Project context

A Project Manager starts with the project record. The project name, owning organization, delivery method, owner and dates establish the context for later requirement decisions. The same project links to requirements, baseline reviews, verification findings, change impacts and time entries. That link matters when a lead needs to distinguish a delayed requirement from a delayed project. For a client engagement, the organization record identifies the business receiving the work and its primary contact.

• Organizations. Keep each client or internal organization on one record, with its relationship status and contact details.
• Projects. Record the project schedule, budget, delivery method and named owner before requirement work begins.
• Team. Use team member records to identify who owns a project and who has capacity for assigned work.

A project can begin as planned, become active and be marked at risk when delivery needs attention. The project record shows rolled-up requirement progress, estimated and actual hours, verification findings, change impacts and baselines. Those figures give the Project Manager a place to start a review; the linked records show what needs action.

Agree how project names and organizations will be entered, who can change the project status, and when a project moves from planned to active. Decide how the project owner is chosen from the team roster. The start and end dates should mean the same thing across projects, because the schedule view places them side by side. If a project has no external client, use the internal organization record rather than making up a client.

Agree which delivery method applies to each project. Fixed Price, Time & Materials and Internal are the available choices. A Project Manager should also decide which budget and hour figures the team will review in its operating cycle. The project summary is a useful place to state the agreed scope in plain language before adding individual requirements.

Take an active project with a named owner and several linked requirements. Open its requirements and confirm each one points to this project. Check that a baseline, a verification finding and a time entry appear under the same project when those records exist. Then change the project’s end date and check the schedule view. The test is whether a new Project Manager can find the current requirement work and the owner without searching across unrelated organizations.

• Active Projects — Projects currently active or at risk, with ownership, end date and progress visible together.
• Project Schedule — Planned and active projects laid out with start and end dates for delivery review.

Start with project setup, then follow baseline review. The data model shows how project references carry through the records.