What is a task force?

A task force is a number of employees unified into a workgroup and assigned to performing work on a
temporary basis to achieve specific and clearly defined goals. For example, a project task force is group of
project resources unified into a project team and responsible for performing project assignments to produce a
product or provide a service.

Task force guidelines

The following task force tips and guidelines are basic:

• Controlling: create a work environment which supports your supervisory incentives to control
and audit tasks and assignments of employees.
• Encouraging: give employees encouragement for the work done, so they will get powerful
incentives for improvement.
• Improving: take steps to improve skills and abilities of employees

Project team

A project team is a team whose members usually belong to different groups, functions
and are assigned to activities for the same project. A team can be divided into sub-teams
according to need. Usually project teams are only used for a defined period of time. They
are disbanded after the project is deemed complete. Due to the nature of the specific
formation and disbandment, project teams are usually in organisations.

A team is defined as “an interdependent collection of individuals who work together

towards a common goal and who share responsibility for specific outcomes of their
organisations” [1].

Project Manager

The MPM Master Project Manager has overall project responsibility. In order to achieve success,
the Project Manager should work closely with the Sponsor with respect to staffing requirements
and funding availability. The Project Manager is responsible for completing the project on time,
within budget, and meeting the quality criteria and requirements.
The Project Manager should be assigned as early as possible in the life cycle of the project in
order to establish project ownership and management responsibility as well as to begin the
development of the project requirements from the “ground up.”
Project Manager Roles and Responsibilities
General Functions
▲ Comprehend and implement organizational project policies and procedures
▲ Maintain project staff technical proficiency and productivity, and provide training where
required
▲ Establish and maintain project quality
▲ Identify and procure project infrastructure needs
▲ Develop Project Charter and obtain approval
▲ Define project goals, objectives and success criteria
▲ Identify and document project constraints
 ▲ Identify and document project assumptions
▲ Identify and secure project team resources
▲ Serve as focal point for project communications
▲ Develop and present Milestone review briefings
▲ Ensure that IT security C&A requirements are met
Project Planning
▲ Develop Project Plan, tailoring the IPMCS to reflect project needs. The Project Plan should
include the Project Charter, Scope Statement, constraints, assumptions, WBS defining
project deliverables, cost estimates and project budget, major milestones, schedule,
resource requirements, acquisition/procurement plans, risk analysis and response plans,
project team structure and communications plan. Also included will be the deliverables
acceptance criteria (quality metrics) and the acceptance process.
▲ Develop the supporting plans such as scope, cost, risk, schedule, quality, resource,
security deliverables, procurement and change management plans
▲ Obtain stakeholder approval and acceptance of the Project Plan
▲ Obtain organizational commitment and support for completion of project task assignments,
timing and quality
▲ Establish baseline
▲ Translate documented requirements into appropriate SDLC documentation (e.g.,
requirements document)
Project Execution
▲ Manage and monitor day-to-day activity and provide direction to team members and
supporting organizations
▲ Manage to and monitor quality targets and goals (both project and product)
▲ Manage and monitor risk response strategies
▲ Disseminate project information and maintain communication
▲ Develop and update system security plan and other security deliverables
▲ Manage, or support, procurement process and contract administration requirements
Project Control
▲ Develop and distribute project performance reports. Regularly review project status,
evaluating performance criteria (scope, cost, schedule & quality)
▲ Develop and manage corrective action plans
▲ Evaluate project performance and initiate change requests as required (scope, cost,
schedule or quality)
▲ Participate in change control board to review and approve product/project changes
▲ Review project risks and establish risk response plans
▲ Adjust project planning, as required, to include approved changes in scope, timing, cost or
quality after obtaining customer approval
Project Close-out
▲ Obtain customer and management approval and acceptance of completed product
▲ Complete contract closeout
▲ Closeout open action items
▲ Develop post-implementation report
▲ Conduct lessons learned session and develop recommendations for continuous
improvement
▲ Close out any financial accounts or charge codes
▲ Archive all project data
▲ Recognize project team and celebrate success

Project Initiation
The Initiation Phase is the first phase in the project. In this phase a business problem (or
opportunity) is identified and a business case which provides various solution options is
defined. A feasibility study is then conducted to investigate the likelihood of each
solution option addressing the business problem and a final recommended solution is put
forward. Once the recommended solution is approved, a project is initiated to deliver the
approved solution. A ‘Project Charter’ is completed, which outlines the objectives, scope
and structure of the new project, and a Project Manager is appointed.
Project Planning
Once the scope of the project has been defined in the Project Charter, the project enters
the detailed planning phase. This involves the creation of a:
• Project Plan (outlining the activities, tasks, dependencies and timeframes)
• Resource Plan (listing the labour, equipment and materials required)
• Financial Plan (identifying the labour, equipment and materials costs)
• Quality Plan (providing quality targets, assurance and control measures)
• Risk Plan (highlighting potential risks and actions taken to mitigate them)
• Acceptance Plan (listing the criteria to be met to gain customer acceptance)
• Communications Plan (listing the information needed to inform stakeholders)
• Procurement Plan (identifying products to be sourced from external suppliers).
At this point the project has been planned in detail and is ready to be executed.
Project Execution
This phase involves the execution of each activity and task listed in the Project Plan.
While the activities and tasks are being executed, a series of management processes are
undertaken to monitor and control the deliverables being output by the project.
This includes the identification of changes, risks and issues, the review of deliverable
quality and the measurement of each deliverable being produced against the acceptance
criteria. Once all of the deliverables have been produced and the customer has accepted
the final solution, the project is ready for closure.

Project Closure
Project Closure involves releasing the final deliverables to the customer, handing over
project documentation, terminating supplier contracts, releasing project resources and
communicating the closure of the project to all stakeholders. The last remaining step is to
undertake a Post Implementation Review to quantify the overall success of the project
and list any lessons learnt for future projects.