PLANNING IN SOFTWARE PROJECT MANAGEMENT AN EMPIRICAL RESEARCH OF SOFTWARE COMPANIES IN VIETNAM Thesis presented to the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences at the University of Fribourg (Switzerland) in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Economics and Social Sciences by Quynh Mai NGUYEN from Vietnam Accepted by the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences on May 30th, 2006 at the proposal of Professor Dr. Andreas Meier (first advisor) Professor Dr. Jacques Pasquier (second advisor) Professor Dr. Laurent Donzé (third advisor) Fribourg, Switzerland 2006 The Faculty of Economics and Soci al Sciences at the University of Fribourg neither approves nor disapproves the opinions expressed in a doctoral dissertati on. They are to be considered those of the author (decision of the Faculty Council of January 23rd, 1990). To my parents, and To Phuong and Trung, my children ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like to express my extreme gratitude to Prof. Dr. Andreas Meier for his guidance, encouragement and helpful supervision during the process of this thesis. I would like to thank Prof. Jacques Pasquier and Prof. Laurent Donzé for their review and comments. My special thanks also go to Dr. Fredric William Swierczek for his invaluable help, advices and suggestions for improvement. Without their help and advice this dissertation could not be completed. I would like to thank my friends, Dr. Bui Nguyen Hung, and Dr. Nguyen Dac Hoa, Mrs. Nguyen Thuy Quynh Loan for their assistance and helpful suggestions and contributions. I would like to thank the government of Switzerland and the Swiss – AIT – Vietnam Management Development Program (SAV) for giving me the scholarship for this PhD program. I am grateful to Dr. Hans Stoessel – Director of SAV, Ms. Bui My Nhung and Ms. Nguyen Thi Bich Ngoc for their kind support in many ways. My thanks also go to my colleagues at the School of Industrial Management for providing such a pleasant working atmosphere. Finally, I owe thanks to my daughter, Phuong and my son, Trung for their love and giving me strength every day during the difficult period of my study. Words are limited to express my gratitude to my father, my mother, my father-in-law and to the in memory of my mother-in-law for their patience and encouragement during my study. i ABSTRACT The software industry has become a key industry in many developing countries because of the application of information technology in business, manufacturing and many other sectors. Software development produces higher value addition compared to other industries with more skilled human resources. Software project management is an interesting issue of both researchers and managers. Software projects have a notorious reputation of poor performance in terms of schedule, cost and quality assurance. There has been limited research on software project management, especially in a context of developing countries. Consequently, this study will concentrate on the role of planning for project success. The conceptual framework in this study was developed to examine the critical role of planning in software projects. This framework includes three important elements: planning factors, planning performance and project outcomes. Planning factors are defined as human, management and technical factors that involved in project planning. Planning was assessed by the performance of four tasks, including defining requirements and specifications, estimating cost and time, scheduling and risk analysis. Project outcomes were evaluated by five criteria: overall success, qualitative benefits (such as improving project team ability, enhancing the company image financial benefits), financial benefits, time and costs. In the framework, planning performance is influenced by human, technical and management factors. Planning performance also related to project outcomes. This framework also proposed to analyze the influence of project characteristics on the relationships between the planning factors and planning performance. Both quantitative and qualitative analysis were used to examine the relationships identified in the conceptual framework. 80 software projects in 65 software companies in Vietnam were analyzed. This data was collected mainly by survey. One case of the leading software company was chosen for in – depth analysis through interviews. ii The research finding indicated that, there were not many significant differences between software projects based on size, type and ownership. Smaller projects had better scheduling, less budget excess, and better intangible benefits like improving project team capability, enhancing the company image, etc. than bigger projects. Considering the ownership differences between software projects, the significant differences mainly related to human factors. The project manager effort, team member ability and customer involvement of software projects in foreign companies were better than that in local companies. There were minor differences between software projects by type, such as commercial, made to order, and outsourcing. These findings indicated the important role of human factors in planning. The role of the explanatory variable of planning to project success also confirmed. There were significant relationships between planning performing and all five project outcomes. The qualitative analysis of the project as shown the case study of the Financing and Promoting Technology Corporation (FPT Corp.) provided more explanations for these quantitative findings. iii iv Table of Contents Chapter Title Page Acknowledgement i Abstract ii Table of Contents v List of Figures xii List of Tables xiv 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of The Vietnam Software Industry 1 1.1.1 The Development of Software Sector in Vietnam 1 1.1.2 Government Support Policies for Software Industry In Vietnam 3 1.2 Objectives of The Study 4 1.3 Significance of The Study 7 1.4 Methodology 9 1.5 Scope of The Study 11 1.6 Organization of The Study 12 1.7 Summary 13 2 CONCEPTS AND DEFINITIONS 15 2.1 Software Product and Process 16 2.1.1 Software Product 16 2.1.2 Software Process 17 2.2 Software Project Management 19 2.2.1 Concepts of Software Project Management 19 2.2.2 Software Project Management Functions 20 2.3 Planning in Software Development Project 24 2.3.1 Planning 24 2.3.2 Life-cycle Models 27 v 2.3.3 System Development Methods 31 2.3.4 Planning Techniques 32 2.4 Summary 34 3 REVIEW OF EMPIRICAL STUDIES 35 3.1 Software Project Problems 36 3.1.1 Performance of The Software Project 36 3.1.2 People Issues 36 3.1.3 Project Management Issues 37 3.2 Project Performance Evaluation Criteria 38 3.3 Classification of Critical Factors For Project Success or Failure 43 3.4 Relationship Between Critical Factors and Project Outcomes 47 3.4.1 Relationship Between Personnel and Project Success 47 3.4.2 Relationship Between Applying Methods, Techniques and 48 Project Success 3.4.3 Relationship Between Management Approach and Project 48 Success 3.4.4 Relationship Between Project Characteristics and Project 49 Success 3.4.5 Relationship Between Planning and Project Success 50 3.5 Summary 55 4 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK AND RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 57 4.1 Planning Factors and Performance 58 4.2 Conceptual Framework 60 4.3 Development of Hypotheses 62 4.3.1 Hypothesis 1: The Impact of Personnel Factors on Planning 62 4.3.2 Hypothesis 2: The Impact of Technical Factors on Planning 65 Performance 4.3.3 Hypothesis 3: Impact of Management Factors on Planning 66 Performance vi 4.3.4 Hypothesis 4: The Impact of Planning Performance on Project 68 Outcomes 4.3.5 Hypothesis 5: The Impact Of Project Characteristics on 70 Planning Performance 4.4 Operationalization of The Variables 71 4.5 Variables Related To Planning Factors and Planning Performance 72 4.6 Variables Related To Planning Performance and Project Outcomes 75 4.7 Variable Related To Project Characteristics and Planning Performance 76 4.8 Statistical Methods 76 4.9 Data Collection Methods 79 4.9.1 Sample Source 79 4.9.2 Questionnaire Design and Pre-test for The Exploratory Study 79 4.9.3 Questionnaire Design and Pre-test for The In – depth Study 80 4.9.4 Sample Size and Collection Method in the In – depth study 81 4.9.5 Sampling Errors 82 4.10 Summary 83 5 PLANNING IN SOFTWARE PROJECTS – A CASE STUDY OF THE 85 FINANCING AND PROMOTING TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION 5.1 Introduction 86 5.2 The Financing And Promoting Technology Corporation (FPT) – An 87 Introduction 5.3 Project Characteristics 88 5.4 Project Planning 89 5.4.1 Defining The Customer Requirements, Project Scope and 89 Objectives 5.4.2 Defining the Project Manager Authority and Project 90 Infrastructure 5.4.3 Analyzing the Project Characteristics 91 5.4.4 Identifying The project Activities And Estimation of Effort For 92 These Activities vii 5.4.5 Identifying Activity Risks 93 5.4.6 Allocation of Resources 93 5.5 Evaluation of Planning Performance and Project Outcomes 93 5.6 Factors Influencing the Planning Performance 94 5.7 Summary 97 6 SOFTWARE PROJECT MANAGEMENT IN VIETNAM – 99 DESCRIPTIVE RESULTS 6.1 Introduction 99 6.2 Sample 99 6.3 The Current Status of Software Project Management 100 6.3.1 Team Management 101 6.3.2 Planning 103 6.3.3 Quality Management 104 6.4 Common Problems of Software Project Management 105 6.5 Software Project: Evaluation Criteria and Success Factors 105 6.6 Conclusions 107 7 PLANNING IN SOFTWARE PROJECT MANAGEMENT – 109 DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS OF SURVEY 7.1 Introduction 110 7.2 Sample Demographics 110 7.3 Representative of the Sample 102 7.4 Software Project Characteristics