Project Planning

• Develops the project management plan for the project. 
• Sets realistic and practical goals and the appropriate strategies for achieving them 
• Responsible for holding team accountable in meeting the project objectives according to the project plan
• Manages project scope changes, schedule updates, and risk mitigation 
• Provides template documents for charges, kick-off meetings and sponsor updates
• Helps to identify where additional resources may be needed
• Works with the project owner to proactively identify barriers to project success/progress and develop mitigation strategies as needed
• Assist with identifying resources to complete particular project-related tasks

Project Communication

• Develops tools and techniques for capturing and distributing tasks, communicating with all levels of management, and ongoing project evaluation.
• Primary manager and point of contact for the status of the project 
• Reports on project metrics and deliverables
• Brings together appropriate project team members and stakeholders as needed to ensure progress on the project
• Communicates action items to the project team

Project Meetings

• Schedules project meetings or coordinates with appropriate admins to schedule meetings 
• Develops meeting agendas, consulting with the project owner as necessary
• Ensures there are project notes for each meeting
• Facilitates project meetings
• Schedules sponsor update meetings as necessary
• Captures tasks/action items

Requirements Gathering

• Involves capturing and gathering critical requirements from the project team. Requirements are the features, functions, and tasks or actions that are deemed necessary to ensure the success of a project.
  • Taking the identified critical requirements and analyzing, prioritizing them, and presenting findings to the team to help in decision-making or formulating recommendations.

ie. Meeting one-on-one or facilitating team discussions with identified stakeholders to capture requirements.

Creating Process Maps

• Working with the team to document and review a current process that may need to be re-engineered 

ie. Develop a future plan, and troubleshoot areas for improvement or refinement. 

Peer Benchmarking

• Perform research work for information the team has identified a need for to help with decision-making or to meet deliverables. Benchmarking is a process used to measure and compare our services or operational processes against other units, departments, or external colleges/universities

ie. A report on how professional development is tracked at the college’s peers of big ten schools.

Fit Gap Analysis

• Identify the areas in which the newly planned system or a business process for your organization fits or doesn’t fit according to the needs. 

ie. Performing a comparison of recommended software options. 

Creating Technical Documentation

• Create training or process documents. 

Survey Analysis (Reports and Presentations)

• Turning raw survey data into insights and answers that teams can use to help with recommendations and decision-making.

ie. Present survey findings via written report or a visual presentation.

Project Planning

• A project manager does not typically take part in drafting a project charge, though they are a good resource for reviewing an initial draft of the charge to offer feedback or identify areas that need more detail.
• A project manager does not typically assemble and/or invite the project team to participate, this messaging should come from the project owner.
• Not a decision maker
• Not a subject matter expert
• Does not take the place of an administrative assistant
• Does not continue working with the team after the project is complete

Project Tasks/Deliverables

• While a project manager helps track the status of deliverables, typically they are not the person who completes the actual task

Presentations and Public Updates

• A project manager may assist the project owner in pulling together a slide deck or materials for project presentations outside of the project team, but they are not typically the main presenter

• A business analyst is not a decision-maker. 
• A business analyst is not typically a subject matter expert.
• A business analyst does not develop technical solutions.