1. LECTURE 3: The Analyst as a Project Manager
ITEC 3010 “Systems Analysis and Design, I”
LECTURE 3: The Analyst as a Project Manager
[Prof. Peter Khaiter]

2. Lecture Outline IS Projects: Success and Failure
Role of the Project Manager
Project Management Tasks in SDLC
Project Initiation and Project Planning
Project Planning Activities
Project Schedule
Risks Management and Project Feasibility
Financial Calculations
Tangible and Intangible Benefits
Staffing the Project
Launching the Project

3. Project 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

4. Reasons 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

5. Reasons for Project Success
Clear system requirement definitions
Substantial user involvement
Support from upper management
Thorough and detailed project plans
Realistic work schedules and milestones

6. Role 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

7. Internal 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

8. External 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

9. Participants in a System Development 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

10. Participants in a System Development Project ‏

11. Various Titles/Roles of Project Managers

12. Project Management Tasks throughout 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)

13. Project Management Tasks in SDLC

14. Project Execution Management
Following the project schedule
Assigning and coordinating the work of project team
Communicating with all project stakeholders

15. Project Control
Determining progress and taking corrective actions when necessary
Assessing whether requests for scope changes are necessary
Maintaining an outstanding issues list
Resolving problems

16. Project Closeout
To smooth project shutdown
Releasing team members for other assignments
Finalizing the budget
Reviewing or auditing the results of the projects

17. Project Management and SDLC Tasks for a Predictive Project

18. Project Management and SDLC Tasks for an Adaptive Project

19. Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK)
Developed by The Project Management Institute (PMI)
9 knowledge areas: foundation information for every project manager
Scope management
control functions included in system
control scope of work done by team
Time management
Build detailed schedule of all project tasks
Monitor progress of project against milestones
Cost management
Calculate initial cost/benefit analysis
Monitor expenses

20. Project Management Body of Knowledge (cont’d)
Quality management
Establish quality plan and control activities for each project phase
Human resource management
Recruit and hire project team members
Train, motivate, team build
Communications management
Identify stakeholders and their communications
Establish team communications

21. Project Management Body of Knowledge (cont’d)
Risk management
Identify and review risks for failure
Develop plans to reduce these risks
Procurement management
Develop requests for proposals (RFPs)‏
Evaluate bids, write contracts, monitor performance
Integration management

22. Project Initiation and Project Planning
Driving forces/Reasons to start project
Respond to opportunity
Resolve problem
Conform to directive

23. Project 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.

24. CASE STUDY: CSS Project initiation for 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) selected
John MacMurty – creates project charter
Barbara Halifax – project manager
Steven Deerfield – senior systems analyst
Goal is to support multiple types of customer services (ordering, returns, online catalogs)‏
Project charter describes key participants

25. RMO Project Charter

26. Project Planning Activities

27. Project Planning Activities and their key questions

28. Defining the Problem Review business needs
Use 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

29. System Scope Document

30. Context Diagram for Customer Support System

31. CASE STUDY: Defining the Problem at 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.

32. Producing the Project Schedule
Each project consists of tasks, activities and phases.
A phase is made up of a group of related activities
An activity is made up of a group of related tasks
A 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

33. 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 costs
Each 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

34. RMO Work Breakdown Structure

35. Project 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)

36. PERT/CPM Chart
PERT/CPM (Project Evaluation and Review Technique/Critical Path Method) chart:
shows the relationships among tasks
defines 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

37. Partial PERT/CPM chart for the CSS project

38. Gantt 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

39. Partial Gantt chart for the CSS project

40. Importance of the Proper Project Scheduling
In 1984, Microsoft planned to develop MS Word for one year
At 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 hours
Code 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

41. Just For Fun MS software release
MS software release

42. Risks Management and Project Feasibility
Risk management
Organizational and cultural feasibility
Technological feasibility
Schedule feasibility
Resource feasibility
Economic feasibility
Cost/benefit analysis
Sources of funds (cash flow, long-term capital)‏

43. Risk Analysis

44. Organizational and Cultural Feasibility
Each company has own culture
New 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

45. Technological 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 employees
Hiring consultants
Changing scope and project approach

46. Schedule 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

47. Team member availability Team skill levels
Resource Feasibility
Team member availability
Team skill levels
Computers, equipment, and supplies
Support staff time and availability
Physical facilities

48. Economic 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

49. Development 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

50. Supporting details of salary and wages for the CSS project

51. Summary of Development Costs for RMO

52. Operating 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

53. Summary of Annual Operating Costs for RMO

54. Just For Fun
Technical support

55. Sources 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

56. Sample Benefits for RMO

57. Financial 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.

58. RMO Cost Benefit Analysis

59. Tangible vs. Intangible Benefits
Tangible benefits – can be measured or estimated in terms of dollars
Intangible benefit – can’t be directly measured or estimated in dollars
In 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)

60. Staffing the Project There are five tasks within this activity:
Develop a resource plan
Identify and request technical staff
Identify and request specific user staff
Organize the project team into work groups
Conduct preliminary training and team-building

61. Launching 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

62. Readings
Today’s lecture: Chapter 3 – “The Analyst as A Project Manager”
For next week: Chapter 4 – “Investigating System Requirements”
Thank you !!!