Managing LRC Projects

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Managing LRC Projects

• Examples of projects are
• New LRC building
• Refurbishment
• Piloting a new service
• New catalogue
• Research
• Documentation

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Managing LRC Projects Aims and Objectives

• Aim To deliver techniques and tips to improve
  the project management skills of LRC staff
• Objectives
• To become aware of basic project management
  skills.
• To recognise and understand the stages of a
  project.
• To recognise the importance of project planning.
• To improve own project management skills.
• To become aware of Microsoft Project.

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Definition of Project Management

• Project management is the discipline of
  organizing and managing resources in such a way
  that these resources deliver all the work
  required to complete a project within defined
  scope, time, and cost constraints. A project is a
  temporary and one-time endeavor undertaken to
  create a unique product or service.
• The first challenge of project management is
  ensuring that a project is delivered within the
  defined constraints. The second, more ambitious,
  challenge is the allocation and integration of
  the inputs needed to meet those pre-defined
  objectives. The project, therefore, is a
  carefully selected set of activities chosen to
  use resources to meet the pre-defined objectives.
• See Wikipedia, Project management,
  http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_management

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Project Management Diamond

• Project management is often summarised as a
  diamond, with time, cost, scope and quality the
  four vertices and customer expectations as a
  central theme.
• Projects must be delivered on time.
• Projects must be within cost
• Projects must be within scope
• Projects must meet customer quality requirements
• The fundamental basis of good project management
  is that the project managers challenge is to
  effectively balance the components of time, cost,
  scope, quality, and expectations using effective
  project planning.

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Project Management Diamond
Time
Expectations
Quality
Cost
Scope
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Project Management Diamond

• Project management is often summarised as a
  diamond, with time, cost, scope and quality the
  four vertices and customer expectations as a
  central theme.
• Projects must be delivered on time.
• Projects must be within cost
• Projects must be within scope
• Projects must meet customer quality requirements
• The fundamental basis of good project management
  is that the project managers challenge is to
  effectively balance the components of time, cost,
  scope, quality, and expectations using effective
  project planning.

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Project Life Cycle

• A project goes through four phases during its
  life
• Project Definition Defining the goals,
  objectives and critical success factors for the
  project
• Project Initiation Everything that is needed to
  set-up the project before work can start
• Project Control Ensuring that a project stays on
  track and taking appropriate action to ensure it
  does
• Project Completion Disbanding of all the
  elements that were required to run the project

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Project Life Cycle
1Definition
2 Initiation
4 Completion
3 Control
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1. Project Definition
A project definition describes exactly the common
understanding, its extent and nature, among the
key people involved in a project. The definition
provides a foundation upon which successful
projects are built. A project manager drafts a
project definition, but its development is a team
effort. The definition is an agreement among key
participants in a project, and must have input
from all of those participants. All projects need
to go through the definition process. Lack of a
definition leads to unclear and ambiguous goals,
confusion, misunderstanding, and poor
communication. Failure to formalize and document
scope, goals, and expectations puts a project at
risk before it even begins.
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• Project Definition
• includes

Expected Business Benefits
Costs Duration
Goals Objectives
Scope
Deliverables
Assumptions
Stakeholders
What is being produced be specific measurable
Establish the environment expectations before
the project can begin
Individuals / organizations involved in the
project, or whose interests may be affected by
the project
How the service will be improved
The length of the project the total cost
What is is not to be included
What will be achieved what will be delivered
specific measurable
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2. Project Initiation
What are the main areas of expenditure and income?
What paperwork needs to be completed signed
e.g. contracts.
What are the key project dates timescales?
Do a comprehensive risk log for the project.
What needs to be purchased in advanced what
systems will be used during the project?
What people, time, materials, space, energy,
communications are needed?
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3. Project Control
Project Plan A detailed plan showing all the
activities and milestones will be the key
mechanism for monitoring your project.
Detailed Budget A detailed budget showing all
capital and revenue income and expenditure should
be updated weekly to monitor the budget
accurately.
Communication Regular project team meetings and
action notes to ensure everyone knows what is
going on.
Project Board A decision-making body with
responsibility to strategically guide and monitor
the project.
Monitoring Evaluation A comprehensive
evaluation strategy designed in conjunction with
the project to prove the business value and
success of the project.
Progress Reports Regular reports, e.g. Monthly
Highlight Report, to the Project Board, funders
and other stakeholders highlighting progress and
issues.
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Work breakdown statement
Key review dates
Activities
Project Plan
GANTT charts
Critical Path
Milestones
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3. Project Control
Project Plan A detailed plan showing all the
activities and milestones will be the key
mechanism for monitoring your project.
Detailed Budget A detailed budget showing all
capital and revenue income and expenditure should
be updated weekly to monitor the budget
accurately.
Communication Regular project team meetings and
action notes to ensure everyone knows what is
going on.
Project Board A decision-making body with
responsibility to strategically guide and monitor
the project.
Monitoring Evaluation A comprehensive
evaluation strategy designed in conjunction with
the project to prove the business value and
success of the project.
Progress Reports Regular reports e.g. Monthly
Highlight Report to the Project Board, funders
and other stakeholders highlighting progress and
issues.
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Microsoft Project

• Microsoft Project is project management software
  developed and sold by Microsoft. It helps you
  manage projects and resources, establish
  repeatable processes and ensure organization-wide
  collaboration on projects.
• You can
• Create, staff and manage projects using
  step-by-step guides,
• Develop plans
• Assign resources to projects and tasks,
• Maintain accurate records of work completed,
• Track progress
• Analyse workloads
• Manage budgets
• See an example of a project GANTT chart using
  Microsoft Project.

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4. Project Completion
Clients are happy sign off the project as
completed
What lessons have been learnt how would you do
things differently next time?
Project evaluation is completed reported
Project report is completed circulated to all
stakeholders
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Potential Barriers

• Problems can be caused in a project by
• Poor communication
• Disagreement
• Misunderstandings
• Personality conflicts
• Poor management
• Poorly defined goals and objectives
• Bad weather (building projects)

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More information
For further help and information on project
management

• Free Microsoft Project 2003 Tutorials

• LSNs E-learning Continuing Professional
  Development Framework Unit 11 Undertake an
  e-learning development project

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Activity

• Try out some of the things you have learnt by
  thinking about a project you need to undertake.
  This can be a simple project or a complicated
  project.
• You can use a project initiation document for
  this project. Try to fill in as much information
  as possible as this will form the basis of your
  project planning.
• Discuss the document with your colleagues.
• Keep a copy and review it as your project
  progresses.