MANAGING PROFESSIONAL SERVICES PROJECTS:PROJECT MANAGEMENT IN THE PROFESSIONAL SERVICES CONTEXT

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PROJECT MANAGEMENT IN THE PROFESSIONAL SERVICES CONTEXT

Professional Services Defined

Professional services are knowledge- and experience-based activities, performed by appropriately qualified individuals or teams, that are intended to result in predefined, desired outputs and / or out- comes. Such services can be performed for a fee by one professional enterprise for the benefit of another enterprise (the external client), such as accounting, management consulting, engineering, legal, and marketing services; or they can be performed within an enterprise for the benefit of that enterprise (the internal client), such as new product development, strategic analysis, operations im- provement, and systems development / implementation (for example, an industrial engineering de- partment in a manufacturing company or financial institution would be considered a professional services organization in this context). The delivery of a professional service typically is supported by the application of information technology and the use of appropriate data / knowledge bases.

Project Management Defined

Project management is the planning, organizing, guiding, and monitoring of organizational resources that are necessary to successfully produce one or more desired outputs or outcomes (often called deliverables). It encompasses management of project risks, issues, and changes, as well as product / deliverable configuration and quality.

A project is:

• A unique venture with a defined beginning and end

• Carried out by people to meet a specific objective or set of objectives

• Defined within the parameters of scope, schedule, cost, and quality

Project management does not include the management of ongoing tasks and / or repetitive functions.

Managing Professional Services Projects

Most of the work done by professional service organizations is performed as, and can be defined in terms of, projects. Often the desired deliverables and outcomes of a professional services project can be somewhat fuzzy, conceptual, and less tangible when compared to, say, a more concrete construc-

tion project. This causes project time and cost to be more difficult to estimate during project planning; accordingly, progress during project execution tends to be more difficult to measure.

Regardless, a project team is formed to produce a definite set of deliverables within a certain time frame for a specified cost (budget). The project team is led by a project manager, who is responsible for ensuring that the objectives of the project are achieved on time and within budget.

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