Towards a Model for Planning and Controlling ETO Design Projects

-In the modern engineering environment design projects have become increasingly complex; this calls for an updated perspective on how to plan and coordinate design projects. This paper describes the identified premise that will lay the foundation of the development of a model for planning and controlling such projects. The premise includes principles, requirements, and methods derived from theories around subjects, such as, production theory, lean and agile. The distinctiveness of the design process has been central when setting the premise for the model

The development and practical implementation of a project management model for enhancing new venture creation success

Thesis (M. Tech. (Business Admin.)) - Central University of Technology, Free State, 2014Research by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) continuously indicate that new venture creation success rate in South Africa is disturbingly low. This situation arises despite numerous support mechanisms in place to encourage citizens to establish their own businesses. This is an indication that current approaches to encourage new venture creation are not working. New approaches must therefore be found. The goal of this study was to combine the processes of project management and entrepreneurship, two seemingly diametrically opposed management philosophies into an integrated process model that will contribute to enhancing the new venture creation process. So, at the heart of this study is the wish to assist prospective entrepreneurs in their new venture creation journey. To achieve this objective, action research design, an emerging approach to qualitative research was adopted. Specifically, the canonical action research was used. Holistically, the study can be described as applied, cross-sectional, descriptive and exploratory in nature. Through a series of iterative canonical action research cycles, a model was developed. The results suggest that despite their seemingly diametrically opposed management philosophies, an integrated project management model for new venture creation is achievable

Projektipäällikön rooli tietojärjestelmäprojektin onnistumisessa

Yksi merkittävä tekijä, joka vaikuttaa tietojärjestelmäprojektien epäonnistumiseen on huono johtaminen. Tutkielman tavoitteena on kartoittaa projektipäälliköltä tarvittavia ominaisuuksia ja projektipäällikön roolia onnistuneessa tietojärjestelmäprojektissa sekä pyrkiä löytämään toimintatapoja, joilla voidaan parantaa tietojärjestelmäprojektin mahdollisuuksia onnistua johtamisen näkökulmasta. Tutkielman tutkimusmenetelmänä on integroiva kirjallisuuskatsaus. Teoreettinen viitekehys koostuu tietojärjestelmäprojektin onnistumisen teoriasta ja tietojärjestelmien kehityksen elinkaarimalleista sekä projektin hallinnan teoriasta tietojärjestelmäprojektin näkökulmasta. Tuloksissa nousi esiin, että tietojärjestelmän ja tietojärjestelmäprojektin onnistuminen ei ole yksiselitteinen käsite vaan moniulotteinen ilmiö. Tietojärjestelmäprojektin onnistumisen kannalta tärkein yksittäinen tekijä on itse tietojärjestelmä, jolla pyritään korjaamaan järjestelmän tilaajan liiketoiminnallinen ongelma. Onnistunut projekti kykenee tuottamaan asiakkaalleen liiketoiminnallista hyötyä, eikä projektin onnistumista voida arvioida vain pelkästään budjetissa, aikataulussa ja laajuudessa pysymisen lähtökohdasta. Projektipäällikön ominaisuuksissa havaittiin tärkeimpinä taitoina olevan vuorovaikutus- ja ihmistaidot, sekä kyky johtaa ja motivoida, mutta tärkeimmät ominaisuudet myös vaihtelivat riippuen projektin luonteesta. Vaikka projektipäällikön tehtävä on huolehtia, että projekti pysyy annetussa aikataulussa ja budjetissa, ei näiden ylittäminen silti välttämättä kerro projektin onnistumisesta. Tietojärjestelmäprojektin onnistumisessa oleellisinta on tuoda järjestelmän avulla liiketoiminnallisia hyötyjä ratkaisemalla asiakkaan liiketoiminnallinen ongelma. Synteesin tuloksena kehitettiin uusi tietojärjestelmäprojektin onnistumisen malli, joka ilmentää paremmin itse tietojärjestelmän ja asiakkaan liiketoiminnan onnistumista järjestelmän kautta.One major factor that affects the success or failure of an information system project is bad leadership. The objective of this research is to map the qualities of a project manager and investigate the role of the project manager in the success of the information system project. The aim is also to find suitable ways that can further improve the odds of the project to be successful from the project manager’s perspective. The research method of this research is an integrative literature review. The theoretical background consists of the theory of information system and information system project success as well as the development life cycle models and the theory of project management in the context of information systems. The results showed that the success of an information system and information system project is a multifaceted phenomenon. The one most important factor in information system project success is the information system itself, which aims to fix the client’s business problem. Successful project brings benefits to the client organization’s business and the project success cannot be evaluated from the perspective of the constraints of budget, time and scope. The most important skills of a project manager turned out to be the communication and people skills and also the ability to lead and motivate. Even though project manager’s main goal is to ensure that the project is completed within the time frame and budget, it doesn’t always guarantee the project success. The most important part in information system success is to bring benefits to the client’s business by solving the business problem using the new information system. As a result of the synthesis, a new information system project success model was developed which clarifies the role of the information system and the client’s business success in the whole project’s success

Le prototypage basé sur des méta données phase 1 du cycle de développement

Le processus de conception des systèmes d'information (SI) est un processus long et complexe qui résulte en de nombreux échecs. Le prototypage informatique et la conception guidée par modèles ont été proposés comme une solution en améliorant la qualité des spécifications au début du cycle de vie d'un SI. L'objectif de notre recherche est de mieux orienter l'action de spécification des exigences dans la phase initiale de conception "Communication Client - Concepteur" et dans le début de la phase de développement "Communication Concepteur - Développeur" en utilisant des artefacts de prototypage. Notre travail ouvre concrètement une voie dans laquelle il devient possible d'envisager que toute modification au cours de la vie d'un SI puisse être effectuée à partir du modèle du domaine qui est l'intrant du "prototypeur", qui devient alors le SI lui-même. Mots clés: système d'information; méthodologie de conception; modèle conceptuel de données; spécification déclarative; spécification exécutable; prototype; méta-donnée; architecture applicativeDesigning information systems is a lengthy and complex process that leads to numerous failures. Prototyping has been proposed as a solution to improve the specifications' quality in the beginning of an information system's life cycle. Every information system (IS) is based upon the information architecture ; it is, before all, a content about the perceived reality. A "domain" is a formalization of the perceived reality in which the IS users identify the representations of facts (the data) by means of semantic keys. IS designers have to transform this model using their knowledge about the abstract functioning of computers. The objective of our research is to guide the action of requirements specification in the initial design phase of "Communication Customer - Designer" and in the beginning of the development phase "Communication Designer - Developer" using prototyping artifacts. Our work actually opens the way where it becomes possible to envisage that every modification during the information system's life cycle could be done from within the domain model, which is an input for the "prototyper" and becomes then itself an information system. Keywords : information system ; design method ; conceptual data model ; déclarative specification; executables pecification; prototype ; méta-data ; application architectur