People and planning are the critical success factors in any project equation:
Quality, cost and schedule information that can be relied on and used to make informed decisions will ensure that project objectives are met. This is possible by following a consistent and disciplined process by people who understand and adhere to project management standards. Putting concepts into practice by following proven techniques and methodologies is the only approach to project management that works.
Frontend planning helps ensure a successful outcome of any project. A clearly defined scope of work and objectives are necessary before trying to develope a meaningful project schedule. Once the schedule is established, assigning and managing task activity resources is necessary for the planning and reconciliation of work activities to project funding. Upon execution of the plan, earned value is the only valid method of quantifying the project’s performance. Projects are successful when the project team understands and believes in this basic project management methodology.
A project should have a control management plan which establishes the strategy to develop a control system for the project. The control implementation plan is necessary for building schedule development rules for creating detail schedules in a disciplined manner. This in turn, drives the work breakdown structure (WBS), integrated master plan/integrated master schedule (IMP/IMS) and organization breakdown structure (OBS) for the project. This is used to ensure schedule traceability and development of adequate schedule detail to manage the project. Combined with task handoffs between functional groups, completes the integrated project schedule. Once the schedule has been developed and the handoffs and links established, resource loading is performed to the schedule and reconciled to the project budget. Outside supplier schedules and budgets are incorporated into the schedule and reviewed for accuracy, prior to setting a baseline, to permit performance analysis against the total project schedule and budget plan.
Getting the plan correct before setting the baseline is critical for the success of the project. Otherwise, the benchmark for comparison is invalid and the performance measurement is of little use in managing the project. It is imperative to clearly define project objectives, deliverables and assumptions so that all stakeholders understand the expected results. Elimination of surprises that result when objectives are incomplete or vague is the goal when setting a project baseline. Like the three bears, project schedules can have too much detail, which makes them unmanageable. Too little detail and the schedule does not provide enough information to manage the project and if interface handoffs are incomplete or inaccurate, a false sense of accomplishment will be created. The schedule has to be created just right, with the knowledge of experience to guide setting the baseline and effectively managing the project. Regardless of the management tools used on a project, the processes and procedures established are crucial to providing accurate management information in a timely fashion. Accurate information is what permits project problem identification and the development of contingency plans to guide a successful project execution.
Cost Development:
The key to cost development is to know how the data will be used and analyzed by the customer. Techniques utilized for developing and assigning costs may be related to activity, quantity, time and direct expense that can be associated with a schedule activity. Developing activity costs and integrating them with a project schedule adds a new dimension for project management. The integrated cost-schedule provides the means to evaluate the cost benefit for work activities and comparison to the baseline project plan. Incorporation of earned value analysis permits identification of efficient and inefficient work execution and the opportunity to take corrective action when inefficiencies are identified. When actual financial performance data is available, which is traceable to the integrated cost-schedule, then not only will the customer be able to measure schedule performance, but also the cost performance of the project execution.
The final element of building a successful project plan is resource management. Assigning critical resources to priority tasks is necessary to get the correct things done at the right time. It is important to analyze tasks and resource requirements to determine the most efficient use of resources, especially when outside resources must be obtained to fulfill staffing requirements. There is nothing more expensive than having schedule delays, because inadequate resources are available to perform the work scheduled. The possible exception being, that resources are made available at the wrong time during the project and needless costs are incurred as a result of waiting.
