COMPUTER-AIDED PROJECT MANAGEMENT:THE PROJECT CONCENTRIC CIRCLE MODEL

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THE PROJECT CONCENTRIC CIRCLE MODEL

In any given organization, generally two types of work activities take place. The first type, the one with which most people are familiar, is operations work. The activities in operations work have the following characteristics:

• They are repetitive (they occur over and over from fiscal quarter to fiscal quarter and from fiscal year to fiscal year).

• Their end result is essentially the same (production of financial reports, operations reports, etc.).

The second type, which we are addressing in this chapter, is project work. As one might expect, project work is characterized by work that is (1) not repetitive, but rather time limited (it has a specific beginning and end), and (2) produces a unique product or service. Project management is the set of activities involved in managing project work.

When looking at the set of processes involved in or surrounding project management, it is useful to use a framework that the author has called the Project Concentric Circle Model.* This model is depicted in Figure 1.

The model consists of three concentric circles. Each circle represents a level at which project management processes, or processes affecting the project management processes, take place. Each will be briefly discussed below.

Project Management Core Processes

The center circle represents the project management core processes, or processes that function within individual projects. The reader can find a detailed description of these processes in (PMI 1996) (PMBOK Guide). In brief, these are areas that address the following project management activities at the individual project level:

• Time management

• Scope management

• Cost management

• Risk management

• Quality management

• Human resources management

• Procurement management

• Communications management

• Integration management

The PMBOK Guide also describes the five project management processes throughout which activities in each above-noted area of management need to be performed. These processes are portrayed in Figure 2. It is these management areas and processes that most organizations associate with project management. And some assume that attending to these alone will ensure successful organizational project work. That, however, is a fatal error for many organizations. In order to achieve a high level of competence in project management, two other levels must also be addressed.

Project Management Support Processes

The second circle represents the project management support processes level and includes processes that occur outside of the day-to-day activities of the individual project teams. The activities within these processes generally comprise operational activities, not project activities, that support project

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* The reader is advised that the Project Concentric Circle Model is a copyright of Oak Associates, Inc. Any repro- duction or use of the model without the express consent of Oak Associates, Inc. and the publisher is strictly prohibited.

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work and project teams. In fact, these can best be described as processes that establish and maintain an environment in which project work can be successfully performed.

These processes can be grouped into two categories:

1. Organizational development: Activities that occur in these processes include assessing orga- nizational and individual competency; development and updating of job descriptions for people at all levels of the project team; design of career paths for project managers and project team members; project manager selection and competency development; project team member se- lection and support; and training and mentoring.

2. Communications and knowledge systems: Activities that occur in the development and main- tenance of these systems focus on interproject and intraproject communications; project re- porting systems (for project team members, customers, and senior management); in-progress and postproject reviews and audits; development and maintenance of historical activity and estimating databases; capacity planning; project change management; and project and technical document / software configuration management.

Senior Management Leadership

The outermost circle represents processes that senior management must undertake in order to promote project-friendly corporate environments. This involves:

• Championing project management within the organization: This is done by understanding pro- ject management and project work within the organizational context; leading the change effort to enhance the role of projects and project management; prioritizing project work to enable effective resource management; and managing the portfolio of projects to ensure alignment with corporate goals.

• Creating and enabling the culture of project success: This includes fostering open and honest communication; promoting rational risk taking; supporting the need for project planning; valuing the differences of project and functional management; and encouraging ‘‘quiet’’ projects (and discouraging ‘‘heroic’’ projects).

Now that we have constructed a framework for the processes that need to work effectively in order for projects to be successful, let us look at the types of software applications that could automate many of these processes.

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