Q.1 Define Project Management Information Software. Discuss the various steps of PMIS planning.
Answer : Project Management Information System (PMIS)
An information system is mainly aimed at providing the management at different levels with information related to the system of the organisation. It helps in maintaining discipline in the system.
An information system dealing with project management tasks is the project management information system. It helps in decision making in arriving at optimum allocation of resources. The information system is based on a database of the organisation. A project management information system also holds schedule, scope changes, risk assessment and actual results.
The information is communicated to managers at different levels of the organisation depending upon the need. Let us find how a project management information system is used by different stakeholders.
Who needs information and why
| Upper managers | To know information on all projects regarding progress, problems, resource usage, costs and project goals. This information helps them take decisions on the project. They should review the projects at each milestone and arrive at appropriate decision |
| Project manager and department managers | To see each project schedule, priority and use of resources to determine the most efficient use across the organisation. |
| Project team members | To see schedule, task lists and specification so that they know what needs to be done next. |
The four major aspects of a PMIS are —
a. Providing information to the major stakeholders
b. Assisting the team members, stakeholders, managers with necessary information and summary of the information shared to the higher level managers
c. Assisting the managers in doing what if analyses about project staffing, proposed staffing changes and total allocation of resources
d. Helping organisational learning by helping the members of the organisation learn about project management
Usually, the team members, and not the systems administrators of the company, develop a good PMIS. Organisations tend to allocate such responsibility by rotation among members with a well designed and structured data entry and analytical format.
