Introduction to Project Management
Project Management Institute known as PMI categorized the enormous areas of project management into ten different parts, which are known as ten knowledge areas of the project management. The areas of knowledge of Project management overlaps with the different processing groups which are initiation of the project, project plan, execution of the project, controlling and monitoring and project finishing. Generally, every project management process is belonging to this five process groups. There is also ten other knowledge areas of project management, which are a set of guidelines and standard terminology based on project management. The knowledge areas are considered as a developing standard, which is updated occasionally in the PMBOK. There is a strong matrix structure, which comprises both the process groups and the areas of knowledge. The knowledge areas are designed to assist the projects to achieve an efficient result. Every process groups and knowledge areas follow some certain discipline and performed accordingly (Larson & Gray, 2015). The relation between process groups and knowledge areas can be defined as the horizontal and vertical line where the knowledge areas are the fundamental procedural subject matter and essential for operational management. The ten project knowledge areas are followed:
The stakeholders play a very vital role in any projects. They must actively associate with every task in order to complete the project successfully. Before starting any project, it is essential to identify all the stakeholders even though it is a very crucial task.
The stakeholder management is associated with listening to the stakeholder opinions and prioritizing them. It is also necessary to calculate their impact on some certain tasks or on the whole project. The communication management can be very useful to stay connected with the stakeholders.
The project procurement has a dramatic impact on the project schedule and budget. The procurement planning usually starts by recognizing the environment requirement of the projects and how the outsider will be involved in the projects. This deals with the outside procurement such as hiring subcontractors.
Generally, this activity includes a request for proposals and choosing a vendor, work statement, reference terms. The procurement control is needed to be monitored and manage frequently and then closing the contractors once the deal is completed. The procurement management is responsible for managing the outsider (Eastham et al., 2014).
The risk management is used to identify the possible risks and categorized, prioritized and itemized them. Performance based on qualitative risk analysis after the biggest risks have been identified and thus classified in the forms of impact and likelihood, then prioritize them. Then perform quantitative analysis according to their impact on the concerned project, such as its schedule and budget.
Ten Knowledge Areas of Project Management
The project communication management is regarded as one of the important knowledge based areas and might be principal as they are able to inform every aspect of the project. The communication is also essential in order to share information from one point to other. The team and stakeholders must be stay communicated and this is the responsibility of the project communication management (Morris, 2015). The communication management determined the communication standards which is followed by every individual. Management of the communications during the execution of the project would ensure it runs as planned.
The team of the project is generally considered as the most important resources. The project team must be constructed precisely while checking their expertise field and their job description. After determining the job description, the positions need to fill with suitable expertise and it is also essential to make them happy and satisfy as they are responsible for providing the end results of any certain project. Management of the project team is an ongoing responsibility manager of the project. The team should also be monitored tin order to ensure the productivity rate and there are no internal conflicts.
Even though the project can come on time and within a certain budget, if the quality is not up to work, then the project is considered as a failure. Plan quality management is a part of the knowledge area and considered as overall project management plan. The quality assurance involves the process to make sure that the project met all certain requirements (Rees-Caldwell & Pinnington, 2014). The quality control should be impacted to ensure the standards would be outlining the quality management plan are being met.
This project area involves the budget estimation of any certain project. It has been essential to use a good estimation tool to make sure that the initial fund does not extend (Kerzner & Kerzner, 2017). The project tasks need to be monitored regularly and stakeholders need to be informed as well.
The plan cost management would involve the methods in order to establish the budget, which defines what and how the procedure will be used to control the budget allocation. Every task will have to calculate in the context of equipment, materials and labor and other resources which are essential to complete the tasks.
The management of the time of the project is considered as time-consuming. Generally, the projects are broadly divided into small tasks and scheduled according to the project start and deadlines. The project time management includes the change time management which means revising the schedules often as necessary. Plan schedule management is also responsible for creating the schedule of the project and defining responsibility (Nicholas & Steyn, 2013). This is a different process than WBS where a task list is being constructed that links with every aspect of the project. The dependencies are also set in this area. For instance, the necessary resources for each task must be estimated and assigned. The dependencies are categorized as either finish to first, finish to finish, start to start and start to finish. Generally, the dependencies are used in the large project to avoid complexity.
1. Stakeholder Management
Project scope management is one of the ten knowledge key areas which includes the process necessary to ensure that the project validating the scope and controlling the scope. There are certain activities involved in these areas such as defining the scope, collecting the requirements and creating the WBS (Bryde, Broquetas & Volm, 2013). The scope definition is also a vital aspect, which is necessary in order to reduce project risks. The work breaks down structure is also another part of this area. The scope validation during the project is also lined under these knowledge areas. The sponsors and stakeholders (Rose, 2013) must approve the scope. This would occur during the controlling and monitoring processing of groups and is about accepting the deliverables, not the specs laid out during the project planning. The scope changes also must be considered if the schedule of the project is falling behind.
The project integration management involves the process necessary to ensure that several elements of the project management are properly synchronized. The project integration management has several different processes which are contained in each project process groups (Hwang & Ng, 2013). This several process is developing the performance of integrated change control, managing and directing the project, the project management plan and developing the project charter. The charter of the project is created during the initiation phase and it also involves the creation of documents to set up the project and allocate the project manager (Pemsel & Wiewiora, 2013). The project management plan is developed as a roadmap to achieve the successful end. The stakeholders must approve the plan and track and monitored through a changelog as the project progresses. The project integration management also involves managing and directing the project. The process is essential in order to control or avoid any certain problem that might occur.
Before starting any certain project, the quality management plan is constructed in order to define the acceptable level of quality. The acceptance level is generally set by the customers. The plan also describes the work process to ensure the level of required quality. The quality management activities ensure that the work process is performed efficiently while following the quality management plan. The project quality management plans also apply to the project deliverables and project work process. Quality control activities monitor and verify that the project deliverables meet the defined quality standard (Goetsch & Davis, 2014). In every project quality management plan certain stakeholders are involved such as project sponsor, customer, project manager and the project team. In every project, multiple project deliverables are made and all the deliverables must adhere to the certain quality standard. Therefore, every deliveries should be verified and validated before delivering to the customer. For that, there must be a quality assurance function, which runs from the start to the end of the project. There are also certain components of the project quality management plan such as training requirements, defect Management, risks & mitigation, testing and quality assurance, development control and rigor, design control, requirements scope, document management and control and responsibility of management. The project teams are mainly responsible for providing the results. So, the quality of any certain project very much depends on the total team effort and the effectiveness.
2. Project Procurement
The project quality management plan also defines certain training and protocols for the project team which is necessary in order to complete the project successfully. Generally, a skill gap analysis is required to identify the training at the project initiation phase. Every project team also must consist of required expertise who can complete certain tasks effectively. After picking the precise expertise, the team must be managed and monitored in order to work effectively and avoid internal conflicts. In large projects, several teams are necessary due to multiple task distribution and heavy workload. Every project team must communicate with each other or follow the same standard in order to ensure a certain quality (Sallis, 2014). If every team work individually, the quality of the end result will be very poor and in the worst case, it can lead to the project failure. The quality management plan ensures that every team follows the defined standard.
Different of the project has different requirements and deliverables. Some projects consist of crucial scope which is very hard to achieve. The challenge occurs while selecting an optimal team as everyone on the same team must not have the same set of skills. The skill difference can create internal problems that can also slow the project progression. The quality management plan also documented certain training process which can be used to familiarize the project team members about the project standards and protocols. The defined standards and protocol is very useful to maintain and monitor the project teams and track their progression. Every team member must follow the predefined protocols in order to complete the given tasks efficiently and effectively. the protocols also describe the responsibility to achieve the project goals and the quality (Oakland, 2014). Since management is the monitoring and controlling function for the project, project quality is the responsibility of management.
The quality management plan also used to develop an operational plan and processes, containing quality control procedures and quality assurance, to accomplish aims. It considers hazard and risk factors and the complication of the project and adapts procedures to deliver the mandatory level of quality. The quality assurance protocols and standards are the documents in the risk management plan any project variations from the local QMP requirements (Kwon, Lee & Shin, 2014).
The quality management plan manages specific project products to decide if they encounter performance measurement thresholds defined in the quality management plan. Organizations who are serious about their future growth rather than profit takes the quality management plan seriously. Monitor exact project products to decide if they meet performance measurement thresholds distinct in the quality management plan. Factors such as Monitor specific project products to determine if they meet performance measurement thresholds defined in the quality management plan is used to measure the quality (Taylor et al., 2013). The quality management activities ensure that the work process is performed efficiently while following the quality management plan. The project quality management plans also apply to the project deliverables and work process. Quality control is a very useful factor which cannot be avoided in order to provide the quality end results.
References
Bryde, D., Broquetas, M., & Volm, J. M. (2013). The project benefits of building information modelling (BIM). International journal of project management, 31(7), 971-980.
Eastham, J., Tucker, D. J., Varma, S., & Sutton, S. M. (2014). PLM software selection model for project management using hierarchical decision modeling with criteria from PMBOK® knowledge areas. Engineering Management Journal, 26(3), 13-24.
Goetsch, D. L., & Davis, S. B. (2014). Quality management for organizational excellence. Upper Saddle River, NJ: pearson.
Hwang, B. G., & Ng, W. J. (2013). Project management knowledge and skills for green construction: Overcoming challenges. International Journal of Project Management, 31(2), 272-284.
Kerzner, H., & Kerzner, H. R. (2017). Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.
Kwon, O., Lee, N., & Shin, B. (2014). Data quality management, data usage experience and acquisition intention of big data analytics. International Journal of Information Management, 34(3), 387-394.
Larson, E. W., & Gray, C. F. (2015). A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge: PMBOK (®) Guide. Project Management Institute.
Morris, P. (2013). Reconstructing project management reprised: A knowledge perspective. Project Management Journal, 44(5), 6-23.
Nicholas, J. M., & Steyn, H. (2017). Project management for engineering, business and technology. Routledge.
Oakland, J. S. (2014). Total quality management and operational excellence: text with cases. Routledge.
Pemsel, S., & Wiewiora, A. (2013). Project management office a knowledge broker in project-based organisations. International Journal of Project Management, 31(1), 31-42.
Rees-Caldwell, K., & Pinnington, A. H. (2013). National culture differences in project management: Comparing British and Arab project managers’ perceptions of different planning areas. International Journal of Project Management, 31(2), 212-227.
Rose, K. H. (2013). A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)—Fifth Edition. Project management journal, 44(3), e1-e1.
Sallis, E. (2014). Total quality management in education. Routledge.
Stark, J. (2015). Product lifecycle management. In Product Lifecycle Management (Volume 1) (pp. 1-29). Springer, Cham.
Taylor, M. J., McNicholas, C., Nicolay, C., Darzi, A., Bell, D., & Reed, J. E. (2013). Systematic review of the application of the plan–do–study–act method to improve quality in healthcare. BMJ Qual Saf, bmjqs-2013.
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