Information Systems

Introduction to Project management

Ruel Ellis
rellis@eng.uwi.tt
http://www.eng.uwi.tt/depts/mech/staff/rellis/rellis.htm

Rationale Aims & Objectives

Rationale
Even when most modern techniques, methods and
tools are used for information systems
development, projects still fail because insufficient
effort has gone into planning and control.
This module presents modern planning and control
principles, techniques and tools and gives students
an understanding of quality management systems
and their role in information systems development

Rationale Aims & Objectives

Aims

to introduce students to the technical and non-technical
management activities which pervade the information
systems development lifecycle

to give students a detailed understanding of the
techniques and procedures for the planning and control of
an information systems development project

to give students an understanding of quality management
systems and their role in information systems development

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 Rationale Aims & Objectives
Objectives

demonstrate an understanding of the techniques and
procedures for the management of an information systems
development project

develop a plan and define control mechanisms for an
information system development project

demonstrate an understanding of the techniques and
procedures for software quality control

develop a plan for the implementation of a quality
management system for information systems development

Project Management
What is a project?
An event in which a group of resources
undertake a series of activities in order to
produce one or more end-products
A unique undertaking with a defined starting
point and duration directed at achieving defined
objectives, utilizing finite or infinite resources

Project Management
Examples of projects that require
management

Building a house

Relocating a data center

Writing a book

Developing a software program

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 Project Management
Essential characteristics of a project

A project is unique

It has defined start, duration and end dates

A project has constraints imposed upon it
such as money, equipment, location, resources

A project also has a list of objectives to
follow which is considered a statement
describing the end-product

Project Management
What is project management?
Project Management is the management of
an organized set of activities directed
towards a common goal, using specified
management structures and techniques that
include a variety of tasks

Project Management
Characteristics of Project Management
include the:

Determining of project objectives

Managing of budgets and resources

Reporting of project progress

Evaluating efficiency and effectiveness

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 Project Management
There is a need for project management as
many projects fail to:

establish good business reasons for taking on the job

keep the final client consulted and involved at every
step

identify the required end-products in sufficient detail

define how satisfactory completion of each product
will be measured

Project Management
Need for project management..continued

identify and control all necessary activities

accurately estimate the effort required for an
activity

leave any allowance for poor estimating or things
going wrong

control the many changes to requirements which
will occur

Project Management
A successful project must be completed:

on schedule

within budget

complete with all the functions defined by the
user
As a result, these requirements need to be
controlled to obtain a successful project

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 Project Management

a project management methodology will provide
much of the control needed

the use of a standard development methodology will
list the activities to be conducted and their sequence

many methods and models exist to assist in the
planning of the management of a project:
 Waterfall
 Code & fix
 Spiral

discussed in detail in a separate lecture

Project Managers

are responsible for managing projects

they co-ordinate the project and related
tasks in sequence

have direct responsibilities for
resources assigned to the project

their main aim is to ensure the project
gets completed correctly and on time

Project Management Process

The software project management process is
the first layer of the software engineering process

The PM process is a layer rather than a step or

activity as it overlays the entire software
development process from beginning to end

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 Project Management Process
In order to conduct a successful software
project a project manager must understand:

the scope of the work to be delivered

the risks to be incurred

the resources required

the tasks to be accomplished

the effort & cost to be expended

the schedule to be followed

Project Management Process

The Project Management Process involves the
following steps:

planning - estimation of effort, duration &
scheduling resources to certain activities or tasks

authorization - review and approval of plans

monitoring - recording of actual time & costs,
measurement of actuals against plans, evaluation of
product being generated, including user involvement
throughout

Project Management Process

re-planning - identifying where actual
progress has deviated from the project plan &
proposal of remedial action

change control - ensuring that changes to
requirements, changes to product status etc.. are
carefully monitored and controlled
Like any business project, a software project
must possess goals, steps, deliverables,
staffing & schedules in order to be completed
successfully

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Project Management Terminology
Project goal

is a result that should occur if the project is
carried out successfully

project management goals must be clear &
measurable and achievable

Project Management Terminology

Project steps or sub-projects

the essence of project management is the
control of tasks that occur in a particular
sequence which have an expected duration

dividing a project into steps/sub-projects
clarifies what needs to be done

helps the people doing the project to
understand exactly what they have to do & how
their work fits into the overall project

Project Management Terminology

Project deliverable

each step in the project produces one or more
deliverable as a result of work completed

a deliverable is a tangible work product, in
the form of a document, executive summary
report, plan or program

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Project Management Terminology
Project deliverable

specifying exactly what deliverables are
expected within each project step makes sure
that work on the project is progressing, as the
steps are not complete until the deliverable is
finished

deliverables provide a running history of
what was conducted, who conducted it, when
where and why!

Project Management Terminology

Project schedule

project deliverables are produced according
to a schedule

the schedule of a project identifies when the
major steps will occur & who will do the work

Project Management Terminology

Gantt charts

represent a schedule visually by displaying tasks along
with their planned and actual start and completion times,
resources, requirements & deliverables are produced
according to this schedule

tasks on a GC may or may not overlap in time and
may or may not have mutual dependencies

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Project Management Terminology
Gantt charts

resource requirements may be stated in terms of
person/months, money or time allocations

Gantt charts excellent for communicating with others,
identifying problems, deciding on corrective action

Project Management Terminology

Critical Path Method (CPM)

is a method of calculating the total duration of
a project based on a specified start date and on
the individual duration of tasks and on their
dependencies

CPM also provides useful information about
how far a task can slip into the future before it
moves other tasks or makes the project finish
later than originally planned

PM Roles & Responsibilities

dividing a project into scheduled steps with
deliverables is essential for PM, however, for
the work to occur, roles and responsibilities
must be assigned

the division of labour is an important element
of software projects

different people performing different roles is
essential to complete the project efficiently

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 PM Roles & Responsibilities

Technical roles - systems analysts,
programmer-analysts, application programmers,
technical writers, computer operators, database
administrators, QA personnel

User roles - user support staff, sponsors, user
operators, user representatives

Management roles - project managers, user
department managers, quality managers,
financial controllers, senior executives

Project Planning

planning can be described as the function of
selecting business objectives and establishing
policies, procedures & programs necessary for
achieving them.

planning fully defines the project work to be
done, by whom and when

Project Planning
Project planning is required for a number
of reasons:

to eliminate or reduce project uncertainty

to improve efficiency of the development
process

to obtain a better understanding of project
objectives

to provide a basis for monitoring & controlling
project

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 Project Planning

one thing that is critical to the planning
activity is an understanding of the project
objectives, as these define the ultimate
criteria against which the success of the
project will be measured

the project may not concurrently satisfy
all the objectives, in which case project
priorities must be agreed at the outset of the
planning phase

Levels of Project Planning

A project plan

shows the major technical activities of the
whole project and the resources required

this plan is produced at the outset of the
planning phase and is the basis for more
detailed project planning

the time-frame of a project plan is in terms of
year quarters (3 mths) or years

Levels of Project Planning

A project plan should :

provide a plan for the full lifecycle of the
project, from project initiation to project closure

divide the project into major stages and
allocate activities to these stages

schedule the activities

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 Levels of Project Planning
A project plan should also :

indicate the resources to be allocated to the
project during each calendar month

establish the project tolerances(resources/time
constraints)

indicate the project milestones & assessment
dates

Levels of Project Planning

A stage plan

is a plan for each major stage in the project

this is similar to the project plan, yet it
contains lower detail

the stage plan will illustrate all the required
activities, where a project plan only shows the
scheduling of major tasks within a stage

Levels of Project Planning

A stage plan

the time-frame of this plan is in terms of
months

depending on the complexity of the stage,
a further detailed plan may be produced

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 Levels of Project Planning
An individual work plan

this is the lowest level of project plan

an individual project plan schedules the
activities of an individual member of the
project team

the time-frame of this plan is usually in
terms of weeks

Types of Project Plans

A technical plan - sequences and
schedules the activities needed to accomplish
the project or stage

A resource plan - shows the amount and
cost of each type of resource needed to carry
out the technical plan

Types of Project Plans

Other types of plan may be developed, typically,
these will relate to activities which do not come
under the explicit control of a stage plan and can be
regarded as functions which span the project
lifecycle, these include:

Quality assurance plan

Configuration management plan

Test strategy plan

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 Elements of a Project Plan
A project plan should provide:

graphical summary

plan description

plan assumptions

external dependencies

associated risks

The PM Planning Process

Project definition - includes a careful
statement of the project objectives

Project estimation - quantifies the duration's
and costs of performing the work defined

Network/Time analysis - investigates the
interdependencies between activities in the
project with a view to identifying the overall
project duration and the most critical activities
for ensuring the project meets its deadlines

The PM Planning Process

Network/Resource analysis - this function
revises the results of time analysis to take account
of available resources for the project, on the basis
of unit costs associated with each resource, a final
cost estimate for the project can be produced
The planning process follows the logic of the
above sequence, however, these activities will be
performed iteratively & simultaneously in order
to produce a realistic plan

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 Overview

Brief introduction to Project Management
concepts & terminology

Where to find all PM module information

Onus on students to check webpage &
noticebard regularly

Next week on concentrating on the ‘Rapid
Development’ Project management methodology
for the rest of the course

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