1999 Project Mangement Case Study

On Project Risk Management "Principles of Forecasting Project"

The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, the Principles of Forecasting Project seeks to "develop a comprehensive and structured review of the state of knowledge in the field of forecasting" in order to aid future research. The project will lead to a book entitled Principles of Forecasting A Handbook for Researchers and Practitioners, and sample chapters, contact information, updates, and links to forecasting resources add value to this expanding compilation.

Pennsylvania Flora Project

Maintained by the Botany Department of the Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Flora Project is a longstanding effort to compile information on native and naturalized plants in that state. The Project has focused on the maintenance of the Database. A subset of the database, essentially a list of all Pennsylvania plants, has been placed online, and users may search "taxonomically by entering a family name, genus, binomial, or common name" and further modify their search by several attributes. These include origin, federal status, state status, growth habit, and wetland status

Interior Columbia Basin Ecosystems Management Project

The Interior Columbia Basin Ecosystem Management Project of the US Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management is to develop a new management strategy for public land administered by the two agencies in eastern Oregon and Washington, Idaho, western Wyoming, western Montana, and portions of northern Utah and northern Nevada.

Information on Project Personnel, Project Documents/News and a Newsletter are on the ICBEMP Web at [www.icbemp.gov]

Common Project Management Terms

Comparison Glossary of Common Project Management Terms
A Technical Brief

The Comparison Glossary of Common Project Management Terms, was moved from a WP document to the pages posted on the Forum. The work required a significant manipulation of data to publish the Glossary pages in HTML format. This involved the import of glossary definitions from the WP document to a Microsoft Access database and then to the production of Web pages.

[ See the Glossary Technical Brief for details of this data manipulation project ]

Human Genome Project

The U.S. Human Genome Project is a 15-year effort coordinated by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Institutes of Health to

To meet these goals researchers are studying the genetic makeup of several nonhuman organisms. These include the common human gut bacterium Escherichia coli, the fruit fly, and the laboratory mouse. A unique aspect of the U.S. Human Genome Project is that it is the first large scientific undertaking to address the ethical, legal, and social issues (ELSI) that may arise from the project. Contacts for this site and some Human Genome Project contacts.

The Internet2 Project

Internet2, a project to bypass the congested public Internet and link research institutions via a high-speed network, takes its first big step forward this month with the launch of the Abilene test-bed. Abilene will initially link 70 research institutions with 13,000 miles of fiber-optic cable looped between New York and Seattle and operating at 2.4G bits per second. Designed to serve the academic research community, Internet2 will not be accessible to the general public, but new technologies developed and tested on the network will certainly eventually find their way to ordinary end-users. At the Abilene site, users can learn about the project's history and participants, view a network map and technical information, and read the latest news and highlights. the main Internet2 site also offers a project overview, information on participants and goals, notices of Internet2 events, and news and highlights

Towards More Efficient Project Management at NPCIL

G.R. Srinivasan, Director (Projects) , Nuclear Power Corporation India Ltd. reports...

"In the area of project management a lot needs to done and a professional approach has to be achieved. The current time and cost overuns must be avoided. A detailed analysis and review has been completed. Reasons for delay in earlier projets have been identified and when the recommendations are implemented future projects can be built within five years."

The NPCIL Home Page has information on this study, Projects Under Construction and New Projects accompanied by Financial Performance of NPCIL

Forced Migration Projects

The Forced Migration Projects (FMP), operating under the auspices of the Open Society Institute (OSI), monitor developments in the Americas, the former Yugoslavia, and the former Soviet Union to identify the social, political, and economic conditions that cause the forced dislocations of people. This Website provides background information about the projects as well as full-text access to several FMP publications including The Forced Migration Monitor, a series of special reports on refugees and migration, recent news and articles on issues, and FM Alert an electronic bulletin service. In addition, the site compiles a list of refugee-related links and hosts a discussion forum

The Project Oriented Society Project

At the meeting in London UK in February 1999, the International Project Management Association established a Research Committee. The first research project of the Committee is "The Project-Oriented Society with objectives of:

For more on this IPMA Research Project contact:

Email: pmf@wu-wien.ac.at
Web Site: http://oracle.wu-wien.ac.at:88/pmnetwork

Canadian Government - Wide Procurement Reform Project

Procurement Reform Mission

Project Milestones

Use the Search Engine on the [ Treasury Board of Canada Web Site ] with the search string of "Procurement Reform" you will be taken to the Procurement Reform Project - Policies and Publications.

The Soul of a Project - The "egg-box" game
A Project Management Training Exercise

The Soul of a New Machine is a seminal book on the development of a Digital computer system and insight into the project management processes to arrive at a successful project. Ian Stokes uses the "Soul of A New Machine " book analogy to introduce a training room simulation exercise called the egg-box game undertaken by project management students to heighten and focus classroom interest and team involvement in the solution of a material problem. The team solution and the process of arriving at that solution provide training room style lessons learned in the management of projects.

While the analogy of a seminal management book and the mapping to a fairly trite class room exercise is a bit drawn there is some value, as long as it is not overstated, in the intermittent use of such "hands-on" exercises in the conduct of project management basic training. [ Click here for the full text of Ian Stoke's - the egg-box game learning exercise ]

Ian Stokes is a consultant working in France and the UK. He has worked in the French Automotive, Electricity Generation and other industries. His company, Metanaction, has 100 activities & exercises for developing project skills. Contact Ian on +331 43 28 88 96. Or e-mail 76242.763@compuserve.com

UNESCO Project Bethlehem 2000

Project Bethlehem 2000 is a project to historically preserve and peacefully rehabilitate Bethlehem, universally revered by Muslims, Jews, and Christians. This site is a photographic exhibition - over 70 images of Bethlehem (Church of the Nativity, Other Religious Buildings, People and Houses, and Bethlehem's Outskirts).

Development and Cooperation Projects - Evaluation Guidelines

Project management practitioners in the field of social and educational development projects will be interested in the United Nations Educational , Scientific and Cultural Organization's - Guidelines For the Evaluation of Development and Co-operation Projects. See the UNESCO Web Site, Paris, France.

Project Management Institute Searches
for Project Management Principles

The Project Management Principles Project

The Standards Program Team of the Project Management Institute has promulgated a project to address "the need for a high-level, overarching guidelines for the project management profession through the identification and presentation of project management principles.

The PMIŽ Project Principles Charter states that the

.." Principles are to address the breadth of project management and derived from and applicable to all knowledge application areas...".

The Project Manager is Kenneth Hudascsko The Charter of the PMI Project Management Principles Project is on line at http://www.pmi.org/standards/pmprinciplescharter.htm

The Introduction to& the July, 1999 PMFORUM Featured Paper "Fundamental Principles of Project Management" by Max Wideman stated

"From time to time, various attempts have been made to enunciate "Principles and Practices" of project management. However, there appears to be no consensus on either the principles or the practices of 'acceptable'project management, nor does there appear to be much documentation of any "theories" of project management either supporting these principles and practices or derived from them. Thus, the foundation of the project management discipline appears to be somewhat weak.

On the other hand, there is a wealth of literature researching projects to determine what people do in project management, followed by conclusions drawn, as well as a wealth of advice on ‘How to do it better’ (practices). However, since few projects appear to pre-define their product success criteria, the results of these projects may be good, bad, or indifferent. Hence, some of the conclusions drawn may be questionable."

What appears to be missing is a set of fundamental project management principles as a basis for comparison. The Wideman paper is an attempt to address this gap.

[ Click here for the full text of Max Wideman's paper ]

 

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