Empm5203 Topic 1
Empm5203 Topic 1
Empm5203 Topic 1
to Project
1 Management
LEARNING OUTCOMES
INTRODUCTION
Look around you. You will be amazed with various products such as cars,
buildings and infrastructures. You may wonder how all these products were nicely
created or built. In this topic, we are going to introduce the concept of Project
Management that has created or built all those products.
ACTIVITY 1.1
In a group, list products or infrastructures around you that may be an
outcome of project management.
In other words, a project can be likened to that of a ship on a journey from Point A
to Point B (inception to completion) and a Project Manager the Captain of the ship.
Table 1.1 lists the definitions of project according to various project management
organisations.
Author/Professional
Definition of Project
Bodies/Organisation
The Project Management Institute A temporary endeavour undertaken to create a
(PMI), USA, 1996 unique product or service.
The UK Association of Project A discrete undertaking with defined objectives
Managers, 1996 often including time, cost and quality
(performance) goals.
The British Standards Institute (BSI), A unique set of coordinated activities, with
2000 definite starting and finishing points,
undertaken by an individual or organisation to
meet specific objectives within a defined
schedule, cost and performance parameters.
Turner, 1992 An endeavour in which human, material and
financial resources are organised in a novel way
to undertake unique constraints of cost and
time, so as to achieve beneficial change defined
by quantitative and qualitative objectives.
(f) Involves doing something never been done before (risk and uncertainty).
(a) Planning;
(b) Organising;
(c) Staffing;
(d) Directing;
(e) Coordinating;
(g) Budgeting.
Generally, we can divide project management processes into the following five
groups:
(a) Initiating
Steps implemented to define a new project or a new phase of an existing
project by getting an authorisation to begin the project or phase.
(b) Planning
Activities required to establish the project scope, improve the objectives and
define the course of action required to achieve the project objectives.
(c) Executing
Processes executed to complete the work defined in the project management
plan to fulfil the project requirements.
(e) Closing
The processes executed to ensure all activities across all Process Groups to
formally close the project
In 1996, the Project Management Institute (PMI) of USA developed NINE Project
Management Knowledge Areas in a book entitled A Guide to the Project
Management Book of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide). This book was subsequently
revised in 2000, 2004, 2008 and the latest edition was released in 2013 with the
addition of one new knowledge area moving from nine project management
knowledge areas to 10. The 10 knowledge areas are:
(ii) Collection;
(iii) Creation;
(iv) Distribution;
(v) Storage;
(vi) Retrieval;
(vii) Management;
(viii) Control;
The above 10 project management knowledge areas consists of the processes that
are required to be accomplished within its areas in order to attain effective project
management.
All the 10 knowledge areas also fall into one of the five project management
process groups as mentioned earlier (Initiating, Planning, Executing, Monitoring
and Control and Closing) thus, building a matrix structure as shown in Table 1.2.
In this matrix, every process can be related to one knowledge area and one process
group.
Table 1.2: PMBOK 2013 Knowledge Areas, Process Groups and Processes
Project Management Process Group
Knowledge
Areas Initiating Planning Process Executing Monitoring and Closing
Process Group Process Group Controlling Process
Group Process Group Group
Source: http://www.pmi.org/~/media/pdf/standards/appendixa_pfm3_20111002.ashx
The Center for Business Practices (CBP) (PM Solutions White Paper Series, 2002)
has conducted a study to document the value of project management to
organisations. The following lists the average return organisations have achieved
by implementing project management:
(a) About 97% respondents say it adds value;
(b) Return on Investment (ROI) is 28%;
(c) Improvement in time to market by 22%;
(d) Improvement in customer satisfaction by 38%;
(e) Improvement in productivity by 23%;
(f) Improvement in cost performance by 24%; and
(g) Improvement in schedule performance by 32%.
Much has been said about the advantages of project management, but almost
nothing about its disadvantages. Project management do have some
disadvantages, but, in most cases its advantages far outweigh its disadvantages.
These disadvantages are overhead, obsession and non-creativity.
ACTIVITY 1.2
SELF-CHECK 1.1
1. What is a project?
2. Describe project characteristics.
3. List all 10 project management knowledge areas.
4. Discuss the advantages of practicing project management.
Figure 1.1 shows the functions of a Project Manager and the profession related to
his or her functions.
SELF-CHECK 1.2
(d) TickIT
It is a certification program for companies in the software development and
computer industries developed and adopted by the United Kingdom and
Swedish industries. Its general objective is to improve software quality.
SELF-CHECK 1.3
From Figure 1.2, these three constraints are mutually dependent whereby none of
them can be changed without affecting one or both of the others.
For example, if the cost of a project is to be reduced, it is likely to reduce the scope
and/or to take longer time. Likewise, an increased scope is almost certain to cost
more and/or to take longer time.
SELF-CHECK 1.4
SELF-CHECK 1.5
Project management brings more advantages that make up more than the
overhead of implementing formal project management.
David, I. C., & Lewis R. I. (2002). Project Management: Strategic Design and
Implementation. New York, NY: McGraw Hill.