Project scope Project scope is the part of project planning that involves determining and documenting a list of specific project goals, deliverables, tasks, costs and deadlines. The documentation of a project's scope, which is called a scope statement, terms of reference or statement of work, explains the boundaries of the project, establishes responsibilities for each team member and sets up procedures for how completed work will be verified and approved. During the project, this documentation helps the project team remain focused and on task. The scope statement also provides the project team with guidelines fo r making decisions about change requests during the project. It is natural for parts of a large project to change along the way, so the better the project has been "scoped" at the beginning, the better the project team will be able to manage change. When documenting a project's scope, stakeholders should be as specific as possible in order to avoid scope creep, a situation in which one or more parts of a project ends up requiring more work, time or effort because of poor planning or miscommunication. Effective scope management requires good communication to ensure that everyone on the team understands the scope of the project and agrees upon exactly how the project's goals will be met. As part of project scope management, the team leader should solicit approvals and sign-offs from the various stakeholders as the project proceeds, ensuring that the finished project, as proposed, meets everyone's needs. Please note, a project's scope statement should not be confused with its charter; a project's charter simply documents that the project exists.
Problem Statement A problem statement is a concise description of the issues that need to be addressed by a problem solving team and should be presented to them (or created by them) before they try to solve the problem. When bringing together a team to achieve a particular purpose provide them with a problem statement. A good problem statement should answer these questions: What is the problem? This should explain why the team is needed. Who has the problem or who is the client/customer? This should explain who needs the solution and who will decide the problem has been solved. What form can the resolution be? What is the scope and limitations (in time, money, resources, technologies) that can be used to solve the problem? Does the client want a white paper? A webtool? A new feature for a product? A brainstorming on a to pic? The primary purpose of a problem statement is to focus the attention of the problem solving team. However, if the focus of the problem is too narrow or the scope of the solution too l imited the creativity and innovation of the solution can be stifling. In project management, the problem statement is part of the project charter. It lists what's essential about the project and enables the project manager to identify the project scope as well as the project stakeholders. A research-worthy problem statement is the description of an active challenge (i.e. problem) faced by researchers and/or practitioners that does not have adequate solutions available including the argumentation for its viability based on solid peer-reviewed sources as well as theoretical foundation. The research-worthy problem statement should address all six questions: what, how,
where, when, why, and who. On the other hand, a statement of the problem is one or two sentences claim that outlines the problem that the study addresses. The statement of the problem sho uld briefly address the question: What is the problem that the research will address? A good problem statement should be: Concise. The essence of your problem needs to be c ondensed down to a single sentence. A reader of the project statement should be able to say “Aha!! Now I now understand the problem.” Specific. The problems statement should focus your thinking, research, and solutions toward a single population or issue. Measurable. Problems can be measured in terms of degree and frequency. The strongest problem statements incorporate measurable aspects of both the degree and frequency of the problem as it exists. Specify what is Impacted. The problem statement should identify the population affected by the problem. Let’s examine the steps for creating a good problem statement. Write down your problem or current state. Don’t worry too much about quality at this point – simply making a start is significant. Expand on the problem by asking the following questions: Who does it affect / does not affect? What does it effect / does not affect? How does it effect / does not affect? When is it a problem / is not a problem? Where is it a problem / is not a problem? Re-write your problem statement based on those answers. It may co nsist of several sentences or a set of bulleted items. Try to revise the bulleted list or initial problem statement into a single clear sentence. This might take a couple of attempts but stick with it. Finally, review your new problem statement against the following criteria: Focused on only one Problem. One or two sentences long. Does not suggest a Solution.
You should now have a concise and well balanced Problem Statement ready for a brainstorming session. It should be unambiguous and devoid of assumptions. It will enable you or your group to focus in on the problem and provide the foundation for the team to begin work toward solutions that truly fit.
Goals of Project Project goals keep the focus fo cus on what is most important. However, on some teams these primary goals are lost in their meeting's activities. Make sure each meeting is structured so as to move the project forward. Even if the progress is only inches rather than by huge leaps, the team must be pushing the project forward as quickly, safely, and reasonably as possible. Finish the project within the scheduled timetable. Your goal should be to finish the project within the timeframe agreed upon. This means you must do everything possible to drive the project to the end and stay on time. Remember to avoid guessing
and incompetence in the planning of the scope so as to have a reasonable time schedule with which to work. Finish the project within the scheduled budget. Budgets are set by some project teams while others inherit them. Whether you set the budget or inherit it, you need to make sure you are doing your best to track your expenditures and know where the money is going. When you finish the project within the scheduled budget, you demonstrate your ability in running the project responsibly. Finish the project with the same level of quality. Unfortunately, when projects lag behind, quality is often sacrificed in order to catch up. Project leaders sometimes feel that in order to pick up speed, pieces of the project will need to be downsized or cut completely. True, the project plan will have to be revised when problems arise, but the revision should never compromise quality. While it is important to keep deadlines, it is equally important to keep the project's quality high throughout the project. Finish the project within the specified guidelines. Make sure you are meeting the customer's needs. You must "wow" the customer! This can be done simply by finishing the project with the specifics the customer really wanted. The best way to solidify this is to verify your accomplishment by customer handoff and close down. Do the best you can with what you have been given. There is no such thing as a perfect project. Some projects run up against major odds and hurdles. For example, many recent projects in our country have endured major setbacks because of terror attacks, severe weather causing power outages, or a nation at war. Even against these catastrophes, projects were remarkably turned around and back on track because of great project team leaders and teams. Project goals were met because they did their best with what came their way.
Define project objectives Clear project objectives are crucial because your project's success will be determined by how closely you meet them. A clear project objective is both specific and measurable. Avoid vague objectives such as "Create state-of-the-art deliverables." A project's objectives may include: A list of project deliverables. Specific due dates, both for the ultimate completion of the project and for intermediate milestones. Specific quality criteria the deliverables must meet. Cost limits that the project will not exceed.
For objectives to be effective, it is important that all project stakeholders officially agree to them. Often the project manager creates an objectives document that becomes a permanent part of the project. After creating an objectives document in a program other than Microsoft Project, you can attach it to your project file for easy access. Learn how to add a document to your project file.
Project planning Project planning is part of project management, which relates to t he use of schedules such as Gantt charts to plan and subsequently report progress within the project environment. Initially, the project scope is defined and the appropriate methods for completing the project are determined. Following this step, the durations for the various tasks n ecessary to complete the work are listed and grouped into a work breakdown structure. The logical dependencies between tasks are defined using an activity network diagram that enables identification of the critical path. Float or slack time in the schedule can be calculated using project management software. Then the necessary resources can be estimated and costs for each activity can be allocated to each resource, giving the total project cost. At this stage, the project schedule may be optimized to achieve the appropriate balance between resource us age and project duration to comply with the project objectives. Once established and agreed, the project schedule becomes what is known as the baseline schedule. Progress will be measured against the baseline schedule throughout the life of the project. Analyzing progress compared to the baseline schedule is known as earned value management. The inputs of the project planning phase include the project charter and the concept proposal. The outputs of the project planning phase include the project requirements, the project schedule, and the project management plan.
Project Success Criteria Introduction: As a project manager, the main objective of the project manager is to deliver the project within the time stated and on budget defined. However that's not all when it comes to project success criteria. In addition to above conditions, the project manager needs to work closely with the customer and should ensure the project deliverables have met the customer expectations. There are many parameters in a project success criterion. Key Performance Indicators: The first project success criterion is to deliver projects bearing in mind the business drivers. Key Performance Indicators (KPI's) is a method used to measure the benefits gained from undertaking the project. These provide an insight to the scope of the project. The performance indic ators are: Established by the clients at the start of the project and are listed on a priority basis. Aligned with the business objectives. Able to make critical decisions based on KPI's for the project. Prove to be a stance for products to be accepted b y the clients. It's a quantitative method and it's measurable. To create a project success criteria based on KPI is not enough, and targets need to be set. These set targets need to be realistic and achievable at the end. The Project Manager's Verdict for Project Success Criteria A project success criterion begins with the initiatives taken by the project manager to the project in question. This will increase the chances of the project becoming successful as well as meeting customer's expectations.
The project manager who wants his/her project successful will definitely ask the customers for feedback. This approach will prove to be successful and will be a learning curve if any mistakes had been done. KPI need to go hand in hand with the business objectives for a project to be considered successful. Meeting the Customer's Expectations Going the extra mile is not restricted to only customer services, it's also a magic word for project management. A top most important factor for a project success criterion is to exceed customer's expectations by completing the project within the sta ted deadline, budget, and quality. However project manager needs to bear in mind that this could be misinterpreted and could lead to unnecessary cost. Ideas to make a better product than sticking to the original idea could be done with the approval of the customer. For this to be successf ul, proper implementation needs to be in place. Success Factors Success factors are contributions made by the management towards a successful project. These can be classified broadly into five groups as follows: 1. The project manager: The person needs to have an array of skills under his arm to use during the project. 2. Project team: The team needs to consist of variety of skills and experience. Collectively as a team, success is easy to achieve with proper guidance. 3. Project: The scope and timeline of the project is crucial. 4. Organization: The organization needs to provide support to both the project manager and the project team. 5. External environment: External constraints should not affect the project. Back up plans need to be in place in case daily tasks cannot be carried by the team. The project's quality should not be compromised under any circumstances as this will drive away potential customers. Further Project Success Criteria: The criteria for a successful project are not restricted to only above. However following are some of other supporting factors that need to be considered when it comes to a successful project management and execution. Negotiations Proper and conducive project plan Assigning tasks to the team members Developing a plan to achieve common tasks Reviewing and doing a rework when needed Managing project risks efficiently Allocating time for process improvement Learn from the learning curve Proper estimation of project in terms of not only quantitatively but also qualitatively Conclusion: A project to be considered successful requires proper planning and the help from the management. Exceeding customer requirements will bring about success to the project. Understanding the business drivers and ensuring that the project meets the objectives of the business will also contribute to success. Aligning the key performance indicator to that of the business objective will not only help project managers to keep track but also measure and improve performance.
What is a project risk? A project risk is an uncertain event that, if it occurs, has a positive or negative effect on the prospects of achieving project objectives
Three aspects of the definition are especially important: uncertain event : something may or may not happen, e.g. somebody becomes ill or the temperature drops below a certain point making a chemical process impossible. positive or negative effect : project risk is not necessarily negative (increased costs, decreased quality etc.); It can also be positive (new valuable product features due to the use of new technology or opening up a new market segment due to some project adjustments). project objectives : the project goals are at stake if a risk occurs. Severe negative risks can lead to the cancellation of a project whereas minor risks may slightly increase the completion time of a project.
In short, risk management is about anticipating uncertain events that are inherent to a project in order to optimize them for project success. What is Risk ? Having the best people execute the plan does not guarantee success. There are a host of external factors which may play a role in determining the outcome regarding whether a project has been successful or not. These are called Project risks. The formal definition of a risk is an event or occurrence that may negatively impact the project. Risks can be mitigated and even prevented. However this requires a good amount of understanding of the risks and advance planning. It is for this reason that DMAIC methodology in Six Sigma has risk assessment as an inbuilt step. You cannot ignore it if you truly follow the DMAIC philosophy. To better understand risks, it is essential that we understand that risks fall into categories. The major categories of risk are as follows: Stakeholder Risk: Stakeholders are people who have any kind of vested interest in the performance of the project. Common examples of stakeholders are as regulators, customers, suppliers, managers, customers etc. Stakeholder risk arises from the fact that stakeholders may not have the inclination or the capabilities required to execute the project. Regulatory Risk: An organization faces several kinds of regulations. It faces rules from the local and state government where they operate. It faces rules of the national government where it operates. It also faces rules of international trade bodies. To add to all this there are internal regulations which have been put into place for better internal governance and avoiding fraud. The Six Sigma team has to ensure that the project does not adversely affect the compliance towards these risks in any way whatsoever. Technology Risk: Many times the solution proposed by the project requires implementation of a new technology. However the organization may not be in a position to acquire these technologies due to financial or operational constraints. This poses obvious risks to the project as it can adversely affect the implementation of the proposed solution. External Risk: The execution of a project requires help and support from several outside vendors as well. The dependence on these vendors poses obvious risk to the execution of the project. These vendors lie outside the direct c ontrol of any
organization. The organization may have very little ways to predict issues arising from external sources. Execution Risk: The project also faces risk of not receiving continued support from the organization. This is because the organization may discover better use of their resources in the additional time. It is also likely that the project may be poorly scoped causing it to spill over leading to wastage of resources prompting the management to abandon the project. An experienced six sigma team will usually give the risk assessment part to its most capable member. The better prepared the risk assessment plans, the better chance the organization has of successfully implementing that project.
What is the Approval Process? Project Quality management ensures that there is adequate review of project deliverables at phase completion. Approval is a formalized process ensuring that the appropriate levels of testing and review have been completed. The process of ensuring that appropriate approvals are obtained is part of the management function and is not strictly a technical function. The approval process ensures that each project phase and associated deliverables are successfully completed before beginning subsequent phases. Management gets a comprehensive view of the current project status. Information necessary to ensure that deliverables satisfy the specific business needs of the state organization is also received. Project approval also allows management to reasses s the direction of the project, as necessary, and to provide project planning updates, as required. There are typically three types of approval processes. Approvals discussed in this section occur during the execution stage and include: Project Plan and Plan Changes, at the beginning and after changes to the baseline Phase Reviews, at the end of each phase Deliverable Reviews, as they are completed and at the end of the project. The later two approval processes are shown in the figures following this page.
Contractor Payments The approval process normally triggers contractor payments. As a general rule, Kansas IT projects are designed for payment to contractors based on prearranged and negotiated deliverables. The overall contract should be capped. The cap is a dollar amount not to be exceeded for the overall project. In the case of custom system development projects, the state should avoid making payments solely on the basis of client testing. Thus, a portion of the project budget should be reserved for payments based on integration testing of subsystems as well as full integration testing of the entire system. It is important that contractors receive a revenue stream as the project goes along. However, the revenue stream should be designed in such a way that final payments are not made until after integration testing and deliverables are completed and signed off by the project manager and key users.
Phase
Description Objectives Deliverables Completion Status Issues / Concerns Readiness for Next Phase Action / Abatement Plans
Project team prepares review materials
Notify Review Committee
Review Committee
No Approve
Update
Yes Conduct reviews as necessary
Executive Management Review
No Update
Approve
Yes Begin execution of next phase
Yes
No Approve
The approval process takes place on two levels. First, the technical teams agree that a phase has been completed, and then a phase completion meeting is held to formaliz e the event and move on to the next phase. Documentation approval can also be formalized, but on a more limited scale, possibly among sub-sets of the project team. For document approval, the project plan should contain a more detailed deliverable list that includes not only date items and WBS relationship, but also the name of the person(s) who
must approve the document. The figure below provides a sample of how one project summarized this information.
Suggested Approval Points within Project Execution Document Name Project Plan Hardware Procurement & Install Plan Site Prep. and Facilities Plan Network Plan Test Plans Quality Plan Data Plan Training Plan Contingency Plan Pilot Implementation Plan Roll out and Cutover Plan Maintenance Plan Support Service Plan Turnover Plan Warranty Plan Backup and Recovery Plan Gap Analysis Report Implementation Recommendation Report Re-engineered Process flows Detailed Requirements Detailed Design Interface Design Document Training Curriculum Certifications
To Be Approved by Steering Committee Steering Comm./Imp. Team Steering Comm./Imp. Team Steering Comm./Imp. Team Imp team/stakeholders Steering Comm./Imp. Team Imp. Team/stakeholders Imp. Team/stakeholders Imp. Team/stakeholders Steering Committee/Imp team/stakeholders Implementation Team Steering Comm./Imp. Team Steering Comm./Imp. Team Steering Committee Implementation Team Steering Comm./stakeholders Steering Committee Imp. Team Stakeholders/Exec Mgmt Imp. Team/stakeholders Imp. Team/stakeholders Implementation Team Imp. Team/stakeholders Imp. Team/stakeholders/Steering Committee
Strategic Planning Strategic Planning is an organization's process of defining its strategy, or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this s trategy. In order to determine the direction of the organization, it is necessary to understand its current position and the possible avenues through which it can pursue a particular course of acti on. Generally, strategic planning deals with at least one of three key questions: "What do we do?" "For whom do we do it?" "How do we excel?" In many organizations, this is viewed as a process for determining where an organization is going over the next year or — more typically — 3 to 5 years (long term), although some extend their vision to 20 years.
Key components The key components of 'strategic planning' include an understanding of the firm's vision, mission, values and strategies. (Often a "Vision Statement" and a "Mission Statement" may encapsulate the vision and mission). Vision: outlines what the organization wants to be, or how it wants the world in which it operates to be (an "idealised" view of the world). It is a long-term view and concentrates on the future. It can be emotive and is a source of inspiration. For example, a charity working with the poor might have a vision statement which reads "A World without Poverty." Mission: Defines the fundamental purpose of an organization or an enterprise, succinctly describing why it exists and what it does to achieve its vision. For example, the charity above might have a mission statement as "providing jobs for the homeless and unemployed". Values: Beliefs that are shared among the stakeholders of an organization. Values drive an organization's culture and priorities and provide a framework in which decisions are made. For example, "Knowledge and skills are the keys to success" or "give a man bread and feed him for a day, but teach him to farm and feed him for life". These example maxims may set the priorities of self-sufficiency over shelter. Strategy: Strategy, narrowly defined, means "the art of the general’’ a combination of the ends (goals) for which the firm is striving and the means (policies) by which it is seeking to get there. A strategy is sometimes called a roadmap - which is the path chosen to flow towards the end vision. The most important part of implementing the strategy is ensuring the company is going in the right direction which is towards the end vision. Organizations sometimes summarize goals and objectives into a mission statement and/or a vision statement. Others begin with a vision and mission and use them to formulate goals and objectives. Many people mistake the vision statement for the mission statement, and sometimes one is simply used as a longer term version of the other. However they are distinct; with the vision being a descriptive picture of a desired future state; and the mission being a statement of a rationale, applicable now as well as in the future. The mission is therefore the means of successfully achieving the vision. This may be in the business world or the military.
For an organisation's vision and mission to be effective, the y must become assimilated into the organization's culture. They should also be assessed i nternally and externally. The internal assessment should focus on how members inside the organization interpret their mission statement. The external assessment — which includes all of the businesses stakeholders — is valuable since it offers a different perspective. These discrepancies between these two assessments can provide insight into their effectiveness.
A vision statement is a declaration of where you are headed — your future state - to formulate a picture of what your organization's future makeup will be, and where the organization is headed.
Strategic planning process There are many approaches to strategic planning but t ypically one of the following approaches is used: Situation-Target-Proposal Draw-See-Think-Plan Situation - evaluate the current Draw - what is the ideal image or the situation and how it came about. desired end state? Target - define goals and/or See - what is today's situation? What is the objectives (sometimes called gap from ideal and why? ideal state) Think - what specific actions must be taken Path / Proposal - map a possible to close the gap between today's situation route to the goals/objectives and the ideal state? Plan - what resources are required to execute the activities? Tools and approaches Among the most useful tools for strategic planning is SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats). The main objective of this tool is to analyze internal strategic factors, strengths and weaknesses attributed to the organization, and external factors beyond control of the organization such as opportunities and threats. Other tools include: Balanced Scorecards, which creates a systematic framework for strategic planning; Scenario planning, which was originally used in the military and recentl y used by large corporations to analyze future scenarios. PEST analysis (Political, Economic, Social, and Technological) STEER analysis (Socio-cultural, Technological, Economic, Ecological, and Regulatory factors) EPISTEL (Environment, Political, Informatic, Social, Technological, Economic and Legal). ATM Approach (Antecedent Conditions, Target Strategies, Measure Progress and Impact). Once an understanding of the desired endstate is defined, the ATM approach uses Root Cause Analysis (RCA) to understand the threats, barriers, and challenges to achieving the endstate. Not all antecedent conditions identified through RCA are within the direct and immediate control of the organization to change. Therefore, a review of organizational resources, both human and financial, are used to prioritize which antecedent conditions will be targeted. Strategies are then developed to target the prioritized antecedent conditions. Linking strategies to antecedent conditions ensures the organization does not engage in activity traps: f eel good activities that will not lead to desired changes in the endstate. Once a strategy is defined then performance measures and indicators are sought to track progress toward and impact on the desired endstate. Situational analysis When developing strategies, analysis of the organization and its environment as it is at the moment and how it may develop in the future, is important. The analysis has to be executed at an internal level as well as an external level to identify all opportunities and threats of the external environment as well as the strengths and weaknesses of the organizations. There are several factors to assess in the external situation analysis: 1. Markets (customers) 2. Competition 3. Technology 4. Supplier markets 5. Labor markets
6. The economy 7. The regulatory environment It is rare to find all seven of these factors having critical importance. It is also uncommon to find that the first two - markets and competition - are not of critical importance. (Bradford "External Situation - What to Consider") Analysis of the external environment normally focuses on the customer. Management should be visionary in formulating customer strategy, and should do so by thinking about market environment shifts, how these could impact customer sets, and whether those customer sets are the ones the company wishes to serve. Analysis of the competitive environment is also performed, many times based on the framework suggested by Michael Porter. With regard to market planning specifically, researchers have recommended a series of action steps or guidelines in accordance to which market planners should plan.
Goals, objectives and targets Strategic planning is a very important business activity. It is also important in the public sector areas such as education. It is practiced widely informally and formally. Strategic planning and decision processes should end with objectives and a roadmap of ways to achieve them. The goal of strategic planning mechanisms li ke formal planning is to increase specificity in business operation, especially when long-term and high-stake activities are involved. One of the core goals when drafting a strategic plan is to develop it in a way that is easily translatable into action plans. Most strategic plans address high level initiatives and overarching goals, but don't get articulated (translated) into day-to-da y projects and tasks that will be required to achieve the plan. Terminology or word choice, as well as the level a plan is written, are both examples of easy ways to fail at translating your strategic plan in a way that makes sense and is executable to others. Often, plans are filled with co nceptual terms which don't tie into day-to-day realities for the staff expected to carry out the plan. The following terms have been used in strategic planning: desired end states, plans, policies, goals, objectives, strategies, tactics and actions. Definitions vary, overlap and fail to achieve clarity. The most common of these concepts are specific, time bound statements of intended future results and general and continuing statements of intended future results, which most models refer to as either goals or objectives (sometimes interchangeably). One model of organizing objectives uses hierarchies. The items listed above may be organized in a hierarchy of means and ends and numbered as follows: Top Rank Objective (TRO), Second Rank Objective, Third Rank Objective, etc. From any rank, the objective in a lower rank answers to the question "How?" and the objective in a higher rank answers to the question "Why?" The exception is the Top Rank Objective (TRO): there is no answer to the "Why?" question. That is how the TRO is defined. People typically have several goals at the same time. "Goal congruency" refers to how well the goals combine with each other. Does goal A appear compatible with goal B? Do they fit together to form a unified strategy? "Goal hierarchy" consists of the nesting of one or more goals within other goal(s). One approach recommends having short-term goals, medium-term goals, and long-term goals. In this model, one can expect to attain short -term goals fairly easily: they stand just
slightly above one's reach. At the other extreme, l ong-term goals appear very difficult, almost impossible to attain. Strategic management jargon sometimes refers to "Big Hairy Audacious Goals" (BHAGs) in this context. Using one goal as a stepping-stone to t he next involves goal sequencing. A person or group starts by attaining the easy short-term goals, then steps up to the medium-term, then to the long-term goals. Goal sequencing can create a "goal stairway". In an organizational setting, the organization may co-ordinate goals so that the y do not conflict with each other. The goals of one part of the organization should mesh compatibly with those of other parts of the organization.
Business analysis techniques Various business analysis techniques can be used in strategic planning, including SWOT analysis, PEST analysis, STEER analysis, and EPISTEL (see above). SYSTEM:
System Pyramid Successful and sustainable transformation efforts require leaders who know how to manage change. At the simplest level, managing change means: Knowing what you want to accomplish and creating a compelling vision that motivates others Understand stakeholders and communicating with them early, consistently and often Managing the varying levels of support and resistance that will inevitably emerge in response to any change Change Leadership is a skillset that is required throughout any deployment, from planning and executing to sustaining improvements. Change Leadership is essential for both high level executives and program leaders, who are responsible for setting the vision, communicate the vision and make the changes happen.
Strategic Planning A strategy is a detailed plan for achieving success — the bundle of decisions and activities that we select to achieve our long-term goals — our path. Every organization must figure out what it wants to achieve and how to make it happen by using its products, customers, and operations. Strategy is fluid, continuous, and iterative and can be broken down into logical steps or elements: 1. Goal Setting: The First Step We cannot begin to think about a strategy until we have objectives that are prioritized and are based on our business, our markets, and how value is created in our organization. These objectives are aimed at maximizing the value of the organization to the shareholders, with the critical factor being time. Even though we create a vision of the organization, say, twenty years out, the strategic plan considers only a three-year to five-year time horizon. A written declaration of an organization's core purpose and focus, commonly referred to as the mission statement, serves as a consistent directional tool for the firm. In contrast, the strategic plan and its related practices fluctuate according to changing circumstances.
2. Strategy Development Process — The Road Map Strategy development is focused on three fundamental questions: Where are we now? Where should we go? How do we get there? The answers to these three questions frame the strategy process depicted in Figure 1:
Figure 1: Strategy Development Process 3. Customer Analysis — Getting the Truth Unmet customer needs are at the heart of business ideas and the development of a business strategy. While step 3 could be included in step 2, it is usually kept separate to underscore and facilitate the need to continuously analyze the customer as part of everyday management. Essentially, we need to know why our customers buy from us and why others buy from our competitors. This information is typically gathered at point of sale via customer surveys or focus groups. Good, regular, and valid information is essential to business s trategy success. 4. Internal Business Analysis — Health Check The internal audit explores the organization’s operational and financial results, evaluates its talent pool, assesses its functions and processes, and explores the health of its key relationships. A good SWOT analysis not only identifies the component strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT), but also prioritizes them and helps to limit analysis to a smaller set of the most important factors. 5. Strategic Choices Generic strategies of cost leadership, differentiation, and niche player provide a good foundation for the strategic choices each business faces. A comprehensive strategy formulation contains both positioning and execution components. An effective strategy must align between positioning and execution. Positioning articulates clearly and concisely the organization’s strategic approach to achieving its goals by setting out a direction and a choice of suitable products and services. Execution ensures that the organization has the necessary resources, operational capabilities, and organization to support the direction. To enhance our strategic choices, we ask the question “how?” and develop a strategy through approaches like integration, penetration, development, diversification, and divestiture. 6. Strategic Thinking — Optimizing Assets Strategic thinking involves asking the right solution-oriented questions and conducting appropriate analyses to formulate plans and strategies. Asset optimization questions have long been fertile ground for new ideas — for thinking about the best use for each significant asset that we currently own and control. Another strategy-generating approach is to use core-business thinking. Your core business is defined by the set of products, customer segments, processes, and technologies in which you can build the greatest competitive advantage. Defining your core business can be dif ficult and may require a small team to answer the question. If we were forced to sel l off all of our businesses except for one, which one would we keep? Once your core business has been identified, the key is to work the core to your best advantage — for example, taking advantage of operational excellence in the core business area. Another method uses best practices lists that can be found in publications. For example, Choi and Valikangas (strategy+business, vol. 23) distilled a list of nearly two hundred business strategies into a top ten list that includes generic approaches like consolidation, value migration, and bypassing. 7. Implementing Strategic Decisions — Execution Matters The principal causes of strategy failures are the attitudes, communication, and commitment of senior management. The best system for implementing strategies is by using the balanced scorecard. It provides a framework for considering strat egy from four perspectives — financial, customer, business processes, and learni ng and growth. It was created by Kaplan and Norton in 1992 as a means of neutralizing the limita tions of managing only by financial measures. Implementing strategy is a team game, and even though senior management has the responsibility to formulate and articulate the business strategy, you, as a program or project management professional, play a lead role in the strategy implementation segment of the process. As a program manager, you are expected to understand the strategic drivers of the program, the specific benefit levers, and the required level of governance to make change happen. As project manager, you are expected to fulfill a s imilar role at the project level, whether it is part of a formal program or a one-off high-impact strategic project. Conclusion Each successful strategy could be a catalyst for a strategic thinking direction and approach. As a program or project manager, take the time to identify the strategies in play in the next business case or feasibility study you review. If they are not clear in the financial analysis document, do not be afraid to ask for clarificati on from your sponsor. Partnership status may take months or years to est ablish. Regardless, you will not be able to “link project management to corporate strategies and position project management as a
solution to problems” if you do not understand the driving business strategies. This article helps you start —now, it’s up to you to go deeper!
Project Appraisal Project appraisal is a generic term that refers to the process of assessing, in a structured way, the case for proceeding with a project or proposal. In short, project appraisal is the effort of calculating a project's viability. It often involves comparing various options, using economic appraisal or some other decision analysis technique. Project Appraisal is a consistent process of reviewing a given project and evaluating its content to approve or reject this project, through analysing the problem or need to be addressed by the project, generating solution options (alternatives) for solving the problem, selecting the most feasible option, conducting a feasibili ty analysis of that option, creating the solution statement, and identifying all people and organizations concerned with or af fected by the project and its expected outcomes. It is an attempt to justify the project through analysis, which is a way to determine project feasibility and cost-effectiveness.
Process Initial Assessment Define problem and long-list Consult and short-list Develop options Compare and select Project
Types of appraisal Technical appraisal commercial and marketing appraisal Financial, economic appraisal organisational or management appraisal Cost-benefit analysis o Economic appraisal Cost-effectiveness analysis o Scoring and weighting o
Project appraisal in relation to technical, economic, financial, social, and environmental analyses; During project appraisal, hard questions will be asked and the answers will determine whether the project proposal will be adopted or rejected. The questions raised will include concerns such as the appropriateness of project objectives, size, scope, implementation methods and modalities, implementation time scale, and the project technical, financial, economic, institutional, environmental, social and distributional justification of the project. A well prepared and assessed project preparation and an appraisal consumes large amounts of data and therefore requires an equipped office with computer facilitation as depicted in the figure below; Figure; A modern office with computer access
(a) Technical analysis Technical analyses of a project is aimed at ensuring the following: i. To confirm the source of the project proposal, nature of the studies – including feasibility studies undertaken before the proposal, and the nature of decisions taken by all relevant authorities involved ii. That the problem or the need to be resolved by the project has been clearly stated iii. That the project has been clearly spelled out with the correct technical design details (such as size, location, timing, and technology) iv. That the required materials have been correctly determined and their source identified v. That the costs of the project have been clearly established, expected product prices projected, and payment modalities and schedules agreed to Economic Analysis (b) The need for economic analysis arises out of the fact that Higher Local Governments (HLGs) operate within limited resources. As a result, some difficult choices of where to commit limited resources from a large pool of deserving and competing priorities and needs must be made by HLG officials. The economic costs and benefits of a project are estimated through the application of a cost-benefit analysis, i.e. evaluating both the implicit and social costbenefits of a project. For profit making projects, profitability tools like Net Present Value, Internal financial rate of return, Pay Back Period and Incremental Profit are used to estimate the viability of the project.
HLGs do not generally operate on profit motivation when considering projects; therefore, social cost-benefit analysis is most applicable for HLGs. In a cost benefit analysis, one must ask basic questions as to what costs and benefits should directly and indirectly accrue to the target beneficiaries in terms of poverty reductions, enhanced savings, improved medical care, educational, water and health services. The figure below illustrates the participatory process including especially the beneficiaries of medical, water and sanitation in the design and discussion of project formulation. The participatory process allows for more ideas to be incorporated into the project, and often increases the success of the project. Figure; Participatory Planning
c) Financial Analysis takes a hard look at the funding sources for the project both in terms of completing the project and for its sustained operation. This analysis should question if; i. The HLG would fund the project from internal resources? ii. The HLG would fund the project from external resources? iii. The external resources would be borrowed funds? iv. If the funds are to be borrowed, would the HLG be able to pay back the loan with accrued interest? v. Would the external resources be a grant from the central government or from any other source? vi. Would the HLG co-fund the project with an outside donor, whether it is a central government or another development partner? vii. Would effective cost recovery mechanisms aimed recouping the project costs be put in place? viii. Would financial management modalities be put in place to record the transactions during implementation and operation of the project? Documents could include cashbook, assets register, bank statements, balance sheet (accruals accounting), income statements (or receipt and payment schedules), etc d) Environmental Analysis Depending on the nature of the project, it is important that the project is seen to comply with the various environmental requirements as administered by the National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA). Specifically, the project should comply with the provisions of the National Environment Statute (1995) and the Environmental Impact Assessment (1998). Environmental aspects that projects would have to address include; • Public health and occupational safety • Control of air, water and land pollution • Management of renewable natural resources (plants and animals) • Efficient use of natural resources through multiple use, recycling and erosion control • Conservation of unique habits (forests, game reserves) for rare species and cultural preservation Figure; Environmental pollution and degradation e) Social Analysis The validity of the planners’ assumptions about the soci al conditions are tested through social analysis. Where necessary, adjustments should be made so that the project goals are expressed in terms that have more meaning for both the project population and the implementing agencies. Social analysis focuses on four areas indicated below; i. The social-cultural and demographic characteristics of the project population – its size and social structure, including ethnic, tribal and class composition ii. How the project population has organized itself to carry out productive activities, including the structure of households and families, availability of labor, ownership of land, and access to and control of resources
iii. The project’s cultural acceptability; in other words, its capacity both for adapting to and for bringing abo ut desirable changes in people’s behavior and in how they perceive their needs iv. The strategy necessary to elicit commitment from the project population and to ensure their sustained participation from design through to successful implementation, operation and maintenance The figure below depicts a situation still prevailing in certain areas in Uganda where the girl child is relegated parental duties at an early age while the brother goes to school.
Feasibility Study During the process of project appraisal a feasibility study may be undertaken to establish the justification of the identified project in all of its relevant dimensions, including its technical design, economic and financial viability, environmental compliance and social acceptability; as well as its conformity with the national development objectives and priorities and the relevant policy, legal and regulatory framework. The aim of a feasibility study is to initially identify the following aspects: i. Development objectives against which the project proposed conforms ii. Policy framework and detailed project objectives iii. Technical soundness of the project iv. Administrative feasibility of the project v. The economic and financial viability of the project proposal vi. The status of demand for the project beneficiaries vii. Considerations of customs and traditions of project benefactors, issues of compatibility viii. Other important policy and cross cutting issues (gender, environment, HIV/AIDS) The results of a feasibility study influences decisions to commit or not commit scarce resources to a given project proposal An important analytical tool that underpins the value of undertaking a feasibility study is the use of production possibility curve. This tool is extremely useful in underscoring the efficient allocation of scarce financial and human resources, as exemplified below by the trade offs between production of milk and matooke. The natural resource bases of districts in Uganda are largely in the context of land and human resources. The process of transforming these resources involves a choice in the use of land and human power. In the background of traditional land use with majority of the population largely rural and with very little education, these factors limit the level of production in the districts. This situation notwithstanding, the government is determined to fight the current high levels of poverty in rural areas through a number of government policies. In particular, poverty reduction policies, UPE and PMA. The implementation of these policies implies making a choice with respect to the use of available land and human resources. A tool known to illustrate the effect of choice in the use of such resources to bring about the desired change in the social economy is the following Transformation Production Possibility Curve. In other words, a district can choose only to be involved in livestock production, only agricultural products, or to produce both at a certain level of output combination as
indicated by the curve below. The curve indicates the units that would be sacrificed if one more units of agricultural products are produced (i.e. the of tradeoffs) The curve illustrates that the economy would be at an optimal level of production when total output is comprised of 7,000 liters of milk and 1,000 tones of matooke. At this point, producing one extra litre of milk would cost 0.14 tones of matooke and vice versa. Transformation Production Possibility Curve- Litres of Milk Vs Tons of Matooke
Note 1. Production at: a) D represents optimal utilization of available resources b) C is sub-optimal utilization of resources, being inside the production possibility curve c) Z is an impossible case as it is outside the production possibility curve 2. Trade offs and Opportunity costs 1 litre of milk = 0.14 tons of Matooke 1 Ton of Matooke = 7 litres of milk The curve depicts that the economy would be at an optimal level of production when total output is made of 7000 litres of milk and 1000 tons of Matooke. At this point producing one extra litre of milk would cost 0.14 tons of Matooke and vice versa.
Obstacles 1. Unrealistic deadlines - Some would argue that the majority of projects have "schedule slippage" as a standard feature rather than an anomaly. The challenge of many managers becomes to find alternate approaches to the tasks and schedules in order to complete a project "on time", or to get approval for slipping dates out. An "absolute" time-based deadline such as a government election, externally-scheduled event, or public holiday forces a on-time completion (though perhaps not with 100% of desired deliverables). But, most project timelines do eventually slip due to faulty initial deadlines (and the assumptions that created them). Solution: Manage the
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stress of "the immovable rock and the irresistible force" (i.e. the project deadline and the project issues) with creative planning, alternatives analysis, and communication of reality to the project participants. Also determine what deadlines are tied to higher level objectives, or have critical links into schedules of other projects in the organization's portfolio. Communication deficit - Many project managers and team members do not provide enough information to enough people, along with the lack of an i nfrastructure or culture for good communication. Solution: Determine proper communication flows for project members and develop a checklist of what information (reports, status, etc.) needs to be conveyed to project participants. The communications checklist should also have an associated schedule of when each information dissemination should occur. Scope changes - As most project managers know, an evil nemesis "The Scope Creep" is usually their number one enemy who continually tries to take control. Solution: There is no anti-scope-creep spray in our PM utility be lts, but as with many project management challenges, document what is happening or anticipated to happen. Communicate what is being requested, the challenges related to these changes, and the alternate plans, if any, to the project participants (stakeholders, team, management, and others). Resource competition - Projects usually compete for resources (people, money, time) against other projects and initiatives, putting the project manager in the position of being in competition. Solution: Portfolio Management - ask upper level management to define and set project priority across all projects. Also realize that some projects seemingly are more important only due to the importance and political clout of the project manager, and these may not be aligned with the organization's goals and objectives. Uncertain dependencies - As the project manager and the team determine project dependencies, assessing the risk or reliability behind these linkages usually involves trusting someone else's assessment. "My planner didn't think that our area could have a hurricane the day of the wedding, and now we're out of celebration deposits for the hall and the band, and the cost of a honeymoon in Tahiti!" Solution: Have several people - use brainstorming sessions - pick at the plan elements and dependencies, doing "what if?" scenarios. Update the list of project risk items if necessary based on the results. Failure to manage risk - A project plan has included in it some risks, simply listed, but no further review happens unless instigated by an event later on. Solution: Once a project team has assessed risks, they can either (1) act to reduce the chance of the risk occurrence or (2) act or plan towards responding to the risk occurrence after it happens. Insufficient team skills - The team members for many projects are assigned based on their availability, and some people assigned may be too proud or simply not knowledgeable enough to tell the manager that they are not trained for all of their assigned work. Solution: Starting with the project manager role, document the core set of skills needed to accomplish the expected workload, and honestly bounce each
person's skills against the list or matrix. Using this assessment of the team, guide the team towards competency with training, cross-training, additional resources, external advisors, and other methods to close the skills gap. 8. Lack of accountability - The project participants and related players are not held accountable for their results - or lack of achieving all of them. Solution: Determine and use accountability as part of the project risk profile. These accountability risks will be then identified and managed in a more visible manner. 9. Customers and end-users are not engaged during the project. Project teams can get wound up in their own world of internal deliverables, deadlines, and process, and the people on the outside do not get to give added input during the critical phases. Solution: Discuss and provide status updates to all project participants - keep them informed! Invite (and encourage) stakeholders, customers, end-users, and others to periodic status briefings, and provide an update to those that did not attend. 10. Vision and goals not well-defined - The goals of the project (and the reasons for doing it), along with the sub-projects or major tasks involved, are not always clearly defined. Clearly communicating these vague goals to the project participants becomes an impossible task. Some solutions and ideas to thrash vagueness: Determine which parts of a project are not understood by the team and other project participants - ask them or note feedback and questions that come up. Check the project documentation as prepared, and tighten up the stated objectives and goals - an editor has appropriate skills to find vague terms and phrasing. Each project is, hopefully, tied into to the direction, strategic goals, and vision for the whole organization, as part of the portfolio of projects for the organization.
