MULTICRITERA DECISION PROBLEMS IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PROJECT MANAGEMENT THE PMBOK IMPROVEMENTS PROPOSAL

Micha Szymaczek Business Consulting Center 62-002 Suchy Las k. Poznania, ul. Krzemowa 1, e-mail: michal.szymaczek@bcc.com.pl Sawomir Iskierka Czstochowa University of Technology, Faculty of Electrical Engineering 42-200 Czstochowa, ul. J.H. Dbrowskiego 69, e-mail: iskierka@el.pcz.czest.pl
The authors present the multicriteria decision problems in the IT project management within knowledge areas and process groups defined in PMBOK. PMBOK is a recognized standard for the project managers, published by PMI (Project Management Institute). PMBOK doesnt address multicriteria decision problems or MCDA methods. This article is going to fill this gap. The authors define the decision problems crucial from the project stakeholders perspective. The sample decision problem of selecting a time compression technique is presented.

ANSI standard (ANSI/PMI 99-001-2004) in 1999. The Fourth Edition of the PMBOK Guide was published in 2008. The main elements that constitute the PMBOK framework are processes (sets of activities for achieving an end result), each of which requires its own inputs (what is needed for the process to proceed) and produces its own outputs (the process result, which sometimes serves as the input for another process), and the tools and techniques that are used to turn inputs into outputs. PMBOK describes the lifecycle of a project through 44 project management processes that are organized into nine knowledge areas and five sequential process groups [2]: 1. Initiating: processes performed to authorize and define the scope of a new project or project phase; 2. Planning: processes performed to develop the project scope, define the project management plan, and schedule the project activities; 3. Executing: processes performed to complete the activities defined in the project management plan and in the project scope; 4. Monitoring and Controlling: processes performed to monitor and measure the progress of the project and take corrective action when necessary; 5. Closing: processes performed to formally accept and conclude the project or phase. The knowledge areas include: 1. Project Integration Management 2. Project Scope Management 3. Project Time Management 4. Project Cost Management 5. Project Quality Management 6. Project Human Resource Management 7. Project Communications Management 8. Project Risk Management 9. Project Procurement Management Problems that threaten an IT project can be efficiently identified and solved by the use of proven project management techniques and methods defined in PMBOK that the project manager can use to help reduce the risk of project failure due to: - inadequately defined project scope; - missed deadlines; - exceeded budgets; - unclear task assignments; - repeated mistakes.

I. INTRODUCTION Multicriteria decision aid (MCDA) is a dynamically developing operation research field but still demanding more exploration, particularly in the area of applications. There is no systematic study that could answer two crucial questions: 1. What decision problems in the project life cycle can be solved with the support of MCDA methods? 2. What methods and how could be used by a project manager to make the decision process effective (methodology)? The article is to find the answer for the first from the above questions. The answer for the second question is the subject of another publication of the authors [1]. The project management is perceived as a crucial business part in commercial market (e.g. IT, consulting, building contracts). The project managers role is exposed and they are the authors of a project success or failure. IT projects belong to the most difficult ones due to: - an inexact or shifting definition of scope and its high susceptibility to change; - many stakeholders to manage; - a variety of interrelationships with other ongoing projects; - risks that are difficult to identify and manage; - difficulties in scope estimation. Decisions are too often founded on a haphazard, inexact combination of experience, logic, and inarticulate feelings without no help of methodology or MCDA system. The dominating IT project management standard is PMBOK (Project Management Body of Knowledge), defined and developed by PMI (Project Management Institute), the international non-profit organization, bringing together the project management professionals. PMI has now more than 200 000 members from 125 countries. In 1997, PMI published the first comprehensive set of project management standards (PMBOK) which became an

PMBOK doesnt address multicriteria decision problems or MCDA methods. This article is going to fill this gap. According the authors, the crucial task is to define the most frequent decision problems in IT project management and categorize them according PMBOK classification.
II. IT PROJECTS RISKS

Statistics and reports show that in most IT projects potential risks are not related to the technology itself, but rather to the project management practices in place. One of the most widely known IT project failure surveys is the landmark CHAOS Report from The Standish Group (first conducted in 1994). The sample size for the 1994 survey was 365 respondents representing 8,380 applications in banking, securities, manufacturing, retail, wholesale, heath care, insurance, services, and local, state, and federal organizations [3]. The survey results are presented in Table I.
Table I
PROJECT IMPAIRED FACTORS ACCORDING TO CHAOS REPORT FROM THE STANDISH GROUP

The task of the project manager is to evaluate these changes and get the overall ranking in order to choose and accept those with the highest weighting from the perspective of defined criteria and reject other ones. 2). Multicriteria evaluation of requirements: While project planning it is necessary to choose the subset of requirements. 3). Selecting a time compression technique: Schedule changes and project delays make the project managers to look for optimal methods of the project duration time reduction. The decision problem of choosing a time compression technique is analysed in [4] and [5].
Table II
DECISION PROBLEMS IN PROCESS GROUPS AND KNOWLEDGE AREAS DEFINED IN PMBOK

Knowledge area 1. Project management integration 2. Project scope management 3. Project time management 4. Project human resource management

Process group Planning Planning Monitoring & controlling Executing

Decision problems Multicriteria evaluation of changes Multicriteria evaluationof requirements Selecting a time compression technique Selecting a project manager Multicriteria evaluation of candidates for a project team members Project incentive funds distribution Selecting a conflict resolution method Multicriteria stakeholders analysis Multicriteria risk analysis Selecting of negative and positive risk management method Multicriteria risk analysis Selecting of negative and positive risk management method Selecting delivery source Vendor selection

Project impaired factors Incomplete requirements Lack of user involvement Lack of resources Unrealistic expectations Lack of executive support Changing requirements and specifications Lack of planning Didnt need it any longer Lack of IT management Technology illiteracy Other

% of responses 13.1% 12.4% 10.6% 9.9% 9.3% 8.7% 8.1% 7.5% 6.2% 4.3% 9.9% Monitoring & controlling 5. Project communications management 6. Project risk management Initiating Planning

In short, the report concludes that projects often fail because managers cant plan the project and dont make rational decisions. However, while decision-making necessarily tops the list of requisite management skills, few project managers have any actual training in it.
III. DECISION PROBLEMS IN IT PROJECT MANAGEMENT

7. Project procurement management

Planning Executing

In Table II the crucial decision problems occuring in IT project management are identified. Problems are placed in the process groups and knowledge areas defined in PMBOK. Each of the generalized decision problems shown in Table I may occur in the project several times. Below you can find a short comment on generalized problems: 1). Multicriteria evaluation of changes: According to the PMBOK, one of the characteristics of each project is its progressive elaboration; in other words, the ongoing clarification of the project scope as the project objectives become clearer. The project stakeholders may propose different project changes (e.g. in a scope, schedule or budget).

4). Selecting of a project manager: The decision problem from the recruitment area is described in [5]. 5). Multicriteria evaluation of candidates for a project team members: Project teams should consist of people with competencies, skills and availability suitable for a given project. Candidates ranking will enable selection and roles assignment. 6). Project incentive funds distribution: The project manager has usually a limited incentive budget. The budget distribution according to some criteria is a task demanding MCDA. 7). Selecting a conflict resolution method: Conflict is a natural phenomenon in a project and it often forces looking

for compromise solutions on team members. A Project managers task is to find the method of conflict resolution adequate to meet situation. 8). Multicriteria stakeholders analysis: Project stakeholders have different, frequently contradictory expectations. A project manager should evaluate them to prioritize properly project tasks. 9). Multicriteria risk analysis : The number of identified risks in a given project phase may be large. Using MCDA a project manager should evaluate them. 10). Selecting of negative and positive risk management method: The risk can be minimized (negative risk) or maximized (positive risk) using various methods. A project managers task is to choose optimal methods for given risks from different criteria perspective. 11). Selecting delivery source : The problem concerns make-or-buy decision. 12). Vendor selection: This problem is one of the most widely studied decision problems in literature, e.g. in [6].
IV. SELECTING A TIME COMPRESSION TECHNIQUE AS AN EXAMPLE OF COMMON DECISION PROBLEM IN IT PROJECTS

situation by using the MCDA method. Most people consider only time and cost when choosing the timecompression scheme. However, the project manager should also consider other criteria, such as project quality and team morale.
V. FINAL REMARKS AND CONCLUSION

The identified decision problems list placed in the process groups and knowledge areas defined by PMI is the proposal of PMBOK standard enhancement. Facing a decision problem, a project manager, by means of proper methodology, can choose MCDA method to support decision process [1]. Our intention is to influence next PMBOK editions to incorporate MCDA into project management processes.
REFERENCE LITERATURE [1] M. Szymaczek, S. Iskierka: Wybr metody wielokryterialnego wspomagania decyzji w zarzdzaniu projektami, XIV Konferencja Naukowa Zastosowanie Komputerw w Elektrotechnice, Pozna 2009 [2] Project Management Institute: A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide) Fourth Edition, 2008 [3] http://www.standishgroup.com/ [4] R. Nawrowski, D. Opydo, M. Szymaczek, A. Tomczewski: Compression of Project Duration with the Use of the AHP Method, International Multi-Conference on Advanced Computer Systems, 2008 [5] M. Szymaczek: Encourage Effective Decision Making with the Analytic Hierarchy Process , SAP Professional Journal, Volume 11 (2009) [6] M. Szymaczek, S. Iskierka: Analiza korzyci i kosztw wariantw inwestycyjnych za pomoc modelu AHP, XIII Konferencja Naukowa Zastosowanie Komputerw w Elektrotechnice, Pozna 2008

One of the main tasks of a project managers is monitoring the project schedule. The critical-path project activities are of crucial importance for the schedule. The critical path is the path through the project that cannot have any delays. This is why a project manager must carefully manage the tasks on the critical path: if even one of these tasks slips, the end date of the project can slip. From another perspective, the tasks on the critical path can also potentially shorten the duration of a project. Changes in customer requirements, legal changes, and contractors delays may lead to revising the project schedule. New completion dates may be unacceptable to the project stakeholders, so the project manager needs to find an effective way to accelerate project completion. If there are delays on the critical path, the project manager may use one of two kinds of techniques to decrease the activity duration of tasks [4][5]: crashing (a project-schedule compression technique in which you add more resources to the activities that lie on the critical path to shorten project duration) or fast tracking (a project-schedule compression technique in which you change activity relationships; activities that you might originally have performed in sequence are changed to perform in parallel). With the crashing technique, the project manager analyzes the critical path and determines what he can do to shorten it. Cost and schedule tradeoffs must be analyzed as well. Crashing may result in a shorter schedule, but it can also push the projects budget beyond the acceptable range. To balance the potential tradeoffs and still reduce the length of a projects critical path, the project manager needs to look for opportunities to change or modify the activity sequencing, increase the number of team members or improve the technology. With the fast-tracking technique, the project manager looks for opportunities to complete critical-path activities in parallel, instead of sequentially. Fast tracking can raise risks and costs beyond an acceptable threshold, and often results in rework, which nullifies the saved time. The project manager can resolve the decision problem which is better: a crashing or fast-tracking scheme in a given