Purpose
The purpose of this training is to convey basic project management concepts and terms to commonwealth employees interested in the career path of a Project Manager.
Objectives
At the end of this training you will understand how to:
Introduction to Project Management
This course is an introduction to OA/OIT’s project management process and provides additional learning for anyone who may want to obtain a Project Management Professional (PMP) certification from the Project Management Institute (PMI).
There is a quiz at the end of each section, and a final comprehensive examination, which you will need a score of 80% or better in order to move onto further project management training opportunities.
Project Management Institute
The Project Management Institute (PMI) is a not-for-profit professional organization with the purpose of advancing project management. PMI offers a range of services to Project Management professionals and it sets a standard for the discipline of project management, which is captured in the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK). The PMBOK is a foundational element of this training.
Project Management
Project management is the application of knowledge, skills and techniques to execute projects effectively and efficiently. It’s a strategic competency for organizations, enabling them to tie project results to agency goals and thus provide better services to members of the commonwealth.
What is a project?
A project is a temporary engagement performed to create a unique product or service. It has a definable beginning and end. The end is reached when the objectives of the project are achieved.
What is a “Successful Project?”
Success in Project Management is determined by:
What do project managers do to have a successful project?
There are several key things a project manager will want to do in order to help ensure success. They are:
What is the difference between a Project Life Cycle and a Product Life Cycle?
Product Life cycle - consists of sequential, non-overlapping phases determined by the manufacture of the product. The last phase of a product is generally retirement.
Project Life cycle - a collection of sequential and often overlapping phases that serve as the framework for managing a project.
What is the different between a Portfolio and a Program?
Portfolio - is a collection of projects or programs that are grouped together to meet strategic business goals and objectives. Projects and programs may NOT be interdependent or related.
Program – a group of related projects managed in coordination with each other to gain benefits and control not possible from managing them separately.
What are the key roles in a project?
Project Manager – The person assigned by the performing organization to satisfy the goals and objectives of the project.
Functional Manager – The person providing management oversight for administrative work conducted by an organization.
Operational Manager – The person managing resources that perform the core business.
More key roles in a project:
Project Sponsor – The person or group that provides the financial resources for the project and, for small projects, has final decision making authority.
Project Stakeholder – The person or organization whose interests may be positively or negatively affected by the completion of the project. These people or organizations may also exert influence over the project and its deliverables.
Project Team – A person, or group of people, actively and regularly involved in the project.
What are the 3 Types of organizations projects typically occur in?
Functional Organization – A hierarchical structure where each employee has one clear superior and staff members are organized by specialty.
Projectized Organization – An organizational structure that is oriented around projects. The project manager has a great deal of independence and authority.
Matrix Organization – An organization which is a blend of Functional and Projectized. The project manager has authority over the project, but has no real authority over resources working on the project
What is a Project Management Office (PMO)?
Project Management Office (PMO) – This office is an organization assigned various responsibilities related to the centralization and coordination of managing projects.
What does the PMO spend its time doing?
The PMO focuses on the following things:
Overview of the Project Management Methodology
The following are the processes contained in the Project Management Methodology:
Pre-Initiation – Contains the process to conduct strategic planning and establish a need for a project. This process is an OA/OIT addition to the PMI process, which follow.
Initiating – Contains the processes to define a new project and determine scope.
Planning – Contains processes to define the course of action to successfully manage the project.
Executing – Contains the process performed to complete the work defined in the project management plan.
Monitoring & Controlling – Contains the processes to track, review and regulate project performance.
Closing – Contains the processes performed to formally complete the project.
The Pre-Initiation process consists of the work performed to define a new project within an agency. It is where an idea or initiative begins the process to become a project. A project can be initiated from any number of sources and often begins with a Stakeholder contacting its IT organization on behalf of an agency or department. Stakeholders are persons or organizations who are involved in and influence the project. Their interests may be affected by the performance or completion of the project
The following are the three elements of Pre-Initiation:
Pre-Initiation: Project Request Form
Information Technology projects that meet the requirements set forth in ITB-EPM006, estimated to cost $250,000 or greater, are required to be approved by OA/OIT. As such, a Project Request form must be filled out.
Pre-Initiation: The Project Scaling
The Scaling Worksheet scores a project based on project characteristics. This is used to determine which parts of the OA/OIT Project Management Process are optional and which project information is required. Currently the Scaling Worksheet is an excel spreadsheet. The project manager enters numbers into certain fields. These numbers represent their assessment of topics such as complexity, visibility, duration and cost. The final result is a determination of Level 1, Level 2 or Level 3 for the project. This level determination will identify what deliverables are required for the project. These are identified in the Deliverable’s Matrix.
Deliverable’s Matrix
The Deliverable’s Matrix is an Excel spreadsheet identifying the different processes within a project and the project management deliverables associated with each process. Three columns, representing the three possible levels of a project, exist to the right of the list of deliverables, and they identify if the deliverable is required or optional for the project.
The Initiating process consists of activities performed to officially kick off a project. The project manager is assigned during this process. The project manager reviews the documents that were produced during the Pre-Initiation process, and then begins to take the project through its life cycle.
Project Charter
The first step in the Initiating process is developing a Project Charter, which is the foundation for the entire project. It will provide a high level explanation of why the project is being undertaken. Information in the Project Charter includes:
Project Stakeholders
Once the Project Charter has been reviewed and approved, the project manger needs to identify the project stakeholders. A stakeholder is a person or organization whose interests may be positively or negatively affected by the completion of the project. These people or organizations will help determine the scope of the project and may also exert influence over the project and its deliverables. The following is a sample list of project stakeholders:
Project Kickoff
Once the stakeholders have been identified, the project manager will want to officially start the project using a project kickoff meeting. During this meeting the project manager and the attendees review the information contained in the Project Charter and expectations from stakeholders are communicated.
Participants include:
The project sponsor is a critical participant in this meeting because he or she has the bigger picture of why the project is being conducted and can share that vision with the other members of the meeting.
Product Scope
After the official start of the project is complete, the project manager will want to identify the product scope of the project. This is accomplished with the help of the sponsor and the stakeholders. As part of the scope, the project manager will capture detailed requirements and understand which deliverables will be created during the project.
Detailed Requirements – These requirements represent the features and functions of the product or service to be delivered.
Project Deliverable – This is a verifiable product produced during the project. Because deliverables are tangible things, the description for a deliverable is always a noun.
NOTE: It is very important to understand the detailed requirements prior to going into the Planning Process because they are the foundation for developing the Scope and Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). Also, you will need detailed information to develop a Statement of Work (SOW) when making a procurement.
Product Scope Baseline
The approved detailed requirements for the product or service acts as a baseline for what is to be delivered at the end of the project.
The planning process consists of processes performed to plan and manage a project. It establishes the total scope of the effort, defines and refines the objectives, and develops the course of action required to attain those objectives. Time spent in up-front planning for the project requirements and defining the structure for organizing and managing projects will prevent rework later in the project.
Project Management Plan
The planning process is where the project manager works with the project team to develop the Project Management Plan.
Project Management Plan – This is a formal document that defines how the project is to be executed, monitored and controlled. It is an approved document that is often a compilation of multiple, subsidiary management plans collected into one single source. Depending on the level of the project, as determined by the Project Scaling Worksheet, the Project Management Plan may contain management plans for the following:
The Project Management Plan may also include the following baselines:
Project Scope
The project scope is different than the product scope from the initiation process.
Project Scope – This is the work that must be performed to deliver a product or service with the specified features and functions captured in the detailed requirements. This decomposed scope information is called a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). The following is a simple example of what a WBS may have:
Deliverable 1
Activity A
Activity B
Deliverable 2
Activity C
For a system development project, it is also possible to use the Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) containing: requirements, design, develop, test and deploy, to decompose the project scope into deliverables.
Once the WBS is approved in the planning process, the project manager should make a baseline of this information. This will be used later in the project for comparison purposes to see what scope changes have taken place.
Time management is the process where the project manager, with the help of the project team, creates a detailed work plan and project schedule. Several steps are required to complete this:
Defining Activities
Activities represent the work within the project and therefore each activity description should start with an action verb.
(Meet with sponsor; Determine Critical needs; Identify stakeholders, etc.).
The activities are placed underneath the deliverables within the WBS and represent the work to be done to produce the deliverable.
Do NOT create activities in a vacuum. Work with the project team to create activities for each deliverable. This helps create a more realistic work plan and ensures buy-in from the project team concerning the work to be completed.
Each activity can have a number of different attributes, but one of the key attributes is the activity duration, which represents the “Total Elapsed Time” to complete the work the activity represents. Duration is often confused with two other time oriented elements of a project:
If an organization operates Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm, these are the same days that apply to the activity duration. So, an activity with a 6 day duration that is scheduled to start on a Monday would be planned to finish on the following Monday, which is 6 work days for the organization.
Similar to activity duration is resource effort. This is the amount of time a resource will spend working on an activity. It is often assumed that 40 hours of effort is equal to a 5 day work week, but this could be inaccurate because resources often perform work from multiple projects at any one time.
It may take a resource 10 days (2 weeks) to complete a task that requires only 40 hours of effort. This is because the resource is spending the other 40 hours doing other work besides the activity in the project.
When defining activities for the project, the activities can be decomposed to any appropriate level. Ideally, an activity should be decomposed so that the duration is no longer than 2 status cycles. So, if you meet weekly to understand the status your project, try to get your activity durations to be 10 days or less.
There are four ways to calculate durations for activities:
The following is an example of using the three-point calculation for estimating.
The formula for this calculation is as follows:
tE = tO +4tM+tP
6
Where:
tE = Expected Duration
t0 = Optimistic Duration
tM = Most Likely Duration
tP = Pessimistic Duration
The following is sample data showing the calculation results:
tE = 12.5
t0 = 5
tM = 10
tP = 30
12.5 = 5 + 4(10) + 30
6
Time Management is really all about setting up a project work plan and schedule. This is an important part of managing a project because it shows three important things:
Critical Path Scheduling
OA/OIT is advocating the use of Critical Path Method (CPM) scheduling for projects. In CPM scheduling, the critical path is the “Longest Path” in the project network. Any activity on the critical path that is delayed means there will be a delay in the delivery of the project. Project managers want to keep a close watch on activities that reside on the critical path and make any necessary adjustments if delays occur on these activities.
CPM scheduling is made possible by the use of sequencing activities. A project network is a graphical representation of all the activities and the relationships between activities. Relationships are expressed by using arrows. There are four types or relationships between activities:
Notice in these examples that activity A is always the driving activity, which influences activity B. This is part of the meaning of the arrow. The activity the arrow leaves from is always the driving activity and influences the successor, the activity the arrow points to.
As previously mentioned, a project network is comprised of all the activities in the project having relationships (arrows going into them and coming out of them) with one another. Within the project network there can reside sub-networks, smaller groupings of activities that exist within the project network.
The following is an example of a project network.
The project is comprised of 8 activities – A, B, C, D, E, F, G and H.
The duration for activities A and E is 1 day. The duration for activities B, C, D, F, G and H is 5 days.
The relationships between activities are all Finish-to-Start, with no Lags or Leads. The relationships are as follows:
A drives B (arrow from A into B)
B drives C
C drives D
D drives E
A drives F
F drives G
G drives E
A drives H
H drives E
Within the project network, there are 3 sub-networks:
NOTE: Try to start the planning process with Finish-to-Start relationships because they are the easiest to manage and incorporate the least amount of risk for the project.
Software is available to assist you in scheduling your projects. Scheduling tools like Microsoft Project can be used to calculate the project length for you, identify the critical path and assign the start and finish dates for each activity.
To create a project schedule three things are needed:
The following are some Time Management Key Terms you will encounter:
Early Start/Early Finish – The earliest an activity can start/finish is based on its relationships with other activities in the network
Late Start/Late Finish - The latest an activity can start/finish is based on its relationships with other activities in the network
Critical Path – The longest path in the network, such that any delay on this path means a delay in the project end date. The critical path is often displayed in the Gantt chart in red to help distinguish it from other activities with float.
Schedule Constraint – This is a schedule date that is imposed on an activity within the network. As an example, the activity “Must Finish On [DATE]”
Total Float (Also called “Total Slack”) – This is the amount of time that a scheduled activity may be delayed from its early start date without delaying the project finish date, or violating a schedule constraint.
Negative Float (Slack) – This is a condition of the project schedule when too much work is scheduled within a given time period. For example trying to schedule, within a 5 day timeframe, two activities, each possessing 3 day durations, and having a Finish-to-Start relationship between them. The total duration for the work is 6 days. This would yield a -1 day of Total Float.
An activity’s float is a very meaningful piece of information. It will show the project manager the amount of “wiggle room” an activity has before it impacts activities already on the critical path. Therefore, it is important to understand how it is calculated. Float is the product of subtracting an activity’s early schedule from the late schedule. Using the same project network as before (A, B, C, D, E, F, G and H.) the following example will explain how the early and late schedules are calculated.
Project network information:
The duration for activities A and E is 1 day. The duration for activities B, C, D, F, G and H is 5 days.
The relationships between activities are all Finish-to-Start, with no Lags or Leads. The relationships are as follows:
A drives B (arrow from A into B)
B drives C
C drives D
D drives E
A drives F
F drives G
G drives E
A drives H
H drives E
Calculating Early Schedule:
To calculate the Early Schedule the network is read from left to right starting with activities that do not have a driving activity, or predecessor (in this case, activity A).
Sub-network A, B, C, D and E
Activity A has 1 day of duration and has no activity driving it (no predecessor) so it begins on day 1, works 1 day, and finishes on day 1.
Activity B has 5 days of duration and begins on day 2 (the first work day after day 1) and works 5 days (2, 3, 4, 5, and 6) and finishes on day 6.
Activity C has 5 days of duration and begins on day 7 (the first work day after day 6) and works 5 days (7, 8, 9, 10, and 11) and finishes on day 11.
Activity D has 5 days of duration and begins on day 12 (the first work day after day 11) and works 5 days (12, 13, 14, 15, and 16) and finishes on day 16.
Activity E has 1 day of duration and begins on day 17 (the first work day after day 16) and works 1 day, and finishes on day 17.
Sub-network A, F, G and E
Activity A has 1 day of duration and has no activity driving it (no predecessor) so it begins on day 1, works 1 day, and finishes on day 1.
Activity F has 5 days of duration and begins on day 2 (the first work day after day 1) and works 5 days (2, 3, 4, 5, and 6) and finishes on day 6.
Activity G has 5 days of duration and begins on day 7 (the first work day after day 6) and works 5 days (7, 8, 9, 10, and 11) and finishes on day 11.
Activity E has 1 day of duration and begins on day 17 (the first work day after day 16 as established by activity D) and works 1 day, and finishes on day 17.
Sub-network A, H and E
Activity A has 1 day of duration and has no activity driving it (no predecessor) so it begins on day 1, works 1 day, and finishes on day 1.
Activity H has 5 days of duration and begins on day 2 (the first work day after day 1) and works 5 days (2, 3, 4, 5, and 6) and finishes on day 6.
Activity E has 1 day of duration and begins on day 17 (the first work day after day 16 as established by activity D) and works 1 day, and finishes on day 17.
Calculating Late Schedule:
To calculate the Late Schedule the network is read from right to left starting with the activity having the latest early finis (in this case activity E).
Sub-network A, B, C, D and E
Activity E has 1 day of duration, so it’s late finish is on day 17, works 1 day, and it’s late start is on day 17.
Activity D has 5 day of duration, so it’s late finish is on day 16, works 5 days (16, 15, 14, 13 and 12) so it’s late start is on day 12.
Activity C has 5 day of duration, so it’s late finish is on day 11, works 5 days (11, 10, 9, 8 and 7) so it’s late start is on day 7.
Activity B has 5 day of duration, so its late finish is on day 6, works 5 days (6, 5, 4, 3 and 2) so it’s late start is on day 2.
Activity A has 1 day of duration, so its late finish is on day 1, works 1 day, and it’s late start is on day 1.
Sub-network A, F, G and E
Activity E has 1 day of duration, so its late finish is on day 17, works 1 day, and it’s late start is on day 17.
Activity F has 5 day of duration, so its late finish is on day 16, works 5 days (16, 15, 14, 13 and 12) so it’s late start is on day 12.
Activity G has 5 day of duration, so its late finish is on day 11, works 5 days (11, 10, 9, 8 and 7) so it’s late start is on day 7.
Activity A has 1 day of duration, so its late finish is on day 1 (as determined by activity B), works 1 day, and it’s late start is on day 1.
Sub-network A, H and E
Activity E has 1 day of duration, so its late finish is on day 17, works 1 day, and it’s late start is on day 17.
Activity H has 5 day of duration, so its late finish is on day 16, works 5 days (16, 15, 14, 13 and 12) so it’s late start is on day 12.
Activity A has 1 day of duration, so its late finish is on day 1 (as determined by activity B), works 1 day, and it’s late start is on day 1.
Final calculations: (Late Start minus Early Start equals Total Float)
|
Description |
Late Start |
Early Start |
Total Float |
|
Activity A |
1 |
1 |
0 (Critical) |
|
Activity B |
2 |
2 |
0 (Critical) |
|
Activity C |
7 |
7 |
0 (Critical) |
|
Activity D |
12 |
12 |
0 (Critical) |
|
Activity E |
17 |
17 |
0 (Critical) |
|
Activity F |
7 |
2 |
5 |
|
Activity G |
12 |
7 |
5 |
|
Activity H |
12 |
2 |
10 |
As mentioned before, using Total Float allows the project manager to find the areas of opportunity to allow for adjustments, or changes, without impacting the project end date. As an example, if a functional manager were to approach the project manager requesting a resource to be allowed temporary assignment to another project due to an emergency, which resource should the project manager look to remove? The project manager should first look for resources working on activities with Total Float, because delaying that work, assuming the delay is not longer than the amount of Total Float for the activities, will not have an immediate impact on the Critical Path of the project.
Viewing Project Information
There are generally two types of schedule reports used to show where activities reside in time – the Gantt Chart and the Spreadsheet view
Gantt Chart – This is a time phased graphical view of activities. It is most commonly used because the majority of people are visual learners. Because it provides the visual display of activity schedule information, it is also the easiest way to identify problems within a project schedule. A Gantt Chart may be set up to either display relationships between activities or not display relationships. By including the relationships the project manager can more easily understand, for a given activity, the predecessor and successor activities. For large networks though, this can create a very busy report that is difficult to understand. Therefore, the predecessor and successor fields can be included in the table portion of the Gantt Chart.
Spreadsheet – This is a table view of the project information and it looks very much like a spreadsheet. Columns can be added and subtracted to display pertinent information about a project. Many folks are comfortable with this view of the project information because it is so similar to Microsoft Excel.
Baseline the Project Work Schedule
At the conclusion of the Time Management Planning process, the project manager should baseline the project work plan schedule. The baseline will be used within the Monitor & Controlling process to compare revised scheduled dates to the original schedule dates. Also, at the conclusion of a project, the project manager has the ability to go find the areas of the project that did not occur as planned. This type of information is important for “Lessons Learned” during a project, and when captured, this information helps the organization learn about how project work and how to improve the project management process over time.
This plan contains the list of stakeholders for the project; the information each stakeholder would like to receive concerning the project; and the frequency the stakeholder would like to receive project information.
The information distributed via the Communication Management Plan will set expectations for the project stakeholders, and then communicate how the project is performing against those expectations. Communication is one of the most important aspects of managing a project.
NOTE: Not all stakeholders are equal. Some require special information and timing of delivery.
This plan captures all the risks that could impact the project. A risk can be defined as any uncertain event or condition that, if it occurs, has a positive or negative effect on a project’s objectives. Risks are captured within the Project Log, within the Risk tab, and should include a mitigation strategy. The Project Log will capture the following information about a risk:
More information about Risk Management is presented in the Advanced Project Management training.
This plan contains the information for the management of procurements and contracts.
Contract – A mutually binding agreement that obligates the seller to provide the specific product or service and obligates the buyer to pay for the product or service once delivered and approved.
It is important for project managers to understand that the contract works on behalf of both the commonwealth and the vendor. Failure by the commonwealth employees to comply with terms and conditions of the contract could result in a penalty for the commonwealth.
NOTE: The project manager should be knowledgeable about the contract’s terms and conditions, and how the commonwealth is governed by them.
More information about Procurement Management is presented in the Advanced Project Management training.
This plan contains information for managing the costs for the project. At the conclusion of the Planning Process the project manager should baseline the project’s planned cost at least to the deliverable level and summarize this information to the various levels of the WBS and ultimately to the project level. The Cost Baseline represents the planned budget for the project.
NOTE: Prior to entering into the Execution Process, the project manager should establish baselines for Schedule, Scope and Cost.
More information about Cost Management is presented in the Advanced Project Management training.
This is the process of performing the work defined in the project management plan to achieve the project objective. This is where we “do the doing.” As part of this process, the project manager will be responsible for facilitating meetings to make sure the goals and objectives for the meeting are accomplished. The project manager is also responsible for reporting the results of meetings.
Meeting Agenda
The project manager is responsible for creating a meeting agenda and facilitating the project meetings. The commonwealth has established a template for Meeting Agendas, which helps standardize the approach to conducting meetings.
Meeting Minutes
The project manager is responsible for making sure the information discussed during the meeting is captured and formally documented in a Meeting Minutes report. Those involved in the meeting should be able to review and approve the Minutes before they are presented to any stakeholders. Meeting Minutes are official project documents and contain historical project information. This information often proves useful later in the project’s life when project team members are unable to recall all the discussions that take place during project meetings. It is to the benefit of the project manager to document what is said in meetings in order to help those involved in the project be accountable.
Quality Assurance
Quality Assurance is the process of auditing the quality requirements and measurement results to ensure the quality processes are being adhered to. The project manager is responsible for making sure the proper Quality Assurance processes are in place to ensure a high quality product at the conclusion of the project. This is accomplished through the use of Project Audits. Project managers should do spot checks on project team members to make sure the quality processes are being adhered to.
Monitoring and Controlling project work is the process of tracking, reviewing and regulating the progress of the work performed to ensure it meets the performance objectives defined in the project management plan. This includes monitoring changes, scope, schedule, cost, quality, risk and procurements. The EPMO has created templates for the following.
PROJECT LOG- also referred to as RAID log (Risks, Action items, Issues & Decisions)
Risks - Risks are things that could adversely impact a project and should be captured in the Project Log - Risks section.
Action Items - Tasks that need to be completed on behalf of the project, but are not broad enough to be placed in the work plan. Action Items should be tracked in the Project Log – Action Item section.
Issues - a point or matter that is not settled within the project and is currently being discussed. Issues should be tracked in the Project Log – Issues section.
Decisions - Any decisions made during project meetings should be documented in the Project Log - Decision section. They can then be reviewed later in the project.
The Project Log has a tab for each of these areas. The project manager should be diligent to capture this information on a regular basis.
Change Control
A change could be associated with anything that is different in the project from when the original baseline was established. This could be a change of location, a change in scope, a change in resource, a change in anything related to the project. To control changes, a change control process should be established for the project. This process should include the following:
Excluding a change does not mean it will never take place. It could be placed in a “Parking Lot,” which will be evaluated for the next version of the software, product or process.
Any changes should be tracked in the Project Log within the tab for changes. Before any changes are accepted or inserted into the project they should be evaluated, and the impacts should be known.
Scope
A primary reason projects go over budget and schedule is Scope Creep. Scope Creep is adding features and functionality without addressing the effects on time, costs and resources, or without customer approval. As part of the Change Control process within the Monitor & Controlling process, scope changes need to be evaluated and understood prior to their injection into the project.
Verify Scope
This is the process of ensuring the product or services being delivered are what the sponsor is expecting. It is often confused with quality processes, but it is very different. Quality processes ensure the product is being produced as per the requirements, specification, where scope verification ensures the product is what was asked for. For example, the final product could be a high quality accounting system that calculates accurately, but it is useless if the customer is asking for a warehouse management system. Quality and customer acceptance, scope verification, are NOT the same thing.
Project Status
The project manager is responsible for capturing project status information on a regular basis. The project status represents the current condition of the project. Traditionally, project status was captured using Status Meetings. This can be beneficial with small project teams because everyone can hear the status of work performed at the same time. On projects with large project teams Status Meetings may not be effective because too many people are sitting around being unproductive. It is better for the project manager to break these large project teams into smaller groups, or use technology to capture and share, project status information.
When using a project Gantt Chart, the project manager should display the Status Date as part of the report. This communicates to the viewer the date the work plan was modified with actual start, actual finish and planned finish dates. All the information to the left of the Status Date is “Actual” information. All the information to the right of the Status Date is “Planned” information. The Status Date should be moved every time new progress is entered for the schedule, for example every week or every month.
Quality Control
This is the act of conducting quality processes and recording the results to understand the performance of the work, which could result in recommendations for necessary changes. The project manager should measure quality metrics to ensure the quality of the product being developed is at the proper level. The project manager should conduct trend analysis as soon as possible to understand if any patterns exist that may indicate a poor quality product will be the result of the project. Quality information is captured in the quality portion of the Project Log. Enter the results of the quality process into the appropriate fields.
Communication
The project manager is responsible for communicating project status using a Project Status report. This report captures the information agreed upon during the development of the Communication Management Plan. The Project Status Report should be delivered in the timeframe and using the medium as described in the Communication Management Plan.
Projects do not just finish when the final product is delivered and accepted by the sponsor or customer. There is a process to close out a project. The project manager should do the following to close out a project:
When the project manager has performed all the steps contained in the project close out check list, then the project is complete.
Through the course of this training you’ve covered the basics of:
You are on your way to becoming a project manager. If you wish to continue with more project management education you must now score at least an 80% on the comprehensive examination. If you would like to take the exam, or have any questions concerning this training or any other project management training please contact the Enterprise Project Management Office using RA-EPMO@pa.gov.