swati test

what is a project?

A temporary endeavour undertaken to create a unique product, service or result

what is the project objective?

Project objectives are what you want to achieve by the end of your project, such as deliverables or assets. It could also be intangible objectives such as increasing productivity. Objectives should be attainable, time-bound, specific goals you can measure at the end of your project.

What are the major characteristics of projects?

- Has a well defined objective
- Has a defined life span with a beginning and an end
- Typically involves people from several disciplines
- A project life cycle
-Has a specific time, cost and performance requirements

What are the triple constraint/golden triangle elements?

Scope: what we are intending to deliver to a client. Example: Creating a website for a company

Time: the timeline that you have to complete the project

Cost: the budget you have to complete that project

All three points will contribute to the quality of the project

What are the four major phases of the project life cycle?

defining, planning, executing, closing

defining phase

the key responsibilities and goals of the project.

planning phase

setting deadlines and schedules - defining a timeline. Creating a budget. Staffing - do we have a project manager

execution phase

the plan is used to execute the project; it is interrupted by an iterative process; if the iterative process shows good progress, then work is continued...if not, then return to planning again to fix problems, once the plan is approved you can return to execution

closing phase

- deliver goods to customer
- transfer the documentation
- evaluation
- lessons learned - what have you learnt from this project?

stakeholders of project

stakeholders are any individuals or parties that have an interest in your project. Stakeholders of a project are; "Individuals and organizations who are actively involved in the project, or whose interests may be positively or negatively affected as a result of project execution or successful project completion"

SMART objective

SMART objectives is a form of objective setting that allows managers and employees to create, track and accomplish short and long term goals.

S: Specific - Be specific in targeting an objective

M: Measurable - Establish a measurable indicator of progress

A: Achievable - Make the objective assignable to one person for completion

R: Relevant - State what can realistically be done with available resources

T: Time bound - State when the object can be achieved by

Financial and Non-financial reasons for choosing a project

Financial reasons:
- Payback
- Net Present value (NPV)

Non-financial reasons:
- Projects of strategic importance to the firm
- Two Multi-criteria selection models:
Checklist models
Multi-weighted scoring models

Payback formula

estimated project cost/annual savings

Payback model

- Measures the time the project will take to recover the project investment
- Desires shorter paybacks
- Is the simplest and most widely used model
- Emphasises cash flows, a key factor in business

Limitations:
- Ignores the time value of money
- Assumes cash inflows for the investment period (and not beyond)
- Does not consider profitability

Non-financial criteria

Examples of strategic objectives are:
- To capture larger market share
- To make it difficult for competitors to enter the market
- To develop an enabler product, which by its introduction will increase sales in more profitable products
- To develop core technology that will be used in next-generation products
- To reduce dependency on unreliable suppliers
- To prevent government intervention and regulation

Checklist model

- Use a list of questions to review potential projects and to determine their acceptance or rejection
- Allow greater flexibility in selecting among many different types of projects and are easily used across different divisions and locations
- Fail to answer the relative importance or value of a potential project to the organisation and does not allow for comparison with other potential projects

Multi weighted scoring models

- Use several weighted selection criteria to evaluate project proposals
- Include qualitative and/or quantitative criteria
- Allow for comparison with other potential projects

Functional organization advantages

- No change
- Flexibility - Can take people from various department to carry out the project
- In depth expertise - getting experts to work on the project
- Easy post project transition - Employees can easily resume their original duties/roles/responsibilities

Functional organisation disadvantages

- Lack of focus - People have to divide their focus amongst different projects - i.e. the new project as well as their original responsibilities
- Poor integration
- Slow
- Lack of ownership - if the project goes wrong no one is likely to own up to it - there can be a blame game

Scope Statement -Elements - Meaning & Importance of each element

- Project objective: It is the first step of project scope definition, it defines the overall objective to meet your customers need(s). The project objective answers the questions of what, when and how much.

- Project deliverables: The next step is to define major deliverables - the expected, measurable outputs over the life of the project. Note: Deliverables and requirements are often used interchangeably

- Milestones: A milestone is a significant event in a project that occurs at a point in time. The milestone schedule shows only major segments of work; it represents first, rough cut estimates of time, cost and resources for the project. Milestones should be easy for all project participants to recognise

- Technical requirements: More frequently than now, a product of service will have technical requirements to ensure proper performance. Technical requirements usually clarify the project deliverables or define performance specifications

- Limits and exclusions: The limits of the scope should be defined. Failure to do so will lead to false expectations and to extending resources and time on the wrong problem

- Acceptance criteria: Completion of the score checklist ends with a review with your customer. The main concern here is the understanding and agreement of expectations. Is the customer getting what he or she desires in the deliverables.