XXX Procedia 00 (2012) 000–000 www.elsevier.com/locate/procedia INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INFORMATION MANAGEMENT AND ENGINEERING 2011 Analysis of Project Management in Theory and Real World: An Information System Case Ritesh Chugh a, * a Faculty of Arts, Business, Informatics and Education CQ University Melbourne 108, Lonsdale St,Melbourne VIC 3000 Australia Abstract This paper sets out to compare the application of project management practices in the real world and in theory. An information systems project that focused on conversion from a manual system to a computerized system in a restaurant forms the backdrop of this comparison. This report draws attention to the relevant issues with respect to project management in the conversion from a manual system to a computerized system for a restaurant. The findings of the report reveal that the Information Systems department was instrumental in analyzing the needs of the restaurant and then designing, procuring, testing and implementing the new system. The paper also discusses and analyses the application of project management theory in comparison to project planning in the real world. It is evident from this paper that project management practices are necessary to survive in any project undertaken in today’s dynamic business environment. The paper concludes that there is a match between theory and practice in the project management field. The paper recommends that the factors of performance, time and cost be prioritized at the beginning of the project in order to avoid any unnecessary trade-offs. Also, teamwork is a vital ingredient in the conduct of projects and should be given due consideration by the project manager. Good project management ensures that there are standard processes in place to deal with all contingencies. © 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of XXX Keywords: project management; reality; theory; project planning; information system; project. 1. Introduction The theory of project management was developed during the Apollo moon-landing project, and has since evolved into a widely applied management discipline. Project management has taken on increasing importance in almost every organization. Effectual project management is rapidly becoming vital in * Corresponding author. Tel.: +61 (0)3 8662 0535; fax: +61 (0)3 9639 4800. E-mail address: chughr@mel.cqu.edu.au . Pre-print Version: Please cite as: Chugh, R 2011, ‘Analysis of Project Management in Theory and Real World: An Information System Case’, In IEEE International Conference on Information Management and Engineering (ICIME2011), Zhengzhou, China, May 21-22, pp. 1-11. 2011.