Project Management
The Project Management (PM) capability is the ability to assign resources to initiate, plan, execute, monitor, control, and close projects that deliver project objectives within agreed variances of cost, timeliness, quality, and scope of works. Projects are temporary (PMI, 2017b) and may deliver temporary or semi-permanent infrastructure, new capabilities, unique or new products or services, learning and awareness that a business can leverage.
Structure
PM is made up of the following Categories and CBBs. Maturity and Planning are described at both the CC and the CBB level.
- AInitiating, Planning, Executing, and Closing
- A1Project Initiation Management
Appoint and provide the project manager with formal approval and governance guidelines for the project and the application of organizational resources to project activities.
- A2Stakeholder Interactions Management
Identify relevant stakeholders and through engagement, identify their project needs and aspirations. Establish and apply approaches that are effective in communicating; in motivating and securing stakeholder support; buy-in; and the ownership of key initiatives.
- A3Governance
Establish project governance and oversight practices and structures. Outline the composition and scope of governance bodies, and matters such as decision rights and authorization, reporting arrangements, and issue escalation protocols. Establish who is responsible for compliance with obligations, and for evaluating, leading, controlling, and monitoring project activities.
- A4Resourcing
Identify and obtain commitment from all resource managers (internal and external) that they will make resources available for project activities in respect of the skill sets, tools and other resources required on the project.
- A5Communication
Plan, execute, and control project information flows within the project team and between the project team and other project stakeholders.
- A6Methodology Management
Select an appropriate project management methodology that matches the nature of the project and is most appropriate to the mode of work of the project assigned resources.
- A7Time Management Planning
Create a project schedule, assign tasks and manage the projects schedule by re-assigning resources, taking corrective actions, resolving any issues that arise, and providing the necessary supports to ensure schedule integrity.
- A8Cost Management
Identify, document, and use processes and procedures to estimate project costs and secure project budget(s). Oversee and control expenditure from project budgets.
- A9Quality Management
Establish an appropriate quality management approach that addresses the quality of project-related activities, workmanship, professional behaviours, and project artefacts.
- A10Project Closure Management
Develop and document project closure criteria (inclusive of administrative closure) and the processes to be used when closing a project.
- BMonitoring and Controlling
- B1Performance Management
Identify and define key performance indicators that can be measured, recorded, and analysed to reveal project performance improvement opportunities. Measure project performance indicators to ensure that project execution is controlled and managed.
- B2Risk Management
Establish an approach to identify and manage project-related risks.
- B3Change Management
Establish an approach for identifying, planning, implementing, managing, and sustaining project-related changes.
Overview
Goal & Objectives
An effective Project Management (PM) capability aims to:
- Deliver projects in a consistent and reliable manner.
- Establish the required governance and decision-making controls to ensure the smooth execution of all projects.
- Implement project management methodology compatible processes and procedures for the development, documentation, and communication of project requirements.
- Develop processes and procedures to analyse the feasibility of the project requirements. For example, it asks questions such as ‘do we know how to do this?’, ‘do we have the tools and techniques necessary?’, ‘do we have the funding and resources to deliver this?’.
- Use appropriate sizing and estimation tools and techniques to reliably determine the cost and size of the project. Adopt appropriate work breakdown structure methodologies to identify the component tasks in a project completely.
- Gain commitment to completing assigned tasks on time by the use of appropriate communications methods and channels to ensure that staff have time to consider proposed task assignment(s) prior to their acceptance or rejection. Establish and use appropriate sequencing and scheduling techniques to identify project timelines, milestones, critical paths, and project task schedules.
- Apply oversight and control to deliver the project’s cost, quality, schedule, and resource usage within agreed tolerances.
- Establish and execute project risk management processes so that advantageous events can be exploited and the impact of negative events can be minimized.
- Facilitate improvement by in-project and inter-project learning at individual, team, and organization levels.
Scope
Definition
The Project Management (PM) capability is the ability to assign resources to initiate, plan, execute, monitor, control, and close projects that deliver project objectives within agreed variances of cost, timeliness, quality, and scope of works. Projects are temporary (PMI, 2017b) and may deliver temporary or semi-permanent infrastructure, new capabilities, unique or new products or services, learning and awareness that a business can leverage.
Improvement Planning
Practices-Outcomes-Metrics (POM)
Representative POMs are described for PM at each level of maturity.
- 2Basic
- Practice
- Select an appropriate project management methodology for projects based on a high-level analysis of the nature of the project, the skills and competences of the project staff, and cost and schedule impacts of such decisions.
- Outcome
- Adoption of a relevant/applicable project management methodology that contributes to the project's likelihood of success.
- Metric
- Number and type of project management methodologies available.
- Practice
- Establish project roles, responsibilities, accountabilities and reporting lines and document these (e.g. in the project charter/project initiation document).
- Outcome
- Duties associated with project roles are understood, enabling better accountability and higher project success rates arising from better decision making.
- Metric
- Percentage of projects with identified roles.
- 3Intermediate
- Practices
- Select an appropriate project methodology for projects based on the balance of agility, flexibility, governance and control.
- Train staff on their roles within the selected methodology.
- Outcome
- The selection of project methodology is flexible and under the control of trained competent staff.
- Metric
- Number of projects using each approved project methodology.
- Practice
- Develop and use governance criteria that include specification of roles, responsibilities and accountabilities and that are able to deal with project complexity: with different levels of command and control, with differences in organization culture and structure, with different levels of project urgency and criticality, and with the clear decision-making processes required to ensure project success.
- Outcome
- Clear definition and detailed guidance on roles, responsibilities, and accountabilities increases transparency and speeds up decision-making.
- Metrics
- Number of issues requiring escalation.
- Total delay time with a status of ‘awaiting decision’.
- 4Advanced
- Practices
- Enable support for different project management approaches to project management.
- For example, this could include different methodologies being used for software and hardware design and build.
- Outcome
- The organization is dynamic and flexible in its approach to project management, and selects the better approaches for each project component /phase.
- Metrics
- Number of projects using each approved project methodology.
- Number of projects using hybrid or mixed methodology approaches.
- Practice
- Provide the tools, time, and resources required to automate routine project activities.
- Outcome
- Efficiency and accuracy of routine tasks is improved, so freeing up project staff to focus on higher value-added activities.
- Metrics
- Percentage of projects using automated features.
- Number of outstanding tooling and automation activity requests which impact project activities.
- 5Optimized
- Practice
- Sustain project management competitive advantage through the use of best known industry practice, research and the advice of leading vendors and professional bodies.
- Outcome
- Project management is a significant competitive advantage for the organization.
- Metrics
- Number of innovations in project management approaches selection.
- Number of demonstrated improvements adapted per year.
- Practice
- Encourage experimentation and the active monitoring of research ideas for competitive advancement of project management approaches and practices.
- Outcome
- A culture of continuous improvement and there is a willingness to try something new in a controlled way and to test its potential benefits.
- Metric
- Analysis of trends over time on key project management performance indicators to confirm a continuous improvement trend.
Reference
History
This capability was introduced in Revision 18.01, replacing Programme and Project Management (16).