PROJECT DELIVERYGuide To Project Management

Moritz Quotschalla, Hana Salihodzic, Armin Rekic

Control Cycle

Plan

provides road map how project will achieve its targets

identifies deliverables

shows to whom work will be delegated

Delegate portfolio management team delegates responsibility to the project steering group

project steering group delegates responsibility to the project manager

project manager delegates responsibility to the project teams

always describe the constraints within which the work must be carried out

both parties must agree upon:

Product description Dependencies

Planned start/finish date Prerequisite products

Planned effort/cost

Delegate delegated work has to be controlled:

timesheet code (charge hours)

skills/experience required

roles (describe responsibilities)

reporting arrangements

escalation conditions

techniques, processes, procedures

arrangement should be set out in the contractual terms of reference

Monitor and report

observation and supervision by those in the management team needs report

each level in the hierarchy needs information without encroaching on the responsibilities of other levels

reports provide the information necessary for decision-making or corrective action

Portfolio management team oversees the wider portfolio of projects must meet every month to evaluate

portfolio

standard agenda for a regular meeting:

prospects

initiated projects

notifications

completions

realisations

project register to know state of portfolio

gives overview of the portfolio

shows how the portfolio is contributing to the organisation‘s strategic imperatives

illustrates how the projects measure upto the balanced scorecard of targets

usually considered quarterly

Project steering group each project steering group directs individual project needs control cycle

project manager has to alert PSG immediately if something exceptional happens

to maintain a level of control PSG can intervene through:

project initiation and closure

holding meetings at different project stages

holding unscheduled meetings

holding scheduled meetings

project forecast reports

Stage meetings – project steering group PSG is required to deliver a successful outcome (benefits > costs)

should schedule a meeting at the beginning of every planned stage agenda:

review of previous stage

review of project plan

review of business case

review of next stage plan

approval of controls

approval to proceed

Unscheduled PSG meetings

necessary only if a breach of the escalation conditions is forecast

agenda similar to stage meeting, but review of previous stage is replaced bypresentation from the project manager:

what has happened to require notifying the PSG

the effect on the plan

the options available to correct the matter

the recmmended solution and its effect on the plan

Scheduled PSG meetings

no news does not always mean good news regular PSG meetings are held (oftenevery month)

not event-based

agenda is based around the review and approval of latest project forecast report

Project manager

is required to plan, monitor and control time, cost and quality

maybe pressure from stakeholders amend aspects of the projects as theirexpectations change

identify problems and risks

motivate project team members to deliver on time, on budget etc.

Project team progress meetings

project manager is responsible for a team of people who must be subjected accordingto the control cycle

usually PSG wants progress reports every two weeks

Agenda – project team progress meetings

delivery highlights during previous period

delivery highlights during next period

timescales

budgets

quality

risks and issues

actions and decisions

Project forecast reports snapshots of the project, taken at regular and frequent intervals throughout its

lifetime

important way to communicate with:

management stakeholders

project steering group

portfolio management team

for members of the project steering group, a summary of key project management information sufficient

for the project manager a detailed information is a must

Project forecast reports: important terms

Baseline - data agreed by a recognized authority used as a stable foundation to track

variances; should not be changed

Actual to Date (ATD) - this should increase as the project progresses

Estimated to Complete (ETC) - latest and most recent estimate

Forecast at Completion (FAC) - the sum of actual to date and estimate to complete

Variance - the difference between the baseline and the forecast at completion

Project forecast report: time forecast

lists every product or milestone from the plan

shows the progress made in achieving targets

shows the extent to which the forecast end date is likely to be met

Project forecast report: cost forecast lists the resource types, including all the people and non-human costs

Project forecast report: cost forecast lists the costs by product; important if earned value analysis is to be carried out

Project forecast report: project quality forecast

identifies the intended success criteria and shows how close the project is to meetingthose expectations

explains what should be done to manage variances

important for the project steering group

Project forecast report: product quality log

is a simple report that follows the life cycle of each product, showing to what extent each of the product’s steps have been successfully achieved. These steps are:

draft complete;

review complete;

changes completed;

approved fit for purpose (ffp);

Project forecast report: benefits forecast limited value in reporting progress in achieving benefits during the life of the project

Project forecast report: risk register helps the project manager to review the project

Timesheet best way to gather the data

Earned value analysis measures performance against the time, cost and quality targets

planned value: budgeted cost of work schedule

earned value: budgeted cost of work performed

Earned value analysis: third measure needed

actual cost of work performed: the cost of work completed to date

Calculations

cost variation: the budgeted cost of work scheduled minus the actual cost of workplanned

schedule variation: the budgeted cost of work performed minus the budgeted cost ofwork scheduled

schedule delay: when the budgeted cost of work scheduled is the same as thebudgeted cost of work performed, less the date when the data was captured, measured in days

Earned Value Summary: Conclusions underspent: the actual cost of work performed is less than the budgeted cost of work

performed

behind schedule: the budgeted cost of work scheduled is greater than the budgetedcost of work performed

Quality reviews

earned value analysis depends on being able to measure the completeness of a product

successful execution of the plan depends on managing quality as well as time and cost

Different forms of quality reviews

Testing: where a physical test is necessary

Inspection: where a product or service is scrutinised to determine its fitness

Demonstration: where the potential errors are identified by a display

Formal quality review: where a group of carefully identified reviewers are invited tochallenge a product’s ability

Informal quality review: a less structured version of a formal quality review

Quality review: preparation

the quality plan will contain all product descriptions, together with a list of qualityresponsibilities identifying who will be responsible for reviewing and approving eachproduct:

chair: to ensure that a clear conclusion is drawn

scribe: to record the actions and decisions

author: to offer insight into the product and its construction

reviewers: to identify errors

Quality review: review

starts with an introduction of the participants and an explanation of the purpose ofthe review:

significant errors are identified as a priority

reviewers present and describe their error lists in turn

each reviewer has an equal opportunity to contribute

each quality criterion in the product description is considered in turn

Quality review: conlusion

approved: the product can be accepted

approved subject to amendments

product not ready

product needs significant change

insufficient reviewers

unqualified reviewers

unprepared reviewers

Informal quality review

common form of product appraisal which, if managed well, has many of the benefitsof the formal quality review but is cheaper to implement

How to make sure that the informal quality review is as effective as possible:

identify a balanced selection of reviewers to represent commercial, customer and developerviewpoints

set a time by which reviewers should return their identified errors

provide a budget within which reviewers should work and a cost code

provide a product description against which the reviewers will compare the product

Control

important for monitoring and reporting

the project might easily find itself in a worse position, if the wrong decision is made ortaken by someone without the appropriate authority.

This process makes sure that, if the project’s parameters have to change, it is a conscious, intended management control

Control: change / analysis

change:

must be managed, so anyone may raise a change request or an issue on a freely availableform

change log needed to give an overview of every change request made and issue raised

analysis:

what are the reasons for the issue or CR?

the project manager should oversee the analysis to make sure the background is clearlyexplained

Control: impact assessment

an actual or potential change can be significant and expensive and therefore needs tobe evaluated:

business case: to assess the effect on benefits

user requirements document: to assess the effect on scope

solution design document: to assess the effect on the solution’s robustness

project plan: to assess the effect on timescale, costs and quality

risk register: to assess the effect on the riskiness of the project

Control: solution proposal keeping fixed deadline:

more/faster resources

reduce quality (checks)

working within a fixed budget:

cheaper/ fewer resources, less overtime work

delivery day delayed, reduce quality / quality checks

meeting the original quality and content expectations:

more/“better“ resources

improved quality checks

Control: decision/amend plan

decision:

important to determine who should decide whether to accept the proposed solution

Red, amber and green escalation conditions

amend plan:

change significant – additional changes to project plan and/or business case

change requests earlier or more often

Importance of effective control

many small changes significant effect on project

effective control mitigates the risk of a project failing one day at a time

Thank you for your Attention!