Introduction to Project Management

1
Introduction to Project Management
2
Objectives

• Introduce the idea of a project
• Discuss the role of the project manager on a
  project
• Discuss project management and why its important
  for Information Systems projects
• Talk about the project management triangle
• Project management tools and techniques overview

3
New Waves Project

• Online system customers design and purchase of
  snow and surf boards using the Internet
• Critical to companys future success
• Need to create a project to build this system
• Questions
• What kinds of resources do you think are required
  to build the system?
• What do you think New Wave needs to do very well
  to successfully complete this new system?
• What factors do you think could cause the new
  system to be a failure?

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What is a Project?

• According to the Project Management Institute
• A planned undertaking of related activities to
  reach an objective that has a beginning and an
  end.
• An IT project generally has the implementation of
  a new information system as its objective
• The Project Management Institute (PMI)
• An association designed to bring together project
  management professionals and systematically
  capture project management knowledge
• Publishes the Project Management Body of
  Knowledge (PMBOK)
• The PMBOK is a collection of processes and
  knowledge areas generally accepted as best
  practice within the project management discipline
  

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Why Undertake an IT Project?

• To take advantage of a business opportunity
• New Wave extend reach, better customer
  experience
• To solve a business problem
• Competitor is producing products more cheaply we
  need to become more efficient or we are in
  trouble
• To respond to a directive (command)
• A province introduces a new way of licensing new
  drivers need to change information systems to
  support

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IT projects fail a lot.

• Standish group (1995)
• 31.1 of projects will be cancelled before they
  ever get completed. 80,000 projects in 1995
• Over 50 of projects cost almost triple their
  original estimates.
• 1 million dollar project turns into a 3 million
  dollar project
• Estimate
• in 1995 American companies and government
  agencies spent 81 billion for canceled software
  projects.
• On the success side, the average is only 16.2
  for software projects that are completed on-time
  and on-budget.

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IT projects fail a lot.

• The Robbins-Gioia Survey (2001) ERP
  implementations
• 51 viewed their ERP implementation as
  unsuccessful 
• 46 noted that ERP system was implemented, but
  their organization did not understood how to use
  the system to improve the way they conduct
  business.
• However..
• 56 of organizations have a program management
  office (PMO) in place, and of these respondents,
  only 36 felt their ERP implementation was
  unsuccessful 

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Project Failure(French Study)
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Top Five Causes of Project Failure(OASIG Study)

• Lack of attention to human and organizational
  factors
• Poor project management
• Poor articulation of user requirements
• Inadequate attention to business needs and goals
• Failure to involve users appropriately

10
What is Challenging About IT Projects?

• Constant change in applied technologies within
  the organization
• Difficulty in finding and keep experienced IT
  project employees
• Extensive amount of user participation required
• Selecting the appropriate systems development
  methodology
• Most IT solutions are one-of-a-kind
• Specifics of the project likely to change during
  the life of the project
• Technology changes may change the project itself

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What is Project Management?

• The application of knowledge, skills, tools, and
  techniques to project activities in order to meet
  project objectives.
• Involves five process groups

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Project Management Life Cycle

• Initiate potential projects are identified and
  evaluated in terms of importance to the
  organization
• Plan scope, time, cost and risk management
  planning takes place
• Execute project plan is followed
• Control project performance is measured against
  the project plan
• Close final paper work completed and sign off
  by all stakeholders

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Stakeholders of a Project

• Project Sponsor
• Provides executive support and resources!
• Project Manager
• Leads and manages the project
• Project Team Members
• Provide skills and knowledge required to complete
  the project
• Organization Employees
• Those that are directly or indirectly affected by
  the proposed project
• Directly use the new system
• Indirectly use outputs of system (like reports)

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Project Manager

• A person with a diverse set of skills
  management, leadership, technical, conflict
  management, and customer relationship who is
  responsible for
• initiating,
• planning,
• executing,
• controlling,
• monitoring,
• and closing down a project.

15
The Project Management triangle

• Overall, what does the triangle represent?
• What are the three sides of the triangle?
• What is the relationship between the three sides
  of the triangle?

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Various Project Management Tools/Techniques

• Gantt Chart
• Tool that can be used to plan and track project
  activities
• Critical Path Method (CPM)
• A method used for determining the sequence of
  task activities that directly affect the
  completion of a project
• Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT)
• A technique that uses optimistic, pessimistic,
  and realistic time to calculate the expected time
  for a particular task
• Microsoft Project
• Most widely used project management software
• http//office.microsoft.com/en-us/project/default.
  aspx

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Gantt Chart
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CPM PERT
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Microsoft Project
DEMO
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Project Management Institute(PMI)

• Professional organization for project managers
• Over 214,000 members from 159 countries (2006)
• Provides professional literature on project
  management
• Develops and maintains the Project Management
  Body of Knowledge
• Sponsors the PMP Certification
• www.pmi.org

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PMBOK Knowledge Areas
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Major Project Management Achievements

• Great pyramids of Egypt
• Pacific Railroad
• Hoover Dam
• Manhattan Project
• Space program