Project Management in Information Technology

Section A: Objective Type & Short Questions (30 marks)

Part One:

Multiple forms:

1. “Enterprise project management software (EPMS)” integrates information from a single project to show the status. (T/F)

2. Gantt chart is used for the ......................................

3. In Adaptive approach for software development the focus is on             

• Time based cycles to meet the target dates
• No time based cycles
• Although time based but no target date
• None

4. IEEE standard ....................... describes the contents of software project management plan.

• 1058 – 1997
• 1058 – 1998
• 1058 – 1999
• 1058 – 1996

5. Scope creep means                         

• The tendency for project scope to shrink
• The tendency for project scope to grow bigger and bigger
• The tendency for project scope to collapse completely
• None

6. Slack or float is the amount of time an activity may be delayed without delaying succeeding activity. (T/F)

7. “PERT” stands for ..................................

8. “Murphy” law states                           

• If something can go wrong, it can be corrected.
• If something can go wrong , it will
• If something can no go wrong, it will
• None

9. Project that use Six Sigma principles for quality control normally follows a 5 phase improvement process called DMAIC, here A stands for             

• Art
• Analyze
• Allies
• None

10. Fishbone diagram is also called                     

• Gantt diagram
• Murphy diagram
• Parkinson diagram
• Ishikawa diagram

Part Two:

1. Write a note on “Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)‟.

2. Define the Earned value?

3. Explain the Kichoff meeting?

4. How would you explain the Cross-Referencing requirement Matrix?

Section B: Caselets (40 marks)

Caselet 1

A preliminary estimate of costs for the entire project is $140,000. This estimate is based on the project manager working about 20 hours per week for six months and other internal staff working a total of about 60 hours per week for six months. The customer representatives would not be paid for their assistance. A staff project manager would earn $50 per hour. The hourly rate for the other project team member would be $70 per hour, since some hours normally billed to clients may be needed for this project. The initial cost estimate also includes $10,000 for purchasing software & services from suppliers. After the project is completed, maintenance costs of $40,000 are included for each year, primarily to update the information and coordinate the “Ask the Expert” feature and online articles. Projected benefits are based on a reduction in hours consultants spend researching project management information, appropriate tools and templates, and so on. Projected benefits are also based on a small increase in profits due to new business generated by this project. If each of more than 400 consultants saved just 40 hours each year (less than one hour per week) and could bill that time to other projects that generate a conservative estimate of $10 per hour in profits, then the projected benefit would be $160,000 per year. If the new intranet increased business by just 1 percent, using past profit information, increased profits due to new business would be at least $40,000 each year. Total projected benefits, therefore, are about $200,000 per year.

Exhibit A summarizes the projected costs and benefits and shows the estimated net percent value (NPV), return on investment (ROI), and year in which payback occurs. It also lists assumptions made in performing this preliminary financial analysis. All of the financial estimates are very encouraging. The estimate payback is within one year, as requested by the sponsor. The NPV is $272,800, and the discounted ROI based on a three-year system life is excellent at 112 percent.

1. What according to you are the factors that can hamper the profit growth related with the project?

2. Mention some strategies to further improve the project’s turnover.

Caselet 2

Many organizations spend a great deal of time and money on training efforts for general project management skills, but after the training, project managers may still not know how to tailor their project management skills to the organization‟s particular needs. Because of this problem, some organizations develop their own internal information technology project management methodologies. The PMBOKR Guide is a standard that describes best practices for what should be done to manage a project. A methodology describes how things should be done, and different organizations often have different ways of doing things.   For example, after implementing a systems development life cycle (SDLC) at Blue Cross Shield of Michigan, the Methods department became aware that developers and project managers were often working on different information technology project in different ways. Deliverables were often missing or looked different from project to project. They may have all had a project charter, status report, technical documents (i.e., database design documents, user interface requirements, and so on), but how they were producing and delivering these deliverables was different. There was a general lack of consistency and a need for standards to guide both new and experienced project managers. Top management decides to authorize funds to develop a methodology for project managers that could also become the basis for information technology project management training within the organization. It was also part of an overall effort to help raise the company‟s Software Capability Maturity Model level.BlueCross BlueShield of Michigan launched a three-month project to develop its own project management methodology. Some of the project team members had already received PMP certification, so they decided to base their methodology on the PMBOKR Guide 2000, making adjustment as needed to best describe how their organization managed information technology projects. See a complete article on this project on the companion Web site for this text. Also see the Suggested Reading to review the State of Michigan Project Management Methodology, which provides another good example of an information technology project management methodology. Many organizations include project management in their methodologies for managing Six Sigma projects. Other organizations include project management in their software development methodologies, such as the Rational Unified Process (RUP) framework. RUP is an interactive software development process that focuses on team productivity and delivers software best practices to all team members. According to RUP expert Bill Cottrell, “RUP embodies industry-standard management and technical methods and techniques to provide a software engineering process particularly suited to creating and maintaining component- based software system solutions,” Cottrell explains that you can tailor RUP to include the PMBOK process groups. Specifically, IBM Rational, the creators of RUP, found that it could adjust RUP input artifacts with PMBOK process inputs, RUP steps with PMBOK process tools and techniques, and RUP resulting artifacts with PMBOK process outputs.

1. According to you what the skills needed for the project management of organization?

2. How could have been the six sigma project became a helpful tool in very sophisticated kind of project management?

Section C: Applied Theory (30 marks)

1. How would you explain the project manager? Explain the characteristics of the successful project manager?

2. Define the IT project plan? Discuss the IT project plan format in detail?