PROJECT PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT

PROJECT PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT

INTRODUCTION
What is a project?
 A project is an activity that: is temporary having a start and end date is unique brings
about change has unknown elements, which therefore create risk

 Simply put, a project is a series of tasks that need to be completed to reach a specific
outcome.
 A project can also be defined as a set of inputs and outputs required to achieve a
particular goal.
 Projects can range from simple to complex and can be managed by one person or a
hundred.

TERMS
Project scope: This describes the reach and scale of the project.
Is a detailed outline of all aspects of a project, including all related activities, resources,
timelines, and deliverables, etc
A project scope varies depending on the amount of people involved and the scale of the impact
of its outcomes. Projects can be big or small depending on the scope.
Timeframe: A project’s timeframe is defined from its initiation or conception until result
evaluation.
A project’s timeframe can also be divided into smaller blocks which in themselves have their
own timeframe.
Organization: The organization of a project refers to how tasks and activities are organized

and prioritized. The project workflow is calculated in each individual project to reach
objectives.
Cost: Projects can be expensive or relatively cheap depending on their overall cost.
Communication: Communication in project management refers to the sharing of ideas and
opinions between professionals who are working on similar or related tasks

What are the types of project that require communication?

Communication is the cornerstone of every project.
Among different types of projects, communication, its frequency and its format can
vary. However, without effective communication a project will fail.

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Stakeholder Management: Projects can vary depending on the number of stakeholders

involved. Sometimes, the only stakeholders involved in a project is the team and project
manager, but more often than not, there are a wider group of stakeholders involved. The more
stakeholders, the more complex the management of their expectations and communication.

Task assignation: Within the different types of projects in project management, there are many
different tasks and activities. Projects can vary depending on how these tasks are assigned to
team members- whether they will be completed by individual members or groups and how
responsibilities will be defined.
Quality of results: Results of projects vary among the different types of projects. They can
vary depending on each client’s requests.

PRINCIPLES OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT

There are six principles of project management.
Principle 1: Vision and Mission
 In order to be successfully executed, every project or initiative should begin with the
end in mind.
 This is effectively accomplished by articulating the Vision and Mission of the project
so it is crystal-clear to everyone.
 Creating a vision and mission for the project helps clarify the expected outcome or
desired state, and how it will be accomplished.

Principle 2: Business Objectives

 The next step is to establish two to three goals or objectives for the project.
 The goals you set for your project will play a critical role in its success or failure
in projects.
 When you set your project objectives before work begins, you, your client, and
your team are all on the same page and future misunderstandings can be avoided.
 Is it being implemented to increase sales and profit, customer loyalty, employee
productivity and morale, or product/service quality?

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 Also, it's important to specifically quantify the amount of improvement that is expected,
instead of being vague.
 Remember the goals should be SMART

Principle 3: Standards of Engagement

 Simply put, this means establishing who will be part of the project team?
 Have clear team roles and responsibilities
 Few things cause more confusion and tension on a team than a lack of clarity
around roles and responsibilities.
 When the project team doesn’t know what their roles are or how those roles relate
to other people on the team, boundaries are crossed and unnecessary conflicts
arise.
 What will be the frequency of meetings?
 What are the meeting ground rules?
 Who is the project owner?
 Who is designated to take notes, and distribute project meeting minutes and action
steps?
 This goes along with any other meeting protocol that needs to be clarified.
 As a project manager, it’s your responsibility to clearly define the role of each
team member to help everyone work well together.

Principle 4: Intervention and Execution Strategy

 Project execution is what most people have in mind when they think about project
management.
 It usually starts with a project kickoff meeting to officially begin the project.
 This is when you share the vision and plan for the project, delegate tasks to team
members, and send everyone on their way to get things done.
 This is the meat of the project and includes using a gap analysis process to determine
the most suited intervention (solution) to resolve the issue you are working on.
 There are many quality management concepts that can be applied ranging from a
comprehensive "root cause analysis" to simply "asking why five times."
 Once the best possible intervention has been identified to resolve the issue, then we
must map out our execution strategy for implementing the intervention.
 This includes identifying who will do what, when, how, and why?

Principle 5: Organizational Alignment

 To ensure the success and sustainability of the new initiative or process brought on by
this project, everyone it will directly impact must be onboard.
 To achieve organizational alignment (or buy-in), ongoing communication must be
employed in-person during team meetings, electronically via email and e-learning (if
applicable), and through training.
 The message must include the WIIFM "what's in it for me" at every level; otherwise
most stakeholders will not be interested or engaged around the new initiative.

Principle 6: Measurement and Accountability

 And last, how will we determine success?
 Well, a simple project scorecard that is visually interesting is a great way to keep
everyone updated and engaged.

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 The balanced scorecard model is a strategic management system that aligns the broad
company vision to its business activities.
 It is a corporate strategy tool that tracks organizational performance against its overall
goals to improve business outcomes

 A scorecard is an excellent resource for holding employees, teams, and leaders

accountable for the implementation, refinement, and sustainability of the new initiative
or project.
 Accountability means that consistently, top performers will be rewarded and
recognized; while those needing improvement will be coached with specific
expectations and consequences clearly outlined.
 Also be transparent , transparency means creating a system in which all team
members can access all relevant information about a project easily and efficiently.
 Creating project transparency is relatively easy, especially if you utilize the
right project management software.
PROCESS OF PROJECT PROPOSAL WRITING
Dfn. A project proposal is a detailed description of a series of activities aimed at solving a
certain problem (NEBIU 2002).
In order to be successful, the document should (REPOA 2007):

o provide a logical presentation of a research idea

o illustrate the significance of the idea
o show the idea's relationship to past actions
o articulate the activities for the proposed project

Designing a project is a process consisting of two elements, which are equally important and
thus essential to forming a solid project proposal:
 project planning (formulation of project elements)
 proposal writing (converting the plan into a project document)

Project planning (formulation of project elements)

 From vision to proposal: The first step is to decide what the problem is and develop a
rough idea (vision) of how this could be solved.
 This vision is then to be transformed into an idea for a specific project proposal.
 A logical framework may help you to structure this idea in a systematic way,
and clearly define the aim, purpose, input outputs, activities, outcome impact
means, costs and the methodologies for monitoring and evaluation, and will thus
from the basis for the preparation of the narrative of the proposal.
 Remember that your idea may have to fit certain requirements if you are
answering to a call for proposals, and that it must also fit local policies and
frameworks.

 Identify potential funding options: It is necessary to find out in advance what sources
of funding are available, through governments, international cooperation agencies,
some international NGOs or private foundations.

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 Build a project proposal team (adapted from PHILIP et al. 2008): a leader will be
needed to manage the proposal development in an efficient way, and therefore it is
advisable to assign the lead role to one specific person.
 This person is then responsible for the coordination of the overall proposal
development, for communication with potential funders and for making sure
that all different pieces of input are brought together in a consistent and coherent
text.
 Experts with more detailed technical knowledge might be part of the team, or
simply contribute to an initial brainstorming session.
 Furthermore, the budget should be compiled in close cooperation with staff
from the financial department.
 Input from stakeholders or other specialists with different backgrounds helps
bring in the necessary expertise to the project.

 Hold a kick-off meeting: It is helpful to discuss and develop the proposal in a small
team and share drafts with experts of all relevant disciplines not just from within the
administration, but also from outside it.
 Input from stakeholders or other specialists with different backgrounds helps
bring in the necessary expertise, but also a larger variety of ideas on how to
solve a particular issue and achieve the previously agreed objectives.

The proposal format might sometimes be of importance for the donor. Source: unknown
“The requirements of content and format of proposals differ noticeably from one sponsoring
agency to another. While some may provide their own application forms to be filled, and others
may request on-line submission of proposals, others will accept a proposal in any format as
long as it features the necessary information, and does not contradict their conditions” (AUB
2010).

A full proposal should have the following parts:

 Title page: A title page should appear on proposals longer than three to four pages. The
title page should indicate the project title, the name of the lead organisation (and potential
partners, if any), the place and date of project preparation and the name of the donor agency
to whom the proposal is addressed.
 Project title: The project title should be short, concise, and preferably refer to a certain key
project result or the leading project activity. Project titles that are too long or too general
fail to give the reader an effective snapshot of what is inside.
 Abstract/Executive Summary: Many readers lack the time needed to read the whole project
proposal. It is therefore useful to insert a short project summary, an abstract or executive
summary. The abstract should include: the problem statement, the project’s objectives,
implementing organisations; key project activities; and potentially the total project budget.
Theoretically, the abstract should be compiled after the relevant items already exist in their
long form. For a small project the abstract may not be longer than 10 lines. Bigger projects
often provide abstracts as long as two pages.
 Context: This part of the project describes the social, economic, political and cultural
background from which the project is initiated. It should contain relevant data from
research carried out in the project planning phase or collected from other sources.
 Project justification: A rationale should be provided for the project. Due to its importance,
this section is sometimes divided into four or more sub-sections:
o Problem statement: The problem statement provides a description of the specific
problem(s) the project is trying to solve, in order to “make a case” for the

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project. Furthermore, the project proposal should point out why a certain issue
is a problem for the community or society as a whole, i.e. what negative
implications affect the target group. There should also be an explanation of the
needs of the target group that appear as a direct consequence of the described
problem.
o Priority needs: The needs of the target group that have arisen as a direct negative
impact of the problem should be prioritized. An explanation as to how this
decision was reached must also be included.
o The proposed approach (type of intervention): The project proposal should
describe the strategy chosen for solving the problem and precisely how it will
lead to improvement.
o The implementing organization: This section should describe the capabilities of
your organization by referring to its capacity and previous project record.
Describe why exactly your organization is the most appropriate to run the
project, its connection to the local community, the constituency behind the
organization and what kind of expertise the organization can provide. If other
partners are involved in implementation provide some information on their
capacity as well.
o Project aims: This information should be obtained from the Log frame Matrix,
including the project goal (a general aim that should explain what the core
problem is and why the project is important, i.e. what the long-term benefits to
the target group are), project purpose (that should address the core problem in
terms of the benefits to be received by the project beneficiaries or target group
as a direct result of the project) and the outputs (i.e. results describe the services
or products to be delivered to the intended beneficiaries).
 Target group: define the target group and show how it will benefit from the project. The
project should provide a detailed description of the size and characteristics of the target
groups, and especially of direct project beneficiaries.
 Project implementation: The implementation plan should describe activities and resource
allocation in as much detail as possible. It is exceptionally important to provide a good
overview of who is going to implement the project’s activities, as well as when and where.
The implementation plan may be divided into two key elements: the activity plan and the
resource plan.
The activity plan should include specific information and explanations of each of the
planned project activities. The duration of the project should be clearly stated, with
considerable detail on the beginning and the end of the project. In general, two main formats
are used to express the activity plan: a simple table (a simple table with columns for
activities, sub-activities, tasks, timing and responsibility in a clear and readily
understandable format) and the Gantt chart (a universal format for presenting activities in
certain times frames, shows the dependence and sequence for each activity, see project
management for more info. The resource plan should provide information on the means
necessary to undertake the project. Cost categories are established at this stage in order to
aggregate and summarize the cost information for budgeting.
 Budget: An itemized summary of an organization’s expected income and expenses over a
specified period of time.
 Monitoring and evaluation: The basis for monitoring is set when the indicators for results
are set. The project proposal should indicate: how and when the project management team
will conduct activities to monitor the project’s progress; which methods will be used to
monitor and evaluate; and who will do the evaluation.

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 Reporting: The schedule of project progress and financial report could be set in the project
proposal. Often these obligations are determined by the standard requirements of the donor
agency. The project report may be compiled in different versions, with regard to the
audience they are targeting.
 Management and personnel: A brief description should be given of the project personnel,
the individual roles each one has assumed, and the communication mechanisms that exist
between them. All the additional information (such as CVs) should be attached to the
annexes.

More important information on project planning and management

 Plan ahead. Allow plenty of time for those involved to meet, discuss, and review progress
in the grant writing process. Also, allow enough time to get the required signatures and to
get the proposal to the funder.
 Make it a team effort. Assign specific roles and responsibilities to people in terms of
developing the proposal.
 Be realistic in what you are proposing. What can reasonably be accomplished in the scope
time and resources of this grant?
 Be a learning organization. Learn from your own and others experiences with the same
donor! Read the reviews of other proposals that have been submitted to the same donor if
is possible.
 Be factual and specific. Don't talk in generalities or in emotional terms. Be sure to
substantiate all statements in your proposal, otherwise don't make them.
 Limit technical and organizational jargon. Use language anyone will understand — no
abbreviations, initials, or jargon. Don't assume the reader will understand your acronyms
or abbreviations, and also make sure to include an acronyms page.
 Call the donor if you have questions. Realize that many others will be calling as well and
don't wait until the last minute.
 Consider collaborating with other organizations. At a minimum, find out what other
proposals are being submitted to the same donor at the same time.
 Clarify partner’s roles and responsibilities. When collaborating with partners, be sure you
have determined who will be responsible for what. After the project is funded, it is not the
time to discover there were differing opinions.
 Choose a format that is clear and easy to read. Readers are overloaded with proposals and
appreciate legible, attractive proposals. Make sure tables are legible and easy to figure out.
 Keep within page limits. Stick to the specified number of pages. Extra pages or attachments
may either be removed before the proposal is read, or may disqualify your entire proposal
from the reading process.
 Be aware of donor priorities. Carefully match your project with an appropriate funding
source. The primary difference between successful grant writing and inefficient proposal
submission is the amount of time invested in the strategic identification of appropriate
funders.
 Use action words when writing your proposal, such as achieve, engage, begin, compare,
evaluate, exhibit, offer, lead, involve, organize, prepare, research, restore, reveal, support,
demonstrate, define, implement, instruct, produce, validate, verify, test, recognize, use, etc.

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DIFFERENT TYPES OF PLANS/PROJECT- CLASSIFICATION OF PROJECT

Every Project is different. Projects can be classified on several different points. The
classification of projects in project management varies according to a number of different
factors such as complexity, source of capital, its content, those involved and its purpose.
Projects can be classified on the following factors.

According to complexity:
 Easy: A project is classified as easy when the relationships between tasks are basic and
detailed planning or organisation are not required. A small work team and few external
stakeholders and collaborators are common in this case.
 Complicated: The project network is broad and complicated. There are many task
interdependencies. With these projects, simplification where possible is everything. Cloud-
based apps such as Sinnaps will immensely help to simplify complicated projects by
automatically calculating the project’s best work path and updating any changes introduced
through its use of different types of project management tools.

According to source of capital:

 Public: Financing comes from Governmental institutions.
 Private: Financing comes from businesses or private incentives.
 Mixed: Financing comes from a mixed source of both public and private funding.

According to project content:

 Construction: These are projects that have anything to do with the construction of a
civil or architectural work. Predictive methods are used along with agile techniques
which will be explained later on.
 IT: Any project to do with software development, IT system etc. The types of project
management information systems vary across the board, but in today’s world are very
common.
 Business: These projects are involved with the development of a business, management
of a work team, cost management, etc., and usually follow a commercial strategy.
 Service or product production: Projects that involve themselves with the
development of an innovative product or service, design of a new product, etc. They
are often used in the R & D department.

According to those involved:

 Departmental:When a certain department or area of an organisation is involved.
 Internal:When a whole company itself is involved in the project’s development.
 Matriarchal: When there is a combination of departments involved.
 External: When a company outsources external project manager or teams to execute
the project. This is common in digital transformations, process improvements and
strategy changes, for example.

According to its objective:

 Production: Oriented at the production of a product or service taking into consideration
a certain determined objective.
 Social: Oriented at the improvement of the quality of life of people.
 Educational: Oriented at the education of others.
 Community: Oriented at people too, however with their involvement.
 Research: Oriented at innovation and the gaining of knowledge.

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