QNO 1 How are projects linked to the strategic plan?

Since some projects are more important than others, the best way to maximize the organizations scarce
resources is through a priority scheme which allocates resources to a portfolio of projects which balance
risk and contribute the most to the strategic plan The projects and programs that businesses pursue often
vary greatly from one company to another, even among businesses that operate in the same industry. The
projects businesses choose to pursue are determined, in part, by strategic planning. Strategic planning
describes a process where managers form business objectives and create a strategy to achieve those
objectives.
Strategic Planning Basics
Strategic planning is a fundamental part of business management because it guides the overall direction of
a company. During the strategic planning process, managers begin by creating a mission, which acts as
the underlying guiding purpose of the business and goals that fulfill the mission. Managers then study the
business environment that they face and create a business strategy that they believe will best allow the
company to fulfill its goals and its mission.
How Are Projects and Strategic Plans Related?
The projects and programs that a business pursues are the implementations of a strategic plan. In other
words, projects are the concrete actions that a business takes to execute its strategic plan. For example,
during strategic planning, managers might see a certain weakness in a competitor that they might be able
to exploit to gain more customers. As a result, the business might launch a new advertising campaign
pointing out the weakness. In this case, the advertising campaign is a project that is implemented as a
result of the strategic planning process.
SWOT Analysis A SWOT analysis is a strategic planning tool that business managers use to help
formulate plans and determine what projects to pursue. A SWOT analysis involves creating a list of a
company's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, and using those lists to form decisions about
strategy and future projects. For example, if a company sells several different products but the sales of
one line of products is especially strong, it might decide to focus new projects on exploiting that strength.
Cost Benefit Analysis A cost benefit analysis is a decision making tool that managers use to ultimately
decide which projects to pursue. A cost benefit analysis involves estimating the costs and potential
benefits of the various projects that are under consideration and then choosing the project that provides
the highest net benefit. Net benefit is the total value benefits minus the total value costs
QNO 16 Project Termination (aka "project close-out" and "project finalization") is a situation when a
given project is supposed to be closed or finalized because theres no more need or sense for further
continuation. Project termination is managed under a respective procedure that requires the management
team to examine current state of the project work, review progress of goals and objectives, evaluate the
project against success criteria, and check status of deliverables.
The procedure of terminating a project is usually carried out in 8 steps, including:
Close outstanding agreements with suppliers
Transfer any responsibilities (if necessary)

Dismiss or re-assign the team

Release all remaining resources
Close the project book (resolve all accounting and finance issues)
Document lessons learned
Accept (reject) the product
Install and use the product.
Failure and Success are two basic reasons for terminating projects. In order to determine which of the
reason is relevant to a project, first the team needs to understand criteria for success and failure and then
evaluate the project against those criteria. Herere some tips on this point:
Success: a project reaches success when its goals and objectives are accomplished on time and under
budget, deliverables are produced as expected by stakeholders, and the final product is accepted by and
handed over to the customer (end-user).
Failure: a project is regarded as failed when its requirements are not met; the customer refuses accepting
the product; therere some technical issues that cant be resolved by using existing tools and technologies;
theres an unanticipated loss or lack of human, funding and other valuable resources; the project effort
becomes counter-productive because initial goals and objectives are unmet.
QNO 11 Define a project. What are five characteristics which help
differentiate projects from other functions carried out in the daily
operations of the organization?
1). A project is a complex, non routine, one-time effort limited by time, budget,
resource, and specifications.
2). Differentiating characteristics of projects from routine, repetitive daily work are
below:
a). A defined life span
b). A well-defined objective
c). Typically involves people from several disciplines
d). A project life cycle
e). Specific time, cost, and performance requirements.
4 stages of Project Life Cycle:
1. Defining:
(GSTR)
a). Goals b). Specifications. c). Tasks. d). Responsibilities,
2. Planning:
(SBRRS)
a). Schedules. b). Budgets.c), Resources. d). Risks.e), Staffing.
3. Executing: A major portion of the project work take place both physical and mental.
(SCQF)
a). Status Reports b). Changes.c). Quality.d). Forecasts.
4. Closing:

(TTREL)

a). Train Customer. b). Transfer documents. c). Release Resources. d). Evaluation. e). Lessons learned.
QNO 6 What are some of the key environmental forces that have changed
the way projects are managed? What has been the effect of these forces
on the management of projects?
1). Some key environmental forces that have changed the way we manage projects are
a). the product life cycle,
b). knowledge growth,
c). global competition,
d). organization downsizing,
e). technology changes,
f). time-to-market.
2). The impact of these forces :
a). more projects per organization,
b). project teams responsible for implementing projects,
c). accountability,
d). changing organization structures,
e). need for rapid completion of projects,
f). linking projects to organization strategy and customers,
g). prioritizing projects to conserve organization resources,
h). alliances with external organizations, etc.
Q 10/AUDIT..
the primary purpose behind any project audit is to find the reasons causing problems in a project. The
project audit will answer a number of questions the project management team is finding difficult to fully
understand.
Situations That Call For a Project Audit
A project audit is an independent assessment of any aspects of the project that is worrying a project
management team. It can be called for when situations look like they are getting out of hand. Project
audits can also be scheduled regularly as a means for managers and owners of a project to assess the risks,
costs and time schedules on a project. Audits should always be entrusted to independent teams. When
should a project audit be done? That question is best answered by keeping constant tabs on a project.
Audits can be triggered when:
Situations come about which do not give a clear picture of the happenings on a project.
Reports on the various stages of the project give a project manager the feeling that certain facts are being
glossed over.
A doubt arises on whether the project deliverables are being achieved.
Technical lacunae seem to be apparent.
The progress on the project is vastly in variance with the project plan. An audit can pinpoint reasons for
this variance and whether goals and targets actually need to be changed.

There are doubts about the organization of the project and its ability to produce results.
A need for technical changes is felt, to see whether they conform to best practices in the industry.
All these situations call for properly run independent audits which could pinpoint defects and suggest the
best methods to move forward to proper implementation. Projects that have a number of milestones and
deliverables are best audited at regular intervals.
Auditing is key to monitor the success of any project. Project auditing is important
so as to validate whether the project is feasible in a business sense, to verify
whether the project can move on to the next phase, and also to check any specific
issues that crop up during project execution. Most importantly the audits would help
in reassuring the management on the project.
Every audit plan should have a clearly defined audit scope, audit criteria, audit team
with the roles and responsibilities identified and assigned. The entry criteria for a
project audit can be said to be the project kick-off and framing of project plan.
To ensure that the right parameters are monitored and audited one needs to follow
the project audit best practices. These best practice act as a guideline for planning
the audit. Let us now look at the various factors to consider while audit planning.
Project auditing should be done even in the project early times so as to ensure that
the process compliances are verified early on.
While planning organizational level audits, care should be taken such that every
department and the underlying business processes can be verified in depth for
adherence to organizational values and processes. The frequency of these
organizational audits ideally should be once every six months.
The best time for conducting audits is just before completing each of the project
phases or milestones. This will ensure that the errors whether process, code or any
other are not carried forward to the next phase thus reducing the magnitude of the
errors.
Another important fact to remember is that the audit team should be independent
of the project team. The audit team should be trained on the audit process and
practices.
Q 13.matrix organization,
A matrix organizational structure is one of the most complicated reporting
structures a company can implement.
Definition A matrix organizational structure is a company structure in which the
reporting relationships are set up as a grid, or matrix, rather than in the traditional
hierarchy. In other words, employees have dual reporting relationships - generally to
both a functional manager and a product manager.

Advantages
In a matrix organization, instead of choosing between lining up staff along
functional, geographic or product lines, management has both. Staffers report to a
functional manager who can help with skills and help prioritize and review work, and
to a product line manager who sets direction on product offerings by the company.
This structure has some advantages:
Resources can be used efficiently, since experts and equipment can be shared
across projects.
Products and projects are formally coordinated across functional departments.
Information flows both across and up through the organization.
Employees are in contact with many people, which helps with sharing of information
and can speed the decision process.
Staffers have to work autonomously and do some self-management between their
competing bosses; this can enhance motivation and decision making in employees
who enjoy it.
Disadvantages
The matrix structure is generally considered the toughest organizational form to
work in, due to the conflicting pulls on resources. The overlaps can lead to turf
battles, and difficulty in determining accountability. The major disadvantages of a
matrix structure are:
QNO 8 What are the differences between bottom-up and top-down estimating approaches? Under
what conditions would you prefer one over the other?
Top-down estimates are:
1. typically used in the project conceptual phase, and depend on measures such as weight, square feet,
ratios. Top-down methods do not consider individual activity issues and problems.
2. good for rough estimates and can help select and prioritize projects.
Bottom-up time and cost estimates are
1. usually tied directly to the WBS and a work package.
2. made by people familiar with the task, which helps to gain buy-in on the validity of the estimate. Use
of several people should improve the accuracy of the estimate. Bottom-up estimates should be preferred
if time to estimate is available, estimating cost is reasonable, and accuracy is important.
Q.4/ Activity

Any individual operation, which utilizes resources and has a beginning and an end is called an activity.
An arrow is used to depict an activity with its head indicating the direction of progress in the project. It is
of four types:
a)
Predecessor activity: activity that must be completed immediately prior to the start of another
activity.
b) Successor activity: activity which cannot be started until one or more of other activities are
completed but immediately succeed them are called successor activity.
c) Concurrent: Activity which can be accomplished concurrently is known as concurrent activity. An
activity can be predecessor or successor to an event or it may be concurrent with the one or more of the
other activities.
d) Dummy activity: An activity which does not consume any kind of resources but merely depicts the
technological dependence is called a dummy activity.
Event
The beginning and end points of an activity are called events or nodes or connector. This is usually
represented by circle in a network.
The events can be further classified into three categories:
a)

Merge Event: When two or more activities come from an event it is known as merge event.

b)

Burst Event: When more than one activity leaves an event is known as burst event.

c)

Merge & Burst Event: An activity may be merged and burst at the same time.

:Critical Path
is a term from the field of project management describing a set of tools and a methodology.
The technical definition of the critical path in a sequence of networked work packages is the path with the
least amount of slack. In practical terms, this path is the sequence of events that if any are delayed, will
delay the entire project. And in even simpler terms, the critical path is the sequence of tasks that will take
the longest to complete to deliver the project.

Critical Path Project Management describes a methodology for managing and controlling a project using
a distinct set of tools.
QNO 2 many organizations find they have three different kinds of projects in their portfolio:
compliance and emergency (must do),
operational, and strategic projects.
QNO 9 What is 'Risk Management'
Risk management is the process of identification, analysis and acceptance or mitigation of uncertainty in
investment decisions.
There are two types of risk: Positive and Negative. The response of the project manager, team, the
management, and the other stakeholders varies for both. Positive Risks are regarded as opportunities and
proactive measures are taken to increase them. Negative Risks can compromise success of a project
therefore the team and project manager must make efforts to minimize these risks.
risk quantification importance
Risk quantification is the process of evaluating the risks that have been identified and developing the data
that will be needed for making decisions as to what should be done about them. Risk management is done
from very early in the project until the very end. For this reason qualitative analysis should be used at
some points in the project, and quantitative techniques should be used at other times.
The objective of quantification is to establish a way of arranging the risks in the order of importance. In
most projects there will not be enough time or money to take action against every risk that is identified.
The severity of the risk is a practical measure for quantifying risks. Severity is a combination of the risk
probability and the risk impact. In its simplest form the risks can be ranked as high and low severity or
possibly high, medium, and low. At the other extreme, the probability of the risk can be a percentage or a
decimal value between zero and one, and the impact can be estimated in dollars. When the impact in
dollars and the probability in decimal are multiplied together, the result is the quantitative expected value
of the risk.
Various statistical techniques such as PERT (program evaluation and review technique), statistical
sampling, sensitivity analysis, decision tree analysis, financial ratios, Monte Carlo, and critical chain can
all be used to evaluate and quantify risks.
Qno 7 The technical and sociocultural dimensions of project management
are two sides to the same coin. Explain.
The system and sociocultural dimensions of project management are two sides of
the same coin because successful project managers are skillful in both areas.
The point is successful project managers need to be very comfortable and skillful
in both areas.
The technical side of the coin represents the science side of project management whilethe sociocultural
side of the coin represents the art of managing a project. In order for amanger to be successful, they must

be a master of both sides of the coin. While someproject managers tend to focus on the technical side
rather than the sociocultural side,they need to know that both sides are equally important.
Qno 5 Project Controls : What is it and why is it important ?
Definition of Project Controls :
There are many definitions of Project Controls used across industries and indeed across companies within
industries. For the purposes of this portal, the field of project controls is defined as follows:
Project controls are the data gathering, management and analytical processes used to predict, understand
and constructively influence the time and cost outcomes of a project or program; through the
communication of information in formats that assist effective management and decision making. This
definition encompasses all stages of a project or programs lifecycle from the initial estimating needed to
size a proposed project, through to reflective learning (lessons learned) and the forensic analysis needed
to understand the causes of failure (and develop claims).
Put simply, Project Controls encompass the people, processes and tools used to plan, manage and mitigate
cost and schedule issues and any risk events that may impact a project. In other words, Project control is
essentially equivalent to the project management process stripped of its facilitating sub-processes for
safety, quality, organizational, behavioral, and communications management.
Importance of Project Controls :
The successful performance of a project depends on appropriate planning. The PMBOK Guide defines the
use of 21 processes that relate to planning out of the 39 processes for project management, (Globerson &
Zwikeal 2002). The execution of a project is based on a robust project plan and can only be achieved
through an effective schedule control methodology. The development of a suitable Project Control
system is an important part of the project management effort (Shtub, Bard & Globerson 2005. good
Project Control practices reduce execution schedule slip by 15%. Project Controls cost range from 0.5%
to 3% of total project, (including cost accounting), therefore, to break even, Project Control needs to
improve cost effectiveness by around 2%. A sample study carried out by the IBC Cost Engineering
Committee (CEC) in 1999, showed cost improvements for the projects in the study, was more than 10%.
It is noted also that NPV (Net Project Value) also benefits from schedule improvements. Success factors
are based on good Project Control practices, which result in good cost and schedule outcomes.