This document contains materials used
in the Week 6 Homework and Discussions
Read this short article. You will be asked in the homework for your opinion
on which of the Five W's of Project Management is most important for SAP
Projects
http://www.gantthead.com/content/articles/91268.cfm or
from this link
Read another short article about 11 reasons for project failure from this
link . Some of these are
symptoms and not reasons but the article is short and interesting. Pay particular
attention to the first two paragraphs under Reason 1.
Read two sections of this document on preparing project plans from this web
site or from this link
The two sections are "Introducing the Project Plan" and "The
Project Plan Template" on pages 6-22 in the document. (The page numbers
in the Adobe Reader are 9 through 25.) There will be a number of questions
on this material in the homework. In other courses such as GBIS722 you learn
about wbs (work breakdown structures) and enter project tasks into Microsoft
Project. The purpose of this reading is to see what else must be produced
as part of a Project Plan in addition to schedules, tasks, and work assignments.
These last two links point
to some SAP documentation that will be useful in the homework.
Link
1: SAP overview of Enterprise Learning System (Read just the one page
unless you are particularly interested in this area.)
Link
2: Consultant presentation on the SAP Enterprise Learning System. (Be
patient while loading, 1.1 mb but only 11 slides.)
Finally, shown below is an example of a Risk section from a Project Plan that
might be useful in the Discussions:
|
Risk |
Probability |
Impact |
Mitigation Steps |
1 |
Use of Technology new to organization (MySQL Database) |
High |
Medium |
Allow time for training. Provide SAMS text book for each team member using |
2 |
Unrealistic expectations or target date |
Low |
High |
Prepare a detailed project plan and review it with the sponsoring Vice President. Communicate project status weekly. |
3 |
Unstable application development environment |
Low |
Medium |
Install all relevant software and hardware before development begins and test it with a single developer before the entire team uses the environment |
4 |
Changes in requirements |
Medium |
High |
Establish change control procedures to immediately communicate the impact of proposed changes |
5 |
Inadequate Resources |
Low |
Medium |
Specify all resource assumptions in the project plan and revise the plan if the assumed resources are not made available |
6 |
Inability to obtain data to populate database |
Medium |
Medium |
Schedule tasks related to data acquisition early in the project. Revise the plan if initial assumptions about how data can be acquired are not correct |
7 |
Improper staffing (insufficient skills) |
Low |
Medium |
People now being considered to staff the project have adequate skills. Continue to monitor staffing to assure that this does not change |
8 |
Inadequate or ignored quality procedures |
Low |
High |
Establish the quality plan and procedures before the project begins and monitor daily once the project begins. |
9 |
Poor communications |
Medium |
Medium |
Establish a project Web Site and a weekly status reporting system. Personally meet with key stakeholders a least weekly. |
10 |
Part time project resources have other priorities |
High |
High |
Carefully plan the involvement of people from other departments in order to provide advanced notice of time commitments. Immediately inform management of any delays resulting from missed commitments. |
|
|
|
|
|