The aim of this week’s article is to provide a sustainable solution to the current project implementation crisis in Botswana by recommending all sectors and organizations to develop Project Management Framework based on the current best practices as prescribed in Project Management Institute (PMI).  Project Management Framework is a standard management approach of managing project phase’s processes and deliverables (gateways) using best approaches, tools and templates to achieve intended projects goals and outcomes. This framework can be used by any type of the organisation and it blends well in waterfall, agile and hybrid project methodologies and it is used by high performing organizations and High Income Nations.

The framework is based on the phase gate model which emphasizes total quality management of each project phase to avoid  passing a poor quality project phase deliverable to the next project phase which automatically contaminates the outcomes of other phases and the final project. This implies that project managers should conduct phase gate reviews to ensure that things are done right the first time and only when quality standards have been met then the project may proceed to the next phase. To effectively understand Project Management framework all project management phases; Project Initiation, Planning, Execution, Monitoring and Evaluation and Closure processes, standards, tools and templates used and their expected deliverables are explained below.

Project Initiation phase requires critical analysis of the customer requirements and depending on the need, sometimes the project manager may conduct a thorough assessment to verify this need especially in ICT related projects and explore possible strategic project intervention to avoid developing the project that only solves the symptom of the existing problem or actual need.  In this phase, the project rationale, goals and objectives that link the project to the business strategy and validate the business case should be developed. This phase must clearly specify what the project should accomplish or project indicators. The tools and templates used in this phase are scope statement, stakeholder management and communication plan, RACI matrix, project decision register, project briefs. Its key processes are review and approval of project request form, project prioritization and scheduling, project lead and development of project charter and the key deliverables of this phase are the business case, project charter and stakeholder register. The planning phase is the most important stage and it entails designing and converting the need into a prototype or a model or developing an execution plan. This phase key processes include defining the scope, time, cost, risk, cost benefit analysis and producing the project communication plan, quality assurance plan, governance plan and project implementation plan. The tools and templates used under this phase are project risk matrix, Gantt chart, project issues register, change request register, projects report, benefits realization plan, and the key deliverables of this phase are project execution plan and revised business case if need arise.  

Moreover, Project Execution, Monitoring and Evaluation phase basically means implementing the project execution plan as agreed by the client and continuously monitoring if things are done as planned as well as incorporating the environmental changes demands in the project plans. Monitoring and evaluation cut across all the phases and project manager or project quality manager should evaluate if the planned activities are executed using best practices and intended phase outcomes have been achieved as anticipated. Its key processes are project control, quality control, project status review, execution of project communication plan, project change management, management and tracking of project decisions and action items as well as monitoring and managing risk. The outcomes of this phase are status reports, risk management reports, final accounts reports and plans for closing the projects.

The last Project Closure phase requires project testing to verify its compliance to the client scope and the closing should be done when evaluation indicates that all set objectives have been met and when the client is satisfied with the performance of the final projects. The key processes of this phase include final project evaluation, addressing any project concerns, closing meeting, project execution survey, handing over the project and signing off of the project completion agreement. The final deliverables of this phase include the final project (product), lessons learnt report and project post completion report.