DOM 511PROJECT MANAGEMENT

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Project managers juggles numerous activities

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The art of project management

• Technological change• Customer and management expectations• Documentation and communication• Time and resource constraints• Managing people• Organizational change and complexity• Contractors and vendors• Methodologies and tools• Systems development life cycle

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PROJECT

• Project – a [temporary] sequence of unique, complex, and connected activities having one goal or purpose and that must be completed by specific time, within budget, and according to specification

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Project Definition

• Work that has a beginning and an end• Work that can be performed by an

external consultant for a specified time• Work that leads to a measurable change

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Examples

• Planning a conference• Moving office• Organizing a social event• Introducing new service/ product• Changing a management process• Office automation

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Project management – the process of scoping, planning, staffing, organizing, directing, and controlling the development of an acceptable system at a minimum cost within a specified time frame.

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Poor Expectations Management

Scope creep – the unexpected and gradual growth of requirements during an information systems project.

Feature creep– the uncontrolled addition of technical features to a system.

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MEASURES OF SUCCESS

• The resulting information system is acceptable to the customer.• The system was delivered ‘on time.’• The system was delivered “within

budget.”• The system development process had a

minimal impact on ongoing business operations

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CAUSES OF PROJECT FAILURE• Lack of organization’s commitment to the

system development methodology• Failure to establish upper-management

commitment to the project

• Taking shortcuts through or around the system development methodology

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• Poor expectations management

• Premature commitment to a fixed budget and schedule

• Poor estimating techniques

• Over optimism

• Inadequate people management skills

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• Failure to adapt to business change

• Insufficient resources

• Failure to “manage to the plan”

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FUNCTIONS OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT

• Scoping – setting the boundaries of the project, understand context and complexity of the project

• Planning – identifying the tasks required to complete the project

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• Estimating – identifying the resources required to complete the project

• Scheduling – developing the plan to complete the project

• Organizing – making sure members understand their roles and responsibilities

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Controlling – monitoring progress

Directing – coordinating the project

Closing – (natural or unnatural termination) assessing success and failure

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• Effective project management helps ensure that system development projects meet customer expectations and are delivered within budget and time constraints.

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SHIFT IN TYPES OF PROJECTS

• Before-stand-alone operations

• Now-packaged software (e.g. ERPs and data warehouse systems

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• Legacy applications are being modified to B2B transactions, new web-based interlaces are also being added to existing systems

• Global software (outsourcing) to be integrated into the organization software

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PROJECT MANAGEMENT SKILLS:

• Management skills

• Leadership skills

• Technical skills

• Conflict management skills

• Customer relationship

• Risk and change management19

MANAGEMENT SKILLSGetting projects completed through the effective utilization of resources.

• Defining and sequencing activities• Communicating expectations• Assigning resources to activities• Monitoring outcomes

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LEADERSHIP SKILLS

• Influencing the activities of others towards the attainment of a common goal through the use of intelligence, personality and ability.

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• Be Consistent.• Provide Support.• Don’t Make Promises You Can’t Keep.• Praise in Public; Criticize in Private.• Be Aware of Morale Danger Points.

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• Set Realistic Deadlines.• Set Perceivable Targets.• Explain and Show, Rather Than Do.• Don’t Rely Just on [Status Reports].• Encourage a Good Team Spirit.

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TECHNICAL SKILLSDesigning and sequencing activities to attain project goals

• Interpreting system specifications • Defining activities and their sequence• Making trade-offs between alternative

solutions• Designing solutions to problems

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CONFLICT MANAGEMENT SKILLS

Managing conflicts within a project team to assure that conflict is not too high or too low

• Problem solving• Smoothing out personality differences• Setting goals• Compromising

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CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP

• Working closely with customers to assure project deliverables meet expectations.

• Site preparation and user training

• Contact point for customers

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RISK AND CHANGE MANAGEMENT

Identifying, assessing and managing the risks anKd day-to-day changes that occur during a project• Environment scanning• Risk and opportunity identification and

assessment• Forecasting• Resource redeployment

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PROJECT MANAGEMENT PROCESS

• Initiating project• Planning project• Executing project• Closing down project

The environment is one of the continual change and problem solving.

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INITIATING PROJECT

a) Establishing the project initiation team

b) Establishing a relationship with the customer

c) Establishing the project initiation plan

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a) Establishing management procedures

b) Establishing the project management environment and project work book

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PLANNING PROJECTa)Describing project scope, alternatives,

and feasibility

b)Dividing the project into manageable tasks

c)Estimating resources and creating a resource plan

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d) Developing a preliminary schedule

e) Developing a communication plan

f) Determining project standards and procedures

g) Creating a preliminary budget

h) Identifying and assessing risk

i) Developing a statement of work

j) Setting a baseline project plan 32

EXECUTING PROJECT

a)Executing the baseline project plan

b)Monitoring project progress against the baseline project plan

c)Maintaining the project workbook

d)Communicating the project status

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CLOSING DOWN PROJECT

a)Closing down the project

b)Conducting post-project reviews

c)Closing the customer contract

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A project manager manages the:

• Resources

• Activities Needed to complete the

• Tasks information system project

System development projects are undertaken for two primary reasons:

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• To solve business problems

• To take advantage of business opportunities

Once a potential project has been identified, the organization must determine the resources required for its completion by:

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• Analyzing scope of the project

• Determining the probability of successful completion

• After which the organization determines whether taking advantage of business opportunities or solving business problem is feasible

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Tools to be used while managing the project (project workbook) for all project correspondence:

• Inputs

• Outputs

• Deliverables

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• Procedures

• Standards established

The outcome of initiating the project activity is the decision to continue, modify or abandon the project. Once a decision is made to continue, a much more detailed plan is developed during the planning activity

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PROJECT PLANNING a) Describe Scope, alternatives and

feasibility

Understand content and complexity of the type of the project by asking the following questions:

(i) What problem or opportunity does the project address?

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ii. What are the quantifiable results to be achieved?

iii. How will success be measured

iv. What needs to be done

v. How shall we know when we are finished

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b) Dividing project into manageable tasks (Gantt Chart) can be used

CHARACTERISTICS OF A ‘TASK’

• Task can be done by one person or a well defined group

• one identifiable deliverable has a known method or technique

• well-accepted procedures and success steps

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• Is measurable so that percent completion can be determined

c) Estimating the resources and creating resources plan (People most important and expensive resource influence the completion and overall quality of a system

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d) Developing preliminary schedule (Gantt chart Critical Path and PERT) PERT: Program Evaluation Review technique

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PERT CHART

Network diagrams show:

• The sequence dependencies between tasks

• Tasks could be done parallel

• Show slack time within the rectangle (earliest start and latest finish duration

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Specify Intertask Dependencies

• Finish-to-start (FS)—The finish of one task triggers the start of another task.

• Start-to-start (SS)—The start of one task triggers the start of another task.

• Finish-to-finish (FF)—Two tasks must finish at the same time.

• Start-to-finish (SF)—The start of one task signifies the finish of another task.

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Optimistic

Pessimistic Estimates for task

Critical path scheduling is a scheduling technique whose order and duration of sequence of task a activities directly affects the completion date of a project.

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The critical path is the shortest time a project can be completed

Slack time: the amount of time an activity can he delayed without delaying the whole project

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e) Developing communication plan Communication procedures e.g. how and when written/oral reports will be provided by team, how team members will coordinate work, what kind of information needs to be shared. It is important that free and open communication occur among all parties

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f) determining project standards and procedures

Tools to be used

SDLC method to he used

How team members give reports

Deliverables are produced and tested setting standards ensures one way of ensuring a high quality system

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g) Identifying and assessing risk

• Sources and impact of project risk e.g. use of new technology, resistance to change availability of critical resources, competitive reaction, team member inexperience with new technology

h) Creating Preliminary schedule and budget

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i) Developing statement of work

For customer (clearly outlining the work to be done and what the project will deliver)

j. Setting Baseline Project Plan (continuously updated)

Provides estimates of the projects tasks and resource requirements (used as a guide to next phase).

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• As in the last activity, the project may be endorsed, ask for modification or determine that it is not wise to continue with the project as currently outlined.

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Executing Project• Puts Baseline project plan into actions

a) Executing Baseline project plan (tasks can be marked as completed percentage or completed)

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b) Monitoring project progress against baseline project plan - if project gets ahead or behind schedule resources may need to be adjusted, activities and budget also. Measuring the time and effort spent on each activity will help in improving the accuracy of future estimates

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Team Leader must evaluate or appraise each team members and occasionally change work assignment/personnel etc. Gantt charts can be used to monitor progress and network diagrams the impact of delays

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c) Managing changes to Baseline Project Plan

Might encounter pressure for change - this should be reflected in the plan and a formal explanation of the changes (must be approved). Events that might initiate change are:

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Slipped completion date of activity

A bungled up activity that must be redone

The identification of a new activity

An unforeseen change in personnel due to (sickness, resignation, termination)

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• Either device a way of getting back on plan or revise plan)

d) Maintaining workbook - a complete record of all events - important for project reports and documentation for new members etc

e) communicating the project status - all players should be abreast with of the project status or how the plan is evolving

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• The ease with which a project can be managed is influenced significantly by the quality of prior project activities. If you deploy a high-quality project plan, it is much more likely that the project will be successfully executed.

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CLOSING DOWN PROJECT:

Bring project to an end

Natural termination (successful end)

Unnatural termination (Running out of time/money)

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Unnatural termination could occur because of:• A wrong assumption for guiding the

project• Inadequate development team• Requirements no longer relevant or valid

to customers business environment• Running out of money or time or both

(most likely cause)64

a) Closing down project:

Within the context of SDLC project closedown occurs after the implementation phase, maintenance is on going

salary termination

thank you letters

recommendations for staff etc

b) Conducting post project review

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MANAGEMENT / USER

•Determine strength/weaknesses e.g. of project deliverables

•Stakeholders need to understand what went right and what went wrong in order to improve in the next process (Since a complete project must undergo continuous improvement) 66

c) Closing customer contract

ensure that all contractual terms of the project have been met and further work is the organization’s responsibility or can he covered by another contract

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A wide variety of tools for assisting the project manager are available. Most tools have a set of common features, including the ability to define and order tasks, assign resources to tasks, and to modify tasks and resources.

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Systems vary regarding the number of activities supported, the complexity of relationships, processing and storage requirements, and the cost

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Project team dynamics• Why teams

–To support the Project manager in carrying out his/her responsibilities

Typical problems:- Teamwork concept not very clear.- Responsibilities not clear- Team members tend to cover up and solve

their own problems resisting exposure

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Project team dynamics

- Project personnel selection- Lack of senior management support- Dynamic project environment- Role conflict- Communication problems

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Overcoming project team difficulties

• Promote team work• Convey concepts in meetings/

workshops• Use joint problem solving/

brainstorming• Encourage feedback

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Overcoming project team difficulties

• Identify roles and responsibilities for each team member• Convey common understanding of the

project• Master schedules and critical path• Be visible and available as Project

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Project Progress meetings

• Regular• Brief with an agenda• Include key team leaders• Identify problems• Agree on what problems are• Allocate someone to solve. Specify

action period• Follow up action assignments 74

THE ENDTHANK YOU

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