Teaching Project Management Skills: An Example of Collaboration between a University and the Local PMI Chapter

The demand for project management skills in industry is increasing; however the number of individuals who can meet the demand is decreasing. Universities are addressing these changes by developing project management degree programs. In this paper we describe the experience of a collaborative effort between one University and a local chapter of the Project Management Institute (PMI). The result is a popular and highly successful program in which project management professionals from the PMI are engaged in student learning by providing a guest lecture series, serving as mentors for class projects, providing actual organizational projects for students to analyze and apply class concepts, and serving as judges on student team project competitions. The results are students who receive a rigorous education, hands on experience in industry, form relationships with, and learn practical skills from PMI volunteers; grounding their formal education in practical industry experience

The Impact of Enterprise Resource Planning Systems on Firm Performance

Debate exists regarding the contribution of information technology to firm performance. Prior research has examined technology and firm performance in the aggregate. This study, however, focuses on a specific technology—enterprise resource planning (ERP)—and its impact on firm performance. Economic and industrial organization theories are used to predict how ERP technology should affect firm coordination and transaction costs. ERP is expected to (1) reduce costs by improving efficiencies through computerization and (2) enhance decision making by providing accurate and timely enterprise-wide information. These effects should be associated with improved firm performance. This issue is examined empirically using archival financial data of COMPUSTAT firms that have implemented ERP systems compared to control firm counterparts. Results indicate a significant increase in costs as a percentage of revenue but a decrease in the number of employees as a percentage of revenue the year after ERP implementation. However, control firms experience a greater reduction in employees. Results indicate a paradox where firms having fewer employees supporting more revenue simultaneously experience higher cost to revenue ratios after their ERP implementation

Role of Testers in Selecting an Enterprise Architecture Solution: An Exploratory Study

Software testing groups are playing an increasingly prominent role in both the software development lifecycle (SDLC) and in the long-term planning of technology architectures that support large-scale organizational information systems. The advent of integrated enterprise architectures (EA) provides new opportunities for testing groups to play a proactive role in building consistent and testable guidelines for improving enterprise-wide software quality. Given that testing groups historically have not been invited to participate in EA decisions, there is little academic literature or industry best practices on approaches that testers might use to guide their participation. This article draws lessons from the experience of a Fortune 100 corporation whose testing group used theoretical notions of “testability” to guide its involvement in an EA acquisition process. It describes how it operationalized testability criteria, incorporating controllability, observability, and simplicity, into various stages of the process and illustrates the benefits and challenges of taking such an approach

IS Human Capital: Assessing Gaps to Strengthen Skill and Competency Sourcing

Past research has mainly focused on defining information systems (IS) skills and competencies at the industry or global level; it has offered little guidance on best practices for managing IS at the organization level. And yet, a resource-based view indicates that failure to properly manage skills and competencies could lead to suboptimal outcomes such as a loss of IS process knowledge and innovation, an inability to adequately evaluate vendor performance, and a lack of critical skills and competencies needed to meet future demands. In this paper, we examine how one government agency managed its systems for testing personnel. We describe the need for a process to assess IS skills and competencies in order to analyze the gaps and ensure they are filled. A concrete understanding of existing gaps guides sourcing of skills and competencies through hiring, training, internal transfers, and work allocation. This paper presents an effective methodology for this purpose

A SOFTWARE TESTING ASSESSMENT TO MANAGE PROJECT TESTABILITY

The demand for testing services is, to a large extend a ?derived demand? influenced directly by the manner in which prior developed activities are undertaken. The early stages of a structured software development life cycle (SDLC) project can often run behind schedule, shrinking the time available for performing adequate testing especially when software release deadlines have to be met. This situation fosters the need to influence pre-testing activities and manage the testing effort efficiently. Our research examines how to measure testability of a SDLC project before testing begins. It builds on the ?design for testability? perspective by introducing a ?manage for testability? perspective. Software testability focuses on whether the activities of the SDLC process are progressing in ways that enable the testing team to find software product defects if they exist. To address this challenge, we develop a software testing assessment. This assessment is designed to provide testing managers with information needed to: (1) influence pre-testing activities in ways that ultimately increase testing efficiency and effectiveness, and (2) plan testing resources to optimize efficient and effective testing. We developed specific software testing assessment measures through interviews with key informants. We present data collected for the measures for large-scale structured software development projects to illustrate the assessment?s usefulness and application

Designing an Academic Project Management Program: A Collaboration between a University and a PMI Chapter

The demand for project management skills in industry is increasing resulting in a higher demand for project management educational programs. Universities are addressing industry demand by developing project management courses, degree offerings and certificate programs that focus on both technical and general project management skills. While teaching project management skills has been widely covered in the literature, little focus has been given to close collaboration with industry in developing university project management programs that reflect industry demands and provide opportunities to work with project management professionals and with “real world” projects. As a case study, we report a collaborative effort between one university and a local chapter of the Project Management Institute (PMI) that results in the development and implementation of an undergraduate project management minor program. We describe the evolution and process of developing a program in which project management professionals from the PMI are actively engaged in student learning by serving a variety of roles in the classroom. We describe the lessons learned over the evolution of the program, as well as refinements to the courses, conducted in order to enhance the grounding of formal education with practical industry experience resulting in an academically rigorous and practical education

How Advice and Its Source Characteristics Prompts Changes in Investment Decisions

People are using the Internet for financial planning assistance. Yet those seeking advice on the Internet rarely tend to question the advice source. Little research has examined the unique aspects of online financial advice taking. Online advice offers a unique setting which does not mirror offline advice . This paper addresses the research questions (1) What kinds of people are more likely to change their investment decisions given different online source characteristics, (2) How do people change their investment decisions given the disclosure of human vs. computer advice sources, and (3) How do people change their investment decisions given the disclosure of source credibility? This study finds that users with higher levels of task-specific self-efficacy are less likely to take advice and certain online design features influence changes in investment advice taking

Client Communication Practices in Managing Relationships with Offshore Vendors of Software Testing Services

Enabled by the globalization and advances in technology, offshore outsourcing of software development to countries such as India, China, and Russia, continues to increase. Much of the extant research has not focused on the communication practices observed in thriving offshore client−vendor relationships. Our research identifies communication practices found in a case study of a large multinational client’s multi-vendor relationship in offshore outsourcing of software testing projects. We discuss the empirically grounded communication practices in the light of existing literature to highlight how the client−vendor relationships deliver long-term value. Through this discussion, we delineate and discuss communication techniques. Implications for theory and practice are also discussed

Nonadopters of Online Social Network Services: Is It Easy to Have Fun Yet?

Although online social network services (OSNS), e.g., Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn, are enjoying rampant popularity, a subsection of the population (i.e., nonadopters) continues to forgo using them. Our study is one of the first to focus exclusively on what might motivate nonadopters to accept a widely adopted IT. By considering nonadopters’ inertia within the context of early stages of innovation diffusion and incorporating status quo bias theory into well-established technology acceptance model (TAM) relationships, this study uncovers the finding that people who report that they do not use OSNS would use them if they thought OSNS were easier and more enjoyable to use, and if they were persuaded by others to use them. Our findings suggest these nonadopters do not see the usefulness of OSNS, risks of sharing personal information publically, or the perceived amount of effort in using OSNS as factors that influence potential acceptance and use of the technology. This study contributes to research by offering an integrated theoretical framework that updates TAM with status quo bias theory to study nonadopters and offers IS practice guidelines for OSNS providers to attract nonadopters to accept and use the technology