4.3 Direct and Manage Project Work

Directing the Project Work is the process of orchestrating the execution of all the project planning processes.  It is leading, overseeing, coordinating, performing and reporting on the work defined in the project management plan. Thus providing overall management of the project as outlined in the project management plan.  The tools and Techniques for the Direct and Manage Project Work process are listed below.

Figure 28. Direct and Manage Project Work, Tools & Techniques, and Outputs. Reprinted from "A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide), 5th Edition" by Project Management Institute, 2013, p.79. Copyright 2013 by Project Management Institute, Inc. Reprinted without permission.

Process Definition

The direct and manage project work process is where we accomplish objectives to complete and deliver project deliverables. The project manager and project team fulfil project plans using established methods to achieve documented standards. This includes administrative processes such as evaluating performance collecting data, responding to trends, informing stakeholders, monitoring schedules and updating recorded status.  Arranging project communications processes are also a key element of management as well as maintaining orderly records for archiving.

Process Assessment

This is overall the administrative process for the project. The Direct and Manage Project Work is about ensuring the plans are proceeding as documented then creating a record of results, problems, solutions to problems and lessons learned for future projects.

Artifacts

Input

The project management plan contains a description of all the project process that are required for the project.  Including the scope, requirements, schedule, cost and stakeholder processes.  Enclosed is a copy of the Project Management Plan we developed in PMGT611 for a small Information Technology update at a University.  See 4.3.1

Tools & Techniques

One of the tools for project management is project management information systems.  One of the software packages we used a lot was Micro Soft Project or MS Project.  These tools were extremely helpful in developing schedules, cost estimates, critical path establishment and analysis, setting constraints and controlling the project.  As changes were made to a project alerts or modification were made either automatically or manually depending on the preference set. Below is an example of a project assignment  completed in MS Project.  See 4.3.2

Output

An output for the Direct and Manage Project Work process is the identification of needs for change and then completion of a change request.  From PMGT614 we developed a project crashing schedule which required a change request to the schedule.  below is a document explaining the compression needed and enclosed approved change request. These eventually require changes and updates to project schedule and cost documents. see 4.3.3