PMP :1. Introduction to Project Management

-  A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result.
-  Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet the project requirements. Project management is accomplished through the appropriate application and integration of the project management processes identified for the project.

Project Initiation Context: Organizational leaders initiate projects in response to factors acting upon their organizations. There are four fundamental categories for these factors, which illustrate the context of a project
1. Meet regulatory, legal, or social requirements;
2. Satisfy stakeholder requests or needs;
3. Implement or change business or technological strategies
4. Create, improve, or fix products, processes, or services.

-  Program is defined as a group of related projects, subsidiary programs, and program activities managed in a coordinated manner to obtain benefits not available from managing them individually. Programs are not large projects. A very large project may be referred to as a megaproject. As a guideline, megaprojects cost US$1billion or more, affect 1 million or more people, and run for years.
-  Program and project management focus on doing programs and projects the “right” way. And Portfolio management focuses on doing the “right” programs and projects.
-  Program management is defined as the application of knowledge, skills, and principles to a program to achieve the program objectives and to obtain benefits and control not available by managing program components individually.
-  Portfolio is defined as projects, programs, subsidiary portfolios, and operations managed as a group to achieve strategic objectives. Portfolio management is defined as the centralized management of one or more portfolios to achieve strategic objectives. The programs or projects of the portfolio may not necessarily be interdependent or directly related.
-  Operations management is an area that is outside the scope of formal project management which is concerned with the ongoing production of goods and/or services. However, operations & scope might intersect at some points.

Organizational Project Management (OPM) is defined as a framework in which portfolio, program, and project management are integrated with organizational enablers in order to achieve strategic objectives. The purpose of OPM is to ensure that the organization undertakes the right projects and allocates critical resources appropriately and ensure that all levels in the organization understand the strategic vision.
Project life cycle is the series of phases that a project passes through from its start to its completion. It provides the basic framework for managing the project. The phases may be sequential, iterative, or overlapping.

Project life cycles can be predictive or adaptive, within a project life cycle, there are generally one or more phases that are associated with the development of the product, service, or result. These are called a development life cycle (they can be predictive, iterative, incremental, adaptive, or a hybrid model).
-  Predictive life cycle (Waterfall): the project scope, time, and cost are determined in the early phases of the life.
-  Iterative life cycle: project scope is generally determined early in the project life cycle, but time and cost estimates are routinely modified.
-  Incremental life cycle deliverable is produced through a series of iterations that successively add functionality within a predetermined time frame and it’s considered complete only after the final iteration
-  Adaptive life cycles are agile, iterative, or incremental. The detailed scope is defined and approved before the start of an iteration. Adaptive life cycles are also referred to as agile or change-driven life cycles.
-  Hybrid life cycle is a combination of a predictive and an adaptive life cycle. Those elements of the project that are well known or have fixed requirements follow a predictive development life cycle, and those elements that are still evolving follow an adaptive development life cycle.

Project life cycles are independent of product life cycles, which may be produced by a project. A product life cycle is the series of phases that represent the evolution of a product, from concept through delivery, growth, maturity, and to retirement.

Project Phase: Collection of logically related project activities that culminates in the completion of one or more deliverables. The phases in a life cycle can be described by a variety of attributes.

Phase gate: is held at the end of a phase. The project’s performance and progress are compared to project and business documents. Also Called (phase review, stage gate, kill point, and phase entrance or phase exit).

PROJECT MANAGEMENT PROCESSES
Processes used once or at predefined points in the project: (Develop Project Charter, Develop Project Management Plan, Close Project/Phase, Plan Scope Management, Collect Requirements, Create WBS, Plan Schedule Management, Plan Cost Management, Determine Budget, Plan Quality Management, Plan Resource Management, Plan Risk Management, Plan Procurement Management)
Processes that are performed periodically as needed: (Validate Scope, Estimate Costs, Estimate Activity Resources, Acquire Resources, Plan Communication Management, Conduct Procurement, Identify Stakeholders, Plan Stakeholder Management)
Processes that are performed continuously throughout the project: (All other remaining process such as define activities)
Project Management is divided into 5 Process Groups (Initiating, Planning, Executing, Monitoring & Controlling and Closing Process Group)
Project Management Divided into 10 Knowledge Areas (Integration, Scope, Schedule, Cost, Quality, Resource, Communication, Risk, Procurement and Stakeholder Management).
Project data are regularly collected and analyzed throughout the project life cycle. The following definitions identify key terminology regarding project data and information.
Work performance data: The raw observations and measurements identified during activities performed to carry out the project work, such as (Percent of finished work, Start and finish dates, number of change requests, actual costs and durations). Project data are usually recorded in a Project Management Information System (PMIS).
Work performance information: Performance data collected from various controlling processes, analyzed in context and integrated based on relationships across areas, such as (status of deliverables, implementation status for change requests, and forecast estimates to complete)
Work performance reports. The physical or electronic representation of work performance information compiled in project documents, which is intended to generate decisions or raise issues, actions, or awareness, such as (status reports, memos, justifications, information notes, electronic dashboards, recommendations, and updates).

Methodology is a system of practices, techniques, procedures, and rules used by those who work in a discipline which project manager apply in their management. (PMBOK is NOT a methodology, but a recommended reference for tailoring). Tailoring is necessary because each project is unique.

Project Management Business Documents
1- Project business case
2- Project benefits management plan

Project sponsor is generally accountable for the development and maintenance of the project business case document. The project manager is responsible for providing recommendations and oversight.

Project managers should appropriately tailor the noted project management documents, In some organizations, the business case and benefits management plan are maintained at the program level.

Business case is a documented economic feasibility study used to establish the validity of the benefits of a selected component lacking sufficient definition and that is used as a basis for the authorization of further project management activities it lists the objectives and reasons for project initiation.

It helps measure the project success at the end of the project against the project objectives. The business case may be used before the project initiation and may result in a go/no-go decision for the project.

A business case may include (Business Needs, Analysis of the situation (Required, Desired, Optional), Evaluation)

Project benefits management plan is the document that describes how and when the benefits of the project will be delivered, and describes the mechanisms that should be in place to measure those benefits. Development and maintenance of the project benefits management plan is an iterative activity.

Development of the benefits management plan begins early in the project life cycle with the definition of the target benefits to be realized and it may include (Target benefits, Strategic alignment, Timeframe for realizing benefits, benefits owner, metrics, assumptions, risks).

Developing the benefits management plan makes use of the data and information documented in the business case and needs assessment.

It is possible for a project to be successful from a scope/schedule/budget viewpoint, and to be unsuccessful from a business viewpoint. This can occur when there is a change in the business needs or the market environment.