To be effective, the project management group involved in managing projects should be small-usuall no more than six people and preferably three or four. It should be chaired by a senior manager either from the user department or agency, or from another part of the organisation which is not directly involved in the project itself. The argument for the latter option is that the chairman should be neutral, but should have a clear grasp of the overall business objectives of the criminal justice system(or of the agency, if it is an agency system), and of the overall computerisation strategy. If the chairman is drawn from the user department directly, there is some risk that he or she will be less impartial between the views of the users' representative on the project group and those of the technical representative In addition to the project management group and the technical team of staff engaged in the project work itself, there may also be one or more ad-hoc quality review teams. These teams, often consisting of just one person, are required because it is an important feature of project management methods that all stages of a project are independently reviewed by appropriate specialists to ensure consistent quality standards. The quality review teams must therefore be drawn from other staff, not engaged in the project team, or may sometimes be consultant staff from external sources. They may be drawn, for example, from a team of users to check the quality of the screen layouts and report formats, or an independent communications adviser to review the proposals for the communications aspects of the system Formal methodologies exist for managing computer projects, and some of these are public-domain oducts which can be used without payment of royalties. These methodologies are documented in numerous books nd consultancy and training services in their use are readily available Too often, however, project management is seen only in very limited terms, such as the preparation of critical path diagrams to show how the different stages of a project are inter-related and need to be scheduled, or charts to show the allocation of resources throughout each stage of a project. Project managers can fall into the trap of thinking that the purchase and use of project management software(of which there are many, largely inexpensive, examples on the market) will suffice. Although these are important tools in the process of project management, in the same way as a hammer is an important tool in house building, it is important to recognise that they do not themselves constitute project management any more than a hammer can be regarded as a house builder Project management is what the senior managers on the Project Management Group do to ensure that the project is completed on time, within budget, and that the resulting system does what it is required to do. a project anagement methodology is a formal set of procedures which the project management group can(and should)use to assist with the task of project management. It should include quality control functions to ensure that at all stages, the products generated by the project meet the appropriate standards as defined by the users' requirements, the business objectives of the organisation and the professional and technical standards defined for the technical development staff. A project management methodology is relatively complex, though it is essentially no more than a set of measures to ensure that the project is completed satisfactorily. The precise mix of tools and procedures varies from one project management methodology to another. Annex G provides an outline of the steps involved in a typical system. It should be recognised that no project management methodology can satisfactorily be taken directly out of a textbook or from a set of instructions. Effort does need to be committed to training project managers, as well as the staff on the project who will be managed by the methodology 5.2 Involving Staff in the Development Any project to introduce computerisation to an organisation, regardless of the scale of the undertaking has a profound effect on the staff of the organisation and on the way in which the organisation functions. Equally mportant, if the computerisation is to have a beneficial effect, the value of involving staff in the decision-making process should be recognised. Staff will be affected by the changes to the organisation which the computerisation will generate, and they are able to contribute to decisions about the design and use of the proposed computer stems Overlooking these elements can have serious repercussions, and could jeopardise the success of the computerisation project itself. Failure to keep staff abreast of what is happening in the organisation can result in taff apprehension, fear about job security, confusion as to the nature of the work, and eventual resistance to the implementation of the new systemTo be effective, the project management group involved in managing projects should be small - usually no more than six people and preferably three or four. It should be chaired by a senior manager either from the user department or agency, or from another part of the organisation which is not directly involved in the project itself. The argument for the latter option is that the chairman should be neutral, but should have a clear grasp of the overall business objectives of the criminal justice system (or of the agency, if it is an agency system), and of the overall computerisation strategy. If the chairman is drawn from the user department directly, there is some risk that he or she will be less impartial between the views of the users’ representative on the project group and those of the technical representative. In addition to the project management group and the technical team of staff engaged in the project work itself, there may also be one or more ad-hoc quality review teams. These teams, often consisting of just one person, are required because it is an important feature of project management methods that all stages of a project are independently reviewed by appropriate specialists to ensure consistent quality standards. The quality review teams must therefore be drawn from other staff, not engaged in the project team, or may sometimes be consultant staff from external sources. They may be drawn, for example, from a team of users to check the quality of the screen layouts and report formats, or an independent communications adviser to review the proposals for the communications aspects of the system. Formal methodologies exist for managing computer projects, and some of these are public-domain products which can be used without payment of royalties. These methodologies are documented in numerous books, and consultancy and training services in their use are readily available. Too often, however, project management is seen only in very limited terms, such as the preparation of critical path diagrams to show how the different stages of a project are inter-related and need to be scheduled, or charts to show the allocation of resources throughout each stage of a project. Project managers can fall into the trap of thinking that the purchase and use of project management software (of which there are many, largely inexpensive, examples on the market) will suffice. Although these are important tools in the process of project management, in the same way as a hammer is an important tool in house building, it is important to recognise that they do not themselves constitute project management any more than a hammer can be regarded as a house builder. Project management is what the senior managers on the Project Management Group do to ensure that the project is completed on time, within budget, and that the resulting system does what it is required to do. A project management methodology is a formal set of procedures which the project management group can (and should) use to assist with the task of project management. It should include quality control functions to ensure that at all stages, the products generated by the project meet the appropriate standards as defined by the users' requirements, the business objectives of the organisation and the professional and technical standards defined for the technical development staff. A project management methodology is relatively complex, though it is essentially no more than a set of measures to ensure that the project is completed satisfactorily. The precise mix of tools and procedures varies from one project management methodology to another. Annex G provides an outline of the steps involved in a typical system. It should be recognised that no project management methodology can satisfactorily be taken directly out of a textbook or from a set of instructions. Effort does need to be committed to training project managers, as well as the staff on the project who will be managed by the methodology. 5.2 Involving Staff in the Development Any project to introduce computerisation to an organisation, regardless of the scale of the undertaking, has a profound effect on the staff of the organisation and on the way in which the organisation functions. Equally important, if the computerisation is to have a beneficial effect, the value of involving staff in the decision-making process should be recognised. Staff will be affected by the changes to the organisation which the computerisation will generate, and they are able to contribute to decisions about the design and use of the proposed computer systems. Overlooking these elements can have serious repercussions, and could jeopardise the success of the computerisation project itself. Failure to keep staff abreast of what is happening in the organisation can result in staff apprehension, fear about job security, confusion as to the nature of the work, and eventual resistance to the implementation of the new system