I co-authored lecture notes on IT support for project management processes e-learning book.
For a full-fledged overview check the lecture notes of IT support for project management processes E-learning course authored by Lajos Jeno Fulop Dr. and Peter Kortvelyesi.
The course is published at the pages of the University of Szeged.
The objective of the course is to provide an overview on the IT tool and system support of modern project management. As for complex projects it is inevitable to have a collaborative tracking system the authors lists the main tools and their usage. The aim is to build on previous project management experience and given knowledge by providing an overview on wide spread project management methodologies including:
- PMBOK with detailed knowledge areas
- Agile
- Kanban
- Crystal
- Extreme programming
- Dynamic Systems Development
- Feature Driven Development
- Lean
Projects are everywhere in our lives, e.g. at personal level acquiring a MSc. degree or building our dream house, or at community level building a big research infrastructure or developing a new enterprise resource planning software, all can be considered as a project. Therefore the effective and efficient management of projects is an important key to success. However, even the smallest project can raise significant and unpredicted difficulties that should be solved and managed appropriately.
IT support for project management can help project managers to achieve the desired results and success by storing, managing and showcasing all project related information, progress, costs, resources in a real time, collaborative user interface accessible by the mobile user. However, a project management software in itself is absolutely not able to guarantee success and solve any occurring difficulty. First of all the underlying processes to be supported by a software solution have to be clearly defined.
As Byatt et. al. described in ?Which Came First ? The Process Or The Tool??:
?Whilst a tool can embody good processes, one can argue that it is the behaviours and actions of individuals that make the real difference ? regardless of the tool or tools they use. Such behaviours are a result of understanding how to perform certain activities; this cannot be taught by a tool.?
??the process should determine how the tool needs to be used?
Therefore, IT support is significantly based on the applied processes. According to that, the course extensively discusses different kind of project management processes and on this basis different kind of project management software solutions are presented. With this knowledge the attendee will be able to define her processes and select the appropriate software support. The course focuses on the methodologies and their IT support and is not to provide a general overview on all project domains: costs, risks, finance, procurement management as multiple courses should cover those areas. It is assumed that all students of the course have previous project management experience and are aware of the areas of project management.
Assessed tools:
- Redmine
- Microsoft Project and Project Server
- Planner
- Collabtive
- DotProject
- ProjectPier
- Codendi
Course available at:
http://www.inf.u-szeged.hu/oktatas/kurzusleirasok/PMTananyag/index.html