Chapter 3 Managing the Information Systems Project

1. Modern Systems Analysisand DesignFourth EditionJeffrey A. Hoffer Joey F. GeorgeJoseph S. Valacich Chapter 3 Managing the Information Systems Project

2. Learning Objectives • Explain the process of managing an information systems project. • Describe the skills required to be an effective project manager. • List project management activities during project initiation, planning, execution, and closedown. • Explain critical path scheduling, Gantt charts, and Network diagrams. • Explain the utility of commercial project management software tools.

3. Importance of Project Management • Project management may be the most important aspect of systems development. • Effective PM helps ensure • Meeting customer expectations • Satisfying budget and time constraints • PM skills are difficult and important to learn.

4. Pine Valley Application Project

5. Deciding on Systems Projects • System Service Request (SSR) • A standard form for requesting or proposing systems development work within an organization • Feasibility study • A study that determines whether a requested system makes economic and operational sense for an organization

6. System Service Request (SSR) is a form requesting development or maintenance of an information system. It includes the contact person, a problem statement, a service request statement, and liaison contact information

7. Managing the Information Systems Project • Project • A planned undertaking of related activities to reach an objective that has a beginning and an end • Project management • A controlled process of initiating, planning, executing, and closing down a project

8. Managing the Information Systems Project (cont.) • Project manager • Systems analyst with management and leadership skills responsible for leading project initiation, planning, execution, and closedown • Deliverable • The end product of an SDLC phase

9. Project Management Activities

10. Phases of Project Management Process • Phase 1: Initiation • Phase 2: Planning • Phase 3: Execution • Phase 4: Closedown

11. PM Phase 1: Project Initiation • Assess size, scope and complexity, and establish procedures. • Establish: • Initiation team • Relationship with customer • Project initiation plan • Management procedures • Project management environment • Project workbook

13. PM Phase 2: Project Planning • Define clear, discrete activities and the work needed to complete each activity • Tasks • Define project scope, alternatives, feasibility • Divide project into tasks • Estimate resource requirements • Develop preliminary schedule • Develop communication plan • Determine standards and procedures • Risk identification and assessment • Create preliminary budget • Develop a statement of work • Set baseline project plan

14. Planning Detail

15. Some Components of Project Planning • Statement of Work (SOW) • “Contract” between the IS staff and the customer regarding deliverables and time estimates for a system development project • The Baseline Project Plan (BPP) • Contains estimates of scope, benefits, schedules, costs, risks, and resource requirements • Preliminary Budget • Cost-benefit analysis outlining planned expenses and revenues

16. Some Components of Project Planning (cont.) • Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) • Division of project into manageable and logically ordered tasks and subtasks • Scheduling Diagrams • Gantt chart: horizontal bars represent task durations • Network diagram: boxes and links represent task dependencies

17. Scheduling DiagramsGantt Chart Special-purpose project management software is available for this.

18. Scheduling DiagramsNetwork Diagram Special-purpose project management software is available for this.

19. Preliminary Budget Spreadsheet software is good for this.

20. PM Phase 3: Project Execution • Plans created in prior phases are put into action. • Actions • Execute baseline project plan • Monitor progress against baseline plan • Manage changes in baseline plan • Maintain project workbook • Communicate project status

21. Monitoring Progress with a Gantt Chart Red bars indicate critical path, lines through bars indicate percent complete.

22. Communication Methods • Minutes of meetings • Bulletin boards • Memos • Brown bag lunches • Hallway discussions • Project workbook • Meetings • Seminars and workshops • Newsletters • Status reports • Specification documents

23. PM Phase 4: Project Closedown • Bring the project to an end. • Actions • Close down the project. • Conduct post-project reviews. • Close the customer contract.

24. Representing and Scheduling Project Plans • Gantt Charts • Network Diagrams • PERT Calculations • Critical Path Scheduling • Project Management Software

25. Gantt Charts vs. Network Diagrams • Gantt charts • Show task durations. • Show time overlap. • Network diagrams • Show task dependencies. • Do not show time overlap, but show parallelism.

26. Gantt Charts vs. Network Diagrams (cont.)

27. Estimating Task Duration • PERT: Program Evaluation Review Technique • Technique that uses optimistic (o), pessimistic (p), and realistic (r) time estimates to determine expected task duration • Formula for Estimated Time: • ET = (o + 4r + p)/6

28. Example PERT Analysis

29. Critical Path Analysis • Critical path method (CPM)—also called critical path analysis—is a network diagramming technique used to predict total project duration. • A critical path for a project is the series of activities that determine the earliest time by which the project can be completed. It is the longest path through the network diagram and has the least amount of slack or float. • Slack or float is the amount of time an activity may be delayed without delaying a succeeding activity or the project finish date. • The longest path or the path containing the critical tasks is what is driving the completion date for the project.

30. Figure 4-7. Critical Path Calculation for Project X

31. What Does the Critical Path Really Mean? • The critical path shows the shortest time in which a project can be completed. • If one or more of the activities on the critical path takes longer than planned, the whole project schedule will slip unless the project manager takes corrective action. • For example: Apple Computer team members put a stuffed gorilla on top of the cubicle of whoever was in charge of a critical task, so they would not distract him or her.

32. Figure 4-8. Who’s Stuck With the Gorilla This Week?

33. Growing Grass Can Be on the Critical Path • The fact that its name includes the word “critical” does not mean that the critical path includes all critical activities. • Frank Addeman, executive project director at Walt Disney Imagineering, explained in a keynote address at the May 2000 PMI-ISSIG Professional Development Seminar that growing grass was on the critical path for building Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park. • This 500-acre park required special grass for its animal inhabitants, and some of the grass took years to grow. • So, growing grass was driving the completion date of the theme park; not what most people would think of as a critical activity.

34. Using Critical Path Analysis to Make Schedule Trade-offs • It is important to know what the critical path is throughout the life of a project so that the project manager can make trade-offs. • If one of the tasks on the critical path is behind schedule, should the schedule be renegotiated with stakeholders, or should more resources be allocated to other items on the critical path to make up for that time? • It is also common for project stakeholders to want to shorten project schedule estimates, so you need to know what tasks are on the critical path.

35. Questions on the Critical Path • Can there be more than one critical path on a project? • Can the critical path on a project change?

36. Schedule Compression Techniques • Crashing is a technique for making cost and schedule trade-offs to obtain the greatest amount of schedule compression for the least incremental cost. • If two critical tasks each take two weeks, and it will take $100 to shorten Task 1 by a week and $1,000 to shorten Task 2 by a week, shorten Task 1. • Fast tracking involves doing activities in parallel that you would normally do in sequence. • Instead of waiting for Task 1 to be totally finished before starting Task 2, start Task 2 when Task 1 is halfway done. • Schedule compression often backfires by causing cost, human resource, and quality problems, which lead to even longer schedules.

37. Project Buffers • Aproject buffer isadditional time added before the project’s due date to account for unexpected factors. • Kristin learned from past projects that no matter how well you try to schedule everything, it can still be a challenge to finish on time without a mad rush at the end, so she included a buffer in their project schedule.

38. Using Project Management Software • Many powerful software tools exist for assisting with project management. • Example: Microsoft Project can help with • Entering project start date. • Establishing tasks and task dependencies. • Viewing project information as Gantt or Network diagrams.

39. Project Start Date

40. Entering Tasks

41. Viewing Network Diagram Hexagon shape indicates a milestone. Red boxes and arrows indicate critical path (no slack).

42. Viewing Gantt Chart Black line at top indicates a summary activity (composed of subtasks). Diamond shape indicates a milestone.

43. Summary • In this chapter you learned how to: • Explain the process of managing an information systems project. • Describe the skills required to be an effective project manager. • List project management activities during project initiation, planning, execution, and closedown. • Explain critical path scheduling, Gantt charts, and Network diagrams. • Explain the utility of commercial project management software tools.