Having completed chapter 3 try the homework questions and post your questions below and we give you feedback?
- List and describe five key benefits of using a programme management?
- List and describe five benefits of running projects as part of a programme instead of unconnected activities?
- Describe the term project context and explain four contextual factors affecting a project giving examples?
- List and describe five ways in which the project manager would make sure health, safety and environment was covered on the project?
Remember each of the five paragraphs in a answer needs to include 2-3 sentences. According the the APM guidance notes this should include a a statement of fact about the list item that indicates why it has been selected and also a statement(s) clarifying, supporting, demonstrating further comprehension or application thereof.
I recommend three sentence describing the what, why it is important and then giving an example. So for instance
1) One benefit of using programme management is that changes between each project in the programme can be co-ordinated in a controlled way by the programme manager. This is very important in multi-disciplinary programmes where change in one project might have a significant effect on the requirements for another. For example changing the layout of a sports stadium will have an impact on the number and locations of seating in the ticketing software. These changes can be controlled by configuration management operated at a programme level.
Five more like this and your done…
Hi Paul, I’ve also had a go at 2 others…..
Q. Describe the term project context and explain four contextual factors affecting a project, giving examples.
The term project context refers to the type of project and the environment within which a project is being undertaken. Contextual factors will influence how the project is delivered. They can be both internal to the organisation, such as its strengths and weaknesses, or external factors such as potlicial, economical, sociological, technical, legal and environmental.
1. Political
Political factors relate to political influences over the project. For a large construction project funded by public monies there will be many politically motivated stakeholders, with their own political motives and wanting to ensure the best use of public funds. On the other hand an internally funded project, such as a new IT system, will be less influenced by political factors and more influenced by internal stakeholders, such as departments and their consolidated consensus.
2. Economical
Economical factors often relate to monetary considerations and therefore can affect costs, benefits and hence investment decisions on projects. During the creation of the business case alternative solutions will be evaluated along various success criteria including costs and benefits. Where external funding is required a longer term project’s costs could be affected by changes in interest rates and if foreign suppliers are being used, costs could vary with currency fluctuations.
3. Sociological
Sociological factors refer to human and social trends, including end users of the project deliverables and society in general. These will impact a project in different ways. For example, a project to build a nuclear power station will have a significant impact on the local community and stakeholder analysis and understanding will be crucial for the project’s successful delivery. A project to deliver a new IT system however will need to consider factors such as ease of use and accessibility of the system for its end users, in particular for any users who may have disabilities.
4. Legal
Legal factors include the law and regulations which are relevant for the project and which need to be complied with. This includes compliance with codes of practice and reporting regulations. The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 will be more relevant for construction industry projects, for example with safety equipment such as hard hats and protective goggles being issued to workers. However compliance with the Data Protection Act 1988, with regards storage and retention of personal data, will be more relevant for an IT project.
Q. List and describe five ways in which a project manager would make sure health safety and environment were covered on the project.
1. Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) Plan.
The project manager should develop a HSE plan for the project, as part of the Project Management Plan. This plan should include roles and responsibilities, reporting procedures, regulations and codes of practice to be followed and training records to be kept, in relation to health, safety and the environment. This plan should be reviewed and approved by the organisation’s health and safety team and shared with the project team.
2. Risk assessments.
The project manager must ensure that risk assessments are undertaken and documented. Funding should be made available for this purpose and any resultant actions should be undertaken to minimise the risk of incidents. This would include issuing appropriate safety equipment, such as personal protective equipment (eg. hard hats, protective gloves on a building site).
3. Training.
Health and safety is the responsibility of everyone. The project manager should ensure that team members are properly trained in procedures, including how to undertake risk assessments, how to report incidents and how to use safety equipment properly. Training records should be kept as evidence to provide an audit trail for governance purposes.
4. Disclosure.
The project manager should ensure that there is a culture of open and honest reporting of dangerous, unlawful or irregular activities within the project team. The team should have no fear of penalisation or recrimination for reporting issues. This includes having a procedure in place for reporting issues, such as near misses under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR) or breaches in environmental legislation and taking staff’s concerns seriously.
5. Reviews.
Familiarity leads to complacency which can results in accidents and incidents. The project manager should ensure regular reviews of procedures are undertaken to keep staff fresh and attentive to best practices. This includes the project manager reviewing individual team member’s working hours, workload and sickness levels to ensure staff are not stressed, which is a risk for time pressured projects.
thx
Fran
Hi Paul, your feedback on these last 2 responses would be much appreciated. Many thx Fran
Francine
Your answer is fine, but I tend to prefer to think about sociological factors as being social trends, people are living longer, they are more connective on-line, the population is more diverse, people are no longer part of extended families. These can affect a project to say improve the health of an area as health education needs to be delivered in a way that people can access such as Youtube.
Your health an safety answer is very good.
Thanks Paul, your feedback is much appreciated and very helpful.
Please could you give me some feedback on the other question too – List and describe 5 key benefits of using a programme management approach, which I submitted a few days ago.
regards
Fran