Introduction
Sheffield City Council has developed a process for better managing the delivery of projects and programmes. Using this process will make delivering your project easier and improve your chances of delivering the project on time, within budget and achieve the benefits that were identified.
Why do we need a corporate approach to projects?
- To make sure our projects are managed in the best way possible – increasing their chance of success
- So that there is a shared understanding of project delivery across the council, allowing diverse projects to learn lessons from each other.
- In response to recommendations from Central Government
What is a project?
Before we can understand Project Management, we first need to define what we mean by a project;
A project is:
A temporary undertaking to create a unique product or service with
- A defined start and finish
- Limited or controlled funding
- Has specific objectives
- Leads to change
For example -
If you build a car in your garage, it’s a project; if you are a car manufacturer building 100s of cars a day it’s a production line and simply business as usual (i.e. it isn’t unique). However, parts of a larger process can be considered projects, e.g. designing the car. If you are in any doubt about if you have a project or not, contact the Corporate Programme Office
What is project management?
Project management provides a structured approach to delivering a project that helps you to ensure that there is an awareness of risks and issues and they are dealt with efficiently and all stakeholders’ views are considered.
Even areas of work that don’t fit the definition of a project can benefit from project management principles.
Good Project Management is underpinned by:
- Clear ownership and responsibility
- A Business Case showing that the benefits are worth the investment
- Control and organisation
- Identification of risks, issues and change where possible
- Engagement of stakeholders
- Good communication
- Regular reviews to check that the project is on track
- Lessons are learned and recorded.
A project is delivered by a team of people each fulfilling a different role. The next section introduces who’s involved in the Project Team.
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