1.1) Why use software for Project Management?
data and knowledge management (especially for large projects)
long term planning
re-use of planning
communication among team members
documentation
scheduling/email software: calendars, diaries, managing email
addresses, to-do lists, ...
databases: contact information, products, customers, ...
spreadsheets: simple calculations, budgets, projections, bar charts,
...
on-line collaboration software: file-sharing, collaborative editing,
access restrictions, ...
web publishing, presentation software
dedicated project management software: eg.
PERT and Gantt charts for timeline and dependency
1.3) Which software package to choose
size and scope of project
cost of software
single or multi-project software
software integration issues
availability of support and training
how easy is it to make alterations after project has started
if the socio-technical background isn't right, the software will fail!
1.4) Gantt charts and PERT charts
example 1
example 2
Gantt chart: time-scale/timeline for tasks
PERT chart: a project flowchart. Which tasks of a project
depend on other tasks either in form of deliverables (i.e. output
from another task required) or resources (i.e. waiting for other
tasks to free a resource)
PERT charts can also be used to calculate the overall time needed
by assigning best, worst and most probable completion time estimates
for each task.
integrating all departments and functions across a company onto a
single computer system that can serve all those different
departments' particular needs (eg. integrate finance, human resources,
supplier, and customer databases)
Vendors: SAP, Peoplesoft, Oracle
Enterprise Information Architecture
Class model (static, attributes and methods)
Package I
Package II (with dependencies)
Sequence diagram/interaction diagram
(related to Gantt chart, flow of messages)
Use Case Diagram I (no sequence!, actor's communication with cases)
Use Case Diagram II
Use Case Diagram III
State diagrams (states, transitions, events, actions, actual timing)
Activity diagram (flowchart with states)
Collaboration diagram (roles, association
paths; compare to sequence diagram)
(The complete set of examples can be retrieved
here and
here.)
4) What project managers usually don't (need to) know: theoretical
foundations:
object-oriented modeling, description logics, formal concept analysis
database theory, relational algebra, conceptual graphs
formal logic, modal/temporal logic, state spaces,
formal ontologies
