Project Stakeholder Management - Control Stakeholder Engagement

This process monitors overall project stakeholder relationships and adjusting strategies and plans for engaging stakeholders. It will maintain or increase the efficiency and effectiveness of stakeholder engagement activities as the project evolves and its environment changes.

Let's take a look at the Inputs, Tools and Techniques, and Outputs of this process.

1) Project Management Plan

• Develops the stakeholder management plan and includes:
• The life cycle selected for the project and the processes that will be applied to each phase
• How work will be executed to accomplish the project objectives
• How human resources requirements will be met
• A change management plan that documents how changes will be monitored and controlled
• Needs and techniques for communication among stakeholders

2) Issue Log

• Updated as new issues are identified and current issues are resolved

3) Work Performance Data

• Primary observations and measurements identified during activities being performed to carry out the project work.
• Reported percentage of work completed
• technical performance measures
• start and finish dates of scheduled activities
• number of change requests
• number of defects
• actual costs
• actual durations

4) Project Documents

• May include:
• Project schedule
• Stakeholder register
• Issue log
• Change log
• Project communications

5) Information Management Systems

• Provides a standard tool for the project manager to capture, store, and distribute information to a stakeholders about the project cost, schedule progress, and performance
• Helps consolidate reports from several systems and facilitate report distributions

6) Expert Judgement

• Get feedback from the experts to help identify and list new stakeholders and reassess current stakeholders

7) Meetings

• Used to exchange and analyze about stakeholder engagement

8) Work Performance Information

• Performance data collected from various controlling processes analyzed in context, and integrated based on relationships across areas. 
• Deliverables
• Implementation status of change requests
• forecasted estimates to complete

9) Change Requests

• Recommend corrective action 
• Recommend preventative action

10) Project Management Plan Updates

• May include:
• Change management plan
• Communications management plan
• Cost management plan
• Human resource management plan
• Procurement management plan
• Quality management plan
• Requirements management plan
• Risk management plan
• Schedule management plan
• Scope management plan
• Stakeholder management plan

11) Project Documents Updates

• Stakeholder register
• Issue log

12) Organizational Process Assets Updates

• Stakeholder notifications
• Project reports
• Project presentations
• Project records
• Feedback from stakeholders
• Lessons learned documentation

Source: PMBOK 5th ed. 

Project Stakeholder Management - Manage Stakeholder Engagement

This process communicates and works with stakeholders to meet their needs/expectations, address issues as they occur, and foster appropriate stakeholder engagement in project activities throughout the project life cycle. It allows the project manager to increase support and minimize resistance from stakeholders, significantly increase the changes to achieve project success.

Some of the activities you will do in this process would include:

• Engage stakeholders at appropriate project stages to obtain or confirm their continued commitment to success of the project
• Manage stakeholder expectations
• Address potential concerned that have not yet become issues
• Clarifying and resolving issues that have been identified

Let's take a look at the Inputs, Tools and Techniques, and Outputs of this process.

1) Stakeholder Management Plan

• Provides guidance on how the various stakeholders can be best involved in the project
• Describes methods and technologies used for stakeholder communication

2) Communications Management Plan

• Provides guidances and information on managing stakeholder expectations and includes:
• Stakeholder communication requirements
• Information to be communicated
• Reasons for distributions of information
• Person or groups who will receive information
• Escalation process

3) Change Log

• Documents changes that occur during the project (Time, cost, risk) 

4) Organizational Process Assets

• May include:
• Organizational communication requirements
• Issue management procedures
• Change control procedures
• Historical information about previous projects

5) Communication Methods

• Based on the stakeholders' communication requirements, you will decide how, when and which of these communication methods are to be used

6) Interpersonal Skills

• Building trust
• Resolving conflict
• Active listening
• Overcoming resistance to change

7) Management Skills

• Facilitate consensus toward project objectives
• Influence people to support the project
• Negotiate agreements to satisfy the project needs
• Modify organizational behavior to accept the project outcomes

8) Issue Log

• Update the log with new issues and current issues are resolved

9) Change Requests

• Change may be to a product or project 
• Include corrective or preventive actions to the project itself
• The interaction with the impacted stakeholders

10) Project Management Plan Updates

• Stakeholder Management Plan - when new or changed stakeholders requirements are identified

11) Project Documents Updates

• Stakeholder Register - when information about stakeholders change, new ones identified or existing ones are removed. 

12) Organizational Process Assets Updates

• May include:
• Stakeholder notifications
• Project reports
• Project presentations
• Project records
• Feedback from stakeholders
• Lessons learned documentation

Source: PMBOK 5th ed. 

Project Stakeholder Management - Plan Stakeholder Management

This process develops appropriate management strategies to effectively engage stakeholders based on the analysis of their needs, interests and potential impact on project success. It provides a clear, actionable plan to interact with project stakeholders to support the project's interest.

It identifies how the project will affect stakeholders that allows you to develop ways to engage them in the project, to manage their expectations and to achieve project goals.

Let's take a look at the Inputs, Tools and Techniques, and Outputs of this process.

1) Project Management Plan

• Includes:
• Life cycle selected for the project and the processes that will be applied to each phase
• Description of how work will be executed 
• Description of human resources requirements that will be met and how roles and responsibilities, reporting relationships, and staffing management will be addressed and structured
• Change management plan that documents how changes will be monitored and controlled
• Need and techniques for communication among stakeholders

2) Stakeholder Register

• Provides information needed to plan appropriate ways to engage the stakeholders

3) Enterprise Environmental Factors

• All factors are used as inputs to this process because the management of stakeholders should be adapted to the project environment. 

4) Organizational Process Assets

• May include:
• Lessons learned database
• Historical information

5) Expert Judgment 

• Help decide the level of engagement required at each stage of the project from each stakeholder. 

6) Meetings

• Held with experts to define the required engagement levels of all stakeholders

7) Analytical Techniques

• Current engagement needs to be compared to planned engagement levels in order to have success and can be classified by the following:
• Unaware 
• Resistant
• Neutral
• Supportive
• Leading
• This engagement is documented using Stakeholders Engagement Assessment Matrix. Gaps can be identified and then action can be taken to close the gaps of engagement. 

8) Stakeholder Management Plan

• Identifies the management strategies required to effectively engage stakeholders and can provide the following:
• Desired and current engagement levels of key stakeholders
• Scope and impact of change to stakeholders
• Identified interrelationships and potential overlap between stakeholders
• Stakeholder communication requirements
• Information to be distributed to stakeholders
• Reason for the distribution of that information
• Time frame and frequency for the distributions
• Method for updating and refining the stakeholder management plan

9) Project Documents Updates

• May include:
• Project schedule
• Stakeholder register

Source: PMBOK 5th ed. 

Project Stakeholder Management - Identify Stakeholders

This process identifies people, groups, or organizations that could impact or be impacted by decision, activity, or outcome of the project, analyzing and documenting relevant information regarding their interests, involvement, interdependencies, influence, and potential impact on project success. It allows the project manager to identify the appropriate focus for each stakeholder or group of stakeholders.

Stakeholder = customer, sponsor, performing organization, public that positively or negatively affect the project.

Let's take a look at the Inputs, Tools and Techniques, and Outputs of this process.

1) Project Charter

• Provides information about internal and external parties related with the project and affected by the result or the execution of the project

2) Procurement Documents

• If a contract is involved that party is a stakeholder

3) Enterprise Environmental Factors

• May include:
• Organizational culture and structure
• Governmental or industry standards
• Global, regional or local trends, and practices and habits

4) Organizational Process Assets

• May include:
• Stakeholder register templates
• Lessons learned from previous projects
• Stakeholder registers from previous projects

5) Stakeholder Analysis

• A technique of systematically gathering and analyzing quantitative and qualitative information to determine whose interests should be taken into account throughout the project. 
• Multiple classification models
• Power/interest grid - grouping the stakeholders based on their level of authority (power) and their level of concern (interest) regarding the project outcomes
• Power/influence grid - grouping the stakeholders based on their level of authority (power) and their active involvement (influence) in the project
• Influence/impact grid - grouping the stakeholders based on their active involvement (influence) in the project and their ability to effect changes to the project's planning or execution (impact) 
• Salience mode - describes classes of stakeholders based on their power (ability to impose their will) urgency (need for immediate attention) and legitimacy (their involvement is appropriate) 

6) Expert Judgment

• Can be obtained through individual consultations or through a panel format to make sure that you have the comprehensive identification and listing of stakeholders

7) Meetings

• Help develop an understanding of major project stakeholders and analyze roles, interests, knowledge, and overall positions

8) Stakeholder Register

• Contains all details related to the identified stakeholders including:
• Identification information - name/position/contact information
• Assessment information - major requirements, expectations, phase with most interest
• Stakeholder classification - internal/external

Source: PMBOK 5th ed. 

Project Stakeholder Management - Overview

This knowledge area includes processes required to:

•  identify the people, groups, or organizations that could impact or be impacted by the project
•  to analyze stakeholder expectations and their impact on the project
•  to develop appropriate management strategies for effectively engaging stakeholders in project decisions and execution 
• focuses on continuous communication with stakeholders to understand their needs and expectations, issues, conflict and foster engagement 

It covers four processes that include:

1. Identify Stakeholders - identifying the people, groups, or organizations that could impact or be impacted by decisions, activity, or outcome of the project as well as analyzing and documenting relevant information regarding their interests, involvement, interdependencies, influence, and potential impact on project success. 
2. Plan Stakeholder Management - develops appropriate management strategies to effectively engage stakeholders throughout the project life cycle, based on the analysis of their needs, interests, and potential impact on project success
3. Manage Stakeholder Engagement - Communicate and work with stakeholders to meet their needs/expectations, address issues as the occur, and foster appropriate stakeholder engagement in project activities throughout the project life cycle. 
4. Control Stakeholder Engagement - monitors overall project stakeholder relationships and adjusting strategies and plans for engaging stakeholders. 

Source: PMBOK 5th ed. 

Project Procurement Management - Close Procurements

This process completes each procurement. It documents agreements and related documentation for future reference. It involves administrative activities such as finalizing open claims, updating records to reflect final results and archiving this information.

Early termination of a contract is a special case of procurement closure that can result from a mutual agreement, default of one party, or convenience of the buyer if provides for in the contract.

Let's take a look at the Inputs, Tools and Techniques, and Outputs of this process.

1) Project Management Plan

• Contains procurement management plan which describes the details and guidelines for closing out procurements

2) Procurement Documents

• Documents are collected, indexed, and filed. 

3) Procurement Audits

• A structured review of the procurement process originating from the Plan Procurement Management process through Control Procurements. 
• It identifies successes and failures that warrant recognition for other procurement contracts

4) Procurement Negotiations 

• Final goal is equitable settlement of all outstanding issues, claims, and disputes. 

5) Records Management System

• Used by the project manager to mange contract and procurement documentation and records. 

6) Closed Procurements

• The buyer provides the seller with formal written notices that the contract has been completed. 

7) Organizational Process Assets Updates

• Procurement file
• Deliverable acceptance
• Lessons learned documentation

Source: PMBOK 5th ed. 

Project Procurement Management - Control Procurements

This process manages procurement relationships, monitors contract performance, and makes changes an corrections to contracts as appropriate. It ensures that both the seller's and buyer's performance meets procurement requirements according to the terms of the legal agreement.

Includes application of the appropriate project management processes to the contractual relationship and integration of the outputs from these processes into the overall management of the project and may include:

• Direct and Manage Project work - authorize the seller's work at the right time
• Control Quality - inspect and verify the adequacy of the seller's product
• Perform Integrated Change Control - assure changes are approved
• Control Risks - ensure that risks are mitigated

You also have a financial management component that involves monitoring payments to the seller. You also review and document how well a seller is performing or has performed based on the contract and establishes corrective actions when needed. You may capture details for managing an early terminations of the contracted work in accordance with the termination clause of the agreement. 

Let's take a look at the Inputs, Tools and Techniques, and Outputs of this process.

1) Project Management Plan

• Describes how the procurement processes will be managed from developing documentation through contract closure

2) Procurement Documents

• Contain complete supporting records for administration of the procurement processes (contract awards and statement of work) 

3) Agreements 

• Understandings between parties, including the duties of each party

4) Approved Change Requests

• Can include modifications to the terms and conditions of the contract (SOW, pricing, descriptions, results etc.) 

5) Work Performance Reports

• May include:
• Technical documentation
• Work performance information

6) Work Performance Data

• May include:
• the extent to which quality standards are being satisfied
• costs that have been incurred or committed
• identification for the seller invoices that have been paid

7) Contract Change Control Systems

• Defines the process by which the procurement can be modified (paperwork, tracking systems, dispute resolution procedures and approval levels) 

8) Procurement Performance Reviews

• A structured review of the seller's progress to deliver project scope and quality, within cost and on schedule, as compared to the contract.

9) Inspections and Audits

• Verifies compliance in the seller's work processes or deliverables

10) Performance Reporting

• Work performance data and reports supplied by sellers are evaluated against the agreement requirements. 

11) Payment Systems

• Payments to seller are processed by the accounts payable system of the buyer after work has be authorized by the team. Document these payments. 

12) Claims Administration

• Any changes where the buyer and seller don't agree on compensation for the change are contested changes. 
• Also known as claims, disputes or appeals
• If not resolved they are handled by alternative dispute resolutions (ADR) 

13) Records Management Systems 

• Used by the project manager to manage contract and procurement documentation and records. It contains a retrievable archive of contract documents and correspondence. 

14) Work Performance Information

• Provides a basis for identification of current or potential problems to support later claims or new procurements. 
• Includes reporting compliances of contracts. 

15) Change Requests

• May include:
• Cost baselines
• schedule baselines
• procurement management plan
• Unresolved changes can include direction provided by the buyer or actions taken by the seller which the other party considers a constructive change to the contract

16) Project Management Plan Updates

• Procurement management plan
• Schedule baseline
• Cost baseline

17) Project Documents Updates

• Procurement document changes
• procurement contract with all supporting schedules
• requested unapproved contract changes
• approved change requests

18) Organizational Process Assets Updates

• Correspondence 
• Payment schedule and requests
• Seller performance evaluation documentation

Source: PMBOK 5th ed. 

Project Procurement Management - Conduct Procurements

This process obtains the seller responses, selects a seller and awards a contract. It provides alignment of internal and external stakeholder expectations through established agreements .

Let's take a look at the Inputs, Tools and Techniques, and Outputs of this process.

1) Procurement Management Plan

• Describes how the procurement processes will be managed from developing procurement documentation through contract closure

2) Procurement Documents

• Provide an audit trail for contracts and other agreements

3) Source Selection Criteria

• Information on the supplier's required capabilities, capacity, deliver dates, product cost, life-cycle cost, technical expertise, and the approach to the contract. 

4) Seller Proposals

• Form the basic information that will be used by an evaluation body to select one or more successful bidders

5) Project Documents

• Documents that include risk-related contract decisions 

6) Make-or-Buy Decisions

• Factors that influence these decisions may include:
• Core capabilities of the organization
• Value delivered by vendors meeting the need
• Risks associated with meeting the need in a cost-effective manner
• Capability internally compared with the vendor community

7) Procurement Statement of Work

• Provides suppliers with a clearly stated set of goals, requirements, and outcomes from which they can provide a quantifiable response. 
• Specifications
• Quantity desired
• Quality levels
• Performance data
• Period of performance
• Work location
• Other requirements

8) Organizational Process Assets

• Items that may influence Conduct Procurements:
• Listings of prospectives and previously qualified sellers
• Information on relevant past experience with sellers, both good and bad
• Prior agreements

9) Bidder Conferences

• Meetings between the buyer and all prospective seller prior to submittal of a bid or proposal
• Also known as contractor conferences, vendor conferences, and pre-bid conferences

10) Proposal Evaluation Techniques

• Formal evaluation review process will be defined by the buyer's procurement policies. 

11) Independent Estimates

• An organization can prepare its own independent estimate or get an outside professional to do one so that they can compare the differences in cost to the proposals

12) Expert Judgment

• have the experts review the seller proposals (contracting, legal, finance, accounting, engineering, design, research, development, sales, and manufacturing) 

13) Advertising

• Advertise to get more potential sellers to increase the pool of proposals

14) Analytical Techniques

• Helps organizations identify the readiness of a vendor to provide the desired end state, determine the cost expected to support budgeting, and avoid cost overruns due to changes. 

15) Procurement Negotiations 

• Clarify the structure, requirements, and other terms of the purchases so that mutual agreement can be reached prior to signing the contract. 
• Items covered
• Responsibilities
• Authority to make changes
• Applicable terms and governing law
• Technical and business management approaches
• proprietary rights
• Contract financing
• Technical solutions
• Overall schedule
• Payments
• Price

16) Select Sellers

• Those that have been judged to be in a competitive range based upon the outcome of the proposal or bid evaluation and who have negotiated a draft contract that will become the actual contract when an award is made. 

17) Agreements

• Includes terms and conditions and may incorporate other items that the buyer specifies regarding what the seller is to perform or provide. 
• Also known as - an understanding, a contract, a subcontract, purchase order and is legally binding
• May include:
• Statement of work or deliverables
• Schedule baseline
• performance reporting
• period of performance
• roles and responsibilities
• seller's place of performance
• pricing
• payment terms
• place of delivery
• inspection and acceptance criteria
• warranty
• product support
• limitation of liability
• fees and retainer
• penalties
• incentives
• insurance and performance bonds
• subordinate subcontractor approvals
• change request handling
• Termination clause and alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mechanisms 

18) Resource Calendars

• Identify the dates on which each specific resource or resource group can be active or idle

19) Change Requests

• Any change requests go through the Perform Integrated Change Control process

20) Project Management Plan updates

• May include:
• Cost baselines
• Scope baselines
• Schedule baselines
• Communications management plan
• Procurement management plan

21) Project Document Updates

• May include:
• Requirements documentation
• Requirements traceability documentation
• Risk register
• Stakeholder register

Source: PMBOK 5th ed. 

Project Procurement Management - Plan Procurement Management

This process documents project procurement decisions, specifying the approach, and identifying potential sellers. It determine whether to acquire outside support, and if so what to acquire, how to acquire it, how much is needed, and when to acquire it.

·        It identifies those project needs that can best be met or should be met by acquiring products, services, or results outside of the project organization, versus those project needs which can be accomplished by the project team.

·        It evaluates potential sellers

·        Project schedule can impact the Plan Procurement Management process

·        Evaluates risks involved with make-or-buy analysis

Let's take a look at the Inputs, Tools and Techniques and Outputs of this process.

1)     Project Management Plan

·        Scope baseline contents may include:

·  Project scope statement

·  Work breakdown structure (WBS)

·  WBS Dictionary

2)     Requirements Documentation

·        May include:

·  Important information about project requirements

·  Requirements with contractual and legal implications

3)     Risk Register

·        List of risks, along with the results of risk analysis and risk response planning

4)     Activity Resource Requirements

·        Information on specific needs such as people, equipment, or location

5)     Project Schedule

·        Information on required timelines or mandated deliverable dates

6)     Activity Cost Estimates

·        Estimates developed by the procuring activity and used to evaluate the reasonableness of the bids or proposals received from potential sellers.

7)     Stakeholder Register

·        Details on the project participants and their interests in the project

8)     Enterprise Environmental Factors

·        May include:

·  Marketplace conditions

·  Products, services, and results that are available in the marketplace

·  Suppliers

·  Typical terms and conditions

·  Unique local requirements

9)     Organizational Process Assets

·        May include:

·  Formal procurement policies, procedures, and guidelines

·  Management systems

·  An established multi-tier supplier system of prequalified sellers based on prior experience

·        Legal contractual relationships are fixed price or cost reimbursable and a hybrid called the time and materials contract.

·        Fixed-price contracts – setting a fixed total price for a defined product, service, or result to be provided. They have financial incentives for achieving or exceeding select project objectives (schedule delivery dates, cost and technical performance)

·  Firm Fixed Price Contracts (FFP) – price of goods is set at the outset and not subject to change unless the scope of work changes.

·  Fixed Price Incentive Fee Contracts (FPIF) – gives the buyer and seller some flexibility in that it allows for deviation from performance, with financial incentives tied to achieving agreed upon metrics. A price ceiling is set and all costs above the price ceiling are responsibility of the seller, who is obligated to complete the work.

·  Fixed Price with Economic Price Adjustment Contracts (FP-EPA) – used when the sellers performance period spans a considerable period of years, as it desired with many long-term relationships. It is fixed price but allows adjustments due to inflation changes, cost increases etc.

·        Cost-reimbursable contracts – involves payments to the seller for the legitimate actual costs incurred for completed work, plus a fee representing seller profit. They may include financial incentive clauses when the seller exceeds or falls below the defined costs, schedule or performance targets.

·  Cost Plus Fixed Fee Contracts (CPFF) – seller is reimbursed for all allowable costs for performing the contract work, and receives a fixed-fee payment calculated as a percentage of the initial estimated project costs. Fee is paid when work is completed.

·  Cost Plus Incentive Fee Contracts (CPIF) – seller is reimbursed for all allowable costs for performing the contract work and receives a predetermined incentive fee based upon achieving certain performance objectives set forth in the contract.

·  Cost Plus Award Fee Contracts (CPAF) – seller is reimbursed for all legitimate costs, but the majority of the fee is earned only based on the satisfaction of certain broad subjective performance criteria defined and incorporated into the contract.

·        Time and Material Contracts (T&M) – hybrid type of contractual arrangement that contain aspects of both cost-reimbursable and fixed-price contracts.

·  Use for staff augmentation, acquisition of experts, and any outside support when a precise statement of work can’t be provided.

·  They resemble cost-reimbursement and can be left open ended

·  They can increase in contract value as if they were cost-reimbursable contracts

·  Organizations require not-to-exceed values and time limits placed on these types of contracts

·  They can resemble fixed unit price arrangements like specific resource categories like senior engineers at specified rates per hour

10) Make-or-buy Analysis

·        A general management technique used to determine whether particular work can be bet accomplished by the project team or should be purchased from outside sources.

·        Budget constraints may affect this analysis

·        Available contract types are also considered

11) Expert Judgment

·        Use to assess the inputs and outputs

·        Use to develop and modify the criteria that will be used to evaluate seller proposals.

12) Market Research

·        Examination of industry and specific vendor capabilities (conferences, online reviews)

13) Meetings

·        Research and discussions with the right people will help formulate procurement strategy

14) Procurement Management Plan

·        Describes how a project team will acquire goods and services from outside the performing organization and may include:

·  Types of contracts to be used

·  Risk management issues

·  Whether independent estimates will be used

·  Unilateral actions – prescribed procurement, contracting, purchasing department

·  Standardized procurement documents

·  Managing multiple suppliers

·  Coordinating procurement with other project aspects (scheduling and performance reports)

·  Constraints and assumptions

·  Handling long term lead times

·  Handling make-or-buy decisions

·  Setting the scheduled dates in each contract

·  Identifying requirements for performance bonds or insurance contracts

·  Establish direction to be provided to the sellers for WBS

·  Establish form and format for procurement/contract statement of work

·  Identify prequalified sellers

·  Procurement metrics to be used

15) Procurement Statement of Work (SOW)

·        Describes the procurement item in sufficient detail to allow prospective sellers to determine if they are capable of providing the products, services or results. It can be revised many times until it is a signed agreement.

16) Procurement Documents

·        Used to solicit proposals from prospective sellers.

·        Decision made on price – bid, tender, or quotation

·        Proposal – used when considering technical capability

·        Terms used

·  Request for information (RFI)

·  Invitation for big (IFB)

·  Request for proposal (RFP)

·  Request for quotation (RFQ)

·  Tender notice

·  Invitation for negotiation

·  Initiation for sellers response

17) Source Selection Criteria

·        Used to rate or score seller proposals and can be objective or subjective

·        Selection criteria includes:

·  Purchase price

·  Item is readily available

·  Understanding of need – how well does the seller’s proposal address the SOW

·  Overall or life cycle cost – lowest total cost of ownership

·  Technical capability

·  Risk

·  Management approach – can they develop and manage properly

·  Technical approach

·  Warranty

·  Financial capacity

·  Production capacity and interest

·  Business size and type

·  Past performance of sellers

·  References

·  Intellectual property rights

·  Proprietary rights

18) Make-or-Buy Decisions

·        Result in a decision of whether particular work can be best accomplished by the project team or needs to be purchased from outside sources.

19) Change Requests

·        Any changes that involves procuring goods, services or resources go through the Perform Integrated Change Control process

20) Project Document Updates

·        May include:

·  Requirements documentation

·  Requirements traceability matrix

·  Risk Register

Source: PMBOK 5^th ed. 

Project Procurement Management - Overview

This knowledge area includes the processes necessary to purchase, or acquire products, services or results needed outside the project team. It also includes the contract management and change control processes required to develop and administer contracts or purchase orders issued by the project team members. As well as controlling any contract issued by an outside organization and administering contractual obligations placed on the project team by the contract.

Contract = also known as agreement, understanding, subcontract, or purchase order.

You can have multiple contracts on a complex project. It is assumed that the buyer of an item for a project is assigned to the project team and that the seller is organizationally external to the project team. Also assumed that a formal contractual relationship will be developed and exists between the buyer and the seller.

It covers four processes:

1)     Plan Procurement Management – documents project procurement decisions, specifying the approach, and identifying potential sellers.

2)     Conduct Procurement's – obtains seller responses, selecting a seller, and awarding a contract.

3)     Control Procurement's – manages procurement relationships, monitoring contract performance, and making changes and corrections as appropriate.

4)     Close Procurement's – completes each project procurement. 

Source: PMBOK 5th ed. 

Project Risk Management - Control Risks

This process implements risk response plans, tracking identified risks, monitors residual risks, identifies new risks, and evaluates risk process effectiveness throughout the project. It improves efficiency of the risk approach throughout the project life cycle to continuously optimize risk response.

Purposes of control risk:

• Variance and trend analysis – use of performance information generated throughout the project
• Project assumptions are still valid
• Analysis shows an assessed risk has changed or can be retired
• Risk management policies and procedures are being followed
• Contingency reserves for cost or schedule are modified

Let's look at the Inputs, Tools and Techniques and Outputs of this process.

1)     Project Management Plan

·        Includes the risk management plan that provides guidance for risk monitoring and controlling

2)     Risk Register

·        Identified risks and risk owners

·        Agreed-upon risk responses

·        Control actions for assessing the effectiveness of response plans

·        Specific implementation actions

·        Symptoms for warning signs of risk

·        Residual and secondary risks

·        Watch list

3)     Work Performance Data

·        Related to various performance results possibly impacted by risks includes:

·  Deliverable status

·  Schedule progress

·  Cost incurred

4)     Work Performance Reports

·        Take information from performance measurements and analyze it to provide project work performance information. This includes:

·  Variance analysis

·  Earned value data

·  Forecasting data

5)     Risk Reassessment

·        Control risks include identifying new risks, reassessment of current risks and closing of risks that are outdated.

6)     Risk Audits

·        Examines and documents the effectiveness of risk responses in dealing with identified risks and their root causes, as well as the effectiveness of the risk management process. (meetings)

7)     Variance and Trend Analysis

·        Compares the planned results to the actual results.

·        Trends should be reviewed using performance information.

·        Earned value analysis – used for monitoring overall project performance

8)     Technical Performance Measurement

·        Compares technical accomplishments during project execution to the schedule of technical achievement.

·        Includes weight, transaction times, number of delivered defects, and storage capacity.

9)     Reserve Analysis

·        Compares the amount of the contingency reserves remaining to the amount of risk remaining at any time in the project in order to determine if the remaining reserve is adequate

10) Meetings

·        Frequent discussions about risk make it more likely that people will identify risks and opportunities.

11) Work Performance Information

·        Provides a mechanism to communicate and support project decision making.

12) Change Requests

·        May include:

·  Recommended corrective actions

·  Recommended preventive actions

13) Project Management Plan Updates

·        Plan Risk Responses process will be updated

14) Project Document Updates

·        Risk Register updates may include:

·  Outcomes of risk reassessments, risk audits, and periodic reviews.

·  Actual outcomes of the project’s risk and of the risk responses.

15) Organizational Process Assets Updates

·        May include:

·  Templates for the risk management plan

·  Risk breakdown structure

·  Lessons learned

Source: PMBOK 5^th ed.