This time the author will give guidelines to execute a security project based on good planning, which will guarantee a better execution.By: Henry A. Rivera*
In our last edition we advanced quite a long way in terms of the theory and the bases of the PMI® for the development of projects. Therefore, from this delivery what awaits us is to start giving the most important keys for the good execution of a project; but as has been said from the beginning: for a good end a good start is important, that is, we require a good planning of the project to be executed.
Adequate project planning: When we talk about this topic, we must bear in mind that this statement is not capricious, because as seen in the previous installment, the managerial process with the highest number of subprocesses is that of planning. This is because the more detailed the process of how the project will be executed, the fewer options we will have to make mistakes in its development, since the different alternatives that may arise in the development of the project have been analyzed, as well as risks can be faced and in most cases, what are the expectations of those interested in the project, that is, the final client or user, who will be in charge of giving the project the go-ahead.
Taking into account the above, we can express the information in a graph, which starts from the collection of information from the project stakeholders or Stakeholders and ends with the project budget.
Stakeholder Analysis: According to what is stated by the PMBOK®, it is considered that the Stakeholders are those people or organizations that will be directly and actively involved in the project, therefore they can influence it in a positive or negative way, according to their high interest or power. Therefore, we must almost always take into account the following roles to have a good analysis of the interested parties:
• Project Manager: Responsible for development
of the project.
• Client: Will be in charge of using the product of the
project.
• Sponsor: Person or organization that will contribute
financial resources. In some cases it can be the
same customer.
• Project team: People who will participate in it.
Having the previous Stakeholders as main, the independent analysis of each of them will begin, taking into account the following variables: who are those who more or less power have in the project, which are those of more or less interest, what are the main interests with respect to the project, what are the needs or expectations of each one and if these can be in conflict with each other. Finally, what information is required from the project and at what time.
All of the above in order to obtain a matrix that will present the most important Stakeholders or the least interested, in such a way that we have a graph.
This matrix will also inform us how the ways to monitor or report to our Stakeholders in an appropriate way should be.
Needs and expectations: After having fully identified and evaluated our Stakeholders, we will proceed to take the different needs of each one, in order to list the requirements of the project, which are the raw material to determine which are the deliverables. This process will also serve to determine a communications matrix that will be key to keeping our Stakeholders informed, according to their needs or expectations regarding the project.
The communications matrix mainly consists of those involved in communication, the type of information, the form and frequency in which it communicates them. This data is quite important because it creates standards for communication or reporting, making it clear, accurate and concise, to get an adequate idea of the status of the project.
Requirements: The main objective when listing the requirements of the Stakeholders is to ensure that the project meets their expectations. That will guarantee a high percentage of success, because many times projects are developed without taking into account what the requirements of our clients are and the projects become endless, because the end user will not be satisfied with the product delivered.
It is important for this case to have very well identified the following characteristics in a requirement, because remember that they are the basis for determining the viability of the project.
Unique: It must be interpreted in only one way.
Verifiable: Its execution must allow its verification.
Of course: It must be established in a clear and simple way.
Realizable: It should be possible to perform according to the current constraints of time, money and available resources.
Necessary: At least one of the Stakeholders must request this requirement, which must be identified as functional or non-functional. This is an important key in the development of the product, because sometimes it tends to affect a project because it is not taken into account that one of the requirements was functional and that without it the product would work or meet the expectations of the client.
Deliverables: As the name implies, they will be those elements that will serve to verify compliance with the scope of the project. That is, from a good determination of these deliverables, the project can materialize. Thus the sum of deliverables will be the final product. Therefore, if the requirements have been properly defined, knowing how many and which are the deliverables (by-products) will facilitate the control of our scope in the control and closing processes.
Later we will go into detail about how these deliverables are constituted as a product of the project, through the structure of the WBS.
Specs: After having defined each of the requirements of the project, it will proceed to determine which deliverable will represent it and finally it will be specified, in such a way that the by-product contains a series of particularities, which determine the main characteristics of the element. For projects in electronic security, the technical characteristics of the equipment or the way in which they must be installed are assumed.
Product production process: At this point, the development of the project will be planned, that is, the design, construction, testing, installation and delivery of the product. It is essential that the different elements of the environment are taken into account and a detailed process of each step that will be taken at the beginning of the project is applied in depth. For each previous stage, the cycle will be fulfilled: initiation, planning, control and closure.
In the three previous statements everything related to the design is specified, and then we will develop a tool that will help us control the construction and scope
of the project.
Work breakdown structure (WBS): Undoubtedly, this is one of the most important elements in the development of project management, as it creates a structured division of labor (DTE) that serves to define which by-products make up the project and which discrete elements, added together in an organized and defined way, constitute the entire project.
It is important to clarify that each of the packages or subpackages have a tangible deliverable, a related cost and time, as well as a dependency and interdependence between packages.
Timelines and budgets: At the end of the work of the WBS, it must be reflected in a schedule that will have all the activities, related to each other in an orderly manner and grouped by work packages; these activities will have associated times for the development of the work packages. I must clarify that for a good understanding of the schedule it is required to have at hand a WBS dictionary, which I expanded in a more detailed way each component.
Finally, from the schedule that contemplates all the necessary resources, the accumulated budget for the entire execution is obtained, and which will be called as the cost baseline for the project.
Next, as a brief summary I will present three important keys when planning a project:
Key 7: It is very important to determine which is the Stakeholder of greatest interest and power, because it is practically the person who will most influence the development of the project and therefore must be kept informed, as well as willing to attend to any request made. These should always be documented, in order to keep a record of the changes that occurred during the development of the project.
Key 8: In general, when the survey of the requirements in security projects is carried out, it is usually tended to be done verbally and in the best of cases a plan of location of elements is raised. But this is not enough, it is recommended to document which element will be installed, what will be the location and what area it will cover or what will be its main function.
This will guarantee that at the time of verifying the deliverable you have a checklist with the main characteristics of it. Beware of this key, because in some contracts the requirements are not specified, but the delivery is left open with a simple "Full customer satisfaction", and it is in this sentence where the project becomes endless, because it is very difficult for the client to be at ease if that satisfaction is not specified.
Key 9: To develop the WBS in a clear way it is recommended to start from small work packages which, as they complement each other, form larger groups of work that when added together will form the product of the project. It is important to have an adequate size of these packages, so that they can be measured and controlled. As for example, a work package can be the laying of wiring for an alarm in a certain area and another package will be the installation of the sensors of that area, which together make up the assembly of the alarm system of an area.
Continuation of the analysis of the case
Continuing with our methodology we will take the installation of the CCTV of our hypothetical case. And in it will be quickly developed what would be the best way to plan the development of the CCTV project.
Initially, the different Stakeholders involved in this project will be taken, of which we highlight the following people: the Board of Directors as a client and as a sponsor, Mr. Julio Rojas as project manager, the employee community and the insurance company.
It is analyzed in a general way that the Board of Directors is a Stakeholder that has high power and interest in the project to move forward. The project manager has high interest but medium power. The community of employees has high interest but little power, and finally, the insurance company has little power and little interest, because ultimately there is no direct impact on the sale of the policy, only a discount is granted.
Based on the above it is required to keep the Board of Directors very well informed and managed, the project manager must be kept informed of the development, employees will be monitored with respect to their expectations.
Below we present the requirements that were taken from the main Stakeholders: Board of Directors: obtain the discount on the policy. Project manager: that the development of the same occurs within the budgeted time and cost without affecting the quality. The company's employees: that the security indexes increase as they feel more protected by the CCTV system.
For the elaboration of the WBS the CCTV system will be considered as the main deliverable, then we divide them into work packages as follows:
1. Fixed cameras installed and working.
2. Mobile dome installed and working.
3. Recording and viewing equipment.
In turn, each of these packages will be divided into smaller subpackages. This was seen in the previous installment in numeral 3 of the analysis of the case, in which the sequence of activities is added to form packages, for example: installed gutter or cable laid would be subpackages with smaller activities.
Finally we have the schedule and budget eque is elaborated in Ms Project or other software for project management, we will talk about them in the next editions.
* Henry A. Rivera R. is an Electronic Engineer, Project Management Specialist, member of the PMI Colombia Chapter and with extensive experience in the planning and execution of projects in the area of electronic security.
