Re-establishing Alliance Associated Limited as a Dominant Force in Todays Global Economy - Case Study Example

IS Project Management Table of Contents List of Figures 3 Introduction 4 Objectives 5 Specific Objectives 5 Problem Statement 6 Project Schedule 7 Team Selection 9 Budget Estimation 10 Project Analysis 11 System Development Approach 12 Conclusion 14 Works Cited 15 List of Figures Figure 1: Alliance Project Schedule 9 Figure 2: Alliance Project Budget Estimation 10 Figure 3: Waterfall System Development Approach 12 Figure 4: Gantt Chart; software development 13 Introduction Project management entails the management of resources, organisation and planning of stipulated goals and objectives deemed to ensure successful implementation of a proposed project into the culture and structure of an organisation. Projects are usually formulated to enable organisations add value or bring about beneficial change to the performance and work output of the organisation. Projects introduce temporary operations and concepts that are not similar to the normal operations of the organisation. Management of such activities is therefore not easy as they require use of separate management and adoption of technical skills to attain all the project goals and objectives by successfully overcoming any constraints that may avail themselves. For instance, the constraints can be curbed by appropriately allocating the available resources, rightfully optimising the use of those resources, maintaining the described scope under the proposed budget and time frame (Ireland 110). Project management was introduced by Henry Gantt who developed the Gantt chart to be used as a project management tool in the 1950’s. Henri Fayol formulated the five functions of management that are used to set a foundation for project management. This was followed by introduction of two project management mathematical approaches; the Critical Path Method (CPM) and Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) (Cleland and Gareis 1-4). Project management comprises of about four to five stages. The first stage is the initiation which defines the scope and nature of the project. The planning of this stage depends on the requirements of the organisation, nature of the current operations, design of the operations and the available resources. The second stage entails planning and design of the project operations. It comprises of development of a small prototype that should be tested before implementation of the proposed project into the structure and culture of the organisation. The fourth stage is the execution which describes the processes that will be implemented to enable accomplishment of the project goals and objectives for instance coordination of resources and people. The final stage is usually the closing of the project which signifies its acceptance (Harrison and Lock 34). This report will therefore elaborate on the various steps undertaken to project manage the Alliance prototype project of Alliance Associated limited which aims at making the company acquire market control in the global business environment. Globalisation has introduced various technological advancements which have resulted to the change of demand from the traditional point of view to a more sophisticated approach. The global market has also been infiltrated by organisations ranging from multinationals to small business enterprises that produce similar goods and services. Therefore, the supply of goods and services into the global market should meet these demands by putting into consideration the present economic challenges. Organisations should be able to produce goods and services that are of top quality under minimal costs and with effective utilisation of resources. This will definitely enable organisations to strive in the stiff market competition by attaining market dominance over their business counterparts. Objective To develop an Alliance prototype project that will re-establish Alliance Associated Limited as a dominant force in today’s global economy. Objectives (Specific) i. To develop a project plan that is within the stipulated project goal. ii. To identify the project tasks that will result to the achievement of the project goal. iii. To appropriately quantify the resources needed. iv. To determine the timeline and budget requirements for the successful completion of the project. Problem Statement Due to unavoidable circumstances the Alliance prototype project is running concurrently with another project. Therefore, this demands implementation of changes into some of the proposed project activities, time frame, resources available and project budget. To enable the successful completion of the prototype, the senior management team came up with the following conclusions which should be incorporated into the prototype project plan at the beginning of the fourth week from its start. The time scale for software programming/coding should be reduced from 25 days to 18 days. Secondly, the time scale for integration testing should be increased from 5 days to 10 days. Thirdly, there is a need to outsource Donald Scott from Network Ready ltd because neither of the three network specialists is available. This is because they have to attend to a severe crisis experienced in the other project. Donald demands a daily pay of £240 which is higher than the £155 daily pay demanded by each network specialist. The proposed prototype project team members should comprise of an equal number of both male and female workers in an effort of observing the policies of the organisation. Alliance Associated ltd strives to provide equal opportunities to its employees regardless of the gender, age or race. The daily payment rate for programmers is also affected. Louise Matthews the senior programmer has been missing from most of the regular scheduled meetings, to enable him to change; his daily payment rate will be reduced from £200 to £185. However, the daily payment rate for Adam Harris and Tariq Khan will be increased from £125 to £160 and £110 to £135 respectively. This will act as a motivation to them. The above changes will also require the recalculation of the overall effort required, budget requirements and resource allocation. Project Schedule The project schedule entails creation of different tasks that will enable the accomplishment of the stipulated goals and objectives of the project. The amount of effort meaning the number of hours and days needed to complete the entire project should be estimated. Also the resources that are needed to support the identified tasks such as money and workforce should be determined (Kent 70). The Alliance prototype project is about development of software that will help the organisation to attain dominance in today’s global economy. Software development requires identification of tasks which follow a linear sequence. This is because completion of tasks in software development is dependent on completion of other tasks first. Therefore, the Alliance prototype project will use the waterfall model to identify tasks to be done (Kent 70-77). For the successful completion of the Alliance prototype project the following schedule will be implemented. The first step will be formulation of the design of the prototype project which comprises of gathering of the appropriate requirements and resources. This should be done two weeks before the commencement of the project. It should also take approximately five days. This should be followed by identification of the initial design of the prototype project which will define its scope and nature depending on the available requirements, nature of the current operations, design of the operations and the available resources. This step is approximated to take ten days for its completion. The second step will entail the development of the prototype project design. This will encompass activities of designing the software which is approximated to take 10 days, software programming/coding which should take 25 days, testing the effectiveness of the designed software which should last for three days and implementation of the software which should also take three days. The third step will entail implementation of the network. It will encompass development of the network and testing its effectiveness. The activities should take 5 and 2 days respectively. The fourth step will comprise of integration and testing of the designed software and network. It is estimated to last for 5 days. The fifth step entails testing and reviewing of the prototype project. It will encompass the user acceptance and system tests which will last for 2 days and 5 days respectively. This will determine the effectiveness and compatibility of the prototype project within the structure and culture of the organisation. It will also help to determine if the entire workforce of the organisation has understood the objective, goal and nature of the project and if they are willing to incorporate it into the daily operations of the organisation. The prototype project will therefore encompass accomplishment of 11 tasks which should be completed in 75 days. Task Name Days Required Team Member 1. Design 1.1Requirements gathering 5 Bus Anal/IT Spec 1.2 Initial design 10 Bus Anal/IT Spec 2. Development 2.1 Software design 10 Developer 2.2 Software programming / coding 25 Developer/Prog/Ops 2.3 Software testing 3 Developer/Prog/Ops 2.4 Software implementation 3 Developer 3. Network Implementation 3.1 Network development 5 Network Spec/Ops 3.2 Network test 2 Network Spec/Ops 4. Integration 4.1 Integration testing 5 Test Engineer 5. Test & Review 5.1 User acceptance test 2 Test Eng/Bus Anal 5.2 System test 5 Test Eng/Bus Anal Total days required 75 Fig 1: Alliance project schedule Team Selection For the formulation of the prototype project design, two business analysts whose tasks will be to review, analyse, evaluate the business systems, detail user needs and identify steps and/or processes needed for the new system that will be developed will be required. Development of the project design will require the use of two developers to design, modify and develop system specifications for programming. One senior developer will also be required to oversee and supervise the developers. The senior developer will also identify the risks his team will be facing and incorporate solutions to overcome them. One IT specialist whose function will be to specify, design, modify, program internal business software applications and test them will be required. The IT specialist will work hand in hand with a network specialist who will review, plan, evaluate and troubleshoot the designed network system to a more relevant system. One operation expert will be used to enhance product workflow by analysing and developing logistic plans entailing the workforce and resources that will affect the progress of the project. Two programmers whose function will be to write and implement codes to the provided specifications are also required. One senior programmer will be needed to oversee and supervise the programmers, identify risks that are curbing their performance and solutions to overcome them. Finally, a test engineer whose role will be to develop and implement test plans, report on quality/defects of the prototype project and form a quality feedback team will also be required. Budget Estimation The prototype project will employ the following workforce; Two business analysts: Chandra Lewis who demands a daily payment rate of £190 Samira Budaijar who demands a daily payment rate of £100 Two developers: Helen Bassett who demands a daily payment rate of £145 Lyle Pinter who demands a daily payment rate of £120 A senior developer: Rhidian Rhys who demands a daily payment rate of £185 One IT specialist: Susan Newman who demands a daily payment rate of £150 One network specialist: Simon Evans who demands a daily payment rate of £155 An operations expert: Momar Moisra who demands a daily payment rate of £130 Two programmers: Adam Harris who demands a daily payment rate of £125 Tariq Khan who demands a daily payment rate of £110 A senior Programmer: Louise Matthews who demands a daily payment rate of £200 One test engineer: Roberta Plant who demands a daily payment rate of £100 This demands a total daily payment rate of £1710. Therefore, successful completion of the project will require a total of about £128,250 derived from the multiplication of the total daily payment rate (£1710) and the proposed total number of days required to complete the prototype project (75days). Job Description Quantity Employee Name Daily Payment Rate Business Analyst 2 Chandra Lewis £190 Samira Budaijar £100 Developers 2 Helen Bassett £145 Lyle Pinter £120 Senior Developer 1 Rhidian Rhys £185 IT Specialist 1 Susan Newman £150 Network Specialist 1 Simon Evans £155 Operation Expert 1 Momar Moisra £130 Programmer 2 Adam Harris £125 Tariq Khan £110 Senior Programmer 1 Louise Matthews £200 Test Engineer 1 Roberta plant £100 Total daily payment rate £1710 Fig 2: Alliance project budget estimation Project Analysis However during the implementation of the project schedule the proposed deadline and daily payment were not realistic to the organisation. This required renegotiation of the project deadline whose risk was delay of the project, employment of additional resources which resulted to an increase in the total cost of the prototype project and reduction of the prototype project scope. This resulted to reduction in performance rate and operations of the project thereby reducing the delivery capability. The above problems were however curbed because of implementation of risk management plan into the operations of the prototype project. For example, the risk management plan identified mechanisms to deal with major project risks such as formulation of too optimistic time and cost estimates, implementation of slow employee and customer review and feedback cycle, unexpected budget cuts, poor communication skills, lack of resource commitment and changing the requirements after the initiation of the project among others. This was done by creation of a risk log identifying the risks and solutions to curb them. The risk log was evaluated on a daily basis to incorporate new project risks that were identified. System Development Approach As explained earlier the Alliance prototype project implemented the waterfall system development approach because development of software requires implementation of linear systematic activities. The waterfall system development approach encompassed the initial investigations which defined the need for incorporation of the project into the culture and structure of the organisation, definition of the project requirements, the system design, designing, modification, coding and testing stage, implementation of the project operations and support to determine the compatibility and effectiveness of the project into the culture and structure of the organisation. It also determined if the project goal and objectives were adequately met or not (McBride Topic 19). Initial Investigation ↓ Requirements Definition ↓ System Design ↓ Designing, Modification, Coding, Testing ↓ Implementation Operation &Support Fig 3: Waterfall system development approach The waterfall system development approach was appropriate for the Alliance prototype project because it emphasised on the planning, time scheduling, target dates, budget estimation and project implementation activities. The company policy for Alliance Associated LTD demands provision of equal opportunities to all employees regardless of their age, experience, gender and race. This resulted to the formulation of a project team with fluctuating composition as efforts were made to offer equal opportunities to both male and female employees. The waterfall system development approach was therefore ideal because it supports the less experienced project team members. This approach also enabled the progress of the project to be measurable by ensuring the quality, reliability and maintainability of the developed software. This was achieved by sequencing the development steps which introduced a strict control mechanism for documentation and review of the project (Kent 70-77). Task possible start Length Type Dependent on... 1. Design week 1 1.1Requirements gathering week 1 5 days sequential 1.2 Initial design week 2 10 days sequential 1.1 2. Development week 3 2.1 Software design week 3 10 days sequential 1.2 2.2Software programming / coding week 4 25 days sequential 2.1 2.3 Software testing week 6 3 days sequential 2.2 2.4Software implementation week 6 3 days sequential 2.3 3. Network Implementation week 7 3.1 Network development week 7 5 days sequential 2.4 3.2 Network test week 7 2 days sequential 3.1 4. Integration week 8 4.1 Integration testing week 8 5 days sequential 3.2 5. Test & Review week 8 5.1 User acceptance test week 8 2 days sequential 4.1 5.2 System test Week 9 5 days sequential 5.1 Figure 4: Gantt chart; software development Conclusion From the above it is quite evident that the Alliance prototype project enabled Alliance Associated Limited to re-establish its structure and culture therefore attaining a dominant force in today’s global economy. However, mechanisms to increase the pace of the project should be established because the waterfall system development approach is slow, inflexible and quite costly. This is because it demands intensive manageability and excessive documentation. Works Cited Cleland, I. David and Gareis Roland. Global Project Management Handbook. Chicago, IL: McGraw-Hill Professional, 2006. Harrison, F. L. and Lock Dennis. Advanced Project Management: A Structured Approach‎. Guildford UK: Gower Publishing, Ltd., 2004. Ireland, R. Lewis. Project Management. Chicago, IL: McGraw-Hill Professional, 2006. Kent, Beck. "Embracing Change with Extreme Programming". Computer 32.10 (1999): 70-77. McBride, J. R. “Introduction to System Analysis, Topic 19”. Rapid Application Development Prentice Hall Inc. 2002. 18 Dec. 2009 Read More