Improving project management practices in architecture & design offices

"World Conference on Information Systems and Technologies (WorldCIST 2017)"This paper describes a study on improving project management (PM) practices in architecture & design offices, conducted through semi-structured interviews and focus group with professionals from seven different offices. Taking into account the best PM practices described in literature and the most used practices and problems identified in this particular organizational context, a set of key PM practices are proposed. The results show that there are common practices already used by the architecture & design offices, such as: project charter, kickoff meeting, budgeting document and progress meetings. The problems found are mainly related to communication, collecting requirements, schedule control and portfolio management. The set of key PM practices proposed is composed by well-known practices: kick-off meeting, budgeting document, project charter, milestone planning, work packages and deadlines document, communication plan, change request, progress meeting, progress report, meeting minutes, client acceptance form and project closure documentation.This work has been supported by COMPETE: POCI-01-0145-FEDER007043 and FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia within the Project Scope: UID/CEC/00319/2013.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

UTP Project Monitoring System

Projects are exposures to students in practical problems of the studies and provide dynamic unscripted learning opportunities for students. However, students facing bundle of problems at managing their project with the current project monitoring process by lecturers which result to passing deadlines and unsatisfactory outcome. This objective of this thesis is to develop an online project monitoring tool for lecturers and students to monitor project progress. It aims to monitor students' projects, thus, assist students toward better managing project which resulted to producing better outcome. Methodology used in developing this project is thethrowaway prototyping technique. Result section discussed onthe software architecture of the system and system functionalities. System functionalities are categories in 3 categories that is monitoring of projects, administrating system and managing account. For future work, the research suggests to combine the current course management system with this project

A Collaborative Project Management Approach and a Framework for Its Supporting Systems

The project management (PM) paradigm has changed during the past decade due to the globalization of business and advancement of information technology (IT). Increasingly, projects involve members from different geographical locations more than at any other time in history. Traditional PM methods may be inadequate to manage distributed projects, and new information systems are needed to support distributed PM. This article provides the rationale for a collaborative PM approach to manage distributed projects and proposes a conceptual framework for the collaborative PM software development. The objective is to present a collaborative PM framework that can guide further research and development in this challenging area

UTP Project Monitoring System

Projects are exposures to students in practical problems of the studies and provide dynamic unscripted learning opportunities for students. However, students facing bundle of problems at managing their project with the current project monitoring process by lecturers which result to passing deadlines and unsatisfactory outcome. This objective of this thesis is to develop an online project monitoring tool for lecturers and students to monitor project progress. It aims to monitor students' projects, thus, assist students toward better managing project which resulted to producing better outcome. Methodology used in developing this project is thethrowaway prototyping technique. Result section discussed onthe software architecture of the system and system functionalities. System functionalities are categories in 3 categories that is monitoring of projects, administrating system and managing account. For future work, the research suggests to combine the current course management system with this project

Estimating the effort in the early stages of software development.

Estimates of the costs involved in the development of a software product and the likely risk are two of the main components associated with the evaluation of software projects and their approval for development. They are essential before the development starts, since the investment early in software development determines the overall cost of the system. When making these estimates, however, the unknown obscures the known and high uncertainty is embedded in the process. This is the essence of the estimator's dilemma and the concerns of this thesis. This thesis offers an Effort Estimation Model (EEM), a support system to assist the process of project evaluation early in the development, when the project is about to start. The estimates are based on preliminary data and on the judgement of the estimators. They are developed for the early stages of software building in which the requirements are defined and the gross design of the software product is specified. From these estimates only coarse estimates of the total development effort are feasible. These coarse estimates are updated when uncertainty is reduced. The basic element common to all frameworks for software building is the activity. Thus the EEM uses a knowledge-base which includes decomposition of the software development process into the activity level. Components which contribute to the effort associated with the activities implemented early in the development process are identified. They are the size metrics used by the EEM. The data incorporated in the knowledge-base for each activity, and the rules for the assessment of the complexity and risk perceived in the development, allow the estimation process to take place. They form the infrastructure for a 'process model' for effort estimating. The process of estimating the effort and of developing the software are linked. Assumptions taken throughout the process are recorded and assist in understanding deviations between estimates and actual effort and enable the incorporation of a feedback mechanism into the process of software development. These estimates support the decision process associated with the overall management of software development, they facilitate management involvement and are thus considered as critical success factors for the management of software projects