Project Management Services for Small Business Offered by Joel Kohler Project Management

Up until now only big business or government could acquire professional project management. No longer.

Joel Kohler now offers a full range of expert "on demand" project management services for small businesses, including start-up businesses.

Why Small Businesses Need Project Management

Large dollar value projects managed by mature organizations have the budget and the resources to fund the formal project management process. However most small businesses lack both budget and staff for formal project management.

In many small businesses, the owners or founders are required to wear many hats. They may be required to run the business, put together presentations, makes sales pitches for venture capital, apply for grants, write reports, and do all the rest. That does not leave time for formal and rigorous project management.

Yet these are the businesses most in need of careful project management. Without it, they can easily lose money and credibility.

What can small businesses and startups do? Who can they turn to when faced with the need to firmly establish, plan, and execute projects that are vital to their success?

Joel Kohler Offers Project Management for Small Business

Joel Kohler has designed a new project management service that is specially geared to small businesses. It is perfect for businesses that have a vital need for formal project management, but cannot afford to hire or dedicate the resources. Joel Kohler PMP Project Management for Small Businesses will provide expert project management certified by the Project Management Institute (PMI) for your business, part-time as needed.

Need a few hours per week to launch a vital new project? Joel Kohler PMP can help define the scope, the MS Project or Primavera schedule, the budget, the organizations, and all the deliverables. Whether you need help managing a building or manufacturing project, an expansion, a software development project, an IPO, or the like, Joel Kohler can bring the project in - on time, and on budget.

Why Choose Joel Kohler for Your Project Management

Joel Kohler understands that the need for formalized PMI structure is not the sole domain of large projects or large organizations. Projects ranging from tens of thousands to several hundred thousand dollars often consume as much planning time and energy as a project many times larger. Moreover, the success or failure of these smaller projects often determines whether the hopes and dreams of the business founders will be realized. Save your time, money, and sanity - rely on Joel Kohler for professional project management.

Joel has years of experience structuring and managing successful projects in accordance with the PMI Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK). He is fluent in the current suite of standard tools for project management, including MS Project, Excel, and P3. These are the main tools for developing and maintaining project plans, schedules, project controls, cost accounts, and work breakdown structures you need.

Joel Kohler can tailor an effective project management plan for your small business.

Questions About Project Management for Small Business

Click the following questions to get more detailed information about how Joel Kohler PMP Project Management for Small Businesses can help you.

What types of projects can you help with?

Here are some common types of projects that small, emerging, and startup businesses can use Joel Kohler PMP Project Management for Small Businesses:

Building Conversions: Commercial or residential property conversions using a general contractor and multiple subcontractors requiring defined scope, schedule, budget, cost accounting, and owner oversight.
Manufacturing: Developing new products and revenue streams meeting a specific target audience with multiple phases of development.
Initial Public Offerings (IPOs): Planning to go public requires a project plan, schedule, and defined set of tasks - from administrative to organizational tasks.
Software development: Developing a new software or version release requiring completion of multiple inputs and integration into beta release with testing, acceptance criteria, production, and final release.
Expansion of Retail Outlets: Developing additional retail outlets at new locations, or expanding an existing retail outlet chain.
Business Expansion: Expanding into new lines of business requiring new infrastructure, personnel, training, and marketing.
Municipal Utilities: Converting private utilities to public enterprises requires a project plan, budget, and schedule development.
Litigation: Developing a comprehensive project plan to defend against impending civil litigation.
Owners Representation: Representing the owner and the owner's interest with the General and EPC contractor.
Seeking Venture Capital: Requiring the development of comprehensive project plans, presentations, and demonstrations to support raising additional capital for a new research and development enterprise.

Why do small businesses need project management?

While mature organizations may have resources in place to deal with project complexities, most small businesses are not similarly prepared. Following are some of the planning documents that Joel Kohler PMP Project Management for Small Businesses can provide to help ensure the success of your project:

Project Plan: All of the project work must be planned, scheduled, resource loaded, sequenced, and budgeted. The summation of this effort flows into an organized document called the project plan.
Scope Definition: This document outlines a common understanding of the project in terms of deliverables, objectives, and the products and/or results developed through the project execution.
Work Breakdown Structure: The WBS contains a detailed description of all of the project deliverables. It is a graphical depiction of the work that must be performed. The WBS is a foundation of the project planning process and is used to create budget plans, schedules, and cost accounts.
Cost Accounts: These are logical groupings of deliverables that are chosen to track projects over time, and to manage actual project costs compared to estimated project costs.
Schedule: The schedule is built from the WBS and encompasses the defined activities, sequencing, durations, and responsibilities.
Work Packages and Deliverables: Deliverables are the smallest groupings of project activities that can be budgeted and scheduled. The cost summation of all project deliverables equals the project cost.
Responsibility Assignment Matrix: An organizational table that identifies project roles and responsibilities for creating project deliverables.

Why do some projects succeed where others fail?

Projects are deemed successful when the project stakeholders receive what they needed, and the scope was delivered on time and on budget.

One common characteristic of successful projects is meticulous planning - from the top down to the bottom up. Even so, train wrecks happen. When they do, successful project managers earn their keep by figuring out how to overcome the unexpected and steer the project back on track.

What is the formal project management process?

These are the five major steps:

Project Initiation: Includes project authorization, project organization formulation, top down goals/objectives development, business model validation, assignment of the project manager.
Planning and Design: Includes scope definition, deliverables definition, work breakdown structure development, activity definitions and sequencing, resources identification and allocation, risk avoidance, estimated cost, budget and funding approval.
Project Execution: Includes working the project plan, managing contractors, quality assurance, management reporting and communication.
Project Controlling: Includes managing the team, measuring progress, managing change and corrective action, avoiding risk, reporting progress.
Close Out: Includes finalizing activities, administrative and contract close out.

How much does professional project management cost?

Probably less than you think. Before we start, we will provide you with a cost proposal that is based on a reasonable hourly rate. The proposal can be developed around a firm fixed price, or using time and materials.

What are the business details?

The final proposal consists of two parts: The Scope Definition and the Cost Proposal. Our work for you starts once that is signed off on. Invoicing is done monthly.

How do I get started?

Contact us to arrange a free one-hour introductory consultation. During this meeting tell us about your project. We will then develop a proposal that describes the scope of work and the preliminary schedule. The scope can be defined in terms of phases and deliverables, from conceptual design through startup.

For a solution to the project management needs for your small or startup business, contact Joel Kohler.

Project Management for Small Business