Why Your Students Need a Project Management Course Dr. Michael Moorman Saint Leo University

For our graduates to be successful in the 21 st Century, it is essential to give them the knowledge and skills they need to face the challenges of the century.

Once it was enough to give our computer program graduates technical skills.

But the successful graduate can expect to serve in more and more responsible positions as they progress in their careers.

Many of the responsible positions will involve projects and, with time, our graduates may well be involved in more and more complicated projects, possibly becoming a project manager.

To that end, we would be remiss not to consider Project Management as a part of our computer curriculum.

So What Makes Project Management Important?

Statistics In 2005 U.S. spent almost $700 billion on IT and a large part of that was on projects. This increased through With economy slowing down, it means that more care has to be taken in spending, putting more emphasis on project management to ensure success. Salaries are still high for project managers.

IT projects have had a terrible success rate > 1995 study -16 percent of IT projects were successful in meeting goals. > More recent study (2006) showed better results > But success still less than 50%

Project Management – Important to Organizations > Improved capability to successfully manage projects has resulted in more successful projects. > Improvements in computer hardware and software have enhanced ability to manage projects. > Use of the Internet in business requires better planning and coordination

How would our computer graduates become involved in project management?

The typical graduate could be expected to become involved at some level in a systems analysis and design.

So how does participating in a systems analysis and design process result in being involved with project management?

Projects are usually the implementation of a systems analysis and design.

How to integrate a project management course into your curriculum.

The ideal place to put a project management course in your curriculum would be as a follow-on to your systems analysis and design course, with the systems analysis and design course as a prerequisite.

The systems analysis and design course provides the foundation material for the project management course, making the concepts in the project management course more easily understood.

Programming Course Systems Analysis & Design Course Project Management Course

A typical project management course would cover the following material. (Data from Schwalbe, K. (2007). Information Technology Project Management, 5th Ed. Cambridge, MA: Cengage Course Technology.)

Introduction to Project Management Project Management and Information Technology Context Project Management Process Groups

Project Integration Management Project Scope Management Project Time Management

Project Cost Management Project Quality Management Project Human Resource Management

Project Communications Management Project Risk Management Project Procurement Management

In addition, the Schwalbe book includes an extensive appendix on Microsoft Project 2007 and the capability of downloading a free trial copy of MS Project 2007.

The appendix is organized into sections that mirror the chapters in the book from Scope Management through Communications Management.

The integration of MS Project with the course can be done by various methods, but from my personal experience the best time to start is immediately after the Project Integration Management chapter.

At this point you should have the students run through the Introduction and Overview of Project, using the example in the appendix.

There is a Running Case that can be used for a student assignment that is placed at the end of each chapter, covering the material in that chapter and continuing with each subsequent chapter.

There is an additional case in Appendix C at the end of the text, and two more cases are available at the book Web site online.

These cases can be assigned to individuals or teams in your class to accomplish their major assignment for the class.

As you go through each chapter in the text, have the students do their assigned project using Project, following the instructions in the applicable section in the appendix.

The 6 th edition of Schwalbe’s book is coming later this year. You can get a copy by logging on to the course.com site and searching for the book.

Questions?