Defining the project 1st February

2010

An important factor of the project – More than 50% of the projects fail
because of poor definition – This stage actually lays the foundation for a
sound working of the project & its eventual success.
What should a definition (Scope) cover & articulate?
1. Project objectives – The definition should clearly outline the major
objectives of the project – Factors such as targets, time plan & cost
limitations should get clearly defined – E.g. I will be better that
competitor is no objective – I will be 20% better than competitor is a
better statement or – I will improve my profitability is no good but I will
improve the profitability by 15% in the current year a good statement
2. Deliverables ( These could be stage wise) – They can be different at
different stages – A clear plan is a deliverable in the planning stage
whereas Having the system loaded on the whole network is a
deliverable at the end of the software introduction plan.
3. Milestones or important points in the project life cycle – Completion of
specific activity at a predetermined time plan – E.G. Complete the
factory building in 6 months – The milestones should also specify the
responsible functions or persons who would reah that milestone.
4. Technical specifics & requirements – Detailed specifications of the
product of the project fully & properly spelt out – It should match the
customer expectations & specifications completely – It should also
conform to time & cost plans.
5. Limits & exclusions – Clear definition of the limits of the scope of the
project – A failure here can set a false level of expectations as also
open ended project wrt costs & time overruns – Care should also be
taken to define what the project will not attempt to achieve
6. Customer reviews – The team should clearly define the process of
periodic customer reviews & update thereof. Customer liaison is one
of the most important communication links of any project.

Also, the project manager has to ensure that the projective objectives are
clear sub sets of the company mission statement & strategy plan – If it is not
the same, then they should either be aligned or the project should be
abandoned –

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The project has to help company achieve its objectives set in the
strategic plans.

A typical project scope document should look like the example below:

Title : Manufacturing unit for production of motors

Deliverables : This should capture the customer specs wrt cost, time &
technical specs.
For ex.
1. Land development & complete roads
2. Complete factory shade measuring 2000 sq. mtrs.
3. Utilities building measuring 500 sq. mtrs
4. Stores & logistics building measuring 1000 sq. mtrs.
5. Security complex measuring 200 sq. mtrs

Mile stones
1. Completion of land development & internal roads
2. Completion of factory shade
3. Completion of Utilities & stores
4. Completion of security complex

Technical specifications.
1. Land development within a level difference of 50 cms.
2. Civil structures should be of fabricated steel
3. Flooring should be of Tremix grade 250
4. Roads should be made of bitumen & capable of taking loads upto…..

Limits & exclusions:

1. Buildings should conform to earthquake resistance level of 4 g.
2. Landscaping should be part of the development work.
3. Piping & electrical work is not included in the factory & other building.

Establishing the Priorities for project

Normally all the projects have 3 priorities irrespective of nature & location of
projects.
These are technical specs or scope, Time duration & costs. All these three
factors are part of the agreement with the customer & therefore are
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important factors wrt its success. During the life cycle of the project these
factors do undergo many changes due to various reasons. Every change in
any one of the factors will invariably affect the other two.
One of the most important tasks of the PM is to monitor the progress wrt to
these 3 factors. Depending on the criticality of the factor & situation he has
to decide as which has to be strictly as per the plan & which one could
allowed to be deviated if the need be. For example, the project for
introduction of new software will always have priority for timely introduction
of the same above the cost & quality because of the competition. He has to
take a call on which one is to be constrained, which one should be
enhanced & which one should be left as it is.
This will help manager to create a structured decision priority matrix which
will serve as a tool for mentoring the progress.

Work break down structure

This is the process of converting all the deliverables into subtasks at lower
levels to a stage where the tasks cannot be further broken down to any
further smaller subset. This process helps manager & the teams establish &
achieve the following major initiatives or facilities.
a. Capture all the activities in fine details & define the scope of each
activity
b. Define individual cost, time & specs for each activity.
c. Define the relation of each activity with the rest.
d. Assign the responsibility of each activity to various functions in the
organization.
e. Assign responsible person for each activity.
f. Set up monitoring mechanism.
g. Integrate each activity with the project structure.
h. Set up priorities for each activity.
Such structure also tells manager the total requirement of all resources wrt
to their relations to the schedules & thus enables him to define the crunch
time zones & solutions thereof.

Responsibility matrix
The WBD structure mentioned above gives rise to relation of each task in
the project to functions & individuals in the org. It brings out few things
clearly. How many & which functions & people are required for each task &
how long is one such output. The second one is – In how many tasks of the
project, each function & individual are involved & the respective time

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duration. The matrix clearly tells the crowding of many tasks in one time
zone for each individual as also the possible idle time zones. This could be
further utilized to reschedule certain activities for resource optimization &
balancing.

Estimation of project – Time & Costs

The most daunting & challenging task for success of project.
It can be defined as the process of forecasting the requirement of time &
financial resources for the completion of project. This can be done by either
following top down approach or the bottom up approach.
Top down approach - Here the total time & costs mentioned for the whole
project is taken as reference & the same is broken down to the individual
task level.
Bottom up approach – Here the individual tasks’ needs of costs & time are
defined & added up to arrive at the top level estimate