Lesson 2 – MIS II

Managing the Information

Systems Project
 Learning Objectives
 Explain the process of managing an information systems
project.
 Describe the skills required to be an effective project manager.
 List and describe the skills and activities of a project manager
during project initiation, project planning, project execution,
and project closedown.
 Explain what is meant by critical path scheduling and describe
the process of creating Gantt charts and network diagrams.
 Explain how commercial project management software
packages can be used to assist in representing and managing
project schedules.

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 The Analyst as a Business
Problem Solver
 Has computer technology knowledge and programming
expertise
 Understands business problems
 Uses logical methods for solving problems
 Has fundamental curiosity
 Wants to make things better
 Is more of a business problem solver than a technical
programmer

Systems Analysis and Design in a Changing World, 4th Edition 3

Analyst’s Approach to
Problem Solving
Research and understand the problem

Verify benefits of solving problem outweigh the costs

Define the requirements for solving the problem

Develop a set of possible solutions (alternatives)

Decide which solution is best and recommend

Define the details of the chosen solution

Implement the solution

Monitor to ensure desired results

Systems Analysis and Design in a Changing World, 4th Edition 4

Roles as Business Strategist &
Project Manager

 Second role is that of business strategist

 Insolving the problems analyst should
understand the corporate strategy of an
organisation
 Third role is Project Manager
 More in next slides

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Importance of Project Management
 Project management is the most important
aspect of systems development.
 Overlaps with final role – Systems Developer
 Effective PM helps to ensure
 The meeting of customer expectations.
 The satisfying of budget and time constraints.
 PM skills are difficult yet important to
learn.

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Pine Valley Application Project

FIGURE 3-1
Three computer applications at Pine Valley Furniture: Order filling, invoicing, and payroll
Source: Hoffer, Prescott, and Topi, 2009.

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Deciding on Systems Projects
 System Service Request (SSR)
A standard form for requesting or proposing
systems development work within an
organization
 Feasibility study
A study that determines whether a requested
system makes economic and operational
sense for an organization

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FIGURE 3-2
System Service Request for
purchasing a fulfillment system
with name and contact information
of the person requesting the
system, a statement of the
problem, and the name and
contact information of the liaison
and sponsor.

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Managing the Information Systems
Project
 Project
A planned undertaking of related activities to
reach an objective that has a beginning and
an end
 Project management
A controlled process of initiating, planning,
executing, and closing down a project

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Managing the Information Systems
Project (cont.)
 Project manager
 Systems analyst with management and leadership skills responsible
for leading project initiation, planning, execution, and closedown
 Skills:
 Management
 Technical
 Leadership
 Conflict Management
 Customer relationship
 Deliverable
 The end product of an SDLC phase

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Project Management Activities

FIGURE 3-4
A project manager
juggles numerous
activities

12
Phases of Project Management
Process
 Phase 1: Initiation
 Phase 2: Planning
 Phase 3: Execution
 Phase 4: Closedown

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PM Phase 1: Project Initiation
 Assess size, scope and complexity, and establish
procedures.
 Establish:
 Initiationteam
 Relationship with customer
 Project initiation plan
 Management procedures
 Project management environment
 Project workbook

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FIGURE 3-6
The project workbook for
the Purchase Fulfillment
System project contains
nine key documents in
both hard-copy and
electronic form.

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PM Phase 2: Project Planning
 Define clear, discrete activities and the work needed to
complete each activity
 Tasks
 Define project scope, alternatives, feasibility
 Divide project into tasks
 Estimate resource requirements
 Develop preliminary schedule
 Develop communication plan
 Determine standards and procedures
 Identify and assess risk
 Create preliminary budget
 Develop a statement of work
 Set baseline project plan

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Planning Detail

FIGURE 3-8
Level of project
planning detail should
be high in the short
term, with less detail
as time goes on.

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Some Components of Project
Planning
 Statement of Work (SOW)
 “Contract”between the IS staff and the customer
regarding deliverables and time estimates for a
system development project
 The Baseline Project Plan (BPP)
 Contains estimates of scope, benefits, schedules,
costs, risks, and resource requirements
 Preliminary Budget
 Cost-benefit analysis outlining planned expenses and
revenues

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Some Components of Project
Planning (cont.)
 Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
 Division of project into manageable and
logically ordered tasks and subtasks
 Scheduling Diagrams
 Gantt chart: horizontal bars represent task
durations
 Network diagram: boxes and links represent
task dependencies

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 Scheduling Diagrams Gantt Chart
FIGURE 3-10
Gantt chart showing project tasks, duration times for those tasks, and predecessors

Special-purpose project management software is

available for this.

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Scheduling Diagrams Network Diagram
FIGURE 3-13
A network diagram illustrating tasks with rectangles (or ovals) and the
relationships and sequences of those activities with arrows

Special-purpose project management software is available for this.

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Preliminary Budget
FIGURE 3-15
A financial cost and
benefit analysis for a
systems development
project

Spreadsheet
software is
good for this.
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PM Phase 3: Project Execution
(Cont.)
 Plans created in prior phases are put into
action.
 Actions
 Execute baseline project plan
 Monitor progress against baseline plan
 Manage changes in baseline plan
 Maintain project workbook
 Communicate project status

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Monitoring Progress with a Gantt Chart
FIGURE 3-17
Gantt chart with tasks 3 and 7 completed

Red bars indicate critical path; lines through bars indicate

percent complete.

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Communication Methods
 High Formality
 Project workbook
 Newsletters
 Status reports
 Specification documents
 Meeting minutes
 Medium Formality
 Meetings
 Seminars and workshops
 Memos

 Low Formality
 Bulletin boards
 Brown bag lunches
 Hallway discussions

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PM Phase 4: Project Closedown
 Bring the project to an end
 Actions
 Close down the project.
 Conduct post-project reviews.
 Close the customer contract.

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Representing and Scheduling
Project Plans
 Gantt Charts
 Network Diagrams
 PERT Calculations
 Critical Path Scheduling
 Project Management Software

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Gantt Charts vs. Network Diagrams
 Gantt charts
 Show task durations.
 Show time overlap.
 Show slack time in duration.

 Network diagrams
 Show task dependencies.
 Do not show time overlap, but show parallelism.
 Show slack time in boxes.

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Estimating Task Duration
 PERT: Program Evaluation Review
Technique
 Technique that uses optimistic (o),
pessimistic (p), and realistic (r) time
estimates to determine expected task
duration
 Formula for Estimated Time:
 ET = (o + 4r + p)/6

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Example PERT Analysis

FIGURE 3-22
Estimated time calculations for the SPTS project

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Critical Path Scheduling
 A scheduling technique whose order and
duration of a sequence of task activities directly
affect the completion
 Critical path: the shortest time in which a project
can be completed
 Slack time: the time an activity can be delayed
without delaying the project

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Critical Path Example
(dependencies between tasks)
PRECEDING ACTIVITIES
indicate the activities that
must be completed before
the specified activity can
begin.

FIGURE 3-23 Sequence of Activities within the SPTS project

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Critical Path Example

Network diagram
shows dependencies

FIGURE 3-25
A network diagram that illustrates the activities (circles) and the
sequence (arrows) of those activities

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Determining the Critical Path
 Calculate the earliest possible completion time
for each activity by summing the activity times in
the longest path to the activity. This gives total
expected project time.
 Calculate the latest possible completion time for
each activity by subtracting the activity times in
the path following the activity from the total
expected time. This gives slack time for activities.
 Critical path – contains no activities with slack
time.

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Critical Path Calculation
FIGURE 3-26
A network diagram for the SPTS project showing estimated times for each
activity and the earliest and latest expected completion time for each activity

Early and late time calculations are determined and

critical path established. (Note: Activity #5 can begin
late without affecting project completion time).
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Critical Path Calculation (cont.)
FIGURE 3-27
Activity slack time calculations for the SPTS project; all activities except
number 5 are on the critical path

Note the slack time in Activity #5.

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Using Project Management
Software
 Many powerful software tools exist for
assisting with project management.
 Example: Microsoft Project can help with
 Entering project start date.
 Establishing tasks and task dependencies.
 Viewing project information as Gantt or
Network diagrams.

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Project Start Date
FIGURE 3-28
Establishing a project starting date in Microsoft Project for Windows

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Entering Tasks
FIGURE 3-29
Entering tasks and assigning task relationships in Microsoft project
for Windows

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Viewing Network Diagram

FIGURE 3-30
Hexagon shape indicates a Viewing project
milestone. information as a
network diagram
Red boxes and arrows indicate in Microsoft
critical path (no slack). Project for
Windows

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Viewing Gantt Chart
FIGURE 3-31
Gantt chart showing progress of activities (right frame) versus planned
activities (left frame)

Black line at top indicates a summary activity (composed of subtasks).

Diamond shape indicates a milestone.
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