COURSE TITLE: TELECOMMUNICATION PROJECT

MANAGEMENT
COURSE CODE: TCS 430(2 Units) Compulsory course
Introduction & Motivation
COURSE CONTENT
Developing a business plan, estimating revenue and costs, sources of
data, network costing issues and interconnection. Theoretical
background in economics and regulatory trends in international
telecommunications.
COURSE DISCRIPTION/OBJECTIVES
 This unit will help students develop skills required to plan,
design and manage telecommunication projects using a top
down approach
 Understand the growing need for better project management.

 Explain what a project is, list various attributes of projects, and

des
 Describe project management and discuss key elements of the
project management framework, including project
stakeholders, the project management knowledge areas,
common tools and techniques for a successful project.

 Understand the role of the project manager by describing what

project managers do, what skills they need, and what the
career field is like for information technology project managers
  Describe the project management profession, including its
history, the role of professional organizations like the Project
Management Institute (PMI),the importance of ethics, and the
advancement of project management software
ASSESSMENT

 15 weeks of lectures,
 Teaching: 1-12, Revision:13, Assessments:14-15,
 Lectures -2 hours/week,
 30% C.A ( Coursework; Attendance and Assessment
Test)
 70% end of semester examination (2 hours, 3/4
questions).
Note: Attendance is expected for the entire duration of the semester,
no one is allowed to leave early without a prior permission.
Unit Teaching Plan
 Project Management Overview
 Developing a business plan
 Estimating costs and Revenues
 CASE STUDY: A NETWORK DESIGN PROJECT USING A TOPDOWN
NETWORK APPROACH
 Analyzing Business Goals and Constraints
 Analyzing Technical Goals and Tradeoffs
 Characterizing the Existing Internetwork
 Designing a Network Topology
 Network costing issues, and interconnection
 Selecting Technologies and Devices
 Documenting Your Network Design
 Introduction To Network Management
 Developing Network Management Strategies
  Risk/risk Management
 Theoretical background of telecommunication in economics and
regulatory trends.

LECTURE 1
Introduction
According to Kathy Schwalbe (2010) she claimed that today’s
companies, governments, and nonprofit organizations are recognizing
that to be successful:
They need to be conversant with and use modern project management
techniques.
Also, individuals are realizing that, to remain competitive in the
workplace, they must develop skills to become good project team
members and project managers.
They also realize that many of the concepts of project management will
help them in their everyday lives as they work with people and
technology on a day-to-day basis”.
What went wrong?
Study found that more than 31 percent of information technology
projects were canceled before completion, costing U.S. companies and
government agencies more than $81 billion.
The study authors were adamant about the need for better project
management in the information technology /Telecommunication
industries.
They explained, Software development projects are in chaos, and we can
no longer imitate the three monkeys hear no failures, see no failures,
speak no failures.
In a more recent study,
PricewaterhouseCoopers surveyed 200 companies from 30 different
countries about their project management maturity and found that over
half of all projects fail.
They also found that only 2.5 percent of corporations consistently meet
their targets for scope, time, and cost goals for all types of project
(Schwalbe, S.,2010)
Telecommunication services
Offers of telecommunication services cover networking technologies in
addition to operations support systems, methods and procedures
applications, and content. Thus, the main components of
telecommunication services are the:
Networking technologies
Operation support systems (OSSs)
Methods and procedures (M&Ps) to run the network and
The Networking Technologies
The networking technology component relates to the physical
infrastructure, such as cables and transmission lines, the network
elements such as switches and software enabled capabilities, including
messaging, call forwarding, and networked applications such as web
hosting or storage
networks. The equipment includes multiplexers, crossconnect, routing
and switching equipment, power systems, and security systems, such as
intrusion detection systems. In some cases, such as managed services,
customer premise equipment (CPE) will be included.
The Operation Support Systems (OSS)
The operations support systems component relates to the various
network element management systems as well as systems used for
provisioning, accounting, security, billing, etc. This component is
essential for development, deployment and maintenance of high-quality
networkbased services using shared facilities, such as for public
networks. They may be less important in the case of private and
enterprise networks.
Methods and Procedures (M&Ps)
The methods and procedures cover the installation, engineering,
operations, maintenance, repair, and customer support aspects of the
service. While some standardization and commonality exist among
various service providers at the level of technology and support systems
(because the equipment manufacturers offer similar equipment), the
distinctive advantage of one service provider over the other resides in
this component.
What is a project?
To discuss project management, it is important to understand the concept
of a project.
It is a temporary endeavor, undertaken to produce a unique product or
service with limited resources.
Projects are initiated either to take advantage of an opportunity or to
solve a problem .i.e respond to a new customer service request; respond
to a regulatory ruling; development of a new feature, product or service
according to clients’ requirements.
Furthermore, Projects end when their objectives have been reached or
the project has been terminated.
Telecommunication projects in the area of services, can be divided
into three types:
Projects related to the establishment and removal of a temporary
network
The relative importance of the constraints on quality, cost, and time
varies for each category. More specifically, the main constraint on
public services relates to quality; in enterprise networks, cost is the
major concern, while timeliness is the most important considerations in
the case of temporary installations.
Examples of Information Technology/Telecommunication Projects
Projects can be large or small and involve one person or thousands of
people.
They can be done in one day or take years to complete.
Information technology/telecommunication projects involve using
hardware, software, and/or networks to create a product, service, or
result.
Examples of information technology projects include the following:

equipment was gradually replaced with digital switches in the world-

wide public switched telephone
network.
In public networks, these changes have to take place without affecting
existing services.

software application for the finance department.

college campus upgrades its technology infrastructure to provide
wireless Internet access across the whole campus
 -functional taskforce in a company decides what Voice-over-
Internet-Protocol (VoIP) system to purchase and how it will be
implemented

productivity and customer relationship management

Project Attributes Projects come in all shapes and sizes.
The following attributes help to define a project further: A project has a
unique purpose. Every project should have a well-defined objectives.

definite end. .

often defined broadly when they begin, and as time passes, the specific
details of the project become clearer. Therefore, a project team should
develop initial plans and then update them with more detail based on
new information.
ces
include people, hardware, software, and other assets. Many projects
cross departmental or other boundaries to achieve their unique purposes.
Other areas of the company would need to work together to develop
ideas. The company might also hire outside consultants to provide input.
project should have a primary customer or sponsor. Most projects
have many interested parties or stakeholders, but someone must take the
primary role of sponsorship. The project sponsor usually provides the
direction and funding for the project.
ect involves uncertainty. Because every project is unique, it is
sometimes difficult to define its objectives clearly, estimate how long it
will take to complete, or determine how much it will cost. External
factors also cause uncertainty, such as a supplier going out of business or
a project team member needing unplanned time off. This uncertainty is
one of the main reasons project management is so challenging,
especially on projects involving new technologies.
What is project management?
Project management can well be described as the application of
knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project activities in order to
meet or exceed customers/clients needs and expectations from the
project.
However, meeting the needs of clients invariably involves balancing
competing demands among

(expectations)
Also, project management is the planning, delegating, monitoring and
control of all aspects of a project, and the motivation of those involved
ie the project management team to achieve the project objectives within
the expected performance targets for time, cost, quality, scope, benefits
and risks.
Project management is about taking ideas and converting them into a
planned, resourced and funded project.
This can be broken into 3 stages

Project initiation stage

This stage clearly and explicitly define what the project is intended to
achieve and its scope i.e. set of benchmarks that would be produced at
the end of the project.
Determination of what resources and time will be allotted to complete
the project.
Project control stage
the monitoring and controlling the progress of the project
ling the quality of the project by tracking the progress through
regular checkpoints.

Note: the majority of the work and time spent on a project is during this
stage.
Project closure stage

future i.e. you do not need to reinvent the wheel every time you do a
new project.
Who is a project manager?
It could be you
Someone on your team
A new hire or
A freelancer
Question: who is a freelancer?
A freelancer is someone who is self employed and is not committed to a
particular long term employer. They are often represented by a company
or an agency that resells their labor and that of others to its clients with
or without project management.
Project Manager’s responsibilities include:

Building and managing project teams.

Project Management Knowledge Areas Project management knowledge

areas describe the key competencies that project managers must develop
The four core knowledge areas of project management include project
scope, time, cost, and quality management.
These are core knowledge areas because they lead to specific project
objectives.
volves defining and managing all the
work required to complete the project successfully.

complete the work, developing an acceptable project schedule, and

ensuring timely completion of the project.

budget for the project.

stated or implied needs for which it was undertaken. While,

The four facilitating knowledge areas of project management are human
resource, communications, risk, and procurement management. These
are called facilitating knowledge areas because they are the processes
through which the project objectives are achieved.
 n resource management is concerned with making
effective use of the people involved with the project.

management includes identifying, analyzing, and responding to risks

related to the project.

goods and services for a project from outside the performing

organization.
Project Stakeholders Stakeholders are the people involved in or affected
by project activities and include the project sponsor, project team,
support staff, customers, users, suppliers.