Chapter 3: Managing System Projects - Developed by mechanical engineer and management

consultant Henry L. Gantt almost 100 years ago

What Shapes a Project? - Shows planned and actual progress on a project
- Successful projects must be completed on time, within - Time usually displayed on horizontal axis
budget, meet requirements, and satisfy users - Tasks shown on vertical axis

What Is a Project Triangle What Is a PERT/CPM Chart?

- Cost, scope, time - Program Evaluation Review Technique (PERT)

- Usually, one of these is fixed  Developed by the U.S. Navy to manage complex
 A budget cast in stone project.
 An inflexible scope - Critical Path Method (CPM)
 A schedule fixed by factors beyond the firm’s control  Similar to PERT, developed by private industry.
 Most analysts call both a PERT Chart
What Does a Project Manager Do?
- Good leadership is essential Which is better: Gantt vs. PERT

- Gantt offers a valuable snapshot view of the project

1. Project planning
- PERT is more useful for scheduling, monitoring, and
- Identify all project tasks and estimate the completion time
controlling the actual work
and cost of each
 PERT displays complex task patterns and
2. Project scheduling
relationships
- Create a specific timetable that shows tasks, task
 PERT chart boxes can provide more detailed
dependencies, and critical tasks that might delay the project
information
3. Project monitoring
- Guiding, supervising, and coordinating the project team’s
workload
4. Project reporting
- Create regular progress reports to management, users, and
the project team itself

Step 1: Create a Work Breakdown Structure

What Is a Gantt Chart?
A. Identifying Tasks in a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
- WBS must clearly identify each task and include an
estimated duration
- A task, or activity, is any work that has a beginning and an
end and requires the use of company resources such as
people, time, or money
 Tasks are basic units of work that the project
manager plans, schedules, and monitors — so they
should be relatively small and manageable
B. Listing the Tasks
o List all tasks
o Put tasks in order
o Add a description
o Decide how long each task takes
o Decide which tasks must go first
C. Estimating Task Duration
o Tasks can be hours, days, or weeks
o If tasks uses days, the units of measurement
are called person-days
o A person-day represents the work that one
person can complete in one day
D. Factors Affecting Duration
1. Project Size
o Must identify all project tasks, from initial fact-
finding to system implementation
o How much time will be needed to perform each
task?
o Allow time for meetings, project reviews, training,
and any other factors that could affect the
productivity of the development team
2. Human Resources
o Assemble and guide a development team that has
the skill and experience to handle the project
o Turnover, job vacancies, and escalating salaries in
the technology sector.
E. Displaying the Work Breakdown Structure
1. Experience with Similar Projects
o Develop time and cost estimates based on the
resources used for similar, previously developed
information systems
o Use experience from projects that were developed
in a different environment
2. Constraints
o Constraints are conditions, restrictions, or
requirement that the system must satisfy
o Define system requirements that can be achieved
realistically within the required constraints
 o Called dependent tasks because one depends on
the other
Step 2: Identify Task Patterns o Similar to a relay race
What Are Task Patterns 2. Multiple Successor Tasks
o everal tasks can start at the same time
- Tasks depend on each other and must be performed in a o Each is called a concurrent task
sequence o Often, two or more concurrent tasks depend on a
- Involve dependent tasks, multiple successor tasks, and single prior task, which is called a predecessor task
multiple predecessor tasks 3. Multiple Predecessor Tasks
How Do I Use Task Boxes to Create a Model? o When a task requires two or more prior tasks to be
completed before it can start
- Each section of the task box contains important information
How Do I Identify Task Patterns?
about the task, including the task name, task ID, task
duration, start day/date, and finish day/date - Words like then, when, or and are action words that signal a
sequence of events
Task Name
- Should be brief and descriptive  Do Task 1, then do Task 2
Task ID  Describes dependent tasks that must be
- Can be a number or code that provides unique identification completed one after the other
Task Duration  When Task 2 is finished, start two tasks
- Amount of time it will take to complete a task  Task 3 and Task 4 describes multiple
Start Day / Date successor tasks that can both start as soon
- The start day/date is the time that a task is scheduled to as Task 2 is finished
begin  When Tasks 5 and 6 are done, start Task 7
Finish Day / Date  Indicates that Task 7 is a multiple
- The finish day/date is the time that a task is scheduled to be predecessor task because it can’t start until
completed two or more previous tasks all are
completed
What Are the Main Types of Task Patterns? Step 3: Calculate the Critical Path
1. Dependent Tasks What is a Critical Path?
o When tasks must be completed one after another
 - A series of tasks which, if delayed, would affect the  Gantt charts are often included to show project
completion date of the overall project status graphically
- If any task on the critical path falls behind schedule, the  Handling potential problems can be difficult
entire project will be delayed  An overly cautious project manager who alerts
management to every potential snag and slight
delay will lose credibility over a period of time, and
management might ignore potentially serious
situations
 A project manager who tries to handle all
situations single-handedly and does not alert
management until a problem is serious leaves little
time to react or devise a solution
Project Monitoring and Control
Project Management Examples
- Monitoring and Control Techniques
- PERT/CPM Example
 Structured walkthrough
 STEP 1: DISPLAY THE TASKS AND TASK PATTERNS
- Maintaining a Schedule
 Identify the tasks, determine task dependencies,
 Most projects tune into some problems or delays
and enter the task name, ID, and duration.
 Anticipate problems
 STEP 2: ENTER STAR T AND FINISH TIMES
 Avoid them
 Enter the start and finish time
 Minimize their impact
 Identify potential solutions
 Select the best way to solve the problem

Reporting
- Project Status Meetings
 Schedule regular meetings to update the team and
discuss project status, issues, problems, and
opportunities
- Project Status Reports
 Reports can be verbal but are usually written
 detects the task patterns, and creates a
Gantt chart
 Network diagram
 View is similar to a PERT Chart
 Calendar view
 is similar to a PERT chart as an overlay on a
calendar
- GanttProject is a free, open source program

Risk Management
Steps in Risk Management

1. Develop a risk management plan

 Review of the project’s scope, stakeholders, budget,
schedule, and any other internal or external factors
that might affect the project
 Define project roles and responsibilities, risk
management methods and procedures, categories
of risks, and contingency plans
2. Identify the risks
- List each risk and assesses the likelihood that it could affect
the project
3. Analyze the risks
- This typically is a two-step process
 Qualitative risk analysis evaluates each risk by
Project Management Software estimating the probability that it will occur and the
degree of impact
- Microsoft Project is a full-featured program  Quantitative risk analysis is to understand the actual
that holds the dominant share of the market impact in terms of dollars, time, project scope, or
 Gantt chart quality
 As you enter the tasks, the program
automatically performs the calculations,
 - Failure to develop an accurate forecast that considers all

Risk Management Software

- Assigns specific dates as constraints

- Aligns task dependencies
costs over the life of the project
- Notes external factors that might affect a task
- Poor monitoring of progress and slow response to early
- Tracks progress
warning signs of problems
- Displays tasks that are behind schedule
- Schedule delays due to factors that were not foreseen
- Links risks with specific tasks and projects
- Human resource issues, including turnover, inadequate
- Specifies probability and impact
training, and motivation
- Assigns ownership
3. Schedule Issues
- Tracks progress to manage projects more efficiently
- Problems with timetables and project milestones can
Managing for Success indicate a failure to recognize task dependencies, confusion
between effort and progress, poor monitoring and control
1. Business Issues methods, or turnover of project personnel
- Every system is to provide a solution to a business problem - The failure of an IT project also can be caused by poor
or opportunity project management techniques
 If a system does not do this, it is a failure
2. Budget Issues The Bottom Line
- Unrealistic estimates that are too optimistic or based on
incomplete information
 - Project managers must be alert, technically competent, and - Most project managers use powerful software such as
highly resourceful. They also must be good communicators Microsoft Project to plan, schedule, and monitor projects
with strong human resource skills
- When problems occur, the project manager’s ability to
handle the situation becomes the critical factor

Chapter Summary
- Project management is the process of planning, scheduling,
monitoring, and reporting on the development of an
information system
- A successful project must be completed on time, within
budget, and deliver a quality product that satisfies users and
meets requirements
- A project triangle shows three legs: project cost, scope, and
time. A project manager must find the best balance among
these elements because a change in any leg of the triangle
will affect the other two legs
- Planning, scheduling, monitoring, and reporting all take
place within a larger project development framework, which
includes three key steps: creating a work breakdown
structure, identifying task patterns, and calculating the
critical path
- Task patterns establish the sequence of work in a project
- A critical path is a series of tasks that, if delayed, would
affect the completion date of the overall project
- A Gantt chart is a horizontal bar chart that represents the
project schedule with time on the horizontal axis and tasks
arranged vertically
- A PERT/CPM chart shows the project as a network diagram
with tasks connected by arrow
 - Ensure that it supports business requirements
- Build a solid foundation for system development
Systems Analysis Activities
- Requirements Modeling
- Data and Process Modeling
- Object Modeling
- Development Strategies

A. Requirements Modeling
o Fact-finding to describe the current system
o Requirements for new system
B. Data and Process Modeling
o Graphically represent system data and processes
C. Object Modeling
o Create objects to represent things, transactions and
events
D. Development Strategies
o Software trends, development alternatives,
outsourcing, etc.

Systems Analysis Skills

- Strong analytical skills
- Interpersonal skills

Team-Based Techniques: JAD, RAD, and Agile Methods

- Object is to deliver the best possible system at the lowest

Chapter 4: Requirements Modeling
Systems Analysis Phase Overview
- Understand the proposed project
possible cost in the shortest possible time
- Joint application development brings users into the design
process
- Rapid application development uses a condensed version of
the system development life cycle
 - Agile methods stress intense interaction between
developers and users
Joint Application Development
- Brings users into the development process as active
participants
- User Involvement (formally or informally) created a
successful system
- JAD Participants and Roles
◦ Project leader and one or more members
◦ Participants insulated from distractions of day-to-day
operations
JAD Disadvantages
- JAD is more expensive than traditional methods
- Can be cumbersome if group is too large
JAD Advantages
- JAD allows key users to participate effectively
- Users more likely to feel a sense of ownership
- Produces a more accurate statement of system
requirements
Rapid Application Development
- Uses a group approach like JAD
- JAD produces a requirements model, RAD produces a new
system
- Complete methodology
◦ Four-phase life cycle that parallels the traditional SDLC
◦ Reduces cost and development time
◦ Increases the probability of success
◦ Relies on prototyping and user involvement
◦ Prototypes modified based on user input
RAD Phases and Activities
1. Requirements Planning
- Team agrees on business needs, project scope, constraints,
and system requirements
- Management authorization to continue is obtained
2. User Design
- Users interact with analysts to develop models and
prototypes
- A combination of JAD and CASE tools are used
- Users understand, modify, and approve a working model
3. Construction
- Program and application development
- Users can suggest changes as screens or reports are
developed
4. Cutover
- Includes data conversion, testing, changeover to the new
system, and user training
RAD Objectives
- Cut development time and expenses by involving users in
every phase of systems development
- Allow the development team to make necessary
modifications quickly, as the design evolves
RAD Advantages
- Systems developed more quickly with significant cost
savings
RAD Disadvantages
- Does not emphasize strategic business needs (system might
work well in short term but miss long-term objectives)
- Less time to develop quality, consistency, and design
standards
Agile Methods
- Agile methods attempt to develop a system incrementally,
by building a series of prototypes and constantly adjusting
them to user requirements
- Developers revise, extend, and merge earlier versions into
the final product
- Emphasizes continuous feedback, and each incremental step
is affected by what was learned in the prior steps
- Tools:
Scrum
- A rugby term
- Pigs include the product owner, the facilitator, and the
development team
- Chickens include users, other stakeholders, and managers
- Scrum sessions have specific guidelines that emphasize time
blocks, interaction, and team- based activities that result in
deliverable software
Agile Method Advantages and Disadvantages
- Very flexible and efficient in dealing with change
- Frequent deliverables constantly validate the project and
reduce risk
- Team members need a high level of technical and
interpersonal skills
- May be subject to significant change in scope
Modeling Tools and Techniques
- Involves graphical methods and nontechnical language that
represent the system at various stages of development
- Can use various tools
- Functional Decomposition Diagrams
◦ Model business functions and show how they are
organized into lower-level processes
◦ Top-down representation of a function or process
◦ Similar to an organization chart
- Business Process Modeling
◦ Business process model (BPM)
◦ Business process modeling notation (BPMN)
◦ Pool
◦ Swim lanes
- Data Flow Diagrams
◦ Data flow diagram (DFD)
◦ show how the system stores, processes, and transforms
 data ◦ Data entry screens must be uniform, except for background color,
◦ Additional levels of information and detail are depicted in which can be changed by the user
other, related DFDs ◦ A data entry person at the medical group must input patient
- Use Case Diagrams services into the billing system
◦ Interaction between users and the system
Process Examples
- Sequence Diagrams
◦ The student records system must calculate the GPA at the end of
◦ Shows the timing of interactions between objects as they
each semester
occur
◦ As the final step in year-end processing, the payroll system must
update employee salaries, bonuses, and benefits and produce tax
System Requirements Checklist data required by the IRS
◦ The warehouse distribution system must analyze daily orders and
Output Examples create a routing pattern for delivery trucks that maximizes efficiency
◦ The Web site must report online volume statistics every four hours, and reduces unnecessary mileage
and hourly during peak periods ◦ The human resources system must interface properly with the
◦ The inventory system must produce a daily report showing the part existing payroll system
number, description, quantity on hand, quantity allocated, quantity ◦ The equipment rental system must not execute new rental
available, and unit cost of all sorted by part number transactions for customers who have overdue accounts
◦ The contact management system must generate a daily reminder ◦ The prescription system must automatically generate an insurance
list for all sales reps claim form
◦ The purchasing system must provide suppliers with up-to-date
specifications Performance Examples
◦ The system must support 25 users online simultaneously
Input Examples ◦ Response time must not exceed four seconds
◦ Manufacturing employees must swipe their ID cards into online ◦ The system must be operational seven days a week, 365 days a
data collection terminals that record labor costs and calculate year
production efficiency ◦ The accounts receivable system must prepare customer statements
◦ The department head must enter overtime hours on a separate by the third business day of the following month
screen ◦ The student records system must produce class lists within five
◦ Student grades must be entered on machine-scannable forms hours after the end of registration
prepared by the instructor ◦ The online inventory control system must flag all low-stock items
◦ Each input form must include date, time, product code, customer within one hour after the quantity falls below a predetermined
number, and quantity minimum
Control Examples
◦ The system must provide logon security at the operating system
level and at the application level
◦ An employee record must be added, changed, or deleted only by a
member of the human resources department
◦ The system must maintain separate levels of security for users and
the system administrator
◦ All transactions must have audit trails
◦ The manager of the sales department must approve orders that
exceed a customer’s credit limit
◦ The system must create an error log file that includes the error
type, description, and time The Zachman Framework
◦ Zachman Framework for Enterprise Architecture
Future Growth, Costs, and Benefits ◦ Helps managers and users understand the model and assures that
1. Scalability overall business goals translate into successful IT projects
◦ A system’s ability to handle increased business volume and Interviews
transactions in the future
◦ A scalable system offers a better return on the initial Step 1. Determine the people to interview
investment ◦ Select the right people and ask the right questions
◦ To evaluate scalability, you need information about ◦ Don’t rely on just an organization chart
projected future volume for all outputs, inputs, and ◦ Decide on group and/or individual interviews
processes
2. Total Cost of Ownership Step 2. Establish objectives for the interview
◦ Total cost of ownership (TCO) is especially important if the ◦ Determine the areas to be discussed
development team is evaluating several alternatives ◦ List the facts you need to gather
◦ One problem is that cost estimates tend to understate ◦ Upper management provides the big picture
indirect costs ◦ Users can give you specific details
◦ Rapid Economic Justification(REJ)
Step 3. Develop interview questions
◦ Decide what to ask and how to phrase the question
◦ The same question to different people - for comparison
  Open ended questions encourage
spontaneous and unstructured Step 7. Evaluate the interview
 Close ended questions limit the response - ◦ In addition to recording the facts obtained in an interview, try to
used to verify facts identify any possible biases
 Range of response questions limit the
response – uses a scale Other Fact-Finding Techniques
Step 4. Prepare for the interview
◦ Careful preparation is essential because an interview is an Document Review
important meeting and not just a casual chat - Review old and current forms and documentation
◦ Limit the interview to no more than one hour
◦ Verify time, place, length, and topics via e-mail Observation
◦ Ask the interviewee to have samples available - Seeing the system in action gives you additional perspective
and a better understanding of the system procedures
Step 5. Conduct the interview - Plan your observations in advance
◦ Develop a specific plan for the meeting - Consider the Hawthorne Effect Study
◦ Begin by introducing yourself, describing the project, and  Productivity seemed to improve whenever workers knew
explaining your interview objectives they were being observed
◦ Engaged listening Questionnaires and Surveys
◦ Allow the person enough time to think about the question
◦ After an interview, you should summarize the session and seek a - When designing a questionnaire, the most important rule of
confirmation all is to make sure that your questions collect the right data
in a form that you can use to further your fact-finding
Step 6. Document the interview - Fill-in form
◦ Note taking should be kept to a minimum
Sampling
◦ After conducting the interview, you must record the information
quickly - Systematic sample
◦ After the interview, send memo to the interviewee expressing your  Select every tenth customer for review
appreciation - Stratified sample
◦ Note date, time, location, purpose of the interview, and the main  Select five customers from each of four postal codes
points you discussed so the interviewee has a written summary and - Random sample
can offer additions or corrections  Any 20 customers
 - Main objective of a sample is to ensure that it represents Information Management Software
the overall population accurately
- Personal data management software
Research ◦ Microsoft Outlook
 A personal calendar
- Can include the Internet, IT magazines, and books to obtain
 A to-do list with priorities and ability to check off
background information, technical material, and news about
completed items
industry trends and developments
◦ Microsoft OneNote
- Site visit
 Handles many different types of input, including text,
Interviews versus Questionnaires handwritten notes, images, audio and video recordings,
Web links
- Interview is more familiar and personal
 OneNote is included in most versions of the Office
- Questionnaire gives many people the opportunity to provide
input and suggestions Preview of Logical Modeling
- Brainstorming
- Structured brainstorming - At the conclusion of requirements modeling, systems
- Unstructured brainstorming developers should have a clear understanding of business
processes and system requirements
Documentation - The next step is to construct a logical model of the system
The Need for Recording the Facts - IT professionals have differing views about systems
◦ Record information as soon as you obtain it development methodologies, and no universally accepted
◦ Use the simplest recording method approach exists
◦ Record your findings in such a way that they can be understood by Chapter Summary
someone else
◦ Organize your documentation so related material is located easily - The systems analysis phase includes three activities:
requirements modeling, data and process modeling, and
Software Tools consideration of development strategies
◦ CASE Tools - The main objective is to understand the proposed project,
◦ Productivity Software ensure that it will support business requirements, and build
a solid foundation for the systems design phase
Graphic Modeling Software
- Popular team-based approaches include JAD, RAD, and agile
◦ Produces charts and diagrams
methods
◦ MS Visio popular
- The fact-finding process includes interviewing, document
review, observation, questionnaires, sampling, and research
- Systems analysts should carefully record and document
factual information as it is collected, and various software
tools can help an analyst visualize and describe an
information system