Information Systems. Rationale Aims & Objectives. Rationale Aims & Objectives. Introduction to Project management. Ruel Ellis

Transcription

1 Information Systems Introduction to Project management Ruel Ellis Rationale Aims & Objectives Rationale Even when most modern techniques, methods and tools are used for information systems development, projects still fail because insufficient effort has gone into planning and control. This module presents modern planning and control principles, techniques and tools and gives students an understanding of quality management systems and their role in information systems development Rationale Aims & Objectives Aims to introduce students to the technical and non-technical management activities which pervade the information systems development lifecycle to give students a detailed understanding of the techniques and procedures for the planning and control of an information systems development project to give students an understanding of quality management systems and their role in information systems development 1

2 Rationale Aims & Objectives Objectives demonstrate an understanding of the techniques and procedures for the management of an information systems development project develop a plan and define control mechanisms for an information system development project demonstrate an understanding of the techniques and procedures for software quality control develop a plan for the implementation of a quality management system for information systems development Project Management What is a project? An event in which a group of resources undertake a series of activities in order to produce one or more end-products A unique undertaking with a defined starting point and duration directed at achieving defined objectives, utilizing finite or infinite resources Project Management Examples of projects that require management Building a house Relocating a data center Writing a book Developing a software program 2

3 Project Management Essential characteristics of a project A project is unique It has defined start, duration and end dates A project has constraints imposed upon it such as money, equipment, location, resources A project also has a list of objectives to follow which is considered a statement describing the end-product Project Management What is project management? Project Management is the management of an organized set of activities directed towards a common goal, using specified management structures and techniques that include a variety of tasks Project Management Characteristics of Project Management include the: Determining of project objectives Managing of budgets and resources Reporting of project progress Evaluating efficiency and effectiveness 3

4 Project Management There is a need for project management as many projects fail to: establish good business reasons for taking on the job keep the final client consulted and involved at every step identify the required end-products in sufficient detail define how satisfactory completion of each product will be measured Project Management Need for project management..continued identify and control all necessary activities accurately estimate the effort required for an activity leave any allowance for poor estimating or things going wrong control the many changes to requirements which will occur Project Management A successful project must be completed: on schedule within budget complete with all the functions defined by the user As a result, these requirements need to be controlled to obtain a successful project 4

5 Project Management a project management methodology will provide much of the control needed the use of a standard development methodology will list the activities to be conducted and their sequence many methods and models exist to assist in the planning of the management of a project: Waterfall Code & fix Spiral discussed in detail in a separate lecture Project Managers are responsible for managing projects they co-ordinate the project and related tasks in sequence have direct responsibilities for resources assigned to the project their main aim is to ensure the project gets completed correctly and on time Project Management Process The software project management process is the first layer of the software engineering process The PM process is a layer rather than a step or activity as it overlays the entire software development process from beginning to end 5

6 Project Management Process In order to conduct a successful software project a project manager must understand: the scope of the work to be delivered the risks to be incurred the resources required the tasks to be accomplished the effort & cost to be expended the schedule to be followed Project Management Process The Project Management Process involves the following steps: planning - estimation of effort, duration & scheduling resources to certain activities or tasks authorization - review and approval of plans monitoring - recording of actual time & costs, measurement of actuals against plans, evaluation of product being generated, including user involvement throughout Project Management Process re-planning - identifying where actual progress has deviated from the project plan & proposal of remedial action change control - ensuring that changes to requirements, changes to product status etc.. are carefully monitored and controlled Like any business project, a software project must possess goals, steps, deliverables, staffing & schedules in order to be completed successfully 6

7 Project Management Terminology Project goal is a result that should occur if the project is carried out successfully project management goals must be clear & measurable and achievable Project Management Terminology Project steps or sub-projects the essence of project management is the control of tasks that occur in a particular sequence which have an expected duration dividing a project into steps/sub-projects clarifies what needs to be done helps the people doing the project to understand exactly what they have to do & how their work fits into the overall project Project Management Terminology Project deliverable each step in the project produces one or more deliverable as a result of work completed a deliverable is a tangible work product, in the form of a document, executive summary report, plan or program 7

8 Project Management Terminology Project deliverable specifying exactly what deliverables are expected within each project step makes sure that work on the project is progressing, as the steps are not complete until the deliverable is finished deliverables provide a running history of what was conducted, who conducted it, when where and why! Project Management Terminology Project schedule project deliverables are produced according to a schedule the schedule of a project identifies when the major steps will occur & who will do the work Project Management Terminology Gantt charts represent a schedule visually by displaying tasks along with their planned and actual start and completion times, resources, requirements & deliverables are produced according to this schedule tasks on a GC may or may not overlap in time and may or may not have mutual dependencies 8

9 Project Management Terminology Gantt charts resource requirements may be stated in terms of person/months, money or time allocations Gantt charts excellent for communicating with others, identifying problems, deciding on corrective action Project Management Terminology Critical Path Method (CPM) is a method of calculating the total duration of a project based on a specified start date and on the individual duration of tasks and on their dependencies CPM also provides useful information about how far a task can slip into the future before it moves other tasks or makes the project finish later than originally planned PM Roles & Responsibilities dividing a project into scheduled steps with deliverables is essential for PM, however, for the work to occur, roles and responsibilities must be assigned the division of labour is an important element of software projects different people performing different roles is essential to complete the project efficiently 9

10 PM Roles & Responsibilities Technical roles - systems analysts, programmer-analysts, application programmers, technical writers, computer operators, database administrators, QA personnel User roles - user support staff, sponsors, user operators, user representatives Management roles - project managers, user department managers, quality managers, financial controllers, senior executives Project Planning planning can be described as the function of selecting business objectives and establishing policies, procedures & programs necessary for achieving them. planning fully defines the project work to be done, by whom and when Project Planning Project planning is required for a number of reasons: to eliminate or reduce project uncertainty to improve efficiency of the development process to obtain a better understanding of project objectives to provide a basis for monitoring & controlling project 10

11 Project Planning one thing that is critical to the planning activity is an understanding of the project objectives, as these define the ultimate criteria against which the success of the project will be measured the project may not concurrently satisfy all the objectives, in which case project priorities must be agreed at the outset of the planning phase Levels of Project Planning A project plan shows the major technical activities of the whole project and the resources required this plan is produced at the outset of the planning phase and is the basis for more detailed project planning the time-frame of a project plan is in terms of year quarters (3 mths) or years Levels of Project Planning A project plan should : provide a plan for the full lifecycle of the project, from project initiation to project closure divide the project into major stages and allocate activities to these stages schedule the activities 11

12 Levels of Project Planning A project plan should also : indicate the resources to be allocated to the project during each calendar month establish the project tolerances(resources/time constraints) indicate the project milestones & assessment dates Levels of Project Planning A stage plan is a plan for each major stage in the project this is similar to the project plan, yet it contains lower detail the stage plan will illustrate all the required activities, where a project plan only shows the scheduling of major tasks within a stage Levels of Project Planning A stage plan the time-frame of this plan is in terms of months depending on the complexity of the stage, a further detailed plan may be produced 12

13 Levels of Project Planning An individual work plan this is the lowest level of project plan an individual project plan schedules the activities of an individual member of the project team the time-frame of this plan is usually in terms of weeks Types of Project Plans A technical plan - sequences and schedules the activities needed to accomplish the project or stage A resource plan - shows the amount and cost of each type of resource needed to carry out the technical plan Types of Project Plans Other types of plan may be developed, typically, these will relate to activities which do not come under the explicit control of a stage plan and can be regarded as functions which span the project lifecycle, these include: Quality assurance plan Configuration management plan Test strategy plan 13

14 Elements of a Project Plan A project plan should provide: graphical summary plan description plan assumptions external dependencies associated risks The PM Planning Process Project definition - includes a careful statement of the project objectives Project estimation - quantifies the duration's and costs of performing the work defined Network/Time analysis - investigates the interdependencies between activities in the project with a view to identifying the overall project duration and the most critical activities for ensuring the project meets its deadlines The PM Planning Process Network/Resource analysis - this function revises the results of time analysis to take account of available resources for the project, on the basis of unit costs associated with each resource, a final cost estimate for the project can be produced The planning process follows the logic of the above sequence, however, these activities will be performed iteratively & simultaneously in order to produce a realistic plan 14

15 Overview Brief introduction to Project Management concepts & terminology Where to find all PM module information Onus on students to check webpage & noticebard regularly Next week on concentrating on the Rapid Development Project management methodology for the rest of the course 15