Project Plan for the Young Minds Tracking System Software - Case Study Example

Young Minds Tracking Software Project Management Plan for Education and Research Students in Colleges Creation Date: 30th January, 2011 Revision Date: 31st January, 2011 Project Management Approvals …………………………….. ……………………. YMTS Manager Date ……………………………… ……………………. Division Head Date ……………………………. ……………………. Programme Manager Date Sponsor Company: Geeks Limited Introduction This paper is the project plan for the Young Minds Tracking System (YMTS) software development effort. Its content has been divided into six sections, namely: Project mandate, project scope, objectives and goals, products/services and outcomes, project organization, project risk and the project timings and deliverables. The project was undertaken to provide college students with web based software solution that delivers an easy to scale, secure, and reliable tracking and reporting on their membership with an institution and the lecturers’ sessions’ attendance. The project therefore aims to provide an overview on the planning or the blueprint on the process to develop the Young Minds Tracking System from planning all the way to deployment. 1. PROJECT MANDATE The Young Minds Software Project Plan is structured to offer a definition of the project, which includes the project’s goals and objectives. In addition, the plan will act as an agreement between the following parties: the Project Sponsor, the Steering Committee, the Project Team, the Project Manager, and other personnel who deal with or are affected by the project. The Project Plan defines the following: Project purpose Business and project goals and objectives Scope and expectations Roles and responsibilities Assumptions and constraints Project organization Project deliverables 2. PROJECT PURPOSE, SCOPE AND OBJECTIVES This project assesses the process of Altitude and Orbit Control Electronics package. It involves communication between control server and students’ communication resource centre through the Telecommunication subsystem in the institution. The status of the system is available in the mainframe buffer. Thus there will be need to retrieve the status from the students’ communication resource centre and issue the appropriate control steps by undertaking a series of telecommands. The current technology uses RPC and Digital Unix for the Front End Processors and hosts, which leads to certain limitations such as high maintenance costs. The application of RPC delays transmission and lowers the speed of the processing system. Therefore, the key objectives of this project are: Acquiring TM data at specified rate. Converting the hosts’ OS from Digital UNIX to Linux. Using sockets instead of RPC. Making the processing units scalable. Display of acquired information in a format that the user requires. The overall aim of Young Minds Tracking System is to enhance the usability of Young Minds Software in Higher Education Institutions, easing teaching and research activity by further developing the user interface and clustering the YMTS content with partner institutions. This link below defines the term RPC http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc787851%28WS.10%29.aspx The project deals with usability factors of content by applying the following strategies: i. Creating Cheap and Affordable software centres: The project is aimed at helping the students have access to cheap and easy to use software. This should even be more appropriate for those students taking courses leading to computer applications. It therefore aims at developing and enhancing pre-existing resources. ii. Embedding Young Minds System in Teaching Programmes: The second attribute of the project is to enhance YMTS usability. This involves identifying an undergraduate taught module or unit that will have YMTS embedded into its teaching and learning. In addition to this, the project is meant to follow the context of a research project committed to utilising and embedding the YMTS as tool for research. This will aid the students to investigate YMTS’s usability and impact over a larger test group. iii. Enhancing YMTS content through high quality user generated metadata: Exploring user-generated metadata using Young’s open source software will allow users to engage in online organisation and cataloguing of library books and other orders relating to the institution of learning. This will facilitate enhanced usability by widening the scale of how users view the college activities and their perceived significance. This will be based on the project’s embedding strategy and broaden the scope of its user base by showing response to an extensive user base. Specifically, the participatory aspect of the software as well as the engagement activities around it, will aid in embedding this college-based resource into other lower levels of education. This means that the project will explore the ability to contribute to Primary, Secondary and informal learning projects in the society. It should further help researchers. students, performing arts practitioners, business people and community users to engage with YMTS system to support their learning and research requirements. iv. Exploiting resource discovery and delivery platform The focal point of the project will be to enhance the quality as well as usability of the YMTS content. If there is need to add any resources to the YMTS, then the project manager will make such considerations to suite the research needs of the students and other college related activities that have an online orientation. 3. PROJECT PRODUCTS AND OUTCOMES Project Products In summary the purpose of the project is to produce the following: Project website The project plan, a progress report, a final report, a completion report, and exit and sustainability briefing Case studies on assessment and usability of YMTS Dissemination documents, presentations and events Enhanced software study material Project Outcomes Embed YMTS in partner institutions in: Computer studies programmes for undergraduates students A research benchmark for postgraduate students, researchers as well as academic staff Wider community, that is, the world over An interactive and harmonised resource discovery and delivery platform for YMTS Enhanced metadata through the use of Young created with user-collaboration Initial steps in developing a broader collection of theatrical resources. Stakeholder Analysis Interest / stake Importance College undergraduate and postgraduate students Embedding YMTS in their courses will improve the learning and teaching skill. Students will feed back their experiences. High UK/international scholars studies Using YMTS and feeding back their experiences High Project partner – GEEKS Interest in the advancement of digital repository systems. Interest in research and development work around metadata creation. Liaison with international @Home/Young community. High 4. PROJECT ORGANIZATION Organizational Structure The structure of the YMTS organization is depicted as the following. Prof. Blair G., will be listed as the project advisor and will only act in the capacity of an advisory and guidance role but will not be directly involved in any of the related hands-on tasks and duties associated with the planning, development, testing and implementation of the YMTS system. Organizational Structure of the YMTS Project Team: Prof. Blair, G. Project Advisor Johnson Bill Project Manager Heath Ivie Development Lead Kim Hancock Design Lead Ken Brower Database Lead Chris Horner Project Member Marlo Castillo Project Member Michael Adams Project Member Name Title Prof. Blair, G. Project Advisor Johnson Bill Project Manager Heath Ivie Development Lead Kim Hancock Design Lead Ken Brower Database Lead Chris Horner Project Team Member Marlo Castillo Project Team Member Michael Adams Project Team Member MANAGERIAL PROCESS Management Objectives and Priorities The software design project came about as a means to try and replace the current implementation in place at the Young of the United Kingdom in regards to Membership tracking and reporting. The current system in place has inherent security flaws that could be exploited to allow unauthorized access to restricted data. In the process of trying to replace the current setup, other features and design improvements were identified to be included for the design of the Young Minds Tracking System program. Objectives The key objectives of the project are: To close the security flaws inherent with the current software implementation used for member attendance at the Young Minds sites while also making available the reporting features found on the current software in place. Another objective would be to allow for a web based implementation of the Young Minds Tracking System and to have a more user-friendly interface with regards to the check in check out process for members and providing the same features to the staff. Priorities The main priorities would be to develop the check in and checkout capability for both members and staff of the Young Minds Tracking System and also to have a flexible reporting capability to display the stored attendance data. Reporting In terms of reporting, the project team is required to submit a weekly status report to Prof. Blair, G. detailing their involvement and actions for the previous week. This report should include the items attempted and completed during the past week and also any issues identified that would be needed to be addressed. 5. ASSUMPTIONS, DEPENDENCIES, AND CONSTRAINTS Below is a list of the assumptions, dependencies and constraints identified for the Young Minds Tracking System project. This is a working list that could be adjusted based on needs and constraints encountered during the software development process. Assumptions: Each member of the project panel has a computer for use to work on the project. Every member is able to access the Internet particularly the Google project site and the SVN repository that can be Every member is able to download, install and utilize all applicable software and tools needed for this project including Eclipse. All needed hardware that the Software Tracking Program will utilize is already in place at the facilities of the Young Minds Tracking system. Dependencies: The project is dependent on the current hardware/software policies and procedures in place for the Young Minds System. Constraints: The user interface must be viewable on a monitor with a 1024x768 resolution or larger. Design mechanisms are limited to the capabilities of HTML, CSS and JavaScript. Any attendance logs made either by an employee or member can be tracked in the Reporting function of the Young Minds Tracking System. Any members enrolled or added into the system will be able to be referenced or accessed by the Attendance function and also the Reporting function of the Young Minds Tracking System program. Any activities created can be accessed by the Attendance and Reporting functions of the Young Minds Tracking System Program. Inadequacy of funds because project funding sources are limited, with contingency. Due to the nature of the law enforcement, resource availability is inconsistent. Risk Management The project team is cognisant of the risk factors related to the Young Minds Tracking System project. To address this, a trouble shooting system will be implemented on the Google project web site to identify, assess, and address any issues that come up during the Young Minds Tracking System project. In addition to this, the project aims to solve the funds scarcity by investing in other income generating activities that will act as a source of funds to the project. This has been resolved because relying entirely on donors and sponsors can sometimes stall the operations of a project. Monitoring and Controlling Mechanisms The project team is aware that many issues can come up during the development process. Current reporting mechanisms include Weekly Status reports submitted at the end of each week and emails sent to the group as a whole specifying any current or outstanding issues pertaining to the project. TECHNICAL PROCESS Methods and Tools Methods The main development method that will be used for creating the Young Minds Tracking System would be the Scrum method. After extensive discussion within the group, it was decided to proceed with this method instead of more linear Software development method. This was done due to the limited time available for the software development process of the Young Minds Tracking System. The project team recognized the pitfalls of allocating more time to requirements gathering and documentation and leaving not enough time for the development or creation of the Young Minds Tracking System. Software Documentation The following is a list of the documents that are required and developed 1. Software Project Management Plan: Outlines the process of the Young Minds Tracking System and specifies the projected schedule for the whole Software Design Process. The SPMP identifies the project deliverables and milestones and also the project schedule. 2. Software Design Document: Document that details the process and design of the software. This document would specify the needed design factors and requirements that would go into the design elements of the Young Minds Tracking System. 3. Software Requirements Specifications: Document that details the given requirements of the Young Minds Tracking System. 4. Concept of Operations: Document that summarizes the operations of the Young Minds Tracking System. 5. Software User’s Documentation: This document identifies the features and capabilities of the Young Minds Tracking System. It also contains user specific information such as use and troubleshooting the Young Minds Tracking System. Document that contains the user manual and all information that prospective users would find useful in regards to their use of the Young Minds Tracking System. 6. Testing Plan: The Testing Plan document outlines or describes our systematic approach for testing the Young Minds Tracking System. It will be used to confirm that we meet the design requirements previously outlined for the Young Minds Tracking System. Project Support Functions At the moment, there have not been any provisions made for project support functions. Future support functions and implementation of such functions could be discussed with the client at a future date. Also to create this chance is the need of the students for more features in the project. Resource Requirements The hardware resources identified to be required on this project include: Computer/workstation/notebook: Each member should have a computer or workstation available to use for this project. No particular funds have been allocated for any acquisition or rental of hardware resources Internet hardware and active Internet connection: Each project member should have all the necessary hardware and an active connection to be able to access the project website and the SVN repository. Also an Internet connection is required to download all the necessary software needed for the development of the Young Minds Tracking System. The software resources required for the project are: Microsoft Office: Documents associated with this project are created as Word documents. Also, charts and tables of date may be portrayed using either Excel formatting or spreadsheets. OpenOffice: OpenOffice is a free software application suite developed by Sun Microsystems. OpenOffice has the capability of opening and changing Microsoft Office documents. Since Microsoft Office requires a license to use and if a Project Team Member does not have Microsoft Office or a specific component, OpenOffice can be used instead of Microsoft Office in working with project documents. Eclipse: Eclipse is a multi-language software development environment that is used to develop applications in Java. Tomcat Web Server: Tomcat is a Java based web server used over the Internet. MySQL: This is a relational database program will emulate the database that would hold the information including members and employees for the Young Minds Tracking System. Firefox or Google Chrome: The web browser is needed to access the Google project web site and is also the main browser platform required to run the Web Application for the Young Minds Tracking System. Google Code: Google Code is a project hosting resource that will contain the project web site. 6. PROJECT TIMINGS AND DELIVERABLES The project deliverables of the project and the delivery dates are as follows: PROJECT DELIVERABLES ITEM DELIVERY DATE DELIVERY LOCATION QTY Young Minds Tracking System 31/01/2011 University 1 User Documentation 31/01/2011 University 1 Read More