Initial PS
meeting
»
Planning WS
»
PS meeting
»
Implementa-
tion decision
»
Project
category
»
Initial project
roles
»
Initial draft of
project order
»
Proposal re.
planning
process
»
Enhanced
project order
»
Initial draft of
project
manual
»
(provisional)
approval of
project order
Fig. 14
Example of initiation process
Project Management
295
• Drawing up of a communications plan
• Agreeing of ground rules
• Clarifying of the organizational incorporation of the project into the line
organization
In this regard it must be borne in mind that a project organization dos not arise
‘to order’, rather it has to be actively structured. In any event, it is necessary to
involve all the relevant people with know-how in the form of a participative
organization. When doing so, account must be taken of internal and external
organizational units which are directly linked to the project.
An organizational chart means the organizational structure which defines the
temporary information and decision-making structures in projects (Sect.
7.18
).
The key challenge which this poses is ensuring acceptance of the interdisciplin-
ary structures which often also span various hierarchical levels.
The defining of project roles involves in particular the specifying of the tasks,
competencies and responsibilities of the members of the project organization
(Sect.
8
). Since project roles are temporary, it can be assumed that the respective
role holders also have a permanent role, or other temporary roles, at the same time.
In this case, one talks of a multiple role holder principle, which requires managers
and experts to have a sound understanding of project management.
Operational effectiveness is ensured by means of an appropriate project
communications plan. The precondition for appropriate project communications
structures is distinguishing between the process-directing communications struc-
ture and the content-related communications structure (e.g. project controlling
meeting vs. regularly scheduled project meetings).
Project ground rules enable a common view of expected individual behavior to
be established as well as of internal and external interactions, and of agreed
sanctions mechanisms if the ground rules are not adhered to.
The organizational incorporation measures govern the delimitation of responsi-
bilities and managerial authorities between the line and project organization. What
is crucial at this point is not the organizational strength of the project organization
but the transparency and common acceptance of the formal structural boundaries.
The project culture which develops as part of the process of building a project
organization is a factor which is absolutely critical to success. The project culture
enables a project identity to be established. This process can be supported through
active interventions made in connection with the launch of the project. Examples of
this are the creation of a project name, and of logos or slogans in projects. The
establishing of “rituals” in the course of the project, for example the carrying out of
a “lightning update” at the start of every session or meeting, or the creation of time
and space for informal interaction (social events, project cafe´,
. . .
) are some of the
elements comprising the active shaping of the project culture.
All the organizational measures are ultimately intended to ensure that the team
can function well. The particular challenge in this regard in projects is to arrange
and carry out this process of team development as efficiently as possible.
Guidance for targeted team activities in this phase of the project is set out in the
known and established team development process (cf. Fig.
15
).
296
W. Rabl
Further project planning methods and techniques are used in the detailed
planning process step (cf. Fig.
16
).
Key elements of the detailed planning are the allocation of the actual tasks and
the work package specification.
An activity distribution chart can be used as a method of allocating the content of
tasks (Sect.
7.10
). This involves allocating specific responsibilities for work
packages according to the people who are responsible for carrying them out and
the people who will assist them. The activity distribution chart subsequently also
forms the basis of the detailed resource planning.
The work specification is a detailed planning step within the project structure
plan. It sets out what the aims, work steps and results of each work package are
(Sect.
7.9
). Above all, the work package specification forms the basis of the
reviewing of progress made with the project.
organization
Project
Project
start
start
Fig. 15
Project start process
"Starting out is
always hard"
"I wonder who's in
charge here?"
"Let's draw some
pictures together"
"So long,
that was fun"
"We are the
champions"
Forming
testing /
sounding out
phase
Storming
conflict phase
Norming
organiza-
tion phase
Performing
coopera-
tion phase
Adjourning
dissolution
phase
Fig. 16
Team development process
Project Management
297
The detailed planning also includes all the methods used for the in-depth
planning of deadlines, resources, and costs. Examples of detailed time schedules
are the linked bar chart or the milestone trend analysis (Sect.
7.12
). Detail can be
achieved in resource and costs planning through the use of time-related plans and
graphical presentation options (e.g. histograms).
Key Message
The level of detail of the project planning must match the level of detail used in the
project controlling processes.
In practice, the level of detail of the planning is frequently seen not be in line
with the data available in the project controlling processes. If it is only possible to
achieve a correspondingly rough level of structural and factual detail in project
controlling, it makes no sense to undertake highly detailed project planning.
Therefore as part of project planning attention should already be paid to the level
of detail which is possible in relation to the data available for the project controlling
processes.
The next process step involves consolidating and coordinating the detailed
planning (cf. Fig.
17
).
The aim of this process step is to ensure that a common view of project planning
is held by the team. It makes sense to undertake preparatory work in individual or
bilateral planning loops. Final coordination of the project planning is carried out in
a follow-up workshop to the project start workshop.
Depending on the complexity of the project, further planning loops and planning
workshops may possibly be required. In external
customer projects
a need also
generally arises for the separation of internal and external coordination cycles since
in
customer projects
the customer is intended to be part of the project organization
on the one hand, but not all the detailed plans are agreed with the customer
(e.g. project costs, project calculations).
The next step is finalizing the project manual (PM) (cf. Fig.
18
). The core
document within the project manual is the
project order
, which is a formal project
document. The project manual contains all the project plans and the project
organization and communications structures, and any additional project manage-
ment tools, such as the project risk analysis, which may be necessary. The project
manual gives all the people who are involved in the project ready access to all the
information. It ensures the integration of all the project management tools that are
used. In the event of changes in personnel, the project history is able to be tracked.
Set up
project
organization
Carry out
detailed
planning
Consolidate &
coordinate
detailed
planning
Finalize
project manual
Release
project
manual
Fig. 17
Process step: “execution of detailed planning”
298
W. Rabl
And not least, the project manual supports organizational learning in the project and
in
project-oriented companies
(Sect.
9
; Example of next project project manual).
The last step in the project start process is the approval of the project manual by
the project owner (cf. Fig.
19
).
The precondition for this is that the project manager and the project owner have a
common view of the planned course of the project. In this step, the
project order
is
formally signed by the project manager and the project owner at a project owner
meeting.
This formal action means that the project plans are saved as the project baseline.
This gives the project a reference point for subsequent project controlling.
A summarized example of the project start process is shown in Fig.
20
.
5.3
Contract Management as a Process that Is Relevant
to the Project Initiation and Project Start Process
Project contracts are not specifically regulated by law and they require particularly
thorough structuring of the contract, in particular in the case of customer projects.
The contractually specified target state can often not be conclusively defined at the
time when the contract is concluded within projects.
Set up
project
organization
Carry out
detailed
planning
Consolidate &
coordinate
detailed
planning
Finalize
project manual
Release
project
manual
Fig. 18
Process step “consolidating and coordinating detailed planning”
Set up
project
organization
Carry out
detailed
planning
Consolidate &
coordinate
detailed
planning
Finalize
project manual
Release
project
manual
Fig. 19
Process step “finalizing the project manual”
Set up
project
organization
Carry out
detailed
planning
Consolidate &
coordinate
detailed
planning
Finalize
project manual
Release
project
manual
Fig. 20
Process step “approving the project manual”
Project Management
299
The necessary setting of goals sometimes takes place gradually, typically at
different ‘firming-up’ or iteration levels during the course of the project. This
requires close interaction between the contracting parties, which must be managed
through contractual rules and organizational structures.
Key Message
Professional project management is the basis of the successful processing of
contracts, but without a sound contract even the best project management does
not ensure successful processing of projects.
Holistic consideration of both the drawing up and processing of contracts and the
setting up and managing of projects is required. It therefore makes sense to
synchronize contract management with the
project management process
.
Customer projects
are based on an external/legal contract which cannot be
easily amended. The bid phase is frequently separated from project execution in
organizational terms, i.e. different people are involved in each case. This leads to
there being a risk of a gap in communications at the time when the contract is
concluded (“Chinese whispers” or “telephone” effect). In some cases the organ-
izational units involved (Sales and Processing) even have contrary interests.
The project must be suffused with a minimum level of planning in order to
enable a valid bid to be submitted. The components of contract management and
project management operate in some cases on the basis of redundant information
(e.g. customer specifications or specification of services).
A simple measure for dealing with this context appropriately is involving the
department concerned right from the drawing up of the bid. If it is a complex
customer project
involving subcontractors, one option is to also involve the key
supplier in drawing up the bid, and if necessary in the drafting of the contract. Then
it is generally advisable to set the submission of the bid up as a project.
A typical contract management process which ensures integration with the
project start process can be set up as shown in Fig.
21
.
Realistic contract conditions are important in order not to jeopardize the assign-
ment or project from the very outset. In practice the following ground rules have
proved to be useful:
• Description of the requirements to be as detailed as possible.
• A good level of performance comes at a price.
• The supplier’s concerns should be taken seriously.
• Take heed of one’s own duties to cooperate.
• Critical questioning of whether fixed prices and fixed delivery deadlines are
realistic (e.g. in the case of standard services)—a contract with fixed prices and
deadlines is often pushed through by the principal before the level of planning
precision that is necessary for this can be achieved.
• Since evidence of losses is generally difficult to provide, sanctions which have a
noticeable effect must be specified in case of poor performance or
non-performance.
300
W. Rabl
• The agreeing of interim steps and/or partial services, and the linking of them to
the payment dates make better monitoring and management of resources by the
supplier possible.
In addition to contract management, claim management is also (cf. also Sect.
4.3
in Chap.
5
) a process which is crucial to the success of
customer projects
.
Finalize
project
manual
Consolidate
& coordinate
detailed
planning
Carry out
detailed
planning
Set up
project
organiza-
tion
Release
project
manual
Ro
le
s
in
v
o
lv
ed
:
C
o
m
m
uni
-
cat
ion m
et
hod:
Re
su
lt
s
A
cti
v
iti
es:
»
Present and
validate
results
obtained to
date
»
Clarify roles,
communica-
tion, and
ground rules
»
Draw up WP
specification
»
Estimate
detailed
deadlines,
resources and
costs
»
Complete bar
chart, plan for
use of staff
and costs plan,
risk analysis
etc.
»
Set up project
marketing
»
Combine all
the plans in
the project
manual and
send to all
PTMs
»
Hold last
internal round
of
consultation
»
Final
presentation of
plans to PS/
PSC for release
»
Agree roles and
communications
structures
»
PM
»
PTM, PE
»
if applic. PS
»
PM
»
PTM
»
PM
»
PTM
»
PM
»
Project
assistant
»
PTM
»
PS / PSC
»
PM
»
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