Mendoza, Mecaela Janine R.

M4T1 – Essay Questions

Please answer the following:

1. Explain what project management refers to. Enumerate the 5 phases of IT project
management as discussed in the videos. Give a brief description base on what you have
learned by watching the videos discussing each of the 5 phases.

The project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to
project activities to meet the project requirements. It has the purpose to identify, establish,
coordinate and monitor activities, tasks and resources for a project that is consistent with
the goals and objectives of the organization. It has various life cycles to effectively control
the projects which are:

a) Identification Phase – identify if a proposed IT project should be undertaken. On

this phase, identifying solutions and providing recommendation will be done that
will be based on the analysis of cost and benefits for each possible solution. After
doing some activities involve on this phase, there will be a project proposal and
this proposal will be evaluated by the project sponsor and determine if it should be
undertaken.
b) Initiation Phase – in this phase, the organization will appoint a project manager
who will be responsible on leading the project team and will manage the whole
project. Defining the project scope and developing the project charter are some of
the tasks that the project manager must do and these will be checked by approving
authority and project sponsor. Once these were approved and have signatures,
this will mean that the project manager will have the power to expend resources
on the project and begin the next phase.
c) Planning Phase – after the approval, there will be various planning activities that
will be conducted such us planning of work, schedule, budget, resources, staffing
need and etc. These planning activities will help the team to ensure that the project
will be finished on time and within the budget that was allotted on it.
d) Execution and Control Phase – the development activities that were identified on
the previous phase will be completed on this phase to produce the project
deliverables required. Then at the end of this phase, the deliverables will be
accepted by the users and the project sponsor.
e) Closeout Phase – the last phase which involves the discussing and documenting
the lessons that were learned while making the project and after making the project
so that these can help the team in making next projects. Also, on this phase,
planning and conducting transferal activities will be done.

2. What is the primary standards organization for project management and what is its
purpose?

The primary standards organization for project management is the Project Management
Institute or PMI that was founded in 1969. The purpose of PMI is to give value to
 professionals through global advocacy, collaboration, education and research. Also, it
helps in the development and maturity of the project management professions.

3. What is included within the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK)?

• Foundational standards - reflect the continually evolving profession;

• Practice standards - describe the tools, techniques, processes, and/or procedures
identified in the PMBOK or other foundational standards;
• Practice guides - provide supporting information and assistance when applying
PMI standards; and
• Lexicon of project management terms - provide clear and concise definitions to
project, program and portfolio management terms in order to improve
understanding and consistent use of terminology

4. List and briefly explain key success factors for effective project management.

➢ Planning – Having an effective project planning will ensure that the tasks will be
adequately defined, resources are available and used efficiently, quality is
maintained, and the project is completed on time and within the budget. Project
planning may be formal or informal depending on the organization but in either
case, basic project management techniques should be used to ensure that the
project is well planned and effectively monitored. In addition, interim milestones
and regular review of project deliverables should be included on the project plan.
More so, the objective of the project planning is to be able to predict the project
duration, resources required and costs. Then the project manager should set up
reasonable plans by establishing goals, estimating the tasks to be performed,
assigning personnel responsible for those tasks, priorities, status, and task
duration.
➢ Resource Management – For a project to be successful, there will be various
factors that need to be considered including that the business must define the
requirements then the application developers have to deliver the code, the quality
assurance group and testers have to validate the code and the infrastructure
groups will responsible in supporting the application. In addition, a project team
that will handle a certain project will be composed one people with various skills
depending on what will be needed on making the project.
➢ Oversight and Tracking – With this factor, the project team must have a regular
checking of the project so that they will have an assurance that the project lives up
to its commitment because even having a well detailed planning for the project this
still fail due to poor execution. O&T ensures that standard process or requirements
are followed and control is maintained during all phases of the development
process. Then O&T continues even after the project is implemented just to make
sure that all of business benefits that were included when the project was approved
are realized as well as ongoing costs stay in line with the original estimates.
➢ Project Management tools – There are a lot of project management tools that can
make a project management effective such as stand-alone and enterprise-wide
 tools. An enterprise-wide project management tool allows for tracking people
working on multiple projects and aid in identifying cross-project dependencies and
issues. Aside from the mentioned tools, there are also the time and measurement
tools such as Critical Path Method, Program Evaluation Review Technique or
Gantt charts then the auditor should just ensure that these tools will be used
according to the management’s specifications. An additional project management
tools are task sheets which are used to allocate time, assign personnel and log the
completion date and cost. But the complexity of today’s projects virtually requires
the use of tools such as Microsoft Project and Deltek’s Open Plan. Microsoft
project provides a flexible tool designed to help project managers handle a full
range of projects. Lastly, the Deltek’s Open Plan allows to closely monitor and
evaluate a project’s priorities, risks and status from initiation to completion.
➢ Project Management Certification – Gaining the PMP certification that is globally
recognized certification offered by the PMI will validate the project manager’s
knowledge, experiences and skills that makes the project to be successful. It
recognizes the experience and capabilities of the project manager on being able
to lead and manage the project. This certification will be an advantage for the
project manager as the demand for skilled project managers continues to increase.

5. List key tasks the auditor may perform during a project’s development.

o Gain the support and cooperation of the users and IT professionals

o Check project management tools for proper usage
o Perform project reviews at the end of each phase
o Assess readiness for implementation
o Present findings to management
o Maintain independence to remain objective

6. Describe current challenges of big data to organizations. How do these challenges impact
project managers and the project management field?

The TechAmerica Foundation’s Federal Big Data Commission (2012) defined big data as
“describes large volumes of high velocity, complex and variable data that require
advanced techniques and technologies to enable the capture, storage, distribution,
management, and analysis of the information.” As big data brings significant benefits, it is
noticeable that it also brings challenges that must be addressed. Challenges such us for
instance, analysis, capture, data curation, search, sharing, storage, transfer, visualization,
querying, and as well as updating. The challenges of big data affect the auditors and also
the project management field. For the project management field, big data means having
more data need to be analyzed, and the more projects will need to be managed. It is
crucial to identify patterns and trends in analyzing a huge amount of data, as well as to
create efficient and effective processes and solutions. With big data, project managers will
be able to identify which processes, solutions or technologies will be best that will lead
them to have a competitive advantage for the organization.