© All Rights Reserved Module Designing Computer-based Information Systems Project Planning

© All Rights Reserved Project Planning What is a project? “A project is a temporary endeavour undertaken to achieve a particular aim and to which project management can be applied, regardless of the project’s size, budget, or timeline.”

© All Rights Reserved Project Planning People undertake projects constantly: –Decorating a room –Planning a party –Learning to drive –Writing a piece of coursework –Cooking a Sunday roast –Organising a holiday

© All Rights Reserved Project Planning In the workplace: –Designing a new financial system –Developing a system to automatically contact customers –Designing and planning a new office building –Installing a network –Upgrading all of the computer hardware

© All Rights Reserved Project Planning It doesn’t matter how large or small the project is, or whether it is for a personal or business reason, it will need some planning in order for it to be successful.

© All Rights Reserved Project Planning Imagine trying to cook a Sunday roast with no planning: –The Yorkshire Puddings are put into the oven before the meat. –You come to make the stuffing and realise that you forgot to buy the ingredients –Your peas are overcooked and resemble green bullets –You are serving up the food when you realise that you forgot to tell Auntie Mavis what time to arrive Your lovely meal has turned into a bit of a disaster

© All Rights Reserved Project Planning You want to decorate the lounge and decide to make a start this weekend, but…. –You forgot to strip the walls so most of the weekend is spent getting the old woodchip off –You didn’t order enough wallpaper and find you are two rolls short. The shop is out of stock and the next batch is a slightly different shade. –You bought white matt paint for the doors instead of white gloss –You didn’t work out the costs of things and you don’t have quite enough money to buy all of the carpet you need – never mind – the sofa will cover up the hole! Somehow, the finished effect isn’t going to be quite as you imagined.

© All Rights Reserved Project Planning With a bit of planning before you started those projects, you could have saved yourself time, money and stress! The examples given were for small scale projects. Look at the potential for things to go wrong even with a little project. Imagine how many things could go wrong with a major project in the workplace? Imagine what the consequences could be of making mistakes in a multi-million pound project. And don’t think that it doesn’t ever happen …………

© All Rights Reserved Project Planning Passport fiasco cost taxpayers £12m The cost of a passport could rise as a result of the chaos The National Audit Office says at least 500 holidaymakers missed their departure dates, following problems with a new computer system, which left the agency unable to issue passports on time. NEWS STORY

© All Rights Reserved Project Planning Air traffic blur has Glasgow-bound flight heading to Wales Passengers on a flight to Glasgow nearly ended up in Wales because air traffic controllers could not make out the characters on their new computer screens….. NEWS STORY

© All Rights Reserved Project Planning Government faces £1.5bn bill for IT failures The government's bill for failed IT projects has soared to £1.5bn since coming to power The figure is the total cost of cancelled or over-budget schemes over the last six years, according to the survey published in the trade magazine Computing. NEWS STORY

© All Rights Reserved Project Planning The examples given were from real news stories about some major IT projects which have gone horribly wrong. Mistakes can be very expensive, they can even lead to bankruptcy or as you just saw, a potential disaster. The key to any successful project, no matter who it is for, no matter what the cost or value, is PLANNING. Without planning – things WILL go wrong!

© All Rights Reserved Project Planning So what should you plan when you are embarking on a project? Project management can be broken down into four main areas: –Budget –Deadlines –Systems –Personnel Planning for these, will help to minimise mistakes

© All Rights Reserved Budget It may be that extra budget has to be allocated or costs need to be cut back. All projects should have a fixed budget set right at the outset. The actual spending on the project needs to be constantly checked against the forecast of spending. Use of graphs with ‘predicted spend’ graphed against ‘actual spend’. If the ‘actual spend’ is starting to rise above the forecast, things need to be looked at again.

© All Rights Reserved Deadlines When a business is going to embark on a project, they need to have some idea of how long it will take them to complete it. Large scale projects cannot be completed by just one person. Teams of people with the required skills are normally formed right at the start of a project. Generally, the more people that are allocated to a project team, the faster the project will be completed.

© All Rights Reserved Deadlines The project will need to be broken down into different stages. Each stage will be set its own deadline. It is vital that the actual time which tasks take to complete are monitored and that this is compared against the projected time plan. That will enable the project manager to be alerted if the deadlines are starting to ‘slip’ Teamwork is dependent on people keeping to their deadlines. If one team fails to complete their task on time, any delay can mean that the second team can’t begin their work on time. This can have a considerable knock on effect on the final deadline

© All Rights Reserved Systems Most companies will already have an ICT system in place before they begin a new project. Their current system will most likely consist of: –Hardware – the equipment –Software – the applications –Data – the records/facts/figures –Processes – how the system is supposed to work

© All Rights Reserved Systems When the decision is made to embark on a new project, an investigation will need to take place to determine: –What effect the new system could have on the older systems and whether they are compatible and can run simultaneously –Whether the hardware the company has, will be of a high enough specification to run the new system –Whether data can be transferred between the old and the new system or between offices –Whether staff will need specialist training to enable them to use the new system –What the security implications are for the new system If new hardware will be required, it must be planned for, purchased and installed in plenty of time for the new project

© All Rights Reserved Personnel The project team will be compiled right at the start of the project. A project manager will be appointed and he will liaise with the Personnel department to identify the right number of staff with the required skills for the project team. The project manager is responsible for the composition of the team and for ensuring that the team work together with the minimum of friction, remain on task and on budget. The project manager is responsible for ensuring that all members of the team understand their roles. There may be unforeseen circumstances which cause delays to the project. If this happens, the project team can be adjusted and extra people added to help boost the project and speed things up.

© All Rights Reserved Question 1 The people in a village order their milk and papers from the village shop. The deliveries are all made by one man using a small delivery van. The owner wants to expand his deliveries into the near-by villages. Explain the project planning that needs to take place before this expansion.

© All Rights Reserved Answer 1 A feasibility study should be carried out (SLC) A project manager/team must be appointed. The project manager must ensure that the team has the necessary skills required. A time scale of each phase needs to be scheduled and the project manager must ensure that they monitor their actual progress against the planned deadlines The costs of the completion of each task in the project will have to be calculated and planned for e.g. new milk floats and then the actual spend of money should be tracked against the planned spend Analysis should take place to determine how the new system will work with the old system. Will new hardware or equipment be required? Will extra training be required?

© All Rights Reserved Question 2 A firm buys cottages in different parts of the country and rents them out to holiday makers. A project is planned by Head Office to store all the data from the regional offices on a central database. Explain the factors to be taken into account when planning the project.

© All Rights Reserved Answer 2 Project divided into phases (task definitions) Need to identify the skills needed to complete the project and the personnel available Need to consider the time scale of each phase and schedule events in the correct sequence. Need to set deadlines Need to calculate the costs of completion of each task in the project (budgeting) Consider possible suppliers Consider the consistency of data between regional offices Consider compatibility of systems, means of collection of data, requirements for converting the systems Need to specify the hardware, software, security and staff training required Need to consider the impact of the change on staff