This section of the application assumes that the authors will reformulate the goals and objectives of the project in the form of the desired results. The basic principle of formulating results is the extreme specification of what will be considered the result of activity. At this stage, the desired results of activity in a given time period are formulated, cause-and-effect relationships between the results of different levels are determined.
In addition, it must be remembered that the results are divided into quantitative and qualitative. Accordingly, when describing the section, it must be remembered that any project involves the achievement of not only quantitative results, but also qualitative ones.
For example:
The organization intends to form the skills of those wishing to find a job in writing a resume and negotiating with a potential employer. As a method of achieving this result, training in the form of seminars was chosen. The number of trainees is 40 people. At the same time, the organization does not consider it its task to employ those trained at seminars. An organization can try to track how many of the trainees have found work.
But in order to employ seminar participants, it is necessary to provide for additional activities that are not reflected in this scheme.
Hypothetically, the organization could simultaneously maintain a database of available vacancies, maintain contacts with employers, give recommendations for employment, help to pass the probationary period, etc. In this case, the employment of 30 people could already be the result of activities for a given time period.
If the organization formulates for itself the result as an increase in the standard of living of 30 trained, then it must include a number of other areas in its action plan.
Evaluation.
How, by what criteria will you evaluate the effectiveness of the project? What data will you collect to assess the achievement of the goal and solve the tasks of the project, how to analyze and use this data? Criteria for assessing expected results should be considered. Qualitative and/or quantitative evaluation indicators should correspond to each outcome. If a questionnaire is expected, give approximate questions that will be included in the questionnaire.
"Budget" section
In each project application, a budget (estimate) will be indicated. A full-fledged application should itself lead to the form and content of the budget. If the application contains all the justifications for attracting expensive technical assistance, the budget will reflect this. If the project plan convincingly demonstrates the need for a study visit to another country for the beneficiaries of the project, such activities will also be reflected in the budget.
The budget should contain a detailed list of the costs and revenues assumed in this project, reflecting all the nuances. It is necessary to indicate realistic and complete information, not to overestimate or underestimate costs.
The column "The organization's own contribution" is extremely important. The more you invest yourself, the more impressive your adamant desire to implement the project looks. Therefore, look around and invest in the project everything that may be useful, it does not matter whether it is a monetary contribution, what you received from other funds, or in-kind. Non-cash deposits are goods or services that are directly related to the project and are used in the course of its implementation.
An example of such a contribution would be a room provided to you by another organization, renting existing computer and photocopying equipment, etc. Although these services and goods do not cost you anything, you would have to ask the fund to allocate funds to cover them in case you did not take care of them yourself.
Income may include other grants (received or requested), donations from individuals. Your goal: to prevent all questions regarding the budget that the fund may have.
There should be no surprises in your budget, the expenditure points of the budget should reflect only what was discussed in the section "Project Activities" (if in this section you did not mention transportation services, then do not include in the budget the amount for the purchase of a minibus). Avoid vague items, such as "other" or "other." In the explanation to the budget, indicate how the non-cash contributions were valued.
Budget evaluation criteria
- - A clear distinction is made between funds received from the donor and from other sources.
- - Corresponds to the descriptive part of the application.
- - The amount is sufficient to secure all the works specified in the descriptive part of the application.
- - Detailed.
- - Includes all donor-funded articles.
- - Includes all articles funded from other sources (including the applicant's own resources).
- - Includes all types of work on a voluntary gratuitous basis.
- - Separates the cost of benefits and taxes from wages.
- - Includes the payment of consultants and other employees under the contract.
- - Separates wages from other direct expenses.
- - Includes all indirect costs if needed.
- - Takes into account the current level of inflation.
The application should have a section explaining how the success or failure in achieving the set goals will be evaluated. If your goals are specific and measurable, then writing this section will not be difficult, since you know exactly what you need to evaluate. In this case, you should explain:
- - what assessment tools you will use (for example, tests, studies, questionnaires, interviews, results of scientific observations);
- - who will make the measurements and why;
- - who or what and at what point in time is measured.
Project Result Types
Deliverable: Any unique and verifiable product, result, or ability to provide a service that needs to be produced to complete a process, phase, or project. Types of project products: material products (products), service or ability to provide it, intangible result (new state of the system or intellectual result).
Requirement: Certain conditions or characteristics that the results of the project must meet or have. The requirements record the requests, wishes and expectations of the project participants from the final result. What does the project participant want from the final result, and what really needs to be implemented?
Stages of describing the objectives of the project
1. Material results.
All results that can be measured by quantitative criteria. Examples of material results:
Building. A real estate object that can be described by technical documentation.
Software.
Regulatory materials.
2. Services or the ability to provide them. Examples of service results:
New services.
New project types.
3. Intangible result. Examples of intangible results:
- Experience in project implementation.
- Project Implementation Patterns
- Results of the project
The result of the project should be defined and described as early as possible. The description of the project result is called the project content. The content of the project must be agreed upon. All changes in content should be recorded and agreed with stakeholders.
Results of the project
The product of the project is a materially measurable result of the project. The result of meetings with stakeholders is the fixation of project products. The described project product defines the outcome that stakeholders expect to see in confirmation of the completion of the project.
For projects with a low level of uniqueness, the project product can be determined at the earliest stages. Many companies determine in advance the products of their projects to reduce risks.
If you clearly know what will be the product or what technology you will use in the implementation of the project, you will be able to immediately see and minimize possible risks. The higher the uncertainty of customers with the project product, the higher the level of risk of the project. Many companies do not take for projects with a weakly defined result, and if they do, they try to force the customer to agree to the usual product and / or technology for the company.
In our projects to implement a corporate project management system, we have a high degree of uncertainty with the final product. What methods and models of project management does your company need now or what will be needed in the future?
We do not know this at the time of the start of the project. Therefore, we try to convince the customer to use a flexible technology for implementing the CSMS. It is designed and tested by specialists and allows you to minimize the risks associated with product uncertainty.
Let's consider an example of the products of an organizational project for the implementation and development of a corporate project management system:
- Project schedules, completed project documents.
- Business processes, regulations, instructions, document templates and schedule templates.
- Trained specialists of the company (project portfolio managers, project managers, members of project teams).
- Project management information system. Applications for various members of the project organization.
Let's consider an example of construction project products for a client:
- Ownership of land and real estate.
- Built house.
- Interior decoration of premises.
- Installed furniture (kitchen, fitted wardrobes, etc.)
- Guarded parking.
- Product of the project
The product of the project is not difficult to distinguish, it can be measured by quantitative values. It can be a building with a clearly specified number of floors, rooms, a package of approved documents, etc. When describing a project product, you must specify not only a description of the final result, but also the state in which the project product is located.
Description of the state of the project product is a prerequisite for a qualitative description of the project product. For example, in the plan-schedule, the milestone is the "Technical Documentation" and the question immediately arises: "what happened to it"? It has been approved, agreed upon or developed.
In a project schedule plan, the project product can be described using milestones. Set the project milestones and forms the goals plan. The conceived target plan is used by management to monitor the progress of the project. Managers are interested in what is already there at the moment, and for this poor quality described, or even worse missing milestones, will cause a lot of conflict in the project.
No comments:
Post a Comment