PROGRAM MANAGEMENT

Program management is one of many jobs that can perform in a less formal and more disjointed fashion. Program are temporary management structures designed to help organisations achieve specific objectives. The impact of new technologies has led many organisations to adopt programs as a means of achieving organisational change. Programs come in many different shapes and sizes and the term program is applied to many different structures.

   The term program management is a relatively new one, introduced in the last several years to denote the overall management of a series of related, ongoing projects within an organization. Taken together, those related projects make up a program. If a company is launching a new product, for example, a series of projects are likely occurring in different areas of the company, including engineering, sales, marketing, and distribution to name a few. Managing all of those projects effectively toward a common goal or business objective is program management. A team, perhaps drawn from the Program Management Office may be set up to manage the overall program.

 A program need to be a new product launch. Integrating a newly acquired company into the existing enterprise might be set up as a program, for example, with attendant projects involved integration of disparate sets of customer data, training new employees, marketing efforts to manage the new brand, human resources chores to meld two HR systems, and more.

  Program management is a discipline that is involved with planning, executing, monitoring and evaluating a project it is mostly used in various companies and organization such as pharmaceuticals, software and aerospace, projects drive business. Program management also provides a framework to help accomplish goals. Every program is different, but all share their beginnings in an idea what can be and a potential for a good outcome if that idea is guided into reality. Besides, program management includes effective management over time, quality and cost. It is the detailed process in which an important business or company program is executed. It is the organization. Then, program management is the link between a portfolio of strategic initiatives and component projects. Where possible, there are significant advantages to defining a program in support of an objective and then subdividing into component projects, instead of embarking on individual projects. This strengthens the alignment to organizational  strategy and ensures better control and focus on benefits realization.
  The first and most important step in manage any program is defining the scope of the program by determine what are supposed to accomplish by managing the program and also the program objective. Equally important is defining what is not included in the scope of  the program. Second is determine available resources, by concern about people, equipment and money that available to achieve the program objectives.

Third is do a meeting and get the people on a team and start a discuss about the program. The leader has to lead the team, if not program are not easily go smoothly base on the plan. Forth, list the big steps and the smaller steps by list the steps in chronological order but don't obsess about it, it can always change the order later.

The smaller steps help to remember all the steps that list them in chronological order. How many levels deep a person go of more and more detailed steps depends on the size and complexity of the program. Fifth, create a baseline plan by get feedback on the preliminary plan from team and from any other stakeholders. Adjust the timelines and work schedules to fit the program into the available time. Make any necessary adjustments to the preliminary plan to produce a baseline plan. Sixth is request program adjustment. Seventh is work the program. Lastly, document everything keep records. Every time want to change from the baseline plan, write down what the change was and why it was necessary. Every time a new requirement is added to the project write down where the requirement came from and how the timeline or budget was adjusted because of it.

  Program management also have the most important things. Firstly, programs are temporary. A program manager can’t consider a program to be that thing that are going to do every day for the rest of the career. Secondly, decide whether or not the project should happen. Not every project should be begun started.

 When a person are beginning work on something, one should to determine if it’s a good use of the resources, what problem the project is trying to solve, and whether or not the project is the best way to fix it. Thirdly, consider risks by analyze potential risks. Forthly, cost, time and quality are co-dependent. In other words, once a program has been started, change its timeline without directly affecting its cost or quality.  Can’t expect to get something done faster without either paying more or sacrificing some  quality. Fifthly, know what’s out of bounds. Determining what a program will not do is just as important as determining what it will since that can help prevent mission creep in the future. Sixthly, develop a program plan with clear activities. At the beginning of a program, the size or scope of the task might seem overwhelming. Lastly, set meeting ground rules by getting a team to agree collectively to how meetings will work will help things run smoothly in the future. And be sure to only hold meetings when they are necessary.

  Program management have many advantages. Firstly, it will give a better efficiency in delivering services, program management provides a “roadmap” that is easily followed and leads to project completion. Once we know where to avoid the bumps and pots holes it stands to reason that you’re going to be working smarter and not harder and longer. Secondly, improved / increased / enhanced customer satisfaction, whenever we get a program done on time and under budget, the client walks away happy. And a happy client is one you’ll see again. Smart program management provides the tools that enable this client/manager relationship to continue.

Thirdly, enhanced effectiveness in delivering services, the same strategies that allowed to successfully complete one program will serve many times over. Forthly, improved growth and development within the team, positive results not only command respect but more often than not inspire your team to continue to look for ways to perform more efficiently. Fifthly, opportunities to expand a services, by product of greater standing. Great performance leads to more opportunities to succeed. Lastly, better  flexibility, perhaps one of the greatest benefits of program management is that it allows for flexibility. Sure program management allows to map out the strategy to take see the program completed. But the beauty of such organization is that if discover a smarter direction to take. 

  The ways to organize program management is always have a meeting. A regularly scheduled meeting, whether it's a weekly check-in or more often, is the best way to keep everyone on the program informed and on the same page. There should always be a "next meeting" in the near future-Jill Duffy. Secondly, make sure the meeting frequency works for all parties. Depending on the size of the project and how well it's going, the frequency of the meeting (or call, for geographically separated teams) will vary. Weekly meetings or calls are often the norm, particularly at startup but the frequency depends on the size and timeline of the project, and it's got to be agreeable and valuable to all sides. Then, make meetings matter. Have an agenda, stick to the agenda, and end early. Wasting a project team's time is one of the quickest ways to lose a team's confidence. If it is a status meeting, make sure it stays a status meeting and doesn't become a gripe session or brainstorm. Lastly, tools for Program managers, aside from the most basic multipurpose business tools, like Excel and Outlook, ad-lib PMs might find that specialized project management software actually prompts them toward best practices by way of integrated features. Assigning responsibility, estimating task completion times, and maintaining communication can all be easier to remember to do if there's a tool walking you through the motions.

  Being Program Manager in Islamic perspective. In Islam, choosing the right person effects trust and loyalty to organizations. If employees have been chosen based on favoritism and not due to his capabilities, there will tend to feel mistrust and disloyalty . Al-Quran has provided a very simple but yet very relevant criteria to be used for the selection for the best applicants.

In surah Al-Qasas, Verse 26, Prophet Moses who met Syu’aib, whose daughter said to him: “O my (dear) father! Engage him on wages truly the best of men for you to employ is the (man) is strong and trusty”. Al-Qur’an also refers to another set of criteria that is the attitude of accountability and the required skills to handle a particular job. The verse in Surah Yusuf (12): “Set me over the store-houses of the land, I will indeed guard them, as one that knows”.

According to Junaidah (2008), to ensure the right person is selected, Islamic approach should be considered to choose the best characteristics of a candidate. There are trust (amanah) and responsibility, motivation, seeking knowledge and training, and seeking excellent. For trust, a candidate must be trustful and responsible. Allah said “Every man is pledge for what which he hath earned ”. For seeking someone excellence, Islam encourages person to work in team to seek perfection and excellent. Allah in the verse of Al-Quran said “…if ye good for your own souls, and if ye do evil, it is for them (in like manner )” and ye (mankind) perform no act, but We are wirness of you when ye are engaged there in”. Prophet Muhammad (S.W.T) said “Allah likes that when someone does anything, it must be done perfectly well”.

Spotting problem with a plan and being able to foresee difficulties are both essential skills for a program manager, but it can be argue that while the first one can be acquired by anyone willing to put in the needed effort, the second skill is much harder to develop. This is believed in the importance of managing a program in a field a master.Everyone does not share this view. Some people indeed hold the opinion that project management is a “standalone” skill: once you master the mechanics, you can apply it to any context.  In the same vein, it could be argued that even a project manager with a lot of experience in a given field cannot possibly hope to master every single aspect of the project he will be working on. Why bother at all with choosing someone with field experience, then? This perception of project management does have its appeal, but it forgoes some of the most compelling advantages offered by choosing a project manager well versed in a given field.

The first one is obvious: when one know what someone working with, it also know who to turn to when in need. Good data is essential when the time to take a decision comes, and that data can only be obtained by asking the right questions to the right members. Field knowledge is definitely a big plus in this case.

 There’s also the fact that without mastering every skill, a program manager with knowledge of a given field still usually has a good idea of what every member of his team does. This is invaluable when evaluating the impact of a decision. Unforeseen consequences can be very damageable to a project’s progress; the more you know about your field, the more you can plan ahead.

Finally, a lack of project management skills is simply easier to remedy than a lack of field knowledge. Between coursework, mentoring and following commonly accepted best practices, the options are numerous and accessible to anyone willing to learn.Combining field knowledge with project management skills invariably leads to making better decisions. Which is ultimately what being a good project manager is all about.

Risk in program management is centralized risk register that eliminates disconnected spreadsheets. Then, built in accountability management clearly assigns mitigation actions and timeframes increasing an organization’s risk-bearing capacity. Besides, executive dashboards with key performance indicators deliver visibility to high priority risks that could impact project cost, schedule or technical performance. On the other hand, automated alerts engine that notifies project managers early to avoid surprises. Next, work flow management that guides each risk through its lifecycle ensuring that nothing falls through the cracks.

There are several course in program management that most preferred which are An Introduction to Effective Program Management, The Essentials of Program Management Including Microsoft Program, Advancing Your Program Management Skills. Planning, Organising and Controlling Program. Remote Team Leadership. An Introduction to Managing People and Stakeholders in Projects. Managing International Program. Business Process Mapping. Coached e-Learning: Program Management Essentials. Business Risk Management Workshop. Managing a Matrix Team.
 In program management, those who are interested are easily to get a job because of the job opportunity for this course are many. There are several job that can be applied which are Director, IT Relationship Management. Company secretary. Management consultancy and strategy- Healthcare analytic. R2R Finance transformation lead. Project manager. Management consultant- Healthcare / Patient data analytic. PMO director. Interim IT retail program manager.

Overall, Program management give benefits in every terms. The pros are more than cons. Just like the ways given to organize it, advantage , the risk that can be avoid if follow the principal of program management. To manage the program are not difficult as comman said. In Islam, many things that can benefits Muslims if the program management are done based on Shariah. Besdodes, those who are interested with program management, many course and also  job opportunity provided. So, people don’t have to worry so much. Program Management is important to have a successful program and also give benefits to all universe.