Project Management Course Syllabus: MBA 592, Lecture notes of Project Management

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Course: Project Management (MBA 592)

Program: General MBA

Muluadam Alemu (Ph.D)

Assistant Professor of Management and Policy Studies

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Course Objectives

At the end of this course, the students should be able to:

a) Define the concept of a “project” and the practice of “project management” from

multiple perspectives, and explain the differences between those perspectives;

b) Describe project and project management concepts;

c) Discuss steps involved in a project cycle;

d) Apply project selection and identification criteria to select project;

e) Describe techniques of project planning, directing, and co-ordination;

f) Apply Project Management tools (Critical Path Method and Project Evaluation Review

Technique) to evaluate/judge projects; and

g) Develop skills to design control systems for monitoring and implementation of a project.

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Chapter Three

Project Planning and Implementation

• (^) A systems approach of project planning
• (^) Organizing resources
• (^) Project direction and coordination

Chapter Four

Project Monitoring and Evaluation/Controlling

• Overview of project control
• Project monitoring and evaluation
• (^) Project management and performance and closeout

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Course Contents

Chapter Five

Contract Management

• Concept and definition of contract
• Types of project contract
• Project contract management

Chapter Six

Project Grant Writing Techniques and Project

Proposal Development

• (^) Project Grant writing techniques and components
• (^) Investment project proposal writing techniques and

components

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Course Contents

Project Defined

• World bank defined a project is as
  • (^) a proposal for an investment to create, expand and/or develop certain

facilities in order to increase the production of goods and/or services in a

community during a certain period of time.

• Project Management Institute of U.S.A defines project as:
  • (^) a one-shot, time limited, goal directed, major undertaking, requiring the

commitment of varied skills and resources.

• (^) a combination of human and non-human resources pooled together in a

temporary organization to achieve a specific purpose.

Important concepts in the definition a project

1. Sequence of activities : a project is comprised of a series of

activities that follow one after the other

2. Unique activities: activities in a project are typical to the

project

3. Complex activities: The activities that make up the project

are not simple and repetitive actions

4. Connected activities: logical or technical relationship

between pairs of activities.

5. Specific goal: the goal of a particular project is specific to it.

Multipurpose projects are normally called programs.

**6. Specific duration/completion time

7. Within a budget
8. According to specification**

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Cont...

Unique: accomplishment of specific purpose

Specific deliverable in terms of outputs

Specific due date

Multidisciplinary in nature (involves different types

of professionals)

Complex in nature (activities are not routine)

Conflict

Part of programs

Needs capital and commitment of other resources

Collection of activities that generates benefits in the

long run

Associated with risk and uncertainty

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What is not a project?

 Projects should not be confused with everyday routines. A project is

different from daily routines that involve repetitive work!

 Ordinary daily work typically requires doing the same or similar

work over and over, while a project is done only once; a new product

or service exists when the project is completed.

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Comparison of Programs and Projects

Program Project

An organizing framework A process for delivering a specific

outcome

May have an indefinite time

horizon

Will have a fixed duration

Evolve in lines with business needs Has set objectives

May involve the management of

multiple related deliveries

Involve the management of single

deliveries

Focus on meeting strategic or extra-

project objectives

Focus on delivery an asset or

change

Program manager facilitate the

interaction of numerous managers

Project manager has single point

responsibility for project’s success

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Program versus Project

 In practice the terms project and program cause confusion. They are often used

synonymously.

A program is a group of related projects designed to

accomplish a common goal over an extended period of time.

Each project within a program has a project manager. The

major differences lie in scale and time span.

A program is defined as a group of related projects, which

may include related business-as-usual activities that together

achieve a beneficial change of a strategic nature for an

organisation.

It is a group of related projects managed in a coordinated way

to obtain benefits. Programmes may include elements of

related work outside the scope of the discrete projects in a

programme

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Portfolios Vs Programmes

 Portfolios are collections of programs and projects that support a

specific business goal or objective.

 Let’s say consider a company in the construction business. The

company may have several business units such as retail, single-family

residential, and multifamily residential.

 Each unit may have different projects that are inter-related, which will form a

programme but different from the projects in other units.

 Collectively, the projects and the programmes within all of these business

units make up the portfolio.

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Project, Programme and Portfolio

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Cont...

Programs are collections of related projects.

Portfolios consist of programs, projects, and other

portfolios that meet a business objective.

Projects or programs within a portfolio are not

necessarily related or dependent on each other.

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Types of Projects

 The principal identifying characteristic of a project is its novelty. It is a

step into the unknown, which is fraught with risk and uncertainty.

 No two projects are ever exactly alike: even a repeated project will differ

from its predecessor in one or more commercial, administrative or physical

aspects.

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