Courseware from my course on Project Management that I taught in 2010 at St. Joseph\'s College of Business Administration

1. Tathagat Varma
Tathagat Varma
Session 12/12: 28-Jul-2010

2.  Influencing the factors that create changes to the
authorized cost baseline
 Ensuring that all change requests are acted on in
a timely manner
 Managing the actual changes when and as they
occue
 Ensuring that cost expenditures do not exceed the
authorized funding, by period and in total for the
project
 Monitoring cost performance to isolate and
understand variances from the approved cost
baseline
 Monitoring work performance against funds
expended

3.  EVM integrates project scope, cost and
schedule measures to help the project
management tea assess and measure project
performance and progress.
 Principles of EVM can be applied to all
projects, in any industry.
 EVM develops and monitors three key
dimensions for each work package and
control account:
 Planned Value (PV)
 Earned Value (EV)
 Actual Cost (AC)

4.  Planned Value: is the authorized budget assigned
to the work to be accomplished for an activity or
WBS component. Total of the PV for a projects is
also known as Budget at Completion (BAC)
 Earned Value: is the value of work performed
expressed in terms of the approves budget
assigned to that work for an activity or WBS
component.
 Actual Cost: is the total cost actually incurred and
recorded in accomplishing work performed for an
activity or WBS component. The AC has no upper
limit – whatever is spent to achieve the EV will be
measured

5.  It is the authorized work that has been
completed, plus the authorized budget for
such completed work
 Project managers monitor EV, both
incrementally to determine current status and
cumulatively to determine the long-term
performance trends

6.  Schedule Variance (SV): is a measure of
schedule performance on a project
 SV = EV – PV
 It can indicate a project falling behind its
baseline schedule
 It will ultimately equal zero when the project
is completed because all of the planned
values will have been earned.
 These are best used in conjunction with
critical path methodology scheduling and risk
management

7.  Cost Variance (CV) is a measure of cost
performance on a project.
 CV = EV – AC
 Cost variance at the end of the project will be
the difference between Budget At Completion
(BAC) and the actual amount spent.
 It is particularly critical because it indicates
relationship of physical performance to the
costs spent.
 Any negative EVM CV is often non-recoverable to
the project

8.  SV and CV can be converted to efficiency
indicators to reflect the cost and schedule
performance of any project for comparison
against all other projects or within a portfolio
of projects.
 The variances and indices are useful for
determining project status and providing a
basis for estimating project cost and schedule
outcome

9.  A measure of progress achieved compared to
progress planned on a project. It is sometimes
used in conjunction with the CPI to forecast
the final project completion estimates.
 SPI = EV / PV
 SPI < 1 indicates less work was completed than
planned
 SPI > 1 indicates more work was completed than
planned

10.  A measure of the value of work completed
compared to the actual cost or progress made
on the project
 CPI = EV / AC
 CPI < 1 indicates cost overrun for work completed
 CPI > 1 indicates cost underrun of performance to
date

12.  As the project progresses, the project team can
develop a forecast for the estimate at
completion (EAC) that may differ from the
budget at completion (BAC) based on project
performance.
 Forecasting the EAC involves making
estimates or predictions of conditions and
events in the project’s future based on
information and knowledge available at the
time of forecast. Forecasts are generated,
updated, and reissued based on work
performance information provides as the
project is executed

13.  COQ includes all costs incurred over the life
of the product by investment in preventing
nonconformance to requirements, appraising
the products or service or conformance to
requirements, and failing to meet
requirements (rework). Failure costs are often
categorized into internal (found by the
project) and external (found by the customer)
and also called cost of poor quality

14.  Cost of Conformance = money spent during the project to avoid
failures
 Prevention costs = build a quality product
o Training
o Document processes
o Equipment
o Time to do it right
 Appraisal costs = assess the quality
o Testing
o Destructive testing loss
o Inspection
 Cost of Non-Conformance = money spent during and after the
project because of failure
 Internal failure costs = failures found by the project
o Rework
o scrap
 External failure costs = failures found by the customer
o Liabilities
o Warranty work
o Lost business

15.  A quality audit is a structured, independent
review to determine whether project activities
comply with organizational and project policies,
processes and procedures. The objectives of a
quality audit are:
 Identify all the good/best practices being implemented
 Identify all the gaps/shortcomings
 Share the good practices introduced or implemented in
similar projects in the organization and/or industry
 Proactively offer assistance in a positive manner to
improve implementation of processes to help the team
raise productivity, and
 Highlight contributions of each audit in the lessons learnt
repository of the organization

16.  Process of monitoring and recording results of
executing the quality activities to assess
performance and recommend necessary changes.
 QC is performed through out the project
 QC activities identify causes of poor process or product
quality and recommend and/or take action ti eliminate
them
 QC is often performed by a quality control department or
similarly titled organizational unit.
 Quality standards include project processes and
product goals.
 Project results include deliverables and project
management results, such as cost and schedule
performance.

17.  The project management team should have a
workign knowledge of statistical qualoty control,
especially sampling and probability, to help
evaluate quality control outputs. Among other
subjects, the team may find it useful to know the
differences between
 Prevention (keeping errors out of the process) and
Inspection (keeping errors out of the hands of customer)
 Attribute Sampling (the result either confirms or does
not confirm) and Variables Sampling (the result is rated
on a continuous scale that measures the degree of
conformity)
 Tolerances (specified range of acceptable results) and
Control Limits (thresholds, which can indicate whether
the process is out of control)

18.  Cause and Effect Diagrams
 Control Charts
 Flowcharting
 Histogram
 Pareto Chart
 Run Chart
 Scatter Diagram
 Statistical Sampling
 Inspection

19.  Also known as “Ishikawa Diagram”, they
illustrate how various factors might be linked
to potential problems or effects.
 A possible root cause can be uncovered by
continuing to ask “why” or “how” along one
of the lines.
 “Why-why” and “How-How” diagram may be
used in RCA

20.  Control charts illustrate how a process
behaves over time and when a process subject
to special cause variation, resulting in an out
of control condition.
 When a process is within acceptable limits it
is in control and does not need to be adjusted.
 Conversely, when a process is outside
acceptable limits, the process should be
adjusted. Seven consecutive points outside
the UCL or LCL indicate a process that is out
of control. UCL/LCL are usually set at +/- 3σ

21.  Flowcharting is used during QC to determine
a failing process step and identify potential
process improvement opportunities

22.  A histogram is a vertical bar chart showing
how often a particular variable occurred.
 Each column represents an attribute or characteristic
of a problem/situation.
 The height of each column represents the relative
frequency of the characteristic.
 This tool helps illustrate the most common
cause of problems in a process by the number
and relative heights of the bars

23.  A Pareto chart is a specific type of histogram,
ordered by frequency of occurrence.
 It shows how many defects were generated by
type of category of identified cause
 Rank ordering is used to focus corrective action.
The project team should address the causes
creating the greatest number of defects first
 Pareto diagrams are conceptually related to
Pareto’s Law which holds that a relatively small
number of causes will typically produce a
majority of problems or defects. Also known as
80/20 principle.
 Focus on ‘vital few’ rather than ‘trivial many’

24.  Similar to a control chart without displayed
limits, a run chart shows the history and pattern
of variation.
 A run chart is a line graph that shows data points
plotted in the order in which they occur.
 Run charts show trends in a process over time,
variation over time, or declines or improvements
in a process over time.
 Trend analysis is performed during run charts
and involves mathematical techniques to forecast
future outcomes based on historical results.

25.  A Scatter Diagram shows the relationship
between two variables. This tool allows the
quality team to study and identify the
possible relationship between changes
observed in two variables.
 Dependent variables versus independent
variables are plotted. The closer the points are
to a diagonal line, the more closely they are
related.

26.  An inspection is the examination of a work
product to determine whether it conforms to
documented standards. The results of an
inspection generally include measurements
and may be conducted at any level.
 Inspections may be called reviews, peer
reviews, audits or walkthroughs.
 Inspections are also used to validate defect
repairs.

28.  Influencing the project team: being aware of,
and influencing when possible, those human
resource factors that may impact the project.
This includes team environment, geographical
locations of team members, communications
among stakeholders, internal and external
politics, cultural issues, organizational
uniqueness, and other such people factors that
may alter the project performance.
 Professional and ethical behavior: the project
management team should be aware of,
subscribe to, and ensure that all team members
follow ethical behavior

29.  Developing Human Resources Plan
 Processof identifying and documenting project roles,
responsibilities, and required skills, reporting
relationships, and creating a staffing management
plan

30.  Role: the label describing the portion of a project for
which a person is accountable. Role clarity concerning
authority, responsibilities, and boundaries should be
documented.
 Authority: the right to apply project resources, make
decisions, and sign approvals. Team members operate
best when their individual levels of authority match
their individual responsibilities.
 Responsibility: the work that a project team member is
expected to perform in order to complete the project’s
activities.
 Competency: the skill and capacity required to
complete project activities. If project team members
don’t possess required competencies, performance can
be jeopardizes. When such mismatches are identified,
proactive responses such as training, hiring, schedule
changes, or scope changes are initiated.

31.  Used to illustrate the connections between
work packages or activities and project team
members.
 One example of RAM is RACI (Responsible,
Accountable, Consult and Inform).
 RACI is particularly important when the team
consists of internal and external resources to ensure
clear divisions of roles and expectations.

32.  Staff acquisition
 Resource Calendars
 Staff Release Plan
 Training Needs
 Recognition and Rewards
 Compliance
 Safety

34.  The use of virtual teams creates new possibilities
when acquiring project team members. They are
groups of people with a shared goal who fulfill their
roles with little or no time spent meeting face to face.
The availability of electronic communication has
made such teams feasible. The virtual team format
makes it possible to
 Form teams of people from the same company who live in
widespread geographic areas
 Add special expertise to a project team even though the expert
is not in the same geographic area
 Incorporate employees who work from home offices
 Form teams of people who work different shifts or hours
 Include people with mobility limitations and disabilities, and
 Move forward with projects that would have been ignored due
to travel expense

35.  Conflict is inevitable in a project environment.
 Sources of conflict include scarce resources, scheduling,
priorities, and personal work styles.
 Team ground rules, group norms, and solid project
management practices like communication planning and
role definition, reduce the amount of conflict
 Successful conflict management results in greater
productivity and positive working relationships.
 When managed properly, differences of opinion can lead
to increased creativity and better decision making.
 If conflicts escalates, the project manager should help
facilitate a satisfactory resolution.
 Conflict should be addressed early and usually in private,
using a direct, collaborative approach. If disruptive
conflict continues, formal procedures may be used,
including disciplinary actions.

36.  Conflict is natural and forces a search for
alternatives
 Conflict is a team issue
 Openness resolves conflict
 Conflict resolution should focus on issues,
not personalities, and
 Conflict resolution should focus on the
present, not the past

37.  Relative importance and intensity of the
conflict
 Time pressure for resolving the conflict
 Position taken by players involves, and
 Motivation to resolve conflict on a long-term
or a short-term basis

38.  Withdrawing / Avoiding: retreating from an actual
or potential conflict situation
 Smoothing / Accommodating: emphasizing areas
of agreement rather than areas of difference
 Compromising: searching for solutions that bring
some degree of satisfaction to all parties
 Forcing: pushing one’s viewpoint at the expense of
others; offers only win-lose solutions
 Collaborating: incorporating multiple viewpoints
and insights from differing perspectives; leads to
consequences and commitment
 Confronting / problem solving: treating conflict as
a problem to be solved by examining alternatives;
requires a give-and0take attitude and open dialog

39.  PMs accomplish work through the project team and
stakeholders. Effective PMs acquire a balance of
technical, interpersonal, and conceptual skills that
help them analyze situations and interact
appropriately. Some important interpersonal skills
are:
 Leadership
 Team building
 Motivation
 Communication
 Influencing
 Decision making
 Political and cultural awareness
 Negotiation
39 4/17/11

40.  Project Managers use a combination of
technical, human and conceptual skills to
analyze situations and interact appropriately
with team members. This aids in capitalizing
on the strengths of all team members.
 Some of the skills used most often include:
 Leadership
 Influencing
 Effective Decision Making

41.  Successful projects require strong leadership
skills.
 Leadership is important through all phases of
the project life cycle.
 It is especially important to communicate the
vision and inspire the project team to achieve
high performance.

42.  Since project managers often have little or no
direct authority over their team members in a
matrix environment, their ability to influence
stakeholders on a timely basis is critical to
project success.
 Key influencing skills include:
 Ability to be persuasive and clearly articulate points
and positions
 High levels of active and effective listening skills
 Consideration of the various perspectives in any
situation, and
 Gathering relevant and critical information to
address important issues and reach agreements

43.  Involves the ability to negotiate and influence
the organization and the project management
team.
 Some guidelines include:
 Focus on goals to be serves
 Follow a decision-making process
 Study the environmental factors
 Develop personal qualities of the team members
 Stimulate team creativity
 Manage opportunity and risk

44.  A basic communication model demonstrates how
information is sent and received between two
parties, defined as sender and receiver.
 The key components of the model include
 Encode: to translate thoughts or ideas into a language
that is understood by others
 Message and feedback-message: the output of encoding
 Medium: the method used to convey the message
 Noise: anything that interferes with the transmission and
understanding of the message (e.g., distance, unfamiliar
technology, lack of background information)
 Decode: translate the message back into meaningful
thoughts or ideas

45.  Components in the communications model need
to be taken into account when discussing project
communications
 As part of the communications process, the
sender is responsible for making the information
clear and complete so that the receiver can receive
it correctly, and for confirming that it is properly
understood.
 The receiver is responsible for making sure that
the information is received in its entirely,
understood correctly, and acknowledged.
 A failure in communication can negatively
impact the project

46.  Interactive comm: between two or more parties
performing a multidirectional exchange of information.
It is the most efficient way to ensure a common
understanding by all participants on specified topics,
and includes meetings, phone calls, video conf, etc.
 Push comm: sent to specific recipients who need to
know the information. This ensures that the info is
distributed but does not certify that it actually reached
or was understand by the intended audience. Includes
letters, memos, reports, emails, faxes, voice mails, press
releases, etc.
 Pull comm: used for very large volumes of
information, or for very large audiences, that requires
the recipients to access the communication content at
their own discretion. Include internet sites, e-learning,
knowledge repositories, etc.

47.  Internal (within the project) and External
(customer, other projects, media, public)
 Formal (reports, memos, briefings) and
Informal (emails, ad-hoc discussions)
 Vertical (up and down the organization) and
Horizontal (with peers)
 Official (newsletters, annual report) and
Unofficial (off the record communications)
 Written and Oral, and
 Verbal and Non-Verbal (voice inflections,
body language)

48.  Listening actively and effectively
 Questioning, probing ideas and situations to ensure
better understanding
 Educating to increase team’s knowledge so that they
can be more effective
 Fact-finding to identify or confirm information
 Setting and managing expectations
 Persuading a person or organization to perform an
action
 Negotiating to achieve mutually acceptable
agreements between parties
 Resolving conflict to prevent disruptive impacts, and
 Summarizing, recapping and identifying the next
steps

49.  Close Project or Phase is the process of finalizing
all activities across all of the project management
process to formally complete the project or phase.
 When closing the project, the project manage will review
all prior information from the previous phase closures to
ensure that all project work is complete and that the
project has met its objectives. Since project scope is
measured against the project management plan, the
project manager will review that document to ensure
completion before considering the project closed
 This process also establishes the procedures to
investigate and document the reasons for actions
taken if a project is terminated before
completion.