WO2008032335A2

WO2008032335A2 - Object oriented project management [o2pm]

Info

Publication number: WO2008032335A2
Application number: PCT/IN2007/000393
Authority: WO
Inventors: Chandrashekar Rudrappa Koranahally
Original assignee: Koranahally Chandrashekar Rudr
Priority date: 2006-09-14
Filing date: 2007-09-06
Publication date: 2008-03-20
Also published as: WO2008032335A3

Abstract

A method and system for efficient project management using Object Oriented Approach comprising steps of; mapping resources and defining their roles; assigning responsibility to the mapped resources for deliverables as shown in figure (2); breaking down the responsibilities into user function as deliverables as shown in figure (4); sequencing the deliverables as shown in figure (9); and feeding the sequence onto a workflow system for efficient project management.

Description

OBJECT ORIENTED PROJECT MANAGEMENT (O2PM)

FIELD OF INVENTION Instant invention is related to a method for efficient project management using Object Oriented approach. In a typical project environment the Project Manager draws a project plan using a tool like Microsoft Project, defining tasks, time lines, effort and assigns them to the team members. But there are no proper mechanisms to enforce encapsulation of work and define boundaries. When boundaries are not defined properly accountability is a big issue. Also, there are issues with measurement of work done and efficient reporting. Present invention addresses these issues.

BACKGROUND OF PRESENT INVENTION

A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product or service. Temporary - because every project has a beginning and an end. Unique - because the product or service is different in someway from all other products and services.

Projects are undertaken at all levels of the organization involving one or more persons. Their duration ranges from a few weeks to several years. Projects may involve a single unit in an organization or they may cross organizational boundaries as in joint ventures.

Project Management:

Project Management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project activities to meet project requirements. This is accomplished through processes like:

1. Initiating

2. Planning

3. Executing 4. Controlling

5. Closing

The project team manages the work which typically involves:

1. Competing demands for scope, time, cost, risk and quality 2. Stakeholders with differing needs and expectations 3. Identified requirements

Many of the processes within project management are iterative in nature. This is due to the existence of and the necessity for progressive elaboration throughout the project life cycle.

The term project management is sometimes used to describe an organizational approach to the management of ongoing operations. This approach, more properly called management by projects or program management, treats many aspects of ongoing operations as projects to apply project management techniques to them. A program is a group of projects managed in a coordinated way to obtain benefits not available from managing them individually.

Project Management is an emerging profession. Knowledge about project management can be organized in many ways, however, it can be thought of as:

1. A framework that provides a basic structure 2. Knowledge areas that describes knowledge and practice in terms of the component processes. These processes have been organized into nine knowledge areas as shown below:

• Integration Management

• Scope Management • Time Management

• Cost Management

• Quality Management

• Human Resource Management

• Communications Management • Risk Management

• Procurement Management .

Object Oriented (OO) approach:

Object Oriented approach is based upon concepts that we first learned as kids: objects and attributes, wholes and parts, classes and members. As stated earlier, we have started using this approach only recently for programming. Why it has taken so long to apply these concepts to the analysis and specification of information is anybody's guess - perhaps we were too busy 'following the flow' during the structured analysis days to consider the alternatives.

It took some time to mature and attention has gradually shifted from issues of coding, to issues of design, to issues of analysis. Our way of thinking about systems analysis is influenced by our preconceived ideas of how we would design a system to meet its requirements; our ideas about design are influenced by our preconceived ideas about how we would write code; and our ideas about writing code are strongly influenced by the programming languages available.

In apprehending the real world people constantly employ three methods of organization which will encompass all of their thinking:

1. The differentiation of experience into particular objects and their attributes - e.g., when we distinguish between a tree and its size.

2. The distinction between whole objects and their component parts - e.g., when we contrast a tree with its component parts. 3. The formation of and the distinction between different classes of objects - e.g., when we form the class of all trees and the class of all stones and distinguish between them.

The notation and approach of OO paradigm builds on these three methods of organization. Object Oriented (00) approach brought in a lot of change to the way we do software designing and programming. The earlier way of doing it was structured programming and it proved to be difficult to manage large and complex projects. OO brought in many changes to the way we think, design and code. Many languages were invented to cater to OO with C++ and Java being the most widely used. Many tools were also developed to help program using these languages. Software engineering has suffered because of problem domain understanding. We tend to use one of the three analysis methods: functional decomposition, data flow diagrams to develop an overall functional decomposition and focus on information model like an entity-relationship model. The missing concepts for a complete system are services, messages, inheritance and structure. Overall the OO approach consists of five major activities: finding classes and objects, identifying structures, identifying subjects, defining attributes, defining services. The OO analysis results in tangible, reviewable and manageable collection of model layers - subject, class & object, structure, attribute and service. Software engineering is actually a people oriented business. Project Managers need to 'ensure' definition, allocation and execution of work products. Managing large software teams within projects is tough in today's environment of complex solutions, anxious customers, and shrinking time-to-market. Object Oriented Project Management (O2PM):

"Object Oriented Project Management" is a term used in the software industry today to signify the tailored project management techniques used to manage object oriented projects. But here in this document "Object Oriented Project Management" implies using the object oriented paradigm to project management heralding a new way of looking at project management.

0OPM or O2PM - Object Oriented Project Management is all about applying the above discussed object-oriented approach to project management with Unified Modeling Language (UML) semantics.

Many commercial entities led the development of modern object-oriented (OO) methods that are taming some of the complexity of software development, but their methods for software project management are not mature. The systems we build today are larger and more complex than they used to be a decade ago. They are also more volatile and subject to constant change. Besides the modern systems are online interactive systems and devote attention to the user interface. Other challenges like multi location, multi cultural, multi project teams working under different time zones are because of the global delivery model. While the global delivery model has resulted in lower costs and better quality, the project teams suffer because of the above said challenges.

There are many tools like Microsoft Project to help project managers in the process of managing projects. But there are many areas not addressed by the available tools and techniques. The available tools are good enough when the project on hand is fairly simple and the project team is in one location. But if the complexities grow, then it becomes inadequate. The shortfall is compensated through additional communication channels like email and conference calls to bridge the gap and help the project manager in tracking and monitoring the progress of a project. TRe importance of the Unified Modeling Language, an OO product, is to provide communications among the members of the team (engineers, customers, and management) and the importance of the iterative process is to maintain control of the project. While good project management is beyond theory, and technique itself cannot solve problems, newer and newer techniques can definitely help us to manage the projects better.

The same way one can write bad Java programs using OO model, one can do sloppy project management using OO techniques or any other technique for that matter. Tools and techniques can only guide but cannot assure quality. PRIOR ART OF PRESENT INVENTION Traditional methods of project management developed have been: a. Critical Path Method (CPM) b. Graphical Evaluation and Review Technique (GERT) c. Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) d. Gantt, etc.

CPM - Critical path calculates a single deterministic early and late start and finish date for each activity based on specified, sequential network logic and a single duration estimate. The focus is calculating float (the amount of time that an activity may be delayed from its early start without delaying the project finish date) to determine which activities have the least scheduling flexibility.

GERT - Allows for probabilistic treatment of both network logic and activity duration estimates. PERT - Uses a weighted average duration estimate to calculate activity durations. Gantt - Also called Bar charts, show activity start and end dates, as well as expected durations and dependencies.

"Critical Chain Project Method" (CCPM) is another new way of project management introduced in 1997. Critical chain is the sequence of both precedence- and resource- dependent terminal elements that prevents a project from being completed in a shorter time, given finite resources. If resources are always available in unlimited quantities, then a project's critical chain is identical to its critical path. Critical chain is used as an alternative to critical path analysis. The major problem with today's project management methods is both definition of work and managing that definition - tracking and monitoring. With O2PM you can define work better - with a level of abstraction,

1. Encapsulated (meaning - boundaries are clearly defined and there is no ambiguity about the responsibilities)

2. Inheritance - Define the architecture, rules, standards, processes, "dos and don'ts" etc., as defined in the document and make the entire project to follow the same guidelines

3. Communication: Then you can define the interfaces for the encapsulated work product to interact with other entities.

In a typical traditional scenario when we start a project, we draw a project plan. The inputs for the project plan are:

1. Estimation - this will decide the effort and schedule

2. Work break down structure 3. Available resources

With these inputs we draw the project plan. A typical project plan has: Task to be performed - start date - end date - effort in days / hours - precedence - assigned to the resources.

With this project plan the project manager keeps track of the project. As you can very well see there are too many cracks and at no point in time the PM can say that the project is in such and such a state. The reasons are:

1. Tasks are ambiguous - they do not have boundaries and they need not have to be tangible. (In O2PM it becomes 'deliverables' which has clarity and are unambiguous. It forces the project manager to define tangible and unambiguous work products. For example: prepare a design document or review a design document. This also has inputs and outputs - who gives the inputs and at what stage and when, what is the output required, etc.,) Problems/pain points in managing projects:

Many of the real issues a project manager faces are: requirements elucidation, senior management involvement, change control, risk management, user involvement, work breakdown and allocation, team management, technology and process change management, tracking and monitoring etc. From numerous studies by Standish Group and others for traditional project management methods, only 44% of projects typically finish on time, projects usually complete at 222% of the duration originally planned, 189% of the original budgeted cost, 70% of projects fall short of their planned scope (technical content delivered), and

30% are cancelled before completion. To overcome some of these problems a new technique called "Object Oriented Project

Management (02PM)" that uses the object oriented paradigm to the world of project management is developed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF ACCOMPANIED DRAWINGS

Figure 1: shows traditional work breakdown structure Figure 2: shows O2PM way of breaking down the work structure

Figure 3: shows use case view

Figure 4: shows Logical view of deliverables

Figure 5: shows tree structure of actors and use cases

Figure 6: shows use case diagram of actors Figure 7: shows Deliverables diagram

Figure 8: shows sequence diagram for a unit test scenario

Figure 9: shows collaboration diagram for unit testing scenario

OBJECTS OF PRESENT INVENTION

The main object of the present invention is to develop a method for efficient project management using Object Oriented Approach.

Yet another object of the present invention is to develop a method for mapping resources and defining their roles;

Still another object of the present invention is to develop a method for assigning responsibility to the mapped resources for deliverables; Still another object of the present invention is to develop a method for breaking down the responsibilities into user function as deliverables;

Still another object of the present invention is to develop a method for sequencing the deliverables; and .

Still another object of the present invention is to develop a method for feeding the above mentioned definitions and sequences onto a workflow system for efficient project management.

Another main object of the present invention is to develop a system for efficient project management using Object Oriented Approach. Yet another object of the present invention is to develop a means for mapping resources and defining their roles;

Still another object of the present invention is to develop a means for assigning responsibility to the mapped resources for deliverables;

Still another object of the present invention is to develop a means for breaking down the responsibilities into user function as deliverables;

Still another object of the present invention is to develop a means for sequencing the deliverables; and Still another object of the present invention is to develop a means for feeding the above mentioned definitions and sequences onto a workflow system for efficient project management.

STATEMENT OF INVENTION

The present invention is related to a method for efficient project management using Object Oriented Approach comprising steps of; mapping resources and defining their roles; assigning responsibility to the mapped resources for deliverables; breaking down the responsibilities into user function as deliverables; sequencing the deliverables; and feeding the definition and sequence onto a workflow system for efficient project management.; and a system for efficient project management using Object Oriented approach comprising; means for mapping resources and defining their roles; means for assigning responsibility to the mapped resources for deliverables; means for breaking down the responsibilities into user function as deliverables; means for sequencing the deliverables; and means for feeding the definition and sequence onto a workflow system for efficient project management. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF INSTANT INVENTION

Accordingly, the present invention relates to a method for efficient project management using Object Oriented approach comprising steps of: a) mapping resources and defining their roles; b) assigning responsibility to the mapped resources for deliverables; c) breaking down the responsibilities into user function as deliverables; d) sequencing the deliverables; and e) feeding the sequence onto a workflow system for efficient project management. In an embodiment of the present invention the deliverables comprises attributes and activities.

In yet another embodiment of the present invention wherein the attributes are selected from a group comprising resources, effort, start date and end date. In still another embodiment of the present invention the method provides for monitoring the activities.

In still another embodiment of the present invention the method provides for tracking of all the activities by resources. In still another embodiment of the present invention the user function is selected from a group comprising of deliverables.

In still another embodiment of the present invention the deliverables are sequenced based on the required work flow.

In another main embodiment of the present invention, wherein a system for efficient project management using Object Oriented approach comprising; a. means for mapping resources and defining their roles; b. means for assigning responsibility to the mapped resources for deliverables; c. means for breaking down the responsibilities into user function as deliverables; d. means for sequencing the deliverables; and ^' e. means for feeding the sequence onto a workflow system for efficient project management.

In yet another embodiment of the present invention the deliverables comprises activities having input and output parameters. In still another embodiment of the present invention wherein workflow system comprises an Internet based protocol for communication.

In a typical project environment the PM draws a project plan using Microsoft Project, defining tasks, time lines, effort and assigns them to the team members. But there are no proper mechanisms to encapsulate work and define boundaries. The existing mechanisms do not force the PM to define tasks which are tangible and unambiguous. When boundaries are not defined properly, accountability is a big issue. Also, there are issues with measurement of work done and efficient reporting. 02PM addresses many of these problems. 02PM is about applying the object-oriented approach to project management. The salient features can be explained as follows:

1. Encapsulation: when work products are defined as Deliverables with Attributes like Resources, Effort, Start date and End date, and Activities with input and output parameters, in reality they are encapsulated and the boundaries are clearly defined. Hence team members can work well within those boundaries. This kind of encapsulation of work will yield better control and more importantly accountability. It also helps in identifying the problems and resolving them easily. 2. Inheritance: Define the architecture, rules, standards, processes for the project that need to be inherited by all the team members and their work products. Shown below.

3. Polymorphism: Taking up multiple roles.

4. Communication: Then you can define the 'interfaces' for the encapsulated work product to interact with other entities.

The most important advantage of instant invention is that it brings in accountability into the entire project. It is independent of size of the project and is particularly useful in large projects. Objectivity is brought into the project. This object-oriented approach makes people accountable for their actions. Further, the tracking system of the methodology provides dynamic monitoring of the project to help timely take corrective measures.

The modern day researchers have turned every discipline into science and brought in order and processes. The SEI (Software Engineering Institute) CMM (Capability Maturity Model) and the likes 'ensure' that the human dependence is reduced as much as possible and the processes should take care of smooth execution. This approach has gradually resulted in taking away the 'human face' from work and has become more process oriented and mechanical. Companies are happy as the work is taken care of. But with all this the 'person' is suffering from alienation and stifling creativity and hence resulting in boredom. It is indeed an irony that by extending the very same approach which has resulted in taking out the human face from work, the 02PM concept, by 'objectising' work provides - encapsulated, inherited, and interfaced boundaries to the external world. At least within that boundary the person has full potential to work on his own and harness his potential and be human!

To add further we can use many of the OO tools with little upgrades to cater to the project management module of a project. The same way we use a tool like IBM's Rational Rose to define use cases, class diagrams and sequence diagrams for the systems to code and test and now that work is objectised and componentized, and OO compliant we could use them in a similar way to define work. We can also develop new tools specially aimed at addressing the challenges of project management using 02PM methodology. The major difference between the traditional project management methods to 02PM is the way the work is seen, conceived, broken down and the boundaries defined. Traditional way->

• Is going by phases of a project. For example: Waterfall model has distinct phases like Requirement Analysis, Design, Coding and Unit Testing, System Testing, and Implementation.

• Critical path based

• Task driven

• Tasks can be ambiguous and need not have to be tangible. There is no mechanism to enforce them on the definition of work. • Tasks are allocated effort and resources along with timelines

• Interdependencies between the different process groups are not part of the current tools

• Figure 1 explains this. 02PM way -» • Bringing together 2 matured and well defined areas as the name signifies - the object oriented approach which is currently used in the software programming world and project management.

• 02PM framework sees 'work' through the object oriented lens, mapping the work break down structure to the object oriented way of doing things. • 02PM framework is a set of deliverables, tasks and sequences that map to the project management process groups. ^* • Breaks down 'Work' into 'Actors' and 'Components'. The Components are further broken down into 'n' number of smaller pieces called 'Deliverables'. These Deliverables are 'entity' based and 'object' driven - by appropriate sequences and assigned to different actors. • Measurable - as work is broken down into clearly defined 'Deliverables' which has 'Attributes' and 'Methods'. o Attributes like: resources, effort, start date and end date. o Methods which are nothing but activities like Activity 1, Activity 2, etc.

Each activity has input and output parameters. • Figure 2 explains the above.

When work is assigned to team members with well-defined boundaries, there is no ambiguity. When you define how they need to interact with other team members, their area becomes a subset, contained in itself. The method of instant invention helps in overcoming the ambiguity, which is common to existing Project Management methodologies.

The existing methodologies fail to comprehensively define all the components of the roles assigned to the resources. This failure leads to gaps, which in turn leads to failures and/or delays in projects. However, if the roles are comprehensively broken-down into all possible components and ultimately into deliverables, then there is no room for any ambiguity. This is a significant advancement of the instant invention as compared to existing methodologies.

The current crop of designer and work flow design lack in definition of work in the sense that the thinking / framework / concept / hypothesis used to define work is not good enough as the work boundaries are not abstract and encapsulated properly and there is ambiguity. O2PM addresses these very effectively and helps manage projects better.

The crux of the invention lies in defining clear-cut boundaries of assigned responsibilities for each of the resources. It makes every resource appreciate his area of operations and is thus time bound to deliver the results. The overall system dynamically keeps track of the progress made in the project and any delay/failure and resource response for such failure/delay is easily identifiable and is accounted for. Iri"O2PM, this is explained using the Unified Modeling Language (UML) semantics of Use Case view and Logical view. The Use Case view has Actors and Use Cases. The Logical view has Deliverables, Attributes and Activities. Let us consider a deliverable: Creating a Design Document. The conventional/existing methodologies view the assigned responsibilities as "task". The term task is a very broad term and fails to address the nuisances of the assigned responsibilities.

The inability of existing methodologies to enter into nitty-gritty of a task leads to poor co-ordination among team members, which ultimately leads to shabby results. However, in the existing invention, each assigned responsibility is broken-down into "deliverables". The deliverables are the dissected components of each assigned responsibility. It leads to tremendous clarity of things-to-do. So, the responsibilities are be viewed in a very objective manner as deliverables. This object oriented approach ultimately leads to efficient project management. Figure 3 shows Use Case view where, TechLead is an Actor and CreateDesignDocument is a Use Case. In Logical View of figure 4, the 'Deliverables Diagram' represents the various Classes involved in the CreateDesignDocument use case. DesignDocument is a Class with Attributes like Resources, Effort, Start Date and End Date. The various methods are DiscussRequirements, DiscussDesignApproach, AssembleDesignComponents, etc. The DesignDocument must be created using the other 'interfacing documents' like Standards, Checklists, Processes, Templates, and Guidelines.

This is especially well suited for complex software projects even though it can be used by any other project from other domains as well. A versatile work flow management system based on the 02PM will be developed. This O2PM work flow engine will drive the work and will help the teams and the managers to manage the projects efficiently. Reporting becomes extremely simple and dependable as we can take the data from the interfaces and generate reports. The 02PM methodology addresses two important aspects. They are: 1. Definition of work using the object oriented approach. This amounts to planning the work.

2. Using these definitions to feed it into a work flow system to manage the project. This amounts to working the plan. TWo subsystems cater to these aspects:

1. "02PM - Designer" drives the definition of work

2. "02PM - Engine" drives the execution of the project

When we use O2PM - Designer' to define work and '02PM - Engine' to drive the 5 work flow of deliverables to the various resources, it becomes extremely simple to track and monitor deliverables. The software system has all the data of the status of the deliverables - at what stage of the sequence they are in, with whom it is at that instant, is it ahead of time or behind schedule, what is the amount of time spent on the deliverable - is it as per schedule or is there any effort slippage? How many iterations0 has it undergone? Etc. Hence tracking and monitoring is made simple as the data in the reports generated from the system gives the current status of the project. It can bring about as many benefits to project management as the OO programming languages brought to the way we program our IT systems. As stated earlier, programming languages evolved from Structural to Object Oriented. We need to evolve from the5 current 'critical path' paradigm to 00.

With increased business and a global delivery model the situation will only get more complex. We need more control over work products. We need a fabric, which can hold this together and support a robust architecture. We have seen this in OO designing and programming. You may not see a big difference in a small C program/system written in0 a structural programming way and the same size C++ program/system written the OO way. But if it grows to millions of lines of code you will start seeing the real benefits ' because of ease of maintenance and debugging. O2PM Designer This is a design and definition tool which will help the project manager to define and5 allocate work to the team members.

Here we breakdown the work into deliverables, sequence them, assign to people (along with start date and end date).

The important steps followed in definition are:

1. Define the roles and map the resources in the Roles and Resources mapping0 table

2. Define the Responsibility Assignment Matrix

3. Define Actors and Use cases

4. Define Use case diagrams ^* 5. Define Deliverables diagrams (similar to class diagrams)

6. Define Sequence diagrams - the sequence in which the work takes place Initiation phase - Roles and Resources mapping table:

Responsibility Assignment Matrix:

P = Participant A = Accountable R = Review Required I = Input Required S = Sign-off Required

Actors and Use cases (high level overview) showing the tree structure of the definition in figure 5. Figure 6 shows use case diagram of Actors such as Project Manager, TechLead, Developer. The TechLead and Developer take up use cases such as Creating a design document, creating status report, review, etc. The Deliverables such as UTP (Unit Test Plan), review, write application code, etc., are shown in figure 7. They take inputs, in other words inherit things such as the defined standards, checklists, processes and guidelines for the entire project. O2PM - Engine After defining the work as shown in the above section, the definition files are fed into the 02PM - Engine, which is a work flow based project management tool. When the project team members log into this system they can view the work allocation and timelines. When they finish the work and submit, the work product goes to the next person as defined in the sequence diagram as shown in figure 8. This way the entire work products are delivered by the team members. Reporting the status will be simple and dependable as the system keeps track of all the activities by the team members along with timelines, number of reviews done before closure, etc. The same sequence diagram is represented in another way as collaboration diagram for unit testing scenario in figure 9. The system is built on web based architecture and can be deployed on the internet. When the work flow happens through the software system it does not matter where the person is working - in the office sitting next to his other team members or at home or in a remote location and the work can still be monitored.

This will revolutionize the way we work and report the progress and status of a project at that instant. This will be a boon to today's traffic ridden cities where people spend a few hours commuting to their offices. A system which can help in this regard is a need of the hour and 02PM can address this need very effectively.

The instant invention has totally eliminated "subjectivity" from the projects. The resources cannot take path of their convenience or wish. Each resource has to follow the path/sequence defined by the instant methodology. Thus, resources are forced to take a particular path, which is supposed to be the best for that particular project. Any deviation from the pre-defined path is immediately reflected in the work-flow system and thus, the corrective measures can be taken. Thus, the quality and timelines are not at all compromised in the instant invention. Thus, the entire project is seen in a purely objective manner with no room for whims and fancies of the resources. Feed the definition to the 02PM Engine which is a work flow engine. This will drive the deliverables from person to person based on the sequence and assignment. For example: If person A does coding for module X and when he finishes, he flags it as done and the work flow engine will prompt person B to do code review of module X. The engine keeps track of what is happening and can produce reports like: when did person A finish his work and sent it to person B? What was the time taken to review the code? Was it sent back to person A with some comments? Did person A close those comments? How many such cycles happened before the work was completed - in the sense coding and code review was completed? Etc., The benefits of OO are proven beyond doubt. When we apply the same technique to another area where the complexities are increasing, I am sure we will see real benefits.

Claims

I Claim:

1) A method for efficient project management using Object Oriented Approach comprising steps of: a) mapping resources and defining their roles; b) assigning responsibility to the mapped resources for deliverables; c) breaking down the responsibilities into user function as deliverables; d) sequencing the deliverables; and e) feeding the sequence onto a workflow system for efficient project management. 2) The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the deliverables comprises attributes and activities.

3) The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the attributes are selected from a group comprising resources, effort, start date and end date.

4) The method as claimed in claims 1 and 2, wherein the method provides for monitoring the activities.

5) The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the method provides for tracking of all the activities by resources.

6) The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the user function is selected from a group comprising of deliverables. 7) The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the deliverables are sequenced based on the required work flow. 8) A system for efficient project management using Object Oriented Approach comprising; a) means for mapping resources and defining their roles; b) means for assigning responsibility to the mapped resources for deliverables; c) means for breaking down the responsibilities into user function as deliverables; d) means for sequencing the deliverables; and e) means for feeding the sequence onto a workflow system for efficient project management. 9) The system as claimed in claim 8, wherein the deliverables comprises activities having input and output parameters.

10) The system as claimed in claim 8, wherein workflow system comprises an Internet based protocol for communication.