Managing the information system project
- 1. Chapter 3 Managing the Information System Project
- 2. Introduction • Project management is an important aspect of system analyst – Need to know project management skills more details about resources management, project management, change management, risk management • Project manager refers to system analyst’s role in managing information system project • Project manager works in an environment of change. – He identifies and solves problems – He is responsible of all aspect of system development project (time, cost, progress, etc. see next slides) – He is responsible either as a part or the whole project • System analyst has specific tasks (identify requirements, allocate budget and keep timing constraints)
- 3. Basic Concepts • Project is a planned undertaking of a series of related activities to reach an objective that has a beginning and an end • Objective of a project – Solve a business problem (develop a MIS) – Take advantage of a business opportunities (develop BIS) – Other non rational reason: spend existing available resources, training and enhancing skills of employees • Where do projects come from? – There is no standard and answer varies from organisation to organisation • Several projects may be submitted and need selection by filling a “Systems Service Requests”
- 4. Basic Concepts • Project manager is an individual with a diverse set of skills who is responsible for managing the project process when the project is accepted • Responsibilities of project manager include: initiating, planning, executing and closing-down the project • Skills of project manager: They include (see chapter 2) – Leadership – Management (resources, materials, funding) – Customer relationships – Technical problem solving – Conflict management – Team management & risk management • Skills needed by a project manager go beyond just building a system
- 5. Project management Initiation Planning Milestone Execution Close-down Project management is the controlled process of initiating, planning, executing and closing-down a project.
- 6. Phase 1 : Project initiation • It is the phase where activities are performed to assess the size, scope and the complexity of the project & to establish procedures to support later project activities.
- 7. Phase-1: project initiation activities 1. Establishing the project initiation team 2. Establishing relationship with the customer 3. Establishing the project initiation plan 4. Establishing management procedures 5. Establishing project management environment & project workbook
- 8. Phase-1: project initiation activities 1. Establishing the project initiation team • Size: identify project team member who will work within the project 2. Establishing relationship with the customer • Develop good work relationship & trust between customer or users of the project & the IS development group (project team) before the project • Helps customers to understand their problems they might face & propose improvement
- 9. Phase-1: project initiation activities 3. Establishing the project initiation plan • Define the scope (objectives) of the project (even objectives are fuzzy) • Assign objectives to project team members • Define roles of each member in the project • Might lead to the creation of a System Service Request (SSR)
- 10. Phase 1: Project initiation Activities 4. Establishing management procedure • Concern procedures to manage the project such as communication and reporting procedures, • Communication procedure • Funding & billing procedure • Conflict management • Regulatory procedure • Procedures exist or need to be be created
- 11. Phase-1: Project initiation Activities 5. Establishing project management environment & project workbook • establish an environment that includes data related project, called workbook • Performing the workbook is one important task of project manager
- 12. Workbook – Workbook can be on line (a web site as SIMNET) or a hard copy repository that contains • All project correspondence: minutes, deliverable, input, output • Deliverables and reports • Standard to performing audits • Management procedures • Post project review meeting (future – Workbook are mainly on line in order to allows different partners to access the content through different locations)
- 13. Phase-2 : Project planning • It consists to define clear discrete activities and the work needed to complete the activities within a single project (identify time, input and output) • Project planning is different than Information System Planning (ISP) • ISP focuses on assessing the information system needs of the entire organization (chapter 5)
- 14. Planning phase activities 1. Describing project scope, alternatives and feasibility 2. Dividing the project into manageable tasks and logical order 3. Estimating resources and creating a resources plan 4. Developing a preliminary schedule 5. Developing a communication plan 6. Determine project standards and procedures 7. Identifying and assessing risks 8. Creating a preliminary budget 9. Developing a statement of work (for customer) 10.Setting a baseline project plan
- 15. Describing project scope, alternatives and feasibility – Identify project scope through answering question such as • What problem or opportunity does the project address? • What quantifiable results to be achieved • How success will be measured • What criteria to be used in order to ensure the project is completed? – Identify alternatives solution for current business problem – Assess feasibility of solutions – Make decision about the planed solution
- 16. Dividing the project into manageable tasks and logical order – Is called “work breakdown” structure – Require to decompose SDLC phases into activities and activities in to tasks – SDLC include 6 phases. Each phase involves many activities. Each activities involves many tasks. E.g. during phase 3 of SDLC, • Activities = develop data and process flow. • Tasks = interviewing manager, identifying process and data inflow, outflow, and transformation, etc.
- 17. Estimating resources and creating a resources plan – Estimate resource requirements : how many manpower, money, software tools, are required to complete the project ? – Resources planning is the estimation of the resource, within each activity, needed to complete the project – Time allocated to tasks depend on people assignment to tasks – Remark: a person could be assigned to more than one tasks in his own area of expertise
- 18. – Developing a preliminary schedule • Preliminary schedule = tasks + time + people (see slide 51, SIMNET) within each activity of work breakdown structure • This schedule may be drawn using the Grant and the PERT chart (see next) – Developing a communication plan • When & how different roles will communicate • When and how written and oral presentation will be provided by the team • How many deliverables (official reports) and when should be written (set deadlines) • Define agenda for meetings and set deadlines (small & big meetings) – Determine project standards and procedures • How standard SDLC must be modified? • What case tools (see chapter 4, may be after 1st Mid-term) to use? • What approaches will be used (JAD, prototyping, etc.)? • How different team will report (horizontal or vertical)?
- 19. – Identifying and assessing risks • Identify sources of risks and their expected impact • Source: use of new technology, resistance to change, availability of unsufficient resources, team member inexperience – Creating a preliminary budget • Estimate project cost of the and some times the revenue of the project (show revenue is great than cost) – Developing a statement of work (for customer) • Is a short description of all work to be done & expected deliverables • Give clear idea to all project team and customer about the project size – Setting a baseline project plan • Contains resources, times and manpower (resource requirement) • Is used to guide the executing phase or to update it when change happen – Milestone with a review meeting • Propose modification and update if needed back to previous activities
- 20. Phase-3 : Executing the project It consists to put the planned baseline project into action
- 21. Activities during executing phase – Executing the base line project plan • Keep the project schedule • Ensure the quality of product deliverable • Motivate people and increase the work team; think as one member – Monitoring the project progress against the actual progress work • Enable modifications to current plans when needed • Adjust resources, budget, and time to activities • Evaluate efficiency of project team member • E.g. if one dependence activity is changed, you have to undertake the impact on the other related activities – PERT and Gantt will help you to fast undertaking changes
- 22. Activities during executing phase – Managing change to the baseline project plan • Manage the change if it has to occur • Managing change requires three steps – Request a change – Accept change – Apply change order – PERT and Gantt charts can be used to undertaking changes
- 23. Activities during executing phase • Maintaining the project workbook – Update the workbook as the project progress • Communicating the project status – Keep involved roles informed about the latest development of the project – There are three types of communication (communication is useful for) • Solving issues through oral presentation • Informing others through e-mails • Keeping permanent storage of records (of written documents)
- 24. Phase-4 : Closing down the project It is consists to bring the project to an end
- 25. Phase-4: Closing down the project • When does a project end? – If requirements have been all met (normal end) – If all objectives have been successfully achieved – Customers’ need are not any more valid in the customer business environment; state-of-the-art technology is available on the market) – Running out of money • Closing-down the project – Inform all members about the project end during a review meeting • Conducting post-project review – Set a review meeting with management and customers to assess project’ strengths and weakness – Develop new idea for new projects • Closing the customer contract – Stop funding and further new projects
- 26. Techniques for SD for representing & scheduling activities
- 27. Gantt and PERT – Gantt chart is a graphical representation of a project that shows each task activity as a horizontal bar who is proportional to its time for completion. – PERT chart is a diagram that represents project activities & their dependencies • There are several tools to support Gantt and PERT charts
- 28. E.g. of SIMNET Gantt chart
- 29. Techniques for SD for representing & scheduling activities • PERT method is a critical path scheduling technique used for controlling resources and timing – PERT = Program Evaluation Review Technique – It allows to determines critical path scheduling and Slack Time • Critical path scheduling is a scheduling plan where the order and duration of the sequence of activities directly affect the completion date of a project – Critical path is represented by the sequence of connected activities that produces the longest overall time period – It represents the shortest time to complete a project • Slack time refers to the amount of time that an activity can be delayed without delaying the project duration
- 30. Steps towards creating the PERT method 1. Identify activities to be done within the project: 2. Identify the sequence of the activities and precedence relationship 3. Clear beginning and end point of each activity 4. Determine the critical path of the PERT network (chart)
- 31. Example of use of PERT method • Assume you have a project with 4 activities (1 to 4) see following slide. Determine for each activity the – Earliest completion Time or Early Time to finish (TE) – Latest completion Time or Late Time to finish (TF) – Slack Time (ST) • Which tasks are on the critical path? • Draw a PERT Chart? • Highlight the critical path
- 32. Example of use of PERT method Tasks NO Preceding Expected Early Late Slack Critical tasks events duration Time Time path (TE) (TL) Time Requirement 1 0 5 collection Screen 2 1 3 Design Data base 3 1 6 construction System 4 2, 3 7 installation
- 33. Use of project management software • There are several tools to support the Gantt and Pert charts – Allow to facilitate complexity of a project – Complexity = number of tasks & relationship – Allow to define tasks, order tasks, assign resources to tasks, Differences between system • There are many software – E.g. Microsoft’s Project is a great tool for any one who oversees a team, plans a budget, juggles schedules, or has deadlines to meet
- 34. CASE and Visual Development Environments • Computer-aided Software Engineering (CASE) – Software tools that provide automated support for some portion of the systems development process – Upper CASE • CASE tools designed to support systems planning and selection, systems analysis, and systems design phases of the systems development life cycle – Lower CASE • CASE tools designed to support the systems implementation and operation phase of the systems development life cycle
- 35. Some CASE Tools • Diagramming – Microsoft VISIO • Project Management – Microsoft Project • Development all-in-one solutions – Oracle Developer Suite – Microsoft Visual Studio – Sybase PowerBuilder & PowerDesigner
- 36. CASE and Visual Development Environments • Types of CASE tools – Diagramming tools – Computer display and report generators – Analysis tools used to check for incomplete, inconsistent or incorrect specifications – A central repository – Documentation generators – Code generators • Form and report generators – CASE tools that support the creation of system forms and reports in order to prototype how systems will look and feel to users