Complete summary of Project Management (PRM3701) compiled from prescribed booked, study guide, lecture notes and additional reading material.
Consists of 66 pages and includes illustrations
, Learning Unit 1: Introduction to project management
Definition → Project
A temporary endeavour undertaken to create a unique produce, service or result (Larson & Gray 2018)
A complex, nonroutine, one-time effort limited by time, budget, resources and performance specifications designed to
meet customer needs
Definition → Project Management
The application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project activities to meet the project requirements
Major characteristics → Project
• Established objective
• Defined lifespan
• Involvement (personnel and departments)
• Doing something → not repetitive
• Specific, time, cost and performance requirements.
Definition → Program
Series of coordinated, related, multiple projects that continue over an extended time and are intended to achieve a goal
A higher level of group projects targeted at a common goal.
Routine repetitive work Projects
Taking class notes Writing → term paper
Daily entering sales receipts into ledger Setting up → sales kiosk for professional accounting meeting
Responding to supply chain request Developing supply chain information system
Practice scale on piano Writing new piano piece
Routine manufacture of Apple iPod Designing iPod to specific design requirements
Attaching tags on manufactured product Wire-tags for GE and Wal-Mart
Definition → Knowledge area
Complete set of concepts, terms, activities that make up a project field or area of specialisation. By grouping many
processes and activities into few areas, it is easier to understand and remember
Describes overall knowledge and skills you will need as a project manager
• Manages temporary, non-repetitive activities and frequently acts independently of the formal organization
• Must induce the right people at the right to address the right issues and make the right decisions
The need for Project Management:
• An overall compression of product life cycles
• Triple bottom line reporting
• Corporate downsizing
• Increased customer focus
• Small projects represent big problems
Benefits → Integrative approach to project management
• Overview of all project management activities
• Big picture of how organizational resources are used
• Risk assessment of their portfolio projects
• Rough metric of the firm’s improvement in managing projects relative to others in industry
• Linkage of senior management with actual project execution management
Problems → Use of piecemeal project management systems
• Do not tie together overall strategies of firm
• Fail to prioritize of projects → importance of their contribution to firm
• Not integrated throughout project lifecycle
• Do not match project planning and controls with organizational culture
, Major functions of portfolio management
• Oversee project selection
• Monitor aggregate resource levels and skills
• Encourage use of best practice
• Balance projects in the portfolio
• Create total organization perspective that goes beyond silo thinking
• Improve overall management of projects over time
PROJECTS OPERATIONS
Require project management skills and techniques Requires business process management/operations
management techniques
Temporary endeavours in terms of time to complete Perform ongoing set of activities that produces the same
the project product or repetitive service
Develop → tasks and standards as determined by needs Conduct well develop set of takes according to standards
of each individual project institutionalised in product life cycle
Low-volume, high-variety output (unique) Higher volume, repetitive work
High levels of uncertainty Stable
Variable demand for resources Stable, balanced used of resources
Vertical and horizontal communication against cross Vertical communication within functional boundaries
functional boundaries
High variety of skills sets Limited specialised skill sets
Used as tool to implement new corporate strategies Exist → result of successfully execution of earlier corporate
strategies
Seek to stay in allowed budget Seek to maintain/exceed prescribed profit margin
Multiple stakeholders Fewer stakeholders
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