Scope Management: How to Scope your Projects in 5 Steps

Scope Management refers to all the processes which are followed to ensure that a project includes all the work required to complete it, while excluding all work which is not necessary to complete it. A Scope Management plan clearly defines who is responsible for managing the projects’ scope and how the scope will be controlled.

The project scope will act like the compass of the project that will give direction and will help the project manager to know where “true North” is.

The project scope will include the deliverables which needs to be described clearly so that everyone knows what needs to be produced.

Here are 5 recommended steps to scope your projects:

Step 1: Set the Direction
You set the direction for the project by having an agreed Project Vision, Objectives and Timeframes? Ensure that they are specified and that your customer and project team understand it and agree to it. Only by fixing the project direction can you truly fix the project scope.

Step 2: Scope Workshops
The best way to obtain buy-in to your project scope is to have a workshop with all of the relevant stakeholders to help you define the scope. What you want from them is an agreed set of major deliverables to be produced by the project. You also want to know “what’s out of scope”. Once you have the full list of deliverables, the stakeholders need to prioritize the list, so you know what has to be delivered first.

Step 3: Statement of Work
Now that you have an agreed list of deliverables, you need to define each deliverable in depth. Describe how each deliverable will look and feel, how it would operate and how it would be supported. Include assumptions and constraints. Your goal here is to make it so specific that your customer cannot state later in the project that “when they said this, they really meant that”.

Step 4: Assessing Feasibility
Now that you have a detailed list and description of every deliverable to be produced by your project, you need to determine if it’s feasible to achieve within the project time-frame? Work with your team to break down each deliverable into smaller components to have an indication of time and cost.

Step 5: Scope Acceptance
Present the prioritized set of deliverables to your Project Sponsor as part of a document and ask them to approve your project scope. Ask them to agree to the priorities, the deliverable descriptions and the items out of scope. Obtain formal sign-off to put you in a position to be able to manage the project scope throughout.

In case more deliverables need to be added later on, you will follow a process of doing a Change Request against the agreed Scope whereby new deliverables can either be exchanged with other deliverables, or project time and cost need to be increased. This will form part of Scope monitoring and the controlling function that you, as the project manager, need to perform.

More Resources:

Steps involved in defining project scope – by Grey Campus

Visit our Resources Page for recommended Training, Software and Products.

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November 16, 2011 Linky

5 Practical Tips for Good Communication Practices on Projects

Most project managers know that communications is 90% of what they do every day. If you understand the importance of good communication practices, shouldn’t you incorporate it in your core skill set?

Here are five practical tips to help you enhance your communication skills and to implement consistently. When possible, try to see the team members often for what I jokingly call “eyeball management”.

Reports: Generate project progress or status reports once a week to see if your project is on track. Then distribute those reports to your customer and management team. Explain any deviations from the plan and what you’re doing to correct them.
Team Meetings: Hold a weekly meeting with your project team, even if it’s only 30 minutes. Plan each meeting against an agenda and any key objectives in order to keep it focused. Communicate the status of the project. Discuss with them the goals, deliverables and timeframes that need to be achieved. Obtain feedback about the progress made in the past week and agree on the planned activities for the next week or two. Obtain buy-in from each team member. It is important to align team members as this will help to keep them motivated, and committed to the project outcome.
Minutes: Always take minutes recording the decisions made and to keep track of actions due. Send the minutes to those people that will be affected by the decisions and actions and then store the minutes in your project folder. When projects involve external customers, minutes can/will be considered as a legal entity if a dispute may arise around certain decisions made.
Email: Use mail to make arrangements en only when something needs to be done or if it’s important. Keep email to a minimum as too much mail makes communication less effective. Also try not to copy the whole team for every mail, but always think who is the message intended for and who else needs to know about it. As a project manager it’s usually a good arrangement to be copied in on team members emails to stay informed of what is going on.
Tools: Collaborate with your team online, using software tools that will allow you to have discussions, share files and send messages (instant messaging). It is also recommended to have a time capturing tool to track the time spent per team member as part of your cost management.

In general you want to be respectful of other people’s time. Agree the communications plan with the team and other stakeholders. Explain your expectations as a project manager so that the team members will understand why they need to attend the weekly meetings and why you want them to read the minutes, as they are used not only for communication, but also as a management tool.

By minimizing email, meetings and discussions and keeping them focused and short, you’re avoiding all of the usual “noise” that project teams usually generate. Find a weekly routine that works for your team and be consistent with your communication practices.

As an effective project manager, it is good to have an approach like: “always be communicating”. This will greatly improve your chances of success.

September 8, 2011August 4, 2014 Linky

How Project Managers Can Avoid the #1 Pitfall For Presenters

By Jeff Furman

How many times have you sat through a presentation, and thought:

“He just lectured, and I don’t remember much of what he said” or
“She raced through her slides without looking at the audience” or
“He said he’d take questions during the Q&A at the end, he ran out of time, and never took our questions!” or
“She had a live Twitter feed listing all kinds of comments, but she didn’t stop to take our comments, and we were right there in the room with her!”

All the above scenarios happen every day when Project Managers (and even some professional speakers) give presentations. In each case, the presenter is working hard and trying to do their best to do what they set out to do. But what they all have in common, is that the presenter didn’t succeed at making the presentation interactive.

That’s because they have succumbed to the #1 presenter’s pitfall –delivering “all lecture” (even though they may think that they’re not, because they’re employing other media like video or Twitter feeds).

There are many ways to make presentations interactive, from hands-on exercises… to high-tech games… to Second Life Simulations.

All these can be good, but they’re often NOT necessary, and in many cases can make the participants feel uncomfortable or pressured into “forced participation.”

What’s the answer to this common pitfall?

In my many years of training Presentation Skills classes, I have seen one simple technique always gets great results:

Coming up with good questions to ask your participants in the session, and then making good use of the Q&A.

What Makes For A “Good” Question?

Any question is a good one if it helps the presenter get people thinking, and advances your theme, topic or agenda.

Here are 3 specific tips:

Your questions should be challenging enough to stimulate your participants, but NOT so challenging that no one can answer
Should serve as a “bridge” or “connector” between the topic you just covered and the next one you’re about to cover
Usually best to use what trainers call “open-ended” questions, as opposed to “closed-ended”, for example:

“Who’s familiar with this kind of product?” (One or two people might raise their hands, but everyone else will feel left out. It’s considered closed because it’s a “yes or no” question, which actually can shut down discussion)

Open-ended example: “Has anyone used this product, or a similar product, and can you tell us what you liked about it, or how it helped you?” This is wide-open – everyone who answers will have a different story. Plus, it’s inviting, and will make people eager to share their experience.

CONCLUSION

Coming up with a few good questions and building them into your presentation can make a world of difference. You just have to want to hear from your participants, and be open to adjusting your presentation to their responses.

Also, for those who feel nervous about presenting (most people!) asking your participants questions can help make you more relaxed, because it helps you focus on them, not you!

About the Author: Jeff Furman, PMP Instructor, Presentation Skills Certification Trainer and author of

“The Project Management Answer Book” (Management Concepts, 2011), a contemporary PM book in Q&A format and compliant with PMBOK V4.

August 22, 2011June 17, 2024 Linky

5 Essential Practices for Explaining Projects to Stakeholder

By Guest Author: Jo Ann Sweeney

Are you frustrated you’re no longer getting the support from stakeholders that you need for your project to succeed? And you have difficulty in explaining your projects properly?

Perhaps you have hit resistance to the changes. Maybe you are working on a multi-site, multi-country or long-term project and, midway through, you’re struggling to keep key people interested and involved.

The fact is, keeping sponsors, senior executives and end users involved for the duration of our projects takes effort – experience also helps!

Over many years as a communications consultant working on complex and multi-site projects, no matter the size of your team or budget, I have learnt key lessons in winning stakeholder support.

Here are 5 essential practices for explaining projects:

1. Simple and practical

When it comes to planning the communication aspects of any project, the simpler the plan, the more effective it is. It can be as simple as a bulleted list of things to do and key messages we wish to get across.

However, more useful is a communication framework that clarifies:

The objectives for communications activities
A prioritised list of key audiences
Which communications channels to use
A calendar of activities
Monitoring mechanisms
Who is responsible for delivery.

One of the biggest benefits of a simple structure is that we spend less time planning and have more time for managing each of the activities.

2. Understand their perspectives

Project communication is about more than project updates. People want to be personally involved; they want content that relates to them and that they can relate to. This means tailoring content to their needs rather than presenting it from the project team’s perspective.

Here are some guidelines to tailor the content:

Understand who they are – the obvious plus what they think and feel
Uncover what they are interested in – usually what their performance pay is based on
Relate to their view of the world – are they thinkers, people-focused, or action-oriented
Identify shadow issues – unacknowledged attitudes and behaviours that impact their support
Balance their needs – sponsors, senior execs and end users have different needs.

3. Clear aims

There are four over-arching reasons for telling people about your project:

Knowledge – you want them to know more than they currently do
Attitude – you want them to feel more positive than they do
Support – you want them to say positive things about your project in public
Involvement – you want them to get involved in some way.

These reasons form a spectrum with ‘knows nothing’ at one end and ‘fully involved’ at the other. If you want an individual or audience grouping to be fully involved then you will need to move them along the spectrum using communication activities that build on each other.

Using this spectrum we turn communications activities into a stepped process based on business objectives. It ensures activities are linked to business need and the project’s core aims.

4. Flexible schedule of activities

When we use a flexible schedule to manage communication activities we are able to respond to unexpected issues and to changes we aren’t able to predict.

A schedule is just a framework to show clearly what is going to happen and when; it can be complex and difficult to update or flexible and easy to change.

Being flexible means we can change any of the components – deadlines, audiences, delivery channels, responsibilities, monitoring – as and when we want without causing extra work or problems in other work streams.

5. Take audiences on a journey

Communicating projects is all about taking our audiences on a journey from where they are now to where we want them to be.

We plot where each of our audiences is now in terms of familiarity and favourability; and where we want them to be. Then we map a journey that will help them to get there.

By following these essentials on your projects, you will win stakeholder support that will help your project to succeed.

*********************************************

Jo Ann Sweeney is a communications consultant and mentor who helps project managers win the support of their sponsors, senior executives and end users.

August 2, 2011November 16, 2011 Linky

Three Steps towards Planning Excellence in Project Management

The purpose of this post is to share with you a balanced approach to project planning. Recently I finished a big project in the Government sector which was awarded a gold rating for project excellence. It was successful above all expectations and I thought it worthwhile to share some valuable lessons learned around planning excellence and what has worked well to make the project so successful.

Above and beyond doing the standard project planning activities, there are three steps you can take towards planning excellence:

1. Continuous planning (always be planning)

After scope agreement and sign-off, the project schedule needs to be developed, or if it existed from a pre-sales phase, it needs to be refined.

What the team members need to know about the project plan, and more specifically about the project schedule, is: ‘what they are responsible for and by when’. In order to gain commitment, I normally expect the team lead to verify the activities, durations and dependencies and by doing this, to take ownership of the deliverables of the project.

Then as the project progresses, the project manager always needs to be looking one to two months ahead. Always be planning and continuously track against the plan or update where required based on Change Requests or risk mitigation activities.

2. Consistent communication practices (always be communicating)

Through experience I have found that weekly project meetings work best for any size project that is longer than 2 months in duration. The normal progress items need to be discussed, including:

Progress made
Actions outstanding
What is due in the next week or two
Risks, issues or dependencies
Other matters relevant to the specific project

Regular team meetings, whether in person, or virtually, keep the project team informed and committed to the outcome of the project. It also enables the project manager to receive adequate feedback on a regular basis and to do proper progress reporting to stakeholders.

3. Team alignment is important (always build relationships)

Due to the fact that the project team was widely dispersed and from different companies (partners were sub-contracted in to assist with the work), a good on-boarding process is important. Every team member needs to be clear about the Goal and objectives of the project, as well as the expected outcome and business benefits. In addition to this they need to be clear on their roles and responsibilities, the project schedule and how every member fits into the team.

Team synergy, cooperation and trust is achieved through regular team builds at the project beginning, after major milestones and at closure with the key stakeholders (like the customer). A team working together as one team, no matter whether from different companies or in different locations, the project manager needs to maintain good relationships and manage the person and not only the task.

The gold nuggets to take away are:

Continuous planning
Consistent communication practices
Team alignment
Good relationships with all team members, because you manage the person, performing the task and not the task itself

For a balanced approach to project planning I recommend that you as the project manager should use your project management skills (technical skills), but at the same time be a leader who facilitates team members to share your responsibility to ensure a successful project outcome (people skills).

On 9 August 2011, I will be a guest presenter on a Webinar from Roeder Consulting called:

“Plans are worthless, but planning is everything”

Please click on the link to register for the free Webinar, and earn a PDU for attendance.

July 18, 2011March 31, 2019 Linky

Project Management Software: Create a Work Breakdown Structure with MindGenius

This article is about Project Management software that is listed on the Project Management Resources page. MindGenius Business is a mind mapping software that was designed specifically to meet business needs and help visualise solutions to challenging tasks. It can be used for planning, project management, brainstorming, and strategy on all shapes and sizes of projects.

These can range from global supply chain change management projects to mini-projects such as working out the operational requirements for an office move to a new building.

A Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) can be developed to identify all tasks that need to be completed.

An overview of WBS map structure

You can then use the Gantt chart view to visualize and manage the time line, working back from the required go-live date to work out timings and milestones.To monitor task progress, comments may be added to the WBS tasks and the % completion record can be used in conjunction with filters to allow viewing of outstanding tasks. The MindGenius map can be updated daily and reviewed weekly by the implementation team to manage and control the project.

In addition to the Gantt function, the ability to export easily to Word and other Office packages is also useful for communicating with colleagues who do not have access to MindGenius.

Please visit MindGenius Mind Mapping Software for more information.

July 6, 2011June 27, 2011 Linky

7 Steps to Becoming a Better Project Manager: Part 2

This is Part 2 of the series on: The 7 Steps to become a better Project Manager. Please read Part 1 before you read the remaining steps to help you be more successful as a project manager.

4. Create a Project Plan

This refers to the Project Management Plan, and subsidiary plans, such as those for resources (project organisation), risk management, communications, cost, change management. etc. It goes without saying that detailed work is required for estimates, budgets, schedules, quality and so forth.

5. Execute the Project Plan

Once the plan is created and a baseline agreed upon, execute the plan. During the execution, measuring and controlling against the plan should be taking place. In my experience, I have found that weekly feedback and controlling against the plan work best. At your weekly meetings allow the team members to provide feedback about work done in the last week and agree on the work that should be done for the next week or two. Always make sure that they know what the due date for the next milestone is.

As a project manager you should always expect change and plan for change. Embrace change requests as long as they are shown to add value, and track them against the agreed baseline.

6. Identify and manage Risks and Issues

A risk is an event that has the potential of impacting your project, either positively or negatively. An issue is something material that has occurred and must be handled. (An issue is sometimes referred to as a risk whose time has come) Each project will have unique risks (positive ones may be termed “opportunities”). Risks and issues should be recorded and strategies for them agreed upon and tracked. They should be actively and regularly discussed within the project team. Done well, risks and issues management can aid a project manager enormously.

7. Project communication as the golden thread

Communication is at the heart of all your activities as a project manager. Whether you are tracking risks and issues, creating your plan and its detailed sub-elements, reporting progress or running a governance group or anything else, your ability to communicate effectively with people at particular points in time is vital to your success. “One size does not fit all” is a useful maxim to consider for communication. It is a blend of art and science, and getting it right will play a large part in your success.

These are the seven steps that, if done well, can positively influence a project’s success. The steps are not all that is required, but mainly a focus on some key areas to keep an eye while managing your projects.

For more information about project management best practices, please also look at the following project management articles covering topics like Project communications management, stakeholder management, project closure and many more:

Project Management topics (please leave comments and let me know what you think)

About the author: Linky Van Der Merwe is a Project Management Consultant and an IT Project Manager with 16 years IT industry experience and 12 years Project Management experience.

July 4, 2011June 27, 2011 Linky

7 Steps to Becoming a Better Project Manager

When you become a full-time project manager, you are always looking for ways that will help you be more successful. The purpose of this article is to give you 7 steps towards a successful outcome for your projects. The 7 Steps will be presented in two parts. Some factors will influence your success: like the power you are granted as a project manager, the responsibilities you are given and the type of organization you are in.

1. Conduct a project discovery session

Have a discussion where the idea of the project is discussed. It may involve some formal planning with a Business Case, estimates and Benefit Management. At some organizations, this session is part of pre-sales or Deal Phase and the result may be a proposal to a customer. Once this proposal is accepted, the project receives the go-ahead to start. At this time the project manager is usually assigned. Make sure that you familiarize yourself with all the documents from this phase as well as any lessons learnt from previous projects.

2. Document Stakeholder expectations

It is important to capture all stakeholder needs early on and to define the meaning of success for everyone. Small projects may collect the expectations through personal interviews or by email. Larger projects, with stakeholders potentially numbering in the thousands, may employ sampling strategies and extensive consultation.

Once such Stakeholder Management tool is called “Conditions of Satisfaction” which is a way of ensuring that the customer’s (stakeholder) expectations are identified, agreed and that action plans are defined and allocated to responsible persons to implement.

It is also vital to articulate an understanding of the core benefits of the projects implementation. Understanding stakeholder expectations and key benefits will influence how the project will proceed, and will provide input into the Communication Plan. Having well-documented expectations and clearly defined benefits will pay dividends when project success metrics are being created and when key decisions must be made.

3. Put project governance in place

Document the governance and routines for the project as well as expectations for the team. How will your project be managed? How and where will status reports and project documents be stored, and what will they look like? What is the team’s appetite for risk? How often will you meet as a project team? Have you worked together before?

Once established, the Project Governance and all key project components should be covered in a formal initiation meeting, also called a Kick-off meeting, to certify that everyone is on the same page. When you conduct projects for external customers, it is important to have an internal kick-off meeting with the project team first to ensure alignment, before you start engaging with the customer.

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June 27, 2011June 26, 2011 Linky

Is Project Management A Profession?

This debate whether project management is a profession or not, has heated up again in the past year. I wanted to have a closer look at what it means to receive acknowledgement as a profession and if I think we will ever arrive there.

According to Wikipedia, the formation of a profession is as follows:
“A profession arises when any trade or occupation transforms itself through the development of formal qualifications based upon education, apprenticeship, and examinations, the emergence of regulatory bodies with powers to admit and discipline members, and some degree of monopoly rights.

Even though there are many other descriptions and traits associated with an occupation actually becoming a profession, but this is clear and easily lends itself to a step approach when trying to define how far Project Management has progressed towards becoming a true profession.

Project Management can be described as relatively static with respect to its education, apprenticeship and examinations. Right, wrong or otherwise, the adoption of the Project Management Institute’s Code of Ethics, education requirements and examinations based on their Project Management Body of Knowledge has become the de-facto standard for education, apprenticeship and examination.

Project Management is clearly not dependent on any particular type of hardware/software application or platform. Project Management methodology can also be applied across multiple industries.

Again, using the Wikipedia definition of a profession, the following is the classical manner in which an occupation becomes a profession:
1. It became a full-time occupation;
2. The first training school was established;
3. The first university school was established;
4. The first local association was established;
5. The first national association was established;
6. The codes of professional ethics were introduced;
7. State licensing laws were established.

Source: Perks, R.W.(1993): Accounting and Society. Chapman & Hall (London)

Obviously, if we accept PMBOK as the Body of Knowledge, and PMI as the local and national association and accept and embrace their Code of Ethics, Project Management has satisfied the first 6 steps to becoming a true profession. The final step, State Licensing laws being established, remains to be enacted. Since we are in fact global though, that requirement may not be possible, or at least may be unrealistic in many cases.

Does that preclude Project Management from being a true profession? I think not, especially due to the fact that there are other accepted professions that do not have licensing requirements. If in fact there are other, better qualified, organizations than PMI that would better represent our interests as a profession, then that organization should be identified, promoted and voted on by the members of the profession.

Like many other Project Management Professionals, I also believe that the Project Management occupation has satisfied the definition of a profession and has matured to a level that we should move forward as a truly professional organization.

For more Project Management training, software and product resources, don’t forget to visit our Resource page here.

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May 31, 2011 Linky

6 Winning Practices for Effective Programme Management

Today we will look at managing a programme and which recommended practices you want to consider when managing a programme.

If we look at a simple definition of a Programme, it is that a Programme is a group of projects, which are grouped together because they contribute to the same objectives in the business strategy.

Here are 6 recommendations for managing a programme:

1. Review the Strategy

When kicking off your programme, the first step is to review your business case and agree on the objectives that your programme is responsible for delivering. This is important, as the objectives are what you use to peg your projects to. If you end up creating new projects that don’t contribute your specified objectives, then they should be excluded from your programme!

2. Line up management support

It is of utmost importance to gain the support of your executive team through the Business Case. This will help you to identify the benefits and costs of running the programme, the risks you foresee and what it is that you need to make it a success. It will also help you get the funding you require, as your Business Case will justify the funding needed, by stating the benefits to be realized.

3. Start carefully

Now that you have the funding and support from management, you’re ready to kick-off. Before launching into scoping your projects—instead define your overall programme of work in depth first. Create a Program Charter setting out your vision, objectives, roadmap and deliverables. Then set up a Program Office and appoint the key members of your administration team.

4. Project selection is critical

You’re now ready to define your projects and other related work. Scope out each project carefully and make sure that the benefits delivered from all of your projects combined, deliver the goals stated in your Business Case. Selecting the right projects to deliver the right benefits is critical. Make sure you categorize, evaluate, select and prioritize your projects carefully.

5. It’s all down to execution

Now kick off your projects in a logical order. Spread your programme resources (people, time and money) evenly so you don’t have resource constraints. Never schedule critical projects to take place at the end. To retain the buy-in of your Sponsor, make sure your projects deliver value early.

6. Control chaos

After your projects kick off, changes in the business often cause a level of chaos. Your projects change in scope, their budgets get constrained and resource shortages start occurring. How you react to these changes will determine your level of success as a Program Manager.

When this happens, step back and re-assess your programme. Outside influences are often the cause and these are things that you alone can fix. Only in exceptional circumstances should you dive into the depths of the program itself and work alongside project managers and teams at the micro level. A good Program Manager will instead step back and make macro level changes to influence the success of the programme.

For more project related resources like training, software and products, please visit the Resources page.

May 9, 2011September 27, 2013 Linky

Clash Between the Titans: PRINCE2 vs Project Management Professionals

This post was sourced from an article that was published in “The Project Manager” magazine, authored by Dr Christopher Worsley.

The clash referred to here is between the institutions or training companies providing PRINCE2™ courses and who are promoting method accreditation versus training organisations offering courses that promote professional project management.

It has taken time and much research, some funded by the national and international project management associations, to develop a consistent view about what makes a good project manager.

There remains work to be done, but consensus is growing about their attributes, and for a professional curriculum and valid assessment criteria to be created.

Where is the problem?

The problem is the difference between education and training.

Not sure what the difference is? Simply check your reaction to your child coming home and saying he/she had sex training rather than sex education at school today!

Institutions who offer PRINCE2™ would claim that some 50 000 individuals sit the PRINCE2™ tests every year, while the institutions who offer PMP certification educations would be hard-pressed to find 5 000 taking advanced project management qualifications worldwide.

We need to worry that the personal development budget for future project managers is being consumed by training programmes, when this money could be better spent in educating them in project management.

Senior executives want people skilled at running projects. People skilled at running projects are distinguished by their attitudes, their skills, the responsibilities they intuitively accept, and the tasks and procedures they follow.

It is a well-researched finding that the best predictor of project performance is level of previous project experience. None of these are the outcomes from the typical five-day accreditation training course, including two days of tests.

What project management education does, is develop judgement and attitudes. It focuses on disciplines, not procedures, and forces focus on the factors that lead to success in projects.

There is a place for procedures. They are the distilled wisdom from hundreds of man years of others’ experience, but they are not rules, they are guidance; something that someone – whose only exposure to project management is a method course and anecdotal experiences, shaped by that method – rarely grasps.

How to resolve the clash?

The first and most important thing is to make the case for developing project management expertise, rather than project method expertise.

The major project management organisations, such as the APM, the International Association of Project Managers (IAPM) and the Project Management Institute (PMI), must make their cases much clearer and deliver to the marketplace clear guidelines about what good project management education should look like.

Both the APM and the PMI have long-standing entry-level knowledge programmes that are preferable starting points for project management education, but they suffer from many of the same faults as the method accreditation courses, with a public image that attaining these underwrites some sort of professional status in project management when they patently do not.

And project managers who value their contribution to their organisation and to their country should demand loud and clear that they are professionals and expect professional status with all that comes with it: recognition, responsibility and qualifications.

Dr Christopher and Louise Worsley are Managing Directors of PiCubed, Delivering Change through Projects, Portfolios and Programmes, a South African centre for excellence in project management. It is a sister company to CITI – a highly respected project management education and consultancy business in the UK.

April 26, 2011April 22, 2011 Linky

ISO is all about International Standardisation

International standardisation through ISO provides a reference framework, or a common technological language, between suppliers and their customers, which facilitates trade and the transfer of technology. Industry-wide standardisation helps to remove barriers to trade and is available to all.

ISO standards operate throughout the world in over 170 countries, in industrialised, developing and in transition, regions. ISO’s portfolio of standards provides business, government and society with practical tools for all three dimensions of sustainable and business growth development: economic, environmental and social.

We are all aware that there is a shift in how the world trades. It is also apparent that this shift in global trade is opening new doors to developing countries. What will also help greatly is the ability for all countries, all governments, and all suppliers irrespective of size, location or industry sector to compete on a level playing field.

ISO and developing countries

ISO specialist companies, such as IMSM, work with clients in developing countries, to assist them in putting in place a standardisation infrastructure to enable their products to meet requirements on an international level. In 5 simple steps your business can trade to all internationally.

ISO standards are the same throughout the world thus creating a level playing field for all nations. Emerging nations, with limited resources and fledging infrastructure, can benefit from the reservoir of knowledge that ISO represents. ISO standards are a powerful business tool organisations can utilise.

In coming years, developing countries will face intense competition and the choice of options available to businesses will be daunting. IMSM believe in offering all businesses, large or small, start up or established, the opportunity and support to become ISO certified.

International buyers are unlikely to relax their purchasing standards; therefore sourcing the right product at the right price is truly international. To aid this international trade route, the more companies adopting ISO standards, as a building block to delivering a quality product and service, the more countries, like Kenya, as a nation can compete in every market.

ISO for all

ISO Standards can provide producers who are trying to enter into business with major buyers and retailers, with invaluable tools to help make them stronger contenders. When trading with global buyers, on top of national and regional standards and technical regulations, a business now needs to comply with the internationally recognised standards that are, for the most part, imposed on them by larger companies within the supply chain.

Why ISO?

ISO Standards are considered to be one of the ways of promoting social development and environmental sustainability in global value chains.

ISO Standards can help SMEs as they are generally established to guarantee the quality and safety of the products but also often ensure satisfactory working conditions in the factories. This is seen as a positive development, encouraging SMEs to implement sustainable and corporate socially responsible (CSR) policies in the workplace.

ISO standards provide solutions and achieve benefits for almost all sectors of activity.

ISO standards make a positive contribution to the world we live in; helping to facilitate fair trade, spread knowledge, disseminate innovative advances in technology, and share good management and conformity assessment practices.

For more information about ISO standards and certification, contact IMSM, the leading consultants delivering on the implementation of ISO standards.