The IPMC Commission considers effective project management a fundamental management responsibility and vital to achieving the Department’s overall mission and objectives. Agency officials and organizational managers must understand the current status of and risks associated with their programs in order to make informed decisions. Risks must be appropriately mitigated with sufficient controls in place such as to insure that projects are completed on-time, within budget, and aligned with the business case in order to achieve the mission of the VA.

As distinguished from ongoing operations and maintenance, a project is defined as a related set of activities having a discreet beginning and end and resulting in the delivery of a specific product or service. Therefore this guide applies to projects defined, approved and funded  in order to:

▲    Establish and communicate a consistent One  project management framework for  projects as developed by your organization committees and departments.

▲    Implement project management best practices incorporating common terminology and leverage the practices presented in the IPMC Project Management Training and Certification Program, and

▲    Provide project management forms and reference information as a tool to aid Project Managers and the organization in the consistent management and delivery of projects.

The project management and system development processes, plans, and other outputs identified and described in this guide are based on the existing ORGANIZATIONAL project management practices, incorporate other best practices from throughout the Federal IT sector as well as those of the International Project Management Commission’s Guide to the Project Management Treatise of Protocol (PMTOP  ™ Guide 2005).

The guide is divided into chapters which describe the project management activities and deliverables for each step of the IPMC Project Management Framework. Project management forms for outputs identified in each step are provided in the appendix.

The intended audience for this guide is primarily the project and program managers responsible for managing OMB Exhibit 300 level projects. However, the practices documented in the guide are scaleable and are thus applicable to projects which may not be identified as an OMB Exhibit 300-level investment project.

Specifically, the following individuals and groups will benefit from the utilization of this guide:

▲    Senior executives

▲    Program managers, managers of Project Managers, and supervisors

▲    Project managers and other project team members

▲    Members of Project Management Offices (PMOs)

▲    IT Customers and other project stakeholders

▲    Functional managers with employees assigned to project teams

▲    Consultants working with the organization to provide products and services

The IPMC Project Management Framework depicts the processes of the Milestone Reviews, the System Development Life Cycle steps, the Project Management Life Cycle, and the resulting IPMC outputs. This Framework, when incorporated with the IPMC Project Management Life Cycle, covers the initiating, planning, executing, controlling, and closing phases.

The Framework addresses an effective, consistent management methodology that will provide the with useful, accurate and timely project information for achieving the successful delivery of project initiatives. The Framework represents the collection and recommended application of project management best practices throughout the  organization. These project management processes will be transitioned to and aligned with the organizational environment and current processes.

It is the vision of the IPMC Commission is that Project Managers incorporate this guide as a tool to aid in their responsibilities to deliver projects on time, on budget, and within the scope and al