What are programs

Was this reply helpful? Yes No. Sorry this didn't help. Thanks for your feedback. Located by clicking on the Windows 10 logo on the bottom left corner of the screen and ALL APPS should appear at the bottom - by clicking it, it will give you all the programs in alphabetical order.

I looked at all apps and couldn't find my anti virus program. It's in the installed programs list but I don't know if its actually running because it does not show up on the start menu. Some embedded systems do not use an operating system, but run their programs directly on the processor.

Modern operating systems for desktop computers come with a user interface that enables users to easily interact with application programs and with the operating system itself by using windows, buttons, menus, icons, the mouse, and the keyboard. Thought question: Imagine that you have just turned on your computer and have not yet started any application. Are any programs running?

Types of Programs There are two categories of programs. Operating system Networking system Programming language software Web site server Data backup. The only option is to proceed carefully, stop at regular intervals to check exactly where you are, and replan the way forward.

This is exactly the way you would navigate through a thick fog. Both ambiguity and uncertainty are high. Management is both easy and difficult. It is easy because it is pointless to set fixed plans you have no idea what to plan , while it is difficult because decisions regarding value and whether to stop or continue are subjective and need to be made in a collaborative environment of trust.

Traditional measures of success such as on-time and on-budget are largely meaningless; typically there are no statistics on which to base this type of measure. Consequently these projects are within the realm of cost-reimbursable contracts and partnerships; stakeholder relationship management and a clear understanding of value are the only effective tools for building to a successful outcome. Agile software development is ideal for this type of project.

Each iteration builds new capability and value, and the learning provides a platform for the next iteration of development. While most programs are likely to be larger, more complex, and less certain than most projects, the key differentiator between a program and a project is, as described earlier, their objective.

Programs are focused on realizing benefits; projects are focused on delivering defined outputs. One of the major roles of a program manager is to initiate projects to create the outputs the program needs to deliver its intended outcomes.

Determining if the work to be undertaken is a project or a program is important because it will determine what management approach to use. Attempting to manage a program as a project can lead to failure, or at best, to suboptimal outcomes. Programs generally have a multiplicity of requirements, deliverables, customers, stakeholders, departments, and interfacing organizations interacting with the work.

The following checklist can help determine the difference Duggal, :. The first question is the key: projects are best if there is one primary goal for the project to focus on delivering; multiple goals are best dealt with by way of a program, with a series of projects each focusing on a particular goal.

In many respects, the management of projects and programs appears similar. Both are selected via the portfolio management processes on the basis that they support or enable one or more of the organization's key strategic initiatives. Both are initiated, planned, executed, and closed with ongoing monitoring and controlling during their life cycles. In addition, both apply common processes such as time, risk, and communication management.

However, managing projects and programs have distinctly different themes and focuses, which have major consequences on the style of management:. A key challenge facing project and program management professionals is managing the expectation of senior managers.

Unrealistic expectations are unlikely to be realized, and creating realistic expectations in senior management thinking requires a sustained process of education and communication. Realistic expectations of a project should include reasonably high levels of certainty in terms of time, cost, scope, risk, and quality. Importantly, the level of certainty should progressively increase as the project moves through its life cycle. The skill of a project manager lies in identifying ambiguity and uncertainty and then seeking to remove or resolve the causes.

The more uncertain the work, the more likely program management approaches will deliver better outcomes for the organization. Realistic expectations of a program are based on achieving the maximum value from the overall endeavor.

The program manager should be expected to balance the relatively short-term stability and certainty needed for the current projects with flexibility and value management to optimize longer-term outcomes. Effective value management is a key part of effective program management and requires an understanding of what is valuable to the organization. To realize a benefit, the outcomes from the program need to support a strategic objective of the organization.

Therefore, the processes to initiate a project within the program should have as a basic consideration its alignment with the organization's strategic objectives. While the value chain starts with a project being initiated to create a new product, service, or result, the new output by itself cannot deliver a benefit to the organization.

The program's management, in collaboration with the organization's management, needs to make effective use of the output to realize a benefit. It is the organization's management that manages the organization, and these people need to change the way that the organization works to use the new capability to realize the intended benefit.

Assuming strategic alignment is achieved, the realized benefits should translate into real value. Value drivers allow the benefit to be quantified either financially or by other less tangible means.

In the current economic climate, organizations are finding operating capital in short supply. Therefore the value of a new process to accelerate the organization's billing cycle can be measured at several levels:. The above example may also trigger additional value by allowing the capital to be redeployed into another profitgenerating activity, improving customer relationships, and potentially reducing bad debts.

The challenge of program management is identifying and communicating the value drivers to all levels of the organization's management involved in the activity so that valuable decisions are made in preference to knee-jerk, gut reactions focused on short-term, easy-to-measure metrics.

Value is created by meeting the strategic needs of the organization's stakeholders; this requires careful analysis and understanding of who they are and what are their real requirements—i. From the above discussions, it should be apparent that program management is not a natural extension of project management; for most project managers it is a career change.

Program managers are part of the organization's senior management team focused on the strategic delivery of value. Project managers manage technicians and subcontractors. Program managers manage project managers and collaborate with other senior managers. The natural career progression for a project manager is to bigger, more complicated, and more critical projects. Becoming a program manager is a significant career change that needs to be recognized as such and properly managed by the individual making the change and supported by the organization.

Programs are not merely big projects, they are different! The key difference is in the focus of the management effort; project management is focused on creating a deliverable as efficiently as possible, program management is focused on maximizing the benefits realized by the organization.

What is needed now is for organizational management to recognize the differences and make effective use of both program and project management to create a strategic advantage for their organization.