Lecture 3 Managing Object-Oriented Projects

In This Lecture You Will Learn:

• System Proposal
• Project and Project Management
• Why We Plan
• What to Plan for
• Measures of Project Success
• Causes of Project Failure
• How to Create and Manage a Plan
• Preliminary Investigation

System Proposal

• Title of system
• Student’s name
• Major
• Supervisor
• Abstract
• Objectives

Project

A project is a [temporary] sequence of unique, complex, and connected activities having one goal or purpose and that must be completed by specific time, within budget, and according to specification.

Project Management

Project management is the process of scoping, planning, staffing, organizing, directing, and controlling the development of an acceptable system at a minimum cost within a specified time frame.

Process Management

Process management is an ongoing activity that documents, manages the use of, and improves an organization’s chosen methodology (the “process”) for system development. Process management is concerned with the activities, deliverables, and quality standards to be applied to all projects.

Measures of Project Success

• The resulting information system is acceptable to the customer.
• The system was delivered “on time.”
• The system was delivered “within budget.”
• The system development process had a minimal impact on ongoing business operations.

Causes of Project Failure

• Failure to establish upper-management commitment to the project
• Lack of organization’s commitment to the system development methodology
• Taking shortcuts through or around the system development methodology
• Poor expectations management
• Poor estimating techniques
• Over-optimism
• Inadequate people management skills
• Failure to adapt to business change
• Insufficient resources
• Failure to “manage to the plan”

Why Plan?

Two ‘folk wisdom’ sayings among IS development people:
“Failing to plan is planning to fail”
“If you can’t plan it, don’t do it”

• Systems development is complex dynamic
• May need to bid for resources
• Skills and careers
• Estimates and understanding the work
• Management and professionalism
• Meeting client requirements
• Failure can be spectacular:
  • London Ambulance Despatch System
    • £43M (and suspicion of some deaths)
  • Mull of Kintyre Chinook crash
    • 29 dead, including high-ranking police and military intelligence officers
    • Pilots blamed by RAF Board of Enquiry, but many suspect software was at fault

What To Plan For

• Big Picture!
• Tasks, dependencies and allocation to staff
• Control, performance management
• Quality
• Client liaison
• Procurement
• Installation, testing, training
• Contingency planning

Three slogans maybe sum it all up:

• Plan for success
• Manage change
• Manage risks

Creating and Managing a Plan

• Basic Techniques
  • Product (or Work) Breakdown Structure
  • Network Analysis (PERT Chart)
  • Gantt Chart
• Specify tasks, dependencies
• Estimate duration, cost

Worked Examples

• Product Breakdown Structure
• A hierarchy of products or tasks
• Useful for:
  • identifying tasks and products
  • estimating total costs

PBS Example

Gantt Chart

• Gantt Chart (or common bar chart) shows sequence and time of tasks
• Useful for:
  • overall plan of simple projects
  • identifying need for smoothing
  • monitoring progress

Microsoft Project Gantt Chart

PERT

• Network/Critical Path Analysis
• Also known as PERT
  • Program Evaluation and Review Technique
• Useful for:
  • scheduling complex projects
  • finding overall project time
  • identifying dependencies
  • identifying critical tasks

PERT Chart

PERT Chart Notation (one of many styles)

Preliminary Investigation (PI)

Purpose

1st – Answer the question

• Is the problem worth solving?
• Problem, opportunities, directives
• triggered (started) the project
• Risk of pursuing the project

2nd – Is the project worth looking at?

PI Report

• Company overview – Org chart
• End users & departments needs
• Identification of the problem
• Suggestion for improvement
• Context – scope of project
• Constraints
• Budget – costs analysis
• Schedule – time require
• Resources – H/W & S/W

Company Overview – Organization Chart

• Introduction to the company
  • what type of business are they in?
• History of the company
  • when do they established their business?
• Operation of the company
  • business processes
• Layout of organization

End Users & Departments Needs

• The aim of the new system
  • the main operation of the new system
• Profit from using this system
  • how new function improve the operation
• Other requirements for new system
  • security design

Identification of the Problem

• Operation of old system
  • process of carrying out a job (too slow)
  • limitation and errors
• Interface design
  • not easy to use
  • don’t understand the function

Suggestion for Improvement

• Areas to improve
  • operational part (process of carrying out tasks using the system)
  • functionality
• New goal for project
  • newer process of doing thing

Context – Scope of Project

• Size of the project (can be determined by)
  • amount of data required (quantity)
  • process required (how details)
  • system interface (how many)
• Boundary of the system
  • how far the system should cover
  • how many subsystem

Constraints

• The limitation of the system
  • what the system can’t do?
  • e.g. user unable to get their ticket online
  • hard to prevent user from abusing the system.

Budget – Costs Analysis

• Development
  • Technology
    • H/W, S/W, Network
  • Professional fees
• Operation
  • Running the system
  • Salary, electricity

Schedule – Time Require

• The duration of the project
  • checkpoint for each sub-tasks
  • when to deliver the required result

Resources – H/W & S/W

• Type of h/w & s/s required
  • e.g. desktop, LAN, printer, OS, furniture

Summary

In this lecture you have learned about:

• System Proposal
• Project and Project Management
• Why we plan
• What to plan for
• Measures of Project Success
• Causes of Project Failure
• How to create and manage a plan
• Preliminary Investigation