The Project Charter and Business Case Document - Assignment Example

? Project planning and Implementation Table of Contents Project Overview 1 Purpose, Scope, and Objectives 1.2 Assumptions, Constraints and Risks 2 1.3 Project Deliverables 4 1.4 Schedule and Budget Summary 4 1.5 Evolution of the Plan 5 2. Managerial Process Plans 7 2.1 Project Tracking Plan 8 2.1.1 Requirements Management and Schedule Control 8 2.2 Risk Management Plan 8 2.3 Project code of practice 9 3. Technical Process Plans 12 3.1 Methods, Tools, and Techniques 12 3.2 Infrastructure 12 3.3 Product Acceptance 12 4. Supporting Process Plans 14 4.1 Code of practice: Ethical issues for the B-Spoke Bikes project 14 4.2 Legal issues 15 4.3 Quality Assurance 15 4.4 Project support and maintenance 16 The system will be supported by the existing network system. The systems will also depend on other departments such as finance and human resource. The maintenance of the database system will be done by the IT specialist hired from external companies which offer database maintenance service. The maintenance process will be done monthly. An audit of the system will also be conducted monthly to check the system performance. 16 4.5 Process Improvement 16 4.6 Follow-up project 17 The current project will be followed by a website development project, which will avail the services to the clients, suppliers and the employees via the internet. The database project is the basis of initiating the website project because the user’s ability to use the database is a prerequisite to the website. The website project will start as soon as the company management are satisfied with the employee’s ability to manipulate the business data using the database system. 17 5. References 18 1. Project Overview 1.1 Purpose, Scope, and Objectives The database system should ensure that the information about the suppliers, jobs, customers, staff and stock should be interconnected to ensure effective data sharing. The database system should generate reports that are used by the executive in decision making process. The project should be able to link the data therein should be shared linked to the finance and CRM system. The system should have an interface where the website will be linked. The clients, suppliers, employees and customers should be able to access the data in the database via the internet in future. This means that the database will have to be linked to the website. The integration will take place when the staffs have had excellent skills on the use of database system. All the project deliverables should be handled in accordance with the project charter and business case document. The B-Spoke Bikes database project is meant to automate the business operation of a B-Spoke Bikes company. The project should be is supposed to be completed within the stipulated time. The project covers the design and development of an access database system. The company should be able to achieve its business objectives using the database system. The database system should enable effective communication of data between different departments. The database system should automate all the business process in the company. 1.2 Assumptions, Constraints and Risks The project implementation team assumes that the B-spoke company have in place all the computer hardware and software needed during the implementation process. The project also assumes that the risks to the project remain the identified. There will be an effective collaboration between the implementation team, stakeholders and project functions There will be consistent supply of funds required during the implementation process. Constraints and risks on the project are: The time that allocated for the project might not be adequate to ensure that all the project deliverables are handled effectively. The funds allocated to the project are limited. The project budget does not give considerations cost accruing due to unexpected risks. The human resources (database programmers and system testing team might be inadequate). This may alter the project completion time and the quality. The time allocated for implementation of the project is short. This might compromise quality of the project. Especially the usability and security features of the database. Microsoft access database my not be the most appropriate software since its ability to handle data is limited. The company may have to change to SQL server in future. The software running in the base station computers in the company may be outdated. The technology used by the company may not meet the EISA standards. The company may be required to use state of the art technologies such as cloud storage and cloud computing. Risk matrix Risk Risk score Probability Response to risk Action plan status 1 Incomplete work breakdown structure 1.8 56% 1 Assigning more resources Assigning more resources Show measure to meet the deadline. The company not meeting the financial needs or issue with system integration 2 Faulty testing of the system units 0.5 25% 2 Hire experts. Conduct early testing of the system Designing of the testing environment dot done. 3 System integration issues 0.5 30% 1 Consult expert Early interface design 4 Incomplete prototype 0.6 25% 2 Perform more design and implementation Test and verify the design of prototype The last analysis indicates that the prototype is a sample of the actual system 5 Scheduling conflicts 1.8 50% 3 Dedicating the resources to the project exclusively. Track resource allocation The present schedule does not show any conflict. 6 Change of business requirement list 1.8 10% 2 Negotiate with the managers to adjust resources or abandon the requirements. Instant communication with the management. Currently, the requirement list has not changed. 7 Employee Sabotage 2.8 10% 3 Create awareness on the importance of the system o the employee Constant communication of project schedule. The morale of employees is currently high 1.3 Project Deliverables The key project deliverable is the design and development of a database system. The project deliverable should take a maximum of 15 days. Starting from Monday 11/03/13 and spans to Friday 29/03/2013. The development of this project takes place onsite. This will simplify the process of the management conducting regular pilot walk. Each project task is allocated its own human resource (Khan, 2009). The tasks should be done in a sequential manner to ensure that the activities in a task are exhausted before moving to the next task. The project team will handle all the task including testing. The testing process involves the system users, where the database system is exposed to a sample of employees from all the relevant departments. The project team must adhere to the project requirement document to ensure that all the activities and done as per the document specifications. 1.4 Schedule and Budget Summary Tasks Duration Resources Cost 1 Planning the program 5 days Project team $ 750 2 Creation of tables 1 day programmers $ 250 3 Creation of forms 2 days programmers $ 250 4 Design of forms 1 day programmers $ 200 5 Creation queries 1 day programmers $ 200 6 Adding tools 2 days programmers $ 225 7 Report creation 3 days programmers $ 300 8 Testing 4 days testers $ 800 9 Training 5 days Project team $ 1000 10 Integration 2 days Project team and programmers $ 600 1.5 Evolution of the Plan The structure used to develop this B-spoke database project Plan is in accordance with the IEEE STD 1058?1998 recommendations. Any update on this plan must comply with the same standards (IEEE STD 1058?1998). The soft copies of the project plan updates will be send the emails of the stakeholders and all the project team. The hard copy will be distributed by the project manager via the team leaders. Any change on the final plan will be scrutinized and integrated to the original document. It will then be dispatch to the respectively recipients promptly. 2. Managerial Process Plans This section of the database system Project Plan specifies the project management processes for the project. The plan for project start-up, project activities, project tracking and project close-out is dealt with Work Breakdown Structure 2.1 Project Tracking Plan 2.1.1 Requirements Management and Schedule Control Project manager develop a of plan, organizing, securing, managing, supervising, leading and controlling and/or budgeting for resources to achieve a specific goal, the project under construction. The project has a time limit under which it has to be implemented and with definite resources allocated to it intended to result in a final project which can be used for the purpose that is intended to serve (Khan, 2009). The implementation has a defined beginning and the end with equally defined or limited resources. The project can is intended to add value to the B-spoke company As mentioned a project has to be implemented within a specified time and the only the budgeted amount to be spent as planned but this may not be so. Some issues might hinder the project implementation causing delays in completion. 2.2 Risk Management Plan Some natural delays beyond the hands of either are natural causes like extreme weather conditions which can bring down the entire project or just cause delay due to inability to continue. The project manager can take matters in his own hands to ensure that there is no delay or if there is it is minimized to be able to deliver the project in time to ensure that inspection is done in time the project manager might need to update the inspection authorities beforehand to enable them plan scheduled inspection exercise (Weiss, 2012). The project manager should ensure before implanting the project that enough capacity is put in place before in terms of finances, manpower and the bright equipment. During the implementation, man hours should be used optimally. Scheduled deliveries can be done well in advance such that the materials are available at the stage when needed. Anticipate client change of mind whenever they wish to improve some designs or anticipate zoning changes from authorities. As a project manager, ensure you have enough finances to implement the changes or even to continue if the client does not pay in time. Regular discussion with the client can help in having a clear understanding with the client on cost and consequence of changes of all the entire chain effect. Implement the project in time if any natural disaster can cause delay when the weather still allows. There is the possibility of malicious programs to attack the database. Hackers will try to illegally access and manipulate the company’s data. The attacks are detriment to the company’s critical data. Burger (2010) gave an illustration of a case where Info track access database was attacked by a variety of malware in 2010. The malware attack was fatal to the system. The attack took the company back to paper work for some time. With the fact that the company is intending to upgrade their operation to internet system there is high possibilities that the virus will propagate via the internet. There are millions of professional hackers who hack company’s database with an intention of causing denial of service attack. . In addition, phishing, smishing, and vishing attacks raise a range of potential threats to the security of organization’s database. To manage the risk caused by such malicious programs, the company can implement a Nessus program. Nessus is a comprehensive vulnerability scanning program which can be deployed to enhance computer security. According to the surveys conducted by sectools.org, Nessus is the most popular vulnerability scanner in the world; the software achieved first place in 2000, 2003, and 2006 surveys. As stated in Rogers (2011), by using Nessus, it is easy for the organization to scan for vulnerabilities that may allow a remote hacker to access sensitive data stored. This software can also be used to check for misconfiguration vulnerabilities. Nessus begins its operation by initiating a port scan using its one of four portscanners. From this port scan, the software can identify the ports which are more open on the target. Once opens ports are identified, Nessus tries different exploits on those ports (Nessus). This software would greatly assist hospitals to keep their data secure. 2.3 Project code of practice To ensure that the database system builds sustains the business requirements of B-spoke Bike Company, database design best code of practice should be applied by the design team. Database programmers, database security experts and database administrators make sup the design team. The most crucial cod if practice in database system revolves around the design and the development process. The most critical design code of practice is: The company should use consider using state of the art computing technologies such as cloud computing, green computing and big data using hadoop these are technologies that will enable the company to achieve competitive advantages in the field. They are reduce operation cost and need to regularly purchase latest hardware such as servers. The development team should also consider the capacity, connectivity, performance, resilience and scalability. The database design should have the ability to handle both distributed and centralized data. Stand alone or networked data should be supported by the system. The software developers should give priority to the fully understanding the business needs of the company and aim a designing a system that best suite the company. The subject areas such as he employees and departments form the basis of organizing the database. Various database entities and relationship together with the conceptual schemas should be developed. Various object classes are also used. Particular transactions involving manipulation and creation of data should be independent of each functional area in a database. The process is undertaken when the problems of the database are being defined. The database design team should give a lot of attention to problem definition process. Various integration capabilities should be included in the design and implementation process. The design of all the common data presentation should be standardized to enable mapping. The concept is critically useful for implementing multi-database such as the one needed for B- spoke bike. The analysis team should come up with design specifications the clearly outline the scope, objective, facilities, resilient, environment, flow of information and features. The decision on the technique used to extract data is also critical. This is due to the fact that data entered to the database is static. The non-volatile state of this data enables mass loading. This is achieved via specialized loading technique where data cleaning tools are used to maintain the quality. Data cleaning tools should be implemented for data scrubbing, migration, auditing and ensuring consistency. Load utilities are used in transferring the cleaned data to the database. Only the database administrator has the mandate to reset and provide access to the data. The design team should ensure flexibility when designing a database. This will enable the designers to adjust in case the data that the company handles is scaled up. With the speedy changing database requirement in terms of granularity, data nature and size of the schemas. Consider the option of outsourcing some of the tasks such as purchasing if they are cost effective than in house building of software (Kerzner, 2010). The implementation team should develop a integration test that is based on already done unit testing and ensure vivid interfacing. The user interface is another critical database code of pest practice. Designing a usable interface enables the users to enjoy and effectively use the system. The most appropriate interface for a data warehouse system is SQL, special purpose user interface and multidimensional views of relational data. The user interface chosen should have components for formatting, analyzing and retrieving data. 3. Technical Process Plans 3.1 Methods, Tools, and Techniques The development of the database system uses software development lifecycle methodology. Visual basic, SQL and java programming languages are used. The SQL is used in generating the queries while VB is used to create forms and the database system interfaces. Tests are conducted in modules before integration and also when the system is deployed. The modular testing is mean to identify run time errors while the test run after integration is mean to test usability features of the system. The development process should adhere to EISA standards. This is the enterprise information system architecture standards. 3.2 Infrastructure The computers used in the development room should be strong enough to support the development process. During the development period, a bandwidth of between 50 to 100 mbps will be availed in the development room. Enterprise and DMZ firewalls will be used to block the employees in the company from accessing the data in the development room. Since the database is developed using Microsoft access, all the computers including the server will run on windows environment. The work station will run windows 8 while the windows server 2008 will be running in the server. All the software used in the company should be licensed. The Microsoft group policy and active directory tools will be used to manage the user accounts. Both logical and physical security is maximized to avoid interference during the development process. 3.3 Product Acceptance The system will be accepted by the company after all the acceptance tests are passed. The acceptance test spans from functional, non function, security and user satisfaction test. The success of the project is determined by project team members to handle each project task diligently. All the system modules should be well documented to simplify the training process. The documentation also helps the maintenance team to identify a problem in future. 4. Supporting Process Plans 4.1 Code of practice: Ethical issues for the B-Spoke Bikes project The major ethical issues facing the company are the security issues. There are issue with employee’s access right and policies. Some employees might want to access the data which is restricted. The policies on access rights should be well developed. In addition, the employees who fail to observe the laid down access policies should be punished. The company management should also create awareness on the importance of observing access privilege policies. Some employees also tend to misuse the organization’s computing resources such as internet. The network administrator should install firewalls that block the users from accessing some sites such as the site containing porn videos and images. The implementation of the system should also adhere to the states environmental policies (green computing policies). This includes using computer hardware which utilizes the least amount of power. The computer parts that are not used should be disposed in the right manner (Dobie, 2007). The developers should also consider the needs for the physically challenged. The usability features which help the disabled should be included in the system. In addition, the employee’s job security should be guaranteed. The company should ensure that the employees who do not have adequate skills on the use of computerized database system are trained. 4.2 Legal issues Data protection laws- the system should ensure that critical personal information for both employees and the clients is secure. The company can be held liable if personal information in the system gets into the hands of unauthorized person. The project software ode should also remain with the company. Copy right and intellectual property issues-The project implementation law should comply with copy right and intellectual property law. For instance, all the software used in the project should be licensed. The use of pirated software can bring about legal issues to both the company and the project implementation laws. Environment issues- the project implementation team should comply with the environmental policies. For instance, the use of green computing and proper disposal of unused computer parts such as monitor. Safety and health laws- in case an employee or a member of the project team develop and health problem while using the system, the company is held liable. The company should ensure that the computing environment is conducive for both employees and the project team. User ergonomic should be given priority. 4.3 Quality Assurance Quality assurance criteria 1. How crucial is the project output? 2. How and how frequently must the performance indicator be monitored? 3. How scalable is the system and it handle large volumes of data. 4. What are the nature and volumes of test measures used? 5. How will the development team balanced the merits benefits and costs of the new system. 6. How to deploy project task handled exhaustively measures so they will be used and acted upon. 7. What resources (man power and finance) are required to implement a quality project? 8. Whether the system Conform with EISA Functional requirement of a database system 9. Whether the project conforms to British Computer Society Code of Conduct standards 10. Usability features meet covers the needs both the physically challenged people on the society. 4.4 Project support and maintenance The system will be supported by the existing network system. The systems will also depend on other departments such as finance and human resource. The maintenance of the database system will be done by the IT specialist hired from external companies which offer database maintenance service. The maintenance process will be done monthly. An audit of the system will also be conducted monthly to check the system performance. 4.5 Process Improvement The database project will be upgraded to web-based system once the users are familiar with the use of database. This will enable the company to meets its business goal of enabling the suppliers, customers and staff to access the company’s information via the internet. In case of future business growth, the company can trade of the idea of switching to a SQL server database with the use of cloud storage and cloud computing. Cloud storage is where the company hire storage space from cloud service providing company (Badejo, 2010). The technology will help the B-spoke company to utilize the capabilities of the cutting edge computing infrastructure at a very low cost. 4.6 Follow-up project The current project will be followed by a website development project, which will avail the services to the clients, suppliers and the employees via the internet. The database project is the basis of initiating the website project because the user’s ability to use the database is a prerequisite to the website. The website project will start as soon as the company management are satisfied with the employee’s ability to manipulate the business data using the database system. 5. References Badejo, BA 2010, Development project planning and implementation: the local perspectives, Pennsylvania State University. Dobie, C 2007, A handbook of project management: A complete guide for beginners to professionals, Allen & Unwin. Kerzner, H 2010, Advanced project management: Best practices on implementation, John Wiley & Sons. Khan, A 2009, Sap and bw data warehousing: How to plan and implement, iUniverse. Snedaker, S 2009, How to cheat at it project management, Syngress. Weiss, J 2012, Five-phase project management: A practical planning and implementation guide, Addison-Wesley Publishing. Read More