Overall Explanation Of Project Management

Overall Explanation Of Project Management 

A successful project manager plans and is committed to completing a project, and to do this uses a range of tools and techniques to monitor progress. A project may not go ahead according to its plan, and in some cases may fail to achieve its targets, if it is not managed and controlled properly. Some common reasons for failure of, or delays to a project that needs close monitoring are:

• Project monitoring tools and techniques that are not properly or adequately used.

• A project manager who does not have the required technical and managerial skills.

•  Inadequate allocation of resources to project activities.

•  Project team members or higher-level management who are not fully committed to the project.

Projects regularly fail because Project Management tools are used incorrectly to control a project. A wide range of tools and techniques can, and should be used and each of these tools can be applied to one or more phases of the project.

Examples of these tools are outlined below such as:

• Work breakdown structure (WBS) – WBS is about breaking larger tasks into smaller activities so that activities can be planned and resourced more effectively.

• Gantt Charts – A method to record the actual performance of an activity against its predicted targets and deadlines using horizontal bars.

• Network Analysis – Used for larger projects where Gantt charts, for example, would not be very effective due to the complexity of the project and the inter-relationship of its activities. These networks provide a much better visual picture of the project tasks and are more effective at identifying the priority tasks when combined with methods such as CPM (critical path method).

• Reports – These are vital to the success of a project. They can be generated at different stages of a project and by various parties. Examples of reports include:

1. A feasibility report, which is used to justify the initiation of a project.
2. A project plan report, which gives all relevant information about a project or progress reports written by the project team, which show how a task has progressed against its targets and what resources are needed to make sure the task remains on track.
3. A project conclusion or closing report, sometimes referred to as a post-completion report, which gives a summary of project deliverables and is an essential document required to sign off a project.

There is a wide range of Project Management software available to help project managers and project team members deal with the complexities of a project. These tools give the project valuable support and help to control project timing and deadline monitoring, allocation of resources, budgets and funds, generation of various reports at different stages, identification of risks and actions to manage these risks and, the most important part of any project, communication.

As part of a Project Management system, and especially in manufacturing engineering projects, it is also important to have a conformance management system, which checks and ensures project final deliverables meet previously agreed technical specifications.