Explaining Project Integration

UNIT 4

4.1 Public - Sector project integration

Project integration is the set of project management activities and processes necessary for
coordinating and combining the elements of a project. It allows the project manager, project
team, and project stakeholders to fit the various elements of the project together to make sure
that cross-impacts are managed to create results that satisfy all of the stakeholders. This section
examines each of the required functions for publicsector project integration management.

Even in the best conditions, project integration can be a challenge. For example, the strategies
that the project team develops for managing its risks can create additional activities that need to
be performed and additional costs. A project schedule change can increase risks and cause other
project impacts. Scope changes always cause ripples through the project plan.

Because of the complexity of public-sector projects, project integration in that sector can take on
additional complexity. Public-sector projects rarely involve isolated parts of an organization, but
rather frequently reach, octopus-like, into multiple organizations and impact multiple
stakeholders. As mentioned earlier, public-sector projects are particularly susceptible to the
impacts of those stakeholders, such as oversight agencies and legislators, who can influence the
outcome of a project. Although private-sector projects can engage a variety of stakeholders who
have to be satisfied, public-sector projects are impacted by a broader variety of stakeholders who
can stop the project, challenge it publicly, or influence how it is conducted.

Project integration in the public sector is a process of integrating the varied components of the
project (the internal complexities) and the varied influencers of the project (the external
complexities).

4.2 Functions required for public sector project integration

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 Explaining Project Integration

Project integration consists of the activities and processes necessary for getting the project
started, pulling together all of the varied elements of the project into a consistent plan,
performing the work of the project, monitoring the work, integrating changes, and closing the
project. Project integration can be applied to either a project or a project phase. Although the
required activities can be defined in a linear fashion, they are often looped or iterated as the
project progresses. For example, project execution for a project designed to attract a new
business to the state may be well underway when new legislation takes effect that provides
additional incentives for new business. That will require, at a minimum, a change in the project
plan to incorporate the exploration of the new options.

The required functions for public-sector project integration are:

 Framing and initiating the project

 Developing the project plan Performing the project work
 Comparing the work to the project plan and managing changes
 Closing the project and contracts

Framing and Initiating the Project Framing and initiating the project requires getting the project
started correctly, with a consensus on what the project is about. It also requires identifying what
is known about the project at this point and getting approval from authorized managers for the
project. As noted earlier, the purposes of framing and initiating the project are to ensure that:

 The organization has authorized the expenditure of public resources on the project.
 The principle stakeholders agree on the general direction of the project.
 The project manager and the project team understand what is being requested and agree
to dedicate their best efforts to the project.

In public-sector projects, framing the project may include interacting with stakeholders to build
early support for it and to identify opposition that may need to be factored into project plans and
the scope of the project. It may also include development of a business case for the project in
order to prove its value and compete with other projects to gain budget authorization. At this
point in the project, the project manager and sponsor may have to take on the role of selling the
project to stakeholders.

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Once the project has been vetted and is certain of support, the project charter can be developed.
The project charter is the initiating document of the project. It authorizes spending the
organization’s assets on the project. The purpose of the charter is to create as much
understanding as possible at the start about the purposes of the project and expectations for its
performance.

Some public-sector organizations have a standard charter document that is prepared by someone
needing the project’s results.

By the time the charter document is completed, the project manager should have been selected
and assigned. In some cases, the development of the project charter is a simple exercise. In other
cases, it will require substantial dialogue and negotiation if key stakeholders have differing
views. Beginning a project without a clear idea of what the project is supposed to do, as
expressed in the charter, can be a disaster waiting to happen.

If no project charter is put in place and agreed to by the major stakeholders, the project manager
and the project team are placed in a risky situation. If agreement on the charter has not been
achieved, later in the project, stakeholders can:

 Allege that they never supported the project

 Argue against the dedication of resources to the project
 Create their own versions of the project’s outcomes
 Allege that the project team is operating without organizational authority
 Raise objections that were not made clear at the outset
 Object to the project’s organization or approach to the problem
 Assign resources to higher-priority projects instead of making good on commitments to
the existing project
 Demand performance from the project team that is not possible under the constraints the
project faces
 Revise project assumptions

Some project charters contain a lot of details, whereas others are relatively simple. In its most
simple format, a project charter should contain:

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 The business need for the project. This need should be stated as a problem to be solved or
an opportunity to be pursued. For publicsector IT system deployment, ‘‘system
replacement’’ is not a business need. The system is being replaced for a reason, like
better responsiveness for users or the continuation of system support.
 The solution that this project will apply to meet the business need. For any business
need, there are a host of solutions, only one (or some) of which is to be applied by this
project.
 Assumptions. Assumptions are those uncertain outcomes that, for planning purposes, are
assumed to be true.
 Constraints. Constraints are any factors that limit the project team. As described earlier,
public-sector projects are severely constrained. Normal project constraints, like time
limits and a budget, impact all projects.
 Overview of the legal and administrative context for the project. For public-sector
projects, the charter should also include an overview of the legal and administrative
factors that the project must deal with. These requirements will impact the project plan in
substantial ways. The charter could include a listing of oversight agencies whose dictates
must be complied with, laws and rules that apply to the project, and stakeholders who
must be integrated into the project in order to ensure their sign-off on the project’s
compliance with rules and policies.

Project charter documents can include other elements that are known about the project at the
time of its initiation. Any elements contained in a project charter are described at a very high
level of generalization, because the progressive elaboration has barely been started.

4.3 Best practices for public sector project integration

Best practices for managing the integration of public-sector projects include:

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 Work to build a culture in your organization that requires a project charter for all projects
 Engage in a process of co-creating the project with appropriate stakeholders
 Build a solid business case for the project in order to justify budget requests and convince
stakeholders of the need for the project
 Make sure that every project has a need (e.g., a problem to be solved or an opportunity to
be seized) at its root
 Identify legal and administrative factors that can impact the project as early as possible
 For high-risk projects, engage in more detailed project planning than for those projects of
lower risk
 Manage to the plan and amend the plan if circumstances change, so that the plan is
always current and relevant
 Take the time to close projects and identify lessons learned
 Conduct closing discussions for projects that have succeeded and those that have failed
 Engage vendors in closing activities and the identification of lessons learned

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