Chapter 9: IT project manager
Identify and describe the processes associated with the Project
Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK®) area called project
communications management, which includes project
communications planning, information distribution, performance
reporting, and administrative closure.
Identify and describe the processes associated with the Project
Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK®) area called project
communications management, which includes project
communications planning, information distribution, performance
reporting, and administrative closure.
Describe several types of reporting tools that support the
communications plan.
Apply the concept of earned value and discuss how earned value
provides a means of tracking and monitoring a project’s scope,
schedule, and budget.
Describe how information may be distributed to the project
stakeholders and the role information technology plays to support
the project communications.
Project Communications Management includes the
processes required to ensure timely and
appropriate
◦Generation
◦Collection
◦Dissemination
◦Storage, and
◦Ultimate disposition
of project information.
Communications Planning focuses on:
◦ How will information be stored?
◦ How will knowledge be stored?
◦ What information goes to whom, when, and how?
◦ Who can access what information?
◦ Who will update the information and knowledge?
◦ What media of communication is best?
Information Distribution
◦ getting the right information to the right people in the
right format
Performance Reporting
◦ collection and dissemination of project information to
the various project stakeholders.
Administrative Closure
◦ verifying and documenting the project’s progress.
Regardless of how well a project is planned,
unexpected situations will arise. These
unexpected events will require adjustments to
the project schedule and budget.
A project manager will not lose credibility
because an unexpected event or situation
arises. He or she will, however, lose (or gain)
credibility in terms of how they handle a
particular situation.
Can be formal or informal
Supports all of the project stakeholders
◦ Who has specific information needs?
◦ What are those needs?
◦ How will these needs be met?
◦ When can they expect the information?
◦ What will be the format?
Stakeholders
◦ Individuals or groups that have a positive or negative interest in the
outcome of the project
Information Requirements
◦ What stakeholders need to know about the project
s E.g., scope, schedule, budget, quality, risk, etc.
Type of Metric or Report
◦ Could be a specific report from a project management software
package, a newsletter, or information that a particular milestone
was achieved
Timings/Availability
◦ When stakeholders can expect to receive a report or other
information about the project
Medium or Format
◦ How the information will be provided
i E.g., electronic mail, presentations, meetings, or online
Project Metric
◦ A qualitative measurement of some attribute of the
project.
Project metrics should focus on the following key
areas:
◦ Scope
◦ Schedule
◦ Budget
◦ Resources
◦ Quality
◦ Risk
Understandable
◦ Intuitive
Quantifiable
◦ Objective (no bias)
Cost Effective
◦ Easy and inexpensive to create
Proven
◦ What gets measured gets done
High Impact
◦ Otherwise why bother?
Allow the team to gauge its own progress
Be designed by the project team
Adopt and use only a handful of measures
Track results and progress
Reviews
◦ Formal & informal meetings with stakeholders
◦ May focus on specific deliverables or
milestones
◦ Used to get acceptance, surface problems or
issues, or make key decisions
Status Reporting
◦ Describes present state of the project
◦ Compares actual progress to baseline plan
p Scope, schedule, and budget
◦ Like a snap shot of the project at a specific
time
Progress Reporting
◦ What activities or tasks has the team
accomplished?
◦ Actual versus planned
Forecast Reporting
◦ Predicting the project’s future status or
progress
◦ Example: trend analysis
FacetoFace Meetings (F2F)
Telephone, email, other wireless technology
Collaboration technology
Figure 9.8
