1. Chapter 3
Managing Systems Projects
Systems Analysis and Design 9th
Edition

2. Chapter Objectives
2
 Explain project planning, scheduling, monitoring,
and reporting
 Describe work breakdown structures, task
patterns, and critical path analysis
 Explain techniques for estimating task completion
times and costs

3. Chapter Objectives
3
 Describe various scheduling tools, including
Gantt charts and PERT/CPM charts
 Analyze task dependencies, durations, start
dates, and end dates
 Describe project management software and how
it can assist you in project planning, estimating,
scheduling, monitoring, and reporting

4. Chapter Objectives
4
 Discuss the importance of project risk
management
 Understand why projects sometimes fail

5. Introduction
5
 You will learn about project planning, estimating,
scheduling, monitoring, reporting, and the use of
project management software
 You also will learn how to control and manage
project changes as they occur

6. Overview of Project Management
6
 Project Management
 A successful project must be completed on time,
within budget, and deliver a quality product that
satisfies users and meets requirements
 Project manager or project leader
 Project coordinator

7. Overview of Project Management
7
 What Does a Project Manager Do?
 Project manager, project leader
 Project planning
 Project scheduling
 Project monitoring and controlling
 Project reporting

8. Project management
 Organizing, planning and
scheduling software projects
 Concerned with activities
involved in ensuring that
software is delivered on time
and on schedule and in
accordance with the
requirements of the
organizations developing
and procuring the software

9.  Software engineering is an economic
activity  it is subject to economic,
non-technical constraints.
 Well-managed projects sometimes
fail. Badly managed projects
inevitably fail.
Why manage projects?

10.  Proposal writing
 Project planning
 Estimation (Scheduling and Costing)
 Project monitoring and control
 Personnel selection and evaluation
 Report writing and presentations
Management activities

11.  Contains
the objectives of the project
the methodology or process (activities,
milestones and deliverables)
the schedule and cost estimates
 The client decides whether to award the
project to your team based on the quality
of the proposal
Proposal

12. Project planning
 Probably the most time-consuming
project management activity
 Continuous activity from initial
concept through to system delivery
 Plans must be regularly revised as
new information becomes available
 Establish and maintain plans that
define project activities

13. Things to consider in planning
project
schedule
project personnel/ project team
cost estimates
Project plan

14. Project Planning Process Area
 Establish estimates
 Estimates of project planning
parameters are established and
maintained
 Develop a project plan
 A project plan is established and
maintained as the basis for managing
the project
 Obtain commitment to the plan
 Commitments to the project plan are
established and maintained

15. Meeting commitments
 Commitment – a pact that is freely
assumed, visible, and expected to be
kept by all parties (stakeholders)
 Commitment is necessary to achieve
plans
 Feasible commitments are made when
plans are realistic
 Commitment is a process

16. Types of project plan
Plan Description
Quality plan Describes the quality procedures and
standards that w ill be used in a project.
Validation plan Describes the approach, resources and
schedule used for system validation.
Configuration
management plan
Describesthe configuration management
procedures and structures to be used.
Maintenance plan Predicts themaintenance requirements of
the system, maintenance costs and effort
required.
Staffdevelopment plan. Describes how the skills andexperience of
the project team members will be
developed.

17.  Introduction
 Describes the objectives of the projects and the
constraints
 Project Organization
 Describes the people involved and their roles
 Describes the organization of the team
 Risk Analysis
 Possible project risks, risk exposure, and the risk
reduction and elimination strategies
 Hardware and Software Resource Requirements
 Estimates of the price and delivery schedule should be
included if need to be acquired
Project plan structure

18.  Work breakdown
 Breakdown of the project into activities
 Identifies the milestones and deliverables associated
with each activity
 Project schedule
 Dependencies between activities
 Estimated time required to reach each milestone
 Allocation of people to activities
 Monitoring and reporting mechanisms
 Management reports which should be produced,
when these should be produced and the project
monitoring mechanisms used
Project plan structure

19. Software development
is a process of
gradual refinement…
the same is true for software
estimation
Software Estimation

20. Accurate estimation can be done if you have a
detailed understanding of what the customer wants
Software
engineer
customer

21. Example questions that
contribute to uncertainty
 Does the customer want this feature?
 Does the customer want the cheap or
expensive implementation of this feature?
 If cheaper version is implemented, will
the customer later want the expensive
version?
 How long will it take to debug and correct
mistakes on this feature?
 How long will it take to integrate this
feature to the other features?

22. Estimation vs. Control
 Mismatch between the desired
feature and the available resources
 Solution:
 Customers must bend on their
ideas about the product; or
 Customers must adjust the
resources they are willing to
commit

23. Estimation vs. Control
 Build to budget
 Developers are given flexibility on the
product features
 Have control on cost and schedule
 Guidelines
 Including a feature vs. leaving it out
 Implementing better feature vs.
implementing feature that costs less

24. Cooperate with the
customer
 Inform your customer about the parts of the
project where you can give estimates
 Inform them when you will have better
estimates
 Map out the whole set of estimates you intend
to provide
 Offer the Build to Budget
 customer should understand the trade-offs of
the approach
 If customer still insists on precise estimates
that you cannot provide
 Explain why you cannot give it to them yet
 Make it clear that you want to cooperate

25. Tell the customer...
“As soon as
I know,
you’ll know”

26. Overview of Project Management
26
 Project Activities and Planning Steps

27. Step 1: Create a Work Breakdown
Structure
27
 Work breakdown structure (WBS)
 What is a Gantt Chart?
 Task group
 Can present an overview of the project’s status, but
does not provide detailed information that is
necessary when managing a complex project

28. Step 1: Create a Work Breakdown
Structure
28
 What is a PERT/CPM Chart?
 The Program Evaluation Review Technique (PERT)
 Critical Path Method (CPM)
 The distinction between the two methods has
disappeared over time
 Bottom up techniques because it analyzes a large,
complex project as a series of individual tasks.
 Know the tasks, their durations and the order in
order to calculate the time that it will take to
complete the project. to

29. Step 1: Create a Work Breakdown
Structure
29
 PERT/CPM Chart ?
 PERT/CPM is called a bottom-up technique
 Project tasks
 Once you know the tasks, their duration, and the
order in which they must be performed, you can
calculate the time that it will take to complete the
project
 Gantt Chart

30. Step 1: Create a Work Breakdown
Structure
30
 Which Type of Chart is Better?
 Although a Gantt chart offers a valuable snapshot
view of the project, PERT charts are more useful for
scheduling, monitoring, and controlling the actual
work
 PERT and Gantt charts are not mutually exclusive
techniques, and project managers often use both
methods

31. Step 1: Create a Work Breakdown
Structure
31
 Identifying Tasks in a Work Breakdown Structure
 Task or activity
 Event or milestone
 Break the project down into smaller tasks, creating
a work breakdown structure

32. Step 1: Create a Work Breakdown
Structure
32
 Identifying Tasks in a
Work Breakdown
Structure
 Listing the tasks
 Can be challenging,
because the tasks might
be embedded in a
document
 Create a table with
columns for task
number, description,
duration, and
predecessor tasks

33. Step 1: Create a Work Breakdown
Structure
33
 Identifying Tasks in a Work Breakdown Structure
 Estimating Task Duration
 Person-days
 Best-case estimate (B)
 Probable-case estimate (P)

34. Step 1: Create a Work Breakdown
Structure
34
 Identifying Tasks in a Work Breakdown Structure
 A WBS must clearly identify each task and include
an estimated duration
 A task, or activity is any work tat has a beginning
and an end and requires the use of company
resources such as people, time and money. Tasks
are conducting interviews, designing a report
selecting software, delivery of equipment, training
users.
 Tasks are basic units of work that the projects
manager plans, schedules and monitors.
 Estimating Task Duration
 Worst-case estimate (W)
 Weight

35. Step 1: Create a Work Breakdown
Structure
35
 Identifying Tasks in a Work Breakdown
Structure
 Factors Affecting Duration
 Project size and scope
 Human resources
 Experience with similar project
 constraints

36. Step 1: Create a Work Breakdown
Structure
36
 Displaying the Work Breakdown Structure
 If you are managing a complex project with many
tasks, you can use task groups, just as you would in
a Gantt chart, to simplify the list

37. Step 2: Identify Task Patterns
37
 Task pattern
 What are Task Patterns?
 Large or small, tasks depend on each other and
must be performed in a sequence, not unlike the
commands in a software program
 Task patterns can involve dependent tasks, multiple
successor tasks, and multiple predecessor tasks

38. Step 2: Identify Task Patterns
38
 How do I Use Task Boxes to Create a Model?

39. Step 2: Identify Task Patterns
39
 What are the Main Types of Task Patterns?
 Dependent Tasks
 Multiple successor tasks
 Concurrent task
 Predecessor task
 Successor task
 Multiple Predecessor Tasks

40. Step 2: Identify Task Patterns
40
 How Do I Identify Task Patterns?
 You can identify task patterns by looking carefully at
the wording of the task statement
 Words like then, when, or and are action words that
signal a sequence of events
 How Do I Work With Complex Task Patterns?
 When various task patterns combine, you must
study the facts carefully in order to understand the
logical sequence

41. Step 2: Identify Task Patterns
41
 How Do I Work With Complex Task Patterns?
 Consider the following three fact statements and the
task patterns they represent
 Dependent tasks
 Dependent tasks and multiple successor tasks
 Dependent tasks, multiple successor tasks, and
multiple predecessor tasks

42. Step 3: Calculate the Critical Path
42
 What Is a Critical Path?
A series of tasks which if delayed would affect
the completion date of the overall project.
if any task on the critical path falls behind
schedule, the entire project will be delayed.

43. Step 3: Calculate the Critical
Path
43
 How Do I Calculate the Critical Path?
 First, you should review the task patterns
 The next step is to determine start and finish dates,
which will determine the critical path for the project
 Slack time - is the amount of time that the task
could be late without pushing back the completion
date of the entire project

44. Project Management Example
44
Task No Description Duration (days) Predecessor
Task
1 Develop Plan 1 -
2 Assign tasks 4 1
3 Obtain Hardware 17 1
4 Programming 70 2
5 Install Hardware 10 3
6 Program Test 30 4
7 Write User Manual 25 5
8 Convert Files 20 5
9 System Test 25 6
10 User Training 20 7, 8
11 User test 25 9, 10

45. Project Monitoring and Control
45
 Monitoring and Control Techniques
 The project manager must keep track of
tasks and progress of team members,
compare actual progress with the project
plan, verify the completion of project
milestones, and set standards and ensure
that they are followed
 Structured walkthrough
 Called design reviews, code reviews, or
testing reviews

46. Project Monitoring and Control
46
 Maintaining a Schedule
 Maintaining a project schedule can be a
challenging task
 The better the original plan, the easier it will
be to control the project
 If enough milestones and frequent
checkpoints exist, problems will be detected
rapidly
 Project managers often spend most of their
time tracking the tasks along the critical path

47. Reporting
47
 Members of the project team regularly report their
progress
 Project Status Meetings

48. Reporting
48
 Project Status Reports
 A project manager must report regularly to his or
her immediate supervisor, upper management, and
users
 Should explain what you are doing to handle and
monitor the problem
 Most managers recognize that problems do occur
on most projects; it is better to alert management
sooner rather than later

49. Project Management Examples
49
 PERT/CPM Example
 You construct a PERT/CPM chart from this task list
in a two-step process
 Step 1: Create the work breakdown structure
 Step 2: Enter start and finish times

50. Project Management Examples
50
 Software-Driven
Example
 Open Workbench
 Open-source software
 When you use project
management
software, you follow
the same step-by-step
process to develop a
WBS and create
various types of
charts

51. Project Management Examples
51
 Software-Driven Example
 Work breakdown structure
 Gantt chart
 Network diagram
 Project planning is a dynamic task and involves
constant change

52. Risk Management
52
 Every IT project
involves risks that
systems analysts and
project managers
must address
 Risk management
 Steps in Risk
Management
 Develop risk
management plan
 Identify the risks
 Risk identification

53. Risk Management
53
 Steps in Risk Management (continued)
 Analyze the risks
 Qualitative risk analysis – evaluates each
risk by estimating the probability that it will
occur and the degree of impact.
 Quantitative risk analysis – purpose of
QRA is to understand the actual impact in
terms of dollars, time, project scope or
quality. (What if analysis)
 Create a risk response plan
 Monitor risks

54. Risk Response plan
54
 Is a proactive effort to anticipate a risk and
describe an action plan to deal with it.
 An effective risk response plan can reduce the
overall impact by triggering timely and appropriate
action.
 Monitor risk – this activity is on going throughout
the risk management process. It is important to
conduct a continouos tracking process that can
identify new risks, notice changes in existing
risks, and update any other areas of the risk
management plan

55. Risk Management
55
 Risk Management Software
 Most project management software includes
powerful features
 The IT team can make a recommendation regarding
the risks
 Depending on the nature and magnitude of the risk,
the final decision might be made by management

56. Managing for Success
56
 Business Issues
 The major objective of every system is to provide a
solution to a business problem or opportunity
 A system that falls short of business needs also
produces problems for users and reduces employee
morale and productivity

57. Managing for Success
57
 Budget Issues
 Cost overruns typically result from one or more of
the following:
 Unrealistic estimates
 Failure to develop an accurate forecast that considers all
costs over the life of the project
 Poor monitoring of progress and slow response to early
warning signs of problems

58. Managing for Success
58
 Budget Issues
 Cost overruns typically result from one or more of
the following:
 Schedule delays due to factors that were not foreseen
 Human resource issues, including turnover, inadequate
training, and motivation

59. Managing for Success
59
 Schedule Issues
 Problems with timetables and project milestones
can indicate a failure to recognize task
dependencies, confusion between effort and
progress, poor monitoring and control methods,
personality conflicts among team members, or
turnover of project personnel

60. The Bottom Line
60
 When problems occur,
the project manager’s
ability to handle the
situation becomes the
critical factor

61. The Bottom Line
61
 Sometimes, when a project experiences delays or
cost overruns, the system still can be delivered
on time and within budget if several less critical
requirements are trimmed
 Brooks’ Law

62. Systems Development
Guidelines
62
 Develop a project plan
 Involve users and listen carefully to them
 Use project management tools to identify tasks
and milestones
 Develop accurate cost and benefit information
 Remain flexible

63. Information Technology Department
63

64. Trivia: What do people mean by
estimates?
 An estimate is the most optimistic
prediction that has a non-zero
probability of coming true
 Accepting this definition leads
irrevocably toward a method called
what’s-the-earliest-date-by-which-you-
can’t-prove-you-won’t-be-finished
estimating
- Tom DeMarco

65. Project scheduling
 Split project into tasks
 Estimate time and resources required to
complete each task
 Organize tasks concurrently to make
optimal use of workforce
 Minimize task dependencies to avoid
delays caused by one task waiting for
another to complete
 Dependent on project managers’ intuition
and experience

66. Scheduling problems
 Estimating the difficulty of problems and the cost of
developing a solution is hard
 Productivity is not proportional to the number of
people working on a task
 Adding people to a late project makes it later
because of communication overheads  Mythical
Man-Month
 The unexpected always happens. Always allow
contingency in planning

67. Recalibration
 Example
 given 6 month
schedule
 first milestone in 4
weeks
 it took 5 weeks to
meet the first
milestone
 How to recalibrate
the schedule?

68. Recalibration
Assume you can
catch up later in
the schedule
Add the week
to the total
schedule
Multiply the
whole
schedule by the
magnitude of slip

69. Handling schedule pressure
 Schedule pressure can
produce damaging effects
on the project
 Encourages shortcuts on
specific project
 Encourages fire-righting
mentality
More
schedule
pressure
More
stress
More
mistakes
More
schedule
slips

70. Project staffing
 May not be possible to appoint the
ideal people to work on a project
 Project budget may not allow for the use
of highly-paid staff
 Staff with the appropriate experience may
not be available
 An organization may wish to develop
employee skills on a software project

71. Bar charts
 Graphical notations used to illustrate the
project schedule
 Show project breakdown into tasks. Tasks
should not be too small. They should take
about a week or two
 Bar charts show schedule against calendar
time

72. Project Monitoring and Control
(SPI Workshop. www.DigitalFilipino.com)
 Provides understanding into the project’s
progress so that appropriate corrective
actions can be taken when the project’s
performance deviates significantly from the
plan

73. CMM Project Monitoring and Control
Process Areas
 Monitor project against plan
 Actual performance and progress of the project
are monitored against the project plan
 Manage correction action to closure
 Corrective actions are managed to closure when
the project’s performance or results deviate
significantly from the plan
(SPI Workshop. www.DigitalFilipino.com)

74. Manage to a plan
 Progress must be tracked against plans and
specifications, including
 Product size
 Product effort, cost, and schedule
 Activities
 Risks
 Mechanisms to track progress against plans
 Internal reviews
 Formal reviews with the customer
(SPI Workshop. www.DigitalFilipino.com)

75. Taking corrective action
 If and when discrepancies between plans and
actual progress occur, a judgment must be
made about whether to:
 Change the way the work is being done and/or
 Adjust the plans
 Archives of original and adjusted plans
should be kept

76. Chapter Summary
76
 Project management is the process of
planning, scheduling, monitoring and
controlling, and reporting upon the
development of an information system
 Project managers are responsible for project
planning, scheduling, monitoring, and
reporting
 Planning, scheduling, monitoring and
reporting all take place within a larger project
development framework

77. Chapter Summary
77
 In project scheduling, the project manager
develops a specific time for each task, based
on available resources and whether or not the
task is dependent on other predecessor tasks
 Every successful information system must
support business requirements, stay within
budget, and be available on time
 Sound project management involves the
same skills as any other management