IT Project Management In this course, we only introduce p.docx

IT Project Management
In this course, we only introduce project management, but the
main
concepts are covered. In order to be a good project manager,
you
should specialize in this area. Project management certificates
are
offered by universities such as UMUC, and there is at least one
recognized certification authority—the Project Management
Institute
(PMI). PMI evaluates both your experience as well as your
knowledge
before a certification is awarded. So, you can see that project
management cannot really be learned from a book or a class, but
from
those combined with experience in the "real world."
A couple of definitions with which you should be familiar are:
• project: a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique
product, service, or result
• project management: the application of knowledge, skills,
tools, and techniques to project activities to meet project
requirements
What is the role of a project manager? Is it different for an IT
project
manager? A project manager must control the four key variables
associated with any project: time (schedule), resources (human

and
financial), scope of work, and quality.
The project manager leads the development of a project plan
that
takes all of these into consideration. Frequently, trade-offs are
required. For instance, the budget may be limited, which
restricts the
scope of the work and perhaps how many people can work on
the
project. Or, the project is needed within a certain time frame,
which
may drive up the costs, since more people would have to be
hired to
complete the project on time.
When any one of the four variables changes, there is an impact
on at
least one (and often more than one) other variable. A strong
project
manager pays attention to the project plan and the progress of
the
project against the plan, and manages the variables
appropriately to
ensure successful completion of the project. Successful
completion is
accomplished if the project is delivered on time, stays within
the
allocated budget, performs the required functions, and does so
correctly. This role is the same for any project manager,
including an
IT project manager.
1

The four variables are interdependent. You cannot change one
without affecting the others. For example,
cost of the project or decreasing the scope of the project to meet
the new deadline.
project's time frame or increasing the project's cost—or both—
to meet the increased scope changes.
necessitate a reevaluation of the scope and/or the quality. The
scope may need to be reduced to avoid decreasing the quality,
or if the scope must remain unchanged, quality will suffer.
time and money to incorporate more perfection and test all
possible outcomes for correctness.
Project management is the science of making intelligent trade-
offs
among time, cost, scope, and quality. This is the job of the
project
manager. As things change, the project manager must adjust the
four
variables to keep them in balance.
The first step is the selection of strategic projects. Now, the
project

manager does not select the projects alone; usually, that is done
by
senior management after the presentation of a "business case"
that
outlines the project plan, stating the objectives (how the project
supports the corporate strategy), cost, schedule, functionality,
and risk
associated with the proposed project. Once senior management
allocates resources, the project manager ensures the project plan
is
executed according to plan. A smart project manager makes sure
that
a plan has "SMART" criteria—aspects to ensure that the project
has
created understandable and measurable objectives:
• Specific
• Measurable
• Agreed upon
• Realistic
• Time framed
These objectives are documented in the project plan, used
throughout
the project's life to help keep the project on track to a
successful
2
completion. The project manager monitors progress against the
plan
and manages any changes and mitigates risks as they become
known.

Project risk management involves identifying potential events
or
conditions that could have a negative effect on the project,
estimating
the impact if the risk occurs, determining a mitigation strategy
to
reduce the likelihood of the risk occurring, and identifying what
will be
done if the event or condition actually arises.
Since almost no project goes exactly according to the plan, the
project
manager needs a tool to detect and manage the changes. The
process
of change management is this tool. The project manager
documents
all approved changes, revises the project plan accordingly, and
then
continues managing and monitoring the project.
Keep in mind that the job of the project manager is to stay on
top of
all the variables and manage the cost, schedule (time), scope
and
quality. He or she must seek additional resources (money or
people)
or a schedule change (time) when the scope increases, and must
be
able to articulate the effect on quality if additional resources or
a
schedule change are not authorized. The project manager is
responsible to senior leaders to monitor the variables, keep
leadership
informed, and propose solutions for changes as they occur.
We begin our study of IT project management by reading

Section III
of the
Solution
Management module. Leadership and change
management are also important aspects of project management,
and
will be discussed in more depth next week, in the Leadership
and
Change Management module. The next sections include
readings on
project management and the project life cycle. We then take a
look at
why projects fail and risk management.
3
Week 4 Discussion 1
Top of Form
4
· 5

Please respond to the following: "Brand Stretch Spectrum and
Market Product Grid"
Assess the importance of evaluating newly developed health
care products in order to determine whether the products should
carry existing brand names or whether they should be assigned
new brand names. Suggest realistic branding strategies needed
for marketers to evaluate newly developed health care products
or services. Provide support for your rationale.
Use the Internet to research the product offerings of a local
health care organization. (Note:These offerings are often found
on the health care organizations homepage.) Based on your
knowledge of your local region, consider the potential markets
for these products. With the grid, you should, at a minimum,
analyze the resulting market-product combination. Determine
whether or not the product offerings that you selected are
consistent with the perceived selections of the given health care
entity. Explain your rationale.
Reply to classmate 150 words
Discussion 2
Please respond to the following: "Lateral Marketing Strategy"
· Assess the value of target marketing as an effective health
care marketing strategy. Appraise the degree to which vertical
and traditional segmentation help marketing managers use target

marketing strategies. Support your rationale with at least two
(2) specific examples of target marketing within a health care
organization with which you are familiar.
· Evaluate the impact of lateral segmentation in encouraging
marketing managers to look broadly at markets in order to
identify previously overlooked opportunities. Provide at least
one (1) specific example of quality initiatives within a health
care organization.
Reply to classmate 150 words
Case Study 1: Revitalizing a Brand
Due Week 4 and worth 200 points
Read the case study titled “Revitalizing a Brand”, located in the
online course shell. Use the Internet or Strayer databases to
research the branding and communication strategies of one (1)
health services organization that is similar to the health services
organizations mentioned in the case study.
Write a four to six (4-6) page paper in which you:
1. Describe the current marketing communication, identity, and
brand position of Plaza Home Health Services.
2. Conduct a Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats
(SWOT) analysis associated with the current marketing
communication, identity, and brand position of Plaza Home

Health Services.
3. Assess the importance of benchmarking in Plaza Home
Health Services’ development and implementation of an
effective brand strategy (marketing communication, identity,
and brand position).
4. Compare branding and communication strategies of a similar
health services organization with that of Plaza Home Health
Services. Determine whether or not Plaza Home Health Services
should apply additional best practices into its current branding
and communication strategies. Provide a rationale and support
for your response.
5. Use at least five (5) quality academic resources. Note:
Wikipedia and other Websites do not qualify as academic
resources.
Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:
· Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size
12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references
must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your
professor for any additional instructions.
· Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the
student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the
date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in
the required assignment page length.

What is Project Management? by Merrie Barron and Andrew R.
Barron is available under a Creative
Commons Attribution 3.0 license. © 2009, Merrie Barron and
Andrew R. Barron.
http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]/What-is-Project-
Management
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
OpenStax-CNX module: m31508 1
What is Project Management?
∗
Merrie Barron, PMP, CSM
Andrew R. Barron
This work is produced by OpenStax-CNX and licensed under the

Creative Commons Attribution License 3.0†
You've determined that you have a project. What now? The
notes you scribbled down on the back of
the napkin at lunch are a start, but not exactly good project
management practice. Too often, organizations
follow Nike's advice when it comes to managing projects when
they �just do it.� An assignment is made
and the project team members jump directly into the
development of the product or service requested. In
the end the delivered product doesn't meet the expectations of
the customer. Unfortunately, many projects
follow this poorly constructed path and that is a primary
contributor to why a large percentage of projects
don't meet their original objectives de�ned by performance,
schedule, and budget.
In the United States, more than $250 billion dollars is spent
each year on IT application development
in approximately 175,000 projects. The Standish Group (a
Boston-based leader in project and value perfor-
mance research) just released the summary version of their 2009
CHAOS Report that tracks project failure
rates across a broad range of companies and industries (Figure
1).

Figure 1: Summary of 2009 Standish Group CHAOS report.
Jim Johnson, chairman of the Standish Group has stated that
�this year's results show a marked decrease
in project success rates, with 32% of all projects succeeding
which are delivered on time, on budget, with
∗ Version 1.4: Oct 14, 2009 11:21 am -0500
†http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
http://cnx.org/content/m31508/1.4/
"Download for free at http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]”
required features and functions, 44% were challenged which are
late, over budget, and/or with less than
the required features and functions and 24% failed which are
cancelled prior to completion or delivered and
never used.�

When are companies going to stop wasting billions of dollars on
failed projects? The vast majority of this
waste is completely avoidable; simply get the right business
needs (requirements) understood early in the
process and ensure that project management techniques are
applied and followed and the project activities
are monitored.
Applying good project management discipline is the way to help
reduce the risks. But keep in mind,
having good project management skills does not mean you have
no problems, it does not mean that risks go
away, or that there won't be any surprises. The value of good
project management is that you have standard
processes in place to deal with all contingencies.
Project Management is the application of knowledge, skills,
tools, and techniques applied to project
activities in order to meet the project requirements. Project
management is a process that includes planning,
putting the project plan into action, and measuring progress and
performance.
Managing a project includes identifying your project's
requirements; writing down what everyone needs

from the project. What are the objectives for your project?
When everyone understands the goal, it's much
easier to keep them all on the right path. Make sure you set
goals that everyone agrees on to avoid team
con�icts later on. Understanding and addressing the needs of
everyone a�ected by the project means the
end result of your project is far more likely to satisfy your
stakeholders, and last but not least, as project
manager you will also be balancing the many competing project
constraints.
On any project, you will have a number of competing project
constraints that are competing for your
attention. They are cost, scope, quality, risk, resources and
time.
• Cost is budget approved for the project including all necessary
expenses needed to deliver the project.
Within organizations, project managers have to balance between
not running out of money and not
under spending because many projects receive funds or grants
that have contract clauses with an �use
it or lose it� approach to project funds. Poorly executed budget
plans can result in a last minute rush
to spend the allocated funds. For virtually all projects, cost is

ultimately a limiting constraint; few
projects can go over budget without eventually requiring a
corrective action.
• Scope is what the project is trying to achieve, it entails all the
work involved in delivering the projects
outcomes and the processes used to produce them. It is the
reason and the purpose of the project.
• Quality is the standards and criteria to which the project's
products must be delivered for them to
perform e�ectively. First, the product must perform to provide
the functionality expected, and to solve
the problem, and deliver the bene�t and value expected of it. It
must also meet other performance
requirements, or service levels, such as availability, reliability
and maintainability, and have acceptable
�nish and polish. Quality on a project is controlled through
quality assurance (QA) that is the process
of evaluating overall project's performance on a regular basis to
provide con�dence that the project
will satisfy the relevant quality standards.
• Risk is de�ned by potential external events that will have a
negative impact on your project if they

occur. Risk refers to the combination of the probability the
event will occur and the impact on the
project if the event occurs. If the combination of the probability
of the occurrence and the impact to
the project is too high, you should identify the potential event
as a risk and put a proactive plan in
place to manage the risk.
• Resources are required to carry out the project tasks. They can
be people, equipment, facilities,
funding, or anything else capable of de�nition (usually other
than labor) required for the completion
of a project activity.
• Time is de�ned as the time to complete the project. Time is
often the most frequent project oversight
in developing projects. This is re�ected in missed deadlines and
incomplete deliverables. Proper control
of the schedule requires the careful identi�cation of tasks to be
performed, an accurate estimation of
their durations, the sequence in which they are going to be
done, and how people and other resources
are allocated.

You may have heard of the term �Triple Constraint� which
traditionally only consisted of Time, Cost &
Scope. These are the primary competing project constraints that
you have to be aware of most. The triple
constraint is illustrated in the form of a triangle to visualize the
project work and to see the relationship
between the scope/quality, schedule/time, and cost/resource
(Figure 2).
Figure 2: A schematic of the triple constraint triangle.
In this triangle, each side represents one of the constraints (or
related constraints) wherein any changes
to any one side cause a change in the other sides. The best
projects have a perfectly balanced triangle.
Maintaining this balance is di�cult because projects are prone
to change. For example, if scope increases,
cost and time may increase disproportionately. Alternatively, if

the amount of money you have for your
project decreases, you may be able to do as much, but your time
may increase.
Your project may have additional constraints that you are
facing, and as the project manager you have to
balance the needs of these constraints against the needs of the
stakeholders and against your project goals.
For instance, if your sponsor wants to add functionality to the
original scope you will very likely need more
money to �nish the project or if they cut the budget you have to
reduce the quality of your scope and if
you don't get the appropriate resources to work on your project
tasks you will have to extend your schedule
because the resources you have take much longer to �nish the
work.
You get the idea; they are all dependent on each other. Think of
all of these constraints as the classic
carnival game of Whac-a-mole (Figure 3). Each time you try to
push one mole back in the hole, another one
pops out. The best advice is to rely on your project team to keep
these moles in place!

Figure 3: Go to
www.dorneypark.com/public/online_fun/mole.cfm to play
Whac-a-mole.
Here is an example of a project that cut quality because the
project costs were �xed. The P-36 oil
platform (Figure 4) was the largest �oating production platform
in the world capable of processing 180,000
barrels of oil per day and 7.2 million cubic meters of gas per
day. Located in the Roncador Field, Campos
Basin, Brazil the P-36 was operated by Petrobras.
Figure 4: The Petrobras P-36 oil platform.
In March 2001, the P-36 was producing around 84,000 barrels
of oil and 1.3 million cubic meters of gas
per day when it became destabilized by two explosions and
subsequently sank in 3900 feet of water with

1650 short tons of crude oil remaining on board, killing 11
people.
The sinking is attributed to a complete failure in quality
assurance and pressure for increased production
led to corners being cut on safety procedures. It is listed as one
of the most expensive accidents with a price
tag of $515,000,000.
The following quote is from a Petrobras executive, citing the
bene�ts of cutting quality assurance and
inspection costs on the project, while the accompanying pictures
are the result of this proud achievement in
project management by Petrobras.
Figure 5: "Petrobras has established new global benchmarks for

the generation of exceptional share-
holder wealth through an aggressive and innovative program of
cost cutting on its P36 production facility."
Figure 6: "Conventional constraints have been successfully
challenged and replaced with new paradigms
appropriate to the globalized corporate market place."
"Download for free at http://cnx.org/contents/f0a795f0-0309-
43f1-b93c-eb77[email protected]”
Figure 7: "Through an integrated network of facilitated
workshops, the project successfully rejected the
established constricting and negative in�uences of prescriptive
engineering, onerous quality requirements,
and outdated concepts of inspection and client control."
Figure 8: "Elimination of these unnecessary straitjackets has
empowered the project's suppliers and

contractors to propose highly economical solutions, with the
win-win bonus of enhanced pro�tability
margins for themselves."
Figure 9: "The P36 platform shows the shape of things to come
in the unregulated global market
economy of the 21st century."
The dynamic trade-o�s between the project constraint values
has been humorously but accurately de-
scribed in Figure 10.
Figure 10: A sign seen at an automotive repair shop.
1 Bibliography
• CHAOS 2009 Summary and EPPM Study, The Standish Group,

Boston, MA (2009).

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