Page 435 - Global Project Management Handbook

21-8 MANAGEMENT OF THE PROJECT-ORIENTED COMPANY

business processes, the description should be done at the level of single business processes.
As an example, the overall business process of an IT company “implementing an IT
application” may include the single business processes of analyzing, designing, program-
ming, testing, and going live with an IT application.
By standardizing each of theses single business processes, that is, defining the
sequence of the tasks, the responsibilities for the performance, and the methods to be
applied, the efficiency in projects can be improved. The way of performing these processes
does not have to be defined in each project again and again. The wheel is invented only
once.

BUSINESS PROCESS MANAGEMENT, PROJECT AND
PROGRAM MANAGEMENT

Project Management and Program Management: Business
Processes of the Project-Oriented Company
Project management and program management are specific business processes of the
project-oriented company (see Chaps. 2 and 7). Both processes are divided into the sub-
processes start, continuous coordination, controlling, resolution of a discontinuity, and
closedown.
The processes overall, as well as the subprocesses, are to be described. The advantage
of applying business process management to the project management and the program
management processes is the explicit definition of the objectives, tasks and responsibili-
ties of these processes, and definition of the methods to be used for project and program
management.

Business Processes as Objects of Consideration
in Projects and Programs

Traditionally, project management is applied for technical projects in the construction,
engineering, and IT industries. Recently, new types of projects and programs, such as
organizational projects and marketing projects, have gained importance. Examples of

organizational projects are the founding of a company or the reorganization of a division.
For these project types, the organizational structures (i.e., roles, organizational chart,
organizational rules, responsibilities matrices, and communication structures) and the
business processes become objects of consideration. Therefore, competencies to design
the organizational structures and the business processes are required.
To ensure integrated solutions, it is also necessary to consider business processes as
objects of consideration in traditional projects and programs. There are no “pure” techni-
cal projects, but in any construction, engineering, and IT project organizational design
measures also are required. Thus, for example, the successful completion of an industrial
plant construction project presupposes not only the technical solution but also organiza-
tional solutions, such as definition of the operation and maintenance business processes.

Process-Oriented Structuring of Projects

The work-breakdown structures (WBS) and consequently the schedules and cost plan of
projects should be structured in a process-oriented way—not in an object-oriented way.