PROJECT MANAGEMENT

MODULE 6 NOTES

Actions for Successful Execution

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Project Management

CONTENTS
1. Introduction 3
2. The key processes 4
3. Management by exception – directing a project 6
4. Controlling a stage (CS) 6
5. Authorising a work package 7
6. Project plan execution 7
7. Assessing progress 8
8. Capturing project issues 8
9. Examining project issues 9
10. Reviewing stage status 9
11. Reporting highlights 10
12. Taking corrective action 10
13. Escalating project issues 11
14. Receiving a completed work package 12
15. Managing product delivery (MP) 12
16. Overall change control 14
17. Wrap-up 15

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1. INTRODUCTION
The activities for successful execution are compounded in nature and terms of your contextual framework,
involving multiple processes and activities. During the execution and project control phases, your project has to
be monitored and controlled to see whether it is performed according to your existing schedule. If deviations
occur, you will have to take corrective actions. Incorporated in the project life cycle is this control mechanism
incorporated using the feedback loop, between the control phase and the scheduling phase.
During project execution stage, set boundaries, and monitor your project progress using the information in your
schedule. Make adaptations to the schedule when the deviations become too large. Your execution process
provides project management with key decision points, on whether to continue with the project or not.
The objectives of the project are to:
• Assure your project board that all deliverables planned in the current stage plan have been completed
as defined
• Provide the information needed for your project board to assess the continuing viability of your project
• Provide your project board with the information needed to approve the current stage's completion and
authorise the start of the next stage, together with its delegated tolerance level
• Record any measurements or lessons which can help later stages of your project and, or other projects

One of the main functions during the execution of your project is the control process which includes the
monitoring and control activities for which you, the project manager is responsible, ensuring that each stage
stays on course, and reacts to unexpected events. The control function forms the core of your effort on the
project. It is the process which handles the day-to-day management of your project.
Throughout a stage, there will be a cycle consisting of:

These activities are combined with the on-going work of risk management and change control.

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By the end of this module, you should be able to:

• Define the key process
• Describe management by exception - directing a project
• Explain how to control a stage
• Discuss project plan execution
• Describe managing product delivery
• Discuss MP1 - accepting a work package
• Explain overall change control

2. THE KEY PROCESSES

Execution of your project is based upon your planning and has to follow the plans as put together during your
planning phase. Timelines, as set during the planning phase, are implemented, procurement of negotiated
contracts and resources committed. The process can be described, at a high level, in the following areas:

Step 1

Control of the initiation of your project ensuring it has the best possible start

Step 2

Authorisation of your project, committing the organisation to its successful outcome

Step 3

Authorising continuation of your project where a significant departure from the approved plans has occurred

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Step 4

Control of the stage boundaries, committing new and additional resources as your project progresses towards
its ultimate aim

Step 5

Ad-hoc decision-making and direction, monitoring progress and providing advice and guidance as necessary;
and

Step 6

When your project has achieved its outcome or is no longer considered a viable business proposition, arrange
for project closure, bringing the whole undertaking to a controlled finish.
As a project manager, you are responsible for the day-to-day activities of managing the project. Information
should be presented to your project board in a number of ways, from formal report documents such as the
Project Initiation Document (PID), to highlight reports, usually prepared on a monthly basis, to requests for ad-
hoc direction you require. Monitor variance from your plan and take corrective action.

Execution is one of the busiest phases of project management regarding potential and actual
inputs and outputs and the physical interpretation of how to direct a project may be expected
from you to add further reports and directives.

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A key requirement within execution is having senior managers on the project board who have the
organisational authority to commit the resources that you need to see your project through to a successful
conclusion. The ability to make decisions on the commitment of additional resources, in the event of problems
and the vision to see the wider picture, are also vital ingredients resident within this process (Bradley, 2005).

3. MANAGEMENT BY EXCEPTION – DIRECTING A

PROJECT
The role of the project board will include the appointment of the project manager, signing off on the project
plan, and approving the initiation of the project. The project board approves all major deviations, and each
stage should be signed off at completion, coupled with approval, to start the next stage. The project board will
also be responsible for communications with all stakeholders and affected communities. The project board
should allocate the required resources, and all unresolved conflicts referred to the project board.
To control your project, measurements and control limits must be put in place together with agreed-upon
tolerances for time, quality and cost. Your project must be measured and controlled on an ongoing basis,
taking corrective actions when there are transgressions on tolerance levels.

Your project board must provide overall strategic guidance for your project. It should also
establish an effective risk management strategy and a quality assurance team with clearly
outlined duties.

An essential duty of the project board should provide you with advice and direction. Upon completion, compile
the end-project report, and a report containing the lessons learnt, and the post-project review planned and
scheduled.
Project board members should view a project strategically and become involved only at planned review dates,
and at unscheduled meetings if the project significantly departs from your approved plan. When making a
forecast that the current stage will not be completed within tolerance (standard tolerance of time and cost), in
an exception report being prepared by the project manager, for consideration by the project board members.
As a project manager, producing an exception plan will often follow, which will be considered by your project
board at a specially convened mid-stage assessment.

4. CONTROLLING A STAGE (CS)

Following the project board’s decision to approve a stage, your project management team must be fully
focussed on delivery of the products, to their stated quality criteria, within the approved time-scales and
budget, within the stated tolerances.
This process forms the main part of your effort concerning the management of the project and provides the
direction for your day-to-day management of the stage and the overall project.
Throughout the stage, there will be an on-going cycle of:
1. Authorising packages of work that must be completed during the management stage, and receiving
completed work packages (or products) back into the hosting organisation
2. Gathering progress information about the work carried out, and the resources and effort expended
3. Watching for changes to your approved plan, managing any changes raised formally against the project
(project issues), and making decisions on the introduction of beneficial changes (provided these do not
result in stage plans exceeding the tolerance)

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4. Reviewing situations for stage and project impact

5. Reporting to your project board and other members of the project management team
6. Approving and initiating any corrective action
It is expected that events during a management stage will follow a regular and predictable pattern. However,
personal qualities and project management abilities need to combine to address situations, which are not
going according to plan, and it is then that the project manager must use knowledge, political and people skills
to bring things back on course (Bradley, 2005).

5. AUTHORISING A WORK PACKAGE

Work packages are released to team managers or directly to staff working on the project, via
the authorised work packages and job descriptions.

The format for these might be:

A formal contract: where a supplier is producing the products, external to the hosting organisation.

or

Much less formal: (for example via internal memorandum or discussion), where the host organisation employs
the provider.

6. PROJECT PLAN EXECUTION

The implementation or execution of your project is carried out against the initial baseline plan. It may require
changes to your plan as the execution progresses, depending on the results achieved when the various
performance milestones. As changes must be evaluated, managed and implemented in a controlled manner,
your execution process must be integrated with the overall change process. According to Duncan (1996), the
project manager is responsible for the preparation, release, and agreement of work packages.
Authority for this responsibility stems from the project board’s approval of the relevant management stage
plan and for this reason management stage plans (produced in the “managing stage boundaries process” - SB)
must be sufficiently detailed for your project board to understand what they are committing to.
It demands a close association between you and the team manager(s) responsible for producing the project.

Where a formal contract is in existence, care must be taken not to upset the contract
arrangements with demands for trivial changes.

This process provides you with the main vehicle for the release of work and is a major control on a day-to-day
basis (Bradley, 2005).

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7. ASSESSING PROGRESS
As a project manager, you must keep track of how well the management stage, and the project, performs
against the plan approved by your project board. This process provides the mechanics for capturing “actuals,”
and passing that information on to “Reviewing Stage Status,” where you can take stock of progress up to date.
The information you need to update the approved management stage plan comes from three major sources:
• Checkpoint reports
• Timesheets (where these are in use within the hosting organisation – otherwise your assessment of effort
expended and financial liability incurred); and
• Project issues, especially where you have identified errors or departures from the agreed requirement.

This process is best carried out by project support, where appointed, with a presentation of the
plans, updated to show “actuals” to the project manager, for overall assessment on at least a
weekly basis.

Use of a suitable software planning tool (such as MS Project, Project Manager Workbench, Pri-mavera) will
simplify this process especially if standard “actuals” reporting forms, generated within the package, are fully
utilised. The output from this process will be considered in the project manager’s review (Bradley, 2005).

8. CAPTURING PROJECT ISSUES

As your project progresses, there will be a need to capture and decide upon changes that occur. These
include errors found in signed-off products, departures from the agreed specification, ideas and suggestions
for improving the project’s outputs, resource changes that need to be reflected in the project and stage plans.
Anyone associated with a project can raise a project issue.
The first job, on receipt of a project issue, is to record it in the issue log – this will normally be a function of
project support, or the configuration librarian, where appointed. Pass the issue to the “examining project issues”
resource.
Typical types of project issues are:

Request for change

Request for change, causing a change to the customer’s specification or acceptance criteria - usually paid for
by the customer.

Off-specification
Off-specification causing errors or omissions in work already completed or planned - usually paid for by the
supplier.

Other
Other changes such as modification to the project management team (Bradley, 2005).
Typically, organisations will have their own existing change control arrangements, and these should be
adopted where they are performing satisfactorily.

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9. EXAMINING PROJECT ISSUES

This process enables the examination of each project issue and assesses its impact.

It should be carried out as soon as possible, after receipt and logging of the project issue. The examination and
evaluation of project issues may take place via a regular meeting, or by circulation of the issue and comments
to those involved. Whatever route is chosen, you need to record the progress in the issues log.
Always examine project issues from a customer, supplier, and business perspective.
Any action needed, which would take the project stage over the agreed tolerance level, must be referred to
your project board, in the form of an exception report.

Any action needed, which would take the project stage over the agreed tolerance level, must
be referred to your project board, in the form of an exception report.

Responsibility for examining project issues rests with you, as the project manager, who will use the support
services of team managers, in helping arrive at an appropriate decision. The senior member of the project
board will prioritise and if necessary canvas the project board, for any additional resources needed to clear
outstanding project issues. Prioritisation of outstanding project issues is usually done by referring to the issues
log at each end-stage assessment (Bradley, 2005).

10. REVIEWING STAGE STATUS

This process provides for a regular check of how your management stage is performing against its approved
plan. The intention is to allow you to stand back from the day-to-day problem-solving activities and take stock,
before reporting the situation to the project board.
The key driver for assessing management stage status is the “assessing progress” process, which captures
information from checkpoint reports, and timesheets, and updates the approved plans with “actuals”.
Inputs will also be needed from the issues log where modifications to your management stage plans may be
required, following the discovery of errors and omissions, or ideas for improvement. The risk log, which will
enable you to review emerging risks identified at the outset of the management stage, has to be developed.
The overall outcome of the process is to ensure, on a regular basis (recommended weekly at the minimum)
that your management stage remains within tolerance and that nothing untoward is likely to occur without
warning. Information and knowledge gleaned from this process will feed the creation of the highlight report for
the project board (Bradley, 2005).

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11. REPORTING HIGHLIGHTS

Having approved a management stage plan, you will need to keep your project board informed of your
progress made towards the successful conclusion of the stage. Reporting highlights to your project board will
be a regular, time-related activity, typically every month, but specifically at the frequency required by your
project board. The objective of the highlight report is to provide summary information to the project board –
one sheet of paper (or its equivalent) is all that is needed.
Here are the steps required to perform this process:

Step 1
Assemble information from checkpoint reports and project issues received during the previous period since
the last highlight report.

Step 2
Identify any new or potential problem arising from “reviewing stage status”.

Step 3
Identify any significant revisions to the approved plan from “taking corrective action”.

Step 4
Create the highlight report (project support might well produce the first draft).

Step 5
Distribute the highlight report to your project board members and any other agreed recipients.
The highlight report does not normally require a meeting of your project board, although this is an option
for high-profile, high-risk projects where the project board is particularly sensitive about the progress made
(Bradley, 2005).

12. TAKING CORRECTIVE ACTION

In even the best-managed projects, departures from the planned course of action will occur,
and remedial action must be taken to bring the work back into line.

This process enables you, as the project manager, to make small adjustments, within the agreed tolerance, to
work being carried out.
The main driver for the process comes from the “reviewing stage status,” where deviations from your required
and planned outcome will start to become apparent. Projects seldom change course dramatically, but rather
many smaller incidents prompt significant slippage, and this process aims to treat each incident as it occurs.
In this process, additional work packages are identified. You might need to source advice and guidance from
project board members, and this will usually take place in an informal way. Consider the report to your project
board and include changes on the next highlight report, but this should be the exception rather than the rule.
You are responsible for the operation of this process, helped by your project management team. As a project
manager, you should always be aware of the build-up of apparently minor problems being symptomatic
of bigger trouble with the project. Although many things may contribute to or trigger this process, the most
common situation is where a project issue has been raised to record an error or deficiency with one or more
products.

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The steps to be taken in this process are to:

Step 1
Identify the problem and carry out an impact analysis.

Step 2
Identify and evaluate options for recovery.

Step 3
Select a recommended direction.

Step 4
Document the problem, reasons, impact, options and recommendations in an exception.

Step 5
Await your project board’s response.
The expected outcome will be a request for you to produce an exception plan, which will replace the plan that
has gone into exception. Always seek your project board’s views and advice before producing an exception
plan, and the effect on your overall project plan (including the business case and risks) must always be
evaluated (Bradley, 2005).

13. ESCALATING PROJECT ISSUES

As soon as your forecast that a management stage (or the project) is likely to go outside the tolerance, you
must notify your project board by raising an exception report. Although many things may contribute to, or
trigger this process, the most common situation is where a project issue has been raised to record an error or
deficiency with one or more products.
The steps to be taken in this process are to:

Step 1
Identify the problem and carry out an impact analysis.

Step 2
Identify and evaluate options for recovery.

Step 3
Select a recommended direction.

Step 4
Document the problem, reasons, impact, options and recommendations in an exception.

Step 5
Await your project board’s response.

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14. RECEIVING A COMPLETED WORK PACKAGE

This process records the successful completion of a work package (or product) and delivery of
it back into your host organisation.

It is closely associated with “authorising a work package” discussed earlier. The arrangements for delivering
your completed work package would have been agreed when the work package was accepted by your
supplier, team manager or person responsible for its production in the process “accepting a work package.”
Completed work packages or products delivered into your host organisation will all have been quality reviewed
(in process “executing a work package”) in accordance with the requirements agreed when the work package
was accepted. The results of the process are used to assess the progress made by recording the task as
complete and updating the management stage and project records accordingly.
Controlling a stage (CS) is the main project management driver for a PRINCE 2 controlled project. The process
is owned by the project manager and is where most of the “day-to-day” project management activities are
carried out (Bradley, 2005).

15. MANAGING PRODUCT DELIVERY (MP)

This major process is aimed primarily at managing the interface between the customer project
manager (CPM) and the supplier project manager (SPM).

This major process is aimed primarily at managing the interface between the customer project manager (CPM)
and the supplier project manager (SPM).
Ensure that work is progressing in accordance with your customer’s expectations and that all the planned
products are created and delivered within the agreed timescales and contract price, or internally approved
budget, and meet their approved quality criteria. Use the process for managing the delivery of products where
an external supplier is not involved in the project and where all resources managed by the project are internal;
it is also appropriate where there is a mixture of both.
The process comprises the following:

Step 1
Make certain that work on products allocated to each external team or team member resource is properly
authorised.

Step 2
Ensure that packages of work are identified, discussed, agreed, authorised and accepted by those responsible
for the creation of products.

Step 3
Check that all interfaces between the customer and supplier organisations are identified, recorded, observed
and handled in an appropriate way.

Step 4
Ensure that all the work is carried out, as agreed.

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Step 5
Ensure that the progress of work and forecasts of the time and effort to completion are regularly assessed.

Step 6
Check that all finished products conform to their agreed quality criteria.

Step 7
Obtain approval for completed products. It will usually be at three levels – producer and reviewer level, project
manager level and, ultimately, endorsement by the project board at the end of each project stage. These levels
of approval will be reflected in both your customer and specialist supplier organisations, although it is not
necessary that either will be working within a PRINCE environment; it is essential, however, that all involved are
working within a suitably controlled project management environment (Bradley, 2005).
This process will operate continuously throughout each stage; it provides a healthy separation between the
customer project manager and the supplier project manager and requires the interface between the supplier(s)
(be they internal or external) and the customer to be identified, defined and operated. Care must be taken to
ensure that the interfaces are neither missed nor lost and that bureaucracy is kept to the absolute minimum
consistent with effective control. Where a project manager allocates work directly to individuals responsible for
carrying out the work package, this process will be informal but will always exist.

Accepting a Work Package

The process provides for you to establish an agreement between you (as project manager) and your team
manager, team or individual who will be responsible for creating and delivering the completed work package
(or product) for your host organisation.

Inputs
• Project plan
• Supporting detail
• Organisational policies
• Corrective action (as things go wrong during the execution phase, they must be corrected and at the
same action must be initiated to prevent a recurrence of the same errors)

Tools and Techniques

• General management skills
• Product skills and knowledge (someone on the project team, or an easily accessible resource, must
have intimate product knowledge and skills to be utilised during the execution phase of your project, e.g.
often provided by consulting engineers is special engineering knowledge)
• Work authorisation system (this is a system or procedure followed in authorising and issuing work to be
carried out)
• Status review meetings (regular milestone meetings held by the project team and with other
stakeholders to review progress on your project against the project plan)
• Project Management Information System (PMIS)
• Organisational procedures

Outputs
• Work results (measurement or estimate expenditure against budget)
• Change requests (changes in project scope identified during the execution phase)

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16. OVERALL CHANGE CONTROL

Changes are inevitable and are often the result of your customer not having specified all requirements upfront,
or as the project progresses, they incorporate things into the design when they realise it should have been
done in the beginning. Sometimes changes are necessitated by errors that have occurred during execution or
when you need to meet changes in legislation. Control all changes to your project. That means they must be
investigated and evaluated to ensure that they are necessary and add value to your project and your customer.

Inputs
1. Project plan
2. Performance reports (reports of actual work completed as submitted to the performance review meetings,
refer project plan execution tools and techniques)

Tools and Techniques

1. Change control system (a system developed to control and manage all changes that may occur during the
planning and execution of the project)
2. Configuration management (configuration management utilises a system that tracks all components, parts,
and materials used during the execution of the project)
3. Performance measurement (techniques to measure overall performance of the project and the project
team)
4. Additional planning
5. Project management information system

Outputs
1. Project plan updates (authorised changes to the project baseline plan as established during the project
plan development phase)
2. Corrective action and lessons learned (throughout the project, review progress and corrective actions
continuously and record these for future reference)

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17. WRAP-UP

During the execution and project control phases, your project has to be monitored and controlled to see
whether it is performing according to your existing schedule. If deviations occur, you must take corrective
action. This control mechanism has been incorporated in the project lifecycle using the feedback loop
between your control phase and your scheduling phase. You must report any deviation to your project board
through an exception report, which will enable your project board to take corrective actions.
Project quality focuses on the end product or service deliverables that reflect the purpose of your project. You
(the project manager) are responsible for developing a project execution approach that provides for a clear
understanding of your expected project deliverables and the quality specifications. The project manager of a
housing construction project not only needs to understand which rooms to carpet in the house but also what
grade of carpet is needed. A room with a high volume of traffic will need a high-grade carpet. The project
manager is responsible for developing a project quality plan that defines the quality expectations and assures
that you meet the specifications and expectations.
You need to deliver your project within budget and timelines, according to customer requirements. It is the
responsibility of your project board, through you, to manage and control the project to achieve all set goals and
objectives.

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