Management Civils

MCL2601

WHAT IS A PROJECT?
A project is an assignment/task/job that
has to be undertaken and completed
within a set time, budget, resources and
performance specifications designed to
meet the needs of stakeholder and
beneficiaries.

 A project is the manifestation and

implementation of a change to the
business. For example, a
telecommunications carrier decides to
offer a new wireless data service. They
identify a huge market for the service and
the return on investment (ROI) is
considerable.

Characteristics of a project
Projects are unique.
Projects are temporary in nature and have
a definite beginning and ending date.
Projects are completed when the project
goals are achieved or its determined the
project is no longer viable.
A successful project is one that meets or
exceeds the expectations of the stakeholders.

THE PROJECT ENVIRONMENT

The project environment or context is the
name given to all the influences and restraints
which affect any or all the stages of the
project.
The internal environment, which is more
under the control of the project manager,
includes the client, sponsor, contractors,
suppliers, and support staff of the company,
consultants, utilities end users and even the
general public.

 Although the project manager may have

little or no control over the external
influences, he/she must carry out a risk
assessment and prepare appropriate
contingency plans to counter or mitigate
any hazards or disruptive behaviour
which may adversely affect the objectives
of the project.

 Among the external influences may be

counted environmental pressure groups
who may wish the whole project stopped,
or political organisations that may cause
serious delays due to beaurocratic
procedures.

 Of all the factors, the physical ones are

the easiest to understand, and it is the
cultural and international factors that are
often misunderstood or ignored. How we
deal with clients, customers, or project
members from other countries can be
critical to the success of the project.

 For example, the culture of the United

States values accomplishments and
individualism. Americans tend to be
informal and call each other by first
names, even if having just met.
Europeans tend to be more formal, using
surnames instead of first names in a
business setting, even if they know each
other well.

 The Japanese, on the other hand, tend to

communicate indirectly and consider
themselves part of a group, not as
individuals. The Japanese value hard
work and success, as most of us do.
It is often the simplest things that can
cause trouble since, unsurprisingly, in
different countries, people do things
differently.

 One of the most notorious examples of

this is also one of the most simple: date
formats. What day and month is
2/8/2009? Of course it depends where
you come from; in North America it is
February 8th while in Europe (and much
of the rest of the world) it is 2nd August.
Clearly, when schedules and deadlines
are being defined it is important that
everyone is clear on the format used.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Management may be defined as:
Taking control, taking charge or directing
Getting things done from the available
resources, the way you want them to be
done. These resources are Human,
Financial, Physical and informational

 Process of planning and decision making,

organizing and leading and controlling
and organizations human, financial,
physical and information resources to
achieve organizational goals in an
efficient and effective manner
Process of working with and through
others to achieve organizational
objectives in a changing environment

 Project Management is the use of

knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques
to plan and implement activities to meet
or exceed stakeholder needs and
expectations from a project.
Project Management is an all-embracing
term covering the management of every
detail of a project (Project cycle) and may
be defined as, the process of planning
and directing a project from its inception

 to its final completion in a given time as

at a given cost for a given end product.

 Managing a project includes identifying

your projects requirements and writing
down what everyone needs from the
project.
What are the objectives for your project?
When everyone understands the goal, its
much easier to keep them all on the right
path. Make sure you set goals that
everyone agrees on to avoid team
conflicts later on.

 Understanding and addressing the needs

of everyone affected by the project means
the end result of your project is far more
likely to satisfy your stakeholders.

Project constraints:
Cost: project managers have to balance
between not running out of money
Scope: The project scope is a document
that defines the parametersfactors that
define a system and determine its
behaviorof the project, what work is
done within the boundaries of the project,
and the work that is outside the project
boundaries.

Quality:
Risk
Resources
Time

 Stakeholder management
A project is successful when it achieves its
objectives and meets or exceeds the
expectations of the stakeholders. But who
are the stakeholders? Stakeholders are
individuals who either care about or have a
vested interest in your project. They are the
people who are actively involved with the
work of the project or have something to
either gain or lose as a result of the project.

Project management skills:

Graphic Artists
Teachers
Nurses & health workers,
Legal cases,
Engineers
Radiology Technologists
Software developer
Science technicians & Historical projects,

Information Management
Without adequate, accurate and timely
information and a good information flow,
a project would soon grind to a halt. The
project manager must ensure that the
information is properly gathered,
assessed and quickly distributed for
further action.

 In addition it is important to ensure that

the information is factually correct before
it is distributed and a reliable system of
checks must be in place which must be
constantly revised and improved as
necessary.

Accidents in projects:
The most common causes of accidents in
the workplace are:
1) Equipment or machinery failure, lack of
maintenance, badly sited emergency
switches
2) Fire, hot surfaces, combustible liquids
3) Electrical failures, short circuits, poor
insulation

4) Spillage of hazardous substances, lack of

neutralising stations
5) Unhealthy conditions, lack of
ventilation, dust, fumes, poor lighting
6) Poor design of equipment, lack of safety
devices, insecure guards, poor supervision
7) Unsafe operating practices, faulty lifting
and handling equipment, lack of permits to
work

8) Excessive noise, vibration, glare or poor

visibility

THE PROJECT LIFE CYCLE

Four stages of a project:

Definition stage specifications of the
project are defined, project objectives are
established, project teams are formed and
major responsibilities are assigned.
Planning stage plans are developed to
determine the project steps, beneficiaries,
timeframes, quality standards and budget.

 Project planning is at the heart of the

project life cycle, and tells everyone
involved where youre going and how
youre going to get there. The planning
phase is when the project plans are
documented, the project deliverables and
requirements are defined, and the project
schedule is created.

 It involves creating a set of plans to help

guide your team through the
implementation and closure phases of the
project. The plans created during this
phase will help you manage time, cost,
quality, changes, risk, and related issues.
They will also help you control staff and
external suppliers to ensure that you
deliver the project on time, within budget,
and within schedule.

 Planning is the most important technique

of the management. Planning means
Looking ahead.
This is a mental processes requiring the
use of intellectual faculties, imagination,
foresight and sound judgement, to decide
in advance as to what is to be done, how
and where it is to be done, who will do it
and how the results are to be evaluated.

 Planning is therefore a course of action to

achieve the desired results.
Planning is necessary to ensure proper
utilization of human and materials
resources to achieve the objective of the
project.
Since planning involves the future, it has
to be flexible.

 In any project, the plan includes the

estimates, the budget and time schedule
and sequences of completion of each part
of the project, manpower planning and
the plant and equipments.
The project planning phase is often the
most challenging phase for a project
manager, as you need to make an
educated guess about the staff, resources,
and equipment needed to complete your
project.

The purpose of the project planning

phase is to:
Establish business requirements
Establish cost, schedule, list of
deliverables, and delivery dates
Establish resources plans
Obtain management approval and
proceed to the next phase

Basic processes of project planning

Scope planning specifying the in-scope
requirements for the project to facilitate
creating the work breakdown structure
Preparation of the work breakdown
structure spelling out the breakdown of
the project into tasks and sub-tasks
Project schedule development listing
the entire schedule of the activities and
detailing their sequence of
implementation

 Resource planning indicating who will

do what work, at which time, and if any
special skills are needed to accomplish the
project tasks
Budget planning specifying the budgeted
cost to be incurred at the completion of the
project
Procurement planning focusing on
vendors outside your company and
subcontracting

 Risk management planning for possible

risks and considering optional
contingency plans and mitigation
strategies
Quality planning assessing quality
criteria to be used for the project
Communication planning designing the
communication strategy with all project
stakeholders

 Execution stage the major portion of the

project work takes place both physical
and mental. Time, cost and specification
measures are used for control. The project
managers have to ensure that the project
is on schedule within the budget and
meeting specifications. They have to also
check if any changes are required

 Delivery stage delivering the project

product to the customer, may involve
customer training and transferring
documents.

CREATING THE WORK BREAKDOWN

STRUCTURE (WBS)
A Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is a
decomposition of all the work necessary
to complete a project. A WBS is arranged
in a hierarchy and constructed to allow
for clear and logical groupings, either by
activities or deliverables.

 The WBS should represent the work

identified in the approved Project Scope
Statement and serves as an early
foundation for effective schedule
development and cost estimating. Project
managers typically will develop a WBS
as a precursor to a detailed project
schedule.

Reasons for creating a WBS include:

Assists with accurate project organization
Helps with assigning responsibilities
Shows the control points and project
milestones. Allows for more accurate
estimation of cost, risk and time
Helps explain the project scope to
stakeholders

Teams in Project Management

The advantages of working as a team are:
1) The many different skills of the various
team members may be focused the meet the
projects performance criteria.
2) The collective experience of the team
members can generate meaningful
discussion which assists in resolving
problems

3) New ideas are more easily generated and

speedily discussed, tested and implemented
4) The close relationship between members
increases the spirit of co-operation and
engenders the motivation to succeed.
5) Team members can support and assist
each other
6) The short lines of communication enable
misunderstandings to be reduced and enable
decisions to be speedily implemented.

7) If properly led by the project manager,

project team members will feel proud to be
a part of successful organisation and will
show this by hard work, loyalty and
dedication.

Estimating cost and developing budgets

The definition of project success often
includes completing the project within
budget.
Developing and controlling a project
budget that will accomplish the project
objectives is a critical project
management skill.

 Although clients expect the project to be

executed efficiently, cost pressures vary
on projects. On some projects, the project
completion or end date is the largest
contributor to the project complexity.
Project costs may deviate from the
budget because the prices in the
marketplace were different from what
was expected.

 For example, the estimated costs for

lumber on a housing project may be
higher than budgeted or the hourly cost
for labor may be lower than budgeted.
Project costs may also deviate based on
project performance.

Constructing a project network plan

The project network tool is used for
planning, scheduling and monitoring
project progress.
The network is developed from the
information collected for the WBS and is
a graphic flowchart of the project job
plan.

 The network is the framework that will be

used by the project managers to make
decisions concerning project time, cost
and performance. Once the network is
developed, it is very easy to modify or
change when unexpected events occur as
the project progresses. In summary, the
network plan is used to:

 schedule labour and equipment;

enhance communication that brings
together all managers and groups in
meeting the time, cost, and performance
objectives of the project;
provide an estimate of the time the
project will take (duration);
give the times when activities can start or
finish and when they can be delayed

 provide the starting point for budgeting

the cash flow (when money needs to be
received and spent on various elements)
of the project.

Plumbing Network