Name of Subject: Software Project Management Experiment No: 01 Title: Case study on project & system management.

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EXPERIMENT NO 1 AIM: Case Study on project and system management. SOFTWARE REQUIRED: MS Word, Mozilla Firefox THEORY: DEFINITION:
From these few examples it is clear that humankind has been involved in project activities for a long time. But why are these works considered projects while other human activities, such as planting and harvesting a crop, stocking a warehouse, issuing payroll checks, or manufacturing a product, are not? What is a project? This is a question we will cover in much detail later. As an introduction Though, some characteristics will be listed that warrant classifying an activity as a project. They center on the purpose, complexity, uniqueness, unfamiliarity, stake, impermanence, and life cycle of the activity 1. A project involves a single, definable purpose, end-item, or result, usually specified in terms of cost, schedule, and performance requirements. 2. Every project is unique in that it requires doing something different than was done previously. Even in routine projects such as home construction, variables such as terrain, access, zoning laws, labor market, public services, and local utilities make each project different. A project is a one-time activity, Never to be exactly repeated again. 3. Projects are temporary activities. An ad hoc organization of personnel, material, and facilities is assembled to accomplish a goal, usually within a scheduled time frame; once the goal is achieved, the organization is disbanded or reconfigured to begin work on a new goal. 4. Projects cut across organizational lines because they need the skills and talents from multiple professions and organizations. Project complexity often arises from the complexity of advanced technology, which creates task interdependencies that may introduce new and unique problems. 5. Given that a project differs from what was previously done, it also involves unfamiliarity. It may encompass new technology and, for the organization undertaking the project, possess significant elements of uncertainty and risk. 6. The organization usually has something at stake when doing a project. The activity may call for special scrutiny or effort because failure would jeopardize the organization or its goals. 7. Finally, a project is the process of working to achieve a goal; during the process, projects pass through several distinct phases, called the project life cycle. The tasks, people, organizations, and other resources change as the project moves from one phase to the next. The organization structure and resource expenditures slowly build with each succeeding phase; peak; and then decline as the

PROJECT GOALS
Virtually every project has three overriding goals: to accomplish work for a client or end-user in accordance with budget, schedule, and performance requirements. The budget is the specified or allowable cost for the project; it is the target cost of the work to be done. The schedule includes the time period over which the work will be done and the target date for when it will be completed. The performance requirements specify what is to be done to reach the end-item or final result. They include required features of the final product or service, technological specifications, and quality and quantity measures, whatever is important to the client or end-user. As shown in Figure 1-4, the goals can be conceptualized as the axes of a three-dimensional space, and the purpose of project management is to direct the project to a target that satisfies all three goals.10 Taken together, the three goals represent a contract to deliver a retain something, by a certain date, for a certain cost. Unfortunately, technological complexity, changing markets, and uncontrollable environmental forces complicate what can be considered as certain. The three goals are interrelated and must be addressed simultaneously; exclusive emphasis on any one goal is likely to detract from the others. In trying to meet time schedules and performance requirements, costs may be forced to increase; conversely, in trying to contain costs, work quality may erode, schedules may slip, and performance

may degrade. In earlier times, one or two of the goals were simply allowed to vary so that the most fixed goal could be met. Most projects, as the Manhattan, Pathfinder, Alpha Company, and Beta Hospital examples show, do not have this luxury; time, cost, and performance have to be given equal emphasis. Project management has evolved as an efficient way to maintain focus on all three project goals and to control the necessary tradeoffs among them. As a systems approach, project management integrates resources and puts emphasis on the wholeness of project goals.

PROJECTMANAGEMENT:
Three key features distinguish project management from earlier, traditional forms of management: the project manager, the project team, and the project management system.

The Project Manager

The most important element of project management is the project manager, a person whose single, overriding responsibility is to plan, direct, and integrate the work efforts of participants to achieve project goals. In fast-changing environments it is becoming increasingly difficult for organizations like Company Alpha to relate facts about technology, production methods, costs, and markets, and the number of crucial issues and decisions to be processed is too large for traditional hierarchical organizations to effectively handle. In most organizations, work proceeds along functional lines and the response to change is exceedingly slow. In the role of project manager, the organization has one person who is accountable for the project and is totally dedicated to achieving its goals. The project manager coordinates efforts across the various involved functional areas and integrates the planning and control of costs, schedules, and work tasks.

The Project Team

Project management is the bringing together of individuals and groups to form a single, cohesive team working toward a common goal. Perhaps more than any other human endeavor, project work is teamwork. Project work is accomplished by a group of people, often from different functional areas and organizations, who participate wherever and whenever they are needed. Depending on resource requirements of the project, the size and composition of the team may fluctuate, and the team may disband after the project is completed.

The Project Management System

The project manager and the project team must have available and utilize a project management system. The project management system is composed of organization structure, information processing, and practices and procedures that permit integration of the vertical and horizontal elements of project organizations. As shown in Figure 1-5, vertical elements include the breakdown of all tasks in the project; horizontal elements include the functional units and departments involved in the project. The project management system provides for integrative planning and control. According to Archibald, integrative planning and control refers to the pulling together of all important elements of information related to (1)the products or results of the project, (2) the time, and (3) the cost, in funds, manpower, or other key resources. Further, this information must be pulled together for all (or as many as practical) phases of the project. Finally, integrated planning and control requires continual revision of future plans, comparison of actual results with plans, and projection of total time and cost at completion through interrelated evaluation of all elements of information. As projects move from one phase to the next, resource requirements (labor, facilities, capital, etc.) and organizational responsibilities shift. The project management system provides the means for (1) identification of tasks, (2) identification of resource Requirements and costs, (3) establishing priorities, (4) planning and updating schedules, (5) monitoring and controlling end-item quality and performance, and (6) measuring project performance.

Management Functions
The activities of a manager can be classified into the five functions identified in Figure 2-1. First, the manager decides what has to be done; this is the planning function. It involves setting organizational goals and establishing means for achieving them consistent with available resources and forces in the environment. Second, the manager decides how the work will be accomplished; this is the organizing function. In this function, the manager (1) hires, trains, and assembles people into a system of authority, responsibility, and accountability relationships; (2) acquires and allocates facilities, materials, capital, and other resources; and (3) creates an organization structure that includes policies, procedures, reporting Patterns and communication channels. Third, the manager directs and motivates people to attain objectives; this is the leadership function. In this function, the manager focuses on workers, groups, and Their relationships to influence work performance and behavior. Fourth, the manager evaluates performance with respect to standards of efficiency and effectiveness and takes necessary corrective action; this is the control function. For effective control, the manager relies upon an information system to collect data and report progress with respect to costs, schedules, and specifications. All four functions are performed to accomplish organizational goals. This implies a fifth function: assessment of the four functions to determine where change is needed. The change function recognizes that organizations are open systems and those goals and activities must be adapted to changing forces in the internal and external environment. On a day-by-day basis, managers rarely perform the functions in Figure 2-1 in strict sequence. Although planning should precede the others, there is always a need to organize activities, direct people, and evaluate work, regardless of sequence. Managers constantly face change, which means that plans, activities, performance standards, and leadership styles must change also. Managers oversee a variety of work tasks simultaneously, and for each one they must be able to exercise any of these functions at a given time. Different managers jobs carry varying responsibilities depending on the functional area and managerial level of the job. Some managers devote most of their time to planning and organizing, others to controlling, and others to directing and motivating. In short, no process or set of prescriptive management functions seem to apply equally well in all cases. Managers must adapt to the situation. This is the modern contingency viewpoint of management.

Characteristics of Project Management

Applying the principles from the classical, behavioral, and systems viewpoints to the unique requirements of projects has led to another set of concepts, the project viewpoint. This viewpoint has evolved to include new management roles, techniques, and organizational forms. It embodies the following characteristics: 1. A single person, the project manager, heads the project organization and operates independent of the normal chain-of-command. This organization reflects the cross-functional, goal-oriented, temporary nature of the project. 2. The project manager is the focal point for bringing together all efforts toward a single project objective. 3. Because each project requires a variety of skills and resources, the actual work might be performed by people from different functional areas or by outside contractors. 4. The project manager is responsible for integrating people from different functional disciplines working on the project. 5. The project manager negotiates directly with functional managers for support. Functional managers are responsible for individual work tasks and personnel within the project; the project manager is responsible for integrating and overseeing the start and completion of activities. 6. The project focuses on delivering a particular product or service at a certain time and cost and to the satisfaction of technical requirements. In contrast, functional units must maintain an ongoing pool of resources to support organizational goals. As a result, conflict may exist between the project and functional managers over the time and talent to be allotted to a project. 7. A project might have two chains-of-commandone vertical and functional, one horizontal and project and people might report to both the project manager and a functional manager. 8. Decision making, accountability, outcomes, and rewards are shared among members of the project team and supporting functional units. 9. Though the project organization is temporary, the functional or subcontracting units from which it is formed are permanent. When a project ends, the project organization is disbanded and people return to their functional or subcontracting units, or are reassigned to new projects. 10. Projects can originate at different places inside or outside the organization. Product development and related projects tend to emerge from marketing, whereas technological applications originate from R&D, and so on. 11. Project management sets into motion numerous other support functions such as personnel evaluation, accounting, procurement, and information systems. Because projects involve the efforts of different units from within and outside the organization, reliance upon the vertical chain-of-command for authority and communication is time-consuming and causes frequent disruption and delay of work. To get the job done efficiently, managers and workers in different units and at different levels need to associate directly with each other. Even in traditional organizations, the formal lines of communication and authority are frequently bypassed by informal lines to cut through red tape and expedite work. In project organizations, the virtue of these informal lines is recognized and formalized through the creation of a horizontal hierarchy that augments the vertical hierarchy. This hybrid organizational form enables personnel in different work units to form highly integrated project groups. Traditional organizations have rigid, unchanging structures and cannot quickly adjust to change. Given the temporary nature of projects, an organization that works on a stream of projects must be flexible and able to alter its structure and resources to meet the shifting requirements of different projects. Managers in traditional organizations tend to be specialized and have responsibility for a single functional unit or department. This works well for optimizing the efficiency of individual departments, but when projects need the support of many departments there is no one person accountable or responsible for the projects goals. Therefore a project manager is assigned responsibility and is held accountable for the project. This emphasis on project goals versus functional goals is a major distinguishing feature between roles of project and functional managers. Project managers often depend upon people who are not under them but who are assigned to them from

other parts of the organization as needed. Thus, the task of project managers is more complicated and diverse than for other types of managers.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT PROCESSES

Processes are an integral component of project management. They support all of the activities necessary to create and implement the product of the project. Project management processes are concerned with defining and coordinating the activities and controls needed to manage the project. On the other hand, product-oriented processes focus on the tangible results of the project, such as the application system itself. The product-oriented processes require specific domain knowledge, tools, and techniques in order to complete the work. For example, you would need completely different subject matter experts (SME), tools, and methods to build a house than you would to build a spacecraft to land on Mars. There must be a balance between project management processes and product-oriented processes. An emphasis or sole focus on the project management processes does not provide the expertise or ability to define the project's scope or develop a quality system. However, a more product-oriented focus does not provide the management or controls to ensure that the work is completed as required. Therefore, a balance is needed to complete an IT project successfully. Project Management Process Groups Process groups overlap within and between the different phases of the project life cycle since the outcome of One process group within a phase becomes the input or catalyst for a process group of the next phase. Product-oriented processes Initiating The initiating process signals the beginning of the project or phase. It requires an organization to make a commitment in terms of time and resources. For example, the first phase of the IT project methodology recommends the development of a business case to identify several viable alternatives that can support a particular organization's strategy and goals. In short, the time and effort needed to develop the business case does not come without a cost. One can measure this cost directly in terms of the labor cost and time spent, and indirectly by the time and effort that could have been devoted to some other endeavor. Therefore, some type of organizational commitment is needed even during the earliest stages of a project. Similarly, a business case recommendation, once approved, becomes a project. This decision requires an even greater commitment in terms of time and resources; however, the next phase, when the actual work on the project commences, requires a commitment of even more time and resources. Although all phases of the project should have some type of initiating process, the first phase of the IT project methodology, conceptualize and initialize, requires the most detail and attention. Planning Since projects are undertaken to create something of value that generally Has not been done before, the planning process is of critical importance. The planning process should be in line with the size and complexity of the projectthat is, larger, complex projects may require a greater planning effort than smaller, less complex projects. Although planning is important for each phase of the project, the second phase of the IT project methodology, developing the project charter and project plan, Requires the most planning activities. In addition, planning is usually an iterative process. A project manager may develop a project plan, but senior management or the client may not approve the scope, budget, or schedule. In addition, planning is still more of an art than a science. Experience and good judgment are just as important as, and perhaps even more important to quality planning than, using the latest project management software tool. It is important that the project manager and project team Develop a realistic and useful project plan. Supporting processes include scope planning, activity planning, resource planning, cost estimating, schedule estimating, organizational planning, and procurement planning. Executing Once the project plan has been developed and approved, it is time to Execute the activities of the project plan or phase. The product-oriented processes play an important role when completing the project plan activities. For example, the tools and methods for developing and/or implementing a system become critical for achieving the project's end result. Supporting processes include quality assurance, risk management, team development, and an implementation plan. Although executing processes are part of every project phase, the majority of the executing processes Will occur during the execute and control phase of the IT project methodology. Controlling The controlling process group allows for managing and measuring the progress towards the project's MOV and the scope, schedule, budget, and quality objectives. Controls not only tell the project team when

deviations from the plan occur, but also measure progress towards the project's goal. Supporting processes include scope control, change control, schedule control, budget control, quality control, And a communications plan. The emphasis on controlling processes will occur during the execution and control phase of the IT project methodology. Closing The closing process group focuses on bringing a project or project phase to a systematic and orderly completion. The project team must verify that all deliverables have been satisfactorily completed before the project sponsor accepts the projects Product. In addition, the final productthe information systemmust be integrated successfully into the day-to-day operations of the organization. Closure of a project should include contract closure and administrative closure. Contract closure ensures that all of the deliverables and agreed upon terms of the project have been completed and delivered so that the project can end. It allows resources to be reassigned and settlement or payment of any account, if applicable. Administrative closure, on the Other hand, involves documenting and archiving all project documents. It also includes evaluating the project in terms of whether it achieved its MOV. Lessons learned should be documented and stored in a way that allows them to be made available to other project teams, present and future. Although each phase must include closing processes, the major emphasis on closing processes will occur during the close project phase of the IT project methodology.

Types of Project Managers

In 1962, in one of the first discussions of how project management had evolved, Davis identified four types of project management organization.8 He noted that organizations tend to evolve from one type to the next as they become more sophisticated and their problems become more complex. Although the correspondence is not exact, Davis classification can be used to introduce the four types of project managers.

 Project expeditors. They are individuals who speed up work and are the communication link to the general manager. Their purpose is to achieve unity of communications. They are not really managers, but rather serve as translators of technical concepts into business concepts of costs, schedules, and markets. Because their role is limited to funneling information to executives and making suggestions, the expeditor role is restricted to smaller projects with low risk and little at stake. Project coordinator. Their purpose is to achieve unity of control over project activities. They have authority to control project matters and disburse funds from the budget, but have no actual line authority over workers. Their authority derives primarily through their association with upper-level executives. The construction project manager in Figure 2-2, for example, would be in this position if he coordinated The work but needed the approval of the developer for major decisions such as contracting or reallocation of funds. Matrix managers. They perform the full range of management functions. Although they serve the same purpose as the first two, they also have authority to plan, motivate, direct, and control project work. Their purpose is to achieve unity of direction. Matrix managers direct people located administratively in other, Functional departments and the resulting crisscross pattern of vertical-functional and horizontalproject reporting relationships create what is called a matrix organization. The manager of a construction project who is employed by the same company that is both designing and constructing the building is such a manager. She must rely upon managers in the architectural and construction departments for the assignment of personnel to her project. These personnel report to the project manager only in regard to the project and for as long as they are needed on the project; otherwise, they report to their respective department managers. The same personnel may also work on other projects and report to other matrix project managers. Pure project managers. They direct pure project organizations of people who report directly to them. Their purpose is to achieve unity of command. These managers are primarily integrators and generalists rather than technical specialists. They must balance technical factors with schedules, costs, resources, and human factors. In the course of a project, they actively deal with top management, functional managers, vendors, customers, and subcontractors. The manager of a large construction project for example, whom the developer has hired and delegated the power to make major decisions (such as letting contracts for architects and builders, or cancelling them) has this role.

Criteria
Cleland and King suggest five general criteria to help decide when to use project management techniques and organization: 1. Unfamiliarity By definition, a project is something different from the ordinary and routine. A project always requires that different things be done, that the same things be done differently, or both. For example, minor changes in products, such as annual automobile design changes, can usually be accomplished without setting up a project team. Modernizing a plant, on the other hand, calls for non-routine efforts such as revising the facilities hardware and software, replacing equipment, retraining employees, and altering policies and work procedures. So does a corporate relocation or installation of a new employee benefits system. Project management would be needed to plan and coordinate these one-ofa-kind undertakings. 2. Magnitude of the Effort When a job requires substantially more resources (people, capital, equipment, etc.) than are normally employed by a department or organization, project management techniques may be necessary. Examples include such undertakings as facility relocation, merging two corporations, or developing and placing a new product on the market. Even when the job lies primarily in the realm of one functional area, the task of coordinating its work with other functional areas might be overwhelming. For example, a corporate software installation might seem to fall within the single functional area of information systems, yet during the course of the project, there will be a continuous meshing of policies, procedures, and resources of all departments affected by the installation. Hundreds of people may be involved, and the required coordination and integration might be more than any one area can tackle.

3. Changing Environment Many organizations exist in environments that are rapidly changing. Examples include so-called high-tech industries such as computers, electronics, pharmaceuticals, and communications. The environment of these industries is characterized by high innovation, rapid product changes, and shifting markets and consumer behavior. Other industries, such as chemicals, biotechnology, and aerospace, though less Volatile, also have highly competitive and dynamic environments. Changing environments present new opportunities that organizations must move swiftly to capture. To survive and succeed, organizations must be creative, innovative, flexible, and capable of rapid response. Project management provides the flexibility and diversity needed to deal with changing goals and new opportunities. 4. Interrelatedness Functional areas are sometimes self-serving and work at cross-purposes. When a joint effort is required, project management builds lateral relationships between areas to expedite work and reconcile the conflicts inherent in multifunctional undertakings. The project manager links together and coordinates the efforts of areas within the parent organization as well as those of outside subcontractors, vendors, And customers. 5. Reputation of the Organization The risk of the undertaking may determine the need for project management. If failure to satisfactorily complete the project will result in financial ruin, loss of market share, a damaged reputation, or loss of future contracts, there is a strong case for project management. Project management cannot guarantee that any of these will not happen but it does provide better planning and control to improve the odds. The likelihood for successfully completing any activity is increased when a single competent individual is assigned responsibility for overseeing it. The project manager, with the assistance of a technical support group, can do much to reduce the risks inherent in large, complex undertakings.

DEFINITION OF SYSTEM
To some people the word system means computer or bureaucracy, yet it is so commonly used that the term seems to refer to almost everything. By definition, a system is an organized or complex whole; an assemblage of things or parts interacting in a coordinated way. The parts could be players on a football team, keys on a keyboard, or components in a VCR. The parts need not be physical entities; they can be abstract or conceptual entities, such as words in a language or steps in a procedure. Everyday usage of the word is included with such disparate things as river systems, planetary systems, transportation and communication systems, nervous and circulatory systems, production and inventory systems, ecosystems, urban systems, social systems, economic systems, stereo systems, philosophical systems, ad infinitum (and computer systems). Thus, a system can be just about anything. Besides being an assemblage of parts, the definition of system should include three other features: 1. Parts of the system are affected by being in the system and are changed if they leave it; 2. The assemblage of parts does something; and 3. The assemblage is of particular interest.2 The first feature means that, in systems, the whole is more than the sum of the parts. The human body, for example, can be analyzed in terms of separate components the liver, brain, heart, nerve fibers, and so on; yet if any of these are removed from the body, both they and the body will change. Parts of the body cannot live outside the body, and without the parts, the body cannot exist either. The name given to A way of viewing things in terms of their wholeness, or the whole being more than the sum of the parts, is holism. Holism is the opposite of reductionism, which says that things can be understood by simply breaking them down and understanding the pieces. Certainly many things cannot be understood by simply looking at the pieces. Water, for example, is more than just the characteristics of hydrogen and oxygen combined. The idea of the parts affecting the whole and vice versa is central to systems thinking. (Related ideas appear elsewhere. Psychologists use the term Gestalt to describe theories and practices that emphasize the whole person and the surrounding situation. Another term, synergy, describes situations where several components work together to produce a combined effect.) The second feature of systems is that they are dynamic and exhibit some kind of behavior; they do

something. The kind of behavior they exhibit depends upon the particular kind of system at hand. System behavior can usually be observed in the outputs of the system or the way the system converts inputs to outputs, though the conversion process and the outputs may be quite obscure. Third, systems are conceived by the people looking at them, which means they exist in the eye (or mind) of the beholder.3 This is not to say that they fail to exist unless someone is there to see them, but rather that the conception of a system can be Altered to suit ones purpose. For example, in diagnosing a patient, a doctor may see the whole body as the system. The doctor may send the patient to a specialist, who sees only the digestive tract as the system. If the problem is food poisoning and the patient files suit, her attorney may include the restaurant and food manufacturer in the system.

SYSTEMSMANAGEMENT
Characteristics
A third application of the systems approach is systems management, the management and operation of organizations as systems. Three major characteristics distinguish systems management. First, it is total-system oriented and emphasizes achievement of the overall system mission and system objectives. Second, it emphasizes decisions that optimize the overall system rather than subsystems. Third, it is responsibility oriented. The manager of each subsystem is given specific assignments so that inputs, Outputs and contribution to total system effectiveness can be measured. Systems management works to ensure that organizations, responsibilities, knowledge, and data are integrated toward achieving overall objectives. Thus, the orientation of the systems manager is to consider the interactions and interdependencies between various subsystems and with the environment. Interdependencies are recognized and plans and actions are made to account for them. This contrasts with the more typical management view, which is to focus on individual functions and tasks, and to enhance the performance of a unit or department, even when at the expense of others or the total organization. The relationship between systems management, systems analysis, and systems engineering can be explained in terms of when they are applied during the life cycle of a system. Systems management performs the basic managerial functions of planning, organization, and control throughout the life of a system, but the focus remains on coordinating and integrating work rather than actually performing it. As Figure 3-10 shows, systems management often works in parallel with systems engineering and utilizes the tools of systems analysis. The purpose of systems analysis is to ask questions about the goal or mission of the system, the kind and nature of resources to use, and the organization of people and facilities. In systems management, systems analysis is used to plan and control activities and materials (scheduling and inventory control), and to evaluate system operation to determine when and Why the system is not functioning properly. Systems management entails identification of total system requirements, control over the evolution of requirements and design, integration of technical efforts, and Development of data and documentation. It is applied over the full life cycle of the system. As DE Greene notes, system management serves two broad purposes: Systems development management and systems operations management; the first applies to the development and growth of a system (the management of the development process), and the second to the actual operation or use of a system.

CONCLUSION: Thus although the need for effectively managing projects has been introduced, we still require a working definition of a project and project management. Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide). The PMBOK Guide (Project Management Institute 2000) provides widely used definitions for project and project management. Project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to accomplish a unique purpose. Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities in order to meet or exceed stakeholder needs and expectations from a project .The primary challenge of project management is to achieve all of the project goals and objectives while honoring the preconceived constraints.

REFERENCE:

1. project management for business and engineering principles by John Nicolas 2. Information Technology Project Management by Jack T. 3. www.wikipedia.com