Project management minitrack focus: leveraging information technology

Perspective. Project management is one of the most critical processes for implementing multidisciplinary ventures and leveraging company resources, ranging from new product developments to production setups, service rollouts and organizational mergers. At the same time, advances in information technology had a profound impact on project management as an enabling tool, affecting project management capabilities, scope and leadership style enormously. IT-based project management tools and techniques range from software for project planning/tracking to web-based project support systems. These new technologies provide a contemporary framework for multi-functional linkages and communications, essential for successfully integrating today’s complex projects. However, the increased level of data access, processing and interconnectivity, also creates vast challenges involving a wide spectrum of management and organizational issues. In addition there have been substantial developments in the application of project management to IT and software development projects. Many of these IT based project management tools are linked to project execution, others are designed to support scope definition and control, team management, and global integration.