Background
The Project Portfolio Office at Niagara College has established and documented a Project Management Methodology that provides a set of standards to manage projects. It is essentially a toolkit identifying the process to follow, definitions, guidelines, tools and templates for various project management related activities needed to deliver successful projects. By doing this we are establishing a common and repeatable framework for all IT project work across the College.
The methodology is based on best practices from the Project Management Institute’s (PMI) Project Management Body of knowledge (PMBOK) and customized for use in our environment. The goals of this methodology are to:
- Provides a common language for communicating and planning prior to the start of project work
- Establishes a means for managing projects more efficiently
- Enables the tracking of progress against pre-determined metrics and facilitates standardized reporting
- Builds on a set of best practices learned over time
The long term intent is to build a project management repository to document best practices, lessons learned, and examples of various documents that can be used on future projects. This is an evolving methodology and it is expected that changes will occur over time as the College matures in its Project Management capability.
Applicability
This methodology is intended to apply to all Information Technology projects within the College. This methodology is not a one size fits all. The level of Project Management oversight and documentation is scaled according to the characteristics of the project – less formal/detailed for smaller/simple projects and more formal/detailed for larger or more complex projects. This methodology may also be adapted and used within other areas of the colleg to enable successful delivery of projects.
Project Management Life cycle
Regardless of size all projects follow a routine set of standard processes from start to completion. These standard processes together become known as the Project Life Cycle. The project life cycle is a collection of project stages that define:
- What work will be performed in each stage
- What deliverables will be produced and when
- Who is involved in each stage
- How management controls and approves work produced in each stage
The standard IT project lifecycle at Niagara College progresses 6 stages and is described below:
Request
The request stage is considered to be pre-project. This stage is where ideas are turned into project requests and submitted to be considered for inclusion in the IT portfolio. The request stage is managed by the IT Governance framework and is part of the annual budgeting process within the College.
- Delivers a project request
- Captures specific project information that will aide in project evaluation
- Approves the project request to advance to the define stage (or defer the request)
- Completed and approved project requests constitute the project portfolio
Learn more about the request stage...
Define
Once a project request is approved it moves into the project delivery. The first stage of project delivery is the define stage. In this stage the project manager is assigned to the project and will work with the sponsor to develop the project charter and stakeholder register. This information is documented in the project charter and provides the basis for all future project activities and direction the project will follow. This stage concludes with the approval of the project charter from the project sponsor. The approval provides the project manager with the authority to apply college resources to project activities.
- Delivers a Project Charter
- Defines the preliminary project cost, scope, role and timeline
- Formalizes the existence of the project
- Approves the project to advance to the plan stage
Plan
The plan stage of the project is critical to a project’s success. A well-developed and complete project plan provides clear direction and understanding of the how the work is to be done and helps ensure that the project is successfully completed on time and on cost with limited surprises and deviations from the originating charter. The planning stage is characterized by the formation of the project team, elicitation of requirements and from this establishing the detailed deliverables (scope), timelines and cost for the rest of the project. The plan stage builds on the information contained in the Project Charter. This stage concludes with the approval of the project management plan by the sponsor.
- Delivers a detailed project plan
- Defines the detailed project schedule, budget resources and timeline
- Provides the baseline to control and manage the project work
- Approves the project to begin work
Once the project plan is approved, a project can move into the execute stage. The execute stage is when the project team completes the tasks outlined in the project schedule, the project deliverables are completed and the project is implemented. The execute stage is when the work defined in the project charter is performed to meet project objectives. This stage involves coordinating people and resources, managing stakeholder expectations, as well as integrating and performing activities of the project according to the plan. The stage concludes with the project deliverables achieved and accepted by the customer and sponsor.
- Creates and delivers the end product or services
- Executes the tasks in the project schedule
Learn more about the execute stage...
Closeout
Once the project deliverables are implemented the project moves into the closeout stage of the project, where the PM will perform tasks required to complete and close the project. These tasks include handing over to operational teams, performing lessons learned, completing and storing project documents, releasing the team and informing all stakeholders that the project is complete.
- Concludes all project activities
- Administratively closes the project
- Turns the delivered product or service over to the customer or support group, moves to operations
- Assess project outcomes and team performance
- Documents lessons learned
Release project team
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Monitor & Control
Monitoring & Controlling of the project is an overarching activity that is in place from the beginning of the project and extends through to project closeout. It includes all those processes required to track, review and manage the progress and performance of the project to ensure that it keeps moving along.
- Relies on the plans from the plan stage to control the project
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Review
The review stage is the final stage of the project life cycle and typically performed 3-6 months post project closure. The focus of this stage is to close the loop on the project lifecycle to assess whether the benefits identified in the business case for doing the project are being/have been realized.
Learn more about the review stage...