From the web page http://www.itrb.gov/itrbpmp.htm
Project Management
for Mission Critical Systems
A Handbook for Government Executives
(c) 1997 The Information Technology Resources Board
Last edited June 1, 1998
About the ITRB
In July 1996, Executive Order 13011 established the Information
Technology Resources Board (ITRB) to assist agencies in the
procurement, development and management of major information
systems. ITRB members are practitioners drawn from civilian and
defense departments and agencies who bring management,
technical, and acquisition perspectives to the table. Under the
sponsorship of the Office of Management and Budget, the ITRB
conducts independent peer assessments of selected Federal
information systems. The ITRB's activities promote measurable
improvements in mission performance and service delivery to the
public through the strategic application of information
technology.
Members of the ITRB
Mary Ellen Condon, Chair
Kathleen Adams
Sandra Borden
Arnold Bresnick
Tim Carrico
Kevin Carroll
Kay Clarey
Mark Day
Ken Heitkamp
George Hyder
Myron Kemerer
Mike Laughon
Jean Lilly
Emory Miller
Valerie Wallick
ITRB Staff
Jake Asma
Sandra Hense
Ginni Schaeffer
Department of Justice
Social Security Administration
U.S. Coast Guard
Department of Labor
Federal Aviation Administration
U.S. Army
Department of the Treasury
Environmental Protection Agency
U.S. Air Force
Office of Personnel Management
NASA
Department of the Interior
Internal Revenue Service
General Services Administration
U.S. Navy
General Service Administration
General Services Administration
General Services Administration
About this Handbook
This handbook is derived from actual reviews of mission critical
Federal information systems projects. It sets out a concise,
high-level framework for project management. Within this
framework is provided a series of practical suggestions for
Federal executives involved in management of mission critical
information systems.
The following pages are not intended to be exhaustive. Rather,
they provide a quick, sensible overview of useful practices and
tools for the effective management of information systems
projects.
The ITRB is committed to results. We hope you find this handbook
to be useful.
Mary Ellen
Condon
Chair
Information
Technology
Resources Board
Contents
Executive Summary: Making Projects Work
Meeting the Mission
Align the Project Mission with the Agency's Mission
Know the Project Stakeholders
Amplify the Voices of Your Customers
Maintain High-Level Communication About the Project
Mission
Strategies
Set Realistic Business Objectives
Define a Sound Architecture
Gain Agreement on the Project Plan
People
Organizational Leadership
Project Leadership
Project Team Members
Processes
Planning
Managing Technology
Controlling Tasks
Appendix: Tools for the Toolbox
Executive Summary: Making Projects Work
Project management delivers results. The practice of project
management can focus efforts on your mission by aligning
priorities, leveraging resources, and delivering services to
customers. A successful project translates a broad public
mission into concrete results and outcomes. The following issues
are critical for making projects work.
Meeting the Mission: Why are you undertaking this
project in the first place? Who are the stakeholders
and the customers? What are their expectations for the
project? How does the project mission fit into your
agency's mission?
All activity on a successful project supports a well-bounded,
agreed upon mission. As a project progresses, it is often
necessary to take a step back and realign individual project
elements with one another and with the project mission.
Successful projects strike a balance among strategies, people,
and processes.
Strategies: What do you want to accomplish with this
project? Articulate the business objectives, the
technical environment, and the project plan.
People: Who are the project participants, and how are
they organized? Communicate with the organizational
leadership, the project leadership, the team members,
the stakeholders and the customers.
Processes: How will the project accomplish its
objectives over time? Define the planning processes,
the technology management, and the control of tasks.
Project management provides a proven way to set priorities and
achieve results. Make use of project management to gain a
realistic perspective on the "big picture," to maintain focus on
priorities as they evolve, and to help sort out what must be
done to make the project a success.
Meeting The Mission
It's why you're here
Align the Project Mission with the Agency's Mission
What is your agency's mission? What is the relationship of your
project to your agency's mission? Project activities need to
support this mission.
Know the Project Stakeholders
A strong project mission can not be created in a vacuum. Who are
the people with an interest in the outcome of the project? What
are their common expectations? Stakeholders' expectations are
rarely spelled out in legislation, executive orders, or formal
memoranda.
Amplify the Voices of Your Customers
Who will be paying for this project? Who will actually be using
the systems and processes being designed? Clarify the business
priorities of these customers and their criteria for success.
Actively and emphatically communicate this information. Do this
for customers inside the organization as well as those outside
the organization.
Maintain High-Level Communication About the Project Mission
Communicate steadily with stakeholders and customers throughout
the project. This will help to manage their expectations and
requirements over time. Design project development so that
requirements and expectations can be reconfirmed at regular
junctures. Periodically check to see that stakeholders and
customers understand and support changes, delays, and new
developments.
Strategies
What do you want to accomplish?
Set Realistic Business Objectives
What are the common business needs of the organizations that
will depend on the system? What accomplishments will be critical
for the project to be considered successful? Define project
boundaries at the outset, and use this definition to manage
requirements throughout the project. A clear definition of
business success will also help ensure that project efforts
support the agency's strategic plan.
Define a Sound Architecture
Drive Toward an Enterprise-Wide Business Model
Ensure that the business model meets business objectives while
remaining within the project's scope. Publish a detailed concept
of operations which distinguishes clearly among the business
model, the layout and relationship of systems and
communications, and the technical architecture. These should be
anchored in an enterprise-wide IT strategy.
Implement Systems Incrementally
Work toward a systems implementation that will deliver, in
twelve months or less, incremental, useable levels of
functionality which support specific business objectives. The
detailed concept of operations should explain how the
architecture will satisfy these objectives and how it will
prioritize them. It should also communicate responsibilities for
implementing and managing the architecture.
Coordinate Technical Standards
Which standards are essential to ensure that the technical
architecture ultimately supports business objectives? Define
these, paying particularly close attention to technical
interfaces. Develop a plan to ensure compliance with
architecture standards. The technical architecture must be
documented to ensure its consistency with the overall
agency-level design.
Gain Agreement on the Project Plan
The project plan formally captures and documents agreements
among customers, stakeholders and project participants. Secure
an informed agreement up front, and maintain this agreement
throughout the project life. This will ensure that the project
meets expected results. This will also help align the project
with the organization's business plans and supporting IT plans.
Over time, manage the project scope carefully, since there will
be a tendency for different areas of the project to acquire
their own divergent momentum.
People
Understand the project participants
Organizational Leadership
Listen to the Customer and Create a Vision
The project sponsor manages high-level customer relationships,
translating key customer expectations into a practical vision
for the project. To be effective, this vision must be broadly
communicated.
Commit to the Project
The most frequent cause of project failure is the lack of
involvement of the organizational leaders. Ongoing involvement
is crucial. It is critical to structure the project in such a
way that go/no-go decisions may be made at highly visible
milestones. Leadership commitment stabilizes the project so that
it can accommodate changes over time.
Leverage the Existing Organizational Structure
The roles and responsibilities of the project and its partners
are most effective when they correspond with the way in which
the overall agency is managed. For example, in an organization
in which field offices have a great deal of autonomy, a
centralized approach to IT management could bring about
unnecessary conflict.
Empower the CIO
The Chief Information Officer (CIO) position requires
extraordinary qualifications in both IT management skills and
general management skills. The CIO needs authority and
visibility to guide the organization in key decisions. The CIO
focuses on three things:
Synergy. Bring realistic synergy to IT strategy by
focusing disparate IT activities on their contribution
to the organization's mission. Ensure that business
objectives take precedence over technological
advances. Direct architectural compliance across the
enterprise. Create a formal strategic IT plan that
reflects business priorities.
Sharing. Leverage the centralized technical authority
to reduce redundancy across different organizational
units. Enable them to share systems and data, as well
as IT training, approaches, and other commonly needed
resources. Coordinate a coherent strategy for
commercial off-the-shelf software. Seek to make the
enterprise technologically seamless.
Support. Establish complementary managerial and
technical structures to provide support for critical
enterprise functions. Do this in a way that provides
different organizational units with the flexibility
they require.
Project Leadership
Select a Strong Project Manager
Empower a central point of responsibility for project decisions,
and clearly distinguish this role from functional program
management roles. Clarify the risks which the project manager is
expected to manage strategically. "Leadership ability" is
difficult to articulate, and even more difficult to find. At a
minimum, it includes the following characteristics:
Drive. Does the project manager have a strong desire
to succeed?
Ability to Build Consensus. Can the project manager
get key individuals to work together towards common
ends?
Ability to Take Risks. Can the project manager
recognize opportunities and find ways to seize them?
Ability to Communicate. Is the project manager able to
communicate clearly and convincingly to all parties?
Experience. Does the project manager have a track
record of success? Look for characteristics and
experiences that relate directly to the project at
hand.
Technical Knowledge. Does the project manager possess
demonstrated knowledge in the appropriate technical
fields?
Sense of the Big Picture. Does the project manager
understand the project from a broad business
perspective?
Enable a Cooperative Environment
Nurture cooperation among members of the leadership, including
the project sponsor, functional program manager, project
manager, contracting officer and contractor. Create a learning
environment which attracts individual skills to the table.
Actively encourage team members to innovate by rewarding
judicious risk-taking.
Ensure Accountability
The project manager is responsible for results. Successful
project managers actively encourage team members to make minor
challenges known before they become major problems. The project
needs a "truth culture" - let the messenger live. Stress the
importance of accountability by systematically introducing
constructive criticism into current practices. One recommended
technique is to outsource for independent validation and
verification (IV&V) support. It is critical for the executive
leadership to listen to IV&V advice. Another technique is to
create an anonymous channel for reporting problems.
Project Team Members
Get What's Needed to Succeed
What are the competencies of the team? How does the staffing
plan distribute these competencies against project tasks? Assess
the team's particular strengths, then get the additional
expertise needed. There may be a need to outsource for
additional skills to round out the team. Balance the mix of
management and technical expertise, and the mix of contractor
and government personnel. Distinguish between critical strategic
activities and tactical activities. Make use of consultants to
leverage the team's capabilities.
Keep the Core Team Together
Maintain a commitment to the integrity of the core team. The
project should include the project manager, the functional
program manager, the contracting officer and other key players
from project conceptualization through implementation. Empower a
central point of responsibility for technical decisions,
including standards and architecture.
Monitor Team Productivity
How does the level of effort contribute to project deliverables
and results? How is the team progressing against the project
plan? Perform periodic cost-benefit analyses and life cycle cost
estimates. This information will be needed for go/no-go
decisions at major project and contract milestones.
Develop Competencies Over Time
Invest in building competencies in key people. Institute and
follow a formal plan for skills training and career development.
Align the competencies of team members with the long-term needs
of the project.
Processes Making it happen
Planning
Define Success Up Front
Define project success in terms of specific business objectives.
From the customer's point of view, how should different business
objectives be prioritized?
Use Metrics to Focus On Outcomes
Focus on outcomes rather than outputs. Prioritize the metrics
for which project participants will be held responsible. Gain
agreement on critical metrics and use them to drive planning and
delivery.
Integrate Planning Activities Across the Project
Formalize planning processes. Assign roles and responsibilities
specifically for planning-related activities. The CIO can help
anchor project plans in the organization's business and IT plans.
Realign Plans Over Time
How will plans need to be modified along the way? Make sure
project plans continue to support intended business priorities.
If the project encounters significant changes, then the original
plans will have to be realigned to ensure desired results.
Managing Technology
Choose an Appropriate Development Model
Base selection of a development model on careful consideration
of four factors:
Costs. Consider various development alternatives and
estimate how they might contribute to project costs.
Risks. Consider how much risk the project faces due
to:
* High visibility due to public or political
attention or requirements
* Highly compressed development time
* High uncertainty associated with the system's
requirements, the technology that the system will
employ, or the way that the system will affect
business processes
Complexity. Consider the project to be complex if it:
* Affects many organizations or functional areas.
* Results from business process reengineering,
dramatically altering the use of information
technology.
* Requires new or rapidly advancing technology.
* Requires a long time for development.
Type. Consider the general type of the project:
* A new development
* A modification of an existing system
* A system integration
Select an Appropriate Life Cycle
The life cycle provides an organizing structure with which to
align project objectives with appropriate technologies and
resources. Different projects require different degrees of
rigidity in the sequencing of their phases. Long, complex
projects intended to modify familiar systems typically yield to
more rigid sequencing. On the other hand, less rigid sequencing
may be required to achieve a series of innovations under
conditions of high uncertainty.
Deal with Shifting Priorities
Business needs may change. All requirements must be formally
managed. Address downstream changes in the life cycle through
systematic risk assessment.
Make Progress Visible to All
Project participants need a clear idea of how well the project
plan is working. Establish a set of key progress indicators and
make them visible to all project participants.
Know The Limits of Automation
Don't simply automate existing processes. Rethink existing
processes instead of simply "paving the cowpaths." If your
agency lacks the skills, use consultants to facilitate business
process reengineering (BPR) and information modeling prior to
defining requirements.
Leverage Expertise in Established Management Areas
Managing Inputs. Encourage project participants to
address evolving technical priorities with appropriate
resources. For example, employ contract incentives to
deliver the desired results in accordance with the
projected cost and schedule. Offer high incentives (18
- 20%) to in-house staff.
Managing Activities. Use scope management techniques
such as a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) to organize
project activities and tasks. Graphically display the
work to be accomplished. Update the display
periodically to reflect reality.
Managing Outcomes. Encourage all staff to identify
potentially problematic outcomes. Use formal risk
management techniques to anticipate and mitigate
project risks.
Controlling Tasks
Put Meaning in the Metrics
Define requirements so that they may be thoroughly tested and
validated at the unit and systems level of granularity. Identify
frequent milestones with a defined set of measurable pass/fail
performance criteria. Structure related contracts so that they
reflect the same units, granularity, and milestones. This
enables you to measure earned value throughout the contract
life. These criteria should comply with a pre-established test
plan.
Leverage Expertise in Control Areas
Controlling Inputs. Conduct life-cycle cost analysis
to evaluate the impact of design implementation
alternatives throughout the project. Use agreed upon
plans to control the resources applied to the project.
For example, periodically review actual project
expenditures and compare them to the projected budget.
Controlling Activities. Standardize processes which
deal with the most routine activities. For example,
routine progress reports can be structured to capture
and highlight exceptions from anticipated progress.
Controlling Outcomes. Use configuration management
processes to ensure the project is building what the
customer wants. The implications of changes along the
way can be understood and incorporated while driving
toward the desired result.
One ITRB-reviewed project was situated within an agency which
had recently undergone major budget reductions and large-scale
structural changes. Because senior management was unclear about
customer expectations, the agency had been unable to articulate
a clear strategic view of the project and its role in the new
environment. Customers had insufficient information to guide
them in improving work processes. The ITRB recommended that the
agency work with customers to accelerate development of a new
strategic plan, and that it publish a concept of operations to
communicate how the system would operate in future years.
One ITRB-reviewed project reversed its declining fortunes by
making substantial revisions to project requirements several
years into the project. Project leaders had conducted an
evaluation of requirements, leading to large but necessary
reductions in both scope and requirements. Though initially
disorienting, this reduction did much to stabilize the project,
leading to a significantly improved outlook for project success.
The ITRB encountered a project which, after eight years of
planning, had yet to define an architecture. The project had
come to rely heavily upon the functional program knowledge of
the technical contractor, and there were insufficient technical
resources involved in crucial technology decision-making. The
ITRB recommended that the organization establish technical
requirements for deliverables, define modular delivery of
specified interim products, monitor product delivery, and
generally strengthen the role of contract management.
The architecture should provide a focal point for project
definition and clarity. Indeed, ambiguity surrounding this
fundamental concept may be a clue that your architecture
requires attention. One ITRB-reviewed project exhibited a number
of inconsistencies in its use of the term "architecture." This
led to conflicting expectations when information about the
architecture was disseminated among project participants. Upon
closer inspection, the ITRB found that the architecture required
broad realignment with the organization's strategic plan and
budget.
One ITRB-reviewed project had negligible high-level involvement
on the part of its organizational leadership. It turned out that
no single individual was accountable for providing such
leadership. Among other things, this explained the absence of a
formal planning process and clear business objectives.
The ITRB encountered one project which had clearly identified
the information needs of key stakeholders, but was having great
difficulty prioritizing these needs. The centralized
organization running the project simply did not have the
resources or the authority to provide an enterprise-wide
solution to all of its widely distributed lines of business.
Among other recommendations, the ITRB noted the need to
establish an agency-level CIO who could focus the project
architecture on the most critical common needs of the different
lines of business.
The Clinger-Cohen Act identifies four core competency areas for
CIO's:
1. Federal Information Resources Management
. Policy and Organizational Knowledge
. Information Resources Strategy and Planning
. IT Acquisition
2. Capital Planning
. IT Performance Assessment
. Capital Planning and Investment Assessment
3. Change Management
4. Managerial/Technical
. Professional Development and Training
. IT Topics
. IT Trends
Project leadership does not simply appear; it must be nurtured.
Among all of the projects reviewed by the ITRB, those with the
greatest chance for success were those which sought to grow and
develop leadership competencies over the long run. Though many
aspects of project management may be reduced to defined
processes, the development of project management leadership
competencies remains a difficult but worthwhile challenge.
One ITRB-reviewed project exhibited no partnership among
functional program leaders, IT managers and contract managers.
Significant confusion resulted among both contractor and agency
employees as to who made key decisions. In the absence of
cooperative leadership, critical analysis of functional
requirements was seriously lacking. The ITRB recommended that
the project not only clarify the respective roles of project
team members, but that it reorganize its executive steering
committee to make it truly accountable for all final project
decisions.
In the majority of reviews it has conducted, the ITRB has
recommended that organizations immediately establish a process
for independent validation and verification and that executives
explicitly consider IV&V recommendations when making decisions.
One ITRB-reviewed project found a significant shortage of staff
on the agency management team. The ITRB recommended that the
management team take all possible actions to expand its staff,
concentrating on the addition of technical expertise in computer
software and systems. The ITRB also recommended that contract
personnel be more effectively used to provide project management
support
One ITRB-reviewed project revealed a clear need to integrate IT
planning across various organizational units involved in the
project. A new business concept of operations required that IT
processes be realigned to meet evolving demands. The ITRB
recommended that the organization use experts in BPR and
information modeling to facilitate the necessary process
analysis and redesign
One agency requested the ITRB review its enterprise-wide
architecture. The agency appeared to lack a structured process
for testing products within the architecture before placing them
into use. The ITRB recommended a centralized test bed which
would enable the agency to simulate new functionalities and
assess them before placing them into service.
One ITRB-reviewed project faced serious risk of failure due to
recent major shifts in the agency's mission. If carried out
according to the original plan, the project would simply have
automated certain processes which no longer made sense in the
new environment. The ITRB recommended that the organization
cease development of certain sub-systems, and retain consultants
to facilitate high-level process redesign.
The ITRB reviewed one project which had recently negotiated
movement from a cost reimbursement contract to a fixed price
contract. While the ITRB concluded that this was an appropriate
step, it noted that the agency would need to consider more
thoroughly the different risks entailed by the new contract
incentives, and that it would need to balance the risk between
the agency and the contractor. For example, the ITRB recommended
that the agency tie progress payments to accomplishment of
specific milestones.
One recently redesigned project lacked test and acceptance
procedures for a large set of new technical requirements. The
ITRB recommended that the agency establish test and acceptance
procedures at frequent milestones consistent with the project's
work breakdown structure. It further recommended that the
requirements be re-baselined, and frozen, in order to ensure an
acceptable level of functionality.
The ITRB reviewed a project whose software development process
was in a perpetual state of change. The ITRB recommended the
establishment of configuration management baselines as well as
cost and schedule baselines.
Tools for the Toolbox
DO YOU HAVE SUGGESTIONS AND COMMENTS ABOUT THESE TOOLS FOR THE
TOOLBOX?
HAVE YOU FOUND ANY TOOLS THAT WE SHOULD CONSIDER ADDING TO THE
TOOLBOX?
PLEASE SEND YOUR COMMENTS TO: JAKE ASMA, ITRB STAFF, OR CALL
202-501-2796.
The following tools were suggested as important additions:
* National Defense University/IRMC
* Decision Process Guidebook
Best Practices
DOD Software Program Managers Network
PO Box 2523
Arlington, VA 22202
(703) 521-5231
http://www.spmn.com
[log in to unmask]
Federal CIO Council
http://www.cio.gov
[log in to unmask]
"Information Technology Investment `First
Practices' "
ftp://cio.gov/www/cio/firstpra.doc
General Accounting Office (GAO)
441 G Street, NW
Washington, DC 20548
(202) 512 - 3000
http://www.gao.gov/
[log in to unmask]
Key Managerial Competencies
Federal CIO Council
http://www.cio.gov
[log in to unmask]
Project Management Institute
130 South State Road
Upper Darby, PA 19082
http://www.pmi.org
"Guide to the Project Management Body of
Knowledge"
http://www.pmi.org/pmi/publictn/pmboktoc.htm
Training Resources
Defense Systems Management College
9820 Belvoir Road
Fort Belvoir, VA 22060-5565
(703) 805-3666
http://www.dsmc.dsm.mil
Federal Acquisition Institute Online University
General Services Administration
18th and F Streets, NW
Washington, DC 20405
http://www.gsa.gov/staff/v/mvi/key.htm
[log in to unmask]
George Washington University
Program in Project Management
Department of Management Science
Building AL
2101 F Street, NW
Washington, DC 20052
(202) 994-6145
http://www.sbpm.gwu.edu/Programs/mspm/
index.htm
George Washington University
Staff Development Courses
Quality Management Resources
George Washington University
2011 Eye Street, Suite 200, NW
Washington, DC 20052
(202) 973-7670
http://www.gwu.edu/~qmr/qmr_html/qmr1.html
[log in to unmask]
1000 by the Year 2000 Program
General Services Administration
18th and F Streets, NW
Washington, DC 20405
(202) 208 -2780
http://www.itpolicy.gsa.gov/mkp/1kby2k/
1x2intro.htm
GSA Trail Boss Program
General Services Administration
18th and F Streets, NW
Washington, DC 20405
(202) 219-2354 or (202) 501-1136
http://www.itpolicy.gsa.gov/mkp/trailbos/
trailbos.htm
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Program/Project Management Initiative
PPMI Program Officer
Headquarters Code FT
Washington, DC 20546
(202) 358-2182
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/codef/codeft/
USDA Graduate School
1400 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 1000
Arlington, VA 22209-2312
http://grad.usda.gov
[log in to unmask]
Performance Measurement
DOD Software Program Managers Network
PO Box 2523
Arlington, VA 22202
(703) 521-5231
http://www.spmn.com
[log in to unmask]
Carnegie Mellon's Software Engineering Institute (SEI)
4500 Fifth Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
(412) 268 - 5800
http://www.sei.cmu.edu/
[log in to unmask]
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