Project Fundamentals: Comparing Project Management Methodologies, Integration and Scope Management, Time and Cost Management

Assignment 1 - Project Fundamentals
1 Introduction
Project management is considered to be the practice related to the initiation,
planning, execution, controlling and closing of the work done by a team so as to
achieve specific certain goals and to meet certain criteria related to success within a
specified time. Whereas the project is considered to be the temporary endeavour
which is designed for the purpose of producing a unique product or a service or to
provide a result by a well-defined beginning as well as ending which are generally
undertaken for the purpose of meeting the unique goals or objectives which is
typically done so as to bring about beneficial changes or for adding value (Binder
2016). Project management methodologies are generally selected in accordance to
the nature of the project which could be a trick task. There exist certain factors which
needs to be considered while selecting the appropriate project management
methodology. Each methodology is having its own strength as well as weakness.
2 Body
2.1 Part A - Compare Project Management Methodologies
There are many advantages of using project management approach and some
disadvantages as well. The very first from the sponsor perspective is budget of the
project can be efficiently utilised as cost of the project estimated prior to the
commencement of the project. Resources can be efficiently used by using the
approach. Project can be finished on or before time and if by any chance any
activity requires more time finish then we can manage time by speeding up the
process in other activities. Project management approach is cost effective. Project
can be easily monitored and controlled based on the reports and all the stakeholders
associated with the project can easily know the progress of the project at any point of
the time. Project’s actual progress can be compared to the planned (Fleming and
Koppelman 2016). The main disadvantage with the project management approach is
it cannot be used for the small project, it may not be cost effective for the small
projects. Another disadvantage associated with this is if the project has no idea
about what the project is and just follows the rules then we may land up messing up
the project deadlines.
Now for understanding the points of difference between PMBOK & PRINCE2 lets
take an example to differentiate between these two books. let’s take an example of
the construction project (Walker 2015). In the construction project the methodology is
usual and quite simple therefore one can PRINCE2 for this type of project because
PRINCE2 is kind of a instruction manual which solely focus on the business case
which is its main strength and which is required the most in the construction projects
as it has a large amount of investment so the stakeholders associated are always
keen on the business case and it also defines the responsibility that who will do
what, who will report to whom etc whereas if we talk about PMBOK it focuses on
how a good project management should look like it means it focuses on the
knowledge areas and it is a descriptive analysis of the processes involved in the
project management (Fuller et al. 2017). PMBOK does not includes the business
case and the it does not define the responsibilities as well therefore it cannot be
used for this type of projects. Hence, we can say that PMBOK can be used to be a
[student name]

Assignment 1 - Project Fundamentals
good project manager and PRINCE2 can be use to apply that project management
knowledge gained from PMBOK in the real life to get more better results.
But, If these two models (i.e. PMBOK & PRINCE2) are combined then we can retain
the benefits of each and correct for the deficiencies of each. Firstly we will talk about
how we will retain the benefits of each model by combining them together. So we
know that the PMBOK has a wide range of Knowledge Areas (Harrison and Lock
2017). As you can see from the comparison below, it covers the same topics as all
the PRINCE2 themes. It also covers Procurement Management which is not covered
at all by PRINCE2. Another strength of the PMBOK is it has 132 tools and
techniques for the different processes whereas PRINCE2 has 40 in total so if we add
some to the PRINCE2 then it may have greater impact on the project management.
Now coming to its deficiencies PMBOK does not have business case like PRINCE2
so if we add business case to the PMBOK then it can be a great reference manual.
Other deficiency related to PMBOK is it is based on American standards
PMBOK® Guide Knowledge Area PRINCE2 theme
Project Integration Management Business case, change,
progress
Project Scope Management Plans, progress
Project Schedule Management Plans, progress
Project Cost Management Plans, progress
Project Quality Management Quality
Project Resource Management Plans
Project Communications
Management Organization
Project Risk Management Risk
Project Procurement Management Not covered
Project Stakeholder Management Organization
[student name]

Assignment 1 - Project Fundamentals
2.2 Part B - Integration and Scope Management
1. What is the role of Integration as defined by PMBOK, and what contribution /
benefit does it make to project management?
Integration breaks the project down in multiple stages which makes it easier to
monitor and control. Integration helps in measuring time consumption in different
stages so that we can plan and allocate resources accordingly. Budget can be
efficiently managed using integration in project management for example in
construction project there are four stages in a project first is planning, secondly
design phase, thirdly execution stage and last is closing of project. we can
estimate the accurate amount of money needed prior to the commencement of
the project. So this gives clear idea to the sponsors that this is the estimated
budget and they need to arrange finance for different stages of the project, like
the execution stage in the construction project is the stage where we need most
of our budget and time and also till the time we reach that stage we can manage
our budget by introducing it to the market and start advance bookings to raise
some funds. And in planning phase we need our most of the resources. Hence
integration in project management helps us in a numerous ways and therefore is
a very crucial component of any project.
Integration plays an important role in the project management. Some of its key roles
are it ensures that the deliverable due dates of the project, service, or result and it
also aligns the benefits of the project management plan, it provides different ways to
the project management plan to achieve the project objectives, it also manages the
performance and the changes made in the activities in the project management plan,
it measures and monitors the progress of the project so as to achieve the required
project objectives (Heagney 2016). It also collects the data on the results obtained,
analysing the data to gain information and then communicating it to the relevant
stakeholders. It has important role in completing all the project work and closing
each phase formally, closing of contract and the project and at last managing phase
transitions when required (“p-72, PMBOK 2017”). Integration contributes to the
project management in a number of different ways such as there is a high probability
of the completion of the project on the time with the same quality of work as it needs
because it had been monitored from its start till its end, it gives analyses of the
[student name]