Documents and tools at a glance
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Documents and tools at a glance
In this section, we present an overview of the project management tools. The documents and templates are linked to the administration portal.
There are some binding documents for projects and major projects in central administration. These are marked with an asterisk, e.g. final project report*
Binding documents
Project profile*
The project profile...
- is produced in the producing a project profile phase by the relevant head of department and OU management with the involvement of other participants,
- is a binding document for potential projects and major projects in central administration,
- is used for orientation and organisation in the process of developing a potential project,
- is used for the initial organisation of a project idea and outlines the rough framework of the objective and the effort involved,
- makes an initial categorisation in terms of strategic benefit, available resources and constraints.
The definition of project or major project is contained in the basic information section in this handbook.
An objectives matrix and project profile can be easily combined.
Project proposal*
The project proposal...
- is produced in the project application phase and is used to further refine the project idea set out in the project profile,
- expands on the estimates and initial plans set out in the project profile,
- specifies the objectives and results as well as the affected parties / stakeholders of the project,
- describes the risks,
- considers the processes affected by the project,
- proposes a project organisation,
- presents a rough plan of costs and personnel resources based on the main tasks and with feedback from those involved in the project and their supervisors,
- forms the basis for the statement from IT services on the planned project,
- forms the basis for the decision of the Vice President for Administration and Finance Project Portfolio Board as to whether the project should go ahead.
An objectives matrix and stakeholder analysis are useful when preparing the project proposal.
Statement from IT services*
The statement from IT services...
- is used for early coordination between the OU that wants to carry out a project and the IT services,
- is based on an advanced draft of the project proposal,
- enables IT services to provide early information on, for example availability of required resources, suitability of software for existing system landscapes, project costs, etc
Project plan*
The project plan is drawn up as a binding document in the project planning phase. However, the CPM does not provide a template for this. We recommend using OpenProject to produce and update plans.
Regardless of the format used, the following minimum requirements apply to a project plan:
The project plan...
- is the project’s main planning document and enables project management to manage the project and the other parties involved to gain an overview of what still needs to be done or has already been done – and then to work through the necessary steps in a targeted manner,
- contains all matters that the project team needs to know and / or work on, and their timing – in other words, answers the question “What needs to be done by whom and by when in the project in order to achieve the goals?”
- is structured according to subtasks / phases / functions, including work packages consisting of activities, all of which are scheduled and assigned to people,
- takes buffer times, absences and (bank) holidays into account,
- is not filed away in a drawer, but rather is the living timetable of the project, which is constantly updated accordingly,
- varies in detail depending on the project – the more complex the project, the more detailed the project plan usually is.
To develop the project plan, it is advisable...
- for project management to plan the necessary tasks together with those involved (based on the project profile, project proposal and possibly the objectives matrix and W-questions) and go through the defined project results and determine what needs to be done,
- to break down tasks into work packages where helpful and possible (cf.work package description),
- to formulate the work packages specifically / schedule them / assign them to a responsible person and then group and organise them logically,
- to then take into account and harmonise the schedule and the roughly planned milestones set out in the project proposal (cf. milestone plan),
- to adapt the resource estimate set out in the project proposal and provide feedback to the responsible parties.
Status report*
The status report...
- is produced in the project implementation phase every 3 months by project management and sent to the central project management (currently via cloud storage),
- outlines the progress of the project and other important developments and decisions looking back and looking ahead, as well as the status of milestones,
- also examines risks and difficulties,
- forms the basis for informing the members of the Vice President for Administration and Finance Project Portfolio Board about the status of projects and major projects,
- strengthens dialogue between project managers and central project management.
The status report includes the milestone plan.
Final project report*
The final project report...
- is produced by project management and the project team,
- records the project results and achievement of substantive and time-specific objectives in the project completion phase,
- documents remaining work, outstanding issues and pending decisions including the responsibilities for further work after the project,
- records the experience, including for subsequent projects as part of lessons learnt.
Based on the final report, the commissioning party also relieves the project team and project management of their duties and the steering committee confirms the completion of the project; the Vice President for Administration and Finance Project Portfolio Board also takes the final report as the basis for deciding whether to officially terminate a project and remove it from the portfolio of ongoing projects.
Additional tools
Objectives matrix
The objectives matrix is an easy-to-use tool showing a project’s tasks at a glance:
The objectives matrix...
- fleshes out the idea of the project and ensures common understanding of the tasks and objectives
- provides a concise explanation and visualisation, both internally and externally, of why the project exists,
- helps those involved to familiarise themselves with the project at the start and helps them to adjust and, if necessary, make course corrections during the project,
- is filled in using the 4 fields with as much specific information as possible – this allows those involved to consciously engage with the task in a structured manner,
- is filled out with various people (commissioning party, project team)
- (diverging) interpretations and assumptions of the individuals involved are brought to light and can be discussed in the discussion of the objectives matrix
- can be used in any phase of the project to visualise or review the objective and make any necessary corrections thereto.
W-questions
The W-questions tool...
- helps summarise a project idea or a project in a concise but comprehensible way using just a few questions – it provides the most important background information at a glance,
- has a simple structure and can therefore be used quickly and without methodological preparation, as well as being easy to understand,
- picks up aspects of the objectives matrix and project profile on a single sheet,
- can be used to introduce an idea / project to potential supporters or to provide stakeholders with an overview.
Stakeholder analysis
Stakeholders are all people or groups, who are directly or indirectly affected by / involved in / interested in the project / the associated processes / the results.
The stakeholder analysis has three steps:
1 - Collecting information: who is part of the project’s social environment?
To this end, together with the project team and colleagues, project management identifies stakeholders based on these questions:
- Who do I need for the actual implementation?
- Who is formally involved? Without whom is it not possible?
- Who is affected and who could believe they are affected?
- Who could act as a multiplier inside / outside the university?
- Who do I or members of the project team know who could help us?
- Which processes are affected by the project / change?
2 - Analysis: what makes the stakeholders tick, what motivates them?
To this end, project management also addresses the stakeholders directly and interviews them, as well as gathering experience from similar projects from colleagues.
3 - Prioritising: who is of particular importance for the project?
To this end, project management assigns stakeholders based on the information from the analysis in the “stakeholder matrix” (see below)and discusses them again with the project team / colleagues.
Based on this analysis and prioritisation, project management and the project team agree on specific scheduled measures, in particular for communication, to win over the stakeholders as supporters of the project, for instance.
Milestone plan
In the project planning phase, the milestones from the project proposal are updated as soon as a project plan is available or the milestones are specified as part of project planning. The CPM does not provide a template for a milestone plan. We recommend using OpenProject for it.
The milestone plan...
- is the sum of all milestones and their deadlines in the project,
- consists of milestones, i.e. the major and special events that can be used to measure the progress of the project,
- does not consist of activities or time periods, does not require any resource information,
- includes a manageable number of such events that can be realistically achieved,
- breaks the project down into intermediate targets, i.e. determines on what date a major subject area / a phase / a comprehensive work package has been completed,
- helps project management and the project team, but also the commissioning party and, for example, the steering committee to keep an overview and communicate (cf. status reports).
Work package description
The work package description...
- can be produced for every work package, i.e. for every self-contained task, or only for the tasks that require detailed preliminary planning owing to their complexity and / or novelty,
- is coordinated directly with the members of the project team and others involved,
- therefore initially provides a structure in the project planning phase in order to record the extent of the necessary work steps, identify training requirements and also determine the required work duration, thus providing a basis for resource planning,
- provides work instructions for the members of the project team in the project implementation phase and thus makes things more straightforward.
Project start checklist
The transition between the project planning phase and the project implementation phase is a good point to pause and check that the basic requirements for implementation have been met.
The project start checklist...
- covers the absolute basics that should be completed to carry out the project,
- identifies the areas where there is uncertainty and which need to be reworked before the start,
- is useful for urgent and pressing projects, as it helps you to check once again whether the requirements for the start have been met.
Kick-off meeting agenda
A kick-off meeting...
- takes place before the project is carried out,
- lays the foundation for cooperation in the project because those involved in the project get to know each other,
- should establish agreement on project goals and basic parameters so that everyone knows how to reach the objectives.
Participation is compulsory, minutes will be taken and made available afterwards.
Activity list
Within a project, several people are working on the same or on several work packages and processes at the same time. The use of an activity list has proven a good way to keep track of all the different activities and deadlines.
The activity list...
- contains all items that still have to be completed – with timings and who is responsible,
- is a dynamic tool that must be maintained and updated,
- can be adapted in scope and focus so that the list meets the needs of the project team,
- is conveniently stored together with all the other project-relevant documents in a (Cloud) folder used by the project team so that it can be consulted (and edited) at any time.
If you prefer to set up a Kanban board for the activities, you can use the “Deck” function of the university's Nextcloud. A board is created there for an overall project or a subtask, the desired lists are added (e.g. “to do” / “in progress” / “completed”) and the activities are displayed and categorised as “cards”.
Ongoing compilation of lessons learnt
The lessons learnt...
- are the findings and experiences that those involved in the project make or have during the course of the project,
- are summarised in the final report,
- are ideally compiled and recorded continuously during implementation instead of only being discussed at the end, either in meetings or in separate workshops,
- also ideally help to adapt and improve the type of collaboration in the ongoing project,
- can help subsequent projects adopt best practices and / or not repeat mistakes.
Project end checklist
In the project completion phase, it is often a challenge to bring the project to an end in an orderly fashion. While those involved in the project might already have their next urgent projects lined up, for the colleagues in the line organisation, the (daily) work is only just beginning. The eleven questions set out in the “project end checklist” may help to shape this transition so that all those involved in the project as well as the organisation and stakeholders are taken into account.