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4C H A P T E R

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

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Chapter Four Project Management Define the terms project and project management, and differentiate between project and process management.

Describe the causes of failed information systems and technology projects. Describe the basic competencies required of project managers. Describe the basic functions of project management. Differentiate between PERT and Gantt charts as project management tools. Describe eight activities in project management. Define joint project planning and its role in project management. Define scope and a write a statement of work to document scope. Use a work breakdown structure to decompose a project into tasks. Use critical path a little bit…

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Chapter Map

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Project and Project ManagementA project is 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.

Project management is 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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Project and Project Management (PM) Every IT project is unique,

Makes PM extremely challenging across the industry. Organizations place considerable importance on PM

skills because of the impact information technology has on the business.

Organizations can’t afford the project failures Very commonplace in the past.

Project management is a cross life cycle activity

Can think of PM as providing the “templates” (much as a word processor) for project management.

As word processing templates, these must be managed and improved from time to time,

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Process ManagementProject management is 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.

Process management is an ongoing activity that documents, manages the use of, and improves an organization’s chosen methodology (the “process”) for system development. Process management is concerned with the activities, deliverables, and quality standards to be applied to all projects.

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Process Management Most organizations pursuing the CMM are

targeting Level 3, that is, consistently using a standardized process or methodology to develop all systems. CMM Level 2 deals with project management. CMM Level 3 deals with what has come to be

known as process management.

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Measures of Project Success FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE PROJECT MANAGER

The resulting information system is acceptable to the customer.

(“meets their requirements”) The system was delivered “on time.” The system was delivered “within budget.” The development process had a minimal

impact on ongoing business operations

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Wow!

Failures and limited successes FAR outnumber successful information systems.

Some studies show that 60-75% of all IT projects can be considered failures

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Causes of Project Failure Failure to establish upper-management commitment to the

project Lack of organization’s commitment to the system development

methodology Taking shortcuts through or around the system development

methodology DISCUSS Poor expectations management Premature commitment to a fixed budget and schedule Poor estimating techniques Overoptimism The mythical man-month (Brooks, 1975) Inadequate people management skills Failure to adapt to business change Insufficient resources Failure to “manage to the plan”

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Biggest Single Cause:

Most project managers are not educated or trained to be project managers!

Just as good programmers don't always go on to become good systems analysts, good systems analysts don't automatically perform well as project managers.

To be a good project manager, you should be educated and skilled in the “art of project management.”

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Project Manager Competencies Business awareness Business partner

orientation Commitment to quality Initiative Information gathering Analytical thinking Conceptual thinking Interpersonal awareness Organizational awareness

Anticipation of impact Resourceful use of influence Motivating others Communication skills Developing others Monitoring and controlling Self-confidence Stress management Concern for credibility Flexibility

(Adapted from Wysocki, Beck, and Crane, Effective Project Management: How to Plan, Manage, and Deliver Projects on Time

and within Budget.)

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Project Manager Competencies Core competencies must be possessed:

Some can be taught, both in courses, books, and professional workshops;

Some of these competencies come only with professional experience in the field. First, you usually cannot manage a process you have

never used. Second, you cannot manage a project without

understanding the business and culture that provides a context for the project.

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Project Management Functions From ‘classic management functions’:

Scoping Planning Estimating Scheduling Organizing Directing       Controlling Closing

Dependent upon interpersonal communications between the Project Manager, the team, and other managers.

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Project Management Tools & Techniques

A PERT chart is a graphical network model that depicts a project’s tasks and the relationships between those tasks.

A Gantt chart is a simple horizontal bar chart that depicts project tasks against a calendar.

Each bar represents a named project task.

The tasks are listed vertically in the left-hand column. The horizontal axis is a calendar

timeline.

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Gantt and PERT PERT, which stands for Project Evaluation and

Review Technique developed in the late 1950s to plan and control large

weapons development projects for the U.S. Navy. Gantt chart, first conceived in 1917, is the most

commonly used project scheduling and progress evaluation tool.

Tools not mutually exclusive (especially when PERT is based on “activity on the node” conventions).

Most project management software tools maintain both views simultaneously.

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PERT Chart

5-3-2001 5-12-2001

5-3-2001 5-11-2001

Preliminary Investigation

5-12-2001 6-12-2001

5-12-2001 6-14-2001

Problem Analysis

5-28-2001 7-15-2001

5-30-2001 7-18-2001

Requirements Analysis

6-13-2001 7-30-2001

6-13-2001 8-3-2001

Decision Analysis

9-10-2001 12-14-2001

TBD TBD

Implementation

7-19-2001 11-13-2001

7-20-2001 In Progress

Construction

7-3-2001 9-25-2001

7-5-2001 10-9-2001

Design

5-3-2001 N/A

5-3-2001 N/A

Project Initiation

ScheduledStart

ScheduledFinish

Actual Start ActualFinish

Task

ScheduledStart

ScheduledFinish

Actual Start ActualFinish

Task

intertaskdependency

Legend

PERT developed to make clear the interdependence between project tasks before those tasks are scheduled. Consider contents….

The ‘data’ recorded in PERT nodes can vary with project management tools used.

Consider Microsoft Project ….

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Gantt Chart – build with Visio

Incomplete Task

Complete Task

Legend

ID

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Preliminary investigation

Problem analysis

Requirements analysis

Decision analysis

Design

Construction

Implementation

May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

2001Task Name

Today

Gantt charts may clearly show overlapping tasks – tasks that can be performed at the same time. Can see percentage completions

Figure demonstrates which phases are ahead and behind schedule at a glance.Very popular due to simplicity – easy to learn, read, prepare, and use.

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Gantt Chart – built with Microsoft Project

Previous Gantt chart built with Microsoft Visio.This one built from Microsoft Project.

Point: Gantt charts can also show milestones and intertask dependencies.

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Microsoft Project PERT Chart

Note that summary tasks do not have dependencies and are represented in black.Authors chose to use red to depict critical tasks (covered later).Milestones are depicted in teal.

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Project Management Life Cycle

Organizing Model for rest of chapter…

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Joint Project Planning StrategyJoint project planning (JPP) is a strategy wherein

all stakeholders in a project (meaning system owners, users, analysts, designers, and builders) participate in a one-to-three day project management workshop, the result of which is consensus agreement on project scope, schedule, resources, and budget. (Of course, subsequent workshops or meetings may be required to adjust scope, budget, and schedule.)

Also – Joint Requirements Planning (JRP) &Joint Application Design Sessions (JAD) ahead in course…

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Activity 1: Negotiate ScopeScope defines the boundaries of a project—What part of the business is to be studied, analyzed, designed, constructed, implemented, and ultimately improved?

Product Quality Time Cost Resources

A Statement of Work is a narrative description of the work to be performed as part of a project. Common synonyms include scope statement, project definition, project overview, and others.

In consulting, a statement of work has become a commonly-used contract between consultant and client. Approach works equally well for internal systems development projects to establish a contract between business management and the project manager and team.

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Statement of WorkI. PurposeII. Background

A. Problem, opportunity, or directive statementB. History leading to project requestC. Project goal and objectivesD. Product description

III. Scope(notice the use of your information system building blocks)A. StakeholdersB. DataC. ProcessesD. Locations

IV. Project ApproachA. RouteB. Deliverables

V. Managerial ApproachA. Team building considerationsB. Manager and experienceC. Training requirementsD. Meeting schedulesE. Reporting methods and frequencyF. Conflict managementG. Scope management (continued)

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Statement of Work (concluded)VI. Constraints

A. Start dateB. DeadlinesC. BudgetD. Technology

VII. Ballpark EstimatesA. ScheduleB. Budget

VIII. Conditions of SatisfactionA. Success criteriaB. AssumptionsC. Risks

IX. Appendices

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Activity 2: Identify TasksA Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is a hierarchical decomposition of the project into phases, activities, and tasks.

Tasks are usually broken down into a level at which they are manageable.

A task, as an example, is something experts feel should be accomplished within 40 hours or

further subdivided into tasks until they can…

Milestones are events that signify the accomplishment or completion of major deliverables during a project.

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Work Breakdown Structures1 Phase 1 of the project …2 Phase 2 of the project …

2.1 Activity 1 of Phase 2 …

2.2 Activity 2 of Phase 22.2.1 Task 1 of Activity

2.2 in Phase 22.2.2 Task 2 of Activity

2.2 in Phase 22.2.3 Task 3 of Activity

2.2 in Phase 22.3 Activity 3 of Phase 2

…3 Phase 3 of the project …

(WBSs represent a form of outlining and decomposition.)Rule of thumb: a task is broken down to two or more subtasks, but no task should have more than six subtasks. Note: Phase Activity Task

PROJECTGOAL

0

PHASE

2

PHASE

3

PHASE

1

ACTIVITY

2.2

ACTIVITY

2.1

ACTIVITY

2.3

TASK

2.2.2

TASK

2.2.1

TASK

2.2.3

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Activity 3: Estimate Task Durations1.  Estimate the minimum amount of time it

would take to perform the task. We'll call this the optimistic duration (OD).

2.  Estimate the maximum amount of time it would take to perform the task. We'll call this the pessimistic duration (PD).

3.  Estimate the expected duration (ED) that will be needed to perform the task.

4.  Calculate the most likely duration (D) as follows:D = (1 x OD) + (4 x ED) + (1 x PD) 6

This approach is consistent with Microsoft Project. There are others….

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Activity 4: 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.

The default in most project management is ‘finish to start.’

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Scheduling StrategiesForward scheduling establishes a project start date and then schedules forward from that date. Based on the planned duration of required tasks, their interdependencies, and the allocation of resources to complete those tasks, a projected project completion date is calculated.

Reverse scheduling establishes a project deadline and then schedules backward from that date. Essentially, tasks, their duration, interdependencies, and resources must be considered to ensure that the project can be completed by the deadline. (we are often given a deadline and work backwards…)

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We will skip: Assigning Resources Directing the Team Effort Monitoring and Controlling Progress

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Critical Path Analysis (and Slack Time)1. Using intertask dependencies, determine every possible

path through the project.2. For each path, sum the durations of all tasks in the path.3. The path with the longest total duration is the critical

path. The critical path for a project is that sequence of dependent

tasks that have the largest sum of most likely durations. The critical path determines the earliest completion date of the project.

The slack time available for any non-critical task is the amount of delay that can be tolerated between the starting time and completion time of a task without causing a delay in the completion date of the entire project.

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Critical Path

The explanation of identifying the critical path is a simplified description.

Identifying the critical path for large complex projects with many paths can be quite challenging.

There are other approaches that can be used to identify the critical path (see Wysocki et al.).

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Critical Path

The critical path is highlighted in red

TASK C

Fri 2/9/01 2 days

Fri 2/9/01 0 days

TASK D

Tue 2/20/01 7 days

Tue 2/20/01 0 days

TASK I

Tue 2/27/01 5 days

Tue 2/27/01 0 days

TASK E

Mon 2/19/01 6 days

Tue 2/20/01 1 day

TASK B

Wed 2/7/01 2 days

Wed 2/7/01 0 days

TASK A

Mon 2/5/01 3 days

Mon 2/5/01 0 days

TASK H

Thu 2/15/01 1 day

Tue 2/20/01 3 days

TASK F

Wed 2/14/01 3 days

Fri 2/16/01 2 days

TASK G

Fri 2/16/01 2 days

Tue 2/20/01 2 days

Duration

Slack Time