Introduction
In the field of project management, a project is defined as a series of tasks or operations that need to fully complete to achieve the desired outcome (Meredith et al., 2016). Therefore, a project can be further elaborated as a set of inputs as well as outputs needed to achieve a specific target. Typically, projects can range from a series of simple tasks to a complicated process (Meredith et al., 2016). Projects that are assigned to the scholars in the field of project management have the following characteristics. A manager or an executive head them. A project may have either one or many managers at a time (Meredith et al., 2016). Apart from overseeing the various tasks that are carried out in a project, the managers also ensure that the activities within a project are carried out in good time; which is the other characteristic of a project. Both the leaders and the team involved in the project have to ensure that their activities do not go behind the stipulated deadlines (Meredith et al., 2016). Project management has various implications for the success of an organization. Firstly, project management improves the project estimation process (Lechler & Yang, 2017). A project's performance is influenced by several factors, with the planning and estimation as two of the essential ones. Secondly, project management leads to an understanding of the true resource capability of a company. When the planning of a project takes place, the managers learn how to pan the resource capabilities of a business. Thirdly, project management affects business success by ensuring that the correct projects are selected and prioritized (Lechler & Yang, 2017). Organizations of different sizes and financial prowess benefit from the prioritization of the projects. The managers have to learn how to make use of their scarce resources to maximize their output. Lastly, organizational leaders learn how to plan their activities in a clear and consistent manner (Lechler & Yang, 2017). Usually, the management of a project increases the management skills at the organization and especially when it comes to planning.
Project management in an organization has various phases. The first stage in the project management lifecycle is the project initiation step (Todorović et al., 2015). The project managers determine the value and the feasibility of the project that is about to begin. For instance, in an organization that has an employee motivation project, the managers will begin by measuring the value of the activity and its overall merits. The next step in project management is the planning stage (Todorović et al., 2015). After the feasibility and the value of the project are measured, the managers come up with a guide that enables them to obtain the required resources, acquiring the money needed to run the project, and the purchase or lease of the required items. The project plan also prepares the planners for the pitfalls that may be in their way. The third phase of project management is the execution of a project (Todorović et al., 2015). After a reliable and comprehensive plan is made, the various variables that satisfy the customer are built. The execution phase has the team managers allocating the resources that have been set aside for the project. They also encourage the team members to be focused in their work. The fourth step in project management is the monitoring and controlling part (Todorović et al., 2015). The executed project is monitored regarding the evaluation of the progress. The step occurs concurrently with the execution phase. The project teams have to continually monitor their performance against their set goals to facilitate the outcomes that have been promised by the project at large. The fifth step in the lifecycle of project management is the closure of the project (Todorović et al., 2015). After being satisfied with the progress of the project and its outcomes, the teams can then close the project. The project closure phase entails the reporting of the project as a means of communicating with the stakeholders.
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Initiating/Pre-planning/Project Selection
The most important activities taking place at this step of project management are the measurement of the value of a project and its feasibility. The project managers and their teams identify the various initiatives that can be combined into a project to improve the productivity of a company. The step is vital to the conduction of the project as a whole. Therefore, the administrators ensure that they have all the information regarding a project at their fingertips. Generally, the administrators have to ensure that they develop a business case that is in line with the strategic objectives of the organization. Typically, the evaluation of the value and the feasibility of the projects have the managers using two evaluative tools: the business case document and the feasibility study.
A business case document is an evaluation tool that justifies the needs of the project. The document outlines the necessity of the project adequately but succinctly. For instance, a business case document of a project that is meant to come up with a new gadget for consumers in a mobile phone manufacturing company is supposed to explain the need of coming up with the project itself. The feasibility study, on the other hand, evaluates the goals of the objectives, creates the timelines for the project, and determines the costs that will be involved in the project. The feasibility study strikes a balance between the requirements of the project and the resources that are available in an organization to take care of the program.
One of the models that are used to select projects is the cost-benefit ratio. The cost-benefit ratio measures the benefits of the project regarding finances against the costs that will be used in performing the project itself. The model evaluates what a dollar of costs would generate as revenue. The other approach is the value-added economic model. Unlike the cost-benefit ratio, the model comes up with the financial returns that a project is expected to bring in to an organization. The third model of selecting projects is the payback period approach. The technique evaluates how much time that an organization took to recover the expenses that were spent in the conduction of the project.
Project stakeholders are also featured on the project initiation phase. The stakeholders of the projects include the sponsors, the project team, among others. The role of the sponsor of a project is to take care of the financial needs of the project at large. They oversee the allocation of the budget that has been set aside for the completion of the various projects in different companies. The project sponsors have a bearing on the length of time that a project is supposed to take, the number of people that will be on the team and the quality of the project's outcome. The project team involved the non-administrative members of the project who are involved in the conduction of the delegated activities that build up a project.
Planning
Once the project has been initiated, and the various stakeholders are satisfied with the project being carried out, it needs to have a solid plan that is detailed regarding the various anticipated phases of the project. The management and the members of the project teams deliberate on the various issues that they have already encountered with the pre-planning stage of the project and how they can deal with them. The team, together with their sponsors, comes up with a budget that explains the allocation of the various financial resources entitled to the project. The project plan also explains the guidelines for obtaining the resources that are used in the project's activities. The plan of the project explains the process that is gone through while procuring the various materials that are used in the research. The project team gains the direction for producing the quality outputs, handling the various risks associated with the project even in the other phases of the project lifecycle, and communicating the benefits of researching the stakeholders.
Some of the tools and techniques that are used in the project-planning phase are as follows. The first one is the SWOT analysis. The analysis gives the strongholds, setbacks, the opportunities and the risks associated with both the internal and external surroundings of the organization that is hosting the project. The other tool that is used is the stakeholder matrix. The stakeholder matrix is a system that detects and explains the changes that the project goes through concerning the stakeholders of the plan and their roles in the performance of the project. Project planning phase also involves a summary risk profile. A summary risk profile is designed to inform the stakeholders of the project regarding the various risks that they might be exposed to when they take part in the research. A cause and effect diagram is used to explain the root causes of the various challenges in a project against their effects on the other parameters of the project.
The purpose of the weighted scoring model (WSM) is to highlight both the short-term and the long-term goals of an employee or employees in a project team. The WSM approach also identifies the various strengths and weaknesses that are associated with the research and how to eliminate them to avoid reducing the efficiency of the operations in the other parts of the lifecycle of a project. According to the example of a WSM model provided below, the approach focuses on a Cool Widgets' employee going by the name Justin Cagle. Justin works as a system support officer. Of all the criteria elements in Justin's weighted score, the salary is the highest with a weighted score of 30.00. The least is a promotion with a weight of 10.00 given to the element. Therefore, Justin considers the salary as a weightier decision making element than the promotion. However, Justin believes that being promoted to the position of ISSM will be the best thing that happens to him and his family.
The primary purpose of a WBS template is to reduce the activities in a project that are deemed complicated to a collection of tasks that have been simplified for the sake of the project team. The template, therefore, enables the project managers to effectively oversee the tasks in a project and ensure that they are completed to the quality levels of standards. The managers can, thus, oversee the various operations more effectively than the complex ones involved in project management. The project milestones part of the project is essential in identifying the strongholds and the pitfalls of the current project. The milestones have to be updated continuously to ensure that the team players continuously evaluate their performance against their desired targets. The critical path of a project is an essential tool in the determination of the predetermined path that the project is supposed to follow concerning the milestones and the amount of money that is allocated to a specific step.
WBS Example
Critical path example
WSM Example
The plan for the Future | |||||
| Name: Justin Cagle | |||||
| Date: November 2, 2018 | |||||
| Overview: The WSM will give you the overall career path for the four jobs in my future. My short-term goal would be to become the Information Security System Officer (ISSO), and my long-term goal would be to become the Information Security System Manager (ISSM) as a GS-13 with the Government. I currently work as a Contractor as the System Support Officer. | |||||
| Criteria Elements | Weight given to choice | ISSO | Network Admin | System Admin | ISSM |
| Salary | 30.00 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Benefits | 20.00 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Retirement | 20.00 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 |
| Promotion | 10.00 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Family Time | 20.00 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Weighted Scores | 100.00 | 90.00 | 90.00 | 70.00 | 100.00 |
| 1) I tried to base my decision on the five criteria elements and how each one of them would help further me into my long-term goal of becoming an ISSM. From the results, I believe being promoted to ISSM would be the best thing for me and my family. With that being said, I would be able to buy back my time from the military which would go towards my retirement as a Government Employee. | |||||
| 2) I currently work as a Contractor in the Information Technology field. The position of ISSM would benefit my family with financial freedom and stability as well as an early retirement so I can spend more time with my family. | |||||
| 3) Based on the results of the weighted scoring model, identify at least two things you will need to do in order to accomplish your career goals. First, I will need to finish my current degree as well as maintaining my Top Secret clearance. Second, I will need to acquire my certification from CISCO which is the CISSP. | |||||
| Ver. 1.1 - syg-8.15.16 | |||||
Executing
After the project is carefully planned and the various challenges and strengths are put into consideration and communicated to the shareholders of the project, the management of the team enters into a phase of executing the plans that are involved in a report. Mostly, the project execution takes care of building the deliverables of the project that make the customer or the recipient of the project's actions satisfied. The team leaders, in the execution phase, have to allocate the resources appropriately and keep the team members focused on the tasks that have been assigned to them in the course of the project's lifecycles. The execution phase is heavily reliant on the planning stage of a project. The various efforts that are invested in the execution phase usually begin in the planning step of the project.
One of the advantages of presenting a clear project report status to the stakeholders of a project is to enhance the timeliness of a project. A timely project can achieve the milestones and deliverables as agreed without strife. The members of a project that is conducted in a timely fashion enjoy the privileges of relaxation before they can hit the milestones of the project that is in the other stages of the project lifecycle. The other advantage of providing a clear project report to the stakeholders is that it provides a taste of relevance tied to the project for them. The clarity of the report enhances the relevance of the report. Therefore, the stakeholders of a project can go through the project and understand the various parts of the research and how they have been addressed. A clear project report also informs the stakeholders of a project. The informativeness of a project becomes an advantage to the project team as it ensures that the stakeholders have adequate information regarding the project.
Project report example
| Cool Widgets Project Status Report | ||
| Project: Employees’ training on Microsoft Office tools to streamline the internal business operations of the company. | Overall Status: Green | |
| Project Manager: Tyler Fenty | ||
| Date: the employees’ training project will commence on 1 st November 2018. The project will be on for the next three months to ensure that the employees are educated adequately on the variety of tools that are found in Microsoft office. | ||
| Scope Statement: Cool Widget will introduce its employees to Microsoft office tools to enable the internal operations to go on smoothly within the organization beginning 1 st November 2018. The plan will entail a three-month long training and implementation period regarding the Microsoft office tools. The training will be done on the employees from the corporate centers across California, New York, Nevada, Tennessee, and Montana. The training will, however, commence in Nevada before going to the other centers in the rest of the branches of Cool Widget. The training in California will be taken care of by Sandra having a total employee count of 200 to train. Palo will handle New York and Nevada offices with 150 employees to handle. Aaron will take care of the educational needs for the 75 employees in a branch in the state of Montana. Alesha will educate the employees in Tennessee. The budget for the training will amount to $ 200,000 for the entire duration. The project will end on 1 st February 2019. | ||
Status Color Code Legend | ||
| Green: On Track: Project is on schedule | Amber: High Risk: At risk, with a high risk of going off track | |
| Yellow: At Risk: Milestones missed but date intact | Red: Off Track: Date will be missed if action not taken | |
| PROJECT INFORMATION | STATUS |
| The project is ON TRACK FOR the week of 1 st December 2018 – 1 st February 2019, due to the following elements, events, or issues: | Green: The funds amounting to $ 200,000 have been released for the project. Green: the planning stages for the education program for the employees regarding the use of Microsoft office tools have been adequately communicated to all the employees in the five branches of Cool Widget. Green: The commencement meeting properly scheduled to take place on 1 st December 2018 and the employees have all consented to it. Green: The training outline has been released for the employees with them endorsing it as convenient. Yellow: a minority of the employees never made it for the commencement meeting. |
| Issues: | Amber: reduced compliance amongst the employees. Red: the slow speeds of data connection in the state of Montana have made learning progress at a slower rate than expected. Yellow: some of the candidates of the employees’ examinations regarding the use of Microsoft office missed their exam dates. |
| Milestones accomplished the week of 5 th November 2018 – 10 th November 2018: | Green: project going according to the planned budget Green: the employees can sit for the exams with little or no supervision Green: the use of the internet and social media has connected the employees of Cool Widgets in the various states across the united states of America. |
| Milestones planned for next week: | Training dates Book venues Transportation |
| Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) | |
| WBS Dictionary | 1 Scope Development 1.1 Training goals 1.2 Develop outline 1.3 Assign Resources 2 Training materials 2.1 Write outline 2.2 Gather materials 2.3 Assemble takeaway handouts 2.3.1 Electronic and/or paper 3 Training plans 3.1 Identify and schedule venues 3.2 Work with onsite and/or offsite facilities personnel 3.3 Reserve training equipment (projector, PCs, power strips, etc.) 3.4 Send electronic materials (and/or ship hardcopy takeaways) 3.5 Select/engage external trainer for NY 3.6 Engage caterers 4 Travel schedules 4.1 Select travel dates 4.2 Reserve air travel, transportation, and lodging 5 Training delivery 5.1 Notify students 5.2 Set up and test training equipment 5.3 Deliver training California Nevada Montana Tennessee New York |
Monitoring and Controlling
The performance of the project needs to be continuously checked to identify the strongholds and the setbacks that the teams have faced in the implementation of the activities. To guarantee the delivery of what was promised in the sitting of the targets for the overall project, the teams have to keep track of their progress continually. Not only do teams evaluate their performance in the projects but also they control the factors influencing the progress of the project that is out of hand. Some of the tools involved in the monitoring and controlling part of the project lifecycle target the budgetary aspects of the report. One of the terms used in this part of the project management lifecycle is project milestones. The project milestones are the various deliverables that a project is expected to reach in its lifecycle. The other tool is the earned value analysis, which attempts to bridge the gap between the financial aspirations of the project and its deliverables regarding the value for money that is being derived.
The sponsors of the projects have to ensure that the funds they release to the project team have been used as desired. Project cost management is a technological method that measures the cost and the productivity of the products through the various steps of the lifecycle in the organizational improvement plans. Project cost management entails the various functions related to project management that include the estimation, the control of the jobs involved, the collection of data in the field, the scheduling, and both the accounting and design. Estimation is an essential tool in the gauging of the stipulated costs that may be involved in a project. It enables the sponsors and their teams to ensure that the allocation of the funds is a smooth process that is error-free. The estimation leads to the accurate planning of all the other stages in the lifecycle of a project in an organization. The estimation should, therefore, be against the actual costs of the project.
During the conduction of the Cool Widget Project that was to begin on 1 November 2018, $ 1,521,240 is the estimated costs to run the project and take care of all its activities sufficiently. The money will be used in the training that has been planned for the various offices of the Cool Widget in the states such as California, Tennessee, New York, Nevada, and Montana. The allocated amount will be expected to cover the project up to 1 February 2019. The money will also be expected to cover the various research requirements in the various phases of the project's lifecycle. Some of the research requirements are the money spent to acquire the various technological equipment for the research process, the funds used to reimburse the research team in the project operations.
Closing
The team that has been conducting a given report has already met the goals that were tied to the outcomes of the project. Typically, the project teams close it when they deliver the finished project to a customer. For instance, if the gadget that was being produced by the company gets to the customers, the team goes on to close the project. The teams are expected to communicate to the stakeholders of the project regarding the closure. For instance, the teams have to let the sponsors understand that the project deliverables have been met before they can close the project. The resources that a project has been using are released to the other projects within the organization once it has been terminated. The closure step of the project in the lifecycle allows for the teams involved to analyze and provide the documentation to the current project, enabling them to move on to the other project. The strongholds and the pitfalls of the project are also considered in the closure and are documented as well.
One of the terms that are used to denote the end of a project is the performance reviews. At the end of the project closure step, the sponsors, the project teams, and the customers discuss the various performance metrics that have been associated with the overall project. The performance review also looks at the risks that were experienced in the current project phase and the status of the issues. Corrective actions are also meant to take place after the performance of the project is reviewed. The other term that can be used in the project closure part of a report is the project management plan updates. The end of a project is usually the part where the teams can give the updates regarding their current projects and how they can be improved. The other tool that is used in this phase of the lifecycle is the project document updates. The information regarding the next generation of the projects can be given by the document updates.
The "lessons learned" part of the reported closure is an essential aspect of the entire report. Typically, this part of the closure of a report documents the strengths and the weaknesses that have been experienced in the collection and the analysis of the information about the project. The strengths are considered as the factors that contribute to the driving force in the current as well as the upcoming projects. The weaknesses are reconsidered too since they act as the stepping-stones towards the various achievements that the project managers usually place for the ongoing projects. The addressing of the weaknesses that are associated with the project also helps the team to ensure that such mistakes are not repeated in any instances in the lifecycles of the next generation or related projects. The "lessons learned" part of the project is also relevant to the future projects regarding the highlighting of the hardship areas in the general activities of the report.
References
Lechler, T. G., & Yang, S. (2017). Exploring the Role of Project Management in the
Development of the Academic Agile Software Discourse: A Bibliometric Analysis. Project Management Journal , 48 (1), 3-18.
Meredith, J. R., Shafer, S. M., Mantel Jr, S. J., & Sutton, M. M. (2016). Project Management in
Practice . Wiley Global Education.
Todorović, M. L., Petrović, D. Č., Mihić, M. M., Obradović, V. L., & Bushuyev, S. D. (2015).
Project Success Analysis Framework: A Knowledge-based Approach in Project Management. International Journal of Project Management , 33 (4), 772-783.
Appendices
Below is a breakdown of the project budget.
