PL:Project Management Plan

From ITERMAGwiki

Revision as of 14:55, 16 June 2008

Generalities

The Consortium Programme Management Plan is a document that describes the Consortium Programme Management System used by the Consortium Programme team.

The objective of the Consortium Programme Management Plan is to define the approach to be used by the Consortium Programme team to deliver the intended scope of the Consortium Programme .

A Consortium Programme Leader creates the Consortium Programme Management Plan following input from the project team and the Stakeholders, who are the Member Associates.

The plan should be agreed and approved by at least the project team and the stakeholders.

The Consortium Programme Management Plan includes the following main aspects:

• Project Structure;
• Scope Management;
• WBS Management;
• Schedule Management;
• Financial Management;
• Quality Management;
• Resource Management for resources like people, tools and others;
• Communications management;
• Project Change Management;
• Risk Management; and
• Procurement Management

It is good practice and mostly required by large consulting and professional project management firms, to have a formally agreed and version controlled Project Management Plan approved in the early stages of the project, and applied throughout the project.

We go through these proposed components one by one for ITERMAG to determine whether they should be part of the ITERMAG Consortium Programme Management Plan or not, and what the current status is.

Go to top

Structure

The ITERMAG Consortium is structured as the Consortium Programme, with a single Quality Management System. The purpose of structuring the Consortium as a "Programme" is to manage an undefined future number of "Projects". A common Contract Management Plan will provide the management structure of a Contract Project A separate Quality Plan will be applied to these multiple Contract Projects. The elements of the Consortium Structure is described in this section.

Members

The Consortium is a group of "Members". Most are EURATOM Associates. Members are defined in a formally binding "Consortium Agreement".

--Lister 14:49, 16 June 2008 (CEST) To be discussed in Madrid

Steering Committee

The Steering Committee includes:

• a nominee from each Member
• the Consortium Programme Leader
• the Deputy Consortium Programme Leader
• an open number of Technical Advisors, forming a "Technical Advisory Group".

The Steering Committee is represented externally by the Chairman of the Steering Committee who has delegated power of representation for the other Member Associates within the scope of the Consortium.

--Jo 10:51, 9 May 2008 (CEST) the June meeting has to agree precisely on what the Chairman can sign, and for whom. It appears that F4E wish to have a QA member of the Steering Committee. JBL finds this strange so far. --Lister 14:49, 16 June 2008 (CEST) F4E wishes the Grants to be handled by a "Coordinator"

Consortium Programme Leader

The Consortium Programme Leader assumes the technical responsibility for managing the Consortium, reporting to the Steering Committee and chairing the Consortium Programme Leadership Committee (PLS). The Consortium Programme Leader also chairs a Consortium Shared Resources Committee (CSR).

Consortium Programme Leadership

The Consortium Programme Leadership (PLS) includes:

• the Consortium Programme Leader
• the Deputy Consortium Programme Leader
• the Technical Advisory Group
• all Contract Project Managers
• an open number of ad hoc experts, called upon by the Consortium Programme Leader.

The Consortium Programme Leadership Committee is chaired by the Consortium Programme Leader, or his deputy.

Technical Advisory Group

The Technical Advisory Group includes at least one senior technical delegate from each Member who is not either Consortium Programme Leader or his Deputy. Its purpose is to guide the Consortium Programme Leader and thereby the Steering Committee in all technical judgments, and to ensure that each Member is represented at the technical level by a nominated representative.

The Technical Advisory Group shall meet regularly, and communicate on demand, to ensure that the technical competence of the Consortium is well used, and to analyse and respond to any technical issues. Each Member shall nominate one delegate to the Technical Advisory Group. Additional experts may be invited to attend specific meetings where appropriate.

Consortium Shared Resources

The Consortium Shared Resources are provided by the Members to provide resources to the Consortium Programme Leadership and to the Contract Project Managers. Consortium Shared Resources include accounting, administration, planning and quality control.

The Consortium Shared Resources are distributed among and within the Members, according to competence and availability. They have separate accounting and will constitute an overhead to be distributed between existing and future Contract Projects. Before the existance of a Contract Project, the Consortium Shared Resources shall constitute an accumulated debt to the Members, to be recovered from subsequent Contract Projects.

Contract Project

Each call for tender identified by the Steering Committee as within the scope of the Consortium, and considered to be of interest to the Consortium, will give rise to a "Contract Project" for which a Contract Project Manager will develop a plan of action with a Contract Project Team.

Contract Project Manager

The Contract Project Manager is nominated by the Consortium Programme Leadership (PLS) when a Contract Project is formed. The Contract Project Manager reports to the Consortium Programme Leader.

Authority and Reporting

All Consortium staff remain under the authority of their employer who is one of the Members. Staff are "assigned" either to the Consortium Shared Resources, or to a Contract Project. In this assignment role, they report to either the Consortium Programme Leader or to the Contract Project Manager for all affairs related to this assignment. Any case of dispute not resolved by these two authorities will be resolved by the Steering Committee. Reporting in this context corresponds to ensuring the correct execution and planning of the assigned activities, and does not replace any line management within each Member.

Within this context:

• the Consortium Programme Leader reports to the Steering Committee
• the Deputy Consortium Programme Leader reports to the Consortium Programme Leader
• the Consortium Shared Resources and the Technical Advisory Group are chaired by the Consortium Programme Leader
• the Contract Project Managers report to the Consortium Programme Leader

Go to top

Consortium Programme Scope

The scope of the ITERMAG Consortium Programme is handled in an Annexe to the Consortium Contract of Agreement.

Status --Jo 22:26, 25 April 2008 (CEST) being edited

Go to top

WBS - Work Breakdown Structure

A WBS is defined under Primavera for the operation of the Consortium Programme and the Consortium Programme Leadership. These two WBS are managed by the Consortium Programme Leadership. A generic Work Breakdown Structure will form the basis of a set of Contract Project WBS, each of which is managed by the Contract Project Manager.

Status --Jo 22:26, 25 April 2008 (CEST) WBS is being edited

Go to top

Schedule

The scheduling of the ITERMAG Consortium Programme is handled under Primavera using the following independent project schedules:

• Consortium Programme planning, for the activities of the full ITERMAG Consortium
• Magnetics construction planning, strongly linked to the ITER IO planning
• Contract Project planning, independently generated for each Contract, but linked to the Consortium Programme Planning for schedule and resources

Status --Jo 22:26, 25 April 2008 (CEST) Primavera is under learning curve at CRPP, prototypes being developed by Jo Lister

Go to top

Financial

The finance of the ITERMAG Consortium is defined in the ITERMAG Consortium Agreement. Monies are received for any Contract Project, or for Shared Resources, for all Members collectively. The amounts due are calculated by the Contract Project Manager, submitted through the Consortium Programme Leader to the Steering Committee for approval, and transmitted by the Steering Committee Chairman to the client. Handling the surplus or deficit for each Contract Project is specified in the Contract of Agreement. Payment should be through a single channel via a specific and isolated accounting in the Consortium Programme Leader Member.

Status --Jo 22:26, 25 April 2008 (CEST) Handled in the Agreement - no independent documentation required.

Status --Jo 10:51, 9 May 2008 (CEST) Simple question, can the Consortium create a bank account with sub-accounts ? JBL feeling is that this will not be the case, and that one Associate will be banker for all contracts, responsible for distributing to the others. A single financial entity would be easier, but I understand that it would not be feasible. Anyway, it is likely to be negative for a considerable time.... !!

Question --Lister 14:49, 16 June 2008 (CEST) JBL prefers a single payment through the PLS. This partially and formally conceals the redistribution of effort among Consortium Members.

Go to top

Quality Assurance

The Consortium Programme will function as programme with a single Programme Quality System. This Quality System will present the procedures and tools to ensure that this Consortium Programme Management Plan will be correctly and traceably executed by the Consortium. Individual Contract Projects will be generated to respond to multiple Calls for Proposals or Calls for Interest; each will have a Quality Plan developed as part of the offer.

Status --Jo 22:26, 25 April 2008 (CEST) Under development with the collaboration of the QA experts from CEA, CRPP, RFX

Go to top

Resource Management

Nominated Consortium Staff

Nominated Consortium Staff includes:

• Consortium Programme Leader
• Consortium Deputy Programme Leader
• Technical Advisory Group
• Contract Project Managers

Nominated Consortium Staff should be confirmed or replaced at least once per year, by action of the Steering Committee. To increase flexibility, such modifications should take place at the same time.

Consortium Shared Resources and Contract Team

Human Resource management will be a challenge for the Consortium, since all human resources will remain under the employment and authority of the independent Member Associate employers. They are "assigned" to work for the ITERMAG Consortium on a contract by contract basis. Any problems Clear accounting of the allocated resources fall under "Finance". Forward planning of the required and allocated resources will be generated by the Consortium Programme Leadership for the Consortium Programme and for by the Contract Project Manager for the Contract Projects. Non-release of the required Human Resources is foreseen to be a major difficulty due to the extreme pressure on Human Resources in all the Member Associates, a current situation which is likely to last.

Status --Jo 22:35, 25 April 2008 (CEST) To be part of the Contract of Agreement, and to be reviewed in June.

Comment --Jo 10:59, 9 May 2008 (CEST) We have to set a minimum on assignment, to avoid past difficulties. I see this as a challenge for generating real resources for the Consortium and for the contracts.

Go to top

Communications

Internal communications are described under Project Structure, and include spontaneous internal and external communications as well as regular internal and external reporting.

External communications (spontaneous)

• Commercial and contractual communications: Client <--> Steering Committee Chairman, copied to Steering Committee and Consortium Programme Leadership and archived.
• Technical decisions : Client <--> Consortium Programme Leader, copied to Consortium Programme Leadership and Contract Project Manager and archived.
• Technical information exchanges : Client <--> Contract Project Manager, copied to Consortium Programme Leadership and archived.

Internal communications (spontaneous)

• Steering Committee --> Consortium Programme Leader, copied to Consortium Programme Leadership and archived.
• Consortium Programme Leader --> Steering Committee, copied to Consortium Programme Leadership and archived.
• Consortium Programme Leader --> Contract Project Manager, copied to Consortium Programme Leadership and archived.
• Contract Project Manager --> Consortium Programme Leader, copied to Consortium Programme Leadership and archived.

External communications (reporting)

Note: All external reporting is under Contract Project Management.

Internal communications (reporting)

Consortium Programme Leader --> Steering Committee, copied to Consortium Programme Leadership and archived. Regular (2-monthly) reporting of the status of all current activities, including the status of each current Contract Project.

Contract Project Manager --> Consortium Programme Leader, copied to Consortium Programme Leadership and archived. Regular (1-monthly) reporting of the status of each current Contract Project.

External communications (publishing)

Responsibility for clearing all public communications (publication, conference abstract, paper or presentation, workshop presentation) on matters concerning a Contract Project lies with the Consortium Programme Leader, who shall consult the Consortium Programme Leadership in case of divergence of opinion. Notice of 5 working days is required.

Responsibility for clearing any public communications (other public meeting) on matters concerning a Contract Project lies with the Contract Project Manager. Notice of 5 working days is required.

In case of disagreement between the Consortium Programme Leader, the Contract Project Manager and a proposed presenter, the Chairman of the Steering Committee shall take prompt action to resolve this disagreement.

Communications within the institution of a Member Associate shall be clearly marked "In Confidence" unless previously cleared.

Electronic Document Management System

The Consortium will use a common EDMS for all documents transferred from one responsibility to another responsibility. The responsibility for the EDMS will come under the Consortium Shared Resrouces.

Status --Jo 19:35, 27 April 2008 (CEST) to be agreed and under discussion at CRPP

Go to top

Change Control

Change control only concerns the Consortium Programme Management Plan through modifications to the Consortium Agreement.

Go to top

Risk

Risk assessment mainly concerns the Contract Project Management Plan. The risk to the Consortium is a) absence of contracts to offset the Consortium Shared Resources and b) loss of opportunity.

Go to top

Procurement

Procurement of external resources/material appear under the Contract Project Management Plan, with the exception of investment of software for the Consortium Shared Resources.

Status --Jo 23:10, 25 April 2008 (CEST)

Go to top