Agreements

Agreement is the understanding between the buyer and the seller which is a project document. Agreements can be contracts, MOU, level of agreements, letter of intent, master service agreement, service level agreement, etc..

Agreement is a project document and is the input for Develop Project Charter, Determine Budget processes and the output of Conduct Procurements process.

Business Case

Business Case justifies the need of the project, worth to invest and is helps to make decision. Business need and the cost benefit analysis are part of Business Case. It provides the reason for starting the project, approach to make the project success at a very high level, benefits and dis-benefits.

Business case is created because of legal requirement, technology change, organization change, market demand, to serve the social need, customer request, ecological impacts. The project manager should follow the life cycle efficiently and effectively to meet the business need.

Business Case is the input for Develop Project Charter process.

Project Statement of Work

Project Statement of Work (SOW)provides the product description about the product or service or result which will be delivered by the project. This project document will be provided by the customer. If the project is because of the internal need then the sponsor or the initiator will provide SOW. The SOW contains Business need, Product scope description and strategic plan.

Business need provides the need of the project which can be because of legal, technology, market conditions, new initiative, etc…

Product scope description is about the characteristics of the product, service or result which we are going to achieve. It should be in relationship with business need.

Strategic plan is about the goal, vision and objective in alignment with organizational strategy and vision.

Project Statement of Work is a project document and is in the input for Develop Project Charter process.

Stakeholder Analysis

To make the project success stakeholder management is very important. Before this one need to identify the stakeholders in the project, their needs, expectations, etc… This will be taken care by a technique Stakeholder Analysis. It is a systematic approach to identify the needs in terms of qualitative and quantitative. Also the technique helps in understanding the influence of stakeholders towards the project and with other stakeholders in terms of relationships. To list a few activities:

•Identify the potential stakeholders, their contact information, from which function they belongs to, external or internal, their needs, roles, etc.. It is difficult to identify all the stakeholders in the beginning. To overcome this challenge identify the key stakeholders such as sponsor, primary customer and involve them and use the other techniques like Meeting, Expert Judgment to identify the potential stakeholders. Of course identification of stakeholders has to happen throughout the project.

•Understand each stakeholder impact and support, so that accordingly you can prioritize the communication in an efficient manner.

•Assess how the stakeholders may react to different situations which help in identifying the threats for the project.

There are different models which can be developed with Stakeholder Analysis: Power vs Interest grid, Power/Influence grid, Influence vs Impact grid and Salience model which considers three parameters namely power, urgency and legitimacy.

The diagrams below show the Power vs Influence grid and the Salience Model.

Stakeholder Analysis technique is used under the process Identify Stakeholders.

Procurement Audits

Procurement Audits is used to find the success and the failure of the procurement related activities which justify for the other procurement activities within the project or for some other projects within the organization. It is a structured review carried right from planning of procurements through controlling.

Procurement Audits technique is used under the process Close Procurements.

Records Management System

The documents which are part of procurements need to be archived in some place. This will be taken care by Records Management System tool. It is part of PMIS (Project Management Information System) and used to control, manage contracts, procurement documents and records.

Records Management System tool is used under the processes Control Procurements and Close Procurements.

Claims Administration

During the procurement related activities claims, disputes, appeals which we call it as contested changes are part of life. Claims Administration technique takes care of this. Claims Administration technique is used when the changes that has occurred or potential changes which may occur cannot be agreed both by the buyer and seller. Sometimes it calls for third party involvement which we call it as Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). It is always better to settle these contested changes by negotiation.

Claims Administration technique is used under the process Control Procurements.

Payment Systems

Payment on time to the seller is very important as part of the procurement related activities. Payment Systems technique helps in ensuring that payment is happening to the seller from the buyer side after the satisfaction of the work and authorized by the project team. This should be done as per the contract.

Payment Systems technique is used under the process Control Procurements.

Inspections and Audits

During the procurement related activities one needs to check the process and deliverables are as per the contract. Inspections and Audits techniques checks the process and deliverables are as per the required compliance. During this even the procurement personnel from the buyer side can be involved.

Inspections and Audits technique is used under the process Control Procurements.

Procurement Performance Review

Procurement Performance Review technique is used to find the performance of the sellers to see how he is doing in terms of quality, cost, scope, schedule, etc.. This helps in identifying success and failures, non compliance if any by comparing with contracts.

Procurement Performance Review technique is used under the process Control Procurements.