Transcript The University PowerPoint Template

Information Systems
Project Management
IS Project Resources
Miguel Nunes
email: [email protected]
Aims of this Session
• To and discuss the concept and nature of IS
Project Resource.
• To present a typology of IS Project Resources
• To present and discuss the nature of human
resources and project roles.
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Information System
Definition
An Information System can be defined technically as a set
of interrelated components that collect, process, store
and retrieve, and distribute information to support
decision making, co-ordination and control in an
organisation.
An information system is an organisational and
management solution, based on information and
communication technology, to a challenge posed by the
environment.
Information System
Definition
A system that assembles, stores, processes and delivers
information relevant to an organisation (or socio-technical
environment), in such a way that the information is
accessible and useful to those who wish to use it as
required by their activity practices, including managers,
staff, customers, suppliers, other business partners and
citizens.
An IS is therefore an human-activity system which may or
may not involve the use of IT based systems.
IS Development
Methodologies
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A collection of procedures,
techniques, tools and
documentation aids that
help developers in their
efforts to understand
users, their socio-technical
environment, their work
practices and their
information needs.
IS Development
Methodologies
A collection of procedures, techniques, tools and
documentation aids that help developers in their efforts to
understand users, their socio-technical environment, their
work practices and their information needs.
IS Methodologies consist of phases whish will guide the
systems developers in what to do and their choice of
techniques that might be appropriate at each stage. Each
phase may contain subphases.
These phases (or stages, or main activities) form the IS
Project and help manage, control and evaluate the project.
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Information System
Development
IS Methodologies consist of phases whish will guide the systems developers in
what to do and their choice of techniques that might be appropriate at each
stage. Each phase may contain subphases.
These phases (or stages, or main activities) form the IS Project and help
manage, control and evaluate the project.
Question here are:
 What do need to undertake these activities?
 What type of roles do we need in an IS project?
 What type of support do we for the people who take
these roles?
 How do we identify their needs?
IS Project Resources
A resource is any item or person required for the
execution of the project (from clips to key technical
personnel).
The project manager needs to concentrate on those
resources where there is a possibility that, without
planning these may not be available or may not be
sufficient when required.
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IS Project Resources
Some resources (e.g. project manager) will be required for
the entire duration of the project whereas others (e.g. user
interface graphical designer) may be required for a single
activity only.
This requires careful planning as some of the team members
(e.g. programmers) might be committed to working on more
than one project and project managers may need to compete
for their time.
Moreover, the scope of the IS project may pose significant
and deliberate budget and time constraints that may limit the
number and commitment of team members.
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Types of IS Project
Resources
In general resources can be categorised as follows:
 Labour (also known as Human Resources);
 Equipment;
 Materials;
 Space;
 Services;
 Time;
 Budgetary resources.
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Types of IS Project
Resources
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Equipment Resources include all the HW necessary
to undertake the work (e.g. laptops, workstations,
servers, networks), all the SW necessary for
analysis (e.g. wordprocessors, text analysis SW),
diagram production, programming (e.g. editors,
debuggers, test support SW), testing and training
(e.g. e-learning authoring tools).
As well as any other project specific equipment that
may be required … photo cameras, video cameras,
voice recorders, RFId tags and readers, etc.
Types of IS Project
Resources
Materials are items that are consumed (also called
consumables), rather then equipment.
These are important for all projects and include
items ranging from paper and pens to USB memory
sticks and portable hardrives.
Space this includes office space and everything
inside that enables and supports the project work
(e.g. chairs, tables, air conditioning). Space may
also be needed at the user’s location, and therefore
needs to be carefully planned in advance.
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Types of IS Project
Resources
Services include all specialist services that my be
procured or outsourced outside the project team.
These may be internally outsourced by using
specialised teams within the same organisation or
externally outsourced to other expert organisations.
Services may range from expert graphical design to
online payment software.
Budgetary resources (Money , Credits, Coupons,
etc) is a secondary resource that is used to buy
other resources and will be consumed as resources
are used.
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Types of IS Project
Resources
Labour (also known as Human Resources)
will be ALL the team members of the IS
project, ranging from the traditional technical
staff to all required support staff as well as
any staff from the customer organisation.
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Types of IS Project
Resources
These team members may take one or more of the following
types of roles:
 Support:
 Management:




 Technical:











Project Manager;
Quality Manager;
Risk Manager;
Configuration and
Integration Manager;
Analysts and Designers;
Programmers;
Graphics Designer;
Database Administrator;
Implementation Officer;
Users;
Testers;
Project Champion;
Secretaries;
Clerks;
Training Officer:
 Organising:
And more ……….



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Steering Committee;
User Group;
Risk Management
Committee;
Joint Application
Development Team.
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Types of IS Project
Resources
Human Resources is very expensive (typically 80%
of budget of the project) and the more specialised
the resources are the more scarce and expensive
they become.
Human resource allocation depends on:




Management Style of Project Manager.
Type and nature of the project;
IS Methodology Selected;
Constraints and Budget of the Project.
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Types of IS Project
Resources
Human resource allocation depends on:




Management Style of Project Manager.
Type and nature of the project;
IS Methodology Selected;
Constraints and Budget of the Project.
Would you use the same team for SSADM, RAD, XP or
UML?
Would you use the same team for a small project with a local
SME and a National Company?
Would you use the same team to develop a stock control
application and a MMORPG?
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Types of IS
Project Resources
Any project has at least 4 stages:
Feasibility study




start-up;
development;
completion;
operational.
System
Investigation
Systems analysis
Would you use the same roles
for all the stages?
Would you use the same
people for all the stages?
Could people have more than
one role?
Systems design
Implementation
Review and
maintenance
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Types of IS Project
Resources
Time is a resource that is very scarce
and limits the use of other resources.
Time allocation in the plan depends on
IS methodology, effort estimation,
quality standards used, risk
management and the use of human
resources.
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Ahh …
but this is a
bit boring ….
This module’s question:
“We know why projects fail,
we know how to prevent their
failure -- so why do they still
fail?“ Cobb (1995)
Old question!???
Project Management
What has happened ?
What is happening ?
What is going to happen ?
What needs to be done ?
How are we going to do it ?
When are we doing it ?
Who is going to do it ?
What is the quality of our work (product) ?
What are the risks involved ?
Project
Management
Planning and Organising
(What and How)
Estimating
( When and Who)
Scheduling and Monitoring
( awareness of progression, remediation
action, quality assurance)
Planning and
Organising
Planning and Organising
(What and How)
Understanding requirements;
Selecting a methodology;
Determining deliverables and
milestones;
Determining verification and validation
checks.
To Sum up ...
If Time allocation in the
plan depends on IS
methodology, effort
estimation, quality
standards used, risk
management and the use
of human resources.
Then we still have three
questions to answer.