Developing Applications and Methodologies for Electronically Facilitated Project Planning: a Coast Guard Case Study

This paper reports on development of an electronic project planning application and process designed to quickly and easily generate plans. The literature suggests that collaboration, planning and follow-up are major obstacles to project success. During the 1990s, the authors developed a formatting application providing GroupSystems output in MS Project format, and successfully tested it by developing a treaty implementation plan for the coast guard. The application worked, but languished because it was cumbersome and constrained by 1990´s technology. In 2004, authors were asked to expand the earlier coast guard plan. Determined to improve upon their legacy system, they developed a completely new application specifically designed to collaboratively develop project plans, and tested it in development of a new long range plan for the coast guard. The opportunity to develop an application without legacy artifacts was an exciting experience. This paper discusses the author´s experiences in application and collaborative process development