OfficiaNet - Building Better Business, the Future of Online Networking

OfficiaNet - Knowledge Base

Project Management

"Plan the Work, Work the Plan"

It's hard to overestimate the importance of proper planning within a project. Many project failures can most often be traced back to deficiencies in the planning process stage. There are three major deliverables from the project planning process - the Project Definition, the work plan, and the project management procedures.

A Project Definition document normally contains the following details:

Project Mission

What is the reason for doing the project?
What is the project about in general terms?
Who wants it done and why?
What is its title?

Project Goals

What are the targets of the project and what is its aim?
What deadlines are defined for the project?

Project Scope

This is where to define the performance criteria and quality standards for the project.

What will be accomplished by the project?
What do you hope to achieve?

Is there a clear need and can it be quantified?
Who will benefit, how will they benefit and what will they gain?

Project Objectives

This is where the objectives are quantified by measurable criteria allowing us to define what is needed to successfully meet the goals and to what standard.

These measurable objectives will confirm that we have reached certain project milestones, which includes the final objective which is project completion.

Project Deliverables

The fundamental objective of a project is to deliver something which current does not exist. It is not always easy for organisations to distinguish between project goals, project objectives and project deliverables.

Project Constraints

Each and every project has constraints., the primary ones are the trade off between Time, Resources and Performance criteria. The purpose of defining our project management plan is so that we can manage these constraints.

Resources can be people, equipment and money, they may be internal or external, including suppliers, contractors, business partners, statutory bodies, government agencies, banks or financial institutes, grants, expert opinion (Legal Advice, Accountants, Business or Technical Consultants), and so on.

Time is an important factor, especially as many projects must be delivered to certain deadlines. Where specific timelines are agreed resources and performance factors are used to deliver the project on time.

One of the main reasons for producing a well defined Project Definition is to ensure that the Performance criteria are set and agreed. We must define the clear aims and measurable objectives derived from the definition process to enable us to set the Performance Criteria and the quality standard.

Project Risk Analysis

The major reason for the failure of projects can be placed on not identifing, quantifing and making contingency plans to deal with project risks. A risk is anything that will have a negative impact on any one or all of the primary project constraints; Time, Resources and Performance.

Officianet Knowledge Base - Business Terminology

Officianet Knowledge Base - Employment Matters

Officianet Knowledge Base - Business Legislation and Regulations

Business Networking

Our user-friendly system designed to build relationships, network, find new partners and open new markets

Anytime, Anywhere

Access your key data from anywhere at anytime - all you need is internet access and a web-browser