Project Management
Project management is the application of processes, methods, knowledge, skills and experience to achieve the project objectives. Projects are usually judged to be a success if it achieves the objectives according to their acceptance criteria, within an agreed timescale and budget and might follow a typical path such as:
Defining the reason why a project is necessary;
Capturing project requirements, specifying quality of the deliverables, estimating resources and timescales;
Preparing a business case to justify the investment;
Securing corporate agreement and funding;
Developing and implementing a management plan for the project;
Leading and motivating the project delivery team;
Managing the risks, issues and changes on the project;
Monitoring progress against plan;
Managing the project budget;
Maintaining communications with stakeholders and the project organization;
Provider management;
Closing the project in a controlled fashion when appropriate.
Programme Management
A programme is made up of a specific set of related projects identified by an organisation that together will deliver some defined objective, or set of objectives, for the organisation. The objectives, or goals, of the programme are typically at a strategic level so that the organisation can achieve benefits and improvements in its business operation. There is a close link between Programme Management and project management because the programme is made up of projects and is only successful if the projects within it succeed. The concept of a programme is that it should deliver more than the 'sum of its parts'.
Successful Programmes will often follow: Governance, Alignment, Assurance, Management, Integration, Finances, Infrastructure, Planning
We would expect experienced Project and Programme Management Consultants to have be able to demonstrate competency in either: MSP, Prince, PMP, APM, DMAIC, PMI or AgilePPM.