Kabarak University Online

INTE Software Project Management

323

Introduction to Software Project management

Name: Prof Simon M Karume

Tel: 0722499397, Email: skarume@[Link] World Class Education in Biblical Perspective
 Agenda
1. What is a project?

2. What is project management?

3. What is the project management lifecycle?

4. Project Identification
 What is a project?
A project is a planned undertaking whose aim is to produce a unique Deliverable (product or service)
and constitute of a set of activities or tasks which are interrelated and must be executed within a fixed
period of time, budget and other resources.

From this definition a project should possess the following qualities:

a) It should have a definite start and a definite end for it to be executed within a fixed period of time
b) It should be executed within the given resources i.e. time, budget, etc
c) It should consist of several activities/tasks
• What is a project activity
o Measurable unit of work in a project that consume resources
o the individual actions that must be completed to achieve project success
 What is a project?
contd
Further a project should possess the following additional qualities:
a) It should result to a unique deliverable (product or service)
b) It should be properly planned out in advance for it to be successfully executed
c) The project must be controlled to ensure that the desired results are achieved within the constraints
of all the resources available
 What is Project Management?

• Project management is the planning and control of events that, together, comprise the
project. Project management aims to ensure the effective use of resources and delivery
of the project objectives on time and within cost constraints

• What are project constraints: these are

the main resources of the project that need to be SCOPE
carefully balanced. They include scope, budget,
schedule and quality
✓ The scope, schedule and budget form the
traianbgle Quality
✓ As we balance the three constraints scope, SCHEDULE BUDGET
budget and schedule we must not compromise
the Quality of the output
 Implication of Proejct Constraints
The connotation of this triangle is that:

• Projects must be delivered within cost

• Projects must be delivered on time

• Projects must meet the agreed scope – no more, no less

• Projects must also meet customer quality requirements

 Implication of Proejct Constraints

1. Cost: All projects have a finite budget; the customer is willing to spend a certain amount of
money for delivery of a new product or service. If the project's cost is reduced, then either the
scope will have to be reduced or the time will have to be increased.

2. Time (Schedule): As the saying goes, 'time is money', a commodity that slips away too easily.
Projects have a start date and a deadline date for delivery. When the project's time is reduced,
then either the scope will have to be reduced or the cost will have to be increased.

3. Scope: Many projects fail on this constraint because the scope of the project is either not fully
defined or understood from the start. When a project’s scope is increased, then either cost or time
has to be increased.
 Implication of Proejct Constraints

Often in most projects one of the three constraints may take precedence over
the other two e.g. a customer may state that the project must COST no more
than a specific amount of money or it must be delivered by a particular date
(SCHEDULE), or it must contain certain features (SCOPE). It is the role of
the person managing the project to ensure that a balance between the triple
constraints is attained in order to reach a successful conclusion. Any
changes impact one or more of the constraints as demonstrated in the
following examples:
 Examples of Inteplay between the 3 Proejct
Constraints
Example One: During a software development project, the customer increases the scope.
The client asks that new features be added to the software after learning that a competitor's
product will be in direct competition with their own. It is important the product includes
these new features if it is to compete successfully.

Impact: The budget and schedule increase as a result of pushing up the final delivery date.
More people are added to the project to minimise disruption to the schedule, thereby
increasing the project's overall cost. The most important constraint in this case is scope
(features of the product).
 Examples of Inteplay between the 3 Proejct
Constraints
Example Two: During an automotive engineering project, an unexpected
budget cut is imposed on the project after the company posts poorer than
expected in the 4th quarter financial results.

Impact: Scope is cut, quality is reduced, and the schedule is pushed back so
that cheaper resources can be found. The most important constraint in this
case is cost (the money the company is willing to spend).
 Examples of Inteplay between the 3 Proejct
Constraints
Example Three: During a project to create a new mobile phone handset,
your customer asks that the launch date be brought forward two weeks to
coincide with a major industry show.

Impact: Costs increase as more people are added to meet the new deadline.
Some features of the product are removed and put into a Phase 2 release to
reduce delivery time and meet the new launch date. The most important
constraint in this case is time (project schedule).
 Applying the Tripple Constraints to Student’s
Project
the students’ project are often conducted under a tight TIME constraint. This
implies increased cost and reduced scope.
The balancing may be advised by the STR mathematical model of project
management which views the "triangle model" as a graphic abstraction of the
relationship: Scope = Time × Resources
Where scope refers to complexity (which can also mean quality). Resources
includes humans (workers), financial, and physical. The implication of this
relationship to a student’s project is that since time is fixed by the course
duration then the scope will be dictated by the resources available. If resources
are also constrained then the scope is seriously affected resulting to poor
quality project deliverable
What is the project management
cycle?
Identification

Evaluation initiation

Implementation
planning
& Monitoring
 The Project Cycle…
1. IDENTIFICATION - generation of the initial project idea and preliminary design

2. INITIATION AND APPRAISAL : entails coming up with the business case which include
analyzing of the project from technical, financial, economic, gender, social,
institutional and environmental perspectives to determine its feasibility
3. Planning: entails breaking down the project into activities and allocating resources

4. IMPLEMENTATION & MONITORING - execution of project activities, with on-going checks

on progress and feedback

5. EVALUATION - periodic review of the project with feedback for next project cycle and
assessment of attainment of objectives
 Where do projects come from
• Sources of projects:
o Need: something that we cannot do without

o Problem: issues originating from our environment at work or otherwise

o Opportunity: a condition or something that can be exploited for business

advantage
 Identification of Projects
• Methods of project identification:
o Bottom up: project is identified by the consumers
▪ MPESA was a bottom-up project where a consumer of banking services in rural
Kenya was bothered by having to go to urban centres to access the services
▪ Source of MPESA project
• Mobile technology opportunity
• The need for efficient financial everywhere
o Top down: Project is identified by the top managers
▪ Ecitizen government portal for access of government services online was
identified by top government officers
• Internet penetration opportunity
• Problem of overclouding in government offices
 Example of A Project
Project Title Studying for an IT Bachelors Degree at Kenyan Public
University
Start time First year first semester start date
End time Fourth year second semester end date
Activities/tasks Study and take all assessments for the courses between first
and fourth year
Expected output or Bachelor of Science in IT Degree
deliverable
Project management • Fixing of the university academic calendar
activities
• Admitting qualified applicants to the program

• Assigning courses to qualified instructors

• Time tabling the courses based on the set curriculum

• Progressive Assessment of students to ensure they

acquire the set grades for the award of the Degree
The End!

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