The first step in the project will be to set out what the project is, the ideas and context to explain the goals and objectives to be reached.
Where does the idea come from?
Projects may be instigated from anywhere within the organisation, but typically, a project either drops out of the top-level strategic plans from Welsh Government, or a need for change is recognised from the teams on the ground delivering services.
People who carry out day to day business activities often come up with ideas for projects that promote practical change - they spot room for improvement.
If the suggestion for a project comes from those delivering services, then a proposal is usually made to management. This will involve selling the project to get buy in.
A formal proposal is used when a "business case” is required - to outline the need for the project in terms of the benefits to the organisation and also highlight any consequences of not undertaking the project.
It’s important that the right people are involved at the project definition stage. If this doesn’t happen then mistakes can be made as to whether a project is really necessary (or desirable) and what the objectives should be. There are two main groups who should be involved in defining a project: the customer and the project sponsor.
Customer
The customer for a project is the individual or group who will benefit from the change. It is a project sponsor’s job to make sure that customer expectations and needs are understood and to align the expectations of the customers where they are at odds.
Project sponsor
The sponsor takes ownership of the project on behalf of an organisation and is held accountable for the success or otherwise of a project. They are usually a senior manager and may have suggested the project themselves or supported and promoted an idea from their team. The sponsor identifies the need for the project and what it should achieve.
There are two further groups of people who might also need to be involved.
Stakeholders
A stakeholder is anyone who has an interest in the success of the project, for example the members of a management team who approved the project budget. It is important that the sponsor fully understand the needs and wishes of the project stakeholders in order to keep everyone happy and make sure that the outcome of the project meets expectations.
Actively engaging a wide variety of people such as clinicians, administrative staff, patients and user groups will help you deliver your change project. A stakeholder analysis enables you to identify everyone who needs to be involved and assess how much time and resource to give to maintaining their involvement and commitment.
Carrying out stakeholder analysis as an early step in your change project can help you avoid conflict and delays caused by inadvertently failing to involve key people. You will also need to keep your stakeholders updated throughout the course of the project.
Project steering group
With larger projects that impact several organisational departments, it is good practice to have a project steering group. The steering group is made up of the managers and partners responsible for the areas of the business affected and should meet at regular intervals to discuss all aspects of existing and potential projects.
Understanding who the customers are and their needs is the first step towards ensuring that projects actually deliver what is required. This should be the foundation on which the rest of the project process is based. A project manager should work closely with the project sponsor to make sure they fully understand their customers.
Before a project is proposed the sponsor needs to understand:
- what the customers do and how they operate
- their goals and how they work
- the environment in which they operate
This is usually achieved by asking some questions, which will depend on the nature and extent of the project. However, the questions will usually fall into the same two groups:
- The customer’s current situation
- The customer’s needs and requirements
If the need for a project is identified (or a proposal accepted in more formal situations), a project brief is the next step.
The project brief
A project brief communicates the reason and approach for a project and the processes that will be used to manage it. It’s not as detailed as a project plan but is equally as important.
Stakeholders and the project team need a short and concise pitch to explain the project. The project brief is a way to deliver this information in a summary that will outline the objectives of the project, its scope, the main deliverables, milestones and the timeline.
A project brief or specification is a document that defines the project. The scale of a project will make a difference as to the amount of information that is needed. There are a number of essential components to the project brief.
Its purpose is to get the official go-ahead to scope and set up a project. This is usually put together by the project manager.
Alternatively, you can do a plan-on-a-page – which is just that –a single page overview of your plan, priorities, and direction.
The role of the project manager
The project manager will manage the day-to-day operational aspects of the project. They should ideally be involved from the definition stage. This is particularly important with smaller, less formal projects.
The areas of responsibility include:
- Detailed planning of the project
- Delivering the project
- Establishing project control and management systems
- Identifying and managing the people involved (the stakeholders)
- Selecting the project team
- Leading the project team
- Resolving project issues, problems and concerns
- Securing and using resources.
Project team
The project team are the core set of people who, under the project manager's guidance, make the project happen. The team members should take responsibility for undertaking the various project activities.
Project constraints
All projects have constraints - factors which limit the project activities in some way. These generally fall into three areas: time, quality and cost. These three constraints define the scope of a project and are connected. So when a compromise is made on one, this will affect one or both of the others. Generally, one or more of the project constraints are non-negotiable, for example a deadline may have to be met. So, if a constraint is changed, for the scope of the project to remain the same, a compromise must be made on one or both of the others.
If one factor is changed, and it cannot be alleviated by adjusting one or both of the others, then the scope of the project will be affected; similarly, if the scope of the project changes, then the constraints will be affected.