Project Management Introduction

Project Management Introduction

Project – In English Language a project stands for scheme, assignment, task, undertaking, job, plan,
blueprint, design, and strategy. The dictionary meaning of the project is-
1. Task or planned program of work: a task or planned program of work that requires a large
amount of time, effort, and planning to complete.
1.1. a project to develop a faster delivery service
1.2. project management
2. Unit of work: an organized unit of work - a class project
3. Public work: an extensive organized public undertaking - a construction project
A project refers to a provisional effort undertaken to create or manufacture any product/service or
any other result on time, with in specified budget and with predefined specification using human and
non human resources.
It is a proposal of investment in order to create or develop such facility which can increase the
production of goods and services or used in public welfare. It is a single non-repetitive enterprise. It
is generally undertaken to achieve specified objectives within a time limit and a cost budget.
Project is a set of activities which are networked in an order and aimed towards achieving the goals
of a project upon the completions of all the activities the goal of the project would have been
achieved. A project is undertaken to achieve a purpose.
A project can be-
• Personal projects:  build a motorway
 Obtain an MBA/BBA etc.  design a new car
 write a report • Business projects:
 plan a wedding  develop a new course
 plant a garden  develop a computer system
 build a house extension  introduce a new product
• Industrial projects:  prepare an annual report
 construct a building  set up a new office
 provide a gas supply to an industrial estate
The Basic aspects of Project are:
1. A course of action 2. Specific objectives 3. Definite time perspective.

Features of Project: Features of a project are:

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1. Unique in nature. They do not involve the repetitive processes every project undertaken is
different from the project undertaken last time. Whereas the operational activities undertaken can
be repetitive.
2. Defined timescale. Projects have clearly specified time frame in which product/services must be
delivered to the customers.
3. Approved budget. Funds are allocated to the project for financial expenditure within which
deliverables must be produced.
4. Limited resources. A project starts from the agreed amount of labor, equipments and materials
allocated to the projects.
5. Focus. A project has its fixed objectives/missions/goals.
6. Risk factor. A project involves a certain level of uncertainty therefore it carry risk factors.
7. Team work. Projects are often carried out by a team of people who have been assembled for that
specific purpose. The activities of this team may be co-ordinated by a project manager. Project
teams may consist of people from different backgrounds and different parts of the organisation.
In some cases project teams may consist of people from different organisations.
8. Statement Of Work (SOW).
9. The project team will be responsible for delivery of the project end product to some sponsor
within or outside the organisation. The full benefit of any project will not become available until
the project as been completed.

Why do projects go wrong?

There can be many reasons why projects go wrong. The most common reasons are as follows:
a) Project goals are not clearly defined
b) There can be constraints on the completion of projects arising from the different objectives of:
 Short time scale
 Resource availability
 Quality factors
 Human factors

1 Constraints on the completion of projects

a) Time
Our definition of a project stated that it was an activity which had a defined beginning and ending
point. Most projects will be close-ended in terms of there being a requirement for completion by
a certain point in time. This point may be the result of an external factor such as new legislation,
or may be derived from organisational requirements. It may also be partly determined by other
constraints. There is likely to be some relationship between the time taken for a project and its
cost. A trade-off between the two constraining factors may then be necessary.

b) Resource Availability

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There is likely to be a budget for the project and this will clearly be a major constraint. Cost
constraints may be set in a number of ways, for example as an overall cash limit or as a detailed
budget broken down over a number of expenditure headings. Labour resources in particular may
be a limiting factor on the completion of the project. In the short run it is likely that labour will
be fixed in supply. Whilst the overall resource available may in theory be sufficient to complete
the project, there may be difficulties arising out of the way in which the project has been
scheduled. That is, there may be a number of activities scheduled to take place at the same time
and this may not be possible given the amount of resources available.

c) Quality factors
Whether the project delivers the goods to the right quality.

There are techniques which can be used to overcome the problems referred to above. These include:
• Budgeting, and the corresponding control of the project budget through budgetary control
procedures.
• Project planning and control techniques such as Gantt charts and network analysis.

An important point to note at this stage is how the various constraints on project completion are
likely to be interlinked with each other. For example, problems with time constraints or resource
constraints may be overcome by spending more through working overtime, employing more people
or purchasing better machines. Budget problems may have a knock-on effect on the achievement of
deadlines.

It is important to remember that while project management techniques are important, they tend to
understate the importance of the key resource: people. In a fact changing environment where tasks
are often difficult, controversial with uncertain outcomes, "people management" skills are called for.
Management- The management can be defined as-
1. Administration of business: the organizing and controlling of the affairs of a business or a
sector of a business
2. Managers as group: managers and employers considered collectively, especially the directors
and executives of a business or organization
3. Handling of something successfully: the act of handling or controlling something successfully-
Crisis management
4. Skill in handling or using something: the skillful handling or use of something such as
resources
So project management can be defined as the adept use of techniques and skills (hard and soft) in
planning and controlling tasks and resources needed for the project, from both inside and outside of
organisation, to achieve results. it can be also defined as a technique for matching available
resources (time, money, and people) against business project aims (date/time and cost).it is the
planning, monitoring, and controlling of the tasks and resources to complete defined objective.

Project Management’s techniques originated in industry to address the need for managing
increasingly complex activities such as civil and mechanical engineering projects. The techniques

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involved are something quite different in scope and purpose from the ‘Design Process’. In history it
was developed in the shipbuilding industry during World War I (1914-1918), when American
engineer Henry Laurence Gantt developed what is now known as the Gantt chart (scheduling chart:
a chart in which horizontal lines show the actual and projected amounts of time involved in
completing a particular task or reaching specific levels of production), a bar chart deploying use of
resources over time.
In the 1950s United States companies Du Pont and Remington Rand developed the critical-path
method (project planning method: a technique in project planning that identifies the activities
whose scheduling is inflexible), which arrives at the combination of resource allocation that
determines a project's end date. This was subsequently incorporated by the U.S. Navy into its
program evaluation and review technique, which displays graphically which processes are dependent
on others.
Project management concentrates on the management of resources and time over the lifetime of a
project in a systematic manner. While the approaches outlined were originally developed to aid in
the management of large scale projects.
Purpose of Project Management-
The purpose of project management is to foresee or predict as many of the dangers and problems as
possible and to plan, organize, and control activities so that projects are completed as successfully as
possible in spite of all the risks. This process starts before any resource is committed, and must
continue until all work is finished. The primary aim of the project manager is for the final result to
satisfy the project sponsor or purchaser, within the promised timescale and without using more
money and other resources than those that were originally set aside or budgeted.
. A successful project is one which:
• has been finished on time
• is within its cost budget
• Performs to a technical/performance standard which satisfies the end user.