OUTLINE OF SYLLABUS Introduction to Project Management Information Technology Context and Process Groups in Project Management Project Integration

Management Project Scope Management Project Time Management Project Cost Management Project Quality Management Project Human Resource Management Project Communications Management Project Risk Management Project Procurement Management

WHAT IS A PROJECT?
To discuss project management, it is important to understand the concept of a project. A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result. Operations, on the other hand, is work done in organizations to sustain the business. Projects are different from operations in that they end when their objectives have been reached or the project has been terminated.

Project management is the process of combining systems, techniques, and knowledge to complete a project within established goals of time, budget, and scope.

Every project has to manage four basic constraints; scope, schedule, budget and quality. The success of a project depends on the skills and knowledge of a project manager to take into consideration these constraints and develop the plans and processes to keep them in balance.

Scope is what the project is trying to achieve, it entails all the work involved in delivering the project outcomes and the processes used to produce them; it is the reason and the purpose of the project. Scope is the boundary of a project, it is what the beneficiaries, and the donors expect from the project, nothing more, and nothing less. o Budget or the costs approved for the project including all required expenses needed in order to deliver the project. In development projects managers have to balance between not running out of money and not under spending, because many projects receive funds or grants that have contract clauses with a use it or lose it approach to project funds. Poorly executed budget plans can result in a last minute rush to spend the allocated funds. o Schedule is defined as the time required to complete the project. The project schedule is often the most frequent project oversight in developing projects. This is reflected in missed deadlines, incomplete activities, and late donor reports. Proper control of the schedule requires the careful identification of tasks to be performed, an accurate estimation of their durations, the sequence in which they are going to be done, and how people and resources are allocated. Quality is the fourth constraint and it is defined as delivering the project outcomes according to the stated or implied needs and expectations of the project beneficiaries and donor agency, in order to meet stakeholder satisfaction. It also means complying with quality standards that are either mandated by the donor, local government (such as laws and regulations), or by professional standards (such as health).

Project Stakeholders
Stakeholders are the people involved in or affected by project activities and include the project sponsor, project team, support staff, customers, users, suppliers, and even opponents to the project. These stakeholders often have very different needs and expectations.

Project Attributes As you can see, projects come in all shapes and sizes. The following attributes help to define a project further: project has a unique purpose. Every project should have a well-defined objective. A For example, many people hire firms to design and build a new house, but each house, like each person, is unique. A project is temporary. A project has a definite beginning and a definite end. For a home construction project, owners usually have a date in mind when theyd like to move into their new homes. A project is developed using progressive elaboration or in an iterative fashion. Projects are often defined broadly when they begin, and as time passes, the specific details of the project become more clear. For example, there are many decisions that must be made in planning and building a new house. It works best to draft preliminary plans for owners to approve before more detailed plans are developed. A project requires resources, often from various areas. Resources include people, hardware, software, or other assets. Many different types of people, skill sets, and resources are needed to build a home. A project should have a primary customer or sponsor. Most projects have many interested parties or stakeholders, but someone must take the primary role of sponsorship. The project sponsor usually provides the direction and funding for the project. A project involves uncertainty. Because every project is unique, it is sometimes difficult to define the projects objectives clearly, estimate exactly how long it will take to complete, or determine how much it will cost. External factors also cause uncertainty, such as a supplier going out of business or a project team member needing unplanned time off. This uncertainty is one of the main reasons project management is so challenging.

The use of a systematic project management methodology gives development organizations a strategic tool; gives organizations the means to practice established and time-tested practices of project management to help them achieve successful outcomes. The processes that a methodology delivers help organizations keep focus and deliver

solutions that project beneficiaries and its communities desperately need them. Among the main benefits is an increase in the level of collaboration among al project stakeholders, the delivery of consistent results of predicable quality and defined roles and responsibilities that ensure proper accountability. Other benefits include: 1. A common language and a consistent discipline for how projects are planned and implemented in the organization 2. A standard project terminology, understood by all stakeholders 3. Provides project stakeholders confidence on how projects are done in the organization 4. Permits accurate predictions of project resource requirements and potential risks 5. Stipulates clear procedures for developing project plans that allow better control of the project throughout its life cycle. 6. Assists the project manager to integrate, coordinate and track project activities, by describing the basic practices, procedures and techniques.

Project Management Software The project management and software development communities have definitely responded to the need to provide more software to assist in managing projects. The Project Management Center, a Web site for people involved in project management, provides an alphabetical directory of more than 300 project management software solutions (www.infogoal.com/pmc). Many people still use basic productivity software such as Microsoft Word and Excel to perform many project management functions, including determining project scope, time, and cost, assigning resources, preparing project documentation, and other tasks. People often use productivity software instead of specialized project management software because they already have it and know how to use it. However, there are hundreds of project management software tools that provide specific functionality for managing projects. These project management software tools can be divided into three general categories based on functionality and price:
MS Project and MS Project Server : MS Project is the market leader in project management
software. It enables project planning, resource scheduling, multiple types of diagrams and reports, project costing, project control and project status update.