Managing Information Technology

Case Study III-1 • Managing a Systems Development Project at Consumer and Industrial Products, Inc. 435

Data

Center

Systems

Development

Corporate IS

Charles Bunke,

Director

Planning and

Technical

Services

Financial

Systems

Clark Mason,

Manager

Sales and

Marketing

Systems

PAS Project

Linda Watkins,

Director

Manufacturing

Systems

Disbursement

Systems

Henry Carter,

Supervisor

Payroll

Systems

Accounts

Receivable

Systems

EXHIBIT 2 Partial Organization Chart of Corporate IS

User Project Manager

Peter Shaw was the user project manager. He had worked
for CIPI for 18 years, starting as a part-time employee
working nights while going to college. Over his career he
had worked in payroll, accounting, and human resources,
spending part of the time in systems work and part in
supervisory positions. For the past 3 years, he had been a
supervisor in accounts payable.
The user project manager is responsible for making
sure that the system meets the user department’s business
needs and that the system is completed on time. He or she
manages the user department effort on the project, making
sure that the proper people are identified and made avail-
able as needed. He or she is also responsible for represent-
ing the user view whenever issues arise and for making sure
that any political problems are recognized and dealt with.
The user project manager and the project director
work closely together to manage the project and are jointly

responsible for its success. Shaw also served in the role of

business analyst on this project.

Project Director

Linda Watkins, senior analyst in the corporate IS depart-

ment, was the project director. Watkins, who had recently

joined CIPI, had an MBA in MIS and 7 years of experi-

ence as an analyst and project manager with a Fortune

500 company and a financial software consultant. She

had experience using Stradis to manage projects, which

was one of the reasons she had been hired by CIPI.

Because they were being charged for her time, Watkins

viewed the disbursement department managers as clients

for whom she was working as a consultant.

The project director was responsible for managing

the IS people on the project. “My job resembled that of the

general contractor on a construction project who has to

deal with all the subcontractors and manage the budget and