Project Management Plan – Team Scenario II
Team members work at different locations and do not always
have access to a central server
Qualitative Data Analysis with ATLAS.ti – Companion website material
Qualitative Data Analysis with ATLAS.ti – Companion website material
Description for team scenario II
Peter, Michelle, Claus and Marie work together on a project. Marie, in addition to working on the
project, also is the project administrator. All want to have the possibility to work at their desktop
computer in the office and at home or while traveling on their laptops. This means, access to a
central server is not always given.
The project material consists of 80 documents. The work is divided equally; each person is in
charge of coding 20 of them. At the beginning, the team has to develop a common coding system.
To simplify project administration, they agree not to modify the data sources once they are
assigned to the ATLAS.ti project.
Write down an adapted description that fits your own project:
Qualitative Data Analysis with ATLAS.ti – Companion website material
Team Scenario II – Questions and issues to be considered
1. Project Setup
a. What is the optimal project setup option?
b. Which file formats should be used and why?
c. What kind of naming convention for data files should be used?
d. Where should the data files and the Hermeneutic Unit file be stored?
e. Which project files (Hermeneutic Units) should the project administrator create?
What should these project files contain?
f. Instruct team members to create user accounts and to log in
2. Project Transfer
a. How is the project transferred between project administrator and team members?
How often should it be transferred?
b. How should the team members handle the project? Where should they store it?
3. Backup
a. What kind of backups should be stored at the project admin site? How should team
members backup their sub projects?
b. How often should a backup be created?
4. Distribution of Work Load / How to Work Together
a. How is the workload distributed? Does each person code different files or do
different researchers work on the same files?
b. How do you want to develop a common code list? Should there be a common code
list or only common core of codes?
c. Does intercoder reliability need to be considered? How do you want to deal with it?
5. Merging Sub Projects
a. How often should sub projects be merged?
b. Which merge strategies are needed?
c. Depending on other decisions that have been made, which data files need to be
send to the project administrator for merging?
d. What is send back to the team members and how?
e. How should team members deal with the merged project?
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6. Editing data sources
a. Should the modification of data sources be allowed?
b. If so, how should this be handled by the team? Who should be given rights to
modify what kind of material?
c. When transferring projects, what needs to be considered when it is allowed to
modify data sources?
7. Team members – Moving between Locations
a. How can projects be transferred from desktop to laptop computers and back again?
b. What needs to be considered when editing is allowed?
c. How should the project be backed up at each location?
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Project Management Plan for Team Scenario II
PROJECT-SETUP PLAN
Task of the project
administrator
What is the optimal project
setup option?
Which file formats should be
used and why?
What kind of naming
convention for data files
should be used?
Where should the data files
and the Hermeneutic Unit
file be stored?
Which project files
(Hermeneutic Units) should
the project administrator
create? What should these
project files contain?
Instruction for team
members how to create user
accounts and how to log in
Qualitative Data Analysis with ATLAS.ti – Companion website material
6/11
TRANSFER
Project Administrator Team members
How to transfer the project
between project
administrator and team
members?
How should the team
members handle the
project? Naming
convention / storage.
Where should they store it
BACKUP
What kind of backups should
be stored at the project
admin site?
How should team members
backup their sub projects?
How often should a backup
be created?
Qualitative Data Analysis with ATLAS.ti – Companion website material
7/11
Project Work
How is the workload
distributed? Does each
person code different files
or do different researchers
work on the same files?
How do you want to
develop a common code
list?
Does inter-coder reliability
need to be considered? How
do you want to deal with it?
How often should the
projects of the team
members be collected for
merging?
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MERGING PROJECTS
Please note that the PDs are merged on the basis of their IDs, therefore the sequence of PDs needs to be the
same in each HU if they reference the same documents. If a message pops up reporting inconsistencies,
then the order of the documents is different in the two HUs to be merged. The project admin then needs to
correct it and then proceed with merging. Otherwise the PDs are added rather than merged.
Which merge strategies are
needed?
Depending on other
decisions that have been
made, which data files need
to be sent to the project
administrator for merging?
Qualitative Data Analysis with ATLAS.ti – Companion website material
9/11
Which files are returned to
the team members and how?
How should team members
handle merged projects in
order to continue their
individual work?
Editing – Modifying data sources
Should the modification of
data sources be allowed?
If so, how should this be
handled by the team? Who
should be given rights to
modify what kind of
material?
When transferring projects,
what needs to be considered
when it is allowed to modify
data sources?
Qualitative Data Analysis with ATLAS.ti – Companion website material
10/11
TEAM MEMBERS – MOVING
LOCATIONS
How can projects be
transferred from desktop to
laptop computers and back
again?
What needs to be considered
when editing is allowed?
How should the project be
backed up at each location?
Qualitative Data Analysis with ATLAS.ti – Companion website material
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