Project management is a disciplined process applied to all industries, regardless of the product or service delivered. Every firm aims for a successful project. So nothing stands different when it comes to pharmaceutical Project management. Pharmaceutical project management deals with medicinal drugs, or their preparation, use, or sale. The pharmaceutical project manager plays a key role in all phases of pharmaceutical Project management. A manager is also expected to be qualified with a pharmacy project management course with good skills and experience. Revolution of new technologies like big data and artificial intelligence is emerging in pharmaceutical industries. As Information Technology comes into the picture along with marketing there is a huge increase in competition. So to sustain and compete in the market project management turns out to be an important process. Research and testing of new medicines and their marketing are big challenges faced by pharmaceutical companies. The pharmaceutical companies are required to be updated with time and bring out changes for planning projects. Project management for the pharmaceutical industry is very essential.
Pharmaceutical project management has 5 phases.
a. Initiation
In this phase, the scope of the project is been discussed. Details of requirements are shared, explained, and discussed. Competitive products are compared with the estimated pharmacy product. The feasibility of the project is checked with respect to the requirements. Various business cases are studied from past experiences. Expert advice is taken before starting with the actual project. All the data required for the initialization of the project before planning is collected in this phase.
Points to be worked on in the Initiation phase
1. Business case- Defines the necessity of the project.
2. Feasibility- Defines the success ratio of the project.
3. Project structure- Define the structure and execution process of the project.
4. Team- To hire, to train, and then utilize skilled resources.
5. Project Office- Location from where the project manager and assist team work together.
6. Review- To review the initiation process and review progress till completion of the project.
b. Planning:
It is one of the essential processes to achieve targets. Planning and analysis are done with help of data provided from the initiation phase. No single plan stands and so it is required to create multiple backup plans. The pharmaceutical project manager focuses more on resource planning for the allocation of tasks. Meetings are scheduled by the manager with the account team and stakeholders for Cost budgeting. The actual budget is compared with the estimated budget as planned by the manager. The estimated price is tried to be minimized compared to the actual budget set. After the analysis is done for all activities then they are assigned to the particular resource as a task by a project manager. A Project manager assigns the task to the respective team knowing the skills and experience of the members. A Manager also makes sure that he has enough resources for all the activities related to the scope of a project. Uncertain risks are also considered by the pharmaceutical project manager and planning is done accordingly.
c. Execution
Execution of planning actually starts in this phase. The activity chart is prepared by the manager which is strictly followed with respect to resources and time. Deadlines are followed as discussed in the planning phase. Activities involve starting from scientific research, lab testing, management, plant operation from converting pharmacological active substance to productive medicines, finance & accounting along with IT & marketing. Activities are executed as tasks and taken care of by respective teams under the control of the Pharmacological project manager. Daily team reports are been sent to the project manager by the team. The manager checks the report and maintains its track record. A manager also schedules weekly meetings to share the status of projects with leads of the respective team. If the manager finds that tasks are not getting completed as planned according to activities then necessary steps are taken to solve the concerns. Uncertain changes in project flow are also taken care of by a manager.
d. Manage and Control
Monitoring is required for the project until the last step of completion. The pharmaceutical manager controls the budget of the project as per set in the planning phase. It is the duty of the manager to deliver quality projects within the deadline set with respect to budget and resources. There are maximum possibilities where uncertain changes can occur so the project activities are required to be monitored and controlled. There are many cases where lots of projects although successful at the initial phase failed after execution due to lack of monitoring and control over the project.
Factors needed to be controlled are
1. Scope
2. Schedule
3. Cost
4. Quality
5. Communication
6. Uncertain changes
8. Risk
9. Procurements
10. Stakeholder engagements
e. Closure
After completion of all the above-mentioned phases, closure is the final step. After a quality product is delivered by the project within deadline with respect to resources and set budget then the project is declared complete. In this phase even if a project is failed or succeeds some learning is taken as a conclusion. A complete project can never be perfect meeting all requirements. If some features are pending in the current project version then future enhancement is added for the next version of the system. Documentation of the project is also maintained by a pharmaceutical manager for reference.
As a result, we can conclude that project management for the pharmaceutical industry is very essential also understanding the roles of a pharmaceutical manager. The pharmaceutical manager is not only a pharmaceutical engineer but also PMP certified manager. As management is the art of getting things done with respect to time and resources it can be learned and skills can be developed through management courses. So Monks Learning Lab is providing the best course of PMP training to develop professionals in pharmaceutical industries under the guidance of experts in pharmaceutical firms. Already Monks Learning Labs have given rise to many milestones in this career. It's a knocking opportunity for those who want to be professionals in the pharmaceutical industries.