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SAD Chapter Two

Chapter two discusses the process of managing information systems projects, highlighting the skills required for effective project management and the stages of project initiation, planning, execution, and closure. It uses the example of the Purchasing Fulfillment System at Pine Valley Furniture to illustrate the project management activities and the importance of tools like Gantt charts and network diagrams for scheduling. The chapter emphasizes the need for a project charter and a project workbook to facilitate communication and organization throughout the project lifecycle.

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Solomon Melese
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8 views

SAD Chapter Two

Chapter two discusses the process of managing information systems projects, highlighting the skills required for effective project management and the stages of project initiation, planning, execution, and closure. It uses the example of the Purchasing Fulfillment System at Pine Valley Furniture to illustrate the project management activities and the importance of tools like Gantt charts and network diagrams for scheduling. The chapter emphasizes the need for a project charter and a project workbook to facilitate communication and organization throughout the project lifecycle.

Uploaded by

Solomon Melese
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Chapter two

• Information Systems Development 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 planning, project execution, and project closedown.

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.
Managing Information System Project
• The 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
Cont.…
• A project is a planned undertaking of a series
of related activities, having a beginning and an
end, to reach an objective.
• Where do projects come from?
• How do I know which projects to work on?
• The ways in which each organization answers
these questions vary.
Cont.…
• In the rest of this section, we describe the
process followed by Juanita Lopez and Chris
Martin during the development of Pine Valley
Furniture’s Purchasing Fulfillment System.
Juanita works in the purchasing department,
and Chris is a systems analyst.

• Juanita observed problems with the way


orders were processed and reported:
• sales growth had increased the workload for the
manufacturing department, and the current
systems no longer adequately supported the
tracking of orders.

• It was becoming more difficult to track orders and


get the right furniture and invoice to the right
customers. Juanita contacted Chris, and together
they developed a system that corrected these
purchasing department problems.
• The first deliverable, or end product,
produced by Chris and Juanita was a system
service request (SSR), a standard form PVF
uses for requesting systems development
work.
• This request was then evaluated by the Systems
Priority Board of PVF.
• Purchasing Fulfillment System request
approved by the board …feasibility study.

• In summary, systems development projects are


undertaken for two primary reasons: to take
advantage of business opportunities and to
solve business problems.
• Once a potential project has been identified, an organization must determine the
resources required for its completion by analyzing the scope of the project and
determining the probability of successful completion.

• After getting this information, the organization can then determine whether taking
advantage of an opportunity or solving a particular problem is feasible within time
and resource constraints. If deemed feasible, a more detailed project analysis is
then conducted.

• determining the size, scope, and resource requirements for a project are just a few
of the many skills that a project manager must possess.

• A project manager is often referred to as a juggler keeping aloft many balls, which
reflect the various aspects of a project’s development.
Project Management Activities
project management process
1. Initiating the project
2. Planning the project
3. Executing the project
4. Closing down the project
Initiating the project
• Assess the size, scope, and complexity of the project,
and establishes procedures to support subsequent
activities.
• Establish:
– Initiation team…..project team member…initiating activity
– Relationship with customer…partnership and trust
– Project initiation plan… activity required to organize the team…scope
– Management procedures..
– Project management environment and Project workbook
. Organize and collect tool
. construct project workbook( repository for all project correspondence)
– Developing the project charter
project charter
• a short (typically one page), high-level document prepared for the
customer that describes what the project will deliver and outlines many of
the key elements of the project.
Element of project charter
• Project title and date of authorization
• Project manager name and contact information
• Customer name and contact information
• Projected start and completion dates
• Project description and objectives
• Key assumptions or approach
• Key stakeholders, roles, responsibilities and signatures
Project charter
• common understanding
• useful communication tool

 Before moving on to the next phase of the project, the work performed
during project initiation is reviewed at a meeting attended by
management, customers, and project team members. An outcome of this
meeting is a decision to continue the project, modify it, or abandon it.

 In the case of the Purchasing Fulfillment System project at Pine Valley


Furniture, the board accepted the SSR and selected a project steering
committee to monitor project progress and to provide guidance to the
team members during subsequent activities.
Project workbook
FIGURE
The project workbook for
the Purchase Fulfillment
System project contains
nine key documents in
both hard-copy and
electronic form.
Project charter
Planning the Project

• Defining clear, discrete activities and the work needed to complete each
activity within a single project. you to make numerous assumptions about
the availability of resources such as hardware, software, and personnel.
 Tasks
– Define project scope, alternatives, feasibility(the content & complexity of the
project)
– Divide project into tasks( work break down structure)
– Estimating resources and creating a resource plan (Estimate resource requirements)
– Develop preliminary schedule(assign time estimates to each activity)
– Develop communication plan( Managers, project team member& customer)
– Determine standards and procedures(how various deliverables are produced and
tested )
– Identify and assess risk…source and consequence
– Create preliminary budget…outlines the planned expenses and revenues
– Develop a statement of work…work that will be done and what the project will
deliver
– Set baseline project plan…estimate of the project’s tasks and resource requirements
and is used to guide the next project phase..execution
• At the end of the project planning phase, a
review of the baseline project plan is
conducted to double-check all the information
in the plan.

• As with the project initiation phase, it may be


necessary to modify the plan, which means
returning to prior project planning activities
before proceeding.
Executing the Project

• Project execution puts the baseline project plan


into action. Within the context of the SDLC,
project execution occurs primarily during the
analysis, design, and implementation phases.

• During the development of the Purchasing


Fulfillment System, Chris Martin was responsible
for five key activities during project execution.
1. Executing the baseline project plan.
2. Monitoring project progress against the
baseline project plan.
3. Managing changes to the baseline project
plan
4. Maintaining the project workbook
5. Communicating the project status.
Closing down the Project

• The focus of project closedown is to bring the


project to an end. Projects can conclude with
a natural or unnatural termination.
• conducting post project reviews, and closing
the customer contract.
• SDLC…after implementation
• Maintenance ….ongoing activity
Representing and Scheduling Project Plans

• A project manager has a wide variety of techniques


available for depicting and documenting project plans.

• These planning documents can take the form of


graphical or textual reports, although graphical reports
have become most popular for depicting project plans.

• The most commonly used methods are Gantt charts and


Network diagrams.
Representing Project Plans

• Project scheduling and management requires that time, costs,


and resources be controlled. Resources are any person, group
of people, piece of equipment, or material used in
accomplishing an activity.

• Network diagramming is a critical path scheduling technique


used for controlling resources. A critical path refers to a
sequence of task activities whose order and durations directly
affect the completion date of a project.
• A Network diagram is one of the most widely used and best-
known scheduling methods.
Critical Path Example
(dependencies between tasks)

PRECEDING ACTIVITIES
indicate the activities that
must be completed
before the specified
activity can begin.

Sequence of Activities
Network diagram
Calculating Expected Time Durations Using PERT

• PERT (program evaluation review technique) is a


technique that uses optimistic, pessimistic, and
realistic time estimates to calculate the expected
time for a particular task.
• This technique helps you obtain a better time
estimate when you are uncertain as to how much
time a task will require to be completed.
Example PERT Analysis

Estimated time calculations ( ET)


Using Project Management Software

• Most of the available tools have a common set


of features that include the ability to define
and order tasks, assign resources to tasks, and
easily modify tasks and resources.
• Microsoft Project for Windows is a project management
system that has earned consistently high marks in computer
publication reviews. When using this system to manage a
project, you need to perform at least the following activities:

 Establish a project starting or ending date.


 Enter tasks and assign task relationships.
 Select a scheduling method to review project reports.

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