[How does a formal Project Management Methodology (such as the one PMI prescribes), combined with strict corporate governance policy affect project success or failure of Information Technology (IT) projects?]

By

Acknowledgement

This research would not have been possible without the support of my research supervisor and my family so I would like to thank them for their utmost support.

DECLARATION

This research is my own unaided work and I take an oath that this research has not been submitted earlier for any educational purpose. Moreover the ideas presented in this research are my own and not that of the university.

Signed __________________ Date _________________

Contents

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTII

DECLARATIONIII

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW1

Project Management1

A Brief History of Project Management1

Corporate governance2

Project governance2

Modern Project Management4

Project Management Methodologies9

PRINCE2 Project Methodology9

Project Management Methodology Used for the Study13

PMI project methodology13

Initiating process group14

Planning process group14

Executing process group15

Monitoring and controlling process group.15

Closing process group15

Project integration management16

Project cost management17

Project time management18

Project risk management18

Project human resource management18

Project quality management18

Project procurement management19

Project communications management19

Project scope management19

Project Success20

Project Knowledge Areas24

Conclusion27

REFERENCES29

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

Project Management

A Brief History of Project Management

A temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique produce, service or result with the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet project requirements is called project management and it has been defined by PMI (2008). The practice of project management and projects is not a new concept introduced in the 20th century. The ancient people also worked on projects and they also had their techniques to manage the project and this can be proved from evidence from earliest civilizations.

The construction of Great Wall of China and pyramids of Egypt are brilliant examples of project management. The artifacts give testimony to the project because the documentation of these projects is not available. The need for new artifacts or strategies has been found by examination of historical documents and they gave an idea as to how and why the artifacts or strategies evolved. The strategic need for the action being considered was provided by these documents. In order to guide the designs and execution of an initiative these documents are similar to project charter. Due to Rapid industrialization, the munition production in World War 1, the scientific management of Frederick Taylor, the project management concept came into being. The theories of worker productivity were tested by Taylor in the in the early 1900s, and he did this by forming a methodology for measuring performance of certain task by workers in the steel mills. (Allen 1980 13)

Taylor did this experiment because he wanted to increase the worker output of loading pig iron into a rail car. The job was broken down into smallest possible movements and each movement was timed by the Taylor. After the results the job was redesigned with minimal movements and efforts.

Corporate governance

The definition of corporate governance which has been given by OECD is a set of relationships between a company's management, its board, its shareholders and other stakeholders. Corporate governance also provides the structure through which the objectives of the company are set, and the means of attaining ...