Project Management System Requirements
Project Management Institute
Contents Overview 3 Functional Requirements 3 Deliverables 3 Tasks 4 Issues 6 Action Items 7 Decisions 8 Resources 9 Risks 9 Requirements 10 Changes 10 Reference Documents 11 User Interface Requirements 11 Reporting Requirements 12 Non-Functional Requirements 13
Overview
The Project Management Institute (PMI) provides services including the development of standards, research, education, publication, networking-opportunities in local chapters, hosting conferences and training seminars, and providing accreditation in project management.
PMI honors project management excellence in various categories, for example project professionals, organizations, scholars, authors and continuing professional education providers. As of 2015, the PMI has over 467,000 members in 204 countries. The Project Management Professional (PMP) certification is recognized around the world,
Although other Project Management Systems already exist (e.g., Microsoft Project), they have insufficient capabilities to fully support the activities of Project Managers. The PMI wants to sponsor the development of an application for their member PMPs to better support their job responsibilities than current Project Management Systems.
Functional Requirements
On a project, Project Managers must identify and track each of the following:
· Deliverables
· Tasks
· Action Items
· Issues
· Decisions
· Resources
· Risks
· Requirements
· Changes
· Reference Documents
The PMS shall have the capability to permit a PMP to create Deliverables, Tasks, Action Items, Issues, Decisions, Resources, Risks, Requirements, Changes and Reference Documents. Each of these high-level requirements is described in further detail below.
Deliverables
A Deliverable is a tangible or intangible good or service produced as a result of a project that is intended to be delivered to the Customer.
Project Managers must know the requirements satisfied by the Deliverable, when each Deliverable is scheduled to be delivered to the Customer and the Tasks necessary to complete the deliverable.
The PMS shall provide a Project Manager with the capability to create Deliverables and list the Deliverables created. The PMS shall permit a Project Manager to define the attributes listed in Table I for each Deliverable.
| Attribute | Description |
| Unique Identifier | A numeric or alphanumeric string that is associated with each Deliverable. This Identifier must be unique across the entire system. |
| Name | An alphanumeric string to identify the Deliverable. |
| Description | A short description of the Deliverable. |
| Due Date | A date that identifies when the Deliverable must be completed and delivered to the client. |
| List of Requirements | A list of the Names and Unique IDs of requirements associated with the Deliverable. |
| List of Tasks | A list of the Names and Unique IDs of Tasks associated with the Deliverable. |
Tasks
A task is a piece of work in the overall project. All Tasks that comprise the project must be completed for the successful delivery of the project. Tasks are broken into smaller pieces (i.e., decomposed) until, ideally, only one resource is assigned to the task and the task will be completed in a relatively short amount of time (e.g., between two (2) days and two (2) weeks). Tasks that have been decomposed into smaller tasks are known as Summary Tasks.
Project Managers must know when each Task is scheduled to start, how much effort is required to complete the Task and when the Task should be completed. Early in the project, the Project Manager will need to determine what type of resource is needed to perform the Task and later they will need to assign a resource to the Task.
Tasks may be related to other Tasks. A Task that cannot be started or completed before another Task is started or completed is called a Dependent Task. A task may be dependent on more than one task. There are four types of dependencies between tasks. The most common is Finish to Start. That is, the dependent task cannot start before the task it is dependent upon is finished. The other dependency relationships are Start to Start, Finish to Finish and Finish to Start. Once established, if the completion date of a predecessor task changes then the start and completion dates of all successor tasks may be affected.
A Milestone is a special type of task that has a completion date, but has no duration and no resource assigned. A Milestone represents a significant event or stage in the development of a project. For example, a delivery to the client may be represented in the schedule as a Milestone.
The PMS shall provide a Project Manager with the capability to create Tasks, Summary Tasks and dependencies between Tasks. The PMS shall permit a Project Manager to define the attributes listed in Table II for each Task. The Project Manager must be provided the capability to enter and update these values via a form.
