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Saving Time!

Saving Money!
Saving Stress!
Listed below are some forms you will find on the next pages.

Please complete the forms as appropriate. Please note, completing the forms
is an aid to help you deliver your projects, not an end in itself.

Page No.

♦ Defining Project Responsibilities 3

♦ Stakeholder Analysis 4

♦ Milestone Chart 5

♦ Milestone Report 6

♦ Variation Form 7

♦ Risk Log 8

♦ Business Case Form 9

♦ Project Definition Form or PID 10

♦ Project Reporting Form 12

♦ Highlight Report 13

♦ Change Control Form 14

♦ Change Control Log 15

♦ Actual V Planned 16

♦ Project management check sheet 17

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Defining Project Responsibilities

PERSONNEL

TASKS/ACTIVITIES

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Stakeholder Analysis

The purpose of stakeholder analysis is to inform the project manager and sponsor who should contribute to the project, where
barriers might be, and the actions that need to be taken prior to detailed project planning.

Stakeholder Their interest or What the project needs Perceived attitudes Actions to take
requirement from the from them and/or risks
project

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Milestone Chart

Main milestones/phases shown on higher chart, and sub-milestones for each phase on charts below

TIME [in suitable units -days, weeks, months, etc.]


MILESTONES Responsibility

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Milestone Report

Project:

Date of Milestone meeting/discussion:

Deliverables due Due R/A/G* Action to take to bring deliverable or task back on schedule
date

* R = Red flags [off plan - describe in detail: quality, cost, time]


A = Amber [is almost off schedule or will definitely be off schedule NOTE: you may need to agree the precise definition before use]
G = Green flags [to plan or better - show savings]

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Variation Form

Activity Description Date to Revise Reason for delay. Effect on project


name /No. be d est. Q/C/T? Explain
delivere Q/C/T
d

Signed: Project Sponsor

Project Manager

Date

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Risk Analysis

Score as follows, for Likelihood and Impact: High = 3, Medium = 2, Low = 1

Nature of Likelihood Impact Likelihood Actions required and who will


High/ High/ x Impact
Risk or Medium/ Medium/ [Score] take responsibility to manage
Uncertainty Low Low the risk

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Business Case Form
Please complete the form below and submit it to your project sponsor.

Background to the project (PLEASE KEEP BRIEF)

General aims(s)

Initial Risks

Expected Outcomes

Benefits of running with this project

Initial estimates of cost and time

Rs:

Time:

Outcome of the business case

Decision from (x x)

Date

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Project Definition Form [or PID]

Project Title: Put here a very Sponsor: Insert actual sponsor name
brief title
State below the link with the corporate agenda – the actual wording please.

Put here the actual words in the corporate agenda – showing the link with this project

Project Background: The background to the project. Enough information to inform the
reader.

Project Benefits: An outline of what the benefits are to the organisation,


individuals or stakeholders in delivering the project

Project Objectives: The specific objectives for the project. NOTE: the objectives can
be one line or more detailed text.

Project Deliverables: What you will be delivering at the end of the project. NOTE:
these are the what you will have at the end of the project, e.g. a
report, a building, improved service levels etc.
This project will include: This project will not include:
This section defines the boundaries of Planning details should not be included at this
the project. stage.

Success Criteria: How you will measure the success of the project. NOTE: the
success criteria must be measurable.

Constraints: Examples here can be specific (a skill which the project team
must have) resources, or a legal deadline – NOTE: only include
time and money if you can quantify them.

Key Assumptions: The assumptions you are making in putting this document
together.

Project Manager: Who fulfils this role and what they do.

Project Sponsor: Who fulfils this role and what they do.

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Project Who fulfils these Project Team
Board/Steering roles and what they Members:
Group Members: do. NOTE: may not
be appropriate for
all projects

Budget
Resource Costs: Other Costs:

Total costs (attach a breakdown of the overall budget)


• VAT*– Some projects may have important VAT issues. Have you spoken to
accountancy to discuss these?

Start Date: Completion


Date:
Signature of Project Date:
Manager:

Approval from Date:


Sponsor:

 For your organisation, you will need to liaise with your Finance people in order to
develop financial information that will inform project delivery. The data on this form in
relation to finance needs to be fine tuned to your organisational and project
management needs

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Project Reporting Form

Project Title: Number:


Project Sponsor: Project Manager:

Progress Report Report No.

RAG Status*: RED / AMBER / GREEN

Headlines

Tasks, Milestones, Outcomes delivered this Completion dates


period
Tasks, Milestones, Comments Plan Actual
Outcomes

Major Risks and Issues Include an assessment of the impact and any actions taken

Recommendations and Requests for Decisions or Support

Tasks, Milestones, Outcomes scheduled for Completion dates


next period
Tasks, Milestones, Comments Plan Forecast
Outcomes

* RED "Major concern - escalate to the next level" Slippage greater than 10% of remaining time or budget, or
quality severely compromised. Corrective Action not in place, or not effective. Unlikely to deliver on time
to budget or quality requirements
AMBER "Minor concern – being actively managed” Slippage less than 10% of remaining time or budget, or quality
impact is minor. Remedial plan in place.
GREEN "Normal level of attention" No material slippage. No additional attention needed

Highlight/Progress Report

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Project Name: PROJECT NAME

Reporting Period: Project Manager: Project


RAG Sta
Prepared by: Date Prepared:

Project Description: Project

Key Deliverables Completed this period Key Deliverables Outstanding this period K
Delivery
Date

Risk Management Issue Management

Log No Risk Action/Status Log No Issue Action/Status Req N

Financial Statement
Capital Revenue
Source Budget Actual Remaining Forecast Source Budget Actual Remaining Forecast Sourc
0 0

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Change Control Sheet
Project Title Project Number
Project Manager

CHANGE REQUEST
Originator Date of request Change request no.
Phone: allocated by Change Controller

Items to be changed Reference(s)

Description of change (reasons for change, benefits, date required)

Estimated cost, and time to implement (quotation attached? Yes No )

Priority / Constraints (impact on other deliverables, implications of not proceeding, risks)

CHANGE EVALUATION
What is affected Work required (resources, costs, dates)

Related change requests


Name of evaluator Date evaluated Signature
CHANGE APPROVAL
Accepted Rejected Name Signed Date
Deferred
Comments

CHANGE IMPLEMENTATION
Asset Implementer Date Signature
completed

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Change Control Log
Project Title Project Number
Project Manager

Change Description of change Date Date Date Date


numbe received evaluated approved completed
r

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Actual V Planned

Activity Planned Actual Differenc Planne Actual Differenc


Time Time e d Cost e
Cost

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Project Management - Check Sheet Amend this Check Sheet to suit your project
A: SET UP - INITIATION Y N COMMENTS 5 Have you identified the critical path Y N COMMENTS
for the project?
1 Developed the business case? 6 Have you developed a
2 Is a full options appraisal communications plan and included
necessary? its component parts into the Gantt
3 Is the project in line with the charts?
strategic plan? 7 Are you continuing to carry out risk
4 Has the project received sign off by analysis throughout the project?
sponsor or project board? 8 Are quality standards high? How do
you know?
B: SET UP - DEFINITION
D: DELIVERY
1 Has a PID or project definition form
1 Have you identified the appropriate
been completed?
type of control – loose versus tight?
1 Are roles explicit and documented?
2 Project reporting – are you clear
1 Are levels of authority clear?
who reports what and to whom and
1 Have you carried out a stakeholder
how?
analysis and planned accordingly?
3 Do you have a clear procedure for
1 Have you assessed risks and put a
managing change?
plan into action to monitor them?
4 Have you developed a planned
1 Are you clear what is driving the
versus actual schedule? How up to
project Quality, Cost or Time (1
date is it?
only)
5 Tolerance – have you an agreed
1 Have clear project review
tolerance figure?
procedures been established?
6 Variations – are these quickly
1 Has planning started for a start up
flagged?
workshop (or series of workshops)?
1 Team selection - have you got the
correct mix of skills and E: CLOSEDOWN AND
professional experience? REVIEW

C: DELIVERY PLANNING 1 Post project review has been


planned?
1 Have you broken the project down 1 Learning identified?
into its component parts – work 1 Is the project still delivering the
breakdown benefits intended?
2 How accurate are your estimates? 4 Is there a case for abandoning the
If a low percentage then project – off schedule or delivered a
recalculate. significant part of it?
3 Have you developed a milestone 5 End of project review reports are
produced and circulated?
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chart or produced a Gantt chart?
4 Have you developed an overall
project budget? Have you sought
advice from financial experts

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Five Ways to Project Disaster
Success is a matter of moving ahead and steering clear of failure. Here are five fast tracks to failure,
so that you can avoid them.
Five ways to get it done wrong, or not at all!
1. Scope-less is hopeless. Don’t decide what you are doing—just throw money at a problem.

2. Focus on time and cost, not quality. Get it done yesterday. Never let anyone spend money.
Don’t waste time checking anything—just get it done.

3. Know the right thing to do. Don’t analyze problems. Don’t listen to experts. And—absolutely,
above all, whatever you do—be sure to ignore the customer. You wouldn’t launch a project if
you didn’t know everything, and what does anyone else know?

4. Don’t thank the team, push them harder. Don’t waste time with planning, People ought to
know what to do. Just tell the team to get it done now—or else.

5. Avoid big problems. All of our projects fail. And we’ve got no time for them, either—we’re too
busy putting out fires.

The Top Twenty List


Twenty items may seem like a lot, but I’ve actually made five short lists: one for project planning, one
for applying the nine knowledge areas, one for doing, one for using stages and gates, and one for
following through.
Four key planning points:
1. Do the right project. Using benefit cost analysis or ROI, and looking at opportunity cost, look
at the project that gives you the biggest value for your effort and is most aligned with your
company’s strategy, moving you in the direction you want to go.
2. Define scope clearly and precisely.
3. Plan the whole project. Make a plan for each of the nine areas.
4. Do good architecture. Work with words and pictures to bring people with different
perspectives onto the same page, contributing to and committed to the project.
Prepare your team in just two steps:
5. Get the right team. Using the WBS, define the skills needed, and get people with those skills.
Be honest about gaps, and close them by taking time to learn to get it done right.
6. Get the expertise you need. Know that being expert in one area means not being expert in
other areas—sometimes closely related disciplines. Recognize that project, being unique
work, require learning from and collaborating with experts. Remember, hiring experts you can
work with is less expensive than not hiring experts you can work with.

Cover all the bases with the nine knowledge areas:


7. Scope. After defining scope clearly, teach the cost of changes to reduce change requests,
then manage all changes, adding to the project only when it is essential.
8. Time and cost. Use unbiased, accurate estimation techniques. Set up systems to gather,
track, and analyze time and cost information, so you can keep them under control
9. Quality. Focus on quality at all three levels to ensure value. At the technical level, trace
requirements and design checking and testing throughout the project to reduce errors. Then
design a test bed, and implement the tests. At the project level, work to prevent error, then
find and eliminate the errors that slipped through. Do as much testing as you can as early as
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you can. Allow time for rework and retesting to ensure you’ve eliminated errors without letting
new ones creep in. At the business level, include customers in testing, and remember that the
goals are customer delight and added value.
10.Risk. Plan for uncertainty; prepare for the unexpected. Perform risk management with your
team every week of the project.
11.Human Resources. Help each team member step up in self-management and technical
expertise. Teach everyone PDCA so that they can improve. Then teach them to work
together, until you have a great team of great people.
12.Procurement. Get the supplies and resources you need. If your project involves contracts, be
sure to keep the contracts in alignment with project value and specifications, not just generally
associated with goals and work.
13.Communications. Have a communications plan, and follow it so that you are in touch with all
stakeholders throughout the project. Make sure everyone knows what they need to know to
make decisions and get work done. Analyze status information to create status reports. Be
prompt and decisive.
14.Integration. Constantly direct corrective action. Evaluate all events that could change the
project schedule, and all scope change requests. Review the effects of any change on all nine
areas before making a decision, and then implement a revised plan with rebaselining.
Keep the project on track with stages and gates:
15.Use a life cycle. At a minimum, put a gate at the beginning to clearly launch the project, and
then a gate after planning, a gate after doing, and a gate after following through.
16.Every gate is a real evaluation. Bring every deliverable—parts of the product, product
documentation, technical documents, the project plan and supporting documents—up to
specification. If a project can’t deliver value, be willing to cancel it.
Use feedback with your team and focus on scope and quality in the doing stage:
17.Use feedback at all four levels. Teach workers to stay in lane and on schedule; ensure
delivery of milestones; manage project risk; and manage project change. Watch out for
continuing problems that indicate a serious planning error, such as lack of attention to one of
the nine areas or a poor architectural decision.
18.Focus on scope and quality. Get it all done, and get each piece done right.
Follow through to success:
19.Deliver customer delight. Seek to exceed customer expectations while leaving customers
delighted with every encounter with your team. Use every success and every error as a
chance to learn to do a better job.
20.Remember ROI and lessons learned. Compare actual ROI to planned ROI, so you can be
honest about the degree of your success. Compile project historical information and lessons
learned to make future projects easier.

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