REPORT MIDTERM BASIC PRINCIPLE OF PROJECT

MANGEMENT

I. PROJECT
1. INTRODUCTION TO PROJECTS
- Definition:
“A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service,
or result in order to achieve an outcome.”
Australian Institute of Project Management (AIPM): AIPM Professional Competency Standards
for Project Management 2008 Edition 10.
- Characteristics of a project:
 Specific deliverable  Unique specifications
 Specific timeframe  Multidisciplinary
 Budget  Complex
 Working across organizational  Conflict
boundaries  Part of Programs
- Reasons for the failure of a project:
 Failure to align projects with  Lack of project management
organizational objectives  Inability to move beyond
 Poor scope individual and personality
 Unrealistic expectations conflicts
 Lack of executive sponsorship  Politics
- Reasons for the succession of a project:
 Project sponsorship at the  Right mix of team players
executive level  Good decision-making
 Good project charter structure
 Strong project management  Good communications
  Team members are working
toward common goals
- Steps to prepare a project
Step 1: The Project Scope b) Doing Activities
a) Project Mission and Goal
Step 4: Project Control
b) Goal and Terms of Reference
a) Quantitative Control
Step 2: Project planning
b) Qualitative Control
a) Project Milestones
Step 5: Project Communication
b) Project Organization
a) Internally
Step 3: Project Execution
b) Externally
a) Taking Decisions
- Project stakeholders are individuals and organizations who are actively involved in
the project, or whose interests may be positively or negatively affected as a result
of project execution or successful project completion

2. CLASSIFICATION OF PROJECTS
- There are many different bases to classify the projects. Projects can be
classified as under:
 Source of fund  Scale and size
 Foreign-aided projects  Time frame and speed
 Techniques  Nature
 Function  Orientation
 Service sector project
- Official Development Assistance (ODA): Flows of official financing
administered with the promotion of the economic development and welfare of
developing countries as the main objective, and which are concessional in
 character with a grant element of at least 26 percent (using a fixed 10 percent rate
of discount). By convention, ODA flows comprise contributions of donor
government agencies, at all levels, to developing countries (“bilateral ODA”) and
multilateral institutions. ODA receipts comprise disbursements by bilateral donors
and multilateral institutions.
- Non-governmental organizations (NGO): a non-profit, citizen-based group
that functions independently of government. NGOs, sometimes called civil
societies, are organized on community, national and international levels to serve
specific social or political purposes, and are cooperative, rather than commercial,
in nature.

3. Representative Project Examples

- Bilateral project: USTH, the bilateral project for Education and Training based
on Intergovernmental Agreement between Viet Nam and France.
- Loan project – USTH Hoa Lac Campus (ADB – Loan Pro – VGU)
- Disaster prevention project: Climate change, Earthquake/Tsunami,
Mangrove
II. PROJECT MANAGEMENT BASICS
1. VALUE OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT
- Project Charter:
 Definition: A formal, typically short document that describes your project in its
entirety — including what the objectives are, how it will be carried out, and who
the stakeholders are. It is a crucial ingredient in planning the project because it is
used throughout the project lifecycle.
 What is documented in a project charter
 Reasons for the project  Risks identified
 Objectives and constraints of  Benefits of the project
the project  General overview of the
 The main stakeholders budget
- Project management is shorthand for the project, program, and portfolio
management. And more companies are clearly seeing the payoff from investing
time, money and recources to build organizational project management expertise :
lower costs, greater efficiencies, improved customer and stakeholder satisfaction,
and greater competitive advantage.
- The delivery of business outcomes is realized through the success of projects, and
in essence that is the way that project management strategies drive organizational
success

2. THE NEED FOR PROJECT MANAGEMENT

- Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques
to project activities to achieve project requirements
- Project management is accomplished through the application and integration of
the project management processes of initiating, planning, executing, monitoring
and controlling, and closing.
- Project management is used to control spending and improve project results
- Adhering to project management methods and strategies reduces risks, cuts
costs, and improved success rates – all vital to surviving the economic crisis
- Rules of Project Management
 The people who must do the work should help plan it
 One-person Projects: Unless you are coordinating the work of other people, you are
not practicing true project management
 Individuals that are project managers shouldn’t have to do part of the actual work.
If the team can manage itself, there would be no need for a project manager in the
first place.
 The relationship among the Q (quality), C (cost), T (time), and S (Scope) can be
written as follows:
C = f(Q, T, S)
In other words, this says, “Cost is a function of Quality, Time, and Scope.” This
translates to a very practical rule of project management: The sponsor can assign
values to any three variables, but the project manager must determine the
remaining one.

3. THE BASIC PHASES OF THE PROJECT MANAGEMENT

- There are 5 basic phases of Project management:
 Project conception and initiation:
 An idea for a project will be carefully examined to determine whether
benefits the organization
 During this phase, a decision-making team will identify if the project
can realistically be completed or not
 Project definition and planning
 A project plan, project charter, or project scope may be put in writing
outlining the work to be performed
  During this phase, a team should prioritize the project, calculate a
budget and schedule, and determine what resources are needed
 Project launch and execution
 Resources tasks are distributed, and teams are informed of
responsibilities
 This is a good time to bring up important project-related information
 Project performance and control
 Project managers will compare project status and progress to the actual
plan, as resources perform the scheduled work
 During this phase, project managers may need to adjust schedules or do
what is necessary to keep the project on track
 Project close
 After project tasks are completed and the client has approved the
outcome, an evaluation is necessary to highlight project success and/or
learn from project history.
 Projects and project management processes vary from industry to
industry; however, these are more traditional elements of a project.
 The overarching goal is typically to offer a product, change a process or
solve a problem to benefit the organization.
- Core components of project management:
 Defining the reason why a project  Securing corporate agreements and
is necessary funding
 Capturing project requirements,  Developing and implementing a
specifying the quality of the management plan for the project
deliverables, Estimating resources  Led and motivated the project
and timescales delivery team;
 Preparing a business case to justify  Managing the risks, issues, and
the investment changes in the project
 Monitoring progress against the  Provider management.
plan  Closing the project in a controlled
 Managing the project budget fashion when appropriate.
 Maintaining communications with
stakeholders and the project
organization

4. THE STEPS IN MANAGING A PROJECT

- There are 6 steps to managing a project:
 Define the problem, and identify the problem to be solved by the project
 What will be different?
 What will you see, hear, and taste? touch or smell? (Use sensory
evidence if things can’t be quantified
 What client needs are satisfied with the project?
 Development of solution options
 How many different ways might you go about solving the problem?
Brainstorm solution alternatives (you can do this alone or as a group)
 Of the available alternatives, which do you think will best solve the
problem? Is it more or less costly than other suitable choices?
 Will it result in a complete or only a partial fix?
 Plan the project
 Planning is answering questions:
 What must be  How?
done?  When?
 By whom?  …
 For how much?
 Execution of the plan
  y, once the plan is drafted, it must be implemented. Interestingly, we
sometimes find people going to great effort to put together a plan, then
failing to follow it.
 If a plan is not followed, there is not much point in planning, is there?
 more detailed
 Monitor and control progress
 y, Once the plan is drafted, it must be implemented
 If a plan is not followed, there is not much point in planning
 Close the project
 Answer questions:
 What was done well?
 What should be improved?
 What else did we learn?

5. THE PROJECT MANAGEMENT BODY OF KNOWLEDGE

 Process of Initiating
 Project sponsors create a project charter
 The charter should be used to authorize work on the project; define the
authority, responsibility, and accountability of the project team; and
establish scope boundaries for the job
 Without a charter, the team members may misinterpret what is required
of them, and this can be very costly
 Process of Planning
 Poor planning, or no planning at all is a major cause of project failures
 Failing to develop a plan means that there can be no actual control of
the project
 Process of Executing
 Execute the work that must be done to create the product of the project.
A project is conducted to produce a product
  Implement the project plan.
 Process of Monitoring and Controlling
 Control is exercised by comparing where project work is to where it is
supposed to be, then taking action to correct any deviations from the
target. Control is impossible without a plan.
 authorize work on the project; define the authority, responsibility, and
accountability of the project team; and establish scope boundaries for
the job.
 Process of closing
 A final lessons-learned review should be done before the project is
considered complete to avoid the same difficulties in future projects.

6. KNOWLEDGE AREAS
- Project Integration management
 Ensures that the project is properly planned, and controlled, including the exercise
of formal project change control
 Every activity must be coordinated or integrated with every other one
- Project Scope Management
 Includes authorizing the job, developing a scope statement that helps define the
boundaries of the project, subdividing the work into manageable components with
deliverables
 Develop a schedule that can be met, then control work to ensure that this happens
- Project cost management
 Estimates the cost of resources, including people, equipment, materials, etc.
 Budgets and keep track of costs.
- Project Quality Management
 Quality management (planning to meet quality requirements)
 Quality control (steps taken to monitor results to see if they conform to
requirements)
- Project Human Resources Management
 Identifying the people needed to do the job
 Defining their roles, responsibilities, and reporting relationships
 Acquiring those people
 Managing them as the project is executed
- Project Communications Management
 Planning, executing and controlling the acquisition and dissemination of all
information relevant to the needs of all project stakeholders
- Project Risk Management
 Systematic process of identifying, quantifying, analyzing, and responding to
project risk
 Maximizing the probability and consequences of positive events
 Minimizing the probability and consequences of adverse events to project
objectives
- Project Procurement Management
 Deciding what must be procured, issuing requests for bids or quotations, selecting
vendors, administering contracts, and closing them when the job is finished