What is IT Project Management and why do we need it?
IT Project Management has emerged as its own field, supported by a body of knowledge and research across many disciplines with recognized professional certification. Although IT is becoming more reliable, faster and less expensive, the costs, complexities, and risks of IT projects continue to increase. Widely cited reports and studies reflect the majority of IT projects are either cancelled or completed over budget and/or over schedule and did not meet the original specifications. Failure can be attributed to many factors, most of them easily manageable. Organizations must recognize information technology as an investment to be managed and not just an expense to be controlled. New methods of IT project management embrace the socio-technical approach and view the implementation of new IT systems as planned organizational change.
What are the components of IT Project Management?
IT Project Management is based on a project life cycle that is a collection of logical stages or phases that maps the life of a project from its beginning to its end in order to define, build, and deliver the product of a project – that is, the information system.
The Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) defines nine knowledge areas for understanding project management:
· Project Integration Management
· Project Scope Management
· Project Time Management
· Project Cost Management
· Project Quality Management
· Project Human Resource Management
· Project Communication Management
· Project Risk Management
· Project Procurement Management
These components are all critical to the success of any IT project and represent best practices in project management.
What goes into IT Project Management?
The start of an IT project begins with conceptualization and initialization phase. This phase defines the project goal and measurable organizational value (MOV). The MOV establishes some real measurement of the success or failure of a project and is based on an organizational goal or strategy. Stakeholder analysis and buy-in is an essential function of this phase as well as the identification of the senior organizational sponsor. Another important deliverable is the business case that defines the project team, measurable organizational value (MOV), alternatives, total cost of ownership, total benefits of ownership, and the benefit-cost analysis of alternatives and recommended alternative.
The next phase of the IT project focuses on the development of the project charter and project baseline plan. The project charter is a contract between the organizational senior sponsor and the project manager that outlines what is going to be done, how it will be done, when it will be done, and how much it will cost. The answers to these questions are clearly defined in the Project Charter or the baseline project plan and budget.
The next phase is the execution of the project plan. This phase of the project puts the plan into action. As work on the project progresses, scope, schedule, budget, and people, must be actively managed to ensure that the project achieves its goal. The communication of the project’s progress and performance to the stakeholders is a critical component of the execution phase.
The final phases of the project involve the formal acceptance and evaluation of the project. The evaluation of the project recognizes the importance of process improvement and the capture of organizational knowledge for future projects.
How can the Center for Advanced Technologies help me?
The Center for Advanced Technologies has extensive experience in the management of complex information technology projects. Members of the Center staff have over 40 years of experience in the field of information technology and understand the broad scope of challenges that face an IT organization on a daily in the implementation of IT systems and applications. Let the Center help you manage your information technology projects to enhance the success of a successful project with the application of proven project management methodologies. Contact us at 334.244.3090 and one of our consultants will be happy to assist you. You may also reach us through our email address at info@cat.aum.edu or through our website at www.cat.aum.edu.