Modern Systems Analysis

and Design

Chapter 3
Managing the Information
Systems Project
Learning Objectives
Explain the process of managing an information systems
project.
Describe the skills required to be an effective project
manager.
List and describe the skills and activities of a project
manager during project initiation, project execution, and
project closedown.

Chapter 3 2008 by Prentice Hall 2

Learning Objectives (Cont.)
Explain what is meant by critical path scheduling and
describe the process of creating Gantt charts and
Network diagrams.
Explain how commercial project management software
packages can be used to assist in representing and
managing project schedules.

Chapter 3 2008 by Prentice Hall 3

Pine Valley Furniture (PVF)

Manufactures high-quality wood furniture

Distributes to retail stores within the U.S.

Started in the early 1980s and expanded by

1984 doubling sales volume

By 1990, Pine Valley Furniture had become a

complex company, employing over 50 persons

Chapter 3 2008 by Prentice Hall 4

Pine Valley Furniture (Cont.)
Company organized into functional areas:
Manufacturing

Sales

Orders

Accounting

Purchasing

Established manual information systems

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Pine Valley Furniture (Cont.)

PVF installed a network server to automate

invoicing, accounts receivable, and inventory
control applications.

In the late 1990s, PVF upgraded the network

server and implemented a centralized database
management system.

Chapter 3 2008 by Prentice Hall 6

Pine Valley Furniture (Cont.)
PVF decided to develop its application software
in-house.
PVF hired staff and bought computer software
and hardware.
The new information system will take into
account market conditions, the Internet, and
WWW.
The Project Manager plays the key role in
developing the new information system.

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Managing the
Information Systems Project
A Project Manager is a systems analyst with a
diverse set of skills management, leadership,
technical, conflict management, and customer
relationship who is responsible for initiating,
planning, executing, and closing down a project.

Chapter 3 2008 by Prentice Hall 8

Managing the
Information Systems Project (Cont.)
The project managers environment is one of
continual change and problem solving.

The project managers understanding of the

project management process is critical.

Juanita Lopez and Chris Martin are the project

managers for Pine Valley Furniture.

Chapter 3 2008 by Prentice Hall 9

Managing the Information Systems
Project (Cont.)
Project a planned undertaking of related
activities to reach an objective that has a
beginning and an end

Deliverable an end product of an SDLC

phase

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Managing the Information Systems
Project (Cont.)
System Service Request (SSR) a
standard form for requesting or proposing
systems development work within an
organization

It includes the contact person, a problem

statement, a service request statement, and
liaison contact information.

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Managing the Information Systems
Project (Cont.)
Project management: a controlled
process of initiating, planning, executing,
and closing down a project.
Project Management Process
Initiating
the Process.
Planning the Project.
Executing the Project.
Closing down the Project.

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Project Management Activities

Chapter 3 2008 by Prentice Hall 13

Initiating a Project

Project initiation the first phase of the

project management process in which activities
are performed to assess the size, scope, and
complexity of the project and to establish
procedures to support later project activities

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Initiating a Project (Cont.)
The process of project initiation includes,
establishing and developing:
An initiation team
Organize an initial core of project team members
to assist in accomplishing project initiation

A relationship with the customer

A project initiation plan
Define activities required to organize team

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Initiating a Project (Cont.)

Management procedures
Develop team communication and reporting
procedures

A project management environment

Collect and organize tools that will be used to
manage project

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Initiating a Project (Cont.)

A project workbook
Project workbook an online or hard-copy
repository for all project correspondence, inputs,
outputs, deliverables, procedures, and standards
that are used

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Project Workbook

Chapter 3 2008 by Prentice Hall 18

Initiating a Project (Cont.)
A project charter
Project charter a short, high-level document
prepared for both internal and external
stakeholders

It formally announces the establishment of the

project.

It briefly describes its objectives, key assumptions,

and stakeholders.

Chapter 3 2008 by Prentice Hall 19

Planning the Project

Project planning the second phase of the

project management process that focuses on
defining clear, discrete activities and the work
needed to complete each activity within a single
project

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Planning the Project (Cont.)

Describe project scope, alternatives, and

feasibility:
What problems or opportunities does the project
address?
What are the quantifiable results to be achieved?
What needs to be done?
How will success be measured?
How will we know when we are finished?

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Planning the Project (Cont.)

Divide the project into manageable tasks:

Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) the process of
dividing the project into manageable tasks and
logically ordering them

Gantt chart a graphical representation of a project

that shows each task as a horizontal bar whose
length is proportional to its time for completion

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Planning the Project (Cont.)
The characteristics of a task:
Can be done by one person or a well-defined
group
Has a single and identifiable deliverable
Has a known method or technique
Has well-accepted predecessor and successor
steps
Is measurable so that percent completed can be
determined
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Planning the Project (Cont.)

Estimate resources and create a resource plan:

Constructive Cost Model (COCOMO) a widely
used method which uses parameters that are derived
from prior projects of differing complexity

COCOMO uses these different parameters to predict

human resource requirements for basic, intermediate,
and very complex systems.

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Planning the Project (Cont.)

Develop a preliminary schedule:

Network diagram depicts project tasks and their
interrelationships

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Planning the Project (Cont.)
Develop a communication plan:
Who are the stakeholders for this project?
What information does each stakeholder need?
When, and at what interval, does this information
need to be produced?
What sources will be used to gather and generate this
information?
Who will collect, store, and verify the accuracy of this
information?

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Planning the Project (Cont.)
Develop a communication plan (Cont.):
Who will organize and package this information into a
document?

Who will be the contact person for each stakeholder

should any questions arise?

What format will be used to package this information?

What communication medium will be most effective

for delivering this information to the stakeholder?

Chapter 3 2008 by Prentice Hall 27

Planning the Project (Cont.)

Determine project standards and procedures:

During this activity, you will specify how various
deliverables are produced and tested by you and your
project team.

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Planning the Project (Cont.)

Identify and assess risk:

The goal of this activity is to identify sources of project
risk and to estimate the consequences of those risks.

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Planning the Project (Cont.)

Create a preliminary budget:

A preliminary budget outlines the planned expenses
and revenues associated with your project.

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Planning the Project (Cont.)

Develop a Project Scope Statement:

Developed primarily for the customer

Outlines work that will be done and clearly describes

what the project will deliver

Provides a clear understanding of project size,

duration, and outcomes

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Planning the Project (Cont.)

Setting a Baseline Project Plan (BPP):

Provides an estimate of the projects tasks and
resource requirements and is used to guide the next
project phase execution

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Executing the Project

Project execution the third phase of the

project management process in which the plans
created in the prior phases (project initiation and
planning) are put into action

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Executing the Project (Cont.)

Executing the Baseline Project:

Initiate the execution of project activities, acquire and
assign resources, orient and train new team
members, keep the project on schedule, and ensure
the quality of project deliverables

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Executing the Project (Cont.)
Monitor project progress against the Baseline
Project Plan (BPP)
Manage changes to the BPP:
A slipped completion date for an activity
A bungled activity that must be redone
The identification of a new activity that becomes
evident later in the project
An unforeseen change in personnel due to sickness,
resignation, or termination
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Executing the Project (Cont.)

Maintain the Project Workbook

Communicate the project status

Meetings, status reports, meeting minutes, seminars
and workshops, bulletin boards, memos, specification
documents, brown bag lunches, hallway discussions,
newsletters, and project workbook

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Closing Down the Project

Project Closedown the final phase of the

project management process that focuses on
bringing a project to an end
Closing down the project

Conducting postproject reviews

Closing the customer contract

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Representing and Scheduling
Project Plans
Key differences between Gantt Charts and
Network Diagrams:
Gantt charts Network diagrams
Show task durations. Show task dependencies.

Show time overlap. Do not show time overlap, but

show parallelism.
Show slack time in duration. Show slack time in boxes.

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Representing Project Plans
Resources any person, group of people, piece of
equipment, or material used in accomplishing an activity

Critical Path Scheduling a scheduling technique

whose order and duration of a sequence of task activities
directly affect the completion date of a project

Critical Path a sequence of task activities whose

order and durations directly affect the completion date of
a project.

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Representing Project Plans (Cont.)
Networking diagramming is a critical path
scheduling technique and used when tasks:
Are well-defined and have a clear beginning and end
point.

Can be worked on independently of other tasks.

Are ordered.

Serve the purpose of the project.

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Calculating Expected Time
Durations using PERT
PERT (Program Evaluation Review
Technique) a technique that uses optimistic,
pessimistic, and realistic time estimates to
calculate the expected time for a particular task.

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Calculating Expected Time
Durations using PERT (Cont.)
Formula for Estimated Time:
ET = (o + 4r + p)/6

Where
ET = expected time for the completion of an activity.

o = optimistic completion time for an activity.

r = realistic completion time for an activity.

p = pessimistic completion time for an activity.

Chapter 3 2008 by Prentice Hall 42
Constructing a Gantt Chart and
Network Diagram for PVF
Here are the steps Pine Valley Furniture (PVF)
followed:
Identify each activity to be completed in the project.
Determine time estimates and calculate the expected
completion time for each activity.
Determine the sequence of activities and precedence
relationships among all activities by constructing a
Gantt chart and network diagram.
Determine the critical path.
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 Determining the Critical Path for
Pine Valley Furniture
Calculate the earliest possible completion time for each
activity by summing the activity times in the longest
path to the activity. This gives total expected project
time.
Calculate the latest possible completion time for each
activity by subtracting the activity times in the path
following the activity from the total expected time. This
gives slack time for activities.

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Constructing a Gantt Chart and
Network Diagram for PVF (Cont.)
Slack time the amount of time that an activity
can be delayed without delaying the project.

Free slack refers to the amount of time a task

can be delayed without delaying the early start
of any immediately following tasks.

Total slack refers to the amount of time a task

can be delayed without delaying the completion
of the project.
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Using Project Management
Software
Many powerful software tools exist for assisting
with project management.
Special-purpose project management software
is also available.
For example, Microsoft Project can help with
Establishing a project starting or ending date.
Entering tasks and assigning task relationships.
Selecting a scheduling method to review project
reports.
Chapter 3 2008 by Prentice Hall 46
Using Project Management
Software (Cont.)
Microsoft Project Gantt Charts:
Black line at top indicates a summary activity
(composed of subtasks).
Diamond shape indicates a milestone.

Microsoft Project Network Diagrams:

Hexagon shape indicates a milestone.
Red boxes and arrows indicate critical path (no
slack).
Chapter 3 2008 by Prentice Hall 47
Summary
In this chapter you learned how to:
Explain the process of managing an information
systems project.

Describe the skills required to be an effective project

manager.

List and describe the skills and activities of a project

manager during project initiation, project execution,
and project closedown.

Chapter 3 2008 by Prentice Hall 48

Summary (Cont.)
Explain what is meant by critical path scheduling and
describe the process of creating Gantt charts and
Network diagrams.
Explain how commercial project management
software packages can be used to assist in
representing and managing project schedules.

Chapter 3 2008 by Prentice Hall 49