1. PROJECT
MANAGEMENT
SYSTEM

2. Projects Cannot be Run in
Isolation
 Projects must operate in a broad organizational
environment
 Project managers need to use systems
thinking
 Taking a holistic view of carrying out projects within
the context of the organization
 A project is a system of people, equipment,
materials, and facilities organized and managed
to achieve a goal

3. Systems thinking
 Systems thinking means being able to
perceive the “system” in a situation.
 It is the ability to take a confused, chaotic
situation and perceive some degree of order
and interrelationship.
 Systems thinking is a useful way of dealing
with complex phenomena, especially in human
endeavors such as large projects.

4. A Systems View of Project Management
 A systems approach emerged in the1950s to
describe a more analytical approach to
management and problem solving
 Management must see how projects relate to the
whole organization
 Three parts include:
 Systems philosophy: an overall model for thinking
about things as systems
 Systems analysis: problem-solving approach
 Systems management: address business,
technological, and organizational issues before
making changes to systems

5. Project management – a system
oriented approach
 Project management is a systems-oriented
approach to management because it
considers the project as a system of
interrelated tasks and work units operating in a
changing environment.
 It seeks to unify the planning and work efforts
of numerous organizational units working in a
project to efficiently accomplish, with minimal
tradeoff, the multiple goals of a project.

6. The project management
system
 The project management system is composed of
organization structure, information processing,
and practices and procedures that permit
integration of the “vertical” and “horizontal”
elements of project organizations.
 vertical elements include the breakdown of all
tasks in the project; horizontal elements include
the functional units and departments involved in
the project.
 The project management system provides for
integrative planning and control.

7. The project management
system

8.  The project management system provides the
means for(1) identification of tasks
(2) identification of resource requirements and
costs
(3) establishing priorities
(4) planning and updating schedules,
(5) monitoring and controlling end-item quality
and performance
(6) measuring project performance
The project management system
helps in

9. System- Definition
 By definition, a system is “an organized or
complex whole; an assemblage of things or
parts interacting in a coordinated way.”
 Besides being an “assemblage of parts,” the
definition of system should include three other
features:
1. Parts of the system are affected by being in
the system and are changed if they leave it
2. The assemblage of parts does something
3. The assemblage is of particular interest

10. Features of a System
 The first feature means that, in systems, the whole is
more than the sum of the parts. The idea of the parts
affecting the whole and vice versa is central to
systems thinking.
 The second feature of systems is that they are
dynamic and exhibit some kind of behavior; they do
something. The kind of behavior they exhibit depends
upon the particular kind of system at hand. System
behavior can usually be observed in the outputs of the
system or the way the system converts inputs to
outputs, though the conversion process and the
outputs may be quite obscure.

11. Features of a System contd..
 Third, systems are conceived by the people
looking at them, which means they exist in the
eye (or mind) of the beholder.
 This is not to say that they fail to exist unless
someone is there to see them, but rather that
the conception of a system can be altered to
suit one’s purpose

12. Concepts related to System
Thinking
 Systems can be broken down into smaller and
smaller parts. These parts, in combination,
form “the assemblage of parts” that constitute
a system.
 The smallest part of a system is an element.
 Systems also can be broken down into parts
which are themselves systems, called
subsystems. A subsystem is a system that
functions as a component of a larger system.
When it is unnecessary to understand or
reveal its inner workings, a subsystem can
simply be thought of as an element

13. Concepts related to System
Thinking
 Attributes
 Systems, subsystems, and elements all have
distinguishing characteristics and properties called
attributes.
 These attributes describe or express the condition
of systems, subsystems, and elements in
qualitative or quantitative terms.
 The attributes of a system may be used to monitor
and measure system behavior and performance.
 The most common project attributes are cost and
progress, both evaluated at particular points in
time.

14. Concepts related to System
Thinking
 Environment
 When someone, called the “decision maker,”
conceptualizes a system, the term
environment is used to refer to anything that
lies beyond the decision maker’s control yet
influences the behavior or outcome of the
system.
 The environment can include the community
we live in, the air we breathe, or the people
with whom we associate, though it is not
necessarily any of these.

15. Concepts related to System
Thinking
 Boundary
 A system is separated from its environment by
a boundary. In many systems the boundary is
somewhat obscure, so it is difficult to separate
the system from the environment.
 To determine what is the environment, the
decision maker asks the questions “Can I do
anything about it?” and “Is it relevant to my
situation or objective?” If the answer is “no” to
the first question but “yes” to the second, then
“it” is part of the environment.

16. How to distinguish a system from
its environment ?
The “irrelevant environment” includes all
things that do not influence the system and
that do not matter.

17. Concepts related to System
Thinking
 Objectives
 Human-made systems are designed to do
something. They have objectives that are
conceived by people.
 One of the greatest aids for conceptualizing,
creating, or investigating a system is to begin
with a clear, concise statement of the system
objectives.
 Objectives are broken down into a hierarchy of
objectives, each relating to a subsystem.

18. Concepts related to System
Thinking
 System Structure
 Elements and subsystems are linked together
by relationships. The form taken by the
relationships is referred to as the structure of
the system.
 The functioning and effectiveness of a system
is largely determined by the appropriateness
of the structure to the objective or purpose of
the system.
 Most complex systems have hierarchical
structures consisting of organized levels of sub
elements within elements, elements within

19. Concepts related to System
Thinking
 Inputs, Process, Outputs
 Human-made systems accomplish things by
converting inputs into outputs through a well-
defined process.
 Inputs are the raw materials or resources
necessary for the system to operate, produce
outputs, and meet objectives. Inputs include
controllable factors such as labor, capital, energy,
and facilities, as well as uncontrollable factors
such as weather and natural phenomena.
 Outputs represent the end-result of a system and,
generally, the purpose for which the system exists

20. Concepts related to System
Thinking
 Inputs, Process, Outputs contd…
 In a hierarchical structure where systems are
divided into subsystems, the subsystems each
have their own inputs, process, and outputs,
which are integrated in some way.
 For example, the marketing subsystem uses
customer surveys and sales reports as input to
generate a demand forecast (output), and this
forecast, combined with information from the other
subsystems, serves as input for the production
subsystem.