IS Project Management

Research in Critical Success Factors (CSFs) of Enterprise Systems (ES) projects has identified numerous practitioner governance mechanisms for ensuring project success. However, such research has not developed a theory of why certain critical success factors encourage project success. Our research develops such theory on a case study where even though the levels of several critical success factors were weak, the project nevertheless succeeded. Specifically, the logistics ES project succeeded even though there was (1) only marginal top management support, (2) low key user commitment, and (3) change management, training and other critical aspects of user management and communication were not well done. Using a modified dialectical lens, we highlight that project team legitimacy appears to be the underlying CSF, and many heretofore identified CSFs are really manifestations of project team legitimacy.

Although there has been significant research on information and communication technology (ICT) project success, but there are still gaps around this field. Thus, further understanding to ensure the level of ICT project success is still required in both theory and practice. The ultimate aim of this study is develops a coherent critical success factors (CSFs) framework for helping ICT project managers to deal with the complexity of project dimensions which have influenced the shaping of project success. The four consideration points in this framework development are: first, based on a comprehensive success definition as guidance for measuring the critical connection between the success criteria level and the CSFs level; second, integrating coherently four project dimensions for encouraging the high content validity; third, presenting the alternating critical connection between the project success definition and the CSFs determination; lastly, adopting the project stakeholder perceptions from multiple levels of an ICT project organization’s environment. However, it is a proposition concept, but this proposed CSF framework is reasonable in the context of the ICT project success improvement

Projects routinely require procurement of materials, equipment, consultants, training, and many other products and services. Procurement by definition is acquisition of the appropriate goods and/or services that meet the needs of the purchaser in terms of quality, quantity, time and location at the best possible total cost of ownership. Project procurement management is the process of procuring what’s necessary for meeting the needs of the project scope and includes planning, choosing supply sources and administering vendor contracts amongst other things.

Proactive approach to risk management by managing mitigations requires investing in some preparation effort up front by the project team and on-going project stakeholder relationship management. I however commend it to anyone charged with managing large complex projects in the Nigerian environment as enormous benefits can be derived from it especially leading to an avoidance of significant problems later in the life of the project. It reduces the chances of risks occurring without corrective action being immediately available leading to being reactive and treating the symptoms sometimes in the full glare of the media.

"A successful project depends on many factors; time, cost, scope, risk, human resources, procurement, sponsorship and quality however, "Communication" is the single most important of them all. You can't go wrong if you make a lot of effort to communicate as best you can on a project.
Once channels are established with relevant information flowing through proper channels at the appropriate frequency, trust can be established and the project deliverables produced on time and to budget. This fact has been proven time and time again in countless projects as well as in normal human relationships and every project manager must have this as a priority in their mind. "

Megaproject Planning and Management: Essential Readings contains the seminal articles from the growing body of research on megaproject planning and management along with an original introduction by the editor, Bent Flyvbjerg. The leading and most cited authority in the field, Flyvbjerg has used crowdsourcing and 25 years of experience to cherry-pick from several hundred articles and books the writings that define the field. This volume will be an indispensable source for those wishing to speak with authority about how megaprojects are prepared, delivered, and fought over. The target audience is students, academics, practitioners, and media pundits alike, as well as communities affected by megaprojects.

People make projects work  and problems with them can hurt any project, causing delays, eroding quality, increasing costs, and resulting in high levels of stress for everyone on the team. As a project manager, you should do your utmost to make sure that the people selected for the project team have innate project delivery capability and a clear understanding of what generates project success in the widest context possible. Having done that, your responsibility then becomes to build a professional relationship with them through a clear vision, specific objectives, periodic performance assessments underpinned by continuously unambiguous communications.  Whilst these actions in and of themselves will not guarantee the projects success, they will put you well on the road to it.

Many projects fail because quality management was never planned into the project from the beginning.  Often times in the planning of projects basic stakeholder identification is not carried out and so their specific quality requirements (i.e. what quality means to them) are not documented.  Even in cases where there is such documentation, the project tends to focus more on complying with the cost and resource utilisation constraints than meeting the quality expectations of the stakeholders. For an unequivocally successful outcome, project quality should be treated on equal level with scope, time and cost because even when delivered to scope, on time and to budget the project may still be seen as a failure by stakeholders if it’s output is not to to their quality expectation.

I take a look at the third member of the critical constraints triumvirate that Project Managers must stay on top of throughout the project life-cycle - the project budget.  Budget is from the old French word bougette which means “little bag or purse”, the reservoir in which the limited funding for the project are kept and from which they are dispensed as and when required. It comprises of all planned expenditure (and revenues if applicable) associated with the delivery of the project from inception to completion.  It is a detailed description of how the project team and any other project stakeholder engaged in the projects activities intend to expend the funding allocated to or made available for the project. In some cases (when applicable), the budget also includes how and when any revenues expected from the project will be derived. 

This art of managing time is one of the best skills any individual can learn while on earth and project managers would do well to master it. After all is said and done, there are only twenty-four hours available to each of us every day. Some of us will make the best of those hours whilst others will no doubt make a mess of them What I hope is that this chapter helps you as a project manager do the former.

As Project Management becomes increasingly important in implementing projects in countries across the continent, the use of the Project Management Office (PMO) as a critical tool of choice in achieving project success will correspondingly increase.  This paper provides an insight into the resources and processes required to required to setup a PMO. It also gives some tips and tricks for successfully running one.

"There are three main bodies recognised for project management standards and certification globally all of which have African presence in one form or the other. They provide a range of project management standards, guidelines, best-practice methodology, principles, qualifications, certifications and professional membership. Interestingly, though their methodologies and certification procedures differ, there is considerable overlap in what each of them defines as project management best-practice.
The differences between the three is more related to the level, focus, breadth and depth of project management principles, processes, techniques and methods rather than there being any fundamentally conflicting views about best-practice project management."

Human papillomavirus type 16 is a common sexually transmitted pathogen capable of giving rise to cervical intraepithelial neoplasia and invasive carcinoma through the expression and activity of two adjacent oncogenes: E6 and E7. Naturally occurring amino acid variation is commonly observed in the E6 protein but to a much lesser extent in E7. In order to investigate the evolutionary mechanisms involved in the generation and maintenance of this variation, we examine 42 distinct E6-E7 haplotypes using codon-based genealogical techniques. These techniques involve estimation of the ratio of nonsynonymous to synonymous substitutions (dn/ds) and allow testing for directional (positive) natural selection. Positive selection was detected for four codon sites within the E6 oncogene but not in any E7 codons. The amino acid compositions and locations of selected sites are described. Possible sources of natural selection including antiviral immune pressure and polymorphism of host cellular proteins are discussed.