Project Management Information Systems

PMIS
The Project Management Institute defines a Project Management Information system
(PMIS) as an integrated approach for the management and distribution of project
information. This system does not necessarily have to be electronic but in my experience
it is rare to see a good PMIS that is purely in the paper world.

What is a PMIS?
• A PMIS contains all the information required for the stages of a Project:
• Initiating
• Planning
• Executing, Managing and Controlling
• Closing
• The framework you implement should provide a way for:
• Collecting
• Organizing
• Storing
• Processing
• Disseminating‫ ﻧﺷر‬project information
It also should provide the basis for assessing the status of the project with respect to
time, cost, and quality.

• Initiating
This stage determines the nature and scope of the development.

In this phase, the project manager can use the PMIS for:
Preliminary budget‫ﺗﻣﮭﯾد اﻟﻣﯾزاﻧﯾﺔ‬, labor requirements, and financial structure.
Preliminary schedule
Approval cycle, including defining the Scope of work and presenting the information to
the stakeholders‫ﻟﻣوزﻋﯾن اﻟﺣﺻص‬

Planning

In this Stage the detailed planning and analysis happens and the system is designed.
Controls should be in place that ensure that the final product will meet the specifications
of the project charter
In this phase, the project manager can use the PMIS for:
• Detailed schedule, detailed task analysis, project working calendar
• Cost management planning, detailed work breakdown structure, integration of
control procedures.
• Resource planning, including labor/material/equipment requirements, availability
of resources, and resource leveling
• Obtaining sign-off - This includes establishing baselines for scope, schedule, and
cost.
The main goals of this stage are:

• Communication - This is the point where everyone with an interest should be made
aware what you are intending to do
• Realistic figures - costs and timescales are as accurate as possible
•
Execution, Manage and Control

Once the project is under way, the project team collects and enters current information.
The project team compares the actual to the baseline plan to track project progress. The
PMIS should provide cost and schedule forecasts to help the PM to develop scenarios
concerning alternatives and corrective actions. It assists the project manager and
stakeholders in investigating opportunities for reducing costs and accelerating schedules

In this phase, the project manager can use the PMIS for:
• Materials management, which includes expediting orders, tracking deliveries, and
controlling inventories.
• Cost collection, which includes collecting actual costs, extracting accounting data,
and summarizing cost data.
• Performance measurement, which includes monitoring project status, analyzing
variances, assessing productivity, and forecasting trends.
• Records management, which includes controlling artifacts, tracking contracts, and
records management.
• Reporting, which includes revising budgets, modifying schedules, analyzing
alternatives, and recommending actions
Closing out

During this phase, the project manager and the team can use the PMIS for reviewing
requirements to ensure that the project has met all of its contractual requirements. We
need to properly organize this information because it provides a comprehensive set of
project archives, which includes contract performance review, productivity analysis, final
project report, and historical archives.

• PMIS contains the intelligenceessential to the effectiveplanning, organization,

directing and control of the project
• The making and implementation of decisionsdepend on the character of the
informationavailable to the decisionmakers
• Informationflow is critical for the succesfuloperation of anyenterprise
• Informationcanloseitsvalueifnotprovided in time

Principles of PMIS
 • Information is needed to manage the project – to planning, organize, evaluate,
and control the use of resources on the project
• The quality of management of the project is related to the quality of the
information on the project
• Managers and stakeholdersneedinformation on the project to
dischargetheirresponsibilities on the project
• The project WBS establishes the common denominator for information for
management of the project
• A projectcansufferfrom an overabundance of data

Information is needed to manage the projectduringits life cycle of the project

Information is the medium to integrate the variedsystems in a project
Information to manage a projectcomesfrom a widevariety of sources
Informationprovides the basis for informed‫ ﻣﺳﺗﻧﯾر‬decisionmakingby the
projectstakeholders
Informationsystemsmustreflect the user's management needs
The PMIS shouldinterface‫ ﺗﺗﻔﺎﻋل‬with largerorganizationalinformationsystems

PMIS shoulddo the following

• Beadaptable to differingowner requirements

‫ﺗﻛون ﻗﺎﺑﻠﺔ ﻟﻠﺗﻛﯾف ﻣﻊ ﻣﺗطﻠﺑﺎت ﺻﺎﺣب اﻟﻌﻣل‬
• Beconsistent with organizational and projectpolicies, procedures, and
guidelines
‫أن ﺗﻛون ﻣﺗﺳﻘﺔ ﻣﻊ اﻟﺳﯾﺎﺳﺎت اﻟﻣﺷروع واﻟﺷرﻛﺔ ﻣن ﺧﻼل اﻹﺟراءات واﻟﻣﺑﺎدئ اﻟﺗوﺟﯾﮭﯾﺔ‬
• Minimize the chances of managersbeingsuprisedbyprojectdevelopments
‫ﺗﻘﻠﯾل اﻟﻣﻔﺎﺟﺋﺎت ﻟﻣدﯾري اﻟﻣﺷروع‬
• Provideessesntialinformation on the cost-time-performanceparameters of a
project
‫ﺗﻘدﯾم ﻣﻌﻠوﻣﺎت ﺟوھرﯾﺔ ﻋن ﻣﻌﺎﯾﯾر اﻟﺗﻛﺎﻟﯾف واﻟوﻗت و اﻷداء ﻟﻠﻣﺷروع‬
• Provideinformation in standardizedform anddecision-oriented
‫ﺗﻘدﯾم ﻣﻌﻠوﻣﺎت ﻓﻲ ﺷﻛل ﻣوﺣد وﺗﻛون اﻟﻘرارات ﻣوﺟﮭﺔ‬

Describing a PMIS
• IS shouldprovide the basis to plan, to monitor, to dointegratedprojectevaluation
and to show the interralationshipsamongcost, schedule, and
technicalperformance for the entireproject
• Informationshouldalsoprovide a prospectiveview to
identifyprojectproblemsbeforetheyoccur,
sotheycanbeavoidedortheirresultsminimized
• In additioninformation is required for the projectteam to continuouslymonitor,
evaluate, and control the resourcesused on the project

PMIS is essential for:

• Promoteunderstanding ‫ﺗﻌزﯾز اﻟﺗﻔﺎھم‬
• Establishprojectobjectives, goals, and strategies
• Developmechanisms for controls
• Communicate status
• Forecastfutureperformance and resources
• Recognizechanges ‫اﻟﺗﻌرف ﻋﻠﻰ اﻟﺗﻐﯾرات‬
• Reinforceprojectstrategies ‫ﺗﻌزﯾز اﺳﺗراﺗﯾﺟﺎت اﻟﻣﺷروع‬
• etc..
• Assist project managers in
– Planning
– Budgeting
– Resource allocation
• Analysis
– Variance
– Performance
– Forecasting
• Facile control of changes‫اﻟﺗﺣﻛم اﻟﺳﮭل ﺑﺎﻟﻣﺗﻐﯾرات‬
• Quick review
• Easy periodic updating
•
Benefits of Computer-based PMISs
• Speed
– This is especially true for Internet or intranet PMIS
• Easy
• Economic
• Better and handling and integrating complex data relationships

Computer-based PMIS
• Create and update project files
• Data transfer
• Integrate work, cost, labor, and schedule