BIS 360 – Lecture Two

Ch. 3: Managing the IS Project

Objectives

What is a Project? Managing IS Project Why projects fail? Project Management Tools -

Gantt/PERT

What is a Project?

A planned undertaking of a series of related activities to reach an objective that have a beginning and an end.

Managing the IS Projects

Focus of project management

To ensure that information system projects meet customer expectations

• Delivered in a timely manner• Meet time constraints and requirements

Project Management

As a project manager, the systems analyst is responsible for:– Initiating the project– Planning the project– Executing the project– Closing down the project

Project Initiation

Assess the size, scope, and complexity of the project and to establish the procedures to support later project activities– Establishing the Project Initiation Team– Establishing Relationship w/ Customer– Establishing Project Initiation Plan– Establishing Management Procedures– Establishing Project Management Tools and

Workbook (Figure 3-6, p.67)

Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC)

Project ID and Selection

Proj. Initiation & Planning

Analysis

Logical Design

Physical Design

Implementation

Maintenance

ProjectInitiating

Project Planning

The process which focuses on defining clear, discrete activities and the work needed to complete each activity within a single project

– Scope and Feasibility: understand and describe project scope, alternatives, and feasibility

• What problem is addressed• What results are to be achieved• Measures of success• Completion criteria

Project Planning (cont’d)

– Divide the project into manageable tasks• Work breakdown structure

– Estimate resources and create a resource plan– Develop a preliminary schedule

• Utilize Gantt and PERT charts

– Develop a communication plan• Outline communication processes among customers,

team members and management

– Determine project standards and procedures• Specify how deliverables are tested and produced

Project Planning (cont’d)

– Identify and assess risk• Identify sources of risk• Estimate consequences of risk

– Create a preliminary budget– Develop a statement of work

• Describe what the project will deliver and duration

– Set a Baseline Project Plan• Estimate of project’s tasks and resources

Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC)

Project ID and Selection

Proj. Initiation & Planning

Analysis

Logical Design

Physical Design

Implementation

Maintenance

ProjectPlanning

Project Execution

The process that puts all planned activities into action– Execute Baseline Project Plan

• Acquire and assign resources• Train new team members• Keep project on schedule

– Monitor project progress• Adjust resources, budget and/or activities

Project Execution (cont’d)

– Manage changes to Baseline Project Plan• Slipped completion dates• Changes in personnel• New activities• Bungled activities

– Maintain project workbook– Communicate project status

Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC)

Project ID and Selection

Proj. Initiation & Planning

Analysis

Logical Design

Physical Design

Implementation

Maintenance

ProjectExecution

Project Close Down

The process that focuses on bringing the project to an end– Termination

• Types of termination– Natural (requirements have been met) or Unnatural

(project stopped)

• Documentation• Personnel Appraisal

Project Close Down (cont’d)

– Conduct post-project reviews• Determine strengths and weaknesses of:

– Project deliverables– Project management process– Development process

– Close customer contract

Why Do Projects Fail ?

Only 25% have – well-defined and consistently practiced

project management processes– formal estimating methods– created manageable tasks (say <40 hours)

with clear deliverables and due dates at least every 2 weeks

Most project managers spend 80% of their time in execution instead of in project start-up, risk assessment, etc.

From the projects that failed

23% lack of project plan 22% inadequate definition of scope 14% lack of communication with users 11% lack of personnel with right skills 8% lack of communication in the team 8% inaccurate estimation

Representing and Scheduling Project Plans

Gantt Charts– Show when a task should begin and end– Do not typically show how tasks must be ordered

(precedence – successor tasks)

PERT (Networks Diagram) Charts– Project Evaluation and Review Technique– A graphic networking technique that shows

ordering of activities by connecting a task to its predecessor and successor tasks

3.193.19

Microsoft Project 2002 Task Name, Duration, S/F Times

Primitivetasks

Summarytasks

Microsoft Project 2002 Gantt Chart

Range of a Summary task(phase)

A non-critical task

Criticaltask

Gantt Chart

A simple horizontal bar chart that depicts project tasks against a calendar

Two basic scheduling approaches:– Forward scheduling establishes a project

start-date and then schedules forward from that date

– Reverse scheduling establishes a project deadline and then schedules backward from that date

Microsoft Project 2002PERT (Networks Diagram) Chart

Critical Path

Critical path (CP) - it is a sequence of dependent (projects) tasks that have the largest sum of estimated duration (i.e., the longest path).

It means: Any delay in any task on the CP will

cause the delay for the whole project!!

An Example for Critical Path

Consider a project with 11 tasks

AB

C D

E F

G

HI

J K

32

442

1

33 6

1 3

Which one is the critical path?

Gantt Chart from MS Project 2002

Can you tell which is the Critical Path?

The Identified Critical Path

CP: A - C - H - K (total duration = 13 days )

What if Task # 4 is Delayed?

Task # 4 is not on the critical pathIt contains slack time that provides some flexibility in scheduling

PERT (Networks Diagram) Vs. Gantt

PERT is usually recommended for larger projects with high intertask dependency

Gantt is recommended for simple projects or parts of large projects

PERT and Gantt charts can be used in a complementary manner to support Project Management