Project Planning & Management

what are the requirement for the success of Project

1. Project Planning & Management What are the Requirements for the Success of Project ? By Muhammad Kashif Khan Dept. of Urban and Regional Planning (University of Peshawar)

2. Project A project is defined as a sequence of tasks that must be completed to attain a certain outcome . A project is a 1-time event with a specific beginning and end date. A few examples of projects are : Disaster recovery efforts. The design of a software program. The construction of a bridge.

3. Project Scope Although the project schedule and budget are often considered the most important considerations, the project scope needs to be defined first. This is because without a scope, there can be no project since the scope defines the limitations and parameters of the project. The scope effectively clarifies what needs to be included within the project, and what should not. This in turn reduces risk of project overruns and resultant confusion and disappointment among the stakeholders .

4. How To Evaluate Project Management Success Scope: Achieving the intended results of the project. Schedule: Meeting the deadline, including all milestones. Budget: Delivering the project for the amount agreed upon. Team Satisfaction: Making sure the team feels satisfied with the project. Customer Satisfaction : Get positive feedback from clients, sponsors, stakeholders, etc. Quality: Achieve expectations of stakeholders.

5. Schedule Projects are defined by a start and end date, so the duration is a primary consideration for project managers. A project schedule communicates to stakeholders the delivery time, and helps the project manager to manage work progression throughout the project period. The project manager will divide the project into a number of work tasks, using a technique call the Work Breakdown Structure, which assigns each task an expected start and end date and then placed into the schedule . Project schedules are usually communicated using Gantt charts.

6. Budgets Budgets are plans expressed in monetary terms and they are used by project managers to assign resources to the project, as and when they are required. However, budgets and schedules are positively correlated, since if a project is running behind schedule it is also likely to be over budget. However , the budget is a distinct and important component of the project plan and should be treated as such .

7. Project Resources The planning and coordination of project resources, such as workforce, materials, and equipment often require the greatest effort from the project manager. It is obvious that should the required resources not be available when they are required, or they don’t meet the project specification, it will delay the project and could even result in its failure . To correctly account for resources in the project plan, each task is assigned the resources it needs to carry out its work. Since the resources have budget implications, resourcing levels must be agreed and approved before finalizing the project budget.

8. Quality criteria Another feature of a project is that it must meet certain quality criteria. In fact, quality control is likely to be a key feature of project management processes to ensure stated quality criteria are met. Quality controls are required to ensure conformance to specification, and the project manager needs to plan and schedule such activities into the project plan. The project plan should also include the methods and processes used to ensure the quality criteria will be met.

9. Stakeholders A project stakeholder is anyone that has an interest in the success of the project. The project plan should list all of the key project stakeholders and analyze them in terms of their: particular interests in the project and its outcomes, and ability to influence project changes. Every project has at least one stakeholder called a project sponsor, who initiates and approves the project and ultimately receives its deliverables . The project manager is accountable to the project sponsor for the delivery of the project in time, to budget and meeting the quality criteria. The project team, who carry out the required work assigned by the project manager, can also be viewed as a stakeholder. The team needs to be managed well and equitably recognized for their contributions towards the successful delivery of the project.

10. Milestones Defining milestones , which are any important dates in the project, makes a project more manageable. The most obvious way to set milestones is by marking the end of any phase and the start of the next. By performing an evaluation test after each phase, you can see if you’re meeting the planned progress or not . Not only does this help with tracking, it boosts morale for the team when they complete a major phase of the project . A happy team is a more productive team, which is a key indicator of project management success.

11. Communications plan Project stakeholders may wish to be informed about specific elements of project information at various times during its delivery. Therefore , the project plan needs to detail what, when, and how each stakeholder will receive their communications.

12. Success Factors Identify elements that are key to the success of the project, such as: Satisfied clients or stakeholders Met project objectives Completed within budget Delivered on time