Caltrans project managers use various tools (reference documents, templates, computer applications, etc.) and techniques (skills, defined methods, procedures, etc.) to perform the tasks in each process group. The PMBOK® Guide divides these tools and techniques into nine knowledge areas:
Project Integration Management (page 35)
Project Scope Management (page 34)
Project Time Management (page 35)
Project Cost Management (page 35)
Project Quality Management (page 36)
Project Human Resource Management (page 36)
Project Communications Management (page 37)
Project Risk Management (page 37)
Project Procurement Management (page 38)
For example, the project manager uses project scope management knowledge to complete processes within the following process groups:
initiating, planning, executing, and controlling. For more information on process groups, see “Process Groups” on page 28.
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Project Integration Management
Project integration management tools and techniques ensure the proper coordination of the various elements of the project.
Caltrans project managers use the following project integration management techniques:
PDTs, formed at the beginning of the project lifecycle
Each team’s level of involvement varies according to the current project component
Roles and responsibilities determined by the PDT
The basic purpose and need statement in the project charter and PID At the start of each component, and when introducing new team members, the project team refers back to the purpose and need statement to ensure that they are still working towards the stated goal
Multi-year project workplans and work agreements to guide the execution and control of project work and resources
Project management directives that define department-wide standards
Flexibility in processes to recognize district or project-specific needs
Project Scope Management
Project scope management tools and techniques ensure that the project includes all the work required, and only the work required, to complete the project successfully.
Caltrans project development teams select elements from a standard WBS to produce a project-specific WBS. This project WBS organizes and defines the total scope of the project. Any work not included in the project WBS is outside the scope of the project.2
The scope is defined as, “the sum of the products, services, and results to be provided by a project.”3 Within Caltrans capital outlay delivery, the scope product commonly refers to the capital outlay scope portion of the project.
However, in broader terms, the scope also includes the support work required to produce the product.
2 PMBOK® Guide – 2004 Third Edition, Section 5.3.3.1, pages 117-118
3 PMBOK® Guide – 2004 Third Edition, Glossary, page 375
P r o j e c t P r o c e s s e s K n o w l e d g e A r e a s
Project Time Management
Project time management tools and techniques ensure timely completion of the project.
Caltrans project managers use project time management techniques to produce resource-loaded critical path schedules. Work on the critical path should always be fully resourced, using a combination of Caltrans staff, brokering, overtime, consultants, and contractors. Non-critical work elements with the least float (flexibility of schedule) are completed first and are scheduled in such a way as to minimize workload fluctuations. Caltrans maintains standard templates for use as starting points in developing critical path schedules.
Project Cost Management
Project cost management tools and techniques ensure that the project team completes the project within the approved budget.
Caltrans project managers use project cost management techniques such as the Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) to develop budgets.
Using PERT, Caltrans can be assured, within statistical limits that the actual expenditures will be within the amounts allowed by State law.4 Effective use of PERT requires that the project manager regularly compare actual expenditures to planned expenditures at the level used in budget development.
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Project Quality Management
Project quality management tools and techniques ensure that the project will satisfy the objectives for which it was undertaken.
Caltrans project managers, project sponsors, and PDTs prepare a project charter at the start of the PID component. They review and amend this charter at the start of each succeeding component. The charter is the starting point for the development of the project-specific WBS.
Caltrans project managers also use earned value analysis to monitor and control project support cost.
The Project Quality Management Plan (QMP) is a component of the project management plan. It describes the team’s plan for quality control, quality assurance, and independent quality assurance. It includes plans to ensure that the product will meet the expectations of the external customers and that the deliverables will meet the needs of the internal customers.
Project Managers, Functional Managers, and others who are responsible for Quality Assurance (QA) regularly evaluate project performance, Quality Control (QC) Plans and activities, and specific WBS deliverables to provide confidence that each deliverable and the end-product of the project will meet customer requirements. QA is part of the controlling process group.
Each WBS deliverable is assigned to a Task Manager. Under the direction of his/her Functional Manager, the Task Manager prepares a Quality Control (QC) Plan for that deliverable that documents the customer requirements, the procedures and the review processes that will ensure the deliverable meets customer expectations.
Project Human Resource
Management
Project human resource management tools and techniques ensure the most effective use of the project team. They ensure that people with the needed skills are available at the right time to execute the product-oriented processes.
Caltrans project managers use a standard Organizational Breakdown Structure (OBS) and various project resource management techniques to produce a project-specific OBS. Similarly, they use cost center and various project resource management techniques to produce a project-specific cost center.
P r o j e c t P r o c e s s e s K n o w l e d g e A r e a s
Project
Communications Management
Project communications management tools and techniques ensure the timely and appropriate generation, collection, dissemination, storage, and ultimate disposition of project information.
Caltrans project managers use project communications management techniques to:
Develop a communication plan for the project
Distribute information via the methods that reach customers most effectively
File data using the Uniform Filing system
Archive records in accordance with the Caltrans Records Retention policies
The Caltrans Project Communication Handbook contains detailed information on communications management processes.
Project Risk Management
Project risk management tools and techniques are used to identify, analyze, and respond to project risk.
Caltrans project managers use project risk management techniques to produce a risk management plan for the project and to manage the plan as risks and opportunities arise.
The Caltrans Risk Management Handbook contains detailed information on project risk management processes.
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Project
Procurement Management
Project procurement management tools and techniques are used to acquire goods and services from outside Caltrans.
The principal types of procurement on state highway projects are the:
Procurement of architectural, engineering, and other consulting services to supplement Caltrans staff in project delivery
Relocation of utilities, through contracts with utility companies
Purchase of real property
Procurement of construction services through contracts with construction companies
Specific laws and procedures control each of these types of procurement.
4
P EOPLE
People perform the work and determine the success or failure of a project.
This chapter discusses the organizational structure, roles, and responsibilities of the people involved in Caltrans projects
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Roles
The people involved in a Caltrans project fill a variety of roles, each important to the project’s success.
Stakeholders A stakeholder is anyone who has a vested interest in the project.
Stakeholders are individuals and organizations who are actively involved in the project, or whose interest may be positively or negatively affected as a result of project execution or successful project completion.
Stakeholders often have conflicting objectives, needs, and expectations.
Finding appropriate resolutions can be one of the major challenges of project management. The project team must identify the stakeholders on a project, determine what their needs and expectations are, and then
manage and influence those expectations to ensure a successful project. In general, differences between or among stakeholders should be resolved in favor of the customer. Understanding the customer is the key to
determining the true requirements of a project.
Stakeholder identification is difficult, but necessary. Naming or grouping stakeholders is primarily an aid to identify which individuals and
organizations can facilitate or hinder the delivery of a project. For more information, see the Caltrans Project Communication Handbook.
Customers
Customers for any Caltrans capital project are either internal or external to the project.
External Project Customers — transportation system users who pay for projects through fuel taxes, vehicle fees, tolls, bonds, sales taxes, fares, and other charges (in other words, the general public or their elected representatives)
Internal Project Customers — individuals who will use the
deliverables or information produced at various stages of the project (internal to the project, not necessarily to Caltrans)
Sponsors
Project sponsors are individuals or groups that represent external project customers by advocating a project or group of projects. They may be internal or external to Caltrans. Types of sponsors include:
Deputy District Directors for Transportation Planning and District Division Chiefs for Transportation Planning — the internal sponsors of interregional improvement projects
P e o p l e R o l e s
Deputy District Directors for Maintenance and Operations and District Division Chiefs for Maintenance and Operations — the internal sponsors of SHOPP projects
Regional transportation planning agencies, county transportation commissions, cities, and counties — the external sponsors of regional projects
Sponsoring local entities
The external sponsors of locally funded projects such as: Sales tax authorities, counties, cities, etc.)
Regulatory Agencies
Regulatory agencies can facilitate the delivery of a project by providing permits and other documents of approval. Examples include the California Department of Fish and Game, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and other governmental agencies.
For more information, see the current editions of the Caltrans Standard Environmental Reference and the Caltrans Construction Manual.
Oversight Agencies
The primary role of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is to oversee any proposed highway project on the interstate system. The FHWA plays a specific role in State Highway Projects such as technical input during the planning, environmental, design, and construction phases. The FHWA also provides partnering input and emergency relief.
Opposition Stakeholders
Opposition stakeholders are stakeholders who feel that their interests will be harmed by the project. Examples could include local governments, homeowner associations, environmental advocacy groups, landowners,
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Caltrans uses interdisciplinary teams that initiate, plan, execute, control, and close the various components of the project lifecycle to ensure the successful delivery of a project. Project success hinges on effectively meeting stakeholder needs or communicating why their needs cannot be met.
The project team may be formally or informally organized, depending on the complexity of the project. Individual team members may be active or inactive as a project progresses through the project lifecycle. The project team typically performs the following activities:
Ensure design of a quality project that can be safely and efficiently constructed and maintained within scope and budget and on schedule.
Participate in a reevaluation of preliminary engineering data and system planning recommendations to confirm that the study should continue.
Determine logical project limits.
Determine the need for participation of local, regional, State or Federal agency members, or the need for advisory committees.
Recommend studies, timetables, alternatives, type of environmental document, and the feasibility of mitigation measures.
Call upon various disciplines as needed to ensure thorough analysis of the social, economic, environmental and engineering aspects of the project.
Initiate community involvement to obtain project consent and help plan public meetings and hearings.
Ensure that State and Federal requirements are met.
Recommend a preferred alternative to district management.
Ensure that right of way is acquired and cleared on schedule.
Provide advice during construction.
Ensure that the project history is preserved.
Ensure that post construction mitigation is completed before project close out.
Ensure that excess property efforts are completed before project close out.
P e o p l e R o l e s
Project
Development Team
A PDT is an interdisciplinary team composed of key members of the project team and selected external stakeholders. (See figure 4.)
PDT members:
Advise and assist the project manager in directing the course of studies
Make recommendations to the project manager and district management
Responsible to carry out the project workplan
Participate in major meetings, public hearings, and community involvement
Oversee the execution of the early components of the project activities, culminating in project approval
The PDT continues to address significant project issues that may arise during any component of the project lifecycle. For further discussion of the PDT, see the Caltrans Project Development Procedures Manual, Chapter 8, section 4.
Project Team
Project Development Team (PDT)
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Work on access controlled facilities requiring a new or revised Freeway Agreement
Substantial increase in capacity
During the early components of a project, the PDT formally solicits project stakeholder input into the planning, development, and evaluation of the various project alternatives. This is primarily due to the fact that on a PDT, external stakeholders are given an active role in solving their problems.
Informal Approach to Stakeholders
On smaller projects that do not meet the criteria listed above, the PDT uses an informal approach to obtain stakeholder input. Generally this means that the stakeholders are less actively involved, but still consulted.
P e o p l e R e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s
Responsibilities
Every member of a project team has a different set of responsibilities. This section details these responsibilities.
Concepts These concepts of responsibility, empowerment, and authority apply to every member of the project team.
Responsibility
Responsibility is the commitment to accomplish the work with the quality promised within an agreed upon schedule and within an agreed upon budget of dollars or hours. Each member of the project team is accountable for meeting his/her commitments.
Empowerment
Project complexity combined with customer demand for responsiveness requires management to empower the project team to meet customer needs. Empowerment does not mean that managers abdicate their leadership role. Rather, it means that managers need to define the boundaries for, or delegate a level of authority to, each project team member in accordance with that individual’s capabilities.
Project team members are then free to:
Carry out their assignments using their own judgment, skills, and methods
Make unilateral decisions affecting how they do work
Accept responsibility for the outcome of their efforts
Authority
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Overlapping Responsibilities
Any project has the potential for overlapping responsibilities. Prior to the initiation of the project or a particular project component, the project team must agree on who will assume what responsibilities.
Responsibility Matrix
The following table outlines the tasks assigned to each role. See
“Stakeholders” on page 40 for role definitions.
Role Process Group Action Project
Sponsor Initiate Identifies and prioritizes projects for which he/she is the sponsor Sets goals for the project and works toward agreement on the charter
Serves as advocate for his/her projects and solicits funding from the various funding programs (STIP, SHOPP, Minor, Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ), Toll, Sales Tax, etc.)
Arranges funding for projects — for external sponsors, this includes working with the CTC to arrange funding for STIP projects
Establishes performance measures for evaluating the quality of capital improvements Deputy
Initiate Manages delivery of the district’s portfolio of state highway projects
Ensures that his/her district meets the programmed project delivery performance measures
Identifies delivery trends and takes corrective action to improve delivery Works with RTPAs concerning changes to externally sponsored projects Manages capital outlay support resources
Makes decisions on how to apply resources, staff, overtime, and consultants Maintains staff/supervisor/manager ratios
Manages his/her district’s project management plan
Makes decisions on which projects to implement, tools to use in managing projects, and business processes to implement for effective project management
Works with other managers to establish priorities and manage production of project delivery
Ensures that business processes and procedures are in place to meet delivery objectives
Directs project managers, the project management support unit (PMSU), and the consultant services unit (for more information about these units, see “Project
Management Support Unit” on page 50, and “Consultant Services Unit” on page 50) Assigns workload and resources to project managers
Provides project managers with training and direction in the use of resources Sets priorities between competing resource demands
P e o p l e R e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s
Role Process Group Action
Initiate Identifies the needs and expectations of the project sponsors
Plan Leads the project team in the development of a project management plan that defines the project scope, schedule, cost, resource needs, risk, and communication needs
Ensures that the project management plan includes all the work required, and only the work required, to produce the product
Assigns resources in the following order:
First, assigns WBS elements to functional managers in his/her own district or region
Second, brokers WBS elements to functional managers in other districts, regions or divisions, if functional managers in his/her own district or region are unable to meet the delivery requirements
Third, uses consultants to produce work elements, if neither local district or region staff nor brokering will meet the delivery requirements
Modifies workplans to account for the use of project-specific consultant contracts Monitor &
Control Coordinates and facilitates the work performed throughout the project lifecycle Monitors project performance and takes corrective action if necessary
Communicates sensitive issues and project progress to district management, the sponsors, and the project team
Provides input into the performance evaluation of project team members, and recommends changes to the project team membership when necessary
Serves as the single point of contact on matters involving overall project scope, cost, or schedule
Resolves problems that affect project scope, cost, or schedule
Controls change to the project scope, cost, or schedule throughout the project lifecycle
Coordinates communication between task managers and internal customers of project deliverables to verify and document customer expectations
Coordinates the efforts of the overall team, including the Division of Engineering Services
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Role Process Group Action
Plan Prepares and reviews project resource estimates Assigns an equitable workload to individual employees
Assigns project team members when requested by the project manager or task manager by:
Determining his/her functional unit’s ability to meet project delivery schedules using in-house staff
Using “on-call” consultant resources, including oversights, when his/her functional unit is unable to meet its delivery commitments with in-house staff
Using flexible resources such as other Districts, Regions, and State agency staff Modifies workplans to account for the use of “on call” consultant contracts Execute Directs project team members in the delivery of products within the timeframe
agreed in the project management plan Supervises a functional unit
Acts as the immediate supervisor of the staff who work on the project Provides opportunities for staff members to strengthen their skills
Empowers staff to do their jobs with the minimum supervision necessary according to each individual’s capabilities
Provides technical and procedural direction to staff performing the work Approves staff and other project expenditures
Ensures that there are adequate quality control and quality assurance processes in place for deliverables
Provides quality assurance on contract and cooperative agreement work Monitor &
Control Monitors and provides feedback to staff
Control Monitors and provides feedback to staff