Project Control

Project Control

1. Scope Management

   • Scope Change Request Form
   • Scope Change Request Log

2. Risk Management

   • PMBK -provides a systematic process for identifying, analyzing, and responding to project risks.
     • Focus
       • maximizing the probability and impactsof positive events
       • minimizing the probability andimpacts of negative events
     • Prevent management by crisis
     • Prevent Surprise
     • Prevent problems from happening, if they do, from escalating
     • IT project risk management framework reminds us that we must be vigilant for opportunities and problems throughout the project life cycle
   • PMBK - Risk
     • An uncertain event or condition that, if it occurs, has a positive or negativeeffect on the project objectives
       • arises from uncertainty
         • uncertainty comes from our attempt to predict the future based on estimates, assumptions, and limited information.
       • downside resulting from unexpected problems or threats
         • schedule, cost, specifications
       • positive events or opportunities
     • important that we understand whatthose events are and how they may impact the project beyond its objectives
     • 3 components
       • Risk Impact (I)
       • Risk Event Probability (P)
         • ØAn estimate of the probability that a given risk event will occur 
       • Severity of Risk Event (also called Risk Event Value) (R)
         • Relationship between the components (R=P*I)    
   • Frameworks
     • IT project risk management processes - 7 steps
       • Risk Planning
         • begins with a firm commitment by allthe project stakeholders to a risk management approach
         • ensures that adequate resources will be in place
           • plan properly for and manage
             • various risks of the IT project
           • resources includes: time, people, and technology
       • Risk Identification
         • identifying and creating a list of threats and opportunities that mayimpact the project’s goal and/or objectives
         • Each risk and its characteristics are documented to provide a basis for the overall risk management plan
         • Risk Identification Framework
           • 5 layers
           • 1. MOV
             • goal of the project that defines the measurable value the organization expects from the project. It is both a measure and definition of project success.
           • 2. objectives in terms of scope, quality,schedule, and budget
             • play a critical role in supporting the MOV.
           • 3. sources of IT project risk
             • people or stakeholders
             • legal considerations
             • processes(project and product)
             • environment
             • technology
             • organization
             • product
             • other
           • 4. internal or external risk source
             • project manager is responsible and accountable for all project risks internal to the project.
           • 5. known risks, known-unknown risks, and unknown-unknown risks
             • known risks as events that are going to occur
             • known-unknowns are of identifiable uncertainty.  For example, if you own a home or rent an apartment, you know that you will receive a bill next month for the utilities you use.
             • unknown-unknown risks are residual risks and reflect what we don’t know. a way to remind us that there may be a few risks remaining even after we think we have identified them all.  In general, these are therisks that we identify after they have occurred.
           • 6. Time element of project life cycle
             • determine or identify when risks may occur, but remind us that they may change over the life of the project.
             • IT project risk management framework reminds us that we must be vigilant for opportunities and problems throughout the project life cycle
             • Conceptualize and initialise
             • Develop project charter and plan
             • Execute & control
             • Close project
             • Evaluate project success
         • ways of identifying risks
           • Risk identification workshops
             • Øinclude appropriate subject matter experts, stakeholders and outside experts – IT project, short lifecycle, time cannot afford such workshops     
           • Examining organizational history
           • Using checklists and lessons learned from past projects
           • Sources of risk – internal and external
           • Causes and effects of risk
             • fish bone diagram
       • Risk Assessment
         • (Risk Evaluation   ) 
         • risk analysis
           • Determine
             • Probability of the risk occurring
               • ØHigh – Likely to significantly disrupt the schedule, increase cost and / or degrade performance     
               • Moderate – Has the potential to disrupt the schedule, increase cost and / or degrade performance    
               • ØLow – Has little potential to disrupt the schedule, increase cost and / or degrade performance     
             • Impact of the risk
               • ØHigh ØModerate ØLow     
         • Risk assessment
           • Rank the risks based on the Risk Event Value
           • Identify the risks that will be managed
           • Risk Event Value or Risk Severity
             • •Risk Severity or Risk Event Value is the product of Risk Probability and Risk Impact     
         • qualitative approach
           • subjective assessments based on experience or intuition
         • Quantitative analysis
           • based on mathematical and statistical techniques
       • Risk Strategies
         • negative risks or threats
           • Accept or ignore the risk.
             • Passive approach  hopeful that the risk will not occur or just not worry about it unless it does
             • reserves and contingency plans can be active approaches for risks that may have a low probability of occurring but with a high impact.
             • Management reserves
               • controlled and released by senior management at its discretion
             • Contingency reserves
               • controlled and released within specific guidelines by the project manager when a particular risk occurs.  This reserve is usually included in the project’s budget.
             • Contingency plans
               • Alternative plan can be initiated in the event a particular risk occurs
               • This plan may have procedures and processes in place that would allow the project team to continue to work should its present workplace become unusable or unavailable.
               • This type of disaster recovery plan is only useful if it is up to date and communicated to the various project stakeholders.
           • Avoid the risk completely.
             • focuses on taking steps to avoid the risk altogether. In this case, an active approach is made to eliminate or prevent the possibility of the threat occurring.
           • Risk Mitigation
             • Reduce the likelihood or impact of the risk (or both) if the risk occurs.
             • •The risks that have a high expected monetary value are considered first and mitigation plans worked out     
           • Transfer
             • A transfer strategy focuses on transferring ownership of the risk to someone else.
         • positive risks or opportunities
           • Exploitation
             • This strategy attempts to take advantage of the situation to ensure the opportunity is realized
           • Sharing of Ownership
             • an opportunity may be shared with another party who can better capture the benefit of the positive event.  This could include partnerships or joint ventures with vendors or customers so that all involved can gain from this joint ownership.
           • Enhancement
             • attempts to increase the probability and/or impact of the opportunity.
             • e.g.  more skilled or knowledgeable resources might be assigned to specific activities or tasks in order to improve quality or to complete the tasks earlier than planned.
           • Acceptance
             • This implies that the project manager and team have an open mind so that they can take advantage of an opportunity should it arise without actively pursuing it.
         • depends
           • The nature of the risk itself
           • The impact of the risk on the project’s MOV and objectives
           • The project’s constraints in terms of scope, schedule, budget, and quality requirements
           • Risk tolerances or preferences of the various project stakeholders
         • Risk Monitoring and Control
           • Risk monitoring is the process of continuously keeping track of the project environment and predicting the occurrence of risks
           • Based on some indications, mitigation actions may get triggered
           • Determining what indicators trigger what risks is a matter of experience
           • tools
             • Risk audits
               • Risk audits should be conducted by people outside the project team.
               • focus on ensuring that the project manager and team have done a good job of identifying and analyzing project risks and on ensuring that proper procedures and processes are in place
             • Risk reviews
               • Throughout the project life cycle, the project stakeholders should hold scheduled, periodic risk reviews.  These reviews should be part of each team meeting and part of the project team’s learning cycles
             • Risk status meetings and reports
               • a monitoring and control system should provide a formal communication system for monitoring and controlling project risks.

3. Quality Management

   • PMKB - PQM
     • Project Quality Management
     • major quality management processes
       • Plan Quality
         • quality requirements and/or standards are important
           • Determining which quality requirements and/or standards are important for the project and the product and then documenting how compliance will be demonstrated.
         • Quality = Conformance to requirements: the project’s processes and products meet written specifications
       • Perform Quality Assurance
         • basis for continuous improvement
           • Provides the basis for continuous improvement by auditing and evaluating the results from quality control measurements so that appropriate quality standards and operational definitions are used.
       • Perform Quality Control
         • Monitoring and documenting
           • Monitoring and documenting the results of executing project quality activities to eliminate causes unsatisfactory performance and implement new processes and techniques to improve project quality throughout the organization.
       • Test
         • Unit testing, System testing, Integration testing, Acceptance testing.
         • Black box testing (whole system, feed in input, and check output), White box testing (source code testing).
     • Process of ensuring that the project’s processes and products meet written specifications

4. Issue Management

   • Issues arise essentially due to conflicts. Therefore conflict management is the key to managing issues.
   • Contemporary view of conflict management
     • Inevitable between human beings
     • Often beneficial
       • –produces important results, such as new ideas, better alternatives, and motivation to work harder and more collaboratively     
     • Natural result of change
     • Can and should be managed
     • Neither good nor bad, but can have positive and negative results for the organization
   • task-related conflict often improves team performance, but emotional conflict often depresses team performance.
   • approach
     • Confrontation
       • 1.directly face a conflict using a problem-solving approach 
     • Compromise
       • use a give-and-take approach    
     • Smoothing
       •  de-emphasize areas of difference and emphasize areas of agreement 
     • Forcing
       •   1.the win-lose approach 
     • Withdrawal
       • 1.retreat or withdraw from an actual or potential disagreement 
     • Collaborating
       • decision makers incorporate different viewpoints and insights to develop consensus and commitment  

5. Communication Management

   • PMKB - project communications management
     • Identify Stakeholders
       • A stakeholder analysis provides a basis for identifying the various stakeholders as well as their interest, influence, and project role.
     • Plan Communications
     • Distribute Information
       • Focuses on getting the right information to the right stakeholders in the right format.
     • Manage Stakeholder Expectations
       • Ensuring that clear, consistent, and timely communication satisfies the information needs and that any project stakeholder issues are resolved.
     • Report Performance
       • Focuses on the collection and dissemination of project information to the various project stakeholders. This should include status, progress, and forecast reports.
   • Status Report
     • to: Business Sponsor or Client
     • 1. Activity Status
       • 3. Table presents the current status of all major activities within the project in terms of dates and completeness.
         • Most current Plan
         • Actual progress
         • Baseline
       • 1. Period
       • 2. major achievements
     • 2. Deliverable Status
       • table presents the approval status of all deliverables of the project
       • Deliverable Status: Completed, Commenced, Yet to Commence
       • Approval status: Yes, no, NR (not required)
     • 3. Project Activities
       • Activities undertaken this period
       • Activities Planned but Not Achieved
       • Reason/s for Variance from Activities Planned
       • Activities Planned for Next Period (x weeks)
     • 4. Cost Status
       • table presents the status of all costs of the project
         • Actual this Period
           • utility rate + charge rate
         • Actual to Date
           • cost incurred since beginning
         • Estimate to Complete
         • Total Project Costs of the 3 above
       • Explanations of Variations from Budget
     • 5. Risks and Issues
       • table presents all foreseable risk and issues of the project
         • issue
         • Impact
         • Action Plan (issue)
         • Date to be Resolved
         • Who is responsible
         • Severity & Status
     • 6. Leave Affecting Project
       • naming theperson who are leaving, period and the impact

6. Library

Bilder und Dateien der Mindmap