New member here.. I come with an IT background, so the whole project management idea is new to me. I've been reading, watching videos on youtube and udemy about project management, and I've recently registered as a PMI member because i'm interested in this field.
This is a long story, so please bear with me.
Earlier this year, the management of the company i work for decided that we need a Business Continuity plan. They will lease a remote office to continue business in case they can't conduct business in the main office because of disasters.
They approached different firms to get a BCP (which includes the technology part of it, i.e. system, setup, hardware, software, etc), and the amount quoted were high. So i jumped and said i will be doing the project management plan for the technology side of it (i elaborated to the management that this is a new thing to me and might take time to submit), which should eventually reduce the cost of the consultation.
They accepted that, but then came that moment "What have i done!!!?, i'm not yet ready for this!!!".. but, i'm optimistic, i'm accepting the challenge and have the will to win it..
So i've started with compiling a project charter, and it looked like this:
-Introduction: put the background and objectives of this project
-Project scope: i've mentioned that i'll be planning, designing, implementing, testing and closing out the project, and it will not include risk assessment or business impact reports.
-Project management approach: who's the project manager (me) and it's my responsibility to manage the project and everything gets approved by the project sponsor, also included who will be part of the project team (from different dept.).
-Milestone list: listed 5 of them (requirements gathering, network infrastructure design, implementation, testing, close-out and documentation).
-Communication management: formulated a table with what's going to be communicated, with who, in what format (email or meeting) and their frequency. Also listed all team members contact details and titles/responsibility.
-Sponsor acceptance: so the sponsor can approve this which gives me the authority to allow me to start planning.
I've submitted that to the sponsor (management) and yes, i got it signed and approved.
Now i'm putting the project plan together and i'm not sure what i'm doing.
Now i've started a new document and listed all the milestones and activities within them, with estimated time/duration of each activity (all in a table and a Gantt chart).
-What do i do next?
-How do i present this document? do i add it to the charter? what should be included with this document? if this is called the "project plan" document, do i include everything i've mentioned in the charter again? i'm a bit confused on that part.
-I haven't mentioned a budget because i'm not sure how much it's going to cost. i can't know the cost before achieving the first milestone (requirements gathering). do i submit the cost once i have all the requirements and get quotes from different suppliers? or should i mention an estimate (which might be far exceeded when i get actual numbers)?
Since it's not a complex project (and we're not a big company), i don't believe it would require so many documents, but i could be wrong.
I'd appreciate any information, guidance, tips, etc.
Hi Mahmood... from what you explain here, it seems you need some internal support from your immediate manager or someone senior from your PMO team who could support getting insights of Cost Baseline.
Also, once the Charter is Signed off, it acts as a guiding document for you to base your plan and no additional documents need to be attached further, as all these further developed documents get into the Project Plan, which consists of Resource Plan, Risk Plan, Procurement Plan, Training Plan, System Plan, Roll out Plan, Quality Plan, etc.
Again, your Cost Baseline has to be based on the number approved and indicated in your Charter since it is already Signed Off in your case.
Please let me know if you need more details, I will be glad to share more details and guide you as much as I can...Ram Singapore
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1 reply by Mahmood Alnasheet
Sep 22, 2016 4:15 AM
Mahmood Alnasheet
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Hi Ram, thanks for the feedback.
Unfortunately, here is the situation:
-Immediate manager is with little financial background (possibly i can get a budget number from her).
-No PMO team or PMO exists in the company. It's purely my responsibility to plan this project.
-The charter didn't include any budget. Because the project will be budgeted according to the requirements.
like i've mentioned to Rami, i've done CPM and PERT now and i believe i'm done preparing the schedule. I will need to do more work on Cost Baseline because that's still a gray area to me.
It is very difficult to explain this in details here but long story short, you are not doing wrong but you are not doing 100% right as well.
Your WBS is very high level while it should be broken down to all sub-activities with dates and durations (Early Start, Early Finish, Late Start, Late Finish) so you can establish your critical path and detailed schedule.
As for the Cost baseline, it is the cost of everything related to the project including the Contingency Reserve (Cost if the Known-Unknown Risks).
Hope this helps !
Thanks again Rami for all the trouble. All of this is new to me and i'm trying to get a good grasp of things so i don't screw up. I know it's my fault for taking something without fully preparing for it (never did that before), but i saw an opportunity and didn't want to miss it.
I took your advise and did CPM and PERT, got things sorted. I will need to do more reading on Cost Baseline so i can do that as well and be done with this part.
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1 reply by Rami Kaibni
Sep 22, 2016 9:30 AM
Rami Kaibni
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You're welcome Mahmood - No trouble at all, that's why we are here, to help anytime.
It is not a mistake that you took this task, it is a challenge and I am sure with your motivation, you will pass this challenge successfully. Remember, the best way to learn is by making mistakes and by doing things ourselves so Im sure you will be fine. Good Luck and let me know if you need anything else.
Hi Mahmood... from what you explain here, it seems you need some internal support from your immediate manager or someone senior from your PMO team who could support getting insights of Cost Baseline.
Also, once the Charter is Signed off, it acts as a guiding document for you to base your plan and no additional documents need to be attached further, as all these further developed documents get into the Project Plan, which consists of Resource Plan, Risk Plan, Procurement Plan, Training Plan, System Plan, Roll out Plan, Quality Plan, etc.
Again, your Cost Baseline has to be based on the number approved and indicated in your Charter since it is already Signed Off in your case.
Please let me know if you need more details, I will be glad to share more details and guide you as much as I can...Ram Singapore
Hi Ram, thanks for the feedback.
Unfortunately, here is the situation:
-Immediate manager is with little financial background (possibly i can get a budget number from her).
-No PMO team or PMO exists in the company. It's purely my responsibility to plan this project.
-The charter didn't include any budget. Because the project will be budgeted according to the requirements.
like i've mentioned to Rami, i've done CPM and PERT now and i believe i'm done preparing the schedule. I will need to do more work on Cost Baseline because that's still a gray area to me. Saving Changes...
Senior Projects Manager | Field & Marten AssociatesNew Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
Sep 22, 2016 4:06 AM
Replying to Mahmood Alnasheet
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Thanks again Rami for all the trouble. All of this is new to me and i'm trying to get a good grasp of things so i don't screw up. I know it's my fault for taking something without fully preparing for it (never did that before), but i saw an opportunity and didn't want to miss it.
I took your advise and did CPM and PERT, got things sorted. I will need to do more reading on Cost Baseline so i can do that as well and be done with this part.
You're welcome Mahmood - No trouble at all, that's why we are here, to help anytime.
It is not a mistake that you took this task, it is a challenge and I am sure with your motivation, you will pass this challenge successfully. Remember, the best way to learn is by making mistakes and by doing things ourselves so Im sure you will be fine. Good Luck and let me know if you need anything else. Saving Changes...
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