Information Systems Strategy

Week Lecture
Information Management 21 October Value of IT in Organizations
for Premaster 28 October IT Governance
IT Project Management 04 November IT Project Management
11 November Selected Topics on IS Strategy

Information Systems Strategy Goals of Today’s Lecture

Week Lecture
21 October Value of IT in Organizations
28 October IT Governance
04 November IT Project Management
11 November Selected Topics on IS Strategy Understand basic project and Possess basic ability to plan
IT project management and execute IT projects

Agenda Agenda

Agenda Agenda
1 Basic Terms and Definitions 1 Basic Terms and Definitions
2 IT Project Management 2 IT Project Management
3 Project Lifecycle 3 Project Lifecycle
Defining Organizations Project Definition

We need projects because innovation is driven by projects!

Organizations are (1) social entities that (2) are goal- A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to
directed, (3) are designed as deliberately structured create a unique product, service, or result. The
and coordinated activity systems, and (4) are linked
to the external environment. temporary nature of projects indicates that a
project has a definite beginning and end.

Source: PMI (2017)

“The Trick is to Never Finish the Project“ Project Characteristics

Projects may include repetitive elements in deliverables or activities

but they do not change the fundamental and unique characteristics
of the project work

Projects are undertaken at all organizational levels:

single individual or group from single or multiple organizational units

Project‘s deliverables may exist beyond the end of a project:

It’s a unique and verifiable product, result, or capability to perform a
service that is required to be produced to complete a process,
phase, or project. Deliverables may be tangible or intangible.

Source: PMI (2017)

Software Characteristics and Their Consequences The Slack Notifications Flowchart

SW Characteristics Challenges for IT Project Management

• Communication is difficult
Immaterial product
• Progress measurement relies on trust and estimation
No physical restrictions • Small changes in specification can lead to huge implementation
for changes at any time changes
• Difficulty to imagine impact of changes
No wear out • Old systems grow for decades without replacement

Aging through alternative innovations • Technology-driven innovations might challenge user’s acceptance

• Effort estimations are difficult to make

Difficult to quantify
• Unknown interdependencies might increase effort estimations

Easy to replicate • Assessment of reusability is difficult and might be over-estimated

Selected Issues in Software-Related Projects Agenda

Requirements Issues • Unrealistic project goals, uncontrolled scope creep with no

allowance for such in the plan

Estimating Issues • Inappropriate schedule, no process to re-estimate when the Agenda

project changes, no reasonableness checks

• Trying to test in quality rather than a process that implements 1 Basic Terms and Definitions
Quality Issues
quality throughout
2 IT Project Management
Poor Team • High rework (doing the same thing multiple times due to issues
Productivity with the initial work) 3 Project Lifecycle
Project Management
• Lack of planning, earned value, impact of changes and issues, …
Issues

Cultural Issues • Hiding the bad news

Project Management Definition Project Management Characteristics

Project management is accomplished through the appropriate

application and integration of the project management processes
identified for the project

Project management is the application of Project management enables organizations to execute projects
knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to effectively and efficiently

project activities to meet the project

requirements. Project management best practices often compiled in standardized
project management approaches, e.g., PMI’s Project Management
Body of Knowledge (PMBOK)

Source: PMI (2017) Source: PMI (2017)

The Triple Constraint of Project Management Agenda

• Additional features • Budget cuts

• Bad requirements • Bad estimation
• “Scope creep” • External shocks Agenda
1 Basic Terms and Definitions
Quality 2 IT Project Management
Time 3 Project Lifecycle

• Project resources unavailable

• Bad estimation
• Project dependencies
Phases of a Project The Project Lifecycle

• Project management requires permanent interaction between monitoring and other

project processes
• Output of one process becomes an input to another process or is a deliverable of the

Cost and Staffing Level

project

Planning Processes

Enter Phase/ Initiating Monitoring & Closing Exit Phase/

Start project Processes Controlling Processes End project
Processes
1 2 3 4
Project Project Project Accepted Archived Project
Management Charter Management Plan Deliverables Documents
Executing Processes Outputs Time
Source: PMI (2017)

Source: PMI (2008, 2017)

1 Project charter 2 Project management plan

• Formally authorizes a project Prerequisite Description

• Provides direct link between the project and the organization‘s strategic objectives • Project specific, time • Deadlines fixed in tables
Milestone critical events • Project is steered with high
• Documents initial requirements that satisfy the stakeholder’s needs and Planning • Milestone events amount of energy
expectations
• List of work packages • Introduces sequence
• 3Cs: clear, concise, consensus
List of dates • Start and end dates • Estimate effort
• Dependencies emerge
Inputs Tools & Techniques Outputs • List of work packages • Visualization via
1. Business documents 1. Expert judgment Gantt-chart • Start and end dates proportional bars
2. Data gathering
• Business case
1. Project charter
• Time table with time scale • Explicit dependencies
• Business management • Brainstorming
• Focus groups 2. Assumption log
plan • List of work packages • Visualization of work
2. Agreements
• Interviews
3. Interpersonal and team • Start and end dates packages
3. Enterprise PERT chart
environmental factors skills • Additional restrictions • Dependencies of work
4. Organizational process • Conflict management packages
assets • Facilitation
• Meeting management
4. Meetings
Source: PMI (2008, 2017) Source: PMI (2008, 2017)

Visualization of Project Plans with Gantt Charts Gantt Charts in PowerPoint

• Gantt charts illustrate the start and finish dates of a project schedule
• A Gantt chart can be used to visualize dependencies
• A high number of dependencies can lead to complex and unreadable charts

Source: https://www.think-cell.com/
PERT Charts A Project’s Critical Path

• The program evaluation and review technique (PERT) is an event-based network

technique used to analyze tasks of a project plan
• Dependencies and concurrencies can be used to visualize dependencies and to
identify critical paths
Select Hosting Service
A critical path generally is the sequence of scheduled activities
2 2 day
that determines the duration of the project.
1/19/12 1/20/12 It is the longest path through the project.
Design Web site Write HTML Finalize Code Test
1 10 days 3 20 days 5 6 days 6 10 days
1/9/12 1/18/12 1/19/12 2/7/12 2/8/12 2/13/12 2/14/12 2/23/12
• A delay of activities on the critical path directly impact the planned project completion date
Create Art Work • Especially in challenging project situations project managers have to determine activities
4 10 days on the critical part
1/19/12 1/28/12 • Based on the critical path activities can be prioritized and a clear guidance can be given
to the project team
Source: PMI (2008)

Example: Critical Path Example: Critical Path

• Changes in the project schedule may impact the critical path

• Example: Hosting service selection will be delayed by one month but the estimation for
finalizing the code is reduced by 50%

Select Hosting Service Select Hosting Service

2 2 days 2 2 days New Critical Path

1/19/22 1/20/22 2/19/22 2/20/22

Design Web site Write HTML Finalize Code Test Design Web site Write HTML Finalize Code Test
1 10 days 3 20 days 5 6 days 6 10 days 1 10 days 3 20 days 5 3 days 6 10 days
1/9/22 1/18/22 1/19/22 2/7/22 2/8/22 2/13/22 2/14/22 2/23/22 1/9/22 1/18/22 1/19/22 2/7/22 2/8/22 2/10/22 2/14/22 3/01/22

Create Art Work Create Art Work

4 10 days Critical Path 4 10 days
1/19/22 1/28/22 1/19/22 1/28/22

3 Project Deliverable: Scope Validation 3 Project Deliverable: Control Quality

• Formal acceptance of project’s scope: • Formal acceptance of deliverables’ quality:

• Accepting the deliverables of the completed project • Quality control is primarily concerned with correctness of the deliverables
• Scope verification is to check deliverables against the agreed scope of the • Quality control ensures to meet the quality requirements specified for the
project deliverables

Inputs Outputs
Inputs Outputs
1. Project management plan 1. Quality control measurements
2. Project documents 2. Verified deliverables
1. Project management plan 1. Accepted deliverables 3. Work performance information
3. Approved change requests
2. Project documents 2. Work performance information 4. Change requests
4. Deliverables
3. Verified deliverables 3. Change requests 5. Project management plan updates
5. Work performance data
4. Work performance data 4. Project documentation updates 6. Project documents updates
6. Enterprise environmental factors
7. Organizational process access

Source: PMI (2008, 2017) Source: PMI (2008, 2017)

 4 Project Closure and Documentation Adoption & Use of IT in Organizations

• To finalize a project all activities and documents need to be closed and archived Adoption Use
• The following activities are necessary for administrative closure: “Causes and
motivation”
“Realizing
 Satisfy completion or exit criteria for the project benefits”
“Choosing a “Flurry of excitement”
 Transfer the project’s products, services, or results to production Organizational course of “Go-Live”
Level action”
 Collect project or phase records and audit project success or failure
“Reflect, learn,
 Gather lessons learned and archive project information for future use and improve” “Gaining
“Preparing for Go-Live” momentum”
“Individuals
Inputs Outputs trying to use
the system”
1. Project charter
2. Project management plan
1. Project documentation updates Individual “The dust has
2. Final product, service, or result
3. Project documents transition Level settled”
4. Accepted deliverables 3. Final report “Trial and error”
5. Business documents 4. Organizational process assets
6. Agreements updates
7. Procurement documentation
8. Organizational process assets

Source: PMI (2008, 2017)