Life Cycle Approach to Managing an AM/FM/GIS Project
Jay Stinson, PMP Intergraph Corporation Huntsville, Alabama 35894-0001 (LR24B1) Abstract When determining why projects fail or succeed, one may consider who managed the project which project resources were available, and the methodology utilized by the team to assure a valid development process. Experience indicates that a methodology that applies a disciplined, life-cycle approach offers the best chance for success. This paper will discuss a project’s major phases: assess, define, design, build, deliver, and maintain. It will discuss the project manager’s roles and how he or she can identifi and manage high risk areas. In conclusion, we will discuss why projects fail and what we can do as project managers to avoid the dangers. Introduction The three major components of a project are the life cycle process, project management and available resources. By recognizing and managing these aspects, you will increase the chances of being successfid. This approach will help ensure that you have precise user requirements, reasonable and achievable expectations, correct technology choices, cost-effective and efilcient resource allocation, and distinctly identified critical issues. All of this can be accomplished when the goals are well defined and teamwork is paramount. It is important to realize that the project manager is responsible for bringing together these three major project components. IrI most companies, a project manager does not have direct managerial control over the project personnel. Instead, team members are assigned to the project on an as-needed basis. This means that a project manager cannot depend on positional power to get the job completed, but must convince people that they need to perform the work. Typically, a project manager has a minimum often years experience and is well-respected by company executives. A project manager usually demonstrates ability in the following areas:
Previously, we referred to the major phases of a project. This section will discuss the major activities and deliverables for each phase. Prior to beginning the first phase (Assess), the company should develop a Strategic Plan, positioning the project objectives in context with the overall corporate goals and directives. Typically, a strategic plan develops a business case for fiture projects and the appropriate sequencing of each project. This three-to-five-year plan will be used as a road map for the corporation’s major system developments and integration efforts. The company may select an outside vendor or integration company to start the project’s early phases. In an AM/FM/GIS project clients can choose vendors initially, or they can hire an independent consultant to lead them through the selection process. Selecting the primary technology providers prior to the beginning of the assessment phase is recommended. Assess Phase The purpose of the Assess phase is to define or develop the following:
Define Phase The Define phase helps avoid a common pitfall in systems development: deciding “how” the system will do the job before deciding “what” the system will do. The tendency is to jump into development without delay. However, experience has shown that time spent in developing the functional requirements for a system reaps great rewards later in the project’s life. Many companies will conduct Joint Application Design (JAD) sessions with a select group of users and developers to define the system requirements. During this phase, designers will develop more detailed data flow and work flow diagrams along with end-user functional requirements, Information Systems staff will focus on setting standards for technology issues such as software platforms, servers, client stations, and network requirements, The deliverable for this phase is a Functional Requirements Specification (FRS). By the end of this phase, the external vendors should know the system requirements well enough to prepare a fixed-price Scope of Work for designing and building the system. Desire Phase In the project’s Design Phase, the requirements and concepts from the Define Phase are refined and embodied in a Detail Design that becomes the blueprint of the system. The design team should pay close attention to design constraints, both business and technical, in order to produce a solution that meets the fictional requirements and the business decision criteria laid out in the Strategic Plan and Assessment document. During the Design phase, a series of workshops will be held with subject-matter-experts (SMES) to document how the system will be developed. Typically, the design teams are divided into several functional groups. Engineering Design, Outage Management, Work Management and Financial are a few of the business areas that could be involved in an AM/FM/GIS project. The deliverable from the Design Phase is a comprehensive Detail Design Document (DDD). A peer review or design review is recommended prior to final acceptance of the design. During this review session, the lead designers would walk through the document to validate its viability as a reasonable approach. This is an excellent opportunity to present any issues that management needs to resolve. Build Phase Armed with a clear set of requirements and a detail design, the development team can build the AM/FM/GIS application and other necessary applications and interfaces. It is critical that the lead project designers continue with the project as technical leads who will direct the development activity. Documenting the entire design intent is sometimes impossible; therefore, the lead designers must act as interpreters. This continuation of staff helps to ensure a smooth transition from phase to phase. III order to avoid the “big bang” delivery at the end of this phase, a series of incremental deliveries is recommended. This not only provides the project manager with direct feedback on the developers’ progress, but also allows the end users to verify the software by conducting unit tests. Incremental deliveries will greatly enhance your ability to manage project schedules, control user expectations, improve soflsvare quality, and provide direct feedback to your developers prior to final delivery. During the Build phase, the project manager representing the client should turn his or her focus to developing test plans and deployment schedules. These test plans will consist of fictional requirements 354?matrices and work flow scenarios that the system should support. Initial planning for the system deployment should begin in order to assure that the infrastructure will be in place prior to deployment. These activities could include purchases of client and server hardware and software, network infrastructure, end-user training, a configuration management plan, and a support organization to manage and maintain the system. This phase is concluded with the delivery of the final product. Many clients will conduct a factory acceptance test (FAT) prior to the delivery. By performing this test you will be able to identifi and resolve many major issues prior to the delivery. It should be noted that a formal method of documenting and prioritizing issues of concern should be adopted in order to manage the overall quality and acceptability of the system. Deliver Phase The Deliver phase provides for the smooth transition of the system from development to production. A site acceptance test (SAT) is recommended to ensure that the system is acceptable. This phase could involve the following activities:
Maintain Phase During the maintenance phase, the team will turn its focus towards deploying the system. In most cases, the greatest volume of problems will be reported to the team during the deployment period. Many new users will utilize the products in ways that the designers never imagined, and data issues will arise that affect the system’s operation. Project Managers must confront performance issues based on hardware and software constraints. The development team should use the same life cycle approach to evaluating any changes to the system. The team should not abandon its discipline because the system is in the maintenance phase. By following this disciplined approach, you will maintain the same quality that was built into the original system. Risk Management One of the project manager’s major roles is managing risk in its many forms. The first step is to identifi the risk item and monitor it very closely during the course of a project. The best method of identifying a risk item is to develop a work breakdown structure (WBS). Each task in a phase should have a duration, resources, and precedents associated with it. The project manager carI monitor the progress of the project by monitoring the WBS on a periodic basis. Many excellent project management tools can be purchased commercially to aid in this effort. In the WBS, the project manager can identifi high risk areas. Risk can be mitigated by increasing the scheduled time or taking high-risk items off of the critical path. The key is to monitor the risk items on a regular basis. The following are several recommended means of monitoring a project:
Why Projects fail John Gioia wrote sn article for PMNehvork (November 1996) proposing twelve reasons why projects fail. His reasons are the following:
Conclusion The life cycle approach to a project, combined with competent project management and adequate resources, will help to ensure a successfid project. This disciplined approach will result in a high-quality product that will be developed on schedule and within the budget. Such an approach will also aid in identi~ing and managing risks, ultimately increasing the probability of a successful project. References Gioia, John. “Twelve Reasons Why Programs Fail,” PMNetwork, November 1996. Intergraph’s Solution Engineering Methodology. | ||
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