The Project Manager has total responsibility for the overall project and its successful completion.
To succeed in this responsibility, the Project Manager must work closely with the Sponsor to ensure that adequate resources are applied. The Project Manager also has responsibility for planning and ensuring that the project is successfully completed on time, within budget, and at an acceptable level of quality.
The Project Manager must be assigned early in the Planning stage so the plan will be owned by the person responsible for its execution.
General Functions
- Implements project policies and procedures
- Acquires resources required to perform work
- Manages the Project Team
- Maintains staff technical proficiency and productivity, and provides training where required
- Maintains excellent communication with all Stakeholders
- Establishes and maintains quality in the project
- Identifies and procures tools to be used on the project
Initiation Stage
- Defines project success criteria
- Documents project constraints
- Documents project assumptions
- Conducts cost-benefit analyses
- Develops Project Charter
Planning Stage
- The Project Manager assigned during the Planning stage may be someone other than the Project Champion/Leader who carried the project through the Initiation stage. In these cases the Project Manager must thoroughly review all of the materials previously created or assembled
- Develops detailed Project Plan with the assistance of the Project Team, tailoring the project methodology to reflect project needs
- Creates a WBS and an Organizational Breakdown Structure with the assistance of the Project Team
- Develops, or assists in the development of, a Scope Statement, Project Schedule, Communications Plan, Risk Management Plan (which includes a Contingency Approach), Cost Benefit Analysis, Procurement Plan, Project Budget, and a Project Transition Checklist
- Ensures that management, users, affected organizational departments, and contractors agree to the project commitments
- Ensures that the Project Plan is approved and baselined
- Assigns resources to project and assign work packages (Resource Plan)
- Approves Project Quality Management Approaches
Managing Stage
- Manages day-to-day tasks and provide direction to team members performing work on the project
- Reviews regularly the project status, comparing budgeted to actual values
- Reviews regularly the project schedule, comparing baseline schedules to actual work completed
- Ensures that the Project Plan is updated and signed-off as needed
- Updates budgets and schedules and makes recommendations as needed
- Reviews the results of quality assurance reviews
- Participates in Change Control Board to approve product or project changes
- Reviews project risks and establishes mitigation procedures
Closeout Stage
- Develops an action plan for any product deficiencies, open issues, etc.
- Obtains customer and management approval of completed project
- Closes-out open action items
- Conducts Final System Acceptance meeting
- Creates Project Closure document
- Closes-out any financial accounts or charge codes
- Conducts Outcomes Assessment or Lessons Learned meeting
- Creates Outcomes Assessment or Lessons Learned Report
- Assists as needed with any post-project delivery audits
- Assists purchasing contract administrator(s) in contract closeout
- Archives all project data
- Celebrates success with Stakeholders and the Project Team