A project is a series of tasks that need to be completed in order to reach a specific outcome.

A project can also be defined as a set of inputs and outputs required to achieve a particular goal.

Projects can range from simple to complex and can be managed by one person or a hundred.

A project has a defined start and end point and specific objectives that, when attained, signify completion

Project management is the process of initiating, planning, executing, controlling, and closing the work, to achieve specific goals and meet specific success criteria at the specified time.

- a part of project planning,

- a tool that communicates when planned activities needs to be performed

Defines the beginning and end of a project

1. Initiation

2. Planning

3. Execution

4. Monitoring and controlling

5. Closeout

Project initiation is the first phase of a project’s life cycle. It is at this point where the opportunity or reason for the project is identified and a project is developed to take advantage of that opportunity.

You can start a new project by defining its objectives, scope, purpose and deliverables to be produced.

It is during this phase of the project that a team is assembled, and a business case is created to define the project in detail.

The purpose of the Initiating a Project process is to establish solid foundations for the project, enabling the organization to understand the work that needs to be done to deliver the project's products before committing to a significant spend

A project plan is a formal document designed to guide the control and execution of a project. A project plan is the key to a successful project and is the most important document that needs to be created when starting any business project.

The objective of a project plan is to define the approach to be used by the project team to deliver the intended project management scope of the project

A project plan answers basic questions about the project:

Why? - What is the problem or value proposition addressed by the project? Why is it being sponsored?

What? - What is the work that will be performed on the project? What are the major products/deliverables?

Who? - Who will be involved and what will be their responsibilities within the project? How will they be organized?

When? - What is the project timeline and when will particularly meaningful points, referred to as milestones, be complete?

Project execution (or implementation) is the phase in which the plan designed in the prior phases of the project life is put into action. The purpose of project execution is to deliver the project expected results (deliverable and other direct outputs).

To enable you to monitor and control the project during this phase, you will need to implement a range of project management processes.

These processes help you to manage time, cost, quality, change, risks and issues. They also help you to manage procurement, customer acceptance and communications.

The Project Execution Phase is usually the longest phase in the project management life cycle and consumes the most energy and resources.

Monitor and Control Project Work is the process of tracking, reviewing, and reporting the progress to meet the performance objectives defined in the project management plan.

The Monitoring and Controlling process oversees all the tasks and metrics necessary to ensure that the approved and authorized project is within scope, on time, and on budget so that the project proceeds with minimal risk. ... Monitoring and Controlling process is continuously performed throughout the life of the project.

The Project Closure Phase is the fourth and last phase in the project life cycle. In this phase, you will formally close your project and then report its overall level of success to your sponsor.

Project close-out should be anticipated and planned as early as possible in the project lifecycle even though it is often the last major process of a project's life. At a high-level, the key elements of project close-out are: Verify acceptance of final project deliverables.

The purpose of project closeout is to assess the project, ensure completion, and derive any lessons learned and best practices to be applied to future projects. ...

Time scheduling is a collection of techniques used to develop and present schedules that show when work will be performed. The choice of tools and techniques used to develop a time schedule depends upon the level of detail available about the work that needs to be done.

Project time scheduling IS:

Project time scheduling is in correlation with all project management life cycle elements.

To develop a project schedule, the following needs to be completed:

Project milestones

When you know all the elements that belong in your project schedule, you can start to assess which of the different techniques for project management you will use.

There are several ways to approach project scheduling based on your experience and the complexity of your project.

“ Project planning is part of Project management, which relates to the use of Schedules such as Gantt charts are used to plan and subsequently report progress within the project environment”.

A Gantt chart is a detailed project plan.

The project schedule Gantt chart is a useful visual technique for progress tracking and reporting purposes.

Frequently used in project management, a Gantt chart provides a graphical illustration of a schedule that helps to plan, coordinate, and track specific tasks in a project.

It provides information when you want to get a quick estimate of the time it will take to complete all the project activities.

A project schedule Gantt chart is a bar chart that displays key activities in sequence on the left (first activity is at the top left and last activity ends in the bottom right corner) vs time (on the top or bottom).

Each task is represented by a bar that reflects the start and date of the activity, and therefore its duration. 

The chart shows all the activities, when they’re set to start and end, how long each activity will last, where there are overlaps of activities, dependencies between activities, which are connected with arrows and the start/end date of the entire project.

  Gantt Chart (example)

  Gantt Chart (example) 2

- Clarity. One of the biggest benefits of a Gantt chart is the tool's ability to boil down multiple tasks and timelines into a single document. ...

- Communication. ...

- Motivation. ...

- Coordination. ...

- Creativity. ...

- Time Management. ...

- Flexibility. ...

Gant charts encourage us to structure the project and that in itself is a key benefit.

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