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Posted on Jan 10, 2021

Describe the context for project management from your perspective and then describe the major steps in the project scheduling process that fit that context and

Describe the context for project management from your perspective and then describe the major steps in the project scheduling process that fit that context and fits well with planning, budgeting, and controlling. Provide a solid supporting rationale.

Step by Step Solution

There are 3 Steps involved in it

Step: 1

After the project has been defined and the project team has been appointed you are ready to enter the second phase in the project management life cycle the detailed project planning phase 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 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 You may also need to plan your communications and procurement activities as well as contract any thirdparty suppliers 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 The basic processes of project planning are Scope planning specifying the inscope 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 subtasks 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 The planning phase refines the projects objectives which were gathered during the initiation phase It includes planning the steps necessary to meet those objectives by further identifying the specific activities and resources required to complete the project Now that these objectives have been recognized they must be clearly articulated detailing an indepth scrutiny of each recognized objective With such scrutiny our understanding of the objective may change Often the very act of trying to describe something precisely gives us a better understanding of what we are looking at This articulation serves as the basis for the development of requirements What this means is that after an objective has been clearly articulated we can describe it in concrete measurable terms and identify what we have to do to achieve it Obviously if we do a poor job of articulating the objective our requirements will be misdirected and the resulting project will not represent the true need Users will often begin describing their objectives in qualitative language The project manager must work with the user to provide quantifiable definitions to those qualitative terms These quantifiable criteria include schedule cost and quality measures In the case of project objectives these elements are used as measurements to determine project satisfaction and successful completion Subjective evaluations are replaced by actual numeric attributes Example 1 A web user may ask for a fast system The quantitative requirement should be all screens must load in under three seconds Describing the time limit during which the screen must load is specific and tangible For that reason youll know that the requirement has been successfully completed when the objective has been met Example 2 Lets say that your company is going to produce a holiday batch of eggnog Your objective statement might be stated this way Christmas Cheer Inc will produce two million cases of holiday eggnog to be shipped to our distributors by October 30 at a total cost of 15 million or less The objective criteria in this statement are clearly stated and successful fulfillment can easily be measured Stakeholders will know that the objectives are met when the two million cases are produced and shipped by the due date within the budget stated When articulating the project objectives you should follow the SMART rule Specific get into the details Objectives should be specific and written in clear concise and understandable terms Measurable use quantitative language You need to know when you have successfully completed the task Acceptable agreed with the stakeholders Realistic in terms of achievement Objectives that are impossible to accomplish are not realistic and not attainable Objectives must be centred in reality Time based deadlines not durations Objectives should have a time frame with an end date assigned to them Managing integration Projects have all types of activities going on and there is a need to keep the whole thing moving collectively integrating all of the dynamics that take place Managing integration is about developing the project charter scope statement and plan to direct manage monitor and control project change Managing scope Projects need to have a defined parameter or scope and this must be broken down and managed through a work breakdown structure or WBS Managing scope is about planning definition WBS creation verification and control Managing timeschedule Projects have a definite beginning and a definite ending date Therefore there is a need to manage the budgeted time according to a project schedule Managing timeschedule is about definition sequencing resource and duration estimating schedule development and schedule control Managing costs Projects consume resources and therefore there is a need to manage the investment with the realization of creating value ie the benefits derived exceed the amount spent Managing costs is about resource planning cost estimating budgeting and control Managing quality Projects involve specific deliverables or work products These deliverables need to meet project objectives and performance standards Managing quality is about quality planning quality assurance and quality control Managing human resources Projects consist of teams and you need to manage project teams during the life cycle of the project Finding the right people managing their outputs and keeping them on schedule is a big part of managing a project Managing human resources is about human resources planning hiring and developing and managing a project team Managing communication Projects invariably touch lots of people not just the end users customers who benefit directly from the project outcomes This can include project participants managers who oversee the project and external stakeholders who have an interest in the success of the project Managing communication is about communications planning information distribution performance reporting and stakeholder management Managing risk Projects are a discoverydriven process often uncovering new customer needs and identifying critical issues not previously disclosed Projects also encounter unexpected events such as project team members resigning budgeted resources suddenly changing the organization becoming unstable and newer technologies being introduced There is a real need to properly identify various risks and manage these risks Managing risk is about risk planning and identification risk analysis qualitative and quantitative risk response action planning and risk monitoring and control Managing procurement Projects procure the services of outside vendors and contractors including the purchase of equipment There is a need to manage how vendors are selected and managed within the project life cycle Managing procurement is about acquisition and contracting plans sellers responses and selections contract administration and contract closure Managing stakeholders Every project impacts people and organizations and is impacted by people and organizations Identifying these stakeholders early and as they arise and change throughout the project is a key success factor Managing stakeholders is about identifying stakeholders their interest level and their potential to influence the project and managing and controlling the relationships and communications between stakeholders and the project Project StartUp and Integration The startup of a project is similar to the startup of a new organization The project leader develops the project infrastructure used to design and execute the project The project management team must develop alignment among the major stakeholdersthose who have a share or intereston the project during the early phases or definition phases of the project The project manager will conduct one or more kickoff meetings or alignment sessions to bring the various parties of the project together and begin the project team building required to operate efficiently during the project During project startup the project management team refines the scope of work and develops a preliminary schedule and conceptual budget The project team builds a plan for executing the project based on the project profile The plan for developing and tracking the detailed schedule the procurement plan and the plan for building the budget and estimating and tracking costs are developed during the startup The plans for information technology communication and tracking client satisfaction are also all developed during the startup phase of the project Flowcharts diagrams and responsibility matrices are tools to capture the work processes associated with executing the project plan ... blur-text-image