Chapter 2:: Project Process Groups & Project Charter

(5) PMI Process GROUPS

1. Initiating 2. Planning 3. Executing 4. Controlling 5. Closing

(Project Charter) Key Deliverables

Deliverables are measurable outcomes or results or are specific items that must be produced in order to consider the project complete. Deliverables are tangible and are easily measured and verified. For example, if your project involves implementing a new software system, one of the key deliverables may include installing a server to house the system.

(Project Charter) Project Description

Documents the key characteristics of the product or service that will be created by the project. The project description documents the relationship between the product being created and the business need that drove the project request.

EXAM ESSENTIALS:

EXAM ESSENTIALS:

(3) EXECUTING PROCESS:

Executing processes are where the work of the project is performed. The project manager must coordinate all the project team members as well as other resources assigned to the project. This project process group is where the work of the project is performed.

Understand the three categories of requirements.

Functional requirements define how the user will interact with the system. Business requirements are the big picture of what the business wants from the system. Technical requirements define what the system does to perform the functional requirements.

A. FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENT::

Functional requirements define what the product, service, or result of the project will do. Functional requirements focus on how the end user will interact with the product.

Initiating Process/ High-level requirements:

High-level requirements explain the major characteristics of the product or service of the project and describe the relationship between the business need and the product or service requested. Before you jump into completing your high-level requirements, you need to make certain the problem or need that generated the project request is clearly defined and understood. That means you'll need to meet with the person requesting the project to clarify the project goals and understand what problem they're trying to solve. If the problem is unclear, the solution may be off-target, so it's critical you understand the problem before you move on to defining requirements. You'll also need to understand the different categories of requirements and the importance of obtaining both functional requirements and technical requirements.

Stakeholder Matrix (to keep track of all your diverse stakeholders)

If you have a large project with multiple stakeholders, it may be appropriate to create a stakeholder matrix to help you keep track of everyone. You can use a simple spreadsheet to create the matrix. At a minimum, it should include a list of all the project stakeholders with the following information for each one: Name Department Contact information Role on the project Needs, concerns, and interests regarding the project Level of involvement on the project Level of influence over the project Notes for your own reference about future interactions with this stakeholder, political issues to be aware of, or individual quirks you want to remember about this stakeholder

Functional managers

If your resources are supplied by another organization, the functional managers who assign those resources are critical stakeholders. You need to establish a good relationship with your functional managers and brush up on those negotiation skills because you'll need them. Normally, multiple projects compete for the same resource pool. So, it's a good idea to document your agreements with the functional manager regarding the amount of time the resource will be available for your project, as well as the deliverables they're accountable for, in order to prevent future misunderstandings. You should also obtain prior agreement regarding your input to the employee's annual performance appraisal, salary increase, and bonus opportunity.

political stakeholders

Influential people in the organization who have expressed a desire to be involved in this project, without a direct or obvious connection. You do not want to ignore these people just because their role is not obvious, and your sponsor can assist you in identifying the needs of these stakeholders.

Be able to define the Initiating process:

Initiation authorizes the project to begin.

(1) INITIATING PROCESS:

Initiation is the formal authorization for a new project to begin or for an existing project to continue. The Initiating process group is the first of the five process groups that PMI describes in the PMBOK Guide. The Initiating processes include all the activities that lead up to the final authorization to begin the project, starting with the original project request -Identifying the project and the business need, -documenting the business justification, -performing business case validation, and -using the project selection methods are all performed during the Initiating process.

the END of the Project Charter will move

Issuing the project charter moves the project from the Initiating phase into the Planning phase. All of the stakeholders should receive a copy of the charter. It is also a good idea to schedule a meeting to review the charter, review the next steps, and address any questions or concerns they may have.

(Project Charter) High-Level Milestones

Milestones are major events in a project that are used to measure progress. They may also mark when key deliverables are completed and approved. Milestones are also used as checkpoints during the project to determine whether the project is on time and on schedule.

(4) Monitoring and Controlling Process:

Monitoring and Controlling processes are the activities that monitor the progress of the project to identify any variances from the project plan. Requests for changes to the project scope are included in this process. This area is also where corrective actions are taken to get the work of the project realigned to the project plan. Other areas of the Monitoring and Controlling process group include scope control, cost control, schedule control, quality control, performance reporting, and risk control.

statement of work (SOW):

Once a vendor is selected, a statement of work (SOW) is completed. statement of work (SOW) Contains the details of a procurement item in clear, concise terms and includes the project objectives, a description of the work of the project, and concise specifications of the product or services required.

(Project Charter) Other Contents

Other elements you should describe in your charter include the name and authority level of the project manager, the name of the project sponsor, and any team members you've committed ahead of time to serve on the project team.

(2) PLANNING PROCESS:

Planning processes are where the project goals, objectives, and deliverables are refined and broken down into manageable units of work. Project managers create time and cost estimates and determine resource requirements for each activity. Planning involves several other critical areas of project management, including communication, risk, human resources, quality, and procurement.

(IT Projects and Stakeholders) Single Business Unit Project

Projects within a single business unit, for example the accounting or human resources department, typically involve requesting a project to help design and build, or purchase, a software system that meets a specific business requirement.

(Project Charter) High-Level Risks

Risks pose either opportunities or threats to the project. Most of the time, we think of risks as having negative impacts and consequences. You should include a list of high-level risks in the project charter. These may cover a wide range of possibilities, including budget risks, scheduling risks, project management process risks, political risks, legal risks, management risks, and so on. The difference between a risk and a constraint is that a constraint is a limitation that currently exists. A risk is a potential future event that could impact the project. Beginning the project with a hard due date of September 25 is a constraint. The potential for a vendor missing an important delivery on September 15 is a risk.

THE STAKEHOLDERS ::::

Some are obvious than others:::::

(IT Projects and Stakeholders) Multiple Business Unit Project

Sometimes two or more business units can use a system in order to meet business objectives or solve a business problem. For example, procurement, accounting, and human resources tend to generate a lot of documents. They might want to consider a content management system that allows them to create, manage, and store their documents electronically so they may get together and pool their funding to purchase a system they can all use.

C. TECHNICAL REQUIREMENT

Technical requirements, also known as nonfunctional requirements, are the product characteristics needed for the product to perform the functional requirements. Technical requirements typically refer to information technology—related projects. You can think of technical requirements as the elements that happen behind the scenes of a project or program to meet the client's request. EXAMPLES: System response time can be no greater than five seconds. The system must be available Monday through Saturday from 7 A.M. to 7 P.M. The system must run on both PCs and Macs.

Initiating Process (Project Request Process):

The project request process can be formal or informal, depending on the organization. After receiving a request, your next step involves meeting with the requestor to clarify and further define the project needs, identify the functional and technical requirements, and document the high-level requirements.

Project Sponsor

The project sponsor is usually an executive in the organization who has the authority to assign money and resources to the project. The sponsor may also serve as a champion for the project within the organization. The sponsor is an advisor to the project manager and acts as the tie-breaker decision maker when consensus can't be reached among the stakeholders. One of the primary duties of a project manager is keeping the project sponsor informed of current project status, including conflicts or potential risks.

(Project Charter) Formal Approval

The project sponsor should sign the project charter. This sign-off provides the project manager with the authority to move forward, and it serves as the official notification of the start of the project. This approval is usually required prior to the release of purchase orders or the commitment by functional managers to provide resources to support the project.

Responsibilities of a Project Sponsor

The project sponsor typically has the following responsibilities: Provide or obtain financial resources Authorize assignment of human resources to the project Assign the project manager and state their level of authority Serve as final decision maker for all project issues Negotiate support from key stakeholders Monitor delivery of major milestones Run interference and remove roadblocks Provide political coaching to the project manager

B. BUSINESS REQUIREMENT

business requirements are the big-picture results of fulfilling a project. The requirements that describe how the business objectives of the project will be met. Business results can be anything from a planned increase in revenue to a decrease in overall spending to increased market awareness.

Decomposition:

decomposition The process of breaking project deliverables down into smaller, manageable components of work so that work packages can be planned and estimated.

(5) CLOSING PROCESS::

he primary purpose of the Closing processes is to document the formal acceptance of the project work and to hand off the completed product to the organization for ongoing maintenance and support. Closing processes include the sign-off, archive of project documents, turnover to a maintenance group, release of project team members, and review of lessons learned. This process group is the one most often skipped in project management. And although some of these activities may seem fairly straightforward, several elements of this process group deserve close attention

Project life cycle

is the total composition of these multiple phases. Project Life Cycle encompasses all the work of the project and can be represented on a timeline The grouping of project phases in a sequential order from the beginning of the project to the close.

PMI definition of Project Management:

project management as a series of processes that are executed to apply knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to the project activities to meet the project requirements.

For the exam:

remember that the project sponsor is the person who authorizes and approves the project charter. In reality, the project manager or the person who requested the project is the one who writes the project charter and makes certain it's distributed to all the key stakeholders, but the sponsor is the one who approves it.

request for proposal (RFP):

request for proposal (RFP) A document that is sent out to potential vendors requesting them to provide a proposal on a product or service. An RFP is a procurement document that is advertised to the vendor community requesting vendors provide a written proposal outlining how they will meet the requirements of the project and how much it will cost.

Defining the problem

***** It's your responsibility to investigate the customer request and communicate your understanding of the request. This may result in the creation of a project concept document, or perhaps the business case, which represents your first attempt at restating the customer request to demonstrate understanding of the project. *** Lack of up-front clarification and problem definition has been the downfall of numerous projects. Do not assume that a customer-requested solution is always the best solution until you understand the business need. Clearly defining the problem up front will give you and the client a better starting point for identifying the functional and technical requirements.

Deliverable

A deliverable is an output or result that must be completed and approved before moving to the next phase of the project or before you can declare the project complete. At the highest level, a project life cycle should describe the deliverables for each phase and list the categories of resources involved.

Initiating Process/ Defining the Problem

A project can get off to a bad start if the project manager does not take the time to clearly define the problem or need generating the project request. Have you ever been on a project where people are working furiously to meet a deadline but no one appears to know why the work is being done? Then halfway through the project everything changes or, worse yet, the whole thing gets canceled?

Project Champion

A project champion is usually one of your key stakeholders, and they spread the great news about the benefits of the project and act as a cheer-leader of sorts, generating enthusiasm and support for the project.

Be able to describe a project charter and list the key components.

A project charter provides formal approval for the project to begin and authorizes the project manager to apply resources to the project. The key components are the problem statement, deliverables, milestones, costs, assumptions, constraints, risks, stakeholders, and project description.

Be able to define a project sponsor and the stakeholders common to most projects

A project sponsor is an executive in the organization who has the authority to allocate dollars and resources to the project. A stakeholder is an organization or someone who has a vested interest in the project and has something to gain or lose from the project. Stakeholders include the sponsor, project manager, project team members, functional managers, customer, end users, and others with an interest in the project.

stakeholder

A stakeholder is a person or an organization that has something to gain or lose as a result of performing the project Stakeholders are key to the success of your project. They typically have a lot of influence in the organization, and let's face it, most stakeholders are concerned about the needs of their own departments (or organizations) first. So, they'll be looking to you as the project manager to help them understand what they'll gain as a result of this project. If you are successful at winning the confidence and support of the project's major stakeholders, it will go a long way toward assuring the success of the project overall. It brings about a major change in the organization can cause fear and generate resistance. The key is to get to know your stakeholders as soon as possible. Meet with them one-on-one to gain an understanding of their concerns and issues and also to begin to set expectations and help them see the benefits of performing the project. Building consensus among a group with diverse viewpoints starts with up-front negotiation during the Initiating process group and continues with ongoing communication throughout the life of the project. Set up individual meetings or interviews early in the project to get to know your stakeholders and understand their perspectives and concerns about the project. They aren't going to go away, and if you ignore some of your stakeholders, the issues they raise will become more and more difficult to resolve.

triple constraint

According to CompTIA, the triple constraints are time, budget, and quality. However, most project managers and industry experts agree the triple constraints are time, budget, and scope, all of which affect quality.

Creating the Project Charter

An official, written acknowledgment and recognition that a project exists. It's signed by the project sponsor and gives the project manager authority to assign organizational resources to the work of the project. The result of the Initiating process is the project charter

(IT Projects and Stakeholders) Enterprise Project

Another interesting project is one that impacts the entire enterprise. What we mean by the word enterprise is the complete array of business units—almost everyone in the company or division is affected.

(Project Charter) High-Level Assumptions

Assumptions are events, actions, concepts, or ideas you believe to be true You can make assumptions about many elements of the project, including resource availability, funding, weather, timing of other related events, availability of vendors, and so on. It's important to always document and validate your project assumptions.

(Project Charter) High-Level Constraints

Constraints are anything that either restricts or dictates the actions of the project team. For example, you may have a hard due date that can't be moved. If you're developing a trade show event that occurs on September 25, this date is a constraint on the project because you can't move it. Budgets, technology, scope, quality, and direct orders from upper management are all examples of constraints.

(Project Charter) Goals and Objectives

The charter documents the high-level goals and objectives of the project. This is the first communications document to explain what the project is all about. A project charter needs to include a clear statement as to what end result the project will produce and how success will be measured. Goals and objectives must be clear and stated in such a manner that the end result is easily measured against the objective. Instead of stating, "Install a fast customer record retrieval system," a goal should state a measurable outcome like, "Install a customer records system that will retrieve records in an average of three seconds."

Customer or client

The customer is the recipient of the product or service created by the project. In some organizations this stakeholder may also be referred to as the client. A customer is often a group or an organization rather than a single person. Customers can be internal or external to the organization.

(Project Charter) High-Level Cost Estimates

The detailed project budget is prepared later during the Planning processes. But for purposes of the project charter, you need to have a high-level estimate of the project's costs. You can use historical information from past projects that are similar in size, scope, and complexity to the current project. Or, you may ask your vendor community to help you with some high-level figures for the project.

Project Charter

The following are the key elements that should be included in your project charter. We'll cover several of these elements in the next section. Project goals and objectives Project description Problem statement Key project deliverables High-level milestones High-level cost estimates Stakeholders High-level assumptions High-level constraints High-level risks General project approach Name of the project manager and their authority level Name of the sponsor Other Contents

iterative approach

The groups may overlap, or you may find you have to repeat a set of processes within a process group. For example, as you begin executing the work of the project, you may find that changes need to be made to the project plan. So, you may repeat some of the processes found in the Planning process group and then re-perform many of the Executing processes once the changes to the plan are made.

INITIATING PROCESS/ Documenting the Requirements:

The high-level requirements document is part of the formal request for project approval. It is also the basis for defining the project scope, estimating the cost of the project, identifying the resources required, and developing the schedule. The high-level requirements should contain the following information: Problem Statement: What issue or problem generated this request? What is the specific business need that the client wants to address? Objectives: How do you define project success? What is the end result? What are the deliverables leading to the end result? What are the goals? How are the goals measured? Strategic Value: How does this product fit the strategic vision of the corporation? Is there a link to other proposed or ongoing projects? Requirements: What work functions are required? Are there interfaces to existing systems? What are the performance criteria? What are the support requirements? Timing: When does the customer need the project completed? Are there market windows involved? Are there significant business expenses to be incurred if the project is not complete? Is there an impact to corporate revenue if the project is delayed? Historical Data: Have there been similar projects in the past? Were they successful? Can pieces of previous projects be reused for this project? Clearly defined high-level requirements with measurable objectives and good supporting data regarding strategic value, timing, and relevant historical information on similar projects is critical to project approval as well as ongoing communications throughout the project.

(Project Charter) Problem Statement

The problem statement answers the question, "Why are we embarking on this project in the first place? What is it we hope to gain in undertaking this project? What problem are we trying to solve?" This question is often addressed in the business case, and it is acceptable to reference the business case in the project charter.

End User

The term end user denotes the person who directly uses the product produced as a result of an IT project. This term is often seen in IT projects to distinguish between the organization purchasing the output of the project and the group that will use it on a daily basis. End users usually participate at some level in requirements gathering and review and in functional testing of the product. As an example, the sales department is the customer for an online order entry system, while the frontline sales consultants are the end users of this system.

Project team members

These are the experts who will be performing the work associated with the project Project team members may be assigned to the project either full-time or part-time. Most projects have a combination of dedicated and part-time resources. If you have part-time resources, you need to understand their obligations outside the project and make certain they are not over-allocated.

(5) Process Groups

These processes have been organized into five process groups called Initiating, Planning, Executing, Monitoring and Controlling, and Closing.

Project Manager

This is the person responsible for managing the work associated with the project

(Project Charter) Project Approach

This is the section of the charter where you formulate the approach you and your project team will take in bringing about the deliverables of the project. This also describes the types of project management processes you'll use to manage the project.

fast tracking

This is where you start the next project phase before the prior phase has completed. These techniques are almost always used to shorten the project schedule.

(Project Charter) Stakeholder Identification

You should have a fairly comprehensive understanding of who your stakeholders are by the time the project charter is complete. You could include a scaled-down version of the stakeholder matrix we talked about earlier in this chapter in the project charter. This doesn't mean you won't discover other stakeholders as you progress into the project planning process. However, you'll have increased chances for a successful project if you take the time as early as possible in the project to discover and interview all the key stakeholders on the project.

Old poison Antidote: IPECAC Initiating Planning Executing (Monitoring and) Controlling & Closing

Use the old poison antidote, syrup of ipecac, to help you remember the process groups in order: Initiating, Planning, Executing, (Monitoring and) Controlling, and Closing.