Lecturer: Mr. Michael Allotey & Prof. Harry Akussah Contact - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

School of Information and Communication Studies Department of Information Studies

Second Semester (2018-2019)

Lecturer: Mr. Michael Allotey & Prof. Harry Akussah Contact Information: mallotey@ug.edu.gh

Lecture Overview

Projects are one of the principal means by which we change our

• world. Whether the goal is to split the atom, tunnel under the English

Channel, introduce Windows Vista, or plan the next Olympic games in Ghana, the means to achieve all these tasks remain the same: through project management. As more and more organizations are adopting project management as a way of life, this lecture looks at how project management can be used to introduce information systems into

• rganizations.

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Session Outline

The key topics to be covered in the session are as follows:

• 1. Defining Projects
• 2. Stages in Project Management
• 3. Determinants of project success
• 4. Assessing Information Technology project success.

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Reading List

• Pinto, J.K.(2010) Project Management, Achieving Competitive Advantage (2nd Ed.) Pearson

Education, Inc.

• Laudon, C.K. Laudon, J.P. (2000) Management Information Systems (11th Ed.), NJ, Prentice-Hall in

Honkong, Pearson.

• Senn, J.A. (1982) Information Systems in Management, NY Wadsworth Publishing Company.
• Stoner, J.A.F. (1999) Management, (1999) Prentice-Hall of India, New Delhi.
• Lucey Terry, (1995) Management Information Systems, DP Publishing Ltd. Aldine Place, London.
• Watson, H.J. et al (1991) Information System for Management: A Book of Reading.
• O’Brien, J.A. (2009) Introduction to Information Systems, Boston, Pearson.
• Long, P. et al (2016) Cambridge International AS and A Level IT Coursebook, University Printing

House, Cambridge CB2 8BS, UK.

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DEFINING PROJECTS

Topic One

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What is a Project?

A project is a unique venture with a beginning and end, conducted by people to meet established goals within parameters of cost, schedule, and quality.

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What is a Project?

A project can be considered to be any series of activities and tasks that:

• Have a specific objective to be completed within

certain specifications.

• Have defined start and end dates
• Have funding limits (if applicable)
• Consume human and nonhuman resources (i.e.

money, people, equipment)

• A multifunctional (i.e. cut across several functional

lines)

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What is a Project?

• Projects are distinct from other organizational processes.
• As a rule, a process refers to ongoing, day-to-day

activities in which the organization engages while producing goods or services.

• Projects on the other hand, take place outside the

normal, process-oriented world of the organization.

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STAGES IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Topic Two

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Traditional Project Management Lifecycle

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Initiation Planning

Monitoring and Controlling

Closing Executing

Conception and Initiation

• During this stage, the initial ideas for a project are

identified and goals are set.

• Key stakeholders are identified and decisions are

made as to whether it is appropriate to undertake a project or not by conducting a feasibility study (based on resources, finance and time available).

• Requirements for the project will be identified.
• Objectives of the project, its scope, risk, approximate

budget and approximate timescales will be defined and agreed with all stakeholders.

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Planning

• There is a common phrase, “failing to prepare is

preparing to fail.”

• It is essential that the project is planned well so that all

stakeholders know their responsibilities during the stages.

• At this stage, a comprehensive budget will be formulated

along with details of timescales.

• Milestones will be set, by which time certain aspects of

the project must be complete.

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Planning

• A Gantt chart will be produced to show which tasks

need to be completed in which order.

• Resources including personnel will be allocated to

tasks in a coordinated manner so that they are available at the right times.

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Execution

Once all plan are in place and the start date arrives, the project can commence. The projected manager will be expected to communicate roles and responsibilities to team members and set interim targets for each member to achieve within the timescales

• f the overall plan.

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Monitoring and Control

• Throughout the execution of the project, the project

manager must monitor the progress and control what is happening.

• The project manager will need to monitor the

performance of team members and compare with agreed roles, monitor expenditure and compare with agreed budget and keep a close eye on the scope of the project.

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Closure

• When the project is ready to complete, a handover will

take place from the project team to the client.

• Contracts will be terminated, which means some people

may need to be deployed elsewhere.

• Resources that have been assigned to the project will be

released.

• A review of the project will take place between the client

and the project management team.

• The client will then be expected to sign off the project as

completed.

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DETERMINANTS OF PROJECT SUCCESS

Topic Four

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Determinants of Project Success

How do we know when a project is successful?

• When it is profitable?
• If it comes in on the budget?
• On time?
• When the developed product or system works or

sells?

• When we achieve our long-term payback goal?

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Determinants of Project Success

• Any definition of project success must take into

consideration the elements that define the very nature of a project: That is;

• Time (Schedule adherence)
• Budget
• Functionality/ quality/ performance
• Customer satisfaction or Client acceptance

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Time

• The first determinant of project success is its basic

requirement: Time.

• The project should come in or before its established

schedule.

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Budget / Cost

• Projects must meet budgeted allowanced in order to

use resources as efficiently as possible.

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Performance

• All projects are developed in order to adhere to

some initially determined technical specification.

• Measuring performance, then, means determining

whether the finished product operates according to specifications.

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Client Acceptance

• The principle of client acceptance argues that

projects are developed with customers, or clients, in mind, and their purpose is to satisfy customer’s needs.

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ASSESSING INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (IT) PROJECT SUCCESS

Topic Five

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Assessing IT Project Success

In 1992 and again in 2003, two researchers, W. Delone and E. McLean, analysed several previous studies of It projects to identify the key indicators for success. According to them IT projects should be evaluated according to six criteria.

• System quality
• Information quality
• Use
• User satisfaction
• Individual impact
• Organizational impact.

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System Quality

• The project team must be able to

assure the client that the implemented system will perform as intended.

• All systems should satisfy certain

criteria: They should, for example, be easy to use, and they should supply quality information.

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Information Quality

• The information generated by the implemented

IT must be the information required by users and be sufficient quality that it is “actionable”.

• That is, generated information should not

require additional efforts to sift or sort data.

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Use

• Once installed, the IT system must be

used.

• The criterion of “use” assesses the

actual utility of a system by determining the degree to which, once implemented, it is used by the customer.

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User Satisfaction

Because the user is the client and is ultimately the arbiter of whether or not the project was effective, it is vital that we attain some measure of the clients satisfaction with the system and its output.

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Individual Impact

• All systems should be easy to use and should supply

quality information.

• Beyond satisfying these needs, is there a specific criterion

for determining the usefulness of a system to the client who commissioned it.

• Is decision making faster or more accurate? Is information

more retrievable, more affordable, or more easily assimilated?

• In short, does the system benefit users in the ways that

are most important to those users.

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Organizational Impact

• Finally, the supplier of the system must be

able to determine whether it has a positive impact throughout the client organization.

• Is there, for example, a collective or synergistic

effect on the client corporation?

• Is there a sense of good feeling, or are there

financial or operational metrics that demonstrate the effectiveness or quality of the system?

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**END**

Thank You

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