By Issa Bass
 

Any initiative aimed at generating qualitative changes in a work place requires a strategic planning of the resources needed for its realization. The resources involved are human, material, financial and also the time needed for both the planning and the execution of the plans.

The strategy used to plan the resources needed for the changes is called project management. It includes the specification of the tasks to be accomplished, how the objectives are to be achieved, the planning of the resources to be allocated, the budgeting and timing as well as the implementation of the project and the controls involved.

Since all the tasks cannot be executed at the same time because of their interdependence, a methodic scheduling is necessary for a timely and cost effective outcome.

The human resources remain the most important aspect of any endeavor; therefore a clear identification of the people who have a stake in the project as well as those who might resist changes is vital to its success.

But before a project even starts, there are some pre requisites that must be fulfilled for its success.

• The management must be committed to the changes envisaged
• The overall strategy must be defined and be in agreement with the company's business vision
• The project champion nominated
• The key participants to the projects must be identified, their skills and abilities assessed and their roles defined and well understood
• The risk involved in the changes to be implemented must be evaluated and and managed.

But the first step in a project management is its specification, the definition of its goals and objectives. A lucid definition of a project provides a solid basis for not only its prompt completion but also for the future Quality Assurance.

I.  Project definition

Since most of the cost savings are contingent upon the planning and execution of projects, before any action is taken, it is necessary to have a clear common understanding of all the aspects of the project, its extent, the key stakeholders, its goals and its objectives. A good definition provides a clear appreciation of every stakeholder's role and what is expected from him, it also provides a tacit agreement between the parties. The definition of the project is laid on a document called the project charter.

1.  Project Charter

The project charter is written either by the project sponsor or by the project Champion with the approval of the sponsor. It is issued by upper management to formally make the project official and it gives the project Champion and his team the power to use the organization's resources for its purpose. The charter is then made public and distributed to all the stakeholders

A. The content of the project charter

The charter specifies the purpose, sets the orientations of the project, determines the stakeholders, the resources needed for its realization, the deadlines and the constraints. The following table summarizes the most common sections of a project charter and their meaning.

About the author
Issa Bass is the managing editor of SixSigmaFirst. He can be reached at issa@sixsigmafirst.com

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