Q.1.What are the Challenges in Managing Information ...
Software Project Management TOC \o "1-3" \h \z \u Q.1.What are the Challenges in Managing Information Technology, Operations & Telecom (ITOT) . PAGEREF _Toc449285199 \h 2Q.2.What is the difference in managing Local Enterprise vs Global Enterprise. PAGEREF _Toc449285200 \h 15Q.3.“Software project management is process oriented” – Comment. PAGEREF _Toc449285201 \h 24Q.4.What is virtual project management? PAGEREF _Toc449285202 \h 31Q.1.What are the Challenges in Managing Information Technology, Operations & Telecom (ITOT) . [A recipe for IT driven Organisation Transformation (ITOT)!!!](a white paper by Sudhanshu Kumar- MIM/ II yr/ Apr 2016)In contemporary times, a Company or an organisation has two major components of the business:Runners of BusinessEnablers of BusinessWhile Sales, Marketing, Production and Operations are seen as Runners of Business, HR + IT are more often than not, dovetailed together as Enablers of Business. However, in order to leverage the rapid advances in the field of Information Technology and Information Sciences, organisations will have to undertake a Digital Organisational Transformation to leverage these advances in the field of IT. IT is envisaged to own and run the business in near future. In an organizational context, Organisational Transformation is a process of profound and radical change that orients an organization in a new direction and takes it to an entirely different level of effectiveness. Unlike 'turnaround' (which implies incremental progress on the same plane) transformation implies a basic change of character and little or no resemblance with the past configuration or anizations today are increasingly faced with fierce competition, demanding customers, economic pressures, and financial crises. To be effective, they must reduce costs, improve product and service quality, and respond quickly to new opportunities in the marketplace. The transformation involves complex and simultaneous interactions. In this process, a variety of possible forms can emerge. Each of these forms is a possible alternative future of the system-which may range from complete destruction and annihilation of the system to a complete transformation to a higher level of anisational Transformation refers collectively to such activities as reengineering, redesigning and redefining business systems. In today’s day and age, the dominant enabling technologies in transforming an organization are Information Technology and access to a digitised Telecom infrastructure.A business model change in the current environment of financial stress and rapid Mergers and Acquisitions, can change the face of the organization. So, organizations must continually adapt and have: A flexible, effective and efficient organizationA customer-centric approach to organizational activitiesRecognition of current strengths to create a more productive environmentUnderstanding and reaping the benefits of Competitive IT, Innovative Telecom Solutions and an appropriate Business AlignmentVigorously adopt an Integrated Approach to IT, Telecom and Business OperationsAn IT enabled Organisational Transformation, while adopting this Integrated Approach, is directed towards three key impacts:(a)Improving Operations: To achieve a quantum improvement in the firm's efficiency, often by reducing costs, improving quality and services and reducing development time. [IoT and IIToT](b)Strategic Transformation: The process of changing strategy seeks to regain a sustainable competitive advantage by redefining business objectives, identifying new opportunities, creating/ acquiring/ hiring new competences and harnessing these capabilities to meet market opportunities. [e.g.IT enabled Telecom Transformation](c) Corporate Self-Renewal: Self-Renewal creates the ability for a firm to anticipate and cope with change so that strategic and operational gap does not develop. [Paradigm Shift - Organisational Change/ Transformation]An IT & and an efficient Telecom capability enabled synergy for each of these impact areas is thus the way ahead for an Organisational Transformation – increasingly being termed as IT enabled Organisational Transformation. Easier said than done, there are a number of challenges that need to be taken head on and managed. And these challenges take varied hues of technology, strategies, policies and human/ Organisational Behaviour management. Three core challenge areas in managing Information Technology, Operations and Telecom (ITOT) have been identified and discussed in detail below:-Challenge 1: Managing Synergy between IT and Operations through Convergence of Information Technology and Operational Technology (b)Challenge 2: Managing the Paradigm Shift: IT enabled Organisational Transformation(c)Challenge 3: IT enabled Digital Transformation of Telecoms and Its Impact. What Technologies to Adopt/ Adapt to; Who to Partner With?Challenge 1: Managing Synergy between IT & OperationsConvergence of Information Technology and Operational Technology IoT and IIoT. There has been a lot of discussion lately about the Internet of Things (IoT) and how connected endpoints can help revolutionize the way businesses collect and process information from Operational Technology (OT) systems, but there are huge challenges in accessing the information and making it accessible to other business systems, employees and business partners. While IoT is a fairly new term, businesses have been deploying systems and devices that collect information and manage processes since the early days of microprocessors and networks. These devices record everything from temperature, location, motion, status and much more. The problem with these legacy systems is they almost always send their information in a proprietary format that must be learned and re-learned for every application developer in order to use the information effectively.Some of these proprietary protocols date back to the old AT Modem command sets. Most of this is ancient history to today's web application developer and certainly no inducement to building new applications and integrated systems. So even though the device may have a way to report the information it is collecting, it's really not connected in a way that an application or other business IT system could consume the data and use it in operational and business decisions.IoT is the process of transparently deploying countless sensors and devices, which produce data that is transformed into valued information.This happens each time a consumer buys a smart device such as a fitness monitor. The consumer knowingly enables the device to monitor an event, such as a run. In turn, the device creates data, e.g. step count, which is transported across the Internet to a cloud application. Analytics are then performed on aggregated data, e.g. friends’ data, to create information, e.g. rankings, which is then consumed through human or machine action.This IoT process of creating, transporting, storing and acting on data for consumer applications is similar to the process needed for industrial applications, which focus on measuring production and operational factors, distributing data to business systems and people within an organisation, and directly improving business processes and profitability as a result. The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is the latest catalyst to process automation.IIoT is summarised as:Number of sensors to monitor processes is explodingConnected devices transport data at higher speedsCloud networks make data storage and availability scalableAnalytics extracts information from a myriad of sourcesThese four IIoT elements touch every aspect of an enterprise’s production or manufacturing environment, and require the two organisations, Information Technology (IT) and Operational Technology (OT), responsible for implementing and operating IIoT information and business systems, to adopt new strategies. One such strategy is IT/OT convergence.IT/OT convergence promotes a single view of an enterprise’s information, and process management tools help ensure that every person, machine, sensor, switch, device in an organisation has accurate information in the best form and at the right time. As OT products such as Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) and Remote Terminal Units (RTUs) become more aligned with IT infrastructure and applications, getting OT information integrated efficiently with IT systems at a process level is still difficult for many companies. Getting IT and OT systems to work together to maximise business efficiency — while avoiding negative consequences, risks and pitfalls in the process —makes the task more challenging. However, thanks to new technologies, this process is becoming more practical and is creating opportunities for huge economic benefits when these two disciplines are successfully integrated.However, the challenge is a careful selection of technology for IIoT or industrial applications that will help drive the convergence of IT/OT systems. For example, in electric utilities, the rollout of Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) and Distribution Automation (DA) networks is truly an OT application. The source of the data will fuel IT/OT convergence because it is the data analytics applications such as outage detection, fault management, prepay and others that bring value to the Smart Grid. In the same vein, for oil and gas production, increasing the number and type of sensors at the wellhead to monitor tubing pressures, lift arrival, flare stack operation and others provide greater insight into production and in turn allow SCADA systems to improve operational efficiencies and lower production costs.Challenges and issues surrounding IT and OT integration. With identifiable business benefits and rapidly developing technologies that are closing the IT/OT divide, there are functional and operational differences between IT and OT groups that exist and complicate integration or convergence.IT and OT groups typically have fundamentally different charters, focus and personnel within their respective organisations. The challenges to IT/OT convergence are not the sensors, hardware, software or technology, but how each group perceives each project or opportunity and in turn, the solutions, which are skewed by their respective domains.The challenges in IT/OT convergence and project execution are:Project ownershipCommunication between groups and with stakeholdersAdapting or harmonising conflicting organisation needs, process and policy into a single and common structureProject ownership and understanding will be called into question because of historical experiences between the groups. Some of the fundamental differences within an organisation may be:OT has largely been outside the highly pragmatic world of IT and employs process specialists such as chemical, mechanical or electrical engineers. OT likely manages projects, networks and solutions with the focus on keeping production running and real-time operations. Additionally, OT employs vendor or proprietary hardware and software that is specific to a production process and may not meet the security standards of the IT organisation.(b) IT has been maintaining business systems and communication networks with five or more times of reliability and employs computer and IT specialists. IT typically plans and manages rollouts and upgrades in a very methodical manner leading to longer rollouts. IT is solidly based on communication standards and centralised operations and it may be looked on as a “roadblock” to rolling out OT applications.In order for an IT/OT convergence to be successful, communication is essential and in turn, there needs to be a clear understanding of each group’s roles.Considerations.As organisations work to benefit from the convergence of IT/OT functions, stakeholders, product owners and organisational managers must continue to understand differences between IT and OT while embracing the similarities. Typically, IT owns the corporate strategic direction, policy, security and implementation of networked communications and business systems. OT, on the other hand, owns process definition, device selection and information flow in order to optimise and manage production systems. Product owners own the definition of the business process and the goals for the IT/OT project.To move any project forward, project management is essential. The IT group is the likely choice for overall management of IT/OT convergence projects because of experience with centralised management, network security, information storage, and business systems. After all, the resulting product of an IT/OT project is improvements to business process resulting in cost reduction and harmonisation of corporate policy and security. Since these two areas may be at odds sometimes, organisations working on IT/OT convergence need to clearly define stakeholders, areas of ownership, etc. Therefore, a general framework for IT/OT projects is needed to harmonise the roles and divide the joint project or application into manageable elements or layers, and align the elements with the business goals or drivers.IT/OT integration dangers and pitfallsWhile OT systems are changing and are becoming more aligned with IT systems through the use of standard interfaces and security protocols, OT and IT domains are still worlds apart and require a keen understanding of their respective differences.For example, an IT group may deploy hundreds or thousands of network devices such as computers, routers and switches to their enterprise networks each year. There is a market expectation that these vendors will release products that present standard interfaces and comply with security protocols, in addition to the expectation that these vendors will maintain their operating and security systems with regular patches and updates.On the other hand, OT devices are typically specific to an application or task and likely lower in product volume. As a result, patches and upgrades may be slower in coming. In addition, process programs may be developed on a PLC or RTU that may use features specific to a product release. As a result, maintaining and upgrading OT systems may present a level of fragility IT groups are not familiar with or may not comply with the security safeguards.Therefore, IT and OT must communicate and work closely to understand the nuances of application specific devices and hardware, how these devices may influence network operation and in turn, policy. Pitfalls of IT/OT convergence are a challenge that many organisations will face, but with the best-fit technology and good relationships between the OT and IT groups, consistent communication with business owners and stakeholders, they can be avoided.Takeaways from IT/ OT ConvergenceWorldwide IIoT markets are exploding and to benefit from the proliferation of data and its transformation into information, companies need an IoT strategy that includes IT/OT convergence in addition to Big Data.As technology changes continue to close the divide between IT and OT systems, IT/OT convergence will see shorter development cycles, higher levels of policy and security administration and smarter business analytics. These are inherent gains of IoT and Big Data markets. In short, technology, hardware, software and communications are not likely to provide the key challenges to IT/OT convergence.The key challenge for many organisations will be management of IT/OT convergence projects because of inherent differences in their IT and OT groups because of how each sees the problem and solution. However, with planning, ownership and clear communication among all of the groups and stakeholders, IT/OT convergence is realisable with potentially huge gains for the bottom line.Challenge 2: Managing the Paradigm Shift: IT enabled Organisational TransformationSystems Development and Organizational Change. New Information Systems can be powerful instruments for organizational change, enabling organizations to redesign their structure, scope, power relationships, work flows, products, and services. Following are some of the ways that Information Technology is being used to transform organizations.Sl. NoInformation Technology/ TelecomOrganisation ChangeImpact1.Global NetworksInternational division of labour(a) Operations of a firm are no longer determined by location; (b) Global reach of firms is extended; (c) Costs of Global Coordination decline.(d) Transaction costs decline2.Enterprise NetworksCollaborative work and team work(a) Organization of work can now be coordinated across divisional boundaries; (b) Customer and Product orientation emerges; (c) Widely dispersed task forces become the dominant work group.(d) The costs of management (agency costs) decline (e) Business processes are changed.3.Distributed ComputingEmpowerment(a) Individuals and work groups now have the information and knowledge to act. (b) Business processes are redesigned, Streamlined. (c) Management costs decline. (d) Hierarchy and centralization decline. 4.Portable ComputingVirtual Organizations(a) Work is no longer tied to geographic location. (b) Knowledge and information can be delivered anywhere they are needed, anytime. (c) Work becomes portable. (d) Organizational Costs decline as real estate is less essential for business.5.Graphical user interfaces Accessibility(a) Everyone in the organization--even senior Executives can access information and knowledge; (b) Work flows can be automated, contributed to by all from remote locations. (c) Organisational costs decline as work flows move frompaper to digital image, documents, and voice.6.SaaS/ PaaS/ IaaSOutsourcing(a) Saas: CRM/ SCM/ Community collaboration(b) Agility of business/ resources(c) PaaS: Reduced asset holding cost(d) Optimal capacity utilisation, pay for what you use(e) The ability to automate processes, use pre-defined components and building blocks and deploy automatically to production (f) Reduced development and deployment timelines(g) With IAAS: fully outsourced resources/ services/ infra. Advent of Virtual Organisations,(h) Resources are distributed as a service, Allows for dynamic scaling?(i) No fixed cost/ Only variable cost, utility pricing model?(j) Drastically reduced cost pf operations per business transactions/ outreach to customer base exponentially extended The Spectrum of Organizational rmation Technology can promote various degrees of organizational change. The Figure below shows the four kinds of structural organizational change that are enabled by Information Technology: Automation, Rationalization, and Reengineering & Paradigm Shifts. Each carries different rewards and risks. -2190752095500 2847975130175Fig. Organizational change carries risks and rewards.The most common forms of organizational change are Automation and Rationalization. These relatively slow-moving and slow- changing strategies present modest returns but little risk. Faster and more comprehensive change-such as Reengineering and Paradigm Shifts--carry high rewards but offer a substantial chance of failure. And this is a challenge to be overcome! 00Fig. Organizational change carries risks and rewards.The most common forms of organizational change are Automation and Rationalization. These relatively slow-moving and slow- changing strategies present modest returns but little risk. Faster and more comprehensive change-such as Reengineering and Paradigm Shifts--carry high rewards but offer a substantial chance of failure. And this is a challenge to be overcome! The most common form of IT enabled organizational change is Automation of tasks. The first applications of information technology involved assisting employees perform their tasks more efficiently and effectively. Calculating pay checks and payroll registers, giving bank tellers instant access to customer deposit records (Core Banking), and developing a nationwide network of online railway/ airline reservation (e.g. IRCTC) facility are all examples of early automation. Automation is akin to putting a larger motor in an existing automobile.A deeper form of organizational change, one that follows quickly from early automation is Rationalization of Procedures. Automation frequently reveals new bottlenecks in production, and makes the existing arrangement of procedures and structures painfully cumbersome. Rationalization of procedures is the streamlining of standard operating procedures, eliminating obvious bottlenecks so that automation can make operating procedures more efficient. Automation of specific Tasks, Rationalizing Procedures and Redesigning Business Processes as part of Conventional Business Process Reengineering are limited to specific parts of business. Business Process Reengineering backed with contemporary IT and Information Systems can affect the complete design of the Business Model redrawing organizational boundaries facilitating eager organisations to forward and backward integrate. A term which is often quoted in the industry – graduating towards Digital Re- Imagination/ Virtualisation. This most radical form of business change, which can, should and will be brought around by IT, is called a Paradigm Shift. A Paradigm Shift involves rethinking the nature of the business and the nature of the organization itself. Banks, for instance, may decide not to automate, rationalize, or reengineer the jobs of tellers. Instead they may decide to eliminate branch banking altogether and seek less expensive sources of funds, such as international borrowing. Retail customer may be forced to use the internet to conduct all their business, or a proprietary network. A paradigm shift is akin to rethinking not only the automobile, but transportation itself. But how much change is good? Should change be incremental or global? Ascertaining this and firming up to go ahead is and will be a Challenge for Organisations to cope with. There is some reason to believe that reengineering produces the largest value when it is part of a global change program affecting organizational structure, decision authority, business process, and incentive systems. Nothing is free and simply creating radical change in some parts of the business is not the key to overall business success. In an attempt towards Digital Re-Imagination/ Virtualisation , organisations may not choose right solutions/ options / partners. Reengineering projects the right business process to improve, simply the most obvious targets. Deciding which business process to get right is half the challenge. Paradigm shifts often fail because extensive organizational change is so difficult to orchestrate and manage. Some experts believe that 70 percent of the time programmatic reengineering efforts fail. And hence there is a risk related reluctance!How is this to be overcome? We need companies to explore why then do so many corporations entertain such radical change? Because the rewards are equally high. In many instances firms seeking paradigm shifts and pursuing reengineering strategies achieve stunning order-of-magnitude increases in their returns on investment (or productivity). Adopting the Paradigm Shift by adopting a vigorous IT/ digitised Telecom enabled platform for business transformation itself is somewhat misleading. To some it may suggest that there are some recognized principles that if followed will always produce predicted outcomes. In fact, the majority of attempted reengineering projects do not achieve breakthrough gains in business performance. Problems with transformation/ change are part of the larger problem of orchestrating Organizational Change, a problem that is associated with the introduction of all innovations, including Information Technology & Telecom enabled Information Systems. Managing change is neither simple nor intuitive. A reengineered business process based on recent advances in Information Technology, Information Systems and innovative digital Telecom solution will inevitably affect the following:-(a) Jobs [Will people get laid off/ jobless?](b) Skill requirements [Multiple Business Skill requirements to leverage IT / Telecom solutions](c) Work flows, and quite significantly (d) The Reporting Relationships [ Will today’s CIOs be the CEOs of future Organisations?] . Fear of these changes breeds Resistance, Confusion, and even Conscious Efforts to undermine the Change Effort. But, these are a challenges that need to be efficiently, pragmatically but vigorously handled if the rapid advances in the field of Information Technology and innovative digital Telecom solutions are to be leveraged!Challenge 3: IT enabled Digital Transformation of Telecoms and Its Impact. What Technologies to Adopt/ Adapt to; Who to Partner With?New software technologies and infrastructures are fuelling the transformation of the communications industry. There is an impending need for domain organisations to build an ability to examine Communications Service Provider (CSP) investments in software-driven IT and network systems to support Business-Critical Operations and Strategic Activities. Some extremely innovative deployments of telecom technology have been made in recent times leveraging the Information Technology. Are communications service providers like Vodafone and Airtel graduating towards being the virtual banks of tomorrow? And if the answer is a vehement yes, then it is because of the innovative IT deployment and strategy. A recent study identifies that 82% of Telecom Companies identified Digital Transformation of their operations as a critical business priority. However, network and IT infrastructure struggles to meet the requirement for dynamic applications and services. Customer demand for greater relevance and Omni channel marketing and services in real-time means that Analytics Tools that provide insights in Real-Time, and automated processes are the way forward if Telecom Companies intend to run their businesses at Internet speed. This calls for a digital transformation of operations as a critical business priority. By building inherent domain knowledge in Information Technology and innovations and leveraging interactions with CSPs, Network Equipment Providers (NEPs), IT and Independent Software Vendors (ISVs), Systems Integrators (SIs), and other Ecosystem Players, Telecom organisations need to evaluate the competitive vendor and technology landscape with respect to available operational systems, platforms, and technologies most relevant to them and that fits in their business objectives and vision. And this is a burgeoning challenge but definitely not unsurmountable.And if building inherent domain knowledge in the area of IT is not immediately possible and in order not to miss the bus towards business and telecom transformation, organisations need to identify capable, competent and willing partners/ consultants who will advise them on the right pick of CSPs, Network Equipment Providers (NEPs), IT and Independent Software Vendors (ISVs), Systems Integrators (SIs), and other Ecosystem Players. If a Telecom company’s communication network and IT infrastructure struggles to meet these requirement for dynamic applications and services, the business will drastically lose out. And hence the need to identify the Right Technologies with the Right Partners is imperative! Specific IT Challenge Areas in Telecom.Some of the identified challenge areas where deployment of optimum IT will tremendously impact Telecom are as under:-Orchestration and management of virtualized networksReal-time charging and policy management and enforcementCommunications industry software and services ecosystemsCommunications industry analytics, Big Data, and business intelligence applications, tools, and technologiesIT systems for network virtualizationCustomer experience management (CEM) for CSPsCloud and IoT service enablement and billingExploiting telco information assets through Big Data and Analytics is another challenging area of venture. Big Data analytics provides an opportunity for telecoms to exploit an existing asset that is increasing in size exponentially. Data at a network, service and customer level can be used to optimize network and service performance, reduce the cost of service, manage churn, and provide contextual and proactive marketing and care.Improving Customer Experience (CX).Upgrading Operational Support Systems (OSS) and Business Support Systems (BSS) to improve user experience is an integral part of any telco’s move to become a customer adaptive enterprise. OSS/BSS, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), policy software and BI platforms are all part of a telco toolkit to manage CX, and these remain important drivers for IT spend. Telcos thus need to be with the right technologies with right partners. Getting a directional insight for the same is a challenge which can be mitigated either by enhancing in-house IT knowledge domain are partnering with the right consultants. Digital Transformation of Telecom Operations.Digital transformation is a critical business priority for telcos, however their network and IT infrastructure struggles to meet the requirement for dynamic applications and services. Telcos need dynamic and flexible enterprise architectures, and ones that leverages Network function virtualization (NFV) and software-defined networks (SDN). Telco Cloud for Telcom Operations. Telcos are using managed service partners for Application Operations (AO) and Application Development and Management (ADM) to reduce costs and facilitate fast service and offer design. There is a need for development of hybrid cloud-based delivery systems for more lean and agile implementations of OSS and BSS systems. Telecom Lean Operations. Communications Service Providers (CSPs) are under constant pressure to optimize operational costs, gain agility and offer superior services to customers.?In such a demanding scenario, containing costs, streamlining operations, retaining customer loyalty and maximizing the Average Margin Per User (AMPU) becomes a business imperative.? There is a requirement to create an optimized IT environment to enhance organization’s overall financial performance and achieve the agility needed to thrive in a competitive scenario. Companies require the right consultant for evaluating these options for them.ConclusionWhile the core challenge areas have been identified in the preceding discourse, it is evident that they are not unsurmountable. Problems when clearly defined, present themselves for a solution. It is not difficult to see that world is getting towards huge aggregation approach: mergers leading to big conglomerates with transcontinental footprints. This cannot be possible without being driven by IT: in operations, information systems and a fully digitised super-efficient telecommunication setup/ sector. Progress for legacy system to IoT to IIoT has commenced but needs to accelerate. In the contemporary times the % expenditure of organisations on IT is in the range of 5% - 14 %. This share has to increase at least by twice to drive organisations to next level of operations – A truly virtual and global organisation, where efficiency in every single transaction is the hallmark. Real time delivery, services and complaint redressal will mark out truly customer focussed organisationsThis paradigm shift will of course cannot come without an IT driven Organisation Transformation. Managements will have to realise, honour and work towards this implementation and bring about the change. Information Technology driven Operation and a digitised Telecommunications infrastructure are the call of the day and will be the backbone of world economy in times to come. There are challenges enroute that have to be dealt with, but then that’s the way ahead to survive and thrive!!!Q.2.What is the difference in managing Local Enterprise vs Global Enterprise.Managing Information TechnologyInformation technology is an essential component of business success for companies today. But information technology is also a vital business resource that must be properly managed. Managing the information systems and technologies that support he modern business processes of companies today is a major challenge for both business and IT managers and professionals.Managing the joint development and implementation of business/IT strategiesLed by the CEO and CIO,?proposals are developed by business and IT managers and professionals for using IT to support the strategic?business priorities of the company. This business/IT planning process aligns IT with strategic business goals.Managing the development and implementation of new business/IT applications and technologiesThis is the primary responsibility of the CIO and CTO. This area of IT management involves managing the processes for?information systems development and implementation, as well as the responsibility for research into the strategic?business uses of new information technologies.Managing the IT organization and the IT infrastructureThe CIO and IT managers share responsibility for?managing the work of IT professionals who are typically organized into a variety of project teams and other?organizational subunits. In addition, they are responsible for managing the IT infrastructure of hardware, software, databases, telecommunications networks, and other IT resources, which must be acquired, operated, monitored, and maintained.Business/IT Planning:This figure illustrates the business/IT planning process, which focuses on discovering innovative approaches to satisfying a company’s customer value and business value goals. This planning process leads to development of?strategies and business models for new business applications, processes, products, and services. Then a company can develop IT strategies and an IT architecture that supports building and implementing their newly planning?business applications. Both the CEO and the CIO of a company must manage the development of complementary business and IT strategies to meet its customer value and business value vision. This co-adaptation process is necessary because answer have seen so often in this text, information technologies are a fast changing, but vital component in many strategic business initiatives. The business/IT planning process has three major components:Strategy Development?Developing e-business and e-commerce strategies that support a company’s e-?business vision, use information technology to create innovative e-business systems that focus on customer and?business valueResource Management?Developing strategic plans for managing or outsourcing a company’s IT resources, including IS personnel, hardware, software, data, and network resources.Technology ArchitectureMaking strategic IT choices that reflect an information technology architecture designed to support a company’s business/IT initiativesInformation Technology Architecture:The?IT architecture that is created by the strategic e-business planning process is a conceptual design, or blueprint, that includes the following major components:Technology Platform: The Internet, intranets, extranets, and other networks, computer systems, system software, and integrated enterprise application software provide a computing and communications infrastructure, or platform, that supports the strategic use of information technology for e-business and e-commerce.Data Resources:Many types of operational and specialized databases, including data warehouses and Internet/intranet databases store and provide data and information for business processes and decision support.Applications Portfolio:Business applications of information technology are designed as an integrated?portfolio of information systems that support strategic e-business initiatives, as well as cross-functional?business processes.IT Organization:The organizational structure of the IS function within a company and the distribution of IS specialists is designed to meet the changing strategies of a business. The form of the IT organization depends on the managerial philosophy, e-business vision, and business/IT strategies formulated during the strategic?planning process.Managing the IS Function:Managing the IS function in organizations has become a very complex task. Organizations have moved from the having a centralized structure towards a decentralized structure, back towards more centralization control over the management of the IS resources of a company. Three things have influenced these shifts in structure:The Internet boomDevelopment of company intranetsMaintaining PC’s on a network is very anizing IT:Modern computer-based information systems can support either the centralization or?decentralization of?information systems operations and decision-making within computer-using organizations.Managing Application Development:?Application development management?involves managing activities such as systems analysis and design,?prototyping, applications programming, project management, quality assurance, and system maintenance for all major e-business/IT development projects. Managing application development requires managing the activities of?teams of systems analysts, software developers, and other IS professionals working on a variety of information systems development projects. In addition, some systems development groups have established development centers, staffed with IS professionals.?Managing IS Operations:IS operations management?is concerned with the use of hardware, software, network, and personnel resources in the corporate or business unit data centers (computer centers) of an organization. Operational activities that must?be managed include computer system operations, network management, production control, and production support. Many operations management activities are being automated by the use of software packages for computer system?performance management.These?system performance monitors:?Monitor the process of computer jobs.?Help develop a planned schedule of computer operations that can optimize computer system performance.?Produce detailed statistics that are invaluable for effective planning and control of computer capacity.?Supply information needed by chargeback systems that allocate costs to users based on the information services rendered.??Process control?capabilities which monitor and control computer operations at large data centers.Technology Management?Changes in information technology, like the rise of the PC, client/server networks, and the Internet and intranets, have come swiftly and dramatically and are expected to continue into the future. Developments in information technology have had, and will continue to have, a major impact on the operations, costs, management work?environment and competitive position of many organizations. All information technologies must be managed as a technology platform for integrated e-business and e-commerce systems. Such technologies include:?Internet?Intranets?Variety of electronic commerce and collaboration technologies?Integrated enterprise software for customer relationship management, enterprise resource planning, and supply chain management.Managing User ServicesThe number of end users in organizations who use computers to help them do their jobs has outstripped the capacity of many information services departments. As a result, teams and workgroups of end users must use PC workstations, software packages, and the Internet, intranets, and other networks to develop and apply information technology to their work activities. Organizations have responded by:?Creating user services, or?client services, functions to support and manage end users and workgroup computing.?Establishing information centers staffed with user liaison specialists, or web-enabled intranet “help desks,” with user “hot-lines”.?Establishing and enforcing policies concerning the acquisition of hardware and software by end-users and?business units. This ensures their compatibility with company standards for hardware, software, and network?connectivity. Policies ensure that proper controls are enforced to correct performance and safeguard the integrity of corporate and departmental networks and databases.Failures in IT Management:Managing information technology is not an easy task. The information systems function has performance?problems in many organizations. The promised benefits of information technology have not occurred in many documented cases. Studies by management consulting firms and university researchers have shown that many?businesses have not been successful in managing their use of information technology.Management Involvement and Governance?What is the solution to failures in the information systems function? There are no quick and easy answers. However, the experiences of successful organizations reveal that extensive and meaningful managerial and end user involvement is the key ingredient of high-quality information systems performance. Involving managers in the management of IT requires the development of?governance structures that encourage their active participation in planning and controlling the business uses of IT. Thus, many organizations have?policies that require managers to be involves in IT decision that affect their business units. This helps managers avoid IS performance problems in their business units and development projects. With this high degree of?involvement, managers can improve the strategic business value of information technology.Managing Global ITThe International Dimension:International dimensions have become a vital part of managing a business enterprise in the internetworked global economies and markets of today. Properly designed and managed information systems using appropriate information technologies are a key ingredient in international business, providing vital information resources needed to support business activities in global markets.Global IT ManagementThe major dimensions of the job of managing global information technology include:?e-Business/IT strategies?e-Business application portfolios?Internet-based technology platforms?Data resource management?Systems developmentGlobal IT Platforms:The management of technology platforms (also called the technology infrastructure) is another major dimension of?global IT management.Technology platforms required to support a global business operation must consider:?Hardware?Software?Data resources?Internet, intranet, extranet sites?Computing facilities that support global e-business operationsThe Internet as a Global IT Platform:The Internet and the World Wide Web are both vital components in international business and commerce. The Internet, with its interconnected network of thousands of networks of computers and databases, has established itself as a technology platform free of many traditional international boundaries and limits. By connecting their businesses to this online global infrastructure, companies can:?Expand their markets?Reduce communications and distribution costs?Improve their profit margins without massive cost outlays for new telecommunication facilities.The Internet, along with its related intranet and extranet technologies, provides a low-cost interactive channel for?communications and data exchange with:?Employees?Customers?Suppliers?Distributors?Manufacturers?Product developers?Financial backers?Information providersGlobal Data Access Issues:Global data access issues have been a subject of political controversy and technology barriers in global business operations for many years. Important global data issues involve:Transborder data flows(TDF), in which business data flows across international borders over the telecommunications networks of global information systems.?Many countries view transborder data flows as violating their national sovereignty because TDF avoids custom duties and regulations for the import and export of goods and services.?Other countries may view TDF as a violation of privacy legislation when data about individuals is moved out of a country without stringent privacy safeguards.?Others view TDF as violating local laws made to protect local IT industry from competition, or labor?regulations for protecting local jobs.?Other important data issues are concerned with global data management and standardization of data. Common data definitions are necessary for sharing data among the parts of an international business. Differences in language, culture, and technology platforms can make global data standardization quite difficult.Internet Access Issues:The Internet has become a global battleground over public access to data and information at business and private sites on the World Wide Web. This has become a business issue because restrictive access policies severely inhibit the growth of e-commerce with countries that restrict or forbid Internet access by their citizens. Most countries of?the world have decided that restricting Internet access is not a viable policy, and in fact, would hurt their countries ‘opportunities for economic growth and prosperity.ParametersLocal Enterprise/Global Enterprisee-Business/IT strategiesReal time IT strategies suitable for the changing conditions in Local and Global Enterprise for making effective decisionse-Business application portfoliosSoftware Process Maturity will be of much importance which will help in developing the robust application portfoliosInternet-based technology platformsData and process Centralization by use of Internet technology Platforms which are secure and robust. Outsourcing would play a major role in this.Data resource managementData resources will be managed internally by the enterpriseSystems developmentSystem Development will again be outsourced. Web Apps will be used for Local as well Global Enterprise CommunicationsData StructuresCloud Application and Infrastructure will help in cutting the physical infrastructure costs. Data Synchronization, access and availability would be easier for both local and global enterprise.Q.3.“Software project management is process oriented” – Comment.Introduction to SPMA project is well-defined task, which is a collection of several tasks done in order to achieve a goal. A software project is the complete procedure of software development from requirement gathering to testing and maintenance, carried out in a specified period of time to achieve intended software product.Software project management refers to managing a software project, which comprises of a number of activities, like planning, deciding scope of software product, estimation of cost in various terms, scheduling of tasks and events, and resource management.Need for Software Project Management:On a macro level organisations need to ensure that their undertakings are delivered on time, within the cost budget and to the stipulated quality. On a micro level, project management combined with an appropriate information management system are needed for: Dealing with inconsistencies and changes in requirementsKeeping project status and building project knowledge baseMeeting project milestonesNeed for SPM to be process-drivenA study indicates that 85-90% of projects fail to deliver on time, on budget and to the quality of performance expected, due to following reasons:Lack of a valid business case justifying the projectObjectives not properly defined and agreedLack of communication and stakeholder managementOutcomes and/or benefits not properly defined in measurable termsLack of quality controlPoor estimation of duration and costInadequate definition and acceptance of roles (governance)Insufficient planning and coordination of resourcesSuch inconsistencies can be avoided by defining a process to capture the scope, and aligning the team in work towards it in a best possible way. Processes help in following ways:It helps in achieving consistency in delivery, as people adhere to a standard operating procedure in every project. Processes helps in assigning responsibilities across the team, facilitating a workflow for smoother delivery and handling constraints. It aims at converting tacit knowledge gained in the form of past project experiences into standard operating procedures for all the future projects. Thereby reducing the chances of errors. It helps to plan for different quality checks before delivery of software product. Such checks includes adherence to functional specifications, compliance, security, performance, etc. This ensures uncovering of gaps in the product in a timely manner. Processes can be used to measure the effectiveness of the delivery, and take corrective actions for increasing operational efficiency. It helps organization align their operations to existing industry standards, best practices and maturity models, which are proven for high quality standards. With Key Performance Indicators for the processes, organizations can focus on continuous improvement and increase quality of deliverables. It helps them understand knowledge gaps in the team and increase their learning curve. A research by Roberts and Furlonger shows that using a reasonably detailed project management methodology, as compared to a loose methodology, improves productivity by 20 to 30 percent. Effectiveness and efficiency may be facilitated through the introduction of best practices that are able to optimise the management of organisational resources. Furthermore, the use of a formalised project management structure to projects can facilitate: (a) the clarification of project scope; (b) agreement of objectives and goals; (c) identifying resources needed; (d) ensuring accountability for results and performance; (e) and encouraging the project team to focus on the final benefits to be achieved. SPM’s changing orientation towards different processes – Time for Agile & DevOps.With the change in technology and the nature of software being developed, even the software development practices have evolved over time. Software project management is not what it used to be. Digital initiatives and innovation strategies demand more adaptive methodologies to fulfil their project pipelines. We are starting to see traditional approaches like the hierarchical waterfall method take a back seat to burgeoning Agile and DevOps techniques. 25863554191000The traditional sequential approach of software project development using a Waterfall model underwent a change to adopt agile practices. Agile frameworks assist in enhancing the product quality, early defect detection, increase efficiency and help decide priorities. However, in the fast paced technology world, it has become imperative today to go to the market early with the product and adapt lean practices. Thus there was a need for integrated project development processes i.e. the birth of DevOps. With DevOps organizations can go from “idea” to working software faster in terms of initial project development and then experiment on many different things for continuous incremental improvements. In a DevOps environment, a single team is responsible for delivering new features and stability. Devops is an effective combination of the development business function with IT Operations. DevOps ensures in delivering frequent changes faster, with higher efficiency and robust quality based on market demands. Software development practices have thus evolved over a period of time with the changing technological landscape and customer needs. It today follows a more integrated approach that involves more co-ordination among teams having diverse skill sets. With organizations juggling time constraints with cost and the ever-increasing presence of new technologies, the question today is to select right mix of Software development processes that can meet the existing requirement of the project. Process orientation alone is not enough; they must be adaptive to Changing Trends:Managing “Remote teams” will become the new normal.According to Intuit, 40% of the American workforce will be freelancers, contractors, and/or temporary employees by 2020. Many of these contractors are already working remotely using sites like Upwork, , etc.Additionally, full-time employees are increasingly telecommuting. Distributed teams allow for companies to break down geographical borders in their quest to find top talent. Project management techniques will have to maintain productivity, communication challenges, and deal with disparate culture in future. Need for Advanced Project Management Tools:Traditional tools like Microsoft Project will be replaced by the need for more collaborative project management applications. Cloud based tools that allow real time collaboration and data exchange will be in demand. This will also have an impact on the use of emails for messaging, which will be lower usage due to alternative effective communication tools. The rise of BYOD will cause project management software to have more ticketing options.BYOD has dramatically increased the complexity of technical support provided by the IT Help Desk and the development of software for multi-platform use. From a Help Desk perspective, these BYOD complexities are causing the creation of new processes, multiple installation images, and enhanced security schemes. These activities all require complex project-based work and may, expand the need and use of Project Managers with the Help Desk function.Project managers will need to learn more about change management.There is a need for project managers to learn more about change management, due to increasing flexibility and dynamicity in customer demands.Project requirements and not Organization charts, will dictate project team members.Project complexities will decide how the teams will be structured, what tools they will use and how execution will happen. While we agree that this is increasingly common in project management, there will also be more personal attention given to team members’ interpersonal relationships in team selection.Need for Incorporating Data Analysis/BI?With increasing use of Internet based technologies, there will be a need for project managers to understand data analysis frameworks. Supermarkets use big data to determine the optimum price of bread; airlines use it to calculate the likely number of no-shows so they can overbook flights. Now project managers will need big data for tasks such as cost projections and discovering hidden correlations in project management.Lean Start-up in the EnterpriseIn the coming years, we'll see the concepts like Lean development evolve and mature, becoming more prominent in "big companies" too. Radical ideas like "learning" being a reasonable objective for an early release will gain mainstream traction. This will require aligning the processes to this move. Addiction to DataDelivery of software products via the Web has created an unprecedented opportunity to gather information about usage, primarily because users are blissfully unaware that their every click is being tracked! Understanding how to define, gather and analyse this usage data will become a critical competency in the enterprise. Processes getting lean with Rapid Application Development and OutsourcingWith the IT driven fast changing scenarios and globalization the need of the hour is to perform multiskilling and make right choices of the processes to be outsourced. As transactions are getting real time there is a demand for implementing appropriate processes and standards. There is always a gap between what we have and what is available. Gaps in IT Processes will have to be bridged to enable real time application of standards. Since the alternatives available are growing at an unprecedented speed, the infrastructure requirements are bound to get complicated and costly. Therefore the right choice here would be to outsource the infrastructure. For example, if the company decides to use Platform as a Service (PaaS) or Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) then they do not have to invest in physical infrastructure and therefore avail cost benefits (Benefit from economies of scale that arises by sharing physical infrastructure with others) as well as practical benefits (as they don’t need to purchase hardware themselves or employ expertise to manage it).Eg.2) IRCTC Example explained in class. The core business of Railways is not selling (but is important as it is a revenue source) and therefore the development of Website is outsourced. This helps railways to give more attention on things like maintenance of tracks, Signal manning, mechanism to move from source to destination etc. By outsourcing, the risk of managing the website is on the shoulders of the outsourced party.Challenge in IT project management is not only managing the processes internally but also doing the due diligence on the processes that are outsourced. The objectives of the IT outsourcing process review are to:Provide management with an independent assessment of the IT outsourcing process relating to the attainment of outsourcing objectives, compliance with the terms and conditions of the outsourcing contract, the accuracy of billing, and successful remediation of issues identified during the execution of business processes.Provide management with an evaluation of the internal controls affecting business processes relating to the activities outsourced and internal processes affected by outsourcing.Permit the audit/assurance professional to place audit reliance on the data and operational processes performed by the supplier on behalf of the customer.The review will focus on the outsourcing of the applications/processes/infrastructure to the supplier. The scope of the review is limited to the activities relevant to a previously outsourced environment in a production steady-state. It excludes the justification, decision, and terms and conditions considered relating to the outsourcing process. The review will include the following:Achievement of business requirementsCompliance with contractRelationship managementFunctionality and controls of provided servicesFulfillment of assurance charter and compliance requirementsConclusionToday, most software products are tailor made to fit client’s requirements. The most important aspect is that the underlying technology is changing so rapidly that processes too are required to be agile and responsive to such changes. All such business and environmental constraints bring risk in software development hence it is essential to manage software projects efficiently. SPM in times to come must not just be process-oriented but also be proactive in identifying changes required to suit any given software and its environment and adaptive towards implementing them. It’s time to be Proactive, Adaptive, Leaner, and Process Oriented!Q.4.What is virtual project management?Definition: Identifying Virtual TeamsVirtual project management is the system by which virtual teams collaborate for a finite period of time towards a specific goal. There are several appealing definitions in the literature. Peterson & Stohr identify virtual teams (a.k.a. Geographically Dispersed Team) as a “group of individuals who work across time, space and organizational boundaries with links strengthened by webs of communication technology. They have complementary skills and are committed to a common purpose, have interdependent performance goals, and share an approach to work for which they hold themselves mutually accountable.” A brief, but similar definition is proposed by Krill & Juell: “A virtual project is a collaborative effort towards a specific goal or accomplishment which is based on ‘collective yet remote’ performance.” Perhaps an appropriate approach is to view virtual projects and teams as simply projects and teams with a virtual overlay. This is a perspective taken by Cantu who proposes teams become virtual when any of three components are added to the mix: Different geography or locations of team membersTeam members from different organizations or parts of the organizationDifferent durations or lengths of time that member work together as a team.She suggests the concept runs across a spectrum as each component is expressed to a greater extent. Similarly, other authors have established dimensions of virtual teams. Fisher & Fisher propose time, space, and culture. Lipnack & Stamps identify people, links, and purpose as the strongest characteristics that distinguish a virtual team from a traditional team ( Virtual Teams: Reaching across space, time and organizations with technology). On the other hand Skyrme believes the dimensions of virtuality are time, space and structure. Three dimensions are also popular with Kimble, Li & Barlow who like time, place and organization. Another approach to the subject is to divide teams into subtypes and distinguish "virtualness" as a characteristic. Guss states that there are four classes of team: Pure: team functions virtually, without control of any one organizational method Transitional: the team functions as a combination of hybrid and mono forms, and then the other Hybrid: the team functions in a multi-organizational culture The team members all function in same organizationOne gets the feeling that everything old is new again with the Internet. Perhaps there is truth in this statement, but recent technology has greatly enhanced the possibility of geographically dispersed employees working together on common projects. This thread of thought is weaved into related areas, such as corporate structure with virtual companies and virtual enterprises. Some concepts are taken from the older topic of telecommuting. Still others from CASE tools that allow collaborative engineering. Most of the concepts from these ideas are shared, as is the literature. Virtual Teams in an Organizational SystemRather than just a mere curiosity, promoters of virtual teams assert there are many advantages to virtual teams. A few of the drivers leading to interest in virtual teams include attracting the best workers independent of location, no need to relocate existing workers, flexibility, reduction in travel time and expense, environments requiring inter-organizational cooperation, shift towards service work, global workdays (24 hours vs. 8), and changes in workers expectations. Although not the answer to all logistical problems encounter by projects, it does provide a potential solution to numerous personnel and work issues. Whether from necessity or deliberate design, companies are relying on new communicative technology with an impact on organizational structure. Cooper, for instance, takes a loose view of Systems Thinking and uses it as a framework in which to place teamwork. Her emphasis is on change, and the changes relevant to contemporary organizations are reengineering, system integration, process redesign, Total Quality Management, and teamwork. These have been well promoted over the past decade and require a transition away from traditional approaches of management that emphasize the analysis of individual problems and incremental change. Systems thinking is constant change. Teamwork is unique because it overlaps all these radical transformations. It is key to the success of theses changes that each employee see their niche in the total environment. Network organizations are a popular subject because of their novelty and interplay with new telecommunication technologies. Therefore, it is not uncommon to read about virtual teams in the same context of virtual organizations. Obviously, by definition, any team of a virtual organizational is a virtual team. Typically, virtual organizations are discussed in terms of a network and the network model is imposed on the team structure as well. The appealing line of the network model is that it focuses on links and nodes. Since the links are the distinguishing factor that define virtual teams apart from traditional teams, examining links and nodes on a more microcosmic level may bring forth some enlightenment on the interaction between the individual members (nodes) and the types of links developed by successful virtual teams. Sandhoff emphasizes real interactive structures in her analysis of organizations. She says, “From the perspective of those involved in it, a network presents itself as a loose, indirect and confusing structure of relations which is nevertheless able to influence social events.” This initial outlay yields the conclusion that successful network organizations are built on trustful relationships. It is the social network that reduces uncertainty and increases performance by providing a sense of predictability and allowing the exchange of resources. Lipnack and Stamps also approach virtual teams through the portal of network systems. They predict 21st century organizations will be network organizations with virtual team components and each team networked with others. The key change will be the elimination of one-way paths within teams and organizations since teams function best through two-way communication structures (“Virtual Teams: The new way to work”). However, imposing the network on virtual teams may be limiting since few companies actual subscribe to network structures over traditional structures. Therefore, Peterson and Stohr list seven basic types of virtual teams. Networked teams consisting of individuals who collaborate to achieve a common goal; membership is diffuse and fluid Parallel teams: work in short term to develop recommendations for an improvement in a process; has a distinct membership Project Teams: conduct projects for users for a defined period; tasks are non-routine and results measurable; team has decision making authority Production Teams: perform regular work, usually in one function; clearly defined membership Service Teams: support customers in typical service support role around the clock Management Teams: work collaboratively on a daily basis within a functional division Action Teams: offer immediate responsiveness, activated in emergencies Although not disputed, most of the literature focuses on network teams or project teams either explicitly or implicitly. Research on the remaining areas is undeveloped or relevant characteristics gleaned from general works. The rest of this paper will focus exclusively on virtual project management teams. Steps of Virtual ProjectsThere are numerous takes on what are the appropriate steps to project management. Instead of discussing these at length, it would be best to pick a general model and develop the permutations that those writing within the subject of virtual teams choose to emphasize. Gray & Larson support a traditional, linear model of collaboration involving 1) partner selection, 2) project manager team building, 3) stakeholder team building, 4) project implementation, and 5) project completion – celebrating success. The first step listed is picking the right people. This is not really true since the project needs to be identified, promoted and approved by someone. This is generally not addressed since it is often not a distinguishing factor of virtual teams. Choosing personnel is the first step where traditional and virtual project management diverge. One of the motivations of instituting a virtual team is that location is no longer a barrier to potential participant. However, one must consider the requirements of team membership and who makes the grade. Here much of the literature borrowers from previous writings on telecommuting. Schilling asserts there are a variety of criteria. First of all, participation must be voluntary--teams are destined to fail if not supported by its members. Furthermore, members must have previously demonstrated satisfactory work responsibilities and habits. Schilling further identifies a number of key social characteristics since work is often performed alone. The employee must be able to perform with limited supervision and feedback, reduced social interaction, have good organizational and time management skills, be self-motivated, demonstrate good performance, and be able to concentrate if away from a worksite. Putman, an author who also borrows heavily from telecommuting, believes that tasks involving “transmitting clearly defined pieces of information” are the best candidates for independent workers. However, this is typically not the situation in project management, which is oriented towards problem solving. Here she notes that collaborating workers developing new products require intense forms of communication that distinguish telecommuters from virtual team members. It should be noted that the number of participants should be limited to a few. Lipnack & Stamps suggest five to ten (“Dispersed Teams are the Peopleware for the 21st Century”). This is reasonable considering the network structure previously discussed. With each additional member added to the team, the number of links increases. Even with the best technology communication along those links are slow, making collaboration more difficult than face-to-face teams. The next step in the Gray & Larson model is to develop the leader. Discussion on this topic is reserved for the section on “Leadership” because virtual teams impose unique demands on the project manager from start to finish. The team needs to be developed and prepared for the task at hand. One method is the nine step Xerox model described by Fisher & Fisher. The first step is to form the team, but all the remaining steps are to prepare the members for their tasks. Steps two through nine are 2) communicate the vision, 3) develop a mission statement 4) define goals, 5) develop norms, 6) develop roles, 7) develop meeting processes, 8) develop communication processes, and 9) develop work processes. The Xerox model is a sound model, but does not distinguish virtual teams from traditional ones in enumerating steps. This is not incorrect, but the implementation of the steps will require different practices and areas of emphasis for virtual teams. Cantu identifies organizational design, job design, and team design as important early elements. Within organizational design, business goals are defined in the context members operate; members need to recognize the team values of others; the team needs to develop an infrastructure for involvement; and they need to design the configuration of the team while setting boundaries. Members need to be clearly aware of the team’s expectations of how each will participate. Therefore, up-front job design should consist of defining realistic job previews; designing accountability; giving decision making power to the team; discussing compensation; and providing feedback for employee development and recognition. Finally the team needs to be clearly defined as well. The team should have a clear identity, create a statement of purpose, name goals, and make connections with those outside the team who can provide resources and support. The fourth step, project implementation, proceeds like most other projects. The steps here are likely to be highly correlated with the subject of the project. For instance, if the project was to create a software package, appropriate development steps should be taken whether the team is virtual or traditional. However, virtual teams face additional challenges, describe in further detail in the section titled “Obstacles”, and require more effort to keep open the lines of communication and develop trust. The final step in the Gray and Larson Model is project completion. Many sources suggest a form of celebration to mark the completion of the task and recognize the members of the team. For traditional teams this may mean going to dinner as a group. A virtual team may decide to do the same, but there are alternatives as well. A final video conference with corporate tokens of appreciation could be a substitute. Some authors observe that there are other considerations upon completion of a project. Cantu labels this as re-entry. Members need to transition into new job roles or reallocate time that they previous dedicated to the project. There is also the concern that their effort participating in the project be visible to those around them, particularly their supervisors. A good virtual team manager addresses these issues prior to kickoff. ObstaclesAll project teams face obstacles to success. When one decomposes virtual teams into the summary of its parts, it is evident that virtual teams are especially challenging. Lipnack and Stamps note that “All the pitfalls that can trip up a collocated team are dangers to a virtual team, but even more so… The best summary we’ve seen are ‘team killers’. They include: false consensus, unresolved overt conflict, underground conflict, closure avoidance, calcified team meetings, uneven participation, lack of accountability, and forgetting the customer.” These can be a part of every team. However, virtual teams add a new dimension to the problem—“technology adoration”. The authors suggest some people think that virtual team problems can be solved by setting up e-mail list, opening chat rooms, and mounting desktop conferencing. These can certainly help teams, but only when used in conjunction with the overall strategy of the project. (“Dispersed Teams Are the Peopleware for the 21st Century”) Lipnack and Stamps only cover one aspect of the unique difficulties encountered by virtual teams. There is more than just technology nerds running amuck. Kimble, Li, and Barlow suggest that virtual teams face “barriers” which can be either technological or non-technological. Technological barriers would include such inconveniences as slow network computers, poor architecture, and lack of collaborative software. They also note that most equipment and software has been designed for use in a conventional office, so those working at remote sites may face problems interfacing with their team. Although some technological problems can be inhibiting, the authors considered other barriers to be more serious. Chief among these would be organizational and cultural barriers. Also included in the list are perceived disruption of virtual teams to corporate culture and the loss of employee’s loyalty. The bulk of the literature does not directly define the “barriers” or “team killers”. Virtual teams face problems encountered by all teams, people working with others in the organization, plus those face by the virtual nature. These can be numerous. In the end it simply boils down to the fact that it is difficult to collaborate on something when the communication process is inhibited. New technologies just provide new mechanism to make distant collaborative teams possible, not necessarily superior to other options. Since virtual teams present stiff challenges to its members, most authors end up heavily emphasizing one of three areas: building trust, enhancing communication, and developing virtual management skills. Building TrustIn an ordinary project trust is built through frequent interaction. If the members of the project team are located on the same site, they may already know each other and have the advantage of previous interaction with their colleges. Members can see one another working on the project, discuss issues at the water cooler, and build a relationship with daily interaction. A distance project team may have none of these advantages. For this reason the majority of the “How to” literature encourages deliberate activities that build trust. Typically the major recommendation across these works is to provide a face-to-face kickoff meeting for all members to get to know each other. Kiser states that “Trust is the grease. Without it, you’re not going anywhere.” Members have to trust that others are doing their work, and doing it at a high quality level while meeting deadlines. Furthermore, language and culture differences can become a factor. Many times emails can be interpreted in different ways, something that might be cleared up in a face-to-face meeting or visual cues regarding the other’s reaction. Xerox, for instance, encourages imbedding pictures of team members into collaborative and communicative technologies in order to “see” the other member (Fisher & Fisher). In a research study Herzog interviewed 20 participants from IT projects and concluded that the major factors influencing the level of trust were the members’ perceptions of self, of others, and of the process and activities. This expands the notion of trust beyond most authors’ considerations, who only emphasize relationship-building between team members. The implication of Herzog’s research is that activities must take place that also emphasize buy-in to the project’s goals by building the member’s reasonable expectations. Also, the foundation of trust starts off in square one by selecting people with the right personalities and approach to their work. In a similar vein, Fisher and Fisher go one step further and state that corporations encourage trust through their approach to business. Companies that are honest, establish strong business ethics, do what they say, and grant trust provide a healthy environment for trust to flourish. CommunicationCommunication builds trust. It provides guidance, and the phrase “collaborative teams” infers that communication is taking place. Lack of communication is the one hurdle that really distinguishes the challenges faced by virtual teams. Blaine and Bowen build on Daft and Wiginton proposition that it is not quantity of information that reduces equivocally, but the quality or “richness” of that information. Richness is a property of the medium used to convey information, which includes the mediums’ ability to provide immediate feedback, use multiple cues and channels, and allow personalization and language variety. Communication can be decomposed into its data capacity and richness. A phone, for instance would be high in richness, but low in data capacity, while reports would be high in data capacity, but low in richness. Recent technologies have simply provided additional mechanisms of communication. With each new tool in the toolbox, there is a chance that a more appropriate tool exists for the communication need than existed a decade ago. The effects of various types of communication mechanisms was the subject of a study by Eggert. He approach the topic through the framework of a dilemma game, also called the prisoners’ dilemma, public good games, or free riding game. The concept is that with collaboration two individuals achieve a better payoff, but must rely on the other person to get that better payoff. There is also an incentive to cheat or free ride where there is gain by one member at the other’s expense. They conducted seven free riding experiments where the difference between each was the type of communication related to business interfaces. These included communication by reference, identification, lecture, talk-show, audio-conference, video-conference, and table conference. Eggert evaluated the cooperation level and the stability of the cooperation for each method. He found reference and identification produced low levels of cooperation and were highly stable. Lecture, talk show and audio-conference produced intermediate levels of cooperation that were unstable. Finally, video and table conferencing produced a high level of cooperation and were highly stable as well. He concludes the business implication is that both auditory and visual communication play key roles for efficient outcomes. Certainly video and face-to-face conferencing is not always possible with all virtual team communications. Therefore, several authors have provided guidelines for alleviating communication problems. Gould suggests the following practicesIncluding face-to face when possible, give team members a sense of how the overall project is going by providing schedules Establish a code of conduct to avoid delays (i.e. acknowledging email) Don’t let team members vanish (i.e. use calendars) Augment text-only communications with charts, pictures and diagrams Develop trust Peterson and Stohr also have four tips for effective distance communication: Standards for availability and acknowledgement Team members replace lost context in their communication Members regularly use synchronous communication Senders take responsibility for prioritizing their communication Other practical suggestions include establishing a communication center with a project web site. This ensures that everyone is working from the same documents and have the latest information on the team’s progress (Barker). Feldman concurs with this idea and adds that putting a project on the Internet can help build an audit trail to record the documents and details. The Virtual Team Project ManagerLeading a virtual team not only involves the communication complexities, but requires a certain shift in the project leadership approach. Fisher & Fisher assert that the project leader now must manage the boundaries—the environment that surrounds the team. A few of these include introducing members to key external contacts, building systems for data linking, and intermediating with headquarters. The authors assert this is different from traditional project managers who work in the system rather than on the system. They place virtual project management into seven clusters: leader, results catalyst, facilitator, barrier burster, business analyzer, coach, and living example. Benett examined project management activities and broke down activities into tasks, resources, and tracking. Establishing tasks and acquiring resources are areas project managers already have experience with, although virtual project management adds a new twist. Tracking, on the other hand, requires a new paradigm of managing people and progress of the project. Pearlson suggests project managers venturing into the virtual world for the first time are faced with three paradoxes: 1) an increase on structure and flexibility—flexibility in the sense of the work environment and structure as it relates to the pattern of interaction. 2) Greater individuality and more teamwork—individual effort is needed due to the distance, but there needs to be unity and commitment by the team members on objectives. 3) An increase and decrease in control—control over the worker is reduced, but managers must maintain strong control over the structure of the group. Davies adds to the discussion by considering appraisal and compensation. First he considers whether appraisals should be based on similar terms as members of traditional teams. The conclusion is no. The activities of a virtual team required for success are disguisable from the traditional approach. Therefore, the skills (communication for instance) shift. Although he does not draw any hard conclusions, he urges examining what is needed for the effective outcomes of the virtual project and back out the appropriate evaluation factors from those. Software exists that can aid in the evaluation of team members. One avenue is monitoring software, but this erodes the concept of trust. Yogesh Malhotra, the CEO of , cautions against using such software. “One may compare the above description with bringing up a teenager by the parent. One could either use the technology… for continuously monitoring each movement of the child, or one may rely more on the sharing of family values.” He recommends keeping the channels of communication open and promoting a culture characterized by “clan control”. (“Virtual Corporations, Human Issues & Information Technology”) The new world of virtual project management requires many of the same skills as traditional project management. However, it means letting go of some of the control, which may be difficult. It is impossible to micromanage a virtual project. Coordination skills are primary because of the reduced communication of virtual teamsConclusion: The Elements for SuccessAt this point it would be worthwhile to take a moment and reflect on the words “virtual project team”. Taking these in reverse order, team is the most basic concept. A project leader should question, what makes up a good team? Appropriate answers would be qualified individuals; commitment of members; and communication among players. These are simply the foundation of any group activity. Narrowing the focus a little further, what makes a successful project given a good team? Appropriate answers would be clearly defined goals, access to resources, and a supportive environment. Finally, factor in the virtual qualifier. How does this change what is required of the team and the project. The answer here is that it changes none of the requirements. It does, however, make the requirements more difficult to arrive at because of reduced communication channels. The technologies made available in the past five years merely add broadband to once narrow channels. This broadband not only increases the amount of data that can be transferred, but improves the richness of communication. Manheim & Medina propose that virtual behaviors are influenced by 1) the nature of the work, 2) management of critical supporting work processes, 3) organizational context 4) geographical context, 5) communications support, 6) other environmental contextual factors, and 7) individual characteristics. Lipnack and Stamps more simply state that “[T]he best collocated teams use principles incorporated by the most successful virtual teams: a clear purpose, a focus on people, and concentration on the links that connect them.” (“Dispersed Teams Are the Peopleware for the 21st Century”). In the end, a successful virtual project team is successful because they emphasized the necessary components of project teams. The introduction of the virtual world may be beneficial because it demands that the leader and players take a step back and ask themselves, “with this new twist on project teams, what is required of my group and me?” It requires an absolute commitment to project management methodologies. Virtual project teams are successful because the leaders and members put forth the extra effort to overcome communication barriers. ................
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