Lesson 1 Overview

In this lesson, you are introduced to project management concepts and practices. This will set the stage for subsequent lessons, in which you will apply key practices and methods to practical project scenarios. The lessons in this course follow the approaches and practices espoused by the Project Management Institute (PMI) and other authoritative sources on best practices for project planning and execution. These best practices apply generally to all types of projects, but in this course, we will be focusing on their application for IT and GIS projects. First, let's review some key terminology:

• The PMI defines a project as a, "temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product or service". Take special note of the words, "temporary" and "unique product or service". Every well-conceived and well-planned project should have clear start and end dates and well-defined end results or deliverables.
• Most projects focus on the creation of one or more deliverables. A deliverable is a specific product or defined result for work carried out in the project. In a GIS context, this could be a report or document (e.g., GIS Needs Assessment), a GIS data product (e.g., traffic sign inventory with point locations and sign attributes), or a tested and deployed Web-based GIS application.
• The PMI defines project management as, "the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet the project's requirements". Project management is accomplished through the application and integration of what the PMI refers to as process elements--interrelated sets of activities for launching, planning, successfully executing, and formally closing out a project. We will take a closer look at these process elements in the next lesson.

Why get serious about project management? For some very good reasons that directly impact the project's cost, timing, and how well it accomplishes stated requirements:

• to put the project manager, team, and the organization in the best position to meet project objectives and deliver results;
• to make the best and most efficient use of resources--primarily money and people's time; and
• to provide an effective means to anticipate and deal with changes and problems--which arise in nearly all projects.

Taking the time to put in place a sound project plan and applying best practices for project execution and monitoring just makes sense!

Learning Objectives

By the end of Lesson 1, you should be able to:

• understand what a project is, and the difference between a project, a program, and a product;
• grasp the relationship between a project's objectives and the mission and goals of the organization for which the project is being carried out;
• describe project management and its key elements;
• characterize the organizational and business context of a project (project team, stakeholders, and business requirements); and
• recognize the factors that contribute to an effective project plan and management approach.

See the checklist page for readings, quiz, and assignment work in this Lesson.

Questions or Topics to Post

Questions about this assignment or any other topics for the instructor are best submitted to the email address or by direct phone call to the instructor. Also, feel free to communicate with your fellow students via the Discussion Forum or email.

Lesson 1 is one week in length (see the Calendar for specific due dates). To finish this lesson, you must complete the activities listed below. You may find it useful to print this page out first so that you can follow along with the directions.

Inherent in the definition of a project are the constraints that will affect any project. These constraints reflect the key elements of our project definition:

• It has a unique purpose and specific deliverables → Scope constraints.
• It is temporary, with specific dates associated with tasks and milestones → Time constraints.
• It requires staff time, money, and physical or technological assets (e.g., software, computer hardware, etc.) → Resource constraints.

The Scope constraints address project deliverable requirements and meeting the specifications (functionality, content, format, quality) associated with those deliverables or planned project results. The Time and Resource constraints set boundaries for planning and executing the work. These are often called the "triple constraints" of project management, and changing any one of these is sure to have an effect on the other two. A key ingredient in successful project management is carefully defining these constraints for each project and controlling any changes that may occur during the project. Of course, any of these constraints can be eased at any time by compromising the quality of the project. In this class, we will assume that this is not an option that we are anxious to explore!

Key Project Management Concepts and the PMI

Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities in order to meet project requirements—all focused on delivering desired results on schedule and on budget. In geospatial projects, results are often defined deliverables—tangible products or results of project work which are well-defined in a project plan. For example, in a project with the objective of developing a GIS database, deliverables could include processed aerial imagery or LiDAR elevation data ready to load into the GIS database for access by users.

Project management is not a new field, but it is a discipline that has been formalized greatly over the last 30 years with a range of documented methods, best practices, and automated tools to support projection planning and execution. A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK), 7th Edition. This document can be obtained by online order. This PMI is the world's leading professional association that develops and promotes project management standards and best practices (for all types of projects). The PMI also offers a number of project management and program management professional certifications—the Project Management Professional (PMP) certification being the most popular and widely recognized. Students are encouraged to examine the materials from the PMI and pursue one of its certifications. Take a look at the PMI website and build some awareness of the scope and services of this organization. While not a mandatory text for this course, we recommend that you consider obtaining a copy of the PMBOK and use it as a reference guide for the planning and management of future projects.

Standards Organizations

There are a number of government and independent organizations which develop, adopt, and promote the application of standards associated with IT and GIS. Some of the more important standards bodies include:

• The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) includes groups that develop and formally adopt standards pertinent to a wide variety of topics and disciplines. The ISO Technical Committee 211 (TC211) deals specifically with geospatial technology, practices, and data.
• The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is a U.S. government organizations that codify a wide range of standards, some of which impact geospatial and IT projects.
• Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) is a U.S. Federal government committee which develops and promotes standards and best practices related to GIS data and database development and maintenance.
• Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) is an independent body with wide participation of geospatial technology product and service vendors, government organizations, and other types of organizations. Its mission is to develop, approve, and promote the use of standards for geospatial data, software, services, and practices that maximize open access and integration among geospatial products.
• American National Standards Institute (ANSI) is a U.S.-based independent standards organization that develops and adopts standards on a wide range of topics (including information technology).

In addition to these formal standards bodies, there are a large number of professional organizations that promote standards and best practices for the development, use, and management of geospatial technology. Two of the most prominent are the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (URISA) and the American Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS). Also, there are many discipline-specific professional associations that have committees or groups that address geospatial issues.

Introduction

Project management frameworks are efforts to understand the scope of a project and project management topics in a holistic sense. They go beyond the constraints discussed above to include all aspects that may influence a project. Schwalbe offers the following framework:

• Stakeholders' needs and expectations
• Project management knowledge areas
• Tools and techniques
• Project portfolios

Schwalbe illustrates the relationships between these various aspects of the project management framework in Figure 1-1 below.

Text description of Figure 1-1: Project Management Framework.

This figure shows how the ten project management Knowledge Areas, represented as boxes arranged horizontally, reflect the needs and expectations of stakeholders and support successful project planning and execution. These knowledge area boxes: Scope, Time, Cost, Quality, Human Resources, Communications, Risk, Procurement, and Stakeholder Management have arrows that connect to a central arrow labeled as "Project Integration Management". Through the use of project integration management tools and techniques, these "Knowledge Areas" come together in project planning and execution to deliver project success--full completion of the scope within planned time and resources. Project success, represented as a circular symbol, connects to a box called listing multiple projects in an organization's "project portfolio" to deliver "enterprise success" represented as a circular symbol.

Credit: Schwalbe, Information Technology Project Management, 8th Edition. Used with permission by Cengage Learning.

Stakeholder Needs and Expectations

Stakeholders can be anyone or any organization that has an interest or involvement in the project. The term "stakeholder" is normally used in a general sense to identify people or organizations that will have some role in a project (e.g., review or approval of project deliverables) or which are more broadly impacted by the project work or results (e.g., employees or management personnel inside the organization carrying out the project). The group or organization which sponsors a project and expects to derive benefits from project results may be considered "customers". Project results and tangible deliverables should focus on the customers' business requirements, which are work assignments and associated resource needs necessary to support an organization's mission and goals.

Project Management Knowledge Areas

As described by the Project Management Institute (PMI), project management Knowledge Areas address critical concerns and practices that must be taken into account in project planning and execution. The PMI Knowledge areas are:

• Core knowledge areas
  • Scope management
  • Time management
  • Cost management
  • Quality management
• Facilitating knowledge areas
  • Human resources management
  • Communication management
  • Risk management
  • Procurement management
  • Stakeholder management
• Integrative knowledge areas
  • Project integration management

A look at our syllabus reveals much of the class is organized based on these knowledge areas. It is not possible to create a project plan without a detailed look at the plan's scope, timing, and cost. In addition to these, we will discuss all of the other important knowledge areas you must be familiar with to be a successful project manager.

Tools and Techniques

Tools and techniques can help to increase understanding in any of these knowledge areas, but are most vital in the core knowledge areas. We will explore a variety of these techniques and discuss their implementation in GIS projects. Although project management software packages can facilitate the use of these tools and techniques, the same techniques have long been used with pencil and paper.

Project Portfolios

A project portfolio is a collection of projects that are grouped together to facilitate effective management of work to meet the projects' objectives). Project portfolio management integrates the planning and management of individual projects into a larger entity that can be aligned with an organization's mission and business requirements. The process is similar to investment portfolios that look at all holdings and attempt to achieve a balance between risk and potential reward.

There is no fundamental difference between the planning and management of GIS projects and other information technology projects. In fact, the PMI develops and promotes project management standards from a premise that all types of projects can benefit from a common set of practices and methods. In this course, we will adopt this general concept and show how PMI standards and practices apply to GIS environments.

As we progress through this class, keep in mind the following concepts:

• definition of a project
• scope of project planning and management as explained through the PMI "Knowledge Areas" and "Process Groups"
• project constraints (scope and deliverable specifications, time, and resources)
• focus on specific project results and deliverables that meet customers' business requirements and the organization's strategic mission and goals

Let's jump into the first assignment of looking at the fit between a project undertaken by an organization and the organization itself.

Assignment #1 (Part 1) Overview

Assignment #1 spans Lessons 1 and 2. The entire assignment will be due at the end of Lesson 2. However, please begin Part 1 of the assignment NOW (by following the directions below) because it is relevant to what we've just discussed in this lesson. Furthermore, starting now will help you to manage your workload! Also, students sometimes need time to gain permission to use a work project as a class assignment. If this is the case with the project you are considering, begin seeking permission early.

Assignment #1 entails examining the fit between a GIS project done by an organization and that organization's mission and strategic goals. In Part 1 (this week's assignment), you will describe a GIS-related project done by an organization. In Part 2 (next week's assignment), you will document the organization's mission and goals and discuss how the project supports that mission.

Your Submittal - Part 1, Assignment #1

For Part 1 of Assignment 1, first identify and describe a GIS-related project — it works best to find a project that has a clear set of deliverables and an organization that benefits from them.

Some examples of GIS projects include:

1. Aerial or field-based spatial data collection and processing (orthoimagery, field-based inventory of natural resources or utility features) for a local government or utility organization
2. A GIS program needs assessment carried out as a basis for development of City enterprise (multi-Departmental) GIS program
3. Design and development of a custom Web-based GIS application
4. Preparation and specifications for procurement of GIS software and computer server resources
5. Major GIS software upgrade and re-configuration
6. Other time-limited mapping, geographic data, or GIS application projects with specific results or deliverables

After selection of a suitable project, present a summary description of the project that includes the following topics:

• Cover page
• Identification of the organization’s name (identify main organization and specific department or division carrying out the project)^†
• Name of the project (if you cannot find a clear name of the project you select, make up one that describes the work and results)
• Summary of project objectives, tasks, and deliverables. The summary should be 2 to 3 paragraphs with bullet lists as appropriate. If the project is very detailed (with many tasks and subtasks) it is OK to summarize the project at the major task level. Don't get into too much technical detail.
• Summary of project timing: Include some key milestones of project execution beginning with project start and some main activities and deliverable completion points. Timing may be expressed by actual dates or as "days from project start". A bullet list works well for this. The first milestone should be the start of the project and there should be about 5 to 10 additional milestones (ending with project finish or close) identifiying key points in the project work. NOTE: Remember that a "milestone" is a point in time (not a date range). So word the mistones in a way that connotes a fixed point (e.g., "Completion of field data collection")
• Project team: Identify the key team members (including the project manager) as well as other key people on the team. A position role in the project (e.g., Project Manager, GIS Analyst, etc.) should be identified. If project team members come from multiple organizations, the organization affiliation should be noted.If the project team includes people from multiple, different organizations, you will need to describe the project relationship/roles among these organizations and the organizational affiliation of the team members.
• Your insights into how the project you described relates to material from Lessons 1 and 2 (Canvas material and readings. Focus on "Learning Objectives" for the lesson modules).

^†If you choose a project being carried out by a contractor for a client organization (e.g., acquisition and processing of aerial imagery for a local government), it is the client organization (e.g., local government agency) that should be identified as the lead organization and user of the project results and deliverables. The mission and “project fit” that you will describe in Part 2 should be for the client organization, not the contractor.

You may base your project description on one in your current organization, one you have worked for in the past, or one carried out by a colleague in another organization. Another way to identify and select a suitable project for this assignment is to search the Web for "request for proposals" (RFPs)* or "project plans", "project charters", or "project reports" that summarize objectives, scope, deliverables, schedule for GIS-related projects. If you choose to use this Web search approach, enter such key phrases as "RFP", "project plan", "GIS", "database development", "application", "design", "needs assessment", etc. You may also find some examples of projects by looking at archived presentation summaries from GIS conferences (e.g., URISA GIS-Pro Conference, Esri User Conference). You will find documents for multiple projects that should work, and, in many cases, these documents will provide organizational background, mission statements, etc.  For this assignment, it is acceptable to make edits, revisions, and to modify information of an actual project if necessary (changing or modifying names, deliverables, etc.). The best types of projects to use for this Assignment are those that have clear objectives and deliverables and are not too complex in terms of tasks and the stakeholder environment. Also make sure you can identify the organization that is the source or sponsor of this project (e.g., Department in a State or local government) and the organization's mission and goals. Contact your instructor if you have difficulty selecting a project or questions about the suitability of a project example you have come up with.

For Lesson 1, you should begin Assignment 1—Part 1 as described above. Both parts of Assignment 1 are due during Lesson 2 and should be about 1800 to 2500 words in total. Part 2 involves a description of project fit for the organization. As is the case for all written assignments, the word count is a target to give you an idea about the level of detail expected. As a general rule, it is best to be concise and as brief as possible while covering the necessary topics. No points will be deducted for submittals if they exceed the maximum word count by a small amount. Your submitted assignment should be formatted as specified in the rubric to earn maximum points. The use of the Outline feature of your word processing software is a good document preparation practice.

For Assignment 1, organize the document in a way that concisely covers the topics described in Parts 1 and 2. There is no prescribed organizational format for the required content (i.e., section and subsection ordering). As in all written assignments, you should include a Cover page with prominent title and all necessary information identifying the course, assignment, author, and date. The main title of the document should be "PROJECT FIT TO ORGANZATION". The Cover Page should also reference to the project name and organization. At the bottom of the Cover Page (right side is best), include the course name and number, assignment number, your name, and date.

See more detailed information about document format and submittal in the Part 2 instructions for this Assignment.

Submitting the Assignment and the Grading Rubric

To pace yourself appropriately, complete Part 1 of Assignment #1 during Lesson 1 and move ahead with Part 2 as soon as possible. The grading rubric is below.

Lesson 2 Overview

In GEOG 871, we will look at projects from a systems approach, focusing on management that is holistic, analytical, and driven by the user's needs. In project management, systems and their management include technological and user issues, and also business and organizational issues. A system view focused on the end users' needs is vital to effective geospatial project management. This should be apparent in the processes employed throughout the life cycle of a project.

Learning Objectives

By the end of Lesson 2, you should be able to:

• describe organizational systems, structures, boundaries, and the roles of users, sponsors, and stakeholders within and outside the organization
• recognize the phases of a project life cycle, highlighting the unique context of GIS projects
• describe the five project management process groups and how each occurs within each project phase
• understand the role and approach for managing project-related procurement of products and services
• appreciate the role of procurement for products and services in the context of GIS projects

See the checklist page for readings, quiz, and assignment work in this Lesson.

Questions?

If you have any questions or would like to brainstorm ideas, please contact the instructor by phone or email. Also, feel free to communicate with your fellow students via the Discussion Forum or email.

Lesson 2 is one week in length. (See the Calendar for specific due dates.) To finish this lesson, you must complete the activities listed below. You may find it useful to print this page out first so that you can follow along with the directions.

Introduction

Whether you do GIS work for a large corporation, a government agency, a private consulting firm, or yourself, your approach to project management will be strongly influenced by your organization and its approach to business.

Organizations that use GIS

Nearly all organizations that use GIS share some common program and project management concerns and practices, but there are differences of mission, mandate, and structure among public, private, and non-profit organizations that affect how they use and manage GIS. An effective manager should acquire a solid understanding of the workings and structure of his or her organization and the external organizations with which it may interact in providing GIS products and services. This is important because a GIS project or program manager has a responsibility to support the organization’s mission and work within the established laws and policies. It is also likely, if not certain, that a GIS manager will need to coordinate with external organizations in the sharing of data or project coordination. Public-sector governmental agencies at the local, regional, state, and national level have been focal points of GIS implementation because their missions require the collection and use of maps and geographically referenced information. Croswell and Fries (2004) explain the prominence of GIS in the public sector. Private sector organizations using GIS technology include private utility companies, resource and land development firms, surveying and engineering services companies, geographic data providers, commercial and retail businesses, and many other types of private companies. They are profit-driven and use GIS to support their lines of business to develop, integrate, and deliver products and services to customers. Refer to Croswell, Section 1.4 for more information about organizations' use of GIS technology.

Mission Statement

How do you get to know what an organization is about? Stephen Covey, author of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, would suggest you look at their mission statement. A mission statement describes the overall purpose of an organization. What purpose does it serve? A good mission statement should reflect the organization's business and values. In short, it is a concise description of the organization's reason for existing and the basis for the work that it does. Most organizations have formal mission statements and often a set of high-level strategic goals. Consider the mission statement and strategic goals below for the City of Rio Rancho, NM (a medium-sized City implementing an enterprise GIS program).

City of Rio Rancho Mission Statement:

The City of Rio Rancho’s mission is to ensure the health, safety and welfare of the community by providing excellent service to achieve a high quality of life for residents, businesses, and visitors.

Major City goals are described in the City’s Strategic Plan, and these address the topic areas of:

• maintenance, expansion, and improvement of transportation and utility infrastructure,
• support for and sound, efficient management of land and economic development,
• maintaining sound fiscal health,
• continued effective public safety and improve the City’s ability to respond to emergency events,
• providing effective government services to City residents and businesses, and
• maintaining and improving an overall high quality of life.

One can see how GIS technology can play an important role in helping this organization respond to its mission and to accomplish its strategic goals.

Take a look at the excerpt from the City of Rio Rancho Enterprise GIS Needs Assessment project Report—especially subsections 2.1 and 2.2.). This report specifically articulates how GIS responds to the organization's mission, strategic goals, and the business needs of individual Departments.

As Yogi Berra said, "You've got to be careful if you don't know where you are going because you might not get there." Establishing a clear strategic foundation for any GIS project will make it much easier to plan and achieve desired results.

Organizational Structure

If the mission statement is a concise characterization of an organization's purpose, the organizational structure is its foundation for accomplishing work that accomplishes the mission. An organizational structure is the most obvious indication of how an organization approaches business in general and projects in particular. The focus here is roles and responsibilities. This structure is generally laid out in great detail in the organizational chart and establishes communication and authority relationships among organizational units. Organizational structures can be classified into three general types:

• Hierarchical
• Project
• Matrix

In a hierarchical structure (also referred to as "functional" or bureaucratic), GIS staff may report to a GIS Progam Manager who manages a formally defined GIS office, Department, or Division that is part of a hierarchical organizational structure. In a project structure, GIS staff would report to the project manager who reports to a GIS Program Manager or other senior management person. In this project structure, the project manager and project team may draw on personnel from throughout the organization. In a matrix structure, GIS staff may report to both an IT manager and a GIS program manager, depending on his or her roles and responsibilities. Of course, depending on the hierarchical structure of the organization, there may be several additional levels of management. Each of these structures has different advantages and disadvantages. Check out the hyperlink under "Site Visit" below for discussion of these organizational structures from a project manager's viewpoint.  Read Croswell, Section 3.1 for more information about organizational structures and how they work.

Organizational Program Areas and Business Requirements

GIS programs and projects succeed when they are aligned with an organization’s mission and business. Given that many of the activities of the private and public sectors are in some way associated with the location of people, material and products, facilities, services, and events, the diversity and extent of geographically related business activities or programs are without bounds. Examples of GIS-related program areas in government and utility organizations that rely heavily on GIS data and technology include: a) Economic Development and Investment, b) Land Use Planning and Management, c) Public Health Planning and Services, d) Public Safety and Emergency Management, e) Defense and Intelligence, f) Natural Resource and Environmental Management, g) Property Mapping and Tax Appraisal/Assessment, h) Transportation Planning and Management, i) Road and Utility Facility Asset/Work Management, j) Solid Waste Management, k) Permitting and Inspections, j) Geointelligence for Strategic or Tactical Planning (military and security operations), and others. Implementation and use of GIS technology should be focused on delivering benefits to these program areas and their users, including:

• improving efficiency and reducing the cost of services (e.g., reduction in labor time, contract costs)
• Streamlining business process workflows to reduce the time in delivering products or services (quicker turnaround)
• increasing revenue
• improving overall service quality and response to customers or citizens
• reducing redundancy in information capture and management
• enhancing environmental quality and livability
• protecting life and property by supporting public safety, emergency/disaster planning, and emergency response
• supporting effective planning and decision-making for major land and infrastructure development
• encouraging interdepartmental collaboration and sharing of resources
• improving data integrity and quality

An understanding of business needs and business processes supports effective planning and execution of GIS projects. A GIS-related business process is a set of activities that involve the collection, update, generation, use, analysis, or distribution of maps or geographically-referenced information. Business processes directly support the organization's mission and usually respond to formal organizational mandates—laws, ordinances, regulations, formal policies or resolutions, contract terms, or other documented directives. Some common examples of GIS-related business processes include: environmental impact assessment, local governmental comprehensive land use planning, imagery analysis for intelligence, construction plan or permit review, civil engineering design, many types of site inspection activities, utility, and transportation facility condition assess and work management, and many others. Refer to Croswell, Section 1.5, for more information about GIS-related business processes and business drivers.

Organizations do projects, and the analogy of a project having a life cycle is appropriate in many ways. In Lesson 1, we talked about a project as a temporary endeavor. If you've ever been involved in a project you've despised, this is great news, it has to end sometime! Projects are also conceived and go through phases. We will break down projects into four phases:

1. Concept
2. Development
3. Implementation
4. Close-out

Schwalbe (2016) illustrates the phases of a project life cycle and associated deliverables in Figure 2-1 below.

Text description of Figure 2-1: Phases of the Project Life Cycle.

The figure explains the main phases typically involved in the start-up, planning, and execution of all projects. These phases are shown as four boxes with connecting arrows pointing from left to right. Two of the phases, Concept, and Development establish the feasibility of the project and the foundation for execution. Above these two phase boxes is a text label, "Project Feasibility". Below each Phase box is a list of "sample deliverables". Types of deliverables for the Concept Phase include a "business case", "preliminary cost estimate", and an initial plan--typically a 2-level Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). The "Development Phase" includes a "project management plan", "budget estimate", and a more detailed WBS (3-level). To the right of the first two phase boxes are boxes for the Implementation and Close-out phases. Above these two phase boxes is a text label, "Project Acquisition." Deliverables associated with the "Implementation Phase" typically include completion of work and performance reports. The Close-out Phase includes the confirmation of all completed work (consistent with the plan) and a "Lessons-Learned" evaluation--a compilation of good and bad project practices and results that may be used to improve future project management.

Credit: Schwalbe (2016), Information Technology Project Management, 8th Edition. Used with permission by Cengage Learning.

The concept and development phases look at the project feasibility. The concept phase involves a rough assessment of the project, why it may be beneficial, and preliminary cost estimates. Projects that require too large an investment in time, or are inappropriate or too expensive for an organization, should be disregarded or culled at this time. In this class, we will move through the concept phase in Lesson 3 and create a summary document called a project charter.

The development phase fleshes out all aspects of the project charter, including what the project will accomplish, who will do the work, how much time it will take, and what it will cost. At the end of the development phase, no actual work has been done on the project, although all the planning is complete. In this class, we will move through the development phase in Lessons 4-10 and create a summary document called a project plan.

The implementation and close-out phases focus on doing and delivering the work for the project. In the implementation phase, the team creates those things outlined in the project plan, called the deliverables. Implementation also involves controlling any changes to the plan, including changes in budget, timing, or deliverables. In the close-out phase, the work is complete and delivered. In this phase, the customer may be queried regarding the acceptability and quality of the project. In this class, we will not have time to work a project through the implementation and close-out phases.

Read Croswell, Chapter 2 for a discussion of project phases in typical GIS development projects.

Describing a project by its life cycle is a useful analogy, but it lacks important detail. Namely, it doesn't describe the processes necessary to move from one phase to another. We will group these processes into five categories, all of which can and should occur in each phase of a project's life. These processes, as defined by the PMI and illustrated in Figure 2-1 are:

1. Initiating
2. Planning
3. Executing
4. Controlling
5. Closing

Initiating processes are actions that begin a phase of a project. For example, most organizations will not begin work on a project for another organization until a formal contract is signed. In this case, moving from the development phase to the implementation phase is dependent on an initiating process. Planning processes ensure projects align with an organization's mission. For example, an organization may plan an outcome assessment at the close-out phase of a project. Executing processes coordinate people, resources, and activities to accomplish work (following tasks in the project plan and completing project deliverables). This Executing process group is the place where work actually gets done—all of the other process groups support project execution activities. Controlling processes are designed to ensure project success. An extension of a deadline at no cost to the client would be an example of a controlling process. Finally, Closing processes end a phase or project. Creating an archive of a GIS project is an example of a closing process. In addition, the PMI suggests documenting "lessons learned" to serve as a project knowledge base for future projects. A "Lessons Learned" knowledge base is a summary of work, practices, and methods compiled from past projects or external sources that worked well or should be avoided.

Text description of Figure 2-1: Project Management Process Elements.

Figure 2-1 explains “project management process elements” as defined by the Project Management Institute (PMI). It shows each of the six process elements as shaded oval shapes, with connecting arrows showing the relationships among the process elements. Each of the process element oval shapes has a text list of the main activities and products for the Process Element. These PMI "process groups" are NOT meant to be used as project phases in a project work plan. They provide a perspective on activities and concerns that need to be addressed by the organization and a project manager before the project starts, during its execution, and after it is closed.

The Initiating process element, shown at the top left of the figure, contains processes such as identifying project objectives, PM, constraints, and authorizations. Initiating leads to planning, where you would identify the statement of work, project plan, project glossary, assumptions, constraints, critical success factors, and project plan updates. The Initiating process element shape has a single arrow connecting to the right with the Planning process element shape. The Planning process element lists the items: Statement of work, Project Plan, Project glossary, Assumptions, constraints and critical success factors, and Project plan updates. The Planning process element has a forked path to the Controlling process element includes the items, performance management and status reports, plan change requests, change management results, and issue management results. The Controlling process element has a double arrow line connecting to the Executing process element to the right and a single arrow connecting it to the Closing process element down and to the right. The Executing process element includes work on project deliverables, deliverable acceptance, actual effort and complete data, change requests, and project issue compilation. The Closing process element includes final product and vendor evaluations, acceptance documentation, legal closures, project archives, re-deploy resources, and outstanding issues and changes. The final phase is Ongoing Cross Project Improvement shown as an oval shape in the bottom right of the figure with a connecting line from the Closing process element. This Closing process element has the text, Apply past project content and compile lessons-learned on future projects.

Credit: Project Management Institute, Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBoK).

Reasons and Approaches for Procurement of Products and Services

Some organizations have all the resources (skilled staff, equipment, software) necessary for completing projects on which they work. In other cases, however, it is necessary for organizations to procure products and services for a project—normally by private sector companies with a business focus on GIS. The term outsourcing is sometimes used to refer to contracted services procured for GIS projects. The types of products and services that may be needed, depends on the type of project and the nature of the organization carrying out the project. For GIS projects and programs, procurements often involve one or more of the following types of products and services:

• GIS Consulting Services: Needs Assessment, technical specifications, organizational development, strategic and implementation planning, business case development, support in procurement of GIS products and services.
• System Infrastructure and Software Specifications, Procurement, and Configuration: Preparation of technical specifications for system infrastructure; purchase of computer hardware and software licenses; set-up and configuration of hardware, software, and networks; hardware maintenance and software support services; cloud-based server resources, cloud-based GIS software, and application services.
• GIS Application Development Services: Custom application design and development, application training, integration of GIS with external systems and databases.
• Database Development Products and Services: GIS database design, field inventory and data collection, aerial imagery and LiDAR collection and processing, hard copy map conversion services, data quality assurance, ongoing data maintenance services, purchase or licensing of GIS data.
• Technical Implementation and Operational Support: Training, software installation and configuration, on-site contracted staff to support GIS operations or project management.

Organizations use a variety of procedures and vehicles to specify and select GIS products and service providers. To a significant extent, the form, substance, and procedures are dictated by organization-wide policies and procedures, and, in some cases, by law. Most GIS procurements use one of the following types:

• Sole-Source Procurements: Direct selection of a vendor or consultant without pre-qualification or competitive review of offerings from others. This approach can save time, but does not allow for formal evaluation of bids and proposals from multiple companies.
• Open Competitive Procurements: Used for products and services when the evaluation of offerings from multiple companies is expected to result in the best value. Not only do competitive procurements comply with fairness policies of organizations, they also provide an opportunity for serious review of multiple proposals, approaches, and capabilities to select products and services that best suit the organization’s needs at a competitive price. Competitive procurements use a variety of specific instruments—most often a request for proposal (RFP), request for qualifications (RFQ), or request for bid (RFB). The RFP and RFQ approach allows for a competitive selection based on the quality of proposed products or services as well as the proposed price (best value selection). The RFB approach is most effectively used when there are well-defined commodity products (e.g., computer hardware) or technical services and focuses on lowest price proposals for company selection. Other competitive purchase vehicles, similar to the RFP, RFQ, and RFB approach used by some organizations, include the expression of interest or EOI (similar to RFQ), invitation to bid or ITB (similar to RFB), and a formal tender (similar to RFP).
• Selection from a pre-qualified pool of providers (or price contract): This approach allows selection of a provider of a product or service from a pre-qualified pool of companies. This pool is the result of a previous competitive selection based on a qualification process. The result is a schedule of products and services, corresponding prices, and a set of companies that have agreed to provide the products and services and the specified prices. This procurement vehicle is best suited to specifically defined commodities and services and is less appropriate for procurement of custom services. The best example is the U.S. Federal government establishment of General Services Administration (GSA) "purchase schedules" also known as "multiple award schedules" (MAS).
• Extension or amendment of an existing contract: A contractor or vendor is awarded new work or provision of additional products through an existing contract. Usually, this requires a formal amendment to the existing contract. This is an administratively expedient approach, provided that procurement rules in an organization allow. This approach eliminates the significant time in selection and contracting and, if the contractor has performed well under the existing contract, gives reasonable assurance of future performance.

The specific rules and processes governing each of these types of procurements vary among organizations. Normally, the organization’s purchasing department controls and documents them. Competitive procurements and price contract selections are common for public sector organizations (especially for products and services that exceed a certain maximum price level). Private firms may use any of the procurement vehicles and typically make more frequent use of sole source procurements since this is typically more administratively expedient and company policies do not mandate the use of competitive procurement approaches. GIS project managers should gain familiarity with their organization's procurement policies and follow these policies closely. Lack of adherence to policies could result in protests (by bidders) and possible cancellation of the procurement.

The review of submitted proposals and bids in response to these formal procurement solicitations, should follow a clear, documented process of evaluation and scoring that includes technical merit and proposed price. The end result is a formal agreement or contract defining the terms of product and service provision.

Refer to Croswell Section 5.2 for more information about procurement approach and procurement management.

Contracting

A contract or service agreement is a legally binding document that establishes terms for the provision of products or services from a contractor or vendor. In the public sector, if your organization supplies services to another organization for a particular project, you generally sign a different type of contract, like a memorandum of agreement (MOA) or an interagency agreement. Some organizations have designated personnel to write and review such contracts; if you are consulting on your own, it is likely up to you to understand the contract. Contracts for GIS products and services typically include the following:

• identification of the client or purchaser and the party providing the products and services
• time period for which the contract is valid, with terms covering grounds for contract extension or termination
• for services, a clear definition of the scope, deliverables, quality criteria, and performance measures
• for products (e.g., computer hardware, data products, etc.), an identification of applicable make and model numbers and data deliverable content
• role and responsibilities for all parties
• standard legal terms and conditions (sometimes referred to informally as "boiler plate" required by the organization

Most organizations have personnel with responsibilities for contract preparation and negotiation to ensure compliance with all applicable policies, laws, and regulations. As a GIS project or program manager, you will need to become familiar with your organization's procurement rules, policies, and standard terms for procurement documents and contracts. From a financial perspective, contracts include terms for invoicing and payment, which normally use one of the following methods:

• fixed-price contract
• cost-reimbursable contract
• time and expense contract
• unit price contract

Fixed-price contracts define a price for specific products, deliverables, or services. This is a common approach for services from GIS database contractors, in which data deliverables (e.g., aerial acquisition and processing of orthoimagery) are provided for an agreed monetary amount. Cost-reimbursable contracts are designed to pay suppliers for costs that can be traced back to the project in ways that are both cost-effective and cost ineffective. These are called direct and indirect costs, respectively, and we will talk more about these in Lesson 6. Time and expense contracts establish invoicing and payment for an itemized reporting of labor time and rates (in person-hours or person-days) for project personnel and for expenses directly connected with project work (e.g., travel expenses). Time and expense contracts often have a price cap that cannot be exceeded without a formal contract amendment. Unit price contracts define a price the supplier will be paid for a given unit of service. In a contract to provide individual GIS training courses for all new workers in an organization over a fixed period of time, a unit price contract may be most appropriate.

Read Croswell, 5.2 for more information about contracting and contract management for GIS projects.

Assignment #1 (Part 2) Overview

For Assignment #1, as described in Lesson 1, you will write a brief report on a GIS project done by or for an organization and your assessment of its fit to the organization. For Part 1, you have already documented and described a project undertaken by an organization. For Part 2, you will summarize the organization’s mission and how the described project supports the organization’s mission, strategic goals, and its work responsibilities.

The Assignment #1 submission includes both Part 1 and Part 2.

• Organization's Mission and Business

  For Part 2, the first step is to state the organization's mission, strategic goals, and any other summary information about the organization’s business and work responsibilities that help to create a context for the purpose of the GIS project you selected in Part 1 (see Lesson 1).

  Most public sector organizations and private sector companies have a mission statement, goals, and other information about the organization’s work responsibilities posted to their website or in a strategic plan document. Sometimes this can be quite lengthy so, if it is, you should summarize to capture the essential elements of the mission and goals relating to your selected project. If the project is being carried out by a specific department or division within a larger organization, it is best just to focus on the mission and goals about that department or division (not the overall organization). If you chose a project that's to be carried out by a contractor for a client organization (e.g., acquisition and processing of aerial imagery for a local government), the mission and “project fit” that you will describe in Part 2 should focus on the client organization (i.e., the local government), not the contractor. In other words, relate to the organization that will be using the products and deliverables from the project (even if the work is done by a contractor). Ideally, your Part 1 project selection is for an organization with a clearly stated mission and goals, but if not, this is an opportunity to create a mission and goals based on what you know about the organization's business and purpose. It is OK for you to make some assumptions, "embellish", and elaborate on actual information about the organization in order to meet the requirements for this assignment.

• How the project supports the mission/business of the organization

  The second step for Part 2 is to briefly describe how the GIS project supports the organization’s mission, goals, and work responsibilities. To do this, focus on the objectives, results, and deliverables from the project. Keep this brief. For instance, if the project involved a field data collection and GIS database development of fire hydrants for a local fire department, you would describe how this data supports hydrant testing and maintenance, planning for new hydrant installation or replacement, and, at a high-level, provides support for public safety by ensuring effective response to fire events. Very often, GIS projects relate directly to detailed operational requirements as well as higher-level aspects of the organization’s mission.

• Role of procurement of outside products or services

  The final step of Part 2 is to briefly comment on the role of procurement of products or outside services on the project (if applicable). This simply means an identification of the selection, acquisition, and use of any outside products or services for the project and the aspects of project work that the procurements support. This could include purchase of GIS or other software, computer hardware, or use of contracted services for some part (or all) of the project. Briefly identify the procurements and the vehicle (e.g., RFP) or approach used to select and approve vendors/contractors for these procurements. If there are no procurements for the project, state that this is the case.

  You will then combine the material from the topics described above with the project description information from Part 1 for your Assignment 1 submittal to discuss the fit of a project to an organization. The Assignment 1 (including Parts 1 and 2) submittal should be about 2,500 to 4,000 words total for Parts 1 & 2.

As in all written assignments, you should include a Cover page with prominent title and all necessary information identifying the course, assignment, author, and date. The main title of the document should be "PROJECT FIT TO ORGANZATION". The Cover Page should also reference to the project name and organization. At the bottom of the Cover Page, include the following information: a) course number and name, b) assignment number and name, c) your name, d) submittal date. Also number the pages and include a Table of Contents whihc can be automatically generated by your word processing if you define headings and subheadings (e.g., See Style settings in Microsoft Word). Your submitted assignment should be formatted as specified in the Format Quality of this assignment’s rubric below to earn maximum points. As you prepare this assignment, START WITH AN OUTLINE, with sections and subsections that cover the topics in Part 1 and Part 2. We recommend that you use the Outline/Heading feature of your word processing software in document preparation. It is expected that you will organize the document into numbered and named sections. It is best practice today, for technical and management documents, to use a "decimal" outline numbering scheme (1., 1.1, etc.) as opposed to the older Roman numeral numbering approach.

Submitting the Assignment and Grading

Submit both Part 1 and Part 2 of Assignment #1 during Week 2 (see course calendar).

This assignment is worth 60 points. The grading approach is explained in the rubric table below.

The instructor may deduct points if the Assignment is turned in late, unless a late submittal has been approved by the Instructor prior to the Assignment submittal date.

Lesson 3 Overview

Now that we've discussed what a project is and how it fits into the organizational system view, we can begin to define a project. A critical aspect is what the project will accomplish. In this lesson, we will discuss how to select projects carefully and define projects precisely. We will look to the scope of the project to meet these needs.

Learning Objectives

By the end of Lesson 3, you should be able to:

• understand how GIS projects and GIS use should address an organization's mission and business needs
• describe how strategic planning should influence projects undertaken by an organization
• define the scope of a project and its relationship to deliverables
• understand how to identify project benefits and prepare a convincing business case justification
• describe the importance, use, and design of a project charter

See the checklist page for readings, quiz, and assignment work in this Lesson.

Questions?

If you have any questions or would like to brainstorm ideas, please contact the instructor by phone or email. Also, feel free to communicate with your fellow students via the Discussion Forum or email.

Lesson 3 is one week in length. (See the Calendar for specific due dates.) This lesson deals with project scope—defining the project work and how that work will be carried out. To finish this lesson, you must complete the activities listed below. You may find it useful to print this page out first so that you can follow along with the directions.

Before we begin discussing what the scope of a project is and why it's important, let's discuss how an organization may identify potential projects.

In the previous lesson, we discussed the mission statement, which can be thought of as the reason an organization is in business. Some government, non-profit, and private-sector organizations have both a mission statement and a formal "vision statement". Think of the vision statement as a description of the nature, characteristics, or "personality" of the organization—what it is now or what it strives to be in the future. The Mission statement complements the Vision by saying how the organization will sustain or realize that vision in the future. It also quite common for an organization to include a set of high-level goals to augment and elaborate on the mission and/or vision—usually about 5 to 10 concise, future-orientated statements that serve to guide and direct the organization's work.

The strategic plan addresses long-term objectives of an organization and ties the organization's mission to its business requirements. Organizations may have a strategic plan that directs activities for the entire organization, but there are often strategic plans that provide a long-term picture and direction for major IT or GIS initiatives as well (e.g., full development of a multi-departmental enterprise GIS program for a large city government). The specific format and length of strategic plans vary considerably, but good ones include the following "strategic foundation" components, including:

• identification of internal and external stakeholders
• context—the organization’s mission and goals
• critical success factors (technical, organizational, or financial variables and requirements with major influence on plan acceptance and accomplishment, e.g., staff skills, senior management support, continued funding)
• mission statement (and sometimes an accompanying vision statement)
• high-level goals—referring to a range of technical and organizational development areas that can be addressed by projects

Some strategic plans are more detailed, containing additional information on high-level work initiatives, schedule, cost projections, and a business case which financially justifies the allocation of resources to do the work. A well-crafted strategic plan provides a clear basis for specific projects that are carried out to meet stated goals and to keep project work on track. The strategic plan is also an effective tool to communicate with and engage stakeholders, senior management, and external organizations, the long-term purpose of project work.

Take a look at the following excerpted GIS strategic plan for the City of Rio Rancho, NM. The purpose of this plan was to provide high-level direction for a major citywide enterprise GIS development—which encompassed a range of technical and non-technical project activities. This strategic plan shows how to tie the organization's strategic direction with this major GIS development effort.

As discussed briefly by Schwalbe (subsection 4.2) and Croswell (subsection 2.5.2), there are different methodologies for evaluating current status of GIS in and organization and capturing information useful in strategic planning. One of these is "Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Challenges" (SWOC) evaluation. Note: Sometimes a "T" for "threats" replaces the "C". SWOC evaluation is an organized way to summarize essential points about current status and factors on which to focus project work. Table 3-1 shows the basic format of the SWOC matrix.

An actual example of a SWOC matrix for a GIS program is shown in Table 3-2. This was one output from a GIS needs assessment—for development of a campus-wide GIS program in a mid-size University (to map and manage buildings, utilities, roads, parking, etc.).

Project Scope and Deliverables

Once a project is identified as something that an organization would like to pursue, the first step is to define the scope. The scope refers to all work that will be done to complete the project and what processes will be followed to accomplish this work. Clearly defining the scope is a critical component of successful project management. Poorly-defined scopes can result in clients getting less than they expected, project workers doing more than they expected, clients being unable to use the results, or project workers being unable to achieve the required results. If a scope is not clearly defined, it is not possible to prepare an effective work plan (defined tasks) and schedule.

Deliverables are products or specific results that are identified and defined in the project's scope of work. For example, in a project involving the design and development of a custom Web-based GIS application, the main deliverable is the fully developed, tested, and deployed application (ready for access by users). This and other types of GIS projects may have other defined supporting deliverables, such as an application requirements/design document and user documentation. A main deliverable for a field data collection project would be the final data (after quality reviews) loaded to the organization's GIS database. For effective management of the project, it is critical to include, in the project's scope, a description or specifications of each deliverable—to guide the work and manage quality.

Managing the scope of a project involves all of the process groups we discussed in Lesson 2 — initiation, planning, definition, controlling, and closing. In this lesson, you will initiate the project by creating a project charter (an internal document for the City) for the City's geodatabase design and development project. In the following weeks, you will plan and define the scope of the project. An important aspect of this will be to create a detailed work breakdown structure (WBS), which we will discuss, and you will create in Lesson 5. Some of the most challenging problems in project management are changes or requests for changes to the scope that occur during the implementation phase of a project. Change control is vital with such issues. The topic of change management will be addressed in Lesson 8.

A project charter is a document that formally establishes a project and the commitment made by the organization to carry out the project. An effective charter provides a high-level description of the project and specific commitments for resources or participation by stakeholders (e.g., specific departments or offices in an organization that will have major roles in project work). In a sense, a project charter is an internal agreement among project stakeholders (senior managers of organizations or departments) that confirms and documents commitments by project participants. The PMI recommends that a formal charter be prepared for ALL projects (see PMI PMBOK Section 3). In practice, formal project charters are not the norm—but they should be. Sometimes, other types of formal documents or instruments may serve the same purpose as a charter (e.g., memoranda of agreement or inter-agency agreements). It is a best practice to prepare a project charter for major projects in which there are multiple departments or organizations participating in project work or providing funding for project support. Some organizations may create a project charter from a standardized template, while other organizations may take a more free-form and adaptable approach. The best project charters are relatively brief, with summary information about the proposed project. In some cases, they may reference more detailed, external documents (like a cost-benefit analysis or business case). While there is no single, accepted format for project charters, well-designed project charters should not include extreme project details and usually contain the following major parts:

• Title (including clear name of the project), author name and affiliation, and date
• Summary of project purpose and objectives
• Anticipated start date and project length
• Project manager's name
• Project sponsors (senior officials who acknowledge support for the project)
• Summary of scope and deliverables
• List of stakeholders and the group(s) for which deliverables are being prepared (e.g., users, customers)
• Projected budget and resources required (including contract or vendor costs and expected internal staff resources required)
• Business Case (summary of benefits for the organization)
• Identification of the project manager and key project team members
• Management approach (summary of approach for communications, monitoring, and status reporting)
• Initial risk and major assumptions
• Formal sign-off: name, title, affiliation, and signature of senior managers and decision makers who contribute money or staff resources for the project

See Croswell (2022), Subsection 2.10 for more information about project charters. There is not a single, accepted format for project charters, but they are written for senior people in the organization. For this reason, charters should not include detailed scope or work plan information. Keep the charter high-level with a focus on how the project supports the organization's mission and business, the resources required, how it will be managed, and how it will benefit the organization. One example of a GIS project charter is this City GIS Web Mapping Project Charter.

Now that we've talked about a project charter, you will have an opportunity to create one! The Assignment 2 Web page provides directions for project charter preparation.

Assignment #2 Overview

Assignment #2 is to create a project charter for the City of Metropolis Geodatabase Design and Development Project.

In this scenario, you are the City's project manager (Lucille Geodata in the Public Works Department) assigned responsibility for the City of Metropolis Geodatabase Development Project. The City of Metropolis RFP for contractor services was prepared by you and other City project team members. This request for proposal (RFP) document provides detailed information about the project scope and management and is the formal means for soliciting proposals from and selecting a contractor to carry out project work in collaboration with the City's project team. As stated in Section 1 of the RFP, the project involves the development of an ArcGIS geodatabase (that contains up-to-date data on City signs, pedestrian walk signal devices, and ADA pedestrian hazards) AND custom GIS applications that support future City access and update of the data. Work includes database design, evaluation and use of existing data sources, field data collection, and application development for ongoing City database updates.

As City Project Manager, it is your responsibility to create a charter for this project as a way to summarize the project scope, timing, resources, management, business case, and confirm commitments from key City stakeholders. The sponsor of this project, the Director of the City's Public Works Department, has asked you to prepare the project charter.

Your Submittal for Assignment #2

For Assignment 2, create a charter for the City of Metropolis geodatabase design and development project. The Charter serves the key role of providing a high-level description of the project, its benefits for the City, and commitment of resources (monetary and staff time) for carrying out the project. This commitment of resources positions the charter as a type of “internal contract” documenting the formal participation of commitment of resources by the various stakeholders (City management and participating departments). The charter, therefore, is not just a summary of elements from the RFP; it should persuade upper management that the project is good for the organization and that it’s worth the commitment of the required resources.

You know from the course content and readings in Lesson 3 that there is not a single prescribed format for a project Charter, but the general rule is that it is a high-level document—concise and aimed at senior management, not technical staff. This is a City document—the selected contractor is not involved. You should assume that this charter is prepared at a date prior to any selection of a contractor (although the RFP document preparation is in progress).

At a minimum, the Charter should include the following topics and parts:

• Cover page with a prominent title and all necessary information identifying the course, assignment, author, and date. The main title of the document should be "Project Charter". The Cover Page should also reference "City of Metropolis" and the full project name. At the bottom of the Cover Page (right side is best), include the course name and number, assignment number, your name, and date.
• Table of contents.
• Brief description of what this Charter is and its purpose.
• Summary of project background and purpose: Mention the lead role of the Public Works Department, overall objectives, and the decision to use contracted services (via RFP) to carry out major work elements of the project. Emphasize that this is a City project—the Public Works Department is the lead, but other City Departments are involved. Make sure to make it clear that a City Project Team has been formally assembled (with Lucille Geodata as PM with representatives from multiple departments). mention the poor state of City and data and records and problems this is causing, and that this is the main driver for this project. Mention that the City intends to hire a private contractor to do much of the work and coordinate with the City Project Team—an RFP is in preparation at the time of this Charter (the RFP has not yet been released, and the City has not yet selected a contractor).
• Summary of project scope and deliverables: Include a description of major project activities and deliverables. You do not need to include all the project technical detail from the RFP document but include some narrative describiong the overall objectives and identify and describe each SD and MD deliverable. Stress the fact that the project will address current limitations with City data and records by carrying out a complete GNSS-based field data collection for signs, etc. (accurate locations, aattributes, and digital photos) and that the data, after quality checks, will be compiled into new geodatabse feature classes and loaded to the City's GIS database.  Also make mention of the MD4 custom GIS applications giving City personnel and effective way to keep the data updated (AFTER completion of the project).
• Project stakeholders and organization: Identify the City sponsor, Departmental participants (those City Departments that have staff people assigned to the project team), and the overall project team organization. Make note of the fact that the intention is to use contracted services to work with the City team to carry out much of the project design and development work (with oversight and quality checks by the City. A project organization chart is a good way to present this.
• Business case and main benefits*: Begin with a strong statement about why the City is launching this project (e.g., incomplete and poor quality data causing problems with operations and regulatory compliance) and include some narrative about how this project will address these problems. Then, include a bullet point list  of benefits that the City, general public, businesses will get from the project results. The RFP document hints at some of these but you will need to put yourself in the place of the City PM to come up with benefit ideas. There is no need to provide a lot of detail about each benefit, but this is an opportunity to “make the case” for the allocation of resources (time and money) for this project. Here's an example of a benefit: "Improved access to up-to-date sign and signal data, in GIS format, will add efficiency and cut down on time for infrastructure inspections and maintenance".
• Anticipated timing: This is a summary of the timing (dates) for key milestones (specific points in time) for main activities and deliverables of the project. A detailed schedule for project tasks should NOT be included here, just a few key milestones about project execution. Do NOT include milestone dates associated with the RFP and procurement process (e.g., RFP Release, Questions from respondents, proposal submittal due date)—start with the beginning of the project (see anticipated start date in the RFP).  It is appropriate to include 6 to 10 project execution milestones and dates. Be clear that this timing is a projection at this point.  The schedule will be formalized in the future with an approved work plan prepared by the selected contractor.
• Project budget: This is just a statement of the projected cost for contracted services. Don’t worry about coming up with a detailed budget—we will do that in Lesson 6. Just assume that a budget has already been approved and a project budget cap of $250,000 has been allocated. Put in a single dollar amount. Make sure to state that this number is just for contracted services (for contractor to be selected through the RFP process), not costs for City project team staff or expenses. The actual contractor budget will be defined through negotiations with the selected contractor.
• Formal sign-off: Identification of key senior management from the City departments that are formally involved and are committing resources for the project. In addition to the main sponsor and heads of participating departments, it is not a bad idea to include City leadership (e.g., City Manager). The Charter should have actual signature blocks for senior management people (identifying their affiliations and titles).

*There is no existing document with a list of benefits for this project, so you have to do some of your own "brainstorming". See Croswell, Section 2.6 to get some ideas about defining GIS benefits.  But there are other benefits too. Have some fun with this and come up with a bullet list of benefits that impact City departments as well as a broader community (e.g., business community and citizens).

The Assignment #2 submittal should be about 1,200 to 2,500 words in length. As is the case for all written assignments, the word count is a target to give you an idea about the level of detail expected. As a general rule, it is best to keep it concise and as brief as possible while still covering the necessary topics. No points will be deducted for submittals if they exceed the maximum word count by a small amount.

You can include other information in the Charter but remember to keep it concise, high-level, and to avoid technical detail. It is good practice to make reference to any important external sources or documents (e.g., the City’s RFP). 

As in all written assignments, you should include a cover page that includes the following information: a) course number and name, b) assignment number and name, c) your name, d) submittal date. The cover page should also have the full project name and document title ("Project Charter"). Your submitted assignment should be formatted as specified in the Format Quality of this assignment’s rubric below to earn maximum points. As you prepare this assignment, start with an outline, with sections and subsections that cover the topics above. We recommend that you use the Outline/Heading feature of your word processing software in document preparation. It is expected that you will organize the document into numbered and named sections. It is best practice today for technical and management documents to use a "decimal" outline numbering scheme (1., 1.1, etc.) as opposed to the older Roman numeral numbering approach. Submitting the Assignment

Assignment Submittal and Grading

View specific directions for submitting Assignment #2 and the Canvas calendar due date.

This assignment is worth 50 points. The grading approach is explained in the table below.

The instructor may deduct points if the Assignment is turned in late unless a late submittal has been approved by the Instructor prior to the Assignment submittal date.

Lesson 4 Overview

Best practices promoted by the Project Management Institute (PMI) and other professional organizations provides a context for project planning and management. One of the Knowledge Areas described in the PMI PMBOK is Human Resource Management. Many project managers believe that assembling project teams, delegating work to team members, keeping team members and stakeholders engaged, and other human resource issues are the most critical concerns in planning and managing project work. Effective application of best practices in human resource management drives productivity and ensures that work will be completed according to the project schedule, costs, and deliverable requirements. Human resources management takes into account personnel policies and regulations, along with less tangible aspects of communications and team member motivation. Although the human factor is not readily quantified, we can still take steps towards increasing our understanding of how different sorts of people tend to work together and communicate with each other within the context of an organization--with the overall objective of optimizing productivity and delivering project results according to the plan. That's what this lesson is about.

Regardless of how the scope of a project is defined, it takes people to do the work. In this lesson, we will discuss how to use manpower most efficiently and how to use people most effectively.

Learning Objectives

By the end of Lesson 4, you should be able to:

• understand human resource issues associated with personnel assignment, loading and leveling
• create and use appropriate human resource tools, such as project organizational charts and resource/responsibility matrices
• understand how client and contractor team members work together to complete project deliverables
• grasp the importance of individual motivation, skills, and personality types in assembling and managing project team
• describe communication planning, and the best use of communication skills, tools, and technology

See the checklist page for readings, quiz, and assignment work in this Lesson.

Questions?

If you have any questions or would like to brainstorm ideas, please contact the instructor by phone or email. Also, feel free to communicate with your fellow students via the Discussion Forum or email.

Lesson 4 is one week in length. (See the Calendar for specific due dates.) To finish this lesson, you must complete the activities listed below. You may find it useful to print this page out first so that you can follow along with the directions.

Overview

The most interesting, unpredictable, and expensive resource you are likely to work with as a project manager is people. Individuals and their interactions can greatly influence either the success or failure of any project. So, how do you manage them? We will begin by discussing how to develop a human resource plan for a project, and then we will discuss how personnel and interpersonal relationships in an organizational setting can be better understood. A first step would be to organize the individuals who will be working on a project.

Project Organization Charts

A project organizational chart is similar to an organizational chart we discussed in Lesson 2. This document should clearly lay out who reports to whom, based on an individual's role and responsibility within the project. If you are managing the project, you will be at the top of the project organization chart, and ultimately responsible for the success of the project. For projects that involve outside contractors, client organizations normally require those contractors to prepare a project organization chart showing the roles of team members and relationship with client project personnel. Figure 4-1 shows a "standard" project organizational chart showing the main elements that are often included in GIS projects. The box in the middle is the project team, led by an assigned project manager. This structure shows the project's team position in the organization—inside the "program management unit" which may be a formal GIS Office. The project team uses and manages work and products provided by contractors and vendors and communicates with external organizations may have a role in the project (e.g., review and comment on project deliverables). The box in the upper right, "Project Management Office" is an organizational unit which some government and private sector organizations set-up to provide support and oversight in project planning and execution.

Text description of Figure 4-1: Model GIS Project Structure.

This figure is an organizational chart with boxes and connecting lines showing the main parts of a model project management structure. This includes the "project team" or "work group" with oversight by an organizational unit, the relationship with users (or stakeholders) inside the organization, external entities that may have a role in the project. The project team or work group consists of an assigned project manager and team members, who may come from any part of the organization. The project team reports to a specific "program unit" — a Department or Division assigned responsibility for project oversight. The project team coordinates and communicates with project stakeholders (internal Departments and users) who play a role in the review of project deliverables. Typically, external entities with which the project team also communicates include vendors of IT products like software, other contracted companies, and external organizations that have an interest in the project. Key documents that enable or support the project include the project charter, business case, and project plan. The box in the upper right shows an optional project management office (PMO). Some government organizations and private companies have established PMOs to provide support and best practices in project planning and management.

Credit: From Croswell (2022), The GIS Management Handbook, Figure 9-1.

Figure 4-2 is an example of a project team structure for a GIS project-in this case, a contracted company providing GIS consulting services for a City government department.

Text description of Figure 4-2: Example of Project Team for GIS Project.

The figure is an actual example of a project organizational chart for a municipal GIS project. A box at the top shows the senior management sponsor overseeing the project, which connects to a box below representing the City Project Manager in the GIS Office, which is the organizational "program unit" responsible for directing the project. Much of the work for this project is being carried out by a consultant team hired by the City. Below the City Project Manager box, there are boxes that show the consultant project manager and individual boxes for consultant team members. The box to the right, which connects to the City Project Manager box and the Consultant Project Manager box, shows the main project stakeholders and participants, including staff of the Water and Waste Department, other City Departments, and external groups—including private engineering companies.

Credit: Peter Croswell © Penn State University is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.

For better or worse, there are generally important inherent differences between the means of influencing employees as a project manager and as an organization manager. You may have limited or no influence over professional incentives for members of your project, such as salary or promotions. Even more challenging, you may not have the final say over time commitments of workers to the project. This underscores the importance of a project charter, where such issues should be clearly laid out for and signed off on by management and sponsors in the organization.

Beginning with a role and responsibility matrix (also called a "resource matrix") and a project organization chart, you can move towards ever more detailed personnel assignments regarding who will accomplish what tasks and when. A project plan generally contains this information in a Work Breakdown Structure, which we will discuss in Lesson 5. In assigning personnel, you may not always have people with the talents or skills you desire within your organization. Training, education, or professional development of existing personnel is one way to overcome this shortfall. Other times, you may need to hire qualified personnel on a temporary or permanent basis. If hiring is required, you will need to clearly outline education, skills, and experience that match the roles and responsibilities the employee will inherit in the organization.

Many public sector organizations and private companies have established formal GIS position descriptions. Common job titles include "GIS Manager", "Geographic Information Officer (GIO), "GIS Analyst", "Senior GIS Analyst", "GIS Developer/Programmer", "GIS Technician", "GIS Specialist", "GIS Database Administrator", and "GIS Systems Administrator". Croswell (2022), Appendix I has some examples of GIS positions. Also, a Web search using some terms as "GIS position description" will turn up examples used in specific organizations.

Croswell (2022), subsections 4.1 and 9.1 provide a thorough summary of considerations and approaches for staff GIS programs and projects and the organization of team members in projects.  Staffing GIS projects can be a challenge, particularly if in-house resources are limited. For organizations with a central GIS Office (like a local government enterprise GIS program), a project manager for a new project will often be a staff person in that GIS Office. The project team will usually include some other GIS staff (from the GIS Office) but often may include staff members from user Departments with specific skillsets. Sometimes, contracted personnel may also be on the project team.

Once tasks and their timing have been detailed, it is possible to optimize human resources using the tools of resource loading and resource leveling. Resource loading refers to how much of individuals' time is committed to projects during various periods. Optimally, every employee of an organization would have 100% of his or her time allocated during all working hours. In reality, it is very easy for employees to be over-allocated. In many organizations, it can be detrimental in many other ways for employees to be under-allocated, especially if it has an undesired effect on their hours worked and resulting paycheck.

Resource Leveling

A strategy to optimize personnel allocation is Resource leveling, which resolves conflicts with resources by changing the scheduled times. By having personnel perform tasks on later or earlier dates, managers can take steps toward leveling all personnel at 100% allocation. It should be noted, however, that tasks within a project are often dependent on one another and cannot always be moved arbitrarily without adversely influencing the project schedule. We will discuss this in greater detail in Lesson 5 when we talk about network diagrams and critical paths. Figure 4-3, below, shows an example of the benefits of resource leveling.

In our discussion of resource leveling, we will assume that the rectangles representing worker-days (or worker-weeks, worker-hours, etc) are able to be modifiable in dimensions as long as the area of the resulting worker-week rectangle stays the same. For example, if a task requires 8 worker-weeks to complete, this could be accomplished by one qualified person working on this for 8 weeks, 8 qualified people working on the same task for one concurrent week, or any other combination whose sum is 8 (e.g. 2 workers for 4 weeks, 4 workers for 2 weeks). Although this makes assumptions about how the task can be accomplished, it also provides the project manager with flexibility and potential efficiency when it comes to leveling resources.

Text description of Figure 4-3: Resource Leveling Example.

This figure explains the concepts of resource usage and resource leveling, addressing the way in which project team members (workers) are assigned to project tasks. The top part of the diagram shows worker days associated with 3 hypothetical project activities (A, B, and C) with the assumption that Activity A has 3 days of slack, Activity B has 2 days of slack, and Activity C has 2 days of slack. The bottom part of the diagram includes two graphs, each with the X-axis is elapsed days for the project activities (duration), and the Y-axis is the number of workers. The graph to the left represents resource (worker) usage if all activities start on Day 1. In this case, Activity A is completed at Day 2, Activity B is completed in Day 5, and Activity C completes at Day 3. The graph on the right shows resource usage if Activity C is delayed 2 days. In this case, Activity A is completed at Day 2, Activity B is completed in Day 5, and Activity C completes at Day 5.

Credit: Schwalbe (2016), Information Technology Project Management, 8th Edition. Used with permission by Cengage Learning

Team Dynamics and Managing Teams

Just because a project manager has used all of the tools, discussed in previous section, to manage human resources in the most efficient manner possible, it is no guarantee that the project team will be effective. To be effective, a manager should understand how a team works together, what motivates people, have a detailed understanding of team memer skills and limitations, and develop management skills to efficiently delegate and oversee work.

Much has been made of teamwork and building effective teams. Synergy is a popular concept; it means that the efforts of the team are superior to the sum of what all of the individual efforts would have been. Achieving such a lofty goal is only possible if project team members have a good understanding of themselves, their teammates, and the methods by which they tend to work together.

Team-building activities can be physical in nature and may only be possible to achieve when multiple members of a team work together to achieve a goal, underscoring the very definition of synergy. Unfortunately, we won't be able to build teams this way in this class. What we will be able to do is to attempt to increase our understanding of ourselves and other members of the class.

Tests to gauge personality types and employee motivational factors are sometimes used to help understand work styles, motivational factors, personality characteristics that impact project team member interactions provide a basis for assignment of project roles and task assignments. Two of the most popular of these are the Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator and the Social Styles Profile. Meyers-Briggs includes four dimensions of personality, meaning that everyone falls somewhere between the two logical ends of each dimension. The first dimension indicates where people fall on the scale between introverts or extroverts. The second dimension ranges from sensation to intuition, reflecting the way one takes in and process information. The third dimension goes from thinking to feeling, and measures how objectively or subjectively a person tends to judge people or things. The final dimension moves from judgment to perception, and is meant to reflect attitudes towards structures and plans."

The Social Styles Profile defines four zones, with the assumption that most people operate primarily in one of these zones. The zones are based on assertiveness and responsiveness. In this scheme, people are drivers (proactive and task-oriented), expressives (proactive and people-oriented), analyticals (reactive and task-oriented), or amiables (reactive and people-oriented). A GIS project manager may be a driver, but should appreciate and be able to work effectively with the team's analytical GIS Analyst, amiable GIS Technician, and expressive end user. Figure 4-4 below, diagrams how these social styles can be mapped.

Text description of Figure 4-4: Social Style Profile.

This figure explains the concept of a person's social profile. It has two gold double-arrow lines that meet in the center and form 4 quadrants labeled Analytical (upper left), Driver (upper right), Amiable (lower left), and Expressive (lower right). The vertical arrow points to a label at the top called Task-Directed Responsiveness (referring to the top two quadrants). The vertical arrow points to a label at the bottom called People-Directed Responsiveness (referring to the bottom two quadrants). The horizontal arrow points to a label at the left called Ask-Directed Assertiveness (referring to the left two quadrants). The horizontal arrow points to a label at the right called Tell-Directed Responsiveness (referring to the right two quadrants).

Credit: Schwalbe (2016), Information Technology Project Management, 8th Edition. Used with permission by Cengage Learning.

Formal testing takes time and often money if an outside service is contracted to administer the tests and process the results. For this reason, it is not frequently used as part of project team member selection. But, in large projects, formal testing should be considered. It can help an organization assemble the right mix of people and provide insights to the project manager for work delegation and team management.

Another useful testing method, designed to gauge key factors that motivate people for certain types of job assignments, is the Kolbe A Index. The Kolbe Corporation states that this test "measures the conative faculty of the mind — the actions you take that result from your natural instincts, and is the foundational instrument used in Kolbe reports. It validates an individual's natural talents, the instinctive method of operation (M.O.) that enables you to be productive.

You may be wondering if there is a particular personality or motivational type that makes one best suited to be a project manager. The answer is an emphatic "NO". A successful project manager leverages his or her attributes and personal approach in project planning and execution. Project managers do need to be organized, acquire management skills, and become familiar with methodologies that work in a range of project scenarios. A natural introvert may need to learn and apply some communication skills of an extrovert, and the reverse is also true. But most of the key skills and methods of a successful project manager are learned—through appropriate training and application in real-world environments.

An important part of the project manager's job is organizing the work for team members and ensuring that team members are maintaining a high level of productivity—always with a focus on the project objectives. As discussed in Croswell (2022), subsections 4.1.7 and 4.1.8, effective team management has a lot to do with work delegation and maintaining team member morale. In summary, the following best practices make practical sense and should be applied in all GIS projects:

• Be open to communication from staff members. Take their concerns seriously, listen, and take appropriate action
• Be clear in work assignments and provide the resources employees need to do their jobs
• To the extent possible, make adjustments to the physical work environment (furniture, workstation location or layout, supplies) to increase efficiency or to simply address employees’ esthetic or personal needs
• Be prompt and clear when conveying information. Even when it is necessary to explain bad news or changes, it is best to be upfront and present a constructive way to deal with it
• Don’t micromanage. When employees have the necessary skills for a job, a manager should clearly define objectives, help in the planning and defining scope specifications, provide resources necessary for the work, put in place a sensible process for status review, and be available for support and clarification. But, assigned project team members should be encouraged to move ahead with the work without unnecessary oversight
• Be fair and don’t show personal favoritism
• Be sensitive to staff members’ personal situations and the “work-life balance” that might affect work. To the extent possible, provide support and be flexible when scheduling work and leave. Make use of the organization’s employee assistance programs if they are available
• Establish realistic milestones with points for review of performance
• Find ways to give regular feedback to employees and to offer performance incentives and rewards when performance justifies it

Project Communication Approaches

Communication planning is the first process in the effective communication within a team and between a team and other groups. Key to this process is understanding the communication needs of all stakeholders associated with the project.

A communication plan should include a method for creating, formatting, collecting, distributing, filing, and accessing information. This information may be official documents, or it may be a record of a telephone conversation between a client and the consultant. For formal communications, templates that explicitly organize data into a readily recognized format can be helpful. A memo style such as the ones you are using for peer reviews would be such an example. Users familiar with the format know where to look to find who the memo is to, from, its subject and memo details. Although most of this communication occurs during the project, input from stakeholders and analysis of this data during close-out can and often should be another key aspect which would be beneficial to the communication plan.

Informal communication during a project is also important to an effective team. Empathetic listening -- listening with the intent of understanding -- is a skill worth nurturing. It may seem efficient to listen to half a question, cut someone off short, and give a reply, but it is more effective to listen closely to the question, while trying to get at the underlying needs and expectations. Such empathetic listeners often rephrase and repeat the question before answering, prefacing the remark with a phrase like, "What I hear you saying is..." This makes the person aware that the other person is actively listening and allows clarification of the question and its underlying intent before an answer is given.

Tools for communication are numerous, and include letters, contracts, reports, meetings, interviews, surveys, telephones, faxes, pagers, email, text messaging, websites, message boards, weblogs (blogs), wikis, and web conferencing, to name just a few. Each of these communication tools has specific advantages and disadvantages. For example, message boards with threaded email discussions are a tool we have identified as useful for online learning. There may also be templates, best practices, methods as effective, and strategies for the use of all of these communication tools within an organization. Along with subject area knowledge, effective verbal and written communication skills are essential for project managers.

In subsections 3.4 and 9.5, Croswell (2022) discusses concepts and best practices for project communications. He identifies the following types of communication that typically are needed for GIS projects and the specific communication methods and tools used:

• group facilitation, interviews, or brainstorm sessions requiring feedback and interchange with participants (e.g., GIS users)
• user surveys (information gathering to help define project requirements)--most effectively managed using a Web-based survey tool
• written status reports (different formats and levels of detail) for project team members, broader group of stakeholders, and management
• employment interviews with potential new team members
• project team member performance evaluations
• delegation of tasks to staff members
• formal and informal dialog and briefings with senior management
• presentations at a professional conference or seminar
• contract negotiations and performance reviews with vendors and contractors
• technical training or system demonstrations

Project Status Reports

All projects should include periodic written status reports--often monthly, but sometimes more frequently depending on the type and timing of the project. The project manager is responsible for this reporting, but information from task leaders or others on the project team is obtained in status report preparation. Some projects may benefit from different types of written status reports--perhaps a detailed format aimed at project team members and other key participants, and a less detailed summary report targeting senior management. The status reports should use a standard format (document template or use of automated project management software). Figure 4-5 shows an example of a project status report template. This gives a summary of all project tasks (the body of the report) and, at the bottom, a summary of key accomplishments (for the reporting period), upcoming milestones, and a listing of project issues or problems to resolve.

Text description of Figure 4-5: Suggested Format for Project Status Report.

This figure showing a recommended format for a Status Report is for a GIS Project containing text with status report information. At the top of the form is centered text that says STATUS REPORT on the first line, with 2 lines below identifying the name of the GIS project and the report date. Below this title information are lines with key information about the status report including: Status Report Number, submitted by (submitter's name), submitted to (recipient’s name), Report Period (start and end dates for project activity presented in the report), and Report Submittal Date. The body of the form is the Status Summary, which includes a summary of all project tasks. This portion of the report format has a line for each project task (task name and number) and columns (left to right). Plan Start Date, Plan Finish Date, Actual Start Date, Actual Finish Date, Percent Complete, and Comments. Following this task-by-task summary, the form has sections for reporting of summary information—lines to enter information on Major Activities/Accomplishments During Report Period, Upcoming Activities/Milestones, and Major Project Issues or Concerns to Resolve.

Credit: Croswell (2022), The GIS Management Handbook, 3rd Edition.

Meeting Management

One of the best skills that a project manager can develop and apply is meeting management, as underscored by Croswell (2022, subsection 3.4.3). The importance of good meeting organization and management becomes obvious when you consider meeting costs. For instance, the cost of employee time, for a two-hour meeting with 8 people could easily be $1,000 or more--not including an accounting for employee travel time, direct costs (e.g., cost of meeting space), or possible contractor time. It is critically important to get the most out of meetings by applying sound meeting management methods, which include:

• formulate and circulate a clearly written statement of the meeting’s objectives
• select participants carefully to avoid inviting people who have little role or stake in the meeting topic
• prepare an agenda and appropriate accompanying materials, and distribute these to invitees in advance of the meeting
• be clear on meeting time and place, and keep to the scheduled start and end times. If practical, send a reminder to invitees
• welcome participants, and begin with introductions (if necessary) and a restatement of the meeting objective and topics
• provide effective meeting leadership and moderation, and use presentation materials if appropriate. Facilitate effectively, and encourage feedback and interchange (geared to the type of meeting and topic)
• take notes and record key conclusions and action items (or assign this role to a staff member)
• at the end of the meeting, summarize key points of the meeting, conclusions reached, and action items assigned
• follow up (soon after the meeting) with a meeting summary and identification of action items (with those responsible and timing). This distribution can be a simple email message or a more formal meeting report. Track response to the action items and “nudge” those responsible as necessary

Because meetings take time and, in many cases, meeting participants are based in different locations, use of remote, Web-based meeting and collaboration tools is appropriate. The COVID-19 Pandemic of 2020-21, has accelerated already existing trends for use of remote, electronic communication and meeting tools and methods--not to mention telework. It is likely that many such practices adopted during the pandemic will become standard after the pandemic subsides. Tools and services such as Zoom, Goto Meeting, Webex, Google Docs, Adobe Connect, and others support voice and video connection as well as common views (and sometimes joint editing) of documents and other project materials.

Assignment #3 Overview

For Assignment #3, you are the project manager for the GIS contractor chosen to carry out the City of Metropolis Geodatabase Design and Development project. You will assemble a project team (the contractor's project team) for the City of Metropolis Geodatabase Development Project. You can assume that your company has already been selected by the City—that is, your company and other companies have submitted proposals in response to the City’s RFP and your proposal was determined to be the most responsive and was formally selected to do the work. Now you, as the contractor’s project manager, have been asked by the City’s project manager (Lucille Geodata) to present information about your project team—the people and their roles for the project.

Your Submittal for Assignment #3

Take a look at the City of Metropolis RFP—particularly the summary of major work elements (subsection 1.2) and expectations on project team roles in 2.3.5. Use the material that you have reviewed in this lesson to identify team members with positions and skills needed to carry out the project work. Assume that the necessary staff are already employees of your firm and are available to work on this project. Since you are taking the role of the contracted company, you should make up a company name and refer to this in your assignment. This assignment identifies and describes members of the contractor's team, NOT any of the City's project team members.

The content for this Assignment consists of an introductory explanation and background of the project. This project introduction does not need to be lengthy but should contain enough detail to explain the project background (based on City RFP), a summary of the project scope and deliverables, overview of the responsibilities of the City Team and the contractor, and mention that this contractor team information is being submitted in response to a request from the City's Project Manager. it is a good idea to put in a list and brief description of all project deliverables (from the RFP). In other words, provide enough detail to provide context to understand the project work and the role of people in the contractor team table. Then, prepare a table that presents a summary of the contractor’s (your company’s) project team members (not the City’s project team). Content in this table should include:

• Name of the team member
• Project functional title (e.g., “Project Manager”, "GIS Analyst", "GIS Database Specialist", "GIS Application Developer" “Field Data Collector”)
• Hourly billable rate*
• Description of project role and duties: text information of each team member’s assigned work on the project. Be as complete as possible--citing roles associated with the deliverables shown in Table 2 of RFP. Make sure you describe all duties and responsibilities to complete all project work and carry out ongoing management and communication activities.

*Select hourly billable rates to the best of your ability. In practice, billable rates, which cover all company employee compensation and overhead, do vary by company, region of the country, and type of project. Assume that the project manager rate will be in the range of $100 to $175 per hour and the field data collection personnel will be about $40 to $50 per hour (higher for a field data collection supervisor). Rates for other project roles (e.g., database design, application development) will fall between these ranges.

You should include a Cover Page with a prominent title and all necessary information identifying the course, assignment, author, and date. The main title of the document should be "CONTRACTOR PROJECT TEAM". The Cover Page should also reference "City of Metropolis" and the full project name. At the bottom of the Cover Page (right side is best), include the course name and number, assignment number, your name, and date.

NOTE: Include a made-up name for your company. Remember that your company has already been selected by the City. The contractor team information does not need to include qualifications or marketing information for your team--just a clear description of role and duties in the project for each team member.

There is no single ideal size for the project team. The number of people on the team and their mix of skills and roles needs to be adequate to carry out all work on the project in a reasonable period of time. As a general rule, it is best to keep the team as small as possible, as long as it has enough people with management and technical skills and clearly defined roles to perform the work. For a project like this, a team size of about 6 to 10 people is appropriate. Some team members may have multiple roles.

Refer to the grading rubric below for guidelines on expected content and format.

Assignment Submittal and Grading

See the Canvas Calendar for the submittal date. Grading information and the grading rubric is below.

This assignment is worth 40 points. The grading approach is explained in the table below.

The instructor may deduct points if the Assignment is turned in late unless a late submittal has been approved by the Instructor prior to the Assignment submittal date.

Lesson 5 Overview

In past lessons, we have explored project scope, deliverables, and assembling a project team. You have reviewed the RFP for the City of Metropolis Geodatabase Development Project and prepared a project charter as a foundation for launching project work. This lesson focuses on developing a detailed work plan and schedule. You will look more closely at project scope and deliverables and create a project plan in the form of a work breakdown structure (WBS) for the City of Metropolis project.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

• Develop skills to describe how a project scope is addressed through an organized set of tasks.
• Describe the importance, use, and design approaches of a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS).
• Understand task relationships and factors that impact task and project timing.
• Describe the Gantt chart's use as a tool to help visualize planned project tasks or task schedule status.
• Acquire basic familiarity and skills with the use of project management software.

See the checklist page for readings, quiz, and assignment work in this Lesson.

Questions?

If you have questions or would like to brainstorm this week's topics, contact the instructor by phone or email. Also, feel free to contact your follow students via the Discussion Forum or email.

Lesson 5 is one week in length. (See the Calendar for specific due dates.) To finish this lesson, you must complete the activities listed below. You may find it useful to print this page out first so that you can follow along with the directions.

A work breakdown structure (WBS) organizes project work into manageable tasks which are necessary to carry out and complete the project. The WBS focuses on the work activities, completion of defined deliverables, and the timing of tasks (taking into account all factors and constraints that impact the start and end dates of tasks). The WBS is the "meat" of the plan because it describes the work required to meet project objectives. John Dewey (of the Dewey Decimal System) said, "a problem well-stated is half-solved". The same can be said about a project--clearly stating objectives and defining an approach for project work gets much of the way toward a successful project.

The WBS presents project tasks in a hierarchy, with major (top-level) level tasks and subtasks. Table 5-1 below shows a WBS task hierarchy for a portion of a project involving GIS database design and development. This includes a top-level Task #4 with a WBS task hierarchy 3-levels deep with subtasks and sub-subtasks.

Some important terminology is important to understand how a WBS is created:

A summary task is any task in a WBS that has subtasks below it. In Table 5-1 above, the top-level Task #4 is a summary task as are Task #s 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, and 4.4. A subtask is any task below a summary task in a WBS hierarchy. The bottom level subtasks in a WBS hierarchy (no subtasks below them) are called work tasks or work packages. It is important to understand that these work tasks are where the work actually occurs--all summary tasks at upper levels in the WBS hierarchy just serve as headings (like outline headings) to organize the project work. Some other task type terms are used to describe special task characteristics:

• a recurring task is a work task in which a work activity occurs according to a fixed schedule (e.g., planned project status meetings that occur on a specific day at 2-week intervals);
• a milestone task is a work task that either occurs at a single point in time (e.g., submittal of a deliverable) or is presented as a single end point in a task duration;
• a split task is a work task in which there is a defined interval, within the overall task duration, during which no project activity occurs.

Take another close look at the WBS work plan excerpt above in Table 5-1.  See the bold text (these are all Summary Tasks). Think of these Summary Tasks like headings in a technical report---that's what they are--just topic headings that organize the project work into groupings of related activities.  The real work actually gets done in "Work Tasks" or "Work Packages"--the lowest level of a task hierarchy (e.g., Task 4.2.6). The Summary Tasks then should identify and organize ALL work in the project, and the lowest level Work Tasks should describe how that work gets done. Subtasks under a summary task should cover all work encopassed by that summary task. The trick in preparing a work plan (WBS) for any project is first to see the whole picture (i.e., project objectives and deliverables) and then to figure out how to organize the work in the way that is most efficient.

A WBS for a project may be created as a table (e.g., using Office software like Word or Excel). It has become increasingly popular for project planners to use automated project management software (e.g., Microsoft Project or Project Libre) which provide efficient tools to enter tasks, set the WBS hierarchy, establish timing relationships among tasks, and present the WBS in different types of report or "views" such as a Gantt chart (with bars showing task duration).

The WBS is often created by one of three approaches. With each approach, project planning requires some subject matter understanding about the work being planned and, most often, some research, review of past projects, and communication with other project managers, to estimate time requirements.

The analogy approach uses a similar WBS (prepared for another project) as a starting point. If you are working for a consulting firm that does similar projects for the same client, this approach may be simple and effective. Such an approach is greatly facilitated if the consulting firm keeps good records and has archives of past projects.

The top-down approach begins with the final or largest deliverables. Then, all of the components that make up these deliverables are identified. This process continues to greater and greater detail until all work packages are identified. A project manager attempting to do this alone had better have significant experience or technical background in all aspects of the project. Input from technical team members can also be vital, especially as project activities are mapped to lower and lower levels.

The bottom-up approach involves intense team participation. Members begin by identifying as many specific tasks as possible, and then group these tasks into larger project activities. These project activities may then be grouped into more and more comprehensive activities, until the final deliverables for the project are planned. This approach can be very effective for scope and time planning because it can potentially involve input and consensus from the entire team. For the same reasons, however, it can be a very time-consuming process for putting together a WBS work plan.

Whichever basic approach is used (including some combination of the above), work planning and scheduling demands some serious attention because the efficiency of work and the way in which resources are allocated depend on this.  Project work planning gets easier if the organization and the project manager has past experience in similar projects. When handed an assignment for project planning for which the level of experience is not too high, it is important to ask questions, do research, and call on colleagues within and outside your organization to prepare a solid work plan that covers all work in an efficient way. Get a solid understanding of the scope and deliverables and make that WBS task hierarchy fully inclusive of all work and support activties required to get the project completed.

If only one individual is working on a project, time management for the project is pretty simple. However, if a team of individuals is working on the project, timing becomes more complex due to dependencies of work tasks with multiple people contributing to many of the tasks. In projecting timing for tasks, it is important to understand the difference between duration time and resource time. The term duration normally refers to the calendar time from the start of a task to its completion (start and end dates). This is different from resource time--which identifies the actual labor time (usually in hours or days) that a resource (e.g., person on the project team) works on the task or project. Another way to say this is that the duration of a task is its calendar time, which usually is different than the resource time or labor time.  A given task (e.g., geodatabase design) may take 10 work days (2 weeks) to complete--including time for review, comment, and revision by multiple people, but the total resource (labor) time from all participants in that task might only be about 36 hours (4.5 work days). So an important trick in planning a project schedule and the timing for individual tasks, is to focus on the duration (calendar time) necessary to start and complete the task--including any time in which actual labor is not being expended.

Key factors that often impact project and task timing and which should be taken into account by a project planner include:

• Relationships among tasks (aka "linkages", "dependencies", "predecessors"): For example, one task cannot begin until another task is completed.
• Fixed dates and date constraints: for example, because of project or external factors, certain tasks might need to start or end on specific dates (e.g., fixed dates for aerial image acquisition).
• Resource loading: depending on the type of project, task timing may be influenced by the amount of resources (e.g., person-hours) that are assigned to a task (e.g., timing may be accelerated by adding more staff time).
• Expected "wait time" or delays associated with certain types of tasks (review and comment period for a document or technical specifications).
• Risk events (e.g., bad weather, technical problems) that have a good probability of occurring and impacting work progress.

Task Sequencing and Timing Relationships

Task sequencing reviews all activities in the WBS with the goal of identifying relationships between them and classifying all the timing relationships among tasks. These relationships (aka "linkages", "dependencies", "predecessors"). Task timing relationships are important because they control task sequencing and task start and end dates. There are four types of task relationships:

1. A finish-to-start relationship exists if one activity must finish before another activity starts (most common task relationship type).
2. A start-to-start relationship exists if one activity cannot start until another activity starts (2nd most common task relationship type).
3. A finish-to-finish relationship exists if the one activity cannot finish until another activity finishes (3rd most common task relationship type).
4. Finally, a start-to-finish relationship exists if one activity must start before another can finish (rarely used relationship type)

Why do these dependencies exist? Often they are just logical or a clear part of the project workflow (i.e., some tasks must be started or completed before some other tasks can begin). For example, in a project involving the design and development of a custom Web-based GIS application, it is necessary to complete a user requirements assessment task before beginning an application design task (a finish-to-start relationship). Or, in a project that involves the competitive selection of a contractor to perform GIS database development, it is possible to start the preparation of a request for proposal (RFP) document at the same time that proposal scoring and selection criteria are developed (a start-to-start relationship). Associated with the assignment of task relationships is the concept of a lag or a lead. Efficient project scheduling can use the appropriate application of lag and lead times along with task relationships--which adjust task duration and start and end dates. A lag time forces a task to start at a specified period of time after that defined by established task relationships. For instance, in procuring contractor services, review of proposals occurs after distribution of an RFP but with a lag of an additional 28 days after the RFP distribution (time required for vendors to submit bids). A task lead forces a task to start a specified time before that defined by the task relationship. For instance, a GIS database design task is related to the end of an information gathering task, but the design work can start before the end of that information gathering work (task lead).

By effective application of task relationships and lag and lead times, a project schedule will reflect realistic timing factors and also allow for appropriate overlap in the timing of tasks to make the best use of time.

Network Diagrams

Once all dependencies have been identified, a network diagram can be created to schematically show the sequencing of projects. In network diagrams, arrows represent tasks and are drawn to show dependencies. The completed network diagram can be used to identify the critical path of a project, the series of dependent activities that determines the shortest possible duration of a project, assuming all other milestones are met on all other paths. To find the critical path, trace all paths represented by arrows through the network diagram while summing the duration of all tasks. The greatest sum from beginning to end is the critical path. The critical path is aptly named, as a project will be behind schedule if tasks on the critical path take longer to complete than anticipated. Other tasks not on the critical path have varying amounts of slack, or time a task can be delayed without putting the completion date in danger. Figure 5-1, below, illustrates a method for determining the critical path from a network diagram.

Text description of Figure 5-1: Network Diagram Example.

This figure explains the concept of a network diagram. It consists of oval shapes (numbered 1 through 8) that represent project milestone points and lines connecting the oval shapes which represent project activities (A through J) and the number of days in duration. Oval shape #1 (the start of the project) on the left side of the diagram has lines that connect it to oval shapes (milestones) #2, #3, and #4. The connecting activity lines to these shapes have the labels, "A=1", B=2, and C=3. Oval shape (milestone) #2 has one line that connects to oval shape #5 to the right, with a line labeled "D=4". Oval shape (milestone) #3 has two lines that connect to oval shapes #5 and #6 to the right, with lines labeled "D=4" and "E=5" respectively. Oval shape (milestone) #4 has one line that connects to oval shape #7 to the right, with a line labeled "G=6". Oval shape (milestone) #5 has one line that connects to oval shape #6 to the right, with a line labeled "H=6". Oval shape (milestone) #7 has one line that connects to oval shape #6 to the right, with a line labeled "I=2". Oval shape (milestone) #6 has one line that connects to oval shape #8 to the right, with a line labeled "J=3". There is text annotation below the network diagram which presents durations for specific paths of project activities. It reads:

Note: Assume all durations are in days.

Path 1: A-D-H-J Length = 1+4+6+3 = 14 days

Path 2: B-E-H-J Length = 2+5+6+3 = 16 days

Path 3: B-F-J Length = 2+4+3 = 9 days

Path 4: C-G-I-J Length = 3+6+2+3 = 14 days

Since the critical path is the longest path through the network diagram, Path 2 (B-E-H-J) is the critical path for Project X.

Credit: Schwalbe (2016). Figure 6-8. Information Technology Project Management, 8th Edition. Used with permission by Cengage Learning.

The Gantt chart is designed in timeline format, so that task timing (planned or actual timing) can easily be visualized over time. Gantt charts can be used to track and display progress of all tasks throughout the project. The Gantt chart is the most common graphical format for visualizing project timing. The Gantt is one way (or "view" of the project task sequence and timing. Other "views" that are sometimes used is a network diagram (project flow chart) and a calendar views. Gantt charts include: a list of project tasks, a timescale across the top with user-defined timing intervals (e.g., months or weeks), and bars under the timescale showing task timing.

Figure 5-2 below shows the major parts and format of the Gantt chart (with Gantt bar symbology for different task types)

Text description of Figure 5-2: Example of Gantt Chart.

This figure is a diagram that shows and explains an example of a project Gantt chart used for presenting tasks and timing information for a project. The left side of the generic chart shows five labeled columns, WBS (Task Number), Task Name, Duration, Start Date and Finish Date. The right of the chart shows Gantt chart bars and symbols showing the timing of tasks. This right part of the chart has timescale headings and vertical grid lines. These heading lines have labels for the year at the top line, months on the second line, and weeks from the plan start. There are six boxes that contain text annotation explaining elements of the Chart, with arrows pointing to the related Gantt element. These annotation boxes explain the type of task symbolized in the figure. The first annotation box is in the upper left and points to the task line called with a WBS (Task) number of 0. This is called the “Project Summary Task” which is a Special type of task identifying the entire project. To the right of the first annotation box is another annotation box with the text, “Summary Task: Any with Lower-level subtasks” and points to two solid black Gantt bars below. Each of these Gantt bars spans (horizontally) multiple months. A third annotation box is below the second and has the text, “Recurring Task: Task or event that recurs with regular timing (e.g., status meeting)” and points to a blue dashed Gantt bar extending across several months. The fourth annotation box is at the middle left part of the figure and has the text, “Work Task or Work Package: Lowest task in the hierarchy (where the work actually gets done).” Two arrows from this box point to solid blue Gantt bars covering several weeks. The fifth annotation box is to the center right, with the text “Split Task: Task with planned pause for specific period of time”. The arrow from this box points to a blue bar that is split in the middle with a gap with a dotted blue line connecting the two task bars on the left and right. A sixth annotation box is at the bottom center and has the text, “Milestone Task: Event occurrence at a specific point in time”. Two arrows from this box point to black diamond-shape symbols with a specific date label.

Credit: Peter Croswell © Penn State University is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.

Assignment #4 Overview

It is now time to prepare a work breakdown structure (WBS)—creating a task hierarchy describing all work necessary for carrying out and completing project work.

For Assignment #4, you are the project manager with the contracted company selected by the City of Metropolis to work with the City’s project team to carry out the work on the Geodatabase Design and Development Project. Your company responded to the City's RFP and was selected to perform the work. The contracted work for which you are responsible is summarized in section 1.2 of the RFP with more detailed explanation in subsequent RFP sections. This purpose of this Assignment is to:

• lay out the tasks and subtasks and their timing (the Work Breakdown Structure or “WBS”), and
• present the results in the form of a Gantt Chart.

The work breakdown structure (WBS) you create should include a hierarchical organization of tasks (top-level tasks and subtasks), with planned start and end dates, that take into account estimated durations of time to complete the work with whatever timing constraints may influence the starting and completion of tasks. Please note that the RFP describes the overall scope and deliverables but does not provide a specific set of tasks or approach to accomplish the work. That is your job as the contracted project manager—to prepare a plan that, based on your experience in similar projects, will provide an organized and efficient way to get the work done and which includes necessary project monitoring, status reporting, communications, quality control, and other necessary project activities. Before jumping into this assignment, take another look at the Metropolis RFP—particularly Table 2 summarizing the Main and Supporting deliverables. Then review again the "Work Breakdown Structure" page of this Lesson to make sure you understand the concept behind the WBS—with the Summary Tasks establishing organized "headings" for the work and the "Work Tasks" (the lowest level in the task hierarchy) defining how the works gets done.

Your Submittal for Assignment #4

Create a work plan (a WBS) task hierarchy and timing (start and end dates for each task) for the City of Metropolis project. You are contracted project manager tasked by the City to prepare this work plan—that includes tasks for all project work carried out by your contracted team AND support work done by the City's project team members (e.g., formal deliverable quality review and comment).

In this assignment, use the concepts of task relationships with lags and leads to control task timing. In general, your WBS should be broken down into 3-levels (main summary task, subtask, sub-subtask) although for some main summary tasks, 2 or 4 subtask levels may be appropriate. Your WBS should include tasks necessary to complete all main deliverables (MD) and supporting deliverables (SD) summarized in Table 2 of the RFP. As identified in the RFP (see SD1), the City is requiring you to design and carry out a pilot project to test, confirm, and refine the database development work. For the field data collection and quality control work for this type of project, it is typical for contractors to organize work into specific geographic zones or sectors that correspond to data deliverables (MD2) that are submitted to the City. This work plan should cover all work carried out by the contractor AND the City's project team. For example, in addition to covering contractor field data collection and quality control, it should show the quality assurance review work that the City team performs after deliverable submittal by the contractor (with formal acceptance or possible rejection of that deliverable). The WBS should also include tasks for project management and control (monitoring and reporting on status, project communications, formal project closure, etc.).

In addition to the WBS task hierarchy, create a Gantt Chart showing bars for task timing. The Gantt Chart should show important information about the tasks (task number, task name, start and finish dates) along with Gantt bars graphically showing the timing of each task and the interconnectedness of tasks based on dependencies. We strongly recommend that you use project management software (e.g., Microsoft Project) to do this assignment since Gantt chart generation is automatic (although you can apply various controls for its format).

The City would like the project completed within about 9 months from project initiation. Again, while not mandatory, it is strongly suggested that you use a project management software package like Microsoft Project. Project management software automates many manual steps in project planning, Gantt chart generation, etc. If you don't have previous experience with project management software, this is an opportunity to get some experience and begin to acquire a skill that will be useful in your future project planning and management work.  If you use Microsoft Project, your submittal for the project may be the software's file format (.mpp) only . Be sure to set the proper level for the WBS task hierarchy and make appropriate links (Predecessors) among tasks. There are also quite a few third-party software vendors that offer MS Project licenses at discounted costs (particularly for older versions of the software). MS Project version 2021 is the most current software but past versions (v2016, or 2019) will also work for this course. Useful resources include:

• Library Resources - click on 'Library Resources' in the navigation bar for Geography related library resources.
• LinkedIn Learning (Log in with your Penn State email and password)
• Microsoft Project - Full Tutorial for Beginners in 13 MINUTES!.
• Free Microsoft Project Training Course.

If you do not use MS Project software, you should provide a file (in the software's native file type) as well as a document showing tasks, task numbers and names, start and end dates for tasks, and the Gantt Chart.

In summary, Assignment #4 consists of:

• WBS showing task hierarchy (task number and name) and start and end dates for the City of Metropolis Geodatabase Development Project encompassing ALL project deliverable and project management activities carried out by the contractor and the City
• Gantt chart presentation of the WBS

**KEY POINTS: Be sure to name tasks well. Use verbs or "verb-derived nouns" (like, "implementation", "submittal"). Remember the information in this Lesson about WBS task structure. Summary Tasks (any task that have subtasks below them) are just headings to organize areas of work. The bottom level tasks ("work tasks" or "work packages") describe the work activities. Subtasks under a Summary Task must cover all work activities encompassed in that Summary Task.  Also, there should NEVER be only one subtask under a Summary Task. The nature of a Summary Task implies that there are multiple activities (subtasks) under it. Task names should be concisely worded but long enough for a reader to quickly grasp the nature of the task. In some cases, it will be useful to include then Deliverable ID# (from the RFP) in the task name.

Assignment Submittal and Grading

See the Canvas Calendar for assignment submital date

This assignment is worth 70 points. The grading approach is explained in the rubric table below.

The instructor may deduct points if the Assignment is turned in late, unless a late submittal has been approved by the Instructor prior to the Assignment submittal date.

Lesson 6 Overview

It's time for the bottom line. A large part of project success is completing planned work and deliverables within an established budget. That budget results from an estimation of labor time and direct monetary expenses attributable to the project.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

• describe the basic principles and concepts of cost management;
• describe key inputs into cost estimates and budgets;
• assign resources (team labor time and monetary costs) to project tasks; and
• understand earned value management (EVM) as a means to track and manage project resources.

See the checklist page for readings, quiz, and assignment work in this Lesson.

Questions?

If you have any questions or would like to brainstorm ideas, please contact the instructor by phone or email. Also, feel free to communicate with your fellow students via the Discussion Forum or email.

Lesson 6 is one week in length. (See the Calendar for specific due dates.) To finish this lesson, you must complete the activities listed below. You may find it useful to print this page out first so that you can follow along with the directions.

Project cost management includes preparation of the project budget as part of the project planning process and financial management during project execution. Projecting budgeting involves making an estimation of resources required to complete a project. In a project management context, a resource is a tangible entity to which a value may be assigned. Resources may be people (expressed in labor time with an associated dollar rate), monetary (money used for project expenses), and equipment. In preparation of a budget, each of these types of resources is expressed in monetary terms (i.e., direct expenditures and costs for labor time or equipment usage). Depending on the type of project, there are a range of cost categories that should be included in cost estimation. For GIS projects, it is good practice to examine and tabulate all costs that are attributable to the project, such as:

• labor time of the organization's existing staff or new staff hired for the project (normally measured as a monetary rate by time--hour, day, or month);
• contracted staff (cost for project team members provided through a contract with an external organization or company);
• contracted services--costs for specific deliverables provided, under contract, by a consultant or contractor (e.g., GIS consultant providing GIS design and development services, GIS contractor performing database collection or development, firm providing aerial data collection and processing);
• computer hardware, network, equipment, and system maintenance and administration services (costs for the purchasing or leasing of computer servers, network devices, desktop computers, mobile devices, survey equipment, etc., and paid services for system maintenance);
• computer software (costs for licensing of server and desktop software and mobile device apps required for the project). Also, may include ongoing costs for Web-based software and applications. This includes cloud-based services, also known as "software as a service" (SaaS). Applications and services provided by the Esri ArcGIS Online service is a prominent example;
• network and Web services (costs for provision of cellular or broadband communication services, Web hosting services, and related costs);
• GIS data (costs for the purchasing, licensing, or subscriptions to existing spatial data provided by an outside party);
• training (costs for specialized training, such as software training for team members, which is necessary for the project); and
• travel expenses (costs for ground and air transportation, lodging, meals, and other costs associated with travel required for the project).

Direct and indirect costs are related concepts explained below:

• Labor costs reflect the costs, and value, for people working on a project. Labor is typically measured in time--specific time in which a team member is working on the project (usually in hours or days). In most organizations, labor time has a monetary value that can be quantified on the basis of that person's total compensation (pay rate and benefits). Such quantification is typically calculated for employees in private-sector firms (e.g., dollar rate per hour) but is less often formally done for government agency employees. But the point is, labor time has a cost to the organization, which can be derived based on the employee's compensation and work time.
• Most of the items in the list above present typical direct costs, which are monetary costs for tangible products or services acquired and tracked specifically for the project. Direct expenditures are easy to understand in the case of travel expenses or computer hardware and software purchased or leased specifically to support the project. Direct costs also include monetary expenditures for purchased services (e.g., costs for a GIS contractor for data collection or application development) as well as other monetary costs specifically assigned to the project.
• Indirect costs represent costs that are incurred by an organization carrying out a project, but which are not specifically accounted for or tracked as part of a project. As such, indirect costs are often tallied for the entire organization and not assigned to individual projects. Indirect costs are sometimes called overhead, and includes a range of things such as: building rent and operational costs (utilities, maintenance, custodial services); insurance fees; tax payments; employee training not attributable to a specific project; and costs for office furniture, equipment, and computer hardware which is not accounted for through specific projects. In private companies, staff time which is not billed to a specific project, and therefore does not bring in revenue (administrative staff, marketing and sales staff), is also considered overhead. An indirect cost in one organization may be managed as a direct cost in another. For example, some organizations may have copy machines that keep track of identity numbers and allow copies to be billed back to individual projects. In the past, some GIS labs with processing capability that was high end at the time accounted for and billed projects based on central processing unit (CPU) usage. Many government agencies and private companies account for overhead costs as a "multiplier" applied to employee billable rates. For instance, private GIS consulting companies typically establish hourly or daily monetary rates that take into account the employee's base salary, benefits (like health insurance), and a portion of the company's overhead costs.

When organizations are calculating the monetary rate to for labor time expended on a project, it is typical to start with the cost of an employee's total compensation also called the base rate (pay and direct benefits). Then, apply some additional costs expressed as multipliers. A multiplier is a factor applied to the base rate to reflect other costs of the organization beyond the employee's compensation and to determine the billing rate for that person or for an entire job classification. Here's an example: An employee's base rate (total compensation) is $40 per hour, and the overhead multiplier used by the organization is 1.5. The billing (or "billable") rate for that person would be $60.00 per hour. Private companies may also apply another type of multiplier to take into account expected profit. The profit multiplier is normally expressed as a percentage of the base rate. Using the example above, if the targeted profit is 20%, add another $8 to the rate yielding $68 per hour. In practice, some organizations may have other types of multipliers that are also applied to calculate labor rates. Also, private companies, in setting their billable rates, take into account market forces, level of demand, and other factors.

Project managers must account for the cost of all resources that will be necessary to meet the scope of the project within the scheduled time. This is a difficult thing to do well. If enough resources are not allocated, the project will exhaust the budget before completion. Some unseasoned project managers, seeking to get funding approval to carry out a planned project, are apt to underestimate costs in order to make the project more attractive and increase the likelihood of approval. That approach is counter-productive because it often results in a shortfall of necessary funds or staff resources to complete the work. It is much better to fully estimate costs and apply a reasonable contingency to account for project risks that could impact resource requirements. It is vastly better to complete the project under-budget than be forced to "pass the hat" to obtain more funding to complete project work.

Organizations have many strategies for most effectively using project resources while managing costs. Some government agencies and private companies have put in place a project management office (PMO). A PMO establishes best practices for project planning and management, provides templates for planning and monitoring, assembles a library of information on past projects, and provides support to project managers and teams.

Estimating labor time and direct expenses for projects is challenging--particularly for an organization or an assigned project manager that has limited experience in similar projects. Sound project budgeting can take a considerable amount of research and time, but that is a worthwhile investment. Some general practices that can help in estimating project resources are:

• examine work plans and budgets for similar, past projects in your organization, and consult with personnel involved in those projects;
• communicate with peers and colleagues in other organizations about their experience on similar projects;
• do necessary research on direct expense items (costs for travel, computer software, equipment);
• contact vendors and contractors to get input about potential costs for contracted services (e.g., field data collection) based on their experience in similar projects;
• use a cost estimation tool (like a formatted spreadsheet) with sufficient detail to capture labor time and rates and all direct cost items;
• use the cost estimation tool to generate high-cost and low-cost versions and use that as a basis to prepare a final budget.

Estimating resources and preparation of project budgets is tricky, but becomes easier as your experience in project planning increases. But in many cases, it is necessary to do some research to gather figures and not just "pull numbers out of the air". The success of your project and of you as project manager depends on doing as effective job as possible with budgeting. Estimating labor time can be particularly challenging. In most GIS projects, you need to focus on actual work time for project team members, not the duration (calendar time) of a task. For instance, a project may have a task called "prepare geodatabase design". The work and completion of that task may occur over a 2-week period (taking into account some delays, wait time for review and comment, etc.) but the actual labor time might be only 30 hours or less. The point is that for many GIS projects, team members may not be assigned full-time to one project or a specific task. It is more typical for an employee's time to be allocated to multiple projects or support tasks. Task duration (calendar time) and labor time are related, but they are DIFFERENT and measured or tracked separately.

Cost control includes monitoring cost, task completion, and time. If the total cost of a project at a given time is over the cost baseline, cost control measures may be necessary. Such project management actions may range from ensuring that only tasks within the scope of the work are being performed to alerting stakeholders of potential cost overruns. As a project manager, it is important, professional, and ethical to identify and report on these issues as soon as they are identified. Effective techniques exist to help you in this matter.

Earned value management (EVM) is an effective technique for tracking costs and examining project expenditures relative to completed work. Its strength is that it looks at cost, time, and task completion within the scope of the project simultaneously. It uses a WBS and budget created during the development stage, but tracks these metrics during the implementation stage of a project life cycle. The basic measures in EVM are explained in Figure 6-1.

Text description of Figure 6-1: Earned Value Management Measures.

This figure is mainly text and explains Earned Value Management concepts. The title, centered at the top with a centered text, reads, “Earned Value Management (EVA)”. Below this title line is a text explanation below the title with the text, “Project management technique for measuring project performance and progress in an objective manner”. Bullet points below this text lists the following five left justified bullet points defining key EVA terms:

• Planned Value (PV): Initial budgeted value or cost
• Actual Cost (AC): Actual expenditures at measured points in the project
• Earned Value (EV): Value of work accomplished –at a certain point in the project
• Estimate to Completion (ETC): ETC is used to connote one of two different measures: a) estimated time to completion OR b) estimated costs to completion. Management estimate of time or costs, (from a certain point in the project schedule), to full completion of the project.
• Budget at Completion (BAC): The total budget allocated to the project (projected cost to complete all project work)

A definition of “Value” is shown at the bottom.  Value means planned or accomplished “work” based on planned tasks and costs—expressed in dollars (actual monetary expenditures or labor time converted to a monetary amount)

Credit: Peter Croswell © Penn State University is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.

EVM uses tables and charts, such as is shown in Figure 6-2, below. The y-axis of the chart represents cost and the x-axis represents time. The planned value throughout the project can be plotted from values of cost and time contained in the project plan's WBS. In other words, if you plan to complete Tasks 1, 2, and 3 by the end of Week 4, the planned value at that time is the budgeted cost associated with these tasks. As the team implements the project, the actual cost can also be graphed. At any given time during the project, the actual cost is the total of direct and indirect costs incurred to complete tasks. If Tasks 1, 2, and 3 take more time or resources to complete than planned for, the actual cost will exceed the planned value, which, of course, is not good. On the chart, the actual cost line will begin to track above the planned value line.

Text description of Figure 6-2: Earned Value Management (EVM) Concepts. Shows analysis after project duration of 5 months.

This figure is in the form of a line graph that explains the concept of Earned Value Management (EVM). The Y-axis represents the project budget in dollars and has a scale that goes from $0 to $120,000 in increments of $20,000. The X-axis represents the project duration in months, with a scale that goes from 0 to 13. The graph presents EVM measures computed at Month 5 of the project. The graph shows lines for three EVM measures including: Actual Cost (AC) with a dotted gray line, Earned Value (EV) shown as a heavy dashed line, and Planned Value (PV) shown as a solid line. This Planned Value line begins at the graph's origin and moves up and to the right, ending at Month 12. The end of the PV line is labeled, "Budget at Completion (BAC) which is $100,000. The Actual Cost (AC) and Earned Value (EV) lines move up and to the right and slightly above and slightly below the PV line, respectively. The AC and the EV lines stop at Month 5 (the stated point in the project for the EVM analysis). There is a point symbol at the extreme upper right corner of the graph (above the $120,000 Y-axis line) with a text note that reads, "An EAC point above and to the right of the BAC point means the project is projected to cost more and take longer than planned.".

Credit: Schwalbe, Information Technology Project Management, 8th Edition. Used with permission by Cengage Learning.

Another way to express this is that the value your team has earned is below the value that you as project manager planned. If Tasks 1, 2, and 3 are 90% complete after four weeks, you have earned 90% of the value you planned to earn. Earned value--the value of the tasks completed, can also be graphed on the same chart. In this bad news example, the earned value line would track beneath the planned value line. Because multiple tasks may be occurring simultaneously within a given project, it is necessary to track actual cost and earned value for all tasks to accurately access the earned value of the project.

Earned value and actual cost give different but complementary snapshots of how a project is going. For example, say your organization takes on a project that requires twice the resources planned for. Earned value could still track planned value if twice as many person-hours are assigned to the project. Actual cost, however, would be twice as high as planned value. Alternatively, the planned person-hour resources could be assigned to the project. In this case, actual cost would track planned value, but earned value would only be half of planned value.

Once a project goes awry, it is difficult to get actual cost or earned value back on the planned value baseline. Usually, the best that can be accomplished is that EV and AC will cease diverging from PV. By making necessary adjustments in resource allocation and scope, a project manager can lower actual costs from a specific project point to minimize the difference between the planned value (PV) and actual cost (AC).

EVM is important in that it synthesizes the planning, executing, and controlling process groups of project management. EVM is impossible without a project plan with a detailed WBS and budget. EVM also requires regular tracking during the implementation phase of the project life cycle. It can identify problems or issues early, when intervention or clarification from the project manager can be most useful to team members. It can be an aid to project managers required to file status reports. It is an important control management tool that a project manager has at her disposal during the critical part of the project life cycle when work is being completed.

A summary of important EVM project performance measures is provided in Table 6-1 below.

It's time to apply the practices covered in this lesson to prepare a project budget (Assignment 5) for the Metropolis geodatabase project--taking into account the cost of labor time and all direct monetary costs that are attributable to the project work (e.g., travel expenses, equipment purchased specifically for the project, etc.). This project budget ONLY covers costs of the contractor hired by the City to perform the services defined in the City's RFP.

You are the project manager for the contractor selected to carry out the City of Metropolis Geodatabase Development Project. You are now tasked with creating a detailed budget that covers all the costs your company will incur (not any other costs that the City Team may incur).  Note: In actual practice, the budget would be prepared as part of your company's proposal in response to the City's RFP (and perhaps amended as part of contract negotiations).  For the purposes of this Assignment, assume that the City has accepted your company’s proposed budget (which should be between $200,000 and $250,000), and now you are refining that and providing a more detailed breakdown by task and project team member.

Your Submittal for Assignment #5

For Assignment #5, you, as the Contractor’s Project Manager, will set up a budget table and enter data to generate cost estimates (labor costs and direct monetary expenses) for the project. Cost estimates will be presented by task and subtask. The best and most thorough way to do this is to start with your WBS task hierarchy (from Assignment 4) and go down each task* and make an estimate of labor hours and direct costs (e.g., travel expenses, equipment costs, etc.) associated with that task. The best tool to use is a spreadsheet like Excel.  To give you an idea of an acceptable format for project cost estimation, take a look at the sample project spreadsheet. This is an Excel spreadsheet tool to calculate costs based on figures entered by task You may use this example as a template for this Assignment or come up with your own format. You will need to set "billable rates" for your project team members (identified in Assignment 3) and make estimates for direct expenses (purchase of equipment or software, travel expenses, etc.) that are likely to be needed for this project. Take some time to apply some formatting to make the budget presentation attractive and easy to read (apply appropriate fonts types, spacing, borders, etc.).

*While your project WBS Work Plan (Assignment #4) has task detail down to a 3rd-level task hierarchy, you may present the budget at 2nd-level task detail.

NOTES: While it is important to use your WBS task hierarchy (Assignment #4), as a basis for this the project budget, it is OK to generalize the task hierarchy For example, if your WBS hierarchy was at a 3-level or 4-level task detail, you can summarize up to the 2nd-level tasks. Include subtotals for each high-level task. It is expected that you will review instructor comments on Assignment #3 (contractor team), and make some adjustments in your team and rates reflecting instructor comments. Also, make sure the functional role (e.g., "field data collector") of each team member is explained somewhere (e.g., in a footnote). Do your best to estimate hours for team members for particular parts of the project. Keep in mind the discussion about billable time vs task duration or "calendar time". As you apply hours for specific tasks, make sure this is your estimate of time actually working on the task--not calendar time. For instance, you might have a task for "pilot project planning". Such a task might occur over a period of 2 weeks, with time for City team review and comment, but the actual labor (work) time for one or more contractor team members might only be 22 hours.

As in all assignments, your document should include a title, identification of the Assignment number and name, your name, and date (best to place this information to the right of or at the bottom of the main sheet content). In header rows above the table or spreadsheet, you should also identify the project name, your contractor name, and some notes explaining this budget submittal and project background. Make sure to name the project, put in the name of your fictitious company, and include a short paragraph giving some background about the project (scope, City Team and contractor roles). Make reference to the detailed work plan (prepared in Assignment #4). Reference the City RFP and give a summary of key project deliverables.

Assignment Submittal and Grading

Upload your spreadsheet at the Assignment #5: Budget page. See Canvas Calendar for submittal date. The grading rubric and information below.

Assignment #5 is worth 50 points. The grading approach is explained in the table below.

Your submittal will be graded based on:

1. completeness of budget preparation (Does the estimation take into account the major labor and direct expenses required?)
2. presentation format (level of detail and presentation format)
3. accuracy of budget estimation. NOTE: There is not a single dollar amount that is correct for the Metropolis project budget. Grading for "accuracy" is based on evidence that you have done some research of industry costs for this type of project.

The instructor may deduct points if the Assignment is turned in late, unless a late submittal has been approved by the Instructor prior to the Assignment submittal date.

Lesson 7 Overview

Effective quality management has the potential to make a project shine. Ask an end user if the product was delivered on time, on budget, or included all of the products within its scope, and the best answer you can probably hope for is "yes." Ask the same end user about the quality of the product, and a happy customer is given the opportunity to extol the merits of your exemplary work. Quality Management is a PMI Project Knowledge Area. Quality cannot be ignored and should be embraced in project management. We will look at methods and metrics to make quality part of the planning and implementation processes of a project.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

• understand the meaning of quality in the context of GIS projects
• understand the differences between quality planning, quality assurance, and quality control, and describe where each fits into the project life cycle
• appreciate the specific quality parameters associated with typical GIS projects and deliverables
• describe the history, techniques, and tools of quality control and management and cite organizations that development and promote quality standards
• understand the key processes and steps involved in quality management in GIS projects
• describe aspects of GIS projects that require special attention to quality

See the checklist page for readings, quiz, and assignment work in this Lesson.

Questions?

If you have any questions or would like to brainstorm ideas, please contact the instructor by phone or email. Also, feel free to communicate with your fellow students via the Discussion Forum or email.

Lesson 7 is one week in length. (See the Calendar for specific due dates.) To finish this lesson, you must complete the activities listed below. You may find it useful to print this page out first so that you can follow along with the directions.

Introduction

The Project Management Institute (PMI) defines quality, in a project context as, "the degree to which project deliverables meet requirements". This general definition places the focus on a need for well-defined requirements for project execution and deliverables. Quality planning should occur as part of the development of project deliverable specifications and work planning. Identification and characterization of quality as a basis for quality management procedures is helped by reference to accepted standards.

Standards Organizations

There are a number of government and independent organizations that develop and promote standards relating to different aspects of quality (of GIS products and project deliverables. Consider taking a look at resources of the following organizations to get a better understanding of accepted GIS-related standards:

• Open GIS Consortium (OGC): An independent standards organization with participation of industry and government organizations and coordination with professional associations and other standards organizations. The OGC has established standards for spatial data format, data classification, geospatial services and applications, and GIS operational practices. The OGC standards have been adopted by many GIS software and database companies and by user organizations.
• Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC): a U.S. Federal government organization which develops and approves standards for GIS data and metadata quality, format, content, and classification and related GIS data collection and maintenance practices.
• American Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS): Professional association that prepares and approved formal standards for aerial data imagery and LiDAR acquisition and processing and for map and orthoimage positional accuracy.
• International Association for Standardization (ISO): An independent international standards organization with participation of industry and government organizations and coordination with professional associations and other standards organizations. The ISO approves and promotes standards for a wide range of quality topics (ISO 9000) and has organized Technical Committee 211 (Geographic Information and Geomatics) which deals with GIS-related software, data, and services.
• Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (URISA): An international professional and educational association that promotes standards and best practices for the management and use of GIS technology. URISA's GIS Management Institute (GMI) develops tools and best practices useful for GIS planning and management.

Other standards organizations, not specific to GIS or spatial data but which develop and promote standards some of which relate to information technology and quality parameters, include:

• American National Standards Institute (ANSI): An independent U.S. based standards organization addressing standards of all types (including many IT standards);
• National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST): A U.S. government standards organization which adopts format standards for a wide range of products and services;
• Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE): An independent standards organization with a focus on computer hardware, networks, and software;
• Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF): Global organization that sets standards for Internet communications and services; and
• Software Engineering Institute (SEI): An independent body based at Carnegie Mellon University that develops and promotes standards and best practices for software and application development.

Quality Control and Quality Assurance

There are two terms that are widely used in quality management (in GIS and other fields), quality control and quality assurance. These terms are used somewhat differently by different practitioners. In GIS projects (particularly for GIS database development), they are often used interchangeably. So, as you encounter these terms in project specifications, contractor service descriptions, and white papers, be aware that there is not a full consensus on their meaning. A practical usage of these terms in GIS projects is as follows:

For the purposes of this course we will refer to Quality control (QC) as the tools, processes, and range of automated and manual checks that are put in place to meet quality requirements as deliverables are being prepared (e.g., GIS database deliverables). The intent is to produce the deliverables that fully meet project specifications and quality requirements. The related term, quality assurance (QA), refers to tools and procedures used to assess adherence to specifications and quality requirements after initial deliverable completion and in a final step to check and approve the deliverables. QA checking should be performed as a separate step from deliverable production/preparation, and often by a separate group or people from those involved in deliverable production. Often that separate group is a client organization that has contracted GIS services (database development) to a private firm. QC and QA are related and may use similar tools and procedures, but their use in the entire workflow from deliverable preparation to final acceptance is different. In practice, if QA checking reveals problems with deliverables, the deliverable is subjected to additional steps to correct errors and re-submit it--at which point it is usually subjected to another round of QA checking.

Overview

Many of the tools and techniques in current use have their roots in post-World War II Japan. Dr. W. Edwards Deming used statistical methods to improve quality with a strong focus on the customer or end user, while in the process making organizations more productive and profitable. Although this user-needs focus is now widely accepted, it was an unconventional perspective at the time. Deming's approach was plan, do, check, and act; later he expanded these ideas to:

1. design the product
2. make it; test it in the production line and the laboratory
3. put it on the market
4. test it in service; find out what the user thinks of it, and why the nonuser has not bought it

Fitness of use is defined as both 1) freedom from defects and deficiencies, and 2) product features that meet the user's needs. These two ideas continue to evolve in more recent quality management ideas and practices. For example, the Six Sigma principle, which attempts to limit defective units per billion to two, is a disciplined example of the first definition of fitness of use above. Individuals working with human factors to understand how end users interact with various graphical user interfaces would be an example of the second definition. The concept of "fitness of use" relates directly to the PMI definition of "quality", the degree to which project deliverables meet requirements.

Tools/Techniques for Monitoring and Evaluating Quality

There are a number of tools and techniques to monitor, evaluate, and report on the quality of GIS services and project deliverable quality. A Pareto diagram is a histogram with columns or bars ordered from most common to least. Figure 7-1, below, shows an example of a Pareto diagram. It is a graphical way of summarizing where most problems occur with a product, or what most users would like to see included in a product. It is an important graphical display tool, as often a great majority of problems or needs fall into the same category. Often, the number of individuals providing input is somewhat limited, so that issues can be classified and enumerated from the entire population.

Text description of Figure 7-1: Pareto Diagram.

This figure is a Pareto diagram an explains the concept of quality analysis--a portrayal of the frequency of system problems. it is in the form of a bar graph with 5 vertical bars arranged horizontally. The five bars represent different types of system problems including (left to right): "Log-in problems", "System locks up", "system is too slow", "System is too hard to use", and "Reports are inaccurate". There is a vertical scale on the left side called "Number of complaints this week" with a scale that goes from 0 to 100, incremented in 10s. From left to right, the height of the bars are: 100 Complaints (Log-in problems), 55 Complaints (System locks up), 30 (System is too slow), 20 (System is too hard to use), and 5 (Reports are inaccurate). There is a vertical scale on the left side called "Number of complaints this week" with a scale that goes from 0 to 100 incremented in 10s. which corresponds to a solid line graph line which starts at 50% at the 1st bar (Log-in problems) and moves gradually upward and to the right, reaching 100% above the last bar (Reports are inaccurate).

Credit: Schwalbe (2016), Information Technology Project Management, 8th Edition. (Used with permission by Cengage Learning).

Statistical sampling may be appropriate for testing the quality of products produced, as looking at each individual product would be very time-consuming and cost prohibitive. The sample must be random, and large enough to represent the entire population of products with some degree of certainty. Statistical sampling as part of a quality control program is used most frequently in high-volume manufacturing processes. But it may be appropriate as a basis for automated and manual checks for large-scale GIS database development projects, especially in cases where data collection is more or less random. Whether or not statistical methods are used for determining a sample, the main point is that for some aspects of quality control and quality assurance checking, choosing a sample of the full project set is appropriate and effective. For instance, to check for positional accuracy of field data collection (e.g., positions of signs, hydrants, trees, etc.), a subset (e.g., 2% to 5%) of the full data set could be visually checked by comparing the captured position to the actual location on a high-resolution orthoimage or even with GNSS in the field.

Quality Parameters

With the general definition of quality, "the degree to which project deliverables meet requirements", the challenge for GIS projects is to properly define specifications and specific quality parameters that are appropriate for different types of GIS projects and deliverables. In GIS projects, quality can be defined (and ideally measured and assessed) for specific deliverables such as:

• reports and documents (needs assessment, design documents, plans, etc.)
• conceptual and physical database designs
• spatial data collected from aerial surveys and processed for delivery to users (orthoimagery, LiDAR elevation data)
• GIS data compiled from field data collection, map digitizing, or other means
• GIS applications (custom-designed user interface and functionality from GIS software)

Defining quality parameters for GIS project deliverables should be done as part of project planning--to provide a basis for project work and quality assurance activities. Documented specifications for project deliverables establishes the basis for quality management. Table 7-1 below identifies quality criteria associated with different types of GIS project deliverables.

NOTE: Review Table 7-1 closely. For Assignment #6, you will specifically need to address quality parameters for Metropolis deliverables that relate to the last two (right side) columns of this table.

*includes specified allowable "error of omission" level (required features captured) and "error of commission" (non-required features captured by error). An example of "error of commission" would be a GIS project involving the collection of manhole locations for a wastewater utility network. If the collection included, by error, some gas main manholes as well--there would be commission errors (the gas manholes should not be part of the database).

Quality planning establishes quality parameters and a level of expected quality for those parameters, and it describes the use of necessary tools and procedures to ensure that the level of quality is attained. Quality planning should occur as part of the development of project deliverable specifications and work planning.

As indicated in Table 7-1 above, quality planning for GIS projects may include several important aspects, some of which overlap with those identified for information technology projects, and some of which are unique to GIS. For example, functionality and usability are important aspects of many IT development projects. If you are customizing a user interface for a GIS application, you will need to address these issues of functionality and usability. If, however, you are creating paper copies of maps for botanists to use as they collect samples, functionality and readability relative to how the map will be used is important. The most rigorous and detailed quality planning and quality control procedures are associated with GIS data compilation and processing projects. For GIS data, there are fairly mature, documented standards, and data quality lends itself to a greater level of quantification than quality criteria that are more subjective. Several government and professional organizations have documented standards for spatial data content, format, and overall quality.

In GIS projects, there is considerable focus on quality management for GIS data and custom application development. Read Croswell, subsections 7.4 and 7.5, for an overview of GIS database and application development considerations. Also, take a look at the tutorial document on GIS database QC and QA.

Approaches for Ensuring Quality in GIS Projects

In major GIS database development projects, like the one being launched by the City of Metropolis, it is common practice to prepare an initial database design and set up database development procedures (including QC steps) and then initiate a pilot project--a task or subproject that is part of the overall database development project. The purpose of the pilot is to test the design, source material management, data capture and development procedures, QC approach, etc., and then to use the pilot project results to refine the design and procedures before initiating production work.

In GIS database work, the concept of incremental data improvement is important. Consider a major GIS database project for a water utility organization which has the objective of developing a complete GIS database of the water distribution network with such features as water mains, valves, hydrants, fittings, service lines, etc. The project also captures attribute information about the water facilities like pipe diameter, material, installation date, and others. Even a very well-planned project that uses available sources (as-built engineering drawings, work orders, water service line connection permits), may not result in a fully complete and accurate database (in relation to facilities actually in the field). In this case, a process of "incremental accuracy" may be put in place to improve data quality over time. The water utility organization has people in the field on a continual basis performing inspections and maintenance activity. These individuals observe facility status in the field and, with the right field-based tools deployed with mobile devices, can capture information that will improve GIS data quality over time. Such improvements may include: a) improved positional accuracy based on field-collected coordinates, b) populating attribute data missing from the initial data capture (e.g., correct pipe material), and c) capturing features located in the field (missed in the initial database development). This can be done by deploying field-based GIS applications with a location-aware devices (smartphone, tablet computer) that allow field personnel to capture new data that will drive GIS database improvements.

GIS software provides tools for customizing applications that meet the needs of users. The types of customization work that often come up in GIS application development projects include:

• automating access, integration with other systems or databases, or import/export of files with external databases and applications
• designing and developing “intelligent” interactive forms for attribute or graphic data entry (includes use of dropdown pick lists, automatic error checking, and other controls)
• developing application scripts that can be launched by a simple menu pick and combining a number of individual functions
• designing and creating templates for standard maps and textual reports
• creating data quality control and quality assurance applications using validation tools provided by the software package
• creating a library of standard queries that can be accessed through a menu
• programming complex analysis functions using basic GIS processing command
• building custom geospatial statistics or analysis models (e.g., network analysis)

The types of quality issues that are important in planning and execution for software and GIS application development projects are:

• proper functionality
• usability and adherence to user interface standards
• efficiency, performance, response time
• adherence to coding, programming standards
• flexibility and maintainability
• proper access to GIS data sources
• completeness and clarity of documentation

Software and application development work can follow a number of formal methodologies. The key point is that a formal, organized methodology should be put in place and followed during project execution. As a matter of quality management, key steps in the process (user application needs assessment, design, prototyping, operational deployment, documentation) should have defined steps for user review and comment which is used by the development team to incrementally refine the applications in a process that culminates in deployed applications that meet stated requirements.

For Assignment #6, you will work as a team to prepare a quality management plan for the City of Metropolis Geodatabase Development Project. The basis for this plan is the description of deliverables required by the City and, for GIS data deliverables, the specific quality criteria and levels defined in the RFP (Section 5).

Assignment 6 Overview

Assignments #6 (as well as Assignment #7) will be completed as team assignments. Assignment #6 is a Quality Management Plan for the City of Metropolis Geodatabase Project. You will be required to work with your assigned team (instructor will identify team composition) to complete this assignment. To carry out this assignment, assume that your team represents the Contractor providing project work to the City. The City's project manager (Lucille Geodata) has asked you to document your process for meeting the City's quality requirements and adhering to all required content, format, accuracy, and other quality criteria—as stated in the RFP and any additional quality criteria that you will put in place for the project. She wants to be comfortable that the deliverables provided by your firm will closely meet City requirements. In addition, she wants you to suggest steps that the City team should take to review deliverables as they are submitted, check for quality compliance, and to formally accept or reject deliverables. Only one jointly prepared submittal per team is required for Assignment 6 and will be submitted by the team leader.

Your Submittal for Assignment #6

With your teammates, create a Quality Management Plan for the Metropolis Geodatabase Development Project. A project must plan for quality of deliverables from the onset and put in place quality control and quality assurance checks to ensure that deliverables meet required level of quality. This plan will identify expected levels of quality for project deliverables and steps that your team will take to ensure that deliverables submitted to the City meet stated quality requirements. The main basis for your Quality Plan is Section 5 and Section 6 of the (City of Metropolis RFP). These parts of the RFP state expected quality criteria for the contractor’s deliverables—see Table 2 for a summary of the deliverables. Specifically, this Assignment should address quality management for the following deliverables (see RFP Table 2):

• MD2: GIS Data
• MD4: Design and development of custom GIS applications to support City update of data

The Quality Management Plan should cover the following topics:

• Cover page with prominent title and all necessary information identifying the course, assignment, author, and date. The main title of the document should be "Quality Management Plan". The Cover Page should also reference "City of Metropolis" and the full project name. At the bottom of the Cover Page (right side is best), include the course name and number, assignment number, Team number and team members, and date.
• Table of Contents
• Introduction about the purpose of this plan.
• Brief project background and scope overview—Mention the launch of this project and assembling of a Project Team with Publc Works in the lead. Explain that the City initiated the project with PW in lead. Mention the RFP and hiring of your firm. Make a brief statement about collaboration between the contractor and City team and summary of roles in the project.
• Summary of deliverables—description of the two deliverables (MD2 and MD4) which are the subject of this assignment. Don't include a lot of detail but describe them as a basis for getting into more details about quality management relating to them. You can use excerpts from Table 2 of the City's RFP. Provide a reasonable amount of detail becuase this is important to understand quality management workflows.
• Define the terms "quality" and "quality management" as it relates to this project.
• Explain the quality parameters for Deliverables MD2 and MD4 (NOTE: These come from the RFP and are also referenced in Canvas Table 7-2). Also make reference to applicaable standards from key professional and standards organizations.
• Present and explain the quality management workflow for MD2. A flow chart^† and accompanying description of the steps should be included. This should explain the workflow for contractor deliverable development and QC and submittal to the City AND the QA checking process and tools used by the City to accept (or reject) data deliverables. NOTE: Suggest making this a separate Section in the document
• Present and explain the quality management workflow for MD4. A flow chart^† and accompanying description of the steps should be included. The workflow should cover the design and development process (by the contractor) and the iterative review and comment process with the City team. The quality management workflow should show include final User Acceptance Testing and approval by the City, followed by preparation and review of documentation. Remember that there are two MD4 deliverables (the office-based and the field-based applications). You do NOT need to include a workflow diagram separately for each of these MD4 applications but the accompanying text should explain the quality management for these two applications. NOTE: Suggest making this a separate Section in the document.
• Include a summary of the automated and manual tools and processes that will be used to support the QC and QA work by the Contractor and the City Team. This should include some detail about the Web-based SD4 QA tools supporting City data QA checks. Include some discussion of testing work done by the contractor for the MD4 applications and the appraoch used by the City to review and comment on the applications at the different iterative review/comment parts of the workflow (e.g., a rating/comment form).

^†See the GIS Management Handbook for ideas on format and style for flow charts. Symbology uses "Unified Modeling Language" (UML) symbology. Mainly, you'll be using two symbol types with connecting arrowed lines: rectangles that are workflow steps and "decision diamonds" which represent a point where the workflow path may take more than one path based on a condition.

Make sure you describe the workflow explaining the complementary roles of the Contractor and the City in quality review and acceptance of the deliverables. For Deliverable MD2, this workflow includes the Contractor QC activities for data deliverables and then submits to the City for its QA review (culminating in acceptance or rejection).

As in all written assignments, you should include a cover page which includes the following information: a) course number and name, b) assignment number and name, c) your name, and d) submittal date. The cover page should also have the full project name, title ("Quality Management Plan"), and name of your contracted company. Your submitted assignment should be formatted as specified in the Format Quality of this assignment’s rubric below to earn maximum points. As you prepare this assignment, start with an outline, with sections and subsections that cover the topics above. We recommend that you use the Outline/Heading feature of your word processing software in document preparation. It is expected that you will organize the document into numbered and named sections. It is best practice today, for technical and management documents, to use a "decimal" outline numbering scheme (1., 1.1, etc.) as opposed to the older Roman Numeral numbering approach.

With the assignment of team members and a team leader, the groups should use the most appropriate means for communication and collaboration. The; Groups Space can be used for Group Discussion and file sharing.  Teams are also welcome to use other collaboration tools such as:

• email communication with attachments
• psu.zoom.us - (Penn State now supports zoom.us as a video conferencing tool)
• Google Docs allowing joint revision of documents
• the "Conferences" tool, and
• social media tools

The Quality Management Plan should be from about 3,500 to 5,500 words in length. As is the case for all written assignments, the word count is a target to give you an idea about the level of detail expected. As a general rule, it is best to keep it concise and as brief as possible while still covering the necessary topics. No points will be deducted for submittals if they exceed the maximum word count by a small amount.

Refer to the grading rubric below for guidelines on expected content and format.

Submitting the Assignment Submittal and Grading

View specific directions for Submitting Assignment #6. See Canvas Calendar for submittal date. The grading information and rubric is below.

This assignment is worth 70 points. The points awarded from the Instructor’s grading of this Assignment will be given to all members of the team.

The instructor may deduct points if the Assignment is turned in late, unless a late submittal has been approved by the Instructor prior to the Assignment submittal date.

Lesson 8 Overview

If project circumstances remained the same from start to finish, GIS managers could prepare a good plan, assign resources, and watch the project run smoothly to completion. But projects are executed in a dynamic environment in which conditions change, and risks are present that can affect timing, cost, scope, methods, and project team members. GIS managers should, therefore, adopt effective practices for change and risk management—with the goal of preparing for changes and risk events and then taking action early to avoid, or at least reduce, negative impacts.

General Dwight Eisenhower was quoted as saying, "In preparing for battle, I have found plans to be useless, but planning to be essential." While your instructor would not agree that plans are useless for GIS projects, Eisenhower's point is that going through the exercise of planning--defining objectives (and deliverables), laying out an approach (WBS), assigning resources, and having in place effective monitoring and communications methods provides an organized basis for executing the project, making adjustments as necessary, and delivering results. Risk management and change management is an important part of project planning and execution.

Except in extreme cases, projects can accommodate changes without major disruption, if project planning anticipates potential impacts and strategies are put in place to respond to them in effective ways. This lesson deals with a critical aspect of project planning and management--proven practices and methods for managing risk and project changes in a way that will keep projects on track and deliver results that meet specifications.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

• understand the purpose and basic concepts of risk management and how it is a part of project planning and execution
• learn how to identify and categorize project risks
• prepare a risk management matrix including assignment of levels of risk impact and probability
• understand risk response strategies from the PMI (avoidance, mitigation, transference, and acceptance)
• carry out a risk analysis including a detailed risk analysis, identification of triggers, and specific risk response actions
• get familiar with the concepts of "change management" (the "first cousin" of risk management)

See the checklist page for readings, quiz, and assignment work in this Lesson.

Questions?

If you have any questions or would like to brainstorm ideas, please contact the instructor by phone or email. Also, feel free to communicate with your fellow students via the Discussion Forum or email.

Lesson 8 is one week in length. (See the Calendar for specific due dates.) To finish this lesson, you must complete the activities listed below. You may find it useful to print this page first so that you can follow along with the directions.

Overview on Project Risk

Consider a project case involving the acquisition and processing of digital imagery and LiDAR data for a large in the spring (leaf-off coverage). You are managing the project and have hired an aerial survey firm to conduct the work. The contract with this firm takes into account some weather problems (e.g., storm conditions and cloud cover) that require the contractor to do some schedule adjustment for the aerial mission. However, during the contracted period of acquisition, the weather conditions are very bad—extended storms and cloud cover conditions that create major schedule problems for the flights (potentially beyond contract terms for schedule adjustment) and present obstacles for acquiring cloud-free coverage in the entire area. In addition, there is some major flooding in some parts of the acquisition area covering some roads and properties. This situation could impact the project cost, schedule, and possibly the quality of the products. In this case, the weather is a risk event which, as the project manager, you must address. How do you handle this?

Risk is unavoidable in GIS and other IT projects. The central theme of this lesson is to take into account potential risk events, which may impact project schedule, cost, quality, etc. in project planning and execution. The purpose of risk management is to position you to better identify risk events early and take action that can eliminate or reduce negative effects of those risks on the project.

Since 1994, the Standish Group, a well-known research and consulting company, has conducted major studies of IT projects in a large number of organizations and examined the success of those projects in comparison to their planned objectives, timing, and budget. The products from these studies, known as CHAOS reports, have consistently shown that many IT projects (more than 50 percent) had substantial overruns in schedule and budget and that about 30 percent of them were failures and were canceled—and this is the case in the most recent version (Standish Group, 2020). The Standish Group also studied the reasons for IT project failures and concluded that the greatest causes had to do with inadequate planning (including the lack of a sound assessment of requirements) and poor project management during execution.

The good news from this study is that these problems can be overcome by proper project planning before the implementation begins and putting in place effective project monitoring, reporting, work delegation, and communications. Is it safe to take conclusions from the Standish CHAOS Reports and apply them to GIS projects? Yes, "mainstream IT" and GIS projects are generally complex and incorporate the most recent technology tools, methods, and the need to involve users and subject matter experts in design and development. Many other risks associated with design and analysis should be capable of being translated from the world of IT to GIS.

Risk Management Terminology

• Risk - an uncertainty that can have a negative or, less frequently, a positive impact on meeting project objectives.
• Risk Event - a potential event or condition that cannot be fully predicted and which may have an impact on the schedule, cost, quality, or overall scope of a project.
• Risk Management - a systematic process of identifying, analyzing, and describing potential risks and active monitoring and response during project execution.
• Risk Category - Risks are normally classified into several categories, appropriate for the project, to help understanding and monitoring of risk events. The number of categories should be low (e.g., from 3 to 6).
• Risk Identification Register - Identification of the full set of risk for a project, usually in table form, that includes, at a minimum, the name of the risk, a risk ID# (usually with a alpha code corresponding to a risk category), and a description of the risk.  Sometimes, risk registors include other information to characterizing risks (triggers, probability of occurence, impact level, etc.). See Figure 8-1.
• Risk Matrix - a 2-dimensional grid that organizes risks (from the Risk Register) into classes of probability (of the risk event occurring) and the level of impact on the project. See Figure 8-2.
• Risk Analysis- the processing of identifying and describing potential risks, the probability of occurrence, and the potential project impacts. The results of the risk analysis are presented in a risk matrix.
• Risk Response Strategy - a type of action that can be taken to respond to the risk and control the impacts from risk events—usually lowering negative impact on a project's scope, schedule, deliverable quality, or cost. The PMI categorizes risk response strategies—the main ones being: avoidance, mitigation, and transference.
• Risk Management Plan - an assignment of responsibilities for risk monitoring and a description of actions to be taken in response to risk events.

Why should you carry out risk planning and put in place sound risk management practices? Because it:

• raises the profile of a GIS project by conveying its importance to the organization and helping to sustain support and necessary resources from senior management;
• puts the project in a much better position to deal with problems and changes early and to take action so that negative impacts are avoided or reduced;
• gives the project team confidence that unforeseen events will be handled in an organized way.

Risk Identification and Preparation of a Risk Matrix

The level of detail, time, and rigor required for risk planning depends largely on the size, budget, and complexity of the project. For simple projects with a small project team and budget and short time frame, risk identification may be quick and risk monitoring can be handled much more informally than with larger projects. A suggested first step in risk identification is to describe categories for organizing risks. In GIS projects, risks and risk events can often be organized into the following categories:

• Technical/Operational: Includes risks associated with the technological and operational aspects of the GIS program or project, including hardware and software, network configuration, database development, security breaches, and the procedural workflows associated with technology acquisition and implementation. These risks reflect potential technical obstacles in system development that could impact costs or the schedule.
• Organizational/Staff Resource: Includes all aspects of organizational relationships, management, assignments, GIS governance structure, high-level legislative and executive support, legal and policy rulings, and all types of political and media influences on the organization and the GIS project and program. This category also includes staffing allocation and participation issues.
• Funding/Finances: Includes risks associated with allocating and sustaining funding for GIS operations. This includes internal decisions inside the organization that impact funding streams for GIS, as well as external economic changes that impact resources available for GIS.

The risk categories for a specific project may vary but it is a good idea to limit the number of categories to no more than 5 or 6.

Consider a major project for field data collection and application development (like the Metropolis Geodatabase Project that we are using in course assignments). This type of project has risks associated with each of the three categories above. An example of risks/risk events that fall into "Technical/Operational" (TO) and Organizational/Staff Resource (OS) categories is shown in Table 8-1 below. In this table, the "Triggers/Indicators" column represent events or circumstances that can be monitored and may arise that allow a project manager to take action to address the risk.

Other Common Technical and Operational Risks:

• unanticipated installation or deployment problems with new software package
• system crash or other unanticipated hardware problems result in delays, lost data, and unanticipated costs
• users state requirements for additional data (not originally in scope)—"scope creep"
• source materials being used for database development are missing or are of lower quality than anticipated
• technical problems with access/integration with the external system
• performance/response time problems with the software or custom GIS application

Like other aspects of project planning, a sound, comprehensive risk analysis takes time and some research—particularly for larger, more complex projects. Brainstorming with subject matter experts (e.g., IT system or database administration staff) and other experienced project managers, inside and outside of your organization will help in the risk analysis. A project manager also needs to decide how detailed or "granular" the identification of risks should. Just like breaking project tasks into subtasks, risks can be defined at different levels of detail. The general rule is to define risks at the lowest level of detail needed to support comprehensive risk management—and don't make it any more detailed than is necessary.

Types of Project Impacts from Risk Events

How can project risks impact projects? Answering this question is part of risk analysis, which helps examine how risks can have an effect on:

• Budget: impacts on the anticipated (planned or budgeted) monetary cost, staff levels, or other tangible resources for the project or program;
• Schedule/Timing: impacts on the planned schedule and timing for completion of deliverables or milestones;
• Work scope and services: impacts on the nature, volume, contents, specifications, etc., of the products, services, and results planned for a project or defined for a GIS program;
• Quality of work and deliverables: impacts on the quality of products and services, which may relate to accuracy, amount of error, reduced performance (e.g., GIS application), etc.

Several qualitative approaches exist to characterize risk probability once they are identified. All of these will depend on someone or some group's judgment about the probability and impact of identified risks—augmented by information from past, similar projects if studies are available. Risk probability analysis can fall on one person, and that person may likely be the project manager. Alternatively, a project manager could compile a list of significant risks, and then ask the project team, clients, end users, sponsors, or experts in the field to rank each item in the list. In this way, each item can be ranked in a form of timely consensus.

A risk matrix takes such information on all identified risks and orders or assigns a probability to the risk and weight factor to the potential impact of the event occurring. In qualitative risk analysis, once all risks are ordered or assigned, probability and impact of various risks can be simply classified as high, medium, or low. In some cases, a "very high" classification is used. Risks of most concern should be those of high probability and high negative impact on the project. Risks of the least concern are those of low probability and low impact. The general format for a risk matrix is shown in Figure 8-1, below. As part of presenting a risk matrix, it is important to define the Probability and Impact categories. NOTE: This is just an example of a graphical tool (with a 3 by 3 grid) to display risk impact and probability. For Assignment #7, you may choose to create a more detailed grid with a larger number of impact and/or risk probability categories, perhaps assigning a qualitative scoring using number score (e.g., 1 to 5 or 1 to 10). Avoid making it more detailed than necessary to support an ability to analyze risk and apply risk response strategies during project execution.

Text description of Figure 8-1: Concept of Risk Probability/Impact Matrix.

In Figure 8-1, 22 risk are identified with an alpha-numeric ID number where the two-character alpha code represents the risk category (e.g., "OS" for Organizational/Staffing) with a sequential number for each risk within these categories. The vertical side of the matrix represents Probability with classes Low, Medium, and High and the horizontal side of the matrix is Impact, also with classes Low, Medium, and High. The specific risks are distributed among different cells in this matrix.

Credit: Peter Croswell © Penn State University is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.

Quantitative risk analysis is more complex than qualitative approaches. Quantitative risk analysis requires more data on past project performance and more rigorous analysis methods. Schwalbe (subsection 11.6--not required reading) discusses the use of quantitative methods that might be applicable to some types of projects. However, for IT and GIS projects, qualitative approaches are more frequently applied and may be preferable to quantitative methods, especially if factors such as probability and impact are difficult to quantify. It may be of no benefit to the planning of a project to spend additional time creating inexact metrics of risk if no such information exists.

The PMI PMBOK discusses approaches to project risk management and describes four main types of risk response strategies. With the exception of "risk acceptance" these strategies involve actions to eliminate or reduce the negative impacts of risk events and threats. The four strategies are

1. Avoidance: adjusting a project plan (tasks, timing, resources, etc.) to protect objectives from negative impacts.
2. Transference: transferring the consequences or responsibility of a risk to a third party. Transference does not eliminate a risk, it only shifts responsibility. The most common strategy for risk transference is through well-designed contracts for certain elements of the work.
3. Mitigation: reduction in the probability and/or consequences of an adverse risk event to an acceptable level. Usually includes project controls for identifying risk events early in a project and taking formal action before impacts are great.
4. Acceptance: the project manager and team understands the risk event or threat, but chooses not to make changes to the project plan or resources to respond to the risk.

Table 8-2 gives some examples of risk response strategies which are appropriate for different types of GIS projects. As in the case of risk identification, a project manager can define specific risk response actions in as detailed a manner as needed to support project management.

Change Management Context

The easiest way to control change of scope during a project would be to have no changes required. To this end, many organizations seek formal acceptance of the scope of a project from all interested stakeholders, a process called scope verification. This can work well if all stakeholders can be identified, and all of their potential needs documented. Important stakeholders, and the true clients of the project deliverables, are the end users. Special care should be taken to get input from team members and users, include stakeholders in scope definition, work closely with users during project execution, and query users upon delivery to improve future scoping work.

As the project progresses, additional work may be recognized that could be beneficial to GIS users but is not within the scope of the project. Although human nature often urges us to do the work because it is important, it is vital to keep the organization's and project's system boundaries in mind. The PMI uses the term, "gold plating", referring to a tendency to the addition of scope features to a project without any formal process to adjust tasks, resources, or schedule. This is a recipe for a failed project. There may be decisions to adjust scope during project execution (e.g., adding functionality features to a custom GIS application), but if this is done, formal changes to the project plan should be made and changes should be communicated to project stakeholders.

Additional work, agreed to by project stakeholders, can be included by formally changing the project scope/deliverables--along with changes to the schedule, budget, and team members assignments that are necessary to accomplish the revised scope. Change request forms can be used to redefine the scope, sometimes with corresponding changes in compensation and resources. Alternatively, a new project could be proposed by the client or GIS contractors to define and complete the additional work. In both cases, new system boundaries between the organizations have been drawn.

Change Management Explanation

"Change management" is a topic that may be considered a first cousin to "risk management". The term "risk management" is mainly used in project planning and management, whereas "change management" generally applies to overall programs. As described in Croswell, subsection 3.5, "change management" is defined as, "a structured approach to change in individuals, teams, organizations, and societies that enables the transition from a current state to a desired future state". There are two important perspectives for examining change in a GIS environment: a) Changes that impact a GIS program or project, AND b) Changes to the organization and its business processes that are induced by the adoption of GIS technology. Establishing effective change management practices first involves the identification of "change agents" and their sources. Change agents are events or conditions that exert change on a GIS program or project. As describe in Table 8-3 below, change agents may be internal to the organization or have an external source:

Successful change management works with project risk management to create an effective environment for identifying and handling changes to GIS projects and programs. This touches on a range of technical, organizational, and human resource issues. It means having plans put in place to respond positively to changes and, in many cases, to use GIS implementation as an opportunity to "force" worthwhile changes to programs and projects. An approach that addresses inherent inertia and resistance to change in many organizations and which looks at change as an opportunity for making improvements is ideal. Table 8-4 below lists some key ways to prepare for change and practices for effective change management.

Changes that impact project scope, cost, and timing can rarely be avoided. The important thing is to recognize changes and take appropriate action—make necessary, formal changes to the project plan and resource allocation and communicate these changes to staff, management, and stakeholders.

Assignment #7 Overview

Assignment #7 will also be completed as a team assignment. Teams for Assignment #7 will be the same as those assigned for Assignment #6. At the beginning of or prior to Week 8, the team should assign a different team leader to coordinate the team's work on Assignment #7. This Assignment follows work that you have already carried out in planning and preparing for the City of Metropolis Geodatabase Development Project in past assignments. Assignment #7 is to identify project risks, prepare a risk probability matrix, and carry out an analysis of selected risks and risk responses (one for each team member). As described in Assignment #6, you may use any appropriate communication and group collaboration tools to support your work on this Assignment.

Your team represents the City’s contractor selected by the City to carry out the City of Metropolis Geodatabase Design and Development Project. Your company's senior management and the City's Project Manager have requested that you prepare a risk management plan that identifies potential risks and identifies risk management strategies. From the course content and readings, you know that the overall purpose of risk planning is to anticipate possible risk events and be ready to take appropriate action when risk events occur—to eliminate or reduce negative impacts on the project.

Your Submittal for Assignment #7

You may wish to begin this exercise with a brainstorming session about potential risks to get candidate risks “on the table” for consideration by the team, and then identify and refine that wording for risks that have some realistic chance of occurring in this project. For example, potential weather problems present a real obstacle to completing field data collection by the planned completion date. It is also an issue that the project manager will ultimately have to plan for, as opposed to other issues that may more align with company policy, such as employee retention policies. Also, a major disaster (e.g., your office burning down), is not a high-enough probability event that requires much time in planning. As described below, you will select several of the identified risks and carry out a risk analysis.

Your team will use the distilled list of risks to make a risk matrix (see Figure 8-1 for an example). The matrix will have at least three classes (high/medium/low) for probability and impact, but you may include more classes if you like. All team members should contribute to identifying risks and organizing them into the matrix. Remember that it is important to name risks effectively—use words that describe the risk event and point to the impact on the project (e.g., “injury of field technician disrupts data collection work”) After completion of the risk matrix, each team member should then select one of the identified risks which the team finds critical to the project. The team members will carry out and document a risk analysis for their selected risk.

In summary, the Risk Management Plan you submit should cover the following main parts:

• Cover page with prominent title and all necessary information identifying the course, assignment, author, and date. The main title of the document should be "Risk Management Plan". The Cover Page should also reference "City of Metropolis" and the full project name and the name of your company. At the bottom of the Cover Page (right side is best), include the course name and number, assignment number, Team number and team members, and date.
• Table of Contents.
• Explain purpose and content of this plan
• Summary of the project and its deliverables so the reader can understand the context for risk management in this project. Give a reasonable amount of detail about the deliverables and scope: a) discussion of the field data collection, QC, and creation of new geodatabase feature classes, b) explanaiton of the 2 MD4 custom GIS applications including software platforms (e.g., ArcGIS Pro, ArcGIS Online Field Maps)
• Explanation of risk management with a description of key terms (e.g., risk, risk event, risk response strategy, etc.). Make reference to the PMI PMBoK.
• Risk identification register which includes a comprehensive set of risks (for all aspects and deliverables of the project) organized into risk categories (e.g., "Technical/Operational"). This list should show, at a minimum, the risk ID number, a descriptive name^† of the risk, and a short description. You can decide on your own risk categories. You should use an alphanumeric risk numbering scheme where the alpha code represents the risk category and sequential numbering within each category (e.g., TO1, TO2, etc.). You can decide on your own categories but the categories should be described. A table format works best for this. That description can be one or two sentences that explain the risk event, condition, or circumstance and how it could impact the project.
• Risk matrix similar to that shown in Figure 8-1 with classification for Impact and Probability. Be sure to include and introduction on what the purpose of the matrix is and how it suports project planning and provides a basis for managing the project. It is importnt to includes a description of what "Probability" and "Impact" mean in the context of the project. The classes (e.g., Low, Medium, High) should be described. If you want to add a "Very High" category that is OK. While these categories (H, M, L) are qualitative in nature, your description of them should give a picture of what they mean relative to the project. For instance, "High Impact" could be defined as, "Occurrence of this risk will cause major disruption of the project schedule, qualty, or budget and response sction should be taken immediately to eliminate or reduce the level of disruption". It is a good idea to describe the Probability categories as a projected likelihood of occurrence—e.g., "High Probability" means that there is an approximately 85% likelihood or greater of occurrence.
• Risk analysis (one selected risk for each person on the team). This is a detailed evaluation of each selected risk that should include: a) description of the risk, b) triggers/indicators, and c) description of appropriate risk response strategies—making reference to the PMI's response strategy types^†† (main ones are: Avoidance, Mitigation, Transference). It is a good idea to structure this section into subsections coorespnding to each of the parts. Bullet point lists are an effective format to list and describe triggers/indicators and risk response strategies. Also, begin this Section with an introduction of what risk analysis and risk response is and mention the PMI PMBoK risk response types^††.

^†The risk name should be descriptive with enough words that a reader can understand the basic nature of the risk without the need the look at a more detailed explanation. Make sure to avoid the trap of defining a risk as the result of the risk. Focus on the actual condition or event that impacts the project. For example, "delay in field data collection" is not a risk—this is the potential result of one or more risk events.

^††PMI Risk Response Strategies include: Acceptance, Avoidance, Mitigation, and Transference. It is OK not to focus on "Acceptance" since this is bacially a "do nothing" response.

The team leader will have the main responsibility for assembling contributions from team members into a final deliverable and submit the assignment for the team.

The risk probability/impact matrix and the risk analysis write-ups on selected risks should be about 2,500 to 4,000 words in length. As is the case for all written assignments, the word count is a target to give you an idea about the level of detail expected. As a general rule, it is best to keep it concise and as brief as possible while still covering the necessary topics. No points will be deducted for submittals if they exceed the maximum word count by a small amount.

Refer to the grading rubric below for guidelines about the expected format and content of this Assignment.

As in all written assignments, you should include a cover page which includes the following information: a) course number and name, b) assignment number and name, c) your name, d) submittal date. The cover page should also have the full project name and document title ("Risk Management Plan"). Your submitted assignment should be formatted as specified in the Format Quality of this assignment’s rubric below to earn maximum points. As you prepare this assignment, Start with an outline, with sections and subsections that cover the topics above. We recommend that you use the Outline/Heading feature of your word processing software in document preparation. It is expected that you will organize the document into numbered and named sections. It is best practice today, for technical and management documents to use a "decimal" outline numbering scheme (1., 1.1, etc.) as opposed to the older Roman Numeral numbering approach.

Assignment Submittal and Grading

View specific directions for submitting Assignment #7. See Canvas Calendar for due date. Grading information and rubric is below.

This Assignment #7 is worth 70 points. The points awarded from the Instructor’s grading of this Assignment will be given to all members of the team.

The instructor may deduct points if the Assignment is turned in late, unless a late submittal has been approved by the Instructor prior to the Assignment submittal date.

Lesson 9 Overview

Integrating all of the knowledge areas of project management into a single document is vital to the planning process. In this lesson, we look to the project plan to bring it all together.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this lesson, you should be able to understand how all project components, covered in previous lessons, fit together and establish a well-coordinated and efficient environment for successful project execution.

See the checklist page for readings, quiz, and assignment work in this Lesson.

Questions?

If you have any questions or would like to brainstorm ideas, please contact the instructor by phone or email. Also, feel free to communicate with your fellow students via the General Discussion Forum or email.

Lesson 9 is one week in length. (See the Calendar for specific due dates.) To finish this lesson, you must complete the activities listed below. You may find it useful to print this page out first so that you can follow along with the directions.

To this point, we have worked through the core and facilitating project management knowledge areas as defined in Lesson 1 and described in detail in Lessons 3 through 8. Now, we will look at how project integration management coordinates all of these knowledge areas through the project's life cycle.

Integration management ties together components from all other project management knowledge areas: scope, cost, time, quality, risk, human resource, communication, and procurement management. Ultimately, this integration is focused on completing the project. During the planning stages, however, integration management is focused on crafting a viable project plan.

The project plan is a critical juncture through which projects pass. In creating the project plan, quantitative and qualitative information is integrated into a document describing how a project should progress. It puts processes in place to move through the implementation and close-out of a project. As these processes are executed, further integration is necessary to successfully complete the project.

The above scenario assumes a project goes as planned. If changes are introduced into a project, it is necessary to coordinate these modifications. Change control is another important aspect of integration management. In the project management framework outlined in this course, controlling a project and associated changes is not a knowledge area but a process, similar to initiating, planning, executing and closing, as discussed in Lesson 2.

The project plan is the point to which all planning converges and from which all implementation diverges. In this sense, it is a clear picture of the project at one instance in time. The project plan may undergo extreme revisions during its concept and development. Similarly, the project itself may change drastically during its implementation and close-out. Project managers should recognize that projects can be flexible and dynamic, but must also be as well-defined as possible. The project plan is an important document to define the project at a critical instance.

The project plan may be composed of a number of components that can be quite specific to an organization. A project plan might include the following parts:

1. Project overview
2. Project team and stakeholder organization
3. Management practices (project monitoring, status reporting, communications, change management)
4. Project scope (tasks, methodology, deliverables)
5. Project schedule
6. Project budget
7. Quality management standards and processes
8. Risks and risk management/response strategy
9. Summary

Reviewing this list, you can see that you have been working on a project plan, piece by piece, during the last six lessons. Now let's discuss how you will pull your previous assignments together into a project plan.

Assignment #8 Overview

For this assignment,  you will integrate elements of the project from previous lessons)  into a comprehensive plan, the linchpin to a successful project!

You will prepare a plan for the City of Metropolis Geodatabase Design and Development Project that incorporates the various project plan pieces prepared in previous lessons. This is a summary document that contains essential information to communicate project objectives, team structure and stakeholders, tasks, deliverables, timing, and management/communication procedures. Your work for this Assignment should draw on work carried out in previous weeks on Assignments #3 through #7.

Your Submittal for Assignment #8

The integrated Project Plan should, at a minimum should include the following topics and parts:

• Cover Page (formatted like that in previous assignments)
• Table of contents
• Name of project and summary background (e.g., reference name of City and project name, explain purpose content of this plan, reference to the City's RFP, your company's name, other essential information to properly identify and explain the context for this document). Provide brief but sufficient information to explain the basis for the project, specifications, and the required deliverables. Make sure this conveys the fact that this is a City project, mention the City Project Charter and say a bit about the purpose and business case (reasons for the project). Mention leadership by the Public Works Dept with a City team with individuals from multiple Departments. Then mention the contractor hired via the RFP to work with the City.
• Project stakeholders and project organization including a) narrative intro that emphasizes the collaborative nature of the project (City Team and contractor working together) and the roles of the City Team vs the contractor, b) description of the City and contractor teams and project organization (identify and state the role of stakeholder organizations and teams). An annotated project organizational chart works well for this).
• Project Scope, Deliverables, Tasks, and Schedule: It is best to use subsections to cover the following topics: a) Introduction that summarizes the project scope/objectives and mentioned again the collaborative work by the contractor and City Team, b) summary of deliverables with the deliverable IDs, c) summary of tasks and schedule including mention of the planned start and finish dates and summary of high level tasks from the WBS (bullet list works well for this), c) Gantt Chart which may be summarized down to second level tasks (see Canvas Announcement with approach for pasting Gantt from Microsoft Project).
• A budget (summary of main budget items is OK). It is NOT necessary to show detailed hour estimates for individual project team members (a summary of labor costs by task is OK). Likewise, you do not need to show the details of individual direct expense items. Subtotals for labor and direct expenses and a grand total by task is OK.
• Risk management. Include a summary about what project risk management is and how it fits in with the this project. Include the list of risks and risk matrix from Assignment #7 along with the narrative explaining htese parts of the document. Include an explanation of risk response strategies (referenece the PMI) and your detailed risk analysis from Assignment #7. NOTE: It is only necessary to include 1 risk in this risk analysis section (the one you worked on for Assignment #7).
• Quality management (from Assignment #6). Provide an explanation of what project quality and quality management is and how it relates to the Metropolis project. Summarize the characteristics and quality parameters for Deliverables MD2 and MD4, and the quality management processes for MD2 and MD4. You should include the flow charts and process descriptions from Assignment #6. Make sure to summarize the complementary quality management roles of the City and the Contractor and the process for tracking and acceptance of deliverables by the City.
• Project monitoring, reporting, and communications activities (tracking progress, status reporting, team and client communications, etc.). Make sure to make reference to the SD4 tool, SD2 status reports, project meetings, and the final report (MD6). It is a good idea to briefly mention contract management, handling of risk events and issues, possible adjustments to the project plan scope or schedule, and even contractor invoicing and payment.

As in all written assignments, you should include a cover page which includes the following information: a) course number and name, b) assignment number and name, c) your name, d) submittal date. The cover page should also have the full project name and document title ("Integrated Project Plan"). In addition, since you represent the contractor performing work for the City, the cover should include the contractor company name. Your submitted assignment should be formatted as specified in the Format Quality of this assignment’s rubric below to earn maximum points. As you prepare this assignment, start with an outline, with sections and subsections that cover the topics above. We recommend that you use the Outline/Heading feature of your word processing software in document preparation. It is expected that you will organize the document into numbered and named sections. It is best practice today, for technical and management documents to use a "decimal" outline numbering scheme (1., 1.1, etc.) as opposed to the older Roman numeral numbering approach.

There is more than one way to organize and present information for the integrated plan—the bullet point list above identifies minimum content in the plan but, we do not have a specific organization of sections and subsections. That is your job—to summarize material from the past Assignments in a way that makes sense and gives a reader a full picture of the project without going into too much detail. Your deliverable for Assignment #8 should NOT be just a pasting together of written deliverables from previous assignments. You should organize it well, summarize content, reference external documents (e.g., City's RFP, quality management plan from Assignment 6, etc.), make it into a clear, understandable plan.

Also, you should organize the document with numbered headings and subheadings as applicable. Also, for this deliverable, a table of contents should be included. Also, your submittal should take into account instructor comments on previous assignments.

The total word count should be in the 7,500 to 10,000 range. As is the case for all written assignments, the word count is a target to give you an idea about the level of detail expected. As a general rule, it is best to keep it concise and as brief as possible, while still covering the necessary topics. No points will be deducted for submittals if they exceed the maximum word count by a small amount.

The project plan is the final assignment due for this class and is due at the end of Week 10 (see Canvas Calendar).

Don't hesitate to contact the instructor if you have questions or need to brainstorm ideas as you are preparing your plan.

Assignment Submittal and Grading

See Canvas Calendar for submittal date. The grading rubric and information is below.

This assignment is worth 60 points. The grading approach is explained in the rubric table below.

The instructor may deduct points if the Assignment is turned in late, unless a late submittal has been approved by the Instructor prior to the Assignment submittal date.

Lesson 10 Overview

A project plan should not be a document to be filed and forgotten. It becomes the basis for execution and the baseline for documenting changes. In this lesson, we discuss how the project plan is used most effectively.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

• prepare an integrated project plan that addresses all PMI "knowledge areas";
• discuss effective execution of a project plan; and
• describe how the system view of an organization and integrated change control processes are important to GIS project managers.

See the checklist page for readings, quiz, and assignment work in this Lesson.

Questions?

If you have any questions or would like to brainstorm ideas, please contact the instructor by phone or email. Also feel free to communicate with your fellow students via the General Discussion Forum or email.

Lesson 10 is one week in length. (See the Calendar for specific due dates.) To finish this lesson, you must complete the activities listed below. You may find it useful to print this page out first so that you can follow along with the directions.

Execution of a well-written project plan should be relatively straightforward. The plan offers guidelines and metrics for every aspect of the project foreseen by the project manager. For example, in Lesson 6, you used earned value management (EVM) with data from the project plan's schedules and budgets to find how closely a project was tracking the planned value. This is a valuable tool during the execution of a project that is not possible without a project plan that includes a detailed schedule and budget.

Unlike EVM analysis, which is straightforward to quantify, change control is often difficult for project managers to evaluate in a systematic manner. While tracking a project's progress may depend more on a project manager's skills with scope, cost, and timing, change control may depend more on a project manager's people skills, such as human resource and communication management. One way to think about change is in terms of the resources that have already been defined for the work scoped in the project plan. Any change will likely be the result of negotiations between project managers, clients, the team, stakeholders, and sponsors.

Communication serves a vital function in the change control process. Much of this communication may be informal, but three types of documents frequently used in change control are the project plan, status reports, and change requests. A project unaltered from its plan requires no change or change control. In this sense, it's tempting to think of the project plan as a closed system. This strategy, however, does not allow the flexibility required within the larger system of the organization(s).

Most effective project managers instead use the project plan as a path drawn on a map into unknown territory. If all goes as planned and no unexpected landscape is encountered, they will end at the proper destination and at the predicted time. Project managers, however, must be militant about reporting the actual path and schedule, including any unplanned deviations. Status reports are an effective method of communicating with all stakeholders regarding how the predicted path compares with the actual. With these reports, any issues with the scope, cost, or timing of a project can be communicated early on and help to redefine the best path for the remainder of the project.

Alternatively, stakeholders may become interested in locales off of the path outlined by the project plan as the project progresses. Unforeseen opportunities may present themselves during the project, or unpredicted obstacles may occur. In this case, the path can be officially altered with change requests. These requests are often negotiated by stakeholders in the project. They may include changes in scope, timing, cost, or quality of the project.

Some of these change requests may not alter the resource requirements of a project. For example, a GIS project may concentrate more resources on data analysis and less on data capture compared to the project plan. Other change requests may require additional time or money for the completion of work.

It has been a pleasure working with you over the last 10 weeks. We've covered a lot of ground, and I hope this course, and your interaction with peers was helpful, enjoyable, and adds some things to your PM toolbox. All of you have worked very hard and have done a great job in balancing coursework with the other parts of your professional and personal lives. After the close of the class, if I can be of any help to you, please feel free to contact me.

Find time before the end of the course to complete the end-of-course Student Educational Experience Questionnaire (SEEQ).

We value the feedback we receive in the SEEQs to help us revise and update the course to make it better in future semesters.