Project Manager’s
Methodology
Guide
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
What is a successful project?
•
Ministry Health Care’s Values of
Service, Vision, Presence, & Justice
are reflected in the project team’s
work and results.
•
The customer is satisfied or delighted
with the final deliverable (a product,
service, process or plan).
•
The deliverable is on time and the
project team stayed within budget.
•
Team members increased their skills
and knowledge as a result of the
project.
•
The organization has benefited from
the lessons learned by the team.
“A project is a temporary endeavor to create a
unique product or service.” PMBoK
Every project has a beginning and an ending,
within this guide are the phases in-between.
“Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So…get on your way.”
Theodor Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss)
Ministry Health Care
Project Management Office
900 Illinois Ave
Stevens Point, WI 54481
Cherian Portz
Director, Project Management Office
(715) 343-3313
cherian.portz@ministryhealth.org
© 2004 Ministry Health Care, 02/2011
PROJECT INITIATION
The OBJECTIVE of this phase is to
prepare a solid starting point for the
project. It is where the idea that sparked
the project begins to take form. Ministry
Health Care has developed a process
which reviews Project Requests. The
request is received by an appropriate
executive committee that examines the
project objectives, benefits, resources, and
any known risks. After the request has
been approved for further investigation by
the committee, the Project Sponsor and
Business Project Manager develops the
Project Charter and the Project Manager
develops the first Work Plan, the
committee determines if the Project
continues forward or is postponed,
modified, or cancelled.
DEFINITION
The OBJECTIVE of this phase is to
specifically define what is included in the
project by capturing the project’s
requirements. Here, we document in detail
WHAT we want – in other words, “what” the
solution will look like – but not HOW the
solution will work; determining HOW it will
work is handled in the next phase. We need
to document statements made by the
customer of their needs and wants. Think of
products-what will the product do-or think of
processes or services. Ask your customer to
describe their interaction with the system. Be
thinking about different types of
requirements that can be categorized as:
performance, security, usability, access,
functionality, connectivity with other
systems, and disaster recovery.
Also, we uniquely identify the requirement so
that it can be traced through the Design,
Construction, and Testing Phases to ensure
the requirements are all accounted for when
the project is completed.
Gathering requirements is usually an iterative
task and diagramming work flows helps to
identify requirements. If a vendor solution is
considered, a Request for Proposal (RFP) is
generated for a vendor to respond with their
product or service capabilities, cost, and
schedule.
DESIGN
The OBJECTIVE of this phase is to
specifically define HOW the solution works.
We design, plan, and document each final
deliverable. Technical specifications are
documented and include if appropriate data
models, data flows, system interfaces, as well
as detailed work flows. Before concluding
this phase, you should refer back Business
and/or Technical documents to verify each
requirement was included in the design.
When deploying a solution that has
technology components, you’ll need to verify
the technology solution at an Architecture &
Design Review. At the end of this phase, we
re-examine the Project Plan for score,
schedule and cost since the design of the
solution is completed and a much better
estimate is available for the appropriate
executive committee to review.
CONSTRUCTION
The OBJECTIVE of this phase is to build the
deliverables according to the requirements
documents in the Definition Phase, and in the
manner planned during the Design Phase.
During this phase the project Manager is
busy directing and monitoring work
assignments and receiving updates from
team members on their progress. Also, the
Project Manager and project team refer back
to the Project Controls established during the
Project Initiation to manage Change Requests
and Issue Resolution. This phase should
include its own Quality Control and
Assurance Activities that occur during
Construction and not rely entirely upon the
next phase to find defects, bugs, or missed
requirements. In preparation for the
upcoming training and testing, we develop
plans during this phase of the project. See
details below.
TESTING
The OBJECTIVE of this phase is to ensure
that the solution we built during
Construction meets the business
requirements outlines in the Definition
Phase. Basically, during Testing we catch
as many errors as possible, correct those
errors, track the errors (looking for
patterns), and retest to verify the “fix” didn’t
introduce any more errors. To do this we
conduct different types of testing:
Integration, Acceptance, Performance,
Regression, and Recovery. Integration
Testing means testing the entire System
including interfaces with other Systems.
Regression Testing is the type of testing
that double-checks a bug or defect was
fixed without causing new bugs/defects.
Also, when converting or moving data from
one system to another, tests should be
designed and implements to validate that
the data was correctly moved.
IMPLEMENTATION
The OBJECTIVE of this phase is to “rollout” the project’s deliverables. This is
where the project’s deliverables are given
to the operational teams for their use. The
deliverables may include new software,
hardware, services, processes, training,
equipment or facilities. There are several
methods to conduct a project roll-out: Pilot
(implement at one site to obtain feedback
before installing elsewhere). Big Bang
(implement at all sites at the same time), or
a Phased Roll-out of functionality in a
controlled manner. We also include postimplementation activities such as customer
satisfaction surveys/interviews, and
lessons learned.
What does the Project Management Office
(PMO) do?
The PMO provides the framework, discipline,
and practices required to improve Ministry
Health Care’s ability to deliver projects. This
is attained through the provision of methods,
tools, procedures, controls, and resources to
continuously enhance organizational
effectiveness and efficiency.
By adopting Ministry’s values of Service,
Vision, Presence, and Justice, we shall assist
the delivery of projects which compliment
Ministry’s goal of providing compassionate,
quality, and cost effect services. These focus
on the mind, body, and spirit of patients we
serve while supporting a positive working
environment that promotes educational and
growth opportunities to our employees.