M S Benbow and Associates provides services in project conceptualization, definition, planning, design, and project management. The Company adheres to a project management methodology based on doctrine promulgated by the Project Management Institute and its PMBOK® Guide. The Company tailors its methodology to fit the technical and commercial terms of the project but always in the context of Project Management Institute doctrine. The following is a delineation of the Company’s methodology for project management:

Initiating

  • Project charter, project manager assigned, constraints and assumptions identified

Planning

  • Project plan development
  • Scope planning and definition
  • Activity definition, sequencing, duration estimation, schedule development
  • Resource planning, cost estimating, cost budgeting
  • Quality planning
  • Organizational planning, staff acquisition
  • Communications planning
  • Risk management planning, risk identification, qualitative and quantitative risk analysis, risk response planning
  • Procurement planning solicitation planning

Executing

  • Project plan execution
  • Quality assurance
  • Team development
  • Information distribution
  • Solicitation, source selection, contract administration

Controlling

  • Integrated change control
  • Scope verification, scope change control
  • Schedule control
  • Cost control
  • Quality control
  • Performance reporting
  • Risk monitoring and control

Closing

  • Contract closure
  • Administrative closure

Methodology
     The Planning process is a very important element of MSB&A’s methodology. Scope definition results in the classic work breakdown structure (WBS)—the graphical representation depicting the major and minor deliverables of the project. Task templates are valuable tools for organizing the actual work involved in producing a deliverable. And, project managers pay particular attention to identifying tasks that can be executed (i.e., they have a beginning and an end) and that are of short enough duration that render them executable in a reasonable amount of time.
     The completed WBS leads to another graphical tool, the network diagram, in which project activities are sequenced.
     With knowledge of the structure of the project, the sequence of tasks, and the assumptions and constraints of the project, activities’ durations may be estimated, and the schedule developed.
     As new information about the project is developed during planning, adjustments are made to the WBS, the network and the schedule. PMI describes this iterative process as one of progress elaboration.
     Cost considerations are addressed next as resources—and their expense—are assigned to the project, which results in the project budget. Baselining yields a project plan that can support earned value measurement and reporting.
     MSB&A’s project manager tailors this process to the project, with attention to scale. A larger project requires and can support more planning than a smaller project.
     The project manager also approaches the other planning processes—quality, HR, communications, risk, and procurement—with a sense of scale. Thus, the Planning process yields a firm foundation for the Executing, Controlling and Closing process.

Tools
     M S Benbow and Associates provide project managers with appropriate software tools. Some tools are commercial products. Others (e.g., report forms and spreadsheet applications) have been developed internally to facilitate managing the specific mix of projects and business routinely encountered by the Company.
     MSB&A’s project managers typically employ either MS Project or Sciforma Corporation’s Project Scheduler as their WBS, network, schedule, and earned value reporting application. The Company can support other tools as well. (The methodology is the driver of success, not a tool.) Reports and charts are available in Adobe file format.
     A project manager schedules periodic meetings to assess progress to the plan and to make the inevitable adjustments.
     The Company’s Accounting department deploys a financial accounting software application that features a robust project component. The Solomon IV application provides the means for time and expense entry and for the project manager to recognize actual expenses—labor and material—to support activities of the Controlling process.

Summary
     M S Benbow and Associates have developed a project methodology based on the firm foundation of Project Management Institute doctrine. MSB&A’s methodology is scalable to suit the size (i.e., scope), technology, and financial constraints of the project. This methodology is designed to provide the client with the assurance that a project will be completed successfully.