CompTIA Project Management: An

Overview of its technicalities

Here we go:
At first, you were introduced to the concept of Project Management, the CompTIA’s way.
Projects are temporary work endeavour that creates something unique and has well defined
constraints in the context of time, scope and budget. A project can be made up of smaller
components called subprojects which can be contracted out to another functional unit
within an organization, or to an external firm depending on the intricacies of the work to be
done in the project. As an example, a project could be the rebranding of all the products in
Cussons’ Home Care product line. A subproject, for example, could be the redesigning of the
plastic containers in which the Personal Care products category contracted out to an
external firm – as another example, Geta Plastic Product Nigeria Limited.
Project Management is simply planned effort for executing and monitoring a project in
order to accomplish its defined goals and objectives. Managing a project will include

• Scheduling.
• Identifying requirements.
• Establishing objectives.
• Balancing quality, scope, time, and cost.
• Addressing the concerns and expectations of the stakeholders.

Projects are not executed using the thin air. It takes time, money and people to bring it to
fruition. Think of the these as the project’s input which we can call resources. The output
will be the project’s unique service(s) or product(s) after completion. In as much as the
project will be consuming resources, we need to manage them and come up with a robust
plan on how to go about that. Therefore, the project will be as successful as we plan for how
judiciously we’ll be making use of the constraints – time, money, scope and resources
(staffs, equipment, materials, etc.). Summarily, these are the collective responsibilities of
the project team, which the project manager will head.
A program is a group of related projects that have common objective. A program is a crate,
while the projects are the bottles in the crate. Different crate for difference bottles. Using
this analogy, a firm may be executing numerous projects at the same time. A program
logically groups the projects and by so-doing it offers great control over constituent projects
and deliver some benefits that the organization can use to meet its goals.
Example: A computer service company expanding its business. Projects include:

• Conducting market research to establish demand.

• Constructing new branch stores.
• Selecting franchise.
• Designing the marketing campaign.
• Consolidating customer base by establishing loyalty programs.
Another concept to point out is a portfolio. A collection of projects, programs, and other
work to achieve the strategic business objectives of an organization. The projects in a
portfolio may or may not be interdependent.
A project creates something unique after its successful completion. An operation doesn’t.
An ongoing and repetitive task that produce the same outcome every time they are performed is
known is an organization’s operation. Take Leventis Food Limited for example, she produces these
bread products: Family Loaf, Wheat Loaf, and Midi loaf. These are the Val-U branded breads.
Leventis Food Ltd itself was founded in 1999, by her parent company AG Leventis. In other words,
Leventis Food Ltd was first a project!

Figure 1: A portfolio. Diagram also shows the relationship hierarchical relationship

between projects, subprojects, operations.

Now, it has been established that a project is not a one-man job. Think of it, can a single
person build a two–story building without help or using any resources in terms of labourers,
machineries/equipment, building materials etc? Since it’s a collective job, it will have to be
monitored and controlled. The owner employs a contractor to get the building done. The
contractor then employs a supervisor to monitor and control how the job is done for the
labourers, if we assume this project is a small one in terms of scale. This is very similar to
function of the PMO. The PMO is centralized, permanent, ongoing administrative unit of a
department that serves to improve project management performance within an
organization, tries to maintain standards across projects and improve efficiency. The project
teams invariably will report to them.
Person who has a business interest in the outcome of a project or who is actively involved in
its work is a stakeholder.
Example: An energy company is building a new power plant to harness alternative
geothermal energy. Project stakeholders will include:
Staff, management, and company owners
Local and state-wide elected officials
Licensing agencies
Engineers, architects, and construction workers
Interestingly, different projects are unique in their own way. Despite their uniqueness,
below are the guiding principles that apply to majority of projects:

• Project objectives
• Project constraints
• Project life cycle

What then are the objectives of every projects? It is to achieve the business goal and objectives
covered by the project’s scope. You ought to set up, from the beginning, what it is that you need
your project to achieve. For instance, if the project’s objective may be to increase sales and profit,
boost staff productivity or efficiency, improve product or service quality etc.

You also would want your objectives to be as specific as possible. An objective as vague as
“improving customer relations” is unlikely to be quantifiable. A better suited objective would be, for
example, “to reduce customer complaints by 50 per cent through the introduction of automated
services using Artificial Intelligence”.

You may express your objective, for example, as:

• outputs - e.g. a new building

• outcomes - e.g. staff relocating to a new building
• benefits - e.g. reduced travel or simplified facilities management
• strategic objectives - e.g. increasing the organisation’s share price

Once the project objectives have been met, it ends. In most cases, after the project is complete, the
work will be integrated into normal operations. It is therefore vital to any project that its goals and
objectives are clearly defined, measurable and achievable. Without first establishing this, your
project may lack focus and you may not be able to measure your results accurately, and the project
may fail to meet your business goals which is exactly want you do not want.

As earlier discussed, project will have constraints; the logical boundaries within which the project’s
work will be done. The major ones are cost, scope and time or schedule. Other common boundaries
are resources, qualities and risks.

• costs cover how much money is available to achieve an outcome

• scope covers what exactly is the expected outcome
• schedule cover the timescales for delivering the output
• quality ensures the outcome match your project expectations
• resources cover who will carry out the work, with what materials/resources
• risks are potential drawbacks and how to mitigate against them

A project is broken down into smaller manageable components, sequential phases of work. This is
called the project’s life cycle or process groups:

• Initial phase—scope and timing are determined

• Intermediate phases—detailed planning and the actual work happens
• Final phase—closing activities occur
These phases are marked by the beginning and ending of a project – the definite start and finish
points. You should also note that the life cycle of a project can also be defined by a finite resource
available to the project, such as money or fixed amount of staff time. Any successful project will
deliver its goals and objectives within the constraints and the life cycle of the project.

There are five stages of a project life cycle or process groups:

• Initiating
• Planning
• Executing
• Monitoring and Controlling
• Closing/Closure

Figure 2: Project life cycle phases or process groups

Figure 3: Process Groups (Continued)

You should note that an individual process group or phase is a sequence of activities designed to
bring about a specific result. These activities are the specific actions or work carried out. They also
produce project deliverables (schedules and performance reports) or product deliverables (new
software interface or physical product).

These phases often overlap with the project life cycle. They can help you determine the right flow
and sequence of operations to bring your project to conclusion.

The phases
1. Project initiation

Initiation is the formal start of a project. It usually begins with the issue of a project
mandate which briefly describes the purpose of the project and authorises budget spend.
This is the stage you should define the project at a comprehensive level. Often times, you
begin with:

• A business case - justifying the need for the project and estimating potential benefits
• a feasibility study - evaluating the problem and determining if the project will solve it

If you decide to undertake the project, you should then create the project initiation
document (PID) or the project charter. This is the foundation of your project and a critical
reference point for the next stages. Key components of your PID should be:

• your business case

• project goals, scope and size
• project organisation (defining the 'who, why, what, when and how' of the project)
• project constraints
• project risks
• stakeholders
• project controls and reporting framework
• the criteria for closing and assessing the project

The key components of a project charter will contain all or most of the following:

• Project purpose
• Problem statement
• Project authorization
• Scope definition
• Project objectives
• Project description
• Project deliverables
• Project milestones and cost estimates
• General project approach
• Constraints and assumptions
• Risks
• Project stakeholders
• Related documents
 • Project organizational structure
• Issuing authority

You can see that the PID and project charter are very similar in composition. However, a PID
is a highly detailed paper which forces a PM to spend time upfront in seriously thinking
about the deliverables, processes and governance required, before it even starts. A Project
Charter is far less detailed and hence requires much less from a Project Manager, PM.

2. Project definition and planning

Properly planning a project is key to successful project management which typically

begins with setting project’s goals. You’ll also create some documents/plans that you’ll be
needing as you move from phase to phase doing the project’s work. We have treated these
plans as different topics.

Figure 4: Subsidiary plan

You will also define the project scope, and develop a project plan and work breakdown
schedule/structure (WBS). This involves identifying:

• Time, cost and resources that are at your disposal

• Roles and responsibilities for the project
• Quality
• Milestones
• Baseline performance measures
• Progress checkpoints
• Risk and resources for resolving unforeseen issues
During this stage, you may also want to develop a communication plan (especially if you
have external stakeholders), as well as a risk management plan.

3. Executing the project

Project execution simply means putting your project plan into action. It often begins
with a project 'kick-off meeting'.
During this phase, you will carry out the tasks and activities (defined in the WBS) from your
project plan to produce the project deliverables. For example, if you are creating a
promotional pack for a trade show at the Lagos State International trade fair, early
deliverables might be to gather product information and prices, and complete all of your
product photography and get it signed off by the customer.
Project managers may direct this work by:

• overseeing a team
• managing budget and resources
• communicating to stakeholders

Careful monitoring and control at this stage can help you keep the project plan on track.
You can use a range of tools (documents, e.g. project scope, risk register etc) and processes
to help you manage things (constraints) like time, cost, quality and risks, or to communicate
progress and manage customer acceptance.

4. Project monitoring and control

Monitoring and control most times will overlap with execution as they often occur
at the same time. They require measuring project progression and performance, and dealing
with any issues that arise from day-to-day work.
You can use key performance indicators (KPIs) to determine if your project is on track.
Things you could measure include, for example, you would check if

• Your project is on schedule and within budget

• Specific tasks are being completed
• Issues are adequately resolved

During this time, you may need to adjust the project’s schedules and resources allocation to
ensure that your project remains on track.

5. Closing a project

You complete your work and dissolve the project in the final phase. Closure does not
necessarily mean success, but simply the final point of the project – e.g. closure can happen
when you cancel a project that fail.

Project closure often involves things like:

 • Handing over the deliverables
• Releasing staff and resources
• Archiving or handing over any relevant project documents
• Cancelling supplier contracts
• Completion of all activities across the project (as defined in the WBS work-packages)
• Preparing the final project budget and report
• Handover into business as usual if this applies

After closure, you can carry out a post-implementation project review (sometimes referred
to as a 'post mortem' meeting). This is an opportunity to evaluate what went well and what
didn't. Understanding failures, in case of they occur, can help you learn lessons and improve
the way you carry out future projects.

Companies grow via projects. New products line are different projects before their
introduction to the market. Your favourite artist upcoming album is a project. That road
construction is a project. RUN is still an on-going project. GTBank’s USSD banking code
*737# was a project. The new coming iPhone 11 was a project before it became part of
Apple’s operation. LASTMA was a project. Pepsi changed her logo some years ago. Last
major merger in the banking industry between Diamond bank and Access bank was a
project.

This is an overview of this course to help you understand project management in its glory.

Enjoy your read.