "I"
Report Writing Tips
Keep the report
organized
Outline the flow in a
logical order
Use sub-headings to
guide the reader
Draw pictures to make
your point
Use tables, charts and
figures to illustrate
and simplify content
 Grammatical Style Tips
• Avoid Common Mistakes
• Its (possessive of it) v It’s (it is)
• Use v utilize
• They refers to more than one person, not a single individual
• Avoid very and similar modifiers (adverbs)
• Avoid ending a sentence with a preposition, i.e. to, of, for
• Use consistent verb tense
• Use active voice rather than passive voice.
 Formatting
– Use simple title pages and fonts
• Use a typeface with serifs
• Use 12 pt font
• Double-space the report
• Number the pages and identify your work in the
header
• Citations must be referenced in standard form
Guidelines for Reports
 GOALS
• Goals for this session Understand the
purpose of progress reports—why a
funder wants them
• Learn the components of a progress
report to a funder
• Things that should not go in a progress
report
 ELEMENTS
• A progress report should contain at least the
following elements:
• People who worked on the project
• Activities undertaken since the last report Results
obtained since the last report and their significance
• Obstacles encountered and how they were (or will
be) overcome
• Any material changes in the project's scope,
direction, or personnel
• Any "products" produced
• Analysis of how expenditures compare to
 FUNDED PEOPLE
• Provide a list of all the people who were paid
with project funds
• Give full names and the sum of money that
each was paid Indicate each person's title
and what he or she did on the project Identify
special people that the funder would want to
know about, e.g. former weapons scientists,
young scientists, students, women If
someone was paid previously but not on this
report, indicate why If someone has been
added to the project, identify him and explain
why
 PRECEDING ACTIVITIES
• Indicate all activities that have taken place
since the last report
• Experiments, data analysis Collaborative
activities—communications, visits, exchange
of data
• Purchase/installation of any new equipment
Travel—purpose, duration, and outcome of
any trips
• Results of any subcontracts Dissemination
of results—articles being prepared or
submitted
 DIFFICULTIES
• Provide details of any obstacles you
encountered and how you overcame them If
you have not yet overcome the obstacles,
report in detail what you have tried and what
you're going to do next Indicate if the work
has been delayed (by how much) and how
you have adjusted the work plan If the delay
affects other institutions involved in the
project, describe how they have adjusted
their work plans
 SCOPE CHANGES
• Report any significant changes in the
project's scope, methods, or personnel
• If you've abandoned a line of
investigation, explain why, and tell
what you are going to do instead If
you've expanded the project beyond
the bounds of the initial proposal,
explain why and how you are going to
pay for it with the funds you have
 EXPENSES
• List expenditures for the current period and
any budgetary implications
• Provide a summary of expenditures in each
budget category for the period If you are
over- or underbudget in any category,
explain why, and what adjustments will be
made in future periods
• Explain any changes in the work plan that
have budgetary implications
 OUTCOME
• Give the funder "good news" that it can
use to justify its own budget
• Emphasize the significance of new
results
• Relate your achievements to the overall
agency mission and goals Include
interesting, memorable figures that can
be used to illustrate your work
 DON’TS
• Things not to include in a progress report
• Don't put bad news or unpleasant surprises
in a progress report; that information should
not be delayed but reported to the program
officer directly and immediately
• Don't put confidential information in a
progress report; some agencies make them
public
• Don't put requests in a progress report; the
program officer may not read the
 NEED OF REPORT
• Let's review what we've learned…
• Understand why a funder requests
progress reports and what information
it is looking for
• Learn what information to include in a
progress report
• Learn what information not to include
in
NETWORK ANALYSIS
Project Scheduling: PERT/CPM
• Project Evaluation and Review Technique
(PERT)
• PERT Networks
• Project Scheduling with PERT/CPM
• PERT Analysis Algorithm
• PERT/Cost
• Critical Path Method (CPM)
 PERT
• Program Evaluation Review Technique
(PERT) is used to plan the scheduling of
individual activities that make up a project.
• PERT can be used to determine the
earliest/latest start and finish times for each
activity, the entire project completion time and
the slack time for each activity.
• A critical path for the network is a path
consisting of activities with zero slack.
 PERT Analysis Algorithm
• Step 1: Make a forward pass through the
network as follows: For each of the activities,
beginning at the START node, compute:
– Earliest Start Time = the maximum of all earliest finish
times of activities immediately preceding activity i.
(For an activity with no predecessors this is 0.)
– Earliest Finish Time = (Earliest Start Time) + (Time to
complete activity i).
The project completion time is the maximum of
the Earliest Finish Times at the FINISH node
 STEP 2
• Step 2: Make a backwards pass through the
network as follows: Move sequentially
backwards from the FINISH node to the START
node. At a given node, i, compute:
– Latest Finish Time = the minimum of the latest start
times for the activities immediately following activity i.
(For FINISH node this is the project completion time.)
– Latest Start Time = (Latest Finish Time) - (Time to
complete activity i).
 STEP 3
• Step 3: Calculate the slack time for each
activity by:
Slack = (Latest Start) - (Earliest Start) or
= (Latest Finish) - (Earliest Finish).
A critical path is a path of activities, from the
START node to the FINISH node, with 0 slack
times.
 Critical Path Method
• In the Critical Path Method (CPM) approach to project
scheduling, it is assumed that the normal time to
complete an activity, tj, which can be met at a normal
cost, cj, can be crashed to a reduced time, tj', under
maximum crashing for an increased cost, cj'.
• Using CPM, activity j's maximum time reduction, Mj,
may be calculated by: Mj = tj - tj'. It is assumed that
its cost per unit reduction, Kj, is linear and can be
calculated by: Kj = (cj' - cj)/Mj.
Project Appraisal: Methods and
Procedures
• KEY ELEMENTS FOR APPRAISAL
Eligibility
• { Regional Development
• { Rational use of energy, efficiency
• { Environmental protection
• { R&D
• { etc
KEY ELEMENTS FOR APPRAISAL
• Legal Framework
• { Policies, public acceptance
• { Licensing, safety
• { Environmental compatibility
• { Procurement
KEY ELEMENTS FOR APPRAISAL
Promoter's standing
• { Management capability
• { Business strategy
• { Financial robustness
• { Access to loan securities
• KEY ELEMENTS FOR APPRAISAL
Technology and Design
• { Project Definition
• { Viability and performance
• { Adaptation to technical progress
• { Local-specific requirements
• { Appropriate technical capacity
• { Life expectancy
• KEY ELEMENTS FOR APPRAISAL
• Time Schedule
• { Preparation of feasibility studies
• { Environmental studies
• { Licensing requirements
• { Time needed for procurement
• { Local conditions (climatic, etc)
• KEY ELEMENTS FOR APPRAISAL
Procurement
• { Techn. characteristics-procedures
• Geographical location
• { Promoter's experience
• { Co-lender's requirements
• KEY ELEMENTS FOR APPRAISAL
Investment Cost
• { Local and foreign currencies
• { Phasing of expenditure
• { Margins for var. contingencies
• { Cost justification
• KEY ELEMENTS FOR APPRAISAL
Environmental and Social Compatibility
• { Impact analysis, mitigation measures
• { Direct, indirect, long-distance effects
• { Prevention vs. « end-of-pipe »
• { Compliance with international standards
• { Least-polluting technology
• KEY ELEMENTS FOR APPRAISAL
Market prospects
• { Demand pattern
• { Degree of competition
• { Tariff level and structure
• { Product quality
• KEY ELEMENTS FOR APPRAISAL
Economic+Financial Viability
• { Cost effectiveness
• { Financial internal rate of return
• { Economic internal rate of return
• { Pay-back period, etc