The Impact of Project Management in Information Systems
1. Introduction
The explosion in the computing field in the last twenty years forced the organisations to be computerised for achieving most of their operations using Information Technology (IT) systems. The implementation of the systems requires a management program for the IS applications development.
Susan Brock (2003) supports that as the data into valuable corporate information has become more viable through information technologies, the application of IT based projects has risen too (Susan Brock, 2003). The organisations use Information System Projects for either updating, or either upgrading or changing the existing system in order to meet users or customers’ requirements.
It is supposed that the tools and techniques used in such IS projects will differ independently based on the projects’ requirements. The roles and responsibilities of each contributor to the projects differ as well.
The organisations responded to this new challenge by putting into place project management teams that take into account the technological and organisational complexity of their Information System Projects (Vital Roy, 2006).
The management of a software development project presents many difficulties. Most Information Systems projects are considered less than successful or many are simply cancelled. Project Management has been introduced as a major factor for controlling and tracking their projects in order to avoid these project failures.
On the other hand many IS projects are successful when are completed on time, on budget, on scope and met the customers and users needs and requirements. This could happen by investigating and analysing the key elements of project management required for the successful implementation of these projects.
2. Project Management in IS projects
As it stated above, Project Management is the most important tool for managing, tracking and controlling the projects. David Dixon (1988) defined Project Management as the management tool
The explosion in the computing field in the last twenty years forced the organisations to be computerised for achieving most of their operations using Information Technology (IT) systems. The implementation of the systems requires a management program for the IS applications development.
Susan Brock (2003) supports that as the data into valuable corporate information has become more viable through information technologies, the application of IT based projects has risen too (Susan Brock, 2003). The organisations use Information System Projects for either updating, or either upgrading or changing the existing system in order to meet users or customers’ requirements.
It is supposed that the tools and techniques used in such IS projects will differ independently based on the projects’ requirements. The roles and responsibilities of each contributor to the projects differ as well.
The organisations responded to this new challenge by putting into place project management teams that take into account the technological and organisational complexity of their Information System Projects (Vital Roy, 2006).
The management of a software development project presents many difficulties. Most Information Systems projects are considered less than successful or many are simply cancelled. Project Management has been introduced as a major factor for controlling and tracking their projects in order to avoid these project failures.
On the other hand many IS projects are successful when are completed on time, on budget, on scope and met the customers and users needs and requirements. This could happen by investigating and analysing the key elements of project management required for the successful implementation of these projects.
2. Project Management in IS projects
As it stated above, Project Management is the most important tool for managing, tracking and controlling the projects. David Dixon (1988) defined Project Management as the management tool
References: Belbin Test Document (2006), Lecture Notes IS703 BIT Consultancy Project, Northumbria Univeristy. Brock, S., Hendricks,D., Linnell,S.and Smith,D.,(2003) A Balanced Approach to IT Project Management, Management of computing and Information System,Proceedings of SAICSIT. ACM Southeast Conference, March 2003, pp 2-10. Cadle, J. and Yeates, D. (2001) Project Management for Information Systems, 3rd Edition, Pearson Education Limited. Essex: England. Dixon, D., (1988) Integrated for Project Management, London: England, pp 49-58. Martin, D., Mariani, J. and Rouncefield, M., (2004) Implementing an HIS project: everyday features and practicalities of NHS work, Health Informatics Journal. SAGE Publications, December 2004, Vol.10, No4, pp303-313. Roy, V., Bernier, C., and Leveille, L., (2006) The High Wire Balancing Act of the IS Project Director, The DATABASE for Advances in Information Systems. Winter 2006, Vol. 37, No1, pp8-16. Seddon, P., Staples, S., Patnayakuni, R., and Bowtell, M., (1997) Dimensions of Information Systems Success, Communications of AIS, 1997, Vol.2, Article 20, pp 1-14. Smith, J., Bohner, S., and McCrickard, S., (2005) Project Management for the 21st Century: Supporting Collaborative Design through Risk Analysis, ACM Southeast Conference, March 2005, Vol.43, pp300-305.