Project environment analysis - How to correctly collect and assess expectations

A project environment analysis (PUMA) provides you with an overview of expectations and opportunities for the upcoming project. It is therefore an indispensable prerequisite for the success of your project.

Why is it important to raise expectations and opportunities before the project starts?

If the set project goal can be achieved with a high probability, PUMA provides you with the basis for the subsequent project structuring.

Therein then:

• takes into account the opportunities, risks and expectations of the project,
• determined the correct procedure and
• taken the necessary measures,

in order to be able to complete the project accurately.

Therefore, you should perform the project environment analysis before the project starts.

What are the project environment analysis advantages?

PUMA offers you significant advantages both before and after the project start.

The main benefits before starting a project are:

• obtain the necessary overview of the important influencing factors,
• identify the upcoming changes in the industry environment,
• recognize the current and future opportunities and risks,
• discover challenges based on technological forecasts,
• develop the right project strategy based on the information gathered.
  
  
  

After the project start, PUMA helps you to adjust the course of your project as needed. This is made possible by the fact that the environment analysis significantly improves your understanding of the market and thus makes it easy for you to keep an eye on the market situation.

What are the most important project environment analysis criteria?

There are some criteria for the PUMA that you should consider.

These are especially:

• The political factors
  such as tax policy, pending legislative changes or trade reforms.

• The economic factors
  such as the existing budget, taxes due, interest rates and the current inflation rate.

• The cultural factors
  such as societal attitudes toward certain issues, population demographics, or mobility.

• The technological factors
  such as the new technologies, the technical limitations or the current developments in research.

• The legal factors
  such as the labor regulations, the regulatory framework or the health and safety laws.

• The environmental factors
  such as geographical location, weather conditions or the likelihood of natural disasters.
  
  
  

As project environment analysis examples of cultural and environmental factors would be especially the cases where the projects are planned in distant foreign countries. This is because it is precisely there that not only the legal situation and technological progress are important, but often also the prevailing mentality of the people. This also includes local customs, which are not infrequently related to the climatic situation.

What are the project environment analysis methods?

There are a number of ways to gather the necessary information for a comprehensive and reliable PUMA.

The main ones are:

The evaluation of information

The information can come to you in both oral and written form.

The oral information comes through the broadcasters, from the employees or even from other people in the business environment.

Written information is information that you obtain from people, authorities or institutions in written form. These are more reliable than the oral sources, because misunderstandings and misinterpretations can be excluded.

The market analysis

Analysis is about identifying emerging trends and challenges in a timely manner. You can use surveys for this purpose. It is also possible to observe purchasing behavior.

The forecasts

Forecasting is the estimation of future events based on observations, surveys, brainstorming, or time series analysis. Forecasts do not always come true. However, they give you insight into the probability of an event occurring. The best use for this is risk estimation.

Conclusion

The project environment analysis is an important basis for a good project start. The risk analysis methods enable you to plan your project strategically, equip it for agile project management and thus bring it safely to success.