Professional Development Unit

PMP Exam Prep Course

Session 3

Project Management Foundations

1. Organizational Structures

2. EEFs and OPAs

3. Project Life Cycle

4. Project Mgmt. Development Approach

 Module 2
Organizational Structures
 Discussion Question
Discussion Question

If you are asked to structure a newly established

organization, how would you do that?
• Organizational Structures take many types and have different impacts
on the projects within the organization

• Considerations for Organizational Structures

o Specialization Capabilities
o Cost
o Physical Locations
o Who is accountable/ Responsible for actions

• Its about power and authority

 I am a Project
Manager
Project Case
Project Case
Project Case
Project Case
 Discussion Question
Discussion Question

Why Kate doesn’t have authority

on the project?
 Answer
• She works in an organizational structure that gives limited authority to project
managers.
• Project managers need appropriate organizational structure to practice power on
their projects.
Answer

• Organizational structures can provide high, medium and low levels of authority for
project managers.

Summary: Project managers should first understand the org context and act accordingly.
Generally there are two types of organizational structures:
Functional Structure
• Organization is divided according to specializations or functions.
• Projects are managed under functional departments (marketing, IT, finance, procurement….)
• Functional manager holds all the authority on the project.
• PM’s authority is little to zero on personnel and budget .
• PM reports to the functional manager.

Project-Oriented Structure
• Organization is divided into projects (education, road, health…).
• Each project has it own specialized divisions (finance, procurement…)
• Project manager holds all the authority within the project.
• PM’s authority is high to absolute on personnel and budget.
 Exercise
Organizational Structure Types - 1
 John (owner)
Project Manager Role

Karim Jacob (Sales Mohammad Abraham

(Project (Finance
Person) (Cashier)
Expeditor) Officer)

Project Expeditor
Organic or Simple (Small Companies)
Project Management Authority Little or None

Project Manager Role Part time

Resource Availability Little or None Project

Control on Budget Owner or Operator coordinator
Project Management Staff Little or None
 Project Chief Functional Organization (Centralized)
Coordination Executive
Project Management Authority Little or None
Functional Functional Functional Project Manager Role Part time
Manager Manager Manager
Resource Availability Little or None
Staff Staff Staff

Staff Staff Staff

Control on Budget Functional Manager

Staff Staff Staff Project Management Staff Part time

Multi-Divisional (Little Centralization)

CEO
Project Management Authority Little or None
Project Manager Role Part time
Division 1 Division 2 Division 3
Resource Availability Little or None
Control on Budget Functional Manager
Production Finance Sales Purchasing
Project Management Staff Part time
 Chief Chief Chief
Executive Executive Executive

Functional Functional Functional Functional Functional Functional Functional Functional Functional Manager of
Manager Manager Manager Manager Manager Manager Manager Manager Project Manager
Manager
Staff Staff Staff Staff Staff Staff Project Manager
Staff Staff Staff
Staff Staff Staff Staff Staff Staff Project Manager
Staff Staff Staff
Staff Staff Staff
Project Staff Staff Staff
Staff Staff Staff Project Manager
Manager
(Gray boxes represent staff engaged in project
activities) Project (Gray boxes represent staff engaged in project Project
Coordination (Gray boxes represent staff engaged in project
activities) Project activities) Coordination
Coordination

Weak Matrix Organization Balance Matrix Organization Strong Matrix Organization

Project Management Authority Low Project Management Authority Low to Moderate Project Management Authority Moderate to High
Project Manager Role Part time Project Manager Role Part time Project Manager Role Full time
Resource Availability Low Resource Availability Low to Moderate Resource Availability Moderate to High
Control on Budget Functional Control on Budget Mixed Control on Budget Project Manager
Manager
Project Management Staff Part time Project Management Staff Full Time
Project Management Staff Part time
Tight Matrix /Organization refers to locating the work spaces for project team in same room.
 Projectized Organization
CEO
Project Management Authority High to almost total
Project Manager Role Full time
Project Project Project Project
Manager Manager Manager Manager Resource Availability High to almost total
Control on Budget Project Manager
Project Staff / Project staff/ Project Staff/ Project Staff/ Project Management Staff Full Time
Member Member Member Member

Hybrid
CEO
Project Management Authority Mixed
Project Manager Role Mixed
Division 1 Division 2 Division 3
Resource Availability Mixed
Control on Budget Mixed
Functional Matrix
Project Management Staff Mixed structure Structure
 Product Virtual Organization Structure
Development
Firm (France)
Project Management Authority Low to Moderate

Accounting Marketing Project Manager Role Full / Part Time

Firm (Canada Firm (UK)
Core
Firm Resource Availability Low to Moderate
Brazil
Control on Budget Mixed

Customer
Project Management Staff Full/ Part Time
Production
Service Firm Firm (China)
(USA)

PMO refers to Portfolio, Program or Project Management office or Organization

Project Management Authority High to almost total
Project Manager Role Full Time
Resource Availability High to almost total
Control on Budget Project Manager
Project Management Staff Full time
The following graph summaries Project Manager Authority and Team member/ Time commitment
 Exercise
Organizational Structure Types - 2
What Factors can Influence
Your Project?
• Projects exist and operate in environments that may have an influence on them (favorable or
unfavorable influence)

• 2 major categories of influences are Enterprise Environmental Factors (EEFs) and Organization Process
assets (OPAs)

• EEFs: Factors not under immediate control of team that

Influences
influences constraints, or direct project, program or
portfolio.
EEFs OPAs
• OPAs: Plans, Processes, policies & procedures &
knowledge basis that is specific to and used by
performing organizations. Internal External Org. Policies &
Corporate
Knowledge
Procedures
base
 Enterprise Environmental Factors Organisation Process Assets
(EEFs) (OPAs)
Internal e.g.:
Internal e.g.:
• Organization Culture, Style, Structure,
• Processes and Procedures, Methodologies –
Governance
given to the project.
• Geographic distribution of resources and
• Corporate Knowldege Base / Organizational
facilities
Knowledge Repositories (e.g. former projects
• Information Technology software
artefacts, lessons learned) – updated by the
• Infrastructure
projects
• Configuration management repository
External e.g.:
(e.g. versioning)
• Marketplace conditions (Competitors etc)
• Financial data repository (e.g. budget,
• Social and cultural influences
labor costs)
• Security Legal restirctions, Government or
• Issue and Defect Management repository
Industry Standards
 Exercise
Identify EEFs and OPAs
 Discussion Question
Discussion Question

What to do first, when planning a project?

 Answer
• Divide the project into phases.
• A phase is a set of similar activities required to complete a project.
• For Example; design phase activities are all paper work, research phase is field
Answer

and online activities, and construction phase activities are all physical.
• Collection of all phases in the project is called Project Life Cycle.
• You can use different approaches to manage phases of a project.
• A project life cycle is the series of logically broken down phases that a project
passes through from its start to its completion.

• It is up to the project management team to determine the best life cycle for each
project.
 Project Phases Sample (Life Cycle)
Project Life Cycle Phases
 Project Life Cycle
There are generally two approaches for managing life cycle of a project.
1. When you plan all the details of project in the beginning and them implement
them (scope, cost, and time).
Project Life Cycle

2. When you plan only a portion of project that you have enough information
about, and after completion of that, you plan and implement the next portion.

The nature of project, standards, and client preference can affect your project
management approach (Development Life Cycle).
• A development life cycle consists of the phases of the project associated with producing
the product, service, or result of the project. A development life cycle is performed
within the project life cycle. And we can us more than one life cycle during the course of
the project. Don’t confuse a product life cycle
with a project life cycle. A product
life cycle consists of the phases
• Project life cycles can either be Plan driven or change driven. that represent the development
of a product idea to market
Waterfall life cycle Agile life cycle Hybrid life cycle delivery and eventually to
Instead of planning the Combination of predictable retirement of the product.
Project scope, time, and
work, team approach work and Agile life cycle
costs are defined up front. A project life cycle is the series of
It is about what will in an agile way
repeatedly perform all phases from the start of a project
happen, prepare best plan until the end. Product and project
possible and then working project activities to deliver
life cycles are independent of
to follow and minimize small pieces of the project.
each other.
changes. (Plan Driven) These cycles are
iterative, or incremental
(Change Driven)
Project Life Cycle Characteristics
• Cost and staffing levels are low at the start, peak as the work is carried out, and drop rapidly as the project draws to a close.

• Stakeholder influences, risk, and uncertainty, are greatest at the start of the project. These factors decrease over the life of the
project.

• Ability to influence the final characteristics of the project’s product, without significantly impacting cost, is highest at the start
of the project and decreases as the project progresses towards completion.
…or…
The cost of changes and correcting errors typically increases substantially as the project approaches completion

7
• Predictive Life cycle: a form of project cycle in which the project scope, time and cost are
determined in the early phase of the life cycle.

• E.g. Construction projects generally use waterfall / predictive life cycles.

Concept Construction
Design Phase Closeout
Phase Phase
• Incremental lifecycle produce deliverables through set of iteration that adds functionality with
an established time frame. Deliverable is complete after final iteration.

• E.g. To incrementally add more software a time. Like adding bricks to wall and after so many bricks
you get a wall.
• Iterative lifecycle focus is to put on creating a working prototype (Scope) first and adding
features in development cycles as product team understanding increases. Thus time and
cost estimates are modified.

• E.g. We build something and then we evaluate whether it will work for us and then we make
changes. We continue to do until we validate it’s the right thing to build.
• A Phase Gate is held at the end of a phase. They are also called transition gates.
• In the Phase Gate it will be determine based on defined exit and entry criteria (incl.
project and business documents like business case, project charter etc.) if the project …
• … continue to the next phase
• … continue to the next phase with modifications
• … end the project
• … remain in the phase
• … repeat the phase or elements of it

Plan
Analyze
Design
Build
Test
Deploy