SPM - 4 Flashcards
the key to overall project success
good project integration
the key to overall project success:
good project integration
- Project managers must coordinate all of the other knowledge areas throughout a project’s life cycle
- Many new project managers have trouble looking at the “big picture” and want to focus on too many details (See opening case for a real example)
- Project integration management is not the same thing as software integration
project integration management main process
- develop project charter
- develop management plan
- direct and manage project execuation
- monitoring and controlling project work
- Perform integrated change control
- closing project
involves determining long-term objectives, predicting future trends, and projecting the need for new products and services
Strategic planning
SWOT
Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and
Threats
As part of strategic planning, organizations
◦ identify potential projects
◦ use realistic methods to select which projects to work on
◦ formalize project initiation by issuing a project charter
IT Planning Process
- IT Strategy Planning
- Business Area Analysis
- Project Planning
- Resource Allocation
IT Strategy Planning
- tie information tehcnology strategy to mission and vision of organization
- identify key business areas
Business Area Analysis
documents key business process that could benefit from IT
Project Planning
define potential projects, project scope, benefits, and constraints
Resource Allocation
Select information technology projects and assign resources
Three important criteria for projects
- ◦ There is a need for the project
- ◦ There are funds available
- ◦ There’s a strong will to make the project succeed
Methods for selecting projects include
- ◦ focusing on broad organizational needs
- ◦ categorizing information technology projects
- ◦ performing net present value or other financial analyses
- ◦ using a weighted scoring model
- ◦ implementing a balanced scorecard
- It is often difficult to provide strong justification for many IT projects, but everyone agrees they have a high value
- “It is better to measure gold roughly than to count pennies precisely”
Focusing on Board Organizational Needs
Financial considerations are often an important consideration in selecting projects
financial analysis of projects
Three important criteria for projects
- There is a need for the project
- There are funds available
- There’s a strong will to make the project succeed
a method of calculating the expected net monetary gain or loss from a project by discounting all expected future cash inflows and outflows to the present point in time
net present value (NPV)
categorizing it projects
- how long will it take to do and when it is needed
- overall priority of project
- if the project addresses: a problem, opportunity, directive
is calculated by subtracting the project costs from the benefits and then dividing by the costs
Return on investment
NPV Calculations
- Determine estimated costs and benefits for the life of the project and the products it produces
- Determine the discount rate
- Calculate the NPV
Three primary methods for determining the projected
financial value of projects
- Net present value (NPV) analysis
- Return on investment (ROI)
- Payback analysis
can by calculated by finding the discount rate that makes the NPV equal to zero
Internal rate of return
is the amount of time it will take to recoup, in the form of net cash inflows, the total dollars invested in a project
payback period
a tool that provides a systematic process for selecting projects based on many criteria
developed this approach to help select and manage projects that align with business strategy
Drs. Robert Kaplan and David Norton
Drs. Robert Kaplan and David Norton developed this approach to help select and manage projects that align with business strategy
balance scorecard
a document that formally recognizes the existence of a project and provides direction on the project’s objectives and
management
project charter
Key project stakeholders should sign a project
charter to acknowledge agreement on the need
and intent of the project; a ________ is a key
output of project integration managemen
signed charter
Inputs for developing a project charter
- project statement of work
- business case
- agreements
- enterprise environmental factors
- organizational process assets
which include formal and informal plans, policies, procedures, guidelines, information systems, financial systems,
management systems, lessons learned, and historical information
organizational process assets
- a document used to coordinate all project planning documents and help guide a project’s execution and control
- Plans created in the other knowledge areas are subsidiary parts
project management plan
common elements of a project management plan
- intoduction or overview of project
- description of project
- management and technical processed used on the project
- work to be done, schedule, and budget information
- Involves managing and performing the work described in the project management plan
- The majority of time and money is usually spent on execution
- The application area of the project directly affects project execution because the products of the project are produced during execution
Directing and Managing Project Work
- Project planning and execution are intertwined and inseparable activities
- Those who will do the work should help to plan the work
- Project managers must solicit input from the team to develop realistic plans
Coordinating Planning and Execution
- Project managers must lead by example to demonstrate the importance of creating and then following good project plans
- Organizational culture can help project execution by
◦ providing guidelines and templates
◦ tracking performance based on plans - Project managers may still need to break the rules to meet project goals, and senior managers must support those actions
Providing Leadership and a Supportive Culture
- It is often helpful for IT project managers to have prior technical experience
- On small projects, the project manager may be required to perform some of the technical work or mentor team members to complete the projects
- On large projects, the project manager must understand the business and application area of the project
Capitalizing on Product, Business, and Application Area Knowledge
Experts can help project managers and their teams make many decisions related to project execution
Expert judgment
allow people to develop relationships,
pick up on important body language or tone of voice, and have a dialogue to help resolve problems.
Meetings
There are hundreds of project management software products
available on the market today, and many organizations are moving toward powerful enterprise project management systems that are accessible via the Interne
Project management information systems
the approved project management
plan plus approved changes
baseline
- Changes are inevitable on most projects, so it’s important to develop and follow a process to monitor and control changes
- Monitoring project work includes collecting, measuring, and disseminating performance information
- A baseline is the approved project management plan plus approved changes
Monitoring and Controlling Project Work
Three main objectives of performing integrated change control
- influence factors that create changes to ensure that changes are benefitial
- determine that change has occured
- managing actual chnages as they occur
- a formal, documented process that describes when and how official project documents and work may be changed
- Describes who is authorized to make changes and how to make them
change control system
promotes policies that will improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world.
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
- ensures that the descriptions of the project’s products are correct and complete
- Involves identifying and controlling the functional and physical design characteristics of products and their support documentation
- specialists identify and document configuration requirements, control changes, record and report changes, and audit the products to verify conformance to requirements
Configuration management
- is a formal group of people responsible for approving or rejecting changes on a project
- provide guidelines for preparing change requests, evaluate change requests, and manage the implementation of approved changes
- Includes stakeholders from the entire organization
change control board
Main outputs include of closing projects
- ◦ Final product, service, or result transition
- ◦ Organizational process asset updates
you must finalize all activities and transfer the completed or cancelled work to the appropriate people
close a project or phase
involves coordinating all of the other knowledge areas throughout a project’s life cycle
Project integration management
tools track the
execution of business process flows
Business Service Management (BSM) tools
