Page 47 - DCAP307_PLANNING_AND_MANAGING_IT_INFRASTRUCTURE

Unit 3: Project Management

3.1 Need of Understanding Project Management Notes
Project management is the defining factor of an organisation’s success. It is a meter that gauges
the potential risks and finds the solutions to overcome them. Project management is essentially
a plan that forms the firm footing for an organisation to climb the ladder of success. Every
organisation has to chalk out its own plan to accomplish its predetermined goals and objectives.
There isn’t a one-size-fits-all plan that can be blindly followed. It is the difference in planning
and execution of project management that yields the desired results.
Leading organisations across sectors and geographic borders have been steadily embracing
project management as a way to control spending and improve project results. When the recession
began, this practice became even more important. Executives discovered that adhering to project
management methods and strategies reduced risks, cut costs and improved success rates—all
vital to surviving the economic crisis.
Project Management is important to understand as it provides the following benefits:
 Cost-Effectiveness: Project management provides a roadmap for the journey of success. It
is the greatest resource that allows the manager to understand the available resources and
the methods to use them with the demands. Thus, with a plan in hand, it is easy to utilise
the resources in the optimum possible way. Project management, prior to launching a
project, identifies the irrelevant costs, reduces wastage of resources and thus ensures cost-
effectiveness in the longer run.
 Better Productivity: Trustworthy quality of products is a way of retaining the existing
clientele and adding to the same. Project management keeps the quality of products in
constant check, thus ensuring better productivity in terms of quality and quantity. This
not only helps the company in earning goodwill for a lifetime, but also promises customer
satisfaction. Several project management plans use tools such as six sigma which improve
their processes and eliminate the defects; this leads to enhancement in their productivity.

 Minimisation of Risks: Every business is faced with risks of loses due to various reasons.
However, with a strategy in place, gauging the risks is easier and making diversions from
the same is easier as well. This maintains stable work in progress. By planning and
analysing, a project manager can mitigate risks and be a part of fair business competition.
Project management helps in identification of loopholes and potential threats. Once these
are singled out, the management can then take decisions to change strategies to erase risks
that can negatively affect the productivity and business interests at large.

 Accomplishing Predetermined Goals: Every organisation sketches its goals and objectives,
which is the basis of earning profits and making a way towards growth. Project management
is the key tool for achieving predetermined targets in a structured way. It decides the
strategies that will be used to reach the goal in the fastest way. It is a structured way of
getting to your objectives.

Project management goes through fives stages which are; initiation, planning and design,
executing, monitoring and controlling, closing and project control systems. After the allocation
of the task, the project manager is responsible for drawing out a project management plan in the
aforementioned order. He must also hire a team for delegation of work and to supervise the
work thereafter.
Project management is a branch of management which uses various management tools such as
budgeting, allocating and optimisation to fulfil a defined goal for a shorter period of time. The
importance of project management in organisations is seen through quality of products, customer
satisfaction, employee satisfaction, efficiency in business, mitigation of risks involved and a
successful business in totality. The positive nature of all these factors of an organisation explains
why project management is important. Management of any kind always helps in painting a

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