CS9615 IT PROJECT MANAGEMENT for IBM

Course Description

The state of project management for IT professionals in general and software engineering in particular is dismal. Recent reports by the Standish Group and others conclude that for large organizations, only a mall fraction of large IT projects are successful; that is, delivered within budget, schedule and scope. It is clear that software failures are the norm, not the exception. Why is it so hard to manage software-related projects?

In addition to the problems of accurate estimation and costing, IT professionals are increasingly being called upon to deliver quality software; solutions that work according to specifications, that are error-free and satisfy the user. In addition, we must also guarantee product quality or then suffer legal redress.

Project management, as a discipline, has been well established in many engineering fields over the years. However, this accumulated wisdom is not fully applied to software or IT for several reasons. There is the impression in IT that programming has more to do with art than science. Further, we have not had the appropriate tools for accurate estimation in size, cost and productivity, owing, among other things, to the intangible nature of software. Finally, it is fair to say that that we still need to promote a sound Project Management culture within the field of IT and Software Projects.

Over the last decade, there has been significant research in areas such as software measurement, especially about functional metrics. We now have the ability to measure software and thus make accurate predictions in the planning of software projects. The course uses metrics (particularly Function Points) as a foundation to develop plans based on actual measurements. It stresses the need to use metrics both in the planning of projects and in the managing against those plans, the use of risk management techniques and the role of quality in the development of software.

Course Outline

CS9615 Introduction and Summary
CS9615 Current State-of-the-Art: Standish Report
CS9615 The Project Life Cycle
CS9615 Software Development Life Cycle Models
CS9615 Life Cycles and Metrics
CS9615 Process Maturity: SEI CMM
CS9615 Estimation Techniques of IT
CS9615 Project Scoping
CS9615 Project Planning
CS9615 Project Control
CS9615 Project Phase-Out
CS9615 Risk Management
CS9615 Net Present Value
CS9615 Configuration Management
CS9615 People Management
CS9615 Team Dynamics
CS9615 Leadership
CS9615 International Management
CS9615 Business Process Reengineering
CS9615 Problem Solving

Schedule

CS9615 Course Schedule

Supplements

SEI CMM Word-Wide Company Appraisals
Training Course on Function Points
Function Point Counting Guide
Function Points: 14 Adjustment Factors
Business Cases

Student Evaluation

CS9615 Quiz 1 10%
CS9615 Quiz 2 10%
CS9615 Quiz 3 10%
CS9615 Quiz 4 10%
CS9615 Quiz 5 10%
CS9615 Quiz 6 10%
CS9615 Final examination 40%

Professor

Dr. Steven S. Beauchemin
Department of Computer Science
The University of Western Ontario
London ON N6A 5B7
CANADA
Phone: (519) 661-2073
Fax: (519) 661-3515
E-Mail: beau@csd.uwo.ca
URL: www.csd.uwo.ca/faculty/beau/