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A project is a temporary endeavor that creates a
unique product, service or result.
There are many different kinds of projects in Qatar’s
public service. These include construction, policy
development and implementation, information technology,
procurement, and strategic planning.
Most projects, regardless of scale or type, require
some degree of coordination to proceed successfully.
Project management is a defined body of knowledge,
skills, tools, and techniques for meeting project
requirements.
All over the world, project management has been
proven to greatly increase the chances of achieving
project success and delivering on time and on budget.
The methods and techniques that make up project
management are generic; they apply to projects of all
types, regardless of size.
There are many aspects to good project management.
They include techniques for managing a project’s scope,
quality, time, cost, risk, human resources, procurement,
and communications. Project Managers also use techniques
to integrate of all of these elements of project
management in each phase of the project lifecycle.
The QNPM Framework integrates project management
techniques for you in easy-to-use templates with
supporting job aids for each phase of the project
lifecycle.
Generally speaking, a project will move through four
standard phases as it moves from conception to
completion. These stages are:
In this Phase, you are proposing a project to senior
management and stakeholders. You produce a brief written
description of the proposed project in what is called a
Project Definition Document. This document supports a
shared understanding of, among other things, what work
the project will involve and what results it should
achieve.
If your Project Definition Document is approved, you
move from the Define Phase to the
Plan
Phase.
In this Phase, your project is proposed in more
detail. You develop a clear written approach for
executing the project in a
Project Plan. This plan
includes, among other things, major activities and the
estimated timeline and budget for completing these
activities.
If your
Project Plan is approved, you move from the
Plan Phase to the
Implement
Phase.
In this Phase, you actually do the work described in
the Project Plan.
At the beginning of this phase, you have to secure
the resources required to execute the project, orient
team members, and get them started on work plans: this
is called project mobilization or start up.
Once the team is established, you control the
execution of the
Project Plan using techniques to manage
risks, issues, changes, quality, and cost. You also
manage communications, project documents, procurement,
and human resources.
When this phase nears completion, you move from the
Implement Phase to the
Close
Phase.
In this Phase, you demonstrate that the project is
complete, assess its success, transfer project knowledge
to others, undertake administrative closeout, and
support departing staff as the project ends and the team
dissolves.
Qatar is growing fast. Many major modernization
projects are underway. By building and supporting
professional project management capacity in Qatar’s
public service, we’re helping to ensure that we can
manage projects effectively now and in the future.
All over the world, organizations in the public and
private sectors are increasingly focused on delivery. In
this environment, outcomes are taking centre stage.
Project management has been proven to be the most
effective mechanism for achieving outcomes efficiently
and effectively. It improves results by providing a
structure for better information and better controls.
Qatar National Project Management (QNPM) is a
Planning Council initiative to build and support
professional project management capacity in Qatar’s
public service. It began as part of a broad program to
make our public service more efficient and effective.
QNPM includes a Framework for managing projects based
on a Project Lifecycle,
with templates, job aids
and other
resources and a
software tool
to support the work of project teams.
On this site you’ll find practical advice and support
for new project leads, experienced project managers, and
executives interested in how a standard approach to
project management can support their organization’s
success.
Learn more about how to implement project management
in your organization through our
workshops and
project
management support services, or read about QNPM in the
news.
The
Project Plan is a written document that
describes what a project will do and how project work
will be executed.
It includes descriptions of deliverables, roles and
responsibilities, and dependencies, and it provides high
level
Schedule and budget information. Typically a more
detailed
Schedule and Budget are provided as appendices
to the
Project Plan.
The
Project Plan will answer the following key
questions:
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What activities and deliverables will be
completed? |
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How long will the project take? |
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Who will do what? |
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What will the project cost? |
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How will risks and issues be managed? |
The
Project Plan is updated during the Implement
Phase as the project experiences changes.
Project planning organizes the project team to
deliver. A good
Project Plan is like a route map — the
destination and best route to get there are chosen
before starting the journey. By using the tools and
techniques associated with
Project planning, you gain a
better understanding of what is needed to complete a
project successfully and have better control as you
proceed. Without a plan, your project is vulnerable to
surprises like resource shortages, unforeseen risks, and
unplanned activities– all of which can create new costs
and missed deadlines.
Project management techniques provide a structure for
better information and better controls on any kind of
project work. Project management has been proven to be
the most effective mechanism for achieving outcomes
efficiently and effectively. This is true regardless of
the type or size of the project.
Project management activities take time. What extent
you should use the QNPM Framework to depends on your
project’s complexity. And how complex a project is
depends on, among other things, its budget, duration,
and how many people and organizations are involved.
The more complex your project, the more QNPM templates
and job aids we recommend that you use. For more
specific advice on how much project management work to
do on a particular project, see the
Project Sizing
Calculator. This job aid helps you gauge how complex
your project is and provides advice on which elements of
the QNPM Framework to use for projects of different
levels of complexity. The individual plans for project
management processes on the Resource page also include
advice on scaling project management processes for
projects of different sizes. See particularly the
Risk
Management Plan,
Issue Management Plan,
Change
Control Plan,
Status Reporting Plan, and
Document Management Plan.
Many people are surprised to hear that the number one
reason that projects fail is lack of organizational and
stakeholder support. The most important stakeholders
are usually the Sponsor and end users. There can also be
many other stakeholders. Even in a simple project, such
as introducing an administrative change, there will
likely be people who are indirectly affected and who
should be informed of and potentially involved in your
project. You’ll find a set of resources for working
with stakeholders in the Stakeholder Alignment section
of the
Resources page. It contains job aids for
identifying common stakeholders in the Qatar public
service and engaging them through consultation, shared
decision-making and communications. It also provides
guidance on working with more senior stakeholders in
Steering Committees and Advisory Committees.
The QNPM Framework walks you through the four key
stages of the project lifecycle:
Define,
Plan,
Implement
and Close. Start at the Define
phase, and move through the phases in order, using the
templates and job aids provided to help you organize at
each step.
You can start using project management tools and
techniques even when your project has already started.
Review the four phases of the project lifecycle to see
which key deliverables have been missed to date. If your
project has already started without a
Plan, Budget, or
Schedule, one of the best things you can do to protect
your project from failure is to write these deliverables
in the short term. Your next priority should be
to select other applicable elements of the QNPM
Framework. The Project Sizing Calculator will help you
select the elements of the
Project Management Framework
that are most advisable for your project.
Good planning at the outset will help keep projects
on time. When projects run overtime, it is often
because time has been calculated based on an incomplete
list of activities. There is also a tendency to be
optimistic about how long activities will take.
Failure to properly identify risks at the outset is also
an important cause of project delay. So are starting the
project or any of its key activities late. The tools
and techniques on this website will help you avoid some
of these common causes of project delay, helping you
deliver on time and on budget.
Good planning at the outset will help keep projects
on budget. Generally projects run over budget for
three reasons:
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Overly optimistic cost estimates |
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Schedule delays that translate into added
costs and Change requests that come late in the
project lifecycle, which can cost significantly
more than changes early in the process. |
Careful, realistic planning using the templates and
job aids on this website will help you keep projects on
budget and on time.
The QNPM Tool is an Enterprise Program Management
Solution. The QNPM Tool will help you approach tasks
through the complete
Project Lifecycle. It supports
project management with features like collaborative work
venues, issue and risk management modules, resource and
task management, scheduling, and financial management.
The Tool can also be used for managing programs.
The QNPM Tool offers more functionality over the
entire lifecycle of your project than standard desktop
project management software provides. The QNPM Tool is
designed to make it easy for you to integrate project
work from beginning to end with a comprehensive one-stop
electronic workspace. And it has a user-friendly
interface so that your team members can adopt the Tool
quickly and start to realize its benefits. One of the
most innovative features of the Tool is its
collaboration infrastructure, which enables virtual team
meetings and online teamwork. Explore the
Tool to find
out more about how it can help support you in your
project work.
The QNPM Tool takes into account the requirements of
various people in different roles and levels in your
organization. Senior Managers will appreciate having
instant access to information on all project work in the
organization. The Tool’s user-configurable Communication
Plans can even be set to send them information updates
automatically. Project Managers will benefit from the
Tool’s full suite of functions, and the ability to route
work to appropriate team members. The Tool makes
communicating with the project team and senior managers
easy. Team members will appreciate how the QNPM Tool
prepares timesheets and reports, and makes it easy to
verify status of different work items. Explore the
Tool
to find out more about how it can help support you in
your project work.
Yes. The QNPM Tool is compatible with most scheduling
and planning tools. Files can be imported and exported.
For specific questions, please contact QNPM support at:
Tel : +974.438.0869/: +974.438.0870 Email:
qnpm_support@planning.gov.qa
You can use the QNPM tool on any project. But we
especially recommend it for projects that are relatively
complex. See our
Project Sizing Calculator for
help.
We
will be holding regular training sessions on the QNPM
Tool. For registration information please contact
qnpm_support@planning.gov.qa. We also offer
on-site training for agencies of the Government of Qatar
on request.
Access to the QNPM Tool requires a login name and
password. That helps ensure that the information you
enter is protected from unauthorized access. QNPM has
adopted a very comprehensive
privacy policy. Please read
our policy to understand how your personal information
will be treated as you make full use of our offerings. |
