Project Management
Scaleable Methodology Guide

Project Integration Management

The following table addresses vital aspects of project initiation and integration management such as the project charter, the importance of project stakeholders, and project life-cycle phases and milestones.

 
Priority
Area
4
Minor investment, informal schedule goals, low organizational priority and visibility.
3
Moderate investment, definite schedule target, some organizational priority and visibility.
2
Significant investment, important schedule goals, medium organizational priority and visibility.
1
Major investment, critical schedule goals, substantial organizational priority and visibility, significant technical and cost risks.
Project Charter
Prepare a one page memo of understanding between the sponsor and the PM outlining project objectives, resources, commitments, and constraints.
Identify quantifiable objectives, cost and schedule targets; outline staffing commitments, funding, and assets.
Define specific performance goals and cost and schedule thresholds; describe PM authority and organizational commitment.
Define PM responsibilities and authority; describe specific objectives and make express commitments of staffing, funds, and assets.
Life Cycle Phases and Milestones
Define basic phases, milestones, decision points, accomplishments, and deliverables.
Prepare project plan inputs with discussion of phases, deliverables, objectives and success criteria; establish immediate milestones within project phases.
Include in project plan linkages between milestone approval reviews and documents, updated estimates, test results, etc.
Define event-based milestones; establish milestone exit criteria; link to deliverables, baseline document updates, test results, and management reviews.
Project Stakeholders
Identify project stakeholders (customers, sponsors, users, etc.) and bulletize their interests and objectives on one page; review the project plan to ensure stakeholder satisfaction will be achieved.
Map stakeholder interests to specific initiatives to ensure satisfaction; develop, maintain, and post team success metrics; plan proactive stakeholder communications.
Prepare stakeholder management plan, and allocate staff and budget to periodic reassessments and corrective actions; focus specific initiatives to achieve stakeholder satisfaction.
Prepare and update a structured stakeholder analysis supporting a stakeholder management plan; map to the quality plan, risk management plan, and to project reporting initiatives.
The Project Plan
Summarize project objectives, approach, time constraints, cost estimates, and staffing plan; ensure these fit together and are realistic and achievable; define milestones; and link tasks to owners and deliverables.
Employ planning process to build team ownership and facilitate peer review; apply systematic methods to assess cost and schedule realism; plan more heavily in risk areas; apply all PM principles in plan.
Prepare a plan that links the requirements, task plans, timelines, cost estimates, staffing, deliverables, and test plan; make sure cost, scope, and time are bounded; define success criteria for milestones.
Produce an integrated family of documents defining all project activities and disciplines; plan for mapping and traceability throughout major documents; systematically address all PMBOK areas.
Project Management Methodology
Apply sound project management principles such as: clearly documented requirements, a realistic plan, project baseline controls, and periodic reviews; maintain a PM notebook.
Include outline of proposed project management methodology in project plan document; identify vital PM systems and procedures.
Document PM approach, including baseline management, reviews, data collection, project metrics, and control responsibilities; monitor and report status of PM implementation.
Prepare project management plan describing methodology, reviews, baseline controls, and organizational roles and responsibilities; establish metrics to track integrity of PM disciplines.
Version 1.3a
© Copyright 1997, James R. Chapman

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