what is a project management

It may be a summary or a detailed document and may include baselines, subsidiary management plans, and other planning documents. This can help to reduce the risk of a completed project being a failure by delivering agreed upon requirements (outputs) i.e. For each type of project management, project managers develop and utilize repeatable templates that are specific to the industry they're dealing with. Project planning generally consists of[36]. Successful project management identifies these components, and tracks and monitors progress, so as to stay within time and budget frames already outlined at the commencement of the project. Ill-defined or too tightly prescribed project management objectives are detrimental to decision making. Over the course of any construction project, the work scope may change. CPM is used for projects that assume deterministic activity times; the times at which each activity will be carried out are known. They are most often sociable and great team players. Level 1 Project – improve the direct output of an activity (quantity, quality, time) within a business process with targeted completion time up to 3 months. Closing includes the formal acceptance of the project and the ending thereof. Project maintenance is an ongoing process, and it includes:[2]. The initiating stage should include a plan that encompasses the following areas. Projects may be audited or reviewed while the project is in progress. What is project cost planning and control? There are a number of approaches to organizing and completing project activities, including: phased, lean, iterative, and incremental. Input: Goal Team Money Time Equipment Project Output : Deliverables 7. Normally a Post Implementation Review consists of looking at things that went well and analyzing things that went badly on the project to come up with lessons learned. While the phased approach works well for small, well-defined projects, it often results in challenge or failure on larger projects, or those that are more complex or have more ambiguities, issues and risk.[30]. Paper presented at PMI® Global Congress 2006—North America, Seattle, WA. They are responsible for making sure that all aspects of a project are successful and satisfactory to superiors such as CEOs and accountants. The 1950s marked the beginning of the modern project management era where core engineering fields come together to work as one. The Project production management framework is based on a project as a production system view, in which a project transforms inputs (raw materials, information, labor, plant & machinery) into outputs (goods and services). An examination may include a comparison of approved project management processes with how the project is actually being managed. It reflects the developing profession, recognising project-based working at all levels, and across all sectors for influencers, decision makers, project professionals and their teams. Level 6 Project – develop, change, and improve a whole single value chain of a company with targeted completion time from 10 to 20 years. The increasing legality pertaining to the construction industry's maintenance of correct documentation has caused the increase in the need for document management systems. PERT and CPM are very similar in their approach but still present some differences. Beyond executing the change in the field, the change normally needs to be documented to show what was actually constructed. Standardizing project management methods and processes; Providing administrative and operational support for project managers and project teams (Source: PMI) Benefits of a PMO. The phased (or staged) approach breaks down and manages the work through a series of distinct steps to be completed, and is often referred to as "traditional"[28] or "waterfall". Despite having number of debates on this subject matter, studies suggest lack of definition and reasonable understanding of complexity in relation to management of complex projects. Documentation throughout a project provides a paper trail for anyone who needs to go back and reference the work in the past. [13] In the United States, prior to the 1950s, projects were managed on an ad-hoc basis, using mostly Gantt charts and informal techniques and tools. Project management is about knowing exactly what your goals are, how you’re going to achieve them, what resources you’ll need, and how long it will take you to reach that specific goal. Project managers always work in a team. They publish guidelines, rules and characteristics for project management, along with program and portfolio management. In 1956, the American Association of Cost Engineers (now AACE International; the Association for the Advancement of Cost Engineering) was formed by early practitioners of project management and the associated specialties of planning and scheduling, cost estimating, and cost/schedule control (project control). The Project manager creates the project management plan following inputs from the project team and the key stakeholders. Project management is concerned with managing discrete packages of work to achieve specific objectives. The effectiveness of these practices is supported by recent research evidencing BRM practices influencing project success from a strategic perspective across different countries and industries. Cost: how are necessary funds acquired and finances managed? As a discipline, project management developed from several fields of application including civil construction, engineering, and heavy defense activity. Available at. "A brief History of Project Management". As such, it defines a successful project as output-oriented rather than activity- or task-oriented. [49] As it is considered that project complexity and project performance are closely related, it is important to define and measure complexity of the project for project management to be effective. (ii) They are performed and completed by a group of people. To go along with that, documentation provides information regarding what has already been completed for that project. In practice, the management of such distinct production approaches requires the development of distinct technical skills and management strategies. It is the initiation, planning and control of a range of tasks required to deliver this end product. A project manager normally reports directly to someone of higher stature on the completion and success of the project. For off, PMBOK® is an acronym for Project Management Body of Knowledge. Depending on the sophistication of the software, functionality may include estimation and planning, scheduling, cost control and budget management, resource allocation, collaboration software, communication, decision-making, workflow, risk, quality, documentation, and/or administration systems. The priori criteria leave out the more important after-completion results of the project which comprise four levels i.e. Major process groups generally include:[2]. Project production management is the application of operations management to the delivery of capital projects. If performed correctly documentation can be the backbone to a project's success. Scheduling. These tend to include: After the initiation stage, the project is planned to an appropriate level of detail (see example of a flow-chart). the creation of infrastructure for the supply of the right information and its update, the establishment of a way to communicate disparities of project parameters, the development of project information technology based on an intranet or the determination of a project key performance indicator system (KPI), divergence analyses and generation of proposals for potential project regulations, the establishment of methods to accomplish an appropriate project structure, project workflow organization, project control and governance, creation of transparency among the project parameters, Project management policies for timing and. For example, a WBS is used when the project is scheduled, so that the use of work packages can be recorded and tracked. p.136–143, Bannerman, P. L. (2008). The seventh edition continues in the spirit of previous editions, collaborating with the project community to create a foundation for the successful delivery of projects, programmes and portfolios. … In: Saladis, F. P. (2006). What is project team management and leadership? Risk management applies proactive identification (see tools) of future problems and understanding of their consequences allowing predictive decisions about projects. As a result, effective teamwork is central to successful projects. Change is a normal and expected part of the construction process. In this stage, auditors should pay attention to how effectively and quickly user problems are resolved. Project Management Plan : “Tells How work will be done” The key to a successful project is on the planning. defining the reason why a project is necessary; capturing project requirements, specifying quality of the deliverables, estimating resources and timescales; preparing a business case to justify the investment; securing corporate agreement and funding; developing and implementing a management plan for the project; leading and motivating the project delivery team; managing the risks, issues and changes on the project; maintaining communications with stakeholders and the project organisation; closing the project in a controlled fashion when appropriate. As a project manager, this mostly comes from your schedule. Project management is aimed at producing an end product that will effect some change for the benefit of the organisation that instigated the project. A good formal systems development plan outlines: There are five important characteristics of a project. 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