Project Management

By
Reema Monga
Assistant Professor, USMS
Project-Introduction
Project-Introduction
● According to PMI, a project is a temporary endeavor
undertaken to create a unique product, service or result.
● A project is temporary in that it has a defined beginning and end
in time, and therefore defined scope and resources. All projects
have a beginning and an end. They have a team, a budget, a
schedule and a set of expectations the team needs to meet.
● Each project is unique and differs from routine
operations—the ongoing activities of an organization—
because projects reach a conclusion once the goal is achieved.
Project-Introduction
Project Management-Introduction
● Project management is defined as the process of steering a project from
the start through its lifecycle. The main objective of project
management is to complete a project within the established goals of
time, budget, and quality. Projects have life cycles since they aren’t
intended to last forever.
● A project management life cycle starts when the project is initiated and
ends when the project is either completed or terminated in one way or
another.
● Project management is the use of specific knowledge, skills, tools and
techniques to deliver something of value to people. The development of
software for an improved business process, the construction of a building,
the relief effort after a natural disaster, the expansion of sales into a new
geographic market—these are all examples of projects.
Advantages of Project Management
Steps involved in Project Management
Or
Project Management Process
Project Management Process

1. Project initiation
Initiation is the formal start of a project. It usually begins with the issue of a project mandate (Project
Charter) which briefly describes the purpose of the project and authorises budget spend.
At this stage, you should define the project at a broad level. This often begins with:
● a business case - justifying the need for the project and estimating potential benefits
● a feasibility study - evaluating the problem and determining if the project will solve it.
If you decide to undertake the project, you should then create a project initiation document (PID). This
is the foundation of your project and a critical reference point for the next stages. Key components of
your PID should be:
● your business case
● project goals, scope and size
● project organisation (defining the 'who, why, what, when and how' of the project)
● project constraints
● project risks
● stakeholders
● project controls and reporting framework
● the criteria for closing and assessing the project
Project Management Process
2. Project definition and planning
Project planning is key to successful project management. The planning phase is key to successful project
management and focuses on developing a roadmap for the team to follow. During the planning phase, project
managers should organize their teams, set up collaborative resources, and set goals. This stage typically begins
with setting goals. The two most common approaches include:
● the SMART method (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely)
● the CLEAR method (collaborative, limited, emotional, appreciable, refinable)
At this stage, you will also define the project scope, and develop a project plan and work breakdown
schedule. This involves identifying:
● time, cost and resources that are at your disposal
● roles and responsibilities for the project
● quality
● milestones
● baseline performance measures
● progress checkpoints
● risk and resources for resolving unforeseen issues
During this stage, you may also want to develop a communication plan (especially if you have external
stakeholders), as well as a risk management plan.
Project Management Process

2. Project definition and planning

● Specific – To set specific goals, answer the following questions: who, what, where,
when, which, and why.
● Measurable – Create criteria that you can use to measure the success of a goal.
● Attainable – Identify the most important goals and what it will take to achieve them.
● Realistic – You should be willing and able to work toward a particular goal.
● Timely – Create a timeframe to achieve the goal.
Project Management Process

2. Project definition and planning

● C.L.E.A.R. Goals – A newer method for setting goals that takes into
consideration the environment of today’s fast-paced businesses.
● Collaborative – The goal should encourage employees to work together.
● Limited – They should be limited in scope and time to keep it
manageable.
● Emotional – Goals should tap into the passion of employees and be
something they can form an emotional connection to. This can optimize
the quality of work.
● Appreciable – Break larger goals into smaller tasks that can be quickly
achieved.
● Refinable – As new situations arise, be flexible and refine goals as
needed.
Project Management Process
3. Project launch and implementation
Implementation (also called project execution) simply means putting your project plan into action.
During this phase, you will carry out the tasks and activities from your project plan to produce the project deliverables.
Project managers may direct this work by:
● overseeing a team
● managing budget and resources
● communicating to stakeholders
● Set up tracking systems
● Task assignments are executed
● Status meetings
● Assign resources
● Execute project management plans
● Update project schedule
● Modify project plans as needed

Careful monitoring and control at this stage can help you keep the project plan on track. You can use a range of tools and
processes to help you manage things like time, cost, quality and risks, or to communicate progress and manage customer
acceptance.
Project Management Process

4. Project monitoring and control

Monitoring and control often overlap with execution as they often occur at the
same time. They require measuring project progression and performance,
and dealing with any issues that arise from day-to-day work.
You can use key performance indicators (KPIs) to determine if your project
is on track. Things you could measure include, for example:
● if your project is on schedule and budget
● if specific tasks are being completed
● if issues are adequately addressed
During this time, you may need to adjust schedules and resources to ensure that
your project remains on track
Project Management Process

4. Project monitoring and control

Project Management Process

4. Project monitoring and control

● Project Objectives: Measuring if a project is on schedule and budget is an indication
if the project will meet stakeholder objectives.
● Quality Deliverables: This determines if specific task deliverables are being met.
● Effort and Cost Tracking: PMs will account for the effort and cost of resources to
see if the budget is on track. This type of tracking informs if a project will meet its
completion date based on current performance.
● Project Performance: This monitors changes in the project. It takes into
consideration the amount and types of issues that arise and how quickly they are
addressed. These can occur from unforeseen hurdles and scope changes.
Project Management Process
5. Project close
During this last phase, you will complete your work and dissolve the project. Closure doesn't
necessarily mean success, but simply the final point of the project - eg closure can happen when
you cancel projects that fail.
Project closure often involves things like:
● handing over the deliverables
● releasing staff and resources
● archiving or handing over any relevant project documents
● cancelling supplier contracts
● completion of all activities across the project
● preparing the final project budget and report
After closure, you can carry out a post-implementation project review (sometimes referred to as a
'post mortem' meeting). This is an opportunity to evaluate what went well and what didn't.
Understanding failures, if there were any, can help you learn lessons and improve the way you carry
out future projects.
Skills Required for Project
Manager
Feasibility Analysis
Feasibility Analysis
● A feasibility study is an assessment of the practicality of a proposed plan or project. A
feasibility study analyzes the viability of a project to determine whether the project or
venture is likely to succeed. The study is also designed to identify potential issues and
problems that could arise while pursuing the project.
● A feasibility study is a detailed analysis that considers all of the critical aspects of a
proposed project in order to determine the likelihood of it succeeding.
● The study identifies the project market (if applicable); highlights the project's key
goals; maps out potential roadblocks and offers alternative solutions; and factors in
time, budget, legal, and manpower requirements to determine whether the project is
not only possible but advantageous for the company to undertake.
● Feasibility analysis is the process of examining and evaluating a proposed project in order
to determine whether it is technically feasible, whether it is feasible within the
estimated cost, and whether it will be financially profitable.
A feasibility study is an important step in starting a new project. It is a detailed examination of
What is the Purpose of a Feasibility Study?
whether or not a proposed business project is likely to be successful. A feasibility study aims
to provide information that will help businesses make informed decisions about their new
project.

A feasibility study in project management deals with a number of questions regarding the technical
competence of the company, budget of the project, operational efficiency, duration, etc. Below are a
few of them;
● Does the company’s technical competence enough to overcome project challenges?
● Does the company have sufficient funds to conduct project works?
● What are the legal provisions related to the project?
● What kind of risks can exist in undertaking the project?
● Does the proposed scope meet the organization’s objectives and stakeholder requirements?
● Can the project be completed on the proposed time?
Types of Feasibility

1. Economic Feasibility: This assessment typically involves a cost/ benefits analysis of the project, helping
organizations determine the viability, cost, and benefits associated with a project before financial resources
are allocated. In other words, An economic feasibility study involves a cost benefits analysis to identify how well,
or how poorly, a project will be concluded. The expected monetary value of each cost and benefit separately to
decide if the project is economically feasible or not. It also serves as an inde pendent project assessment and
enhances project credibility—helping decision-makers determine the positive economic benefits to the
organization that the proposed project will provide. For example, your company is planning to perform a
housing project on the west coast of the city. In order to understand if the project is economically feasible, you
will calculate the duration, cost, and income of the project. If the calculations demonstrate a short payback period,
the board of directors will decide to undertake the project.

2. Legal Feasibility: This assessment investigates whether any aspect of the proposed project conflicts with
legal requirements like zoning laws, data protection acts or social media laws. Let’s say an organization wants to
construct a new office building in a specific location. A feasibility study might reveal the organization’s ideal
location isn’t zoned for that type of business. What are the legal requirements of the project, and can the business
meet them? That organization has just saved considerable time and effort by learning that their project was not
feasible right from the beginning.
Types of Feasibility

3. Technical Feasibility: Does the organization have the technical resources to undertake the project? This
assessment focuses on the technical resources available to the organization. It helps organizations
determine whether the technical resources meet capacity and whether the technical team is capable of
converting the ideas into working systems. Technical feasibility also involves the evaluation of the hardware,
software, and other technical requirements of the proposed system. Each project requires different technical
specifications and standards.

A technical feasibility study helps find the answers to the following questions:

● Is it possible to develop the product with the available technology in the company?
● Is the organisation equipped with the necessary technology for project completion?
● Are there technically strong e mployees who can deliver the product on time and within budget using
the available technology?
● Is there scope in the company's budget to add more technical resources?
● Is the available technology the right choice to help the product team save time and complete
development within budget?
● Does the client require specific technology, or is the client open to developing the product,
irrespective of the technology?
 Types of Feasibility

4. Operational Feasibility: Does the project, in its proposed scope, meet the organization’s needs by
solving problems and/or taking advantage of identified opportunities? This assessment involves
undertaking a study to analyze and determine whether—and how well—the organization’s needs can
be met by completing the project. Operational feasibility studies also examine how a project plan
satisfies the requirements identified. Operational feasibility is performed to understand well a proposed
system solves the problems. For example, if the software for a new system is too difficult to use,
employees may make too many errors and avoid using it. Thus, it would fail to show operational
feasibility. For example, your company has undertaken a project to build a new theme park for a
client, then you performed a study to determine how the theme park will operate in a way that is
conducive to its inhabitants, parking, dining, accessibility. This can be an example of operational
feasibility.

5. Scheduling Feasibility (Time Feasibility): Can the project be completed in a reasonable timeline?.
This assessment is the most important for project success; after all, a project will fail if not
completed on time. In scheduling feasibility, an organization estimates how much time the project will
take to complete. Completing a project on time is very important from an investor’s perspective.
Scheduling feasibility is a measure of how reasonable the project duration is. If the project takes
longer than estimated, investors will have to bear extra costs.

For example, an investor proposed a hotel construction project to your company. However, he requested
that the project will be completed in one year. The project team conducted a feasibility study based on a
Conducting a Feasibility Analysis: Example #1 – Starting a New Family Restaurant

Conducting a feasibility study before opening the restaurant will help the owner in saving time and money as, with the help of a
study, he can make an informed decision regarding the chance of success of the venture. In the present case following are the
different factors that the feasibility study will include:
● Obtain Market Statistics: Feasibility study should include studying the demographic characteristics like age and
income to know the size of the potential market. In the case of the family restaurant, one should know the number of
families residing in the area as singles or students will not count for the potential share.
● Potential Locations: The location for the family restaurant should be the area having high-traffic. Parking and other
factors should also be considered to make sure that the place is easily accessible to customers. Also, there should be a
proper tradeoff between location and lease cost.
●Competition: At the time of the Feasibility study, one should gather info rmation about the total number of nearby
restaurants and the style of those restaurants. The area should not already be saturated with a similar concept as planned.
Thus one should properly analyze the strengths and weaknesses of all major competitors.
● Industry Analysis: For studying the feasibility, one should join hospitality organizations and attend their meetings to
know more about the health and growth of the industry.
● Current Economic Environment: Decide whether as per the current economic environment launching a new
restaurant is advisable or not. Whether any restaurants were closed in the past few years or not and their reasons thereof.
● Cost Structure: One should break down the cost of each item on the menu and determine the major suppliers in the
future and prices offered by them. Also, there should be a proper cost projection of the food cost projections.
These are some of the important parameters that one should evaluate to conduct a feasibility study on starting a new family
restaurant. Apart from these, other factors like laws and regulations, logistics, and other factors as applicable should also
be considered before making the decisions.
 Conducting a Feasibility Analysis:Example #2 – Expansion of School
If the school wants to expand its area of campus, it may conduct the feasibility study, which will help it in
determining whether the hospital should go ahead with the expansion or not. There are various areas which should be
taken into account, like in the present case. Followingare the different factors that the feasibility study will include:
● The cost of labor and material will be incurred for the expansion.
● What will be the change in the revenue of the school if the expansion is done, i.e., what will be the increase
in the student’s number if the school is expanded? Whether it will be able to generate more revenue than the
cost incurred.
● How disruptive it will be for the staff of the school and students.
● What is the public opinion with respect to the new extension, i.e., whether the local community is in favour of
such a project or they are against it?
● What is the response of the various stakeholders of the school? Different stakeholders in the case of the
school include students, teachers, parents of students, management, and the local community, etc.
● What are the laws which might get affected by the expansion, and whether the school will be able to meet
those law requirements?

All the parameters should be evaluated along with their pros and cons, and decisions should be
taken based on that for the expansion.