Topic

Project Integration Management

Topic Objectives

By the end of this topic you should be able to:

• Describe the relationship between project integration management and the other knowledge areas.

• Describe project management plan (PMP) development.

• Explain project plan execution and its relationship to planning.

• Understand the integrated change control process.

• Describe the software engineering discipline called configuration management and how it is used to manage the changes associated with all of the projects deliverables and work products.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the purpose of project integration management?

2. What is the purpose of a project charter? Why can a project charter serve as an agreement or contract? Why is a project charter a useful communication tool?

3. Imagine you are the project manager on a small mobile app development project. The app will be used by officials and fans during and after matches at local sporting clubs. The app will allow scoring and storage of all game match statistics, player histories, club details etc. The app will eliminate the need for paper based scoring, and will enable club secretaries to submit match results in an efficient timely manner to league officials for collation. The team consists of, you a programmer and a tester. Key stakeholders include the association president, secretary and several officials. You have three months to complete the project which commences next week. The project budget is $10,000 which has been funded by the federal government sporting communities grant scheme.

Develop a project charter for this project. Use the template below.

Project Charter

Project Title:

Project Start Date: Projected Finish Date:

Budget Information:

Project Manager: (name, phone, e-mail)

Project Objectives:

Approach:

Roles and Responsibilities

Role Name Organisation/

Position Contact Information

Sign-off: (Signatures of all above stakeholders. Can sign by their names in table above.)

Comments: (Handwritten or typed comments from above stakeholders, if applicable)

4. Compare and contrast the required readings for this week Arnstein (2001), Larson and Larson (as cited in Richardson & Butler, 2006), and Schwalbe (2010, pp 151-154). Discuss the rationale for variances in the content of project management plans (PMP). Develop a table of contents for a typical PMP.

5. Discuss the importance of following a well-integrated change control process on information technology projects. Provide three suggestions for integrated change control on information technology projects.

6. Refer to the mobile app project from question 3. The project keeps stalling as officials at local sports clubs keep changing their minds about the functionality, and design of the app.

Develop a change control process to manage changes and scope of the project.

Case Study

Silicon Valley - Biotech Project

Nick Carson recently became the project manager of a critical biotech project for his company in Silicon Valley. This project involved creating the hardware and software for a DNA-sequencing instrument used in assembling an analysing the human genome. Each instrument sold for approximately $200,000, and various clients would purchase several instruments. One hundred instruments running 24 hours per day could decipher the entire human genome in less than two years.

The biotech project was the company's largest project, and it had tremendous potential for future growth and revenue. Unfortunately, there were problems managing this large project. It had been underway for three years and had already gone through three different project managers. Nick had been the lead software developer on the project before top management made him the project manager. Top management told him to do whatever it took to deliver the first version of the software for the DNA-sequencing instrument in four months and a production version in nine months. Negotiations for a potential corporate buyout with a larger company influenced top management's sense of urgency to complete the project.

Nick was highly energetic and intelligent and had the technical background to make the project a success. He delved into the technical problems and found some critical flaws that were keeping the DNA-sequencing instrument from working. He was having difficulty, however, in his new role as project manager. Although Nick and his team got the product out on time, top management was upset because Nick did not focus on managing all of the project's elements. He never provided top management with accurate schedules of detailed plans of what was happening on the project. Instead of performing the work of project manager, Nick had taken on the role of software developer and troubleshooter. Nick however did not understand top management's problem - he delivered the product, didn't he. Did they not realise how valuable he was?

(Schwalbe, 2004, pp105-106)

7. What do you think the real problem was in this case?

8. Was Nick Carson a good project manager? Why or why not?

9. What could Nick have done to be a better project manager?

10. What should top management had done to help Nick?