CSS 312: Management of Information

Technology Projects
Lecture2: The Project Life-Cycle

Email: [email protected]
Mobile: 0713551987
Dr.Kihoza, PD
 Major problems in software developments …

The requirements The developers This is how the problem is solved

understood it in that This is how the
specification was defined now
way problem was
like this
solved before.

This is how the program is This, in fact, is what the customer

described by marketing department wanted … ;-)
That is the program after
debugging
 Project Management Activities
Initiation

Problem statement
definition

Initial top-level Initial milestones

design planning

Team formation Communication

infrastructure setup

Project kickoff
 Project kickoff
Steady state

Control and Monitoring Risk management

Project replanning Project agreement

Termination

Installation Client acceptance test Postmortem

 Tasks in software projects

• A software development project is making software design based

on customer requirements and implementing it into source code.
This source code is then tested to make sure that it is defect free
so that end users can use the software system without running
into many problems.
Influencing factors in software projects
 Project Management Processes
• Project management processes form the basis on which a
project can be initiated, planned, monitored, controlled, and
closed.
 The Project Life-Cycle
(Five Process Groups)
Initiation

Monitoring, Evaluation &

Planning

Control
Implementation

Closure
 Steps in Managing a Project
Steps in Managing a Project

Define the problem

Develop solution options

Plan the Project : what must be done ?, who will do it?, How will it be done ?
How much will it cost? ,what do we need to do?

Execute the plan

Monitor & Control Progress

Close Project
What was done well?
What should be improved?

Jan 31, 2025

 Project Life Cycles
Man Hours

Conceptualization Planning Execution Termination

Project Life Cycle Stages

 Project Life Cycle

Jan 31, 2025 Dr.Bokkasam Sasidhar

 Project Life Cycle

Jan 31, 2025 Dr.Bokkasam Sasidhar

Project Life Cycles and Their Effects

Project Life Cycles and Their Effects

 Project Phase overlap

Execution
Level
Of
Activity Planning

Initiation Closing
Control

Project Project
Start Finish
TIME

Overlap of Phases in the Project Life Cycle

15
 Project Life Cycle efforts

Concept Planning Execution/Control Closing

Definition | Analysis |Design|Build|Test|Accept| Implement| Operation
20% 60%

5% 15%

Percentages and graph refer to the amount of effort (people)

In IT projects = 90-95% of cost!

Module 1 - Introduction 16
 (5)

(10)

(47 processes)
 Software project initiation tasks.
• During the initiation phase of a software application
development project, the project charter, project scope, project
objectives, and initial risk planning and effort estimate are
prepared.
 Software Product Characteristics
• Software applications are specifically built based on a limited set
of user requirements. So they have limited features to fulfill the
specific needs of end users.
• Software products on the other hand are built with a large
number of features to take care of the needs of different kinds
of users.
– Throughout this Llecture …. terms like software application, software products,
and software systems have been used interchangeably. If any of these terms are
used anywhere, please note that the subject matter discussed there applies to all
of these three things equally.
 Software Product Development Project
Initiation
• The software vendor sees a market opportunity of developing such
a product.
• He develops the software product and sells it or provides services
using this software product to customers.
• So basically, software product development starts when a software
vendor sees a market opportunity and then decides to develop this
product.
• He uses market research data to decide which features will go into
the product.
• Accordingly, he forms a project team and hands this information to
them so that they can develop the software product.
Software product development initiation
tasks.
 Elements of Project Management: Work Breakdown Structure
(WBS)
■ WBS breaks down project into major components (modules).

■ Modules are further broken down into subcomponents, components, activities,

and finally, into individual tasks .

■ Identifies activities, tasks, resource requirements and relationships between modules

and activities.

■ Helps avoid duplication of effort.

■ Basis for project development, management , schedule resources and modifications.

■ Approaches for WBS development:

1. Top down process 2. Brainstorm entire project
Sample Intranet WBS Organized by Product
Sample Intranet WBS Organized by Phase
 Intranet WBS in Tabular Form

1.0 Concept
1.1 Evaluate current systems
1.2 Define Requirements
1.2.1 Define user requirements
1.2.2 Define content requirements
1.2.3 Define system requirements
1.2.4 Define server owner requirements
1.3 Define specific functionality
1.4 Define risks and risk management approach
1.5 Develop project plan
1.6 Brief web development team
2.0 Web Site Design
3.0 Web Site Development
4.0 Roll Out
5.0 Support
 Approaches to Developing WBSs
• Using guidelines: Some organizations, provide guidelines for
preparing WBSs
• The analogy approach: It often helps to review WBSs of
similar projects
• The top-down approach: Start with the largest items of the
project and keep breaking them down
• The bottoms-up approach: Start with the detailed tasks and
roll them up
 Basic Principles for Creating WBSs
1. A unit of work should appear at only one place in the
WBS.
2. The work content of a WBS item is the sum of the WBS
items below it.
3. A WBS item is the responsibility of only one individual,
even though many people may be working on it.
4. The WBS must be consistent with the way in which work
is actually going to be performed; it should serve the
project team first and other purposes only if practical.
 Project scheduling
• Split project into tasks and estimate time and resources required to complete each
task
• Organize tasks concurrently to make optimal use of workforce
• Minimize task dependencies to avoid delays
caused by one task waiting for another to complete
• Dependent on project managers’ intuition and experience

Identify Identify activity Estimate resources Allocate people Create project

activities dependencies for activities to activities charts

Software Activity charts

requirements and bar charts
 Scheduling problems
• Estimating the difficulty of problems and hence the cost of
developing a solution is hard
• Productivity is not proportional to the number of people
working on a task
– Adding people to a late project makes it later because of
communication overheads
• The unexpected always happens
– Always allow contingency in planning
 Bar charts and activity networks
• Graphical notations used to illustrate the project schedule
• Show project breakdown into tasks
– Tasks should not be too small
– They should take about a week or two
• Activity charts show task dependencies and the critical path
• Bar charts show schedule against calendar time
Task durations and dependencies
Task Duration (days) Dependencies
T1 8
T2 15
T3 15 T1 (M1)
T4 10
T5 10 T2, T4 (M2)
T6 5 T1, T2 (M3)
T7 20 T1 (M1)
T8 25 T4 (M5)
T9 15 T3, T6 (M4)
T10 15 T5, T7 (M7)
T11 7 T9 (M6)
T12 10 T11 (M8)
Elements of Project Management
Project Scheduling
■ Project schedule evolves from planning documents, with focus on timely completion.

■ Critical element in project management – source of most conflicts and problems.

■ Schedule development steps:

1. Define activities, 2. Sequence activities,
3. Estimate activity times, 4. Develop schedule.

■ Gantt chart and CPM/PERT techniques can be useful.

■ Computer software packages available, e.g. QM for Windows, Microsoft Project.

Jan 31, 2025

Elements of Project Management - Gantt Chart

■ Popular, traditional technique, also known as a bar chart -developed by Henry

Gantt (1914).

■ Direct precursor of CPM/PERT for monitoring work progress.

■ A visual display of project schedule showing activity start and finish times and
where extra time is available.

■ Suitable for projects with few activities and precedence relationships.

■ Drawback: precedence relationships are not always discernible which limits chart’s
use for smaller projects

Jan 31, 2025

 Gantt Chart
• Visual scheduling tool
• Graphical representation of information
• Show dependencies between tasks, personnel, and
other resources allocations
• Track progress towards completion

Jan 31, 2025

 Building a Gantt Chart

• List all tasks and milestones from the project along the
vertical axis
• List time frame along the horizontal axis
Activity 1
Activity 2
Milestone

Time Frame: day 1 day 2 day3

Jan 31, 2025

 Building a Gantt Chart
• Activities: Create box the length of each activity time duration
– E.g., activity one is scheduled from day1-day3

Activity 1
Activity 2

Time Frame: day 1 day 2 day3

Jan 31, 2025

 Building a Gantt Chart
• Dependencies: Show dependencies between activities with arrows
– E.g., activity 2 cannot start until activity 1 is complete

Activity 1
Activity 2

Time Frame: day 1 day 2 day3…

Jan 31, 2025

 Project Activities Dependencies
• Consider
 PDM
• Finish-to-start (FS). A logical relationship in which a successor
activity cannot start until a predecessor activity has finished.
• Finish-to-finish (FF). A logical relationship in which a successor
activity cannot finish until a predecessor activity has finished.
• Start-to-start (SS). A logical relationship in which a successor
activity cannot start until a predecessor activity has started.
• Start-to-finish (SF). A logical relationship in which a successor
activity cannot finish until a predecessor activity has started.
Sequence of Activities of The Project -
House Building
Number Activity Predecessor Duration
1 Design house and obtain financing -- 3 months

2 Lay foundation 1 2 months

3 Order and receive materials 1 1 month

4 Build house 2,3 3 months

5 Select paint 2, 3 1 month

6 Select carper 5 1 month
7 Finish work 4, 6 1 month
Jan 31, 2025
 Gantt Chart for House Building Project

Jan 31, 2025 A Gantt chart

Gantt Chart for House Building Project using QM for Windows

Jan 31, 2025 Dr.Bokkasam Sasidhar

 Gantt Charts
 Establish a time-phased network
 Can be used as a tracking tool

Benefits of Gantt charts

1. Easy to create and comprehend
2. Identify the schedule baseline network
3. Allow for updating and control
4. Identify resource needs
 Gantt Charts – Example Question-1
Consider the Gantt chart shown below where the time scale is in minutes and all
activities are performed on an early start basis. How much slack is available in the
project?
• Answer: Nil

Jan 31, 2025 Dr.Bokkasam Sasidhar

 Gantt Charts – Resource Allocation Example-2
Use the Gantt chart and the activity list to determine when resource 5 is free.

Activity Resources Activity Resources

A 1 F 1

B 5 G 2

C 4 H 5

D 3 J 3

E 2 K 4

A) between 0 and 15
B) between 15 and 30
C) between 30 and 45
D) between 45 and 60
Answer: D
Jan 31, 2025
 Gantt Charts – Resource Allocation Example-3
Use the Gantt chart and the activity list to determine when resource 2 is free.

Activity Resources Activity Resources

A 1 F 1

B 5 G 2

C 4 H 5

D 3 J 3

E 2 K 2

A) between 0 and 15
B) between 15 and 30
C) between 30 and 45
D) between 45 and 60
Answer: A

Jan 31, 2025

Typical challenges encountered in software
projects.
 software application VS product.
• Any software development project has one goal: To develop a
software application or product.
• A given software application or product could be for internal use
or sold to customers.
– When software is developed for use by the organization itself, it is
known as a software application.
– When software is developed for the purpose of selling to customers
and not for use by the organization itself then it is known as a software
product.
Impact of challenges on software projects
 Common Project Pitfalls
• Lack of alignment to organizational strategy.
• Unclear scope, project goals, impact goals and experience goals – with user
needs and wishes not clearly defined.
• Poor communication and poor stakeholder management: last minute
surprises.
• Poor, or no detailed project planning – leading to poor estimation of resources
to deliver the project.
• Scope creep due to poor control; “gold plating”.
• Inadequate risk management plan, with no mitigation and contingency plans
• Too many pet projects – defocuses resources.
• Lack of decision making with poor decision alignment / keeping a record.
• Zero change control.
• Poor record keeping – e.g. risks, decisions, actions, requests, meeting minutes
change control etc.
 What Factors Contribute to Project Success?
Standish Group, ‘01 (www.standishgroup.com)

Project Success Factors

The CHAOS Ten

1. Executive Management Support
28% 2. User Involvement
3. Experienced Project Manager
completed on time 4. Clear Business Objectives
and on budget
5. Minimized Scope
overran original estimates:
-Time overrun averaged 63%
6. Standard Software Infrastructure
- Cost overrun averaged 45%

canceled before 7. Firm Basic Requirements

completion 8. Formal Methodology
49% 9. Reliable Estimates
23% 10. Other
Software Engineering: Introduction 53
 What Factors Contribute to Project Failure?

The CHAOS Ten The CHAOS Ten

Standish Group, ‘01 (www.standishgroup.com)

“The definition of insanity is doing

Software the same
Engineering: thing over and over
Introduction 54
again and expecting a different result.” [Albert Einstein]
 Software Project Management Plan
• Software Project:
– All technical and managerial activities required to deliver the deliverables to the
client.
– A software project has a specific duration, consumes resources and produces work
products.
– Management categories to complete a software project:
• Tasks, Activities, Functions

• Software Project Management Plan:

– The controlling document for a software project.
– Specifies the technical and managerial approaches to develop the software
product.
– Companion document to requirements analysis document: Changes in either may
imply changes in the other document.
– SPMP may be part of project agreement.
 Project Agreement
• Document written for a client that defines:
– the scope, duration, cost and deliverables for the project.
– the exact items, quantities, delivery dates, delivery location.
• Can be a contract, a statement of work, a business plan, or a
project charter.
• Client: Individual or organization that specifies the requirements
and accepts the project deliverables.
• Deliverables (= Work Products that will be delivered to the client):
– Documents
– Demonstrations of function
– Demonstration of nonfunctional requirements
– Demonstrations of subsystems
Project Agreement vs Problem Statement
Client Manager Project Team
(Sponsor)

Problem
Statement Software Project
Management Plan
Project
Agreement