No. 10 (1986): Project Management

Project Management

This edition is dedicated to the subject of projects, as it is considered to be of current importance and extremely useful in the implementation of governmental plans and programs in favor of the development of countries.

Project management is important because it is a powerful tool that, when properly used, increases and allows measuring the efficiency and effectiveness of investments in the public sector.

All stages of the project life cycle can be managed using the technical tools that have been developed.

The principles of project formulation, evaluation and management and basic techniques, when properly applied, can be adapted to projects of different nature and magnitude, but their potential is closely linked to the possibility of analysis and the inclusion of the project management group's own conditions.

Project management comprises the following five stages to achieve efficient and effective management.

The first is the exact definition of the project's objectives, both in the execution and operation stages.

The second is project planning, a qualitative stage in which the course of action for achieving the objectives is established, obtaining an orderly list of the tasks to be performed to achieve them.

The third stage is the programming stage, in which resources are allocated to the planned activities.

The fourth stage should define the role that each existing or ad-hoc organization will play in the implementation of the project planning and programming. The assigned human resources will be departmentalized in a certain way, adapting to the functional structures involved or creating new structures.

Finally, the information and control system should establish how the project's progress will be measured, in order to detect deviations, forecast, make management decisions and prepare realistic reports.