2. Project Management Step-By-Step Guide

2.1. The Initiation Phase

2.1.1. Purpose

The purpose of this phase is to develop a high level plan and risk assessment for a proposed project and to provide information for portfolio assessing strategic viability the project. Emphasis is placed on analyzing the project sponsor’s strategic requirements as well as immediate needs. Several high-level project management deliverables will be produced during this phase. These high level deliverables will provide a foundation for estimates and for the Project Charter.


2.1.2. Project Manager Role:

On small engagements, the project manager may not be available during this phase. The sponsor may conduct the assessment. For major opportunities, the project manager should be assigned and work with the sponsor to determine a proper solution and derive an accurate scope of the project.

􀂃 Assist the account representative with formulating a solution.

􀂃 Assist with identifying deliverables (scope) that will be produced to complete the solution.

􀂃 Assist with a high level estimate of work to be performed.

􀂃 Assist with determining project scope

􀂃 Assist with developing a high-level estimation of the project size in hours and cost.

􀂃 Assist with proposal development.

􀂃 Assist in developing a high-level work breakdown structure.

2.1.3. Inputs

􀂃 Interviews with customer and other key personnel

􀂃 Strategic documentation

􀂃 Customer literature

􀂃 Lessons learned from previous projects performed for project sponsor

2.1.4. Outputs

􀂃 Opportunity Summary

􀂃 Pre-Project Budget Worksheet

􀂃 Opportunity Assessment Detail

􀂃 Quality Assurance Template

􀂃 High Level WBS

􀂃 High Level Risk Assessment

􀂃 Client Cost Benefit Analysis

􀂃 Problem Identification

􀂃 Proposal Checklist

􀂃 Project Proposal Document

􀂃 High Level Project Charter

2.1.5. Step-By-Step Process

1. Interview Customer

􀂾 Conduct interviews with the customer. Understand the customer’s strategic vision for the company and the customer’s objectives for achieving the vision. Determine the basic problem or need by asking open-ended (not yes or no questions) that probe to get beyond the symptoms to the real problem or need. Review the proposed solution and determine what other solutions that should be considered. Review the process the customer used to evaluate the problem and identify possible solutions and the reason the customer selected the requested solution. Ask “why” often. Ask questions to verify the basic scope of what the customer is asking for. Obtain from the customer any documentation and company literature that might be pertinent to the request.

2. Conduct Internal Research

􀂾 Interview other personnel from your group and the customers group. Review documentation. Develop processes charts to study the “current state” of the organization, function or process. Obtain organization charts.

3. Develop Solution and Requirements

􀂾 Assist in developing a solution, consulting with subject matter and technical experts as needed. During this phase, the project manager should primarily focus on understanding what the project sponsor is trying to achieve. If the project is highly technical, the use of subject matter experts is recommended.

4. Review Lessons Learned

􀂾 A project repository of lessons learned for use by project managers is created as a reference for present and future projects. The project repository is a central database or file, which contains pertinent project information. This includes the project notebook as well as additional information regarding the project successes and pitfalls. The project manager should review the lessons learned from previous projects to assist in assessing project risks, maintaining project schedules, and understanding potential areas of concern experienced previously on other projects. Review the issues logs from previous projects to identify potential risks (all issues were once risks).

5. Review Customer Requirements

􀂾 The project manager is responsible for identifying and understanding the customer requirements of the project. By reviewing any existing requirements, business case or proposal documents, the project manager should be able to determine the purpose of the project and the expectations. The project manager must identify all requirements that are unclear, incomplete, unfeasible, contradictory, or that in some way may prevent the successful completion of the project. Meeting with the project owner to discuss the requirements and any vague items is required. The project manager must schedule a time with the project owner as soon as the project manager is assigned to review the project and understand the expectations. A copy of the Project Sponsor Assessment Checklist should be used as a starting point and all project deliverables should be communicated, agreed upon, and documented. The project manager will provide a copy of the meeting minutes documenting the agreed upon deliverables. The meeting minutes should be distributed to the project owner within 24 hours of the meeting. This allows both parties to see the results of the meeting and address any disagreements immediately.

6. Define Project Roles

􀂾 The question of what level of authority the project manager should possess is natural when consideration is given to the large number of people that must be depended upon for results, but are not under the project manager’s direct control. The question becomes even more relevant considering the differences in responsibilities of the project manager and the functional managers. The project manager is ultimately responsible for developing a cohesive project team motivated toward success making the project managers leadership qualities, interpersonal skills, and credibility are far more important than formal authority. A project manager possessing these attributes can usually find a way to “make it happen” with or without formal authority, but the project owner should give the project manager the level of authority that enables the project manager to successfully accomplish the assigned responsibilities. The project owner should provide the project manager with a formal statement or contract detailing the scope of authority being granted. The level of authority should be directlyis unable to resolve issues or negotiate solutions at the lower levels of the organization, the project owner is responsible for escalating those issues to higher levels.

In order to have a successful project, all project stakeholders must know and understand their role in the project. It is the project manager’s responsibility to communicate these roles to the project stakeholders.

Project Manager: The project manager is responsible for managing the project’s scope, schedule, and cost to support the owner’s expectations for the successful completion of the project. Typical duties include:

􀂃 Managing the development of the scope definition and project plans.

􀂃 Providing team leadership for problem resolution by working with the lowest organizational levels possible and escalating, as necessary.

􀂃 Monitoring schedule and costs versus project progress to identify problems that could potentially extend the schedule or overrun costs.

􀂃 Taking, directing, or recommending corrective action when scope, schedule, or cost variances threaten the project.

􀂃 Serving as the central point of contact for the project and communicating project status to the project owner and other stakeholders.

􀂃 Providing input to the performance reviews of the project team members.

􀂃 Negotiating a resolution to team member resource conflicts with their functional managers.

Project Owner/Sponsor: The project owner or sponsor should be a director or higher-level member of the department who is the largest stakeholder in the project or who will receive the greatest benefit by the project’s successful completion. The owner assumes the overall responsibility for the entire project. The project owner will appoint a project manager to manage and control the project. The project owner may provide the project manager the expectations of the end product or results, the minimum success criteria, and the level of interface expected during the project life cycle. The project owner is responsible for the following:

􀂃 Champion the project

􀂃 Maintaining enough involvement with the project to ensure that the desired outcome is attained.

􀂃 Granting a sufficient level of authority to the project manager required for the project’s success.

􀂃 Providing or negotiating support when the project manager is unable to resolve problems at a lower level.

􀂃 Providing ongoing performance feedback to the project manager as well as providing input to the project manager’s performance review.

Project Team Members: The project team members are responsible for ensuring that their group’s responsibilities are identified and accurately planned, resources are available to support the budget and schedule, accurate information is provided for project status, and the project manager is assisted in problem resolution.

7. Assemble Core Project Team

􀂾 The project manager must determine what skills are needed to successfully complete the project. Information gathered from reviewing the business case, reviewing the lessons learned from previous projects, and identifying the requirements are used to determine what the project team composite should be. Once the needed skill sets for the project have been identified, the staffing requirements must be acquired. Unfortunately the most knowledgeable people may not be available for the project due to higher priority projects, so the project manager must ensure the resources assigned are capable of successfully meeting the project requirements. This requires gaining approval from functional managers for employing their personnel on the project team and obtaining the training necessary for project success. When building the project teams consider the following:

􀂃 Does the individual have the necessary skills or is additional training needed?

􀂃 Does the individual or group have previous relevant experience and, if so, did they do well?

􀂃 Is the individual or group interested in working on the project?

􀂃 Will the project team members work well together?

􀂃 Will the individual or group be available when needed?

8. Develop High-Level Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

􀂾 A high-level WBS should be developed by the project manager to begin defining the scope of the project. The project manager should develop a high-level WBS from the information gathered from the project sponsor. The WBS is a product oriented hierarchical division of project elements that organizes, defines, and establishes the total scope of the project. This WBS will identify all of the major deliverables that make up the total solution. During the detailed planning meeting and work session to be held during the Planning Phase, the project manager will review the high-level WBS with the project team and further decompose the deliverables into manageable work packages prior to developing tasks and building a schedule.

􀂾 From previous projects, obtain a WBS that closely models the project being developed. Use only the top two or three layers of deliverables to develop a high-level WBS. This step will result in a high-level WBS that identifies major divisions of the project as they relate to the overall objectives and will be attached to the Project Charter.

9. High-Level Risk Assessment

􀂾 During this phase, the project manager should begin to identify major risks to the project. It is not important to have detailed plans at this time, but it is important to begin to identify what could potentially impact the success of this project. Once identified, they should be included in the high-level Project Charter completed during this phase.

􀂾 The project manager, along with the project team, will identify major project risks and develop risk management plans during the Planning Phase. In identifying the major project risks, the sources of potential risk must be determined. The project manager will begin with the work breakdown structure (WBS) to determine potential risks associated with the project. Some of the more common risks include:

􀂃 Changes in project requirements and/or scope

􀂃 Unrealistic schedules and/or budgets

􀂃 Misinterpretations or misunderstandings

􀂃 Unclear roles and responsibilities

􀂃 Unskilled staff

􀂃 Availability of staff

􀂃 Undefined success criteria

Managing risk falls into one of the four following categories:

􀂃 Avoidance involves changing the project plan to eliminate the risk or condition or to protect the project objectives from its impact.

􀂃 Transfer is seeking to shift the consequence of the risk to someone else. This does not eliminate the risk.

􀂃 Acceptance is understanding the risk and accepting the consequences should the risk occur. An example would be accepting extended project duration due to resource availability.

􀂃 Mitigation involves preparing a plan that describes the actions to be taken before a risk occurs to minimize any potential impact.

A contingency plan for a risk event is the identification of steps which will be accomplished if the risk strategy is implemented. The steps will be included in the project’s schedule and cost baselines.

The decision to prepare a risk avoidance and risk contingency plans depends on the circumstances associated with each project. In most cases these plans should be prepared for a specific area of risk if:

􀂃 The risk is moderate or high,

􀂃 The probability of occurring is moderate or high, and􀂃 The impact is significant.

If any one of these factors is not present for an area of risk, it may not be necessary to prepare risk avoidance measures or a risk contingency plan. Most of the risk areas center on the following:

􀂃 Resources (e.g., personal, facilities, hardware, etc.),

􀂃 Requirements definition & scope,

􀂃 Technology, and

􀂃 External dependencies.

When identifying high-level risks, be sure to consider the following risk attributes:

􀂃 Budget

􀂃 Schedule Items

􀂃 Performance

􀂃 Development Technology

􀂃 User Attributes

􀂃 Business Change

􀂃 Cost or Financial

􀂃 Vendor or Contractor

􀂃 Human Resources

􀂃 Politics

􀂃 Acts of God

􀂃 Requirements

During the Initiation Phase the project manager should assess probable risks to the project and include them in the Project Charter. A detailed analysis is not needed at this time since the risk will further analyzed during the project team Risk Management meeting.

10. Develop Cost Estimates

􀂾 A large number of projects fail because initial cost estimates are simply too low. It is important that project managers and account managers accurately state the estimated costs. Depending on the size of the project, costs will be tracked in different ways. Be sure to document your costs in a spreadsheet, which will later be validated when the final project plan is approved and baselined. These initial estimates will help prevent cost issues from arising once the total project cost are determined and agreed to. Be sure to include significant equipment, human resource, contract, and supply costs.

􀂾 The project team should use a typical or similar completed project, if available, plus lessons learned, to estimate time and cost at the lowest level of the high-level WBS. The costs will “roll-up” to the higher-level tasks to form the overall project cost. Be sure to consult with people who have experience in completing the described tasks. All organizations have some type of subject matter expert that could help validate a cost estimate.

11. Develop High-Level Project Charter

􀂾 The purpose of the Project Charter (Appendix B) is to provide a clear and consistent definition of the project’s vision/mission, scope and objectives. The project charter is developed early in the project management life cycle. Itcontains the vision/mission, owner identification, scope, objectives, assumptions, constraints, time/milestones, cost/budget, quality requirements, and major risks of the project. The project manager may develop an initial draft of the project charter, however, the project team will be responsible for developing the final project charter during the detailed planning meeting to be held at the beginning of the planning phase.

􀂾 The project team members will review the project charter in order to obtain buy-in. This development process is required for a full understanding and acceptance of the project by the project team. After the project team develops the project charter, the project manager will submit it to the owner for approval. The project charter acceptance will provide an agreement between the owner(s) and the project team. Most project failures are the result of one or both of the following: (1) poor definition of the vision/mission and scope and (2) not having buy-in and commitment by the owner and project team (3) poor estimating.

􀂾 Elements of the high level charter would include:

􀂃 Strategic vision supported by the project

􀂃 The problem and/or need

􀂃 The project solution

􀂃 The high level scope of the project.

12. Review with Owners for Approval

􀂾 The project manager will meet with the project owner to review the project charter, high-level WBS, and high level risk assessment. The project manager will arrange a time that is convenient for the project owner to spend approximately one hour to review the work that has been accomplished during this Phase. The project owner will give the go ahead for the project manager to proceed to the Planning Phase to finalize the project charter.

Project Management Methodology Guidebook Project Management Step-By-Step Guide