System Project

Management

Oyugi James
IT DEPT JKUAT

Email:[email protected]
What is Project Management?

Project : A group of milestones or phases, activities

or tasks that support an effort to accomplish
something

Management : is the process of Planning,

Organizing, Controlling and Measuring
 A project

• A project is a collection of linked activities, carried out in an

organized manner, with a clearly defined START POINT and END
POINT to achieve some specific results desired to satisfy the
needs of the organization at the current time.
 Project Management

• A dynamic process that utilizes the appropriate resources of the

organization in a controlled and structured manner, to achieve
some clearly defined objectives identified as needs.
• It is always conducted within a defined set of constraints
 What does Project Management Entail?

• Planning: is the most critical and gets the

least amount of our time
• Organizing: Orderly fashion
(Contingent/Prerequisites)
• Controlling:is critical if we are to use our
limited resources wisely
• Measuring: To determine if we accomplished
the goal or met the target?
 Measuring

• Are we efficient?
• Are we productive?
• Are we doing a good job?
• What is the outcome?
• Is it what we wanted to be?
If you can’t plan it, You can’t do it
If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it
 Attributes of a project
There are several attributes that are unique about a project, including:
• Unique purpose
• Temporary (definite start and end dates; one-time ‘process’)
• Developed using progressive elaboration
• Requires resources, often from various areas (and is limited by cost, schedule, and
resources)
• Should have a primary customer or sponsor: project sponsor usually provides the
direction and funding for the project; customer-focused
• Involves uncertainty
 Examples of IT projects

o A small software development team adds a new feature to an internal software

application for the finance department.
o A college campus upgrades its infrastructure to provide campus-wide wireless Internet
access.
o Other examples include web development, software development, mobile app
development, network configuration, software implementation, hardware installation,
database management, and IT emergency recovery.
 Who uses project management?

 Nearly Everyone to some degree

People plan their Days, their Weeks, their Vacations and their
Budgets and keep a simple project management form known as ‘’To
Do’’ list
 Any Process or Means used to track tasks or efforts towards
accomplishing a goal could be considered Project Management
 Project Life Cycle

Concept Planning Execution/Control Closing

Definition | Analysis |Design|Build|Test|Accept| Implement| Operation
20% 60%

5% 15%

Percentages and graph refer to the amount of effort (people)

In IT projects = 90-95% of cost!
System project lifecycle
 Why is Project Management used?

• It is necessary to Track or Measure the progress we have

achieved towards a Goal we wish to accomplish

• We use Project Management to Aid us in Maximizing and

Optimizing our resources to accomplish our goals
 How much time does Project Management take?

• Not much. Probably more time is wasted as a consequence of

lack of Project Management tool than is spent to Plan
adequately, Organize, Control effectively and Measure
appropriately

• How long: As long as there are things to do

Why is Project Management Important?

• Enables us to map out a course of action or work plan

• Helps us to think systematically and thoroughly
• Unique Task
• Specific Objective
• Variety of Resources
• Time bound
 Advantages

• In built Monitoring/ Sequencing

• Easy and Early identification of Bottlenecks
• Activity based costing
• Identification and Addition of missing and new activities
• Preempting unnecessary activity/expenditure
• Timely Completion
• Assigning tasks
• Reporting
The Constraints of Projects
 Implementation

• Regular Monitoring
• Resource Support
• Critical issues discussed and solution
• Meeting with the team on completion of each major
milestone
• Track the progress against the plan
• System to add/delete tasks in the PMT
Consequences of not using PMT

 Delay
 Cost
 Waste of resources
 Quality
 Dissatisfaction
 Reputation
 Risk management

•Risk: anything not in the project plan that may occur and cause your
project to be late, cost more or compromise its quality/performance.

•Risk is an opportunity as well as a threat:

“You don’t put power brakes on a car to slow it down - you do so to
allow it to go faster.”
-Mark Davies, KPMG

•We will concentrate on the threat.

 Four Steps of Risk Management

1. Identification
• Anticipate the risk
• List the risks, event triggers, symptoms
2. Analysis
• Evaluate probability, impact
• Qualitative vs Quantitative
3. Risk Response
• Strategy Development to mitigate the risk:
• Eliminate the risk or reduce impact
• Contingency planning
4. Risk Control
• Monitor
• Update lists, strategies
• Action the contingency plan
• Fight the fires
 Project management tools and techniques

• Project management tools and techniques make planning

and managing projects easier and more effective.
• They can be applied to any project regardless of the field
or industry. When used in tandem with project
management software, they help save time and reduce
costs.
 Project management tools and techniques

• Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

• Gantt Charts
• Critical Path Method (CPM)
• PERT project management
• Project Network Diagrams
• Waterfall / Linear
 Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

• A WBS transforms big project activities into chunks of

manageable tasks you and your team can easily understand
and complete.
• So if you were constructing a house, like in the example
above, you’d divide the work into segments such as:
internal work, external work, and building the foundation.
• From there, you’d break down the work further into work
packages, based on levels and task dependencies.
Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
 Gantt charts

• It’s another technique that emphasizes visuality.

• It’s a visual representation of all the tasks your
team has to
complete in order to wrap up the project, visualized together
with time spans.
• You’ll be able to see task dependencies, how long each task will
take, as well as how its duration will affect the start dates and
deadlines.
 Critical Path Method (CPM)

• The critical path is the longest sequence of tasks that must be

completed to complete a project.
• The tasks on the critical path are called critical activities because if
they're delayed, the whole project completion will be delayed.
• It involves first mapping out the most important tasks and then
using those to estimate the total amount of time the project will
take to complete.
• Because an end date is influenced by each task, this project
management methodology requires listing all tasks needed, how
long they will take, and any outside factors that may affect each
milestone.
Critical Path Method (CPM
 Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT)

• A PERT chart, sometimes called a PERT diagram, is a

project management tool used to schedule, organize and
coordinate tasks within a project.
• It provides a graphical representation of a project's
timeline that enables project managers to break down
each individual task in the project for analysis.
• The PERT method is best suited for long-term projects,
where seeing a physical timeline is helpful, or for larger
projects that have unique challenges. These charts allow
you to more easily evaluate time, resources, and plans as a
project progresses.
Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT)
 Conclusion

• Project Management provides a framework for planning

large-scale projects
• Tools aid in organizing, scheduling, and visualizing
required work
• Likely to encounter in your future career
 Project Management

Work Smart Not Hard !!!