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ITEC 3010 “Systems Analysis and Design, I”

LECTURE 3:LECTURE 3:

The Analyst as a Project ManagerThe Analyst as a Project Manager

[Prof. Peter Khaiter]

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Lecture OutlineLecture Outline

IS Projects: Success and FailureIS Projects: Success and Failure Role of the Project ManagerRole of the Project Manager Project Management Tasks in SDLCProject Management Tasks in SDLC Project Initiation and Project PlanningProject Initiation and Project Planning Project Planning ActivitiesProject Planning Activities Project ScheduleProject Schedule Risks Management and Project FeasibilityRisks Management and Project Feasibility Financial CalculationsFinancial Calculations Tangible and Intangible BenefitsTangible and Intangible Benefits Staffing the ProjectStaffing the Project Launching the ProjectLaunching the Project

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Project Success FactorsProject Success Factors

Project management important for success of system development project

2000 Standish Group Study

Only 28% of system development projects successful

72% of projects cancelled, completed late, completed over budget, and/or limited in functionality

Thus, project requires careful planning, control, and execution

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Reasons for Project FailureReasons for Project Failure

Incomplete or changing requirements

Limited user involvement

Lack of executive support

Lack of technical support

Poor project planning

Unclear objectives

Lack of required resources

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Reasons for Project SuccessReasons for Project Success

Clear system requirement definitions

Substantial user involvement

Support from upper management

Thorough and detailed project plans

Realistic work schedules and milestones

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Role of the Project ManagerRole of the Project Manager

Project management – organizing and directing people to achieve a planned result within budget and on schedule

Project manager – a person has primary responsibility for the functioning of the team.

Success or failure of project depends on skills of the project manager

Beginning of project – plan and organize

During project – monitor and control

Responsibilities are both internal and external

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Internal ResponsibilitiesInternal Responsibilities

Identify project tasks and build a work breakdown structure

Define the milestones (i.e., key events in a project which can be identified by a specific pieces of documentation or a specific status review meeting) and deliverables to monitor progress.

Develop the project schedule

Recruit and train team members

Assign team members to tasks

Coordinate activities of team members and subteams

Assess project risks

Monitor and control project deliverables and milestones

Verify the quality of project deliverables

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External ResponsibilitiesExternal Responsibilities

Report the project’s status and progress Establish good working relationships with

those who identify the needed system requirements

The people who will use the system Work directly with the client (the project’s

sponsor) and other stakeholders Identify resource needs and obtain resources

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Participants in a System Participants in a System

Development ProjectDevelopment Project A project manager reports to and woks with several groups of people:

•The client is a person or group of people who will be paying for the development of the new system – the customer. The client releases funds and ultimately approves the project. For in-house development, the client can be an executive committee or a particular vice president who is funding the project

•For large project, an oversight committee may be formed. This committee consists of clients and other key executives who have a vision of the strategic direction of the organization and have a strong interest in the success of the project

•Users are the people who will actually be using the new system. The user typically provides information about the detailed functions and operations of the new system

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Participants in a System Participants in a System

Development ProjectDevelopment Project

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Various Titles/Roles of Project Various Titles/Roles of Project ManagersManagers

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Project Management Tasks Project Management Tasks throughout the SDLCthroughout the SDLC

Overlap with SDLC phases Beginning of project

Overall project planning

During project

Project execution management

Project control management

Project closeout

Project management approach differs for

Predictive SDLC (linear, concurrently with SDLC activities)

Adaptive SDLC (in cycle, planning is distributed across the entire SDLC)

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Project Management Tasks in SDLCProject Management Tasks in SDLC

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Project Execution ManagementProject Execution Management

Following the project schedule Assigning and coordinating the work

of project team Communicating with all project

stakeholders

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Project ControlProject Control

Determining progress and taking corrective actions when necessary

Assessing whether requests for scope changes are necessary

Maintaining an outstanding issues list

Resolving problems

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Project CloseoutProject Closeout

To smooth project shutdown Releasing team members for other

assignments Finalizing the budget Reviewing or auditing the results of

the projects

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Project Management and SDLC Project Management and SDLC Tasks for a Predictive ProjectTasks for a Predictive Project

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Project Management and SDLC Project Management and SDLC Tasks for an Adaptive ProjectTasks for an Adaptive Project

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Project Management Body of Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK)Knowledge (PMBOK)

Developed by The Project Management Institute (PMI)

9 knowledge areas: foundation information for every project manager

Scope managementcontrol functions included in systemcontrol scope of work done by team

Time managementBuild detailed schedule of all project tasksMonitor progress of project against milestones

Cost managementCalculate initial cost/benefit analysis Monitor expenses

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Project Management Body of Project Management Body of Knowledge (cont’d)Knowledge (cont’d)

Quality managementEstablish quality plan and control activities for each project phase

Human resource managementRecruit and hire project team membersTrain, motivate, team build

Communications managementIdentify stakeholders and their communications Establish team communications

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Project Management Body of Project Management Body of Knowledge (cont’d)Knowledge (cont’d)

Risk managementIdentify and review risks for failureDevelop plans to reduce these risks

Procurement managementDevelop requests for proposals (RFPs)Evaluate bids, write contracts, monitor performance

Integration management

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Project Initiation and Project Project Initiation and Project PlanningPlanning

Driving forces/Reasons to start projectRespond to opportunityResolve problemConform to directive

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Project initiationProject initiation

Top-down projects. The optimal method is through the long-term IS strategic plan, that identifies the overall efforts of the organization to maintain a competitive positions and results in specific projects.Bottom-up projects. Individual department managers or process managers are close to the daily work. They often identify IS problems within their respective areas. Brought to the attention of the strategic planning committee, these needs are integrated into the overall business strategy. In case of immediate needs that cannot wait for the strategic plan (such as a new sales commission schedule or a new productivity report), the process manager may request initiation of individual development projects. Outside-forces project. Projects can be initiated to respond to outside forces. One common outside pressure is legislative changes such as changes in tax or labor law. These changes affect the strategic plan, resulting in an urgent need for new IS.

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CASE STUDY: CSS Project initiation CASE STUDY: CSS Project initiation for Rocky Mountain Outfittersfor Rocky Mountain Outfitters

Strategic IS plan directs project development priorities RMO’s strategic plan is to build more direct customer

contact, improve service, and expand the marketing presence

Customer support system development selected as a top priority

Customer support system (CSS) selectedJohn MacMurty – creates project charterBarbara Halifax – project managerSteven Deerfield – senior systems analystGoal is to support multiple types of customer services (ordering, returns, online catalogs)

Project charter describes key participants

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RMO Project CharterRMO Project Charter

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Project Planning ActivitiesProject Planning Activities

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Project Planning Activities and Project Planning Activities and their key questionstheir key questions

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Defining the ProblemDefining the Problem

Review business needsUse strategic plan documents Consult key users Develop list of expected business benefits (i.e., results organization expects to achieve from the new IS)

Identify expected system capabilities (at a general level)

Define scope in terms of requirements Create system scope document (3 components:

problem description, business benefits, system capabilities)

Build proof of concept prototype (if new technology or new solutions) to show they are feasible and possible

Create context diagram (scope of the IS): an IS, external entities and input/output information flows

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System Scope DocumentSystem Scope Document

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Context Diagram for Customer Context Diagram for Customer Support SystemSupport System

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CASE STUDY: Defining the Problem CASE STUDY: Defining the Problem at RMOat RMO

Barbara and Steven, the CSS project team, developed the list of business benefits and system capabilities and the context diagram after talking to William McDougal, vice president of marketing and sales

Steven did some preliminary investigation on possible alternative solutions (researched the trade magazines, the Internet, and other sources to determine whether there were sales and customer support systems that could be bought and installed rapidly. None seemed to have the exact match of capabilities that RMO needs)

They decided to proceed with the analysis phase before making any final decisions about solutions

They began developing a schedule, budget, and feasibility statement for the new system.

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Producing the Project ScheduleProducing the Project Schedule

Each project consists of tasks, activities and phases.

A phase is made up of a group of related activitiesAn activity is made up of a group of related tasksA task is a smallest piece of work that is identified, named and scheduled

The development of a project schedule involves three main steps: Develop work breakdown schedule Build a PERT/Gantt chart Develop resource requirements and staffing plan

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Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

A work breakdown structure (WBS) is a hierarchy of tasks, activities and phases for the project. It is used as a foundation for developing the project schedule, identifying milestones in the schedule and for managing the costsEach task has an associated duration (sometimes three different values: expected, pessimistic and optimistic) and number of resources required)How to identify tasks: Top-down: identify major activities first, then internal

tasks Bottom-up: list all the tasks and organize them Analogy: from similar projects

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RMO Work Breakdown StructureRMO Work Breakdown Structure

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Project SchedulingProject Scheduling

Developing a project schedule is a four-step process: (1) Project members identify all tasks for each activity (2) Estimation the size of the task: number of human resources, person-day required, calendar time required and any other specific resources (3) Determining the sequence of the tasks (4) Scheduling the tasks themselves

There are special techniques and tools for project scheduling (e.g., MS Project)

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PERT/CPM ChartPERT/CPM Chart

PERT/CPM (Project Evaluation and Review Technique/Critical Path Method) chart: shows the relationships among tasksdefines tasks that can be done concurrently shows the critical path (= the longest path of dependent tasks from the first task to the last task, i.e. the shortest completion period for the project) If any task on that path slips, then the entire project schedule will slip Other tasks (not on the critical path) usually have some slack time (the amount of time that the task can slip without affecting the schedule)Good to show dependencies and critical path but it is not easy to see the project’s progress on a PERT chart

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Partial PERT/CPM chart for the CSS Partial PERT/CPM chart for the CSS projectproject

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Gantt chartGantt chart

Gantt Chart: shows information for each task as horizontal bar chart where the vertical tick marks are calendar days and weeks:

Doesn’t show the dependencies of tasks A good tool for monitoring the progress of the

project Tasks represented by horizontal bars Vertical tick marks are calendar days and weeks Shows calendar information in a way that is easy

to track Bars may be colored or darkened to show

completed tasks Vertical line indicates today’s date

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Partial Gantt chart for the CSS Partial Gantt chart for the CSS projectproject

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Importance of the Proper Project Importance of the Proper Project SchedulingScheduling

In 1984, Microsoft planned to develop MS Word for one yearAt that time, this was two months less than the most optimistic estimated deadline for a project of its size In reality, it took Microsoft five years to complete Word Ultimately, the overly aggressive schedule for Word slowed its development for a number of reasons: The project experienced high turnover due to unreasonable pressure and work hoursCode was ”finalized” prematurely, and the software spent much longer in “stabilization” (i.e., fixing bugs) than was originally expected (i.e., 12 months versus 3 months). Aggressive scheduling resulted in poor planning – the delivery date consistently was off by more than 60% for the first four years of the project

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Just For FunJust For Fun

http://www.getfunnypictures.com/crt052.html

MS software release

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Risks Management and Project Risks Management and Project FeasibilityFeasibility

Risk management Organizational and cultural feasibility Technological feasibility Schedule feasibility Resource feasibility Economic feasibility

Cost/benefit analysisSources of funds (cash flow, long-term capital)

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Risk AnalysisRisk Analysis

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Organizational and Cultural Organizational and Cultural FeasibilityFeasibility

Each company has own cultureNew system must fit into culture

Evaluate related issues for potential risks

Low level of computer competency

Computer phobia

Perceived loss of control

Shift in power

Fear of job change or employment loss

Reversal of established work procedures Positive steps should be undertaken to reduce the risks E.g.: additional training can be held to teach new procedures

and provide increased computer skills

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Technological FeasibilityTechnological Feasibility

Does system stretch state-of-the-art technology?

Does in-house expertise presently exist for development?

Does an outside vendor need to be involved? Solutions include

Training or hiring more experienced employeesHiring consultantsChanging scope and project approach

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Schedule FeasibilitySchedule Feasibility

Estimates needed without complete information

Management deadlines may not be realistic Project managers

Drive realistic assumptions and estimates

Recommend completion date flexibility

Assign interim milestones to periodically reassess completion dates

Involve experienced personnel

Manage proper allocation of resources

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Resource FeasibilityResource Feasibility

Team member availability Team skill levels Computers, equipment, and

supplies Support staff time and availability Physical facilities

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Economic FeasibilityEconomic Feasibility

Cost/benefit analysis Estimate project development costs

Estimate operational costs after project

Estimate financial benefits based on annual savings and increased revenues

Calculate using table of costs and benefits Uses net present value (NPV), payback

period, return on investment (ROI) techniques

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Development Costs for RMODevelopment Costs for RMO

The project manager has responsibility for estimating the cost of development:

Salaries and wages Equipment and installation Software and licenses Consulting fees and payments to third parties Training Facilities Utilities and tools Support staff Travel and miscellaneous

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Supporting details of salary and Supporting details of salary and wages for the CSS projectwages for the CSS project

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Summary of Development Costs for Summary of Development Costs for RMORMO

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Operating CostsOperating Costs

The following list identifies the major categories of costs that may be allocated to the operation of the new system: • connectivity • equipment maintenance • computer operations • programming support • amortization of equipment • training and ongoing assistance (e.g., help desk) • supplies

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Summary of Annual Operating Summary of Annual Operating Costs for RMOCosts for RMO

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Just For FunJust For Fun

Technical support

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Sources of BenefitsSources of Benefits

Benefits usually come from two major sources: decreased costs increased revenues

Unlike development costs, there are no “standard” benefits Sample of reduced costs: • Reducing staff due to automating manual functions or increasing

efficiency • Maintaining constant staff with increasing volumes of work • Decreasing operating expenses, such as shipping charges for

emergency shipments • Ensuring quicker processing and turnaround of documents or

transactions • Capturing lost discounts on money management • Reducing bad accounts or bad credit losses • Reducing inventory or merchandise losses due to tighter controls • Collecting accounts receivables more quickly • Capturing income lost due to “stock outs” with better inventory

management • Reducing the cost of goods with volume discounts and purchases • Reducing paperwork costs with electronic data interchange and

other automation

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Sample Benefits for RMOSample Benefits for RMO

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Financial CalculationsFinancial Calculations

Companies use a combination of methods:

Fist approach, called the net present value (NPV), has two concepts:

(1) all benefits and costs are calculated in terms of today’s dollars (present value)

(2) the future streams of benefits and costs are netted together and then discounted by a certain factor for each year in the future

Second method to determine whether investments will be beneficial is to determine the payback period, sometimes called the breakeven point. This is the point in time at which benefits becomes equal to the cost of development and operation

Third economic measure is the return on investment (ROI). ROI shows a percentage return needed so that the costs and benefits are exactly equal over the specified time period.

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RMO Cost Benefit AnalysisRMO Cost Benefit Analysis

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Tangible vs. Intangible BenefitsTangible vs. Intangible Benefits

Tangible benefits – can be measured or estimated in terms of dollarsIntangible benefit – can’t be directly measured or estimated in dollarsIn some instance, the intangible benefits far exceed the tangible costs

Examples of intangible benefits:• Increased levels of service (in ways that cannot be measured)• Increased customer satisfaction (not measurable)• Survival (a standard capability common in the industry, or

common to many competitors)• The need to develop in-house expertise (such as with a pilot

program with new technology)

Examples of intangible costs: • Reduced employee moral • Lost productivity (inestimable) • Lost customers or sales (during some period of time)

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Staffing the ProjectStaffing the Project

There are five tasks within this activity:Develop a resource planIdentify and request technical staffIdentify and request specific user staffOrganize the project team into work groupsConduct preliminary training and team-building

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Launching the ProjectLaunching the Project

Scope defined, risks identified, project is feasible, schedule developed, team members identified and ready

Oversight committee finalized, meet to give go-ahead, and release funds

Formal announcement made to all involved parties within organization

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ReadingsReadings

Today’s lecture: Chapter 3 – “The Analyst as A Project Manager”

For next week: Chapter 4 – “Investigating System Requirements”

Thank you !!!