Project Management
BY: Abdu M (PhD)
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Chapter One :
Overview of Project
Management
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Contents
1.1. Concept, scope, definition of project
1.2. Characteristics of project
1.3. Classification of project
1.4. Project Vs program & Project Vs Operations
1.5. An overview of project Cycle
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Reflection
What is a Project?
What characteristics do
projects have?
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Introduction
 Projects exist in every sphere of business, markets, and
industry.
 They come in a myriad of types, sizes and complexity –
 from small initiatives such as weddings, parties, fundraising to
medium-size initiatives such as advertising campaigns, capital
acquisitions, business re-engineering, restructuring, information
systems; through to mega-projects such as NASA space station,
hydro-electric dams and military campaigns.
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A project is:
 A temporary endeavor involving a connected
sequence of activities and a range of
resources, which is designed to achieve a
specific and unique outcome, which operates
within time, scope, cost and quality
constraints and which is often used to
introduce change
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Key concepts:
 Purpose-the basic reason for the existence of a
project- to solve a problem, address a need or take the
advantage of opportunity.
 Temporary: means that a project is something that
has a specific start date and a specific end date.
 The end is reached when the project’s objectives have been
achieved and effectively handed over to the business
 Sequences of Activities: the works and the steps we
perform and the methods and knowledge we use to
achieve the project objective.
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 Unique Outcome:
 The product or service is different in some distinguishing
way from all other products or services within an
organization

Projects are a means to respond to those requests that cannot be
addressed within the organization’s normal operational limits.
 Identifying and focusing on uniqueness is important to
project management.
 It helps identify new organization risk areas, enabling
management to develop and implement timely risk
management strategies.
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 Resources: A project utilizes a variety of resources
[human, financial, material, information, etc]
to carry out the
activities or tasks.
 Scope- the extent of the problem or opportunity
that the project needs to address.
 Organization: is vital to coordinate resources to
achieve the project objectives- organizations can be
public, private or NGOs.
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 Time: any project should be time bounded-it has a
start and end time
 Cost: activities consume human, financial and
material resources.
 Quality: the project needs to produce quality
products to maximize the satisfaction of the users.
 Introduce change: A project is often used as an
instrument for change - change for the betterment
of the society.
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1.2. Characteristics of project
 Has a unique purpose.
 Is temporary.
 Is developed using progressive elaboration.
 Requires resources, often from various areas.
 Should have a primary customer or sponsor.

The project sponsor usually provides the direction and
funding for the project.
 Involves uncertainty.
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Characteristics of project-Cont’d
Uniqueness
 Projects involve doing something that has not been done
before
 The presence of repetitive elements does not change the
fundamental uniqueness of the project work
 For example, many thousands of office buildings have been
developed, but each individual facility is unique-different owner,
different design, different location, different contractors, and so on.
 Example 2: A development project (ex. Water and sanitation) may be
implemented in five geographical areas.
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Characteristics of project-Cont’d
Uniqueness-cont’d
 The objectives of projects and operations are
fundamentally different
 Can you explain some of them?
 The purpose of a project is to attain the objective and close
the project

Project ceases when it declared objectives have been attained
 The objective of an ongoing non-projectized operation is
normally to sustain the business.
 Non-project undertakings adopt a new set of objectives
and continue to work.
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Characteristics of project-Cont’d
 A temporary nature
 The duration of a project is finite; they are not ongoing
efforts
 Temporary does not necessarily mean short in duration;
many projects last for several years
 Temporary does not generally apply to product or service
created by the project
 Most projects are undertaken to create a lasting result.
 Ex: Grand Renaissance dam will create a result expected
to last centuries.
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Characteristics of project-Cont’d
Progressive elaboration
 Due to the uniqueness of project results, the precise details in
terms of the deliverables contributing to the results are not
known from the outset.
 At the start of a project, the characteristics of its
deliverables and the project parameters of scope, time,
cost and performance will be broadly defined.
 During the development of the project plans, and as the early
stages of the project progress, a better understanding of the
project will be obtained – it will be progressively
elaborated.
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Characteristics of project-Cont’d
 Progressive elaboration-Cont’d
The following example illustrates progressive elaboration:
 The product of an economic development project may initially
be defined as:
 ‘Improve the quality of life of the lowest income residents of
community X’
 As the project proceeds, the products may be described more
specifically as, for example: ‘ provide access to food and water to
500 low income residents in community X’
 The next round of progressive elaboration might focus
exclusively on increasing agriculture production and
marketing, with provision of water deemed to be secondary
priority to be initiated once the agriculture component is well
under way.
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Characteristics of project-Cont’d
Progressive elaboration-Cont’d---The ‘amount’ of elaboration needed
 The ‘amount’ of elaboration needed to obtain a detailed definition of a project
will depend on the level of knowledge about the project.
 We can differentiate projects between two extremes: fuzzy and clear.
 If the project’s deliverables are well defined, it will be closer to the clear end of
the spectrum, and less elaboration will be required. The more fuzzy the
project’s deliverables are, the more elaboration will be required.
Aids cure Culture
change
IT system
development
Construction
Audit
Clear
Fuzzy
Amount of elaboration required
High
Low
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1.3. Classification of project
Projects range in size, scope, cost
and time from mega
international projects costing
millions of dollars over many years
to small domestic projects with a
low budget taking just a few hours
to complete.
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Classification of project-Cont’d
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
v.
vi.
On the basis of time: short vs. long-duration
On the basis of type of products (project producing
goods-sugar factory project; servicestelecommunication projects; knowledge & info
research projects
Scope-project catering for regional, national or
international
Size (large, medium & small-scale projects)
Technology (labor intensive, capital, energy)
Ownership (private, public, joint-venture,
cooperative, NGOs)
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Classification of project-Cont’d
With examples:
Project Categories:
Each having similar life cycle phases and a
unique project management process
Examples
1. Aerospace/Defense Projects
1.1 .Space
1.2. Military operations
Satellite development/launch
Task force invasion
2. Business & Organization Change
Projects
2.1. Acquisition/Merger
2.2. New business venture
2.3. Organization re-structuring
Acquire and integrate competing company.
Form and launch new company.
Consolidate divisions and downsize company.
3. Event Projects
3.1 International events
3.2 National events
2014 World Cup Match
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Classification of project-Cont’d
With examples:
Project Categories:
Each having similar life cycle phases and a unique
project management process
4. International Development projects
4.1 Agriculture/rural development
4.2 Education
4.3 Health
4.4 Nutrition
4.5 Population
4.6 Small-scale enterprise
5. Product and Service Development Projects
5.1 Information technology hardware
5.2 Industrial product/process
5.3 Consumer product/process
5.4 Pharmaceutical product/process
5.5 Service (financial, other)
Examples
People and process intensive
projects
in developing countries funded by
The World Bank, regional
development banks, USAID,
UNIDO, other UN, and government
agencies.
New desk-top computer.
New earth-moving machine.
New automobile, new food product.
New cholesterol-lowering drug.
New life insurance.
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Classification of project-Cont’d
With examples:
Project Categories:
Each having similar life cycle phases and a
unique project management process
6. Research and Development Projects
6.1. Environmental
6.2. Industrial
6.3. Economic development
6.4. Medical
6.5. Scientific
Examples
Measure changes in the ozone layer.
How to reduce pollutant emission.
Determine best crop for sub-Sahara Africa.
Test new treatment for breast cancer.
Determine the possibility of life on Mars.
More examples from your Experiences?
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Classification of projects-Cont’d
Key points:
 these categories are not necessarily mutually
exclusive: many projects will include aspects of two
or more categories.
 Our purpose is to show that a project has many
facets and aspects.
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Revision:
What is a project?
 A temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique
product, service, or result
 Key things to note:
 Definite start and end
 End defined by attainment of objectives or
termination of the project
 Temporary does not necessarily mean short in
duration
 Temporary does not generally apply to the product,
service or result
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Reflection
How programs and projects are
interrelated to each other?
What is the difference between a project
and operational/business as usual
activities?
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1.4. Project Vs program
 “project” – a group of activities to produce a Project
Purpose in a fixed time frame
 A “program” – a series of projects whose objectives
together contribute to a common Overall Objective, at
sector, country or even multi-country level.
 A program is an assortment of related/associated
projects that are managed together to achieve a number
of objectives.
 Programs may also contain elements of ongoing
operations.
 Since programs comprise multiple projects, they are
larger in scope than a single project.
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projects:
 Support the a given country's policy objectives
 Support the national strategies
 Addresses relevant problems recipients
 Have feasible, achievable objectives
 Benefits are likely to be sustainable
See figure next slide
26/07/2021
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Policies, programmes and projects
National & sector wise
policies
Government
programmes
Project
26/07/2021
Priorities and
programmes of
non-state actors
Project
Project
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Project
Narrow in scope
Program
Wide in scope; can comprise
Similarities
Differences
many projects as components.
Specific and detail
Comprehensive and general
More precise and accurate in Broader goal related to
its objectives and features
sectoral policy
Possible to calculate the
Difficult to calculate costs
costs and returns
and returns
• Have purpose/ objectives
• Require input (financial, manpower, material)
• Generate output (goods and/or services)
• Operate over space and time
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Examples
 Water sector programs:
 Water supply & Sanitation program
 Irrigation
 Hydroelectric Development programs
• Project: Dam Construction (Gilgel Gibe III
project)
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Projects Vs operations
Organizations perform two types of work:
project work and operational work
 Operations are ongoing and repetitive while
projects are temporary and unique.
 The purpose of a project is to attain its
objective and then terminate whereas the
objective of an ongoing operation is to sustain
the business.
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Feature
Key Differences
Purpose
Projects
Attain objectives and
terminate
Time
Temporary
Unique product, service, or
Outcome result
Dynamic, temporary teams
formed to meet project
People
needs
Generally not aligned with
organizational structure
Varies by organizational
Authority structure
of
Generally minimal, if any,
Manager
direct line authority
Operations
Sustain the
organization
Ongoing
Non-unique product,
service, or result
Functional teams
generally aligned
with organizational
structure
Generally formal,
direct line of
authority
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What is Project Management?
 The application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques
to project activities to meet project requirements and
objectives
 Key features include:
 Identifying what is needed or to be achieved
(requirements)
 Addressing needs, concerns, and expectations
 Balancing competing constraints [scope, quality,
schedule, budget, resources, and risks]
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1.5. An overview of Project Life Cycle
 is the stages through which the project
passes from inception to its
completion.
 Is a continuous process made up of
 separate stages each with its own
characteristics and
 complementary stages (phases) and each
setting a ground for the next one.
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The project cycle
1.Identification
5. Evaluation
& closure
2. Preparation &
Appraisal
Appraisal
4. Implementation
3. Project
planning
Proposal
development
Financing
decision
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Identification
Preparation

Potential projects emerge from specialists, local leaders and national development strategies.

Identification of potential stakeholders, particularly primary stakeholders.

Carry out problem assessment and decide upon key objectives.

Assess alternative strategies for meeting objective.

The technical, institutional, economic, environmental, and financial issues facing the
project studied and addressed —including whether there are alternative methods for achieving
and Appraisal
the same objectives.

Assessing feasibility as to whether and determining whether to carry out more advanced
planning.

Detailed

Evaluation of all of the feasibility studies to determine the ability of the project to succeed
The project solution is further developed in as much as detail as possible
Planning
Implementation 

and
monitoring
Evaluation
& closure
The project plan is implemented over a specified time period.
Monitoring of project performance with a management information
system to enable correction of implementation problems as they arise.

On-going and final assessment of the success of the project against
original objectives, to learn lessons to help improve future projects.
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Phase 1: Project identification
 This phase would usually involve:
 Identification of relevant investment opportunities (or
project ideas) through appropriate type of opportunity
studies;

This can be a business problem or opportunity
 Preliminary filtration of the project idea(s) through
broad screening process
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2. Project formulation/ preparation---feasibility study
 A Pre-feasibility/feasibility study is conducted to investigate
whether each option addresses the project objectives and
final recommended solution is determined.
 This stage includes the different feasibility studies such
as:
 Commercial feasibility (marketing study)
 Technical feasibility
 Manpower and technological requirements
 Financial feasibility
 Financial for funding needs & sources
 Economic feasibility, and etc.
 This stage ends with a project feasibility report.
 feasibility report for the each project idea considered
worthy or further examination at the previous stage;
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Project formulation/ preparation -Cont’d
 Final evaluation and decision. This is to be based on
pre-selected, clear, and objective criteria derived
from legitimate and reasonable expectations and
requirements of various stakeholders, and
culminates in the evaluation report.
 Once the recommended solution is approved, a project is
initiated to deliver the approved solution and a project
manager is appointed.
 The major deliverables and the participating work groups
are identified and the project team begins to take shape.
 Approval is then sought by the project manager to move
on the detailed planning phase.
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Phase 3: Project planning
 The project solution is further developed in as much as detail as possible.
 The project’s tasks and resource requirements are identified, along with the
strategy for producing them..Scope management
 Once the project team has identified the work (scope), prepared the
schedule (time) & estimates the costs, the three fundamental components
of the planning process are completed.
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Project planning-Cont’d
 project planning is “the answering of the following
questions:
 What must be done?
 How should it be done?
 Who will do it?
 By when must it be done?
 How much will it cost?
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Project planning processes-Cont’d
Primary processes
Scope
management
WBS
A series of tasks in order of precedence
Task
Schedule
Resources
Cost
Secondary processes
Procurement
Communication
Risk
Quality
Project
Plan
The project is planned in detail & is ready to be
executed
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Phase 4: Implementation/ execution
 The project plan is put into action and the project team
performs the work of the project.
 Progress is continuously monitoring & appropriate
adjustments are made and recorded as variances from the
original plan.
 The project manager maintains control over the direction
of the project by measuring the performance of the project
activities comparing the results with the project plan, &
takes corrective action as needed.
 Project sponsors & other key stakeholders should be kept
informed of the project status according to the agreed
upon frequencies & format.
 Status reports should always emphasize the anticipated endpoint
in terms of cost, schedule, & quality of deliverables.
 Once all of the deliverables have been produced the
final solution, the project is ready for closure.
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Phase 5: Closure phase
 The emphasis is on:
 releasing the final deliverables to the customer
 Handing over project documents to the business,
 Terminating supplier contracts
 Communicating the closure of the project to all
stakeholders
 Conduct lessons learned studies to examine what
went well and what didn’t
 The wisdom of experience is transferred back to
the project organization, which will help future
project teams.
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Individual Assignment I
 Identify the phases in project cycle used by the following
institutions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

the World Bank
United Nations Industrial development Organization
(UNIDO)
Development Bank of Ethiopia
CBE
Organization where you are currently working
Highlight the insights from this assignment
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Project management
 More than 20% of the global economic activity takes
place as project
 For Developing countries- it approaches 40%
Effective management of project is becoming more
critical to the competitive position of organization
and societies.
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End Of Chapter One
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