Abstract
Over the recent decade, the efficient implementation of project and program management has become very crucial for business success. Many researchers are anxious about successful use of various project programs. Organizations, in their turn, are in constant search for the efficient tools for managing desired objectives and reducing possible obstacles in today’s competitive international commerce. This writing presents the managing approaches and discusses key elements of the project and program management framework. Additionally, the paper introduces the standard development phases of a project, which efficient application may reduce risks and costs and promote prosperity. Also, detailed studies and survey results are presented in this writing regarding this topic.
Keywords: project management, project phases, stakeholders, project cycle, strategic objectives
Introduction
Nowadays big organizations and business companies are involved in various project programs aimed at better realization of their strategic objectives and their efficient implementation (Görög). In the past, project management focused mainly on such industries as construction and military industries, providing important data to top managers. Today’s fundamental reason of project programs use is a strong need to renew product lines and reduce delivery time of goods to markets in the modern innovative environment (“An Introduction to Project”). One the one hand, these circumstances and modified technologies have led to an increased number of projects used in businesses (Young). On the other hand, such project programs have raised a question of successful managing of various project stages and elements during the implementation process (“An Introduction to Project”). The need of successful and efficient project and program management can hardly be underestimated. Many authors emphasize that clear project objectives, top management assistance, organized decision making process are crucial for achieving success in project programs implementation (Görög). Perfect understanding of project standard development phases can also contribute to achieving success in the course of implementing project programs.
Various statistics demonstrate the importance of project management in modern business organizations and society. For instance, the U.S. spends more than $2 trillion on project programs every year; moreover, U.S. projects account for more than one fourth of the worlds GDP (“An Introduction to Project”). Furthermore, project management is vital not only for businesses, but also for personal success, since various personal projects can surely benefit from efficient project management skills (Görög). In the recent decades, people have come to the realization of the project management importance and advantages it can provide.
The aim of this writing is to highlight the managing approaches to project and program management and present its key elements. Furthermore, the writing focuses on the standard development phases of any project or program supporting the outcomes with detailed studies and survey results. This writing is organized as follows: the main section outlines the literature review on the topic; the second section lists the research methods used in the writing; the next section introduces the major findings and research outcomes; the last section of the writing provides research conclusion and recommendations.
Literature Review
In a fast changing marketplace, managers must utilize various project programs that may provide strategic directions for their teams and help achieve the desired business results (“An Introduction to Project”). Many companies and organizations consider project management to be a key asset for success because excellence in projects and programs can guarantee the desired outcomes. Business organizations underline that effective project management can provide lots of benefits and advantages, and namely (“An Introduction to Project”):
- Better control of human and financial resources
- Decreased costs and expenses
- Improved relations with customers
- Increased reliability and quality
- Improved productivity
- Increased profits and revenues
- Increased work morale
- Enhanced competitiveness
Discussing project management, it is crucial to understand the concept of a project and a program. A project is defined as a specific temporary activity undertaken with an objective to create a specific service or product (“An Introduction to Project”). A program, in its turn, is a temporary organization that is created to control the implementation of a certain project in order to achieve organizational strategic activities (“An Introduction to Project”). Project management is the necessary skill of successful managers, which describes the application of knowledge and various techniques to project activities to satisfy numerous project needs.
Project Attributes
- A project is temporary. Any project has the certain start and end dates, thus, it has strict time limits.
- A project has a unique goal. Any project should have a certain goal.
- A project needs resources from different areas. Such resources include people, software, hardware and other assets.
- A project should have a sponsor, who can provide the direction for actions and fund necessary expenses.
- A project involves uncertainty. Since every project is unique, it is very difficult to clearly determine how much a project will cost. External factor also have a tremendous influence on project and its success. This reason makes projects a challenging task.
Project Management Framework
Project management, which aims at meeting the project requirements, consists of several key elements, which build a project management framework, and namely: project stakeholders, project management knowledge areas, tools and techniques, project and corporate success (Figure 1) (“An Introduction to Project”).
Project Stakeholders
Stakeholders include project sponsor, team, customers, users, opponents and suppliers, who are involved in project activities and who have different interests. Their expectations and needs influence project process and play crucial role in project success. Project management should build strong relationships with project stakeholders to better understand and satisfy their needs and requirements (“An Introduction to Project”).
Figure 1. Project Management Framework
Source: Schwalbe, Information Technology Project Management, Sixth edition, 2010
Project Management Knowledge Area
Knowledge areas include skills that project managers should possess and develop. Nine functions form the basis of project management knowledge area and include four core functions, four facilitating and one overarching function (“An Introduction to Project”).
Core knowledge areas can be described as follows (“An Introduction to Project”):
- Scope management consists of close work with stakeholders and managing the work on successful project implementation
- Time management involves accurately defined time frames concerning all stages of a project and a schedule of effective use of available resources
- Cost management includes preparing and planning the budget required for the project
- Quality management controls strict compliance of current project fulfillment with the initially implied objectives
- Communication management is concerned with generating and collecting information about the project and the process of its development and implementation
- Human resource management focuses on effective people’s involvement with the current project
- Risk management analyzes possible risks that may occur while project implementation
- Procurement management provides services and goods from external sources.
The ninth knowledge area, project integration management, controls the fulfillment of all other knowledge areas, in which operate project managers.
Project Management Tools and Techniques
As the world and technology develop and become more complex, people search for efficient tools for managing different projects. With the help of various tools and techniques, project managers and their teams are able to follow the project schedule, effectively use available resources achieving strategic project objectives (“An Introduction to Project”). Presented knowledge areas involve various tools and techniques, which can be more effective in various situations. According to a 2006 survey, software, lessons-learned reports, scope statements were defined by respondents as “super tools”, which had the highest potential for project success. Before starting the project development and implementation, it is crucial to determine the most effective tools for a certain situation and project (Figure2) (“An Introduction to Project”).
Figure 2. Project Management Tools and Techniques by Knowledge Areas
Needs and Demands
Organizations and companies exist to serve society or generate profits. To be profitable and competitive, organizations are constantly searching for new ways of gaining additional revenues and creating efficient strategies. Very often, laws and regulations amend businesses and organizations, influencing their production and strategies (“An Introduction to Project”). The projects help overcome these difficulties and satisfy the needs of most organizations. Usually, they fit one of the following demands and needs (“An Introduction to Project”):
- Market demand. For example, a big retailer initiates a project to provide their customers with the ability for goods offering and delivering over the Internet because of sales drop and increased customer demand for convenience because of lack of time.
- Business need. For instance, in a fast developing environment and a variety of modern IT devices, a company initiates a project to introduce a new accounting system, which may fully satisfy corporate needs, accelerate their operations and influence their business results.
- Customer request. Customers are influencing organizational processes and can drive new projects. For instance, to satisfy consumers’ needs, organizations should introduce some new programs, purchase new equipment or consulting services. These factors serve as project drivers.
- Technological advance. For example, Wi-Fi technology is very crucial and important for modern society. Because of its availability, electronics manufacturers modernized their products to draw benefits from the new technology.
- Legal requirements. Government and private organizations have to develop new projects as the result of new laws in various spheres of life.
- Ecological impact. Popular “greening” efforts (to reduce carbon footprint, energy consumption and save fuel) have a tremendous impact on businesses and organizations and cause the development of various projects.
- Social need. For instance, African countries currently suffer from the Ebola disease that spreads fast and infects a large number of people worldwide. Medical facilities should have a project how to treat those infected and how to prevent disease spreading.
The discussed needs and demands describe problems and requirements that need to be efficiently managed with the help of various projects.
The Project Cycle
Project strategic planning and scheduling have a definite sequence of actions, which begins with an agreed strategy, oriented towards achieving strategic targets (EuropeAid Co-operation Office). The project cycle provides a certain framework, within which stakeholders act and receive valuable project information, so that sound decisions can be taken at key project stages.
The general project cycle has six phases, the importance and duration of which may differ in accordance with a project type (Figure 3).
The first phase is the Programming, during which problems and opportunities are identified with the purpose of main objective identification.
The next phase is the Identification, during which the major project ideas and their relevance are analyzed.
During the Appraisal phase, suggested ideas are united into a project plan and assessed for their feasibility.
During the Financing phase an important decision is considered, whether to fund a project or not. Once a project has been planned and funded, it can be implemented. Successful implementation of any project contributes to the achievement of overall objectives. Finally, implemented project should be evaluated to determine the relevance of initial objectives and final results (the Evaluation phase).
Figure 3. The Project Cycle
The Logical Framework Approach
Managers apply various approaches to project planning, managing and implementation, however, the most valuable and efficient tool is the Logical Framework Approach (LFA) (“An Introduction to Project”). It is defined as a technique to determine and analyze a certain situation, and to identify aims and action, which should be implemented to improve the current situation. The Logical Framework Approach consists of two major stages, which are carried out during the Identification and Appraisal phases: the analysis and planning stage (Figure 4) (“An Introduction to Project”).
During the analysis stage the current situation is analyzed with the purpose of developing the desired situation and the strategies to achieve it. The key challenge is not only addressing the existing problems, but also satisfying the participants’ needs and interests (“An Introduction to Project”). In the Planning stage, the analysis results are converted into a concrete plan that might be implemented.
Figure 4. The Logical Framework Approach
Methodology
The main method applied for this analysis is data collection. Reliability, validity and credibility were the main indicators for evaluation of the resources. The evaluation of resources was based on their relevance to the topic, on the quality of their content. All collected data were analyzed and evaluated with respect to the “project and program management” notions.
The literature review aimed at providing an understanding of project and program management importance in a rapidly changing marketplace and their relevance for successful managers and organizations. At the same time, the results of literature review formed a basis for the focus analysis areas and revealed major problems associated with project management.
All statistical information used in this analysis is secondary data collected from Project Management Institute (USA). Data was collected for Institute reports.
According to recent researches, there exist several aspects of managing projects and programs that involve the most important reasons for the failure.
The eight enterprises were further presented from the following point of view:
- The existing organizational arrangement of projects and corporate attitude towards project management
- The scope definition of the results of project management launching
- The identification of the most important problem areas experienced while project implementation.
- Results of project management implementation
Analysis
Introduction of Eight Enterprises
Enterprise 1. Jordan Petroleum Refinery Co., Amman, Jordan
Initially, the company lacked a solid project management philosophy and suffered from difficulties while enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementation (“Executive guide to project management”). Shortage of proper managers, projects and communication influenced the company’s success and staff involvement. Their projects constantly failed and employees did not understand their strategic objectives. The strategic objective was to improve the situation and demonstrate the work teams the real significance of project management. In order to understand this strategic objective, there was a need to train the team, so that they would understand the importance of institutionalization of ordered project management practices (“Executive guide to project management”).
Enterprise 2. TDS Group, Neckarsulm, Germany
The company specializes in IT consulting, HR services and outsourcing. To succeed in a competitive marketplace, the company requires efficient operations models because it operates in a highly competitive environment and need to innovate. The underlying strategic objective aimed at establishment of flexible and reliable transitions to increase corporate efficiency and enhance competitiveness (“Executive guide to project management”). In order to achieve this strategic objective, the company embraced the basic principles of project management and implemented easy-to-use solutions to satisfy its rapidly changing business demands.
Enterprise 3. UnumProvident Corp., Chattanooga, Tenn., USA
The company is a leader in disability income protection. The managers here realize the real importance and significance of efficient project management. The strategic objectives were increasing efficiency, success with teams, and improving internal communication (“Executive guide to project management”). To achieve these objectives, the company invested millions of dollars in IT projects and assimilated the experience of people involved.
Enterprise 4. Leighton Group, St. Leonards, New South Wales, Australia
The company is a leader in the project development and construction industry. The underlying strategic objectives were to maintain their competitive advantages and to provide efficient project management services (“Executive guide to project management”). To achieve these objectives the company focuses on reviewing and updating their project management systems, improving the level of employees’ experience and refining core processes.
Enterprise 5. TradePortal Software, Irvine, Calif., USA
The company is a software developer that serves the financial services industry. The company operates to satisfy the customer requirements, which are more difficult and demanding than in other industries. Thus, the strategic objectives were to track tasks throughout the company irrespective of time zone and location; to be flexible in adding new information and documentation, and to boost overall efficiency (“Executive guide to project management”). To achieve these objectives, the company focuses on the establishment of a global task-tracking system and a new data center to improve information collection.
Enterprise 6. Isthmus IT, San Jose, Costa Rica
The company operates in the software industry, focusing on individual development projects and on improving the quality of life of their employees. The underlying strategic objectives for the company were to improve knowledge management and organizational culture. To successfully achieve these objectives, the company focuses on four powerful statements that lead to more efficient product development (“Executive guide to project management”).
Enterprise 7. JetAccess Internet System Solutions, Guadalajara, Mexico
This company had problems being unable to efficiently track small details while implementing various projects. Thus, the core objectives for the corporation have become improving planning, coordination and communication within the departments to avoid delivery fails, people overload, missing activities (“Executive guide to project management”). To achieve these objectives, the company focuses on implementation of project management and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems.
Enterprise 8. RCG Information Technology, Inc., Makati City, Manila, Philippines
The company specializes in providing software development, maintenance and testing services worldwide. To survive and to enhance their competitive advantage, the company needs to differentiate their services from the main competitors (“Executive guide to project management”). The core strategic objectives included a combination of metrics with process improvement, transforming software development into a predictable process. To achieve these objectives, it is crucial to embrace project management tools.
Main problem Areas in the Eight Enterprises
The main problem areas in the eight enterprises help to get the better understanding of what issues cause difficulties.
- Lack of a solid project management philosophy is the major problem area in the most companies discussed. The particular reason for this problem is a lack of project management principles.
- Lack of discipline. This problem occurred mainly because of poor understanding of project management importance by employees and top managers.
- Broken communication planning and coordination. The major reason of this problem is bad employees’ understanding of their tasks and roles in organizations.
Influence of Project Management on Organizational Performance
Taking into consideration the major problem areas discussed above, it is crucial to find efficient solutions, which may improve the situation and help overcome these problems. In this way, project management that demonstrated its exclusive efficiency and contribution to enterprise success. The influence of project management on the eight enterprises was the following:
Enterprise 1. Having launched a project management task force to train their employees, the company’s CIO was able to implement enterprise resource planning (ERP) (“Executive guide to project management”). The training was a real success because employees started spreading the know-how to their colleagues in other departments. They shared their experience and knowledge, became involved in work and acted as a team. Consequently, communication was developed at all levels.
Enterprise 2. Trying to satisfy complex customer needs, the project management system was implemented. As the result, the existing workflow standards were extended to non-standard business transitions and operations (“Executive guide to project management”). Communication and transparency were also improved; employees were able to easily change their focus from individual tasks to a broader understanding of common strategic objectives. Additionally, efficiency and reliability in pre-sales processes were also increased, minimizing risks and costs (“Executive guide to project management”). The company introduced easy-to-use solutions to satisfy their constantly changing needs and, as a result, reduce risk and downtime.
Enterprise 3. Since the company was the result of several acquisitions and mergers, the major challenge was to create clear lines of communication for each employee and top manager. They invested in introduction of standard and efficient project management system, providing templates and practices that demonstrated how employees should do their work (“Executive guide to project management”). Communication within the organization was uniformed allowing easy exchange of employees within one project or from one project to another. As the result, employees could quickly and efficiently focus on their individual tasks and realize overall corporate objectives.
Enterprise 4. Since it was formed more than 50 years ago, the company has always relied on project based organizational structure (“Executive guide to project management”). To maintain their competitive advantage and to satisfy their clients better, the company focuses on reviewing and updating its project management systems. They work on improving employees’ skills and experience, using best-in-class adaptive tools (“Executive guide to project management”). The managers of the company pay special attention to project management and considered it to be the key for business success.
Enterprise 5. Having the urgent need to be flexible in documentation adding, the company has introduced a project management system to boost their productivity and to empower their employees to share experience and ideas (“Executive guide to project management”). Using project management tools, the company was able to open a new data center to improve the quality of information collecting. In a word, having empowered their team for collaboration, sharing ideas and information hold the company competitive.
Enterprise 6. Project management practices played a crucial role in this company’s success and for the improving of internal communications and employees’ lives. The company benefited greatly focusing on project management system: they learned from mistakes in the process and knew how to avoid them in future, organizational culture has improved, and quality of knowledge management has been raised (“Executive guide to project management”). These benefits have helped the company produce more with less.
Enterprise 7. Implementation of project management system has brought benefits to the next company. Usage of appropriate tools provided them business growth, enhanced their competitive advantage and allowed to avoid mismatched delivery dates and other problems.
Enterprise 8. Project management helped survive RCG IT Information Technology Company. It helped its employees’ speak the same technical language and unite the metrics with process improvements. The overall productivity was increased and the level of corporate effectiveness considerably increased.
Consequently, the analysis of the results of project management system implementation demonstrates significant contributions to enterprise success and has several common benefits:
- Enhanced productivity
- Improved communication within organizations and teams
- Improved employees’ understanding of their roles
- Enhanced competitive advantage
- Improved organizational culture
- Improved understanding of strategic objectives
- Reduced risks and possible problems and mistakes
- Empowered employees
- Optimized use of human and financial resources
Additional statistical data
Prioritizing projects, companies focus mainly on such benefits as strong financial impact, cost savings, and intensive revenue generation. The average performance rate achieved by various companies in completing projects in budget and time is from 80 percent to 90 percent (“Executive guide to project management”). Lack of incompetent project planning and proper communication is the major factors that cause delays in project fulfillment. To achieve better results in project management, very often firms apply financial management project control panels and time tracking functionality.
If to consider the possible reasons of project failures, organizational change impact, size and complexity have the greatest influence on project success and failures (Figure 5).
Figure 5. Influence of Project Characteristics on Project Failures
Source: KPMG UK, “2005 Global Program Management Survey: How committed are you?”
The results of the survey are based on the answers from 600 organizations from more than 20 countries (“Executive guide to project management”). As it can be seen, the lowest level of complexity correlates to the lowest level of failure; and the more complex project is being implemented, the greater chances to fail (more than 40 percent).
Respondents marked out the major factors leading to project under-performance:
- Simultaneously fulfilled routine and project responsibilities. Approximately 85 percent respondents report that employees aren’t relieved of their routine tasks when working in a project team (“Executive guide to project management”).
- Lack of knowledge concerning project fulfilled. More than 80 percent interviewed project managers emphasize that employees involved in some projects rarely receive trainings in project management methodology (“Executive guide to project management”).
- Lack of necessary resources. Approximately 70 percent respondents say that project teams lack necessary resources for the successful project fulfillment (“Executive guide to project management”).
- Lack of project standard methodology. More than 60 percent project managers complain about the lack of project standard methodology that should be used by various project teams in various departments (“Executive guide to project management”).
- Improper project leaders and managers. 55 percent respondents report that very often project teams have improper leaders, who have a negative impact on project fulfillment (“Executive guide to project management”).
- Unclear goals. More than 45 percent project managers complain about the lack of clear strategic objectives (“Executive guide to project management”).
The same participants reported that more than 85 percent project managers have available formal processes for creating business cases, while almost 50 percent of them prepare their own business cases for their projects (“Executive guide to project management”). The major problems of business cases that may provoke project failure are lack of fundamental considerations and project benefits linkage to performance objectives.
Respondents’ answers to the question, whether project benefits linked to executive performance objectives are the following (Figure 6).
Figure 6. Linkage of Project Benefits to Executive Performance Objectives
Source: KPMG UK, “2005 Global Program Management Survey: How committed are you?”
As it can be seen, most interviewed managers from Europe, Middle East and Africa consider project benefits to be mostly linked to executive performance objectives, while most American managers reported that project benefits sometimes linked to performance objectives. The same opinion the respondents from Asia Pacific region have.
Targeted benefits are valuable and important for successful project implementation. The proportion of targeted benefits, delivered in various industries, is the following (Figure 7).
Portfolio Project Management is also very crucial for company’s and project success. For example, as the recent surveys report more than 70 percent respondents say that successful portfolio project management increases project alignment with the common business strategy (“Executive guide to project management”). Approximately 58 percent interviewed project managers report improved focus, and namely, work on the proper projects (“Executive guide to project management”). Successful portfolio project management helps budget allocations more efficiently and avoid unnecessary costs (46 percent respondents) (“Executive guide to project management”). Furthermore, approximately 43 percent interviewed project managers emphasize a tremendous increase in cost savings.
Figure 7. Proportion of Targeted Benefits (by industries)
Source: KPMG UK, “2005 Global Program Management Survey: How committed are you?”
The modern company trends are characterized by the low level of portfolio management software tool implementation (just 13 percent), well-developed in-house portfolio management tool (more than 85 percent), and significant popularity of the portfolio management process (70 percent of companies have introduced this tool less than two years ago) (“Executive guide to project management”).
Consequently, companies and organizations are more successful, when they align projects with their corporate strategies and utilize project management offices. These tools support project fulfillment and budgeting and control the results.
Another interesting fact received is that organizational success depends on a company’s ability to align project management and corporate strategy. The following survey results are based on the answers of 87 senior project managers concerning their company’s use of an integrated set of project and strategy integration (Figure 8) (“Executive guide to project management”).
As it can be seen, regardless of organization and its specialization, the highest performance degree depends on the organization’s ability to integrate projects and strategies in a single set.
Figure 8. Project Best Practices and Performance of Strategy
Source: Center for Business Practices, “Strategy and Projects: A Benchmark of Current Best Practices”
The project management methodology provides project fulfillment on time and on budget and meeting their initial goals. Managers and project team members provided the following facts concerning their project fulfillment depending on timely application of project management methodology (“Executive guide to project management”):
The projects were completed – 82 percent
were late – 36 percent
met their objectives – 89 percent
exceeded their budget – 26 percent
often were on budget and on time – 33 percent
did not coincide with a standard methodology – 62 percent
The major problem concerning poor management is project managers’ reluctance to acknowledge the success in public or total ignorance of project success. Almost 60 percent project participants have admitted this fact. Moreover, approximately 90 percent respondents report that very often organizations do not provide financial bonuses to project team members for project success (“Executive guide to project management”).
Finally, maturity of organizations cannot be ignored, as the more mature the firm, the more benefits it can get from portfolio management practices. Companies of three different maturity levels (Level 1 – Level 2 – Level 3) estimate benefits from project management maturity using 5-point scale. The lowest rate (2.7) belongs to Level 1 companies that have optimal resources allocation benefit. The highest rate is in favor of Level 3 companies with the benefit of better aligning projects to strategies (“Executive guide to project management”).
Conclusion and Recommendations
The primary aim of this writing and the fundamental research was to investigate the role of project and program management in the company’s success and sustainable growth. In order to achieve this aim, key elements of the project management framework were discussed; the standard development phases of a project were introduced and eight enterprises were analyzed concerning the influence of project management implementation on their performance.
In the recent decades, executives have begun to understand how project management influences the bottom line and a variety of benefits it provides. Having several important attributes, project management provides a standardized process streaming company’s results and achievements. The key elements of project management create a single framework, which can offer repeatable results to companies and organizations. They include project stakeholders, project management knowledge areas, tools and techniques, project and corporate success (“An Introduction to Project”). The most efficient approach to manage project used by executives is the logical framework approach, which helps analyze the current situation and develop tools and tasks aimed at the achievement of the desired future situation.
The analyzed enterprises operate in a fierce, competitive environment. However, they have focused on the implementation and development of project management systems to manage the complexity of the business world and to become faster and more competitive. The major problems facing these companies were lack of a solid project management philosophy, lack of discipline and broken communication, planning and coordination. However, they have admitted that the project management system improved the situation, bringing many benefits, and namely: enhanced productivity and competitive advantage, improved communication and organizational culture, empowered employees and optimized use of human and financial resources. It means that efficiently implemented project management system may provide benefits to any company or organization regardless of its specialization.
However, there still exist lots of organizations, which do not realize the real advantages of project management and face the challenges of missed deadlines and expected results, exceeded budgets and lost reputation. On the other hand, many companies and organizations lack efficient leaders and project managers. Our recommendations proposed below are useful for organizations, which want to improve their attitude to project management, and for those companies, which want to implement a new efficient tool, like project management system. Thus, to succeed with project management system implementation, companies and organizations should follow the next recommendations:
- Projects need to be aligned with corporate strategies
- Project team members should have clear objectives and tasks and understand their common goal
- Project team should have all the resources required for the successful implementation of various projects
- Introduce a project standard methodology and practice it within the whole organization
- Choose proper project managers and leaders, whom the employees can trust
- Run trainings to provide information on proper and successful project fulfillment
- Develop a comprehensive portfolio management tool
Consequently, project management as one of the most efficient professional tool in companies and organizations worldwide, can be widely accepted as the best method for holding and enhancing competitive advantages and profits in a modern business environment.
Works Cited
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Görög, Mihály. (2011). “Translating Single Project Management Knowledge to Project Programs.” Project Management Journal, Vol. 42, No. 2, 17–31. Web.
Heldman, Kim. Project Management: Professional Exam. Indianapolis: Wiley Publishing, Inc., 2009.
Jiang, James. “Achieving IT Program Goals with Integrative Conflict Management.” Journal of Management Information Systems, (2014), 79–106. Web.
Young, Michael and Raymond Young. “Project, programme and portfolio maturity: a case study of Australian Federal Government.” International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, (2014); 215-230. Web.
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