activities necessary for the attainment of a major purpose for which an organization, like university, is created.
On the other hand, a project is a component
of a program covering similar activities that result in the attainment of a desired output Program and Project Identification Program and project identification refers to the process of identifying and searching for promising development opportunities that are directed towards overcoming hindering or constraining the achievement of defined and desired development objectives or towards exploiting existing development potentials (NEDA, 1993). Development objectives and growth potentials may be derived from national or regional development plans, sector surveys, industry studies, technical packages, multi-lateral or bilateral priorities and many other sources. Phases of program and project identification Program and project identification has two phases, namely (NEDA): environmental scanning process; and screening process.
Environmental scanning process involves acquiring
information about the events and relationships in the organization’s external environment, knowledge of which would assist top management in its task of directing the university’s course of action.
Screening process assesses the output of the first phase
and identifies specific opportunities which are in accordance with government priorities and meet other considerations such as growth potentials, competitive advantages, and subjective preferences relative to government regulations and resources uncertainties and limitations. Components of Program and Project Identification 1. Identification of essential development problem
a. What are the essential current and future
development needs and want of the people, current and future? b. What are the indicators or benchmarks to determine whether and to what extent problems exist? c. Who are the interest groups affected? How do they view the problems? What weights of values do they attach to the problems? Components of Program and Project Identification 2. Identification of resources 3. Identification of projects and policies 4. Formulation of strategies 5. Setting of targets and strategies ( SMART) Project Preparation Project preparation is an investigation which determines the technical soundness, financial viability, economic desirability and operational feasibility of a project (NEDA, 2000). Its real objective is to guide project proponents, business managers and financial executives in determining the actions they must take on a project in order to bring about its successful operation.