Part 02 Connecting Business Strategy and Project Management
- 1. ConneCting business strategy and projeCt management Rusliyawati Project Management for Information Systems
- 2. Learning Outcomes Prepare organizational structure charts for a functional organization struc- ture, a project structure and a matrix structure Identify the key roles and responsibilities in an IS project Define programme and project management List the functions of a programme and project support office (PPSO) Summarize the advantages to an organization of using a PPSO Categorize the activities of a PPSO during the main delivery stages of a project under the headings of data capture, data analysis and information presentation.
- 6. Generic Project Organization and Roles
- 7. Sponsor The person who is accountable to the business for the invest- ment represented by the project and for the achievement of the project’s business objectives. Define the business aims of the project. Justify the project to the board, or whatever the overall management body is called in the particular organization. Define the project’s objectives and its priorities in terms of the ‘triple con- straint’ of time, cost and quality/performance. Specify the minimum requirements that the project must meet if it is to achieve its business objectives. Obtain approval for any capital expenditure involved. Initiate the project and appoint the project manager. Monitor the progress of the project from a business standpoint. Monitor also the business environment to ensure that the project still meets the business needs. Keep the board or higher management informed of progress. If necessary, terminate the project. Account for the success of the investment. Provide high-level support as a champion for the project.
- 8. User The user is the person who will make use of the facilities of the system in their everyday work and is therefore the person most directly affected by the pro- ject. The user will: Define the detailed requirements for the system to the developers. Review the developers’ specification to ensure that it supports the business functions. Work with the developers in introducing the system into the organization. Conduct, or at any rate witness, the acceptance tests to ensure that the sys- tem meets its specified requirements.
- 9. Project Manager The project manager is appointed by the sponsor and is responsible for the management of the project on a day-to-day basis and for the achievement of the project objectives • Achieve the project’s objectives within the time, cost and quality/performance constraints imposed by the sponsor. • Make or force timely decisions to assure the project’s success. • Plan, monitor and control the project through to completion. • Select, build and motivate the project team. • Keep the sponsor and senior management informed of progress and alert them to problems – especially if these could have an impact on the project’s achieving its business objectives. • Recommend termination of the project to the sponsor, if necessary. • Serve as the principal point of contact between the sponsor, management and contributors. • Select and manage subcontractors. The project manager’s role is to:
- 10. Risk Manager On a large project, risk management may be a significant part of the project manager’s work and it may be necessary to appoint someone to assist with this. The project manager retains overall responsibility for project risk but the risk manager will control the process of identifying, classifying and quantify- ing the risks and for chasing people to carry out their risk reduction actions.
- 11. Quality Manager Again, on a large project, it could be worthwhile to appoint someone as quality manager manager. Under the guidance of the project manager, this person will write the quality plan, develop the quality control procedures, check that these procedures are being followed and provide advice and guidance to team members on quality-related issues.
- 12. Chief Analyst This is a senior and experienced business or systems analyst who will, under the direction of the project manager, lead the analysis work. The chief analyst will advise the project manager and project team on analysis methods and techniques and, with the quality manager, ensure that appropriate standards are being followed. It is useful to have as chief analyst someone with extensive experience of the type of business being studied who can authoritatively discuss business issues at the highest levels in the user organization.
- 13. Chief Designer The chief designer works under the direction of the pro- ject manager to control the work of the design team, and probably that of the programmers as well. The chief designer will have extensive experience of the technology being used and can provide advice and guidance to the project team as well as develop any project-specific standards that are required.
- 14. Database Administrator The database administrator will be the principal custodian of the database and of its supporting data dictionary. The database administrator will develop and enforce standards for the use of the database product, the naming and placement of data items and so on. Usually, the database administrator will work closely with the chief designer in the development of the design and with the programming teams in using the database.
- 15. Configuration Librarian • Someone needs to assume responsibility for operating the configuration control procedures and, on a large project, this is often a full-time role. Team Leader • The project manager is responsible for the overall direction of the project, but detailed management of the staff is often delegated to a number of team lead- ers. Typically in charge of a small group of, for example, programmers, team leaders plan and direct work on a day-to-day basis and either review or organ- ize reviews of the team members’ work.
- 16. Project Office A project office provides administrative support to the project manager. This includes such things as the collection and recording of timesheets, the organ- ization of meetings and the dissemination of information. It is quite common to find a project office that supports a number of discrete projects.
- 17. Organizing the roles The steering committee The user group The risk management committee
- 18. Programme Management - Programme Whereas one of the defining features of a project is that it has a definite end-date, a programme may well be a continuing endeavour with no such finite conclusion. With a project, the project manager is usually responsible only for the achievement of the narrow project objectives, but in a pro- gramme the programme manager may well be responsible for realizing the business objectives as well. A programme is a series of projects that together contribute towards the achievement of some overall business or organizational objective. A programme is a very large project with a number of subsidiary projects involved. A programme is a set of projects which share a fixed pool of resources. A programme is a group of projects undertaken for a single client.
- 19. Programme Management – Programme Director To decide on the relative priority of the projects on a continuing basis. This may mean giving precedence to project A at one stage and to project B at another. To arbitrate between project managers in their demands for resources and, where necessary, decide who will have use of resources at each point. To ensure that the utilization levels of the resources are kept as high as possible, thereby ensuring that costs are kept strictly under control. To keep a careful watch over the organization’s strategy and ensure that all the projects continue to contribute to the achievement of those object- ives. The issue here is not just that projects can drift off course but also that the strategy itself will change as the organization adapts to changing circumstances. To act as overall champion for the programme within the organization.
- 20. Programme and Portofolio Management
- 22. Project Assurance Business assurance • Evaluating the business aspects of any proposed changes to the project and ensuring that the project continues to be viable in busi- ness terms. User assurance • Representing the interests of the system’s users, ensuring that the users’ requirements are properly addressed, establishing the accept- ance criteria for the project, assessing changes and assisting in the quality review of products from the users’ perspectives. Technical assurance • Assisting in defining the technical strategy for the project, advising on quality criteria and other technical methods and standards and ensuring that these standards are being adhered to.
- 23. Possible Function of a PPSO Preinitiation Approval process Business case preparation Initiation Planning Risk management Resourcing Delivery Reporting Time recording Documentation library Configuration management Monitoring and control Financial Stakeholder management Business case monitoring Change control Assurance Procurement Training/mentoring Postproject Post project reviews Benefits realization
- 24. Ongoing PPSO Activities In addition to the specific PPSO functions carried out to support projects directly, there are a number of areas where the PPSO may be involved on a continuing basis. The PPSO may be the custodian of the standards to which projects are expected to adhere. These standards may have been developed by the PPSO and the PPSO may be responsible for their maintenance, or this work may have been subcontracted elsewhere. These standards may be very detailed or relatively high-level – once again it depends on the organization. The quality standards are likely to be included in this set. The overall project support infrastructure, with a set of procedures, report templates and the like, may be defined and maintained by the PPSO.
- 25. Benefits of a PPSO Information Past Consistency IndependentSpecialism Centre of excellence
- 26. The programme and project support office plays a key role in many organiza- tions. In some, the PPSO provides only administrative support on request from the pro- ject manager; in others it is central to the overall control of the project or pro- gramme portfolio. The use of PPSOs has become more widespread as organizations have accepted the need to retain information on their projects and to learn from their experiences. The PPSO has become the central repository for this know- ledge. Many activities are common to all projects and the PPSO can provide specialist skills and expertise in areas such as planning, reporting, configura- tion management, documentation library and change control. One of the advantages of having a PPSO is that it can provide senior man- agement with an independent view of projects, separate from the projects’ own management. CONCLUSION
- 27. It is vital to the success of an IS project that there is a clear understanding of who the customer is, who will make the major decisions about the scope and direction of the project and who will ultimately accept responsibility for the project. It is necessary, in particular, to identify the sponsor of the project within the organization. Various bodies may be formed to guide and advise the pro- ject, including the steering group, the user group and the risk management committee. A programme is a group of projects that together contribute towards the achievement of some overall business objective and which involve the sharing of resources. The programme director will act as arbiter between projects and champion for the overall programme. The PRINCE2® project management method offers a convenient and effect- ive structure for the management of IS projects. CONCLUSION
- 28. PREFERENCE James Cadle and Donald Yeates (2008), Project Management for Information Systems, British Library Marsh, David (2000), The Project and Programme Support Office Handbook: Foundation, Project Manager Today Marsh, David (2000), The Project and Programme Support Office Handbook: Advanced, Project Manager Today Office of Government Commerce (2002), Managing Successful Projects with PRINCE2, 3rd edn, The Stationery Office Reiss, Geoff (1996), Programme Management Demystified, E&FN Spon Shafto, Tony (1990), The Foundations of Business Organisation, Stanley Thornes Turner, J Rodney and Simister, Stephen J (eds) (2000), Gower Handbook of Project Management, 3rd edn, Gower