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V. PRE-REQUISITE : CBE2IT
The IT Project Management course is a non-laboratory course that focuses on planning, monitoring, controlling
and maintaining IT Projects. The course will help the students to understand different approach in conducting a
project, learn different methods and be able to create a proper team structure for a project. The course will also
help the students to identify the processes, techniques, tools, bodies of knowledge needed to manage an IT
project, and best practices applied to various areas of Information Technology. The course is not limited to the
concepts of Project Management but it also integrates the methods of an Object Oriented Approach.
WHAT IS A PROJECT?
Project is a temporary endeavor to create a unique product or service.
- Has a definite goal and can be divided into several phases.
- an endeavor to produce/accomplish the following below through a unique set of interrelated tasks and
an effective utilization of resources
portfolio is a collection of projects or programs and other works that are grouped together to facilitate an
effective management of that work to meet strategic business objectives.
Triple Constraints
Scope - the sum of the products and services to be provided as a project.
Time - refers to the amount of time (hours, days, weeks, months) allocated to completing the project.
Cost - refers to the resources being spent (usually money) in order to turn the requirements into an
acceptable system.
Stakeholder - individuals and organizations that are actively involved in the project, or whose interests
may be positively or negatively affected as a result of project execution or project completion.
The Manhattan Project, which the U.S. military led to develop the atomic bomb in World War II. The
Manhattan Project involved many people with different skills at several different locations. It also clearly
separated the overall management of the projects mission, schedule, and budget under General Leslie R. Groves
and the technical management of the project under the lead scientist, Dr. Robert Oppenheimer. The Manhattan
Project lasted about three years and cost almost $2 billion in 1946.
Manhattan Project was the 1st project that used modern project management techniques.
During the Cold War years of the 1950s and 60s, the military continued to be important in refining several
project management techniques. Members of the U.S. Navy Polaris missile/ submarine project first used network
diagrams in 1958. These diagrams helped managers model the relationships among project tasks, which allowed
them to create schedules that were more realistic.
By the 1970s, the U.S. military and its civilian suppliers had developed software to assist in managing large
projects. Early project management software was very expensive to purchase, and it ran exclusively on mainframe
computers. For example, Artemis was an early project management software product that helped managers
analyze complex schedules for designing aircraft.
As computer hardware became smaller and more affordable and software companies developed graphical, easy-
to-use interfaces, project management software became less expensive and more widely used. This made it
possibleand affordablefor many industries worldwide to use project management software on all types and
sizes of projects.
New software makes basic tools such as Gantt charts and network diagrams inexpensive, easy to create, and
available for anyone to update.
In the 1990s, many companies began creating Project Management Offices to help them handle the increasing
number and complexity of projects.
Project Management Office (PMO) is an organizational group responsible for coordinating the project
management function throughout an organization.
By the end of the 20th century, people in virtually every industry around the globe began to investigate and apply
different aspects of project management to their projects. The sophistication and effectiveness with which project
management tools are being applied and used today is influencing the way companies do business, use resources,
and respond to market requirements with speed and accuracy. Many organizations are now using enterprise or
project portfolio management software to help manage portfolios of projects.
Today, project management is used in some form in virtually all organizations and disciplines, and project
management software is making specialized project management techniques easier to use.
Systems thinking describes this holistic view of carrying out projects within the context of the organization.
Systems approach emerged in the 1950s to describe a holistic and analytical approach to solving complex
problems that includes using a systems philosophy, systems analysis, and systems management.
Systems analysis is a problem-solving approach that requires defining the scope of the system, dividing it into
components, and then identifying and evaluating its problems, opportunities, constraints, and needs.
Systems management addresses the business, technological, and organizational issues associated with creating,
maintaining, and modifying a system.
UNDERSTANDING ORGANIZATIONS
ORGANIZATIONAL FRAMES
Structural frame
focuses on the groups various roles and responsibilities to be able to achieve the goals and policies set by
top management, and on coordination and control
organizational charts
Human resources frame
focuses on providing agreement between the needs of the organization and the needs of the people
identifies the mismatches between the needs of the organization and the needs of individuals and groups,
and works to resolve any potential problems
Organizational Frames
Political frame
attends to the organizational and personal politics which take in the form of competition among groups or
individuals
assumes that organizations are coalitions composed of mixed individuals and interest groups
key issues are conflict and power
emphasize on tactics and strategies
Symbolic frame
focuses on symbols and meanings related to events
issues related are the meaning of work in high technology environments and the image of IT workers as
being either key patterns in the business or a necessary cost
addresses how meetings are run, employee dress codes, and expected work hours
ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURES
Functional organization
used for routine work functions and maintenance of quality and work standards
main criticism is the lack of built-in employee recognition, measurement, and reward for project
performance
Project organization
designed for executing projects
specifically customized to meet the demands of complex projects through isolating unique work and
maintaining a strong focus on completing the project
main criticisms are its inefficiency in technology and use of resources
Matrix organization
represents the middle ground between functional and project structures
used when there are multiple projects being coordinated at once
Personnel in a organizational structure often report to two or more bosses
Organizational Cultures and Styles
Cultural norms
common knowledge on how to approach the work that needs to be done, what ways are acceptable to get
the work done, and who has influence in facilitating the work getting done
STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT
Stakeholders are the people involved in project activities or affected by them.
Stakeholders can be internal or external to the organization, directly involved in the project, or simply affected
by the project.
Internal project stakeholders generally include the project sponsor, project team, support staff, and internal
customers for the project. Other internal stakeholders include top management, other functional managers, and
other project managers.
External project stakeholders include the projects customers (if they are external to the organization),
competitors, suppliers, and other external groups potentially involved in the project or affected by it, such as
government officials or concerned citizens.
Stakeholders request projects, approve them, reject them, support them, and oppose them.
Because stakeholder management is so important to project success, the Project Management Institute decided
to create an entire knowledge area devoted to it as part of the Fifth Edition of the PMBOK Guide in 2012
The purpose of project stakeholder management is to identify all people or organizations affected by a project, to
analyze stakeholder expectations, and to effectively engage stakeholders in project decisions throughout the life of
a project.
1. Identifying stakeholders
- involves identifying everyone involved in the project or affected by it, and determining the best ways to manage
relationships with them. The main output of this process is a stakeholder register.
A deliverable is a product or service, such as a technical report, a training session, a piece of hardware, or a
segment of software code, produced or provided as part of a project.
PROJECT PHASES
Project phases vary by project or industry, but general phases in traditional project management are often
called the concept, development, implementation, and close-out phases.
The first two traditional project phases (concept and development) focus on planning, and are often referred to
as project feasibility. The last two phases (implementation and close-out) focus on delivering the actual work,
and are often referred to as project acquisition.
Concept phase
managers describe the project briefly they create a summary plan for the project
preliminary cost estimate (or rough cost estimate) is developed, and an overview of the work involved is
created
project work is usually defined in a work breakdown structure (WBS)
Development phase
more detailed project plan
more accurate cost estimate
more thorough WBS
Implementation phase
creates definitive or very accurate cost estimate
delivers the required work
provides performance reports to stakeholders
Close-out phase
all of the work is completed
there should be customer acceptance of the entire project
project team should document their experiences on the project in a lessons-learned report
Work breakdown structure (WBS) outlines project work by decomposing the work activities into different
levels of tasks. The WBS is a deliverable-oriented document that defines the total scope of the project.
Unlike projects in many other industries, IT projects can be very diverse. Some involve a small number of people
installing off-the-shelf hardware and associated software. Others involve hundreds of people analyzing several
organizations business processes and then developing new software in a collaborative effort with users to meet
business needs. Even for small hardware-oriented projects, a wide diversity of hardware types could be
involvedpersonal computers, mainframe computers, network equipment, kiosks, laptops, tablets, or
smartphones, to name a few. The network equipment might be wireless, phone-based, cable-based, or require a
satellite connection. The nature of software development projects is even more diverse than hardware-oriented
projects. A software development project might include creating a simple, stand-alone Microsoft Excel or
Access application, or a sophisticated, global e-commerce system that uses state-of-the-art programming
languages and runs on multiple platforms.
BOOK REFERENCE:
Information Technology Project Management, Seventh Edition
By Kathy Schwalbe