Project

Management &
Finance
Lecture 9 –
‘Communications
Management (CO1,
PO12)

Ir. Victor Nageshwar. A

Lecturer @ TARUC
 Project Management & Finance
Lecture 9 (Week 10) Project Communication
Management’
– Lecture 9: Project Communications Management
– This lecture covers following sub topics:
– The Communications Planning Process
– The communications process links to the other knowledge areas
– Relevant areas of the bodies of knowledge
– Summary
Project Management & Finance
Lecture 9 (Week 10) Project Communication
Management’
 Project Management & Finance
Lecture 9 (Week 10) Project Communications
Management
– Lecture 9: Project Communications Management
– Communications management is about keeping everybody in the loop.
– Have you ever tried talking to someone in a really loud, crowded
room?
– That’s what running a project is like if you don’t get a handle on
communications.
– Luckily, there’s Communications Management, which is the
knowledge area that gets everyone talking about work that’s being
done, so that they all stay on the same page. That way, everyone
has the information that need to resolve any issues and keep the
project moving forward.
 Project Management & Finance
Lecture 9 (Week 10) Project Communications
Management
– Lecture 9: Project Communications Management
– Sender – Receiver Model;
– Basic components
– Encoded message
– Decoded message
– Feedback message
– Medium
– Noise
– Channel
 Project Management & Finance
Lecture 9 (Week 10) Project Communications
Management
– Lecture 9: Project Communications Management
– Get handle on communication
– Any kind of communication can have interference. The wrong person can
get the message; noise can garble the transmission; you can make
mistakes decoding or encoding the message.
– It turns out that 90% of a project manager’s job is communication, which
is why there’s whole knowledge area devoted to it. The Communication
Management processes are here to help you avoid these common kinds
of errors, through planning and careful tracking of stakeholder
communications on your project. Just like every other knowledge group
we've covered so far, it all starts with Plan
 Project Management & Finance
Lecture 9 (Week 10) Project Communications
Management
– Lecture 9:
Project
Communications
Management
 Project Management & Finance
Lecture 9 (Week 10) Project Communications
Management
– Lecture 9:
Project
Communications
Management
Project Management & Finance
Lecture 9 (Week 10) Project Communications
Management’
Project Lifecycle Process
phase
Planning Plan Communications Management
Planning Manage Communications
Monitoring and Control Communications
Control
 Project Management & Finance
Lecture 9 (Week 10) Project Communication
Management’
– Lecture 9: Plan Communications Management
– Determines the information needs of the stakeholders and
defines the communication needs that satisfies those
needs
– Establishes
– Who needs what information
– When will they need it
– How and from whom they will get it.
 Project Management & Finance
Lecture 9 (Week 10) Project Communication
Management’
– Lecture 9: Plan Communications Management
– The requirements for Plan Communication management;
– Project Management Plan
– Organisational Process Assets
– Enterprise Environmental factors
– Stakeholder analysis (This obtained from the outcome of
Plan Stakeholder Management)
 Project Management & Finance
Lecture 9 (Week 10) Project Communication
Management’
– Lecture 9: Plan Communications Management
– The methods use for Plan Communication Process
– Communication requirements analysis – means figuring out what kind
of communication your stakeholders need from the project so that they
can make good decisions.
– Your project will produce a lot of information; you don’t want to
overwhelm every member of your project team with all of it.
– Your job here is to figure out what all of them feel they need to stay
informed and to be able to do their jobs properly.
 Project Management & Finance
Lecture 9 (Week 10) Project Communication
Management’
– Lecture 9: Plan Communications Management
– The methods use for Plan Communication Process
– Communication models – Demonstrate how the various people
associate with your project send and receive their information.
– You’ve already learned about this – it’s the message you send,
how you encode and decode the message, the medium you use
to transmit the message, the noise that blocks the message, and
the feedback you get.
 Project Management & Finance
Lecture 9 (Week 10) Project Communication
Management’
– Lecture 9: Plan Communications Management
– The methods use for Plan Communication Process
– Communication models – Demonstrate how the various people
associate with your project send and receive their information.
– You’ve already learned about this – it’s the message you send,
how you encode and decode the message, the medium you use
to transmit the message, the noise that blocks the message, and
the feedback you get.
 Project Management & Finance
Lecture 9 (Week 10) Project Communications
Management’
– Lecture 9: Project Communications Management
– Communication Methods
– Project manager responsible for managing communication requirements of
the relevant stakeholders
– 90% of project managers time spent communicating…
Project Management & Finance
Lecture 9 (Week 10) Project Communications
Management’
– Lecture 9: Project Communications Management
– Number of communication channels

– Number of communication channels = n*(n-1)/2

 Project Management & Finance
Lecture 9 (Week 10) Project Communications
Management’
Form of Communication Characteristics Examples
– Lecture 9: Project Communications Management
Written Formal • Precise • Project Charter, Scope statement, project plan,
– • Transmitted
Forms through the
of communication WBS, project status
medium of correspondence • Complex issues
• Contract related communications
• Memos
Written Informal • Email, notes, letters, etc.
• Regular communication with team members
Oral Formal • High degree of flexibility • Presentations, speech,
• Use the medium of personal • Negotiations
Oral informal contact, group meetings or • Conversation with team members
telephone • Project meetings
• Break-room or war-room conversations
Non-verbal communication • About 55%
– Number of total
of communication • Facial expressions,
channels = n*(n-1)/2 hand movements, tone of voice
communication while speaking, etc.
 Project Management & Finance
Lecture 9 (Week 10) Project Communications
Management’
– Lecture 9: Project Communications Management
– Form of Communications
– Formal Reports and Documents – Company management must be kept
appraised of the status, progress and performance of ongoing and
upcoming projects. Problems affecting profits, schedules or budget, as
well as recommended actions, need to be reported promptly
– Stakeholders (customers, professional, citizen and activist groups; public
agencies and others a genuine interest in the project) should also be
kept up to date. Frequent, honest communication with stakeholders
builds trust and avoids surprises.
 Project Management & Finance
Lecture 9 (Week 10) Project Communications
Management’
– Lecture 9: Project Communications Management
– Reports to Top Management
– The project manager and staff send reports to TOP management and
the project management Office (PMO) using information generated
by the PCAS or PMIS. (PCAS – Project Control Account System) This
reports include?
1. A summary of project status
2. Red flag items where corrective action has been or should be taken
3. Accomplishments to date, schedule changes and estimates for schedule
and cost at completion
4. Current cost situation and cost performance
5. Manpower plan and limitations.
 Project Management & Finance
Lecture 9 (Week 10) Project Communications
Management’
– Lecture 9: Project Communications Management
– Reports to Top Management (Continued…)
– When several projects are simultaneously underway, the PMO compiles
and provides to management monthly summaries showing their
relative status.
– Each summary includes names of the customer and the project
manager; monetary and labor investment; schedule start and finish
dates; possible risks, losses and gains and other information.
– The summaries enable management to assess the relative performance
of the projects and their combined influence on the company.
 Project Management & Finance
Lecture 9 (Week 10) Project Communications
Management’
– Lecture 9: Project Communications Management
– Reports to Project, Program and Functional Managers
– On large projects, work package leaders send project and
program managers monthly reports about the value of work
completed, current and forecast cost, and updated schedules for
completion.
– Each month project manager sends the company financial
manager or controller a report showing cost incurred, and the
functional managers reports showing labor-hours and cost
expended for work packages in their areas.
 Project Management & Finance
Lecture 9 (Week 10) Project Communications
Management’
– Lecture 9: Project Communications Management
– Reports to Customers/Users
– Each month the project manager should send the customer a report
about work progress and the impacts of any changes on work scope,
schedule or cost.
– Although the contractor’s marketing or customer relations director
might be formally charged with communicating contract-related
information to the customer it is up the project manager to make sure
the customer is always kept well-informed. She must be available to
answer customer questions and satisfy request for project information.
The customer should never be ‘surprised’
 Project Management & Finance
Lecture 9 (Week 10) Project Communications
Management’
– Lecture 9: Project Communications Management
– Reports to Customers/Users
– Each month the project manager should send the
customer a report about work progress and the impacts
of any changes on work scope, schedule or cost.
 Project Management & Finance
Lecture 9 (Week 10) Project Communications
Management’
– Lecture 9: Project Communications Management
– Reports to Customers/Users (Continued…)
– Although the contractor’s marketing or customer relations
director might be formally charged with communicating contract-
related information to the customer it is up the project manager
to make sure the customer is always kept well-informed.
– She must be available to answer customer questions and satisfy
request for project information. The customer should never be
‘surprised’
 Project Management & Finance
Lecture 9 (Week 10) Project Communications
Management’
– Lecture 9: Project Communications Management
– Informal Communications
– Much communication in projects happens informally through the familiar
grapevine. Certainly, such communication has drawbacks: it garbles
messages, is neither thorough nor dependable, and does not guarantee
that people who need information will ever get it.
– On balance, however, informal communication is largely beneficial and
essential. It fulfills social and work needs, and conveys information more
quickly and directly that formal systems.
– Some theorist posit that a vast network of informal communication is
essential for any organization to perform well.
Project Management & Finance
Lecture 9 (Week 10) Project Communications
Management’
Project Lifecycle Process
phase
Planning Plan Communications Management
Planning Manage Communications
Monitoring and Control Communications
Control
 Project Management & Finance
Lecture 9 (Week 10) Project Communications
Management’
– Lecture 9: Project Communications Management
– Manage Communications
– Process to make information available to project
stakeholders as planned
– It includes implementing the communications
management plan, as well as responding to
unanticipated requests for information
– The communication management plan is implemented
here..
 Project Management & Finance
Lecture 9 (Week 10) Project Communications
Management’
– Lecture 9: Project Communications Management
– Project Records
– Are part of the organizational process assets
– Include correspondence, memo, meeting minutes and
other documents describing the project
– Should be maintained in an organized manner
throughout the project
 Project Management & Finance
Lecture 9 (Week 10) Project Communication
Management’
– Lecture 9: Management Communications
– The requirements for Manage Communications;
– Communication Management Plan
– Work performance reports
– Enterprise Environmental factors
– Organizational Process assets
 Project Management & Finance
Lecture 9 (Week 10) Project Communication
Management’
– Lecture 9: Manage Communications
– The techniques for Manage Communications;
– Communication technology
– Communication models
– Communication methods
– Information management systems
– Performance reporting
 Project Management & Finance
Lecture 9 (Week 10) Project Communication
Management’
– Lecture 9: Manage Communications
– The outcome for Manage Communications;
– Project communication
– Project Management Plan updates
– Project document updates
– Organizational Process Asset updates
Project Management & Finance
Lecture 9 (Week 10) Project Communications
Management’
Project Lifecycle Process
phase
Planning Plan Communications Management
Planning Manage Communications
Monitoring and Control Communications
Control
 Project Management & Finance
Lecture 9 (Week 10) Project Communications
Management’
– Lecture 9: Project Communications Management
– Control Communications
– Process to collect and distribute performance
information, which includes status reports, progress
measurements and forecast
– They provide performance information on areas such as
scope, schedule, cost and quality
 Project Management & Finance
Lecture 9 (Week 10) Project Communication
Management’
– Lecture 9: Control Communications
– The requirements for Control Communications;
– Project Management Plan
– Project communications
– Issue log
– Work performance data
– Organizational process assets
 Project Management & Finance
Lecture 9 (Week 10) Project Communication
Management’
– Lecture 9: Control Communications
– The requirements techniques for Control
Communications;
– Information Management System
– Expert Judgement
– Meetings
 Project Management & Finance
Lecture 9 (Week 10) Project Communication
Management’
– Lecture 9: Control Communications
– The outcome for Control Communications;
– Work performance Information
– Change Request
– Project management plan updates
– Project document updates
– Organizational process assets updates
 Project Management & Finance
Lecture 9 (Week 10) Project Communication
Management’
– Lecture 9: Control Communications

– Performance Reporting;
– This process includes;
• Status reporting – describing where the project now
stands – for example, status related to schedule and
budget metrics
• Progress reporting – describing what the project team
has accomplished – for example, percentage complete to
schedule, or what is completed versus what in process
• Forecasting – predicting future project status and
progress.
 Project Management & Finance
Lecture 9 (Week 10) Project Communication
Management’
– Lecture 9: Control Communications
– Effective Stakeholder Communication;
• All stakeholders have different preference with
respect to the way they communicate and
interact with others on issues that matter to a
project
• When the manner in which information is shared
is not consistent with their expectations,
managing their expectations will become
increasingly difficult
 Project Management & Finance
Lecture 9 (Week 10) Project Communication
Management’
– Lecture 9: Control Communications
– Effective Stakeholder Communication;
• All stakeholders have different preference with
respect to the way they communicate and
interact with others on issues that matter to a
project
• When the manner in which information is shared
is not consistent with their expectations,
managing their expectations will become
increasingly difficult