IT 243 - Chapter 2: Project Management - Summary

Project Identification
Potential projects can be identified by a member of an
organization that has identified a business need that can be
addressedthroughtheapplicationofinformationtechnology.The
firststepintheprocessistoidentifythebusinessvaluefor
thesystembydevelopingasystemrequestthatprovidesbasic
information about the proposed system. Next, the analysts
perform a feasibility analysis to determine the technical,
economic, and organizational feasibility of the system; if
appropriate,thesystemisapprovedandthedevelopmentproject
begins.
Feasibility Analysis
Afeasibilityanalysisisusedtoprovidemoredetailaboutthe
risks associated with the proposed system, and it includes
technical,economic,andorganizationalfeasibilities.Thetechnical
feasibility focuses on whether the system can be built by
examining the risks associated with the users and analysts
familiaritywiththefunctionalarea,familiaritywiththetechnology,
and the projects size. The economic feasibility addresses
whether the system should be built. Itincludes a costbenefit
analysis of development costs, operational costs, tangible
benefits, and intangible costs and benefits. Finally, the
organizationalfeasibilityassesseshowwellthesystemwillbe
accepted by its users and incorporated into the ongoing
operations of the organization. The strategic alignment of the
projectandastakeholderanalysiscanbeusedtoassessthis
feasibilitydimension.
Project Selection
Oncethefeasibilityanalysishasbeencompleted,itissubmitted
totheapprovalcommittee,alongwitharevisedsystemrequest.
The committee then decides whether to approve the project,
IT 243 - Chapter 2: Project Management - Summary
decline the project, or table it until additional information is
available. The project selection process uses portfolio
management to take into account all the projects in the
organization.Theapprovalcommitteeweighsmanyfactorsand
makestrade-offsbeforeaprojectisselected.
Traditional Project Management Tools
Even though object-oriented systems development projects are
significantly different from traditional systems development
projects,asetofusefultraditionalprojectmanagementtoolscan
beusedtomanageobject-orientedsystemsdevelopmentprojects.
Thesetoolsincludeworkbreakdownstructures,Ganttcharts,and
networkdiagrams.Workbreakdownstructurescanbestructured
eitherbyphaseorbyproduct.Ganttchartsaredrawnusing
horizontalbarstorepresentthedurationofeachtask,andas
people work on tasks, the appropriate bars are filled in
proportionately to how much of the task is finished. Network
diagramsarethebestwaytocommunicatetaskdependencies
becausetheylayoutthetasksasaflowchartintheorderin
whichtheyneedtobecompleted.Thelongestpathfromthe
projectinceptiontocompletionisreferredtoasthecriticalpath.
Estimating Project Effort
Use-casepointsareaneffort-estimationtechniquethatisbased
on the unique characteristics of a use-casedriven systems
developmentmethod.Use-casepointsarefoundedonthetwo
primaryconstructsassociatedwithuse-caseanalysis:actorsand
use cases. Use-case points have a set of factors used to
modify their raw value: technical complexity factors and
environmental factors. Technical complexity factors address the
complexity of the project under consideration, whereas the
environmentalfactorsdealwiththelevelofexperienceofthe
developmentstaff.Basedonthenumberofuse-casepoints,the
estimatedeffortrequiredcanbecomputed.
IT 243 - Chapter 2: Project Management - Summary
Creating and Managing the Work plan
Onceaprojectmanagerhasageneralideaoftheeffortto
developtheproject,heorshecreatesaworkplan,whichisa
dynamicschedulethatrecordsandkeepstrackofallthetasks
thatneedtobeaccomplishedoverthecourseoftheproject.
To create an iterative work plan, the project manager first
beginswithanevolutionaryworkbreakdownstructurethatallows
theprojectmanagertoprovidemorerealisticestimatesforeach
iteration, or build, of a system. Iterative work plans are
decoupled from the architecture of the system, thus allowing
projects to be comparable. By supporting comparability among
projects,evolutionaryWBSsenableorganizationallearningtotake
place.Scopecreephasalwaysbeenaproblemwithsystems
development projects. Essentially, the farther along the
development process, the better the understanding of the
underlying problem and the technology being used becomes.
EstimatingwhatanISdevelopmentprojectwillcost,howlongit
willtake,andwhatthefinalsystemwillactuallydotendsto
followahurricanemodel.Iterativeworkplanssupportchanging
requirementsbysimplysupportingdevelopmentinanincremental
anditerativemanner.Oneapproachthathasbeenusedquite
successfullytoaddressscopecreepistimeboxing.Timeboxing
setsafixeddeadlineforaprojectanddeliversthesystemby
that deadline no matter what, even if functionality must be
reduced.Finally,managingrisksthroughthedevelopmentprocess
is essential. A risk assessment is used to help mitigate risk
becauseitidentifiespotentialrisksandevaluatesthelikelihood
ofriskanditspotentialimpactontheproject.
Staffing the Project
Staffing involves determining how many people should be
assigned to the project, assigning project roles to team
members, developing a reporting structure for the team, and
IT 243 - Chapter 2: Project Management - Summary
matchingpeoplesskillswiththeneedsoftheproject.Staffing
also includes motivating the team to meet the projects
objectives and minimizing conflict among team members. Both
motivation and cohesiveness have been found to greatly
influence performance of team members in project situations.
Team members are motivated most by such nonmonetary
rewardsasrecognition,achievement,andtheworkitself.Clearly
defining the roles on a project and holding team members
accountablefortheirtaskscanminimizeconflict.Somemanagers
create a project charter that lists the projects norms and
groundrules.
Environment and Infrastructure Management
The environment workflow supports the development team
throughoutthedevelopmentprocessbyensuringthattheteam
hasaccesstotheappropriatesetofCASEtoolsandstandards
thatwillbeusedduringthedevelopmentprocess.Casetools
are a type of software that automates all or part of the
development process. Standards are formal rules or guidelines
that project teams must follow during the project to allow
projects to be comparable. The infrastructure management
workflow deals with setting up the project documentation and
identifying possible reusable components, frameworks, libraries,
andpatterns.