ARCHIVED - Project Management Core Competencies

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1. Introduction

This document details the core competencies, or basic skills, required by a person managing an information technology (IT) project in the Canadian federal government.

This section provides an overview of the complete document, outlines the target groups for project management professional development and their overall roles, and it illustrates how managing an IT project unites three basic knowledge areas: general management, project management and IT management.
Section 2 details the core competencies required for general management. These are skills that any manager must have and that are required for project management as well.
Section 3 details the core competencies that any project manager (PM) must have. They are based on the nine knowledge areas in the Project Management Body of Knowledge developed by the Project Management Institute.
Section 4 details the core competencies - that is, the unique technical skills - required to manage IT projects.

APPENDIX lists the references used to prepare this document.

1.1 Summary

Project management requires three areas of knowledge

General Management	To ensure proper management practices.
Project Management	To ensure quality project process and results.
IT Management	To create or acquire quality IT product.

First, the (PM) must have skills in general management. Skills such as leading, negotiating, communicating, team building and so forth are necessary in any management position.

Second, the PM must understand generally accepted project management skills, such as managing project scope, time, cost, quality, and so forth.

Third, the PM of an IT project must have the IT management skills, such as lifecycle phasing, estimating, constructing software, and so forth.

General Management Knowledge Areas

The Profile of Public Service Leaders and Managers (reference 1) defines the following knowledge areas and objectives:

KNOWLEDGE AREA	OBJECTIVE
Judgment, Integrity, Self-confidence, Flexibility, Initiative, Perseverance	To act with consideration of issues, ethically, confidently, in a style appropriate to the environment, beyond the basic necessities and consistently with the plan of action.
Thinking Skills	To arrive at accurate conclusions and solutions by visualizing new potentials, and by identifying, defining and analyzing problems and situations using rational and intuitive processes.
Organizational Awareness	To get results by understanding, building and using formal and informal systems and contacts in a complex organizational environment.
Knowledge	To perform the appropriate activities by using knowledge of the Public Service environment, government systems and operational policies, and the programs and policies of one's own department.
Leadership	To attract and mobilize energies and talents; to work towards a shared purpose in the best interests of the organization, the people comprising it and the people it serves.
Interpersonal Relations	To advance the work of the organization by interacting with others in ways that develop respect, mutual understanding and productive working relationships.
Communication	To shape others' understanding in ways that capture interest, inform and gain support.
Action Management	To achieve expected results through the successful and timely completion of activities and delivery of products and services.

Section 2 of this document details the specific skills required for these knowledge areas.

Project Management

Project management skills are organized around the nine knowledge areas described in the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) published by the Project Management Institute (reference 3).

KNOWLEDGE AREA	OBJECTIVE
Project Integration Management	To co-ordinate the diverse components of the project by quality project planning, execution and change control to achieve required balance of time, cost and quality.
Project Scope Management	To create quality product by including only the required work and to control scope changes.
Project Time Management	To ensure timely completion of the project.
Project Cost Management	To ensure that the project is completed within allotted budgets.
Project Quality Management	To ensure that the product will satisfy the requirements.
Project Human Resource Management	To employ quality leadership to achieve quality teamwork.
Project Reporting Management (PMBOK Project Communications Management)	To distribute quality project information.
Project Risk Management	To identify and control risk.
Project Procurement Management	To ensure quality service or product acquisition.

Section 3 of this document details the specific skills required for these knowledge areas.

IT Management

IT management involves those specific skills needed to manage a hardware or software project typical in the IT industry. Implied is a constant effort to improve these skills so that the IT system development process (maturity) level is as high as possible on the Systems Engineering Capability Maturity Model scale developed by the Software Engineering Institute (reference 4).

KNOWLEDGE AREA	OBJECTIVE
Lifecycle Management	To manage a project according to a standard process by understanding and using a systems development lifecycle.
Tools and Techniques Management	To optimize specific activities in the development of a system by selecting and using the best tools, and by performing the technical activities correctly.
Architecture Management	To manage the implementation of systems so that their design and components fit into the existing (or future) departmental standard infrastructure, software and hardware.

Section 4 of this document details the specific skills required for these knowledge areas.

1.2. Project Management Target Groups

The Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat defines three roles in the management of IT projects: project sponsor, project leader and project manager.

Roles

Three key officials should be identified for each project. For small projects, these roles could be assumed by two people or even one person; however, all of the responsibilities for the three roles are to be specifically assigned. The Treasury Board Project Management policy defines project leader's and project manager's roles and responsibilities, while the Auditor General recommended the creation of the project sponsor role. These responsibilities are summarized below.

• The project sponsor is responsible for ensuring that the department understands the value and importance of the project and, ultimately, for realizing the benefits predicted for the project. The project sponsor is typically a senior official in the organization responsible for the business function that the project will support. The project sponsor should have a major say in the release of funds after a review.
• The project leader has overall responsibility for the project and is accountable for all external and internal aspects of it. The project leader is typically a senior departmental official.
• The project manager has specific accountability for achieving all of the defined project objectives within the time and resources allocated. The project manager performs the day-to-day management of the project. One or more assistant project managers with the same responsibilities over specific portions of the project may support the overall project manager, without diluting his or her responsibility. Project managers should have demonstrated knowledge, skills and experience commensurate with the size, complexity and risk of the project. Since different levels of competency are required for different levels of project management and project size, the project manager role is divided into three proficiency levels. Depending on the size, complexity and risk of the project, more than one level of project manager may share responsibility for managing the project.

These roles are the basis of the following five target groups for whom training must be developed in the federal government: project sponsor, the project leader, project manager master (PM master), project manager professional (PM professional) and project manager intern (PM intern).

(PM) proficiency levels

The PM master requires a high level of project management knowledge and experience, attained after managing many projects for a number of years in the federal government.

The PM professional requires a moderate level of project management knowledge and experience, attained after managing a few projects for a few years in the federal government.

The PM intern requires a basic level of project management knowledge and experience, attained through training; no previous project management experience may be required.

The proficiency level required in a project depends on the size of the project. A major Crown project, for example, may have many teams led by PM interns. Some of the teams, especially if they are working on parts of a larger deliverable, may be grouped, and the project management responsibility may be under a PM professional. Similarly, the groups may in turn require a manager with an even higher level of proficiency, such as the PM master.

Skills required at different levels and the rating scale

Different roles in project management will require different competencies. For example, the project sponsor level will require mainly general management knowledge. The project leader will require mostly general management skills, followed by project management skills and, possibly, cursory IT management skills. The PM master will require some general management skills, many project management skills and some IT management skills. The PM professional may require some general management skills; he or she will require mostly project management skills and many IT management skills. The PM intern will require mainly IT technical skills.

Additionally, each target group will require a unique 'depth' of knowledge or skill level in each competency. For this report, 13 project management practitioners evaluated the skill level for each core competency and each target group. They rated the skill level on a scale of 0 through 5, as follows:

• 0 - No knowledge or skill
• 1 - Basic knowledge
• 2 - Full knowledge, no performance
• 3 - Full knowledge, performs under supervision
• 4 - Performs without supervision
• 5 - Performs, teaches, leads, directs, integrates work of others

The number that appears for each target group and competency is the mode voted by the 13 practitioners.

Note:

The project management environment is fluid: responsibilities, and therefore knowledge or skill levels required, migrate up and down the organizational chart depending on the project, the people available and even the phase that the project is in. One of the key skills in project management, therefore, is to be flexible and to adapt to any situation.

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