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Make or Break: Why Accurate Cost Estimation Is Key
December 2, 2008
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Lessons Learned for Project Managers - Part XIII
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Project Implementation - Training
December 1, 2008
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Risk Characteristics
December 1, 2008
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Clarity - MS Project Best Practices
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Reasons for not Having the Right Project Sponsorship
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Operations and Maintenance - Lessons Learned from Major Programs
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Lessons Learned for Project Managers - Part XII
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Quality Control in Project Management
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Categorization of Risks in Project Risk Management
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Project Management Software Systems and Tools
August 14, 2008 | Author: admin | Filed under: Computer Based Information Systems, Project Collaboration
Project Management Software Systems and Tools
By Dr.Russell Archibald
PM software applications are today a major market with hundreds of available, competing systems of widely varying power and capabilities. The below table provides a summary indication of the systems that are listed in the PMI Project Management Software Survey.
| PM Software Category | PMBOK® Guide Knowledge Areas |
| PM Suites | All |
| Process/Scope Management | Integration Management |
| Schedule Management | Time Management |
| Cost Management | Cost Management |
| Resource Management | Human Resources Management |
| Risk Management and Assessment | Risk Management |
Communications Management
|
Communications Management |
One Integrated System: The powerful computer-supported project planning and control systems available today enable using one integrated system (usually consisting of project-oriented subsystems that are properly linked together) for each and every project within the organization, on an integrated life cycle basis, to:
- Systematically define and control the project’s objectives and scope.
- Evaluate and proactively manage individual project risks together with the aggregate project portfolio risks.
- Define and control the specification, quality, configuration and quantity—in a word, scope of intermediate and final products (or deliverables) of the project.
- Systematically define and control the project scope and the work to be carried out within each of its life cycle phases using the project/work breakdown structure (P/WBS) approach.
- Estimate the labor, material and others costs associated with (1) each project’s deliverable products and related work elements, and (2) each summary element in the P/WBS.
- Plan and control the sequence and timing of the project deliverables and related work elements using a top level project master schedule plus an appropriate hierarchy of more detailed, integrated schedules.
- Authorize and control the expenditure of funds, work hours, and other resources required to execute the project.
- Provide the information—regarding both a) actual progress and expenditures and b) forecasts in the future—required by project managers, department managers, functional task leaders and work package leaders on a timely and reasonably accurate basis.
- Continually evaluate progress and predict and mitigate problems with scope, quality, cost, schedule and risk, using earned value project management methods where appropriate.
- Report to management and customers on the current status and future outlook for project scope, quality, cost and schedule completion, including post-completion reports.
When customer demands or other factors such as joint venture needs require that a specific project planning and control system be used for a particular project that is different from the corporate system, that different system can be linked with and provide summary information to the corporate system so that all project information, and particularly the time-related resource data, can be viewed on an integrated basis for the total organization.
Web-Enabled Project Management: This is one of the most significant advances in PM in recent years. Among the many advantages and efficiencies of Web-enabled PM are:
- 24 hour availability of current project information and the project document repository,
- Ease of updating and exchanging current project information from any geographic location,
- Improved reporting capabilities and timeliness of information,
- Improved project baseline control,
- Ability to build virtual teams of people located anywhere in the world,
- Simplified storage and retrieval of vendor information and documents,
- Ability to create a virtual project turnover/completion (punch) list.
- Accelerated reaction to changes in risk, schedules, cost, or other factors,
- Enhanced ability to capitalize on opportunities for schedule, cost, or other improvements.
Dr. Russell D. Archibald, PhD (Hon), MSc, Fellow PMI and APM/IPMA, PMP, is one of the six founding members of the Project Management Institute. Now semi-retired, he has many years of management experience in engineering and operations with a variety of major US corporations in Europe and South America as well as the US. He has made major contributions to the understanding of project management, is author of the best selling 2003 book “Managing High-Technology Programs and Projects” (published also in Russian, Chinese, and Italian), has trained more than a thousand program and project managers and project specialists around the world, and has consulted in project management to clients in 14 countries on 4 continents. E-mail: russell_archibald@yahoo.com. Website: www.russarchibald.com.
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1 person has left a comment
I think the biggest advantage of online Web-enabled PM software is that it becomes a collaboration environment. If the PM suite provides the right levels of security you can involve all parties of a project including end-users, customers, management stakeholders and suppliers.
This is an ideal solution for running projects with multiple sub-contractors.