Project Management Report: Planning, Success Factors, MS Project

This report delves into the core concepts of project management, emphasizing the interaction between project, portfolio, and program management, and their impact on planning and financial performance. It outlines the key factors that contribute to project success, including smart people, planning, open communication, risk management, and strong project closure. Furthermore, the report explores the application of Microsoft Project as a crucial tool in modern project management, detailing its use in creating timelines and managing project activities effectively. The report highlights the importance of these elements for organizations aiming to achieve growth and success in today's competitive market. The report also contains an introduction, conclusion and references.

PROJECT
MANAGEMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
PART 1 ...........................................................................................................................................1
The interaction among project management, portfolio management and programme
management can lead to better planning and financial performance. ........................................1
PART 2 ...........................................................................................................................................3
The factors that lead to the success of a project. ........................................................................3
PART 3............................................................................................................................................5
The use of Microsoft Project in Project management................................................................5
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................6
REFERENCE...................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Project management can be referred as the application of various processes, methods,
skills, knowledge and experience to attain the objectives of a certain task. Project management
refer as the discipline of applying established principles, policies and procedures to maintain a
project from conception by completion (Braglia and Frosolini, 2014). Project management is
considered as a crucial process which involves various aspects like planning, executing,
controlling and closing the work of team to attain desired goals and objectives. In today's modern
scenario the major purpose of small as well as large business enterprises is to attaining higher
growth and success at market place through managing their resources and objectives. The major
concern of each business enterprises is to maintain their projects in appropriate manner as to
attaining higher growth and success. This report contains the study about management in project
planning, the interaction among project management, portfolio management and programme
management. Various factors that lead to the success of firm and the use of micro soft for
enhancing the success of project will also have discussed.
PART 1
The interaction among project management, portfolio management and programme management
can lead to better planning and financial performance
Project planning is determined as the essential part of project management. It refers to
the use of routines or schedules like time frame or Gantt charts to plan and subsequently report
progress within the environment of project. An appropriate plan helps in managing the activities
of the Undertaking task in effective manner. Project planning is effective in providing a clear
direction to the organisational people as to attaining desired goals and objectives through
implementing business operations in well planned and systematic manner (Burke, 2013). In an
organisation projects are managed by the higher authority of the firm as it is essential for an
organisation or its management to manage all the activities in effective manner in order to reach
at potential significance. Project planning is a procedural stage in task management, in which
needed documentation is generated as to ensure successful completion of work. Documentation
involves all the potential actions that are required to define, integrate, prepare and coordinate the
subsequent plans. An effective project plan represents how the undertaking task which is
implemented, monitored, handled and completed. Each business organisation has some goals and
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objectives and these are needed to be attain by them in respect to attaining high growth and
success at market place. The major focused are of each small as well as large business
enterprises is to attain high growth and success within the market place through managing the
financial and other performance in appropriate manner. A project plan helps the firm or its
management in managing all the activities of the firm in well planned and systematic manner.
The large business enterprises which deals in different sectors i.e. are widely concern on
managing their operations in effective manner through creating an appropriate project
management plan (Fleming and Koppelman, 2016). A project management plan is effective in
accomplishing organisational goals and objectives through implementing all the activities in
systematic manner.
Project management, portfolio management and programme management are considered
as essential element for managing organisational work, as these are effective in lead to better
planning and financial performance. The companies which are deals in multinational market and
widely concern on developing their operations at wide scale. The company deals in different
sectors and it essential for the manager to manage organisational work through categorised them
in different segments. Project, portfolio and program management is effective tool for enhancing
the financial performance of the firm through managing the activities of the each department in
appropriate manner. The appropriateness of these three elements are described as below:
Project Management: A Project is refers as a unique, transient attempt which is
undertaken to attain a desired objectives, that can be explained in the term of outcomes, outputs
and results. A project is designed to attain a specified objectives and has an evaluated starting
and end. Project management refers as the discipline of applying principles and procedures to
maintain a project from the beginning as to deliver an appropriate outcome for an organisation,
like as an application, product, service or event. These processes involve initiating the project,
developing the plan to implement the project, executing the activities of the project as per the
specification of the desired plan, handling the project activities as to reaching at final outcome
and results.
Portfolio Management: Portfolio management is defined as a group of related or non-
related programs and projects. A portfolio is a combination of multiple program or multiple
projects without having a single program. Portfolio management has a bigger aim and scope than
the program management. In portfolio management, there is tool of centralized management,
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whose major obligation is to analyse, prioritize and determine the projects or programs. This
centralized management process, controls and handle the projects or programs to attain the
desired objectives and aims of the business (Meredith and Mantel Jr, 2011). This is effective in
managing non similar or different projects.
Programme Management: This can be determined as the centralized collaborative
management of a program or activity as to attain the predetermined aims and goals of a business
enterprises. In the process of program management, an individual only manages the
interdependent or interrelated projects as a group to attain the predefined outcomes and results.
The potential aim of the program management is to optimize the usefulness of resources among
projects and reduce the friction or constraints as to develop the performance and productivity of
the firm. An appropriate program management plan helps in reducing the conflicts among the
projects and resources that are utilised in appropriate manner.
All the three elements are effective in developing the financial performance of an
organisation in an effective manner (Hanisch and Wald, 2012). As a large business enterprises
are move from project management to portfolio management, the aim and objectives of a firm is
going to be large. In the process of project management an organisation needs to perform micro
management and in portfolio management high level macro management is needed. On the other
side, program management and portfolio management represents effective communication and
collaboration among programs and projects which resulting in various benefits in developing the
financial position of the firm through lesser risks.
PART 2
The factors that lead to the success of a project
Successful business projects lead an organisation towards sustainable success and
growth. Proper plans and strategies are subjected to accomplish long terms and short term
objective of business that are the key to attain the desired aim and objective of organisation.
Successful projects mainly dependents upon five major factors which are as follows.
Smart people
Professional and skilled task force is the prime requirement of an organisation to make
task and projects successful. It is required to place right person for the right job in terms of
accessing the task and project in given deadline. Without profession and smart staff members, an
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organisation would not be able to complete the task and projects on time. Without effective task
force and human resources smart plans and strategies are worth less (Mir and Pinnington, 2014).
There is a proper formation and execution of skills and utilisation of talent i.e. required to
succeed the plan. There is team of smart people as experts, project staff, suppliers and
stakeholders provide relevant information as requirement of raw material supplies, dividend
policies and projection of further opportunities to assist decision making.
Smart Planning
Planning is a process of framing the task details and requirements to manage and operate
the business. It is considered as creative planning process which helps employees in acquiring
knowledge about solving issues or problems in a new and different way. In this, new ideas are
presented by employees and thereafter discussion are made over such idea so as to analyses their
effectiveness of business. This mainly helps in assessing the roles and responsibilities of business
in order to accomplish the task requirements. Project managers and managing departments are
analysed in terms of deriving the skills and management of business. Planning provide direction
to implement the strategies and policies in right direction. With a specific time limit and deadline
the execution of task be able to summarise and consolidate the process in single format. Smart
planing would be beneficial for an organisation in order to incorporate the details like target
market, peer group, competitive analysis and potential customer groups and projects.
Open communication system.
This is prime requirement of organisation to implement the effective communication
system subject to organise the department of business and protect the crucial information. It
helps management committee of an organisation to execute the orders and information to right
place without affecting by internal and external factors. Information and data must be straight
forward to the point and clear itself. There should be an equal opportunities provided to every
one subject to task and project. Effective listening is the main key to form a effective open
communication system with in organisational system.
Careful risk management
This is mainly associated with assessing the risk factors related to planning and
forecasting process. This step will help the firm to prepare proper log in terms of finding the
possible risk factors for planning and successful formation of task. Task and project mainly assist
the management structure to derive the plans by considering the factors with in effective
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execution of task (Söderlund, 2011). Project are framed by considering the risk factor and helps
to resolve them on time for effective succession of project.
Strong project closure
There is proper disclosure procedure i.e. required to follow in terms of continuous
resources planning and administration. There is confirmation note prepared to compete the task
and project in given deadline. A project manager mainly operate and monitor the entire process
of planning and managing the resources in more effective manner. Project management team. An
organisation would be able to review the procedure of start and complete the task for further
assistance.
PART 3
The use of Microsoft Project in Project management
Microsoft project is the world's highly famous and most popular project management
software which is developed and offered by Microsoft. In the modern business era, this is widely
used by organisations as to manage their projects in effective and efficient manner. Microsoft
projects develops a critical paths schedules and a critical chain in which third party add ons is
exists through Pro-Chains and Spherical angle. Microsoft project is significantly utilized by the
project managers of an organisation, it is mainly used by large business enterprises as it is consist
as a legacy software, and the MS project is something crucial to use. Microsoft project has been
extended through Microsoft office project service and Microsoft project web access. Project
server is effective in gathering data in a central database (Kerzner and Kerzner, 2017).
The large business enterprise which are deals in variety of products and services as to
satisfy the needs and wants of customers within the market place. The company is consistently
using various tools and techniques to maintain the projects in effective and efficient manner. The
company is using MS project software as to create an appropriate time frame in respect to
implementing all activities in effective manner as to completion of the project work in systematic
manner. MS project software is effective in designing a time frame in which all the activities are
assigned as per the priority of the task and this create value in completion of the project activities
in well planned and systematic manner (Turner, 2014). Here are various tasks which need to be
analysed as to attaining the real advantages from the Microsoft project as a project scheduling
techniques.
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Differentiate the Original schedule from the forecast schedule: There are basically two
schedules, which need to be kept in Microsoft projects, the original one and the forecast
schedule.
Estimate Task Duration: Estimation of time is crucial in nature as it is not easy for a
manager to assign a significant time for a project. Sometimes it helps to create assumptions that
is easy to get resources on this particular project of senior skill level.” Microsoft Project expects
an individual to analyse the duration for each task.
Regularly updates the forecast schedule: The MS project software plays vast role in
regulating the activities of the project in appropriate manner. The large business organisations
are concern on applying this tools as to maintaining the appropriate regulation of their tasks
(Marchewka, 2014). The original time is required to remain static, a project does not need
updates unless organisation re negotiate the agreed on the specified deadlines.
CONCLUSION
From the above given report it has been concluded that, project management is consisting
to be an essential aspect for each business enterprises as it is effective in developing the financial
condition of an organisation in effective and efficient manner. The major motive of each small
and large business enterprises is to attaining high growth and success through implementing their
resources in right manner. An appropriate time management plan helps an organisation in
reaching at their potential objectives. Predefined objectives and aims are helpful in assisting the
firm is right direction. An appropriate project management plan helps the firm in attaining their
desired goals and objectives within the desired period of time.
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REFERENCE
Books and Journals :
Braglia, M. and Frosolini, M., 2014. An integrated approach to implement project management
information systems within the extended enterprise. International Journal of Project
Management, 32(1). pp.18-29.
Burke, R., 2013. Project management: planning and control techniques. New Jersey, USA.
Fleming, Q. W. and Koppelman, J. M., 2016. December. Earned value project management.
Project Management Institute.
Hanisch, B. and Wald, A., 2012. A bibliometric view on the use of contingency theory in project
management research. Project Management Journal, 43(3). pp.4-23.
Kerzner, H. and Kerzner, H. R., 2017. Project management: a systems approach to planning,
scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.
Marchewka, J. T., 2014. Information technology project management. John Wiley & Sons.
Meredith, J. R. and Mantel Jr, S. J., 2011. Project management: a managerial approach. John
Wiley & Sons.
Mir, F. A. and Pinnington, A. H., 2014. Exploring the value of project management: linking
project management performance and project success. International journal of project
management, 32(2). pp.202-217.
Söderlund, J., 2011. Pluralism in project management: navigating the crossroads of
specialization and fragmentation. International Journal of Management Reviews, 13(2).
pp.153-176.
Turner, J. R., 2014. Handbook of project-based management (Vol. 92). New York, NY:
McGraw-hill.
Online
Project Management vs Program Management vs Portfolio Management. 2018.[Online].
Available Through: <https://pmstudycircle.com/2012/03/project-management-vs-
program-management-vs-portfolio-management/>.
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