We encounter projects everywhere: house cleaning, garden party, relocation, or a wedding – depending on the complexity, we sometimes have to organize and coordinate more, sometimes less. And now let’s imagine putting on a festival for several thousand people or building a skyscraper. Phew!
“A little organization” is no longer enough here because a failure can also have serious (financial) consequences. Organizing the whole project is extremely important. In this context, the term project management comes into play.

The following article will show you the essential topics from this broad area in a compact project management guide.

The Nine Areas of Project Management

But take it slow. As already briefly mentioned, the tasks in project management go quite far. For this reason, the Project Management Institute has divided the term into nine sub-disciplines. It is an extensive topic, from the project management basics to the details.

Integration Management

This sub-area is primarily about defining suitable processes necessary for good coordination and integration of the project. Specifically, one deals with the project plan development and implementation and possible changes in this area.

Scope Management

“Is the project going in the right direction?” This is the central question in this sub-discipline. Accordingly, the performance progress must be consistently checked and controlled. This includes project initiation, definition, verification, and monitoring of performance.

Time Management

Time – is always an essential factor. Especially when it’s tight, time management must keep an eye on the time, i.e., all-time restrictions and deadlines of the project. This area belongs to the schedule, the determination of process sequences, process duration estimation, schedule development, and monitoring. Schedule templates are helpful here, as they save time, especially in recurring projects.

Cost Management

Of course, finances also play an essential role in a large project, and these resources should be used as efficiently as possible. Maximum effectiveness with minimum effort – that is the goal. Accordingly, resources must be planned, costs estimated, the budget distributed, and finally, the use of financial resources in project management must be monitored.

Quality Management

In projects, there is usually a customer with specific requirements for his product. And even if it doesn’t, a house shouldn’t crack after ten years. There are various quality requirements that quality management must take care of, and it deals with quality planning, assurance, and control.

Human Resources Management

In addition to time resources, capacity planning in project management also deals with human resources – i.e., the employees.

• Who does which tasks?
• How long does it take him?
• Can he complete the job in the given time and with his existing skills?
• Who should/must he work with?
• Do we have enough staff for the project?

In project organization, personnel acquisition, and team development, personnel management faces these questions.

Team development and the topic of team building are critical points.

Communication Management

This sub-area is about project communication – whether with employees, project managers, or people outside the company. Communication management collects, defines, and disseminates all information related to the project.

Risk Management

A complex project always involves risks. If a delivery is delayed, production is delayed, and deadlines cannot be met, which has further consequences. For this reason, risk management deals with risk identification and assessment and the development of measures to track and assess risks.

Procurement Management

One cannot work without specific means. Therefore, procurement management provides all the goods and services required by making preparations for purchasing, obtaining offers, selecting suppliers, and being responsible for drawing up contracts and ensuring fulfillment.

The Five Phases Of a Project

Another essential part of project management basics is the phases that a project goes through. A project can generally be divided into five project management phases with different tasks – the stages are visualized in the project phase model.

Start Phase

At the start of the project (also: preparation ), all the basics of the project are clarified: e.g., framework conditions, content, duration, costs, and effort.

No concrete decisions have yet been made regarding implementation. Primary concrete goals should always be right initially, and an exact formulation of goals is fundamental. The project plan, project profile, project environment analysis, and SWOT analysis are helpful here.

Planning

It becomes concrete in the planning. Depending on the nature of the project – own, commissioned, everyday, innovative – the analysis plays an essential role in this phase. Here it is also important to distribute tasks, create a schedule, and decide which project organization – such as the matrix organization – the work will take place. The essential data are noted in the project order.

Execution

The implementation then involves the performance of the planning in concrete measures, the processing of the tasks, and the cooperation of the project team.

Steering

This is followed by project control in the fourth phase, control. This includes, among other things, the TARGET-ACTUAL comparison, the overview of project progress and status, as well as problem identification. Transparent and regular communication is essential here to evaluate all information and data.

Diploma

In the end, there is a summary, evaluation, and learning: How did the project go? What went well? What can we do better next time? If necessary, the results can also be compared with similar projects.

Also Read: Understand What Is Involved In Construction Project Management

Common Project Management Methods

But how exactly do you approach a project like this? In addition to the project management basics, various procedures and methods can be found in practice. If you look at the nine sub-disciplines again, project management is a cross-sectional task. For this reason, methods from different areas are used to help.

Project Management Combines Many Disciplines.

Project management requires a sum of disciplines and tasks from other, specific areas. These include

• Analyze and develop ideas
• Plan and calculate
• Control and steer
• Lead employees and teams
• reporting and documenting
• develop strategies

Roles In Project Management

A project is always teamwork and is, therefore (almost) never carried out by a single person. “Inside” and “outside” projects different roles with different functions taking their place.

• Client/customer: Initiator and supreme decision-making authority
• Project Manager: Expert in planning and organization, has overall responsibility
• Project manager: Head of the project team, coordinates team members and is involved in content
• Project staff: Do technical work
• Stakeholders: people/groups affected by or interested in the project

Necessary Skills In Leadership

People carry out management in the sense of corporate governance. These – often referred to as project managers or project managers – should have specific skills to manage a project optimally. In addition to professional and methodical skills, social and personal skills are required, as in any other management profession :

• Communicative Skills
• problem-solving orientation
• leadership skills
• initiative
• Entrepreneurial thinking
• teamwork
• empathy
• critical ability
• willingness to perform
• flexibility

Of course, these skills are not quite enough, and it would help if you also had a project manager.

Success Factors – That Is What Matters.

Berlin Airport BER, Stuttgart 21, Practice shows: that the rate of failed projects should not be underestimated. Since 1994, the Standish Group has examined not only a “failure” rate with its CHAOS Report but also success and failure factors in project management.

Goal Setting

Every project should have a clear goal that, when achieved, also has added value for the company. It is also essential that the goal is set from the beginning and, if so, then not changed too often. SMART goals help with a precise formulation.

Definition of Critical Values

Milestones are essential in order not to lose sight of the big goal. Clear deadlines and budgets, for example, help to stay on schedule and counteract obstacles and minimize the risk of an overall project failure.

Management Level

The support of the company management is necessary for a project. In general, all important people and groups should be behind the project.

Infrastructure

In connection with the support of the management, a project needs good infrastructure. Relevant resources, equipment, and premises are required to use the potential of those involved and complete the project.

Of course, many other factors can determine the success or failure of a project. But the most crucial thing is structured management. If this is in place, you can react to problems much more controlled. The risk of failure is minimized. This brings us to another criterion: the human success factor.

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Projects

A project is a series of activities to achieve a specific goal within a given budget and timetable. The result of the design should be a streamlining of activities. Each project has a solid beginning and end, a systematic plan, separate resources, determining goals, and several people work on it.

For a project to be successful, it is necessary to combine the following four factors:

• need or problem – correct assessment of the deficiency,
• project opportunity – the project must have space for implementation and must be supported by money, people and the target group,
• idea and vision – it should be clear to clarify what a significant and sustainable change the project will bring,
• Capability – Balancing capabilities, energy, resources, and organization is essential for a project.

Before you start the project, you will need to answer the following questions:

• defining intentions, goals, context and target group (In what context will the project take place ?, What changes will it bring ?, Why implement this project ?, What is the expected result ?, For whom is the project intended ?, What problems are at stake? ),
• project content (What is the topic and scope of the project ?, What approach is chosen (methodology) ?, What activities are included ?, What is needed for the project to continue?)
• where and when (Where will the project be implemented ?, How long will it last ?, When will it start/end?)
• funding (What are the total costs (planning/implementation and evaluation) ?, Where will the necessary funding come from?)
• partner (Will there be partners in the project ?, Who are the partners ?, What is their role ?, What are the coordination arrangements?)
• funds (Does the project meet the conditions for financial assistance ?, Can it use existing equipment ? conditions?)
• Communication (Internal communication: how is information disseminated in the project team ?, External communication: does the project need media coverage? (Why? How? Which aspects?)
• evaluation and follow-up (How and when should the project be evaluated? Which aspects ?, Why ?, What is the planned continuation?)

For projects, try to avoid the following critical factors:

• insufficient authority;
• insufficient participation and planning of the project team;
• inadequate involvement of the project team in solving problems;
• insufficient communication skills;
• insufficient technical skills;
• insufficient administrative skills;
• unrealistic project schedules;
• unclear project objectives.

Stages of Project Implementation

Each project has specific characteristics:

• Projects have a purpose: projects have clearly defined intentions and intend to achieve clearly defined results. Their goal is to solve a “problem” that requires analysis.
• Projects are limited in time and space: they have a beginning and an end and are implemented in a specific place and context.
• Projects are complex: projects require different planning and implementation skills and involve various partners and actors.
• The projects are unique: all projects stem from new ideas. They provide a specific answer to a need (problem) in a particular context. They are innovative.

The post What Is Project Management? appeared first on TechReviewsCorner.

What Is SAP?

SAP is a computerized management system that makes possible the comprehensive management of the different human, productive and logistical resources efficiently. Therefore, it has software that can house different modules to integrate each of the most important aspects and their actions.

The SAP program stands out for covering administrative needs and providing the necessary management tools to make a company more competitive. We are talking about a leading software for ERP (Enterprise Resources Planning).

How Does SAP Work?

SAP’s main purpose is to offer information by compiling it and generating databases to make decisions. Thanks to the correct implementation of the data, we will have a real flow of information about what is happening at all times, obtaining total control over the company’s performance and the factors that affect it.

SAP is an ERP software that is based on three essential characteristics :

• It is a custom-tailored system. It offers infinite possibilities of adaptation to the needs of each client and type of business. Despite the unforeseen costs you may incur in implementation, customer needs are often positively met, especially in midsize businesses.
• It is a canned system. SAP is understood to meet the needs of today’s market on a broader level. Companies acquire a canned ERP tailored to the identified needs, marketed through different software licenses.
• Use an open-source system. SAP is based on a set of programs that require open programming codes. The software requires the management of large amounts of data, which it analyzes and provides agility in the determination of processes. SAP offers customer-modifiable open-source code by using an ABAP programming language. The ABAP language is simple, adapted to multi language environments, and easily programmed to set targets and monitor events.

What Applications Does The Company’s ERP Have?

SAP has a system of tables that stores the company’s data and that are crossed so that the specialist can make decisions according to all the information. This ERP is widely used in different companies and sectors, both private and public. SAP applies to every one of the administrative control areas of the company, thanks to the use of its different modules:

• SD or Sales and Distribution module. Thanks to this module, the person in charge will manage sales and distribution to the client in a clearer way.
• MM or Materials Management module. The SAP module is oriented to the management of stocks, invoices, and everything related to the product to be sold.
• PP or Production Planning module. He is in charge of managing the entire manufacturing process of the products that the company sells.
• HR or Human Resources module. Thanks to this area, the SAP consultant can direct the company’s human resources more clearly and effectively.
• CO or Controlling module. The person in charge can better control everything that has to do with the costs and benefits of the additional purchase and sale operations.

Regardless of the combination of modules chosen and the configuration of each one, SAP can serve a wide range of companies and sectors. Whether we are talking about the public or private sector, the company provides software, among others, to sectors of:

• Raw materials, mining and agriculture
• gas and oil
• chemicals
• Metallurgical
• Pharmaceutical
• Building materials, clay and glass
• Building
• Services
• Consulting and software
• Sanatoriums and hospitals

Advantages And Disadvantages

SAP has three fundamental advantages, which give the ERP software great differentiation from the competition:

• Simplicity. It is easy to learn and use, which greatly facilitates the work of companies and their employees.
• Adaptability. Its open code and multitude of adaptations make it possible to cover the needs in a more personal way and mitigate errors more quickly.
• Update. The system stands out for its continuous updating, with new functionalities and bug fixes.

Perhaps the only negative factor is the high costs, sometimes unexpected and disproportionate when we talk about acquiring the necessary software and hardware to

Job Opportunities With SAP

The main job opportunity offered by knowing the software is an SAP consultant, who is in charge of implementing the different processes. Now, as a specialist in some area of ​​your company, you can train to learn how to use the modules offered by SAP for managing your department,

The SAP consultant profile requires the following skills:

• Experience in the logistics area, purchases, sales, quality, maintenance.
• Experience in the area of ​​production planning.
• Good configuration capabilities
• Communication
• Teamwork
• Understanding of business needs
• Documentation quality
• Foreign language training

Also Read: What Is An ERP And What Does It Bring To Users?

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