IT PROJECT MANAGEMENT

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PROJECT MANAGEMENT

A Project is a one-time activity planned with a well-defined set of desired end results and can be divided into subtasks that must be accomplished in order to achieve the project goals. Example: The Development of a Payroll Software package, construction of a building, Establishment of a computer network in an office, etc. Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques of project activities in order to meet the required objectives. Most of the development decisions based on the clients information, the project managers experience, and the discussions held among the project team about the possible alternatives of treating the project are stored in a project proposal. Nevertheless The Project management information system (PMIS), of which it handles all the costs of calculation, earned values, variances, generating management reports and also help in diagramming, scheduling and tracking all the tasks present in a project, it’s a software designed to do so and so as the Microsoft Project software, of which it aids in putting together a plan of action, filling in and organizing all the details that must be completed in order to achieve the projects goal, also handles all the activities right from building a new project to preparing project documentation, tracking progress, analyzing costs, assessing the quality of the project and managing multiple projects. Every project has life cycle of which it enables the project managers to define the level of effort needed to perform various tasks associated with each stage of the cycle right from concept, definition, design, construction, Application (or Installation) and Post-Completion.

In a project there are deliverables for the end users of a project thus to focusing on project plans as

Fundamental and essential this is what defines a project scope, the project scope contains a Checklist that interlocks all the elements of a project plan, it consist of;

· Project Objectives

· Deliverables

· Milestones

· Technical Requirements

· Limits and Exclusions

· Reviews with Customer.

In order to achieve best end results one must have the Project objectives well set and discussed of which they describe the things to be achieved in a project and the ways to achieve them successfully, the Project priority of which is meeting and exceeding the goals expectations of the customer and upper management in terms of cost, time and performance scope of the project and a well structured Work breakdown structure (WBS) this involves identifying the main (or high-level) tasks required to complete a project and then breaking each of these down into a set of lower level tasks.

The process of evaluating individual projects or groups of projects and then choosing to implement some of them so that the objectives of the parent organization will be achieved is known as Project Selection, its Deciding whether or not to go ahead with a project is really a case of comparing a proposed project with its alternatives and deciding whether to proceed with it based on strategic, technical and economic criteria. One must consider the following when choosing a Criteria of Choice of Project Selection Model;

· Realism – The model should reflect the reality of the managers decision situation, including the multiple objectives of both the firm and its managers

· Capability – The model should be sophisticated enough to deal with multiple time periods, simulate various situations both internal and external to the project (e.g. interest rate changes) and optimize the decision.

· Flexibility – It should have the ability to be easily modified, or to be self-adjusting in response to changes in the firm’s environment

· Ease of Use – The model should be reasonably convenient, not taking a long time to execute, and be easy to use and understand.

· Cost – Data gathering and modeling costs should be relatively low compared with the cost of the project and must surely be less than the potential benefits of the project.

· Easy Computerization – It must be easy and convenient to gather and store the information in a computer database and to manipulate data in the model through the use of a widely available standard computer package.

There are two types of project selection modules usually the Numeric Project Selection Models of which It’s usually financially focused and quantifies the project in terms of either the time to repay the investment (payback) or the return on investment (ROI) And the Non-Numeric Project Selection Models, These models are clearly goal-oriented and directly reflect the primary concerns of the organization. A project also needs to be evaluated in different ways depending on the influencing factors so that it can meet its expectations. Some of the project evaluation processes include;

1) Strategic assessment, of which its divided into two;

· Programme Management – programme management requires that there is a well-defined programme goal and that all the organizations projects are selected and turned to contribute to this goal.

· Portfolio Management

2) Technical Assessment – it consists of evaluating the required functionality against the hardware and software available.

3) Cost-Benefit Analysis – is based upon the question of whether the estimated costs are exceeded by the estimated income and other benefits.

4) Risk Evaluation – In any project evaluation, there should be an attempt to identify the risks and quantify their potential effects.

A Project Plan is essential when planning a project, because it provides a clear picture of the project to the customers as well as to the project team members, when planning one must abide to the cardinal rule of planning. A cardinal rule of planning concludes that the persons who are going to implement a plan should also participate in preparing it.

Steps involved when planning;

· Define the problem based on customers’ requirements

· Develop statements of major objectives

· Develop a project strategy: the waterfall model, prototyping, etc.

· Define project boundaries: what will and will not be done

· Develop a work breakdown structure (WBS)

· Using WBS, estimate activity duration, resource requirements and costs

· Prepare the project master schedule and the budget

· Decide on the project organization structure

· Set-up the project notebook; and

· Get the plan signed off by all the stakeholders.

It’s easier managing and controlling a project when team members share the same goal, of which it’s achieved by helping the members to develop an identity that is focused on the goals of the organization.

Usually in an IT project there is always Estimations of which are concluded by specified software, Software estimation includes an assessment of the likely quantitative result of effort, costs, schedule and staffing for greater accuracy and credibility and a clearer understanding of the factors that influence the development of the software. When estimating one should include;

· The Estimate Size

· The Estimate Cost and Effort

· The Estimate Schedule

· The Inspect and Approve Estimate

· The Track Estimates

The basis for software estimations requires one to gather the historical data of which entail information about how projects have been implemented in the past thus judging the applicability of data to the estimators own circumstances because of possible differences in project environmental factors such as the programming languages used, the software tools available, the standards Enforced and the experience of the staff, there is also need to account for the time taken to write a program of which may vary according to the competence or experience of the programmer and The complexity of the work at reasonable estimates according to the program used to the develop the project. There are various technics involved in software effort estimation this include;

· Bottom-Up Estimation

· Top-Down Estimation

· Expert Judgment

· Estimating by Analogy

· Analysis Effort Method

· Programming Method Three-point Technique/Three Time Probabilistic Model

· The Delphi Technique

· COCOMO (Constructive Cost Model)

· Function Point Analysis

The COCOMO (CONSTRUCTIVE COST MODEL) is a model presents formulae for calculating the effort and elapsed time needed to develop software based on an assessment of the amount of program code to be developed. Its divided into three parts;

· The Basic COCOMO – It calculates the software’s development and cost as a function of program size expressed estimated lines of code.

· The Intermediate COCOMO – it considers many other factors which affect the resources required by a project.

· The Advanced COCOMO – considers the different factors, which apply during the different stages of a system development and produces more detailed estimates on a phase-by phase basis.

The FUNCTION POINT (FP) ANALYSIS involves three stages:

(a) Analyzing the system in terms of its information processing requirements at a logical level, independent of implementation considerations and calculating Unadjusted function points (UFPs).

(b) Calculating the processing complexity adjustment (PCA) to allow for technical considerations such as ease of use, distributed processing, maintainability and so on.

(c) The UFPs are factored by the PCA to derive the final function point score for the project.

When preparing a project one must always have a risk management plan of which it involves reviewing factors that may affect the project and how to go about them before starting the actual project. A risk is an event or constraint that prevents you from achieving the projects goals and objectives.

Project Risk Management

Risk management process

Risk management requires:

· The establishment to keep risks under review and to make sure they are being addressed,

· A means of identifying the potential risks to the project,

· An assessment of the likelihood of each risk materializing,

· An assessment of the probable impact of each risk,

· The formulation of measures to avoid each risk occurring,

· The development of fallback measures to ameliorate the risks if avoidance actions fail,

· The determination of the urgency of the risk and of taking appropriate counter- measures.

Usually the respective managers are responsible for developing a risk management plan to identify, quantify, respond to and control risks that affect their scope of work thus Identifying the goals and objectives of a project helping to ensure significant risks and opportunities are not over looked so it identifies, quantifies and responds to the risk. Most of the projects that fail usually are due to;

· Low level of innovation

· Developing your product before your client’s requirements are fully defined

· Failure to recognize stakeholder interests, particularly that of environmentalists

· Misinterpreting the scope of work

· IT projects have a poor track record for delivering systems within budget

Risk quantification is primarily concerned with determining what areas of risk warrant a response and where resources are limited this is due to a risk response plan, it defines ways to address adverse risks and enhance opportunities before they occur. Risk management plan are always monitored and updated on regular basis thus learning from recurring loses and develop a preventive plan.

A Project Schedule is essential when planning so that one can complete the rightful events on the schedule in order to meet up all the objectives at the required time. As you approach to project scheduling there is the use of network

Techniques such as PERT and CPM. These two methods are quite similar and are often combined for educational presentation, they are known as the Activity Duration Estimates of which include;

· PERT is strictly oriented to the time element of projects and used probabilistic activity time estimates to aid in determining the probability that a project could be completed by some given date.

· CPM uses deterministic activity time estimates of which was designed to control both the time and cost aspects of a project in a particular time/cost trade-offs.

The activity’s duration estimate is usually shown in the lower-right-hand corner of the box in the activity in the box format of network diagrams (see Figure 7.1). It’s shown below the arrow in the activity on the arrow format (see Figure 7.2).

Figure 7.1: Activity duration estimate (activity-in-the-box format)

Figure 7.2: Activity duration estimate (activity-on-the-arrow format)

Some of the Scheduling methods include;

· The Gantt chart- a Gantt chart can be drawn by plotting into a graph with Time Duration on the X-axis, and Activities on the Y-axis. The chart consists of several horizontal bars _ each bar represents each activity in the project. The length of each bar is proportional to the time duration in the project that has been planned. See Figure 7.9 below for the chart.

Figure 7.9: Gantt chart for IT project activities

The bars are un-shaded in the beginning, but when the activities are done, either fully or partly, they are shaded corresponding to the parts completed.

Projects need resources in order to keep a projects on going. There are three categories of resources;

· Hardware Resource – this provides the platform that supports the software tools required to produce the required products e.g. PC, Mainframes, OS, etc.

· Software Resource – this consists of the reusable software components such as packages, existing codes and specifications, test data, etc.

· Human Resource – this consists of IT professionals of various types together with resourceful users who can contribute effectively in projects.

Group resources are founded when different resources conclude together forming one resource examples;

· The project team- it consists of mostly the system analysts and programmers, of which make sure that;

· The person has the right knowledge, the right skills and the length of experience to perform on the job effectively.

· Project team members are developed and are given the right challenge on a range of new areas so as not to become bored.

· The experts and the expensive staff are fully utilized, and they should not be wasted on tasks that other people can do.

· The User Group- it’s a group of people who make use of the system on a regular basis identifying minor problems affecting the project and fixing it.

· The steering committee- it’s a high-level advisory committee with the power to set priorities and steer the project in the direction of corporate objectives thus giving advice on what to be carried out and what shouldn’t.

KEY PLAYERS are among the most important resources when creating a project because they aid in between some include executive sponsor, project leader, user managers, IS/IT manager, JAD facilitator, business analyst, system analyst, database administrator (DBA)etc.

In order to come up with good effective projects we need to acquire quality goods and services, of which most of them turn out to be expensive thus find an alternative solution of which we can get the same quality goods and services without undergoing huge expenses thus saving worth a fortune, creating huge profit in return and this defines Procurement. There are two basic procurement strategies:

a) Corporate procurement strategy – relationship of specific procurement actions to the corporate strategy.

b) Project procurement strategy – the relationship of specific procurement actions to the operating environment of the project.

In order for procurement to take place smoothly, one must consider;

· The macro environment – includes the general external variables that can influence how and when we do procurement

· The micro environment – the internal environment of the firm, especially the policies and procedures imposed by the firm, project, or client in the way that procurement will take place. This includes the procurement/contracting system, which contains five cycles:

(i) Requirement cycle: definition of the boundaries of the project

(ii) Requisition cycle: analysis of sources

(iii) Solicitation cycle: the bidding process

(iv) Award cycle: contractor selection and contract award.

(v) Contract administration cycle: managing the subcontractor until completion of the contract

A Contract it’s a document containing an agreement between two parties, in general there are five types of contracts to consider:

· Fixed-price (FP);

· Cost plus-fixed-fee (CPFF) or cost-plus-percentage-fee (CPPF);

· Guaranteed maximum-shared savings (GMSS);

· Fixed-price-incentive-fee (FPIF); and

· Cost plus-incentive-fee (CPIF) contracts.

As a project is being developed most of the procedures put into action are highly monitored so as to account for every event that goes on when creating a project. When collecting data and monitoring most managers tend to break down the long activities into smaller controllable tasks thus taking less time with great accuracy to be accomplished. Once the data has been collected the manger looks for a suitable effective way of presenting the data. There always values assigned to each task based on the original expenditure forecasts these values are known as earned values, the total value credited to a project at any point while the original budgeted cost for the item is known as the baseline budget. Some of the Priorities that could be applied in Deciding Levels of Monitoring include; critical path activities, Activities with less than a Specified Float, high risk activities and Activities using Critical Resources. Most software’s require modification because the users change their requirements due to changes in the company policy, or simply because they have a clearer idea of what is really needed.

In order to archive an effective successful project we need to have Project control, of which it refers to having full authority to direct, order, or restrain thus managing guidance, regulating, restraining, and keeping in order, some of the control measures are ;

· Projects should be of Manageable Size

· Start Only After Full Agreement and Commitment

· Mixed Skills in a Project Leader

· Planning and Monitoring of Progress

· Applying the Milestone Reviews

· Finishing the Project as Soon as it is Accepted

We need to have highly project quality management systems in order to obtain an effective fully working project. It involves three processes;

· Quality Planning – a project is fully complete when all the objectives have been meet accordingly.

· Quality assurance – This involves periodically evaluating overall project performance to ensure the project will satisfy the relevant quality standards.

· Quality Control – this involves monitoring specific project results to ensure that they comply with the relevant quality standards while identifying ways to improve overall quality.

Quality Management is Essential to Effective Overall Project Management because it;

· Increases the criticality of a software,

· The Intangibility of a Software,

· Accumulates Errors During Software Development

We require effective accurate software when developing a project so as to meet the set objectives Characteristics of quality software include;

· Functionality- Functions provided by a software product to satisfy user needs.

· Reliability – Capability of the software to maintain its level of performance.

· Usability – Effort needed to use the software.

· Efficiency – Physical resources used when the software is executed.

· Maintainability – Effort needed to make changes to the software.

· Portability – Ability of the software to be transferred to a different environment.

There are three basic objectives of Organizational behavior according to Frederick Taylor in order to have an effective management system, these includes:

I. To select the best person for the job,

II. To instruct them in the best methods,

III. To give incentives in the form of higher wages to the best workers.

Group works is believed to results to great efficiency when creating a project since everyone is Working on his/her specialization, usually there are five basic stages of development i.e.;

· Forming – The members of the group get to know each other and try to set up some ground rules of behavior.

· Storming – Conflicts arise as various members of the group try to exert leadership and the groups methods of operation are being established.

· Norming – Conflicts are largely settled and a feeling of group identity emerges.

· Performing – The emphasis is now on the tasks at hand.

· Adjourning – The group will separate.

Some of the Obstacles a group faces when making decisions include;

· Faulty Heuristics – Heuristics can be useful but there are dangers:

· They are based only on information at hand which might be misleading.

· They are based on stereotypes.

· Escalation of Commitment – This refers to the idea that once you have made a decision, it is increasingly difficult to alter it.

· Information Overload – It is possible to have so much information that you are not able to differentiate the degree of importance of the information.

In each of the groups there is the leader who guides the others so as to meet there obligations due to time there are different Types of Power such as:

· Coercive Power – The ability to force someone to do something by threatening Punishment.

· Connection Power – Having access to those who have power.

· Legitimate Power – A person’s title conferring a special status.

· Reward Power – The power holder gives rewards to those who carry out tasks to his or her satisfaction.

A project when created usually has been aligned time of which it’s to be cleared one needs to prepare a checklist for a project closedown of which involves;

Requisition with Incomplete Tasks is submitted for substantial completion. Values are agreed on and held for any incomplete or unsatisfactory item of work.
Final Requisition is issued for any Incomplete or Unsatisfactory Work that is now complete. The software and documentation is handed over to the customer and the project completion form is signed.

As you are coming to an end of a project one needs to include the following Concepts of a final report;

(a) The project vision statement that introduced the project

(b) The project proposal that may have been used to sell management the idea of technical implementation or the supporting information for the project that was assigned to the team

(c) The scope statement

(d) The statement of work

(e) The project schedule

(f) The WBS and the PND

(g) The minutes from each team meeting

(h) Any Project Change Requests forms that were approved (Some project managers may choose to include the denied Project Change Request forms to verify why the request was not included in the deliverables.)

(i) Variance reports

(j) All communication relevant to the project deliverables. (Some project managers include all memos, letters, and e mail in the report.)

(k) Total cost of the project and the calculated value of the implementation

(l) Scope verification agreement

(m) Post-project audit report

To conclude each and every step elaborate plays a major role in creating a well working efficient project, thus, its vital to put each of those steps into consideration thus achieving the required objectives and obligations as set per the managers.

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