Information Systems Project Management—David Olson

11-1

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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
11-2

Chapter 11: Project Control

keep project on target

as close to plan as feasible
adapt to new circumstances

© McGraw-Hill/Irwin 2004
Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
11-3

Planning vs. Control

Planning Control
• set goals & • guide work
directions toward goals
• allocate resources • ensure effective
use of resources
• anticipate • correct problems
problems • reward
• motivate achievement

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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
11-4

IS Control Problems
Lin & Hsieh (1995)

• Corporate Culture can be closed to new ideas

• Organizational Stability if changing, too busy
• Developer Experience with IT
• Developer Task Proficiency
• Project Size bigger projects, greater risks
• System Structure changing requirements cause problems

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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
11-5

Managerial Actions to Maintain

Project Control Ahituv et al. [1999]
1. Early user involvement
2. Senior non-technical management in
charge for time and budget performance
3. Milestones for accurate project progress
measurement
4. Hold suppliers & vendors legally
responsible for deadlines
5. Don’t change project requirements

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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
11-6

Risk Management
Boehm (1989) top risk items
• Personnel shortfalls
• Dynamic requirements
• Externally provided components
• Real-time performance benchmark
• Development
incremental development, requirements scrubbing
• Unrealistic estimates multiple sources

© McGraw-Hill/Irwin 2004
Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
11-7

the Control Process

• assess actual vs planned technical
accomplishment
• verify validity of technical
objectives
• confirm need for project
• time progress to match operational
requirements
• oversee resource usage
• monitor costs
© McGraw-Hill/Irwin 2004
Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
11-8

Control Process Phases

• performance standards - technical
specifications, budgeted costs,
schedules, resource requirements
– from user specifications, project plan
• compare performance with plan -
forecast anticipated date and cost
at completion
• corrective action taken when
severe variance encountered
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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
11-9

Control Devices
• Responsibility Assignment
– Chart activities with personnel
• identify what each is responsible for
• Budget
– variance analysis
– Earned Value

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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
11-10

Earned Value

Work Package Budgeted % done Earned Actual

A 20 100 20 25
B 10 100 10 8
C 12 50 6 6
D 20 75 15 15
Total earned value 51 54
Efficiency = earned/actual
A = 20/25 = 0.80 B = 10/8 = 1.25
total project = 51/54 = 0.94

© McGraw-Hill/Irwin 2004
Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
11-11

Traditional Cost Control

• variance analysis
• in project management, deficient -
doesn’t track how much work
completed, no projections of future
costs
– so show quantities
– progress may be nonlinear

© McGraw-Hill/Irwin 2004
Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
11-12

Project Cost Monitoring

• tie to work packages
– work descriptions
– time-phased budgets
– work plans & schedules
– responsibility assignments
– resource requirements
• keep up with change orders

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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
11-13

Work Authorization
upper management authorizes
project
↓
project manager authorizes
department work
via work orders
↓
functional managers authorize work
orders to sections
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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
11-14

Data Collection
upper management continues or
cans
↑
project manager adjusts to solve
problems
↑
work sections report progress

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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
11-15

Data Collection & Tally

• periodically collect data about
actual costs and work progress
• project control accounting system
tallies and summarizes
– by work package
– by department
– project overall
• manager intimately familiar with
budget, actual
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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
11-16

Project Review Meetings

• where things are going wrong

– emergencies
– time bombs
– opportunities
• should be periodical
• participants should have
information prior
• give assignments to present in
advance
– broaden participation
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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
11-17

When to Hold Review

Meetings
• periodic
– regularity leads to more thorough preparation
– can have in central meeting place
• with network schedule on wall
• key data available
• special event
– at critical milestones

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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
11-18

Corrective Action
• identify WHEN ACTION NECESSARY
– how much variance is acceptable?
– rather than preset limits, ought to be constant
projection to completion
– is change worse than current?

© McGraw-Hill/Irwin 2004
Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
11-19

Reasons for Changes

• change in project scope &
specification
• changes in design - errors,
omissions, afterthoughts, revised
needs
• changes to improve rate of return
• changes to adopt improvements

© McGraw-Hill/Irwin 2004
Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
11-20

Impact of Changes
• cause grief
• the more the project completed,
the more difficult to change
• impact on project scope, cost,
schedule are major sources of
conflict
• may reduce changes & impact by
change review process
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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
11-21

Summary
• project control guides work toward
goals
• assess actual versus planned
• need data collection, information
dissemination
• focus on work package & cost
account
• use authorization process
• constantly© McGraw-Hill/Irwin
update projected 2004