pm4dev, 2018 –management for development series ©

Project
Information
Management
Systems
PROJECT MANAGEMENT FOR
DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATIONS
 Project Information Management Systems

PROJECT MANAGEMENT FOR

DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATIONS

A methodology to manage development

projects for international humanitarian
assistance and relief organizations

© PM4DEV 2018
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Project Information Management Systems

PROJECT INFORMATION MANAGEMENT

SYSTEMS

A Project Information Management System (PIMS) is the systematic

process of creating, identifying, collecting, organizing, sharing,
adapting, and using project information. Information management is a
process for identifying all the information the project stakeholders
need to make informed decisions. This book introduces the concept
that project information is a strategic resource that must be managed
with the same rigor as financial and physical resources. Development
project managers need to improve the way they manage their
information, by bringing the right information to the right people at the
right time. It is through information management that they can
improve their decision-making process, learn, and create new
knowledge.

Information management places people and processes at the center,

and technology as a powerful enabler. It has more to do with
managing human behaviors than with managing technology. For
projects to be successful in information management, a careful
analysis is required on how the elements of the information
environment need to be treated. It is not enough to see information as
a product. Information should be treated in all its dimensions to avoid
“tunnel vision” solutions. The management of a project’s information
assets is essential to the long-term survival of the development
organization. In the knowledge era, organizations will be measured by
how they can tap this vast resource, and an organization’s ability to
learn, adapt, and change will become a core competency.

With the right PIMS, project managers will be able to improve the
processes through which they define, locate, collect, store, analyze,
share, and use the information. Managing this process should be a
critical project objective. Information should be managed within the
context in which it matters the most, where the value is created to
help achieve the goals of the project.

This book deals with the critical elements needed to design, implement
and manage an information management system. PIMS is not only
about technology, but the processes and procedures required to
ensure the project manager is able to get the right information and

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Project Information Management Systems

make it available to the right people at the right time. The quality of a
PIMS is measured by how the project manager uses the information to
guide and improve his or her actions.

The management of project information is a critical element and a key

responsibility of the project manager, as it informs, educates, guides,
and builds support for the project. The goal of this book is to present a
series of techniques, practices, and processes to help project
managers and project staff to manage information in a systematic way
that will help improve the project interventions.

Providing key project stakeholders with the right information at the

right time can significantly improve decisions to adjust, change and
guide the project to improve its outcomes. A Project Management
Information System serves five principal purposes:

 Provide information for decision-making.

 Improve project management.
 Demonstrate results through project evaluation.
 Empower communities and other project stakeholders.
 Increase opportunities to learn from experience.

A Project Management Information System is an integrated set of

mutually supporting tools, processes, and methods for managing
project information applied in a consistent way to support the decision-
making and information needs of project stakeholders. Project
managers use the techniques, processes, and tools to collect,
organize, analyze, and share information through electronic and
manual means.

A PIMS is also beneficial during the different project-management

phases. During the planning phase, a project manager uses a PIMS
to organize the project work, define the scope baseline, estimate
the budget, and create a schedule. During the implementation phase,
the project team collects progress information that is used to compare
with the baseline and evaluates the accomplishment of each activity. It
is also used to manage deliverables, collect financial data, and keep a
record for reporting purposes. During the monitoring phase of the
project, the PIMS is used to review the goals to check if the outcomes
were accomplished or not. The goal of a good PIMS is to make the
right information available to the right people at the right time.

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Project Information Management Systems

The Current Problem with PIMS

The goal of this book is to help project managers solve their problems
with information management, problems that have been a source of
complaints and frustration from information users as well as
information providers. The following list details the most frequent
problems reported by project managers:

 Isolated systems: one of the most consistent and recurring

messages is that projects are creating and using systems that
are too narrow and limited in scope. These systems are designed
to manage the information needs of a specific component of the
project, and, as a result, efforts to consolidate information are
almost impossible.
 Drowning in data: excessive focus on collecting and reporting
data, while giving little time to critically analyze the information
and make sound decisions.
 High expectations: people involved in the collection of data are
subjected to high expectations as to the value of the data
requested from them, but never see the information come back.
 Low priorities for Information Management: IM is often relegated
to outside consultants, or given to staff with inadequate skills or
responsibilities. It is often that these responsibilities are not
well-defined, and accountability becomes diffused.
 Technology myopia: the expectation that technology will be the
final solution has led to an inappropriate focus that resulted in
spending more time in managing the technology than managing
the information.
 Systems disconnected from the Logframe: PIMS are developed
but only to respond to the immediate needs of the project,
reporting on project activities without creating the connections
with the desired objectives. Systems designed to monitor
progress do not show how the progress relates to what the
project has set out to achieve.
 Report for reporting's sake: reports are not connected with the
decision process of the organization. The goal is to produce a
report without considering the process to make decisions.
 No standard processes: the lack of a standard process has led to
the development of many systems, each with its own processes
and all disconnected from each other. Organizations have to deal
with information coming from different systems, making the

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Project Information Management Systems

collection and consolidation of information impossible. Systems

are tailored to the specific project and management needs.
 Duplication of efforts: each project develops its own IM system,
which results in a duplication of efforts at a high cost to the
organization.
 Training and maintenance costs for each system: costs to train
and maintain the system is seldom considered in the design
phase, resulting in unexpected expenses not budgeted by the
project.
 Little or no experience in IM: lack of experience leads to poor
systems or failures, both at a high cost to the organization. Low-
quality systems require a dependency on consultants to keep the
system running.
 Projects with little or no IT support PIMS perceived as a luxury
that requires high IT investments. Certain development
organizations have a low technology capacity that has not been
structured to support complex PIMS requirements.

For all projects or organizations that have encountered any of the

above problems, this book aims to provide guidance based on best
practices that will help determine the best approach to define, design,
build, and manage a Project Information Management System.

Systematize Before Automatize

Systematization means the reduction to a purposefully regular method
of organizing data and information. It is not about technology alone.
The planning and organization of the information cycle are both
independent of the development of technology solutions. An
Information System does not always mean information technology. A
small project with few information requirements and a small budget
can have a successful project information system using low-technology
solutions. Systematization of the information processes must preclude
any effort to automatize.

Technology can only help in making a process faster, but one has to
define and design the process first. Systematization is the organization
of the project information management processes. A key element of
systematization is to realize the hierarchy of data to knowledge as a
central component of information management. Without the proper
data, projects cannot have good information. Without good
information, projects cannot create knowledge, to understand this
relationship, the development organization needs to have a good

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Project Information Management Systems

definition of data, information and knowledge, and how they relate to

information management systems.

PIMS is the systematic management of project information systems. It

is defined in terms of systems for processing and sharing information
and not confined only to software and hardware.

Definition of PIMS

A Project Management Information System (PIMS) is not necessarily

the information technology, but rather the common practices that a
project should follow to properly manage its information. This chapter
will introduce some basic concepts, definitions, and characteristics that
will help in the management of information.

What is PIMS?
A Project Management Information System is a set of interrelated
components working together to collect, classify, store, and distribute
information to support decision-making. A PIMS is about how
effectively the project manages the data, how it transforms data into
information, and how that information eventually becomes knowledge.

A project management information system is not about technology

alone. A good system has a systematized approach to managing
information. It does not necessarily mean complex or expensive
technology. It is more about designing the appropriate methods and
processes and implementing a sound plan to manage the information
cycle.

Characteristics of PIMS
Establishing smart goals and objectives and selecting indicators for
measuring progress are the elements that form the basis of a sound
project-information management system. An important step in
developing the system is the creation of an information-management
plan that outlines how information will be selected, collected,
analyzed, and shared during the lifecycle of the project.

The focus is on the systematization of the information-management

processes. Once the project team has completed the design and
planning for the information, the project should be able to move to a

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Project Information Management Systems

systemized process designed to manage all the information maintained

by the project. In order to have flexible and responsive interventions,
a project-information system needs to be more than just a reporting
mechanism, but serve as a powerful management tool for advancing
an organization’s program goals of accountability, transparency, and
partnership. A good project PIMS needs to contain the following
characteristics:

 PIMS supply the necessary information and feedback so that

potential problems are identified, and solutions are implemented
early, before becoming constraints. The system should be able
to generate timely information to initiate corrective actions.
 A PIMS is a tool to collect, analyze, store, and disseminate
information useful for decision-making within a project. A good
PIMS builds on a project's success while using lessons from
earlier experiences to improve project performance.
 PIMS differ from other Management Information Systems
(Financial, Payroll, etc.) because its demand-driven approach
requires it to be flexible and adaptable to the changing
conditions of the project.

A central to characteristics of PMIS is that provides an empowerment

agenda that includes the includes the following:

 Transparency: the availability and access to information by all

project stakeholders.
 Accountability: the use and application of information to
monitor the progress of the project and correct deviations.
 Inclusion and participation: where project participants are
given control over decision-making, including decisions on
appropriate criteria and indicators to judge the performance of
the services provided by the project.

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Project Information Management Systems

Definitions of Data, Information, and Knowledge

Data
Data is defined as a base representation of a fact, represented in the
form of numbers, letters or words. Examples of data include the
number of visits to a community, the number of crop failures, and the
number of farmers trained. Data is a discrete set of unorganized,
scattered statements about reality. Data are raw facts.

Information
Information is defined as data with context. Peter Drucker defines
information as “data endowed with relevance and purpose.”1 Data
becomes information when it is placed within a context. An example of
information is 80 percent of the farmers who kept the same variety of
coffee, lured by market prices, could not sustain three continuous crop
failures and defaulted on their loans. Information organizes data, with
a meaning and relevance. Information is facts with context and
perspective.

Knowledge
Knowledge is information in action, or the ability to understand the
relevance of information and how to use it to advantage. The use of
information leads to experience and new knowledge. Knowledge is
information embedded in a context. It has a purpose and leads one to
take action. Knowledge allows us to make sense of information,
related information for a purpose, and know when information is
irrelevant. For example, a farmer has learned that by rotating crops he
is less exposed to crop failures. He tried different varieties using his
previous knowledge about the soil and weather conditions in the
region. With the technical information he received from project staff,
he has come up with the right mix of crops and produced a good
harvest that allowed him to pay his loans and provide for his family.
Knowledge is information with guidance for action.

Knowledge requires human interaction with information. Information

becomes knowledge when a person acts on it, makes it his/her own,
conceptualizes it by placing it in relation to previous knowledge, and
internalizes it by making it part of his/her beliefs.

1
Davenport T.H., Prusak L. Working Knowledge: How Organizations Manage What
They Know. Harvard Business School Press, Boston, 199

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Project Information Management Systems

Keep it Simple!
The purpose of this book is not to complicate the project information
process but rather to make it simple and achievable. This book
concentrates on the minimum basic requirements that any project can
follow. A good PIMS can be achieved by concentrating on the key
elements required for proper information management, without adding
complex systems and processes that only take away the time for
analysis and decision-making.

Levels of PIMS

PIMS does not necessarily require a state-of-the-art technology

solution that tries to be everything to everybody. Every project has
different information needs, both in quality and in quantity. Every
project requires different levels of technology to satisfy its basic
information-management needs. Simple technology will suffice for a
small project with few needs, but large projects with many information
needs can benefit from more extensive technology solutions.

A major imperative lies in the need for a coherent systematization of

information-handling as part of the information-management process,
and this must occur before automating as it implies adapting the
technology to the process and not the process to the technology. The
use of complex technology does not necessarily mean efficiency. A
small project with few information needs will not benefit from a
complex, integrated system. On the contrary, managing the system
can be less efficient than a simple solution.

It is important for the project manager to identify and develop a PIMS

that satisfies critical requirements for managing information, but avoid
the creation of complex systems that are too expensive, take more
time to develop, and require additional resources to manage it
properly.

The information requirements of a project are divided into three levels:

 Level 1 – Information requirements are few. The project can use

basic desktop computer applications to manage the project
information.

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Project Information Management Systems

 Level 2 – Information requirements are significant. The project

can use a desktop or server-based system to manage a large
volume of information.
 Level 3 – Information requirements are many. The project will
require a fully integrated system to manage extensive amounts
of data and information.

The following diagram represents the three levels of technology to

consider when designing a computerized information-management
system. The levels increase as the level of requirements increase. Each
box represents a level. Boxes 1 through 3 refer to the three levels,
progressing from easier (Level 1) to the more difficult (Level 3).
Higher technical and information requirements are needed both for
setting up an integrated information system and the ever-greater
complexity of supporting and operating the system as a project shifts
from Level 1 toward Level 3.

Figure 1 The PIMS levels of technology

This classification of levels is a guide to help project managers assess

what they need to manage information and identify the right level of
technology. During the life of a project, the levels may change: a
project could start in Level 1 and progressively move to the next level.
A development organization with several projects, programs and

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Project Information Management Systems

sectors may have projects at each one the levels. Becoming more
sophisticated (or automated) may not be appropriate or feasible in
some situations, due to local conditions or external factors. It can be
acceptable for a project to remain at Level 1, as long as it has a
system that provides good and reliable information.

Once a project team determines its information requirements, it has to

match them with the appropriate technology. As the amount of
information increases, the efficiency in the use of a fixed technology
solution decreases due to the time it takes to process, analyze and
report the additional information. For example, a Level 2 system
decreases in efficiency as the volume of information increases; this
does not necessarily mean that a Level 3 is the ideal level all PIMS
should seek quite the opposite, as a Level 3 proves inefficient when
the volume of information is small. When a project is using a complex
system to track small amounts of information, the effort to setup,
manage, and use the system, and all its associated costs, make a
Level 3 system less efficient compared with simpler solutions.

The following is a description of the three levels of information systems

complexity, and suggested management and software support:

Level 1: Desktop Applications

Level 1 implies few information-management

requirements. The PIMS will rely on the use of computer
desktop applications (like the MS Office Suite) to
organize and store data and produce reports. At this
level, the small volume of data requires a simple
information technology setup: one or two computers to
organize the information collected and produce the
desired reports.

Level 1 assumes the volume of information to be small. All the data

comes in physical form and a computer is used to produce monthly
reports. All information is stored in the computer and in physical files,
while reports and other consolidated information is stored on a
computer disc. Typical software includes MS Excel, MS Access, and MS
Word.

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Project Information Management Systems

Level 2: Network Server Applications

Level 2 occurs when the project has significant

information-management requirements. The PIMS
requires the use of more computers to manage
centralized databases that contain most, if not all,
of project information. These databases may not be
totally integrated but fill the need to organize large
amounts of data collected by the project and
generate the required reports.

The amount of data at this level is large and may

come from different sources and project locations.
A central database may be used to consolidate data
for reporting purposes. All data and reports are stored on computers
connected to a local server. There is less of a need to store physical
records. The database collects information and generates all required
reports. This type of setup allows sharing of project information across
the local network and a project team working from a single location.

Level 3: Integrated Systems

Level 3 occurs when the project has large

and complex information-management
requirements. The PIMS requires an
integrated view of project data and
information processes. It requires a
network where all computers are connected
and sharing data from a central system
that stores project data and information.
The integrated system may contain other
types of project data, such as the budget,
human resources, and external or
secondary data. This situation is typical of large projects disseminated
in many locations and in a location with the required connectivity to
link all systems with the central database.

The volume of data at Level 3 is quite large and requires dedicated

resources to manage the technology. All data is stored in servers and
accessed via the network or the Internet. Access to information is
controlled by a central system and security features are implemented

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Project Information Management Systems

to protect the data. This setup is needed when the project team is
dispersed and works from many locations.

Information and Technology Requirements

Determining the right level of PMIS depends entirely on the

information requirements of the project. The list below can help
project managers identify the information requirements to define and
develop an information-technology solution for the PIMS. This step will
help evaluate the complexity of the information the project will
manage.

 The requirements of information from the project’s governance

structure
 The requirements of information from the various project
stakeholders
 The methods the project will use to collect and organize all the
information
 The frequency with which the project team needs to analyze and
report the information to key stakeholders
 The volume of information it needs to collect from beneficiaries
 The types of visual reports required, such as graphs, tables,
maps, etc.
 The types of access, security, and controls to manage, modify
and update the information
 The need to develop special reports in defined formats
 The need for complex analysis of the information collected

The next step is to evaluate the current Information Technology (IT)

capacity of the project that will satisfy the information requirements.

 Available funds for IT resources dedicated to the project

 The current capacity of the project team to manage technology
 The need for voice communications, e-mail, Internet, and other
online systems
 The number of staff members who will use computers during the
project
 The computer literacy of the project staff
 The IT support required by the project

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Project Information Management Systems

Once a project team has identified the information requirements, it needs to

define its technology requirements and start designing a technology
infrastructure that will provide the appropriate hardware and software
needed to manage the information.

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 Project Information Management Systems

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Copyright © 2018 PM4DEV
All rights reserved.
Project Information Management Systems
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Development Series are trademarks of
Project Management for Development,
PM4DEV.

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