Browsing by Author "Atara, Adane (PhD)"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Adoption Level and Challenges of Implementing Agile Project Management Methodology at the Private Banking Industry in Ethiopia
    (Addis Ababa University, 2019-08) Debebe, Asegid; Atara, Adane (PhD)
    This qualitative study has investigated the current level of adoption the Agile software project management methods at the private banking industry in Ethiopia and the challenges faced by the software development teams at the banks. The current 16 private banks in Ethiopia have been grouped into three categories using the decades of their year of establishments, and from each category, 3 banks were selected at random using the lottery method giving a total sample size of 9. Two sets of questionnaires have been used with one questionnaire distributed to the software development team members and the other distributed to the development teams’ managers. Among the 9 banks, complete data was received from 7 banks with total individual responses of 30. The gathered data was analyzed using descriptive statistics. The analysis of the data shows that there is a low prevalence of application of agile methods at the private banks in Ethiopia with only 2 out of the 7 participating banks (28%) in the process of adopting the Scrum Agile method and with the remaining 5 (72%) still using the traditional waterfall method. There are several challenges that face the banks from adopting the agile method and these are presented in three categories as customer-related, team-related and management-related. Customer-related challenges include inconsistent requirements, lack of timely feedback, resistance to change, and lack of full commitment to the process. Team-related challenges include reluctance to work in a team, lack of experience, handling of helpdesk requests while working in software development and departure of experienced team members. Management-related challenges include setting unreasonably short deadlines, de-prioritization of ongoing projects out of work, not specifying standard software development tools and frameworks, absence of general long-term ICT Development strategic plan specific to the improvement of the software development process. In conclusion, there is a very low level of adoption of the agile methodology in the private banking sector in Ethiopia with only 28% of the banks attempting the move to the Scrum method while the remaining 72% is planning to adopt an agile method in the future and still using the traditional waterfall software development methodology.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Assessing Monitoring And Evaluation Practice Of UNDP Project: The Case Of Conflict Prevention And Peace Building Project In Ethiopia
    (Addis Ababa University, 2019-06) Taddese, Mickyas; Atara, Adane (PhD)
    This study elucidates the various issues and challenges of monitoring and evaluation encountered at a specific project by UNDP. The specific project of UNDP is Conflict Prevention and Peace Building Project in Ethiopia. The study is a qualitative research conducted by interviewing key professionals selected based on their bearing and closeness to the monitoring and evaluation activity in addition to intense desk review of all the monitoring and evaluation documents. The major findings indicate a lack of participation of necessary stakeholders in the monitoring task. In addition, no plans were devised and no measures were taken to mitigate risk on the monitoring and evaluation process. Furthermore, the breakdown of cost and time presented in the annual work plan were blurry and lack detail constituents, ergo making it hard to identify key performance indicators to the level adequate. The evaluation report failed to prove wrong the claim that outcome and impact seen are the attribute of an endogenous effect or other environmental factors. It also failed to prove the external validity of the participant in the evaluation process. These all reduced the reliability and dependability of the results. As a result, the study recommended inclusiveness and saturated participation of all the vital stakeholders in the monitoring activity and further breakdown of time and cost schedule under the annual work plans as mandatory. Finally, ample methods available to assuredly attribute the impact to and only to the intervention should be engaged. It would greatly benefit the literature and academic-purpose if future research assesses the long term impact of the intervention with emphasis on the monitoring and evaluation practice.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Assessment Of Cost And Schedule Performance On AACRA Projects: The Case Of Shiromeda – Hamerenoh Kidanemihiret Road Construction Project
    (Addis Ababa University, 2019-07) Getahun, Benyam; Atara, Adane (PhD)
    The purpose of this study is to assess the cost and schedule performance of a road construction project with particular emphasis to the Shiromeda – Hamerenoh Kidanemihiret road construction project held by AACRA. To address the two major issues of cost overrun and schedule delay, both primary and secondary source of data were used. Both close ended and open ended questions were included on the questionnaire while the interview was unstructured, these two were used as a primary source of data. Different texts, articles, journals and dissertations were used as a secondary source of data. Census inquiry was used to distribute the questionnaire. Out of the total 47, 44 questionnaires were filled and collected. In addition to the questionnaire 3 people were interviewed: the project manager, site engineer and another top level manager who are members of AACRA. The data obtained through questionnaire has been analyzed quantitatively using descriptive statistics namely frequency and percentages through SPSS version 20. In addition, the data obtained using interviews has been analyzed qualitatively. The findings of research are that the major causes of cost overrun and schedule delay include: Right of way (Weaknesses during the land takings process), poor project implementation strategies, duration of the period of bidding, Supervisor and contractor claims and disputes, delay of material delivery and, negligence of past experiences. As a result, some recommendations have been delivered under this study on what actions should be taken to tackle the major problems of cost overrun and schedule delay.