Page 377 - Global Project Management Handbook
P. 377
18-18 MANAGEMENT OF THE PROJECT-ORIENTED COMPANY
● Guidelines for management consulting and management auditing of projects or programs
● Guidelines for project portfolio management
● Standard project plans
Guidelines for Project and Program Management
In order to standardize the course of action and to ensure the quality in project and pro-
gram management, project-oriented companies develop guidelines for project and pro-
gram management. These guidelines are to provide employees with orientation for the
management of projects and programs and to ensure the efficiency of the performance.
Guidelines for project and progam management are an instrument to develop the organi-
zational maturity of the project-oriented company.
The guidelines for project and program management define when a business
process is to be organized as a project or as a program, which methods are to be used
for their management, and which roles are to be performed in a project or a program.
The guidelines exclusively contain descriptions of management tasks and do not con-
tain any descriptions of the contents-related business processes for performing a project,
such as purchasing, testing, etc. Sample documentations of projects and standard
project plans can be provided in order to support the use of guidelines for project and program
management. An extract of a table of contents of guidelines for project and program
management of a public administration organization is given in Table 18.7.
Guidelines for project and program management should be kept as brief as possible
(approximately 30 to 40 pages, excluding appendix). They should not be designed as
training documentation. Special training tools are necessary to communicate informa-
tion regarding project and program management.
The use of the business processes and methods described in the guidelines for project
and program management should be binding. The guidelines should form part of any pos-
sible quality management documentation certified according to the International
Standards Organization (ISO) of the project-oriented organization.
Guidelines for project and program management can apply to only one, several, or all
types of projects of a project-oriented company. In addition to organization-specific
guidelines, there are also guidelines used for several project-oriented companies and
generic guidelines that can be used for all types of projects and all types of companies.
Generic guidelines need to be adapted to be used by a company.
Templates for Project and Program Management
As a rule, the guidelines for project and program management also contain a set of tem-
plates that support the application of project and program management methods. These
templates can be provided in electronic form by the project management office.
Guidelines for Management Consulting and Management
Auditing of Projects or Programs
Since management consulting and auditing are becoming increasingly important for
ensuring the quality of projects and programs in project-oriented companies, guidelines
and methods for consulting and auditing must be provided.