<p><strong>Problem: </strong>How does project managing appear in small IT-consulting companies and how does the project manager carry out their projects to create successful solutions for their customers?</p><p><strong>Purpose: </strong>The research has the purpose to analyze and review how IT-consults in small companies work and lead their projects to create profitability for the company, which leads to a good development for the company. </p><p><strong> </strong><strong>Methodology: </strong>The research is made on eight research objects in IT-consulting business and the sizes of them are between 1-49 employees. The research is made with a qualitative method to get closer to the research objects. Therefore the research is made in forms of interviews. The analysis is grounded on a comparison between the research data and the theories that are used in the research.</p><p><strong>Theoretical perspectives: </strong>The theories which have been used in the research are Involvement theory (Fill, 1999), PAFF-metoden (Marcusson & Ahlin, 2002), Projektledning (Tonnquist, 2006), Jakten på det effektiva projektet (Engwall, 1999) och Mervärde (Grönroos, 2002)</p><p><strong>Empirical foundation: </strong>The research data<strong> </strong>are founded from the interviews of the eight research objects, they have the fictive names: Gondor, Minas Morgul, Minas Tirith, Mordor, Osgiliath, Rivendell, Rohan and The Shire.</p><p><strong> </strong><strong>Analysis/Result:</strong> Each study object starts their projects with a pre-study phase, as the PAFF-method describes it. Each study object majorly involves their customers, which is equal to Fill’s theory about high involvement buying processes. This shows that the study objects are aware that they sell solutions that require high involvement of the customers. Four of the study object enjoy seeing that the customer contributes with high engagement and maintain a good level of ambition for the project; this is consistent with Engwall’s theory about organizational ideal types. </p><p><strong>Conclusion:</strong> The project manager chooses not to rupture the present institutionalism. The project manager initiates the project with a pre-study phase. The project manager is sure to involve their customers. The service guaranty the project manager uses is “problem-free-guaranty”. The role of the project manager is to plan and organize the project; the project manager should also be a good communicator.<strong></strong></p>

Problem: How does project managing appear in small IT-consulting companies and how does the project manager carry out their projects to create successful solutions for their customers? Purpose: The research has the purpose to analyze and review how IT-consults in small companies work and lead their projects to create profitability for the company, which leads to a good development for the company.   Methodology: The research is made on eight research objects in IT-consulting business and the sizes of them are between 1-49 employees. The research is made with a qualitative method to get closer to the research objects. Therefore the research is made in forms of interviews. The analysis is grounded on a comparison between the research data and the theories that are used in the research. Theoretical perspectives: The theories which have been used in the research are Involvement theory (Fill, 1999), PAFF-metoden (Marcusson &amp; Ahlin, 2002), Projektledning (Tonnquist, 2006), Jakten på det effektiva projektet (Engwall, 1999) och Mervärde (Grönroos, 2002) Empirical foundation: The research data are founded from the interviews of the eight research objects, they have the fictive names: Gondor, Minas Morgul, Minas Tirith, Mordor, Osgiliath, Rivendell, Rohan and The Shire.  Analysis/Result: Each study object starts their projects with a pre-study phase, as the PAFF-method describes it. Each study object majorly involves their customers, which is equal to Fill’s theory about high involvement buying processes. This shows that the study objects are aware that they sell solutions that require high involvement of the customers. Four of the study object enjoy seeing that the customer contributes with high engagement and maintain a good level of ambition for the project; this is consistent with Engwall’s theory about organizational ideal types.  Conclusion: The project manager chooses not to rupture the present institutionalism. The project manager initiates the project with a pre-study phase. The project manager is sure to involve their customers. The service guaranty the project manager uses is “problem-free-guaranty”. The role of the project manager is to plan and organize the project; the project manager should also be a good communicator.

To only follow agile methodologies for agile software development isn't enough to lead to success in agile projects. The dimensions time, cost and scope in the project management triangle are fundamental requirements to succeed in a project. Within projects there exists many other critical success factors and attributes that affect the result of the project. Those are called critical success factors and combined with a project management triangle they are used in this study as a tool for project improvement in research to find potential improvements for agile project in organizations. This research was carried out as a single case study on a company located in the IT branch. The purpose of the study is to with use of the critical success factors mapping done by Chow and Cao [1] combined with the project management triangle dimensions, research which or what degree of critical factors that were existing in the company’s project management culture. The result was used as a tool to create an improvement plan which purpose was to be applied on existing flaws. The study was performed using qualitative research and data were collected through interviews with the employees. This research shows that potential improvements can easily be found by research projects for critical success factors and the project management triangle dimensions. Combined factors, attributes and dimensions make a complete concept for successful projects. After analyzing and processing the data, a summarize of data were created which showed what factors, attributes and dimensions that were existing and on what degree in the company’s project management culture. This study shows that potential improvements can easily be found by research projects for critical success factors and the project management triangle dimensions. For all missing and low degree attributes an improvement plan was created on purpose to be applied on existing flaws in order to create a higher success factor on future agile projects. / För att lyckas med agila projekt så räcker det inte med att enbart följa metoder inom agil systemutveckling, inom projekt finns det även en hel del andra faktorer som kan påverka projektets utgång. Dessa faktorer kallas för kritiska faktorer och de står för orsakerna som påverkar utfallet för ett lyckat projekt då de följs. Projekttriangelns dimensioner tid, kostnad och omfattning är grundläggande krav som finns för ett lyckat projekt. Genom att kombinera dessa med de kritiska faktorerna kan en helhetsbild skapas av vad som leder till ett lyckat projekt. Denna studie genomfördes i form av en fallstudie på ett företag i IT-branschen. Syftet med studien var att utifrån Chow och Cao’s [1] kartläggning av kritiska faktorer tillsammans med projekttriangelns dimensioner, undersöka vilka och till vilken grad fallföretaget uppfyller dessa kriterier och attribut. Resultatet användes sedan till att föreslå förbättringsförslag för att kunna åtgärda identifierade brister. Undersökningen genomfördes med en kvalitativ ansats där data har samlats in genom intervjuer med personer som arbetar på företaget. Genom analys och bearbetning av insamlat underlag kunde en sammanställning tas fram för hur fallföretaget förhåller sig till de kritiska faktorerna och projekttriangelns tre dimensioner. Resultatet visar att det gick att identifiera områden där fallföretaget inte uppfyller alla kritiska faktorer. För samtliga brister har förslag på åtgärder föreslagits, detta för att lyckade projekt ska kunna uppnås i större utsträckning.

Titel: Risk Managements påverkan för utfallet av ERP-projekt Författare: Ann-Magritt Lindemark Engøy och Hanna Maunus Handledare: Pär Vilhelmson Examinator: Sarah Philipson Kurs: Examensarbete företagsekonomi C, 15.0 hp Nyckelord: ERP-projekt, Projekt Management, Risk Management, risker i ERP-projekt, lyckade projekt, misslyckade projekt, The Iron Triangle. Syfte: Att undersöka vilka risker som är mest förekommande vid implementeringen av ERP-system och hur risk management kan reducera dessa. Metod: Kvalitativ metod, hermeneutik, fallstudier, semistrukturerade intervjuer, välgrundad teori. Resultat: Organisationens och projektets ledning hade större kunskaper om vilka risker som ville uppstå och olika risk management strategier än andra anställda och slutanvändarna av systemet.  Standardisering, samordning och automatisering av organisationens kärnprocesser var huvudsyften för att implementera ERP-system i organisationen. God planering av projektet är avgörande för ett lyckat resultat. Det är viktigt med bra kommunikation och tätt samarbete mellan de olika avdelningarna i projektet, och även med externa konsulter som till exempel leverantören av ERP-systemet. Riskanalys var en viktig del av projektens risk management strategi. En skicklig och flexibel projektledning hade stor betydelse för att risk management strategin fungerade. Resursproblem visade sig vara den största risken i de undersökta projekten. Change management visade sig vara en välanvänd metod för att minska organisationens motstånd mot ERP-projekt. Kostnadsbudgeten var inte det viktigaste målet att uppnå och The Iron Triangle visade sig inte vara så avgörande för om projektet ansågs lyckad eller misslyckad. Organisationerna använda sig mycket av upplärning av användarna för att åtgärda de risker som kan uppstå i samband med personalen. Risk management fungerade för projektledningen som ett verktyg för att åtgärda och även kontrollera projektrisker. Slutsatser: De vanligaste riskerna som upptäcktes i undersökningen var olika slags problem med personalen, tekniska problem, samarbetet med leverantören och kommunikationen mellan olika intressenter, att hålla projektets tidsschema och budget, samt tailoring av systemet och att se till att det fungerar i enlighet med syftet. Särskilt personalriskerna var många och utgjorde stora utmaningar för ERP-projekten. Studien visade även att risk management kan påverka utfallet av ERP-projekt positivt och hjälpa ERP-projekt att uppnå sina mål. / Title: Risk Managements influence on the outcome of ERP projects Authors: Ann-Magritt Lindemark Engøy &amp; Hanna Maunus Tutor: Pär Vilhelmson Examiner: Sarah Philipson Course: Bachelor Thesis in Business Administration C, 15.0 hp Keywords: ERP projects, Project Management, Risk Management, risks in ERP projects, successful projects, unsuccessful projects, The Iron Triangle. Purpose: To investigate what risks are most dominant with the implementation of ERP systems and how risk management can reduce these risks. Method: Qualitative method, hermeneutic, case studies, semi-structured interviews, well-grounded theory. Findings: The management had better knowledge about the risks that would arise and different risk management strategies in ERP projects than other employees and end users of the ERP systems. Standardisation, coordination and automation of the organisations core processes were the main purposes for implementing ERP systems in the organisations. Excellent planning of the project is critical for a successful project outcome. It is important to have good communication and close cooperation between the various departments in the projects, as well as with external consultants such as the supplier of the ERP system. Risk analysis was the most important and the most used method of the risk management strategies among our cases. Skilled and flexible project management had a positive impact on the risk management strategy ability to succeed. Resource issues turned out to be the biggest risk in the investigated projects. Change management proved to be a well-used method to reduce the employees resistance against the ERP project. To meet the standards from the cost´ budget was not seen as the most important objective to achieve. It also turned out The Iron Triangle was not a critical factor to determine whether the project in question was seen as a success or a failure. The organisations used training of the end-users to address the risks that may arise in connection with the employees. Risk management worked for the management as a tool to resolve and control the project risks. Conclusions: The most common risks that where discovered in this study was personnel risks, technical issues, the relationship with the supplier and communication between various stakeholders, not to exceed the project budget and schedule, as well as tailoring the system and make sure that it is working as intended. Particularly risks related to the employees constituted major challenges for the ERP projects. Our study showed furthermore that risk management clearly affects the outcome of ERP projects positively and helps ERP projects to achieve their goals.