PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Project Management

Project Management

Introduction

A Project is a variable length undertaking, which consists of one or more tasks, which must be completed before the Project can said to be finished. A Project Manager is the person assigned to monitor each stage in the Project to ensure that the tasks have been completed within budget, within time and to the agreed specification. This paper is intended as a high level overview of the concept of Project Management and as a guide to the role of a Project Manager.



Basic Project Management Outline

A successful Project Manager must simultaneously manage the four basic elements of a Project: resources, time, money, and most importantly, scope. All these elements are interrelated. Each must be managed effectively, all must be managed together if the Project, and the Project Manager, is to be a success.

1. Resources - People, equipment, material

2. Time - Task durations, dependencies, critical path

3. Money - Costs, contingencies, profit

4. Scope Project size, goals, and requirements

Most literature on Project Management, whether it be building a house, promoting a star studded evening dinner or creating an Oracle database, speaks of the need to manage and balance the first three elements: Resources, Time, and Money, however, the fourth element is the most important and it is the first and last task for a successful Project Manager; primarily, you have to manage the Project Scope (Padhy, 2011, 21). The Project Scope is the definition of what the Project is supposed to accomplish and the budget (of time and money) that has been created to achieve these objectives.

This case study is about organising a tour for the finalists of Real Star, a television talent show. Before discussing about the techniques and planning about this project it is essential to know about managing the projects. Project management refers to the idea of co-ordinating things in such a way that the diversity of modern business activities can be controlled in a best possible way.

The project of this talent show is planned to be completed within six months by using various techniques. Some of the major techniques include SWOT and PESTLE analysis, stakeholders' management strategies, critical path analysis and risk analysis.

Phases of Project Management

Typically, the process of project management involves five phases. The labels used to describe these five phases vary somewhat in the literature; however, the generally agreed principles of project management according to the PMI are initiating processes, planning processes, executing processes, monitoring and controlling processes, and closing processes. During Phase I, initiating processes, the project objectives are defined. Details concerning the overall scope of the project are documented in order to keep the project manageable. At this phase, qualitative researchers may determine the size of the project (regional or national focus) as well as general timelines (e.g., expected deliverables at the completion of a 3-year research grant).

Phase II, the planning process, involves detailing all of the activities to be accomplished in order to successfully complete the ...