Step 08: Stage End Assessment
Description
Objective

To

- document the results of the current stage and prepare for the next stage and have the results reviewed by management,

in a way that

- provides a summary of the work carried out in the stage,

- identifies the tasks necessary to carry out the next stage of the project,

- develops a schedule for the next stage of the project,

- provides a comprehensive package of information from which a decision can be made,

- gains agreement on any revisions to the scope of project,

- gains agreement on any revisions to the overall approach and schedule for the project,

- gains agreement on any revisions to the Business Case for the project,

- gains agreement on any revisions to the Project Organization,

- gains commitment to making the necessary resources available for the project,

- gains agreement to the approach and schedule for the next stage of the project,

- gains agreement to any changes to the control procedures defined for the project,

- provides a record of the project and stage plans for use in managing and controlling the project if it gets authorization to proceed,

- confirms that the stage is complete,

so that

- a decision can be made as to whether to commit to and authorize the project to proceed.

Overview

An Stage End Assessment should be held at the end of every stage in the project. The Stage Manager and Project Team report their progress and recommendations to the Project Board to gain the Board's approval to either to proceed with the next stage, or to confirm that project has been satisfactorily completed. This assessment reviews the overall progress of the project and the plan for continuing the project.

In the same way that a detailed schedule for the next stage of the project is developed in Project Initiation, a detailed schedule for the next stage of the project is developed in every other stage, except the last.

The overall project schedule provides an overview of the activities in each stage. These activities need to be further defined for the next stage to the point where all necessary tasks have been identified. This should use the same approach as for developing the overall project schedule. That is, using a proven process, or developing the process if one does not exist.

Once this has been done it is necessary to estimate the resources required for the next stage. This should cover all personnel resources required, both full and part time, and other types of resource such as office space and equipment. A time line and cost estimate for the stage can then be developed.

The work carried out in the stage is collated into a consistent document that contains the work completed to date, plans for the Project as a whole, and plans for the next project stage.

The revised Project Plan consists of an updated version of:

- Project Scope

- Overall Project Schedule

- Overall Budget for the Project.

- Project Organization

- Business Case for the project

- Standards and Control Procedures to be used on the project

The Plan for the next stage consists of:

- Stage Schedule

- Quality Review standards for next stage products

- Control Tolerances for the next stage

- Budget for the next stage.

Developing these plans will be an iterative process and may begin early during the current stage.

A brief Stage End Report should also be produced which summarizes the work carried out during the stage and contains recommendations to the Project Board.

By agreeing plans for the next stage, the Project Board are committing to the provision of funding and other resources, and understanding and accepting the assumptions, pre-requisites and risks. They must ensure that appropriate Progress, Quality and Change Control procedures are being administered effectively.

This approval also marks the formal delegation of responsibility to the next Stage Manager for the achievement of stage products, within the time and budget, subject to the agreed tolerance levels.
Task .010 Close Stage Administration
Ensure that all project management and development products produced in the current stage are correctly filed.
Task .020 Determine Next Stage Activities
Based upon the project and stage objective, scope, constraints and assumptions, tune the stage work breakdown structure to:

- Add new steps and/or tasks,

- Remove unnecessary steps and/or tasks,

- Merge steps and/or tasks,

The project plan identified the probable steps within the stage. Now is the opportunity to reassess the steps and their associated objectives and products. Removing steps and tasks may increase project risk. Document these risks and identify proposed countermeasures, which may include additional quality assurance tasks.

Determine the products to be produced by each step. Start at the end of the stage with the final deliverable, and work forwards to the beginning. Describe the objective, outline and content of each product. Validate the final product against the project and stage objective.

Within each step, identify the tasks or activities required to produce the step products. A task will have the following characteristics:

- Reference

- Name

- Description

- Input

- Output or product

- Technique (optional)

- Tool (optional)

- Role / responsibility assignment

- Resource / responsibility assignment

- Effort estimate

In this task define the Task Reference, Name, Description, Product, Techniques and Tools.

Record all assumptions and issues identified.
Task .030 Determine Activity Dependencies
Chart the sequence of stages and steps to reflect the intrinsic and architectural dependencies inherent in the project.

An output or product of one task will usually be the input to another, and this will be the primary driver in determining the task dependencies and workflow.

Determine whether the successor task references (throughput) or updates (entry requirement) the input product.

Some inputs may be sourced from outside the project. Identify these External Inputs (e.g., Long Range System Plan, Standards, Project Initiation report of another project, etc.).

Review the dependencies determined by the task inputs and outputs. Review the dependency types between the tasks. Tasks are not necessarily finish-start, but may be in parallel or phased. Where appropriate, define lags (both positive and negative) between tasks. Remove any step dependencies. It is recommended that the dependencies be kept simple and reduced to a minimum, otherwise the schedule will be very difficult to execute and will probably be abandoned.

Ensure that all dependencies with other projects are identified. Examine other Project Initiation Reports to assess interproject dependencies.

Record all assumptions and issues identified.
Task .040 Estimate Effort
Stage schedule estimates will be determined as effort time (or work). Determine the total effort per task. Remember to include peer review and revision time if such activities are not identified as specific tasks. It is recommended that you estimate in units of an hour. Avoid estimating tasks to less than one hour. It is advisable to estimate in units of 4 hours. No task should be longer than 80 hours.

By combining small tasks and including a detailed description of the task it will be possible to simplify the schedule merely by reducing the number of tasks in the Gantt.

The task effort estimates will be apportioned to individual roles and resources in the next task.

Record all assumptions supporting the estimate in the task description. This is very important because it will enable you to recreate and substantiate the estimate. It will also ensure that you have thoroughly thoughout what is to be done, and that it is communicated clearly to the Team. Estimating takes time, but it will validate the tasks, products, techniques and assumptions.

Aggregate the task estimates and compare against the original top-down step and stage estimates. If the detailed estimate is substantially different from the original top-down estimate it may be necessary to refer to the Project Board and consider revising both the project and stage plans.
Task .050 Allocate Resources
Assign roles and their associated responsibility to each task. In order to avoid overwhelming the plan with complexity focus on the "produce", "consult" and "review" responsibilities. The "approve" responsibility will generally apply only to the Project Board. The responsibilities are defined as follows:

- Produce: to create the product of the task. Usually applies to Project Team Members like Business Analysts, Systems Analysts and Programmers. The schedule will be simpler to balance if only a single role is assigned per task.

- Consult: provide information required to produce the task. Usually applies Coordinators and Key Resources.

- Review: review the product for correctness, accuracy and completeness. Usually applies Coordinators and Key Resources.

- Approve: official signoff. Usually applies to the Project Board.

Assign resources to the roles and responsibilities.

Apportion the total task effort estimate to the resources. As a tip, the schedule will be much easier to balance if the task effort estimate is apportioned entirely to the a single "produce" resource. Therefore this estimate should include time for the other "consult" and "review" resources, e.g., Client review, DBA review. Although this is a simplification, it is still applicable if the non-project team costs are excluded from the plan, since the estimates are primarily for the Project Team. The "consult", "review" and "approve" resources still need to be assigned to tasks, albeit at zero work, in order for them to be included in the schedule.

Define by task the resources availability (unit). The scheduler will calculate task duration as effort / unit.
Task .060 Prepare Next Stage Schedule
Develop an initial schedule of project activities.

Determine the proposed stage start date and use the scheduler to calculate the step and task start and end dates. Validate these dates against the project constraints.

Review the project objective, constraints and control factors before attempting to balance the plan. Deadline, resource utilization and costs can be adjusted as follows:

- Modify dependencies,

- Modify dependency type (finish-start, lag, etc.),

- Modify tasks and therefore the effort estimate (avoid arbitarily reducing estimates),

- Assign more resources (task duration will theoretically be reduced if more resources are applied to the task),

- Reassign more proficient resources,

- Provide productivity enhancing tools,

- Train and coach team members,

- Motivate team members,

- Increase resource availability,

Modify task descriptions and assumptions to record all the adjustments to the plan. Failure to do this will result in a mismatch between the original plan and the current schedule, and reduce the probability of project success.
Task .070 Prepare Next Stage Budget
Determine staff costs at the task level. This is a function of the resource work and chargeable rate. The Process Manager will supply standard hourly rates for both Internal Staff and External Contractors.

Determine non-staff costs for the stage by category. The categories are:

- Hardware & Network

- Software

- Project Training, training the project team to execute the project

- Installation Training, training the clients, operations, etc. to use the application

- Miscellaneous, includes supplies, copying of training materials, accommodation, subsistence, travel, or other costs which cannot be classified above.
Task .080 Baseline Next Stage Schedule
Once a satisfactory balanced stage schedule and budget has been achieved, baseline it. This will retain a record of the original start and end dates, work and duration estimates, and staffing costs

Actual progress will be monitored against this baseline.
Task .090 Update Project Schedule
Update the overall Project Schedule to reflect the details of the Next Stage Schedule.
Task .0100 Review Project Budget
Review the overall Project Budget, and make changes based on the latest Project Schedule
Task .0110 Review Business Case
Update the Business Case to reflect any changes in Costs, Benefits and Risks for the project.
Task .0120 Review Project Organization
Review the resource requirements from the Next Stage Schedule and update the Project Organization accordingly.
Task .0130 Review Project Scope
Review the latest statement of the Project Scope and ensure that it still accurately reflects the current status and plans for the project.

If the Project Scope is subject to Change Control, it should be up to date.
Task .0140 Compile Stage End Assessment Report
Collate all the elements of the project and next stage plans into a single document for review by the Project Board.

Summarize the achievements of the preceding stage, highlighting any issues concerning quality, cost, resource utilization, schedule, etc.

Verify that the project objective, scope, approach, products, organization, control factors, cost justification and risk are still valid. Highlight any changes.
Task .0150 Prepare Stage End Assessment
Decide what decisions the Project Board must make. These will cover issues that have arisen during the previous stage, and the decision on how to proceed with the project.

Determine the recommendations to be made to the Project Board concerning those decisions. If the development Stage Manager and the Client Co-ordinator disagree, then record both with supporting arguments.

Determine the information the Project Board needs to make the decisions.

Determine the best way to provide that information to the Project Board.

Prepare advance material for the Project Board.

Arrange and schedule a Project Board meeting and send out the advance material.

Prepare a structured agenda for the Project Board meeting.

Prepare a brief report covering the work carried out during the stage.
Task .0160 Conduct Stage End Assessment
Follow the prepared agenda and present the results of the stage to the Project Board.

Make a recommendation to the Project Board and ensure the Project Board makes a decision.
Task .0170 Follow-up Stage End Assessment
Update the Project and Stage Plans based on the decisions made by the Project Board.

Create a Stage End Approval Report and obtain Project Board signatories. Record any qualifications.
Project Closure

Objective

To

- formally close the project,

in a way that

- establishes mechanisms for the continued development or improvement of the final product of the project,

- improves the standard process for this type of project,

- updates the estimating model for this type of project,

so that

- the project resources can be re-deployed.

Overview

All good things must come to an end. Projects are designed to end at some point, that is the nature of project work. To gain maximum benefit from a project, the project should go through a formal close down.

There may be some outstanding work that needs to be carried out on the products of the project. This work should either be canceled, or mechanisms, such as a maintenance program, or additional projects, should be established to complete the work.

The project will have been using several lists and tracking mechanisms, such as the change request log and the issues log. These need to be formally closed.

The members of the Project Organization will have learnt how to carry out this type of project better in the future, and will have a better idea of how long the various activities on this type of project will take to do. These learnings should be captured for future use.

There will be a lot of information generated during a project, and this will have been stored with varying degrees of formality by the members of the Project Organization. This information needs to be formally filed away for possible future use.
Step 01: Final Product Evaluation
Description
Objective

To

- determine the overall quality of the final product and to implement a mechanism for improving or maintaining that quality,

in a way that

- evaluates the product against the original objectives identifies outages in the final product determines how to address any outages,

so that

- the overall project objectives can be met.

Overview

By this time in the project, all project work should have been completed, and the products of the project should have been accepted by the customers. It is possible however, that the final products do not fully meet the original objectives and requirements.

Before the project is completely finished, any outages in the products should be identified and evaluated. If it is decided that the outages need to be fixed, it will be necessary to set up a mechanism to carry this out. This may be by a new project, or a maintenance program.

If the product fully meets the original objectives and requirements, it is still necessary to consider how to maintain the product.
Task .010 Prepare Product Evaluation
Determine what form the final evaluation of the product should take. It could be:

- a meeting

- a quality review

- a questionnaire

Make sure that the evaluation includes an evaluation against the Business Success Criteria that were defined during the Project Initiation Stage. However, it is also important to evaluate the overall quality of the final product in respect of its ability to meet current requirements.

Prepare and distribute material as appropriate.
Task .020 Conduct Product Evaluation
Carry out the evaluation in the chosen way.

Determine if the project has been successful in relation to the original Business Success Criteria.

Determine if the product does meet all requirements. If the product does not meet requirements, identify the shortcomings and record them.

Determine if any of the shortcomings with the final product need to be addressed. If there are any items that need action, decide on the best way of addressing the items. Options include:

- do not close the project

- define a follow-on project

- initiate a maintenance process
Task .030 Initiate Maintenance Process
If there is a need for on-going maintenance of the final product, a maintenance process should be initiated.

If the organization does not have a maintenance process, this should be established. This should be a formal defined process, that involves business and technical staff in the identification, approval for work, carrying out the work and quality control of work.

There may be some maintenance work already identified, and this work should go through the defined maintenance process.
Step 02: Project Completion
Description
Objective

To

- complete all outstanding project work,

in a way that

- reviews outstanding project items,

- resolves outstanding project items,

so that

- the project can be formally closed.

Overview

The project will have been using a number of control procedures that produce logs of change requests and issues.

The logs need to be reviewed for a last time, To make sure that all items have been closed. If any items have not been closed, they should be evaluated to see if they still have a bearing on the final product. The items that are still open should then be closed or resolved. As a last resort, if there is a follow on project or maintenance program, the outstanding items should be passed on to the person responsible for the subsequent work.

It is possible that some activities were not completed on the project. The final commitment plan should be reviewed and any items that are still not complete should be identified. Any uncompleted activities should be treated in the same way as unresolved change requests or issues.

The best way to carry out this work is to have a final meeting of the project team and any other members of the Project Organization that are necessary to make decisions on the outstanding items.
Step 02: Project Completion
Task .010 Close Outstanding Project Work
Review the Change Control log and close any outstanding items.

Review the Issue Log and close any outstanding items.

Review the quality control log and close any outstanding items from completed quality reviews.

The project logs may be closed by transferring the items to a follow on project or to the maintenance process.

Produce personal assessments for all project team members.

Close and store project files. This may require forwarding some documents to other parts of the company (e.g. contracts correspondence).

Prepare a report on the final actions taken, for approval in the Project Closure Meeting.
Task .020 Prepare for Project Closure Meeting
Determine what needs to be accomplished in the Project Closure Meeting and decide who should attend.

Arrange and schedule the Project Closure Meeting.

Produce and circulate pre-meeting material (meeting notification, any required reading).

Produce outline project closure report for review at the closure meeting.
Task .030 Conduct Project Closure Meeting
Carry out the Project Closure Meeting in the agreed way.

Gain approval on closure actions.
Task .040 Follow Up Project Closure Meeting
Revise the closure actions if they were not approved in the Project Closure Meeting.
Step 03: Process Improvement
Description
Objective

To

- review and update the process used by the project,

in a way that

- involves both technical and business staff,

- covers the project process, techniques and organization,

- identifies things that worked well,

- identifies things that didn't work,

- identifies things were not necessary,

- identifies additional things that were necessary,

- improves the estimating model for the process,

so that

- the organization can learn from this project and make similar future projects more successful.

Overview

This is the final step in any quality process. This step evaluates the process itself and identifies any learnings from the project. If these learnings are likely to apply to future projects of the same type, the project process is updated to reflect what has been learned.
Task .010 Prepare End of Project Review
Determine what form the final review of the project should take. It could be:

- a meeting

- a facilitated workshop

- a questionnaire

The review should involve all parts of the Project Organization. It may also involve other staff and customers of, and suppliers to, the project.

Prepare and distribute material as appropriate to the people involved in the review.
Task .020 Conduct End of Project Review
Carry out the review in the chosen way.

Record recommended changes to the process and estimating model.
Task .030 Update Process Metrics
Review the recommended changes to the estimating model.

Assess each change and decide if it is likely to apply to future projects of this type. Change the estimating model based on these decisions.
Task .040 Implement Process Improvement
Review the recommended changes to the standard process used on the project. Assess each change and decide if it is likely to apply to future projects of this type. Change the standard process based on these decisions.

Step 05: Change Control
Description
Objective

To

- control the addition of work to the stage activities,

in a way that

- assesses the value of the change request,

- presents alternative solutions,

- assesses the impact of the alternative solutions,

- records all change requests and resulting actions,

- enables changes to completed products,

so that

- the Stage Managers and Project Board can make controlled changes to projectscope, schedule and cost.

Overview

As a project progresses, the people involved with the project develop a better understanding of what the end product should be and what they need to do to produce the product. This increased understanding manifests itself as changes to the stage activities, and changes to the products. This will disrupt:

- project and stage schedules,

- project and stage costs,

- project scope,

Such changes cannot always be avoided, but their impact can be predicted and controlled.

Change requests may come from a variety of sources but they wil require Project Board sponsorship to be processed. The originator will describe the change request and provide a justification.

Alternative solutions, and their respective impacts on the project, will be identified and a recommendation made.

The recommendation will be presented to the Project Board who will decide whether to accept it or make an alternative recommendation.
Task .010 Request Change
This is a formal request from either a member of the project team, a client, a coordinator or Key Stakeholder to make a change to the project scope or functionality. The originator must obtain sponsorship from a Project Board member for the proposed change request.

The proposed change request will be submitted on a Change Request Form by the originator. Before it can be accepted as a proposed change request the originator must complete the following information:

- Request Title,

- Originator's Name,

- Originator's Phone/Email/Mailstop,

- Sponsor's name,

- Description, of the proposed change,

- Justification, for the change, with quantified benefits,

- Originator's priority.

The Stage Manager will review the change request and assign it to someone to investigate alternative solutions.

The Stage Manager will update the Change Request Form:

- assign a unique Change Request #,

- update the Request Date,

- set status to "Open",

- update "Assigned To" and "Response Date".

The Stage Manager will update the Change Request Log.
Task .020 Identify Alternative Solutions
Evaluate the change request and identify several alternative solutions.

Assess the impact of each solution on:

- Functional Scope, including baselined products, tasks in progress and future tasks,

- Schedule,

- Effort,

- Cost.

One solution may be to reject the change request.

If a solution will force the stage out of tolerance, explicitly state this on the Change Request Form.

Make a recommendation.

Update the Change Request Form with the alternative solutions, their respective impacts, and the recommendation.
Task .030 Decide Change Actions
Present the change request, alternative solutions and recommendation to the Project Board.

The Project Board is required to either accept the recommendation, chose an alternative solution, or request further investigation.

Update the Change Request Form:

- update "Action", "Authorized By" and "Authorization Date".

- set status to "Close"

Change Log:

- update "Status" and "Close Date".

If the Project Board requests further investigation then the Change Request remains open.

Notify the originator of action.

If the chosen solution will cause the stage to exceed the tolerance limits then the Project Board may require the Stage Manager to produce an Exception Situation Report which will replace the Stage Plan.
Task .040 Implement Change
Make appropriate schedule and other project plan adjustments and communicate these to team members impacted. Include activities to monitor progress and execute quality control on the changes.
Step 06: Issues Management
Description
Objective

To

- resolve issues affecting the success of the project,

in a way that

- identifies issues affecting the project,

- assesses the extent to which issues affect the project,

- identifies actions to resolve issues,

- involves the appropriate level of management to make decisions on issues,

- tracks progress on issues,

so that

- the project can be carried out as planned.

Overview

There will always be issues that arise during the course of a project. Some of these issues may have a bearing on the project, and some will be of little consequence.

Issues can arise from within the Project Organization and from the environment that impacts the project.

Any issues that arise should be evaluated and dealt with as efficiently and effectively as possible.

An issue can often linger on, even after it has supposedly been resolved, so it is important to track issues to complete resolution.
Task .010 Identify Project Issue
Identify and describe an issue that is thought to affect the project. Determine whether to pursue the issue and, if any further research is required before assessing the issue, assign someone to research the issue.

Update Issue Log as follows:

- Assign a unique Issue No.

- Issue Title

- Type

- Internal, where the issue can be resolved by the project team.

- External, which cannot be resolved by the project team, but requires client or Project Board resolution.

- Priority

- 0 irrelevant, since it does not impact the project in any way,

- 1 low, whereby the unresolved issue will not impact current stage schedule,

- 2 medium, whereby the issue will impact the stage schedule if not resolved within four weeks,

- 3 stage stopper, whereby the issue must be resolved for work to continue on the current stage,

- 4 project stopper, whereby the issue must be resolved by the end of the stage for work to continue on the project.

- Originator's Name

- Assigned To

- Response Date

- Status (Open or Closed)

Forward the issue to the appropriate team member, client, coordinator or Project Board member for assessment and recommended resolution.
Task .020 Assess Impact of Issue
Consider the potential impact of the issue on the project:

- what happens if the issue is not actioned?

- will it impact project scope?

- will it impact the quality of the final product?

- will it cause the project to go out of tolerance?

- will it impact resource usage?

- will it change the project benefits?

- will it increase project risk?

Determine how the issue might be resolved.

Update the Issue Log with the recommended "Resolution".
Task .030 Resolve Issue
Determine whether the to accept the recommended resolution.

If the recommendation is accepted, and no additional effort is required, execute the resolution. Set Issue status to "Closed". Update Close Date.

If additional effort is required to execute the recommended resolution, create a Change Request. Set Issue status to "Closed".

If the recommendation is unacceptable, then determine next steps. Issue status remains "Open".
Step 07: Exception Situation
Description
Objective

To

- take corrective action when a project is off course,

in a way that

- minimizes impact to the project,

- gains agreement from all parts of the Project Organization,

so that

- the project can still be successfully completed.

Overview

The Project Initiation Report defines the project tolerances with respect to:

- cost,

- schedule,

- quality.

During the lifetime of a project it is possible that:

- a stage tolerance set by the Project Board is or will be exceeded,

- a major technical deviation is identified and recorded,

- an important dependency from another project is not available.

Their effect is that the current Stage Plan will not be met and so the Stage must be replanned in the light of the new situation. This is done by preparing an Exception Report.

An Exception Report serves the essential purposes of any plan; it must contain all the information normally given in Stage plans since, after approval, it will replace the current Stage Plan. In addition it shows the effect on the project of exceptional situations; for this reason the exception plan includes information on the exception that has arisen, the options that have been examined and the action that it is proposed to take.

In addition to the information contained in the Stage Plan, an Exception Report contains the following:

- an explanation of why a given situation is an exception and the circumstances that led to the situation,

- a prediction of the schedule, cost, schedule, functional, quality and technical impact if no action is taken,

- the recommended recovery action (changes to scope, organization, budget, timescale, etc),

- the consequences of this corrective action on both the Stage Plan and the Project Plan,

- a recommendation.

The Exception Report is prepared by the Stage Manager and submitted to the Project Board at a Mid Stage Assessment (MSA). Consideration should be given to both the project objective statement and the original Control Factors when considering recovery actions. If approved it becomes the effective plan for the remainder of the stage.
Step 07: Exception Situation
Task .010 Analyze Cause of Exception Situation
Confirm which component of the project is out of tolerance. Ensure that the control measuring the tolerance is functioning correctly.

Analyze the causes of the Exception Situation. These may include:

- resource utilization and availablity,

- resource productivity and performance,

- external factors,

- under estimating,

- scope creep,

- quality issues requiring the rework of products.

Assess the impact on the project of doing nothing, and continuing with the original plan, with respect to:

- stage and project schedule,

- stage and project cost,

- scope,

- quality of development products,

- interproject dependencies, both business and technical projects.
Task .020 Create Exception Plan
Review, from the Project Initiation Report, the Project Objective Statement, Measures of Project Success and the Control Factors. They will help to focus on identifying the most effective changes.

Consider each aspect of the project, identify appropriate changes and define their probable impact.

Dimension of Scope

- functional,

- organizational,

- data,

- performance requirements,

- implementation environment,

- development products.

Plan

- identify new tasks and products,

- modify original tasks and products,

- remove tasks and products,

- review resourcing,

- review workflow and task dependencies,

- re-estimate.

Organization

- review the effectiveness of the Project Board, Key Stakeholders, and Project Coordinators.

Schedule

- Recreate the stage and project plans.

Cost

- Recreate the project budget.

Business Case

- Quantify the impact of the proposed changes on each benefit, and the on the time to break even.

Risk

- Conduct a risk analysis.

- Identify new project risks and appropriate countermeasures.

If there is a single course of action, prepare the Exception Situation Report which summarizes:

- the causes and impact of the Exception Situation,

- recommends recovery actions,

- assesses the impact of the recovery actions,

- creates an Exception Plan which replaces the original stage and project plan.

If it is not clear what option should be taken, prepare an analysis of the options for the Project Board together with an outline Exception Report for each option.
Task .030 Prepare for Exception Assessment
Arrange a project assessment meeting of the Project Board to decide what course of action to take on the project.

Prepare an agenda and any presentation material that will be required to present the Exception Report to the Project Board in order for them to make a decision.
Task .040 Conduct Exception Assessment
Conduct the Project Assessment meeting. The Project Board should make a decision on how to proceed with the project, that the Stage Manager and Project Team can follow.
Task .050 Follow-up Exception Assessment
Record the decision made by the Project Board and take the appropriate action.

In most cases, this will be a series of additional project activities that are required to address the causes of the Exception Situation.

Execution of the Exception Plan may require invoking the Change Management process.

Project Control

Objective

To

- manage project work during a stage and prepare for the next stage,

in a way that

- controls project progress,

- controls the quality of project products,

- controls any changes that occur to previously agreed products,

- manages the configuration of the component products of the stage and the project,

- resolves any issues identified during the stage,

- provides consistent reports to management as defined in the stage schedule,

- controls the commitments of the project team and the expectations of the client,

- provides appropriate decision making information,

so that

- this stage can reach a successful conclusion and the project can progress to the next stage.

Overview

During a project stage, the focus should be on carrying out the work planned for the stage. However, there are many project management activities that need to be carried out in addition to the project work itself. In this methodology, these activities are arranged into a series of steps. These steps fall into four categories:

- a step to initiate the stage,

- steps that are carried out on an on-going basis throughout the stage,

- steps that are carried out at the end of the stage,

- a step that is only carried out in an exception situation.

Most of these activities are planned for in the project and stage planning. The procedures that are defined during Project Initiation, and are revised during further stage planning, are followed in these steps.

The Project Management activities include:

- monitoring and controlling project progress, through the use of regular checkpoints involving the project team and formal reviews with the Project Board,

- controlling the quality of products,

- controlling the way changes to baselined products are implemented,

- controlling and resolving issues that arise during the course of the project.

Several of the activities will result in changes to the stage schedule. The Stage Manager should ensure that these changes are made smoothly, and that these changes are communicated to all concerned. Any changes made to individual work assignments should be confirmed in the regular checkpoint meetings.

In the event of a stage tolerance being exceeded, an exception situation will arise. The Stage Plan will be replaced by an Exception Situation Report which will explain how the exception arose, the options examined, and the proposed actions.
Step 01: Stage Kick Off
Description
Objective

To

- start the project work on the stage,

in a way that

- gains agreement and commitment to the stage plan from the project team,

- sets up the project administration,

- initiates the on-going day by day execution of stage activities,

- initiates the stage control procedures,

so that

- the project team members can begin to work as a team for the success of the stage and project.

Overview

Once the Project Board has authorized the project to proceed with the stage, it is important to make a successful start to the work. Brief the project team on achievements to date, the more detailed plans for the current stage, and their place within the context of the overall project. There may be new team members who need to be briefed on all aspects of the project and existing team members may need to be brought up to date with any changes to the overall project plan.

Electronic and hardcopy file structures are set up to consistently maintain and administer project management and development products.

All control and documentation procedures for the stage should be established and the team should understand what these are for, how they are used, and what their individual responsibilities are.

It is possible that the stage schedule is not at a sufficient level of detail to manage and control the project on a day to day basis. This level of control may be achieved using a commitment calendar, which details each person's work on the project for a rolling four week window. This is initiated at stage start up and updated regularly as the project progresses.
Task .010 Setup Stage Administration
The Process Manager will assign each new project a project nmemonic or acronym which is to be used in all naming conventions.

Set up the project administration. Paperbased and electronic versions will be maintained concurrently. Establish the Directories and create a master index.

Setup a hardcopy Project Binder with the following sections and contents:

Plans

- Project Initiation Report,

- Baselined Stage Schedule,

- Progress Control Tracking Schedules,

- Summary Cost Worksheet.

Change

- Change Control Requests,

- Change Control Log.

Issues

- Issue Log

Quality

- Quality Review Schedule,

- Quality Review Agendas,

- Quality Review Exception Item Lists.

Status

- Status Reports

- Flash Reports

- Stage End Report(s)

- Stage End Approval Report(s)

Create the following Server based PMC directory structure for the project:

Plans

- Project Initiation Report,

- Baselined Stage Schedule,

- Progress Control Tracking Gantts,

- Summary Cost Worksheet.

Change

- Change Control Requests,

- Change Control Log.

Issues

- Issue Log

Status

- Status Reports

- Flash Reports

- Stage End Report(s)

- Stage End Approval Report(s)
Task .020 Establish Checkpoint Cycle
Establish the project checkpoint cycle.

It is recommended that the checkpoint cycle be of one week duration. Determine the start and end day.

For example, Checkpoint Cycle of Thursday thru Wednesday. Progress will be captured for the period 8.00am Thursday through to 5.00pm the following Wednesday. The plans will be updated for the Status Meeting on Thursday.
Task .030 Initiate Stage Version Control
Create one or more Development Product Directories, as appropriate, to file either electronically or on paper where the stage development products will be located.

Update the Process Engineer Project File with the Product path for each development product. This will support document management and access.

Products which have a Quality Review status of "QR Complete" or "QR Qualified & Complete" will be require a baseline version number. If a product is made up of multiple components, establish a version number for each component.

Identify the team member who will exercise configuration control for the development products. This role will be responsible for controlling the revision of versioned products.
Task .040 Acquire Stage Resources
Acquire the resources required to carry out the stage.
Task .050 Brief The Team
Brief both the project team and the key resources on the expectations for the stage.

Walkthrough:

- stage objective,

- planned activities,

- products,

- organization, roles and responsiblities,

- metrics,

- project controls.
Task .060 Initiate Stage Control Procedures
Initiate the control procedures:

- Checkpoint Cycle,

- Progress Controls,

- Status Reporting,

- Change Control Log,

- Issue Log,
Step 02: Project Board Meetings
Description
Objective

To

- setup and manage an effective Project Board,

in a way that

- ensures that all Project Board Members understand and accept their roles and responsibilities,

- ensures the Project Board provides executive direction to the project,

- ensures the Project Board is notified of project status and issues on a timely basis,

- enables the Project Board to provide guidance to the Project Manager,

- enables the Project Manager to obtain executable decisions,

- guarantees ownership of the project by the Project Board,

so that

- the project is organized for success.

Overview

The Project Board is the executive authority of a project. It authorizes the project to proceed, change direction or stop. It enters in to a contract with the Project Manager through the Project Initiation, Project and Stage Plans, to provide the executive support and resources required to execute a project which will deliver the specified products to schedule and budget. In effect, the Project Board acts as the project guardians, enabling the Project Manager and Project Team to do their job protected "from the arrows of outrageous fortune".

The Project Board is not expected to have a close day to day association with the project, that after all is the responsibility of the Project Manager. However, they do need to meet with the Project Manager periodically to review the achievement of objectives, scope, schedule, budget and quality products, and to resolve outstanding issues and change requests.

The Project Board should view the project as an investment intended to yield significant business benefits. Failure to achieve those benefits reflects as much upon the control exercised by the Project Board as it does on the execution of responsibilities by the Project Manager and Project Team.
Task .010 Determine Frequency of Project Board Meetings
The frequency of Project Board meetings is a function of:

- the experience and expertise of the Project Manager,

- the size and complexity of the project,

- the requirement for senior management direction and support,

- the length of the stage,

- the overall project risk,

- the overall project cost,

- the magnitude of the loss resulting from project failure.

As a minimum the Project Board will meet at the end of each stage, including Project Initiation, to review the achievements of the concluded stage and authorize proceeding to the next.

The following table provides some qualitative guidelines for determining the frequency of Project Board meetings, including those at the end of each stage.

Factor Calculation
Project Manager's experience High = 0, Moderate = 1, Low = 3
Project size No. of major sub-projects
Stage duration <2 months =" 0," months =" 1,"> months = 3
Overall project risk Low = 0, Moderate = 1, High = 2, Extreme = 3
Project cost <$250K = 0,<$500K = 1,<$750K = 2, $750K> = 3
Mission critical Yes = 3, No = 0

Total

Frequency Value Project Board Frequency
15+ 2 Weeks
11 - 15 4 Weeks
06 - 10 6 Weeks
00 - 05 8 Weeks
Task .020 Schedule Project Board Meetings
Schedule standing Project Board Meetings for the entire stage.
Task .030 Brief Project Board
Following the recruitment of the Project Board at the beginning of the project it is important to brief all participants to ensure that they completely understand their roles and responsibilities, and that they accept the commitment.

Generic Project Board responsibilities:

- Responsible for the ultimate success or otherwise of the project.

- Approve project objective, scope, approach, functionality, quality, cost and schedule.

- Set the permitted degree of deviation from planned scope, cost and deadline before the Project Manager is required to report exceptions to the Project Board.

- Ensure the project is aligned with strategic business objectives.

- Ensure the business case is viable, and remains viable.

- Provide required resources and funding.

- Resolve issues and mitigate risks in an expeditious and timely manner when escalated by the Project Manager.

- Authorize progress to next stage.

- Authorize cancellation or suspension of the project.

- Direct their line management to actively support and participate in the project.

- Inform their line management of project status and progress.

- Attend all Project Board meetings.

Sponsor:

- Champion the project throughout the organization.

- Obtains resolution of major project issues through more senior management intervention.

Client Representative(s):

- Represent the client business areas most affected by the final results of the project.

- Authorize the allocation of appropriate and sufficient client resources to the project team.

- Ensure the delivered system will work in the business organization.

Technical Representative(s):

- Represent the technical interests of development and/or operations.

- Authorize the allocation of adequate and appropriate technical resources to the project team.

- Ensure the delivered system is consistent with development technical strategy.

- Monitor the successful application of development standards.
Task .040 Prepare for Project Board Meeting
It is the responsibility of the Project Manager to schedule standing Project Board meetings at the beginning of the project. Confirm the logistics of the next meeting, namely date, time and conference room.

Create the meeting agenda. It is recommended that you use the Word 6.0 Agenda Wizard (standard style) to create the agenda. This Wizard also creates the skeleton meeting minutes. Confirm the agenda with the Project Sponsor.

Assemble any additional documentation that requires reading as preparation for the Project Board meeting.

Distribute the meeting agenda and additional documentation at least 3 days prior to the meeting.

Confirm individual Project Board member attendance. Where a Project Board member is unable to attend, it is that individual's responsiblity to arrange a substitute, and to notify the Project Manager.

Identify a documenter to take meeting minutes.
Task .050 Conduct Project Board Meeting
The Project Manager will conduct the meeting according to the agenda.

See the tasks below for suggested discussion points for specific types of Project Board meeting.

Confirm attendance and logistics of the next meeting.
Task .060 Follow-up Project Board Meeting
Create the meeting minutes. It is recommended that you use the Word 6.0 Agenda Wizard (standard style) to create the meeting minutes. Distribute to all Project Board members. File a copy in the Project Binder.
Task .070 Project Initiation Stage Project Board Meeting
The Project Initiation Report is the contract between the Project Manager and Project Board concerning the execution of the project. Although this meeting is not intended as a detailed "line item" review, it is important that the Project Board fully understand and accept the Project Initiation Report. If the Project Board authorizes the project to continue they must be prepared to provide unconditional support to the Project Team.

Topics for discussion include:

Project Initiation

- Project objective statement

- Scope

- Initial requirements

- Constraints

- Project approach (stage objectives)

- Project and stage products

- Project organization (project board, key stakeholders and project coordinators)

- Resource equivalent requirements

- Project costs, benefits and viability

- Risks and issues

- Recommendation

Project Plan

- Project schedule

Stage Plan

- Stage and step objective statements

- Stage and step products

- Stage schedule, including probable start date

- Project team resources

- Key client and technical resources
Task .080 End of Stage Project Board Meeting
Review the Stage End Assessment Report. The objective is identify key learning's from this stage and apply them to the next stage. It is all a matter of reducing risk and setting realistic expectations. Consider the following questions:

Objective

- Is the project objective statement still valid?

- How has the objective statement changed?

Scope

- Were all the tasks completed as specified?

- Were any tasks not executed and why?

- Were any additional unplanned tasks executed and why?

- Were the tasks executed in the planned sequence, and if not, why?

- Has scope changed without being subject to a formal change request?

- How many change requests were received, analyzed, accepted and or rejected?

Schedules

- Did the stage exceed schedule, and if so, by how much and why?

- What recovery actions, if any, were taken?

- Was a Tracking Gantt chart maintained?

- How effective were the progress controls?

Cost

- Did you monitor stage costs?

- Did the stage exceed budget, and if so, by how much and why?

- What recovery actions, if any, were taken?

Products

- Were the planned products produced?

- What planned products were not produced and why?

- What additional products were produced and why?

- What additional products should have been produced?

- Did the format and medium of products change from plan?

- Where is the Quality Plan?

- What products failed quality review, or were accepted with qualification?

- How effective was the quality review process?

- Do the products provide an effective baseline for future development and maintenance?

Client Alignment

- Are client representatives still committed to the project?

- Did the project organization (system and business) present obstacles to progress?

- Were the clients available when required and for long enough?

- Did the clients effectively participate in the project?

- How often did the Project Board meet?

- Did the Project Board meet as scheduled?Issues

- Are there any unresolved business issues?

- Are there any unresolved technical issues?

Risk

- Did the Critical Success Factors correctly identify possible risks?

- What additional factors impacted the project?

Review the Project Plan

- Revised project schedule

- Revised project costs

- Revised project benefits

Review the Next Stage Plan

- Stage and step objective statements

- Stage and step products

- Stage schedule

- Project team resources

- Key client and technical resources

- Recommendation
Task .090 Intra-Stage Project Board Meeting
Agenda items for discussion include:

- Project progress

- Stage progress vs. schedule

- Actual stage costs vs. budgeted stage costs

- Quality Plan

- Issues Log (including specific decisions required of the Project Board)

- Change Requests (awaiting authorization)

- Change Request Log

- Risk and mitigation measures
Task .0100 Project Closure Project Board Meeting
Report to the Project Board the results of the Post Implementation Review. This assesses the performance of the new system against the objectives planned. It also identifies and captures metrics and factors that will improve the development process.

Determine whether the project achieved it's objectives and whether it was a success.

Evaluate team achievements and determine suitability of awards.
Step 03: Quality Control
Description
Objective

To

- confirm that a product is complete,

in a way that

- involves business and technical staff,

- ensures that products meet defined technical standards,

- ensures that products meet business requirements,

- ensures clarity of the product,

- ensures that there is no ambiguity in the product,

- establishes a baseline version of the product,

- continually improves the quality control procedure,

so that

- the related project activities can be signed off as completed and the project can progress.

Overview

ISO9001 definition of quality; "The totality of features and characteristics of a product or service which bear on its ability to satisfy a given need".

Work on a product can only be considered complete when the product has been tested against acceptance criteria, that have been previously established for the product. It is important that those criteria are established in advance, since it is difficult to produce a product if you do not know what it is you are trying to produce.

When quality control is correctly applied, it can make a project team more effective, since it prevents situations where work has been carried out based on a product that is not acceptable.

Establish the degree of quality control to be applied to each product during the planning work for a stage. This step is used when a product is thought to be complete, and the product is either confirmed as complete, or corrected until it is confirmed as complete

The underlying quality principle applied in this methodology is that a quality product is achieved by using a quality process, and quality control is a final, but necessary step in that quality process. The quality process itself should be reviewed to ensure that it is achieving the objectives set for the process.
Task Summary

.010 Schedule Quality Review
.020 Prepare for Quality Review
.030 Conduct Quality Review
.040 Follow-up Quality Review
.050 Review Quality Control Procedures
Project Control : Step 03: Quality Control
Task .010 Schedule Quality Review
Schedule the Quality Reviews for the current stage.

The WBS identifies the resources fulfilling the "review" responsibilities. The schedule will determine when the Quality Reviews need to take place. In practice these dates will need to be adjusted to fit individual's calenders.

Alternatively, Quality Reviews can be explicitly defined as separate milestone tasks, without successors.

It is recommended that Quality Reviews be scheduled at the beginning of the stage to occur regularly every two or three weeks. This will ensure that reviewers are aware well in advance when they are to participate, and it will reduce scheduling conflicts. It will also motivate the project team to create small products at regular intervals. Quality Reviews can always be postponed if the products are not ready for review.

Software Guidelines
Task .020 Prepare for Quality Review
Create a Quality Review Agenda specifying the objective, products, logistics, roles, responsibilities and agenda of the Quality Review.

Distribute the Quality Review Agenda and the product to the reviewers not less than 3 working days prior to the review.

The reviewers are required to review the product before the Quality Review meeting. They will annotate the product with comments and errors.

Clients will review the product to ensure accuracy and completeness of business content.

Technical reviewers will evaluate the product against specific standards which define the structure, format and content of the product.
Task .030 Conduct Quality Review
The Quality Review is to be conducted in a structured and formal manner. Participants will fill the following roles:

Facilitator

- schedules and arrange review logistics,

- chairs the Quality Review,

- ensures successful execution of the Quality Review according to the agenda,

- ensures that the appropriate followup action is taken,

- notifies the Stage Manager of the results,

- files the Quality Review Exception Item List in the Project Binder.

Reviewer

- identifies deficiences in the product in the light of their prepared comments,

- does not suggest solutions in order to expedite the review.

Author

- presents the deliverable,

- provides clarification, but not to defend the product,

- understand identified deficiences,

- corrects the product after the Quality Review.

Documenter

- record identified deficiencies in the Quality Review Exception Item List (Item #, Reviewer, Product Section, and a Comment on the deficiency).

At the end of the Quality Review the status of the product will be determined:"QR Complete", whereby the product is complete and meets the prescribed quality standard."QR Qualified & Complete", whereby some deficiencies have been identified to be corrected, but does not require another formal Quality Review."QR Qualified & In Progress", whereby the deficiencies are sufficiently numerous or serious to warrant correction and another formal Quality Review.
Task .040 Follow-up Quality Review
For products with a status of:

"QR Complete", the Facilitator will notify the Stage Manager who will update the product status from "In Progress" to "QR Complete".

"QR Qualified & Complete", the author will correct the product from the Quality Review Exception Item List and annotated copies of the product. The author may wish to discuss solutions with other individuals, including the reviewers. The author will also update the Quality Review Exception Item List with the "Action" taken. Upon completion the author will notify the Stage Manager who will update the product status from "In Progress" to "QR Qualified & Complete".

"QR Qualified & In Progress", the Facilitator will notify the Stage Manager who will update the product status from "In Progress" to "QR Qualified & In Progress". The author will correct the product from the Quality Review Exception Item List and annotated copies of the product, and schedule another Quality Review. The author will also update the Quality Review Exception Item List with the "Action" taken.

Software Guidelines
Task .050 Review Quality Control Procedures
Review the Quality Review Procedures undertaken during the Stage. Verify that the level of control is appropriate, that the quality objectives for each product are appropriate and that all participants are satisfied both with the process and its outcome.
Step 04: Progress Control
Description
Objective

To

- monitor and control progress on the project,

in a way that

- collects actual work and cost performance information,

- collects latest estimates to completion,

- compares actual performance with plan,

- determines the causes of the deviation,

- promotes replanning,

- identifies out of tolerance situations,

- involves all parts of the Project Organization,

so that

- the project work can be carried out as scheduled.

Overview

It is very unusual for any undertaking to go exactly to plan. Projects are no exception. By the nature of a project, more information is being uncovered all the time which can affect the progress of the project.

It is important to monitor the degree to which the plan is being followed, and to take appropriate action if the project is deviating significantly from the plan.

The progress control procedures that are defined during the Project Initiation stage form the basis of the progress control during project stages. These procedures cover day to day progress tracking amongst the team, up to Project Board reporting.

Checkpoints are held throughout the project at weekly intervals and provide the mechanism for monitoring and controlling the day to day work on the project. Performance information is captured and plans are updated prior to the Project Status meeting. This enables the meeting to concentrate on determining what to do next.

Defining the control procedures includes the setting of tolerance levels for project performance.

When the stage tolerance is exceeded, the Stage Manager should carry out the tasks in the Exception Situation step, to regain control of the project.
Task .010 Capture Performance
Create the timesheets and distribute to the project team members at the beginning of the checkpoint cycle.

Capture from each team member the following:

- actual start date for tasks started this period,

- actual finish date for tasks finished this period,

- actual work (effort) in hours per task this period,

- latest estimated work in hours to complete the task,

- latest estimated elapsed time (duration) in hours to complete the task.

Capture any non-staff costs incurred this period.

Software Guidelines
Task .020 Update Schedule
Update the schedule by task by resource for the following:

- actual start date for tasks started this period,

- actual finish date for tasks finished this period,

- actual work (effort) in hours per task this period,

- latest estimated work in hours to complete the task.

Manually compare the rescheduled completion dates with the latest estimated elapsed time to complete. In order to make the scheduler recalculate an end date compatible with the estimated elapsed time to complete it may be necessary to revise the resource unit value or resource calender; e.g. A resource is assigned 50% to a task and the estimated work to complete is 3 days. The scheduler will recalculate the end date to be 6 working days hence. However, the resource has stated that the elapsed time to complete is 10 days because of a training class. In this example, update the resource calender to remove the 4 days of the class from the calculation.

Software Guidelines
Task .030 Update Costs
Update the Stage Cost Summary worksheet with:

- actual costs incurred this period,

- estimated remaining costs.

Staff costs will be automatically updated from the scheduler, since they are calculated from actual work.

Non-staff costs (Hardware & Network, Software, Project Training, Installation Training and Miscellaneous items) will be updated directly in the Stage Cost Summary worksheet. In practice it is expected that these non-staff costs will be maintained at a stage level, rather than by checkpoint.

Software Guidelines
Task .040 Replan Stage Schedule
Review the Tracking Gantt and Cost Workbook and identify any deviation from the baseline. Establish why the deviation has occurred. Refer back to the Project Control Factors to help determine the appropriate corrective action and adjust the schedule accordingly. Actions include:

- do nothing,

- accept a date slippage, within the project tolerance levels,

- adjust staff availablity,

- reassign staff,

- assign additional resources,

- coach and motivate the staff to work more effectively,

- resolve scheduling conflicts,

- expedite fuller client participation

- reduce the number of tasks,

- substitute tasks.

Determine if the stage has exceeded the progress, cost and quality tolerance levels agreed with the Project Board. If the stage is out of tolerance then execute the tasks in the Exception Management step to regain control of the project.

Review status of open issues and determine any further action required on these issues.

Review the status of any outstanding quality reviews.

Review any new Change Requests.

Revise the schedule.

Software Guidelines
Task .050 Conduct Team Status Review
Conduct a Status Meeting with the Project Team.

It is beneficial to conduct the Status Meeting according to a formal standard agenda.

Items for discussion are:

- achievements this period,

- planned activities that are incompleted or overdue,

- activities for the next period,

- new issues identified this period,

- issues closed this period,

- summary of results of quality reviews,

- summary of schedule and cost status,

- suggested revisions to the plan,

The Status Meeting is an opportunity to exchange information between all members of the Project Team.
Task .060 Create Status Report
The Status Report provides a record of current achievements and immediate expectations of the project. It provides an accurate history of the project, effectively communicates to all interested parties the current status of the project, and integrates progress tracking, change control and issue management.

Create the weekly Status Report. List:

- accomplishments this period,

- items not completed this period,

- proposed activities for the next period,

- reference new issues identified this period from the Project Issues Log,

- reference any issues resolved this period from the Project Issues Log,

- identify any predicted slippage to the stage schedule, along with cause and corrective action,

- identify any predicted cost overrun, along with cause and corrective action.

Distribute to the Project Team and the development Manager directly responsible for the Project Manager.

Retain an electronic and paper copy of the Status Report.
Task .070 Update Stage Schedule
Following to the Status Meeting make any additional adjustments to the schedule and Stage Cost Summary worksheet.

Software Guidelines
Task .080 Create Flash Report
Create the Flash Report at the end of the month.

Summarize the accomplishments for the month, schedule status, upcoming tasks for the month, and any major issues.

Distribute to the Project Team and Project Board.

Retain an electronic and paper copy of the Flash Report.

Step 06: Project Control Procedures
Description
Objective

To

- ensure that all procedures required to carry out and control project work are established,

In a way that

- identifies all necessary procedures,

- defines appropriate standards,

- defines necessary performance levels and tolerances,

So that

- all project work is carried out as effectively as possible.

Overview

There should be clearly established control procedures for any piece of work. A Project is not an exception to this rule, but due to the nature of projects, these procedures are often not readily available. It is therefore necessary to identify what procedures are required and to define these procedures.

Any established project control procedures that an organization has in place should be incorporated into the project plan. Procedures to consider are:

- Quality Control

- Progress Control

- Change Control

- Version Control

- Issue Resolution

Any existing procedures should be modified if necessary for the project. Additional procedures may be required, depending on the nature of the project.

The project and stage schedules need to incorporate project control tasks, and may need to be updated as a result of defining the control procedures.
Step 06: Project Control Procedures
Task .010 Set Up Project Administration
Create an electronic file structure to consistently maintain the administration of plans, progress, status reports, change control and issue management.
Task .020 Establish Quality Control Procedure
Determine the mechanisms to be used to ensure the quality of products produced during the project.

Task products may be subject to informal peer review. These task products should be small and the peer reviews frequent, since defects can be quickly identified and corrected with minimal rework.

Step products will be subject to formal review, with defects being recorded and assigned for correction.

Specify for each product the Co-ordinators and Key Resources who will perform the quality reviews.

See the "Quality Control" process for more details.
Task .030 Establish Progress Control Procedures
Set up the infrastructure to facilitate:

- capture of actual effort and re-estimated effort to complete,

- weekly status meetings to discuss achievements, forthcoming work, and issues,

- production of weekly status reports.

See "Progress Control" process for more details.
Task .040 Establish Project Control Factors
Determine the project Control Factors.

It is important to agree in advance with the Project Board the "elasticity" of the project, so that the suitable controls are applied in response to deviations from the plan.

The Project Dimensions are:

- Cost: the total cost of personnel and non-personnel resources,

- Schedule: the stage end dates,

- Performance: the quantity and quality of products.

They can be controlled by the following Management Directives:

- Maximize: the project dimension which will be most tightly controlled, with the least permitted deviation, to achieve project success,

- Constraint: the next most important dimension which will be optimized within the constraints of the first,

- Accept: the dimension whose performance (or lack of) will have to be accepted to achieve the first and second.

A directive can be assigned to only one project dimension.

Example 1: to meet the schedule end date, while constraining costs, we will accept a lower quality product.

Example 2: to achieve a high quality product, while constraining costs, we will accept a later finish date.

Quantify the tolerances with respect to schedule, cost and quality before the Project Board is automatically alerted.
Task .050 Establish Change Control Procedures
Identify the need for change control on the project.

A change request may require rework to both completed products and those under development, as well as future tasks. If it is not controlled then it will impact the project schedule and costs, and quality of the final product.

Define the levels of change control to be used to control changes to each type of product for this stage.

Create a Change Control Log.

See "Change Control" process for more details.
Task .060 Establish Issue Resolution Procedure
Create the Issue Log.

See "Issue Resolution" process for more details.
Task .070 Review Project Control Procedures
Conduct a review to ensure that the standard Project Controls are in place.
Step 07: Business Case
Description
Objective

To

- prepare a business case which compares the benefits and costs of the proposed project,

in a way that

- looks creatively for all possible areas of benefit,

- thoroughly researches all areas of cost,

- quantifies benefits in financial terms wherever possible,

- quantifies cost in financial terms,

- provides an assessment of the risks of the project and ideas on how they can be reduced,

- draws conclusions about the merits of the case,

- offers alternatives where appropriate,

- revises other sections of the project plan,

so that

- senior management has good quality quantitative information to guide their decision as to whether to proceed with the project.

Overview

One of the objectives of the project initiation stage of a project is to gather sufficient information to assess whether it is worthwhile to proceed.

Other Project Initiation steps will develop much of this information. This step extends that information with financial values to provide a business case for the continuation of the project.

One essential piece of information which has not been addressed in previous steps is the identification of the benefits of the project. These must be researched and documented.

The benefits can be compared against the costs which are included in the project budget.

These two basic sets of information are then compared and analyzed to ensure that proceeding with the project makes sense from a financial perspective.

This step also examines the risks associated with the project, which need to be considered by senior management (the Project Board), when making decisions about the project. Risks associated with the project as it has been defined in the other Project Initiation steps are examined, and actions to reduce, mitigate, or eliminate the risks are identified.

The risks of not carrying out the project are the risks associated with not achieving the benefits identified for the project.

In developing the Business Case, it may be necessary to adjust other parts of the project plan, including the Scope, Project and Stage schedules, and the Project Organization.
Task .010 Determine the Project Costs
Review the project budget and determine that all development costs have been identified.

The project constraints will have stated the maximum project cost. This task is intended to develop an initial project budget within these constraints.

Develop an initial project level estimate of costs. As with the sliding planning window, this project level estimate is intended to give an overall cost of the project. It is a top-down estimate, and will be revised and revalidated at the end of each stage. Although there will be many assumptions, it is very important that an initial estimate of project costs is completed. Failure to produce an initial estimate of project cost, with supporting assumptions and caveats, will tend to suggest that the project objective, scope, approach and resourcing have not been properly thought through.

Estimate costs by the following categories:

Development (including Conversion and Installation)

- Staffing, internal and external resources who will chargeable to the project, e.g., project team, contractors, trainers, technical writers, etc.

- Hardware, includes purchases and licences

- Software, includes purchases and licences

- Project Training, for the project team to develop the application

- Installation Training, for clients, operations, etc. to use the application

- Miscellaneous, includes copying and printing, office space, accommodation, travel, subsistence, supplies or other costs which cannot be classified above.

Operational & Maintenance

- Staffing, operations, maintenance, support, clients, trainers

- Hardware, includes purchases, licences, machine time, telecommunications, data storage

- Software, includes purchases and licences

- Miscellaneous, includes copying and printing, office space, accommodation, travel, subsistence, supplies or other costs which cannot be classified above.

Aggregate the Development costs by stage.
Task .020 Quantify Benefits
Identify and quantity all benefits associated with the final product of the project. Attempt to put a financial value on each benefit, so that the benefits are tangible.

During project scoping Critical Requirements Analysis will have identified and qualified the major requirements. The technique requires that "Performance Criteria" and "Performance Levels" be identified for each Critical Performance Area (CPA). The major requirements will be identified and associated with the corresponding CPAs. It is therefore possible to extrapolate this further and place a value upon a requirement and quantify the benefits.

For example: The performance criteria for the CPA "Perfect Order" may be the number of incorrect orders per 1000 orders processed. The current performance level is 50 per 1000. The required performance level is 10. The clients, in conjunction with the project team, are expected to be able to translate this reduction of errors from 50 to 10 into a $ value.

Define for each benefit, when it is expected to be accrued. It is very useful to be able to map out the expected benefit through time since it will re-enforce the justification of the project.

Quantifying thebenefits is an excellent way of setting realistic business expectations of the project.

Document any calculations used to determine tangible benefits since it will be necessary to repeat the calculation process in subsequent stages of the project.
Task .030 Determine Breakeven Point
Establish the breakeven point for the project as a whole

Create a cost worksheet which charts accumulated costs and accumulated benefits through time. Generally, costs are incurred prior to accruing the benefits. Where the benefit line crosses the cost line will indicate the expected breakeven point.

Review whether the projected breakeven point is acceptable. The longer the breakeven point, the less chance that it will ever be achieved.
Task .040 Analyze Risk
Determine the risks associated with conducting the project. Risks tend to be factors which are not within the control of the project manager, but which could nevertheless result in the failure to achieve the project success criteria.

Conduct a Risk Analysis. Risks can be categorized as:

- External Dependencies,

- Organizational,

- Planning,

- Business Case,

- Technical.

Evaluate each risk factor within these categories and determine a value. Aggregate the risk values by category to determine low, medium and high risk areas.

The real benefit of this exercise is not in detemining a numeric vaule, but in identifying areas of the project which are exposed to risk.

Identify the medium and high risk factors and determine appropriate countermeasures to reduce, mitigate or eliminate the risks. Where appropriate include these countemeasures as steps and tasks in the project and stage plans. Document the assumptions in the task descriptions and cross reference them back to the project risk factors.
Task .050 Review Business Case
Conduct a product review of the Business Case to ensure that the Business Case is complete and accurate.
Step 08: Project Initiation Stage Assessment
Description
Objective

To

- document the results of the Project Initiation stage and to have the results reviewed by management,

In a way that

- provides a comprehensive package of information from which a decision can be made,

- gains agreement on the scope of project,

- gains agreement on the overall approach and schedule for the project,

- gains agreement on the Business Case for the project,

- gains agreement on the Project Organization,

- gains commitment to making the necessary resources available for the project,

- gains agreement to the approach and schedule for the next stage of the project,

- gains agreement to the control procedures defined for the project,

- provides a record of the project and stage plans for use in managing and controlling the project if it gets authorization to proceed,

- confirms that the Project Initiation stage is complete,

so that

- a decision can be made as to whether to commit to and authorize the project.

Overview

An Stage End Assessment should be held at the end of every stage in the project. The Project/Stage Manager and Project Team report their progress and recommendations to the Project Board to gain the Board's approval to proceed with the project.

The work carried out in the Project Initiation steps is collated into a single product.

For small projects the document is the Project Initiation Checklist. This single product comprises objectives and scope, organization, tentative schedule and estimate, milestone activities and products, business case, and risk analysis.

For medium and large projects the document is the Project Initiation Report. It consists of:

- Project Objective

- Project Scope

- Project & Stage Schedules

- Project Organization

- Project Control Procedures

- Business Case for the project

- Risk Analysis

- Recommendation

For medium projects the Project Initiation Report will include the detailed schedule (Stage Plan) for the entire project. A "go / no go" decision will be made for the entire project by the Project Board.

For large projects the Project Initiation Report will include the project level schedule (Project Plan) and a detailed schedule (Stage Plan) for the next stage only. A "go / no go" decision for the next stage will be made by the Project Board. Upon completion of this next stage, a recommendation to proceed with the entire project will be made to the Capital Aquisition Committee. The Project Schedule consists of:

- Project Level WBS Description

- Major Products List

- Overall Project Schedule

The Stage Plan for the next stage consists of:

- WBS Description Report

- Products List

- Resources Requirement (including roles and responsiblities)

- Baselined Stage Schedule

- Cost Worksheet for the next stage

By agreeing to the plans, the Project Board are committing to the provision of funding and other resources, and understanding and accepting the assumptions, pre-requisites and risks. They must ensure that appropriate Progress, Quality and Change Control procedures are being administered effectively.
Task .010 Compile Project Initiation Report
For medium and large projects, collate all the elements of the Project Initiation Report, and the project and stage plans, into a single product for review by the Project Board.
Task .020 Prepare Project Initation Stage Assessment
Decide what decisions the Project Board must make. These will cover issues that have arisen during Project Initiation, and the decision on how to proceed with the project.

Determine the recommendations to be made to the Project Board concerning those decisions. If the development Stage Manager and the Client Co-ordinator disagree, then record both with supporting arguments.

Determine the information the Project Board needs to make the decisions.

Determine the best way to provide that information to the Project Board.

Prepare advance material for the Project Board.

Arrange and schedule a Project Board meeting and send out the advance material.

Prepare a structured agenda for the Project Board meeting.

Prepare a brief report covering the work carried out during the stage.
Task .030 Conduct Project Initiation Stage Assessment
Follow the prepared agenda and present the results of the stage to the Project Board.

Make recommendation.
Task .040 Follow-Up Project Initiation Stage Assessment
Update the Project and Stage Plans based on the decisions made by the Project Board.

Create a Stage End Approval Report and obtain Project Board signatories. Record any qualifications.
Task .050 Compile Small Project Initiation Checklist
For small projects, create the Small Project Initiation Checklist. Attach the original Blue Form.
Task .060 Prepare Small Project Assessment
The Project Initiation Checklist is to be reviewed by the following parties in order to obtain the "go / no go" decision:

- Client Originator,

- Client Originator's Manager (Department Manager),

- development Project Manager,

- development Manager.

By agreeing to the Project Initiation Checklist the parties are committing to the provision of funding and other resources, and understanding and accepting the assumptions, pre-requisites and risks.

Determine the best way to obtain this decision. Either distribute the Project Initiation Checklist to the individuals or organize a meeting.
Task .070 Review Small Project Assessment
Ensure that the parties clearly understand the character of the project, and how it will be executed. Provide the parties with adequate information to enable them to make a "go / no go" decision. Assess the urgency of the project relative to other outstanding projects. Where possible set an expectation of the project Start and End date.
Task .080 Follow-Up Small Project Assessment
Authorized small projects will be subject to the Small Project prioritization process. Rejected small projects are removed from the prioritization process.