1 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices Chapter 11 Project Management Jason C. H. Chen, Ph.D. Professor of MIS School of Business Administration Gonzaga University Spokane, WA 99258 [email protected]John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices Learning Objectives • List the elements of a good project. • Understand why so many IT projects fail to meet their targeted goals. • Explain the relationship between time, scope, and cost of a project. • Explain why Gantt charts are so popular for planning schedules. • Define RAD and explain how it compares to the SDLC. • Be able to identify when it is time to pull the plug on a project.
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1
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
Chapter 11Project Management
Jason C. H. Chen, Ph.D.Professor of MIS
School of Business AdministrationGonzaga UniversitySpokane, WA 99258
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
Learning Objectives• List the elements of a good project.• Understand why so many IT projects fail to meet their
targeted goals.• Explain the relationship between time, scope, and cost
of a project.• Explain why Gantt charts are so popular for planning
schedules.• Define RAD and explain how it compares to the SDLC.• Be able to identify when it is time to pull the plug on a
project.
2
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
INTRODUCTION
• This chapter provides an overview of what a project is and how to manage one
• It discusses the aspects of IT-intensive projects that make them uniquely challenging
• Finally, it identifies the issues that shape the role of the general manager in such projects and help them to manage risk
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
Real World Example
• Rural Payments Agency (RPA), UK, blamed poor planning and lack of system testing for delays in paying out 1.5billion pounds of EU subsidies. – Only 15% were paid out by the end of 2006.
• The RPA had to make substantial changes to the system post implementation.– Testing did not take into account the real environment,
leading to unanticipated work to populate the database in the first place.
• The system had not been properly managed.– Costs were at 122 million pounds, and were originally
estimated at 46.5 million.
3
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
Project Management versus Process Management
“Ultimately, the parallels between process and project management give way to a fundamental difference: process management seeks to __________variability whereas project management must ________ variabilitybecause each project is unique.”
Elton, J. & J. Roe. “Bringing Discipline to Project Management” Harvard Business Review
eliminateaccept
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
Success vs. Failure
• What is the difference between “Success” and “Failure”?
• “I DO NOT HAVE TIME”
4
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
Why do Projects Fail?
Studies have shown that the following factors contribute significantly to project failure:
• Improper focus of the project management system
• Wrong level of detail
• Lack of understanding about project management tools; too much reliance on project management software
• Too many people
• Poor communication
• Rewarding the wrong actions
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
Failed IS Projects• Standish Group found that 67 percent of all
software projects are challenged – Late, over budget or fail to meet performance
criteria.
• Managing a business project means managing an information systems project.
– Many systems use or integrate the Internet.
5
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
The Need for Project Management
• Critical for companies today: the ability to adapt existing business processes faster than the competition
• Typical adaptation projects include:– “Rightsizing” the organization (what is another
name?)
– Reengineering business processes (BPR)
– Adopting more comprehensive, integrative processes
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
Successful IS Projects
• To succeed, “a” general manager must be a project manager and must learn how to manage this type of risk.
• Executive management no longer has an option but to consider skilled IT project management as fundamental to business success.
6
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
• What are the three elements in the “Project Triangle”?
• What is the center in the triangle?
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
The objective of the PM is to define project’s scope realistically and ultimately deliver quality of product/service on time, on budget and within scope.
The center of project triangle is
QUALITY
7
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
Typical Project Management trade-offs
• _________– Product: quality, features, functions– Project: work required to deliver product/service
• _______: the time required to complete the project• ______: all the resources required to carry out the
project.• Cost vs. Quality
– The quality of a system will normally impact its cost.• Figure 11.2 shows the three sides of the project
triangle.
Scope
TimeCost
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
Project Manager’s Role• The project manager will typically be involved in:
– Ensuring progress of the project according to defined metrics..
– ________________
– Ensuring progress toward deliverables within _______ and
__________________.
– Running coordination meetings.
– Negotiating for resources on behalf of the project.
• Business projects are often initiated because of a successful business case.– A successful project begins with a well-written business case
(i.e., spells out components of the project.)
Identifying risks.time
resource constraints
But, not to determining the best fit of the project in the organizations vision
8
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
WHAT DEFINES A
PROJECT
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
What Defines a Project?“[A] project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product or service. Temporary means that every project has a definite beginning and a definite end. Unique means that the product or service is different in some distinguishing way from all similar products or services.”
-Project Management Institute (1996)
9
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
Project
• A project is a well-defined sequence of events with a beginning and an end, directed toward achieving a clear goal, and conducted by people within such established parameters as time, cost, resources, and quality.
• A project is different from what we do every day, because a project goal is a specific, non-routine event.
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
Projects• Companies use projects and operations to generate
revenue.• Projects are temporary endeavors that have a fixed
start and stop date and time.• Operations are ongoing, repetitive tasks that are
performed until they are changed or replaced.• Project managers may break projects into sub-
projects depending upon the work.• Figure 11.1 show the differences between operational
and project based work.
10
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
Characteristics Operations ProjectsLabor skills
Training time
Worker autonomy
Compensation system
Material input requirements
Suppler ties
Raw Materials inventory
Scheduling complexity
Quality control
Information flows
Worker-mgmt communication
Duration
Product or service
Low
Low
Low
Hourly or weekly wage
High certainty
Longer duration
More formal
Large
Lower
Formal
Less important
Less important
On-going
Repetitive
High
High
High
Lump sum for project
Uncertain
Shorter duration
Less formal
Small
Higher
Informal
Very important
Very important
Temporary
Unique
Fig. 11.1 Characteristics of operational and project work
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
MEASURES OF INFORMATION SYSTEM
SUCCESS
1. HIGH LEVELS OF USE
2. USER SATISFACTION
3. FAVORABLE ATTITUDES
4. ACHIEVED OBJECTIVES
5. FINANCIAL PAYOFF
Dr. Chen, Managing IT Reos. Thru Strategic Partnerships; A Portoflio Approach to IT Development TM -20
11
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
Measuring Success• At the start of the project, the general
manager should consider several aspects based on achieving the business goals.
• Care is needed to prevent a too narrow or too broad set of goals.
• It is important that the goals be measurable so that they can be used throughout the project to provide the project manager with feedback.
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
The IT component of projects
• Virtually all projects involve an information technology component, including a computer and information flow
• The amount of resources to complete IT-intensive projects is increasing as these have increased in complexity
• Skilled IT project management is fundamental to business success.
12
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
WHAT ISPROJECT MANAGEMENT?
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
Project Management
• Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities in order to meet or exceed stakeholder needs and expectation from a project.
• Involves continual trade-offs
• Manager’s job - manage these trade-offs.
13
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
POOR PROJECT MANAGEMENT
• COST OVERRUNS
• TIME SLIPPAGE
• TECHNICAL SHORTFALLS IMPAIR PERFORMANCE
• FAILURE TO OBTAIN ANTICIPATED BENEFITS
Dr. Chen, Managing IT Reos. Thru Strategic Partnerships; A Portoflio Approach to IT Development TM -25
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
Project Development Processes
Gather
Information
Glean relevant
Information
Analyze/Visualize
InformationDrill Down
Information
Report
Generate
Report
Define Task/
Mission
14
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
Metrics
• Metrics are combined measures and variables that quantify a goal.
• Metric values are the numerical values for metrics.
• Time horizon is the period allowed for achieving the goal or objective.
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
Project Measurement• Some metrics used for IS projects are the same as
those used for all business projects: on-time, on-budget, and met specifications
• Projects are measured against budgets of cost, schedules of deliverables, and the amount of functionality in the system scope
• However, IT projects are difficult to estimate and most fail to meet their schedules and budgets
• Software systems often involve highly interactive, complex sets of tasks that rely on each other to make a completed system and most projects cannot be made more efficient simply by adding labor
15
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
Typical Project Management trade-offs
• Scope– Product: quality, features, functions– Project: work required to deliver product/service
• Time – the time required to complete the project• Cost – all the resources required to carry out the
project.• Cost vs. Quality
– The quality of a system will normally impact its cost.• Figure 11.2 shows the three sides of the project
triangle.
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
The objective of the PM is to define project’s scope realistically and ultimately deliver quality of product/service on time, on budget and within scope.
16
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
Project Manager’s Role• The project manager will typically be involved in:
– Ensuring progress of the project according to defined metrics..
– Identifying risks.
– Ensuring progress toward deliverables within time and resource constraints.
– Running coordination meetings.
– Negotiating for resources on behalf of the project.
• Business projects are often initiated because of a successful business case.– A successful project begins with a well-written business case
(i.e., spells out components of the project.)
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
PROJECTELEMENTS
17
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
Essential Components• There are four components essential for any project.
Necessary to assure a high probability of project success.– Common Project Vocabulary: so all team members can
communicate effectively (very important as many are new).– Teamwork: to ensure all parts of the project come together
effectively and correctly (make sure to clearly define the teams objectives).
– Project cycle plan: method and schedule to execute the project (Gantt charts, CPM, and PERT diagrams).
– Project management is needed so that it is coordinated and executed appropriately
The objective of the PM is to define project’s scope realistically and ultimately deliver quality of product/service on time and within the budget.
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
Project Cycle Plan• The project cycle plan organizes discrete project activities,
sequencing them into steps along a time line.– Therefore, the project delivers according to the requirements of
customers and stakeholders.• Identifies critical beginning and ending dates and breaks the work
spanning these dates into phases• The three most common approaches (and software tools) are:
– Project Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) (Figure 11.3):• Estimates about the time needed to complete project tasks, calculating the
optimistic, most probable, and pessimistic time requirements for completing each task.
– Critical Path Method (CPM): deterministic task times.• If any activity on critical path delayed, the overall project
time will be increased– Gantt chart: displaying time relationships of project tasks and
monitoring the progress toward project completion (Figure 11.4)• Figure 11.5 provides detail on the project cycle template.
18
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
Figure 11.3 PERT chart
Shows dependencies between tasks
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
CPM - Node Configuration
1 0 3
3 0 3
Activity number
Activity duration
Earliest start
Latest start
Earliest finish
Latest finish
19
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
Elements of Project Management• The following elements can be considered as
managerial skills that influence a project’s chance for success. 1. Identification of requirements2. Organizational integration3. Team management4. Risk and Opportunity management5. Project control6. Project visibility7. Project status8. Corrective action9. Project leadership guide
The major focus of the status element of management is “proactive” as there is a need “strong” of project leaders to help the organization develop project competency to begin with.
See figure 11.6 in the text for a description of each elementFigure 11.7 reflects the inverse relationship between the players of a project.
22
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
Figure 11.7 Project leadership vs. project management process
ProjectLeadership
ProjectManagement Process
More leadershipNeeded
Less leadershipNeeded
No PM processTeam is new to PM processTeam does not value process
PM process existsTeam is fully trained in processTeam values process
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
IT Projects and its Development Methodology
See figure 11.6 in the text for a description of each elementFigure 11.7 reflects the inverse relationship between the players of a project.
23
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
IT Projects
• IT projects are a specific type of business project involving significant amount of technology.
• IT projects are difficult to estimate.
• Many projects are measured in “man-months”.– How many people will be required to complete the
project in a specified time period.
– Additional people may speed up the process (but may not).
– “Man-months” is a “poor” metric for IT PM as some projects can’t be sped up with additional people.
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
Business versus System functionality
• Metrics for functionality are typically divided along lines of business functionality and systemfunctionality – The first set of measures are those derived specifically
from the requirements and business needs that generated the project
• Whether the system meets expectations
– The second are related to the system itself such as how well the individual using the system can and does use it, or system reliability
• e.g., usability and reliability
24
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
IT PROJECT DEVELOPMENT
METHODOLOGIES
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
Project Development Methodologies
• The choice of development methodologies and managerial influences distinguish IT projects from other projects.
• There are four main methodologies IT professionals use to manage the technology projects: – Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC)
– Prototyping
– Rapid applications development (RAD)
– Joint applications development (JAD)
25
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
Systems Development Life CycleSDLC typically consists of seven phases
1. Initiation of the project2. The requirements definition phase3. The functional design phase4. The system is actually built5. Verification phase6. The “cut over” where the new system is put in operation and all links
are established. Possible conversion methodsa) Parallelb) Directc) Phased in/outd) pilot
7. The maintenance and review phase
See Figure 11.8 for more information on each step.
Which one is the best approach?
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
Systems Development Life Cycle:Another View
Project Identificationand Selection
Project Initiationand Planning
Analysis
Physical Design
Implementation
Maintenance
Logical Design
26
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
Limitations of SDLC • Traditional SDLC methodology for current IT projects
are not always appropriate:– Many systems projects fail to meet objectives because of
the difficulty in estimating costs and each project is often so unique that previous experience may not provide the necessary skills
– Objectives may reflect a scope that is too broad or two narrow so that the problem the system was designed to solve may still exist, or the opportunity that it was to capitalize upon may not be appropriately leveraged.
– If the business environment is very dynamic, there may not be enough time to adequately do each step of the SDLC for each IT project
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
Prototyping• SDLC may not work for all situations, requires a lot
of planning and is difficult to implement quickly. • Prototyping is a type of evolutionary development.• Builds a fast, high-level version of the system at the
beginning of the project.• Advantages include:
– User involvement and comment early on and throughout the development process.
• Disadvantages include:– Documentation may be difficult to write.– Users may not understand the realistic scope of the system.
27
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
Prototyping
• Prototpying is one of the most popular rapid application development (RAD) methods.
• It is an iterative process of system development in which requirements are converted to a working system that is continually revised through close work between analysts and users.
A prototyping is a small, but working system that contains only those important (not complete) features.
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
Figure 11.9 Iterative approach to systems development
System Concept
Version “1”
Version “2”
Version “N”Software
Development Process
28
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
The prototyping methodology
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
RAD• RAD (Rapid Application Development) is similar to
the SDLC but it substantially reduces the time through reduction in steps (4 instead of 7).
• RAD, like prototyping, uses iterative development tools to speed up development:– GUI, reusable code, code generation, and programming,
language testing and debugging
• Goal is to build the system in a much short time frame than normal.
• Drawbacks: – basic principles of software development are overlooked in
race to finish the project– requirements are frozen too early due to speedy process
29
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
JAD
• JAD (Joint Application Development) is a technique developed by IBM – a version of RAD or prototyping in which users
are more integrally involved (as a group) throughout the development process.
– Uses a group approach to elicit requirements in a complete manner (saves interviewing and data collection time; but it can be expensive in terms of travel and living expenses)
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
Other Development Methodologies• Agile development methodologies are being
developed for those situations where a predictable development process cannot be followed.
• Examples include:– XP (Extreme Programming), Crystal, Scrum, Feature-
Driven Development and Dynamic System Development (DSDM).
• Tend to be people rather than process oriented.• DSDM is an extension of RAD used in the UK.• Object Oriented (OO) development is becoming
increasingly popular.
30
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
MANAGERIAL INFLUENCES
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
Technical Influences • General managers face a broad range of influences
during the development of projects.– GM who are uncomfortable with technology often either
ignore the issues, delegating entirely to the IS organization, or focus inappropriate attention on managing the technology to counter their fear of technology.
• Four software tools are available to aid in managing the technical issues:
– Computer-Aided Software Engineering (CASE) suite of tools
– Software development library – Automated audit trail (track each change made to the code)– Software metrics
31
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
Key Terms – Software metrics
• Below is a list of key terms that a general manager is likely to encounter:– Source lines of code (SLOC) is the number of lines of code
in the source file of the software product.– Source statement is the number of statements in the source
file– Function points describe the functional requirements of the
software product and can be estimated earlier than total lines of code
– Inheritance depth is the number of levels through which values must be remembered in a software object
– Schedule slip is the current scheduled time divided by the original scheduled time
– Percentage complete measures the progress of a software product in terms of days or effort
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
Managing Organizational and Socioeconomic (Behavioral) Influences
• The general manager must understand and anticipate the influences of organizational control systems and culture variables (see Fig. 1.8)
• Balance goals of stakeholders– project manager– customer – end-user (there’s a difference)– sponsor
• Sustain commitment– project – psychological (personal responsibility, biases)– social (rivalry, norms for consistency)– organizational (political support, culture)
32
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
MANAGING PROJECT RISK
• Risk is perceived as the possibility of additional cost or loss due to the choice of alternative.
• Risk can be quantified by assigning a probability of occurrence and a financial consequence to each alternative.
• Risk is to be considered as a function of:
– Complexity– Clarity– Size
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
ComplexityFactors influencing a project’s complexity include:
1. How many products will this website sell?
2. Will this site support global, national, regional, or local sales?
3. How will this sales process interface with the existing customer fulfillment process?
4. Does the company possess the technical expertise in-house to build the site?
5. What other corporate systems and processes does this project impact?
6. How and when will these other systems be coordinated?
33
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
Clarity• Clarity is concerned with the ability to
define the requirements of the system.
• A project has low clarity if the users cannot easily state their needs or define what they want from the system.
• A project with high clarity is one in which the systems requirements can be easily documented and which do not change
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
Size
• Plays a big role in project risk
• A project can be considered big if it has:– Large budget relative to other budgets in the
organization
– Large number of team members (= number of man months)
– Large number of organizational units involved in the project
– Large number of programs/components
– Large number of function points or lines of code
34
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
Managing Project Risk Level• Large, highly complex projects that are usually
low in clarity are very high risky.• Small projects that are low in complexity and high
in clarity are usually low risk• Everything else is somewhere in between • The level of risk determines how formal the
project management system and detailed the planning should be
• When it is hard to estimate how long or how much a project will cost because it is so complex/clarity is so low, formal management practices or planning may be inappropriate
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
Assessing Project Risk
Technology
LowCompany-
Large Project
RelativeSmall Project
HighCompany-
Large Project
RelativeTechnology Small Project
Low Structure High StructureLow risk
(very susceptible tomismanagement)
Low risk
Very low risk(very susceptible to
mismanagement)Very low risk
Very high risk Medium risk
High risk Medium-low risk
NManaging IT Reosource Thru Strategic Partnerships; A Portfolio Approach to IT Development
TM -68
35
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
Managing the Complexity Aspects of Project Risk
Strategies that may be adopted in dealing with complexity are:
• Leveraging the Technical Skills of the Team such as having a leader or team members who have had significant work experience
• Relying on Consultants and Vendors – as theirwork is primarily project based, they usually possess the crucial IT knowledge and skills
• Integrating Within the Organization such as having frequent team meetings, documenting, critical project decisions and holding regular technical status reviews
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
IT
Efficiencyraise
Risk
increase
IT and its Influences
36
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
Project Management
• Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities in order to meet or exceed stakeholder needs and expectation from a project.
• Involves continual trade-offs
• Manager’s job - manage these trade-offs.
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
POOR PROJECT MANAGEMENT
• COST OVERRUNS
• TIME SLIPPAGE
• TECHNICAL SHORTFALLS IMPAIR PERFORMANCE
• FAILURE TO OBTAIN ANTICIPATED BENEFITS
Dr. Chen, Managing IT Reos. Thru Strategic Partnerships; A Portoflio Approach to IT Development TM -72
37
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
Project Development Processes
Gather
Information
Glean relevant
Information
Analyze/Visualize
InformationDrill Down
Information
Report
Generate
Report
Define Task/
Mission
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
PROJECTELEMENTS
38
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
Project Cycle Plan• The project cycle plan organizes discrete project activities,
sequencing them into steps along a time line.– Therefore, the project delivers according to the requirements of
customers and stakeholders.• Identifies critical beginning and ending dates and breaks the work
spanning these dates into phases• The three most common approaches (and software tools) are:
– Project Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) (Figure 11.3):• Estimates about the time needed to complete project tasks, calculating the
optimistic, most probable, and pessimistic time requirements for completing each task.
– Critical Path Method (CPM): deterministic task times.• If any activity on critical path delayed, the overall project
time will be increased– Gantt chart: displaying time relationships of project tasks and
monitoring the progress toward project completion (Figure 11.4)• Figure 11.5 provides detail on the project cycle template.
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
Figure 11.3 PERT chart
Shows dependencies between tasks
39
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
CPM - Node Configuration
1 0 3
3 0 3
Activity number
Activity duration
Earliest start
Latest start
Earliest finish
Latest finish
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
Figure 11.4 Gantt ChartMilestone
critical vs. non-critical Shows time estimates of tasks
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
Project Milestone
• A milestone represents an event or condition that marks the completion of a group of related tasks or the completion of a phase of the project.
• It is an interim goal or checkpoint in the project. It is like a task with duration of zero.
• Purpose: Milestones help us organize tasks into logical groups or sequences. They also help us note the progress of the project.
41
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
Elements of Project Management• The following elements can be considered as
managerial skills that influence a project’s chance for success. 1. Identification of requirements2. Organizational integration3. Team management4. Risk and Opportunity management5. Project control6. Project visibility7. Project status8. Corrective action9. Project leadership guide
The major focus of the status element of management is “proactive” as there is a need “strong” of project leaders to help the organization develop project competency to begin with.
See figure 11.6 in the text for a description of each elementFigure 11.7 reflects the inverse relationship between the players of a project.
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
Project Development Methodologies
• The choice of development methodologies and managerial influences distinguish IT projects from other projects.
• There are four main methodologies IT professionals use to manage the technology projects: – Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC)
– Prototyping
– Rapid applications development (RAD)
– Joint applications development (JAD)
42
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
Systems Development Life CycleSDLC typically consists of seven phases
1. Initiation of the project2. The requirements definition phase3. The functional design phase4. The system is actually built5. Verification phase6. The “cut over” where the new system is put in operation and all links
are established. Possible conversion methodsa) _______b) Directc) Phased in/outd) ______
7. The maintenance and review phase
See Figure 11.8 for more information on each step.
Which one is the best approach?
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
Prototyping
• Prototpying is one of the most popular rapid application development (RAD) methods.
• It is an iterative process of system development in which requirements are converted to a ________ system that is continually revised through close work between analysts and users.
A prototyping is a small, but working system that contains only those important (not complete) features.
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John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
Prototyping• SDLC may not work for all situations, requires a lot
of planning and is difficult to implement quickly. • Prototyping is a type of evolutionary development.• Builds a fast, high-level version of the system at the
beginning of the project.• Advantages include:
– _______ involvement and comment early on and throughout the development process.
• Disadvantages include:– Documentation may be difficult to write.– Users may not understand the realistic scope of the system.
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
Managing Clarity Aspects of Project Risk
• When a project has low clarity, project managers need to rely more heavily upon the users to define system requirements– Managing stakeholders – managers must
balance the goals of the various stakeholders, such as customers, performing organizations and sponsors, to achieve desired project outcomes
– Sustaining Project Commitment – there are four primary types of determinants of commitment to projects: project, psychological, social and organizational
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John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
Pulling the Plug• Various risk management strategies are designed to turn
potentially troubled projects into successful ones. However, often projects in trouble persist long after they should have been abandoned
• The amount of money already spent on a project biases managers towards continuing to fund the project even if its prospects for success are questionable
• When the penalties for failure within an organization are also high, project teams are often willing to go to great lengths to insure that their project persists
• Or if there is an emotional attachment to the project by powerful individuals within the organization
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
Gauging Success• At the start of the project, the general manager
should consider several aspects based on achieving the business goals.
• Care is needed to prevent a too narrow or too broad set of goals.
• It is important that the goals be measurable so that they can be used throughout the project to provide the project manager with feedback.
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John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
Gauging Success (cont.)
• Four dimensions of project success:– Resource constraints: does the project meet the time
and budget criteria?– Impact on customers: how much benefit does the
customer receive from the project?– Business success: how high and long are the profits
produced by the project?– Prepare the future: has the project altered the
infrastructure of the organization so future business success and customer impact are more likely?
– See Figure 11.12 in the text for more information.
Four dimensions of success (cf. Shenhar, Dvir and Levy, 1998):
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
The PMO
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John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
The PMO• Project Management Office (PMO) – some
companies create to boost efficiency, gather expertise, and improve project delivery.
• Sarbanes-Oxley is a driver to create a PMO
• May lead to cost savings in the long run.
• PMOs can be expected to function in seven areas:– Project support; Project management process and
methodology; Training; Project Manager home base; Internal consulting and mentoring; Project management software tools and support; Portfolio management.
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
PMO• Responsibilities range widely.
– Clearinghouse to full managing projects.
• Usually it mirrors the organization, culture and bureaucracy of the CIO’s organization.– If the culture is rigid and strictly controlled, then the
PMO will likely have first-hand and significant oversight of the projects.
– If the culture is collaborative and open, then the PMO will likely play a more coordinating role.
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John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
FOOD FOR THOUGHT: OPEN SOURCING
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
Open Sourcing
• Linux, a version of Unix created by Linus Torvalds, is a world-class OS.
• Linux was built using the open-source model.
• Open-source software is really free software that can be modified by anyone since the source code is free.
• It is premised upon open and unfettered access to the code to modify, update, etc.
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John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
Open sourcing = Free Software
Offers four kinds of freedom for the software users:1. The freedom to run the program, for any purpose
2. The freedom to study how the program works, and adapt it to your needs. Access to the source code is a precondition for this
3. The freedom to distribute copies so that you can help your neighbor
4. The freedom to improve and release your improvements to the public, so that the whole community benefits. Access to source code is a precondition for this
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
Managerial Issues associated with Open Sourcing
• Preservation of intellectual property – As its use cannot be restricted how are the contributions of individuals recognized?
• Updating and maintaining open source code –Because it is “open”, difficult to achieve these
• Competitive advantage – Since the code is available to all, hard to achieve competitive advantage
• Tech support – The code may be free, but technical support usually isn’t
• Standards – As standards are open, open sourcing may be unable to charter a viable strategy for selecting and using standards
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John Wiley & Sons, Inc. & Dr. Chen, Information Systems – Theory and Practices
Summary• General manager fulfills an important role in project