CSCI814 IT Project Management

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12-07-2021

Question:

A project charter

A project charter should include at least the project’s title and date of authorization, the project manager’s information, a summary schedule, a summary of budget, project objectives, project success criteria, a summary of the planned approach for managing the project, roles and responsibilities. It should be reviewed by all project stakeholders. (Refer to Section 4.4 Developing a Project Charter in your textbook (Schwalbe, 2015).

Project plans

Each team must develop a project plan for the event booking system.. Your project plan must include the following in the report: project scope statement, project schedule, cost management plan, and human resource plan. You may also include quality management plan, risk management plan, project communication plan, etc. Your report must include appropriate Microsoft Project outputs for project schedule, cost management and human resource allocation. Appropriate work breakdown structure (WBS) must be included in the project plan. Include at least two milestones in your project plan (you may want to include the deliverables for each milestone).

Project execution

Each team should provide sufficient details about how the project is executed. Thus, using the milestones you have identified in your project plan, you are required to demonstrate how your team has executed the project. For each milestone, you should update your project progress in terms of schedule and cost. For each milestone, appropriate project progress reports need to be generated and you should use Microsoft Project to track your project progress (appropriate baseline should be used to track the project progress). In addition to the outputs from Microsoft Project, you may also want to include the following in the report: project staff assignment, change requests, project management plan updates, deliverables, etc. should also include at least 4 meeting minutes in the report.

Project closing and Lessons-learnt

This part of the report should evaluate your project success against your initial plan. It should also answer questions like “Did the project meet scope, time, and cost goals?”, “What went right and what went wrong on this project?”, “What will you do differently on the next project based on your experience working on this project?”. You can refer to Table 3-16 (p.116 in your textbook) for a sample lessons-learnt report.

Team members are encouraged to play the role of the project manager in turn. For example, each team member can lead at least one meeting.

Answer:

The project charter is prepared to consider the major components for planning and suitable resource activity allocation. Moreover, the schedule, budget, objectives and success factors are included (Schwalbe 2015). Planned approach for roles and responsibilities are advised for proper activities accomplishment. The project charter is prepared as following:

Project Title: “Developing an event booking system for UOW”

Authorization Date: PLEASE FILL

Project Authority: <PUT NAME AND DETAILS>

Project Manager: <PUT NAME AND DETAILS>

Team Members: <PUT NAME AND DETAILS>

Project Start Date: 27th February 2017

Project Objectives

For event booking system design, the objectives are identified as following:

I. To plan all activities as per event booking system design

II. To execute all management activities along with system development process

III. To implement the system as per project lifecycle management

Summary Schedule

To provide an overall view of the schedule and practice time management in earlier planning stage of project planning, summery schedule is shown with approximate timeline estimation. The estimated timeline is prepared as following:

Requirement analysis phase: Requirement of the project is to gather and analysis system functionality requirements, what system would perform and what will be incorporated in the system. This phase is estimated to take at least two weeks.

Project design phase: Design phase of the system is to prepare overall system structure for identifying system activity with logical diagrams. This phase is estimated to take at least two to three weeks.

Implementation of System Phase: Implementation of system is to develop all functionalities and provide all operations as per requirement analysis in event booking system. This phase is estimated to take at least three to four weeks.

Testing and Deployment Phase: The system should be tested with either using tools or certain techniques to assess its performance and functionalities. This phase is estimated to take at least two to three weeks.

Maintenance Phase: Maintenance phase is estimated to take at least one to two weeks. After all these phases, the system should be launched and project closure stage will be conducted.

Summary of Budget

In project charter, approximate and overall budget is estimated while considering all aspects of project management and system development. Summary of budget is shown as following:

Application Software User Licenses:	$1,000
Database User Licenses:	$2,000
Servers (New or upgraded, dedicated or shared):	$ 20,000
PCs and Setup:	$1,500
Backup devices:	$1,000
Network Setup:	$2,000
Resource Cost:	$2,500
Total Cost	$30,000

Project success factors

Event booking system for UOW has some success factors as following:

A. The user can create, launch new event or adjust event pricing, date, promo codes, and others for existing events

B. The user can view the event lists, can book event, and modify or cancel existing booking

Stakeholder roles and responsibilities

Project Manager: Managing all stakeholders and reporting to authority

System Analyst: Analyzing the entire system requirements

System developer: Developing the system as per requirements

System tester: Testing the system and providing maintenance

Review date: PLEASE FILL

Approval Date: PLEASE FILL

Table 1: Project Charter

(Source: Created by author)

The project scope management is managed with identifying in-scope and out-scopes aspects that should be addressed in the project. The scopes are emphasized as following:

In-scope aspects:

System should meet all requirements and functionalities
System should be analyzed for feasibility and performance
System should include all resource available to the project manager

Out-scope aspects:

The project manager should not be responsible for hiring system analyst, developer and tester. Concerned authority should hire them as per required expertise.
Project manager should wait for approval of certain aspects as requirement change, additional budget and time.

In this particular system development project, project management software Microsoft project is used. In this software activities and included with time specifications for project completion in time (Lawson et al. 2015). Finally, the activities are listed with assumed timeline as well.

Task Name	Duration	Start	Finish
UOW Event Booking System Development Project	57.75 days	Mon 27-02-17	Wed 17-05-17
Requirement analysis phase	5 days	Mon 27-02-17	Fri 03-03-17
Identification of system requirements	1 hr	Mon 27-02-17	Mon 27-02-17
Assessment of required expertise	3 hrs	Mon 27-02-17	Mon 27-02-17
System feasibility Study	1 day	Mon 27-02-17	Tue 28-02-17
Hiring of Stakeholders	2.5 days	Mon 27-02-17	Wed 01-03-17
Allocation of activities to stakeholders	1 day	Thu 02-03-17	Thu 02-03-17
Preparation of Planned approach	8 hrs	Fri 03-03-17	Fri 03-03-17
Final Requirement <milestone>	0 days	Fri 03-03-17	Fri 03-03-17
Project design phase	5.8 days	Mon 06-03-17	Mon 13-03-17
Designing of logical diagrams	2 days	Tue 07-03-17	Thu 09-03-17
Preparation of process flow and data flow	2 days	Thu 09-03-17	Mon 13-03-17
Preparation of hardware and software setup	1.8 days	Mon 06-03-17	Tue 07-03-17
Final Design of System <milestone>	0 days	Mon 13-03-17	Mon 13-03-17
Implementation of System Phase	25.2 days	Mon 13-03-17	Mon 17-04-17
Development of the system in HTML, JavaScript, PHP and Bootstrap language	2 days	Mon 13-03-17	Wed 15-03-17
Connection to database	3 hrs	Wed 05-04-17	Thu 06-04-17
Definition of methods	1 day	Mon 17-04-17	Mon 17-04-17
Implementation of Functions	1 day	Wed 15-03-17	Thu 16-03-17
Final System Development <milestone>	0 days	Mon 17-04-17	Mon 17-04-17
Testing and Deployment Phase	9.75 days	Tue 18-04-17	Mon 01-05-17
System debugging	2 days	Tue 18-04-17	Wed 19-04-17
Testing all functionalities	4 hrs	Thu 20-04-17	Thu 20-04-17
Performance assessment	1 day	Thu 20-04-17	Fri 21-04-17
Design modifications (if any)	1 hr	Fri 21-04-17	Fri 21-04-17
Additional functionalities (if any)	2 hrs	Mon 01-05-17	Mon 01-05-17
Testing completion <milestone>	0 days	Mon 01-05-17	Mon 01-05-17
Maintenance Phase	12 days	Mon 01-05-17	Wed 17-05-17
System maintenance	3 days	Mon 01-05-17	Thu 04-05-17
Database Maintenance	3 days	Wed 10-05-17	Mon 15-05-17
Pilot study	5 hrs	Mon 15-05-17	Tue 16-05-17
Feedback Analysis	6 hrs	Tue 16-05-17	Wed 17-05-17
Perform Modifications (if any)	2 hrs	Wed 17-05-17	Wed 17-05-17
Project Closure	2 hrs	Wed 17-05-17	Wed 17-05-17
Stakeholder sign-off	1 hr	Wed 17-05-17	Wed 17-05-17
System launch <milestone>	0 days	Wed 17-05-17	Wed 17-05-17

Table 2: Activity Scheduling with Assumed Timeline

(Source: Created by author)

As per the project activities scheduling, the Gantt chart and work breakdown structure is prepared. Gantt chart is effective for showing individual activities, resources, dependencies, and timeline representation.

For the milestones, the deliverables are identified. For milestone “Final Requirement”, all requirement analysis outcomes are expected to be completed. When the project is at this milestone, all requirements are finalized and the project is ready for next phase. In milestone “Final Design of System”; all design specifications and logical designs are finalized for implementation. In milestone “Final System Development”, system development should be completed and the system should be ready for testing and debugging. In milestone “Testing completion”, testing, performance analysis, debugging should be accomplished. In milestone “System launch”, event booking system should be launched for users.

Task Name	Duration	Resource Names	Cost
UOW Event Booking System Development Project	57.75 days		$3,485.60
Requirement analysis phase	5 days		$394.00
Identification of system requirements	1 hr	Project Manager, System Analyst	$22.00
Assessment of required expertise	3 hrs	System Analyst	$36.00
System feasibility Study	1 day	Project Manager, System Analyst	$176.00
Hiring of Stakeholders	2.5 days	Authority	$0.00
Allocation of activities to stakeholders	1 day	Project Manager	$80.00
Preparation of Planned approach	8 hrs	Project Manager	$80.00
Final Requirement	0 days		$0.00
Project design phase	5.8 days		$729.60
Designing of logical diagrams	2 days	System Analyst	$192.00
Preparation of process flow and data flow	2 days	System developer	$192.00
Preparation of hardware and software setup	1.8 days	System Analyst, System developer	$345.60
Final Design of System	0 days		$0.00
Implementation of System Phase	25.2 days		$612.00
Development of the system in HTML, JavaScript, PHP and Bootstrap language	2 days	System Analyst, System developer	$384.00
Connection to database	3 hrs	System developer	$36.00
Definition of methods	1 day	System developer	$96.00
Implementation of Functions	1 day	System developer	$96.00
Final System Development	0 days		$0.00
Testing and Deployment Phase	9.75 days		$504.00
System debugging	2 days	System tester	$240.00
Testing all functionalities	4 hrs	System Analyst, System tester	$108.00
Performance assessment	1 day	System tester	$120.00
Design modifications (if any)	1 hr	System developer	$12.00

For quality management planning, individual performance assessment is considered for assessing quality in system development. As the performance assessment is performed, the project manager can review whether each member can be able to achieve the deliverable or not. Furthermore, the quality in implementation process is evaluated from system tester. Debugging and testing report was considered for quality assessment.

For risk management planning, risk register was prepared as per encountered risks during execution and implementation phase. Risk mitigation plan was recommended from concerned authority. Risk analysis report was maintained during entire project development lifecycle.

For communication planning, meeting and discussion sessions were conducted. Meeting schedule was prepared from project manager for different milestones. Minutes were maintained with previous and next meeting agendas. Discussion sessions reports were prepared for finalizing the meeting outcomes in project implementation.

As per above project progress report, system analyst was responsible for identifying the project and system requirements. Moreover, the project manager was responsible for managing the activities such as System feasibility Study, Allocation of activities to stakeholders, and Preparation of Planned approach. Identification of system requirements and Assessment of required expertise was critical in nature as based on them feasibility study was to be conducted. Feasibility study took 6 days while after 7 days, the stakeholders were hired.

Moreover, the authority was responsible for hiring the stakeholders as per expertise. Before, accomplishing the planned approach, the project manager had conducted meeting with authority for stating stakeholder requirements. Minutes are prepared considering the outcomes as project manager needed, requirement analyst, developer and tester for accomplishing all activities regarding system development. Minutes were approved from the authority and they hired the stakeholders as expected. Once, the stakeholders are hired, the requirement analysis phase is completed. The planned approach is prepared with stating each stakeholder activities, allocation of them with time and proper priority based activity scheduling.

Milestone 2: Final Design of System

In this milestone, the project progress report is prepared with stating design of logical diagrams such as UML, ERD, use case, and others. These logical diagrams design took 8 days with efforts from system analyst. With help of system developer, preparation of process flow and data flow was performed. After completion of logical diagrams, the process flow and data flow diagrams were prepared. Once, these designs are finalized from authority with proper presentation of functionalities; the hardware and software setup activity was conducted.

In the meeting for design presentation, minutes were considered with authority recommendations for adjusting entities, attributes, methods, and certain modifications were noted. Once, the design and flow charts were prepared and approved. The hardware and software setup activity took 10 days more to complete. In this hardware and software installation activity, system analyst and system developer took part. Both of them installed ranges of software and completed the hardware setup as per development requirements. Finally, the progress report is prepared after accomplishment of ‘final design’ of system.

Milestone 3: Final System Development

Once, the design was confirmed from authority, the development activity was started. System development activities were conducted from the beginning with setting up servers, databases, and other system components. Moreover, the system analyst and system developer participated for developing the system within the assigned time. Connection of database took 8 days and once, the setup is ready for implementation of system, the methods and functions are defined and developed. During these development activities, continuous meetings and discussion sessions were conducted with project authority and project manager; so that all issues can be resolved. All precautions were considered when the development was under progress.

In this milestone, the system debugging and testing was performed. System tester took part for debugging, testing all functionalities, and performance assessment activities. System tester used to debug the entire system module wise and the system developer worked with tester side-by-side for noting the issues and flaws found.

Once, the performance assessment was conducted, the system tester recommended some design modifications; these modifications were sent for approval from authority. Furthermore, to adjust design modifications, some functionality were to be adjusted and modified. Then meeting was conducted for approval and discussion about the concern. System developer considered the modifications either to be made or not for the system. Finally, the testing process is accomplished with all terms of testing and performance analysis reports.

Once, the testing milestone is reached, the launch milestone was left to be achieved. The system and database maintenance was provided for 7 days. System tester and analyst took responsibility for providing maintenance to the system and database. As per authority’s consideration, project manager chosen sample of users and conducted a pilot study for 12 days. Feedback gathered from pilot study and feedbacks were analyzed for 8 days. Once, the feedbacks were considered; certain modifications were identified. Finally, as per the users’ feedbacks, these modifications were further analyzed whether those can be implemented or not.

Once, the final modification was completed, project document was completed. Final stage was project closure, where the authority took meeting with project manager and other stakeholders. Authority performed post project implementation reviewing that determined their individual performances. Furthermore, PIR reviewing had shown that the project whether it has met all requirements or not. Finally, stakeholder sign-off was conducted to release them from project and their wage payment was completed. After all these activities, the launch milestone is reached; authority should be responsible for launching the “event booking system”. Cash flow changes are shown in the appendix based on each milestone

Project Closing and Lessons Learnt

At project closing, the evaluation of success factors was considered. In the project charter, success criteria were mentioned as the user can create, launch new event or adjust event pricing, date, promo codes, and others for existing events; and the user can view the event lists, can book event, and modify or cancel existing booking. Once, the system was developed, the criteria was evaluated with system tester. The project met scope, time and cost goals. It clearly followed the in-scope and out-scopes aspects.

Moreover, in assigned timeline, the project was finished as per scheduling. Furthermore, the project took $27,064.00 (approximately) that is lesser than planned cost $30,000.00. The project planning was conducted with proper order and manner whereas; the issue resolving took some extra days. Additional issues were addressed towards the concerned authority for approval. Change requests were raised from project manager for certain change management. As per project manager experience, next project should address, project planning with detailed deliverable discussion. In current project, deliverables were executed after planning was performed. Risk management process was considered after progress planning was conducted as well.

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