CMGT/410 -
Project Planning & Implementation.
Group Id: TAIT0804
01/26/2005
- 02/23/2005.
This course provides the foundation for understanding the
broad concepts of successful planning, organization, and implementation within
the realm of information technology. This course uses real-world examples and
identifies common mistakes and pitfalls in project management. Topics covered
include project scoping, estimating, budgeting, scheduling, tracking and
controlling.
All materials can be found on rEsource, which can be
accessed through the University of Phoenix eCampus Web site.
This course
requires Microsoft Project. Additionally, Microsoft Visio is recommended, but
not required. The instructor will accept assignments prepared with alternative
software (e.g., open source) to the extent that assignment quality does not
suffer and work is easily integrated into learning team deliverables. The
instructor suggests freely available, open-source tools such as KVIO and
Project, both available in Linux distributions. Visit www.suse.com for more
information.
The
instructor’s website, http://madsen.us, may contain additional information
for this course. In the unlikely event of a conflict between this syllabus and
the instructor’s website, the instructor’s website will govern.
Kurt Madsen
kurtmadsen@email.phoenix.edu
Telephone Number(s)
(813) 991-0177
Please call Mon thru Fri,
7:00 p.m. thru 9:00 p.m.; weekends, 3:00 p.m. thru 9:00 p.m.
Kurt Madsen has nineteen years of information technology
(IT) experience in the following domains: e-commerce, telecommunications,
financial services, aviation, and healthcare. As a software engineer, manager,
and consultant, his work has spanned strategic planning, product development,
vendor assessment, business continuity, and operations.
2002 - Present. Mr.
Madsen founded MetaTech, Inc., an information technology consulting company
that specializes in open source software and helping companies become more
agile with respect to continually changing IT requirements.
1998 - 2001. At
Perot Systems, Mr. Madsen was a management consultant specializing in business
and technology alignment through process and architecture re-engineering.
Projects: B2B digital marketplace start-up, Business-To-Employee (B2E) portals,
and wireless banking.
1993 - 1998. At
Salomon Brothers, a wholesale investment bank, he designed a
Business-To-Business (B2B) integration product used by banks in New York,
London, and Hong Kong for electronic trade confirmation and securities clearance.
1986 - 1993. Mr.
Madsen began his career at Nynex Science and Technology, a preeminent R&D
laboratory in the telecommunications industry. There, he developed strong
software engineering skills, specializing in object-oriented technologies and
distributed computing.
Mr. Madsen has a Master of Science in Computer Science from
Polytechnic University in New York and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from
Rutgers University in New Jersey.
Please review University Policies regarding topics such as
student conduct, attendance, and plagiarism in your Program Handbook, which can
be accessed through the University of Phoenix eCampus Web site.
Mr. Madsen prefers to see original work wherever possible.
When writing papers or other assignments, it is OK to include limited 3rd-
party quotes as long as the source is properly referenced in the back of your
paper. Excessive copying of blocks or pages of text from 3rd- party sources
(e.g., Internet) directly into your paper will reduce your grade even when
properly referenced. For this course, at least 80% of the text of an assignment
must be original content.
All documents are to be typed, spell-checked and grammar
checked, submitted double-spaced, and prepared in the proper APA format required
for the program. The instructor will
use The Little, Brown Compact Handbook (3rd ed.) for format reference.
Assignments will be evaluated on the following criteria:
In summary, follow these steps when writing papers:
1.
Research
and read 3rd-party content to learn the topic and get ideas.
2.
Then,
Develop a document outline and, optionally, a logic map.
3.
Next,
write your own material to fill in the outline.
4.
Finally,
add references to the bibliography section of your paper.
Do these steps and your understanding will shine through on
your papers.
All assignments must be turned in by 6:00 p.m. on the night
in which they are due. No emailed revisions will be accepted past the due date
(without assessing a late penalty).
A 5% late penalty will be assessed for all late or
incomplete work. All missed assignments must be made up by the next session.
Assignments not submitted during next session immediately following the due
date will receive a zero. No assignments will be accepted past the last night
of the course.
Under rare and extenuating circumstances, an “I” grade may
be issued if requested and approved by the instructor, before course
completion. The “I” must be made up
within three weeks and the highest grade possible for those assignments is a
“B”.
Students are strongly encouraged to attend all workshop and
learning team sessions. Per university policy, students are allowed one
workshop absence and one absence for learning team meetings during the course.
AN INSTRUCTOR CANNOT ISSUE A GRADE OTHER THAN “W” OR “WF” TO A STUDENT WITH
MORE THAN ONE WORKSHOP ABSENCE OR LEARNING TEAM MEETING. There is no approval
for second absences.
Mr. Madsen is sympathetic and flexible with regard to the
occasional need for students to miss one workshop due to reasons such as a
business trip, being sick, a military assignment, etc. Unfortunately, any
absence for any reason will adversely affect the final course grade because
this course is only a few weeks in duration. Missing one workshop will result
in the loss of attendance and
participation points for that workshop and possibly a late penalty if an
assignment is late. A late penalty can be avoided by planning ahead and turning
in assignments early.
Academic
honesty is highly valued at the University of Phoenix. Students must always submit work that
represents their original words or ideas.
If any words or ideas used in a class posting or assignment submission
do not represent the student’s original words or ideas, all relevant sources
must be cited along with the extent to which such sources were used. Words or ideas that require citation
include, but are not limited to, all hard copy or electronic publications,
whether copyrighted or not, and all verbal or visual communication when the
content of such communication clearly originates from an identifiable
source. Please see the University of
Phoenix Catalog for more information about academic honesty, including
consequences of academic dishonesty.
One of the
highlights of the University of Phoenix academic experience is that students
can draw on the wealth of examples from their organizations in class
discussions and in their written work.
However, it is imperative that students not share information that is
confidential, privileged, or proprietary in nature. Students must be mindful of any contracts they have agreed to
with their companies.
WEIGHTING of ASSIGNMENTS
|
Individual Assignments (70%) |
Points |
|
IA1 -- Due Week Three – Paper |
20% |
|
IA2 -- Due Week Three -- Quiz |
20% |
|
IA3 -- Due Week Four |
20% |
|
Participation (all weeks) |
10% |
|
Learning Team Assignments (30%) |
|
|
Meeting Five |
30% |
TOTAL |
100 |
|
100-95 |
A |
76-74 |
C |
|
94-90 |
A- |
73-70 |
C- |
|
89-87 |
B+ |
69-67 |
D+ |
|
86-84 |
B |
66-64 |
D |
|
83-80 |
B- |
63-60 |
D- |
|
79-77 |
C+ |
59 or
< |
F |
INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENTS
· IA1 -- Write a 3-5 page paper INCLUDING CITED REFERENCES that includes a Microsoft project plan as discussed in class. At a minimum, there should be one page to provide background on initial project planning decisions, one page for the Gantt chart diagram (the plan), and one page to explain the plan. THIS IS DUE ON WORKSHOP THREE.
·
It will be necessary for the
student to access Huffman Trucking from the Virtual Organizations Portal of the
course rEsource page.
Service Request |
|
Service Request ID: HT001 Organization Name: Huffman Trucking Locations: All hub locations Requester: Keneth Colbert, Director of HR Description of
Request: Development and installation of a benefits elections
system to support the tracking and reporting of employee (union and
non-union) benefits. Background of
Request: Memo to Graham Grove, 3/22/04, on Health Insurance
Benefits. This memo is located on the Huffman Trucking Intranet site under
Human Resources – Communications tab. Expected
Results/Impact when completed: Creation of a project plan in Microsoft
Project that will be used to manage, track and report the progress of this
software development to the management team. |
§ Based on your review of the HT001 Service Request for a new benefits election system, update the Huffman Benefits Project Plan with detailed tasks (sub-tasks under the Major Tasks already provided) to accomplish the project.
§ Once you have a basic plan, update the Huffman Benefits project by creating task dependencies among the sub-tasks.
· Discussion Question(s):
§ What are the skills that a project manager should have to be successful?
§ Who should make up the executive committee of a project, and what are the key roles?
§ What is the role of a steering committee in a projects implementation structure?
§ What role can each of the following play in project management?
Budget conflicts
Resource conflicts
Time conflicts
Company politics
Personalities on the project
· IA1 (continued) – Continue with your paper assigned in workshop one. For this week, drill down into more detail (e.g., subtasks). Add the following resources to the Huffman Benefits project, and assign these resources to the appropriate sub-task.
§ Analyst $50.00/hour + $15.00/hour overburden
§ Designer $40.00/hour + $12.00/hour overburden
§ Developer $30.00/hour + $9.00/hour overburden
§ Trainer $30.00/hour + $9.00/hour overburden
§ Administrative Assistant $10.00/hour + $3.00/hour overburden
· Discussion Question(s):
§ How is a Request for Proposal (RFP) different from a Request for Quotation (RFQ)?
§ Why is it important to identify the tasks of the project? How detailed should this be?
§ What are the different estimation techniques for project activities?
§ What are the different precedence relations that link a project’s task structure together?
§ How is a Statement of Work (SOW) used in project?
§ What are the parts of defining a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)?
§ What is the role of the team in leveraging experience?
· IA2 – Quiz in class. THIS IS DUE ON WORKSHOP THREE.
·
IA3 – Write a 3-5 page paper INCLUDING CITED
REFERENCES that includes a Microsoft project plan and budget for a two day
training session for which people will be brought in from different parts of
the country. A major part of your grade for the plan will be based on how
detailed it is. THIS IS DUE ON WORKSHOP FOUR.
Include everything involved such as preparation, presenter
scheduling and compensation, accomodations, and fascilities.Your plan should
include a Gantt chart (1 to 3 pages) and a budget (1 page). [Two to four pages
total for the assignment.] Specifically,
· Each student can select a different topic or theme for the conference.
· Assume that you are both fascilitator and host for the training/conference. Attendees can come from all one company or many companies.
· Discussion Question(s):
§ How can outsourcing be used to address the "triple constraint"?
§ What are some of different ways to prepare a project budget?
§ How important is it to be accurate with respect to the estimated budget and actual budget of a project?
§ What issues are faced when outsourcing to people in other countries?
§ What are different ways to present a project as a good investment for a company?
· Discussion Question(s):
§ What is the correlation between resources on a project and the overall project budget?
§ Why are rollup reports good tools to prepare for project meetings?
§ When reporting on project status to management, what are the main points to focus on?
§ When reporting on project status to management, what are the things that should not be included in reports?
§ What are some best practices for managing people, time and money in a project?
§ Why do updates to a project plan need to follow a change control process?
§ What criteria should be used to evaluate outsourcing some parts of a project?
· Discussion Question(s):
§ What are some ways to keep a project meeting on track?
§ How can the political environment of a business impact a project?
§ What are some recovery techniques to deal with major problems that develop in the project life cycle?
§ What software tools have you used or seen in your business experience that track projects or provide project management support?
§ Why is it important to terminate a project formally?
· Complete a Learning Team Evaluation.
LEARNING TEAM ASSIGNMENTS
The learning team assignment for
this course consists of a project of the learning team’s choice, involving an
IT requirement with multiple tasks and human resources. The project must come
from a business situation, e.g. hardware procurement and installation, network
acquisition, implementation or expansion, toward which each learning team
member will contribute background details. The learning team and instructor
should carefully consider the scope of the project.
Demonstrate a working knowledge of
project management tools to include Microsoft Project.
Refer to “Standards for Written
Work” and “Standards for Presentations” in your Program Handbook, which can be
accessed through the University of Phoenix eCampus Web site.
Using Microsoft Project,
learning teams will create and present a project to demonstrate that the group
members have command of project management concepts and tools. These will
include project definition, WBS, scheduling/estimation, costing and risk
analysis. Project deliverables will be
required each week, and the final presentation of the project is due in Week
Five.
Establish the plan’s need(s),
objectives and the approach or methodology to be used to achieve the
objectives. Also include a project organization chart, using Microsoft Visio,
depicting team member functions and the organization’s chain of command. List
the tasks to be accomplished during the course of developing the plan. Finally,
the first part of the plan should outline all expected risks that might occur
during the implementation of the project, why the risks are expected to occur
and the risk resolution process that will be used for each situation. Include
the following components in the written report:
· Background and Statement of Need:
§ Background consists of a description of the organization, the problem or problems that need to be solved and the event or events that led to the need for a management plan. Discuss the benefits the successful completion of the plan would have for the organization.
· Project Objectives:
§ Quantify the measurable performance expectations of the plan in order to determine whether or not it meets the planned objectives. Performance should be defined in terms of product or process specification, total budget at the completion of the plan and the timeframe for plan completion. The stated objectives become exit criteria in determining whether or not the plan is successful at completion. Identify the potential risks that would prevent the plan’s objectives from being met on time and within budget, and present a contingency plan that would manage the risks should they actually occur. The risk mitigation plan should identify risks and the severity ranking for each. For the most severe risks, a risk mitigation strategy should be developed, including the triggering event and the responsible party.
· Mission and Goals of Project:
§ The mission and goals of the project define the work that needs to be accomplished in order to satisfy the objectives. It consists of a list of tasks, their definitions and what needs to be accomplished, but it does not cite how the tasks will be accomplished. The project mission and goals are usually integrated into the contract shared by the organization performing the work and the organization funding the work.
· Project (Plan) Approach:
§ The project approach discusses the methodology that will be used to satisfy the mission, goals and objectives of the project. While the mission, goals and objectives state what work will be done, the approach states how the work will be done.
· Project (Plan) Organization:
§ This section should identify project team members, define their functions, responsibilities, qualifications, capabilities and explain where each team member fits into the organizational structure. Project organization should also include each member’s reporting relationship. The individual supervising the project manager should be a manager in a position to resolve resource allocation issues. Include a project organization chart to illustrate all of the above relationships.
· Task/Responsibility Matrix:
§ A task/responsibility matrix is a chart that lists SOW (Statement of Work) tasks on the left and key project team members on the top of the chart. Each person is identified as having responsibility for completing one or more tasks. Only one person can be responsible for each task in order to preserve accountability. Others can be identified as providing either support or approval of decisions made.
· Work Breakdown Structure (WBS):
§ A WBS chart should appear in this section with an explanation of the hierarchical relationship between each level appearing on the chart. Level one of the WBS is the end result (product or service) of the project. Level two consists of the major tasks outlined in the Statement of Work (SOW), and Level Three lists the subtasks contained within each SOW task. Use the series of charts available in Microsoft Project.
· Task Flow Network/Critical Path:
§ In this section, arrange second-level WBS elements in the form of a task-flow network in order to determine various task dependencies. Determine the critical path along which necessary resources are allocated in order to achieve project objectives in the appropriate timeframe. Indicate earliest occurrence times, and highlight the critical path.
· Project Schedule:
§ For the project schedule, arrange second-level tasks on a timeline. Use a Gantt chart to illustrate the start and completion dates of each task. Take into consideration whether the tasks can be completed in parallel, or must be done in serial, due to task dependencies identified in the preceding task-flow network diagram.
· Project Reporting:
§ In this section, describe the project reporting structure that will be used on the project. For example, every project member must complete a weekly status report. Select and then complete a report template from Microsoft Project.
· Cost Plan:
§ Develop a cost plan for your project that identifies the allocation and cost of resources for your project.
· Project Baseline:
§ Develop a baseline for your project plan. This will be the baseline that all project variances will be recorded against.
· Performance Measurement:
§ Performance measurement defines which variables will be measured, how they will be measured and when they will be measured to determine if the project is meeting its stated performance objectives. The measurable objectives should be identified as “milestones” on the Gantt chart developed.
· Project Evaluation and Reporting:
§ This section describes the reports that your group will use to track its project. Project evaluation and reporting will also explain how the project manager will communicate performance evaluation results to both management and the customer. This will include the results of the cost and schedule variance analyses, risk analysis, formulating cost/schedule/performance alternatives, forecasting budget and schedule completion, methods of corrective action taken and managing expectations.
· Project Termination:
§ The final section describes the method for determining when the project has met its objectives, and the method in which it will be terminated. Include a project-termination checklist used for closing out the project, reassigning personnel and delivering materials purchased under the contract, and proposing follow-up work in order to obtain future business. Finally, provide a summary of lessons learned in developing the Project Management Plan, along with recommendations.
· Create a Learning Team Charter.
· Develop a project introduction with the establishment of the plan’s need(s), objectives and the methodology to be used. Complete items 1-6 of the components described for the written report.
· Complete a project task analysis, during which the project mission, goal, objectives and approach developed in Week Two are further broken down into a hierarchical Work Breakdown Structure at the second or third level.
§ Complete items 7-10 of the components described for the written report.
§ Arrange second-level WBS elements (tasks) in the form of a task-flow network, using PERT or CPM techniques, to illustrate the earliest completion time, task, dependencies and the critical path.
§ Illustrate scheduled start and completion times for each second level WBS task on a timeline in the form of a Gantt chart. (Use Microsoft Project).
· Develop a resource allocation, involving a cost plan, project baseline, project, evaluation, risk analysis reporting and termination. Complete items 11-15 of the components described for the written report.
· Prepare a 10-15-page paper (350 words per page) and a Microsoft PowerPoint® presentation of the project.