Course Name: project Management

Course No. FIN: 423

Chapter note
Prepared by SM Nahidul Islam
Dept. of Finance & Banking
Islamic University, Kushtia.
Chapter Introduction
Questions at a glance:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

What is a Project? State the characteristics of a project.

State the differences between project and program
What is project management? State the processes of project management
What are the differences between Project management and general management?
Why Project Management? / Forces of project management
Describe the Benefits of Project management
Describe the goals of project management / State the objectives of project
Describe the Life cycle of a project

SM Nahidul Islam
Dept. of Finance & Banking (2nd batch)

1. What is a Project? State the characteristics of a project.

Answer: Projects differ significantly from the ongoing operations within a company. Projects can be part of
overall Programs and shouldn't be confused with such. A Program is an exceptionally large long-range objective
that's broken down into a set of projects. A project can thus be defined as a temporary endeavor undertaken to
create a unique product or service. The characteristics of a project are given below:
1. Temporary: Project only exists for a limited amount of time. It has definite starting and ending dates.
The end is reached when the projects objectives have been achieved
2. Unique: Every project is unique and no two projects are similar. Setting up a Cement plant and
construction of a highway are no doubt two different projects having unique characteristics. Constructing
a highway between cities A&B and constructing another highway between cities C&D are also unique in
themselves.
3. Specific Purpose: Project deliverable serves a specific need for the company.
4. Multidisciplinary: Project combines the talents and skills of a wide group of people- i.e. business,
technical, and manufacturing
5. Conflict Ridden: Because projects bring together a diverse group, objectives of each group can and do
conflict.

2. State the differences between project and program

Answer: The differences between program and project are given below:
Points of
distinctions
Meaning

Program

A program is a group of projects managed

in a coordinated way to obtain benefits not
available from managing them
individually.
Scope
It has broader scope
Time dimension
It has longer duration
Risk profile
Program risk is more complex to identify
and manage.
Nature of the Ill-defined
problem
Nature of the A significant number of potential solutions
solution
with often with disagreement between
stakeholders as to the preferred solution.

Project
A project is a part of program and is
individual activity.

It has relatively narrow scope.

It has shorter duration
Project risk is relatively easy to identify
and manage.
Clearly defined.
A relatively limited number of potential
solutions.

3. What is project management? State the processes of project management

Answer: The Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project
activities to meet project requirement. Project Management is accomplished through the use of the following
processes:
1. Initiating: It consists of those processes performed to define a new project or a phase of an existing
project by obtaining authorization to start the project or phase.
Islamic University, Kushtia

2.
3.
4.

5.

SM Nahidul Islam
Dept. of Finance & Banking (2nd batch)
Planning: It consists of those processes required to establish the scope of the project, refine the objectives
and define the course of action required to attain the objectives that the project was undertaken to achieve.
Executing: It consists of those processes performed to complete the work defined in the project
management plan to satisfy the project specifications.
Controlling: It consists of those processes required to track, review and regulate the progress and
performance of the project; identify any areas in which changes to the plan are required; and initiate the
corresponding changes.
Closing: It consists of those processes performed to finalize all activities across all the Process Groups to
formally close the project or phase.

4. What are the differences between Project management and general management?
Answer: The differences between project management and general management are given below:
Points of
distinctions

General management

Project management

Nature

Continuous process

One time affair

Multidisciplinary

Single state

Moves from one state to another i.e. results

in change

Objective

No clear (single) objective

Single clear objective

Range of time

No real start and end points

Definable start and end points

Emphasis

Not much of emphasis on planning

Greater need and emphasis on planning as

one has to think ahead all the time

Related

Resource and machine related

More human resource related

Oriented

Product or process oriented

Project oriented

Unique

Repetitive and non unique

Non repetitive and unique

Team building

Simple team building

Complex team building

Role

Role of manager and team membership

is permanent or long term

Role of manager and team membership is

temporary

5. Why Project Management? / Forces of project management

Answer: project management is for the following reasons:
A. General Business/Society Drivers: Three Paramount Forces driving Project Management:
a. The exponential expansion of human knowledge
b. The growing demand for a broad range of complex, sophisticated, customized goods and services
c. The evolution of worldwide competitive markets for the production and consumption of goods
and services
All three forces combine to mandate the use of teams to solve problems that used to be solvable by
individuals
Islamic University, Kushtia

SM Nahidul Islam
Dept. of Finance & Banking (2nd batch)
B. Organizational Changes: The process of managing organizations has been impacted by three
revolutionary changes:
a. Accelerating replacement of traditional, hierarchical management by participatory management
b. Currently witnessing the adoption of the "systems approach".
c. Organizations establishing projects as the preferred way to accomplish the many specific changes that
must be made when the organization attempts to alter its strategy

6. Describe the Benefits of Project management

Answer: Companies have experienced:
1. Better control
2. Better customer relations
3. Shorter development times
4. Lower costs
5. Higher quality and reliability
6. Higher profit margins
7. Sharper orientation toward results
8. Better interdepartmental coordination
9. Higher worker morale

7. Describe the goals of project management / State the objectives of project

Answer: Three Project Objectives:
o Performance
o

Time

Cost

The primary job of the Project Manager is to manage the trade-offs between time, cost and performance.
While attempts to make to maximize each of the goals, trade-offs occur. Increased demands in one area, results in
others being affected. A change in product specs has adverse impact on cost, schedule or both.

Islamic University, Kushtia

SM Nahidul Islam
Dept. of Finance & Banking (2nd batch)
a. During the design or formation stage of the project life cycle, there is no significant difference in the
importance project managers place on the three goals
b. Schedule is the primary goal during the build-up stage, being more important than performance, which
is in turn significantly more important than cost
c. During the final stage, phase-out, performance is significantly more important than cost
Relative importance of project objectives for each stage of the project life cycle:
Life Cycle
Formation
Buildup

Cost
1
3

Schedule
1
1

Performance
1
2

Main
Phase-out

3
3

1
2

1
1

Note: 1 = Most important

8. Describe the Life cycle of a project

Answer: The life cycle of project can be described in the following ways
1

The project completion: The project is born, a manager is choice, the project team and initial resources are
assembled, and the work is organized, so the work starts with a quick momentum. However, for completing
the final tasks, it will use a lot time, partially because there are a number of parts that must come together and
also because the team members avoid the final steps.

Figure: The project life cycle

Islamic University, Kushtia

SM Nahidul Islam
Dept. of Finance & Banking (2nd batch)
The required effort: In this cycle, the time is broken into several phases of project life. Minimal effort is
required in the beginning of the project and in the part of planning, scheduling, monitoring, and controlling
the effort has its peak level and will be decreasing until the end project.

Figure: Time distribution of project effort.

Figure: Another possible project life cycle

Islamic University, Kushtia