Roland Gilbert BSc MRICS; Prince 2 Practitioner Managing projects Roland Gilbert BSc MRICS; Prince 2 Practitioner © Newway UK Consultants Ltd All rights reserved. .

What is project management? Definition Project management is the application of processes, methods, knowledge, skills and experience to achieve the project objectives. General A project is a unique, transient endeavour, undertaken to achieve planned objectives, which could be defined in terms of outputs, outcomes or benefits. A project is usually deemed to be a success if it achieves the objectives according to their acceptance criteria, within an agreed timescale and budget.

Elements of a Project Time Cost Scope Quality

The core components of project management are: 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; monitoring progress against plan; managing the project budget; maintaining communications with stakeholders and the project organisation; provider management; closing the project in a controlled fashion when appropriate.

When would you use project management? Projects are separate to business-as-usual activities, requiring people to come together temporarily to focus on specific project objectives. As a result, effective teamwork is central to successful projects. Project management is concerned with managing discrete packages of work to achieve objectives. The way the work is managed depends upon a wide variety of factors. The scale, significance and complexity of the work are obvious factors: relocating a small office and organising the Olympics share many basic principles but offer very different managerial challenges. A good distinguishing factor is often to look at the nature of the objectives. Objectives may be expressed in terms of outputs (such as a new HQ building), outcomes (such as staff being relocated from multiple locations to the new HQ), benefits (such as reduced travel and facilities management costs) or strategic objectives (such as doubling the organisation’s share price in three years).

Why do we use project management? Investment in effective project management will have a number of benefits to both the host organisation and the people involved in delivering the project. It will: provide a greater likelihood of achieving the desired result; ensure efficient and best value use of resources; satisfy the differing needs of the project’s stakeholders.

Project stages Step 1 - Starting a project Step 2 – Initiating a project Step 3 – Running a project Step 4 – Closing a project Step 5 – Benefits realisation Key control - 1 Project Brief Key control - 2 Project Initiation Document Key control - 3 Progress report Risk Register Key control – 4 Change control Key control – 5 Lessons learnt Key control – 6 Post project review

Time management Plan the key tasks Add time to each and dates where critical Add resources needed for each task Create interelationships Create programme incorporating these using Excel or Microsoft Project etc Include risks and float Use a baseline and monitor progress against and report variances to bring back on track

Microsoft project example

Quality Management Define the design brief or quality objectives Create quality outcomes or Build a quality specification Monitor quality outputs during project delivery to ensure compliance and adjust if needed Identify defects and manage rectification Operational systems training Handover meeting with client/ user

Quality specification example

Cost Management Establish high level budget at feasibility Build detailed budgets as design/ requirements are developed At tender stage reconcile supplier actual costs to budget & report At start of project delivery have regular cost reports to report on changes and agree cost changes as you go & report on potential cost changes to allow for good management During project delivery pay suppliers regularly At end of project delivery agree final costs and identify savings and pay final costs.

Cost report example Project Name LEP Budget Value Tender/ Target Cost Value Variance - Tender to Budget % Variance Variations/ CE's Forecast Outturn Cost Variance - Outturn to Budget Notes:   A284 Lyminster Bypass £0 A259 Corridor Capacity Enhancement, East Arun West Horsham SDL Enterprise Link Road, Bognor Regis A2300 Corridor Capacity Enhancement, Burgess Hill A29 Realignment, Bognor Regis NCN2 Strategic Cycle Route package

Key Control Documents Project brief Business case PID Tender documents Contract documents (if needed) Risk register Change control forms Progress reports – monthly or similar regular programme, quality and cost reports End of project do final cost report Post project create lessons learnt report and savings register/ benefit realisation

PM Information sources General PM information Business Innovation and Skills PM Guidelines 2010 Association for Project Management Project Management Institute Formal PM systems & processes e.g. Prince 2 PM methodology (OGC) - 1996 AgilePM/ ITil – for IT development and management MSP/AgilePgM – for large programmes of work M_o_R – management of risk

Summary