Date: 10th December 2012

Project Management

A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product or service or a result. In order to make a project successful it has to be well organised, balanced, timely, resourceful and generate results that satisfy customers (Old Dominion University, 2012). According to Barren (2009), a project is temporary and includes start and end dates. The main goal of the project is completing it in the given time frame.

Managing a project includes identifying requirements, establishing clear and practical objectives, balancing competing demands of quality, scope, time and cost (Hutchings, 2011). The main process groups of project management includes:

Phase 01: Initiating

• Identify what needs to be done
• What the project needs to accomplish
• Final project goal, project scope
• Identify customer requirements and other stakeholders

Phase 02: Planning

• Modifying the project scope
• List activities that needs to be done
• Develop a gantt chart to schedule the work and work on a budget for the required resources
• Approval of the project plan

Phase 03: Executing

• Meeting minutes with team members
• Communicating with stakeholders
• Solving problems
• Completing the project plan

Phase 04: Controlling

• Monitoring the plan
• Evaluating project changes requested
• Rescheduling the project when necessary
• Adapting resource levels
• Returning to planning stage

Phase 05: Closing

• Acknowledging achievements and results
• Shutting down operations and disbanding the team
• Learning from project experience
• Review project process and outcomes
• Writing a final project report

According to the Project Management Institute (2013), project management "is the application of knowledge, skills and techniques to execute projects effectively and efficiently". "Project management knowledge draws on nine areas which are Integration, cost, human resources, scope, quality, communications, time, procurement and risk management". For project management there must be skills, tools and processes involved. Skills can enhance the chance of making the project successful and reduce risks. Tools are used by project managers to improve success and different processes are used to monitor and complete the project on time. Example: Time management, risk management, quality management.

Triple constraint

Time, Cost and Scope are the main attributes that must be handled effectively when a project is undertaken in order to complete it successfully. As stated by Haughey (2011), the triple constraint shows that projects must be delivered within cost, on time, meet customer requirements and must meed the scopes that were agreed on.

Referred books/websites  
[Online] Available from: http://www.pmi.org/About-Us/About-Us-What-is-Project-Management.aspx

[Online] Available from: http://www.cs.odu.edu/~cs410/whatisaproject.htm

[Online] Available from: http://cnx.org/content/m31435/latest/

[Online] Available from: http://www.projectmanagement.net.au/project_management

[Online] Available from: http://www.projectsmart.co.uk/understanding-the-project-management-triple-constraint.html

Westland, J. (2003) Project Management Guidebook
[Online] Available from: http://www.thoughtware.com.au/documents/method123-ebook.pdf

[Online] Available from: http://programsuccess.wordpress.com/2011/05/02/scope-time-and-cost-managing-the-triple-constraint/