August 2024 SOCRA Source Journal - Journal - Page 59
JOURNAL ARTICLES
Project Management Tips
and Tricks for Launching a
Successful Research Project
Emily Hardwick, MPH, CCRP, PMP
Monon Collaborative Operations Director
and Recruitment Services Director
Indiana Clinical and Translational
Sciences Institute
Emily Hardwick, MPH, CCRP, PMP
Abstract: Project management techniques are a helpful guide in providing structure to project managers and
research teams. The techniques can be utilized to successfully prepare and launch research studies, whether
simple or complex, by establishing project goals and objectives, developing a project plan, executing and
managing the strategy and closing the project. This article highlights how to apply the planning fundamentals
of project management to clinical research in an easy-to-understand manner through terminology and best
practices from the Project Management Institute.
Introduction
A research study is a great
example of a project. As de昀椀ned
by the Project Management
Body of Knowledge (PMBOK,
7th edition, 2021), a “project”
is a “temporary endeavor
undertaken to create a unique
product, service, or result.” A
research study has a speci昀椀c
start date and end date that
should result in unique results.
For this reason, research teams
should take advantage of
project management principles
in order to successfully manage
their projects.
There are 昀椀ve phases of project
management (Figure 1). As
applied to clinical research,
the phases are:
Figure 1. Phases of
Project
Management
Figure
1
Related to Clinical Research
•
TABLE 1
Phase One, Project Research Study•Charter
Phase Two, Planning, starts
Initiation, is the decision to
after the contract is signed
conduct a project, such as
or the notice of award
submitting a grant or having
is received. The project
discussions with an industry
manager, which could be
partner about participating
the study coordinator,
in a study.
obtains more details
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