Integrating Project Management Into the Organization
CEO
Demands:
30. That the project management discipline and supporting systems be fully integrated
will affected parts of the organization. |
It is no longer sufficient to treat the project management discipline as an
add-on, separate approach to how we handle our projects. It must be fully integrated
with all affected business systems. This means effectively linking all project
management systems and procedures with those that deal with:
- Financial and accounting.
- Resources: people, facilities, equipment.
- Development of product and services: research, engineering, prototype manufacturing.
- Operations: manufacturing, production, field service and support.
- Procurement: purchasing and contracting.
- Marketing: advertising, sales, distribution.
One of the primary causes of difficulty in planning and scheduling projects
has always been how to avoid too much detail in project plans, and how to avoid
conflict between project plans and the planning and scheduling systems and methods
used in the contributing functional departments. One answer in this area is the
establishment of what has been termed an "Project/Operations Planning and
Control" function, for want of a better name. Figure 5
illustrates this concept schematically, and shows how projects, whether in portfolios,
programs, or stand-alone, and project management systems can be linked and integrated
with the overall operations of the organization.
Figure 5: General Illustration of an Integrated Project/Operations Planning
and Control System [24]
24.
Archibald, 1992, op cit, 148
|
Continual
Improvement
