Organizational Systems

Project-based organizations are those whose operations consist primarily of projects. These organizations fall into two categories:

• Organizations that derive their revenue primarily from performing projects for others under contract �" architectural firms, engineering firms, consultants, construction contractors, and government contractors.

• Organizations that have adopted management by projects (Section 1.3). These organizations tend to have management systems in place to facilitate project management. For example, their financial systems are often specifically designed for accounting, tracking, and reporting on multiple, simultaneous projects.

Non-project-based organizations often may lack management systems designed to support project needs efficiently and effectively. The absence of project-oriented systems usually makes project management more difficult. In some cases, non-project-based organizations will have departments or other subunits that operate as project-based organizations with systems to support them. The project management team should be aware of how its organization’s structure and systems affect the project.