3. Project Management Overview Project management is a set of principles, methods, tools, and techniques for the effective management of objective-oriented work. The project management process involves these tasks: • Assembling a project team with the expertise to execute the project • Establishing the technical objectives • Planning the project • Managing changes to the scope • Controlling the undertaking so that it is completed on schedule and within budget
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12. Five-Step Model for Project Control Step 2. Analyze the impact of possible variances This step is divided into three parts. Part 1 - Compare planned to actual results looking for variances. Questions to ask here include: Are we ahead or behind schedule?Are we over or under budget? Are we using the staff’s time wisely? Are we getting the results that we expected? Part 2 - Determine the cause of any problems. Typical causes of problems include poorly defined objectives, poor estimates, changes in scope, and staff problems. Part 3 - Prepare analysis or forecast reports for future completion dates and staff resource usage.
13. Five-Step Model for Project Control Step 3. Act on the problems discovered in the previous step There are three courses of action here: 1) Do nothing. 2) Look at the plan and make modifications to the schedule to solve the problem. 3) Start negotiating tradeoffs – like adding time, additional resources, more money, and resizing the scope of the project.
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16. Using Status Reports for Project Control Status reports should contain five sections: 1. Where are we today? 2. Where will we be at the next report? 3. What is our budget position? 4. What items jeopardize project completion? 5. Who deserves recognition?