PM 1.0 Program/Project Coordination and Leadership

Proficiency Level
Participates as a project team member to gain an overall understanding of the stakeholder management process and to gain initial experience in the competency.

Illustrations
Team Practitioners should be able to describe, identify, or define:

• Stakeholder involvement and communication.
• Implementation requirements management.
• Political, economic, and other factors that influence project goals.
• External advocacy needs of the project.

Proficiency Level

• Leads teams in the execution of the stakeholder management process.
• Provides guidance and expertise to team members, assisting in resolving issues.

Illustrations
Team Leads should be able to:

• Assess the impacts of political, economic, and other factors on project goals.
• Provide external advocacy for an initiative.
• Develop and maintain stakeholder communication and assess both internal and external influences on the project.
• Perform stakeholder management planning and communications (e.g., outreach, status reports, and requirements management).
• Contribute to agreements between the project and its stakeholders (i.e., deliverables both to and from).

Proficiency Level

• Leads teams at the project level in the execution of the stakeholder management process.
• Provides guidance and expertise at the project level, resolving project issues.

Illustrations
Project Managers should be able to:

• Understand the role of stakeholders in project execution.
• Involve stakeholders and managing system requirements.
• Assess impacts of political, economic, and other factors on project goals.
• Effectively communicate and reach agreements with stakeholders.
• Engage in external advocacy for an initiative and outreach and education of stakeholders.
• Direct and/or author project stakeholder management planning and communications.

Proficiency Level
Leads overall effort, reviews, and approves products, resolves issues, and maintains relationships with the highest level of internal, external, and international contacts.

Illustrations
Program Managers should be able to:

• Engage stakeholders in program execution.
• Effectively communicate and reach agreements with stakeholders.
• Direct the process of developing and maintaining stakeholder communication throughout the project life cycle.
• Direct and implement external advocacy for an initiative as well as outreach and education of stakeholders.
• Direct and/or author program stakeholder management.
• Arrange and approve agreements between the program and its stakeholders (i.e., deliverables both to and from).

Proficiency Level
Participates as a project team member to gain an overall understanding of the risk management process and to gain initial experience in the competency.

Illustrations
Team Practitioners should be able to describe, identify, or define:

• The fundamental concept of continuous risk management (CRM).
• The NASA process of CRM.
• The connection between identified risk-mitigation strategies and the project’s plan, schedule, and Estimate at Completion (EAC).
• The risk-management process.
• The integrated baseline review (IBR) role in the risk-management process when EVM is required for projects/contracts.
• Techniques to assess, mitigate, and balance risks.
• Project management tools and their capabilities with respect to risk management.
• Utilization of risk analysis to support decision-making.
• Risks of a project subsystem or element as well as risk-management planning and control with respect to technical cost.
• Obvious or easy-to-detect technical, schedule, cost, and programmatic risks.

Proficiency Level

• Leads teams in the execution of the risk-management process.
• Provides guidance and expertise to team members, assisting in resolving issues.

Illustrations
Team Leads should be able to:

• Develop and implement strategies to mitigate or eliminate risk.
• Evaluate risk-management products and understand their implications to the system of interest.
• Use techniques to assess, mitigate, and balance risks.
• Create and implement a risk-management/-mitigation plan for a subsystem, which involves using failure modes and effects analysis, fault tree analysis, probabilistic risk assessment, or other suitable risk analysis techniques as appropriate.
• Participate in a risk management process that includes IBRs when EVM is required and use risk analysis to support decision-making and to avoid working on risk issues in isolation.
• Access the entire project team, stakeholders, and outside resources as necessary in anticipating and responding to a risk issue.
• Manage and communicate risk data to all potential stakeholders via an integrated system (e.g., the integrated risk management application, or IRMA).

Proficiency Level

• Leads teams at the project level in the execution of the risk-management process.
• Provides guidance and expertise at the project level, resolving project issues.
• Participates in risk-management planning and control with respect to technical, cost, and schedule performance.
• Manages the development of and approves the project risk-management plan.
• Implements a continuous risk-management plan that supports informed, timely, and effective decisions to control and mitigate risk throughout the project life cycle.
• Leads a risk-management process that includes conducting IBRs when EVM is required and utilizes risk analysis to support decision-making.
• Leads a risk-analysis meeting, in which a collection of risks is evaluated for impact, probability, and timeframe.

Illustrations
Project Managers should be able to:

• Classify/categorize issues into risk areas for applying mitigation strategies collectively.
• Prioritize issues to identify the risks most important to the project.
• Evaluate and anticipate difficult-to-detect technical, schedule, cost, and programmatic risks.
• Monitor and adjust plans to overcome these risks.

Proficiency Level
Leads overall effort, reviews, and approves products, resolves issues, and maintains relationships with the highest level of internal, external, and international contacts.

Illustrations
Program Managers should be able to:

• Approve the risk-management plan for a program.
• Implement continuous risk management in a program and its projects to reduce risk.
• Lead development and execution of CRM planning.
• Direct project risk management and control with respect to technical, cost, and schedule performance, including the conduct of IBRs on in-house projects when EVM is required.
• Direct a risk-management process and utilize risk analysis to support decision-making.
• Monitor the risk-management processes and be able to make adjustments and improvements to ensure effectiveness.

Proficiency Level

• Participates as a project team member to gain an overall understanding of the budget and resource management activities and to gain initial experience in the competency.
• Allocates, tracks, and manages funding and other capital resources within a project.
• Performs cost estimating of technical work products.
• Contributes to developing products required for the PPBE processes, including timely and accurate full-cost budget information (such as labor, procurement, and travel estimates) to project managers when requested and recording of project budget activities in NASA’s accounting and financial systems.
• Uses the WBS as a tool for tracking actual versus estimated costs, using this information to revise cost models appropriately.

Illustrations
Team Practitioners should be able to describe, identify, or define:

• Processes for estimating the cost of technical work products.
• General principles of full cost and EVM and their application in the project environment.
• Significant resource needs and issues for the system of interest.
• General principles of cost as a risk factor.

Proficiency Level

• Leads teams in the execution of the budget and resource management activities. Provides guidance and expertise to team members, assisting in resolving issues.
• Allocates, tracks, and manages funding and other capital resources within a project element.

Illustrations
Team Leads should be able to:

• Review and approve cost estimates for subsystem elements.
• Successfully advocate for the resources needed to accomplish subsystem work scope.
• Evaluate resource management products and understand their implications for the system of interest.
• Prepare a project plan that projects the cost required to proceed according to the project management plan.
• Make tradeoffs between multiple and competing needs and issues, both internal and external.
• Negotiate budgets and contracts with line organizations or contractors.
• Understand the process and administer contracts.

Proficiency Level

• Leads teams at the project level in execution of the budget and resource management activities. Provides guidance and expertise at the project level, resolving project issues.
• Project Managers apply the processes of allocating, tracking, and managing funding and other capital resources within a project including the capacity.

Illustrations
Project Managers should be able to:

• Apply NASA’s budgeting process and accounting and financial management techniques and systems to project activities.
• Lead budget development and iteration with the PPBE for a subsystem, small project, or equivalent entity.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of others in performing cost estimating and full cost accounting.
• Use data and information from full cost accounting systems and EVM systems when applicable to make decisions regarding resource allocations.
• Approve the annual comprehensive Estimate at Completion (EAC) on projects/contracts with EVM in support of the PPBE process.
• Successfully advocate for the resources needed to accomplish the project work scope.
• Contribute timely and accurate data and analysis to program and field center managers per the PPBE cycle.
• Manage budgets and contracts with line organizations or contractors.

Proficiency Level

• Leads overall effort, reviews and approves products, resolves issues, and maintains relationships with the highest level internal, external, and international contacts.
• Allocates and tracks funding and other capital resources within a project.
• Describes, identifies, or defines processes and techniques for working with stakeholders to effectively deal with a dynamic budget environment.
• Makes tradeoffs between multiple and competing needs and issues, both internal and external.
• Coordinates budgets and contracts with line organizations and/or contractors.
• Applies NASA’s budgeting process and accounting and financial management techniques.
• Leads the development and iteration of the PPBE.

Illustrations
Program Managers should be able to:

• Ensure the accuracy of budget activities in NASA’s accounting, financial, and EVM systems.
• Use data and information from full cost accounting systems to make resource allocations throughout the program/project.
• Successfully advocate to NASA headquarters (HQ) and field center management for resources.
• Contribute timely and accurate data to HQ and field center management during the PPBE cycle.

Proficiency Level
Participates as a project team member to gain an overall understanding of the contract management process and to gain initial experience in the competency.

Illustrations
Team Practitioners should be able to describe, identify, or define:

• The penetration/insight required for contractor activities.
• The importance of contract surveillance and the different methods that can be employed and must demonstrate implementation of contract surveillance activities, such as attending progress reviews, reviewing submittals, and performing EVM system/data surveillance when EVM is required.
• Configuration or change control process as well as contract performance including EVM if applicable, variance reporting, and contract award recommendation.

Proficiency Level

• Leads teams in the execution of the contract management process. Provides guidance and expertise to team members, assisting in resolving issues.
• Applies the wide array of contract management activities.

Illustrations
Team Leads should be able to:

• Support development of penetration/insight processes required for contractor activities based upon risk assessment.
• Manage contract change control, contract performance, variance reporting, and contract award recommendations.
• Participate in negotiation of change orders and contract close out.
• Collaborate with project management and procurement personnel on contract management planning.
• Perform contract surveillance activities, including knowledge of contractor and their EVM system.
• Monitor contractor work products.
• Evaluate and make recommendations to project management on contract change orders.

Proficiency Level

• Leads teams at the project level in the execution of the contract management process.
• Provides guidance and expertise at the project level, resolving project issues.

Illustrations
Project Managers should be able to:

• Perform project contract management, including change control, monitoring of contract performance, variance reporting, EVM system/data surveillance when EVM is required, and contract award recommendation.
• Collaborate with procurement personnel on acquisition strategies and contract management planning.
• Successfully negotiate contracts.
• Manage contract surveillance activities.
• Evaluate contractor progress and approve contract changes.

Proficiency Level

• Leads overall effort, review and approves products, resolves issues, and maintains relationships with the highest level of internal, external, and international contacts.
• Must be knowledgeable about the wide array of contract management activities, including EVM if applicable, and how to optimally select appropriate contract types to enable the development and delivery of project products.

Illustrations
Program Managers should be able to:

• Develop the penetration/insight processes required for contractor activities based upon risk assessment.
• Chair contract change control boards for projects.
• Manage contract performance evaluation and award recommendations.
• Direct and approve the program and project-level acquisition strategies.
• Oversee contract management of large contracts.