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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson11-1

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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson11-2

Chapter 11: Project Control

keep project on target

as close to plan as feasible

adapt to new circumstances

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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson11-3

Planning vs. Control

Planning• set goals & directions• allocate resources

• anticipate problems• motivate

Control• guide work toward goals• ensure effective use of

resources• correct problems• reward achievement

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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson11-4

IS Control Problems

Lin & Hsieh (1995)

• Corporate Culture can be closed to new ideas

• Organizational Stability if changing, too busy

• Developer Experience with IT

• Developer Task Proficiency• Project Size bigger projects, greater risks

• System Structure changing requirements cause problems

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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson11-5

Managerial Actions to Maintain Project Control Ahituv et al. [1999]

1. Early user involvement2. Senior non-technical management in

charge for time and budget performance3. Milestones for accurate project progress

measurement4. Hold suppliers & vendors legally

responsible for deadlines5. Don’t change project requirements

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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson11-6

Risk Management

Boehm (1989) top risk items

• Personnel shortfalls• Dynamic requirements• Externally provided components• Real-time performance benchmark

• Development incremental development, requirements scrubbing

• Unrealistic estimates multiple sources

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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson11-7

the Control Process

• assess actual vs planned technical accomplishment

• verify validity of technical objectives• confirm need for project• time progress to match operational requirements• oversee resource usage• monitor costs

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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson11-8

Control Process Phases

• performance standards - technical specifications, budgeted costs, schedules, resource requirements– from user specifications, project plan

• compare performance with plan - forecast anticipated date and cost at completion

• corrective action taken when severe variance encountered

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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson11-9

Control Devices

• Responsibility Assignment– Chart activities with personnel

• identify what each is responsible for

• Budget– variance analysis– Earned Value

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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson11-10

Earned Value

Work Package Budgeted % done Earned Actual

A 20 100 20 25

B 10 100 10 8

C 12 50 6 6

D 20 75 15 15

Total earned value 51 54

Efficiency = earned/actual

A = 20/25 = 0.80 B = 10/8 = 1.25

total project = 51/54 = 0.94

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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson11-11

Traditional Cost Control

• variance analysis• in project management, deficient - doesn’t track

how much work completed, no projections of future costs– so show quantities– progress may be nonlinear

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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson11-12

Project Cost Monitoring

• tie to work packages– work descriptions– time-phased budgets– work plans & schedules– responsibility assignments– resource requirements

• keep up with change orders

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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson11-13

Work Authorization

upper management authorizes project

project manager authorizes department workvia work orders

functional managers authorize work orders to

sections

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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson11-14

Data Collection

upper management continues or cans

project manager adjusts to solve problems

work sections report progress

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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson11-15

Data Collection & Tally

• periodically collect data about actual costs and work progress

• project control accounting system tallies and summarizes– by work package– by department– project overall

• manager intimately familiar with budget, actual

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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson11-16

Project Review Meetings

• where things are going wrong– emergencies– time bombs– opportunities

• should be periodical• participants should have information prior• give assignments to present in advance

– broaden participation

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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson11-17

When to Hold Review Meetings

• periodic– regularity leads to more thorough preparation– can have in central meeting place

• with network schedule on wall

• key data available

• special event– at critical milestones

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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson11-18

Corrective Action

• identify WHEN ACTION NECESSARY– how much variance is acceptable?– rather than preset limits, ought to be constant

projection to completion– is change worse than current?

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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson11-19

Reasons for Changes

• change in project scope & specification• changes in design - errors, omissions,

afterthoughts, revised needs• changes to improve rate of return• changes to adopt improvements

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Impact of Changes

• cause grief• the more the project completed, the more difficult

to change• impact on project scope, cost, schedule are

major sources of conflict• may reduce changes & impact by change review

process

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Summary

• project control guides work toward goals• assess actual versus planned• need data collection, information dissemination• focus on work package & cost account• use authorization process• constantly update projected performance