Project Management Practice

As an expert in project management consulting, CTPD Management Consultants support government and private organizations all aspects of project management practice including but not limited to:

(1). PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Project Management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet the project requirements.

Five (5) Basic Phases of Our Project Management

CTPD Management Consultants apply industry and project knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to a broad range of activities in order to meet the requirements of each particular project. Our process of directing and controlling a project from start to finish can be divided into the below five distinctive phases. Projects and project management processes vary from industry to industry; however, these are more traditional elements of a project. The overarching goal is typically to offer a product, change a process or to solve a problem in order to benefit the organization:

1. Project conception and initiation

An idea for a project will be carefully examined to determine whether or not it benefits the organization. During this phase, a decision making team will identify if the project can realistically be completed.

2. Project definition and planning

A project plan, project charter and/or project scope may be put in writing, outlining the work to be performed. During this phase, our consultants team prioritize the project, calculate a budget and schedule, and determine what resources are needed.

3. Project launch or execution

Resources’ tasks are distributed and teams are informed of responsibilities. This is a good time to bring up important project related information.

4. Project performance and control

Our Project Management Consultants will compare project status and progress to the actual plan, as resources perform the scheduled work. During this phase, Project Management Consultants may need to adjust schedules or do what is necessary to keep the project on track.

5. Project close

After project tasks are completed and the client has approved the outcome, we conduct an evaluation to highlight project success and/or learn from project history. The outcome of this evaluation is used to make necessary adjustments and improvements in our future projects practice.

(2). PROJECT PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT

Project Portfolio Management (PPM) is the coordinated management of portfolio components to achieve specific organizational objectives.

Project Portfolio Management Assessment

CTPD Management Consultants assesses your current Project Portfolio Management (PPM) processes and, in collaboration with you, identifies the appropriate level of PPM discipline for your organization. We then apply our best-in-class Project Portfolio Management Maturity Model to determine your current PPM capability and identify process gaps between your organization’s current state and desired future state. We provide the roadmap for improvements and work with you to develop the implementation plan.

Portfolio Process Improvement

Results from the assessment are used to define an approach to improve your organization’s ongoing portfolio management practices. CTPD Management Consultants partners with you on the development and delivery of the recommended approach and improvement plan, including a cost/benefit analysis for taking the next steps in optimizing your PPM practices that yields better alignment with your business objectives.

We help you integrate your PM and PPM processes to enable you to select the best project portfolio aligned to your strategic plan. Forecasting and optimizing the use of available resources is an integral part of PPM. Monitoring project and portfolio performance ensures investment decisions remain the best choices in your changing world. Portfolios are continually evaluated. Prioritization is an iterative process and your portfolio must be reprioritized as business conditions, resources, and budgets change.

Portfolio Reporting & Analysis

Without a well-defined information gathering and analysis structure for project portfolio reporting, the execution of PPM will produce disappointing results. CTPD Management Consultants will work with you to customize and implement our five-level portfolio reporting model. We establish value and performance measures at the project, program, and portfolio levels, and then create analysis mechanisms to provide outcome visibility at the department and corporate levels.

Analysis includes productivity, resource management, customer satisfaction, financial evaluations, macro-categorization comparisons, ROI, and more; all customized to assist you in managing the demands of your unique business. Plan your success, measure it, and manage it.

Portfolio Improvement Execution

CTPD Management Consultants provides you with guidance and implementation support to quickly deploy the PPM improvement recommendations. Activities typically include:

• Establishment or refinement of portfolio governance policies
• Alignment of portfolio decisions to strategic business goals
• Portfolio and program prioritization and selection facilitation
• Portfolio Review Board session facilitation
• Portfolio and project communication management
• Optimized resource planning including “what if” scenarios
• Portfolio performance management
• PPM software tool selection and process implementation
• PPM workshops, training, and mentoring for executives, management, and staff
• PPM adoption and change management

(3).PROJECT REVIEW & RECOVERY
About 59% of most African organizations’ projects are usually at risk of failure!

With so much at stake, fast action is the key to avoiding losses associated with project failures.

CTPD Management Consultants’ project recovery experts begin by reviewing of the project’s current state to identify the areas in jeopardy. Common areas of concern often include issues with scope, resource availability and/or capability, roles and responsibilities, and project monitoring and control. We will present our assessment to the senior leadership team recognizing the project’s accomplishments to date, while calling out the major issues that caused it to veer off track. A corrective plan is provided as part of this presentation.

Once the plan is accepted by the organization, our recovery experts will lead the turnaround initiative, or you may choose to have us mentor your project team through the recovery process.

Common Symptoms of Troubled Projects

• Lack of full Leadership’s support and close involvement into the project’s progress work
• Attitude towards taking professional responsibility on projects
• Critical issues in meeting milestones or completing deliverables
• High risk of non-delivering anticipated benefits
• Resources are not fully allocated to the project
• The project is consistently behind its planned schedule
• They are critical and/or significantly growing technical issues with the project

Top 5 Actions Taken to Recover Projects

• Performance Contracts for Projects Leaders with agreed SMART Goals
• Improving communication, stakeholder management
• Redefining the project-reducing the scope, re-justifying the project financially
• Adding and/or removing resources
• Resolving problematic technical issues
• Replacing the project manager or bringing in a consultant to manage recovery

(4). RESOURCE MANAGEMENT 

Resource shortages and conflicts can plague your ability to deliver. Understanding the resource capacity and skill sets that exist within your organization gives you the ability to balance demand and apply the right resources at the right time. CTPD Management Consultants helps you obtain, structure, and analyze your resource management information and practices to use your talent effectively and streamline resource deployment.

Organizational Skills Identification

The first step is to uncover the skills, roles, and resources that currently reside within the organization. From this data, a simple categorization structure can be developed. This will facilitate resource allocation decisions across the organization. The Project Management Office (PMO) and departments such as HR are often involved in this process.

Resource Planning & Forecasting

Once you have a handle on the overall resources available within your organization, you need to get a clear picture of the availability of these resources to support the initiatives within your project portfolio. We recommend a resource management database be created and tied to project priorities. We can help you perform resource estimates (including resource loading and leveling) against your resource limitations, and also run “what if” scenarios to factor in new initiatives relative to resource impact and availability.

Our expert consultants are skilled at analyzing any resource shortages or added capacity uncovered, and recommending the appropriate actions that will bring the most value and cost savings to the organization (contracting, hiring, using resources earlier, etc.).  We can work with your existing tools, provide you with the tools, and/or help you procure the right tools to effectively perform resource management functions scaled to your organization’s size and needs.

PMO Structure & Staffing

CTPD Management Consultants will help you right-size your PMO based on the size of your portfolio and level of project management maturity within your organization. This will determine how many project managers and support staff you need to execute projects effectively, assess the competency of your project managers, build professional development programs, encourage a project management culture, develop job descriptions, and delineate roles and responsibilities.