Project Business case not only helps in validating the reasons to start the project, it also helps during the project excecution for verifying the current status meets the business expectation.
When it comes to NASA every project is critical and stakes are high. These rules have been passed on internet and emails. I recently found a blog article on 100 Rules for NASA Project Managers that I am sharing with you.
These are the 100 Rule for Project Managers.
ProjectSteps: 100 Rules for NASA Project Managers
The success of a software project how easily the end-users adopts it… This also means that the software solution or product that you are going to deliver should be user-friendly and should improve the end-user productivity.
Recently I was working on a Project for a particular group of a client, where they were using a MS-Excel based system to get their things done. It was decentralized system where different team member work on their piece of excel sheet and then all the works were consolidated, verified and reports were generated.
We got this Project to convert the existing system to Web based Centralized application. Now as a part of requirement understanding we also created prototype of this application which contained a nice Form based interfaces.
The business stakeholder were happy to see the prototype but when we displayed it to the end-user one of them raised concern that in Excel System they could quickly enter the enter data in tabular sheet and saved the entire sheet with single go…whereas with this form based approach they will be able to enter single record at a time which can be time consuming to them.
Well it was a nice observation…and as we got the early feedback from the client we could offer them two solution, one was grid based form and the second alternative was they fill a excel document in a given format and our application able to import data from it.
So coming back to the original question, When should we involve end users in Project? The short reply would be involve them if possible in all the phases and as early as possible:
Benefits of involving End Users early on are:
Summary:
Involve your end users as early as possible, as the system or solution you are going to provide will be used by the same end-users. Involving end-user will give them the feeling of contributing to the project and ensure having a satisfied customer at your end.
If your project has adversaries, participants who are hostile or reluctant to contribute, it can damage team cohesion and threaten the outcome. You must confront the problem early on, taking steps to win them over to allies, minimize their negative impact, or remove them from the effort entirely.
Tom Kendrick, discusses here the effect for Bad Attitudes on your project here.
Project Management requires you to manage various activities at different stages of Project and take into consideration the processes defined by your organization.
As a project manager you would like cover as many aspect that can affect the project. Though during managing a project everything might not go as planned, but if you cover the standardized processes or activities that will definitely help you in any situations.
The Project Management Checklist will help you to accomplish the standardized processes and activities. A good checklist will give you a list of activities that needs to be completed and it will also keep you informed about the status of things to be done so that the project moves in the right direction.
Things to remember while creating Project Management Checklist:
The author of book “The Checklist Manifesto” Atul Gawande has provided an excellent Checklist for Creating Checklist, you can download this document from the following link:
To prepare for project management checklists, You can first search your organizations archive if they have predefined checklists for various activities. This will be the best source as checklist prepared and maintained in your organization will be aligned to its processes and policies.
You can refer to template checklists available online but they will be more generic and you might need to customized them according to your organizations policies or processes.
Reference:
photo source: mischiru
Why do you start a Project?
There are definitely some goals or objective that needs to be achieved by a Project.
But then you may ask why we should go ahead with a project?
You know that you have a well defined goal or objective that needs to be achieved, now a goal can be achieved using various means and techniques. You can follow any technique to achieve your goal then why you need a project. Is there a real worth(Business or Personal) to go for a Project.
Here comes into picture the need of a Project Business Case document.
A business case captures the reasoning for initiating a project or task. The purpose of a Business Case is to justify the project expenditure by identifying the business benefits you’re going to deliver.
Mumbai: Bandra-Worli Sea link Project
Mumbai is one of the largest city of India and it is basically a Island city. To connect the Central Mumbai with Western Suburb of city there is a Highway through Mahim that connects both part of city.
Somewhere in 1999 the city council decided to build a sea link as an alternate route between the Western Suburb and Central Mumbai. Hence the project to build Bandra-Worli sea link was proposed.
Now if you see above example the main objective to connect Western Suburb and Central Mumbai can be achieved using the Mahim Causeway. But then what was the need to create a alternate route that is too costly and which required one of the great engineering effort to build a highway over a Sea.
The business case suggested were:
- To reduce the congestion on Mahim Causeway and hence a better Traffic system.
- The Sea Link reduces travel time between Bandra and Worli from 45–60 minutes to 7 minutes. This is a huge time saver, now one can save more than 70 percent of time traveling from one end to another.
What does a business case contains:
What are the factors raise the need to create a Business Case:
How does the Business Case helps making a decision:
Who creates the business case?
Creation of Business Case is a task that is usually the responsibility of stakeholders and sponsors. If a Project manager realizes that he should build a business case for whatsoever reason, then he should work closely with clients, sponsors and other stakeholders.
Ever wondered what happens before starting any project.
Picture this that one bright morning (or evening for who are late sleeper) you went to a Fitness center, join there and start pumping the iron….
What will happen after couple of month? Will you continue going to gymnasium?
Well that depends on what results you get...right...
So then how do you decide if you got the results..I mean how will you verify that?
That depends on the goals or objective you have set.
So the first thing that is needed to start any project is know the goals that you want to achieve and that means a well defined objective should be mentioned.
Now taking example of fitness, your goals or objective may be different, it may be any of the below:
So depending on your goals or objective you might plan for or choose different type of fitness regime...but your goals must be clear as what ever fitness regime you select, at the end of certain duration you can compare if the results matches your expected goal... If that happens the project is successful and the results are accepted. If it doesn't happens dont worry it is just to tell you either some of the tasks to achieve results were not done sincerely or you just discovered at least one way how not to achieve your goals.
Now that your objectives are clear, now you have to define your requirements. Again taking example from the Fitness Center, suppose your goal is to join a weight loss program then you might specify following things:
Now what we did just now is defined all the requirement, specification and constraints within which you would like to meet your goals. It is not necessary all your requirements will be met but it will definately help your Fitness Adviser to plan things optimally to meet your goals.
Now in the world of Project Management a Project Statement of Work (SOW) is a document where the sponsor (or the client or business) specifies the objectives they want to achieve through this project, they will describe the product or services to be delivered by the project and will provide a comprehensive high level requirements.
The SOW document is then referred by the Project Manager or Vendors to understand what exactly is required and what is the project objective. This also give clear indication on what requirements must completed in order the sponsor will accept the project as completed.
Further Reference: How to Write the Project Statement of Work (SOW)
Project Integration Management includes the process and activities needed to identify, define, combine, unify and coordinate the various processes and project management activities within the Project Management Process Groups.
According to PMI following processes falls under Project Integration Management:
The most important thing in any project is that it should satisfy the stakeholder’s needs and expectation. The Project Integration Management should help to Identify and Define the project expectation set by the stake holders. The purpose of developing a Project Charter in Project Integration Management is to develop a document which authorizes a project or phase documenting the initial requirements meeting the stakeholders needs and expectation.
Once the requirement is set and the stakeholders needs and expectation are authorized, The project manager needs to prepare a plan to execute the project. This is done with the help of Develop Project Management Plan process, this process documents the actions necessary to define, prepare, integrate and coordinate all subsidiary plans. The tasks mentioned in Project Management Plan should lead a Project Team to achieve the project’s objective.
In order to achieve the Project’s objective, the task mentioned in project plan must be executed. The Direct and Manage Project Execution is a process that leads the team to perform the work mentioned in Project Plan.
The work that is done should be tracked, review should be done and the progress should be regulated so that the project meets the deadline meeting the project performance. This is done in Direct and Manage Project Execution process.
Changes occurs in any project, during the execution the stakeholders may raise changes to the original requirements. The process of reviewing all change request, approving the changes and managing changes to the deliverables, project documents and project management plan are done under the Perform Integrated Change Control.
Finally when the project comes to closure, there are many activities that needs to be finalized before the project is formally completed, these activities are done in Close Project Phase.
The above article is based on the PMI specification defined in PMBOK.
A Project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service or result.A project is effort or work put to create a product(Building, Car, Software etc.) or a Service(Flight Reservation System, etc.) or a result(A document or report as a outcome, etc.)
-PMI
