LECTURE # 1

INTRODUCTION

CONTENTS
Project
Project management
Phases of project management
Project parameters
The scope triangle

ENGR. JAMAL AHMED KHAN

LECTURER

UET TAXILA
COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of this course, students will be able to:

No CLO Statement PLO Bloom’s

Define basics of project management related to the
CLO-1 PLO-11 C-1
civil engineering projects.
Apply different techniques of project management
CLO-2 for planning and scheduling to control and facilitate PLO-2 C-3
project execution.
Define principles of economics related to
CLO-3 PLO-1 C-1
engineering projects.
PROJECT

A project is a sequence of unique, complex, and connected activities

having one goal or purpose and that must be completed by a specific time,

within budget, and according to specification.

PROJECT
1- SEQUENCE OF ACTIVITIES
 An activity is a defined piece of work.

 A project comprises a number of activities that must be completed in some

specified order.

 The sequencing is based on technical or best practice requirements, not on

management privileges.

 It is better to think in terms of inputs and outputs.

 The output of one activity or a number of activities become the input to another
activity or activities.
PROJECT
2- UNIQUE ACTIVITIES
 It means that the project has never happened before and
will never happen again under the same conditions.
 Something will always be different each time whenever
the activities that comprise the project are repeated.
 Usually, this variation from time to time will be random in
nature e.g., a part is delayed, someone is sick, a power
failure occurs, and so on.
 These are random events that we know will happen - but
when, how, and with what impact on the schedule, we
are not exactly sure.
 It is these random variations that give rise to the
challenge for the project manager.
PROJECT
3- COMPLEX ACTIVITIES

 The activities that comprise the project are relatively complex.

That is, they are not simple, repetitive acts.
 Rather they are new, and require special skill levels, creative
input, and judgement to be done effectively.
PROJECT
4- CONNECTED ACTIVITIES

 There is some order to the sequence in which the activities that

make up the project must be completed.
 Connectedness follows from the fact that the output from one
activity is input to another.
 Unconnected tasks do not form a project.
 One example is the painting of interior rooms of a house. Except
for rather unusual situations, the rooms can be painted in any
order. So, painting the house is a collection of tasks, not a
project. We can take it as one activity of another project.
PROJECT
5- ONE GOAL
 Projects must have a single goal as compared to a
program, which can have many goals. Programs are
therefore a collection of projects that may have to be
completed in a specific order for the program to be
completed.
 There will be situations where a project may be divided
into several subprojects, which are each projects in their
own right.
 This may happen in very large or complex projects for
better management control.
 The subprojects may be defined at the department,
division or geographic levels.
PROJECT
6- SPECIFIED TIME

Projects have a specified completion date. This may be self-imposed by

management or externally specified (as by the client).
PROJECT
7- WITHIN BUDGET

Projects also have resource limits (people, money, machines, etc). While
these may be adjusted up or down by management, they are considered
fixed resources by the project manager.
PROJECT
8- ACCORDING TO SPECIFICATIONS

 These may be self-imposed or client-specified and are fixed as far

as the project manager is concerned.
 There are any a number of factors that will cause the
specifications to change. For example, the client may not have
defined requirements completely or the requirements may have
changed (as happens in long projects).
 To expect the specifications to remain fixed through the project
is unrealistic.
DISTINCTION BETWEEN PROJECT AND PROGRAM

A program is different from a project. Programs are larger in scope and

comprise multiple projects. For example, a construction company
contracts a program to build an industrial zone which comprise of
construction of several individual projects.
PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Project management is a method and a set of techniques based on the

accepted principles of management used for planning, estimating, and
controlling work activities to reach a desired end result on time – within
budget and according to specifications.
PHASES OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT

1- DEFINNG
 One of the first tasks of managers is to define the work to be done
in their area of responsibility.
 The following five questions are to be answered by any good
definition of a project:
1- What is the problem or opportunity being addressed ?
2- What is the goal of the project ?
3- What objects are necessary in order to accomplish the goal ?
4- How will we determine if the project has been successful ?
5- Are there any assumptions, risks, or obstacles that may
affect success ?
PHASES OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT

 The defining phase sets the scope of the project.

 It will be basis for decisions as to whether a particular function or

feature is within the scope of the project.

 For a variety of reasons, the scope of the project changes. We call

these changes scope creep.

 The project manager must respond to scope creep by documenting

the alternatives and consequences of each that will result from the
change of scope.

 A good project manager will have a formal change management

process in place.
PHASES OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT
2- PLANNING
 It is fact that project plan is indispensable. Not only is it a roadmap
to how the work will be done, but it is also a tool for decision
making.
 A complete plan will clearly state that what is to be done, why it is
being done, who will do it, when it will be done, what resources
will be needed, and what criteria must be met in order for the
project to be declared complete and successful.
 Planning reduces uncertainty. While we would never expect the
project work to occur exactly as planned, having planned the work
allows us to consider the likely outcome and to put the necessary
corrective actions in place.
 Planning improves efficiency. The mere act of planning gives us a
better understanding of the goals and objectives of the project.
PHASES OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT

3- EXECUTING
 Executing the project plan involves a number of steps.
 In addition to organizing people, it includes the
identification of the specific resources (manpower,
materials, and money etc) for carrying out the work
defined in the plan.
 It also involves scheduling workers to activities, and
scheduling activities to start and end dates.
 The final specification of the project schedule brings
together all of the variables associated with the
project.
PHASES OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT

4- CONTROLLING
 As part of the planning process, an initial schedule is
built.
 No matter how attentive the team is to creating the plan,
the project work will not go according to plan. Schedule
will slip. That is the reality of the project management.
 In any case, the project manager must have a system in
place to constantly monitor the project progress or lack
thereof.
 This monitoring system will not only summarize
completed work measured against the plan, but will also
look ahead to forewarn of potential problems.
PHASES OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT

5- CLOSING
 The closing phase is very important but it tends to be the part that is
most often neglected by the management. There is always the pressure
to get on with the next project.
 There are several questions that should be answered as part of any
closing:
1- Did the project do what the client said it would do ?
2- Did the project do what the project manager said it would do ?
3- Did the project team complete the project according to plan ?
4- What information was collected that will help with latter projects?
5- How well did the project management methodology work and how
well did the project team follow it ?
6- Closing therefore evaluates what was done and provides historical
information for latter projects.
PROJECT PARAMETERS

 Scope, Cost, Time, and Resources define a system of four constraints

that operate on every project.
 They are an interdependent set in the sense that as one changes, it may
cause us to change others also so that equilibrium can be restored to
the system.
COST

 Throughout the project management life cycle, cost is a major

consideration.
 The first consideration occurs at an early and informal stage in
the life of a project. The requesting client may simply offer a
cost figure about equal to what he had in mind for the project or
on the other hand, different bidders submit their cost offers to
do this job in their tenders.
 In more formal situations, the project manager will prepare a
proposal for the work to be done. That proposal will include a
good estimate of the total cost of the project.
 In case of tendering, the client’s decision will be based on
better estimates of cost and time.
RESOURCES
 Resources are means to complete activities. Examples
are labour, equipment, physical facilities, funds, etc.
 These are capital assets and that have limited
availabilities can be scheduled or can be leased from
an outside party.
 Some are fixed; others are variable only in long term.
 In any case, they are central to the scheduling of
project activities and the orderly completion of the
project.
TIME
 To a certain extent cost and time are trade-off with one another.
 The time can be reduced but cost will increase as a result.
 Time is an interesting resource. It can not be inventoried. It is
consumed whether we use it or not.
 For the project manager, the objective is to use the time allotted to the
project in the most effective and productive ways possible.
THE SCOPE TRIANGLE
THE SCOPE TRIANGLE
 Projects are dynamic systems and they must be kept in
equilibrium.
 Above figure gives us a simple graphic which explains the
dynamics of the situation.
 The scope and quality of the project are represented by the
geographic area inside the triangle, shown in the figure.
 Bounding this area are time, cost, and resources.
 Time is the window of the area within which the project must
be completed.
 Cost is the budget available to complete the project.
 Resources are any consumables used on the project. People,
equipment availability, facilities, and so on, are examples.
THE SCOPE TRIANGLE

 The project plan will have identified the time, cost, and
resources needed to deliver the scope and quality.
 In other words, the project is in equilibrium at the completion
of the project-planning session and approval of the
commitment of resources and funds to the project.
 That will not last too longer however. Changes may come
across at any stage.
 The scope triangle offers a number of insights into changes that
can occur in the life of the project.
 For example, before any project work has been done, the
triangle represents a system in balance. The sides are long
enough to encompass the area generated by the scope and
quality statements.
THE SCOPE TRIANGLE
 Not long after work commences, something is sure to change.
 Perhaps the client asks to add a feature not included during
planning session, or due to certain reasons, the project is to be
handed over at an early date, or a key team member leaves the
company or expires and will be very difficult to replace. Any one
of these changes throws the system out of balance.
 Referring to the triangle, note that the project manager controls
resource utilization and work schedules. Supervision controls
cost and resource level. The client controls scope, quality and
delivery dates.
 This suggests a hierarchy for the project manager, who is
looking for solutions to accommodate changes.