CSIT214 - IT Project Management

What is a Project?

• Planned and large undertaking designed to achieve a specific goal, often involving a large or complex task

• Non-routine

• Constrained by time and resources

• Done for a customer

• Some uncertainty

• Handled by a temporary work group

• Involving mutliple specialisms and phases

What is a Job?

• Routine

• Well-defined tasks

• Very little uncertainty

What is a Exploration?

• Outcome is highly uncertain

What are in-house projects?

Client and developer work for the same organisation

What are outsourced projects?

Client and developers belong to different organisations

What are the 3 main project constraints?

1. Scope

2. Cost

3. Time

What is a project’s scope?

Delivering the required features or work

What is a project’s cost?

Staying within the budget

What is a project’s time?

Completing the project on schedule

What is a project manager?

• Could be a contract manager in the client organisation

• Could be a technical project manager in the supplier or service organisation

What is project management?

• Application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities in order to meet project requirements

What do project managers aim to do?

• Achieve the constraint goals: scope, time and cost

• Facilitate the entire project process so the needs and expectations of stakeholders are met

What does the project management framework include?

• Involves 10 knowledge areas, coordinate through project integration management

• Scope management

• Schedule m

• Cost m

• Quality m

• Resource m

• Communications m

• Risk m

• Procurement m

• Stakeholder m

What are the three stages of project management?

1. Feasibility study

2. Planning

3. Execution

What is a feasbility study in project management?

Determines whether the project is technically and organisationally feasible and worth doing from a business perspective

What is planning in project management?

• Occurs after knowing the project is feasible

• A plan is created for how the project will be carried out

What is execution in project management?

Plan is implemented but may be adjusted or changed as the project processes

Who are stakeholders in a project?

• People or organisations that are affected by a project, directly or indirectly

People/groups who:

• Operate the system

• Benefit from the system

• Purchasing or procuring the system

• Opposted to the system

Other:

• Organisations responsible for systems that interact with the new system

• Regulatory organisations overseeing aspects of the system

How can project success be defined?

• Met scope, time and cost goals (constraints

• Satisfied the customer or sponser

• Achieved its main objective i.e. saving money, generating return on investment, meeting sponsor expectations

What are project objectives?

• They answer the question: “What do we have to do for the project to be considered successful?“

• Focuses on what will be delivered, not how the work will be carried out

Who sets project objectives?

• A project authority (project owner) can be one person or group i.e. project steering committee

• They also set the project scope and approve/allocate costs

What are SMART objectives?

• Specific — clearly defined

• Measurable — progress/success can be objectively evaluated

• Achievable — realistic to accomplish

• Relevant — aligned with project’s real purpose

• Time-constrained — completed by defined deadline

What are sub-objectives?

• Steps needed to achieve the main objective

• Conditions or tasks that must be completed along the way

How do we know if a project objective has been achieved?

Through practical tests that can be objectively assessed to determine if it’s been achieved in practice e.g. for software user satisfaction

• Repeat business (customers continue buying products)

• Number of complaints receiver

What is the business case for a project?

• Project should only proceed if the benefits outweight the costs

• Costs i.e. development and/or operational costs

• Benefits i.e. quantifiable (measured financially) or non quantifiable (valuable but hard to measure)

What determines project success or failure?

• Depends on the degree to which objectives are met, praticularly the project traingle constraint which is scope, time and cost

• If a constrain changes, the others may need adjustment

Includes long-term benefits i.e.

• Improved skills and knowledge

• Assets usable in the future projects (e.g. software libraries)

• Better customer relationships leading to repeat business

What activities are involved in management?

• Planning — deciding what needs to be done

• Organising — resources and tasks

• Staffing — selecting the right people for the work

• Directing — giving instructions and guiding

• Monitoring — checking work progress

• Controlling — fixing problems or delays

• Innovating — creating solutions when issues arise

• Representing — communicating and coordinating with clients, users, developers and other stakeholders

How does management control support decision-making?

• Uses a process that turns data into decisions and actions

• Data — raw facts or details

• Information — processed data that becomes meaningful and useful

• Comparison with objectives — checking if progress meets targets

• Modelling — analysing possible outcomes of different decisions

• Implementation — carrying out the actions that have been decided

What is Project Integration Management?

• Responsibility of the project manager to coordinate all parts of a project throughout its entire life cycle

• Project manager must make sure that all the different knowledge areas of the project work together properly

• Common difficulty for new project managers: focusing too much on small deetails and struggle to see the whole project’s big picture

• Not the same as software integration

What are the main processes in Project Integration Management

1. Developing the Project Charter

2. Developing the Project Management Plan

3. Directing and Managing Work

4. Monitoring and Controlling Project Work

5. Performing Integrated Change Control

6. Closing the Project or Phase

Project Integration Management: 1. Developing the Project Charter

Formally authorise the project and gives the project manager authority

Project Integration Management: 2. Developing the Project Management Plan

Creates the main document that explains how the project will be planned, executed, and controlled.

Project Integration Management: 3. Directing and Managing Project Work

Carrying out the tasks and activities needed to complete the project

Project Integration Management: 4. Monitoring and Controlling Project Work

Tracking progress and making sure the project stays on schedule, within scope, and aligned with objectives

Project Integration Management: 5. Performing Integrated Change Control

Reviewing and managing any changes to the project so that they do not disrupt the overall plan

Project Integration Management: 6. Closing the Project or Phase

Finalising all activities and formally completing the project or a phase of it

What is Strategic Planning?

• Determining an organisation’s long-term objectives

• Activities help organisations decide where they want to go and how they should prepare for the future

Organisations

• Analyse their strengths and weakness to understand internal capabilities and limitations

• Study opportunities and threats in the business environment to understand external factors that may affect the organisation

• Predict future trends that may influence the market or industry

• Project the need for new products and services that may be required in the future

What is a SWOT analysis?

• Method used during strategic planning to evaluate important factors affecting an organisation

• Strengths: internal advantages the organisation has

• Weaknesses: internal limitations or areas needing improvement

• Opportunities: external chances for growth or improvement

• Threats: external risks or challenges in the business environment

What are the main stages in IT project planning?

1. IT strategy planning —> align IT with business goals

2. Business Area Analysis —> find key processes that need IT

3. Project Planning —> define projects, scope, benefits, constraints

4. Resource Allocation —> choose projects + assign resources

Strategy —> Analysis —> Plan —> Allocation

Why must potential projects be narrowed down?

There are many possible projects, so organisations must choose the most valuable ones.

What are common methods to select projects?

• Focus on organisational needs

• Categorise projects

• Use finnancial analysis (e.g. NPV)

• Use a weighted scoring model

• Use a balanced scorecard

What key criteria help decide if a project should be selected?

• Need: Do people agree it’s necessary?

• Funding: Are there enough resources/money?

• Will: Is there strong support to succeed?

What factors are used to categorise projects?

• Project’s impetus: response to a problem, opportunity or directive

• Time window: how long and when it’s needed

• Priority: how important the project is

What does “project’s impetus“ mean?

Why the project exists:

• Problem: fix something wrong

• Opportunity: improve something

• Directive: required by authority (management/government)

What are the main methods used to evaluate a project financially?

• Net Present Value (NPV)

• Return on Investment (ROI)

• Payback analysis

What does Net Present Value (NPV) measure?

The expected net gain or loss of a project by converting all future cash flows (money in/out) into today’s value. A positive and high value is good.

• Future money —> converted to today —> find total gain/loss

What are the steps to calculate NPV and the ROI?

1. Estimate the costs and benefits over time

2. Determine the discount rate for each year

3. Times the costs and benefits with the discount factor to get the present value of costs and benefits

4. Total the present value of costs and benefits to get the total discounted costs and benefits

How is Net Present Value (NPV) calculated?

Calculate the total discounted benefits minus total discounted costs

• t.d.b - t.d.c = ?

What is the discount rate in NPV?

A rate used to convert future money into present value

• using factor: 1/(1+r)^t

It reflects time and economic conditions

How is Return on Investment (ROI) calculated?

1. Calculate the total discounted benefits minus total discounted costs divided by total discounted costs

• (t.d.b - t.d.c) / t.d.c = ?

How to interpret ROI?

It shows how much return you get compared to what you spent. The higher the value is, the better the project.

What is a required rate of return?

The minimum ROI an organisation accepts for a project to be considered worthwhile.

What is Internal Rate of Return (IRR)?

• This is the discount rate that makes NPV = 0.

• The break-even discount rate

What is Payback Period?

• The time it takes to recover the total investment using net cash inflows.

• How long until I get my money back?

• How long it takes for accumulated (cumulative) benefits to catch up with costs.

• Organisations set a maximum accetpable payback time for projects

When does payback occur?

When cumulative benefits = cumulative costs

What is a Weighted Scoring Model?

• A structured way to choose projects by evaluating them using multiple criteria.

• Weights are assigned to the criteria to show how important each criterion is compared to others

• The project with the highest total weighted score is selected

What are the steps in using a Weighted Scoring Model?

1. Identify criteria important for selection

2. Assign weights (must total 100%)

3. Score each project on each criterion

4. Multiply scores * weights and sum to get total score

What criteria can be used to evaluate IT projects?

• Supports business objectives

• Has internal sponsor

• Has customer support

• Uses realistic technology

• Can be done in less than or a year

• Provides positive PNV

• Has low risk (scope, time, cost)

What is a Balanced Score?

A strategic planning and management system that helps organisations:

• Align activities with strategy

• Improve communication

• Monitor performance against goals

Why is the Balanced Scorecard used in project selection?

To ensure projects align with business strategy and are properly managed and monitored.

What is a Project Charter?

A formal document that

• Confirms a project exists

• Provides direction on objectives and management

• Key output of the initiation process

• Stakeholders sign this to show agreement on the project’s need and purpose

What inputs are used to develop a project charter?

• Business case

• Benefits management plan

• Agreements

• Enterprise

• Environmental factors

• Organisational process assets

What basic information should a project charter include?

• Title and authorisation date

• Project manager details

• Schedule (start, finish, milestones)

• Budget summary

• Project objectives (and business need)

• Success criteria

• Management approach (stakeholders, assumptions, constraints)

• Roles and responsibilities

• Sign-offs from stakeholders

• Comment section

What is a Project Management Plan and its main elements?

• A document that coordinates all planning documents and guides how a project is executed and controlled

• Project overview

• How the project is organised

• Management and technical processes

• Work to be done

• Schedule

• Budget

• References to other planning documents

What happens during project execution?

• Work in the plan is performed and managed

• Most time and money are spent here

• Project outputs (products) are created

Progect manager focuses on team leadership and stakeholder management.

What is critical for successful project execution?

• Resource management

• Communication management

• Stakeholder management

What is the purpose of monitoring and controlling project work?

To track performance and manage changes, since changes are inevitable.

What is a Baseline?

A documented starting point used for comparison to track projecct changes?

What happens when closing a project or phase?

• Finalise all activities

• Transfer completed or cancelled work to appropriate people

What is used to close a project?

• Inputs: project charter, management plan, documents, deliverables, agreements

• Tools: expert judgement, data analysis, meetings

What does “scope“ mean in a project?

• Scope is all the work needed to create the project’s products and the processes used to create them

• It includes the final outputs (deliverables) and the steps/processes to produce them

What is a deliverable?

• A product created during the project i.e.

  • Hardware or software

  • Planning documents

  • Meeting minutes

• What the project produces

What is Project Scope Management?

The process of defining and controlling what is included and not included in a project

What does Project Scope Management ensure?

• Ensures everyone (team + stakeholders) has the same understanding of

  • What products will be created

  • What processes will be used to create them

What are the main processes in Project Scope Management?

1. Planning scope management: how scope will be handled

2. Collecting requirements: defining features and functions

3. Defining scope: creating a clear scope statement

4. Creating WBS: breaking work into smaller parts

5. Validating scope: getting acceptance of deliverables

6. Controlling scope: managing changes during the project

What are the most important ideas about scope?

• Scope = work + processes

• Deliverables = output/products

• Scope management = control what is included/excluded

• Goal = shared understanding and controlled changes

What methods are used to plan scope management and what do they product?

Team uses:

• Expert judgement

• Data anslysis

• Meetings

Outputs:

• Scope management plan (part of the overall project plan)

• Requirements management plan

What does the scope management plan define?

It explains how scope will be handled by:

• Preparing a project scope statement

• Creating a WBS

• Maintaining and approving the WBS

• Getting formal acceptance of deliverables

• Controlling changes to scope

What is a requirement according to PMOK for Planning Scope Management?

A condition or capability needed in a product, service, or result to meet a business need

What does the requirements management plan do?

It describes how requirements will be:

• Analysed

• Documented

• Managed

What activities are included in managing requirements?

• Planning, tracking and reporting requirements

• Performing configuration management

• Prioritising requirements

• Using product metrics

• Tracing and capturing requirement details

What are the key ideas in Planning Scope Management?

• Use expert input + data + meetings

• Create 2 plans: scope + requirements

• Scope plan = how project scope is handled

• Requirements plan = how requirements are managed

What are the main ways to collect requirements?

• Interviews with stakeholders

• Focus groups and workshops

• Group creativity and decision-making techniques

• Questionnaires and surveys

• Observation studies

• Benchmarking (comparing with other projects/products)

Help gather what people need from the project

What are the elements of a Project Scope statement?

• Product scope description: what the product is

• User acceptance criteria: how it will be approved

• Detailed deliverables: everything the project will produce

• Project boundaries: what is included/excluded

• Constraints and assumptions

• Supporting documents e.g. speciications

What happens to project scope as time progresses?

The scope becomes more clear and more detailed as the project moves forward.

What is a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)?

• A deliverable-oriented breakdown of all the work in a project that defines the total scope of the project

• It shows everything that needs to be done/defines the total project scope

• Used for planning and control

Why is the WBS important?

Because it is a foundation document used for:

• Planning schedules

• Estimating costs

• Allocating resources

• Managing changes

How is a WBS created?

• It is created using decomposition which means breaking down deliverables into smaller pieces

• Continue breaking down until reaching manageable tasks

What is a work package?

This is the lowest level of WBS, representing a specific task that can be managed and completed.

How can a WBS be structured?

It can be organised in different ways i.e.:

• By product/deliverables

• By project phases

• In chart or tabular form

What approaches can be used to develop a WBS?

• Using guidelines: existing standards

• Analogy approach: use similar projects

• Top-down: start big —> break down

• Bottom-up: start small —> build up

• Mind mapping: visual idea branching

Why is a WBS dictionary needed?

• Because many WBS tasks are too vague, the WBS dictionary provides detailed descriptions of each WBS item.

• Explains exactly what each task means

What is a WBS dictionary?

• A document that gives detailed information about each WBS item

• Removes confusion about tasks

• Ensures clarity, responsibility and consistency

• Helps manage changes properly

• Format can vary depending on project needs.

What kind of details are included in a WBS dictionary entry?

• WBS item number and name

• Description of the task/work

• What the task involves

• Dependencies on other tasks

• When it should happens

It gives a clear explanation of the work

What are the important rules when creating WBS items?

• Each unit of work should appear only once

• A WBS item summarises all work below it

• Each item is the responsibility of one individual

What are the best practices when developing a WBS and WBS dictionary?

• WBS must match how work is actually done

• Team members should be involved in creating it

• Each item must be clearly documented in the WBS dictionary

• WBS should be flexible to handle changes while still controlling scope

What is scope validation?

• Formal acceptance of completed deliverables

• Usually done through custome insepction

• Followed by sign-off

What is scope creep?

Tendency for project scope to keep expanding over time

Why is validating scope challenging?

• Hard to create a clear scope statement and WBS

• Even harder to verify scope and reduce changes

What is scope control?

• About managing and controlling changes to the project scope

• Always aligned with project goals and business strategy