User talk:Amit Rathi (AR)

PROGRAM MANAGEMENT

Introduction of Program Management.

With the advancement in technology, the working styles of various organizations have changed. Earlier it was Project Management, divided into different modules, which was given primary importance because the tasks to be fulfilled were not that complex. With the passage of time the demand has increased because the project workload has increased and moreover current projects include gigabit networking to the desktop, the ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) initiatives and technology enhanced classrooms. So the main emphasis has turned to Program Management. Program Management consists of working and controlling various interlinked projects with the flow of resources between them. These projects may also be sub-divided into various modules and each module being performed in a single segment or different segments.

What is Program Management?
A program (in management) has at least two senses:-

1.	A collection of projects that is directed toward a common goal.

2.	A broad framework of goals to be achieved, serving as a basis to define and plan specific projects.

Program management is defined as “the coordinated management of interdependent projects over a finite period of time in order to achieve a set of business objectives”. It is the process of managing multiple ongoing inter-dependent projects. These various projects may or may not run concurrently. In the high-technology, aerospace and automotive industries, program management is a critical business function that provides the means by which new products are conceived, developed and brought to market in order to achieve a major share in the profit. Another example of this would be that of designing, manufacturing and providing support infrastructure for an automobile manufacture. This requires hundreds, or even thousands of separate projects like built up of various parts of the automobile, the various facilities available in it, designing the shape etc.

It reflects the emphasis on coordinating and prioritizing resources across projects, departments and entities (different modules of the project where each module has a separate function to perform) to ensure that resource contention is managed from a global focus. It also provides a layer above project management focusing on selecting the best group of programs, defining them in terms of their constituent projects and providing an infrastructure where projects can be run successfully and leaving the project management to the project management community.

Program management responsibilities can vary. For instance, manufacturing program management responsibilities will be much different than program management responsibilities for a pharmaceutical trial and data collection program.

Now before proceeding forward, we should have a look at the structure of a Program. A Program is very large and a small group of people cannot have a complete control. To simplify the task they are divided into various Projects which may or may not be subdivided into various modules.

Structure of a Program
Various Types of Program

•	A Change Program: - It is a group of projects and other items of work                managed coherently together. The change program must have a clear strategic vision and be concerned with delivering big and important things whilst managing complex change. Change management can be thought of as a giant project containing a number of smaller projects. In these programs the main emphasis is given to coherence of the whole program and the mechanisms for ensuring coherence.

•	A Work Program: - It is a group of initiatives which may or may not be related but which have to be co-coordinated because they call on the same pool of resources. A work program is a collection of items of work which are really only managed together because they contend for the same people and other resources. Work Program need to focus on the prioritization and resourcing of work activities and have less need for project structures. In work program there are likely to be far fewer cross cutting issues and fewer inter-project dependencies, except for the contention for resources.

•	A Policy Program: - It is a change program that is focused on making societal changes. For example in the Department for Education and Skills (as elsewhere in Government) policy program are inevitably about achieving some form of social change, so they involve changing things outside the organization. In these situations, you need to start thinking about delivering the policy in program terms in the very early stages of policy development.

Strands/Workstrands
A strand is a mini project within a program (or indeed project), because of its size it may not have a separate strand (i.e. ‘Project’) brief, but it will usually have its own risk and issue registers. Strands at a program level tend to cover program cross-cutting areas such as: ICT, communications, evaluation, management information, change management and modeling. It is desirable to have the people who run the cross-cutting strands attend the program board. A strand might also be a specific big piece of work that is very closely linked to the program (or project) and that, by being a strand, allows the close link to be maintained and the dependencies within the program (or project) managed more effectively whilst allowing some autonomy for the strand leader.

Working in a Program
All programs will have certain similarities in that they will be led by a Senior Responsible Owner/Officer (SRO). The responsibilities of the SRO are:-

•	Starting up a Program or Project.

•	Initiation and planning.

•	Control and execution.

•	Program and Project Closure.

•	Program and Project Post Implementation Review.

They also have a Program Manager, who is responsible for the day to day management of the program supported by a Program Support Office (PSO also known as a Program office). The responsibilities of the Program Manager/ Director are as follows:-

•	Accountable to executive sponsors for schedule, budget, and quality of all program elements.

•	Leads high-level sessions for program plan and schedule development.

•	Reviews/approves project plans for conformance to program strategy and program plan and schedule.

•	Acts as the communications conduit to executive sponsors and program steering committee and conducts periodic briefings/status updates.

•	Escalates decisions to executive sponsors as necessary.

There are many others who will be working within the Program, who will be organized into sub-program teams, which will be managed by Sub-Program Managers and/or, Project teams, which will be run by Project Managers. The various responsibilities of a Project Manager are:-

•	He has to insure the success of a project by minimizing risk throughout the lifetime of the project.

•	He will usually have to ask penetrating questions, detect unstated assumptions and resolve interpersonal conflicts.

•	Provides project management support, advice and skills.

•	Manages the workflow and prioritization of the activities within the project.

•	 Advises and reviews major project deliverables and outputs.

•	Undertakes relevant workforce assessments, training needs analysis and business readiness assessments

Key Factors in Program Management
1.Governance

Programs must have a more robust structure and control because their failure can have a large impact. Program governance is the aspect of the discipline that creates both the structure and practices to guide the program and provide senior-level leadership, oversight, and control. Strategically, it encompasses the relationship between the oversight effort and the enterprise's overall business direction. It also encompasses all the decision-making roles and responsibilities involved in executing the program effort.

2.Management

We know that at the lowest level project managers co-ordinate their individual projects. They are overseen (supervised) by the Program Manager who accounts to the program sponsor. Now the question arises what actually is program and project management? Are they really a management at all? To clear our doubts about these questions we have a look at the accepted definition of Project Management.

Project management is the planning, organizing, directing, and controlling of company resource for a relatively short-term objective.

It is clear from this definition that project management is concerned with the dynamic allocation, utilization, and direction of resources (both human and technical), with time, in relation to both individual efforts and product delivery schedule and with costs, relating to both the acquisition and consumption of funding. As a corollary, it is safe to say that without the direction which the project management provides, work would have to proceed via a series of negotiations, and/or it would not align with the goals, value proposition, or needs of the enterprise.

Within a program, these same responsibilities (i.e., allocation, utilization, and direction) are assigned to people at three levels in the management hierarchy; the higher the level, the more general the responsibilities.

•	At the bottom of the management hierarchy, project managers are assigned to the various projects within the overall program. Each manager carries out the management responsibilities we described above.

•	At the middle of the hierarchy is the program manager, whose major responsibility is to ensure that the work effort achieves the outcome specified in the business and IT strategies. This involves setting and reviewing objectives, coordinating activities across projects, and overseeing the integration and reuse of interim work products and results. This person spends more time and effort on integration activities, negotiating changes in plans, and communicating than on the other project management activities we described (e.g., allocating resources, ensuring adherence to schedule, budget, etc.).

•	At the top of the program management hierarchy are the program sponsor(s) and the program steering committee. Their major responsibility is to own and oversee the implementation of the program's underlying business and IT strategies, and to define the program's connection to the enterprise's overall business plan(s) and direction. Their management activities include providing and interpreting policy, creating an environment that fosters sustainable momentum for the program (i.e., removing barriers both inside and outside the enterprise), and periodically reviewing program progress and interim results to ensure alignment with the overall strategic vision.

These individuals receive periodic summary reports and briefings on funding consumption, resources and their utilization, and delivery of interim work products and results. Typically, they will focus on these reports only if there is significant deviation from the plan.

3.Finances

Tracking of finances is an important part of Program Management and basic costs together with wider costs (including traveling, other allowances total revenue of the project) of administering the program are all tracked. This aspect also includes the need to internal (and sometimes external) policies and/or regulations for significant expenditures. It also includes development and use of program-specific procedures for making and reporting expenditures.

Overall costs for programs are typically significantly greater than those for projects. For example, projects that consume one to five man-years of effort might have an internal cost range of $250,000 to $1,000,000, assuming the resources are employees (not contractors) with an hourly charge-back rate of $100 to $150 per hour. A program to upgrade and rewrite the core software applications of a large financial services company might require between 750,000 and 1,000,000 work hours, a staff of 175 consultants and 225 employees, and expenses ranging between $160,000,000 and $200,000,000.

The costs are greater not only because the program is larger, but also because it entails more types of expenditures. In a project of the size we just described, most -- if not all -- the expenditures are for labor, from an accountancy perspective. The program costs would include labor (both internal chargeback and consulting fees, and travel and living expenses, including short-term apartment leases), hardware, packaged software applications (which may be capitalized and depreciated), work space (perhaps construction), and furnishings/equipment such as computers, servers, printers, desks, chairs, cubicles and so on. Enterprises have different ways to treat these expenditures, outlined in financial policies and procedures. Government agencies and regulated industries may also have laws or regulations regarding spending and expense reporting.

4.Infrastructure

Infrastructure is a useful term to describe collections of roles, tools, and practices that organizations assemble and integrate in order to provide services and support for software development. Allocation of resources influences the cost and success of the program. The Program Management office monitors overall project specific resource usage. To understand the infrastructure required for a successful program, we should have knowledge about the management and administrative roles, tools, and practices that constitute the Program Management Office or PMO. Then we will look at requirements for the technical environment and tools.

•Administrative Infrastructure

The PMO provides administrative and management support to the program manager and all other program participants. It also provides specialized staff expertise for specific work areas. The PMO involves many roles covering numerous areas and activities. In addition to serving the program manager, the staff members, a group of senior specialists, it also fills essential program roles. For large, complex programs, the PMO helps establish and maintain appropriate work processes, controls, and reporting functions to keep management apprised of the program's progress. It also defines, plans, and completes various work efforts. As an example, let's examine just one role in the PMO, facilities administration, and how it contributes to program success. Whoever takes on this role must identify, plan, and deliver all necessary facilities for either a program-specific or permanent PMO. To do this, the facilities administrator must:

•	Work with the PMO manager and program manager to define what should be included in facilities and define and prioritize facility needs.

•	Develop and gain approval for a facilities plan.

•	Manage execution of the facilities plan and associated deliveries, construction, and installation.

•	Collaborate closely with the infrastructure and technical environment coordinator.

•	Technical Environment and Tools

A program infrastructure also includes both hardware for desktop and network devices for storage and communication and software, including desktop software and shared platforms with development tools, modeling software, planning tools, communication tools (email, Internet browser, virtual meeting /collaboration programs, telecommunications programs), and software for document retention and reproduction.

An individual project, especially a pioneering effort, may introduce new tools or hardware partly in order to understand their capabilities and limitations. The project manager may become involved in technical support or infrastructure functions, to acquire, install, and/or "tune" the hardware and software. Typically, this will involve a small number of installations for a small number of IT staff. Program technical activities, in contrast, usually include large numbers of staff from a variety of sources (internal and external) and various technology backgrounds. As managers identify and staff component projects in the program, they must also specify, acquire, and install technology environments and tools for each project, which collectively form the program's technical infrastructure. This effort might encompass creating a new, remote development site or integrating two companies' technologies following a merger.

5.Planning

In this factor of program management we can say in brief that each project manager creates a plan for his own project which fits in with the wider plan of the program itself.

•	Project Planning

For program planning, most managers will typically use a bottom-up approach that identifies and executes planning iterations for the program's individual component projects. First, each project manager constructs a plan that estimates and allocates resources required to deliver the project's products or results, using the same techniques and practices they would employ in planning a standalone project. Then, in the next planning iteration, managers identify connections and dependencies among the program's projects, and refine and rework their project plans to integrate them with others. Often this integration effort requires adjustments to the products planned for each project, the numbers and types of resources required, and -- naturally -- the schedule. The managers' ability to continuously manage and adjust to inter-project dependencies is a significant determinant of program success. This ability is also a major differentiator between the requirements of project planning and program planning.

•	The Program Plan

Once the individual project plans are integrated, it is time to initiate the program planning effort. What exactly is a program plan? American Heritage Dictionary defines a plan as "A scheme, program, or method worked out beforehand for the accomplishment of an objective: a plan of attack." But when we look at how we develop and use program plans, we discover that they do not fit neatly into this definition.

First of all, in contrast to the planning for the program's projects, the program plan typically is not developed through a series of iterations. Instead, the planning effort involves conducting a series of reviews of the individual project plans, and then creating a digest of their contents. During this process, conflicts between projects may become apparent and require resolution. A goal of the digest effort is to produce a concise, usable view of all program work, timeframes, and required results. A program plan describing 10,000 activities, for example, would not have these qualities.

We don't use the program plan to direct work and allocate resources. That is the purpose of the individual project plans. It may be helpful to think of the program plan as a seismograph that seeks to detect and measure the potential impact of any trembling in the ground underneath the program effort. As component projects proceed and individual project plans record completion percentages, expenditure of resources, and interim (or final) dates for work activities, the program plan integrates these measures and shows their collective impact. This enables managers to assess the program's progress against plan and detect potential problems. For example, if a client asks for additional functionality in a component that one project is building, that may delay the component's delivery to other projects and slow them down as well.

In short, the program plan's integrated representation of significant planned activities and results of individual projects provides managers with a window into the cumulative work effort of the program. Managers use it to verify that the program is moving in the right direction to meet business goals, identify where unplanned changes may be occurring and assess their potential impact, and to model and/or test the impact of possible adjustments and corrections

If some other information is needed mail me at theamit4u@rediff.com or amitrathi4u@yahoo.co.in

--Amit Rathi (AR) 11:08, 3 July 2007 (UTC)