University Project Management Report: Planning, Execution, Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive overview of information systems project management, detailing the key processes involved in successful project delivery. It begins with an introduction to project management concepts, including the use of assumptions and the importance of project planning. The report then delves into project planning, emphasizing the use of Gant and PERT charts for timeline visualization and analysis. It outlines the five process groups of the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) - Initiation, Planning, Execution, Monitoring and Controlling, and Closing - providing insights into each phase. The report also covers risk management, resource management, and cost management, including cost justification and the application of Earned Value Management. The chosen product development methodology is the predictive Waterfall approach. The report concludes with recommendations and references, offering a complete view of project management principles and practices within an information systems context.

Information Systems Project Management
Name of University
Student’s Name
Dated:

Table of Contents
Assumptions................................................................................................................................................2
Planning.......................................................................................................................................................2
Management...............................................................................................................................................3
Project Initiation......................................................................................................................................3
Project Planning Process..........................................................................................................................4
Executing.................................................................................................................................................4
Monitoring and Controlling.....................................................................................................................6
Closing.....................................................................................................................................................6
Managing Risk.............................................................................................................................................6
Monitoring, review and evaluation.............................................................................................................7
Resource management................................................................................................................................8
Cost Management.......................................................................................................................................8
Cost Justification of the project...............................................................................................................9
Estimated Cost.........................................................................................................................................9
Estimated Benefits.................................................................................................................................10
Product Development Methodology.........................................................................................................10
Conclusion and Recommendations...........................................................................................................10
References.................................................................................................................................................12

Assumptions
In developing the project management plans for this project, it is assumed that;
 The company will provide adequate resources to facilitate successful completion of the
project.
 It’s assumed that the project requirements will not change over the life of the project,
therefore allowing for adoption of a predictive methodology in managing the project.
 Required hardware components can be sourced locally, so as not to affect the project
timeline
Planning
Project planning is a critical component and determinant of a project’s success. A project plan
outlines a project’s the schedule to be used to complete a project. In this project, the schedule has
been presented in form of a Gant chart, which illustrates the timelines for completion of various
project activities. To further gain a better understanding of the project, this section analyzes the
project’s time estimates by use of a PERT chart.
PERT represents a project’s timeline graphically, allowing for easy comprehension and analysis
(Valacich, George and Hoffer, 2015). A PERT clearly identifies task dependencies, facilitating
quick interpretation of a project’s timeline. For this project, the PERT chart is as follows;
Figure 1.0 PERT chart
From the above PERT chart, it is clear that most of the project’s tasks are sequentially
dependant, except for a few tasks which can be performed in parallel. A further optimization of
the project plan would be necessary to place some more activities in parallel, thus reducing the
project duration. As it is clear, the critical path as in the current design takes almost all the
project’s activities, except the three.

Management
Management of processes within a project is vital in giving a project the required oversight and
direction. The Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) outlines a series of process
groups necessary in any project. The process group as outlined in the PMBOK includes; Project
Initiation, Planning, Execution, Monitoring and Controlling and Project Closing (Snyder, 2014).
The five discrete process groups provide the necessary organizational background to successfully
plan, execute, manage and run a successful project.
Project Initiation
This process will be used to set the vision of the project, and outline the project’s deliverables.
Key stakeholders of the project will play vital roles here, with the main activity here being the
authorization of the project by the sponsor. The initiation process will entail the defining of the
initial project scope and identification of the project’s stakeholders; including the project
manager (Snyder, 2014). The process helps to align the project with the strategic objectives of
the organization. The key document produced at this process is the Stakeholder Register and a
Project Charter. For this project, the knowledge area required is knowledge of project
stakeholder management (Snyder, 2014).
Figure 2.0 Project Management Process groups (Schwalbe, 2015)
Project Planning Process
Under this process group, the project’s total scope is established. Progressive elaboration - a
detailed iterative planning of the project – is performed at this process group as well as the
development of various detailed project documents (Valacich, George and Hoffer, 2015). For
this project, the planning process follows the outlines for the PMBOK guide which outlines a
number of activities to be performed. Key among the many activities under this process group is

the development of a project management plan, scope management plan, project scheduling, cost
management planning, development of quality and resource management plans (Snyder, 2014).
The process group also entails defining communication plans within the project, planning on
how to manage risks and development of a stakeholder management plan.
Executing
This process group entails executing the plans established during the planning process. The
project plan helps to direct this process group. The main activities of the project are performed
under this process group, by the project team (Schwalbe, 2015). The objective here is to develop
the project’s deliverables, with the project manager coordinating and controlling the various
project resources (Schwalbe, 2015).
For this project, we assume that the project manager will first recruit a qualified team of IT
specialists to form the project team and carry out the execution of the project plan. A team
building exercise will be important to ensure that the team develops a working relationship.
Procurement of items to be used for the project will be done at this process group, which will
include; laptops, tablets, mobile phones and any network equipment that may be required. The
reporting requirements for this process include progress reports and project status reports.

Figure 3.0 Project Management Process Groups and Knowledge Areas. Source: PMBOK Guide
(Snyder, 2014)

Monitoring and Controlling
Whereas the first three process groups; Initiating, planning and executing occurs in sequence, the
monitoring and controlling process hovers over the entire project, hence it is not linear like the
others. PMBOK GUIDE defines this process group as “processes required to track, review and
regulate the progress and performance of the project; identify any areas in which changes to the
plan are required; and initiate the corresponding changes” (Snyder, 2014). Monitoring is
designed to keep the project on track, and involves comparing the project plans with the actual
state of the project; measuring of variances between what is planned and the actual state and
taking corrective measures to set the project back on track (Schwalbe, 2015).
For this project, the control areas will mainly be on schedule, cost and scope. The baselines
established during the planning process will be used in controlling and performing corrective
measures. The task here will be to track the progress of the project against the baselines
established in the project plan (Schwalbe, 2015). Any changes to the scope, schedule or cost will
have to be approved by the top management of the project, including the sponsor, client and the
steering committee. The main knowledge areas here include the project scope management, time,
cost, quality and management.
Closing
The closing process group includes processes performed in formally closing the project. For this
project the closing process will involve getting sign-offs and acceptance from the customer, as
well as reviewing and documenting lessons learnt from the project (Snyder, 2014). The closing
process for this project will follow the guidelines given by PMBOK, which will entail evaluating
the project, signing off with the client and documenting lessons learnt.
Managing Risk
Risks are defined as uncertain or unplanned occurrences in a project, which may have a negative
effect and delay the delivery of the project’s deliverables (Schwalbe, 2015). Managing risks in a
project requires that an analysis is done, to identify possible risks that may face the project, and
device mitigation strategies against the identified risks. The goal of risk management process is
to identify risks, mitigate project risks, minimize risks to acceptable levels or transfer the risks
(Schwalbe, 2015). The main step in risk management are; identification of risks, analysis of
identified risks, developing risk management plans, monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness

of risk management and contingency measures put in place. For this project, the main risks have
been identified, and mitigation strategies put in place.
Figure 5.0 Risk Management Plan
Monitoring, review and evaluation
As previously discussed, monitoring is designed to keep the project on track, and involves
comparing the project plans with the actual state of the project; measuring of variances between
what is planned and the actual state and taking corrective measures to set the project back on
track (Schwalbe, 2015).
For this project, the control areas will mainly be on schedule, cost and scope. The baselines
established during the planning process will be used in controlling and performing corrective
measures. The task here will be to track the progress of the project against the baselines
established in the project plan (Schwalbe, 2015). Any changes to the scope, schedule or cost will

have to be approved by the top management of the project, including the sponsor, client and the
steering committee.
Success in the project will be measured by comparing the achievements of the project at a
defined moment, against what was planned. The project plan sets clear milestones that will be
used to check the success of the project. Attainment of the milestones within the defined timeline
will be an indication of good progress of the project (Schwalbe, 2015).
Resource management
A resource management plan has been established for this project. At the initiation stage, the
project team will be identified and hired. The process of project team acquisition will follow the
guidelines given by the PMBOK guide (Snyder, 2014).
The inputs to the process of acquiring project team will include; a staff management plan,
staffing considerations for the project-this will include a consideration on number and
characteristics of available staff as well as recruitment practices and established procedures that
govern the organization (Snyder, 2014). The techniques to be used for staff acquisition include,
procurement of expertise and contractors and negotiations with existing staff at the organization
(Snyder, 2014).
Cost Management
Management of costs for this project will be done at the third level of the Work Breakdown
Structure WBS. The measurement and management of financial performance of the project will
be done by use of Earned Value estimates. Each work package will have detailed activity cost
estimates. Credit for work will be assigned at the work package level (Fleming and Koppelman,
2016).
Status of cost of the project will change to cautionary if the variance of +/- 0.1 in cost index and
schedule performance is encountered. In such a situation the values will be changed to yellow in
the status report (Fleming and Koppelman, 2016).
Earned Value Management metrics will be used to measure the performance of the project. The
four metrics under Earned Value to be used include;

 “Cost Performance Index (CPI)” (Kerzner, 2017)
 “Cost Variance (CV)”
 “Schedule Performance Index (SPI)”
 “Schedule Variance (SV)” (Fleming and Koppelman, 2016)
In instances where the Cost Performance Index and/ or Schedule Performance Index experience
a variance of 0.2 and above, the project management must report the cause of such changes
(Kerzner, 2017). A corrective measure has to be developed if the variance exceeds 0.2 (Fleming
and Koppelman, 2016).
The role of managing, reviewing the budget, and day-to-day cost detail management falls on the
hands of the project manager and the client / project sponsor. The project manager will also be
tasked with management of project reporting on the project costs. Bi-weekly meetings will be
used to review the project’s cost performance. The Control Thresholds for this project is a CPI or
SPI of less than 0.8 or greater than 1.2. If any of the set thresholds is reached, a corrective
measure has to be initiated (Fleming and Koppelman, 2016). The cost management report will be
presented in the bi-weekly project status report.
Cost Justification of the project
From the project plan, the estimated input cost, cost of maintenance and expected benefits are as
follows;

A cost benefit analysis shows that, over a period of 4 years the project‘s net present value (NPV)
is $ 6,533, and a return on investment of 20.77 %, with a 3.66 years payback period. These
values show that the project will be of great benefit and will bring in profit.
Product Development Methodology
The product development methodology to be used in this project is a predictive project
management methodology; Specifically the Waterfall project management approach. This is a
linear –sequential methodology for managing projects, where project progress flow is
unidirectional through five phases; conception, initiation, analysis, designs, implementation,
testing, deployment and maintenance. A predictive methodology like the one to be used in this
project requires that the requirements be well known and not subject to change.

The choice of this methodology is to eliminate risks and uncertainty in the project, by performing
detailed planning at the inception of the project. In that regard, this project will require thorough
planning to define the scope, budget and schedule at the early stages of the project.
Conclusion and Recommendations
This report has presented a deeper analysis of the project to upgrade the core information system
of the tourism company. The report has presented an analysis of the project’s schedule by use of
a PERT and critical path approach. An analysis of the management processes at every process
group has been discussed as well as the monitoring and evaluation approach. For this project, the
control areas will mainly be on schedule, cost and scope. The baselines established during the
planning process will be used in controlling and performing corrective measures. The
measurement and management of financial performance of the project will be done by use of
Earned Value estimates. The product development methodology to be used in this project is a
predictive project management methodology; Waterfall project management methodology.
From the analysis of costs versus expected benefits, the project brings a lot of benefits to the
organization and as such, it should be carried out.

References
Fleming, Q.W. and Koppelman, J.M., 2016, December. Earned value project management.
Project Management Institute.
Schwalbe, K., 2015. Information technology project management. Cengage Learning.
Snyder, C.S., 2014. A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge: PMBOK (®)
Guide. Project Management Institute.
Kerzner, H., 2017. Project management metrics, KPIs, and dashboards: a guide to measuring
and monitoring project performance. John Wiley & Sons.
Valacich, J.S., George, J.F. and Hoffer, J.A., 2015. Essentials of systems analysis and design.
Pearson Education.
Verma, J., Bansal, S. and Pandey, H., 2014. Develop Framework for Selecting Best Software
Development Methodology. International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, 5(4).