Project Management Guide

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Overview
bullet Summary of Approach
bullet Project Stages overview
bullet Project Organisation
bullet Project Control
bullet Project Reporting
bullet Key Company Procedures
bullet Programme Management
bullet FAQs

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Lindsay Sherwin

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Key Company Procedures

Any organisation carrying out projects has a number of key company procedures that must be followed. They are there to ensure that finance is available and that any contractual arrangements are legal. In most organisations the main sections to involve/consult are;

  • Contracts
  • Finance
  • IT

The following are some general pointers, questions, and guidelines to consider when starting a project. As a whole it can be used as a checklist.

Contracts

Key Issues to consider when writing a project plan

  1. Does the project require external contractors?
    •   If so, what is the anticipated cost?
       
  2. How many competitive tenders or quotations must be sought?
    • for example, if the contract value is between £1000- and £5000 then two quotations might be needed; for contracts between £5001 and £10,000 three quotations might be needed. See the Contract Section for full details.
       
  3. What is the process for handling and recording such arrangements.
     
  4. How do I start?
    • Generally, contract departments work to a contracts pro-forma and project managers need to contact them for this. It must be completed and approved by the budget holder.  
    • Often, to complete the pro-forma, you will need to have planned and scoped the project and set deadlines for objectives set.
       
  5. How long will the contract take to issue?
    • Often half to one month - but check with Contracts at the time - but longer if the pro-forma is not complete.

  6. When can a contractor's work start?
    • Generally, no work should be undertaken until a contract is in place. If so ther may be payment difficulties.
       
  7. Payment
    • Contracts departments often insist that payments are linked to completion of formal contract objectives. in this case, payments will not be made without evidence that progress is to contract.

Finance

Requirements for New Projects

For any new project, four types of finance information needs to be provided

    • Administrative information
    • Funding information
    • Budgeting Information
    • Project Signoff

1   Administrative information

  • This is to establish the project on the company accounting system. It will ensure that the correct accounting categories have been established and that any invoices and bills can be handled by the system.  
  • In most organisations you need to provide the following sort of information.                       

    Project Name 

    e.g.. ABC Project 

    Project Manager         

    e.g.. Fred Sherwin

    Region or National Department 

    e.g.. North West

    Funding Source             

    e.g.. Department of Health

    Grant Source                   

    e.g.. Web site upgrade

    Expected Project Start Date  

    e.g.. 1st October 2004

2   Funding information

  • This needs to show when funds are likely to be required on a year by year basis. This is essential to the business planning process.
  • You often need to provide the following sort of information.
Total Funding Year 1 e.g.. £100k 
  Year 2  e.g.. £300k
  Year 3 e.g.. £0k
Funding period From     e.g.. October 2004
  To   e.g.. June 2006 
Payment Profile First payment date  eg.1st October 2004
  First payment amount e.g.. £50k
  Future payments e.g.. £50k 1st January 2005 
  (this financial year)  

3   Budgeting Information

  • You may need to provide the following information.
Excel spreadsheet detailing expenditure by month for current financial year   
Expenditure to include project costs, internal costs, T&S
Summary of annual expenditure for future years  

4   Project Signoff      

  • Finance Manager to signoff Project Plan prior to start, to ensure that all information requirements have been captured. 

IT

Guidelines and Procedures for Projects

There are four particular aspects to be taken account of when undertaking a  project which might involve IT.

1.    Hardware and Software Procurement

  • Does the organisation have approved suppliers goods and services can be purchased without tender?

2.    Development of systems (databases etc)

  • Does the organisation have a standard procedure for developing computer systems? If so, find out how it applies to your project.

3.    Forward Planning of any IT section workload

  • At any point in time your IT section will have a planned workload covering the following six months to a year. If you are likely to need IT support on their project, make sure that you forewarn them as soon as the project starts - otherwise you may find that they do not have the capacity available when you need it.