Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
11-1
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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
11-2
Chapter 11: Project Control
keep project on target
as close to plan as feasible
adapt to new circumstances
© McGraw-Hill/Irwin 2004
Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
11-3
Planning vs. Control
Planning
• set goals & directions
• allocate resources
• anticipate problems
• motivate
Control
• guide work toward goals
• ensure effective use of
resources
• correct problems
• reward achievement
© McGraw-Hill/Irwin 2004
Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
11-4
IS Control Problems
Lin & Hsieh (1995)
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Corporate Culture can be closed to new ideas
Organizational Stability if changing, too busy
Developer Experience with IT
Developer Task Proficiency
Project Size bigger projects, greater risks
System Structure changing requirements cause problems
© McGraw-Hill/Irwin 2004
Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
11-5
Managerial Actions to Maintain
Project Control Ahituv et al. [1999]
1. Early user involvement
2. Senior non-technical management in
charge for time and budget performance
3. Milestones for accurate project progress
measurement
4. Hold suppliers & vendors legally
responsible for deadlines
5. Don’t change project requirements
© McGraw-Hill/Irwin 2004
Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
11-6
Risk Management
Boehm (1989)
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top risk items
Personnel shortfalls
Dynamic requirements
Externally provided components
Real-time performance
benchmark
Development
incremental development, requirements scrubbing
• Unrealistic estimates multiple sources
© McGraw-Hill/Irwin 2004
Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
11-7
the Control Process
• assess actual vs planned technical
accomplishment
• verify validity of technical objectives
• confirm need for project
• time progress to match operational requirements
• oversee resource usage
• monitor costs
© McGraw-Hill/Irwin 2004
Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
11-8
Control Process Phases
• performance standards - technical specifications,
budgeted costs, schedules, resource
requirements
– from user specifications, project plan
• compare performance with plan - forecast
anticipated date and cost at completion
• corrective action taken when severe variance
encountered
© McGraw-Hill/Irwin 2004
Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
11-9
Control Devices
• Responsibility Assignment
– Chart activities with personnel
• identify what each is responsible for
• Budget
– variance analysis
– Earned Value
© McGraw-Hill/Irwin 2004
Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
11-10
Earned Value
Work Package Budgeted
% done
Earned Actual
A
20
100
20
25
B
10
100
10
8
C
12
50
6
6
D
20
75
15
15
Total earned value
51
54
Efficiency = earned/actual
A = 20/25 = 0.80
B = 10/8 = 1.25
total project
= 51/54 = 0.94
© McGraw-Hill/Irwin 2004
Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
11-11
Traditional Cost Control
• variance analysis
• in project management, deficient - doesn’t track
how much work completed, no projections of
future costs
– so show quantities
– progress may be nonlinear
© McGraw-Hill/Irwin 2004
Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
11-12
Project Cost Monitoring
• tie to work packages
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work descriptions
time-phased budgets
work plans & schedules
responsibility assignments
resource requirements
• keep up with change orders
© McGraw-Hill/Irwin 2004
Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
11-13
Work Authorization
upper management authorizes project
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project manager authorizes department work
via work orders
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functional managers authorize work orders to
sections
© McGraw-Hill/Irwin 2004
Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
11-14
Data Collection
upper management continues or cans
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project manager adjusts to solve problems
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work sections report progress
© McGraw-Hill/Irwin 2004
Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
11-15
Data Collection & Tally
• periodically collect data about actual costs and
work progress
• project control accounting system tallies and
summarizes
– by work package
– by department
– project overall
• manager intimately familiar with budget, actual
© McGraw-Hill/Irwin 2004
Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
11-16
Project Review Meetings
• where things are going wrong
– emergencies
– time bombs
– opportunities
• should be periodical
• participants should have information prior
• give assignments to present in advance
– broaden participation
© McGraw-Hill/Irwin 2004
Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
11-17
When to Hold Review
Meetings
• periodic
– regularity leads to more thorough preparation
– can have in central meeting place
• with network schedule on wall
• key data available
• special event
– at critical milestones
© McGraw-Hill/Irwin 2004
Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
11-18
Corrective Action
• identify WHEN ACTION NECESSARY
– how much variance is acceptable?
– rather than preset limits, ought to be constant
projection to completion
– is change worse than current?
© McGraw-Hill/Irwin 2004
Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
11-19
Reasons for Changes
• change in project scope & specification
• changes in design - errors, omissions,
afterthoughts, revised needs
• changes to improve rate of return
• changes to adopt improvements
© McGraw-Hill/Irwin 2004
Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
11-20
Impact of Changes
• cause grief
• the more the project completed, the more difficult
to change
• impact on project scope, cost, schedule are
major sources of conflict
• may reduce changes & impact by change review
process
© McGraw-Hill/Irwin 2004
Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
11-21
Summary
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project control guides work toward goals
assess actual versus planned
need data collection, information dissemination
focus on work package & cost account
use authorization process
constantly update projected performance
© McGraw-Hill/Irwin 2004