Download choosing strategic projects

BUSINESS PLUG-IN
B15
Project Management
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
© The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved
LEARNING OUTCOMES
1. Describe the project stakeholders and
executive sponsor’s roles in choosing
strategic projects
2. Highlight the five components of a project
charter
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LEARNING OUTCOMES
3. Describe the two primary diagrams most
frequently used in project planning
4. Identify the three primary areas a project
manager must focus on managing to
ensure success
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PROJECT MANAGEMENT
FUNDAMENTALS
•
Project – temporary endeavor undertaken to
create a unique product, service, or result
•
Project management – the application of
knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to
project activities to meet project requirements
•
Project manager – an individual who is an
expert in project planning and management
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PROJECT MANAGEMENT
FUNDAMENTALS
•
Project management role
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CHOOSING STRATEGIC PROJECTS
• Project stakeholders - individuals and
organizations actively involved in the
project or whose interests might be
affected as a result of project execution or
project completion
• Executive sponsor - the person or group
who provides the financial resources for
the project
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CHOOSING STRATEGIC PROJECTS
•
Three common techniques for selecting
projects
1. Focus on organizational goals
2. Categorize projects
3. Perform a financial analysis
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UNDERSTANDING PROJECT PLANNING
• After selecting strategic projects and
identifying a project manager the next
critical component is the project plan
• Building a project plan involves two key
components:
– Project charter
– Project plan
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Project Charter
• Project charter - a document issued by the
project initiator or sponsor that formally
authorizes the existence of a project and
provides the project manager with the
authority to apply organizational resources to
project activities and includes:
–
–
–
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Project scope
Project objectives
Project constraints
Projects assumptions
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Project Charter
•
SMART criteria are useful reminders on
how to ensure that the project has created
understandable and measurable
objectives
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Project Plan
•
Project plan – a formal, approved document
that manages and controls project execution
•
A well-defined project plan should be:
–
–
–
–
Easy to understand and read
Communicated to all key participants
Appropriate to the project’s size, complexity, and
criticality
Prepared by the team, rather than by the individual
project manager
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Project Plan
•
Two primary diagrams used in project
planning include PERT and Gantt charts
– PERT chart – a graphical network model
that depicts a project’s tasks and the
relationships between those tasks
•
•
Dependency
Critical path
– Gantt chart – a simple bar chart that
depicts project tasks against a calendar
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Project Plan
•
PERT Chart EXPERT – PERT Chart Example
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Project Plan
•
MS Project – Gantt Chart Example
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MANAGING PROJECTS
• Project manager - an individual who is an
expert in project planning and management,
defines and develops the project plan, and
tracks the plan to ensure the projects is
completed on time and on budget
•
Project milestones - represent key dates
when a certain group of activities must be
performed
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MANAGING PROJECTS
• Managing a project includes:
– Identifying requirements
– Establishing clear and achievable objectives.
– Balancing the competing demands of quality,
scope, time, and cost
– Adapting the specifications, plans, and
approach to the different concerns and
expectations of the various stakeholders
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MANAGING PROJECTS
• A project manager must focus on
managing three primary areas to ensure
success:
– Managing people
– Managing communications
– Managing change
– Managing risk
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MANAGING PROJECTS
•
Change management – a set of techniques
that aid in evolution, composition, and policy
management of the design and
implementation of a system
–
–
Change management system – a collection of
procedures to document a change request and
define the steps necessary to consider the change
based on the expected impact of the change
Change control board (CCB) – responsible for
approving or rejecting all change requests
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MANAGING PROJECTS
• Common reasons change occurs
– An omission in defining initial scope
– A misunderstanding of the initial scope
– An external event
– Organizational changes
– Availability of better technology
– Shifts in planned technology
– Users needs and requests
– Management reducing funding
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Preparing for Change
• Three important guidelines fore
effectively dealing with change
management
1. Institute change management polices
2. Anticipate change
3. Seek change
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RISK MANAGEMENT
• Project risk – an uncertain event or
condition that, if it occurs, has a positive
or negative effect on a project objective
– Risk management – the process of
proactive and ongoing identification,
analysis, and response to risk factors
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Mitigating Risk
• Actions to improve risk management
capabilities
–
–
–
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Promote project leadership skills
Learn from previous experience
Share knowledge
Create a project management culture
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CLOSING CASE ONE
Staying on Track – Toronto Transit
•
Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) serves
over 1 million customers daily
•
TTC currently has over 50 large engineering
and construction projects
•
TTC’s 50 projects average 100 – 150 activities
each, with some projects encompassing as
many as 500 – 600 activities
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CLOSING CASE ONE QUESTIONS
1.
Describe Gantt charts and explain how TTC could use
one to communicate project status
2.
Describe PERT charts and explain how TTC could
use one to communicate project status
3.
How could TTC use its Master Schedule to gain
efficiencies in its supply chain?
4.
How could TTC use its Master Schedule to identify
change management and risk management issues?
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CLOSING CASE TWO
Change at Toyota
•
Toyota Motor Sales undertook significant
change to bring IT and the business
closer
•
The change began with the upheaval of
a 400-person IS department
•
50 percent of jobs were changed over 6
months
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CLOSING CASE TWO QUESTIONS
1.
What would be the impact on Toyota’s business if it
failed to implement a project management solution and
managed its projects using a myriad of spreadsheets
and Word documents?
2.
Why would Toyota find it important to focus on
implementing good project management techniques?
3.
Why are project management, change management,
and risk management critical to a global company such
as Toyota?
4.
Describe the ramifications to Toyota’s business if it
failed to anticipate change.
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