PROJECT MANAGER, EXECUTION AND IMPLEMENTATION

UNIT IV

4.0 Introduction

4.1 Role of Project Manager and Skills Inventory

4.2 Managing Time

4.3 Managing Risk

4.4 Factors that Lead to Successful Projects

4.5 Project Tracking

4.6 Job Description, Staffing Pattern and Training Plan

4.7 Main Activities: Regular Monitoring, Regular Reviewing Progress, Re-plan

4.8 Recordkeeping and Reporting

4.9 Online Project Management

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 Unit 4
Project Manager, Execution and Implementation

“The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change. The
leader adjusts the sails.” - John Maxwell

NOTES
4.0 Introduction

There are many groups of people involved in both the project and project
management lifecycles. The Project Team is the group responsible for planning and
executing the project. It consists of a Project Manager and a variable number of
Project Team members, who are brought in to produce deliverables as outlined in the
Project Plan, at whatever level of effort or participation as defined for them according
to the project schedule.

Project managers are a very special breed of people. They are in much demand and
will be increasingly so as the need for effective technologists continues to soar. Good
technology project managers are trained not born. They develop skills through
experience and education. They become better project managers each time they
successfully deliver a project. They learn new techniques and apply them on their
projects.They learn lessons—sometimes the hard way—to be better managers in the
future.

4.1 Role of Project Manager and Skills Inventory

4.1.1Role of Project Manager

A project manager's responsibilities include overall management, but he or she is

seldom directly involved with the activities that actually produce the end result. The

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position also oversees any associated products and services, project tools and
techniques to help ensure good practices. In addition, project managers are
responsible for recruiting and building project teams, and making projections about
the project's risks and uncertainties.

Managing relationships and personalities is a huge part of being a project manager.

Teams must work, plan and communicate well together. The ability to collaborate and
maintain successful team member relationships is crucial. Friction, conflict and NOTES
honest disagreements are part of the creative process, but the project manager must be
sure these do not destroy the project. Making sure team members feel valued,
recognizing and praising superior work, and maintaining a quality working
environment for all team members will aid in this human management effort.

The Project Manager is the person responsible for ensuring that the Project Team
completes the project. The Project Manager develops the Project Plan with the team
and manages the team’s performance of project tasks. It is also the responsibility of
the Project Manager to secure acceptance and approval of deliverables from the
Project Sponsor and Stakeholders. The Project Manager is responsible for
communication, including status reporting, risk management, escalation of issues that
cannot be resolved in the team, and, in general, making sure the project is delivered in
budget, on schedule, and within scope.

A project manager is the person responsible for:

• Leading a project from its inception to execution.

• Planning, execution and managing the people, resources and scope of the
project.
• Creating clear and attainable objectives and to see them through to successful
completion.
• Completion of the assigned project

The above mentioned role of the project manager can be further detailed into
activities encompassing:

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 • Planning and Defining Scope

• Activity Planning and Sequencing

• Resource Planning

• Developing Schedules

NOTES • Time Estimating

• Cost Estimating

• Developing a Budget

• Documentation

• Creating Charts and Schedules

• Risk Analysis

• Managing Risks and Issues

• Monitoring and Reporting Progress

• Team Leadership

• Strategic Influencing

• Business Partnering

• Working with Vendors

• Scalability, Interoperability and Portability Analysis

• Controlling Quality

• Benefits Realisation
On larger projects, some Project Team members may serve as Team Leads,
providing task and technical leadership, and sometimes maintaining a portion of
the project plan.

4.1.2 Skills Inventory

Managing employee skills and competencies lays the foundation of any organisation.
A skills inventory is a tool that will help to choose the best project team available. It
is essentially a checklist or database of organisational capabilities, that can help a

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company determine whether it can deliver a particular product on time or service the
client efficiently.

Every project requires a variety of skills that will need to be matched to appropriate
tasks. In the beginning of the project, it is important that people, skills and tasks are
appropriately matched. As the project progresses, it may be necessary to split
assignments, add staff to existing assignments or trade assignments. In order to have
this flexibility, it is better to know which people on the project team posses which
skills. NOTES

The difference between the existing and expected conditions, determine the skills
gap. An inventory of skills helps in identifying gaps in competencies, and initiating
remedial action. It is the responsibility of line managers and the HR department to
analyse the skills gap and provide the necessary training to bridge it. Alternately
people can also be hired with the requisite skill sets to build a skills inventory. It is
the skills and competencies developed by the organisation that determines how it does
its business and whether it will succeed.

Skills inventory lays out a road map for skills development, work role definition,
career tracks, resource management, staffing allocation, workload balancing, and
learning. With a road map, all members of the work force can fit their strengths,
weaknesses, and alternatives into the project’s plans.

There are many ways to create and maintain a Skills Inventory; e.g. a simple card
catalog/index, commercial software. For a basic Skills Inventory, only two reports are
needed:

• Resource Profile - describing the skills of a single resource.

• Skill Description - describing all of the resources with a specific skill.

Skills Inventory Matrix

Skills Inventory Matrix is a project management solution that gives a more global
view of resources-to-skills. A Skills matrix is a table that includes a list of the team
member’s names down the left side and then various skills and capabilities listed

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 across the top. At each intersection of the employee’s name and the skill, there is an
indication (typically a number) of how proficient that person is in that particular area.

The important point to be taken care of is that this could be seen as the “beginning of
the end” as people with lower skills and proficiencies feel they are being purposefully
identified, given a number for their efficiency, and then put on a list of people who do
not fit the skill requirements of the project and hence feel insecure.
NOTES
Steps in Construction of a Skill Matrix

There are three steps in this process of constructing a skills matrix as follows:

Step I Across the top of the matrix, areas of proficiency such as, Leadership,
Empathy, Communication, Interpersonal Skills, Team Building, Documentation, or,
specific technical skills that the person possesses is to be included. There is no set
rule as to what skills need to be across the top of the matrix. It depends upon a
particular need at that time and the kind of work undertaken.
Step II Next, some type of scoring mechanism for each area of proficiency/technical
skill should be derived. There are a couple of ways of doing this, but the most useful
and flexible is a numbering scheme. Below is an example of schema that could be
followed:
a) ‘0’ – This person has no proficiency in this particular area.
b) ‘1’ – This person has a very basic understanding of this particular area. They
will do fine as long as they have some type of supervision that is closely
monitoring their work.
c) ‘2’ – This person has an intermediate understanding of this particular area.
This means they will be able to work with minimal to no supervision in order
to get the task complete.
d) ‘3’ – This person has an advanced understanding of this particular area.

The person with a score of 3 would be a good candidate to do a particular task. A

numbering system works particularly well in the project management solutions of a
skills matrix because it allows doing some objective analysis of the team. These

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 numbers could be calculated horizontally to arrive at an average score per person, or
determine who needs training, or if there are certain gaps that need to be filled in your
organization.

Step III Finally the list of names on the left and their level of proficiency/technical NOTES
skill across the top are determined. This can also be done in a number of ways. This
could either be done by self or by the team members against each other or as a team
exercise.

Uses of Skills Matrix

• Identify Gaps –The Skills Matrix apparently brings out the big gaps within your
team. When laid out in black and white on paper it becomes much more evident that
there are areas that need to be shored up.

• Identify Growth Opportunities – Another reason for using a skills matrix is to

identify opportunities for someone to learn new skills or move into different functions

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 within the company. Just because a person scored a ‘0’ or a ‘1’ in a particular area
doesn’t mean that they wouldn’t be interested in learning more about that particular
skill or proficiency. This can help identify and start that conversation.

• Identify Training Opportunities – In conjunction with identifying growth

opportunities above, it may be that a person really enjoys what they are doing and
NOTES they just want to get better at that particular job. This matrix can be used to come up
with a training plan that will help them reach their goals. This results in a happier,
more educated, and higher performing team members.

Time should be taken to discuss this process with the team’s functional managers and
find if something like this in the past has already been done, that can be used as a
starting point. The Skills Matrix is one of many project management solutions that
can be used to keep up-to-date with what the team knows and areas they can improve.
Plus, if put on an annual event on the calendar people can update this matrix with the
new skills and capabilities they have acquired over the previous year.

Skills Required for a Project Manager

In order to overcome the challenges related to project triangle and meet the project
objectives, the project manager needs to have a range of skills, which includes:

• Leadership
• Managing people
• Negotiation
• Time management
• Effective communication
• Planning
• Controlling
• Conflict resolution
• Problem solving

The project manager must have a combination of skills including an ability to ask
penetrating questions, detect unstated assumptions and resolve conflicts, as well as
more general management skills.

4.2 Managing Time

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Time management is another key aspect of managing a project. As such, it is
considered to be a core knowledge area, and is closely knit to scope and cost areas.
The main purpose of this knowledge area, as it name suggests, is to build processes
and outputs into the project that assist the manager and team to complete the project
in a timely manner. During the planning process, outputs are created to illustrate how
NOTES
project tasks will be sequenced and allocated. The controlling and monitoring
process is concerned with tracking and reporting on the progress of work, as well as
adjusting time outputs to address shifts and changes in the project plan. Finally,
the closing process includes an audit of time targets. Project managers reflect on what
contributed to time estimates being accurate, too liberal, or conservative. This
reflective process helps them to build better time plans for future projects.

The Steps in Time Management Process

Following are the main steps in the project time management process. Each addresses
a distinct area of time management in a project.

1. Defining Activities

When it comes to a project, there are a few levels for identifying activities. First of
all, the high-level requirements are broken down into high-level tasks or deliverables.
Then, based on the task granularity, the high-level tasks/deliverables are broken down
into activities and presented in the form of WBS (Work Breakdown Structure).

2. Sequencing Activities

In order to manage the project time, it is critical to identify the activity sequence. The
activities identified in the previous step should be sequenced based on the execution
order. When sequencing, the activity interdependencies should be considered.

3. Resource Estimating for Activities

The estimation of amount and the types of resources required for activities is done in
this step. Depending on the number of resources allocated for an activity, its duration

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 varies. Therefore, the project management team should have a clear understanding
about the resources allocation in order to accurately manage the project time.

4. Duration and Effort Estimation

This is one of the key steps in the project planning process. Since estimates are all
about the time (duration), this step should be completed with a higher accuracy. An
NOTES appropriate estimation mechanism for the project should be selected.

Most of the companies follow either WBS based estimating or Function Points based
estimates in this step. Once the activity estimates are completed, critical path of the
project should be identified in order to determine the total project duration, one of the
key inputs for the project time management.

5. Development of the Schedule

Scheduling is the easiest way of managing project time. In this approach, the
activities of the project are estimated and the durations are determined based on the
resource utilization for each activity. In addition to the estimate and resource
allocation, cost always plays a vital role in time management. This is due to the fact
that schedule over-runs are quite expensive.

In order to create an accurate schedule, a few parameters from the previous steps are
required. Activity sequence, duration of each activity and the resource
requirements/allocation, for each activity are the most important factors. In case if
this step is performed manually, a lot of valuable project planning time will be
wasted. There are many software packages, such as Microsoft Project, that can assist
to develop reliable and accurate project schedule.

As part of the schedule, a Gantt chart should be developed in order to visually

monitor the activities and the milestones.

6. Schedule Control

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No project in the practical world can be executed without changes to the original
schedule. Therefore, it is essential to update the project schedule with ongoing
changes.

Time management is a key responsibility of a project manager. Time is a terrible NOTES

resource to waste. Every delivery to be made is time-bound. Therefore, without
proper time management, a project can head towards a disaster. When it comes to
project time management, it is not just the time of the project manager, but it is the
time management of the project team. With a little time management, project success
comes easier.

Time management strategies

1. Create the Plan

A plan with regular milestones to focus on can lessen a lot less time dealing with
issues brought about through lack of clarity.
2. The 80/20 Rule
The 80/20 rule (or the Pareto Principle) is the idea that by doing 20% of the work
80% of the benefit of doing the whole job can be produce. It is better to Identify and
focus on 20 per cent of activities that matters and produce 80 per cent of the results.
3. Not Just Status Updates
It's best to avoid team meetings and spend that time focusing on risks, issues and
opportunities. The team should be used to brainstorm solutions and create ideas.
Team meetings should have an agreed agenda that should be sticked to. Everyone
should not be involved through lengthy technical discussions. Instead a working
group can be Setup to focus on the issues and report to the team at a future meeting.
4. Stop Micro Managing
Delving into the detail of the work should be avoided. Let the team get on with what
they are best at. Usage of software where ever possible, is necessary for the project
manager to concentrate on steering the project to a successful conclusion.
5. Don’t do the Work

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 Many project managers make the mistake of getting involved in "doing the work”
which should be avoided. Managing projects is a full-time job and taking your eye off
the ball (even for a short period) can lead to problems. It may be tempting to carry out
a few tasks when a deadline is looming, but managing the project should be the
priority.
6. Create a To-do List
NOTES Creating a daily to-do list helps focus on achieving the objectives. Scratching tasks
from the list creates a real sense of achievement and drives further activity.

4.3 Managing risk

Risk is inevitable in a business organization when undertaking projects. However, the

project manager needs to ensure that risks are kept to a minimal. An organization will
not be able to fully eliminate or eradicate risks. Every project engagement will have
its own set of risks to be dealt with. A certain degree of risk will be involved when
undertaking a project.

Definition of Risk The Project Management Institute’s PMBOK Guide, Fourth

Edition defines project risk as “an uncertain event or condition that, if it occurs, has a
positive or a negative effect on a project’s objectives.”

The two things to remember about risk are: First, it is uncertain. Second, risk contains
two sides. It can be either viewed as a negative element or a positive element.
Negative risks can be detrimental factors that can haphazard situations for a project.
Therefore, these should be curbed once identified. On the other hand, positive risks
can bring about acknowledgements from both the customer and the management. All
the risks need to be addressed by the project manager. Once the risk has been
identified, project managers need to come up with a mitigation plan or any other
solution to counter attack the risk.

Classification of Project Risk

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Project risks can be classified as schedule risk, scope risk and resources, and the
mishandling of each can cause a ripple effect on the project, which would then face
imminent collapse.

1. Scope Risk NOTES

Defining what is required is not always easy. However, so as to ensure that scope risk
is minimized, the deliverables, the objectives, the project charter, and of course, the
scope needs to be clearly defined. There are a variety of methods that help
stakeholders identify the scope of the project.

• The risk framework analyses the project's dependency on technology and the
market and then assesses how changes in each would affect the outcome of
the project.
• Similarly, the risk complexity index looks at the technical aspects of the
projects, which can be easily quantified and allocated a number between 0 and
99 to indicate the risk of the project.
• Risk assessment, on the other hand, uses a grid of technology, structure and
magnitude to assess the proposed risk of the project.
• A Work Breakdown Structure, commonly abbreviated as WBS, also
considers the risks of projects, which are ill defined and where the stated
objectives are ambiguous.

Scope risks can be minimized and managed with savvy planning. Defining the project
clearly, managing the changes in scope throughout the duration of the project, making
use of risk registers to better manage risks, identifying the causative factors, and the
appropriate responses to risky situations and developing greater risk tolerance in
collaboration with the customer, would pay great dividends in the long run.

2. Schedule Risk

Keeping to timelines and agreed critical paths is one of the most difficult situations
that project managers now face. An extensive reliance on external parties whose
output is not within the project's scope of control, estimation errors, which most often

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 are too optimistic, hardware delays and putting off decision making, all tend to delay
the project at hand. To minimize schedule risks, there are a few time-tested methods
that can be put to use.

• The process flow of the project should be broken down into small, clearly
defined components where the allocated timeframe for each process is

NOTES relatively short in duration.

• Be wary of team members or external parties, who hesitate to give estimates
or whose estimates seem unrealistic based on historical data and previous
experience.
• When formulating the critical path, ensure that any holidays that arise are in-
built into the equation, so that realistic expectations are created, right from
inception.
3. Source Risk

People and funds are any project's main resource base.

• If the people are unskilled or incompetent to perform the task at hand, if the
project is under-staffed from the beginning, or if key project members come
on aboard far after the inception of the project, there is an obvious project risk
that has ill-planned human resources as its base.
• From a financial perspective, if insufficient funds are provided to carry out the
necessary tasks, be it relevant training programs for the people in question or
be it inadequate investments in technology or required machinery, the project
is doomed to fail from inception.
• Estimating project costs accurately, allocating a suitable budget to meet these
costs, not placing undue expectations on the capacity of the staff in question
and avoiding burn-out at a later date are all factors that help minimize the
project resource risk.
• Outsourced functions merit even more attention to detail, as it is for the most
part, it is away from the direct purview of the project manager. Clearly
defined contracts and regular monitoring would lessen this risk substantially.

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Process in Risk Management

Managers can plan their strategy based on four steps of risk management which
prevails in an organization. Following are the steps to manage risks effectively in an
organization:

1. Risk Identification
NOTES
2. Risk Quantification
3. Risk Response
4. Risk Monitoring and Control

1. Risk Identification:

Risks, such as operational or business risks will be handled by the relevant teams. The
risks that often impact a project are supplier risk, resource risk and budget risk.
Supplier risk would refer to risks that can occur in case the supplier is not meeting the
timeline to supply the resources required. Resource risk occurs when the human
resource used in the project is not enough or not skilled enough. Budget risk would
refer to risks that can occur if the costs are more than what was budgeted. These risks
could be resolved through structured or unstructured brainstorming or strategies.

2. Risk Quantification:

Risks can be evaluated based on quantity. Project managers need to analyze the likely
chances of a risk occurring with the help of a matrix.

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 Using the matrix, the project manager can categorize the risk into four categories as
Low, Medium, High and Critical. The probability of occurrence and the impact on the
project are the two parameters used for placing the risk in the matrix categories. As an
example, if a risk occurrence is low (probability = 2) and it has the highest impact
(impact = 4), the risk can be categorized as 'High'.

NOTES

3. Risk Response

When it comes to risk management, it depends on the project manager to choose

strategies that will reduce the risk to minimal. Project managers can choose between
the four risk response strategies, which are outlined below.

• Risks can be avoided

• Pass on the risk
• Take corrective measures to reduce the impact of risks
• Acknowledge the risk

4. Risk Monitoring and Control

Risks can be monitored on a continuous basis to check if any change is made. New
risks can be identified through the constant monitoring and assessing mechanisms.

Risk Register/Risk Log

Often project managers will compile a document, which outlines the risks involved
and the strategies in place. This document is vital as it provides a huge deal of
information.

Risk register will often consist of diagrams to aid the reader as to the types of risks
that are dealt by the organization and the course of action taken. The risk register
should be freely accessible for all the members of the project team.

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All projects start off with a bang. Yet, some are destined for failure from its very
inception, whilst others collapse later on. Yet, others reach the finish line
triumphantly, carrying with them a few scars from battles faced and overcome.
Therefore, in order to minimize project failure, it is prudent to identify the main
causative factors that contribute to project risk. The risk management process should NOTES
not be compromised at any point, if ignored can lead to detrimental effects. The entire
management team of the organization should be aware of the project risk
management methodologies and techniques. Enhanced education and frequent risk
assessments are the best way to minimize the damage from risks.

4.4 Factors that Lead to Successful Projects

A talented project manager is the first step to actual project success, but there are
other important factors that contribute largely to a project’s outcome. It takes careful
planning, attention to detail and effective communication to make a project succeed.
With vigilant management and a strong project closing, a company can consistently
reach project success.

1. Smart Planning
Comprehensive planning sets up a project for success from the start. All stakeholders
should be on board during the planning process and always know in which direction
the project is going to go. Planning can help the team to meet deadlines and stay
organized. Good planning not only keeps the project team focused and on track, but
also keeps stakeholders aware of project progress.

There are many benefits to smart planning. This first step in the project process
allows for a reliable and realistic time-scale to be created. Assuring accurate time for
cost estimates to be produced and for clear documentation of milestones and
deliverables will make things much easier as the project progresses. A proficient plan
details all resource requirements and doubles as a warning system. If task slippage is
at risk, then a warning system will provide clear visibility of what to expect.

Using previously completed projects as templates for future projects and effective
tools can help build a project plan and establish an accurate end date. In this way

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 redundancies associated with creating a new project from scratch each time can be
avoided.

2. Smart Project Team

Without the right team in place, any strategy and plan has the potential of completely
falling apart. Because of this, the core project staff, expert resources, suppliers and all
NOTES stakeholders should be part of the team dynamic. All of those involved must have
commitment to the group, share similar visions for the projects and strive for overall
success.

Project managers can face serious trouble if inadequacy is present within the team.
Inept leadership or an out-of-sync team can send a project towards failure. It is
important to assign the right people to each aspect of the project and make sure that
they are working well together. Additionally, the entire team should be completely
articulated and involved in order to have the most successful outcome, which means
that communication has to be on par.

Usage of a software tool for a central repository of information not only automates
time-sheets/invoicing, but stops the project processes falling apart at times when staff
move on.

3. Open Communication
A keen monitoring of the details and listening to outside sources of information is
vital to the success of a project. Keeping open communication within the team is
absolutely essential. When working under a specific timetable, it is important that the
team remains well-informed. If a problem arises on one part of a project, it can
negatively impact other parts as well. Communication is the best way to prevent
problems from occurring.

Communication should also be focused internally within the organization. Keeping an

organizational history of major projects will give convenient access to improved
policies and business processes. If this isn’t done, then a team may repeat mistakes
that have already occurred. Listening to stakeholders and paying attention is a very
important ingredient for success.

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Good communication also includes knowing when to say no. A project team should
never promise anything they know they can’t deliver. Saying no in the beginning
could save an overabundance of unnecessary problems later. Always be honest about
what your team can do and when it can be done by. Using previous projects templates
will not only improve the processes over time but can also the communications
between all project participants.
NOTES
4. Careful Risk Management
Project managers know that things rarely go off exactly as planned. During the
planning process, it is vital to produce a risk log with an action plan for the risks that
the project could face. All key stakeholders should be made aware of the risk log and
should know where they can find it. If something happens, then the team can quickly
resolve the issue with the management plan that has already been set in place. This
will give the team confidence when facing project risks and help the clients feel
comfortable with the project’s progression.

5. Meeting the Customer's Expectations

Going the extra mile is not restricted to only customer services; it's also a magic word
for project management. A top most important factor for a project success criterion is
to exceed customer's expectations by completing the project within the stated
deadline, budget and quality.

However, project manager needs to bear in mind that this could be misinterpreted and
could lead towards unnecessary cost. Ideas to make a better product than sticking to
the original idea could be done with the approval of the customer. But for this to be
successful, proper implementation needs to be in place.

6. Strong Project Closure

If a project does not have strong closure, then it has the potential to continue to
consume resources. The project team must be firm and agree with the customer that
all critical success factors have been met. Confirmation of the project delivery,
testing, and release must be agreed upon and signed off. Satisfaction surveys are good
forms of documentation to log and file for future reference and valuable information
for use in the future.

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 It is the project manager’s job to ensure that everything runs smoothly on a project,
but having a great project manager doesn’t guarantee a successful project outcome.
The project's quality should not be compromised under any circumstances as this will
drive away potential customers. The entire team paying attention to key factors is
what will help lead the project to true success. This success will then lead to
proactive, organized project plans and an increase in quality of all future projects by
implementing the lessons learnt in the present projects.
NOTES
The criteria for a successful project are not restricted to only above. In addition, some
of other supporting factors that need to be considered for a project success are:

• Negotiations
• Reviewing and doing a rework when needed
• Managing project risks efficiently
• Allocating time for process improvement
• Learn from the learning curve
• Proper estimation of project in terms of not only quantitatively but also
qualitatively

Understanding the business drivers and ensuring that the project meets the objectives
of the business will also contribute to success. Aligning the key performance
indicator to that of the business objective will not only help project managers to keep
track but also measure and improve performance.

4.5 Project Tracking

Project Tracking refers to the management of projects, which includes but is not
limited to measuring and reporting the status of milestones, tasks and activities
required in achieving the pre-defined project results. Project tracking system assists to
recognize all of the tasks that are required to complete the project successfully on
time. That is why it is to be deployed during planning phase of a project to control
and regulate the allocated resources. It provides a monitoring and evaluation system
by simply tracking planned, actual and modified expenditures.

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The Purpose of project tracking is to help

• Deliver the project as committed: dates, costs, quality, etc.

• Enable accurate reporting of project status.
• Spot deviations from the plan and sort them out
• Foresee potential future problems so that we can avoid them(the real art of
project tracking) NOTES
• Track project issues and risks
• Monitor project data backups
• Update project schedule as well as prepare status reports for management and
customers
• Communicate project progress and performance.

Project tracking is about staying in control–being proactive, not reactive. Project

tracking requires a careful balance of monitoring to achieve the results and respond to
any incidents or roadblocks, while avoiding micro management and reducing team
member’s ability to make decisions.

4.5.1 Tasks Involved In Tracking

1. Progress Review and monitoring

• Project team submits daily time sheets against assigned tasks to the Project
Manager as defined in the Project Plan.
• Project Manager reviews the project team progress and updates the project
schedule accordingly.

2. Issue Tracking

• Project team logs the issues in the issue management system as defined in the
project plan.
• Project Manager reviews and analyzes the project team issues and determines
appropriate corrective actions to resolve them.

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 • Project Manager takes the corrective action himself or assigns corrective
actions to other concerned stakeholders as required.
• Project Manager reviews the progress of corrective actions against issues and
updates their status in the issue management system accordingly.

3. Risk Tracking

NOTES • Project Manager reviews the risk mitigation or contingency progress against
each risk and updates impact and probability of occurrence and recalculates
the risk exposure accordingly.
• If a risk is controlled successfully as the result of planned action within
planned completion date, the risk status is updated according to selected
response technique.
• If a risk is not mitigated within planned completion date rather it has occurred,
PM starts implementing contingency plan for that risk as per plan
• Project Manager reviews the progress of contingency plan till its completion
and updates its status.

4. Monitor Data Backups

• Project Manager obtains the status of data backups from the Systems
Administrator.
• Plans Update and Status Reports Preparation: Project Manager updates the
effected plans, documents as well as project schedule.
5. Report Documentation

Project Manager prepares the weekly status report using Internal Status Report
template and specifies following information:

• Overall Project Progress

• Status of corrective actions against issues.
• Risks status and mitigation/contingency progress.
• Status of data backups.

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Project Manager prepares the customer status report using Customer Status Report
Template and documents the minimum of following information:

• Progress on last week tasks

• Customer related issues and risks.
• Status of corrective actions against previous customer related issues NOTES

Maintaining a reference file of the measurements associated with project tracking and
controls, including timesheets, financial reports, change control logs, problem logs,
inspection reports and test results, enables additional analyses of the data obtained.

A structured project tracking and control process is an essential practice for projects.
The purpose of project tracking and control is to establish an overall approval
for monitoring the quality of tasks, schedule, and budget performance to plan and
take corrective actions.

Benefits of Project Tracking

• Provides the project manager, project team, and management with the
information required to more fully understand project status and progress
• Facilitates early "actual versus plan" variance detection
• Supports effective project control with statistical performance indicators
• Enables consistent and regular measurement of project metrics for project
management control and IT management communications

When a project manager uses the project tracking and control processes, the
probability of success is higher than if the project manager does not. Therefore, it is
in the best interest of the project manager and the customer to maximize the
probability of success on a project. This success is achieved by focusing on the
following ten arenas of control required for the measurement and control of project
progress Task Management Quality, Assurance Management, Scope Management,
Configuration Management, Problem Management, Cost Management, Risk

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 Management, Supplier Management, Team Management, Management
Management.

4.6 Job Description, Staffing Pattern and Training Plan

4.6.1 Job descriptions are usually essential for managing people in organizations.
Job descriptions are required for recruitment so that you and the applicants can
NOTES
understand the job role. Job descriptions are necessary for most people in work. A job
description defines a person's role and accountability. Without a job description it is
usually very difficult for a person to properly commit to, or be held accountable for, a
role.

Importance of Job Descriptions

Job descriptions improve an organisation's ability to manage people and roles in the
following ways:

• clarifies employer expectations for employee

• provides basis of measuring job performance

• provides clear description of role for job candidates

• provides a structure and discipline for company to understand and structure all jobs
and ensure necessary activities, duties and responsibilities are covered by one job
or another

• provides continuity of role parameters irrespective of manager interpretation

• enables pay and grading systems to be structured fairly and logically

• prevents arbitrary interpretation of role content and limit by employee and

employer and manager

• essential reference tool in issues of employee/employer dispute

• essential reference tool for discipline issues

• provides important reference points for training and development areas

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• provides neutral and objective (as opposed to subjective or arbitrary) reference
points for appraisals, performance reviews and counseling

• enables formulation of skill set and behaviour set requirements per role

• enables organisation to structure and manage roles in a uniform way, thus NOTES
increasing efficiency and effectiveness of recruitment, training and development,
organizational structure, work flow and activities, customer service, etc

Job Description Template

• Job Title

• Based at (Business Unit, Section - if applicable)

• Position reports to (Line Manager title, location, and Functional Manager,

location if matrix management structure)

• Job Purpose Summary (ideally one sentence)

• Key Responsibilities and Accountabilities, (or 'Duties'. 8-15 numbered

points)

• Dimensions/Territory/Scope/Scale indicators (the areas to which

responsibilities extend and the scale of responsibilities - staff, customers,
territory, products, equipment, premises, etc)

• Date and other relevant internal references

For senior job descriptions it is useful to break key responsibilities into

sections covering Functional, Managerial, and Organisational areas

4.6.2 Staffing Pattern

Definition

Staff management is the processes of ensuring that the right people, with the right
skills and tools, are performing the right tasks, at the right time. Effective staff

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 management is arguably the single most important factor in managing a project to a
successful outcome.

The Staffing Plan defines the required human resources needed to deliver the desired
project deliverables. It involves the selection and assignment of a Project Team. The
Staffing Plan must provide the appropriate skill sets to manage the project and to
perform the tasks that produce the specified project deliverables. It also needs to
NOTES
provide for any additional non-labor resources such as tools, equipment, or processes
used by the project team.

Importance of Staffing Plan

It's important for a project to accomplish its objectives as efficiently as possible. This
requires a project manager to skillfully allocate resources. Once a project's scope is
defined, the management decisions relating to project resource assignments usually
are the single most important factor in ensuring a project's ultimate successful
outcome.

Steps Involved In Staffing Plan

Staff planning breaks down into a few simple processes as follows:

1. Pooling Resources A staff planner must first determine what is in the potentially
available resource pool. This can be existing staff, potential new staff, contracted for
services, and/or potential tools that augment the capacities of people. It is critical that
a staff planner know the organization's structure in order to determine where available
resources can be found.

2. Skill Assessment Secondly, the staff planner must determine the skill sets needed
to execute the tasks defined in the Project Schedule and Task Plan. This skills
assessment shows what skills are needed from the potential resource pool. If needed
skills are not available in the resource pool, the staff planner must make the project
sponsors and/or the project manager aware of the deficiency so that they can obtain
them. It is often the case that needed staff are already committed to other activities.

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Getting staff re-directed toward a project often requires extensive "negotiation" with
whoever currently manages the needed resource.

3. Profile Decision Thirdly, the staff planner must ensure that the right people, with
the right skills, are available at the right time. This means aligning the staff
availability with the Project Schedule and Task Plan. Generally a project staffing NOTES
profile is done at this stage that shows the composition of the project team at any
given point in the project's life cycle. For instance, at the start of a project, planners
and project managers might constitute the entire team. In the middle of the project,
the team may consist mainly of designers and developers. At the end of a project,
trainers or quality assurance evaluators may dominate the team.

4. Project Organisational Chart Finally, the staff planner needs to define roles and
responsibilities for the project. By clearly defining the roles and responsibilities in a
project the staff planner defines lines of authority, control, communication, and
coordination. Without these definitions projects often dissolve into chaos. This
process organizes the project resources into a Project Team. Project Teams are
generally organized along managerial hierarchy and functional line of business.
Teams may break down to sub-teams depending on the project's complexity and size.
Typically project Teams are represented on Project Organizational Charts.

The primary focus of a staff plan is people but it's also important to plan for the non-
labor resources needed to support the project team. Generally this includes things like
facility, equipment, software, etc. The staff plan does not deal with acquisitions
defined as project deliverables but it does need to define the resources needed to
enable the project team to produce those deliverables.

Large, complex projects require more staff planning discipline than small projects.
Their scale creates the probability that staff estimation may be incorrect and this
introduces risk that can only be mitigated through careful staff planning. A common
tactic to combat this risk is to decompose the required staff into sub-teams or project
sub-functions in order to isolate any potential planning miscalculation

4.6.3 The Training Plan

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 Definition

The Training Plan describes the strategies, activities and tasks necessary to provide
the business unit with the skills necessary to operate the new product or technology
successfully. Training needed by the technical staff should be described in the
Staffing Plan or the Maintenance & Operations Plan, respectively.

NOTES The Training Plan is just one of the plans that deals with the organizational or cultural
changes brought about by the integration of a new product or technology into the
business environment. The Implementation & Transition Plan tasks will also deal
with the business change to some degree. If the project will result in a large degree of
change to the culture or business practices, the business unit(s) may prepare a plan
dealing specifically with the activities necessary to institute the new business
practices.

Importance of Training Plan

The training plan helps to ensure that project outcomes are successfully achieved by
preparing the business unit to use the product effectively. The key to effective
training, and a successful conclusion to the project, is to start the planning process
early. If training needs are not considered until close to the end of the project, there
will not be enough time to effectively prepare staff to use the new product.

If the business unit is responsible for delivering service directly to the public, it is
very important that the training activities be planned, communicated, and delivered
with minimal disruption to the delivery of service. Planning the training activities and
events is also important for projects with a large degree of impact to the business
practices.

The Training Activity

One goal of the training activity is to leave the trainees with enthusiasm and desire to
use the new product. Design the training program to provide trainees with the specific
knowledge and skills necessary to effectively perform their work. The training plan
may also include strategies for marketing the product. Once the training is developed,

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it is a good idea to present the training to a test group. The training is then revised
based on recommendations from the pilot audience.

Because the business staff is most knowledgeable about their existing business
processes and environment, they may be best qualified to prepare the training plan. If NOTES
the business staff prepares the training plan, they should also be the trainers. The
technical staff will be tasked with establishing the training environment where the
training exercises will be conducted.

In planning the training activities, consider follow-up and on-going training needs.
These needs should be addressed in the training plan possibly in the training strategy
or the training sources sections. The training plan should include the following:

• A description of the scope of the training.

• A description of the Training objectives.
• Background information such as a description of the product and a high-level
overview of the curriculum.
• The Training requirements such as the required skills, the audience(s),
individuals or positions needing specific training, and the required time frame.
• The Training roles and responsibilities.
• A method for evaluating the training.
• The Training strategy.
• Sources for Training.
• The Dependencies/Constraints/Limitations affecting the training.
• Training resources.
• A description of the training environment.
• A description of the training materials.
• A course outline.
• A log for keeping track of who has received training.
• A process for updating the training materials.

Developing the Training Plan

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 The structure of the training plan and the type(s) of training delivered will vary
depending on the type of the project, the business unit needs, and the degree of
change to the business practices. For projects impacting multiple business units, a
separate training plan may be prepared for each business unit. If staff with varying
levels of technology expertise will be using the new product, the plan should describe
the activities necessary to train each level of user. Projects introducing a great deal of
NOTES cultural change may want to conduct multiple stages or levels of training so that the
new business practices may be reinforced. Training for projects introducing a very
small degree of impact to the business practices may only consist of the creation of
desk-aides or help screens along with some good communication instead of formal
classroom training.

4.7 Main Activities: Regular Monitoring, Regular Reviewing Progress, Re-plan

Project monitoring

Monitoring and Controlling a project is the process or activities whereby the project
manager tracks, reviews and revises the project activities in order to ensure the
project creates the deliverables in accordance with the project objectives. Because of
the unique and temporary nature of projects, they require active control. Unlike a
process where the same set of activities have been performed repeatedly so that habits
and expectations are stable, a project is inherently unstable. The activities are unique
to the project or the sequence of activities and resources are only temporarily
assigned and associated with the project and are redeployed when the project
completes. Habits and patterns are not established before everything changes.

The primary results of the Monitoring and Controlling processes are the project
performance reports and implementing project changes. The focus for project
management is the analysis of project performance to determine whether a change is
needed in the plan for the remaining project activities to achieve the project goals. In
my experience, almost every project will require a change to the plan at some point in
time. Traditional projects are the most stable projects because the requirements and
the activities are clear and well understood. Adaptive and Extreme projects are the

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least stable. They require very close control and will require numerous changes - if
for no other reason the project manager will need to refine the activities of later
phases based upon the results of early activities.
NOTES
Inputs to Project monitoring

1. Performance reports
These reports provide information on the status of the progress of the project
work and represent actual performance so that it can be compared to the plan. Such
evaluation can then be used to take any need necessary corrective action. These
reports give valuable information of progress against the scope, time, cost, and
quality baselines.
An important part of the project manager’s job is not just to capture actual
information but also to look ahead based on current performance. This information
will allow the project manager to make informed choices about implementing
preventative actions and therefore resolve problems before they arise in the first
place.

2. Enterprise environmental factors

The manner in which monitoring and controlling of the project work takes place will
depend upon factors such as laws and regulations, your organisation infrastructure,
and elements such as the organizations appetite for risk.

3. Organisational process assets

In a similar way to the above, an organization may have monitoring and reporting
documentation templates, or policies procedures or guidelines for reporting. In
addition there may be lessons learned from previous similar projects recommending
the type and frequency of such monitoring and controlling.

Outputs of Project Monitoring

1. Change requests

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 As the project proceeds forward, it is quite natural for changes to be requested as the
project plan is always subject to change and can never be perfect. Such changes may
for example request the scope of the project to change, timescales to change, budgets
to change, or functionality to change.

All such change requests need to be brought into the process for impact evaluation on
NOTES the project, where they will either be approved or rejected. Such change requests
normally originate from the need for corrective action which is to bring future results,
or from preventative actions which were raised to avoid the occurrence of a future
problem.

2. Project management plan updates

As a result of taking corrective action the changes to the various documents within
the project management plan need to be updated to reflect current progress and future
forecast.

3. Project document updates

Other documents that may need to be changed should also be updated. Examples
here could be logs or registers.

Tools and techniques

Monitoring and Controlling of a project fall into one of four general categories. The
first is the collection of project.

Performance Information Techniques supporting this category are Pulse Meetings,

Variance Reports, and Program Reviews and Expert Judgement

Analysis of the Project Performance determines whether a project change is

needed. Techniques that are used in this category are Technical Reviews, Project
Forecasting and Problem Solving.

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 Reporting On Project Performance Techniques that support this activity include
the use of a Project Management Information System, Management Reviews, and
Dashboards.

Management Of Project Change The technique commonly used in this category is NOTES
the maintenance of a Change Management Log.

4.8 Recordkeeping and Reporting

A record is a document or an electronic storage of data in an organization which acts

as evidence or a guideline. A project record management is a systematic process,
which allows people to retain records for future use. It outlines the details which are
relevant to the project. Hence, project record management needs to be monitored and
retained in a careful manner.
Project management also means using controls in place to meet the deadlines and
other requirements such as cost of the project. These controls involve proper and
effective recording of project management activities. Record management is a
systematic approach for organizing, planning and tracking documents during the
course of the project execution.

4.8.1Project Record Management

A record system is a systematic process in which an organization determines the

following considerations, activities and characteristics:

• The type of information that should be recorded.

• A process for recording data.

• Handling and collecting of records.

• The time period for retention and storage.

• Disposal or protecting records, which relate to external events.

• Elements in a record management system.

• Content analysis, which states or describes the record system.

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 • A file plan, which indicates the kind of record that is required for each project.

• A compliance requirement document, which will outline the IT procedures that

everyone needs to follow. This will ensure that team members are fully compliant.

• A method, which collects out dated documents. These should be done across all
record sources such as e-mails, file servers, etc.

• A method for auditing records.

NOTES
• A system, which captures the record data.

• A system, which ensures monitoring and reporting in the way which records are being
held.

Stages in Record Management

In the project record management process, there are three distinct stages. These stages
have many other activities involved in order to complete and accomplish the
objectives for each stage. The stages are:

1. The creation of records

2. Maintenance of records
3. Storage and retrieval of records

1. Creating Records

The primary objective of project record management is to determine the flow of the
record handling once the record is created. When it comes to creating records, the
following questions should be answered as to

• Who will view the record?

• Who will be the final owner of the record?
• Who is responsible for storing the record?

2. Maintaining Records

Developing an operation to store the records refers to maintaining the records. The
access levels to the records should be defined at this stage and should take all
necessary steps in order to avoid the records getting into the wrong hands. Proper
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compliance procedures and security measures need to be in place to avoid misusing
of records.

3. Storing and Retrieval of Records

Storing of records could refer to manual storage of documents as well as digital NOTES
storage. Project managers need to ensure that the records are returned in the way it
was borrowed. Maintaining records also refers to the amount of time that records can
be maintained.

Some organizations may retain records up to six years whilst others less amount of
years. If records are saved digitally, proper folders need to be created. Once created,
the older documents need to be archived so that hard drive space is retained.

An Insight to Record Management Planning

Records, which are collated needs to be planned. The following outlines the steps that
management needs to take to ensure record planning process is successful.

• Identification of roles, which ensure that records are managed properly

o Allocating dedicated roles or appointing dedicated people to categorize the
records, which are available in an organization.
o Appointing IT professionals to implement systems, which maintains and
supports record management.
• Managers need to make sure that the team members are aware of the
procedures in place for record management.The record management process
needs to analyze the content of the documents, which are to be saved.
• Implement a file plan, which will store the different kinds of files in an
organization.
• Develop retention schedules, which could vary from one organization to
another depending on the activity taking place.
• Design effective record management solutions.
• Planning of how content can be moved to record methods.
• Develop a plan where e-mail integration could be made.

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 • Plan a compliance procedure for social content.
• Develop compliance procedures that align the objectives of project record
system.

4.8.2 Reporting

In project management there are three types of reports: Routine, Exception and
NOTES
special analysis.

1. Routine Reports: These reports include periodic reports, status reports, forecast
report, update presentation reports, technical performance report

2. Exception Reports: are intended for special decisions or unexpected situations in

which affected team members and outside managers need to be made aware of a
change and thje change itself needs to be documented.

3. Special Analysis reports: are prepared to articulate the results of a special

studying the project concerning a particular opportunity or a problem for the project.
They may be distributed to the top management, who would benefit from the
knowledge, functional managers, or anyone who might be affected or interested.

Benefits of Reports

• They provide the mutual understanding between stakeholders in a project

regarding the goals , progress, difficulties and other ongoing events of
importance to the project.
• They help communicate the need for coordination among those working on
the tasks and subtasks of the project
• There are often changes to the goals and functioning of projects. Reports can
communicate this information in a timely fashion, thereby reducing the
confusion during that change.

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 • They help maintain the visibility of the project and the project team, to top
management, functional managers, and colleagues and to the clients.
• Status reports help keep the team motivated unless the project is a disaster.

NOTES
In addition to printed reports, reports may also have to be given orally at
meetings, internet and organisations local area network or intranet for enhanced
project communication facilitating the management of geographically dispersed
virtual projects.

4.9 Online project management

Online project management is the process of using software (the collection of

programs, processes and information) to manage various phases of a project and that
is accessible on the Internet. Project management involves processes such as
scheduling, calculating a critical path, building timelines, creating task lists,
managing resources, controlling documents and providing audit trails. Each of these
processes can be controlled and sometimes automated through project management
software .Web based solutions are coded in a browser supported language such as
HTML, ASP or PHP so they can be accessed by clients through a web browser. One
main software version is installed and maintained on a server so that more than one
client can access this version.

There are literally dozens of good project management software applications, with
Microsoft Project, being one of the most popular mid-range project management
packages, and the likes of Primavera being popular at the higher end. Free and open
source project tools are also available to download or use via a web browser.

Online project management software is like an interactive day planner for entire
companies, complete with timecards, budgets and message boards or forums Online
project management is a quick and easy way to help the company stay organized and
help become a more effective leader. Online Project management software can be
hosted on own server, which does not require installation. Some of the advantages of

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 online project management are:

• No memory space is required, you can

• Accessibility of the program from anywhere,
• Live updates are available for all team members automatically through email
including, manager and even a customer if necessary.

NOTES • No data will be lost due to computer crashes.

• Higher-end products even have apps that are available for download to your
iphone.
• The best way to keep communications open
• Helps control every aspect of a business.
• Ability to process invoices, aids in billing, payroll, email communication,
customer notification and resource and project tracking.
• Availability of different help outlets including FAQs, discussion boards, live
chat help and toll-free phone numbers, to deal complex features of the project.

However, a monthly fee is levied for the use of online software.

Need for Project Management Software

Projects are complex and dependent on many different features, departments, and
outcomes. Project software can help to determine which events depend on one
another, how exactly they depend on each other, and what happens if things change or
go wrong.

In addition, they can schedule people to work on various tasks, and detail the
resources – physical, financial or anything else - that are required, and this is called
resource scheduling.

People also use project management software to deal with uncertainties in the
estimates of the duration of each task; arrange tasks to meet various deadlines; and
juggle multiple projects simultaneously, as part of an overall objective.

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Benefits of Online Project Management

Web based software offers many advantages relative to stand-alone desktop software.
These include cost savings, improved efficiency and employee productivity, better
communications and coordination of efforts within the firm and enhanced data
security.
NOTES
1. Reduces Costs

• No initial capital investment to buy software for a number of individual

desktops. There is no software to download or install on site.
• Cost is incurred as the service is used, preserving scarce cash to be used more
productively within the firm for more critical needs
• The browser-based approach provides greater flexibility, enabling the small
business to scale up or down quickly and easily as needs change.
• Both initial and ongoing maintenance cost savings are realized with the online
approach. All the maintenance costs are avoided because maintenance is taken
care of by the provider.

2. Efficiency Advantages

Any new versions or modifications are installed and immediately available for all
users, improving efficiency and productivity and avoiding confusion. The cost and
inconvenience of updates is completely avoided with the online approach.

3. Improves Communications and Coordination

Using online project management software applications

• Leads to significant productivity improvements.

• Can be used by laptops and any other device and can even be integrated with
an iPhone or any device that can access a browser can use this software.
• Opportunity to work in any location at any time. The ability to work anywhere
at any time and communicate with coworkers can be a great productivity
enhancer.

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 • Same information is available to all employees, at the same time. It is also
much easier to add new users without the inconvenience and cost of acquiring
and installing another copy of software. Granting a new employee or advisor
access is as easy as adding a new password.
• The communications capability encourages interaction and team problem
solving, particularly with software that offers the opportunity to chat, discuss
NOTES and message. If one person has an idea for a new product and wants to see
what impact that will have on the firm’s planned results, it is possible to
discuss that idea with a colleague and test the idea by simulating it on the
financial plan. Then, both can see and discuss the results. These types of
opportunity exploration discussions are facilitated by the communications
capabilities of the online approach.
• The same is true if there is a big project that is falling behind schedule. The
impact of the delay on other required completion dates can be determined
using appropriate online project management software and the project
manager and others can see the results and discuss how to get things back on
schedule. With the online approach, the project manager can be on site in
Dallas and the others can be in New York or any other city. These types of
problem solving discussions are facilitated by the communications capabilities
of the online approach.

4. Offers Greater Security

With stand-alone software, an administrator must constantly monitor the security of

the data and these security measures must be instituted and policed on site. With
online software, sensitive company data resides on a secure server whose security is
constantly monitored by sophisticated protective mechanisms and a staff of full time
specialists in computer security.

Disadvantages of Online project management

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Web-based software is usually slower to respond than a typical desktop or client
application; Web-based applications are limited by the speed of one's Internet
connection, while client applications operate as quickly as the client's processor
speed. In addition, most information in Web-based applications is not accessible
when a user is offline. NOTES

Project applications can also carry out scheduling, cost control and budget
management, resource allocation, collaboration, communication, quality management
and documentation or administration.

CHECK YOUR PROGRESS:

1. What is skills gap? How does skill inventory matrix help in project management?

2. List the steps in the process of Risk Management.

3. “Project Managers are a special breed of people”. Substantiate.

4. In what ways Time Management impacts Project Management?

5. List the benefits online project management

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