One Stop Project Management

You will be introduced to the reasons why a novice, a professional or an entrepreneur should use this book. A brief needs assessment is provided for each category so that an effective approach to the material can be created by the individual. This initial planning and development will give you the advantage of focusing on those areas that are important to you. The authors have provided a realistic case study. The material is correlated to the Project Management Book of Knowledge (PMBOK) published by the Project Management Institute (PMI). Each chapter of the book provides applications of the concepts discussed

This book is unique in the approach to learning project management. Firstly, there is a case study which is followed throughout the book. Directed questions are provided to help you understand the concepts and annotations from the authors are provided. You will see how projects are developed. There are also other projects that have been written to serve as exemplars for you to compare your ideas with the authors' suggestions and how other project managers approach the same problems, issues and challenges.

Each of the processes required to bring a project to successful conclusion are shown in diagrams or flow processes to demonstrate relationships and provide examples of how the process works. The case studies then provide an example of how to apply the process. You will have the opportunity to consider the case study for the book, how to apply the concepts to it and how they are applied to other projects. Therefore, you will have the opportunity to integrate the concepts of project management.

Throughout the book, direct examples of how the planning and process are completed. This includes steps required for initiating, executing and closing various types of projects. Templates and forms are provided for use in your projects and completed examples are provided to help guide you in using the form or template in a project.

The book is divided into 4 broad areas. The first section identifies the structure of a project and the purposes for undertaking a project. Not knowing the appropriate structure and procedure sequence may cause failure in delivering the end product or creating a high demand on the resources of the organization

The second area details with the processes of Project Management. Diagrams have been used and templates provided to show relationships as well as how the inputs and outputs of the various processes will create a working plan for the project.

A detailed description of processes has been provided in the explanation of the concepts. Each process is described in terms of: • Inputs that are required to create the process. • Tools and techniques that are required to use the inputs to create the output of the process. • Outputs that are objective of the process created from the Inputs and tools & techniques.

The third broad area deals with specific areas of knowledge that are needed in Project Management. The Knowledge areas discussed are: • Project Integration Management • Project Scope Management • Project Time Management • Project Cost Management • Project Human Resource Management • Project Quality Management • Project Communication Management • Project Risk Management • Project Procurement Management

The discussion in these chapters provides the insight on why the processes described are important and provide a guideline to work within projects. In general these topics are: • How to boost team performance • Bringing the project under budget • Better meetings in less time • Creating a financial plan • Carrying out a feasibility study • Documenting the project • Leading the project • Reducing stress on your project • Defining the scope of the project • Determining the required resources • Hiring the right staff on the project • What to do when your project encounters problems

The last major area of the book, the Appendix, contains some of the most useful tools for project management. Actual projects completed in classes with the instructor's comments as well as a document of a real project that was carried out are provided. Significant benefits found in the Appendix are the templates for use in planning a project. These are provided with the purpose of putting useful tools into the hands of Project Managers.