IT Project Management Ch7 - Assignment Example

IT PROJECT MANAGEMENT CH7 IT Project Management Ch7 Affiliation Part Microsoft Project is an enterprise project management tool, which encompasses a wide variety of features and attributes. In fact, it is a complete software that provides a wide variety of features to help project managers complete any kind of activity related to project management. I have conducted a detailed research on various project management tools and my research concluded that MS Project 2010 offers much better support that other related products.

It comes with an easy to use interface and a complete mix of a wide variety of features including project cost management features. The main benefit of using its cost management feature is that it allows project managers to manage all the project related information at a single place. For instance, all the project related information such as resources, activities, schedule and costs can be managed in a single application at the single location. As a result, it becomes easy for them to integrate project activities with associated cost and schedule (Schaffhauser, 2010; Microsoft Corporation, 2015; Schwalbe, 2012).

Every project manager uses a specific project management tool in order to manage their project management activities. For the cost management, they use specific criteria and some firms have their own software tools that allow them to calculate costs according to their available resources. In some cases, cost estimates are developed and maintained separately from the project plan. Though, MS Project 2010 encompasses all the features that are necessary to maintain a complete project cost management process, but it is still a new component for the majority of project managers, and it can take some time to get complete expertise (Schwalbe, 2012).

Part 2The project completion opens a door for learning by measuring the performance and improving on the basis of mistakes. To evaluate the performance of any project, the Earned Value Management is quite a significant evaluation practice used in project management (Schwalbe, 2012). A study conducted by Dr. Song that is sponsored by the PMI (Project Management Institute) and CPM (College of Performance Management), is purposed at assisting the project managers to understand and measure the extent of practicing the Earned Value Management technique in project management as well as its practitioners’ base.

This study’s important aspect is to deliver a cross sectional perspective of most of the recent EVM practices by surveying more than 600 project management experts. For getting a more useful and practical insight for accessing and comparing the EVM practices, the respondents were categorized on the four factors, which include, geographical location, industry sector, organizations role, and also motivation for EVM practice (Song, 2010; Schwalbe, 2012). The research found following important points (Song, 2010):The EVM practice is present over the globe, where it is widely being practiced in the South Asia, Europe, Middle East, and Canada.

From the industry sector point of view, its practice has touched private sectors like manufacturing, construction, IT and energy, going further than its use in military industry as well as government community. The EVM practice is highly dependent on the different practitioner’s profile. The extent of EVM practice and its maturity depends on the organizations using the technique as well as the different types of project. However, the impact of EVM practice and its cost efficiency are extensively accepted, irrespective of the variables like country, motivation to practice, industry sector, or other factors.

It is of high significance to look forward for the use of EVM. In addition, Dr. Song also reviewed the testified obstacles in enhancing the implementation and practice of EVM, and also reconnoiters the crucial elements, contributing in the EVM application and practice. The reason why it is still adopted in only large size projects is that the unawareness of IT professionals and other companies. The majority of professionals either don’t know about the significance of EVM or they misunderstand its importance and usage.

However, with the passage of time this trend will change and this method will be adopted by other professionals as well (Song, 2010). ReferencesMicrosoft Corporation. (2015). Project management goal: Manage costs and the budget. Retrieved from https://support.office.microsoft.com/en-us/article/Project-management-goal-Manage-costs-and-the-budget-5fef76b1-3e1e-46dc-92c2-71ebfb2067c6?CorrelationId=48122a1b-cbce-46d9-8e6b-bbbbe833b72b&ui=en-US&rs=en-001&ad=USSchaffhauser, D. (2010, June 25). EPK Cost Tackles Cost Management for Microsoft Project Server.

Retrieved from http://www.mpug.com/articles/epk-cost-tackles-cost-management-for-microsoft-project-server/Schwalbe, K. (2012). Information Technology Project Management, 7th Edition. Boston: Course Technology.Song, L. (2010). Earned Value Management. Project Management Institute.