Project is a sequence of unique, complex and connected activities having one goal or purpose and that must be completed by a specific time, within budget, and according to specification.

SEQUENCE OF ACTIVITIESA project comprises a number of activities that must be completed in some specified order.

  The sequencing is based on technical or

best practice requirements, not on management prerogatives.

UNIQUENESSEvery project has some elements that are unique.

No two construction or R&D projects are precisely alike.

The presence of repetitive elements does not change the fundamental uniqueness of the project work.

COMPLEX ACTIVITIES 

The activities that comprise the project are relatively complex. That is, they are not simple, repetitive acts, such as mowing the lawn or car washing.

CONNECTED ACTIVITIES 

Connectedness follows the fact that the output from one activity is input to another.e.g. we must design the computer program before we can program it.

ONE GOAL 

Project must have a single goal as compared to a program, which can have many goals.

   SPECIFIED TIME 

Projects have a specified completion date. This may be self-implemented by management or externally specified (as by a customer).

WIHTIN BUDGET 

Projects also have resource limits, such as a limited amount of people, money, machines that are dedicated to the project. While these may be adjusted up or down by management, they are considered fixed resources to the project managers.

Project may be self implemented or customer specified. E.g. construction of house by the contractor (can be both)

1. Launch a new product. Project 2. Manage a research unit. Functional 3. Conduct an appraisal. Functional 4. Raise £50,000 in sponsorship. Project 5. Sell Company services. Functional 6. Review existing procedures. Project 7. Administrate Theatre Company.

Functional 8. Supervise the office. Functional 9. Build a house. Project 10. Write a book. Project

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. It is important to note here that a project is a temporary and one-time endeavor undertaken to create a unique product or service that brings about beneficial change or added value

Project management is the application of knowledge, skills and Techniques to meet the project requirements.

A program is a collection of projects . The projects must be completed in a specific order

for the program to be considered complete. Program can have many goals but project has one

specific goal. E.g. Space program of any country , Atomic energy program of country ,establishing industrial technology park .

Projects are the source of completing or achieving mission of your program.

Normal project Crash project Disaster project

1.Normal projectCompletion of project within given time, given cost and up to the satisfaction Level.

 2. Crash project

Time and cost can overlap but no compromise on quality

 3. Disaster project

Overlap in time and cost but compromise on quality as well.

Five constraints operate on every project.

Scope Quality Cost Time Resources

Scope : It is a statement that defines the boundaries of the project. It tells not only what will be done but also what will not be done.

for information industry its referred to functional specification.

in engineering profession: its called statement of

work.

Scope may be referred to as a document of understanding, a scoping statement, a project initiation statement, and a project request form…..

Cost : The dollar cost of doing the project is another variable that defines the project( preparation of budget).

Quality : Two types of quality are part of every project.

Product quality : This refers to the quality of the deliverable from the project.

Process Quality: This refers to the quality of the project management process itself. The focus is on how well the project management process works and how can it be improved.

Time: the customer specifies a time frame or deadline date within which the project must be completed. (to a certain extent time and cost are inversely related).

Resources: resources are assets, such as people, equipment, physical facilities or inventory.

          Cost Time                 Resources

Scope& Quality

This triangle reflects the fact that the three properties of a project are interrelated, and it is not possible to optimize all three – one will always suffer. In other words you have three options:

Design something quickly and to a high standard, but then it will not be cheap.

Design something quickly and cheaply, but it will not be of high quality.

Design something with high quality and cheaply, but it will take a long time.

Scope creep any change occurred which is not in original plan IT particularly prone to creep major challenge for PMs

Hope creep

Is the result of team member’s getting behind

schedule, reporting that he or she is on schedule ,but

hoping to get back on schedule by the next reporting

date.

Effort creep Effort creep is the result of team member’s working

but not making progress proportionate to the work expended. 95-99% complete but never 100Feature creep

Feature creep results when team member adds new features and functions to the deliverables.