Project Management Procedure/Guidelines
Application of This Procedure
The application of this procedure is encouraged but ultimately at the discretion of the responsible
Program Manager. There is however one notable exception to this. At the beginning of each
Delivery Plan term, Excom will nominate a number of critical projects which in their view represent
a significant risk to the organisation. For these identified projects this procedure is mandatory. For
all other projects, this procedure is simply a guide to best practice project management that
Program Managers may wish to use.
Introduction
A project, by definition, is a temporary activity with a starting date, specific goals and conditions,
defined responsibilities, a budget, a project management plan, a fixed end date with multiple
parties involved. The requirement for a project can be identified at any level of the organisation.
This procedure outlines how projects are managed at Lismore City Council.
An example of an LCC project could be as large as the construction of the Goonellabah Sports and
Recreation Centre or as small as the creation of the Annual report. Both are temporary activities
with a start and finish date, goals, defined responsibilities, a budget and have many parties
involved.
Attachment 1 – Project Proposal Template
Any project will have four stages. These stages are defining, planning, executing and delivering.
Together these stages are referred to as the project management lifecycle. The project
management lifecycle is shown below:
At LCC the project management lifecycle is defined by the acceptance of a number of documents.
The defining stage of a project is completed with the signoff of the Project Proposal. At this point a
broad budget and schedule will be set, the risks and stakeholders will be known. After signoff
which will normally be in the form of the endorsed Delivery Plan or Operational Plan the planning
phase of the project begins in earnest.
The planning stage is completed with the signoff of the Project Management Plan. The Project
Management Plan (PMP) will include the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), the Project Schedule,
Risk Management (risk identification, assessment and response) and the Communication Plan
(both external and internal).
For critical projects (as defined by Excom) the sign off of the PMP will be by Excom. For all other
projects the sign off will be made by the nominated project steering committee.
Project Proposal
Once a project is identified it is documented using the project proposal template (Attachment 1).
The template is used to identify the following.
 The project manager and project stakeholders.
 The scope statement - a brief statement which exactly encompasses what will be done and
what outcomes will be achieved by the project.
 The project output - what the project will actually do.
 The project outcomes – what the project will actually achieve.
 The project costs over a four year period and the ongoing recurrent costs.
 The financial benefits of the project over a four year period and the ongoing recurrent
benefits.
 The costs and benefits from a sustainability perspective.
 A project schedule outlining when the major project milestones will be completed.
 A risk management assessment identifying and ranking the major project risks.
 A measurement of success – the assessment criteria that will be used to measure how well
the nominated outcomes of the project have been achieved.
Any staff member can put up a proposal for a project providing they have approval from their direct
supervisor to do so. The person who proposes the project will be responsible and accountable for
the completion of the project proposal document and the preparation of supporting information and
documentation.
Once the project proposal is completed it will be presented to Excom if funds are required. Excom
will assess the project’s viability and make a recommendation to accept, reject or defer the project
pending the annual budget process. Where a project requires significant unbudgeted resources
the decision to accept or reject the project may be made by Council. It is most likely that new
projects will be considered as part of the development of the Delivery Plan or in subsequent
Delivery Plan annual reviews.
If a project is accepted then Excom will nominate a project manager. This person will then be
responsible and accountable for the delivery of the project.
Project Planning
The output of this part of the process will be a full Project Management Plan (PMP). The PMP is
effectively a much more detailed version of the Project Proposal. Once a project has been
approved the Project Proposal template should be updated as the project planning is completed.
On acceptance of a project, the Manager Corporate Services is available to help you through the
planning process. Should you require any assistance, please do not hesitate to call.
Project Team Nomination
Once the project has been approved the next step is to nominate a project team. The project team
will consist of the following roles:
 Steering Committee. – A group of senior staff responsible for the overall governance of the
project.
 Project Sponsor. – Person ultimately responsible for the project and providing direction to
the Project Manager.
 Project Manager. – Accountable to the Project sponsor for the day to day management of
the project and the delivery of the project milestones.
 Project Officers. – Staff members reporting to the Project Manager responsible for the
delivery of the project activities.
The identified project team should be updated in within the Project Proposal Template.
Scope Definition
The scope definition is a contract between the project team and its stakeholders for the outcomes
of the projects. Poor scope definition is one of the most common reasons for project failure. It is
important that a clear and joint understanding of exactly what the project will deliver is shared by
the stakeholders and the project team. The scope of a project is described within the WBS.
Work Breakdown Structure
The WBS defines all the elements of the project in a hierarchical framework and establishes their
relationships to the project deliverables. The project is effectively a large work package. The WBS
breaks this down into progressively smaller work packages. Below is a diagram which
demonstrates how a project is broken down to a work package. A work package is a short
duration task that has a defined start and finish point. Practice suggests that a work package
should not exceed 10 days in duration. The work package is the basic unit used for planning,
scheduling and controlling the project.
The diagram below provides an example of what a WBS would look like for the development of a
personal computer prototype.
Creating a WBS from scratch can be a daunting task. To ensure that all perspectives are
considered it is often best to produce a WBS from a group effort. For small projects this might
involve the whole project team. With large projects specialist help may be required. As rule of
thumb, the people who are responsible for the major deliverables should be involved in the
creation of the WBS.
Limitations and Exclusions
The limits of the scope should be defined. Failure to do so can lead to false expectations and to
expending resources and time on the wrong problems. When defining the scope, decisions will be
made as to what will be done and what will not be done. It is important to record these decisions in
the scope definition.
Strategic Milestones
To aid the governance and communication of the project the scope definition should conclude with
a schedule of key milestones. These milestones should form the basis of any project progress
reports.
Estimating
One of the most important skills that a project manager must have is to be able to provide accurate
estimates of both time, and resource requirements. This section provides some guidance in how
this can be done.
With the WBS complete the next step is to put time and cost estimates to each of the work
packages. These estimates will fold up into estimates for each of the deliverables and ultimately
the whole project. Here are a number of points that should be used when estimating:
1. Responsibility. At the work package level, estimates should be made by the person most
familiar with the task. This will often be the team leader or supervisor who is normally
responsible for delivery. This has the added bonus of providing buy-in for the estimate from
the person who is most likely to complete the work.
2. Use several people to estimate. Using a number of people gives a better chance of providing
a realistic estimate.
3. Normal Conditions. When estimating, normal conditions should be assumed. This means
the normal number of hours/work day or the normal amount of resources are available etc.
4. Time Units. All estimates should be in the same time units. A decision needs to be made
early on in the project, what these units will be. It is normal at LCC to use days as the time
unit.
5. Independence. Each work package should be considered in isolation. There is a natural
tendency, especially from senior managers to make high level assumptions about the cost and
time of a particular deliverable or sub-deliverable and then make the estimates of the work
packages fit these assumptions. Considering each work package in isolation ensures that this
does not happen.
6. Contingencies. Do not include allowances for contingencies in each work package. This
leads to considerable over estimates. To allow for active management of budgets and
schedules a contingency fund should be created to cover unforseen events.
7. Integrating estimates to risk management. Some estimates will be far less reliable than
others. It is important therefore that estimates that are of a high risk of inaccuracy are included
in the management of risk. This allows for these risks to be fully considered during the project
implementation.
To assist with estimating a spreadsheet has been developed which will help you considered some
of the time and cost requirements of each of your work packages. Trim reference number
ED10/25580
The Project Schedule
The development of the project schedule has two steps. Firstly the sequence must be defined and
secondly a time must be defined for each work package. Together these will provide a complete
schedule for the completion of the project.
The most efficient way for completing a project schedule is to use MS Project. Simply enter the
work breakdown structure into MS Project. An example of the WBS of the personal computer
prototype projects that was discussed earlier is provided below:
The next step is to work out which order the tasks need to be completed. Once this has been
worked out this is added into the “predecessors” column.
So in this case the motor must be developed before either the circuit board or the read/write head
can be started. The chassis frame can only be started once the circuit board is complete. Each of
the work packages can only start on the pervious one is completed.
The next step is to add the estimates made for each work package into the MS Project document.
These estimates are entered into the “duration” column. The example of the personal computer
prototype is continued:
As you can see MS Project calculates the time required of each of the sub-deliverables,
deliverables and ultimately the project as a whole.
Project Budget
In line with the project schedule a detailed budget should be produced. This should clearly indicate
how much and when money will be spent. There will be some projects where cash flow may be an
issue. In recognition of this project budgets should be developed in consultation with the Finance
Section. The estimates for each work package can be entered into MS Project. For instructions
on how to do this, please see the Manager Corporate Service.
Project Resourcing
It is important to understand the resourcing requirement for a project. MS Project makes this task
quite straight forward. After the predecessors column is the resources column. This column
allows you to select resources from the Outlook address book. Simply go through each of the
tasks and assign a resource. You can then use on the canned resourcing reports to show you
which resources are needed, when they are needed and for how long. The resourcing requirement
should be included in the Project Management Plan.
Communication Plan
In any project the communication within, the project team, within the organisation and within the
community, is a critical success factor. The development of the communications plan should be
completed within the planning phase of the project. Where the project has an external element
the Community Engagement Policy and Practical Guide must be used to develop the
external communications plan. These guidelines provide an easy to follow framework for
properly engaging the community in a project, gaining support for the outcomes and objectives.
The communication plan should outline the following:
 Who are the stakeholders. All the stakeholders both internal and external stakeholders
will be listed.
 How the project will communicate with the key stakeholders. The communication
needs of each of the stakeholders should be assessed and strategies for this
communication developed.
 How the project will communicate with the organisation. It is important that the
organisation is informed of Council’s key projects. How and when this communication
should take place should be included within the communication plan.
 How the project should engage with the community. Many of the major projects that
Council implements have a significant impact on the community. Council has committed
through its community engagement policy to engage with the community in these
circumstances. The community engagement practical guide should be used by the project
team to develop the projects community engagement. A full schedule for community
engagement should be included within the communication plan and the project schedule.
 How the project will communicate with the media.
In consultation with the
Communications Coordinator a media plan for the project should be developed.
 How the project team communicate. Frequency of meetings, how risks and issues are
dealt with etc.
Risk Management Plan
Risk management aims to maximise the results of favourable events and minimise the effects of
adverse events.
The risk management plan is a more detailed version of the risk management plan within the
Project Proposal. This risk management plan should consider all the risks associated with the
project and provide details of mitigation strategies.
Using the three tables below the impact and probability are assessed. The results of these are
plotted on the matrix contained in the third table. This gives a risk significance of between one and
five, five being the most significant.
Impact (The effect of the risk should it be realised)
High
More than $250,000 or impact the whole organisation
or significant part of the Community
Medium
More than $30,000 or impact on several people in a
department/Community
Low
Less than $30,000 and impact three or fewer people in
one department/Community
Probability (How likely this risk is to be realised)
High
over a 50% chance
Medium
10% to 50% chance
Low
under a 10% chance
Risk Rating (How significant the risk is)
Low
Medium
High
Low
1
2
3
Medium
2
3
4
High
3
4
5
All the risks associated with the project should be assessed in this way. The results should be
listed in a table which describes the risk, the significance and the mitigation strategy. The risk
management table should be regularly assessed during the project to identify any new risks, revise
known risks appropriately and assess the effectiveness of the mitigation strategies.
Project Implementation
Once the Project Plan is complete and signed off by Excom or the Steering Committee the project
should commence and be completed as planned.
During this time:
 Regular updates on the progress of all aspects of the project (project schedule, budget,
communication and risk management should be provided to the Project Steering
Committee.
 Major issues with the implementation for the Project Plan should be reported to the Project
Steering Committee.
 Major budget variations should be reported to the Finance Section.
 The communications plan should be regularly assessed for effectiveness and changes
made if required.
 The project risks should be regularly assessed. New risks should be added, existing risks
monitored and the success of mitigation strategies assessed and changes made if required.
 A project progress report based on the project milestones must be provided to the Manager
Corporate Services at the end of each quarter. The progress of all projects will be reported
to Excom.
Project Change Management Process
Because change is inevitable, a well defined change review and control process should be defined.
At LCC any major changes to scope, budget or time need to be reported to Excom for critical
projects and the Steering Committee for other projects, and in some cases to Council. Most
changes fall easily into 3 categories:
1. Scope changes in the form or design or additions required by the customer.
2. The implementation of contingency plan when a risk even occurs.
3. Improvement changes suggested by the project team.
Minor changes can be dealt with by the project manager of steering committee. However if a
change is significant enough to go to Excom then the following information is required.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Identify the proposed changes.
List the expected effects of the proposed change(s) on schedules and budget.
Who will be responsible for implementing the change.
How the changes will be communicated.
Excom or the project Steering Committee will either approve or reject the change. If the changes
are approved then changes to the master schedule and budget will be made.
Post Implementation Review
Once the project has been completed and signed off by Excom or the Steering Committee, the
outputs are assigned into an operational program. The last task of the project team is the
completion of a post implementation review.
A post implementation review is an assessment of all the activities of the project, it includes:






Assessment of the delivery of the project outputs defined in the Project Plan.
Assessment on whether the project was on-time and on-budget.
Success of the project communication.
Feedback for all the stakeholders.
Documentation of any activities that are still to be completed.
Recommendations for the operational Program Manager for the ongoing maintenance of
the project outputs.
The post implementation review should always conclude with the lessons learnt from the project
from a project management perspective. Where there have been problems with the project these
should be identified with recommendations for have these problems should be avoided in future
projects. The post implementation review should also provide constructive feedback to Excom on
any organisational issues encountered during the project and recommendations for resolution.
Twelve Month Review
With the project 12 months in operation an assessment should be made against the
measurements of success outlined in the project plan. This should be reported to Excom or the
Steering Committee with any gaps explained and any recommendations for required changes.
Attachment 1 – Project Proposal Template
Project Proposal
Project Name
Name
Position
Project Manager
Internal Stakeholders
External Stakeholders
e.g. Councillors, Community Groups, Local Residents, All Residents
etc.
Primary Strategic Plan Link
Secondary Strategic Plan
Links
Scope Definition
Project Objective (A brief statement which exactly encompasses what will be done and what
outcomes will be achieved
Project Outputs (What will the project actually do)
Project Outcomes (What the introduction of the outputs will actually achieve)
Whole of Life Cost Benefit Analysis
Does this project rely on existing staff resources? Yes/No (delete as appropriate)
Project Costs in addition to Recurrent Budget
Cost
2010-2011 2011-2012
2012-2013
2013-2014
Total
Recurrent
post 2014
cost
Total
Recurrent benefit
post 2014
Total
Project Benefits (Financial)
Benefit
20102011
2011-2012
2012-2013
2013-2014
Total
Non Financial Costs and Benefits
Non Financial Benefits
Social
Participation
Inclusion:
Non Finance Cost
and
Sustainable
Economic
Growth and Development:
Protect
Conserve
and
Enhance the Environment
and Biodiversity
Best-Practice
Governance
Corporate
Project Schedule
Start Date
Completion Date
Major Milestones
Date
Output
Risk Management
Risk
Impact
Probability Risk
Rating
Mitigation Strategy
See Matrix below for Impact Probability and Risk Rating
(Some other common risks would be; Community discontent, poor media coverage, a business partner
failing to deliver, bad weather, failure of technology, loss of political support, change in government etc,
etc.)
Impact
High
More than $250,000 or impact the whole organisation
Medium
More than $30,000 or impact on several people in a
department
Low
Less than $30,000 and impact three or fewer people in
one department
Probability
High
over a 50% chance
Medium
10% to 50% chance
Low
under a 10% chance
Risk Rating
Low
Medium
High
Low
1
2
3
Medium
2
3
4
High
3
4
5
Measuring Success
Outcomes
Tangible Indicators of Success
How Will These Be Measured