FOUNDATIONS FOR SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT (PART 2)

Managing the Information Systems Project

 Project Manager – a systems analyst with a diverse set of skills— management, leadership,
technical, conflict management, and customer relationship — who is responsible for initiating,
planning, executing, and closing down a project.
 Creating and implementing successful projects requires managing the resources, activities, and
tasks needed to complete the information systems project.
 Project – a planned undertaking of a series of related activities to reach an objective that has a
beginning and an end.
 Deliverable – an end product of an SDLC phase.
 Project Management – a controlled process of initiating, planning, executing, and closing
down a project. The focus of project management is to ensure that systems development projects
meet customer expectations and are delivered within budget and time constraints.
 Feasibility study – a study conducted by a project manager, that determines if the proposed
information system makes sense for the organization from an economic and operational
standpoint.
 Systems development projects are undertaken for two (2) primary reasons:
1. To take advantage of business opportunities - providing an innovative service to customers
through the creation of a new system.
2. To solve business problems - modifying the way an existing system processes data so that
more accurate or timely information is provided to users.
 There are four (4) phases of project management:
1. Initiating the project
2. Planning the project
3. Executing the project
4. Closing down the project

INITIATING A PROJECT
 During project initiation, the project manager performs several activities to assess the size,
scope, and complexity of the project and to establish procedures to support the subsequent
activities. Initiating a project establish the following:
1. Project initiation team.
2. Relationship with the customer.
3. Project initiation plan.
4. Management procedures.
5. Project management environment and project workbook.
6. Project charter.

PLANNING THE PROJECT

 Project planning is the second phase of the project management process that focuses on defining
clear, discrete activities and the work needed to complete each activity within a single project.
 The types of activities that can perform during project planning are described in the following
list:
1. Describing project scope, alternatives, and feasibility. The purpose of this activity is to
understand the content and complexity of the project.
2. Dividing the project into manageable tasks. The entire project is divided into manageable
tasks and then logically order them to ensure a smooth evolution between tasks.
  Work breakdown structure (WBS) is the process of dividing the project into manageable
tasks and logically ordering them to ensure a smooth evolution between tasks (see
Figure 1).
 Gantt chart is a graphical representation of a project that shows each task as a horizontal
bar whose length is proportional to its time for completion.

Figure 1. Gantt chart showing project tasks, duration time for those tasks, and predecessors
3. Estimating resources and creating a resource plan. The goal of this activity is to estimate
resource requirements for each project activity and to use this information to create a project
resource plan. The most widely used method is the Constructive Cost Model (COCOMO).
 The Constructive Cost Model (COCOMO) is an automated software estimation model that
uses historical project data and current as well as future project characteristics to estimate
project costs.
4. Developing a preliminary schedule. Assign time estimates to each activity in the work breakdown
structure. These time estimates will enable you to create target starting and ending dates for the
project. The schedule may be represented as a Gantt chart, or as a network diagram, as illustrated
in Figure 2.
5. Developing a communication plan. Outline the communication procedures among
management, project team members, and the customer.
6. Delivering project standards and procedures. Specify how various deliverables are produced
and tested by the project team. Setting project standards and procedures for work acceptance is a
way to ensure the development of a high-quality system.

Figure 2. A network diagram illustrates tasks with rectangles and the relationships and sequences
of those activities with arrows
Identifying and assessing risk. Identify sources of project risk and estimate the consequences of
those risks.
7. Creating a preliminary budget. Create a preliminary budget that outlines the planned
expenses and revenues associated with the project.
8. Developing a project scope statement. Develop primarily for the customer, this document
outlines works that will be done and clearly describes what the project will deliver.
9. Setting a Baseline Project Plan. This baseline plan provides an estimate of the project’s tasks
and resource requirements and is used to guide the next project phase which is the execution.

EXECUTING THE PROJECT

 Project execution – the third phase of the project management process in which the plans
created in the prior phases (project initiation and planning) are put into action.
 There are five (5) key activities of project execution:
1. Executing the Baseline Project Plan
2. Monitoring project progress against the Baseline Project Plan
3. Managing changes to the Baseline Project Plan
4. Maintaining the project workbook
5. Communicating the project status

CLOSING DOWN THE PROJECT

 Project closedown – the final phase of the project management process that focuses on
bringing a project to an end. The project can conclude with a natural or unnatural termination.
o Natural termination – occurs when the requirements of the project have been met – the
project has been completed and is a success.
o Unnatural termination – occurs when the project is stopped before completion.
 Regardless of the project termination outcome, several activities must be performed such as
closing down the project, conducting pot project reviews, and closing the customer contract.

Representing the Information Systems Project

REPRESENTING AND SCHEDULING PROJECT PLANS

 A project manager has a wide variety of techniques available for depicting and documenting
project plans. The most commonly used methods are the Gantt chart and network diagram
(Figure 3).
 Here are the key differences between these two (2) charts:
o A Gantt chart visually shows the duration of tasks, whereas a network diagram visually
shows the sequence dependencies between tasks.
o Gantt charts visually show the time overlap of tasks, whereas a network diagram does not
show time overlap but does show which task could be done in parallel.
o Some forms of Gantt charts can visually show slack time available within an earliest start and
 latest finish duration. A network diagram shows this by data within activity rectangles.

REPRESENTING PROJECT PLANS

 Resources are any person, group of people, piece of equipment, or material used in
accomplishing an activity.
 Network diagramming is a critical path scheduling technique used for controlling resources.
 Critical path scheduling is a scheduling technique whose order and duration of a sequence of
task activities directly affect the completion date of a project.

Figure 3. A network diagram showing activities (represented by circles) and sequence of those
activities (represented by arrows)
 A network diagram would be used when tasks:
o are well defined and have a clear beginning and endpoint;
o can be worked on independently of other tasks;
o are ordered; and
o serve the purpose of the project.

CALCULATING EXPECTED TIME DURATIONS USING PERT

 Programming Evaluation Review Technique (PERT) is a technique that uses optimistic,

pessimistic, and realistic time estimates to calculate the expected time for a particular task.
 The optimistic (o) and pessimistic (p) times reflect the minimum and maximum possible
periods of time for an activity to be completed. The realistic (r) time, or most likely time,
reflects the project manager’s “best guess” of the amount of time the activity actually will
require for completion. Once each of these estimates is made for an activity, the expected time
(ET) can be calculated.

 For example, suppose that your instructor asked you to calculate an expected time for the
completion of an upcoming programming assignment. For this assignment, you estimate an
optimistic time of two hours, a pessimistic time of eight hours, and a most likely time of six
hours. Using PERT, the expected time for completing this assignment is 5.67 hours.

References:

Sajja, P. (2017). Essence of systems analysis and design: A workbook approach.

Springer Nature.
Satzinger, J. et.al. (2016). Systems analysis and design in a changing world (7th ed.).
Cengage Learning.
Valacich, J. and George, J. (2017). Modern systems analysis and design (8th ed.). Pearson
Education Limited.