A Summary of the Project approach

All organisations that manage projects on a regular basis develop a set of "groundrules" that summarise the way projects are managed in their organisation. The following are our groundrules. They will apply to all projects but will need to be tailored to suit a particular project.

1. Projects are best managed through a broad structure of stages.

Projects progress through the five broad stages - proposal, scoping and planning, start-up, implementation, and closure.

Five Project Stages

2. Project Organisation

All projects to have a formal Project Manager and Project Sponsor
The Project Manager is responsible for delivery of the project. To be chosen on the basis of skills, capability and knowledge of the project task, and their ability to get things done.
The Project is Sponsor is responsible for looking after the project and the outcomes on behalf of the organisation, and supporting the project manager. The sponsor may be an individual or a group.

3. Projects are always Scoped

The project proposal stage establishes what the project is to deliver. The project scoping stage is to plan and organise that delivery.
All projects to have a Project Scoping Stage where the Project Manager has the opportunity to scope the project.
This stage will normally last a few days (or weeks for larger projects)
It will focus on clarifying:

what the project objectives and terms of reference are,
what the issues are,
how the project should be organised and tackled - what tasks, what resources needed, what the schedule should be.

The conclusions should be summarised in a brief (typically two to five pages) Project Scoping Report (sometimes called project initiation document or project plan).

4. Project Scoping Report

A brief two to five page document which describes what the project is to achieve and how it will be organised and tackled. It should cover the following:
- Project Terms of Reference and Objectives
- Benefits to be realised and costs and disruption to be contained.
- Top Level Plan showing planned progress in terms of stages, milestones and activities.
- Project Organisation showing who is involved and the key responsibilities - project manager, project sponsor, team and contributors.
- Risks and implementation issues which may occur.

5. Project Control

Project progress needs to be monitored and controlled. Progress control needs to be established to suit the particular project. This is normally achieved via discussion, meetings, and project reports.

6. Project Reporting

There are four main project reports used in project management - project brief, project plan, progress report, post-project review.

7. Key Company Procedures

As well as project specific procedures, the project manager will need to follow particular organisation-wide procedures, such as Contracts, Finance, IT, and human resources.

8. Projects are often coordinated within Programmes

Many organisations coordinate individual projects via a number of strategic programmes. Each programme is built from a portfolio of inter-related projects, all contributing to a common outcome.