CHAPTER SIX

PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION
 6.1 Concepts of implementation
• Implementation refers to a cycle of steps taken to
deliver activities, outputs, results and impact
while managing finances and for risk.
• Monitoring is a management tool for improving
project and program performance, both to
improve organizational delivery and control for
risk
• Monitoring is an essential pre-requisite for
results-based management, evaluation and
learning.
Stages and activities
 The steps in project implementation
• Setting up the project for implementation, including the
establishment of a project team and the creation of a
milestone plan .
• Implementation of activities, managing risks under an
Environmental and Social Management Plan.
• Monitoring and Reporting, including the deployment of
supervision missions as well as technical reporting
covering the delivery of results and impacts.
• Updating the milestone (action) plan based on the
results of monitoring and other management decision
making.
 6.2 Pre-requisites for successful
implementation
Timely availability of funds.
Careful equipment tendering and procurement.
Better contract management.
Effective monitoring.
• Adequate formulation
Often project formulation is defiant because of one
or more of the following shortcomings:
Superficial field investigation
Cursory assessment of input requirements
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 Adequate formulation
Omission of project linkages
Weak judgments because of lack of experience
and expertise
Undue hurry to get started
Deliberate over-estimation of benefits and
under-estimation of costs.
• Care must be taken to avoid the above
deficiencies so that the appraisal and
formulation of the project is through, adequate
and meaningful.
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 Sound Project Organization
• A sound organization for implementation of the
projects is critical to its success.
• The characteristics of such an organization are:
It is led by a competent leader
The authority of the project leads and his team is
adequate with their responsibility
Adequate attention is paid to the human being
in the project
System and method are clearly defined
Rewards and penalties to individuals are related
to performance. 7
 Proper implementation Planning
• Once the investment decision is taken-and often
even while the formulation and appraisal are
being done, it is necessary to do detailed
implementation planning before commencing
the actual implementation.
• Such planning should seek to:
Develop a comprehensive time plan for various
activities like land acquisition, tender evaluation,
recruitment of personnel, construction of
buildings, erection of plant, arrangement for
utilities, trial production run, etc.
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 Proper implementation Planning
Estimate accurately the resource requirements
(manpower, materials, money, etc.) for each
period to realize the time plan.
Define properly inter-linkages between various
activities of the project.
Specify cost standards
Advance Action
• When the project appears prima facie to be
viable and desirable, advance action on the
following activities may be initiated:
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 Advance Action
i. Acquisition of land
ii. Securing essential clearance
iii. Identifying technical collaborators/consultants,
iv. Arranging infrastructure facilities ,
v. Preliminary design of engineering, and
vi. Calling of tenders.
• To initiate advance action with respect to the
above activities, some investment is required.

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 Timely availability of fund
• Once a project is approved adequate funds must
be made available to meet its requirements as
per the plan of implementation.
• it would be highly desirable if funds are provided
even before the final approval to initiate advance
action.
• It is a common observation that firms which
have a comfortable liquidity position are, in
general, able to implement projects
expeditiously and economically.
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 Timely availability of fund
• Such firms can:
 initiate advance actions,
 negotiate with suppliers and contractors
aggressively,
 organize impute supplies quickly,
 take advantages of opportunities to effect
economies,
 support suppliers in resolving their problems so that
they can in turn redound to the successful
completion of projects, and
 sustain the morale of project-related personnel at a
high level.
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 Careful equipment tendering and
procurement
• To minimize time over-runs, it may appear that a
turnkey contract has obvious advantages.
• Since these contracts are likely to be bagged by
foreign suppliers, when global tenders are
floated, a very important question arises.
• How much should we rely on foreign suppliers
and how much we depend on indigenous
suppliers?

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 Judicious equipment tendering and
procurement
• Over-dependence on foreign suppliers, even
though seemingly advantageous from the point
of view of time and cost, may mean considerable
outflow of foreign exchange and inadequate
incentive for the development of indigenous
technology and capability.
• Over-reliance on indigenous suppliers may mean
delays and higher uncertainty about the technical
performance of the project.

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 6.3 Contracts and
contract administration
• Since a substantial portion of a project is typically
executed through contracts, the proper
management of contracts is crucial to the
successful implementation of the project.
• In this context, the following should be done:
The competence and capability of all contracts
must be ensured
• one weak link can put in danger the timely
performance of the contract.
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 Better contact Management
Proper discipline must be inculcated among
contractors and suppliers by insisting that they
should develop realistic and detailed resource
and time plans which are congruent with the
project plan.
Penalties must be imposed for failure to meet
contractual obligations.
• Likewise, incentives may be offered for good
performance.

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 Better contact Management
Help should be extended to contractors and
suppliers when they have genuine problems.
• they should be regarded as partners in a
common pursuit.
Project authorities must retain latitude to off-
load contracts (partially or wholly) to other
parties well in time where delays are anticipated.

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 6.4 Network techniques for project
management
• These are more sophisticated than the traditional
bar chart.
• In these techniques, the activities, events, and
their inter-relationships are represented by a
network diagram, also called an arrow diagram.
PERT chart (Program Evaluation Review Technique)
• A PERT chart is a project management tool used
to schedule, organize, and coordinate tasks
within a project.
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 Project Time Management Processes
• Project time management involves the
processes required to ensure timely
completion of a project. Processes include:
– Activity definition
– Activity sequencing
– Activity duration estimating
– Schedule development
– Schedule control

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 Where Do Schedules Come From?
Defining Activities
• Project schedules grow out of the basic
document that initiate a project
– Project charter includes start and end dates and
budget information
– Scope statement and Work Breakdown Structure
(WBS) help define what will be done
• Activity definition involves developing a more
detailed WBS and supporting explanations to
understand all the work to be done

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 Project Network Diagrams
• Project network diagrams are the preferred
technique for showing activity sequencing
• A project network diagram is a schematic
display of the logical relationships among, or
sequencing of, project activities

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Figure 6-2. Sample Activity-on-Arrow (AOA)
Network Diagram for Project X

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 Arrow Diagramming Method (ADM)
• Also called activity-on-arrow (AOA) project
network diagrams
• Activities are represented by arrows
• Nodes or circles are the starting and ending
points of activities
• Can only show finish-to-start dependencies

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 Activity Duration Estimating
• After defining activities and determining their
sequence, the next step in time management
is duration estimating
• Duration includes the actual amount of time
worked on an activity plus elapsed time
• People doing the work should help create
estimates, and an expert should review them

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 Schedule Development
• Schedule development uses results of the other time
management processes to determine the start and
end date of the project and its activities
• Ultimate goal is to create a realistic project schedule
that provides a basis for monitoring project progress
for the time dimension of the project
• Important tools and techniques include Gantt charts,
PERT analysis, critical path analysis, and critical chain
scheduling

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 Gantt Charts
• Gantt charts provide a standard format for displaying
project schedule information by listing project
activities and their corresponding start and finish
dates in a calendar format
• Symbols include:
– A black diamond: milestones or significant events on a
project with zero duration
– Thick black bars: summary tasks
– Lighter horizontal bars: tasks
– Arrows: dependencies between tasks

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 Figure 6-5. Gantt Chart for Project X

Project 98 file

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 Critical Path Method (CPM)
• CPM is a project network analysis technique
used to predict total project duration
• A critical path for a project is the series of
activities that determines the earliest time by
which the project can be completed
• The critical path is the longest path through
the network diagram and has the least
amount of slack or float

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 Finding the Critical Path
• First develop a good project network diagram
• Add the durations for all activities on each
path through the project network diagram
• The longest path is the critical path

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 Simple Example of Determining the
Critical Path
• Consider the following project network
diagram. Assume all times are in days.
C=2 4 E=1
A=2 B=5
start 1 2 3 6 finish

D=7 5 F=2
a. How many paths are on this network diagram?
b. How long is each path?
c. Which is the critical path?
d. What is the shortest amount of time needed to complete this project?

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Figure 6-8. Determining the Critical
Path for Project X

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 More on the Critical Path

• If one of more activities on the critical path takes

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 Using Critical Path Analysis to Make
Schedule Trade-offs
• Knowing the critical path helps you make
schedule trade-offs
• Free slack or free float is the amount of time
an activity can be delayed without delaying
the early start of any immediately following
activities
• Total slack or total float is the amount of time
an activity may be delayed from its early start
without delaying the planned project finish
date
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Table 6-1. Free and Total Float or Slack
for Project X

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 Techniques for Shortening a Project
Schedule
• Shortening durations of critical tasks for
adding more resources or changing their
scope
• Crashing tasks by obtaining the greatest
amount of schedule compression for the least
incremental cost
• Fast tracking tasks by doing them in parallel or
overlapping them

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 Importance of Updating Critical Path
Data
• It is important to update project schedule
information
• The critical path may change as you enter
actual start and finish dates
• If you know the project completion date will
slip, negotiate with the project sponsor

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 Program Evaluation and Review
Technique (PERT)
• PERT is a network analysis technique used to
estimate project duration when there is a high
degree of uncertainty about the individual
activity duration estimates
• PERT uses probabilistic time estimates based
on using optimistic, most likely, and
pessimistic estimates of activity durations

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 PERT Formula and Example
• PERT weighted average formula:
optimistic time + 4X most likely time + pessimistic time
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• Example:
PERT weighted average =
8 workdays + 4 X 10 workdays + 24 workdays = 12 days
6
where 8 = optimistic time, 10 = most likely time, and 24 =
pessimistic time

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 Controlling Changes to the Project
Schedule
• Perform reality checks on schedules
• Allow for contingencies
• Don’t plan for everyone to work at 100%
capacity all the time
• Hold progress meetings with stakeholders and
be clear and honest in communicating
schedule issues

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 Working with People Issues
• Strong leadership helps projects succeed more
than good PERT charts
• Project managers should use
– empowerment
– incentives
– discipline
– negotiation

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 Using Software to Assist in Time
Management
• Software for facilitating communications helps
people exchange schedule-related information
• Decision support models help analyze trade-
offs that can be made
• Project management software can help in
various time management areas

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