Excerpt from Capstone Project :

The following diagram represents the structure of the idea.

Figure 2. Project flow pursuant to Plan Abu Dhabi 2030: Urban Structure Framework Plan

Objectives of the Study

The overarching objective of this study is to build a solid portfolio management application that connects all the local governments of Abu Dhabi emirates in ways that will allow them to collaborate on various projects pursuant to Plan Abu Dhabi 2030 through one unified system from their offices without wasting time on face-to-face meetings, as well as introducing the potential for the leaking of information through channels that provide the opportunity for unauthorized access. This objective also include the need to develop a solid it security infrastructure by building strategies, recruiting qualified staff, implementing the latest technologies and best practices as identified in the research.

The study was guided by the following specific objectives:

1. Achieve cost effectiveness once the portfolio management software is applied to the needs of the Abu Dhabi Government;

2. Identify how much the solution will save in terms of time, money, and efforts if it is applied;

3. Determine how the initiative will affect the utilization of existing resources;

4. Identify optimum approaches for ensuring the project is updated regularly and monitored with regards to its budget; and,

5. The risks the will inevitably be faced.

Importance of Study

Information security has become one of the most important and challenging issues facing today's organizations. With pervasive use of technology and widespread connectedness to the global environment, organizations increasingly have become exposed to numerous and varied threats (Rotvold, 2008). Information security is the process and techniques of protecting information, data, system infrastructures, networks, and so forth. It protects its availability, privacy and integrity from any unwanted habits from any malicious actions by accessing to stored information on computer databases has increased greatly. A lot of companies and industries store business information and individual information on computer than ever before. Much of the information stored is highly confidential and not for public viewing. That means data are more valued than the money. All the businesses are fully dependent on information especially Military, Governments (E-Government), Banks, etc. Most of the information nowadays is now gathered, analyzed, processed and stored on database computers. That information exchanged and transmitted across networks through LAN (Local Area Network) and WAN (Wide Area Network) to other computers.

Scope of Study

The core principles of Information Security are: Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability. Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability, Authenticity, Risk management is the main concept of securing any it infrastructure (portfolio for Abu Dhabi government). Also we should include Incident response plans

Rationale of Study

According to Essex (2005), a wide range of increasingly sophisticated project management tools have been introduced in recent years and these project management tools and their corresponding analytical methodologies have transformed the manner in which large projects are managed today. In almost every way, information technology has influenced project management or has the ability to do so if approached in thoughtful ways. The field of collaborative software solutions has identified a number of different approaches that can be used for these purposes, with a secure intranet representing one of the more common and cost-effective alternatives that are available. In this environment, the need security in these collaborative communications networks directly relates to the criticality and sensitivity of the information that is introduced on the network. Therefore, it is important to ensure that the collaborative project management environment remains secure from the start and throughout its administration.

Overview of Study

This paper used a six-chapter...

Chapter two provides a critical review of the relevant and peer-reviewed literature, and chapter three presents the study's methodology, a description of the study approach, the data-gathering method and the database of study consulted. Chapter four presents the research results, including failure and safety analyses. Chapter 5 provides a discussion of the research and chapter 6 presents the study's conclusion and recommendations for directions in future study.

Chapter 2: Review of Related Literature

Project Portfolio Management

One of the most significant contributions to the field of project management in recent years has been Project Portfolio Management. In many projects, the costs that are involved makes the need for effective project management essential. For example, according to Wideman (2006), "Because project management has moved from the domain of capital infrastructure projects to any type of endeavor that qualifies as a 'project.' Then, with the advent of business automation systems through the use of computers and the concomitant software development, the opportunity for innovative value-added projects has burgeoned to the point where 'only the sky is the limit'" (p. 1). Given the enormity of the Abu Dhabi Plan 2030, the full-speed ahead approach being used to achieve its ambitious goals, and the need for more housing in the short-term, effective project management tools such as the Project Portfolio Management approach represents a valuable addition to project management. Despite these advantages, many organizations fail to select projects that are suitable for the tenets of PPM and the results are either less than expected or even used to formulate misguided and expensive decisions that are based on poor data quality (Wideman, 2006).

The PPM approach is fairly recent in origin, and its use continues to be redefined as experience in real-world settings accumulates. According to Wideman, though, the PPM has demonstrated efficacy, making it particularly well suited to the needs of the Plan: "Though it is still evolving, the solution is to be found in effective Project Portfolio Management, ("PPM" for short), and this is not just another trendy label or fad. It is true that some would like to view PPM as just another technique of project management, but it is not that either. PPM is literally 'above and beyond' project management because it spans all the way from the vision of the executive suite, through project management to the actual realization of benefits, to the enterprise and consequent successful competitive positioning" (Wideman, 2006, p. 3).

As noted above, the origins of PPM are relatively recent, with its origins being traced to the closing years of the 20th century when the concept of organizing projects into so-called "portfolios" and then applying the same types of cost-benefit analyses that have been used with investment securities analyses in the past became popular, especially for software engineering applications such as the one that forms the focus of the solution described in this study. In response to the combination of newly identified applications for these technologies and innovations in their development, a number of vendors began offering portfolio management software suites at the time that included features such as the ability to schedule events and analysis data in real-time ways using packages such as Microsoft Project (Essex, 2005). Concomitantly, server-based enterprise project management (EPM) tools were also introduced, with these tools using a ground-up approach that permitted project managers to group projects in programs or portfolios according to various attributes as well as allowing them to share their collective data over a network, sometimes applying minimal portfolio analysis (Essex, 2005).

While an increasing number of PPM applications are being introduced and existing versions are being refined in response to user needs, there are still some significant problems that have been associated with its use, particularly when the number of users that are involved are as large as those in the Plan 2030 case. In this regard, Essex emphasizes that:

Although portfolio management have brought the benefits of integration to some organizations, many it managers say they still cannot get a single view of all their projects, the data for which often still reside in separate Excel spreadsheets, schedulers and time-sheet tools. 'They say, 'I can't see or control the projects-there's no visibility into what I'm doing.' All they have is a loose collection of tools that are not connected in any way. What they need to see is [project] status. You could simplify a lot of that by letting them see centralized project data. That could solve a good portion of their needs, and some level of portfolio management for the rest." (2005, p. 46)

According to Cooper, Edgett and Kleinschmidt (1999), while many large organization have the same types of decentralization that has increasingly characterized the Government of Abu Dhabi, there are some important differences between the entity type and level that should be taken into account during the PPM design, implementation and administration steps as follows:

1. Large projects: In some firms, the magnitude of certain projects demands that they be reviewed at a higher level than the business unit senior management. Such approvals go right to the top of the organization. An example sis a new product project involving a major capital expenditure. The result is that the BU manages a portfolio of projects, most of which…