Project Management: Meaning of Project, Project Objectives & Characteristics, Project

Identification- Meaning & Importance; Project Life Cycle, Project Scheduling, Capital
Budgeting, Generating an Investment Project Proposal, Project Report-Need and
Significance of Report, Contents, Formulation, Project Analysis-Market, Technical,
Financial, Economic, Ecological, Project Evaluation and Selection, Project Financing,
Project Implementation Phase, Human & Administrative aspects of Project Management,
Prerequisites for Successful Project Implementation.

New Control Techniques- PERT and CPM, Steps involved in developing the network,
Uses and Limitations of PERT and CPM

MEANING OF PROJECT

A piece of planned work or an activity that is finished over a period of time and intended to
achieve a particular purpose. Planned set of interrelated tasks to be executed over a fixed
period and within certain cost and other limitations.

A project is a temporary endeavour designed to produce a unique product, service or result

with a defined beginning and end (usually time-constrained, and often constrained by
funding or deliverable) undertaken to meet unique goals and objectives, typically to bring
about beneficial change or added value.

MEANING OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT -

is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet the
project requirements. Project management is the discipline of initiating, planning, executing,
controlling, and closing the work of a team to achieve specific goals and meet specific
success criteria at the specified time.

The primary challenge of project management is to achieve all of the project goals within
the given constraints. This information is usually described in project documentation,
created at the beginning of the development process. The primary constraints are scope,
time, quality and budget. The secondary — and more ambitious — challenge is to optimize
the allocation of necessary inputs and apply them to meet pre-defined objectives.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT STAGES / PROCESS

Initiating

Planning
Executing

Monitoring and controlling

Closing

PROJECT MANAGEMENT COMPONENTS

PROJECT OBJECTIVE

• Financial - Financial objectives are normally relatively easy to put together and you will
find your sponsor is keen to make sure that if your project is going to make the company
any money that this is record adequately in the project objectives. Your project may
deliver a clear financial return (for example, launching a new product to the consumer
market) or make a financial saving (such as closing an underperforming office).

• Quality - There may be some quality objectives for your project, such as delivering to
certain internal or external quality standards. Quality objectives also manifest themselves
in the form of process improvement projects that aim to reduce defects or increase
customer satisfaction somehow. You may find that quality objectives are included in your
quality plan, so you can take them from there and include them in the main body of your
project documentation (or vice versa, as you will probably write the quality plan after
your charter).
• Technical - Companies already have technology in use so a technical objective could be
to upgrade existing technology, install new technology or even to make use of existing
technology during the deployment of your project. Technology comes in different forms
so this could include mobile devices or telephones as well as hardware, software and
networking capabilities.

• Performance - Performance objectives tend to be related to how the project will be run,
so could include things like delivering to a certain budget figure or by a certain date, or
not exceeding a certain number of resources. You could also have performance objectives
related to achieving project scope, such as the number of requirements that will be
completed or achieving customer sign off.

• Compliance - Regulatory requirements form compliance objectives. For example, there

could be the obligation to meet legal guidance on your project or to comply with local
regulations. A construction project could also have the objective to meet or exceed health
and safety targets.

• Business - Of course! This is the main area where you are likely to find project objectives
and it relates to what it is that you are doing – the key drivers for the project. Business
objectives would be things like launching that new product, closing that office or
anything else that is the main reason for delivering the project.

• produce something new or altered, tangible or intangible.

• To have a finite timespan: a definite start and end.

• likely to be complex in terms of work or groups involved

CHARACTERISTICS OF PROJECT

• To define the reason why project is necessary

• To capture the requirements, specifying quality of the deliverables, estimating resources
and timescales.

• Preparing the business case to justify the investment

• Securing corporate agreement and funding
• Developing and implementing management plan for the project
• Leading and motivating the project delivery team
• Managing the risk, issues and changes of the project
• Monitoring progress against plan
• Managing the project budget
• Marinating communication with shareholders and stake holders
• Closing the project in a controlled fashion when appropriate.

PROJECT IDENTIFICATION

This guide aims to give a brief overview of the project management cycle and some handy
tips to consider when you are planning and implementing a project. Identification, design
and budgeting/funding are the steps that make up your planning process. The planning
process should make up a significant part of the whole cycle in order to ensure a successful
project.

Project identification results from issues emerging from the external environment. You
might pick up on these issues in the environment by reading reports on trends in the
geographical area where you work and speaking to stakeholders (including users) about the
local issues arising.

KEY STPES TO IDENTIFY.

Scanning the external environment

Undertaking preliminary research

Making decisions

Checklist

IMPORTANCE OF PROJECT IDENTIFICATION

• Strategic alignment - Project management is important because it ensures what is being

delivered, is right, and will deliver real value against the business opportunity.Every
client has strategic goals and the projects that we do for them advance those goals.
Project management is important because it ensures there’s rigour in architecting projects
properly so that they fit well within the broader context of our client’s strategic
frameworks Good project management ensures that the goals of projects closely align
with the strategic goals of the business. In identifying a solid business case, and being
 methodical about calculating ROI, project management is important because it can help
to ensure the right thing is delivered, that’s going to deliver real value.

• Leadership - Project management is important because it brings leadership and direction

to projects. Without project management, a team can be like a ship without a rudder;
moving but without direction, control or purpose. Leadership allows and enables a team
to do their best work. Project management provides leadership and vision, motivation,
removing roadblocks, coaching and inspiring the team to do their best work. Project
managers serve the team but also ensure clear lines of accountability. With a project
manager in place there’s no confusion about who’s in charge and in control of whatever’s
going on in a project. Project managers enforce process and keep everyone on the team in
line too because ultimately they carry responsibility for whether the project fails or
succeeds.

• Clear Focus & Objectives - Project management is important because it ensures there’s a
proper plan for executing on strategic goals.Where project management is left to the team
to work out by themselves, you’ll find teams work without proper briefs, projects lack
focus, can have vague or nebulous objectives, and leave the team not quite sure what
they’re supposed to be doing, or why.As project managers, we position ourselves to
prevent such a situation and drive the timely accomplishment of tasks, by breaking up a
project into tasks for our teams. Oftentimes, the foresight to take such an approach is
what differentiates good project management from bad. Breaking up into smaller chunks
of work enables teams to remain focused on clear objectives, gear their efforts towards
achieving the ultimate goal through the completion of smaller steps and to quickly
identify risks, since risk management is important in project management.

• Realistic Project Planning - Project management is important because it ensures proper

expectations are set around what can be delivered, by when, and for how much1.Without
proper project management, budget estimates and project delivery timelines can be set
that are over-ambitious or lacking in analogous estimating insight from similar projects.
Ultimately this means without good project management, projects get delivered late, and
over budget. Effective project managers should be able to negotiate reasonable and
achievable deadlines and milestones across stakeholders, teams, and management. Too
often, the urgency placed on delivery compromises the necessary steps, and ultimately,
the quality of the project’s outcome. We all know that most tasks will take longer than
initially anticipated; a good project manager is able to analyse and balance the available
resources, with the required timeline, and develop a realistic schedule. Project
management really matters when scheduling because it brings objectivity to the planning.
• Quality Control - Projects management is important because it ensures the quality of
whatever is being delivered, consistently hits the mark. Projects are also usually under
enormous pressure to be completed Without a dedicated project manager, who has the
support and buy-in of executive management, tasks are underestimated, schedules
tightened and processes rushed. The result is bad quality output. Dedicated project
management ensures that not only does a project have the time and resources to deliver,
but also that the output is quality tested at every stage. Good project management
demands gated phases where teams can assess the output for quality, applicability, and
ROI. Project management is of key importance to Quality Assurance because it allows
for a staggered and phased process, creating time for teams to examine and test their
outputs at every step along the way.

• Risk Management - Project management is important because it ensures risks are

properly managed and mitigated against to avoid becoming issues. Risk management is
critical to project success. The temptation is just to sweep them under the carpet, never
talk about them to the client and hope for the best. But having a robust process around
the identification, management and mitigation of risk is what helps prevent risks from
becoming issues. Good project management practice requires project managers to
carefully analyse all potential risks to the project, quantify them, develop a mitigation
plan against them, and a contingency plan should any of them materialise. Naturally,
risks should be prioritised according to the likelihood of them occurring, and appropriate
responses are allocated per risk. Good project management matters in this regard,
because projects never go to plan, and how we deal with change and adapt our plans is a
key to delivering projects successfully.

• Orderly Process - Project management is important because it ensures the right people do
the right things, at the right time – it ensures proper project process is followed
throughout the project lifecycle. Surprisingly, many large and well-known companies
have reactive planning processes. But reactivity – as opposed to proactivity – can often
cause projects to go into survival mode. This is a when teams fracture, tasks duplicate,
and planning becomes reactive creating inefficiency and frustration in the team. Proper
planning and process can make a massive difference as the team knows who’s doing
what, when, and how. Proper process helps to clarify roles, streamline processes and
inputs, anticipate risks, and creates the checks and balances to ensure the project is
continually aligned with the overall strategy. Project management matters here because
without an orderly, easily understood process, companies risk project failure, attrition of
employee trust and resource wastage.
• Continuous Oversight - Project management is important because it ensures a project’s
progress is tracked and reported properly.Status reporting might sound boring and
unnecessary – and if everything’s going to plan, it can just feel like documentation for
documentation’s sake. But continuous project oversight, ensuring that a project is
tracking properly against the original plan, is critical to ensuring that a project stays on
track.When proper oversight and project reporting is in place it makes it easy to see when
a project is beginning to deviate from its intended course. The earlier you’re able to spot
project deviation, the easier it is to course correct.Good project managers will regularly
generate easily digestible progress or status reports that enable stakeholders to track the
project. Typically these status reports will provide insights into the work that was
completed and planned, the hours utilised and how they track against those planned, how
the project is tracking against milestones, risks, assumptions, issues and dependencies
and any outputs of the project as it proceeds.

• Subject Matter Expertise - Project management is important because someone needs to

be able to understand if everyone’s doing what they should. With a few years experience
under their belt, project managers will know a little about a lot of aspects of delivering
the projects they manage. They’ll know everything about the work that their teams
execute; the platforms and systems they use, and the possibilities and limitations, and the
kinds of issues that typically occur.Having this kind of subject matter expertise means
they can have intelligent and informed conversations with clients, team, stakeholders, and
suppliers. They’re well equipped to be the hub of communication on a project, ensuring
that as the project flows between different teams and phases of work, nothing gets
forgotten about or overlooked.Without subject matter expertise through project
management, you can find a project becomes unbalanced – the creatives ignore the
limitations of technology or the developers forget the creative vision of the project.
Project management keeps the team focussed on the overarching vision and brings
everyone together forcing the right compromises to make the project a success.

• Managing and Learning from Success and Failure - Project management is important
because it learns from the successes and failures of the past. Project management can
break bad habits and when you’re delivering projects, it’s important to not make the same
mistakes twice. Project managers use retrospectives or post project reviews to consider
what went well, what didn’t go so well and what should be done differently for the next
project. This produces a valuable set of documentation that becomes a record of “dos and
don’ts” going forward, enabling the organisation to learn from failures and success.
Without this learning, teams will often keep making the same mistakes, time and time
again. These retrospectives are great documents to use at a project kickoff meeting to
remind the team about failures such as underestimating projects, and successes such as
 the benefits of a solid process or the importance of keeping time sheet reporting up to
date.

• Stake holder agreement

PROJECT LIFE CYCLE

we can define Project Cycle Management as a tool that describes the management activities
and decision making procedures used during the life-cycle of a project.

The systematic process of initiating, planning, implementing, managing and evaluating

projects or programmes is known as ‘Project Cycle Management’, PCM ; it is also defined
as an approach in project management used to guide management activities and decision-
making procedures during the life-cycle of a project, from the first idea until the last ex-post
(afterwards) evaluation.

The project cycle follows the life of a project, from the initial idea through its completion. It
provides a structure to ensure that stakeholders are consulted, and defines the key decision,
information requirements and responsibilities at each phase so that informed decision can be
made at each phase in the life of the project.

THE PHASES OF PROJECT CYCLE ARE AS FOLLOWS

!
Project initiation: During this phase a business problem or opportunity is identified and a
business case providing various solution options is defined. Next, a feasibility study is
conducted to investigate whether each option addresses the business problem and a final
recommended solution is then put forward.
Project planning: This phase involves outlining the activities, tasks, dependencies and
timeframes; resource plan; financial plan; quality plan; acceptance plan; and procurement
plan.
Project execution: This phase involves implementing the plans created during the project
planning phase.
Project closure: Project closure involves releasing the final deliverables to the customer,
handing over project documentation to the business, terminating supplier contracts,
releasing project resources and communicating the closure of the project to all stakeholders.

PROJECT SCHEDULING
In project management, a schedule is a listing of a project's milestones, activities, and
deliverables, usually with intended start and finish dates. Those items are often estimated by
other information included in the project schedule of resource allocation, budget, task
duration, and linkages of dependencies and scheduled events. A schedule is commonly used
in the project planning and project portfolio management parts of project management.
Project scheduling is a mechanism to communicate what tasks need to get done and which
organisational resources will be allocated to complete those tasks in what timeframe. A
project schedule is a document collecting all the work needed to deliver the project on time.

The project schedule is the tool that communicates what work needs to be performed, which
resources of the organisation will perform the work and the timeframes in which that work
needs to be performed. The project schedule should reflect all of the work associated with
delivering the project on time. Without a full and complete schedule, the project manager
will be unable to communicate the complete effort, in terms of cost and resources, necessary
to deliver the project.

Online project management software allows project managers to track project schedules,
resources, budgets and project related assets in real time. The project schedule can be
viewed and updated by team members associated with the project, keeping everyone well
informed on the overall project status.
CAPITAL BUDGETING
Capital Budgeting is the process of making investment decision in fixed assets or capital
expenditure. Capital Budgeting is also known as investment, decision making, planning of
capital acquisition, planning and analysis of capital expenditure etc.

Capital budgeting is the planning process used to determine whether an organisation's long
term investments such as new machinery, replacement of machinery, new plants, new
products, and research development projects are worth the funding of cash through the
firm's capitalisation structure.
It is the process of allocating resources for major capital, or investment, expenditures. One
of the primary goals of capital budgeting investments is to increase the value of the firm to
the shareholders.

GENERATING AN INVESTMENT PROJECT PROPOSAL

Ideas for new capital investments can come from many sources, both inside and outside a
firm. Proposals may originate at all levels of the organisation —from factory workers up to
the board of directors. Most large and medium -size firms allocate the responsibility
for identifying and analysing capital expenditures to specific staff groups.

These groups can include cost accounting, industrial engineering, marketing research,
research and development, and corporate planning. In most firms, systematic procedures are
established to assist in the search and analysis steps. For example, many firms provide
detailed forms that the originator of a capital expenditure proposal must complete. These
forms normally request information on the project’s initial cost, the revenues it is expected
to generate, and how it will affect the firm’s overall operating expenses. These data are then
channeled to a reviewer or group of reviewers at a higher level in the firm for analysis and
possible acceptance or rejection.

Project proposal classified as follows:

Classifying Investment Projects

Projects Generated by Growth Opportunities

Projects Generated by Cost Reduction Opportunities

Projects Generated to Meet Legal Requirements and Health and Safety Standards

Project Size and the Decision-Making Process

PROJECT REPORT - An assessment that takes place during a project or process, that
conveys details . A Project Report is a document which provides details on the overall
picture of the proposed business. The project report gives an account of the project proposal
to ascertain the prospects of the proposed plan/activity.

Project Report is a written document relating to any investment. It contains data on the basis
of which the project has been appraised and found feasible. It consists of information on
economic, technical, financial, managerial and production aspects. It enables the
entrepreneur to know the inputs and helps him to obtain loans from banks or financial
Institutions.

The project report contains detailed information about Land and buildings required,
Manufacturing Capacity per annum, Manufacturing Process, Machinery & equipment along
with their prices and specifications, Requirements of raw materials, Requirements of Power
& Water, Manpower needs, Marketing Cost of the project, production, financial analyses
and economic viability of the project.

CONTENTS OF PROJECT REPORT

• General Information - A project report must provide information about the details of the
industry to which the project belongs to. It must give information about the past
experience, present status, problems and future prospects of the industry. It must give
information about the product to be manufactured and the reasons for selecting the
product if the proposed business is a manufacturing unit. It must spell out the demand for
the product in the local, national and the global market. It should clearly identify the
alternatives of business and should clarify the reasons for starting the business.

• Executive Summary - A project report must state the objectives of the business and the
methods through which the business can attain success. The overall picture of the
business with regard to capital, operations, methods of functioning and execution of the
business must be stated in the project report. It must mention the assumptions and the
risks generally involved in the business.

• Organisation Summary - The project report should indicate the organisation structure and
pattern proposed for the unit. It must state whether the ownership is based on sole
proprietorship, partnership or joint stock company. It must provide information about the
bio data of the promoters including financial soundness. The name, address, age
qualification and experience of the proprietors or promoters of the proposed business
must be stated in the project report.
• Project Description - A brief description of the project must be stated and must give
details

1. Location of the site,

2. Raw material requirements

3. Target of production,

4. Area required for the work shed

5. Power requirements,

6. Fuel requirements,

7. Water requirements,

8. Employment requirements of skilled and unskilled labour,

9. Technology selected for the project,

10. Production process,

11. Pollution treatment plants required.

• Marketing Plan - The project report must clearly state the total expected demand for the
product. It must state the price at which the product can be sold in the market. It must
also mention the strategies to be employed to capture the market. If any, after sale service
is provided that must also be stated in the project. It must describe the mode of
distribution of the product from the production unit to the market.

• Capital Structure and operating cost - The project report must describe the total capital
requirements of the project. It must state the source of finance, it must also indicate the
extent of owners funds and borrowed funds. Working capital requirements must be stated
and the source of supply should also be indicated in the project. Estimate of total project
cost, must be broken down into land, construction of buildings and civil works, plant and
machinery, miscellaneous fixed assets, preliminary and preoperative expenses and
working capital.

• Management Plan - The project report should state the following.

1. Business experience of the promoters of the business,

2. Details about the management team,

3. Duties and responsibilities of team members,

4. Current personnel needs of the organisation,

5. Methods of managing the business,

6. Plans for hiring and training personnel,

7. Programmes and policies of the management.

• Financial Aspects - In order to judge the profitability of the business a projected profit
and loss account and balance sheet must be presented in the project report. It must show
the estimated sales revenue, cost of production, gross profit and net profit likely to be
earned by the proposed unit. In addition to the above, a projected balance sheet, cash
flow statement and funds flow statement must be prepared every year and at least for a
period of 3 to 5 years. The income statement and cash flow projections should include a
three-year summary, detail by month for the first year, and detail by quarter for the
second and third years. Break even point and rate of return on investment must be stated
in the project report. The accounting system and the inventory control system will be
used is generally addressed in this section of the project report. The project report must
state whether the business is financially and economically viable.

• Technical Aspects - Project report provides information about the technology and
technical aspects of a project. It covers information on Technology selected for the
project, Production process, capacity of machinery, pollution control plants etc.

• Project Implementation - Every proposed business unit must draw a time table for the
project. It must indicate the time within the activities involved in establishing the
enterprise can be completed. Implementation schemes show the timetable envisaged for
project preparation and completion.

• Social responsibility - The proposed units draws inputs from the society. Hence its
contribution to the society in the form of employment, income, exports and infrastructure.
The output of the business must be indicated in the project report.

NEED AND SIGNIFICANCE OF PROJECT REPORT

• It helps an entrepreneur to judge the profitability of given proposal

• It is the basis for the development bank to sanction loan for business
• It helps in understanding the level of project completed
• It gives in detail about project
• Helps in understanding the strength and weakness of the project
• It helps in increasing the knowledge. I.e.. industry , market, raw material , technology
etc.

• It educate the entrepreneur regarding reducing risk for future

• It bring into sharp focus the key performance
• Helps in choosing the correct way of completing

PROJECT FORMULATION

A process is a collection of interrelated actions and activities that take place in order to
achieve a set of previously specified products, results or services. The project team is in
charge of executing the formulation, evaluation and project management processes. Project
Formulation is a concise, exact statement of a project to set the boundaries or limits of work
to be performed by the project. It is a formal document that gives a distinctive identity of the
project and precise meaning of project work to prevent conflict, confusion, or overlap.

Project formulation can be also defined as one of the stages in the lifecycle of a project. The
formulation stage is also called Initiation, Conceptualisation, Definition, Pre-Project.

PROJECT ANALYSIS - A step-by-step breakdown of the phases of a process, used to

convey the inputs, outputs, and operations that take place during each phase. A process
analysis can be used to improve understanding of how the process operates, and to
determine potential targets for process improvement through removing waste and increasing
efficiency and also the company should conduct few analysis like are as follows:

Market analysis

Technical analysis

Financial analysis

Economic analysis

Ecological analysis
PROJECT EVALUATION AND SELECTION

PROJECT FINANCING - Project finance is the financing of long-term infrastructure,

industrial projects and public services based upon a non-recourse or limited recourse
financial structure, in which project debt and equity used to finance the project are paid back
from the cash flow generated by the project. Project financing is a loan structure that relies
primarily on the project's cash flow for repayment, with the project's assets, rights and
interests held as secondary security or collateral. Project finance is especially attractive to
the private sector because companies can fund major projects off balance sheet.

PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION PHASE

HUMAN & ADMINISTRATIVE ASPECTS OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Nail down project details

Identify project and team requirements

Be the project leader

Keep the communication lines open

Attain pertinent documenttion

Manage project risk

Avoid scope creep

Test deliverables

Evaluate the project

PREREQUISITES FOR SUCCESSFUL PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION - In order to

minimise time and cost over-runs during the implementation of a project it is necessary to
study about the prerequisites for successful project implementation. Keeping checks on
these prerequisites help to improve prospects of successful completion of projects. The
Prerequisites for successful project implementation are as follows

Adequate Formulation – A project may be improperly formulated due to the following

reasons:

• Poor assessment of input requirements

• Superficial field investigation

• Using faulty procedures for computing costs and benefits

• Omission of project linkages

• Poor Decisions due to lack of experience and expertise

• Over-estimation of Benefits and underestimating costs

Sound Organisation – A prerequisite for successful project implementation is a sound

organisation. Few Characteristics of a sound organisation are:
 • It is led by a competent leader

• Authority and Responsibility are equitably distributed

• Adequate attention is paid to designing jobs and work procedures

• All work methods and systems are clearly defined

• A culture of Rewards and Punishment on the basis of performance is

established

Proper Implementation Planning – Proper Planning is necessary for all projects therefore
before the implementation of any project a project manager must:

• Develop a comprehensive plan for various activities related to the project

• Estimate the resource requirement and time plan for each activity

• Define inter linkages between different activities of the project

• And Specify cost standards

Advance Action – Another prerequisite for successful project implementation is taking

advance action on the following activities:

• Acquisition of land

• Securing essential clearances

• Identifying technology collaborators/consultants

• Arranging for infrastructure facilities

• Preliminary design and engineering

• Calling of tenders

Timely availability of funds – In order to be successfully completed a project must have

adequate funds available to meet its requirements as per the implementation plan. Therefore
applications for loans, tie- ups with suppliers and contractors must be done in advance.
Proper allocation of funds must be done with the help of experts.

Judicious Equipment Tendering and Procurement – An optimum balance must be

maintained between foreign suppliers and indigenous suppliers keeping in mind time and
cost factors. Procurement must be done in such a way that outflow of foreign exchange is
minimum, however the business must not also be highly dependent on indigenous suppliers.
Importing foreign technology must be considered only when it compliment development of
indigenous technology and capabilities or helps in speedy development or due to non-
availability in local market..

Better contract management – Proper management of contracts is critical to successful

project implementation. Therefore:

• Competence and capability of the contractors must be ensured before entering

into a contract.

• All parties to contract must be treated as partners in common pursuit.

• Discipline must be established between all intermediaries

• Help must be extended to intermediaries when they have a genuine problem

• Project authorities must retain the power to transfer a contract to third parties
when delays are anticipated.

Effective Monitoring – An adequate system of feedback and monitoring must be

established in order to keep tabs on the progress of project. Critical aspects must be focused
on, Physical and financial milestones must be set, working standards must be established.
This helps in:

• Anticipating deviation from implementation plan

• Analysing emerging problem

• Taking corrective action

Prepare the infrastructure. Many solutions are implemented into a production

environment that is separate and distinct from where the solution was developed and tested.
It is important that the characteristics of the production environment be accounted for. This
strategy includes a review of hardware, software, communications, etc. In our example
above, the potential desktop capacity problem would have been revealed if we had done an
evaluation of the production (or real-world) environment. When you are ready for
implementation, the production infrastructure needs to be in place.

Coordinate with the organisations involved in implementation. This may be as simple as

communicating to your client community. However, few solutions today can be
implemented without involving a number of organisations. For IT solutions, there are
usually one or more operations and infrastructure groups that need to be communicated to
ahead of time. Many of these groups might actually have a role in getting the solution
successfully deployed. Part of the implementation work is to coordinate the work of any
other groups that have a role to play. In some cases, developers simply failed to plan ahead
and make sure the infrastructure groups were prepared to support the implementation. As a
result, the infrastructure groups were forced to drop everything to make the implementation
a success.

Implement training. Many solutions require users to attend training or more informal
coaching sessions. This type of training could be completed in advance, but the further out
the training is held, the less information will be retained when implementation rolls around.
Training that takes place close to the time of implementation should be made part of the
actual implementation plan.

Install the production solution. This is the piece everyone remembers. Your solution needs
to be moved from development to test. If the solution is brand new, this might be finished in
a leisurely and thoughtful manner over a period of time. If this project involves a major
change to a current solution, you may have a lot less flexibility in terms of when the new
solution moves to production, since the solution might need to be brought down for a period
of time. You have to make sure all of your production components are implemented
successfully, including new hardware, databases, and program code.

Convert the data. Data conversion, changing data from one format to another, needs to
take place once the infrastructure and the solution are implemented.

Perform final verification in production. You should have prepared to test the production
solution to ensure everything is working as you expect. This may involve a combination of
development and client personnel. The first check is just to make sure everything is up and
appears okay. The second check is to actually push data around in the solution, to make sure
that the solution is operating as it should. Depending on the type of solution being
implemented, this verification step could be extensive.

Implement new processes and procedures. Many IT solutions require changes to be made
to business processes as well. These changes should be implemented at the same time that
the actual solution is deployed.

Monitor the solution. Usually the project team will spend some period of time monitoring
the implemented solution. If there are problems that come up immediately after
implementation, the project team should address and fix them.
New Control Techniques- PERT and CPM, Steps involved in developing the network,
Uses and Limitations of PERT and CPM

PERT charts were created in the 1950s to help manage the creation of weapons and defence
projects for the US Navy. While PERT was being introduced in the Navy, the private sector
simultaneously gave rise to a similar method called Critical Path.

The program (or project) evaluation and review technique, commonly abbreviated PERT, is
a statistical tool, used in project management, which was designed to analyse and represent
the tasks involved in completing a given project.

First developed by the United States Navy in the 1950s, it is commonly used in conjunction
with the critical path method (CPM).

PERT stands for Program Evaluation Review Technique. PERT charts are tools used to plan
tasks within a project – making it easier to schedule and coordinate team members
accomplishing the work. PERT is a project management planning tool used to calculate the
amount of time it will take to realistically finish a project.

PERT is calculated backward from a fixed end date since contractor deadlines typically
cannot be moved.

A PERT chart presents a graphic illustration of a project as a network diagram consisting of

numbered nodes (either circles or rectangles) representing events, or milestones in the
project linked by labelled vectors (directional lines) representing tasks in the project

The PERT chart is sometimes preferred over the Gantt chart, another popular project
management charting method, because it clearly illustrates task dependencies. On the other
hand, the

PERT chart can be much more difficult to interpret, especially on complex projects.
Frequently, project managers use both techniques.

Project management technique that shows the time taken by each component of a project,
and the total time required for its completion. PERT breaks down the project into events and
activities, and lays down their proper sequence, relationships, and duration in the form of a
network. Lines connecting the events are called paths, and the longest path resulting from
connecting all events is called the critical path. The length (duration) of the critical path is
the duration of the project, and any delay occurring along it delays the whole project. PERT
is a scheduling tool, and does not help in finding the best or the shortest way to complete a
project.
CRITICAL PATH METHOD

The CPM was developed in the 1950s by DuPont, and was first used in missile- defence
construction projects. Since that time, the CPM has been adapted to other fields including
hardware and software product research and development.

The critical path method (CPM) is a step-by-step project management technique for process
planning that defines critical and non-critical tasks with the goal of preventing time-frame
problems and process bottlenecks. The CPM is ideally suited to projects consisting of
numerous activities that interact in a complex manner.

The critical path method (CPM), or critical path analysis (CPA), is an algorithm for
scheduling a set of project activities. It is commonly used in conjunction with the program
evaluation and review technique (PERT).

Critical path project management (CPM) is a technique used to complete projects on time
by focusing on key tasks. One path through all the inter-connected tasks is the fastest
avenue to take when completing any project. By focusing on the tasks that make up the
critical path, the project manager maximises the chances of completing the project on time.

STEPS INVOLVED IN DEVELOPING NETWORKS

1 Identify activities and milestones - the tasks required to complete the project, and
the events that mark the beginning and end of each activity, are listed in a table.

2 Determine the proper sequence of the activities - this step may be combined with
step 1, if the order in which activities must be performed is relatively easy to determine.

3 Construct a network diagram - using the results of steps 1 and 2, a network

diagram is drawn which shows activities as arrowed lines, and milestones as circles.
Software packages are available that can automatically produce a network diagram from
tabular information.

4 Estimate the time required for each activity - any consistent unit of time can be
used, although days and weeks are a common

5 Determine the critical path - the critical path is determined by adding the activity
times for each sequence and determining the longest path in the project. If the activity time
for activities in other paths is significantly extended, the critical path may change. The
amount of time that a non-critical path activity can be extended without delaying the project
is referred to as its slack time.
6 Update the PERT chart as the project progresses - as the project progresses,
estimated times can be replaced with actual times.

USES AND LIMITATION OF PERT AND CPM

Advantages:
• Simple to understand and use
• Show whether the project is on schedule; or behind/ ahead of the
schedule
• Identify the activities that need closer attention (critical)
• Determine the flexibility available with activities
• Show potential risk with activities (PERT)
• Provide good documentation of the project activities
• Help to set priorities among activities and resource allocation as
per priority

Limitations:
• Demand clearly defined and stable activities
• Precedence relationship should be known in advance
• Overemphasis on Critical path
• Activity time estimates are subjective
• Activity times in PERT may not follow Beta PD in reality
• Cost of crashing an activity may not be linear