Project Management Methodologies

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Introduction:

In this chapter the literary information of this research are analysed and discussed leading to the unanswered question which this study answers through the research and data analysis. This chapter is analysed thorough a research done using numerous books and journals related to this research area.

Project management (Woodward, 2007) is a key to companies adopting business improvement methodologies such as Six Sigma, which improve their efficiency and competitiveness in the market. Project management is a core competency for a company to maximize the effect of the methodologies to be used for the research. In the past Organizations have been mainly focused on the development of their products’ lifecycle and ensured that their project management practitioners have had the required knowledge in the form of procedures, tools and techniques. Companies have sought to improve their project management competency through structured training programs.

In this chapter the project management methodologies used for developing the project in an organisation is discussed in this chapter. The process of project management methodology in a project is analysed in depth based on PRINCE2 methodology and the process of Project Management department is evaluated by investigating project management department in Infosys technologies limited. The project management team roles are investigated and their responsibility in a project is analysed by the author in this chapter.

2.2 Project Management Methodologies:

Kerzner (2005) defines a methodology is a set of guidelines that can be applied to a specific situation during a project. In a project environment, these guidelines might be a list of things to do. A methodology is of a specific approach, templates, forms and even checklists used over the project life cycle.The project methodology is the work of all team members involved in the project throughout the life cycle of a project to for the project success. The project management methodologies (OGC, 2005) are:

• PRINCE2

• PMBoK

• Method123

• Tensteps

• COBIT

PRINCE2 is a true framework developed and instituted in the UK under the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) a government agency; System Development Life Cycle (SDLC), the classic waterfall approach and Solutions-based Project Methodology and a simplified approach for the consultants to work for the clients. The Ten Step methodology comes to project management frameworks and appear to be only two or three that are generally applicable. The Development Methodologies, i.e. management of the technology including information technology and software development in particular are suitable to complete the project. The process includes the project management methodologies and classic building development by a way of comparison.

The Office of Government Commerce (OGC) adopt the principle of making its copyright materials such as PRINCE2 widely available to use for developing the project, the only cost incurred is the purchasing of the manual. OGC has encouraged supplier organisations to provide a competitive range of tools, training and other services to support the users. With the development of PRINCE2, OGC is keen to ensure the best package of products and services that are available to the users. OGC has also established collaboration partnerships with a number of organisations specifically to provide support for PRINCE2 and the related areas of Programme Management and the Management of Risk. (OGC, 2005)

PMBoK, Method123 and COBIT (Lewis, 2002) focus on the technology and focus more on a generic project management approach. The methodology to use based on the organizational requirements is of Light and Heavy methodologies, the project size and complexity will affect the type of methodology to be selected. Managing the project and managing the technology is by applying the appropriate methodology, project managers are likely to deliver the solutions based on the client requirements. The two types of methodologies are: Project management methodologies and Development methodologies. The project framework of project management methodologies consists of eight chapters as follows: (Lewis, 2002)

1. Understanding Project Methodologies

2. Project Methodologies Explained

3. Project Management Frameworks

4. Development Methodology – Selection and Utilization

5. Implementing Project Methodologies

6. Supporting the Methodology

7. Project Templates and Techniques

8. Project Processes and Trends

A methodology (Nicholas, 2001) of managing projects observed that projects have common characteristics that can be formalized into a structural process to manage projects more effectively. The project development process and the development methodology are the means of getting from segment to segment. The methodology provides a means for selecting the degree of project management appropriate to the project. Each phase can typically be brought to closure in some logical way before the next project phase begins and each phase results in discrete deliverables which provide the starting point for the next phase. Cost and schedule estimates: plans, requirements and specifications are evaluated at the end of each phase, sometimes before deciding whether to continue with the project. Adopting an incorrect methodology or having no project framework in an organisation might cause a: (Pinto, 2000)

• Schedule and cost slippages,

• Miscommunication within the team,

• Wasting time on administrative tasks that have no purpose,

• Reliance on technical wizardry to get projects done, and

• Project management burnout.

The project management department get the message across senior management which briefly explains the capability maturity model (CMM) and its five levels in it as sets of strategies for improvement. The CMM levels are: Initial, Repeatable, Defined, Managed and Optimized. The project management methodologies take a leading role in a company and it needs to be good in a few areas: (Cleland and King, 1998)

• Project management philosophy is firmly entrenched

• Project management is a core competency

• The company is focused on making projects succeed

• Processes and infrastructure are in place

• Effective reporting is established

• Both project methodology and development methodologies are well documented

• Project staff is provided continuous training

• Project information is communicated continuously

• Projects are monitored against performance

• Quality and delivery excellence are built in

• Projects are routinely audited

Different methodology proponents use different labels, perhaps to differentiate their products. In all the methodologies described while the first several items in the list are dealt with, the remainder is absent. It is almost as though the author was interrupted in mid flight and never returned to the same spot. Similarly, some methodologies are mentioned but not described and others are described but not listed in explanatory tables. (Meredith and Mantel, 2005)

2.3 PRINCE2 Project Management Methodology:

CCTA (1996) defines a PRINCE2 as “a management environment for the purpose of delivering one or more business products according to a specified Business Case is needed to produce a unique and predefined result at a pre-specified time using predetermined resources”. A PRINCE2 project consists of the following characteristics: (Wearne, 2006)

• A finite and defined life cycle,

• Defined and measurable business products,

• A corresponding set of activities to achieve the business products,

• A defined amount of resources,

• An organisation structure,

• with defined responsibilities, and

• to manage the project.

A PRINCE2 project is driven by its business case which describes the organisation’s justification, commitment and rationale for the project’s outcome. The business case is regularly reviewed with the project’s progress to ensure the business objectives, which may well change during the life of the project till the objectives are met. The projects are of different groups of people involved, including the customer, one or more suppliers and the user. PRINCE2 is designed to provide a common language across all the people involved in the project. Bringing customers and suppliers together generally involves contracts and contract management. The aspects of PRINCE2 recognise the need to provide projects with necessary controls and breakpoints to work successfully within a contractual framework. (Burke, 1999)

PRINCE2 (Colin, 2005) is a method for managing projects and it helps to work out who should be involved and what will be their responsibilities to complete the project successfully. It gives a set of processes to work through and explains what information should be gathered along the way. PRINCE2 is a process-based approach to project management. The processes define the management activities to be carried out during the project. PRINCE2 describes the components that are applied within the appropriate processes and recommends a number of techniques to be utilised for the process.

The PRINCE2 process model consists of eight distinct management processes and the activities from setting the project on the right track through controlling and managing the project’s progress through to project completion. The Planning process is triggered by many of the other processes. The key to successful use of the process model is in tailoring it to suit the needs of the individual project. (Bradley, 2005)

2.3.1 Directing a Project (DP):

This process is performed by the Project Board (Project Manager, Project coordinator and project officer) and describes the direction and key decision making of the project. This is the only process performed by the project board. Whenever a decision is made, the Project Board will the Business Case, Project Plan and Risk Log as the basis for that decision. (Bradley, 2005)

The DP processes are managed by the project board throughout the project from start-up to project closure. The DP process has five major steps: (Baguley, 2004)

• Authorising the preparation of a project plan and business case for the project

• Approving the project go-ahead

• Checking that the project remains justifiable at key points in the project life cycle

• Monitoring progress and giving advice as required

• Ensuring that the project comes to a controlled close

2.3.2 Starting up a Project (SU):

SU (Bradley, 2005) gives an idea about the project whether it is viable and worthwhile to process. It is classed as pre-project work and includes the activities with definition and appointment of the Project Management Team Preparation with a brief idea about the project. According to (Baguley, 2004) starting up a project is a pre-project process with five objectives:

• Design and appoint the project management team

• Ensure that the aims of the project are known

• Decide on the approach which will be taken within the project to provide a solution

• Define the customer’s quality expectations

• Plan the work needed to draw up the PRINCE2 between customer and supplier.

2.3.3 Initiating a Project (IP):

This process prepares the information on whether there is sufficient justification to proceed with the project, establishes a sound management basis for the project and creates a detailed plan for as much of the project as management are in a position to authorise. (Baguley, 2004)

IP is the first stage of the project. It lays the groundwork for the project and creates the Project Initiation Document (PID). The information contained within the PID expands on that contained within the project brief and will define in detail the project that will be delivered including standards which will met or maintained the Business Case and Project Plan. The following activities are all carried out during IP prior to assembling the PID. Refining the Outline Business Case and risks with information gathered or forecast during the creation of the Project Plan Identifying and agreeing an appropriate level of control for the project and defining the project communication plan creation of the project files, the Issue Log and Lessons Learned Log. If the project is managed in stages, the next Stage Plan will be created when assembling the PID. (Bradley, 2005)

2.3.4 Controlling a Stage (CS):

CS covers the day-to-day management of the project and it is where the Project Manager does their job. This involves:

• Handing out work to the teams,

• Monitoring that the work is progressing within tolerance and to the correct level of quality,

• Creation of Highlight Reports to send to the Project Board at a frequency agreed when the controls were set during IP,

• Risk management,

• Logging and analysing the impact of issues, and

• Resolving any problems or deviations within tolerance. (Bradley, 2005)

2.3.5 Managing Stage Boundaries (SB):

In order (Bradley, 2005) to maintain control over the project: larger, complex or more risky projects should be divided into stages. Each planned stage is approved by the Project Board before it is delivered. The Project Manager will:

• Create the next Stage Plan

• Update the Project Plan, Business Case, and Risk Log

• And any other information as appropriate

• Prepare an End Stage Report for presentation to the Project Board

• Seek authorisation from the Project Board to deliver the next Stage Plan

2.3.6 Managing Product Delivery (MP):

MP (Bradley, 2005) covers the work of the Team Manager and a role dedicated to work with the specialist teams ensuring that their work is completed within any constraints defined within the Work package agreement. In simple terms, MP covers:

• Accepting the work from the Project Manager,

• Creating a Team Plan if appropriate,

• Getting the work done,

• Reporting Checkpoints at an agreed frequency,

• Carrying out any necessary quality checks,

• Escalate the issues which has the work package tolerances, and

• Returning the completed work back to the Project Manager.

2.3.7 Planning (PL):

PL (Bradley, 2005) is triggered whenever the Project Manager or Team Manager appropriate and creates a plan. The process describes the production of a plan including:

• The initial identification of the required plan format

• Identifying and describing the products that must be created together with any additional activities & dependencies

• Estimation and the scheduling of events

• Creation of the plan narrative.

2.3.8 Closing a Project (CP):

CP (Bradley, 2005) ensures that everything has been delivered to the customer’s satisfaction and ties-up any lose ends. It also ensures that the products produced are handed over to those responsible for their on going and future operation. All of the closure activities are subject to the Project Board confirmation that they are happy for the project to finish. Once the project closure has been completed the following information will have been created: End Project Report; Including the Post Project Review Plan; Follow-on Actions Recommendations and for each open Issue. For those currently open risks which may impact has been delivered during its operational use with lessons learned report; both positive and negative lessons and Project file archive. The Post Project Review Plan will identify appropriate times for measures of benefit achievement.

2.4 PRINCE2 in an Organisation:

PRINCE2 (OGC, 2005) provides benefits to the managers and directors of a project and to an organisation through the controllable use of resources and the ability to manage business and project risk more effectively. PRINCE2 proven best practice in project management and it is widely recognised to provide a common language for all participants in a project in an organisation. PRINCE2 (Scott, 2002) encourages formal recognition of responsibilities within a project and focuses on what a project to deliver. PRINCE2 provides projects with a controlled and organised start, middle and end; Regular reviews of progress against plan and against the Business Case flexible decision point and management control of any deviations from the plan.

The existence of a viable Business Case is confirmed at the start of the project, and verified throughout the project to form the basis of every decision made by the Project Board. The Business Case is a statement of reasons for doing the project and the benefits of carrying out the project balanced against a summary of the cost, timescales and risk involved in achieving the benefits (Turner, 2004). If the Business Case is no longer considered viable then the Project Manager will ask to close the project.

The involvement of management and stakeholders at the right time and place during the process of a project plays an important role for the success of a project. Managers using PRINCE2 are able to establish terms of reference as a pre-requisite to the start of a project. A defined structure for delegation, authority and communication; divide the project into manageable stages for more accurate planning; ensure resource commitment from management is part of any approval to proceed; provide regular but brief management reports and keep meetings with management and stakeholders to a minimum but at the vital points in the project. Those who will be directly involved with using the results of a project are able to participate in all the decision-making on a project; involved in day-to-day progress and provide quality checks throughout the project and ensure their requirements are being adequately satisfied. (Kerzner, 2003)

PRINCE2 suggests the projects that should be broken down into stages and the sub-processes dictate how each individual stage should be controlled. It includes the way in which the process is authorized and received. It also specifies the way in which progress should be monitored and how the highlights of the progress should be reported to the project board. A means for capturing and assessing project issues is suggested together with the way in which corrective action should be taken. This covers the things that should be done at the end of a project. Project is formally de-commissioned and follow on actions are identified in the project itself be formally evaluated. (Kerzner, 2003)

A good project management (Maylor, 2005) method guides the project through a controlled, well-managed, visible set of activities to achieve the desired results. PRINCE2 provides the projects with:

• A controlled and organised start, middle and end

• Regular reviews of progress against plans and against the Business Case

• Flexible decision points

• Automatic management control of any deviations from the plan

• The involvement of management and stakeholders at the right time during the project

• Good communication channels between the project management team and the rest of the organisation

• Agreement on the required quality at the outset and continuous monitoring against those requirements.

PRINCE2 (CCTA, 1996) is designed to be used on all type of projects in any environment. It contains a complete set of concepts and project management processes that are the minimum requirements for a properly run and managed project. The way in which it is applied to each project will vary considerably and tailoring the method to suit the circumstances of a particular project is critical to its successful use. PRINCE2 projects are always focused on delivering pre-defined products to meet a specified Business Case. It enables the project to capture and retain a definition of the business benefits that are the driving force behind the project itself. The customer and supplier environment assumes that there will be a customer who will specify requirement and pay for the project. A supplier will provide resources and skills to create that product successfully. The customer and supplier normally come from separately managed areas. Stakeholders have an interest and will be impacted by the project with its outcomes.

The stakeholders include: (Healey, 2003)

• Customers, who have commissioned the work and will benefit from the end results on the Project Board by Project Executive,

• User(s) will be impacted by the outcome as they will use or operate the final product and represent on the Project,

• Board the Senior User(s), the customer and user may be the same group of people,

• Suppliers provide specialist resource or skills to the project with goods and services – represented on the Project Board by the Senior Suppliers,

• Suppliers appoint Sub-contractors to provide products or services to them.

PRINCE2 (CCTA, 1996) offers a series of plan levels that can be tailored to the size and complexity of a project. Each level of plan consist of the needs and recommend planning technique based planning, but the planning process includes the identification of activities and their dependencies. PRINCE2 facilitate the principle of management by exception and provide each level of management with information allowing them to assess progress to make appropriate decisions based on accurate information.

2.5 Project management methodologies risk management process:

PRINCE2 (Bradley, 2005) defines risk management in two phases, risk analysis and risk management. Risk analysis covers the identification and evaluation of risk through the identification and selection of appropriate responses for the process. Risk management is of planning and the selected actions for monitoring and reporting on their status. Quality within PRINCE2 begins by establishing the Customer’s Quality Expectations and agreeing associated Acceptance. These will be detailed within a Project Quality Plan together with any external standards which will need to be met. It will also detail the change control processes and will contain the Configuration Management Plan.

The Project Quality (Shtub and Bard, 2003)Plan defines how the project will achieve the required quality. Configuration Management defines how the assets of the project are identified, protected and controlled. It also identifies how it links with other PRINCE2 components and techniques to describe the role. The Configuration Management plan is identified within the Project Quality Plan. PRINCE2 emphasises the need for the controlled management of change and this is enforced with a change control technique plus the identification of the processes and responsibilities for change control. Change is inevitable and often beneficial to uncontrolled change causes project failure. Controlling change ensures that all changes are documented and analysed. Changes will be authorised only when their impact is fully understood and deemed to be beneficial or acceptable to the project.

PRINCE2 is a generic project management (Baguley, 2004) method and recognised for using different techniques. Product Based Planning describes a framework, which can be applied to any type of project. PRINCE2recognises that most organisations will have their own defined change control processes to recommend an approach that treats each change request during the project development. The change control technique identifies the process and responsibilities for handling a change requests from its initial entry onto the Issue Log through its analysis and implementation.

Bradley (2005) defines a number of activities which must be carried out in order for the project to be defined, developed and closed. PRINCE2 consists number of components which contain further detail on specific project management issues. Various components covered by PRINCE2 are:

• Business Case;

• Organisation;

• Plans;

• Controls;

• Management of Risk;

• Quality in a Project Environment;

• Configuration Management;

• Change Control.

Project management (Kliem, et al., 2002) maturity models are designed around the company’s own environment, structure and needs in to four levels of maturity:

1. The first level usually reflects an informal and individualistic approach to project management with poor project definition and co-ordination,

2. The next level reflects a more functional application with some project co-ordination and where project management is mainly viewed as a tool or technique,

3. The third level addresses project management as being practiced with some degree of excellence either in a transitional or matures state,

4. The final level addresses portfolio management and may not be applicable to all types of industry depending on their project types and numbers.

The project management (Churchhouse, 1999) maturity models are effective in an organization and this ownership is shared across the executive management. Implementation and deployment will generally be responsibility of a dedicated team assigned, preferably to a central department or group within the organization who work as a team and provide strong sponsorship, guidance and commonality across the organization. This management team is supported by a network of project management practitioners within the organization.

Structured methodology and documentation use across all levels of the organization, incorporating the company’s cultural and operational characteristics aligned with the company’s quality system, complies with industry and professional standards; and is effectively applied in operational use. Project management tools, whether technical or non-technical, enterprise wide need to meet the needs of the project management community with defined methodology. (Thayer, 2000)

The project management (Harrison, 2002) needs are defined, measured, understood and developed to a visible career structure that has formal recognition, status and reward. Organizations from time-to-time need some direct intervention, whether its mentoring executive and senior management, coaching project and line managers, assisting project team members carry out their roles, assessing and bringing back on-track in-trouble projects, recruiting project managers for permanent or temporary assignments, creating a project management office (PMO), measuring workforce performance, or improving the visibility of project management within the organization.

Management development of all the management layers is critical to success, whether an executive briefing, senior program or line management course needs to fully understand their roles and responsibility in supporting the environment, coaching behaviours and mentoring individuals. Managers are to be aware of the development and investment of the procedures, tools, training and competency with the investment manifests itself into the behaviours of the workforce across the whole width of the company. (Earl, et al., 1995)

2.6 Project Management department process:

Measuring the behaviours in the upper management levels provides a clear demonstrable metric to the improvement of project management within Infosys Technologies Limited. The behaviours are categorized into the five areas that constitute a project manager leaders role: (Raz, et al., 2003)

1. Planning.

2. Organizing and staffing.

3. Directing and leading.

4. Controlling.

5. Reporting.

The improvement is measured in two ways (Gray and Larson, 2002), firstly a percentage improvement between before and after scoring and secondly the percentage increase. PRINCE2 is documented to get the maximum benefit for an organisation and it accredits training organisations and registered consultants able to work to tailor and focus PRINCE2 on requirements. Each PRINCE2 project consists of a Project Board made up of the customer, someone who can represent the user side and someone to represent the supplier. In PRINCE2 these people are called Customer, Senior User and Senior Supplier respectively. The Project Manager reports regularly to the Project Board, keeping them informed of progress and highlighting. The Project Board is responsible for providing the Project Manager with the necessary decisions for the project to proceed and to overcome any problems.

On some projects (Kerzner, 2003) the assurance is done by a separate team of people called the Project Assurance Team, but the assurance job can be done by the individual members of the Project Board themselves. On most projects there is a lot of administrative work needed, keeping everyone informed, arranging meetings, keeping plans up-to-date, chasing things up and keeping files. Project Managers often do all the work themselves, particularly on smaller projects. But if there are a number of projects going on at the same time, a Project Support Office can be setup to help the Project Managers in the process.

One of the simplest yet most effective things upper management can do is to set out the company’s policy for project management. This establishes the vision for how the company wants to best utilize project management concepts and gives a clear downwards communication. A useful starting point for considering the need to model project management performance is making the distinction between project performance and PM performance. These two are interlinked, but different and it is important not to confuse the two. PM performance might focus on delivering a project within budget, yet if the overriding success criterion or key performance indicator (KPI) for the project is delivering future benefit to the organisation. (Courtney and Hugh, 2001)

The impact of success criteria on a number of Information Technologies (IT) projects the customer and other stakeholders, such as users, will define what they mean by quality. This focus on meeting customer and other stakeholder requirements corresponds with definitions of quality in the quality management literature and makes a link between quality, project performance and PM performance. The customer’s definition of what is quality in a project environment will be based upon attributes linked to the quality of the management process as well as attributes linked to the quality of the end product delivered by the project. (Jan Van Bon, 2006)

The developing models of project (Woodward, 2007) performance can be provided in two ways. First, models that help organisations provide effective PM performance can lead to beneficial outcomes regardless of the success or otherwise of the project being managed. Second, as elements of PM performance may influence overall sat