HOW THE PROJECT WEBSITE SYSTEM HELPS THE PROJECT MANAGER

Abstract

The purpose of this dissertation is to find out how a Web-based Intranet system helps the project manager manage a building project over the Internet. The role of the project manager is increasingly difficult as he is entrusted to co-ordinate expensive and large development projects amid stricter clients' demand. The recent progression of Information Technology has seen large advances in the development of many management solutions over the Intranet and the Internet. One of such solutions is the Project Website, which had enabled the project manager to effectively co-ordinate his critical functions by bringing the resources and his project team's management capacity into Cyberspace. Although there are many newly developed management tools and concepts to help the project manager with this role of co-ordination, the bottom line is still the efficiency effectiveness of these tools used. The framework of the dissertation starts by first examining the shortcomings of the traditional method of Project Management, especially with respect to Information Management. This is then compared to the use of Project Website with further in depth analysis on the information organization structure and dispersion of decisions in the entire framework of the Project Website design. The observation of the structural design of the Project Website provides a clearer perspective on the process intensive system required in Project Management, by creating and organizing processes into distinctive hierarchies for the ease of management. The Project Website had been proved to deliver a coherent and process based solutions to the users rather than limited to piecemeal problem solving capability. In other words, the Project Website in its inherent design intention is able to help the project manager to create better Information Collaboration and Decision Dispersion. This is the principle concept in the entire Project Website System manipulation. The dissertation tests the hypothesis that the Project Website assists the project manager in organizing project processes into simpler structural layer hierarchies for easier construction activity components management through information collaboration and decision dispersion. A case study using the Project Website for a health care institution is compared with a normal project management system on a common project. The steps involved between the two methods of management are analyzed and evaluated to draw upon the implications of the results, which indicated that the progressive evolution of Project Management into Cyberspace do provide distinctive advantages over the traditional method of management.