ITEC 3010 Systems Analysis and Design, I

LECTURE 3:

The Analyst as a Project Manager

[Prof. Peter Khaiter]

Lecture Outline
          

IS Projects: Success and Failure Role of the Project Manager Project Management Tasks in SDLC Project Initiation and Project Planning Project Planning Activities Project Schedule Risks Management and Project Feasibility Financial Calculations Tangible and Intangible Benefits Staffing the Project Launching the Project

Project Success Factors



Project management important for success of system development project 2000 Standish Group Study
Only 28% of system development projects successful 72% of projects cancelled, completed late, completed over budget, and/or limited in functionality

Thus, project requires careful planning, control, and execution

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Reasons for Project Failure

      

Incomplete or changing requirements Limited user involvement Lack of executive support Lack of technical support Poor project planning Unclear objectives Lack of required resources
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Reasons for Project Success

    

Clear system requirement definitions Substantial user involvement Support from upper management Thorough and detailed project plans Realistic work schedules and milestones
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Role of the Project Manager

Project management organizing and directing people to achieve a planned result within budget and on schedule Project manager a person has primary responsibility for the functioning of the team. Success or failure of project depends on skills of the project manager
Beginning of project plan and organize During project monitor and control


Responsibilities are both internal and external

Internal Responsibilities



Identify project tasks and build a work breakdown structure

Define the milestones (i.e., key events in a project which can be identified by a specific pieces of documentation or a specific status review meeting) and deliverables to monitor progress.

      

Develop the project schedule Recruit and train team members Assign team members to tasks Coordinate activities of team members and subteams Assess project risks Monitor and control project deliverables and milestones Verify the quality of project deliverables
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External Responsibilities
Report the projects status and progress Establish good working relationships with those who identify the needed system requirements
The people who will use the system


 

Work directly with the client (the projects sponsor) and other stakeholders Identify resource needs and obtain resources

Participants in a System Development Project

A project manager reports to and woks with several groups of people: The client is a person or group of people who will be paying for the development of the new system the customer. The client releases funds and ultimately approves the project. For in-house development, the client can be an executive committee or a particular vice president who is funding the project For large project, an oversight committee may be formed. This committee consists of clients and other key executives who have a vision of the strategic direction of the organization and have a strong interest in the success of the project Users are the people who will actually be using the new system. The user typically provides information about the detailed functions and operations of the new system

Participants in a System Development Project

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Various Titles/Roles of Project Managers

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Project Management Tasks throughout the SDLC

 

Overlap with SDLC phases Beginning of project

Overall project planning

During project
Project execution management Project control management Project closeout

Project management approach differs for

Predictive SDLC (linear, concurrently with SDLC activities) Adaptive SDLC (in cycle, planning is distributed across the entire SDLC) 12

Project Management Tasks in SDLC

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Project Execution Management Following the project schedule  Assigning and coordinating the work of project team  Communicating with all project stakeholders


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Project Control Determining progress and taking corrective actions when necessary  Assessing whether requests for scope changes are necessary  Maintaining an outstanding issues list  Resolving problems

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Project Closeout To smooth project shutdown  Releasing team members for other assignments  Finalizing the budget  Reviewing or auditing the results of the projects


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Project Management and SDLC Tasks for a Predictive Project

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Project Management and SDLC Tasks for an Adaptive Project

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Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK)

 

Developed by The Project Management Institute (PMI) 9 knowledge areas: foundation information for every project manager Scope management
control functions included in system control scope of work done by team

Time management
Build detailed schedule of all project tasks Monitor progress of project against milestones

Cost management
Calculate initial cost/benefit analysis Monitor expenses
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Project Management Body of Knowledge (contd)



Quality management
Establish quality plan and control activities for each project phase

Human resource management

Recruit and hire project team members Train, motivate, team build

Communications management
Identify stakeholders and their communications Establish team communications
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Project Management Body of Knowledge (contd)



Risk management
Identify and review risks for failure Develop plans to reduce these risks

Procurement management
Develop requests for proposals (RFPs) Evaluate bids, write contracts, monitor performance

Integration management
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Project Initiation and Project Planning



Driving forces/Reasons to start project Respond to opportunity Resolve problem Conform to directive

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Project initiation
Top-down projects. The optimal method is through the long-term IS strategic plan, that identifies the overall efforts of the organization to maintain a competitive positions and results in specific projects. Bottom-up projects. Individual department managers or process managers are close to the daily work. They often identify IS problems within their respective areas. Brought to the attention of the strategic planning committee, these needs are integrated into the overall business strategy. In case of immediate needs that cannot wait for the strategic plan (such as a new sales commission schedule or a new productivity report), the process manager may request initiation of individual development projects. Outside-forces project. Projects can be initiated to respond to outside forces. One common outside pressure is legislative changes such as changes in tax or labor law. These changes affect the strategic plan, resulting in an urgent need for new IS.
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CASE STUDY: CSS Project initiation for Rocky Mountain Outfitters

 

Strategic IS plan directs project development priorities RMOs strategic plan is to build more direct customer contact, improve service, and expand the marketing presence Customer support system development selected as a top priority Customer support system (CSS) selected John MacMurty creates project charter Barbara Halifax project manager Steven Deerfield senior systems analyst Goal is to support multiple types of customer services (ordering, returns, online catalogs) Project charter describes key participants
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RMO Project Charter

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Project Planning Activities

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Project Planning Activities and their key questions

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Defining the Problem



 

Review business needs Use strategic plan documents Consult key users Develop list of expected business benefits (i.e., results organization expects to achieve from the new IS) Identify expected system capabilities (at a general level) Define scope in terms of requirements Create system scope document (3 components: problem description, business benefits, system capabilities) Build proof of concept prototype (if new technology or new solutions) to show they are feasible and possible Create context diagram (scope of the IS): an IS, external entities and input/output information flows 28

System Scope Document

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Context Diagram for Customer Support System

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CASE STUDY: Defining the Problem at RMO

Barbara and Steven, the CSS project team, developed the list of business benefits and system capabilities and the context diagram after talking to William McDougal, vice president of marketing and sales Steven did some preliminary investigation on possible alternative solutions (researched the trade magazines, the Internet, and other sources to determine whether there were sales and customer support systems that could be bought and installed rapidly. None seemed to have the exact match of capabilities that RMO needs) They decided to proceed with the analysis phase before making any final decisions about solutions They began developing a schedule, budget, and feasibility statement for the new system.
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Producing the Project Schedule

Each project consists of tasks, activities and phases. A phase is made up of a group of related activities An activity is made up of a group of related tasks A task is a smallest piece of work that is identified, named and scheduled The development of a project schedule involves three main steps:
  

Develop work breakdown schedule Build a PERT/Gantt chart Develop resource requirements and staffing plan
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Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

A work breakdown structure (WBS) is a hierarchy of tasks, activities and phases for the project. It is used as a foundation for developing the project schedule, identifying milestones in the schedule and for managing the costs Each task has an associated duration (sometimes three different values: expected, pessimistic and optimistic) and number of resources required) How to identify tasks:
  

Top-down: identify major activities first, then internal tasks Bottom-up: list all the tasks and organize them Analogy: from similar projects

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RMO Work Breakdown Structure

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Project Scheduling

Developing a project schedule is a four-step process: (1) Project members identify all tasks for each activity (2) Estimation the size of the task: number of human resources, person-day required, calendar time required and any other specific resources (3) Determining the sequence of the tasks (4) Scheduling the tasks themselves There are special techniques and tools for project scheduling (e.g., MS Project)
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PERT/CPM Chart

PERT/CPM (Project Evaluation and Review Technique/Critical Path Method) chart: shows the relationships among tasks defines tasks that can be done concurrently shows the critical path (= the longest path of dependent tasks from the first task to the last task, i.e. the shortest completion period for the project) If any task on that path slips, then the entire project schedule will slip Other tasks (not on the critical path) usually have some slack time (the amount of time that the task can slip without affecting the schedule) Good to show dependencies and critical path but it is not easy to see the projects progress on a PERT chart
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Partial PERT/CPM chart for the CSS project

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Gantt chart
Gantt Chart: shows information for each task as horizontal bar chart where the vertical tick marks are calendar days and weeks:  Doesnt show the dependencies of tasks  A good tool for monitoring the progress of the project  Tasks represented by horizontal bars  Vertical tick marks are calendar days and weeks  Shows calendar information in a way that is easy to track  Bars may be colored or darkened to show completed tasks  Vertical line indicates todays date
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Partial Gantt chart for the CSS project

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Importance of the Proper Project Scheduling

In 1984, Microsoft planned to develop MS Word for one year At that time, this was two months less than the most optimistic estimated deadline for a project of its size In reality, it took Microsoft five years to complete Word Ultimately, the overly aggressive schedule for Word slowed its development for a number of reasons: The project experienced high turnover due to unreasonable pressure and work hours Code was finalized prematurely, and the software spent much longer in stabilization (i.e., fixing bugs) than was originally expected (i.e., 12 months versus 3 months). Aggressive scheduling resulted in poor planning the delivery date consistently was off by more than 60% for the first four years of the project
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Just For Fun

http://www.getfunnypictures.com/crt052.html

MS software release

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Risks Management and Project Feasibility

     

Risk management Organizational and cultural feasibility Technological feasibility Schedule feasibility Resource feasibility Economic feasibility
Cost/benefit analysis Sources of funds (cash flow, long-term capital)
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Risk Analysis

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Organizational and Cultural Feasibility

 

Each company has own culture

New system must fit into culture

Evaluate related issues for potential risks

Low level of computer competency Computer phobia Perceived loss of control Shift in power Fear of job change or employment loss Reversal of established work procedures

 

Positive steps should be undertaken to reduce the risks E.g.: additional training can be held to teach new procedures and provide increased computer skills
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Technological Feasibility
Does system stretch state-of-the-art technology? Does in-house expertise presently exist for development? Does an outside vendor need to be involved? Solutions include
Training or hiring more experienced employees Hiring consultants Changing scope and project approach

 

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Schedule Feasibility
Estimates needed without complete information Management deadlines may not be realistic Project managers
Drive realistic assumptions and estimates Recommend completion date flexibility Assign interim milestones to periodically reassess completion dates Involve experienced personnel Manage proper allocation of resources
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Resource Feasibility
 Team

member availability  Team skill levels  Computers, equipment, and supplies  Support staff time and availability  Physical facilities
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Economic Feasibility
Cost/benefit analysis
Estimate project development costs Estimate operational costs after project Estimate financial benefits based on annual savings and increased revenues Calculate using table of costs and benefits


Uses net present value (NPV), payback period, return on investment (ROI) techniques
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Development Costs for RMO

The project manager has responsibility for estimating the cost of development: Salaries and wages Equipment and installation Software and licenses Consulting fees and payments to third parties Training Facilities Utilities and tools Support staff Travel and miscellaneous

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Supporting details of salary and wages for the CSS project

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Summary of Development Costs for RMO

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Operating Costs
The following list identifies the major categories of costs that may be allocated to the operation of the new system: connectivity equipment maintenance computer operations programming support amortization of equipment training and ongoing assistance (e.g., help desk) supplies
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Summary of Annual Operating Costs for RMO

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Just For Fun

Technical support

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Sources of Benefits
Benefits usually come from two major sources: decreased costs increased revenues Unlike development costs, there are no standard benefits Sample of reduced costs: Reducing staff due to automating manual functions or increasing efficiency Maintaining constant staff with increasing volumes of work Decreasing operating expenses, such as shipping charges for emergency shipments Ensuring quicker processing and turnaround of documents or transactions Capturing lost discounts on money management Reducing bad accounts or bad credit losses Reducing inventory or merchandise losses due to tighter controls Collecting accounts receivables more quickly Capturing income lost due to stock outs with better inventory management Reducing the cost of goods with volume discounts and purchases Reducing paperwork costs with electronic data interchange and other automation 55

Sample Benefits for RMO

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Financial Calculations
Companies use a combination of methods: Fist approach, called the net present value (NPV), has two concepts: (1) all benefits and costs are calculated in terms of todays dollars (present value) (2) the future streams of benefits and costs are netted together and then discounted by a certain factor for each year in the future
beneficial is to determine the payback period, sometimes called the breakeven point. This is the point in time at which benefits becomes equal to the cost of development and operation Third economic measure is the return on investment (ROI). ROI shows a percentage return needed so that the costs and benefits are exactly equal over the specified time period.
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Second method to determine whether investments will be

RMO Cost Benefit Analysis

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Tangible vs. Intangible Benefits

Tangible benefits can be measured or estimated in terms of dollars Intangible benefit cant be directly measured or estimated in dollars In some instance, the intangible benefits far exceed the tangible costs Examples of intangible benefits: Increased levels of service (in ways that cannot be measured) Increased customer satisfaction (not measurable) Survival (a standard capability common in the industry, or common to many competitors) The need to develop in-house expertise (such as with a pilot program with new technology) Examples of intangible costs: Reduced employee moral Lost productivity (inestimable) Lost customers or sales (during some period of time)
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Staffing the Project

There are five tasks within this activity: Develop a resource plan Identify and request technical staff Identify and request specific user staff Organize the project team into work groups Conduct preliminary training and team-building

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Launching the Project

Scope defined, risks identified, project is feasible, schedule developed, team members identified and ready Oversight committee finalized, meet to give go-ahead, and release funds Formal announcement made to all involved parties within organization

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Readings
Todays lecture: Chapter 3 The Analyst as A Project Manager For next week: Chapter 4 Investigating System Requirements

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