Knowledge Mapping

The Project Quality Assurance Role
Quality Assurance is often seen as an integral function that monitors and coordinates the quality used within the project management life cycle by evaluating the processes and procedures. Quality control, on the other hand, can be seen as a focused area (such as software testing) that compares the product to the specification or plan, with a focus of detecting and remediating errors or anomalies. Therefore, the Quality Assurance role is a critical factor in the success of the overall project as it is focused on key quality functions throughout an engagement. In his book “Project Management Nation,” Jason Charvat identifies the following key duties fo

The Challenge of Project Communication
We’ve all heard the clichés about communication. But putting the ideas into practice is often a lot harder than applying the theories. This is even truer for project management than for departmental management. For the purposes of this article, I’m looking at department managers who take on the role of project managers for one-off projects or for organizations that regularly rely on department managers to act in the role of project manager, because not all PMs have the ‘luxury’ of focusing solely on project management tasks. Some are temporarily thrust into the PM role while their primary responsibilities – and ultimately skill set – is outs

Varying Project Implementation Approaches
Getting the implementation phase right the first time is crucial for any project manager or project team. The method used for implementing a new solution to replace the old solution can vary depending on the needs of the customer and the actual flow of the system itself. In his book, “Project Management Nation,” Jason Charvat discusses three types of implementation approaches: Parallel Implementation, Phased Implementation, and Crash Implementation. Read on as Mr. Charvat discusses each type of implementation in further detail. Implementation Approaches There are a variety of options that a proj

The Importance of Testing
Any IT solution that is implemented without the proper amount of testing performed throughout the project is a definite recipe for disaster. Testing is an ongoing process – both formally and informally. It happens in development, it happens in the actual testing phase, it happens just prior to deployment and it happens post-deployment. In his book “Project Management Nation”, Jason Charvat discusses the importance of testing throughout an engagement and identifies the different types of testing that we usually carry out in both informal and formal processes. By sharing this information here, I am not fully endorsing it, ho

Association for Project Management Award Winners 2009
APM members were back at the The Brewery in London again this year for the announcement of who won the Project Management Awards. APM is the largest independent professional body of its kind in Europe, so the awards carry industry prestige. Programme of the year was picked up by Remploy for their Modernisation Programme, fighting off the Business Transformation Programme by Oxford City Council and competition from Establishing the Homes and Communities Agency and Tenant Services Authority, managed by PricewaterhouseCoopers.  Remploy – which helps get disabled people into work – aims to increase