A gantt chart can be used to track informal communication paths.

CHAPTER 3 (APPLIES TO WEEK 3)

Chapter Objectives

After studying this chapter, you should be able to:

· Describe the skills required to be an effective project manager.

· List and describe the skills and activities of a project manager during project initiation, project planning, project execution, and project closedown.

· Explain what is meant by critical path scheduling and describe the process of creating Gantt charts and network diagrams.

· Explain how commercial project management software packages can be used to assist in representing and managing project schedules.

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Here, we focus on the systems analyst’s role as project manager of information systems projects. Throughout the SDLC, the project manager is responsible for initiating, planning, executing, and closing down the systems development project. Figure 3-1 illustrates these four functions.

We use two fictional companies—Pine Valley Furniture and Hoosier Burger—to help illustrate key SDLC concepts. Icons appear in the margins to make references to these companies easy to spot while you read. The next section gives you background on Pine Valley Furniture, a manufacturing company. Next, we describe the project manager’s role and the project management process. The subsequent section examines techniques for reporting project plans using Gantt charts and network diagrams. At the end, we discuss commercially available project management software that a systems analyst can use in a wide variety of project management activities.

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FIGURE 3-1

SDLC.

Pine Valley Furniture Company Background

Pine Valley Furniture (PVF) Company manufactures high-quality wood furniture and distributes it to retail stores within the United States. Its product lines include dinette sets, stereo cabinets, wall units, living room furniture, and bedroom furniture. In the early 1980s, PVF’s founder, Alex Schuster, started to make and sell custom furniture in his garage. Alex managed invoices and kept track of customers by using file folders and a filing cabinet. By 1984, business expanded and Alex had to rent a warehouse and hire a part-time bookkeeper. PVF’s product line had multiplied, sales volume had doubled, and staff had increased to fifty employees. By 1990, PVF moved into its third and present location. Because of the added complexity of the company’s operations, Alex reorganized the company into the following functional areas:

· Manufacturing, which was further subdivided into three separate functions—fabrication, assembling, and finishing

· Sales

· Orders

· Accounting

· Purchasing

Alex and the heads of the functional areas established manual information systems, such as accounting ledgers and file folders, which worked well for a time. Eventually, however, PVF selected and installed a minicomputer to automate invoicing, accounts receivable, and inventory control applications.

When the applications were first computerized, each separate application had its own individual data files tailored to the needs of each functional area. As is typical in such situations, the applications closely resembled the manual systems on which they were based. Three computer applications at PVF are depicted in Figure 3-2: order filling, invoicing, and payroll. In the late 1990s, PVF formed a task force to study the possibility of moving to a database approach. After a preliminary study, management decided to convert its information systems to such an approach. The company upgraded its minicomputer and implemented a database management system. By the time we caught up with PVF, it had successfully designed and populated a company-wide database, and had converted its applications to work with the database. However, PVF is continuing to grow at a rapid rate, putting pressure on its current application systems.

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FIGURE 3-2

Three computer applications at Pine Valley Furniture: order filling, invoicing, and payroll.

Source: Hoffer, Ramesh, and Topi, 2011.

The computer-based applications at PVF support its business processes. When customers order furniture, their orders must be processed appropriately: furniture must be built and shipped to the right customer and the right invoice mailed to the right address. Employees have to be paid for their work. Given these tasks, most of PVF’s computer-based applications are located in the accounting and financial areas. The applications include order filling, invoicing, accounts receivable, inventory control, accounts payable, payroll, and general ledger. At one time, each application had its own data files. For example, PVF had a customer master file, an inventory master file, a backorder file, an inventory pricing file, and an employee master file. The order filling system uses data from three files: customer master, inventory master, and backorder. With PVF’s new centralized database, data are organized around entities, or subjects, such as customers, invoices, and orders.

Pine Valley Furniture Company, like many firms, decided to develop its application software in-house; that is, it hired staff and bought computer hardware and software necessary to build application software suited to its own needs. Although PVF continues to grow at a rapid rate, market conditions are becoming extremely competitive, especially with the advent of the Internet and the World Wide Web. Let’s see how a project manager plays a key role in developing a new information system for PVF.

Managing the Information Systems Project

Project management is an important aspect of the development of information systems and a critical skill for a systems analyst. The focus of project management is to ensure that system development projects meet customer expectations and are delivered within budget and time constraints.

The project manager is a systems analyst with a diverse set of skills—management, leadership, technical, conflict management, and customer relationship—who is responsible for initiating, planning, executing, and closing down a project. As a project manager, your environment is one of continual change and problem solving. In some organizations, the project manager is a senior systems analyst who “has been around the block” a time or two. In others, both junior and senior analysts are expected to take on this role, managing parts of a project or actively supporting a more senior colleague who is assuming this role. Understanding the project management process is a critical skill for your future success.

Project manager

A systems analyst with a diverse set of skills—management, leadership, technical, conflict management, and customer relationship—who is responsible for initiating, planning, executing, and closing down a project.

Creating and implementing successful projects requires managing resources, activities, and tasks needed to complete the information systems project. A project is a planned undertaking of a series of related activities, having a beginning and an end, to reach an objective. The first question you might ask yourself is, Where do projects come from? After considering all the different things that you could be asked to work on within an organization, the next question may be, How do I know which projects to work on? The ways in which each organization answers these questions vary.

Project

A planned undertaking of related activities, having a beginning and an end, to reach an objective.

In the rest of this section, we describe the process followed by Juanita Lopez and Chris Martin during the development of Pine Valley Furniture’s Purchasing Fulfillment System. Juanita works in the purchasing department, and Chris is a systems analyst. image3

Juanita observed problems with the way orders were processed and reported: sales growth had increased the workload for the manufacturing department, and the current systems no longer adequately supported the tracking of orders.

It was becoming more difficult to track orders and get the right furniture and invoice to the right customers. Juanita contacted Chris, and together they developed a system that corrected these purchasing department problems.

The first deliverable , or end product, produced by Chris and Juanita was a system service request (SSR), a standard form PVF uses for requesting systems development work. Figure 3-3 shows an SSR for purchasing a fulfillment system. The form includes the name and contact information of the person requesting the system, a statement of the problem, and the name and contact information of the liaison and sponsor.

Deliverable

An end product in a phase of the SDLC.

This request was then evaluated by the Systems Priority Board of PVF. Because all organizations have limited time and resources, not all requests can be approved. The board evaluates development requests in relation to the business problems or opportunities the system will solve or create. It also considers how the proposed project fits within the organization’s information systems architecture and long-range development plans. The review board selects those projects that best meet overall organizational goals. In the case of the Purchasing Fulfillment System request, the board found merit in the request and approved a more detailed feasibility study . A feasibility study, conducted by the project manager, involves determining whether the information system makes sense for the organization from an economic and operational standpoint. The study takes place before the system is constructed. Figure 3-4 is a graphical view of the steps followed during the project initiation of the Purchasing Fulfillment System.

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FIGURE 3-3

System service request for purchasing fulfillment with name and contact information of the person requesting the system, a statement of the problem, and the name and contact information of the liaison and sponsor.

Feasibility study

Determines whether the information system makes sense for the organization from an economic and operational standpoint.

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FIGURE 3-4

A graphical view of the five steps followed during the project initiation of the purchasing fulfillment system.

In summary, systems development projects are undertaken for two primary reasons: to take advantage of business opportunities and to solve business problems. Taking advantage of an opportunity might mean providing an innovative service to customers through the creation of a new system. For example, PVF may want to create a Web page so that customers can easily access its catalog and place orders at any time. Solving a business problem could involve modifying how an existing system processes data so that more accurate or timely information is provided to users. For example, a company such as PVF may create a password-protected intranet site that contains important announcements and budget information.

Projects are not always initiated for the rational reasons (taking advantage of business opportunities or solving business problems) previously stated. For example, in some instances organizations and government undertake projects to spend resources, attain or pad budgets, keep people busy, or help train people and develop their skills. Our focus here is not on how and why organizations identify projects but on the management of projects once they have been identified.

Once a potential project has been identified, an organization must determine the resources required for its completion by analyzing the scope of the project and determining the probability of successful completion. After getting this information, the organization can then determine whether taking advantage of an opportunity or solving a particular problem is feasible within time and resource constraints. If deemed feasible, a more detailed project analysis is then conducted.

As you will see, determining the size, scope, and resource requirements for a project are just a few of the many skills that a project manager must possess. A project manager is often referred to as a juggler keeping aloft many balls, which reflect the various aspects of a project’s development, as depicted in Figure 3-5.

To successfully orchestrate the construction of a complex information system, a project manager must have interpersonal, leadership, and technical skills. Table 3-1 lists the project manager’s common activities and skills. Note that many of the skills are related to personnel or general management, not simply technical skills. Table 3-1 shows that not only does an effective project manager have varied skills, but he or she is also the most instrumental person to the successful completion of any project.

The remainder will focus on the project management process, which involves four phases:

Project management

A controlled process of initiating, planning, executing, and closing down a project.

1. Initiating the project

2. Planning the project

3. Executing the project

4. Closing down the project

Several activities must be performed during each of these four phases. Following this formal project management process greatly increases the likelihood of project success.

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FIGURE 3-5

The art of project management.

TABLE 3-1:

Common Activities and Skills of a Project Manager

Activity

Description

Skill

Leadership

Influencing the activities of others toward the attainment of a common goal through the use of intelligence, personality, and abilities

Communication; liaison between management, users, and developers; assigning activities; monitoring progress

Management

Getting projects completed through the effective utilization of resources

Defining and sequencing activities; communicating expectations; assigning resources to activities; monitoring outcomes

Customer relations

Working closely with customers to ensure project deliverables meet expectations

Interpreting system requests and specifications; site preparation and user training; contact point for customers

Technical problem solving

Designing and sequencing activities to attain project goals

Interpreting system requests and specifications; defining activities and their sequence; making trade-offs between alternative solutions; designing solutions to problems

Conflict management

Managing conflict within a project team to ensure that conflict is not too high or too low

Problem solving; smoothing out personality differences; compromising; goal setting

Team management

Managing the project team for effective team performance

Communication within and between teams; peer evaluations; conflict resolution; team building; self-management

Risk and change management

Identifying, assessing, and managing the risks and day-to-day changes that occur during a project

Environmental scanning; risk and opportunity identification and assessment; forecasting; resource redeployment

Initiating the Project

During project initiation the project manager performs several activities that assess the size, scope, and complexity of the project, and establishes procedures to support subsequent activities. Depending on the project, some initiation activities may be unnecessary and some may be more involved. The types of activities you will perform when initiating a project are summarized in ​Figure 3-6 and are described next. HYPERLINK "https://jigsaw.vitalsource.com/books/9781323463420/epub/OPS/xhtml/fileP7000495438000000000000000000B2B.xhtml" \l "P7000495438000000000000000000BE3"

Project initiation

The first phase of the project management process in which activities are performed to assess the size, scope, and complexity of the project and to establish procedures to support later project activities.

1. Establishing the project initiation team. This activity involves organizing an initial core of project team members to assist in accomplishing the project initiation activities. For example, during the Purchasing Fulfillment System project at PVF, Chris Martin was assigned to support the purchasing department. It is a PVF policy that all initiation teams consist of at least one user representative, in this case Juanita Lopez, and one member of the IS development group. Therefore, the project initiation team consisted of Chris and Juanita; Chris was the project manager.

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FIGURE 3-6

Six project initiation activities.

2. Establishing a relationship with the customer. A thorough understanding of your customer builds stronger partnerships and higher levels of trust. At PVF, management has tried to foster strong working relationships between business units (such as purchasing) and the IS development group by assigning a specific individual to work as a liaison between both groups. Because Chris had been assigned to the purchasing unit for some time, he was already aware of some of the problems with the existing purchasing systems. PVF’s policy of assigning specific individuals to each business unit helped to ensure that both Chris and Juanita were comfortable working together prior to the initiation of the project. Many organizations use a similar mechanism for establishing relationships with customers.

3. Establishing the project initiation plan. This step defines the activities required to organize the initiation team while it is working to define the scope of the project. Chris’s role was to help Juanita translate her business requirements into a written request for an improved information system. This task required the collection, analysis, organization, and transformation of a lot of information. Because Chris and Juanita were already familiar with each other and their roles within a development project, they next needed to define when and how they would communicate, define deliverables and project steps, and set deadlines. Their initiation plan included agendas for several meetings. These steps eventually led to the creation of their system service request (SSR) form.

4. Establishing management procedures. Successful projects require the development of effective management procedures. Within PVF, many of these management procedures had been established as standard operating procedures by the Systems Priority Board and the IS development group. For example, all project development work is charged to the functional unit requesting the work. In other organizations, each project may have unique procedures tailored to its needs. Yet, in general, when establishing procedures, you are concerned with developing team communication and reporting procedures, job assignments and roles, project change procedures, and determining how project funding and billing will be handled. It was fortunate for Chris and Juanita that most of these procedures were already established at PVF, allowing them to move quickly on to other project activities.

Project workbook

An online or hard-copy repository, for all project correspondence, inputs, outputs, deliverables, procedures, and standards, that is used for performing project audits, orienting new team members, communicating with management and customers, identifying future projects, and performing postproject reviews.

5. Establishing the project management environment and project workbook. The focus of this activity is to collect and organize the tools that you will use while managing the project and to construct the project workbook . For example, most diagrams, charts, and system descriptions provide much of the project workbook contents. Thus, the project workbook serves as a repository for all project correspondence, inputs, outputs, deliverables, procedures, and standards established by the project team. The project workbook can be stored as a collection of online documents using Google Docs, Dropbox, Sharepoint, an intranet website, or some other shared and secure online document repository. The project workbook is used by all team members and is useful for project audits, orientation of new team members, communication with management and customers, identification of future projects, and performance of postproject reviews. The establishment and the diligent recording of all project information in the workbook are two of the most important activities you will perform as project manager.

Figure 3-7 shows the project workbook for the Purchasing Fulfillment System on the PVF intranet. Keeping the project workbook online has many advantages for keeping the project team on track and efficient. Online documents can be easily accessed by all team members. Additionally, everyone is always working with the most up-to-date information. The best feature of using an online repository is that it allows all project members and customers to review a project’s status and all related information continually.

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FIGURE 3-7

The project workbook for the purchase fulfillment system project contains nine key documents.

6. Developing the project charter. The project charter is a short (typically one-page), high-level document prepared for the customer that describes what the project will deliver and outlines many of the key elements of the project. A project charter can vary in the amount of detail it contains, but often includes the following elements:

· Project title and date of authorization

· Project manager name and contact information

· Customer name and contact information

· Projected start and completion dates

· Project description and objectives

· Key assumptions or approach

· Key stakeholders, roles, responsibilities, and signatures

The project charter ensures that both you and your customer gain a common understanding of the project. It is also a useful communication tool; it helps to announce to the organization that a particular project has been chosen for development. A sample project charter is shown in Figure 3-8.

Project charter

A short, high-level document prepared for both internal and external stakeholders to formally announce the establishment of the project and to briefly describe its objective, key assumptions, and stakeholders.

Project initiation is complete once these six activities have been performed. Before moving on to the next phase of the project, the work performed during project initiation is reviewed at a meeting attended by management, customers, and project team members. An outcome of this meeting is a decision to continue the project, modify it, or abandon it. In the case of the Purchasing Fulfillment System project at Pine Valley Furniture, the board accepted the SSR and selected a project steering committee to monitor project progress and to provide guidance to the team members during subsequent activities. If the scope of the project is modified, it may be necessary to return to project initiation activities and collect additional information. Once a decision is made to continue the project, a much more detailed project plan is developed during the project planning phase.

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FIGURE 3-8

A project charter for a proposed information systems project.

Project planning

The second phase of the project management process, which focuses on defining clear, discrete activities and the work needed to complete each activity within a single project.

Planning the Project

The next step in the project management process is project planning . Project planning involves defining clear, discrete activities and the work needed to complete each activity within a single project. It often requires you to make numerous assumptions about the availability of resources such as hardware, software, and personnel. It is much easier to plan nearer-term activities than those occurring in the longer term. In actual fact, you often have to construct longer-term plans that are more general in scope and nearer-term plans that are more detailed. The repetitive nature of the project management process requires that plans be constantly monitored throughout the project and periodically updated (usually after each phase) based upon the most recent information.

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FIGURE 3-9

Level of project planning detail should be high in the short term, with less detail as time goes on.

Figure 3-9 illustrates the principle that nearer-term plans are typically more specific and firmer than longer-term plans. For example, it is virtually impossible to rigorously plan activities late in the project without first completing earlier activities. Also, the outcome of activities performed earlier in the project are likely to affect later activities. In other words, it is difficult, and likely inefficient, to try to plan detailed solutions for activities that will occur far in the future.

As with the project initiation process, varied and numerous activities must be performed during project planning. For example, during the Purchasing Fulfillment System project, Chris and Juanita developed a ten-page plan. However, project plans for large systems may be several hundred pages in length. The types of activities that you can perform during project planning are summarized in Figure 3-10 and are described in the following list:

1. Describing project scope, alternatives, and feasibility. The purpose of this activity is to understand the content and complexity of the project. Within PVF’s system development methodology, one of the first meetings must focus on defining a project’s scope. Although project scope information was not included in the SSR developed by Chris and Juanita, it is important that both share the same vision for the project before moving too far along. During this activity, you should reach agreement on the following questions:

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FIGURE 3-10

Ten project planning activities.

· What problem or opportunity does the project address?

· What are the quantifiable results to be achieved?

· What needs to be done?

· How will success be measured?

· How will we know when we are finished?

After defining the scope of the project, your next objective is to identify and document general alternative solutions for the current business problem or opportunity. You must then assess the feasibility of each alternative solution and choose which to consider during subsequent SDLC phases. In some instances, off-the-shelf software can be found. It is also important that any unique problems, constraints, and assumptions about the project be clearly stated.

Work breakdown structure (WBS)

The process of dividing the project into manageable tasks and logically ordering them to ensure a smooth evolution between tasks.

Gantt chart

A graphical representation of a project that shows each task as a horizontal bar whose length is proportional to its time for completion.

2. Dividing the project into manageable tasks. This activity is critical during the project planning process. Here, you must divide the entire project into manageable tasks and then logically order them to ensure a smooth evolution between tasks. The definition of tasks and their sequence is referred to as the work breakdown structure (WBS) . Some tasks may be performed in parallel, whereas others must follow one another sequentially. Task sequence depends on which tasks produce deliverables needed in other tasks, when critical resources are available, the constraints placed on the project by the client, and the process outlined in the SDLC.

For example, suppose that you are working on a new development project and need to collect system requirements by interviewing users of the new system and reviewing reports they currently use to do their job. A work breakdown for these activities is represented in a Gantt chart in Figure 3-11. A Gantt chart is a graphical representation of a project that shows each task as a horizontal bar whose length is proportional to its time for completion. Different colors, shades, or shapes can be used to highlight each kind of task. For example, those activities on the critical path (defined later) may be in red, and a summary task could have a special bar. Note that the black horizontal bars—rows 1, 2, and 6 in Figure 3-11—represent summary tasks. Planned versus actual times or progress for an activity can be compared by parallel bars of different colors, shades, or shapes. Gantt charts do not show how tasks must be ordered (precedence) but simply show when an activity should begin and end. In Figure 3-11, the task duration is shown in the second column, in days, and necessary prior tasks are noted in the third column as predecessors. Most project management software tools support a broad range of task durations, including minutes, hours, days, weeks, and months. SDLC consists of several phases, which you need to break down into activities. Creating a work breakdown structure requires that you decompose phases into activities—summary tasks—and activities into specific tasks. For example, Figure 3-11 shows that the activity “Interview” consists of three tasks: design interview form, schedule appointments, and conduct interviews.

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FIGURE 3-11

Gantt chart showing project tasks, duration times for those tasks (d = days), and predecessors. Source: Reprinted with permission of Microsoft.

Defining tasks in too much detail will make the management of the project unnecessarily complex. What are the characteristics of a task? A task:

· Can be done by one person or a well-defined group

· Has a single and identifiable deliverable (the task, however, is the process of creating the deliverable)

· Has a known method or technique

· Has well-accepted predecessor and successor steps

· Is measurable so that percent completed can be determined

Through experience, you will develop the skill of discovering the optimal level of detail for representing tasks. For example, it may be difficult to list tasks that require less than one hour of time to complete in a final work breakdown structure. Alternatively, choosing tasks that are too large in scope (e.g., several weeks long) will not provide you with a clear sense of the status of the project or of the interdependencies between tasks.

COCOMO

A method for estimating a software project’s size and cost.

3. Estimating resources and creating a resource plan. The goal of this activity is to estimate resource requirements for each project activity and use this information to create a project resource plan. The resource plan helps assemble and deploy resources in the most effective manner. For example, you would not want to bring additional programmers onto the project at a rate faster than you could prepare work for them. Project managers use a variety of tools to assist in making estimates of project size and costs. The most widely used method is called COCOMO (COnstructive COst MOdel), which uses parameters that were derived from prior projects of differing complexity. COCOMO uses these different parameters to predict human resource requirements for basic, intermediate, and complex systems (see Figure 3-12).

People are the most important and expensive part of project resource planning. Project time estimates for task completion and overall system quality are significantly influenced by the assignment of people to tasks. It is important to give people tasks that allow them to learn new skills. It is equally important to make sure that project members are not in “over their heads” or working on a task that is not well suited to their skills. Resource estimates may need to be revised based upon the skills of the actual person (or people) assigned to a particular activity. Figure 3-13 indicates the relative programming speed versus the relative programming quality of three programmers. The figure suggests that Carl should not be assigned tasks in which completion time is critical and that Brenda should be assigned to tasks in which high quality is most vital.

One approach to assigning tasks is to assign a single task type (or only a few task types) to each worker for the duration of the project. For example, you could assign one worker to create all computer displays and another to create all system reports. Such specialization ensures that both workers become efficient at their own particular tasks. A worker may become bored if the task is too specialized or is long in duration, so you could assign workers to a wider variety of tasks. However, this approach may lead to lowered task efficiency. A middle ground would be to make assignments with a balance of both specialization and task variety. Assignments depend upon the size of the development project and the skills of the project team. Regardless of the manner in which you assign tasks, make sure that each team member works only on one task at a time. Exceptions to this rule can occur when a task occupies only a small portion of a team member’s time (e.g., testing the programs developed by another team member) or during an emergency.

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FIGURE 3-12

COCOMO is used by many project managers to estimate project resources.

Source: Reprinted with permission of Microsoft.

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FIGURE 3-13

Trade-offs between the quality of the program code versus the speed of programming.

4. Developing a preliminary schedule. During this activity, you use the information on tasks and resource availability to assign time estimates to each activity in the work breakdown structure. These time estimates will allow you to create target starting and ending dates for the project. Target dates can be revisited and modified until a schedule produced is acceptable to the customer. Determining an acceptable schedule may require that you find additional or different resources or that the scope of the project be changed. The schedule may be represented either as a Gantt chart (illustrated in Figure 3-11) or as a network diagram, as illustrated in Figure 3-14. A network diagram is a graphical depiction of project tasks and their interrelationships. As with a Gantt chart, each type of task can be highlighted by different features on the network diagram. The distinguishing feature of a network diagram is that the ordering of tasks is shown by connecting tasks—depicted as rectangles or ovals—with its predecessor and successor tasks. However, the relative size of a node (representing a task) or a gap between nodes does not imply the task’s duration. We describe both of these charts later.

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FIGURE 3-14

A Network diagram illustrates tasks with rectangles (or ovals) and the relationships and sequences of those activities with arrows.

Source: Reprinted with permission of Microsoft.

5. Developing a communication plan. The goal of this activity is to outline the communication procedures among management, project team members, and the customer. The communication plan includes when and how written and oral reports will be provided by the team, how team members will coordinate work, what messages will be sent to announce the project to interested parties, and what kinds of information will be shared with vendors and external contractors involved with the project. It is important that free and open communication occurs among all parties, with respect for proprietary information and confidentiality with the customer. When developing a communication plan, numerous questions must be answered in order to ensure that the plan is comprehensive and complete, including:

· Who are the stakeholders for this project?

· What information does each stakeholder need?

· When, and at what interval, does this information need to be produced?

· What sources will be used to gather and generate this information?

· Who will collect, store, and verify the accuracy of this information?

· Who will organize and package this information into a document?

· Who will be the contact person for each stakeholder, should any questions arise?

· What format will be used to package this information?

· What communication medium will be most effective for delivering this information to the stakeholder?

Network diagram