Project mangment

Project Management Institute

IDEA DEA
P
eople have been planning and managing projects
since the dawn of time. Whenever and wherever civilizations took root, there were projects to manage: buildings to erect, roads to pave, laws to write. Without the advanced tools, techniques and methodologies we have today, people created project timelines, located materials and resources and weighedthe risks involved. Over time, people realized that the techniques for cost control, timeline development, resource procurement and risk management were applicable to a wide range of projects, whether erecting bridges, rotating crops or deciding how to govern themselves. These early ideas were the precursors to a set of management techniques we now know as “modern project management.” Modernorganizations are finding that project management provides many advantages – not the least of which is improving the bottom line! Savvy customers demand more and better products and faster services. Time-to-market pressures force greater efficiency. Professional project management has found its place in today’s competitive, global business arena.

What is a PR

A

project is a temporar yendeavor undertaken
to achieve a particular aim. Every project has a definite beginning and a definite end. While projects are similar to operations in that both are performed by people, both are generally constrained by limited resources,

and both are planned, executed and controlled, projects differ from operations in that operations are ongoing and repetitive while projects are temporary andunique. Projects are created at all levels of an organization. They may involve a single person or thousands. Their time spans vary greatly. They may involve a single department of one organization or cross organizational boundaries. Project management can be applied to any project regardless of size, budget or timeline. Some examples are: • Developing a new product or service • Running a politicalcampaign • Sending a probe to Mars • Designing a new vehicle • Building a bridge • Setting up an e-commerce internet site

ROJECT?
What is PROJECT MANAGEMENT?
According to A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge
—2000 Edition, [Project Management Institute (PMI®) December 2000], project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to a broad range ofactivities in order to meet the requirements of the particular project. Project management knowledge and practices are best described in terms of their component processes. These processes can be placed into five Process Groups – Initiating, Planning, Executing, Controlling and Closing – and nine Knowledge Areas – Project Integration Management, Project Scope Management, Project Time Management,Project Cost Management, Project Quality Management, Project Human Resource Management, Project Communications Management, Project Risk Management, and Project Procurement Management. The project team manages the work of the project, and the work typically involves: • Balancing competing demands for: project scope, time, cost, risk and quality • Satisfying stakeholders with differing needs andexpectations • Meeting identified requirements The term “project management” is sometimes used to describe an organizational approach to the management of ongoing operations. This approach treats various aspects of ongoing operations as projects in order to apply project management techniques to them. Project management focuses critical attention on the interdependent nature of complex tasks – anaction, or failure to take action, in one area will usually affect other areas.

“ THE TRANSITION to
E-business depends on successful project management. More than ever, this success is directly tied to effective involvement of business executives and the speed at which decisions and actions are taken. Today’s project management best practices must act as the catalyst for communication and...