Information System Project Management

Chapter four :-Productivity

and Quality

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 WHAT IS PROJECT QUALITY MANAGEMENT

• The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) defines

quality as “the totality of characteristics of an entity that accept on its
ability to satisfy stated or implied needs or “the degree to which a set
of inherent characteristics full fills requirements.
• The purpose of project quality management is to ensure that the
project will satisfy the needs for which it was undertaken.
• Many technical projects fail because the project team focuses only on
meeting the written requirements for the main products being
created and ignores other stakeholder needs and expectations for the
project.

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• Quality, therefore, must be on an equal level with project scope, time,
and cost.
• If a project’s stakeholders are not satisfied with the quality of the
project management the project team will need to adjust scope, time,
and cost to satisfy the stakeholder.
• Meeting only written requirements for scope, time, and cost is not
sufficient. To achieve stakeholder satisfaction, the project team must
develop a good working relationship with all stakeholders and
understand their stated or implied needs.

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• Project quality management involves three main processes:
• Planning quality management includes
• Performing quality assurance
• Controlling quality

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 PLANNING QUALITY MANAGEMENT

• Planning quality management implies the ability to expect situations

and prepare actions that bring about the desired outcome.
• The current thrust in modern quality management is
• The prevention of defects through a program of selecting the proper materials
• Training and brainwashing people in quality
• Planning a process that ensures the appropriate outcome

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• Quality planning also involves communicating the correct actions for
ensuring quality in a format that is understandable and complete
• In quality planning for projects, it is important to describe key factors
that directly contribute to meeting the customer’s requirements.
• Important scope aspects of IT projects that affect quality include
• Functionality
• System outputs
• Performance
• Reliability
• Maintainability

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 PERFORMING QUALITY ASSURANCE

• Quality assurance includes all of the activities related to satisfying the

relevant quality standards for a project
• Another goal of quality assurance is continuous quality improvement
• Important inputs for performing quality assurance are
• the quality management plan,
• process improvement plan,
• quality metrics,
• quality control measurements, and
• project documents

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• good companies develop their own best practices and evaluate other
organizations’ best practices to continuously improve the way they do
business
• The Japanese word for improvement or change for the better is
kaizen; a kaizen approach has been used in many organizations since
the end of World War II.
• Several tools used in quality planning can also be used in quality
assurance
• Benchmarking generates ideas for quality improvements by comparing specific project
practices or product characteristics to those of other projects or products within or
outside the performing organization

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• An important tool for quality assurance is a quality audit
• A quality audit is a structured review of specific quality management
activities that help identify lessons learned and that could improve
performance on current or future projects
• In-house auditors or third parties with expertise in specific areas can perform
quality audits; these quality audits can be scheduled or random.

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 CONTROLLING QUALITY

• Although one of the main goals of quality control is to improve

quality, the main outcomes of this process are
• acceptance decisions,
• rework, and
• process adjustments.

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 TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES FOR QUALITY CONTROL

• Quality control includes many general tools and techniques

• Cause-and-effect diagrams
• A control chart
• Check sheet
• A scatter diagram
• A histogram
• Pareto chart
• Flowcharts

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 Cause-and-effect diagrams

• trace complaints about quality problems back to the responsible

production operations or they help you find the root cause of a
problem.
• You can also use the technique known as the 5 whys, in which you
repeatedly ask the question “Why?” to help peel away the layers of
symptoms that can lead to the root cause of a problem
• They are also known as fishbone or Ishikawa diagrams

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Using the 5 whys, you could first ask
• why users cannot get into the system,
• why they keep forgetting their passwords
• why they did not reset their passwords
• why they did not check a box to save a password.
The root cause of the problem would have a significant impact
on actions taken to solve the problem.

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 A control chart

• A control chart is a graphic display of data that illustrates the results

of a process over time.
• Control charts allow you to determine whether a process is in control
or out of control.
• When a process is in control, any variations in the results of the process are
created by random events. Processes that are in control do not need to be
adjusted.
• When a process is out of control, variations in the results of the process are
caused by nonrandom events. When a process is out of control, you need to
identify the causes of those nonrandom events and adjust the process to
correct or eliminate them

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• A checksheet is used to collect and analyze data. It is sometimes
called a tally sheet or checklist, depending on its format eg:-
compliant in one companies

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• A scatter diagram helps to show if there is a relationship between two
variables. The closer data points are to a diagonal line, the more
closely the two variables are related.

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• A Pareto chart is a histogram that can help you identify and prioritize
problem areas. The variables described by the histogram are ordered
by frequency of occurrence. Pareto charts help you identify the vital
few contributors that account for most quality problems in a system

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• Projects that use Six Sigma principles for quality control normally
follow a five-phase improvement process called DMAIC which stands
for Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control
• DMAIC is a systematic, closed-loop process for continued
improvement that is scientific and fact based

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• Define: Define the problem/opportunity, process, and customer
requirements.
• Important tools used in this phase include a project charter, a
description of customer requirements, process maps, and Voice of the
Customer (VOC) data.

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• Measure: Define measures and then collect, compile, and display
data. Measures are defined in terms of defects per opportunity.
• Analyze: Examine process details to find improvement opportunities.
• A project team working on a Six Sigma project, normally referred to as
a Six Sigma team, investigates and verifies data to prove the
suspected root causes of quality problems and substantiates the
problem statement.

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• Improve: Generate solutions and ideas for improving the problem.
• A final solution is verified with the project sponsor,
• Control: Track and verify the stability of the improvements and the
predictability of the solution. Control charts are one tool used in the
control phase.

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 Information System Project Management

Chapter five :-Remnants

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• Procurement means acquiring goods and services from an outside
source. The term procurement is widely used in government;
• many private companies use the terms purchasing and outsourcing.
Organizations or individuals who provide procurement services are
referred to as suppliers, vendors, contractors, subcontractors, or
sellers

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• Organizations are turning to outsourcing to accomplish the following
• Access skills and technologies. Organizations can gain access to specific skills
and technologies when they are required by using outside resources. a
shortage of qualified personnel is the main reason that companies outsource
IT services. A project may require experts in a particular field for several
months, or it might require specific technologies from an outside source.
• Planning for this procurement ensures that the needed skills and
technologies will be available for the project.

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• Reduce both fixed and recurrent costs. Outsourcing suppliers often
can use economies of scale that may not be available to the client
alone, especially for hardware and software.
• It can also be less expensive to outsource some labor costs to other
organizations in the same country or off shore.
• Companies can use outsourcing to reduce labor costs on projects by
avoiding the costs of hiring, firing, and reassigning people to projects
or paying their salaries when they are between projects.

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• Allow the client organization to focus on its core business. Most
organizations are not in business to provide IT services, yet many have
spent valuable time and resources on IT functions when they should
have focused on core competencies such as marketing, customer
service, and new product design.
• Provide flexibility. Outsourcing to provide extra staff during periods of
peak workloads can be much more economical than trying to staff
entire projects with internal resources.

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• Increase accountability. A well-written contract—a mutually binding
agreement that obligates the seller to provide specified products or
services and obligates the buyer to pay for them—can clarify
responsibilities and sharpen focus on key deliverables of a project.
Because contracts are legally binding, there is more accountability for
delivering the work as stated in the contract.

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• There are four main processes in project procurement management:
• Planning procurement management
• Conducting procurements
• Procurements
• Closing procurements

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 PLANNING PROCUREMENT MANAGEMENT

• Planning procurements involves identifying which project needs can

best be met by using products or services outside the organization
• It involves deciding whether to procure, how to procure, what to
procure, how much to procure, and when to procure.
• An important output of this process is the make-or-buy decision, in
which an organization decides whether it should make certain
products and perform certain services inside the organization, or if it
is better to buy those products and services from an outside
organization.
• If there is no need to buy products or services from outside the
organization, then further procurement management is not needed.
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 Types of Contracts

• Contract type is an important consideration in procurement

management
• Three broad categories of contracts are
• fixed price or lump sum,
• cost reimbursable, and
• time and material

• Fixed-price or lump-sum contracts involve a fixed total price for a

well-defined product or service
• The buyer incurs little risk in this situation because the price is
predetermined. The sellers often pad their estimate to reduce their
risk, although they realize their price must still be competitive
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• For example, a company could award a fixed-price contract to
purchase 100 laser printers with a certain print resolution and print
speed to be delivered to one location within two months.
• In this example, the product and delivery date are well defined.
Several sellers could create fixed-price estimates for completing the
job.
• Fixed-price contracts may also include incentives for meeting or
exceeding selected project objectives

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• For example, the contract could include an incentive fee paid if the
laser printers are delivered within one month. A firm-fixed-price (FFP)
contract has the least amount of risk for the buyer, followed by a
fixed-price incentive fee (FPIF) contract. A fixed-price with economic
price adjustment contract (FP-EPA) includes a special provision for
predefined final adjustments to the contract price due to changes in
conditions such as inflation or the cost of specific commodities. An FP-
EPA contract is intended to protect both the buyer and seller from
external conditions beyond their control.

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• Cost-reimbursable contracts involve payment to the supplier for
direct and indirect actual costs
• Normally, these costs can be traced back to a project in a cost-
effective way. Indirect costs are not directly related to the products or
services of the project, but they are indirectly related to performing
the project
• For example, direct costs include the salaries for people working
directly on a project and hardware or software purchased for a
specific project. Indirect costs include the cost of providing a work
space with electricity and an employee cafeteria.

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• Cost-reimbursable contracts often include fees, such as a profit
percentage or incentives for meeting or exceeding selected project
objectives
• Four types of cost-reimbursable contracts
• With a cost plus incentive fee (CPIF) contract :-the buyer pays the supplier for allowable
costs (as defined in the contract) along with a predetermined fee and an incentive
bonus.
• With a cost plus fixed fee (CPFF) contract :- the buyer pays the supplier for allowable
costs (as defined in the contract) plus a fixed fee payment that is usually based on a
percentage of estimated costs. This fee does not vary, however, unless the scope of the
contract changes.

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 • With a cost plus award fee (CPAF) contract :- the buyer pays the supplier for allowable
costs (as defined in the contract) plus an award fee based on the satisfaction of
subjective performance criteria. A tip or gratuity that you would give a server in a
restaurant would qualify as a simple example
• With a cost plus percentage of costs (CPPC) contract:- the buyer pays the supplier for
allowable costs (as defined in the contract) along with a predetermined percentage
based on total costs.
• Time and material (T&M) contracts are a hybrid of fixed-price and
cost-reimbursable contracts.

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 Tools and Techniques for Planning Procurement Management

• Make-or-Buy Analysis:- is a general management technique used to

determine whether an organization should make a product or
perform a service inside the organization or buy it from someone else.
• This form of analysis involves estimating the internal costs of
providing a product or service and comparing the estimate to the cost
of outsourcing.
• Expert Judgment:- Experts both from inside and outside an
organization can provide excellent advice in planning purchases and
acquisitions. Project teams often need to consult experts within their
organization as part of good business practice

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• Market Research:- is very important in planning procurements. Many
potential suppliers are often available for goods and services, so the
project team must choose suppliers carefully. Some organizations
have a preferred vendor list and detailed information about them

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 CONDUCTING PROCUREMENTS

• After planning for procurement management, the next process

involves deciding whom to ask to do the work, sending appropriate
documentation to potential sellers, obtaining proposals or bids,
selecting a seller, and awarding a contract.

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 CONTROLLING PROCUREMENTS

• Controlling procurements ensures that the seller’s performance

meets contractual requirements. The contractual relationship is a
legal relationship, which means it is subject to state and federal
contract laws. It is very important that appropriate legal and
contracting professionals be involved in writing and administering
contracts

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• It is important to follow other good practices related to project
procurement:
• Changes to any part of the project need to be reviewed, approved, and documented by
the same people in the same way they approved the original part of the plan.
• Evaluation of any change should include an impact analysis. How will the change affect
the scope, time, cost, and quality of the goods or services being provided? There must
also be a baseline to understand and analyze changes.
• Changes must be documented in writing. Project team members should document all
important meetings and telephone calls.
• When procuring complex information systems, project managers and their teams must
stay closely involved to make sure the new system will meet business needs and work in
an operational environment. Do not assume that everything will go well because you
hired a reputable supplier. The buying organization needs to provide expertise as well.
• Have backup plans in case the new system does not work as planned.
• Several tools and techniques can help in contract administration,.

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 CLOSING PROCUREMENTS

• The final process in project procurement management is closing

procurements, which is sometimes referred to as contract closure.
Contract closure involves completion and settlement of contracts and
resolution of any open items.
• The project team should determine if all work required in each
contract was completed correctly and satisfactorily
• Tools to assist in contract closure include procurement audits,
negotiated settlements, and a records management system.
• Procurement audits are often done during contract closure to identify
lessons learned in the entire procurement process
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