IT Support for Project Management - affects on integration in a product development process
(2003)Department of Business Administration
- Abstract
- Issue: To create a supporting IT-tool for project management in an integrated product development process at global companies is a complicated task. The IT-tool must be embedded in the organisation, managing the information flow in a correct way, support the product development framework, be accepted and commonly used in the whole company. These aspects must be fulfilled if an IT-tool for project management should be able to support the integration in a product development process in a global company, for example at Tetra Pak. Purpose: The theoretical purpose is to increase the understanding of how an intranet based support tool for project management affects the integration in a product development process in a global company. The... (More)
- Issue: To create a supporting IT-tool for project management in an integrated product development process at global companies is a complicated task. The IT-tool must be embedded in the organisation, managing the information flow in a correct way, support the product development framework, be accepted and commonly used in the whole company. These aspects must be fulfilled if an IT-tool for project management should be able to support the integration in a product development process in a global company, for example at Tetra Pak. Purpose: The theoretical purpose is to increase the understanding of how an intranet based support tool for project management affects the integration in a product development process in a global company. The practical purpose is to identify the possibilities and limitations of the Project Management module in Tetra Pak Innovation Network (TPIN) and make suggestions on how this IT-tool can be improved to better support the integrated product development process for international projects in Tetra Pak. Method: Business process has been used as the base element in this thesis. To narrow down this field, theories in integrated product development and information system have been used. By building this concept a focal point could be created. This focal point has then been divided into four essential elements. These elements were then applied to analyse how an intranet based support tool for project management affected integration in the product development process. This analysis was made by using a case company, Tetra Pak, and studying the creation of the IT-tool TPIN and how it has been used in two product development projects: one at Tetra Pak R&D and one at Tetra Pak Carton Ambient. Conclusion: An intranet based support tool for project management does not create integration. Instead this type of IT-tool provides coordination through a common structure and terminology. If the IT-tool is intended to create both integration and coordination it will be stuck in the middle, since these two things requires different levels in detail and adjustment. Coordination requires that there is just one generic version that creates a company-wide structure. Integration on the other hand requires that each project can have their own detailed systems where all daily documents can be handled. It is therefore important to make it clear that the project management module in TPIN is a tool that should provide a company-wide process that facilitates coordination. To create this clearness, daily documents should not be handled within TPIN and different versions of the project management module in TPIN must not be created in different parts of the company. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/1350208
- author
- Larsson, Marcus and Mårtensson, Jonas
- supervisor
- organization
- year
- 2003
- type
- H1 - Master's Degree (One Year)
- subject
- keywords
- Management of enterprises, information management., coordination, integration, business processes, integrated product development, Project management, information systems, Företagsledning, management
- language
- English
- id
- 1350208
- date added to LUP
- 2003-05-23 00:00:00
- date last changed
- 2014-11-14 10:00:04
@misc{1350208,
abstract = {{Issue: To create a supporting IT-tool for project management in an integrated product development process at global companies is a complicated task. The IT-tool must be embedded in the organisation, managing the information flow in a correct way, support the product development framework, be accepted and commonly used in the whole company. These aspects must be fulfilled if an IT-tool for project management should be able to support the integration in a product development process in a global company, for example at Tetra Pak. Purpose: The theoretical purpose is to increase the understanding of how an intranet based support tool for project management affects the integration in a product development process in a global company. The practical purpose is to identify the possibilities and limitations of the Project Management module in Tetra Pak Innovation Network (TPIN) and make suggestions on how this IT-tool can be improved to better support the integrated product development process for international projects in Tetra Pak. Method: Business process has been used as the base element in this thesis. To narrow down this field, theories in integrated product development and information system have been used. By building this concept a focal point could be created. This focal point has then been divided into four essential elements. These elements were then applied to analyse how an intranet based support tool for project management affected integration in the product development process. This analysis was made by using a case company, Tetra Pak, and studying the creation of the IT-tool TPIN and how it has been used in two product development projects: one at Tetra Pak R&D and one at Tetra Pak Carton Ambient. Conclusion: An intranet based support tool for project management does not create integration. Instead this type of IT-tool provides coordination through a common structure and terminology. If the IT-tool is intended to create both integration and coordination it will be stuck in the middle, since these two things requires different levels in detail and adjustment. Coordination requires that there is just one generic version that creates a company-wide structure. Integration on the other hand requires that each project can have their own detailed systems where all daily documents can be handled. It is therefore important to make it clear that the project management module in TPIN is a tool that should provide a company-wide process that facilitates coordination. To create this clearness, daily documents should not be handled within TPIN and different versions of the project management module in TPIN must not be created in different parts of the company.}},
author = {{Larsson, Marcus and Mårtensson, Jonas}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{IT Support for Project Management - affects on integration in a product development process}},
year = {{2003}},
}