1. Workplace Projects

2. Project management Definition
Project management is the application of processes, methods, knowledge, skills and experience to achieve the project objectives.
General
A project is a unique, transient endeavour, undertaken to achieve planned objectives, which could be defined in terms of outputs, outcomes or benefits. A project is usually deemed to be a success if it achieves the objectives according to their acceptance criteria, within an agreed timescale and budget.

3. The core components of project management are:
defining the reason why a project is necessary;
capturing project requirements, specifying quality of the deliverables, estimating resources and timescales;
preparing a business case to justify the investment;
securing corporate agreement and funding;
developing and implementing a management plan for the project;
leading and motivating the project delivery team;
managing the risks, issues and changes on the project;
monitoring progress against plan;
managing the project budget;
maintaining communications with stakeholders and the project organisation;
provider management;
closing the project in a controlled fashion when appropriate.

4. Project Lifecycle Concept Definition Development Closure
Benefits Realisation

6. Start Up The objectives of the Start Up stage are to:
identify and assign the project management team (Appendix 1)
define the project’s objectives (Project Brief - Appendix 3)
identify how a solution will be provided (Business Case -Appendix 4)
agree upon initial plans for running the project.
The other documents that will also be set up during this stage are:
Risk Log (Appendix 5)
Issues Log (Appendix 6)
Lessons Learned Log (Appendix 7)
Financial Tracking Sheet (Appendix 8)
Activity – Roles in Project Management
Introduce the project brief and Business case

7. Initiation
During Initiation, the following documents must be produced:
 Project Plan (Appendix 9) The objectives of this plan are to:
understand the work to be done
identify key decision and review points
identify the project’s major products
identify major activities to be performed in order to deliver the products
align resources to activities.

8. Initiation
Communication Plan (Appendix 10) The Communication Plan will:
identify audiences, both within internally and externally, and plan how, when and what to communicate to them
describe all the reporting and monitoring procedures within the project itself, such as the format and frequency of progress reports to the Project Board
schedule regular updates to ensure stakeholders are kept informed of the progress of the project from start to finish
minimise risks to the project by providing open, effective communication channels that are able to quickly identify and deal with problems that arise.

9. Initiation
Project Initiation Document (Appendix11) The completed PID is the basis for authorisation to continue with the project. The sections of the PID that will then need to be updated regularly are the:
Business Case
Project Plan – including Gantt Chart/Critical Path
Communication Plan
Risk and Issues logs
Financial Tracking Sheet.
Next Stage Plan (Appendix 12) The Stage Plan should include detail on:
the activities to be undertaken – who does the work, the timescale, costs and associated resources.
any quality-control methods to be used
tolerances for the stage
reporting procedures for the stage.

10. Stages Controlling a Stage Documentation
The following documents feature in the ‘Controlling a Stage’ process:
Progress Report (Appendix 14)
Early Warning Report (Appendix 15)
Exception Plan (an updated Stage Plan)
Change Request Appendix 16)
Depending on the nature of the project and the way it progresses, some of these documents may not be necessary.

11. Closing a Project
The Project Manager’s responsibilities at the end of a project are to:
check that all products have been delivered and accepted
check that all project issues have been dealt with appropriately
record any recommendations on subsequent work to be undertaken
record any useful lessons learned during the project which have not already been noted.
The only new document to be created at this stage is the Project Closure Report (Appendix 17).