computer based project management

8/8/2019 Computer Based Project Management

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COMPUTER BASED PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Project managers often speak a language all their own. That language has been reflected in a

special class of software since shortly after the advent of computers. Project management

software was developed to track activities and tasks, to facilitate understanding of the project,

and to find a way to communicate that understanding to others. Project management softwarepackages (e.g., Microsoft Project, Sciforma Project Schedule, Niku Workbench, Planview,

Primavera, Artemis Prestige, and so on) have the ability to produce project reports. Although

those reports take on wildly different appearances, they share common data sets

regarding project work, resource allocation, precedence relationships, and cost and tracking

information. They share the ability to present information in a spreadsheet format or in a series

of reports. They share the capacity to modify the presentation (to varying degrees) to facilitate

understanding.

The tools are not, however, common desktop applications outside the project management

community. Also, although most project managers have a copy of one project management

program or another on their desktop, they cannot expect their peers who arenot projectmanagers to have the same tools. Thus, from a communications perspective, the

information from project management software needs to be transferable to other tools and

applications, including spreadsheet and word processing programs. For many projectmanagers,

the most critical component of a project management software package is not the robustness

of its algorithms, but the tools capacity to have outputs copied into a spreadsheet.

In selecting project management software, the project manager should take the tools

exporting ability into account as a mission-critical capability. Tools that severely limit what

information can be transferred out and how that information can be transferred will limit the

ability to communicate.

e-mail

One place where project information must often ultimately be transferred is into an e-mail. E-

mail is another vital application for project managers, because it allows for the asynchronous

transfer of information from the project team to others inside or outside the team, either en

masse or singly. The ubiquity of e-mail and its widespread acceptance places it among (if not

the) dominant media for project communications. E-mail is a powerful medium, but it is not

without problems, the least of which is the virtual sea of detritus downloaded in the form of

mass advertising, which can sometimes drown out the important messages.

E-mail protocols should be carefully outlined in the project communications plan to ensure

that project messages are elevated to visibility and to ensure that project team members have

a consistent vision as to what information is appropriately transferred (and, as a result,

maintained) by this medium and what information is not. Considerations that should be

outlined in the project communications plan relating to e-mail include the following:

Appropriate/inappropriate language and/or areas of discussion; Subject line protocols and

practices;

Carbon-copy and blind carbon-copy practices (for both the initial send as well as the

reply);


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Document retention procedures.

If not effectively controlled, e-mail can become a weak communications medium, not because

of a lack of use, but because of misuse and misunderstanding of the tool.

Project web sites

Most organizations of any size already have an Internet-based Web site. And even for thehandful that do not, the investment in a project Web site is sufficiently nominal that it is within

the financial reach of most projects. Project Web sites may range in style, use, and application

from a graphics-intensive bulletin board rich with project information to a simple closet

housing project data. In either instance, some commonalities will afford effective use of the

Internet as a project tool.

The first challenge with project Web sites is accessibility with security. If a project Web site is

left open to the public, team members are guaranteed the ability to tap into the site and its

information at will. If a project Web site is left open to the public, however, almost anyone will

be able to find their way to the information and apply it for their own purposes. Data security

becomes a major issue. Even Web sites with password access and higher levels of security canbe hacked, which limits the willingness of some organizations to post information in such a

public forum. Multiple levels of security (Web site access passwords and individual document

passwords) can improve the sense of confidence, but are still not infallible in their ability to

protect an organizations secrets. Many organizations secrets, however, are not really of

interest to outside organizations and may be posted, preserved, and shared on the Internet

with reasonable impunity.

Because some security measures will almost invariably be used, the project managers

responsibility for a project Web site is to ensure that team members are updated on how to

access the site and on what information they may expect to find there. A Web site with

excessive security is a library with a locked door. The information is there, but no one can have

access to it, and team members will only try the door a limited number of times before

finding alternative means to access the information they desire or require.

The other critical notion with any project Web site is the currency of information. Information

maintained on a project Web site must actually be kept up to date. If the Internet site becomes

a repository for outdated information without being refreshed, the site will rapidly fall into

disuse. The project manager and his or her archivist should establish protocols for information

shared on the Web site, including when it will be updated, formats that will be used, how

frequently security access will be modified, and how team members working to reach the site

can get outside assistance. Because help desk support for internal Web sites is generally

limited, the support and assistance is normally established within the team.

Web-based communications

A project Web site is not the only Web application used in project management. Instant

messaging and real-time chat room capabilities have changed the way in which meetings are

held. In some organizations, employees are required to have their desktops enabled with one

of the popular instant messaging systems (e.g., AOL Instant Messenger and Windows

Messenger) so that even if the team is distributed around the globe, team members can

instantly stop down the hall to share information any time a team member is at her terminal.


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Such Web-based chat capabilities are common in nonbusiness applications, but their use in

corporate communication is becoming progressively more common.

The only hurdle to true corporate ubiquity is the concern over the potential for security

breaches caused by instant messaging systems. This has prompted some organizations to

create their own internal messaging systems, which have the advantage of high levels of

security, but lack the capacity to share information outside the organization.

Although the use of such information exchanges can greatly enhance communications speed,

they can also cause information overload. Some users cannot manage the onslaught of

information associated with multiple messages arriving from multiple users on their computer

desktop while they are trying to work on something else. As with the other types of Internet

communication, the protocols to determine how on-line messaging should be used need to be

incorporated within the communications plan.

Personal digital assistants

Many project managers now carry personal digital assistants (PDAs) to monitor and track their

day-to-day activities. Many of these PDAs now have embedded wireless communicationstechnology, which means that they wed some of the most advantageous aspects of both

synchronous and asynchronous communications. PDAs provide the advantage of having a

computer connection with the office when the project manager is in the field, without the bulk

of a laptop.

In using the PDA for inbound communication, the project manager should make clear to team

members and those with direct access to the PDA connection that large attachments and

significant graphics should be kept to a minimum. It is sometimes easy for the sender to believe

that the PDA is nothing more than a computer in miniature, but PDAs generally do have some

significant limitations in terms of large-scale memory and video display capability.

For outbound communication, the greatest limitation of PDAs as a communications technologyis frequently that there is no simple user interface to input data into the tool. Although stylized

alphabets have been created to expedite stylus writing on PDA pads, the ability to input is

generally much slower than is available through touch typing. And while some PDAs have

keyboard attachments, those attachments are sometimes unwieldy for day-to-day, in-the-field

applications. This limitation makes large documents difficult to generate and may also inhibit

the users ability to format the information being sent (particularly in spreadsheet or word

processing applications).

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