Introduction
Program management is a function of the organization that supervises several projects linked together by a collaborative organization goal. The project management office provides the stakeholders with more information about the project. Programs consist of several projects that the program manager manages. Program managers oversee the programs by maintaining the project schedule, providing information and advice to stakeholders, ensuring the programs maintain the highest standards, and mentoring project managers.
Portfolio Management Benefits
Project portfolio management (PPM) is a specialty of assessing potential projects by considering their expected prosperity and risks and aligning with the firm’s strategy. PPM brings the following benefits to the organization. Firstly, it improves the project selection process as it stresses selecting the best projects according to the organization’s goals. Secondly, it enables efficient use of resources as the portfolio uses a more comprehensive approach by considering the firm’s resources before selecting the project. Thirdly, PPM has tools that assess portfolio performance, enabling the organization to obtain more accurate data. Fourthly, it helps reduce organizational risks by giving a more comprehensive view of the risks versus the returns of the whole project portfolio.
Domains and Processes
There are three performance domains: the people, the process, and the business environment. The people domain consists of the softer skills to be the best project manager, such as team leadership, conflict management, negotiation, and mentoring. The process domain looks into the technical skills required by a project manager, such as risk analysis, communication, quality management, stakeholder analysis, and schedule management. The business environment domain covers organizational processes such as ensuring compliance, supporting organizational change, and managing benefits.
My organization of choice was Deloitte, an international consultancy firm with offices in over 150 countries in the world. This firm was founded in the United Kingdom by William Deloitte in 1845. This organization provides audit and assurance, consultation, financial and risk advisory, risk management, tax, and other related services (Deloitte, 2021). The interviewee is a project manager at one of the firm’s projects. They supervise the construction of an estate with both residential and commercial buildings in Cape Town, South Africa. This project is one of the many real estate projects that the organization runs across African countries. The firm provides the following services to the Developer Company; audit and assurance, financial and risk advisory, and risk management. The project manager oversees all of these and reports to the program manager.
Program Formulation
The programs are formulated by doing research based on the client’s wishes, whereby the firm does the background research to find the best area to develop. This is done by finding out the potential locations that suit the client’s needs and choosing the best depending on the government policy, the security situation, and prospects. The project manager also assists in putting together the stakeholders to be involved in the project, the resources and skills required for the project, and the project’s risks with how they can be mitigated.
The project manager also determines the best schedule for the project to provide a proper timeline for the project. This is later put in a document for analysis by the program manager, who analyses, corrects, and gives recommendations for the project. The program should align with the firm’s strategy, which is to provide the best yet affordable housing to African cities. The firm uses approach B, whereby the design is formulated after programs are developed from projects and needs. This approach is utilized because each project and client needs a different strategy; therefore, they must remain flexible.
Methods of Management
In the current project, they utilize Asana, a software managing program. The use of this program enables the different stakeholders in the program to access the information. This software also assists in budgeting resources, scheduling the project’s activities, and giving forecasts of any arising changes and risks (Desmond, 2017). Using this program is not difficult, and it requires quantitative data such as the funds used, the volume of material used, and the total work hours of machines. The software, however, requires the user to learn some special skills to be able to interact with the program. The system also creates dependency whereby a manager has to wait for the software to schedule the tasks before undertaking them.
Assessment of Different Aspects in the Program
The project timeline is set at three years with an allowance of six months. The interviewee was optimistic that they would be done with the project on the set timeline. According to the project manager, the people working on the project were illustrating teamwork. According to him, the project’s budget is quite high, and proper planning is required to avoid going overboard. The project manager notes that the project idea is unique, whereby the complete project will not occur again.
Critical Success Factors (CSF) and Key Results Area (KSF)
A critical success factor is a term used in management for a crucial component for a project or firm to realize its mission. Firstly, the elements in this project are the people working on the construction site. Secondly, the project plans and resources required to undertake the project. Thirdly, communication between the project stakeholders, such as the engineers to the project manager and the client to the project manager. Fourthly, identifying the risks involved in the project, such as increased cost and weather changes. Fifthly, the completion of the project, where the developers hand it over to the client after completion.
Recommendations
The project manager noted that for new project managers to be excellent in this field, they should maintain good relationships with all the stakeholders. This is important to ensure that communication is appropriately done and to create a trust (Unterhitzenberger, 2021). The use of management software is a more significant step to ensuring accountability in projects. He advised the upcoming project managers to familiarize themselves with these programs to ensure a smooth transition into the workplace. All companies planning to run projects should partner with program management organizations to run their projects as the organizations are qualified to achieve the best results.
Program Infrastructure Development
Program Organization and Chart Development
Organization charts are used to show the structure of a business. They represent people and positions and indicate the hierarchy of the posts in the organization by marking who reports to the other. They also show how departments are connected. Organization charts have the following functions. Firstly, is to clarify the roles and responsibilities of each individual in the organization to avoid mixing up of positions. Secondly, they assist employees in identifying their seniors to whom they will report. Thirdly, they help the management keep track of the number of employees. This is essential when determining resource allocation. Fourthly, they assist in organizing employee information for easy access (Desmond, 2017). Fifthly, they assist in giving the employee the correct promotion channels. Lastly, the charts are important in showing the internal structure and the organization’s hierarchy to determine the highest office for decision making.
There are four different types of organizational structures which are determined by the audience, the kind of organization, and the message conveyed. The first category is the functional top-down hierarchy, which shows the traditional business structure. It illustrates the business from the highest office to the lowest. The second is a decisional organization chart presented along the product lines or the geographic regions such as accounting, human resource, marketing, and legal. The third type is the matrix organization type which applies to firms with teams with multiple managers (Desmond, 2017). The employees report to various managers in their line of work. The fourth chart is the flat organizational chart with two levels; the administrative officials and the employees. It is usually used in small organizations where the employees have to share the decision-making with their supervisors where teamwork is encouraged.
The Program Management Office (PgMO) Structure
The program management office is the department in an organization with similar roles of project management offices to create project management standards and ensure that they are followed. However, they extend their functions to finish programs and other different aspects of the business. They report to higher levels of the organization and hold greater decision-making authority. Their main focus is the success of the programs, not the individual projects.
PgMO is important in ensuring that the projects comply with the set standards such as the business, national, local, and global standards (Unterhitzenberger, 2021). This is guaranteed by overseeing the entire program from start to finish. PgMOs have expert knowledge of the projects and are needed to keep the program on track to avoid failure. They are supposed to be flexible to adapt to the various client requirements. PgMO team members include the director who develops, coordinates the program plans, handles the program’s complicated issues, and supervises the other program managers. The other members are the program managers who control the various programs and projects in the organization.
The PgMO has the following functions; firstly, they supervise the whole management of various projects part of a single program. Secondly, they develop multiple methods, processes, and tools for program management. Thirdly, they oversee the program resources to enable the business to achieve its objectives. Fourthly, they set the standards for assessing the performance of the programs according to their chosen metric. Fifthly, they define the role and duties of each member involved in the program. Sixthly they ensure proper communication between similar projects and the whole program. Seventhly, they organize, implement, and observe the program’s benefits according to assumptions and outcomes. Finally, they manage the risk and other issues arising from the program.
Program Management Information System
According to PMBOK, a program management system is an information system that contains tools and methods used to gather, merge, and distribute the output of the project management activities. It is a centralized storage center for all the project information. It enables the different stakeholders in the program to access crucial project information and keep track of the projects. PMIS has several features and functions to help the stakeholders in the program management (Unterhitzenberger, 2021). Firstly, it can plan and schedule and plan and calculate the project’s schedule. Secondly, it assists in budget and estimating, whereby it can generate the cost of individual tasks by forecasting and comparing the project progress with the incurred cost. Thirdly, PMIS assists in procuring and management of resources. The system is able to procure the project requirements and manage them by following the budget set.
Fourthly, the system assists project managers in assessing the cost management and the project’s performance by enabling them to compare the estimated cost with the actual price. It also allows the manager to track the project status and evaluate the completion date. Fifthly, the program assists in progress reporting by giving the project managers the necessary information and tools to collect and send personalized reports to various individuals (Desmond, 2017). Sixthly, it enhances data and system integration by enabling easy access to processed data by other applications such as the payroll inventory. It also allows multi-project data analysis as data from different projects can be accessed in the same system. Seventhly, the system is also able to perform change management whereby it can keep the original project plans enabling all activities to be traced to the initial truth, thus a useful tool in projects auditing
References
Delloite. (2021). Deloitte Africa – Professional and Consulting Services. Deloitte South Africa. Web.
Desmond, C. (2017). Project management tools-software tools. IEEE Engineering Management Review, 45(4), 24-25. Web.
Unterhitzenberger, C. (2021). Project management journal special issue on project behavior. Project Management Journal, 875697282110547. Web.