INTRODUCTION COMPUTER-AIDED PROJECT MANAGEMENT

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INTRODUCTION

Although the art of managing projects has existed for thousands of years, it is only relatively recently that modern project management techniques were developed, codified, and implemented in any con- sistent, methodological manner. Perhaps it is not totally coincidental that these techniques came about during the same period as the beginning of the commercial availability of computers as we know them today. As of the writing of this book, we have arrived at a point where hundreds of commercial software applications that address various aspects of the project management processes are available for purchase. For one who is unfamiliar with the wide variety of these tools on the market, the process of selecting and implementing these tools can be a daunting task. The purpose of this chapter is to help make that process somewhat more manageable.

The reader should note that the title of this chapter, ‘‘Computer-Aided Project Management (CAPM),’’ was specifically intended to allow for the discussion of the different types of tools available to facilitate the entire process of project management. To many people, the consideration of project management tools is unfortunately limited to what has become known as project management soft- ware. Granted, this type of tool was among the first applications developed with project management in mind, and it does address an important aspect of project management, namely scheduling and tracking. This author believes, however, that such a tool is but one among many in what we will refer to as a computer-aided project management platform. A CAPM platform is one that includes applications that automate many of the project management processes, not just scheduling and track- ing, and it is this platform that we will discuss below.

The following pages will address the history of the development of CAPM, the use of computers in project management, and the implementation of CAPM platforms in business organizations, and will look at what we might expect of these tools in the years to come. It is hoped that this examination will help the reader better understand the use of CAPM tools while facilitating their selection and successful implementation.

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