Enterprise Environmental Factors (EEFs)

An enterprise environmental factor is a set of conditions that can affect a project's development and operations, and these conditions are not under the team's control.

The word "environment" is used to describe the conditions or surroundings in which a person or animal lives. The environment in which an organization carries out its projects can have a significant impact on the success of the project. Although these environmental factors are not under the control of the project team, they can still have a positive or negative impact on the outcome.

What is an Enterprise Environmental Factor?

EEFs are the policies, procedures, and other legislation that affect the way employees manage projects. These policies, procedures and legislation can be found both inside and outside the organization.

Aside from the usual factors such as safety and environmental legislation, EEFs can also include policies and procedures related to the use of project management systems and the establishment of a code of ethics. Regardless of the nature of the issue, the employees have to work within the organization's cultural and physical environment to effectively carry out their tasks.

EEFs Affecting Project Outcomes

There are various factors, such as product standards, codes of conduct, political unrest, risk databases, and more, that affect the project outcome directly or indirectly.

Organizational Culture and Governance

The concept of organizational culture refers to a set of shared beliefs, missions, values, and expectations that are intentionally shaped and developed over time. It can be expressed in words and actions, and it can be reinforced through procedures, regulations, and policies.

Understanding the culture of an organization is very important to ensure that project managers and other employees can effectively relate to one another. It can also help them develop effective communication skills and improve the project's stakeholder engagement. Since there are various cultures within an organization, it is important that project managers and other project management teams are able to navigate through them.

Project Povernance

Good governance principles are also applied to projects. Project governance is the process of aligning the goals and strategies of the project team with the overall strategy of the organization.

Project governance provides the project manager and the team with the necessary tools and resources to manage the project. It also allows them to make informed decisions and control the project's delivery.

The goal of project governance is to ensure that the various aspects of a project are aligned with the organization's overall strategy and goals. Each project will be unique, but all of the projects will follow the same practices and vision.

Organizational Communications

Policies and culture dictate communication styles and processes within an organization. Project managers must learn how to effectively communicate with their subordinates and the public through various channels.

Since project managers are often located far from their colleagues or other stakeholders, they should take advantage of all the available electronic communication methods. Some of these include videoconferencing, email, and social media.

Organizational Structures

An organizational structure is a structure that is designed to arrange the various reports and authority levels of a project manager. It can be used to control the level of responsibility that the project manager has.

A functional structure is similar to an organizational silo. In today's world, a matrix structure is more common and involves having two reports: a project manager and a functional manager.

The strong, balanced, and weak matrix organizations are distinguished from one another by the project manager's authority and reporting lines. The "projectized" structure is composed of projects.

Organizational Process Assets (OPA)

An asset is something that one can keep, own, and use at any point in time. There are many types of assets that one can have. Some of these include a car, a house, a computer, and various other things.

Organizations also have assets that they can use to achieve their goals. The project management team can modify these assets according to their requirements. The end of a project allows organizations to store their organizational process assets in a central repository. This can be used for future projects.

There are two types of organizational process assets: policies and procedures that are used for conducting work and processes, of which some relevant examples are as follows −

• Policies

• Procedures

• Standard templates

• General guidelines

Although the project management team can't modify or update these elements, they can provide suggestions or feedback. The higher management can then decide to make changes to or update these elements.

When a project management team is in the process of identifying the various risks that can affect their project, to minimize the time spent on this process, the team can start by creating a checklist. This will not only help them identify these risks but it can also be customized according to the team’s requirements.

One of the most common reasons why people try to reinvent the wheel in project management is because they have something that they want to use. Project management teams can modify or update these elements without affecting their functionality.

In addition to being used for identifying risks and developing a checklist, organizational process assets are also used in project management. Before starting a new project, the project management team should thoroughly look for historical records to ensure that the documents are relevant.