Your Guide to Project Management Best Practices

Tagged: process

PM Framework

Boundaries, Deliverables and Requirements as Key Components of Project Scope

Development of project scope involves identification of the three key components, including deliverables, boundaries and requirements.
Project Deliverables: Definition and Examples

Project deliverables definition: A deliverable is a tangible, measurable and auditable output which is expected to be gained or produced to accomplish a project or its part. Defining project deliverables means going a long way toward setting the overall project scope.

Project deliverables examples:

1. An organization is going to train its employees to improve their skills and increase their productivity. The project for employee training will be considered as delivered when employees step through all the stages of the employee training project and show better productivity, so the project deliverables will be: 1) well-trained employees; 2) improved skills; 3) increased productivity characteristics.
2. Implementation of a new billing system in Finance Department can be considered a project. The project deliverables may include: 1) copies of the system are installed on all computers of the department; and 2) all staff members know how to operate and use the new system.

Project Boundaries: Definition and Examples

Project boundaries definition: The boundaries of a project are measurable and auditable characteristics that define what belongs to the project and what doesn’t belong to it. Project boundaries are closely linked to project objectives, they create a holistic project perception, and they define the content of the project in terms of expected results. A clear project boundary statement helps direct the things that are applicable to those areas that are within the project scope.

Project boundaries examples:

1. An organization is going to sell office equipment within The United States. It signs up an agreement with a domestic distributor. This agreement can state a project for selling office equipment and its boundaries will affect USA operations only. All other locations are out of scope (that is out of the defined boundaries).
2. An IT administrator considers installing a new software system on computer workstations of both Finance and Legal departments in some organization. The boundaries of this project for installing the system extend to these two departments only. All other departments of the organization are out of scope.

Project Cost Management – Definition, Process and Software

PM Tips & Ideas

How to Estimate Project Costs and Prevent Overspending

What is project cost management? It is a suit of activities for estimating, allocating, and controlling costs within the project. Project cost management allows determining and approving budget for the project and controlling spending. For example, in construction project cost management it is vital to estimate cost of building materials, equipment, salary of workers. In IT project cost management it is critical to estimate cost of software development, salary of IT staff and developers. Effective project cost management allows each project to be specific and unique because that project entails costs and requires specific funding. However, no matter whether you lead a software development project (IT project cost management) or construction project (construction project cost management), you should consider project cost management as a process that consists of the three key steps.

The plan and process of risk management

PM Tips & Ideas

Defining Risk Management Plan and Process Lifecycle

The gurus of project management point out that a sound risk management plan can decrease the rate of project failure by as much as 60-70 percent. Such a plan in combination with a well-defined risk management process will help the project manager and senior stakeholders to identify and solve most potential problems and also anticipate and respond to changes occurring throughout the project lifecycle. Planning for risk management appears to be critical to project success, allowing the team to prevent loss and avoid jerk reactions.

managing project risks

PM Tips & Ideas

Managing project risks – Learning project risk definition and undertaking risk management process

If you start reading project management literature, you may find there various definitions of project risk. The variety of project risk definitions is caused by the fact that each kind of project (e.g. IT projects and construction projects) may have specific kinds of risks that influence project results. However, the nature of project risks is the same for every kind of project, so there should be common definition of risks. In this article the following project risk definition is used: A project risk refers to a combination of probabilities that cause an event’s appearance and the outcomes that the event produces. Project risks can be identified, estimated, assessed and controlled within project risk management activities.