Introduction

As a project leader, you need to keep that enthusiasm & sense of urgency high throughout
the project. You also need to make sure that

• Your team members are actively involved

• They buy into their roles & responsibilities
• They have the tools and resources they’ll need to succeed.

Attend Successful Project Management to develop the insights and skills you need to
define, plan, and assign work; obtain meaningful commitments; coordinate project
efforts; monitor and evaluate results; manage risk; and critically evaluate budgets and
schedules. You'll apply these insights and practical skills to project situations through
individual and group exercises.

The suggestion how to manage a perfect project

1. elect the project. Assemble the team that must own the project to
create a positive implementation and integration.
2. Define the internal or external customer's requirements from the
outcome or output of the project.
3. Define the scope of the project and the outcome desired. As part of
this definition, determine where the project begins and ends. What is
the first step? What is the last?
4. Define measurable goals that will enable you to know that the project
is accomplished. Define your budget for the project. Determine the
people and hours that are required to complete the project.
5. Determine how you will communicate progress and accomplishments,
and gather input from organization members who are not on the team.
6. Flow chart the current process. Or, for a specific project, list the steps
necessary to accomplish the project.
7. Measure how the current project is performing right now, if this is an
ongoing project. Study the data to adjust your goals and expectations.
8. Determine whether additional information, resources or people are
needed to complete the project. Bring the people and resources
identified into the group.
9. Create an action plan to complete the project's steps. Assign the
appropriate people to complete each step. Create a due date for when
each step will be accomplished. Make sure people have the time
needed allocated to the project.
 10. Determine an ongoing method to track whether the steps are
accomplished as planned. Hold weekly meetings, set up a centrally-
located planning calendar, widely distribute meeting minutes, or list
the steps on a public white board.
11. Implement the action plan. Document the methods used to
accomplish each step. You will want to be able to share the steps and
goals and duplicate the successful ones, if this is an ongoing or
periodically repeated project.
12. Determine how the team will measure, record, and track the
effectiveness of the project implementation and planning process for
the future.
13. Using the data collected, evaluate results. How did the project
meet expectations and satisfy planners and participants? If not, why
not? Document for future projects.
14. Celebrate the accomplishments of the team.
15. Determine how the lessons learned and steps experienced
during this project can be applied to projects in the future. Find a
method for integrating "best practice" steps for project management.

Tips:

1. Involve the appropriate people who own the process and can make or
break the success of your implementation and integration.
2. Document your steps so that the team that follows or implements your
project next year has the appropriate information they need to
duplicate your successful steps and planning process.
3. Keep any forms, flyers, advertisements, communication documents,
team minutes, and all other data related to the project in a file that can
be accessed for the next project planning.
Project Planning

Project planning is a discipline for stating how a project will be accomplished within a
certain timeframe and budget. Often project planning is ignored in favour of getting on with the
work. However, many people fail to realise the value of a project plan in saving time, money and
many problems. This article looks at the steps for creating a simple plan at the beginning of a
project.

Rolling Wave Planning

It is not often possible to foresee the future activities in a project with consistent detail
over the entire period of the project. Therefore, planning is often done in "waves" or stages, with
the activities in the near term planned in detail and the activities in the longer distance of time
left for future detail planning. There may in fact be several planning waves, particularly if the
precise approach or resource requirement is dependent or conditioned on the near-term activities.
Such a planning approach is commonly called rolling wave planning.

The "Real" Project Plan

"I need a project plan by tomorrow morning." As project managers, that's what we hear.
But we know that what the boss usually means is that s/he wants a project schedule. There is a
problem though, how can you come up with a schedule without having the "real" project plan
first? A project plan is more than just a Gantt chart, but do you know what you must have in your
plan? This article takes you through the 10 essential elements your project plan has to have to
help you achieve project management success.

Developing the Project Plan

Whether you call it a Project Plan or a Project Timeline, it is absolutely imperative that
you develop and maintain a document that clearly outlines the project milestones and major
activities required to implement your project.

Project Planning: The First Line of Defence for Preventing Failed Projects

Every year thousands of projects are completed over budget, out of scope and past deadline. Still,
with each passing year, project managers continue to rush into projects without due diligence in
defining the project and creating a plan for project execution.
How to Plan and Schedule More Complex Projects

Gantt charts are useful tools for analysing, planning and controlling projects. When a
complex or multi-task project is under way, Gantt charts assist in monitoring whether the project
is on schedule, or not. If not, the Gantt chart allows you to easily identify what actions need to be
taken in order to put the project back onto schedule.

Planning a Project using a Work Breakdown Structure & Logic Network

Projects don't just happen they are planned. The whole project team should develop the
plan not just the project manager. This ensures that the teams' experiences are taken into account
and that everyone is fully committed and has ownership of the plan.

How to Create a Gantt Chart Using Microsoft Excel

Since the initial introduction of Gantt charts, they have become an industry standard as a
key project management tool for showing the phases, tasks and activities that are scheduled as
part of a project over time. This video presentation shows a step by step guide to creating a Gantt
chart using Microsoft Excel 2007.

Scheduling

Project scheduling is the art of planning dates for starting and completing activities and
milestones. One of the most common problems that project managers weep about is "unrealistic
timelines," a common consequence of clients having set their expectations too high even before
the project starts. Ironically, there are occurrences in the duration of a project when a staff is
sitting idly, waiting for a colleague to finish so he can start his own task. In this situation, does
the project manager shout foul and blame other people? Chances are, as a project manager, he
needs to give the project schedule a second look.

Project Scheduling And Resource Levelling

We all know that in the real world we, as project managers, are given the finish date of
the project before we even have a chance to plan for it. This is a good enough reason why we
need to get better at scheduling our projects and levelling our finite resources. The activity
network diagram is a method of displaying the timelines of all the various sub-tasks that are
involved in any project. By doing this, the total task duration and the earliest and latest start and
finish times for each task are also calculated and displayed. In addition to showing which sub-
tasks are critical to on-time task completion, the activity network diagram can help determine
where extra effort to speed a sub-task will have the greatest payoff to overall speed.

Project Management: Time Estimates and Planning

Accurate time estimation is a skill essential for good project management. Often people
underestimate the amount of time needed to implement projects. This is true particularly when
the project manager is not familiar with the task to be carried out. This article covers the basics
to think of when planning projects.

Managing The Project Time

Project managers know, or should know, the iron triangle of project management
sometimes called the triple constraints of project management because all projects are
constrained by these three elements: time, cost, and scope. My nemesis is the angle on the left,
time.

How to Plan and Schedule More Complex Projects

When a complex or multi-task project is under way, Gantt charts assist in monitoring
whether the project is on schedule, or not. If not, the Gantt chart allows you to easily identify
what actions need to be taken in order to put the project back onto schedule.

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Monitor and Control to Keep Control

The purpose of project monitoring and controlling is to provide an understanding of and

communicate the project’s progress, thus identifying when the project’s performance deviates
significantly from the plan so that appropriate corrective actions and preventive actions are
taken. Project activity monitoring is an aspect of project management that is performed
throughout the project. Controlling is the aspect wherein corrective and preventive actions are
taken. It is the Project Manager who must ensure that the monitor and control process is
effectively executed. Effective execution of the project monitoring and controlling process leads
to successful project delivery.

Process Integration

Although project monitoring & control in project management are the focus of this article, there
are actually five primary process groups in project management: Initiating, Planning, Executing,
Monitoring and Controlling and Closing. There is an integrative nature, referred to as “plan-do-
act-check,” that underlies these processes.

The Planning process corresponds to the “plan” component. The Executing process corresponds
to the “do” component. The Monitoring and Controlling process corresponds to the “check-act”
component. The Initiating process starts the “plan-do-act-check” cycles. The Closing process
ends them. It is the integrative nature of project management which requires that the Monitoring
and Controlling process interact with every aspect of the other process groups.

Project Plan is Key

During the project planning phase, plans are developed in the form of
project baselines for schedule, cost, scope, quality and risks, all of which are components of the
overall project plan. This gives the Project Manager basis for monitoring project progress and
upon which to base decisions necessary for managing changes needed to help get the project
back on track.

Project Progress
Project progress is primarily determined by comparing actual project performance to schedule
and Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). When actual status exceeds predetermined thresholds,
thus causing variances by deviating significantly from expected values, corrective actions are
taken, as appropriate. These actions often require re-planning, which may include revising the
original plan or including additional mitigation activities in the current plan. The process by
which the variances are identified and analyzed is called Variance Analysis.

Project Progress Reporting, Tools & Techniques

Project monitoring and control also provides information to support status reporting, progress
measurement, forecasting and updating current cost and schedule information. During this
process, it is also important to ensure that implementation of approved changes are monitored
when and as they occur.

As for tools and techniques used in facilitating project monitoring and control, automated project
management information systems and Earned Value are among the most commonly used. Both
are also used to update information. Earned Value also provides a means for forecasting future
performance based upon past performance.

Status reports are used for communicating project progress and status. Variance Analysis reports
are typically used to identify variances and the information often used as a basis for determining
corrective actions.

Plan to Keep Control for Success

As can be ascertained, the project plan lays the groundwork for a successful project. It goes
without saying that beyond planning, effective project monitoring and control is just what is
needed to keep your project in control.

Keep Your Project in Control

Project monitoring and control provides an understanding of project progress, identifies
deviation from the plan and is a mechanism for making any necessary corrective actions.

• 1. Keep Your Project in Control

• 2. Understanding How Project Monitoring and Controlling Integrates with Other
Processes

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Project team role and participation

Project Leader

This role will require an individual with strong management and communication skills
who understands the operation and objectives of the CRM implementation. It is possible
to have an outside consultant or vendor consultant and internal person that share the
Project Leader responsibilities, however, advance planning must dictate specific roles
and responsibilities. The Project Leader is the person responsible for the overall project
planning and progress toward the implementation. This individual is responsible for
monitoring, maintaining, and adjusting the project plan (based on the input and
deliverables of team members), providing implementation experienced leadership
strategies to the Executive Sponsor, and ensuring the effectiveness of the application
consultants assigned to the project. Other responsibilities include reviewing and
assisting in issue resolution, coordinating task dependencies, and establishing
milestone project goals that keep the project on time and within budget.

Other specific responsibilities may include:

• Conduct or facilitate the Implementation Project Kick-off and Status meetings.

• Manage the customer relationship with the vendor.
• Confirm solid understanding of corporate objectives and expectations; if
necessary, reset objectives and expectations.
• Approve the implementation schedule and project plan.
• Measurement of plan vs. actual with variance analysis.
• Continually monitor scope, time frame, budget and risk.
• Manage project resources to assure maximum efficiency, effectiveness and
resource utilization.
• Manage consultants on project.
• Periodic risk management – project risks and people risks – and development
of mitigating strategies. Significant or high impact risks should be addressed with
the Executive Sponsor.
 • Recognize change management issues and risks; develop recommendations
and mitigating strategies.
• Periodically measure and confirm stakeholder, Executive Sponsor,
Champion, Key User and System Administrator satisfaction.

All Project Team Members

Every project team member has a fiduciary duty to make a proactive and positive
contribution to the project. All team members are ‘owners’ of the project and the new
system and are personally accountable for taking charge of their respective areas and
promoting the project to their user communities and colleagues.

Project Team member duties include the following:

• Provide input to process improvement ideas

• Review circulated correspondence; provide feedback as required
• Identify high impact / high return opportunities within respective areas
• Proactively ask questions and offer input
• Attend every Project Team status meeting; recognize the importance of this
project to the organization
• Keep Project Stakeholders updated
• Act as liaison and constituent for represented user community: Keep user
community informed of project status and progress, provide a mechanism for
users to contribute to project and voice suggestions for improvement
• Contribute to the solution: never offer criticism without suggestion. Team
members must be contributors, not listeners
Project Team Experience
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Even within organizations with high success rates, one factor which never changes on each new
effort is the amount of experience possessed by the chosen project team members. Will the
project team include a business expert? If not, will the assigned members be able to effectively
comprehend and discuss the business requirements and issues in the client terminology? Having
someone on the team (even if only in the initial phases) who understands the business is a great
confidence builder! It allows the analysts and designers to ask the dumb or simplistic questions
to someone other than the client. This actually makes more effective use of everyone's time and
it adds an subsequent level of security. In addition, it puts someone in the position of making
sure that "creative thinking" stays within reasonable boundaries.

What about technical expertise? Is the project entering uncharted waters without a guide? Having
someone on the team who is familiar with the specialized knowledge surrounding a selected
technological environment provides the same confidence creating benefits as those listed above.
A technical expert can assist others, make suggestions, develop standards, and prevent time
consuming mistakes. In addition, he or she can provide leadership by example. By spearheading
the work and creating examples for others, a technical expert can transfer knowledge and
experience in a timely and effective manner. The prevents the "invent as we go" situation teams
often find themselves in when embarking on a new technology.