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Project Management Processes
Every project undertaken for you will include defined phases, processes, and plans. All projects are organized by phases to assure stakeholder buy-in at the critical phase transition points and to assure that key deliverables are completed.
A phase exit review and a set of defined deliverables delineate each life cycle phase (concept, development, execution, and termination). Exit reviews serve as "kill points" upon executive scrutiny of the project's progress and performance. A phase transition consists of the successful exit from a previous phase and executive approval to enter the subsequent phase.
Within each phase are core processes and facilitating processes. These processes interact with one another by managing process integration.
Project Plans
The essence of a coherent set of project processes is a well-defined planning system. Toward that end, The Experts maintains a series of plans for each project engagement.
Project management can be thought of in eight integrated "knowledge areas". Managing integration among knowledge areas, phases, and activities is the key to successful project management. Each of the knowledge areas also suggests a series of planning activities.
The Experts develops these plans for each project, measures project performance against the plans in terms of compliance and variance, and undertakes corrective actions as appropriate to variance. The most interesting metric to most client organizations is "Schedule Fidelity" reported as Earned Value. Reporting Earned Value to the client (in accordance with the project communications management plan) is an example of Project Integration Management.
Project Process Documents
The Project Statement of Work signifies executive commitment to the project. The charter provides rough scope and constraint information, ROM (rough order of magnitude) cost and market-driven schedule.
Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
WBS is probably the most important data generated in any project. The WBS is a taxonomy of project deliverables intersecting the Organization Breakdown Structure (OBS) and the cost accounting system. At the lowest level of the WBS, work packages define project activities to be assigned to team members. The WBS is the basis of most of the other management activities in the project.
Project Development Plan
This integrates the WBS into a time-phased, resource-loaded schedule, provides detailed cost estimates, and identifies all needed resources. This plan includes documented standards, performance measurement processes and techniques, and corrective actions to be taken based on variances. The scope also discusses what is "not" in the project when there are opportunities for misinterpretations.
Requirements Document
The Requirements Document provides a complete listing of the requirements database and the corresponding attributes, as well as the traceability matrix mapping the high level requirements to the low-level requirements down to the product deliverables.
Quality Assurance Plan
The QA Plan defines industry, regulatory, and client standards that must be followed. These are additional product requirements that integrate with the Project Management Plan. The Quality Assurance Plan defines the compliance or assurance methods that the project will employ.
Risk Management Plan
The Risk Management Plan defines the process for assigning a risk management officer, identifying project risks, reporting risks (i.e., integration with the communications management plan), acceptance, mitigation, and avoidance methods. The Experts' risk management plans are compliant with the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) Risk Management Paradigm, and supportive of the Project Management Institute risk management processes. Project risk management may incorporate contingency and reserve planning.
Configuration Management Plan
The CM plan defines our method for tracking change. This plan covers the configuration management tool used, the objects to be controlled, and the problem-reporting interface.
Project Management Infrastructure Services
The Experts Outsourcing Division will create a project management culture, infrastructure, curriculum, and training deployment for your organization. We can manage a strategic change initiative within and across business units. Our consultants are able to work with all levels of employees from individual contributors and team leaders to managers and executives. We have consultants with senior executive, executive, management, leadership, and training experience within major corporations.
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creative, inc.