Project management as a tool to stop waste, fraud and abuse (2)

Programme and project management

Project/programme management can be described as the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to achieve set project/programme goals and objectives. Project management has always been in existence, albeit informally, but it has only just been practised as a distinct profession since the mid-1940s and early 1950s. There is a universal set of five processes projects in every industry have to go through for them to have been deemed successfully completed. The five processes are as follows: initiating, planning, executing, monitoring/control and closing. How these processes are followed and used can be different from sector to sector and from industry to industry. What obtains in the manufacturing industry might be different from what obtains in the construction, oil and gas or the aviation industry.

The notion that the concept of project management is unnecessary and dispensable is very prevalent in the Nigerian business and government landscape. This might be due to the fact that not much is known about its importance and advantages or that a lot of company executives and senior government officials are used to the unregulated and uncontrolled approaches to implementing programmes and individual projects. Project management is seen as an arduous task of meandering through needless loops and layers within an organisation on the way to successful execution of projects. This thinking is short-sighted and has led to numerous abandoned, uncompleted, unsustainable and failed projects culminating in avoidable loss and wastage of funds and limited resources. Also in recent times, the government and a lot of businesses have been finding it difficult to manage projects effectively while operating within a tight budget and dwindling revenues.

With this in mind, there are a lot of things government and business officials could learn from the world of programme and project management to make their lives easier and achieve their developmental and strategic goals and in the process improve the quality of life of the citizenry and investors/shareholders.

Project management ideals and philosophies

The project/programme management practice by nature encourages transparency, accountability (when and where does the buck stop?), discipline, good governance, integrity, capacity building, logical reasoning and continuous process improvement. Project management is all about strong and purposeful leadership and stakeholder involvement and satisfaction. It is also about taking charge, assuming responsibility and making sure things are done in the proper way and manner.

Studies worldwide have shown that project management delivers the kind of headship, guidance and lucidity of thought needed to help in the proper and efficient management of funds, people and other resources required in achieving the planned objectives of businesses (big, medium or small) and the developmental goals of the government. Project management is about engaging, solving problems and delivering intended results through an organized, well thought-out methodology. Businesses and MDAs that have a rooted project management mindset possess competitive advantages as far as their operations are concerned. This is why leading corporations and government MDAs worldwide use the concepts of programme and project management to manage, execute, monitor and control every facet of their operations, strategic and developmental initiatives.

Ways project management can address and prevent waste, fraud and abuse

If these fundamental principles of project management are properly applied and strictly followed, waste, fraud and abuse can be greatly minimised barring our proclivities. There are ten knowledge areas in project management which, if they are strictly adhered to, will be of great value to government and private sector officials while implementing their various programmes, developmental and considered business goals. The knowledge areas are cost, time, scope, procurement, quality, integration, stakeholder, risk, human resource and communication management. Time and space will not permit me to discuss in detail the importance of all of these concepts, but they go a long way to make governance and running of businesses easier and corruption-free. These knowledge areas also encourage transparency.

Planning and value engineering

Planning, one of the five processes of project management, is very central to whatever government and businesses decide to do. Detailed planning is always needed in the knowledge areas, including budgets and scope, and it is necessary for the completion of the objectives within a specified timeframe. Planning should be iterative and it should be reviewed at all stages in the programme or project lifecycle.

Another essential project management practice and process is value engineering and analysis. Value is the ratio of function to cost. This analysis starts out during the planning process whereby a project, programme or service’s economics and technical feasibility are assessed. This value analysis should be carried out during the entire project cycle. These two processes, which are essential parts of programme and project management, ensure that costly mistakes are not made down the road and reworks are minimised.

Budget and cost management

The process of budget preparation in project management, done during the planning stages, is very thorough touching every aspect of the programme/project. The basic building blocks for the budget are the statement of work and the work breakdown structure (WBS) where each aspect or line item of the budget is critically looked at before being approved.

Ayodele Akingbade