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Archives of Business Research – Vol. 9, No. 3
Publication Date: March, 03, 2021
DOI: 10.14738/abr.93.9843. Kwadade-Cudjoe, F. (2021). Project Management for Information Technology (IT): Design of an Anticipated IT Project That Would
Contribute To the Achievement of the Strategic Goals of an Organization - A Case Study of Water Resources Commission (WRC),
Ghana. Archives of Business Research, 9(3). 117-129.
Project Management for Information Technology (IT): Design of
an Anticipated IT Project That Would Contribute To the
Achievement of the Strategic Goals of an Organization - A Case
Study of Water Resources Commission (WRC), Ghana
Dr. Francis Kwadade-Cudjoe
FBCS, FIMIS, PhD, MBA, BSc (Hons)
Senior Lecturer, Knutsford University College and
Adjunct Lecturer, GIMPA Business School, Accra, Ghana
ABSTRACT
Project management is the application of knowledge, skills,
tools and techniques applied to project activities in order to roll
out products / services to meet / exceed the needs and
expectations of stakeholders. Project management has been
popular within the Information Technology department of
organizations for quite some time, and the approach for
tackling the tasks involved is demanding. In that sense, getting
the right and qualified human resource for handling such
projects is one of the key success factors, for achieving results.
Really dedicated and experienced IT professionals are scarce
globally, and as the profession is also quite new to most people,
there is a shortage of staff. In addition is the fear of not
achieving objectives / goals if one ventures into it. However,
with globalization being the norm currently, and multi-national
organizations spreading / moving out to countries with less /
cheaper labour costs, there is the need to get people to
specialize in handling projects successfully. Executing IT
projects successfully is the bane of most organizations, as the
activities are technical and, in addition involve huge costs of
expenditures.
Key Words: Project management, information technology, tools,
knowledge, skills, stakeholders and globalization.
INTRODUCTION
According to Project Management Institute (PMI) Standards Committee, Project
Management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques applied to project
activities to produce products / services to meet / exceed stakeholders’ needs and
expectation (PMI, 1996). Kerzner (2009) also describe project management as the
planning, organizing, directing, and controlling of company resources, normally for a short- term objective designed for specific goals and objectives of the organization. In addition,
Shenhar and Dvir (2007) define project as a temporary arrangement of processes set up to
achieve a particular goal under the constraints of time, budget, and other resources;
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Kwadade-Cudjoe, F. (2021). Project Management for Information Technology (IT): Design of an Anticipated IT Project That Would Contribute
To the Achievement of the Strategic Goals of an Organization - A Case Study of Water Resources Commission (WRC), Ghana. Archives of
Business Research, 9(3). 117-129.
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URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/abr.93.9843.
furthermore they define project management as the managerial tasks / activities needed to
be carried out, to lead and guide a project to achieve its goals.
Nonetheless, for the above functions to be successfully achieved, the Project Manager has
to manage tasks associated with the project effectively and efficiently. S/he performs these
tasks by applying knowledge, skills, tools and techniques required to enable the churning
out of products and services that will meet / exceed the needs and expectations of
stakeholders (PMI, 1996). Examples of projects are:
• developing a new database / software to carry out an organizational task; and
• building / constructing a new corporate office building.
Normally, stakeholders including management, would anticipate the success of the projects
they manage. However not all projects become successful as some do not achieve the
desired results, and others are abandoned mid-stream. There are usually competing needs
and expectations of stakeholders that the project would have to contend with. Some of
these needs and expectations are:
• time, cost and scope; and
• performance and quality of product / service (PMI, 1996; Kerzner, 2009).
There is a ‘Project Management Body of Knowledge’ (PMBOK®), which is a registered
service / trademark and a guide to project management; it was first published in 1987 by
the Project Management Institute (PMI). It contains topics, subject areas and intellectual
processes associated with the application of sound management principles for managing
projects (Kerzner, 2009; PMI, 1996). The PMBOK® Guide is an inclusive term which
describes the sum knowledge within the profession of project management. Examples are
knowledge of proven and traditional practices which have been widely applied, as well as
innovative knowledge and advanced practices which are yet to see much use (PMI, 1996).
PROJECT TARGET - WATER RESOURCES COMMISSION
Water Resources Commission (WRC) of Ghana with the head-office sited in Accra, and
offices spread over the country is the organization for the case study. The IT Department
would be the area for concentration, and a ‘Water Rights Database System’ would be the
anticipated project to be designed and managed.
WRC has a mission to regulate and manage the sustainable utilization of water resources of
Ghana and co-ordinate related policies for socio-economic development of the country. The
company was established in 1996 by Act 522 of Government of Ghana (Parliament of the
Republic of Ghana, 1996). See appendix 1 for the 1st page of Act 522 of 1996. Business
started in 1999 after presentation of a report by a study committee in 1998 on the ways of
facilitating the WRC’s responsibility of regulating and managing Ghana’s water resources
on a sustainable basis (Water Resources Management Study, 1998).
Currently, WRC has completed the pilot-phase of its life-cycle, where three (3) pilot-basin- offices were set-up to regulate and manage the resource in the basins; a basin is an area of
land where rainfall collects and drains off into a common outlet, such as into a river, stream
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Archives of Business Research (ABR) Vol 9, Issue 3, March-2021
or other body of water. The first basin was created in the year 2000 with the third (the last)
taking-off in early 2006. There are 14 river-basins in Ghana. A skeletal staff is based at the
head-office, with the bulk stationed at the basin-offices (Water Resources Commission,
2006).
WRC has installed a Local Area Network (LAN), Intranet and Wireless facilities at the head- office, where computer machines of staff are connected electronically to the internet
through a server. The staff is adequately trained to use the computer facilities for
furnishing their tasks. WRC has information on the pilot-basins, international co-operations
and partner-organizations’ activities among others. See appendices 2 and 3 for the
organization-chart and responsibilities of the IT department of WRC, respectively.
This project is about the development of an anticipated ‘Water Rights Database System’ for
the WRC of Ghana for collection, processing, storing and retrieving information for use by
the WRC. The structure of activities of project management for the anticipated ‘Water
Rights Database System’ are discussed below.
PROJECT BRIEF SETTING OUT THE OBJECTIVES
The anticipated ‘Water Rights Database System’ would be designed to deliver:
• awareness to at least eight (8) million Ghanaians in best water-use practices raised
by 75 per-cent;
• 25 per-cent of revenue generated from allocation of water and issuing of permits to
400 major-water-users (currently there are 259 water-users), and
• buffer-zone policy with other legislations to restore degraded river banks in the 14
basins.
SCOPE OF PROJECT DELIVERY
The scope of the anticipated project would include:
• production of a detailed requirements specification, specifying the business
objectives and assumptions inherent in the proposed approach;
• design, develop and implement a ‘Water Rights Database System’ for raw water
users in Ghana;
• training of WRC staff in the use of the new system;
• education and awareness creation of the Ghanaian populace in best water use
practices to forestall pollution of the resource;
• specification of the hardware requirement to support the new system, and to be
managed by the IT department, and
• developers of the new system would work in conjunction with a team of selected
staff from the various departments of WRC – matrix organization approach
(University of Leicester, 2004b; Cadle & Yeates, 2004).
PROJECT DELIVERABLES FOR THE ‘WATER RIGHTS DATABASE SYSTEM’
The expectation from the anticipated IT project are:
• project initiation document (PID) - objectives, scope, constraints, authority /
project-sponsor and resources;