UPGRADE: Vol. VIII, issue no. 5, October 2007 - Advanced Information Systems Project Management

Advanced Information Systems Project Management

Published on behalf of CEPIS by Novática (ATI, Spain)

Chief Editor: Llorenç Pagés-Casas, <pages AT ati DOT es>

Associate Editors:

François Louis Nicolet, <nicolet AT acm DOT org>; Roberto Carniel, <rcarniel AT dgt DOT uniud DOT it>;
Zakaria Maamar, <Zakaria DOT Maamar AT zu DOT ac DOT ae>; Soraya Kouadri Mostéfaoui, <soraya DOT kouadrimostefaoui AT unifr DOT ch>, Rafael Fernández Calvo, <rfcalvo AT ati DOT es>.

Abstract: The offshoring of the European ICT sector and the immigration of IT professionals calls for a drastic review of our professional policy, one which will improve and shape ICT resources to meet the demands of the new global and local scenario.

Abstract: CEPIS’s ongoing training and EUCIP certification scheme meets European IT training challenges with courses that are of particular relevance to ICT consultancy and project management, developed in cooperation with Italian and Spanish universities.

Abstract: An Information and Communications Technology (ICT) project manager must have a clear idea of his work, the frontiers of his working area, and any "de jure" and "de facto" criteria that may be useful. This paper describes a chronological project life method using the PMBoK model, which is widely used in many sectors and adopted by the IEEE as standard 1490 for ICT Project Management. The PMBoK Guide is organized into five chronological stages and resembles the post-contractual stages of the better known cycles, models, and methods used in ICT Project Management.

Abstract: When creating and delivering new products and services, companies are becoming more and more “project-oriented” and are increasingly aware of the benefits which project management can bring. Once companies adopted the discipline of project management, they began to structure their own processes and to standardize them in an internal methodology. The widespread use of PRINCE2, a standard project management methodology recognized worldwide, owes much to the fact that it is an easily tailored and scalable method that can be applied to all kinds of projects. The various roles and responsibilities for managing a project are fully identified and are adaptable to suit the size and complexity of the project, and the skills of the organization.

Abstract: To determine the price of a project, traditional pricing policy determinants (demand, competition and cost) must all be taken into account, as should other business and marketing policy related factors, all of which make price determination a complicated activity. When software deals are expected to lead to non-corrective maintenance (whether adaptive, preventive, or perfective) in the future, the additional business generated by such maintenance during the useful life of the software may also be taken into account when establishing the price of software.

Classification of Software Project Suppliers’ Expenses Taking into Consideration that the Software is Reusable [PDF: 5 pages, 109 KB]
José-María Torralba-Martínez, Marta Fernández-Diego, and José Cuenca-Iniesta
Abstract: The reusability characteristic of software (the capability of using previous developments in order to design and construct new software) raises the question about if it is appropriate to classify software development expenses according to the criterion of “their contribution to the creation of corporate assets for the supplier” in addition to other criteria. Those expenses contributing significantly to the creation of company assets (software elements that can be reused in the future) could be converted to assets and treated as an investment which may be amortised amongst future projects. The software characteristic of reusability which we consider here refers not only to code reuse but also to other software elements, i.e. specifications, design, etc.

Risks and Project Management [PDF: 6 pages, 236 KB]
Julián Marcelo-Cocho and Marta Fernández-Diego
Abstract: The management of risk in projects (including failure to reach objective) is always dependent on the complexity of the project and the uncertainty of the objective. These are the two main factors that explain the development of a project, and it is here that adequate countermeasures for risk-reducing preventive countermeasures can be found, as well as palliative countermeasures for use when leading a project in the planning, and increasingly, in the monitoring stage.

Driving Projects by their Risks [PDF: 5 pages, 125 KB]
Julián Marcelo-Cocho
Abstract: The extension of the Theory of Project Management for highly uncertain projects leads to a Method of Project Driving that is based on Project Risk Management (risk as deviation from the objective) with Critical Chain Techniques. The MadPRYX method includes these forms of planning and monitoring, but does not yet enable projects to be pro-actively guided "at sight" over the course of the project.

Convergence of IT Project Management and Change Management: A Comparative Study [PDF: 6 pages, 127 KB]
Colin Ash
Abstract: This paper presents the results of a study into the antecedents for IT Project change management success. An established research framework was adapted for gathering evidence to identify the factors for success of an IT project. In order to avoid an original IT-centric position, emphasis was on the success of managing the change of IT projects. Multiple case studies with varying dimensions of IT project scope are described in the context of this model. The results indicate that successful projects were found to have facilitators in all dimensions of the framework, including the change environment, and project management. The least successful project lacked facilitators primarily in the area of cultural readiness and change management.

Julián Marcelo-Cocho is a Doctor of Engineering in Computer Science and holds a Master in Industrial Enterprise Management. He currently heads research in the Department of Enterprise Organization of the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia and lectures in IT Project Management at a graduate and postgraduate level. In his more than 40 years’ professional experience in the IT and related sectors he has held a great many different positions in national and multinational enterprises, and public, local, regional, and international organizations (such as the UN’s Intergovernmental Bureau for Informatics). He was founder and Chief Editor of Novática and other publications in the IT sector. <jmarcelo@doe.upv.es>.

Antonio Teti is a professor of computer science at the universities of Chieti-Pescara and Teramo, and of the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore of Roma, Italy. He is a member of the I.C.T.S. (Information and Communication Technology Service) of the Università degli Studi “G.d’Annunzio” of Chieti and Pescara. He collaborates with the Polytechnic Universities of Valencia and Madrid and performs training and consultancy work for public and private entities. He is Vice-President and Director of Higher Training of the AIP (Associazione Informatici Professionisti) and has published a great many technical books, articles in journals, and presentations in Italian and international IT conferences. <teti@unich.it>.

José-María Torralba-Martínez is a Doctor of Engineering and Economics, certified auditor, and certified Project Management Technician (TDP) by the International Project Management Association (IPMA). He lectures in Enterprise Information Systems, Administrative Management, and ICT Project Management in the Higher Technical School of Applied Computer Science and the Faculty of Business Administration and Management of the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia. He is the researcher responsible for Project Management in the Enterprise IT Integration Group (Business Organization Department of the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia). He has authored a great many publications and conference presentations on the subject of the Project Budgeting Process. <jtorral@doe.upv.es>.

UPENET (UPGRADE European NETwork) [PDF: 9 pages, 168 KB]

From Mondo Digitale (AICA, Italy)
Internet
The Future of the Internet Protocol
Maurizio Dècina and Paolo Giacomazzi

This paper was first published, in its original Italian version, under the title "Il futuro del protocollo Internet", by Mondo Digitale (issue no. 2, June 2007, pp. 17-29, available at <http://www.mondodigitale.net/>). Mondo Digitale, a founding member of UPENET, is the digital journal of the CEPIS Italian society AICA (Associazione Italiana per l’Informatica ed il Calcolo Automatico, <http://www.aicanet.it/>.)

Abstract: Notwithstanding the extraordinary success of the 4th version of the IP protocol, the scalability of mobile and multicast communications in the Internet is still a difficult challenge and substantial evolution is needed, especially in view of the steadily increasing demand for mobile and multicast communications and the growing penetration of overlay systems. Evolutionary strategies planning the functionalities of future protocols with a strictly technological approach are critical because market requirements need to be taken into account. In fact, the Network has already shown that it changes naturally, according to the needs of users. Development strategies accounting for market requirements are likely to be more successful and the impressive growth of overlay systems such as Skype telephony and multimedia streaming over IP should be taken carefully into account

CEPIS NEWS [PDF: 1 page, 65 KB]

CEPIS Projects

CEPIS/Harmonise Newsletter
François-Philippe Draguet

Monograph: Advanced Information Systems Project Management

Presentation
Advanced Information Systems Project Management [PDF: 3 pages, 88 KB]
(includes a set of useful references about the matter)
Julián Marcelo-Cocho, Antonio Teti, and José-María Torralba -Martínez - Guest Editors

Luciano D’Amico places his article "EUCIP Training for ICT Project Managers and Similar Profiles" within the framework of the rapid worldwide transformation described by Antonio Teti in "Training ICT for the Recovery of European Economies". The article deals with the knowledge, competencies, and skills required in various key areas. The importance of EUCIP training hinges on the fact that it impacts on a situation to which too little attention is paid and one in which goals are rarely met; it is the normal promotion path for IT professionals; it straddles the promising frontier between organizational and technical issues; and it also converges with the increasingly more common approach whereby production activities are organized as objective-oriented projects.

The widespread recognition of the function of ICT project manager is still such a recent phenomenon that at times it is hard to separate it from the functions of product development and provision of services that make up the bulk of IT training. Marta Fernández-Diego and José Onofre Montesa-Andrés describe an "ICT Project Management Methodology", supported by the chronological reorganization of the PMBoK Project Management Body of Knowledge which is a de facto standard for ICT projects (after its adoption by the IEEE as Standard 1490).

As an example of an alternative method, Michelangelo Carbone contributes his article "Benefits of a Structured Methodology in Project Management: How to Manage a Project in a Structured Way with PRINCE2".

José-María Torralba-Martínez, Marta Fernández-Diego, and José Cuenca-Iniesta, tackle the subject of "Traditional Price Determinants in Software Projects, with Consideration to Non-Corrective Maintenance". These same authors go on to expand upon this topic in an article that looks into the ever more delicate economic aspects of ICT projects, entitled "Classification of Software Project Suppliers’ Expenses Taking into Consideration that the Software Is Reusable".

Centring in on the growing uncertainty of the aims of such a dynamic sector, Julián Marcelo-Cocho and Marta Fernández-Diego introduce the topic of "Risks and Project Management" by providing a general overview, before addressing the more specific subject of "Driving Projects by their Risks".

Finally, Colin Ash looks into the "Convergence of IT Project Management and Change Management: A Comparative Study" which would sound like a truism if it were not so often forgotten that an ICT project is not an end in itself. The ultimate goal of an ICT project is established by the implementing organization in which it is hoped to prompt a change in human behaviour, the success of which is by no means easy to ensure.

The above mentioned articles are basically a selection of the presentations delivered at the EMIS-PM, the first European Meeting on Information Systems Project Management, held in Valencia on June 23 and 24, 2007 as part of the 4th European and Mediterranean Conference on Information Systems EMCIS’2007, and sponsored, among others, by CEPIS and ATI. Thanks are due to EMCIS for granting permission to publish these articles in UPGRADE and Novática; especially because these presentations, which are half-way between daily practice and research, are what allow us to entitle this monograph Advanced Information Systems Project Management, a concept which is vital if we are to continue to be successful in meeting objectives to a degree that hitherto seem to have been impossible judging by the scant statistics available to the sector.

Useful References on Advanced Information Systems Project Management

In addition to the references and sources mentioned in the articles of this issue, interested readers may like to take a look at the following books, papers, journals, etc.

The following references, along with those included in the articles this monograph consists of, will help our readers to dig deeper into this field.

Books

IPMA. IPMA Competence Baseline (ICB). IPMA. 2006. ISBN-10: 3000040579.
D.J. Anderson. Agile Management for Software Engineering: Applying the Theory of Constraints for Business Results. Prentice Hall PTR, 2003. ISBN: 0131424602.
S. Berkun. The Art of Project Management. O´ Reilly, 2005. ISBN: 0596007868.
J. Van Bon, T. Verheijen. Frameworks for IT Management: An Introduction. Van Haren. 2006. ISBN: 9077212906.
Ch. Butler, G. L. Richardson. Readings in Information Technology Project Management. 2005.
M.J. Christensen, R.H. Thayer. The Project Manager´s Guide to Software Engineering´s Best Practices. IEEE CS Press, 2002. ISBN: 0769511996.
M. Cohn. Agile Estimating and Planning (Robert C. Martin). Prentice Hall. 2005. ISBN: 0131479415.
M.Coterrell, B.Hughes. Software Projects Management. International Thomson Computer Press, 1995. ISBN: 1850321906.
G. Cuevas. Gestión del proceso software. Centro de Estudios Ramón Areces, 2002. ISBN: 8480045469.
J-L. Deixonne. Piloter un projet ERP. Édition DUNOD, 2003. ISBN: 210007028.
J. Dolado, L. Fernández. Medición para la Gestión del Software. Ra-Ma, 2000. ISBN: 8478974032.
Duran. Maîtrise d’oeuvre des projets informatiques. De la gestion du périmètre au contrôle des risques et des coûts. Editions DUNOD 2004. ISBN: 2100485113.
H. Eisner. Essentials of Project and Systems Engineering Management. John Wiley & Sons. 1997. ISBN: 0471148466.
J. Frame. The New Project Management. Jossey-Bass Inc, 1995. ISBN: 8475776132.
J. Gido, J. Clements. Successful Project Management. International Thomson, 2005. ISBN: 032453311X.
J.A. Gutiérrez, C. Pages. Planificación y Gestión de Proyectos Informáticos. Universidad de Alcalá de Henares, 2005. ISBN: 8481386316.
J. Highsmith. Agile Project Management: Creating Innovative Products. Addison Wesley Professional, 2004. ISBN: 0321219775.
G. M. Horine. Absolute beginner´s Guide to Project Management. Pearson Educ. 2005. ISBN: 844151917X
W. Humphrey. Managing Technical People. Addison Wesley Longman, 1997. ISBN: 0201545977.
R. López-Cortijo, A. De Amescua. Ingeniería del Software: Aspectos de Gestión. IIIS, 1998. ISBN: 8460673915.
J. Marasco. The Software Development Age: Essays on Managing Successful Projects. Addison-Wesley, 2005.
S. McConnell. Rapid Development. Microsoft Press, 1996. ISBN: 1556159005.
P. Metzger, J. Boddie. Managing a Programming Project. Prentice Hall, 2004. ISBN: 0135507723.
Morley. Management d’un projet système d’information. Principes, techniques, mise en oeuvre et outils. Dunod, 4ème édition, 2004. ISBN: 2100483595.
P. Morris, A. Jamieson. Translating Corporate Strategy into Project Strategy (realizing Corporate Strategy throught Project Management). Project Management Institute PMI, 2004. ISBN: 1930699379.
Murray, M. Ward. Improving project performance using the PRINCE2 maturity model (P2MM) (Managing Successful Projects). TSO. 2007. ISBN: 0113310315.
S. Nokes, I. Major, A. Greenwood, D. Allen, M. Goodman. The definitive Guide in Project Management. Every executive fast-track to delivering on time and on budget. Pearson Educ. ISBN: 0273663976.
F. O´Connell. How to Run Successful High-Tech Project-Based Organization. Ed. Artech House Books, 1999. ISBN: 1580530109.
M. Piattini, F. Hervada. Gobierno de las Tecnologías y los Sistemas de Información. Ra-Ma, 2007. ISBN : 9788478977673.
Project Management Institute. A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBoK Guide, 3rd Edition). PMI, 2004. ISBN: 1-930699-50-6.
Project Management Institute. The Standard for Portfolio Management. PMI Global Standards, 2006. ISBN: 1-930699-90-5.
Project Management Institute. The Standard for Program Management. PMI Global Standards, 2006. ISBN: 1-930699-54-9.
Project Management Institute PMI. Government Extension to A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)–2000 Edition. PMI. 2002. ISBN: 193069900X.
Project Management Institute PMI. Practice Standard For Earned Value Management. PMI. ISBN: 1930699425.
J.H. Rainwater. A Primer for Programmers Who Lead Programmers. APRESS. 2002. ISBN: 1590590171.
J.R. Rodríguez, J. García, I. Lamarca. Gestión de proyectos informáticos: métodos, herramientas y casos. UOC, 2007.
W. Royce. Software Project Management: A Unified Framework. Addison-Wesley Professional. 1998. ISBN: 0201309580.
K. Schwaber. Agile Project Management with Scrum (Microsoft Professional). Microsoft Press, 2004. ISBN: 073561993X.
Stellman, J. Greene. Applied Software Project Management. O´ Reilly, 2005.
G. Stepanek. Software Project Secrets: Why Software Projects Fail. Apress. 2005. ISBN: 1590595505.
J. Taylor. Managing Information Technology Projects: Applying Project Management Strategies to Software, Hardware, and Integration Initiatives. AMACOM. 2003. ISBN: 0814408117.
R. Thomsett. Third Wave Project Management. Ed.Yourdon Press Comp.Series-Prentice Hall, 1993. ISBN: 0-13-915299-7.
J.E. Tomayko, O. Orit Hazzan. Human Aspects of Software Engineering. Charles River Media, 2004. ISBN: 1584503130.
J. Tuya, I. Ramos, J. Dolado. Técnicas Cuantitativas para la Gestión de Proyectos de Ingeniería del Software. Netbiblo, 2007. ISBN: 978-84-9745-2045.
G. Webster. Managing Projects at Work. Gower Publishing, Ltd. 1999. ISBN: 0566079828.
R.K. Wysocki, R. Rudd McGary. Effective Project Management: Traditional, Adaptive, Extreme, 4rd Edition. Wiley, 2007.

Articles

B. Boehm, R.Turner. Management Challenges to Implementing Agile Processes in Traditional Development Organizations. IEEE Software, Sept./Oct.2005, pp. 30-39. ISSN 0740-7459.
P.C. Clements, L.G. Jones, L.M. Northrop, J.D. McGregor. Project Management in a software product lines organization. IEEE Software, Sept./Oct. 2005, pp. 54-62. ISSN 0740-7459.
L. Cheikhi, A. Abran, and L. Buglione (École de Technologie Supérieure – Université du Québec, Montréal, Canada). ISBSG Software Project Repository & ISO 9126: An Opportunity for Quality Benchmarking. UPGRADE. 2006.
P. Donzelli. A Decision Support System for Software Project Management. IEEE Software, Jul/Aug, 2006, vol. 23, no. 4, pp. 67-75. ISSN 0740-7459.
T. Gilb. Software Project Management. Adding Stakeholder Metrics to Agile Projects. UPGRADE, Aug. 2003.
K.E. Nidiffer, D. Dolan. Evolving Distributed Project Management. IEEE Software, Sept./Oct. 2005, pp. 63-72.
H. Z. Ounaies, Y. Jamoussi, M. B. Ahmed. Project Management Improvement in Extreme Programming. RPM-AEMES, Vol 3, nº. 1. 2006. ISSN: 1886-4554.
A.B. Pyster, R.H. Thayer. Software Engineering Project Management 20 Years Later. IEEE Software, Sept./Oct. 2005, pp. 18-21. ISSN 0740-7459.
W. Royce. Successful Software Management Style: Steering and Balance. IEEE Software, Sept./Oct. 2005, pp. 40-47. ISSN 0740-7459.
R. Thayer. Software Engineering Project Management. Ed. IEEE Computer Press, 1999. ISSN 0740-7459.
C. Venugopal. Single goal set: a new paradigm for IT megaproject success. IEEE Software, Sept./Oct. 2005, pp. 48-53. ISSN 0740-7459.
S. Woodward. Evolutionary Project Management. Computer, Oct., 1999, vol. 32, no. 10, pp. 49-57. ISBN: ISSN: 0018-9162.

Related Monographs

UPGRADE, August 2003. Software Engineering - State of an Art. L. Fernández-Sanz (ed.).
UPGRADE. October 2004. STP, Software Process Technology. F. Ruiz, and G. Canfora (eds.)
UPGRADE. February 2006. Key Success Factors in Software Engineering. Luis Fernández-Sanz, Juan-José Cuadrado-Gallego, and Maya Daneva (eds.).

Last updated on March 19th, 2008

by the Editorial Team of Upgrade