Project portfolio management

Project Portfolio Management (PPM) is a term used by project managers and project management (PM) organizations to describe methods for analyzing and collectively managing a group of current or proposed projects based on numerous key characteristics. The fundamental objective of PPM is to determine the optimal mix and sequencing of proposed projects to best achieve the organization's overall goals - typically expressed in terms of hard economic measures, business strategy goals, or technical strategy goals - while honoring constraints imposed by management or external real-world factors. Typical attributes of projects being analyzed in a PPM process include each project's total expected cost, consumption of scarce resources (human or otherwise) expected timeline and schedule of investment, expected nature, magnitude and timing of benefits to be realized, and relationship or inter-dependencies with other projects in the portfolio.

The key challenge to implementing an effective PPM process is typically securing the mandate to do so. Many organizations are culturally inured to an informal method of making project investment decisions, which can be compared to political processes observable in the U.S. legislature.However this approach to making project investment decisions has led many organizations to unsatisfactory results, and created demand for a more methodical and transparent decision making process. That demand has in turn created a commercial marketplace for tools and systems which facilitate such a process.

Some commercial vendors of PPM software emphasize their products' ability to treat projects as part of an overall investment portfolio. PPM advocates see it as a shift away from one-off, ad hoc approaches to project investment decision making. Most PPM tools and methods attempt to establish a set of values, techniques and technologies that enable visibility, standardization, measurement and process improvement. PPM tools attempt to enable organizations to manage the continuous flow of projects from concept to completion.

Treating a set of projects as a portfolio would be, in most cases, an improvement on the ad hoc, one-off analysis of individual project proposals. The relationship between PPM techniques and existing investment analysis methods is a matter of debate. While many are represented as "rigorous" and "quantitative", few PPM tools attempt to incorporate established financial portfolio optimization methods like modern portfolio theory or Applied Information Economics, which have been applied to project portfolios, including even non-financial issues.

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Soft Systems Methodology

History

Soft Systems Methodology (SSM for short) was developed by Peter Checkland and colleagues at the University of Lancaster. It is based upon systems theory, which provides an antidote to conventional, 'reductionist' scientific enquiry - with its tendency to 'reduce' phenomena into smaller and smaller components in order to study and understand them. Systems theory attempts to study the whole picture; the relation of component parts to each other, and to the wider picture - it is 'holistic.' Biology and environmental science use its principles widely, as do other disciplines including systems analysis. SSM is not, contrary to popular supposition, an information systems design methodology - it is rather a general problem solving tool. Brian Wilson, a colleague of Checkland's at Lancaster, has adapted the methodology for business information analysis, and various attempts (Avison's 'Multiview,' for instance) have been made to incorporate it into systems design work.

What do we mean by 'system?'

We use the word 'system' quite a lot in everyday language ('computer system,' 'the educational system', 'systematic;'); we even talk about 'the system' - a  vague, sinister officialdom. Three uses of the word must be distinguished:

1.         a way of doing things, an organisation of resources and procedures.

2.         a computer, or information system

3.         (a specialised SSM use) - a conceptual organisation of resources and procedures defined according to systems theory - more about this later.

It will be a useful discipline to check that you understand which of these three senses of the word is being used every time the word occurs in this handout.

Why 'soft?'

System thinking has come to be characterised as either 'hard' or 'soft.' There are fundamental differences between a man-made ('designed physical' system), such as a nuclear reactor, and an organisational system - a 'human activity' system. Where mechanical components are involved, their behaviour can usually be predicted with reasonable accuracy - these are 'hard' systems; where human beings are involved this is not necessarily the case. Because human behaviour is unpredictable, organisational and management problems are seldom clear cut and well-defined; they are normally complex, with many indeterminable variables - 'soft' systems. At first glance, information systems would seem to be 'hard' - designed physical - systems, but experience shows that they seldom add value unless they are closely married to their organisational context, and the people who use them. There are therefore many softer issues which are important in information system planning, design, and implementation. 'Soft' has another, more specialist meaning - depending on the type of person you are, and your training and experience, you may understand 'systems' as tangible things which are really present in the world. You may, however, understand systems ideas as a series of intellectual constructs that we use to help us deal with the enormous complexity of the real world. This is an interesting, but un-resolvable argument; SSM tends strongly to the latter position.

Overview

SSM helps formulate and structure thinking about problems in complex, human situations. Its core is the construction of conceptual models (based on the understanding of human activity systems outlined above) and the comparison of those models with the real world. This process can greatly clarify those multi-faceted problems with many conflicting potential solutions, or no obvious way forward. Conceptual models are not representations of the real world, like a data-flow diagram - they are constructs which embody potential real world systems, but, more importantly, follow rigorously the systems principles already discussed, and their own well-defined internal logic. SSM is not, therefore, about analysing systems found in the world, but about applying systems principles to structure thinking about things that happen in the world - a difficult, but crucial distinction to grasp. It is most usefully carried out by people involved in the problem situation, with expert help available to guide and facilitate.

Data Warehousing

Abbreviated DW, a collection of data designed to support management decision making. Data warehouses contain a wide variety of data that present a coherent picture of business conditions at a single point in time.

“A Decision Support DB that is maintained separately from the organisation's operational Databases”.

What is a Data Warehouse?

A data warehouse is something you do, not something you buy. A successful data warehouse does not have an end. Regardless of the methodology, warehousing environments must be built incrementally through projects that are managed under the umbrella of a data-warehousing program. That program will be sponsored and supported at the Department of Information Technology.

Most of the benefits of the data warehouse will not be realized in the first delivery. The first project will be the foundation for the next, which will in turn form the foundation for the next. Data warehousing at the enterprise level is a long-term strategy, not a short-term fix. Its cost and value should be evaluated across a time span sufficient to provide us with a realistic picture of its cost-to-value ratio.

A DW is:

·        Subject-oriented: The warehouse is organized around the major subjects of the enterprise (e.g. customers, products, and sales) rather than the major application areas (e.g. customer invoicing, stock control, and product sales).

·        Integrated: The data warehouse integrates corporate application-oriented data from different source systems, which often includes data that is inconsistent. The integrated data source must be made consistent to present a unified view of the data to the users.

·        Time-variant: Data in the warehouse is only accurate and valid at some point in time or over some time interval. also shown in the extended time that the data is held, the implicit or explicit association of time with all data, and the fact that the data represents a series of snapshots.Warehouse data represent the time, and queries are based on time range.

·        Non-volatile: Data in the warehouse is not updated in real-time but is refreshed from operational systems on a regular basis. New data is always added as a supplement to the database, rather than a replacement.

Collection of data that is used primarily in organizational decision making.

Development of a data warehouse includes development of systems to extract data from operating systems plus installation of a warehouse database system that provides managers flexible access to the data.

The term data warehousing generally refers to the combination of many different databases across an entire enterprise. Contrast with data mart.

Benefits of DW:

·        Potential high returns on investment

·        Competitive advantage

·        Increased productivity of corporate decision-makers

Relational algebra

Introduction

Relational algebra received little attention until the publication of E.F. Codd's relational model of data in 1970. Codd proposed such algebra as a basis for database query languages.

Relational algebra is essentially equivalent in expressive power to relational calculus (and thus first-order logic); this result is known as Codd's theorem.

To overcome difficulties, Codd restricted the operands of relational algebra to finite relations only and also proposed restricted support for negation (NOT) and disjunction (OR). Analogous restrictions are found in many other logic-based computer languages.

Codd defined the term relational completeness to refer to a language that is complete with respect to first-order predicate calculus apart from the restrictions he proposed. In practice the restrictions have no adverse effect on the applicability of his relational algebra for database purposes.

Primitive operations

As in any algebra, some operators are primitive than the others, being definable in terms of the primitive ones, are derived. It is useful if the choice of primitive operators parallels the usual choice of primitive logical operators. Although it is well known that the usual choice in logic of AND, OR and NOT is somewhat arbitrary, Codd made a similar arbitrary choice for his algebra.

The five primitive operators of Codd's algebra are;

1.    Selection,

2.    Projection,

3.    Cartesian product (also called the cross product or cross join),

4.    The set union,

5.    The set difference

These five operators are fundamental in the sense that none of them can be omitted without losing expressive power. Many other operators have been defined in terms of these five.

Rich pictures

Purpose

Rich pictures were particularly developed as part of Peter  Checkland’s Soft Systems Methodology for gathering information about a complex situation (Checkland, 1981; Checkland and Scholes, 1990). The idea of using drawings or pictures to think about issues is common to several problem solving or creative thinking methods (including therapy) because our intuitive consciousness communicates more easily in impressions and symbols than in words. Drawings can both evoke and record insight into a situation, and different visualization techniques such as visual brainstorming, imagery manipulation and creative dreaming have been developed emphasizing one of these two purposes over the other (Garfield, 1976; McKim, 1980; Shone, 1984; Parker, 1990).

Rich pictures are drawn at the pre-analysis stage, before you know clearly which parts of the situation should best be regarded as process and which as structure.

Part of a rich picture of a telephone helpline situation

Rich pictures (situation summaries) are used to depict complicated situations. They are an attempt to encapsulate the real situation through a no- holds-barred, cartoon representation of all the ideas covered already layout, connections, relationships, influences, cause-and-effect, and so on. As well as these objective notions, rich pictures should depict subjective elements such as character and characteristics, points of view and prejudices, spirit and human nature. If you are working with a client you should try to draw these from the actors themselves, at least initially, rather than focusing on your own interpretation of the situation.

Elements:

• pictorial symbols;
• keywords;
• cartoons;
• sketches;
• symbols;
• title.

Conventions

1. To help interpret a situation, choose symbols, scenes or images that represent the situation. Use as many colours as necessary and draw the symbols on a large piece of paper. Try not to get too carried away with the fun and challenge to your ingenuity in finding pictorial symbols.
2. Put in whatever connections you see between your pictorial symbols: avoid producing merely an unconnected set. Places where connections are lacking may later prove significant.
3. Avoid too much writing, either as commentary or as ‘word bubbles’ coming from people’s mouths (but a brief summary can help explain the diagram to other people).
4. Don’t include systems boundaries or specific references to systems in any way (see below).

Guidelines

1. A rich picture is an attempt to assemble everything that might be relevant to a complex situation. You should somehow represent every observation that occurs to you or that you gleaned from your initial survey.
2. Fall back on words only where ideas fail you for a sketch that encapsulates your meaning.
3. You should not seek to impose any style or structure on your picture. Place the elements on your sheet wherever your instinct prompts. At a later stage you may find that the placement itself has a message for you.
4. If you ‘don’t know where to begin’, then the following sequence may help to get you started:
   
   
   1. first look for the elements of structure in the situation (these are the parts of the situation that change relatively slowly over time and are relatively stable, the people, the set-ups, the command hierarchy, perhaps);
   2. next look for elements of process within the situation (these are the things that are in a state of change: the activities that are going on);
   3. then look for the ways in which the structure and the processes interact. Doing this will give you an idea of the climate of the situation. That is, the ways in which the structure and the processes relate to each other.
5. Avoid thinking in systems terms. That is, using ideas like: ‘Well, the situation is made up of a marketing system and a production system and a quality control system’. There are two reasons for this. The first is that the word ‘system’ implies organized interconnections and it may be precisely the absence of such organized interconnectedness that lies at the heart of the matter: therefore, by assuming its existence (by the use of the word system) you may be missing the point. Note, however, that this does not mean that there won’t be some sort of link or connection between your graphics, as mentioned above. The second reason is that doing so will channel you down a particular line of thought, namely the search for ways of making these systems more efficient.
6. Make sure that your picture includes not only the factual data about the situation, but also the subjective information.
7. Look at the social roles that are regarded within the situation as meaningful by those involved, and look at the kinds of behaviour expected from people in those roles. If you see any conflicts, indicate them.
8. Finally, include yourself in the picture. Make sure that your roles and relationships in the situation are clear. Remember that you are not an objective observer, but someone with a set of values, beliefs and norms that colour your perceptions.

The main principle of a rich picture is to assist us the analyst to gain an admiration of the problem situation. As it is understood in Soft Systems Methodology (SSM), rich pictures are used as a means to signify the situation of anxiety and include elements which influence the problem for organisation, but which would not perhaps be picked up using more formal methods.

Soft systems methodology emphasizes the value of rich pictures. Rich Pictures is an innovative way of turning complex systems, thoughts and everyday business issues into a neat format that everyone can understand easily. These seek to explore and summarise issues much more pictorially and graphically than the methods like documenting, reporting. They can be extremely intuitive and can also compress a lot of information into a single picture.

Rich pictures can be very useful in forming a backdrop to subsequent analysis, acting as an aide memoire to allow the group continually to refer back and check they are addressing all the relevant issues. The rich picture of our Problem Scenario shows the many interacting systems and issues that relate to the organisation which has developed over particular location. Within a solitary image all the mean points and concerns have been detained and may be corresponded to those apprehensive in choosing what action to take.

The above rich picture includes the struc­ture of  Environment. This Struc­ture refers to those parts of the sit­u­a­tion which are slow to change and rel­a­tively sta­ble. They may include things like organ­i­sa­tional struc­ture, phys­i­cal lay­out and all the peo­ple who are affected by the sit­u­a­tion. And also it includes only enough struc­ture to allow you to record the process and concerns. At the same time it embraces the concerns or issues which capture a particular actor’s motivations for participating in the situation. The different motivations give rise to the various perspectives each actor has.

It also includes the process of Organisation which refers to the transformation that go on within the structure. These transformations might be part of a flow of goods which are being utilised in that firm, existing documents which are already there in that problem organisation or data of that particular organisation. But the rich picture will not capture all aspects of process. The above Rich picture represents structure, processes and issues of the environment, which could be relevant to the problem definition, and try giving an impression of the charity organisational climate. Although they can often contain imprecise or confusing illustration between their processes and correspond the problem situation clearly or not very clearly.

Many analysts are scared of using rich pictures, because they feel their artistic skills are not adequate. However, with modern drawing tools in Office tools and inventive use of clip art, this is now much less of a problem. The act of drawing a rich picture is functional in itself because:  lack of space on the paper forces decisions on what is really important (and what are side issues or points of detail for further layers of rich pictures); It helps people to visualize and discuss their own role in the organisation; It can be used to define the aspects of the organisation which are intended to be covered, by the information system; It can be used to show up the worries of individuals, potential conflicts, and political issues.

Once the rich picture has been drawn, it is useful in identifying two main aspects of the human activity system. The first is to identify the primary tasks. Searching for primary tasks is a way of posing and answering the question: 'What is really central to the problem situation?' For example, it could be argued that the organisation aims to give an excellent service to its customers (the public) (which might be implied by the diagram) or increase standards in its profession (which is not implied by the diagram). Everything else is carried out to achieve that end. Primary tasks are central to the creation of this information system, because the information system is normally set up to achieve or support that primary task of the organisation environment. 

The second way that the rich picture is of particular value is in identifying issues of that problem area. These are topics or matters which are of concern. They may be the subject of dispute. They represent the (often unstated) question marks hanging over the 4/5 situation. This process of identifying the issues will lead to some debate on potential changes. It might be possible for these issues to be resolved at this stage, but it is essential that they are understood. Issues are important features, as the behaviour resulting from them could cause the formal information system to fail. Unless at least some of them have been resolved, the information system will have little chance of success. In some situations, the issues can be more important than the tasks.

The rich picture can help the owners of the problem sort out the fundamentals of situation, both to clarify their own thinking and decision making and also to explain these fundamentals to all the concerned parties. The rich picture becomes an abstract of all that significant in the circumstance. An analysis of the rich picture will help in the process of from 'thinking about the problem situation' to 'thinking about what can be done about"' problem situation'.

The above description of Richpicture is taken from my own Assignment task on my Bsc Final Year ISE Coursework.

12 CODD RULES

Rules for satisfying to become a RDBMS

Rule 0: The system must qualify as relational, as a database, and as a management system.

For a system to qualify as a relational database management system (RDBMS), that system must use its relational facilities (exclusively) to manage the database.

Rule 1: The information rule:                                                                      

All information in the database is to be represented in one and only one way, namely by values in column positions within rows of tables.

Rule 2: The guaranteed access rule:

All data must be accessible. This rule is essentially a restatement of the fundamental requirement for primary keys. It says that every individual scalar value in the database must be logically addressable by specifying the name of the containing table, the name of the containing column and the primary key value of the containing row.

Rule 3: Systematic treatment of null values:

The DBMS must allow each field to remain null (or empty). Specifically, it must support a representation of "missing information and inapplicable information" that is systematic, distinct from all regular values (for example, "distinct from zero or any other number", in the case of numeric values), and independent of data type. It is also implied that such representations must be manipulated by the DBMS in a systematic way.

Rule 4: Active online catalog based on the relational model:

The system must support an online, inline, relational catalog that is accessible to authorized users by means of their regular query language. That is, users must be able to access the database's structure (catalog) using the same query language that they use to access the database's data.

Rule 5: The comprehensive data sublanguage rule:

The system must support at least one relational language that

1.     Has a linear syntax

2.     Can be used both interactively and within application programs,

3.     Supports data definition operations (including view definitions), data manipulation operations (update as well as retrieval), security and integrity constraints, and transaction management operations (begin, commit, and rollback).

Rule 6: The view updating rule:

All views that are theoretically updatable must be updatable by the system.

Rule 7: High-level insert, update, and delete:

The system must support set-at-a-time insert, update, and delete operators. This means that data can be retrieved from a relational database in sets constructed of data from multiple rows and/or multiple tables. This rule states that insert, update, and delete operations should be supported for any retrievable set rather than just for a single row in a single table.

Rule 8: Physical data independence:

Changes to the physical level (how the data is stored, whether in arrays or linked lists etc.) must not require a change to an application based on the structure.

Rule 9: Logical data independence:

Changes to the logical level (tables, columns, rows, and so on) must not require a change to an application based on the structure. Logical data independence is more difficult to achieve than physical data independence.

Rule 10: Integrity independence:

Integrity constraints must be specified separately from application programs and stored in the catalog. It must be possible to change such constraints as and when appropriate without unnecessarily affecting existing applications.

Rule 11: Distribution independence:

The distribution of portions of the database to various locations should be invisible to users of the database. Existing applications should continue to operate successfully:

1.     when a distributed version of the DBMS is first introduced; and

2.     when existing distributed data are redistributed around the system.

Rule 12: The nonsubversion rule:

If the system provides a low-level (record-at-a-time) interface, then that interface cannot be used to subvert the system, for example, bypassing a relational security or integrity constraint.