Advanced Project Management: Tools and Approaches

This article discusses the tools and approaches used in advanced project management, including network diagrams, risk plans, communication plans, procurement plans, stakeholder grids, human resource plans, quality plans, time schedules, cost budgets, safety documents, and project charters. It also explores the agile approach to project management and how it can be used to manage the 94WBR-shed project.

ADVANCED PROJECT MANAGEMENT 1
ADVANCED PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Name of the student
Name of institution
Name of instructor
Date

ADVANCED PROJECT MANAGEMENT 2
Project management approach
Project management requires approaches that allow the achievement of high output quality
for the project to serve the purpose. Moreover, the project should happen within the budgeted
time and cost to avoid penalties arising from failure to meet deadlines and budgets. The
project should follow a proven implementation approach, which considers the three
constraints, which include, time, quality and cost. Therefore, as the project manager for the
94-WBR shed, I will use the agile approach to manage the activities (Boyer, 2018). The agile
approach is value centred and allows the implementation of a project in small activity cycles.
The approach allows high flexibility to accommodate the changes in the projects. The
characteristic of allowing flexibility is important in the shed project to ensure the
accommodation of stakeholder suggestions. The stakeholders play an important role in
shaping the output of the project and therefore require consideration when implementing the
project. Additionally, the agile approach includes a highly collaborative project team, which
allows room for changes in the project implementation. The collaborating will assist in
adapting to the changes brought up by the project owners during the late stages of
implementation (Boyer, 2018).
Tools to manage the 10 PMBOK areas
Network diagram
The network diagram manages the project scope and is necessary to ensure the fulfilment of
all the activities. The diagram manages the project’s scope by ensuring the sticking to the
boundaries set for the activities (Olsen, 2018). As the manager, I will use the network
diagram to ensure that the parties involved do not insert unnecessary tasks into the project to
avoid loss of the project boundaries, which causes failure in meeting the set objectives.
Additionally, the diagram defines the specific activities necessary to accomplish the shed

ADVANCED PROJECT MANAGEMENT 3
project. The project scope will have information such as the requirements of the final output
of the project and the services or items to undertake. The information aims at achieving the
success of the project by ensuring that the project activities run within the boundaries set
(Hartney, 2016). Additionally, the network will help in ensuring that the project meets the
deliverables, which include time, budgeted costs and quality. Additionally, the shareholders
will use the diagram to check whether the shed project is running as intended to meet the set
objectives. The scope defined at the beginning of the project will be managed through
controlling the activities done by the team members. The control of activities will ensure that
only the necessary activities happen at the right time, cost and right quality.
Risk plan
The risk experienced at any point of the project will be managed using the risk plan, which
categorizes and gives priority to the risks. The risks given high priority are dealt with first to
prevent harm to the progress of the project. Moreover, the risks will be documented in a risk
register, which the risk manager will tick against once every risk is dealt with (Bridges,
2014).
The appointed risk manager whose responsibility is to notify the team of any factors that
could cause harm to the project will use the risk management plan. However, I will also use
the risk management plan to check areas, which are prone to risk and find solutions to
mitigate the harm. The risk plan document will assist in performing qualitative analysis,
which assists in classifying and ranking the risks. Once the classifying and ranking is over,
the risks are categorized based on the likelihood of happening and the possible influence the
project. Therefore, the project risks are ranked according to priority to enable mitigating the
top risk followed by the lower-ranked risks. Additionally, the risk document will assist in
planning the risk response plans, which ensure that all the team members are aware of the

ADVANCED PROJECT MANAGEMENT 4
existence of the risk and how to mitigate. The availability of a risk plan ensures that the
project team has the necessary knowledge of dealing with the risks (Juneja, 2018).
Communication plan
The communication plan will be used to govern how information is passed to the
stakeholders. A communication plan is a document that lists all the parties that should stay
updated about the progress and any changes. Constant communication about the progress of
the project keeps the stakeholders satisfied and comfortable in the event of changes on the
project (Hartney, 2016). The communication identifies the necessary information to be
passed to the various parties of the project for example, shareholder circulars and special
communication processes for addressing the changes to the project. I will use the plan being
the project manager to communicate to the project stakeholders. The communications will
take place at the end of every activity of the project and in the event of any changes on the
original plans. The aim is to keep the stakeholders satisfied and feeling to be part of the
project progress to avoid conflict. Additionally, the communication plan enables the
stakeholders to assist in solving problems that arise in the course of project implementation.
The communication plan is important in controlling the communication with the various
parties of the project. The tool helps in reviewing the activities to identify whether the
activities are leading to the needed output. Moreover, the review helps to eliminate the tasks,
which do not meet the objectives set by the stakeholders (William Stallings, 2012). The
communications officer will also use the communications plan to identify the necessary
parties to give information.
Procurement plan
The procurement management plan is a tool that identifies the external purchase needs of the
project and the conditions of procuring the contractors. The plan controls the procurement
process by managing execution of the contracts and monitoring contractor relations by giving

ADVANCED PROJECT MANAGEMENT 5
warning about changes on the project. Additionally, the procurement plan also helps in in the
actual conduct of the stated purchase plans. The plan has the statements of work, terms of
reference and the request for proposal, which play an important role in soliciting the right
contractors. Furthermore, the procurement plan helps in closing the project purchases and
contracts at the point of project termination. The management plan helps to proof check
whether the necessary project activities have happened to allow project closure since the
proper fulfilment of procurement activities means the project has succeeded in achieving the
objectives. The project procurement manager who is responsible for all purchases and
securing contracts uses the tool. Furthermore, the procurement manager requires the tool to
counter check whether all the necessary procurement activities have happened successfully. I
will also use the tool to monitor the purchase activities to ensure that the procurement
manager is working within the set budget (Tarry, 2016). Additionally, the tool will help to
ascertain whether the procurement manager is working ethically when awarding the project
contracts to the experts. Therefore, the tool is necessary in achieving the quality of the
project since the purchasing of materials and contracting of experts happens as planned in the
project template.
Stakeholder grid
The stakeholder grid prioritizes the stakeholders according to the powers held. The grid
categorises some of the stakeholders as high power, high-interest people who have the ability
to influence the outcome of the project using the power held. Additionally, the persons have a
high interest to be involved in the activities and make decisions affecting the project. The
stakeholders are managed by being involved in the decision-making activities. The purpose is
to ensure the high satisfaction of the high power, high-interest stakeholders (Singleton, 2017).
The other group of stakeholders involve the high power and less interested persons who
require satisfaction with the progress of the project. The stakeholders require constant

ADVANCED PROJECT MANAGEMENT 6
satisfaction but at a sensible level to avoid boredom and loss of interest in the project.
Moreover, the low power and highly interested persons also exist in a project. The persons in
this category could prove very important in the project execution. Therefore, the persons
should stay close to the project through constant communication to avoid the development of
major issues. Finally, the tool also categorises the stakeholders as low interest and low power
stakeholders. The group do not care about the project, which requires the project manager not
to bore the persons with constant communications about the progress or changes (Thompson,
2018).
I will use the tool to effectively manage the stakeholders of the project and avoid conflicts
with the external environment of the project. Additionally, the tool will help in identifying the
specific requirements of the stakeholders and customise the project to satisfy each person.
However, the avoiding of conflict with the stakeholders is the most important role played by
the interest power grid. The communication with the stakeholders will happen depending on
the recommendations of the power interest grid. The high communication will be done to the
highly interested and highly powerful parties to avoid the arising of major issues on the
project. Consequently, less communication will happen for the less interested project
stakeholders (Hartney, 2016).
Human resource plan
The human resource plan stipulates the roles and positions required by the project and the
requirements from each employee. Additionally, the plan also states how each of the
employees fit within the goals of the project (Anon., 2018). The tool is used by the human
resource officer who is responsible for sourcing of the right human labour for the project.
The tool is necessary for acquiring the project team by identifying the right personnel for
every activity of the project. Additionally, the tool helps in managing the project team by

ADVANCED PROJECT MANAGEMENT 7
ensuring that the persons are assigned tasks in line with the expertise. The task and expertise
alignment allows easy auditing of the activities done by the human resources (Kettner, 2013).
I will acquire the right human resources through recruitment drives, which will involve
interviews and competence assessments before finding the best employees. Additionally, the
recruitment will involve employees that have experience in project management and have
technical skills in the shed demolition project. The development of the employees will
happen through on the job training to acquire the right skills of executing the duties. The
appraisal will happen through performance audits to identify whether the persons are working
as intended (Baack, 2017).
Quality plan
The quality management plan contains all the requirements of a project based on the user and
stakeholder expectations. The plan contains the activities necessary to achieve quality in the
project and satisfy the users and stakeholders. I will use the tool to ensure project
conformance to the customer expectations by guiding the performance to achieve customer
requirements (Nigel Slack, 2010).
Additionally, I will manage the specified quality by getting a project team with the necessary
expertise to tackle the various project tasks with the required perfection. Moreover, tests will
happen after every activity to identify the level of meeting the customer needs. The test
enables to identify mistake and failures in the progress of the project. The mistakes will be
corrected by redoing the activities again to avoid further problems in the project (Perks,
2017).
Time schedule
The time schedule defines when each of the project tasks should be completed. The schedule
specifies the start time and the end time of each activity and the delays tolerated for each
project. The whole project team uses the time schedule to ensure the execution of all the

ADVANCED PROJECT MANAGEMENT 8
activities within the required period and prevent delays in finalising the project (S.K Breja,
2011).
I will control the time allocated for each activity by ensuring that all the resources are readily
available so that the project starts at the required time. Additionally, I will keep the task
teams focussed to ensure the completion of tasks within the required time without failure and
the consequent tasks start immediately (Juneja, 2018).
Cost budget
The cost budget stipulates the specific financial amounts that each activity should use. For the
project accountant to check and compare the actual financial expenses against the budgeted
amounts will use the tool. The cost budget helps to reduce unnecessary activities, which
increase the cost of the project (Monanghan, 2011).
The management of cost happens through the allocation of funds to the various activities and
ensuring that all activities use the allocated funds. The budgeted expenses are compared to
the actual expenses and any variations in the project, which lead to an increase in the price,
are controlled. I will receive constant communications about the project use of funds and
come up with methods to reduce the cash flows on unnecessary projects (Anon., 2018). The
project accountant will also use the cost budget to audit whether the funds are used correctly.
The budget is important in identifying areas of money loss of misuse.
Safety document
The safety document specifies the standards necessary to achieve safety. The tool gives the
safety measures such as the health measures and protective clothing. The head of project
safety will use the tool to ensure conformance to the standards. Additionally, the team
ensures that all the activities follow the stated safety requirements to avoid injuries happening

ADVANCED PROJECT MANAGEMENT 9
to the persons responsible for the activities. The project safety will be upheld through
ensuring that all team members wear the right safety gear to prevent injuries (Hartney, 2016).
The management of safety will happen through ensuring that the project team follows the
safety management document to the letter. I will use the safety management tool to ensure
that the project follows the set safety procedures.
Project charter
The project charter initiates the project and gives authority for the various tasks. The charter
helps in directing the various tasks and managing the outcomes to ensure conformance to the
project requirements. The charter is distributed to all parties in the project to ensure the
unifying of the tasks (James Michael Stewart, 2015). The tool is used by all the project team
members to ensure that the activities meet the specifications. Additionally, the project team
also uses the plan to ensure that the previous activities become inputs for the succeeding
activities. The integration charter ensures that the project achieves the required objectives and
assists in closing the various tasks after checking whether the activities fit the overall goal of
the project. I will also use the project charter to ensure that the activities lead to the
achievement of the project objectives.
Management of the 94WBR-shed project
Scope management
I will manage the scope using a Gantt chart, which will play a huge role in ensuring the
project stays within the scope by giving the time of accomplishing activities and how the
tasks will follow each other (Olsen, 2018). For example, the Gantt chart will indicate the time

ADVANCED PROJECT MANAGEMENT 10
when to start and finish the demolition work and when to begin the construction of the large
shed.
Management of risk
The management will manage the risks pro-actively to prevent failure of the shed project.
The team will put up measures to identify risks early before happening and put measures to
prevent the risk from happening. The shed project is exposed to cost risk where the expenses
could escalate to high amounts than planned for in the budget. Cost risk leads to the failure of
a project when the manager lacks sources of additional funding to cater for the increased
expenses. I will mitigate the risk by looking for additional sources of funding from sponsors
and ensuring that all purchases follow the project budget.
Management of communication
I will communicate to the stakeholders through status and milestone reports, which inform
about the progress and challenges faced in accomplishing the activities. Additionally, I will
send memos to the stakeholders to inform of meetings or changes in the project activities.
Managing procurement
The procurement will be managed through issuing tenders to the public for the various
experts to apply using the set procedures. The tendering process will be fair and ethical to
allow participation of all the experts who can supply the quoted material or expertise. The
parties awarded the contracts will be required to offer the required expertise in the project
tasks and in delivering the required materials. For example, a tender will be announced to the
public for bidding and the procurement officer will choose the best firm to supply materials
or expertise. The firm or persons that win the bid for tenders will supply the requirements
until the project is complete.
Management of stakeholders

ADVANCED PROJECT MANAGEMENT 11
The stakeholder management happens through constant communication through meetings
and letters to inform about the progress and changes on the project. Moreover, the
stakeholders will receive constant reports on how the project is meeting the deliverables,
which include quality, time and cost.
Human resource management
Human resource management will happen through staffing to get the right persons for the
project team. The staffing will happen by inviting persons with the right expertise to attend
interviews where the best will be selected for the team.
Management of quality
The project quality will be managed by ensuring that the team sticks to the user generated
project manual. Additionally, the project team will use quality check tools such as project log
framework to identify whether the project is meeting the specifications.
Time management
I will manage time using time schedules, which informs the team members of when to start
and finish activities. The time schedule helps to manage time efficiently by ensuring that the
tasks do not consume much time than allocated.
Cost management
Cost will be managed is with the use of budgets developed by the accounting officer. The
budget will ensure that all activities consume the stated finances, which prevents activities
from surpassing the financial amounts allocated.
Management of safety
For example, ensuring that the employees have the right protective gear when doing the
various activities. Additionally, the team should ensure that the demolition is clearly
communicated to the public to avoid people being injured by falling structures at the project
site.

ADVANCED PROJECT MANAGEMENT 12
Management of integration
The management of the independence and integration of the project activities is controlled
through inspection to ensure conformance to the project objectives. The project charter is
used all over the project lifecycle to ensure each activity aims at achieving the required
objectives (Olsen, 2018). The project integration will be done using the project charter, which
emphasises on unifying the activities. The tool identifies how the activities complement each
other and lead to the accomplishment of the whole project.
Bibliography
Anon., 2018. Planning Function of Management. [Online]
Available at: www.managementstudyguide.com
Anon., 2018. Recognise and Reward Employee Performance. [Online]
Available at: https:www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk
Baack, D., 2017. Organisation Behavior. 2nd ed. s.l.:s.n.
Boyer, S., 2018. 8 Top Project Management Methods, Approaches, Techniques. [Online]
Available at: https://www.nutcache.com
[Accessed 25 May 2018].
Bridges, J., 2014. What is Project Risk?. [Online]
Available at: https://www.projectmanager.com
[Accessed 26 May 2018].
Griffin, D., 2018. Types of Employees Appraisal Systems. [Online]
Available at: smallbusiness.chron.com
Hartney, J., 2016. The 10 PMBOK Knowledge Areas. [Online]
Available at: www.projectengineer.net
[Accessed 26 May 2018].

ADVANCED PROJECT MANAGEMENT 13
James Michael Stewart, M. C. G., 2015. Certified Information Systems Security Professional.
s.l.: Sybex.
Juneja, 2018. Management Study Guide. [Online]
Available at: https://www.managementstudyguide.com
Juneja, P., 2018. What is Project Risk? [Online]
Available at: https://www.managementstudyguide.com/project-schedule.
[Accessed 26 May 2018].
Kettner, P. M., 2013. Excellence in Human Organisation Management. s.l.:Pearson.
Monanghan, P., 2011. Sustainability Accounting. Management and Policy Journal.
Nigel Slack, S. C. J., 2010. Operations Management. Madrid, Spain: Pearson.
Olsen, E., 2018. Strategic Implementation. [Online]
Available at: https://www.onstrategyhq.com
Perks, R., 2017. Quality Control Systems and Customer Satisfaction. [Online]
Available at: acdemic.mintel.com
[Accessed 21 April 2018].
S.K Breja, D. B., 2011. The TQM Journal.
Singleton, R. A., 2017. Approaches to Social Research. s.l.: Oxford University Press.
Tarry, J., 2016. An Invitation For Suppliers to Innovate. [Online]
Available at: https://www.tescoplc.com
Thompson, R., 2018. Stakeholder Analysis. [Online]
Available at: https://www.mindtools.com
[Accessed 26 May 2018].
William Stallings, T. C., 2012. Business Data Communication. s.l.: Pearson.

ADVANCED PROJECT MANAGEMENT 14