essentials skills in project management day 2

Educational Solutions for Workforce Development

Essentials Skills in Project

Management

Day 2

Pauline MorrisonProject Improvement Advisor


Structure of the Day

• Morning Refreshments 11.20 – 11.30• Lunch 12.30 – 13.00• Afternoon Refreshments 14.40 – 14.50• Finish 16.00


Recap on day 1

• Project life-cycle and project management process• Project planning • Project resources• Project costing• Financial Profiling


Topics covered today

• Project risks• Project Governance• Stakeholder identification• Commissioning in Projects• Progress reporting• Lessons Learned• Project Review• Project Close


What might stop us from achieving it?

Project Risk Identification & Analysis


What are risks?

• The occurrence of something which may impact negatively on the project

• Can be measured by:– What will cause it to happen– What the effect will be– How likely it is to happen– What could reduce the likelihood of it happening or

stop it happening altogether


Organisation vs Project Risks

• Organisational risks – Anything that might impact on the organisation’s

ability to function/deliver its services

– Normally very high-profile projects with high risks

• Project risks– Anything that might impact on the project’s ability to

function/deliver its services


How do you identify and analyse risks?

• Consider each task in turn – could anything happen that would stop you from being able to complete that task? What would be the cause? What would be the effect?

• What could you put in place to stop that from happening (the control)?


How do you identify and analyse risks?

• Consider the likelihood of that risk happening after you have put the control in place. Score on a scale of 1-5 (1 being remote chance and 5 being almost certain)

• Now consider the impact of that risk happening, again after the control has been put in place. Score on a scale of 1-5 (1 being negligible impact and 5 being catastrophic)

• Lastly, who will make sure the control is put in place to manage the risk?


An example


Any questions?


Group Exercise

Developing a Risk Register


Feedback on reflective log


Did you think about?

• Whether there are there any organisational risks in doing the project?

• How would you prioritise the risks? Would you invest any time or effort in a risk which had an overall risk score of 4?

• Are there any problems with using this approach to identify your risks? How do you know all risks have been identified?

• What do you do now that you have created your risk register? Is it enough just to identify the risks? Do you need to do more?


Project Governance


What do we mean by governance?

• A formal structure which defines the accountability lines and responsibilities for strategic decision-making within the project

• Normally in the form of:– Project Board– Steering group– Working Group – Reference Group


What does a governance structure do?

• Provides strategic advice and guidance to Project Team

• Responsible for making strategic decisions around how the project will be delivered

• Signs off the project initiation document and monitors the progress of the project

• If project is at risk of failing, provides support to Project Team to get project back on track

• Often in a position to provide support if required i.e. influencing problematic stakeholders


Why is it important to put a project governance structure in place?

• Ensures stakeholders retain ownership of project• Can help influence wider stakeholder groups • Provides support to Project Team• Auditable trail of decisions that have been made• All contribute to ensuring successful project delivery!


How do you go about agreeing a Governance Structure

• Create a ‘Terms of Reference’

– Include diagram depicting reporting lines

– Define roles and responsibilities

– Identify membership constitution

– Describe reporting requirements e.g. quarterly progress reports including milestones and budget, quarterly meetings


An example


Steering Group

Working Group

Project Leader Project OfficerProject

Administrator

Programme Director


Important to remember….

• Not line-management structures• Demonstrates ‘lines of accountability’ for the project• Structure can vary between projects – should be

designed to accommodate characteristics of project• Important to define roles and responsibilities for each

person/group– Avoids confusion

– Everyone understands what is expected of them

– Helps identify if there are gaps which need to be filled


Any questions?


Stakeholder Identification & Analysis


What do we mean by stakeholders?

• Literally speaking – people who have a ‘stake’ in the project

• Formal definition - a person or group interested in or affected by the project

• Internal and external to the organisation


What is stakeholder engagement?

• Asking the people who are affected by the project their views about the project/service we are delivering

• Ensuring those views are integrated into the delivery of the project

• Formal communication mechanism to listen to stakeholders, feedback to them and update them as the project progresses


Why is stakeholder engagement important?

• For legislative purposes under principles of Patient Focus Public Involvement (PFPI)

• Helps to ensure that what we do is relevant to end users and of a high quality

• Reassures our customers that NES is a listening organisation and that services will be fit for purpose

• Supports the implementation process – if people are engaged with the project they are more likely to support the project when it is implemented

• Helps identify any potential negativity or barriers and overcome those


Types of Internal Stakeholders

• Senior management• Members of the project team• People who are involved in delivering the project e.g.

web team, events team, procurement team• People who need to know about the project but aren’t

involved in the delivery e.g. other departments doing similar work


Types of External Stakeholders

• Customers/end users e.g. NHS staff groups/NHS boards

• Scottish Government• Regulatory bodies/professional organisations• Trade Unions• Suppliers/contractors• The public• Auditors• People who will support or maintain the final product


Project Communication Strategy

• Document detailing:– Who you need to communicate with– Why you need to communicate with them– When you will communicate with them– How you will communicate with them


What does a communication strategy look like?


Any questions?


Refreshment Break


Group Exercise

Identifying and Analysing Stakeholders


Feedback from Reflective Log


Did you think about…?

• Whether you have identified all stakeholders? How can you make sure you haven’t missed any?

• How you would monitor your communication strategy – how would you know it was being effective?


Commissioning in Projects


What do we mean by commissioning?

• The process of contracting someone to develop or deliver goods or services on our behalf

• Examples include:– Hiring a venue to hold an event

– Ordering catering for a meeting

– Contracting a writer to write a report

– Contracting a consulting firm to undertake research


Commissioning in Projects

• Most projects will require some form of commissioning

• Pieces of work/services which NES:– Do not have the expertise to do internally– Do not have the capacity to do internally– Are physically unable to do e.g. hiring of venues

for large events


How do you commission within NES?

• Different process depending on:– Type of goods/services you are commissioning

– Value of order


Processes for goods/services being commissioned

• Design of publications – use corporate contract with Shandwick Design (currently under review)

• Printing of publications – obtain 3 quotes from 9 nationally approved printers

• Stationery – through national contract with Lyreco• Travel – through national contract with Chambers

Travel• Find out more on intranet site


Processes for goods/services based on value of order

• £10k – demonstrate best value e.g. obtain 3 quotes• £10k to £25k – Obtain Competitive Written

Quotations (CWQ)• £25k to £90k – Obtain Expressions of Interest

followed by Invitations to Tender• >£90k – Advertise in Official Journal of European

Union (OJEU)


Identifying Commissioning Exercises

• Identify what work needs to be done externally to help you deliver each milestone

• Based on your budget estimates identify which threshold(s) the work falls under

• Review your project plan to make sure all stages have been incorporated – update if necessary


Any questions?


Group Exercise

Identifying Commissioning Exercises


Feedback from Reflective Log


Did you think of…?

• The events as commissioning exercises?• If you did identify an event, did you consider booking

the Beardmore Hotel (NHS Scotland venue of choice for event hire)

• Whether you would need to update your project plan?


Lunch & Refreshment Break


Progress Reporting


What do we mean by progress reporting?

• Keeping track of how your project is progressing• If you aren’t on track:

– being able to explain why– identifying any impact on future tasks or overall

project objectives– Highlighting areas which need additional support


Why is it important to monitor progress?

• Allows you to congratulate achievements which helps maintain motivation among project team

• Keeps key stakeholders informed about how the project is progressing

• Enables project team members to identify their responsibilities• Helps other people involved in delivering the project forward

plan their workload• Allows you to see at an early stage whether there are any

issues that may stop you from delivering the project• Helps highlight whether additional support is needed


How do you report progress?

• Progress against milestones– Green – will achieve

– Amber – will achieve but not by date specified

– Red – will not achieve at all

• Actual budget spent against forecasted spend


How regularly should I report progress?

• Depends on:– The size of the project– The complexity of the project– The profile of the project– The number of projects you are managing

• Recommend at least every month• If you leave it too late things may have already gone

drastically wrong!


Defining progress reporting information

• Review milestones

– Are they accurate– Do you know of anything at this point that might

stop you from achieving that milestone?– Do you need to make any changes?

• Review profiled finances

– Are they accurate?– Do you know of anything at this point that you

haven’t budgeted for or won’t need funding for?


What does a RAG report look like?


Any questions?


Reviewing Your ProjectRecording Lessons Learned


What is a lessons learned log?

• Document which helps you record:– What worked well in the project– What didn’t work well in the project

• Includes:– Any issues that have arisen when delivering the

project – Techniques that have been adopted that worked

out well


Why is it important to record lessons learned?

• Enables you to learn from previous projects and inform future project design

• Enables others to learn from previous projects• Encourages NES to operate as a ‘learning

organisation’ and continually improve performance and effectiveness

• Ensures future projects are fit for purpose and delivered effectively


Other things to think about

• Review lessons learned at least every quarter• Complete as project team – likely everyone will have

different views around what worked well and what didn’t

• Once completed important to share with others


Examples of lessons learned log


Any questions?


Refreshment Break


Closing a ProjectPost-Project Review


What is a post-project review meeting?

• Reviewing whether:– Outcomes have been achieved as expected

– Anticipated benefits have been realised

– Processes were followed as required

– Costs were as expected

• If any of these weren’t achieved, documenting why not


Why is it important to hold one?

• Recognises project achievements and acknowledges people’s contributions

• Where benefits or outcomes haven’t been achieved allows the organisation to identify whether additional work is required

• Where variations were experienced, captures the reasons why so as to inform the accuracy of future forecasts

• Determining the processes that worked well helps to establish best practice


Project Closure

• Distributing any final project outcomes• Finalising project documentation• Reviewing project delivery and progress • Sending thank you letters to actively involved

stakeholders• Formally recording project as closed


Why is it important to close a project?

• Resources only allocated for project duration – likely project team will be allocated to another project so will not have capacity to continue to support project

• No more funding will be available to help you deliver the project

• No finalisation of documentation/distribution of project outcomes – no way of knowing whether project achieved what it set out to do


Any questions?


Other things you need to think about…

• Equality & Diversity• Procurement


Equality & Diversity

• As a public body, NES is subject not only to anti-discrimination legislation but also to public sector equality duties.

• Have statutory obligation to be proactive in promoting equality and diversity in all our projects.


What does this mean for Project Management?

• Each project must consider the equality and diversity implications of the work

• Take action where possible to promote equality and diversity and to take account of the needs of diverse groups

• Complete Rapid Equality Impact Assessment to demonstrate you have considered the groups affected by the project and identified actions to promote equality and diversity

• If required, complete Full Equality Impact Assessment• Integrate any recommendations into the project plan


Why is it important to do this?

• Have a legal obligation as a public body• Ensures NES is an organisation which promotes

equality and diversity• Ensures what we deliver is to a quality standard, fit

for purpose and meets the needs of diverse range of stakeholders


For further information:

• Contact Kristi Long, NES Equality & Diversity Adviser• Access the NES Equality & Diversity section on the

intranet


Any questions?


Procurement

• Procurement is often an integral part of project management

• As public body NES has a duty to comply with certain legislative requirements

• As NES employee, staff are required to comply with Standing Financial Instructions (SFIs) which set out the processes and governance arrangements for procurement processes


Added Benefits

• Adhering to NES procurement procedures ensures:– Best value is achieved when commissioning

goods or services– Ensures the good or services your procure will be

delivered to a quality standard– Enables NES to be accountable for the money it

spends


How to find out more…

• Attend a procurement training course• Access the NES commissioning and contracts

section under the NES intranet• Contact the procurement team in the Corporate

Governance Unit


Any questions?


What do you do with all this information?

• Develop a Business Case• Develop a Project Initiation Document (PID)


PID vs Business Case

• Business Case– Provides high-level project information– Provides justification for why project should go ahead– Details what is needed (finance/resources) to be able to

support the project• PID

– Provides detailed project information as to how project will be delivered

– Acts as reference throughout duration of project to ensure project is being delivered as initially set out

Both should be developed!!


Business Case Example


PID Example – An Excerpt


Any questions?


Helping you in practice….

Project Management Workflow System (PMWS)


Other tools and templates available

• ‘What is a project?’ toolkit• Starting a Project checklist• Business case• Project initiation document• Project plan/Gantt Chart• Resource Analysis toolkit• Risk Register• Financial forecast• Commissioning log• Lessons Learned log• Post Project Review Meeting


Recap on areas covered - day 1

• Project life-cycle and project management process• Project planning • Project resources• Project costing• Project risks


Recap on areas covered – Day 2

• Project Governance• Stakeholder identification• Commissioning in Projects• Progress reporting• Lessons Learned• Project Review• Project Close


Any final questions?


Blockbuster Rules

• Each team takes it in turn to choose a letter and answer a question

• If you answer correctly you will be awarded one point • If you do not answer correctly you will be awarded no

points. The question will then be deferred to the opposing team giving them to opportunity to steal the point

• The team that has the most points at the end of game wins

• If both teams score equal points a tie-breaker will be asked – the first team to provide the correct answer will win the game


Feedback forms


Thank you for your time!

essentials skills in project management day 2

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