Investing in IT

JWD Consulting wrote a business case before officially initiating the project management intranet site project.
Review the contents of this document in Table 3.2 of the text and find two articles that describe the need to
justify investing in IT projects. In addition, describe whether you think most projects should include a business
case before the project sponsors officially approve the project. Write a short paper summarizing your findings
and opinions.
Your paper should be two pages long, excluding title and references, and conform to the APA format. Include at
least two scholarly references.
Table 3.2
The text describes an example of applying the project management process groups to a project at JWD
Consulting, which uses some of the ideas from the PMBOK Guide and some new ideas to meet unique project
needs.
The first case study (JWD Consulting’s Project Management Intranet Site Project) follows a predictive or
waterfall approach, while the second case study follows a more adaptive approach using Scrum, which is a
more agile approach to managing JWD Consulting’s project management intranet site project. Both still use the
project management process groups and several outputs or deliverables described in the PMBOK Guide.
Students should review these cases to get a better understanding of how to apply the project management
process groups to real projects.
Module Summary
Project management involves a number of processes—the five project management process groups are
initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing. These processes occur to varying
degrees throughout each phase of a project and produce specific outcomes as a result of each process. We
learned that the executing processes often require the most resources and time, followed by the planning
processes.
Mapping the main activities of each project management process group into the 10 project management
knowledge areas provides a big picture of what activities are involved in project management.
Some organizations develop their own IT project management methodologies, often using the standards in the
PMBOK Guide as a foundation. It is important to tailor project management methodologies to meet the
organization’s particular needs. Popular methods like PRINCE2, Agile, RUP, and Six Sigma include project
management processes.
The JWD Consulting case study demonstrates how one organization managed an IT project from start to finish.
The case study provides several samples of outputs produced for initiating, planning, executing, monitoring
and controlling, and closing.