Nanisha Nadarajan

B18080585

1. Identify the importance of Project Management.

-Shortened product life style

-Narrow product launch windows
-Increasingly complex and technical products
-Emergence of global markets
-An economic period marked by low inflation

2. Describe in details the determinants for project success.

The determinants for project success is intelligent people. To make a project a success, we need
capable people in team. A project can derail at any point of time. The team should share similar
visions for the project and aim for success. Secondly, comprehensive planning is one of the
determinants. Comprehensive planning can help the team to meet crucial deadlines and stay well
organized. Thirdly, open communication is another determinants. This gives the team confidence
when facing project risks and helps the customers feel secure with their project’s progression.

3. Consider the six criteria for successful IT projects. Why is IT project success often so difficult to
assess? Make a case for some factors being more important than others.

Six criteria for successful IT projects which are system quality, information quality, user satisfaction,
individual impact and organizational impact. The criteria reveal several reasons why IT projects
success would be difficult to evaluate. System quality such as ease of use and the level of quality
information can be very subjective and judged in many ways since so many users can be involved.
The system quality can only be as good as the original request to the IT group. It’s critical that key
users are involved in determining as a group what would be optimum for everyone. Some of the
benefits for one user may not apply or be a disadvantage for another user. System users will
perceive quality in only the information they are generating or actionable. Use may vary depending
on the need by certain parties. The system could met all the criteria in the original scope but if not
used as planned would be difficult to assess level of success. This can skew results related to user
satisfaction. Individual impact is also difficult to assess for several reasons. The main one is that
there is no criterion that can meet the standard of every user. Varying degrees of system usefulness
and varying degrees of importance of certain aspects of the system make it difficult. The most
important factors would be those that relate to the generation of quality information and the impact
this has on the individual and the organization. Information must be accurate to be of value and
efficiently obtained. This is followed by obtaining some form of measurement regarding the impact it
has on the organization’s efforts to serve customers as it relates to on-time delivery and quality.
4. Describe the basic elements of a project life cycle. Why is an understanding of the life cycle
relevant for our understanding of projects?

A standard project typically has the following four major phases (each with its own agenda of tasks
and issues): initiation, planning, implementation, and closure. During the first of these phases, the
initiation phase, the project objective or need is identified. This can be a business problem or
opportunity. An appropriate response to the need is documented in a business case with
recommended solution options. The next phase, the planning phase, is where the project solution is
further developed in as much detail as possible and the steps necessary to meet the project’s
objective are planned. In this step, the team identifies all of the work to be done. The project’s tasks
and resource requirements are identified, along with the strategy for producing them. During the
third phase, the implementation phase, the project plan is put into motion and the work of the
project is performed. It is important to maintain control and communicate as needed during
implementation. Progress is continuously monitored and appropriate adjustments are made and
recorded as variances from the original plan. During the final closure, or completion phase, the
emphasis is on releasing the final deliverables to the customer, handing over project documentation
to the business, terminating supplier contracts, releasing project resources, and communicating the
closure of the project to all stakeholders.

5. Explain the concept of a project management maturity model

There are five levels in the project management maturity model (PMMM) that reflect increasingly
sophisticated organizational behaviors. In order to determine the level a company operates under,
it's evaluated across a number of key areas of project management practice. The Initial level reflects
a company that operates in a relatively random manner. Since there's very little control, it's hard to
predict how the organization will react, particularly when faced with a crisis situation. ompanies
operating in the Structured level will adhere to some basic project management practices, but often
only at an individual project level. Overall project success is likely to depend on key individuals or
specific management support rather than on adoption of broad standards throughout the
organization. The Organizational level indicates that well-defined project management procedures
are documented and used as a standard of operations. The Managed level reflects an organization
that measures project performance using well-defined metrics.