Chapter 9: IT project manager

 Identify and describe the processes associated with the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK®) area called project communications management, which includes project communications planning, information distribution, performance reporting, and administrative closure  Describe several types of reporting tools that support the communications plan  Apply the concept of earned value and discuss how earned value provides a means of tracking and monitoring a project’s scope, schedule, and budget  Describe how information may be distributed to the project stakeholders and the role information technology plays to support the project communications  Project Communications Management includes the processes required to ensure timely and appropriate ◦ Generation ◦ Collection ◦ Dissemination ◦ Storage, and ◦ Ultimate disposition of project information  Communications Planning focuses on: ◦ How will information be stored? ◦ How will knowledge be stored? ◦ What information goes to whom, when, and how? ◦ Who can access what information? ◦ Who will update the information and knowledge? ◦ What media of communication is best?  Information Distribution ◦ getting the right information to the right people in the right format  Performance Reporting ◦ collection and dissemination of project information to the various project stakeholders  Administrative Closure ◦ verifying and documenting the project’s progress  Regardless of how well a project is planned, unexpected situations will arise These unexpected events will require adjustments to the project schedule and budget  A project manager will not lose credibility because an unexpected event or situation arises He or she will, however, lose (or gain) credibility in terms of how they handle a particular situation  Can be formal or informal  Supports all of the project stakeholders ◦ Who has specific information needs? ◦ What are those needs? ◦ How will these needs be met? ◦ When can they expect the information? ◦ What will be the format?  Stakeholders ◦ Individuals or groups that have a positive or negative interest in the outcome of the project  Information Requirements ◦ What stakeholders need to know about the project  E.g., scope, schedule, budget, quality, risk, etc  Type of Metric or Report ◦ Could be a specific report from a project management software package, a newsletter, or information that a particular milestone was achieved  Timings/Availability ◦ When stakeholders can expect to receive a report or other information about the project  Medium or Format ◦ How the information will be provided  E.g., electronic mail, presentations, meetings, or online  Project Metric ◦ A qualitative measurement of some attribute of the project  Project metrics should focus on the following key areas: ◦ Scope ◦ Schedule ◦ Budget ◦ Resources ◦ Quality ◦ Risk  Understandable ◦ Intuitive  Quantifiable ◦ Objective (no bias)  Cost Effective ◦ Easy and inexpensive to create  Proven ◦ What gets measured gets done  High Impact ◦ Otherwise why bother?  Allow the team to gauge its own progress  Be designed by the project team  Adopt and use only a handful of measures  Track results and progress  Reviews ◦ Formal & informal meetings with stakeholders ◦ May focus on specific deliverables or milestones ◦ Used to get acceptance, surface problems or issues, or make key decisions  Status Reporting ◦ Describes present state of the project ◦ Compares actual progress to baseline plan  Scope, schedule, and budget ◦ Like a snap shot of the project at a specific time  Progress Reporting ◦ What activities or tasks has the team accomplished? ◦ Actual versus planned  Forecast Reporting ◦ Predicting the project’s future status or progress ◦ Example: trend analysis  Face-to-Face Meetings (F2F)  Telephone, email, other wireless technology  Collaboration technology Figure 9.8 ... unexpected situations will arise These unexpected events will require adjustments to the project schedule and budget  A project manager will not lose credibility because an unexpected event or situation... and monitoring a project? ??s scope, schedule, and budget  Describe how information may be distributed to the project stakeholders and the role information technology plays to support the project. .. dissemination of project information to the various project stakeholders  Administrative Closure ◦ verifying and documenting the project? ??s progress  Regardless of how well a project is planned,