9626 A Level Information Technology Project Management notes.

1. Project Management
9626 Information Technology

2. What is Project management?
• A project is a series of related
jobs or tasks that are focused on
completion of an overall
objective.
• Project management is planning,
directing and controlling
resources to meet the technical,
cost and time constraints of a
project.
Stages of Project Management

3. Stages of the Project Life Cycle
• Identify the initial ideas for the project
• Set the project goals
• Identify the key stakeholders in the project
• Carry out a feasibility study
• Requirements for the project are identified
All the stakeholders are made aware of the expectations of the project.
Objectives of the project, scope, risks, approximate budget, timescales will
also be defined at this stage.
1. Project Initiation

4. Stages of the Project Life Cycle
• A comprehensive budget and detailed
timescale is formulated
• Milestones for certain parts of the project
are set
• A Gantt chart is produced. It shows the
order in which the tasks are to be done
and how long each project is.
• Personnel needed for the project are
coordinated. This ensures that they are
available when needed.
2. Project planning

5. Stages of the Project Life Cycle
• The actual work begins. The plan MUST be followed closely for better
management of resources, and keeping within the timeline.
• Each team member is made aware of their roles and responsibilities
and their targets, and the timescales they have to deliver their
targets.
3. Project Execution

6. Stages of the Project Life Cycle
• This is done throughout the execution phase.
• The project manger ensures that the tasks are completed on time. Tasks
that delay are rescheduled
• Monitoring of the progress and performance of team members
• Monitoring and tracking budgeting and spending
• Monitoring the scope of the project so that it remains within the
boundaries agreed upon.
• Regular review meetings are held with the stakeholders to discuss the
progress of the project.
• Sometimes the project plan can be adjusted accordingly
4. Project Monitoring and Control

7. Stages of the Project Life Cycle
• The project is handed over to the client and the contracts are terminated.
• Resources set for the project are released. Employees can be re-deployed
elsewhere
• A review of the project between the client and the project management
team is done.
• The project is signed off as completed.
5. Project Closure
Each stage has to have a phase review. This is to ensure that the project is
moving according to plan with all resources being used optimally.

8. How Project Management Software Supports Projects
• The software is used to schedule tasks and
• allocate resources for the tasks
• It is also used to identify milestones
Planning
Scheduling of tasks
• Gantt charts can be created.
• Tasks are assigned an estimated time to completion and the deadline
• Tasks depended on completion of other tasks are also identified.
• Show the project manager the calendar of all tasks to be completed and
calendars for each team member responsible for the tasks.

9. How Project Management Software Supports Projects
• Resources are defined within the software and their availability identified so that the
manager knows when they can be used.
• Resources are assigned to tasks, and the number of hours the resource shall be engaged
is indicated.
• Costs are attached to the resources to know the implication on the budget
• Helps the manager identify conflict of resources, and times when there is overload when
many tasks have to be completed.
Allocation of resources
Costing
• Expenses of each team member are recorded
• Daily/Weekly/monthly analysis of expenditure is made
• Costs of each resource can be totaled
• Data can be exported to different formats for further analysis

10. How Project Management Software Supports Projects
The software can provide
• Calendars for each team member
• Instant messaging, video chat, conferencing
• Shared documents, and notifications by email if changes are made
• Discussion forums which allow comments from team members
• Progress of the project
Communication
Decision Making
• Logging all communications so any decision can be identified i.e. who made it and why it was
made
• Graphs and charts to help analyze progress and the budget
• Identify the critical path:
A critical path is a sequence of tasks that must be finished before the project can be finished. It is the longest
path (i.e. path with the longest duration) from project start to finish.

11. Strengths and Weaknesses of Project Management Software
Strengths
• Collaboration with team members
• Document sharing
• Helping to manage project costs
• Manage risks, forecasting and budgeting
• Reporting capabilities
• Ease of use
Weaknesses
• Expensive software. May not be worth investing in
• The software may complicate simple projects
• Time is taken to setup the software than actually work on the project/task itself

12. Tools and Techniques for PM Tasks
• Gantt Charts are used to show
• the start and end dates of each task
• The task predecessor
• Progress of each task
• Current position within the task
• - A bar represents each task
- bar can be shaded to show
percentage completed
- tasks are listed with start/end dates
- arrows show which task is
dependent on which
- A line or indicator shows the current
position
- it shows details for each task like
resources/people responsible/duration
Gantt Charts

13. Tools and Techniques for PM Tasks
• PERT=Performance Evaluation and Review Technique
• They provides graphical representation of a project's timeline.
• PERT charts show each task in a project as a node.
• Dependencies between tasks (e.g. where one task requires another one to be
completed before it can start) are clearly shown by interconnections between the
task nodes.
• PERT charts also show timing information for each task.
• PERT charts are similar to the critical path method (CPM) which identifies the
longest path through the project, and therefore the minimum time for the project to
be completed.
PERT Charts

14. Tools and Techniques for PM Tasks
• A critical path analysis(CPA) finds a project's critical path.
• The critical path identifies which tasks must complete on time in
order for the whole project to complete on time
• It also defines the minimum time in which the project can be
completed .
• Example:
• Making tea
Critical Path Method

15. Tools and Techniques for PM Tasks
• Divide the project into tasks. This technique is also known as the work
breakdown structure. This step is done to ensure an easy progression
between tasks.
• Each circle represents a milestone,
• Tasks dependent on previous tasks can’t be done before the
predecessor task is completed.
• Some tasks aren't critical and have what is known as float time. This
is the time an activity can be delayed without affecting the rest of the
project
Critical Path Method (Cont’d)

16. • To create a CPA it is necessary to
know the following information :
• the list of tasks
• how long each task will take
• which tasks are dependent upon
predecessors.
This information can be shown in an
activity dependence table
Tools and Techniques for PM Tasks
Critical Path Method (Cont’d)