Topic 1: Define project

© State of New South Wales, Department of Education and Training, 2008 Version 1

Contents

What is a project? 1

Define project stakeholders 6

Access project scope and other relevant documentation 7

Seek clarification of issues relating to project and parameters 10

Clarify relationship of project to other projects and organisation’s objectives 12

Determine and access available resources to undertake project 13

Learning portfolio checklist 16

More resources 17

What is a project?A project is the defined set of planned and managed activities carried out for a

period of time — with a defined start and end date. A project is designed to yield a

set of products or services as agreed with the project clients and stakeholders. It

has a lifecycle which is the process by which the project is undertaken.

Project managementProject management involves the project manager and team applying knowledge,

skills, tools and techniques to project activities to achieve the requirements of the

project. It is a continuous process utilising planning, organising, monitoring and

controlling in all aspects of the project to achieve external and internal objectives. It

also encompasses the closure and evaluation of the project. Managing a project

includes:

identifying the requirements of the project

establishing clear and achievable objectives

balancing demands for quality, scope, time and cost

adapting the specifications, plans and approach to meet the different

concerns and expectations of the stakeholders

closing and evaluating the project

Below is an overview of the aspects of a project that need to be determined and

developed.

What to determine What this involves

Project scope Identify and plan the objectives, desired outcomes, limitations and budget.

Timeline Determine the time within which the project is to be completed—involves planning, estimating, scheduling and controlling. A schedule for the life of the project is developed.

Costs Determine the costs associated with successful projection completion. This involves cost estimation and forecasting, cost budgeting, cost control and cost applications. A budget is developed.

Quality processes, systems and outcomes

Construct a quality management plan.

Human resources Human resources are required for project tasks, eg for organising resources, managing staff performance and leading the project team, etc. A human resource management plan is developed.

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Communications processes Ensure all parties with an interest in the project are kept

up-to-date throughout the life of the project. A communications plan is constructed.

Risks and any uncertainty with processes or achievement

Risks need to be: identified, analysed, evaluated, treated, monitored and reviewed. A risk management plan is constructed.

Goods, services or support Identify what goods, services and support are needed and determine who will be the best person (or people) to provide these. It also involves developing effective interpersonal relationships and finalising any contracts or understandings. The procurement needs for the project will need to be outlined.

All the elements outlined above will need to be integrated with each other in line with

the process and procedures of the organisation. This involves acknowledging and

considering how the different functions within the project interrelate — as well as

how the project interrelates with the organisation.

The project lifecycleWhat is a project’s lifecycle — or the process by which it is undertaken?

The phases in a project lifecycle are:

Phase 1: Initiation and concept

Phase 2: Planning and development

Phase 3: Implementation and execution

Phase 4: Finalisation and review.

In the initiation phase of a project, the following needs to occur:

Write a description of the project concept/background

Identify stakeholders

Identify project objectives

Define the scope of work to be carried out

Agree to the development of the broad strategy — which identifies

preliminary agreed phases, milestones and deliverables

Identify constraints and assumptions

Develop the preliminary budget

Develop the preliminary risks assessment

Develop the broad quality plan

Develop a broad communications plan.

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Workplace learning

Find out about the range in the types of projects that are managed by your organisation. How do they vary in size and complexity as well as in their aims and objectives?

Talk to your mentor or colleagues with project management experience about their projects (current or completed).

Begin with general questions such as:

– What do they see as the characteristics of a project?

– How was the project initiated?

Learning portfolioRecord your findings in your journal.

Resources

Readings

Demonstrate an Understanding of Projects and Project Management. This resource explains key project management concepts, the importance of aligning project objectives to organisational objectives as well as the phases in a project cycle. Available as resource 1015 on the Teaching and Learning Exchange: http://www.tale.edu.au/tale/

Dobie C (2007) A Handbook of Project Management: A complete guide for beginners to professionals, Allen and Unwin. ISBN: 9781741141252. See Chapters 1 and 2.

Websites

Guide to Project Management (University of Technology Sydney). Read pages 5–9. http://www.projects.uts.edu.au/resources/pdfs/UTSGuidetoProjectManagement2008.pdf

Project Management Guidelines (Tasmanian Government). Read Section 1 ‘Project management: The basics’. http://www.egovernment.tas.gov.au/themes/project_management/tasmanian_government_project_management_guidelines

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The project manager

With responsibilities spanning the entire lifecycle of the project — from its planning, implementation, monitoring and control through to its closing and evaluation — the project manager is key to the success of the project.

The project manager must have the ability to:

build relationships with all key stakeholders, including management, clients, suppliers as well as team members

build and lead an effective team — this will include motivating team members (eg by reinforcing to each person that they play an important role and by being optimistic and enthusiastic)

manage interpersonal relationships

problem-solve and make decisions

negotiate with others to meet their needs as well as those of the project

empathise with clients

develop a vision for the project that can be sold to the team and key stakeholders

exercise a high degree of professionalism

communicate with all stakeholders

provide reports as required.

Workplace learning

If you are already involved in setting up a project in your workplace, clarify the following:

What is the role of the project manager?

If you are not the project manager, what is your role within the project?

Here is another suggestion for workplace learning:

Interview a project manager to find out what their role was within a recently-completed project. (Make a recording, if possible.) Ask them about the:

characteristics of a good project manager

skills and knowledge they needed in order to function as an effective project manager.

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Learning portfolioWrite your notes in your journal. Summarise the interview in your journal, if you do not have a recording.

Resources

Readings

Dobie C (2007) A Handbook of Project Management: A complete guide for beginners to professionals, Allen and Unwin. ISBN: 9781741141252. See pages 26–29, ‘Profile of a project manager’.

Aspire Training & Consulting (2005) Manage Projects, Melbourne. ISBN: 9781740424615. Chapter 1, pages 17–18.

Websites

Guide to Project Management (University of Technology Sydney). Have a look at page 17, ‘Role and responsibilities of project manager’: http://www.projects.uts.edu.au/resources/pdfs/UTSGuidetoProjectManagement2008.pdf

Project Management Guidelines (Tasmanian Government). Read Section 10 ‘Status reporting’ and Section 13 ‘Documentation’: http://www.egovernment.tas.gov.au/themes/project_management/tasmanian_government_project_management_guidelines

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Define project stakeholdersKnowing who the stakeholders are is critical to any project. Stakeholders are

individuals or organisations who have an interest in, or involvement with, the project.

Stakeholders have an impact on or are affected by the project. To ensure support

for a project, the shareholders must be identified as early as possible in a project

lifecycle.

Workplace learning

If you are already involved in setting up a project in your workplace, keep notes on the process of working with stakeholders. To get you started with your notes, here are some questions that you could address:

Who are the stakeholders?

What are the issues that need to be clarified with stakeholders?

What are the benefits of involving stakeholders?

What are the rights and obligations of stakeholders? If you are a project manager (or managing part of the project), what are your obligations to stakeholders?

Learning portfolio

Record notes in your journal. When listing stakeholders, note down the reasons for their interest in the project and how important the project is to them.

Resources

Readings Dobie C (2007) A Handbook of Project Management: A complete guide for

beginners to professionals, Allen and Unwin. ISBN: 9781741141252. Chapter 9, pages 159–164.

Aspire Training & Consulting (2005) Manage Projects, Melbourne. ISBN: 9781740424615. Chapter 1, pages 7–9.

Websites Project Management Guidelines (Tasmanian Government). Section 5,

‘Stakeholder management’, pages 38–41: http://www.egovernment.tas.gov.au/themes/project_management/tasmanian_government_project_management_guidelines

Guide to Project Management (University of Technology Sydney), pages 14–15 and see ‘Template: Stakeholder needs analysis’, page 25 : http://www.projects.uts.edu.au/resources/pdfs/UTSGuidetoProjectManagement2008.pdf

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Access project scope and other relevant information Before commencing a project, there is a need for you to get a good understanding of

the exact objectives of the project and the scope of work required to be done in

order to achieve each objective.

The following will need to be understood:

Why is the project being undertaken?

Are there limitations that may restrict the way the project is carried out?

Exactly what is expected to done (or achieved)? What is not expected to be

done?

Will adequate resources be available?

Where and when will resources be needed?

What is the cost of the project?

Is the client (or organisation) comfortable with the suggested strategy for

spending the project money?

The project manager will also need an agreement about the support that will be

given to the project.

Prepare the project scope definitionThe project manager may be asked to prepare the scope definition or be given one

to follow. The project manager is usually involved in developing the scope.

Scope definition — checklistThe following should always be included in a scope definition:

Background — overview of project

Objectives to be achieved — ie both primary and secondary objectives

Scope statement — covering broad areas of work to be done

Broad strategy for achievement of projects — phases

Constraints around which project is to work

Exclusions showing what work is not to be done

Assumptions and questions to be answered

Related projects that may have an effect on your project — or projects that may be

affected by your project

Preliminary budget

Preliminary risk assessment

Broad plans for communication and quality (may also be included).

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Workplace learning

If you are already involved in a team that is setting up a project in your workplace, keep notes on the scoping process. To get you started with your notes, here are questions you could address:

What does a project scope define?

Who was involved in identifying the scope? What tools were used to describe the scope?

What was involved in risk management planning?

How will the scope provide a foundation for subsequent steps in the project?

How was it carried out? How long did the process take?

Here are other suggestions for workplace learning:

Find out about project scoping procedures in your organisation.

Ask your mentor or colleagues involved in project scoping if you could sit in on their scoping meetings or join the project scoping team.

Speak to people in your organisation about how the scope for their projects was identified.

Identify a small project that you could manage as part of your work — and develop a scope definition (this could come in useful for you later).

Learning portfolio

Record your notes on the scoping process in your journal.

Collect scoping documents available to you in your organisation. Remember to note the elements covered and compare these against those in the checklist provided earlier in this learning guide.

Resources

Readings

Dobie C (2007) A Handbook of Project Management: A complete guide for beginners to professionals, Allen and Unwin. ISBN: 9781741141252. Chapter 4 ‘Scope management’ and Appendix 3, Project scope definition template, page 328.

Aspire Training & Consulting (2005) Manage Projects, Melbourne. ISBN: 9781740424615. Chapter 1, pages 1–7 and 11–16.

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Websites

Guide to Project Management (University of Technology Sydney). Read pages 18–46: http://www.projects.uts.edu.au/resources/pdfs/UTSGuidetoProjectManagement2008.pdf

Project Management (University of Technology Sydney): http://www.projects.uts.edu.au/stepbystep/planning1.html This site provides a step-by-step guide to project scoping and includes templates.

Project Management (Tasmanian Government). Go to Section 2 ‘Planning and scoping’, page 17, ‘Tips for project managers’: http://www.egovernment.tas.gov.au/themes/project_management/tasmanian_government_project_management_guidelines

Project Management (Tasmanian Government). Go to ‘Project proposal: template and guide’—see pages 14 and 15 for template for scoping. http://www.egovernment.tas.gov.au/themes/project_management/project_management/resources#templates

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Seek clarification of issues related to project and parametersWith any project, there is a project sponsor (or sponsors) — a person or

organisation who might be a backer or financier.

A project sponsor’s role includes the ones below:

provides a single point of reference regarding management decisions

reports project progress to boards and top management.

provides clarification of any issues related to project and project parameters.

Note that there may also be other stakeholders, eg, the main client, funding body, or

manager who may also need to be contacted for clarification at regular intervals

throughout a project.

Workplace learning

If you are already involved in a project team in your workplace, answer the questions below. Alternatively, obtain answers to these questions from a project manager in your organisation.

Who is the project sponsor (or sponsors)?

What are the types of issues would you need to clarify with a sponsor?

Apart from the sponsor, are there any other stakeholders who you can approach for clarification about aspects of the project?

Learning portfolioRecord your project notes in your journal.

Document any questions you asked to clarify aspects of a project. Also,

collect correspondence relating to the seeking of clarification.

If possible, collect and examine scope definition documents in your

workplace and list any questions you have. Who would you seek

clarification from?

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Resources

Readings

Aspire Training & Consulting (2005) Manage Projects, Melbourne. ISBN: 9781740424615. Chapter 1, pages 8–11

Websites

Guide to Project Management (University of Technology Sydney), page 17 ‘Role and responsibilities of project sponsor’: http://www.projects.uts.edu.au/resources/pdfs/UTSGuidetoProjectManagement2008.pdf

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Clarify relationship of project to other projects and organisation’s objectives It is important that the project manager and team understand how the project they

are working on fits in with the organisation and other related projects that may be in

progress.

In your workplace, you will probably find that there are a number of projects that are

running concurrently. They may be completely self-contained projects — with no

one project having any bearing on any of the others.

However, the following may also occur:

Your project may need to be completed before another can begin — or vice

versa (your project will not be able to begin before the other project is

completed)

Allocation of resources such as staff, funds and equipment, may be affected,

eg there may be tools or templates developed for one project that will be

used or adapted for the new project.

It is good policy to establish a relationship with other project managers especially

where the project they are working on has bearing on the new project.

Workplace learning

If you are already involved in a project team within in your workplace, answer these questions below.

How does the project you are working on fit in the organisation?

What other projects are related to this project and how?

Here is another suggestion:

Interview a project manager to find out how they identified other projects that had a bearing on the project they have recently completed in the workplace. Record the interview, if possible.

Learning portfolio

Record your notes in your journal. Include interview notes if you do not have a recording.

Resources

Aspire Training & Consulting (2005) Manage Projects, Melbourne. ISBN: 9781740424615. Chapter 1, pages 18–19

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Determine and access available resources to undertake project The resources that are generally utilised within projects are:

people — internal staff and sometimes contractors and other staff external to the organisation

tools and equipment

time

raw materials

money.

In order to identify the resources needed for a project, you will, firstly, need to

determine what tasks will need to be carried out to arrive at the project outcomes.

Achieving your project objectives means blending activities and tasks to be carried

out with time and funds available.

The ‘work breakdown structure’ (WBS) is a complete list of all the work that needs to

be carried out to achieve the milestones, phases and/or objectives of the project. A

WBS will allow the planning sequence of activities and tasks and where they have a

dependency on other activities and tasks. From the WBS, the schedule, resources

and the cost of the project will be determined. A WBS will also lead to an

understanding of the overall project.

A WBS can take one of two approaches — either a top-down approach or a bottom-

up approach:

Top-down approach — The objectives are analysed to determine the

phase the project must go through as it moves towards finishing. A

logical break-up of phase might be on basis of major decision points or

milestones.

Bottom-up approach — This approach is a reverse of the top-down

approach. Tasks to meet the project objective are determined and

grouped with related tasks to form activities. Activities are then grouped

to form project phases in logical sequences. This allows resources,

duration and dependencies to be allocated at the task level.

The cost of the individual resources will need to be calculated in order to determine

the overall costs and budget for the project. How long a task will take will affect the

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cost of the project. Once the WBS is determined, calculations can be made for each

task incorporating: time allotted for each task as well as the resources and staff

required. A dollar value is applied to each task and the sum total becomes the

budget.

In the initiation phase, a preliminary budget is prepared for the resources required

and this is then detailed fully in the project plan.

Workplace learning

If you are already involved in a project team in your workplace, answer the questions below.

How were the resources identified for the project?

What resources will be required for this project?

What staff (and skills) are required for the project?

How did you prepare the work breakdown structure?

Here are other suggestions for workplace learning:

Interview a project manager to find out how they identified the resources for the project they have recently completed in the workplace. Also ask of the project manager the questions outlined above.

View documentation that was compiled to identify resources within a project.

Learning portfolio

Record your notes in your journal. Collect documentation on resource identification and analyse how resources were determined by project tasks.

Resources

Readings

Dobie C (2007) A Handbook of Project Management: A complete guide for beginners to professionals, Allen and Unwin. ISBN: 9781741141252. See ‘Work breakdown structure’, pages 77 – 81 and ‘Resource requirements’, pages 81–82.

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Aspire Training & Consulting (2005) Manage Projects, Melbourne. ISBN: 9781740424615. See Chapter 1, pages 20–23.

Websites

Guide to Project Management (University of Technology Sydney). See ‘Planning and development’, pages 35–42: http://www.projects.uts.edu.au/resources/pdfs/UTSGuidetoProjectManagement2008.pdf

Project Management Guidelines (Tasmanian Government). See Section 8 ‘Resource management’: http://www.egovernment.tas.gov.au/themes/project_management/tasmanian_government_project_management_guidelines

Guide to Project Management (University of Technology Sydney). See page 34 Template for preliminary schedule and resource and cost plan: http://www.projects.uts.edu.au/resources/pdfs/UTSGuidetoProjectManagement2008.pdf

PM Forum: http://www.pmforum.org/library/index.htm

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Learning portfolio checklistYour learning in this topic had probably taken a number of forms. For example, you

may have:

attended project meetings to observe your mentor and colleagues as they defined and scoped projects

spent time in discussions with your mentors and colleagues about the work they undertook and the people they consulted to define the project parameters

undertaken readings

reviewed and adapted internet resources.

Journal

Remember to keep notes and reflections in your journal to document your learning

journey — whether this is through learning in the workplace or other means. Include

not just factual information and opinions but also your insights and musings. Make it

a practice to write down your thoughts about the documents, tools/templates you

collect as well as the articles you read and the learning resources you work through.

Learning portfolio

Your journal entries may constitute ‘evidence’. Apart from journal entries, you will be

collecting other forms of evidence as you work through your learning topics. In the

‘Workplace learning’ sections throughout each topic there are suggestions for what

you can either note, collect or analyse. Keep this evidence in a Learning portfolio

which you can then use to select supplementary evidence to go into your Evidence

portfolio to prove that you have met the requirements for this Unit of competency.

Checklist

Have you gathered evidence of your learning about the following?

Identify a project and participate in the development of a scope definition.

List the shareholders for the project.

Identify the sponsor for the project and any other stakeholders who the

project manager should approach for clarification of project issues.

Describe the role of the project manager in the project.

Identify and list any projects that may be associated with the current project.

Identify and list resources required for the project.

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More resources

Books/readings

Manage Complex Projects & BSBPM505A Manage Project Quality. (Diploma). This resource covers project initiation and planning, project and quality management tools, project implementation, managing the project team, project closure and providing follow-up support. Although based on IT projects, the concepts covered are useful across the board. Available as resource 5767on TaLe: http://www.tale.edu.au/tale/

The following books can be ordered through the TAFE NSW Library Network.

PMBOK Guide (2004) A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, Project Management Institute Inc, Pennsylvania USA. ISBN: 9781930699458. Look out for edition 4.

The Standard for Portfolio Management (2006) Project Management Institute, USA. ISBN: 9781930699908

Hartley S (2003) Project Management: A competency-based approach, Pearson Education, Australia.

Check the TAFE library catalogue for other books on project management. Some recently-published ones are listed below.

Kennaugh R (c2008) Project Management: 101 tips and tools for success, Business Bookshelf, Australia. ISBN: 9780980453331

Berkun S (c2008) Making Things Happen: Mastering project management (1st edn), O'Reilly, California. ISBN: 9780596517717

Barker S (2007) Brilliant Project Management: What the best project managers know, say and do, Pearson Prentice Hall Business, England. ISBN: 9780273707936

Perrin R (2008) Real World Project Management: Beyond conventional wisdom, best practices, and project methodologies, John Wiley & Sons. Hoboken, N.J.

Schwalbe K (2009) Introduction to Project Management (2nd edn), Course Technology Cengage Learning Boston, USA. ISBN: 9781423902201

Websites

Project Management (Tasmanian Government): http://www.egovernment.tas.gov.au/

Project Management (University of Technology Sydney): http://www.projects.uts.edu.au/stepbystep/planning1.html. This site provides a step-by-step guide to project scoping and includes templates.

PM Forum: http://www.pmforum.org/library/index.htm

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