The Project Management Institute

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Project Management Institute (PMI) published a methodology which is known as Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) in the early �80s. This methodology consist of different phases such as planning phase, initiation phase, execution phase, controlling phase and closing phases of a project. Each phase have different processes and interrelated to each other. Occasionally they cycled through so it was not such a step by step process flow but more towards round robin process flow. The advantage of implementing this project methodology is it was a generic methodology that was applicable to varieties of projects that allowed project managers to deliver projects from construction type projects to IT projects and even doing event management. PMBOK practices five key processes in a project management which are Initiating phase, Planning phase, Executing phase, Controlling and Monitoring phase and Closing phase. In initiating phase, is the phase to set up the project for accomplishment by selecting the team members and identify project scope. In addition, the relationship between the project and its alignment with the administration�s overall charter needs to be determined. Planning phase is the phase to list down the relevant resources, milestone and timelines and mapping the project delivery to business priorities. All the possible risk, cost/budgeting, quality, sequencing and duration will be determined. In executing phase, the project team will be assign with their particular role and relevant information is distributed to ensure the proper activities are done. In this level the quality assurance methods will also take place in order to address change management, possible changes to the plan and organizational updates. Controlling and monitoring phase will ensure the risk from uncontrolled external actions is mitigated and the final product created maps back to the original plan. In the final stage which is the closing phase, it need to ensure the delivered everything expected of the project to the client.

On the other hand, PRINCE2 (PRojects IN Controlled Environments) methodology was developed by the UK government that came out in the mid �90s. It is a de facto process-based method and offers non-proprietorial best practice guidance on project management. The main objective implementing this methodology is to get the consistency in the UK government�s vendors when they were providing IT projects to them. PRINCE2 focus on business justification, product-based planning approach, and defined organisation structure for the project management team. It also emphasis on dividing the project into manageable and controllable stages and also flexibility that can be applied at a level appropriate to the project. PRINCE2 provides benefits to the project managers and project directors of an organisation. Thus it provides the best solution to manage business and controllable use of resources and project risk more effectively. PRINCE2 embodies proven and established best practice solution in project management. It is widely recognised, providing a common language for all members in a project. It encourages formal recognition of responsibilities within a project and focuses on what a project is to be deliver, why a project is to be deliver, when a project needs to be deliver, for whom a project needs to be deliver. This methodology provides the organisation's projects with a common, consistent approach, a controlled and organised start, middle and end, regular reviews of progress against plan and assurance that the project continues to have a business justification. PRINCE2 project management techniques consist of Project Assurance phase, Project Support phase, PRINCE2 Scope phase and Controlling Change phase. In Project Assurance phase, it provides an independent view of how the project is progressing. There are three views of assurance which are business, specialist and user. Assurance focusing on the checking of the project remains viable in terms of benefits and costs (business assurance), the project is delivering a suitable solution (specialist or technical assurance) and checking that the users' requirements are being met (user assurance). The assurance can be done can be done by the individual members of the Project Board but most of the time is done by a separate team of people which is the Project Assurance Team. Project Support phase needs a lot of administrative work. Project Managers need to keep everyone in the project team informed, keeping plans up-to-date, keeping files and arranging meetings. PRINCE2 Scope phase there are often different groups of people involved, including the customer, user and of course one or more suppliers. PRINCE2 is designed to provide a common language in order to communicate across all the interested parties. Controlling Change phase is the phase that explains how to manage quality, how to manage risk and how to control change on the project. PRINCE2 has a technique of controlling the way changes impact the project in order to prevent the project going off in the wrong direction.

There are a lot of benefits which the project team members can achieves by implementing the project management methodologies such as completing projects more quickly and cheaply. The biggest advantage of using a common methodology is the value of reuse. Once the procedures, processes and templates are created, they can be reused with small modifications on the upcoming projects. The consequence is it reduced the project start-up time, time savings from not having to reinvent processes, a shorter learning curve for project team members and templates from scratch on each project.