 Hi, welcome to the Unit 3 Review for Strategic Project Management. My name is Dr. Lucinda Stanley. For the next few units, we're going to look more closely at each of the phases of the project lifecycle we learned about in Unit 2. But first, a bit of a reminder about how this works. There are seven units in this course. In Unit 1, we learned what a project is, who makes the decision to take a project on, and what the triple constraint theory is. In Unit 2, we looked at an overview of the project lifecycle. In Unit 3, we're going to look at the first step of the project management process, initiating. We have four learning outcomes for Unit 3. The first one is preparing the project charter. So in this unit, we're going to go into more detail about what is contained in the project charter and how it helps the project team have a successful project. Our second objective is to align the preliminary description of the project and expected outcomes with the project boundaries, constraints, and assumptions. So we're going to learn about project boundaries, constraints, and assumptions. Basically, we're building the project scope here, what the project hopes to accomplish, what resources the project team will have to work with, what they think they know about how the project will be developed. We're also going to discuss the rationale for taking on the project by building a business case. Finally, we're going to talk about who has a stake in the project, meaning who is the project going to affect and what is their role within the project. Just a reminder about why learning outcomes are important. Every resource in the course can be tied back to one of the learning outcomes, which means that all assessments, including the final exam, are directly linked to the learning outcomes. Once you get to the end of the course, review the learning outcomes and see which ones you feel confident in. And if there's some that you're not sure about, it's a good idea to go back to the units that cover that outcome and review the material. This will ensure that you have all the knowledge you need to be successful in the exam. Here are the topics we're going to discuss. First, we'll take a look at the vocabulary you'll need to know from this unit. We'll look at the project charter, project boundaries, the business case, and project stakeholders. While you'll find many more vocabulary words in the study guide, in this review, we're going to concentrate on these few, so keep an ear out for them as they come up. Remember this graphic from Unit 2? We're going to be seeing this over the next few units as we look at each of the five processes of the project lifecycle, initiating, planning, executing, monitoring, and controlling, and closing. We're starting with initiating. In Unit 2, we learned about the project charter. This is likely the first document created for a project. You might consider it the blueprint for the project. The project team uses the project charter to document that the project has been authorized to be implemented, so they know what the limit of the project should be. It defines the scope, the budget, and the schedule, or timeline of the project. Let's look what's in a project charter, so we have a better understanding of how this information is presented. The project charter contains everything the project needs to start the project. A description of the project, what it hopes to accomplish, goals that can be measured, to show progress on the project. These goals can be turned into a timeline of milestones, meaning the expected completion of major tasks within the project. The project charter will also state the tangible items that the project will eventually deliver, called deliverables. Additionally, the project charter will state what the project management team believes will happen on the project. But wait, that's not all. There's more components in a project charter. The project charter will list the constraints the project is under, meaning limitations imposed on the project, maybe in terms of money, time, or resources. The business case is included in the project charter as it defines the reason the project is undertaken and how it will align with the goals and objectives of the organization. The project charter will also contain what the team has to do, the cost of the project will be. It will list any risks that may impact the completion of the project, or at least as the team has to do before beginning the project. The project charter will contain a list of the stakeholders in the project, meaning anyone who has a stake or interest in the project deliverables and what their role is in the project. Finally, yes, finally, the project charter will contain the signatures of the project sponsor, giving the team permission to begin the project. These are a couple of characteristics of the project charter you need to know. First, every project has a project charter, or should since it's the blueprint for the project, and every project is different, so every project charter will be unique. Also, one of a kind. Another characteristic of the project charter, and this is true for every project charter, is that it must be flexible. Remember the project team initially created the project charter, based on what they think they know about the project, what tasks it will entail, what kind of schedule it will likely need, how much money it's going to cost. However, once they start actually working on the project, adding more detail, finding more information, the charter will change. The project charter should be kept up to date, so the project manager and project team can keep track of scoped creep, meaning the project going way off from its initial intent. So the project charter must change when necessary. Boundaries refer to the scope of work that the project will and will not complete. It's important to identify the work that is within the scope or boundaries of the project, as well as clearly identify any work that will be considered out of the boundaries of the project. Think of a boundary as meaning that all of the work identified within the boundary will be included in the project and anything outside the boundary will not. Constraints refer to the limitations of resources a project must work within, typically schedule and budget. Constraints limit how the project team will complete their tasks. For example, a constraint might be that the team must complete their work by a specific date. The deadline constrains the project work. Assumptions include any expectations that the project manager assumes to be true, such as the resources that will be available when needed. We talked earlier about the project charter containing the goals of the project, what it's hoped to be accomplished. Many project managers use a process called smart goals to ensure that the project goals align with the organization's goals. They use the acronym smart SMART to remind them of how goals should be developed. Let's look at each one. Best stands for specific. The goals should be stated clearly and concisely. For example, I will start an e-commerce website. M stands for measurable, meaning there must be a way to determine if the goal has been achieved is the goal quantifiable. For example, I will update our company website to increase the number of online customers. A is for attainable, meaning it can be accomplished, makes a goal something that can be achieved. For example, I will update our company website to increase the number of online customers by 1000. R is for relevant. We want to align our goals with what is important to our organization. I will update our company website to increase the number of online customers by 1000 because our customers are located all around the world. Finally, T is for time-based, meaning there's a reasonable amount of time allocated to accomplish this goal. For example, I will update our company website by February 28, 2000 something to increase the number of online customers by 1000 because our customers are located all around the world. When we put it all together, our goals aligned with the needs of the organization can be accomplished within the time allotted and are specific enough that they can be measured to see that they have been accomplished. Let's look at another component of the project charter, the business case. Remember, the business case is basically the rationale for why the project needs to be implemented. It provides the answer to any objections a potential stakeholder might have. It states the problem the project will solve and why it is the best choice to solve the problem. It describes the research that went into defining the scope of the project, including any metrics that were used to evaluate the value of the project to the organization. Finally, let's talk about the stakeholders. I've been mentioning throughout this presentation. Who are they and what do they do? Remember, we need to identify the stakeholders as part of the project charter so we are looking to include anyone who might have an interest in the outcome of the project. These could be management of the organization, internal users of the project deliverables, external users of the project deliverables, contractors, vendors, or suppliers of the materials that will be used by the project. When identifying the stakeholders, try to use the title of the stakeholder rather than the name of the individual. Just in case the individual leaves their role, there isn't a need to update the stakeholder list and all the relevant information with the new person's name. As long as the duties assigned to the title of the person don't change. While we're preparing the stakeholder list, we need to analyze what they will bring to the project. We identify stakeholders who are available to help with different aspects of the project, such as the company financial officer or human resource manager. We also need to identify stakeholders who may be a threat to the completion of the project. For example, let's say we need a particular raw material to complete the project, but there are limited numbers of suppliers for that resource. We may have a deal with one supplier, but we should keep another supplier on our list in case the first supplier has difficulty filling our order for the raw materials. The last piece of the stakeholder puzzle is communication. The project team must develop a plan for how they will communicate the progress of the project to the identified stakeholders. Each stakeholder may have a preferred method of communication. Maybe they only want a weekly report sent by email. Maybe they want to be included in project team meetings. Maybe they want a formal presentation. At any rate, they will want to know the project status as it relates to their involvement and the project team must be sure to identify any actions they need the stakeholder to take in order to facilitate the continued success of the project. In this unit, we looked closely at the initiating phase of the project life cycle by identifying the parts of the project charter, including identifying the scope of the project, the goals, project boundaries, constraints, and assumptions. We looked at the elements needed for the business case, as well as identifying the stakeholders and their role within the project. In the next unit four, we'll look more closely at the next phase of the project life cycle, the planning phase.