Application Development Project Business Case For Cobden Golf Club Essay.

Objectives of the project

The purpose of this task is to provide students with practical experience in working in teams to develop a project business case in order to solve an IT business problem.

In this assignment, you will be prepare a project business case based on an IT project case study and should use their own initiative regarding assumptions and the scheduling all deliverables.

The Cobden Golf Club, provides a widely acclaimed golfing experience, and a wonderful club atmosphere for patrons of all ages. From the course, to the lounge and bistro to the social activities, the Cobden Golf Club is the premier community facility in the Corangamite Shire. Open every day from 10 am.

The Cobden Golf Club is widely regarded as one of the hidden gems along the Great Ocean Road with pristine santa ana (type of grass) fairways and bent grass greens. Until recently the course laid claim to the best 9 hole course in the region, that was until the progressive club purchased more land and set about a transition to a full 18 hole layout. At present, there are 14 holes in play, with the design and early stages of construction taking place to bring the plans to fruition. The course is not long in length but the santa ana fairways are narrow and tree lined with the greens guarded by strategic second cuts and sand filled bunkers. During the summer months when the santa ana fairways come to life, the course truly stands alongside the nearby Warrnambool and Port Fairy courses making this a must play venue in the South West of Victoria.

Cobden Golf Club Pty Ltd is managed by director (and pro-golfer), Adam Scott. Currently Scott promotes the Cobden Golf Club via community website, community noticeboards and advertising in local newsletters. Scott wishes to tap into a wider market including great ocean road tourists through the creation of a mobile app designed to promote and grow the Cobden golf course, membership, club room facility hire and range of other services such as golfing lessons, mentoring, membership and sales of golfing apparel at their pro-store.

You have been working for Sports Software Inc. casually for the last three months in their mobile app development department. As a virtual team specialist, your company has applied for a tender to develop the app for Cobden Golf Club Pty Ltd. Due to the importance of this project the CEO of Sports Software Inc, Karrie Webb, and the Director of Mobile Development Minjee Lee have both made this project a priority.  

SWOT analysis of Cobden Golf Club

The initial investment in the project is estimated to be $80,000 in year 0 of the project, $10,000 in year 1, $10,000 in year 2, and $5,000 in year 3 a total of $105,000. Sports Software Inc. requires a discount rate of 7%. It is anticipated project future cash inflow as follows (Years 0 to 3): $0, $80,000, $120,000, and $140,000, a total of $340,000 The project will be expected to make at least a 28% ROI, to conform to the Sports Software Inc, business model.

The goal of the project is to propose an app, which is optimised for iPhone and Android devices. The app should allow golfers and tourists and golf enthusiasts to subscribe and pay for access a database of golfing tips, including explanations of the various golfing games and scoring approaches. Users will be able to book individual or group golfing clinics and lessons. Readers should be able to subscribe to the Cobden Golf Club newsletter and related upcoming events. There should be access charts detailing the course and greens, and videos showcasing all modern golf techniques. There should be a built in scoring system. The app should provide users with an ability to provide an overall ranking of Cobden Golf Club in terms of quality of information and services. Management believes it will take about three months (12 weeks) with a budget of $105,000 for this important project. Webb aims for a budget contingency reserve of approximately 10%.

Karrie Web and Minjee Lee have formed a search committee to find the best candidate for managing the Cobden Golf Club App Project. After reviewing many strong candidates, they decided to appoint you, to put together the business case for this critical project. Your previous job was with a consultancy firm where you successfully implemented several android application development projects for medium sized enterprises, using virtual teams. Since this is a high priority project that should be completed in four months, they felt it was appropriate to get the best candidate to put together a quality business case and project management plan. They are offering a base rate for your contract at $80 p/hr for 1 d/wk, but a lot is at stake, Cobden Golf Club and similar businesses are likely to request further mobile app development projects. Webb and Lee propose to be joint project sponsors, and have handpicked Stacey Peters, to be the main internal IT liaison and Jason Day to be the Cobden Golf Club liaison. They will let you as the new project manager form the rest of the project team if the tender bid is successful.

In order to get the app developed in the time frame you propose to use Royce’s well known waterfall development approach. It is anticipated the requirements and operations phases will take one week each, while the analysis design and testing phases will take 2 weeks each, and the coding phase approximately 4 weeks. Your team consists of two programmers and a digital image specialist. The three team members will spend the equivalent of half a day a week on project management related activities (e.g. completing status reports and attending meetings etc.) and the remaining 4.5 days on development. They will be paid at a rate of $57 p/hr. You will also need to access to a golfing consultant (Katherine Kirk). The consultant and liaison pay rates are negotiable and will only be required for a maximum of one week.

You anticipate several challenges if this tender bid is successful. Sports Software originally focused on developing sports based learning apps for kids, but the CEO, Karrie Webb, has emphasised the need to increase profits by tapping into other markets, including sports marketing projects. The type of people who work on kids learning projects are often different from people working on the new sports marketing projects. They often have different educational backgrounds, skill sets, and ideals. Most of the people hired in the past year have been hired to support these new markets. Even though you and the Cobden Golf Club project team tried to do a good job managing key stakeholders, there are some difficulties with several employees who disagree with the company’s new market strategies.  

The plan is to roll out review existing information, conduct research and gather new material. Detailed storyboards, a prototype, alpha, beta and final version of the app will developed. The app will need to be tested, and promoted prior to roll out. The project will be considered a success, if it comes in on time, on budget, within scope and key stakeholders have been pleased with the communication and reporting processes.

Objectives of the project

The project development and management principles are helpful for forming the analysis of the effective flow of operations (Model, 2015). The integration of the operations would involve the development of the effective operations. The following assignment would involve the use of project management tools and processes for implying the case study of application development in organization.

The project is developed for installing an application for forming the accurate operation and implementation process. The evolution of the app development project would tend to form the effective flow of the process methodology for forming the effective and improved operations (Balaji & Murugaiyan, 2012). The project involves the development of the effective implementation model within the operations of the project.

The objectives of the project of Application Development for Cobden Golf Club are,

• To form a plan for developing and implementing the application based structure for Cobden Golf Club
• To deploy the use of the system developing for the implementation of the effective operations in Cobden Golf Club
• To complete the project within the specific budget, time schedule and ROI of 28% for the application development

The SWOT analysis of the Cobden Golf Club includes the analysis of the organization in terms of operations, marketing point of view and cost benefit analysis (Burke, 2013). The Swot analysis of the Cobden Golf Club is done in the diagram below,

Figure 1: SWOT analysis of Cobden Golf Club

(Source: Thamhain, 2013, pp-33)

The problem of the Cobden Golf Club is the lack of the technology advancement for the operations and functions (Martinelli & Milosevic, 2016). The existing facility of Cobden Golf Club would require some technological development for implementing the effective and smart operations. The club has to face the issue of competition from rival golf clubs and there has been a decrease in the overall customers in the organization.

The implementation of the improved services would help in forming the improvement of the operations by the effective use of technology. The application would tend to form the increase of the customers by the implication of the effective operations.

The project of application development in Cobden Golf Club would comprise of forming the following critical assumptions and constraints.

Assumptions: The assumptions taken in the project are that the project would be completed within the estimated time duration and resource, the resources required for the project would be easily available for accumulation, and the team members would work in harmony with each other.

Constraints: The constraints taken in the project are the time, budget and the limited scope of improvement. The constraints of the project would involve the deployment of limitation for the operations of the project.

The project development would involve the use of the proper scheduling and modification of the tools and operations. The involvement of the effective and improved employment model would involve the effective system implementation. The improvement of the operations would integrate the effective deployment of the operations. Some recommendations for the application development in Cobden Golf Club are,

SWOT analysis of Cobden Golf Club

Design Methodology: The use of effective design methodology would help in forming the integration of the operations for deploying the effective application in the club. The design methodology is developed for integrating the design of the application for implanting the effective operations.

Security Functions: The security of the data stored in the application would be a primary concern for Cobden Golf Club and it would involve the use of effective technologies and operations.

NPV and ROI calculation

The NPV and ROI calculation has been done by considering the following facts as provided in the case study of Application Development for Cobden Golf Club,

Initial Investment= $105,000.00

Breakdown of the initial investment,

Year 0à $80,000.00; Year 1à $10,000.00; Year 2à $10,000.00; Year 3à $5,000.00

Discounting rate= 7%

Cash Inflow for the project,

Year 0à $0.00; Year 1à $80,000.00; Year 2à $120,000.00; Year 3à $140,000.00

Discounting rate is not considered for cash inflow for calculation and The NPV and ROI is calculated in the table below,

Cost/Benefit Analysis for Smartphone App Implementation
	Year of Project
	year 0	year1	year 2	year 3	TOTAL
Net economic benefit		$80,000.00	$120,000.00	$140,000.00
Discount Rate 7%	1	0.9346	0.8734	0.8163
PV Of Benefits	$0.00	$74,766.36	$104,812.65	$114,281.70
NPV of all BENEFITS	$0.00	$74,766.36	$179,579.00	$293,860.71	$293,860.71
One Time Costs				($105,000.00)
Recurring Costs	($80,000.00)	($10,000.00)	($10,000.00)	($5,000.00)
NPV Of All Costs	($80,000.00)	($90,000.00)	($100,000.00)	($105,000.00)	($105,000.00)
Overall NPV				$188,860.71
ROI				2.80
Actual ROI in %				27.99
Breakeven analysis
Yearly NPV Cash flow	($105,000.00)	$15,233.64	$79,579.00	$188,860.71	$188,860.71	$188,860.71
Overall NPV Cash flow	($105,000.00)	($120,233.64)	$40,654.64	$148,206.06	$337,066.77	$525,927.47
Project Breakeven occurs between year 2 and 3, Actual Breakeven occurs at 2.51 years

Table 1: NPV Calculation for the Project

(Source: Created by the author in Ms-Excel)

The payback period for the calculation of the project is shown in the diagram and below,

Figure 2: Payback Period Diagram for the project

(Source: Created by the author in Ms-Excel)

The following table would show the calculation of the payback period for the project,

Year	Costs	Benefits	Cumulative Costs	Cumulative Benefits
0	$80,000.00	$0.00	$80,000.00	$0.00
1	$10,000.00	$74,766.36	$90,000.00	$74,766.36
2	$10,000.00	$179,579.00	$100,000.00	$254,345.36
3	$5,000.00	$293,860.71	$105,000.00	$548,206.07

Table 2: Payback Period Calculation for the Project

(Source: Created by the author in Ms-Excel)

The preliminary project requirements are the human and material resources that can be used for forming the effective flow of operations. The implementation of the operations would involve the development of the project requirements of both human and material resources. The resources of the project are shown in the table below,

Resource Name	Activities
Project Manager	Making an estimation of resources required
	Project Initialization Meeting
	Submission of project initiation documents
	Approval of project
	Reviewing the plan outline
	Plan Approval
	Design Approval
	Submitting the final documents of approval
	Application is Approved
	Application is Released (Go Live)
Planner	Making initial Documents
	Charter Development
	Developing plan outline
	Making Complete Plan
	Making Final Documents
Programmer 1	Reviewing the design
	Making Complete Design
	Programming the Functions
	Developing Cloud Database
	Integration of the database and application
	Performance Testing
	Usability Testing
	Prototype Testing
Programmer 2	Reviewing the design
	Making Complete Design
	Coding Application
	Developing Cloud Database
	Integration of the database and application
	Performance Testing
	Usability Testing
	Prototype Testing
Consultant	Requirements Accumulation
	Developing Cost benefit analysis
	Selecting planning methodology
	Selecting Waterfall Design Methodology for Designing
Digital Image Specialist	Making Design Outline for the application
	Making the Interface on screen
Hardware	Requirements Accumulation
Software	Requirements Accumulation
Archive	Requirements Accumulation

Table 3: Project Requirements

The budget estimation for the project is done by considering the resource estimation and effective previous reports and evaluation. The budget for the project of Smartphone Application Development for Cobden Golf Club is given below,

Project Budget Document
Project Name: Smartphone Application Development for Cobden Golf Club
Resource Name	Work Duration	Cost
Project Manager	48 hrs	$3,840.00
Planner	80 hrs	$6,000.00
Programmer 1	256 hrs	$14,592.00
Programmer 2	264 hrs	$15,048.00
Digital Image Specialist	36 hrs	$2,052.00
Consultant	28 hrs	$2,100.00
Hardware	1	$30,000.00
Software	1	$25,000.00
Archive	1	$6,000.00
Total		$104,632.00

Table 4: Project Budget Estimation

(Source: Created by the author in Ms-Excel)

The project of Smartphone Application Development for Cobden Golf Club has been developed by using Waterfall Approach and its schedule has been given below,

WBS	Task Name	Duration	Start	Finish
0	Smartphone Application Development for Cobden Golf Club	65 days	Mon 1/1/18	Fri 3/30/18
1	Requirement Analysis Phase	8 days	Mon 1/1/18	Wed 1/10/18
1.1	Making initial Documents	1.5 days	Mon 1/1/18	Tue 1/2/18
1.2	Requirements Accumulation	2 days	Tue 1/2/18	Thu 1/4/18
1.3	Making an estimation of resources required	0.5 days	Thu 1/4/18	Thu 1/4/18
1.4	Developing Cost benefit analysis	0.5 days	Fri 1/5/18	Fri 1/5/18
1.5	Charter Development	1.5 days	Fri 1/5/18	Mon 1/8/18
1.6	Project Initialization Meeting	1 day	Tue 1/9/18	Tue 1/9/18
1.7	Submission of project initiation documents	0.5 days	Wed 1/10/18	Wed 1/10/18
1.8	Approval of project	0.5 days	Wed 1/10/18	Wed 1/10/18
2	Planning and Designing Phase	17 days	Thu 1/11/18	Fri 2/2/18
2.1	Plan Development	7 days	Thu 1/11/18	Fri 1/19/18
2.1.1	Selecting planning methodology	0.5 days	Thu 1/11/18	Thu 1/11/18
2.1.2	Developing plan outline	1.5 days	Thu 1/11/18	Fri 1/12/18
2.1.3	Reviewing the plan outline	1 day	Mon 1/15/18	Mon 1/15/18
2.1.4	Making Complete Plan	3.5 days	Tue 1/16/18	Fri 1/19/18
2.1.5	Plan Approval	0.5 days	Fri 1/19/18	Fri 1/19/18
2.2	Design Development	10 days	Mon 1/22/18	Fri 2/2/18
2.2.1	Selecting Waterfall Design Methodology for Designing	0.5 days	Mon 1/22/18	Mon 1/22/18
2.2.2	Making Design Outline for the application	1.5 days	Mon 1/22/18	Tue 1/23/18
2.2.3	Reviewing the design	1 day	Wed 1/24/18	Wed 1/24/18
2.2.4	Making Complete Design	6.5 days	Thu 1/25/18	Fri 2/2/18
2.2.5	Design Approval	0.5 days	Fri 2/2/18	Fri 2/2/18
3	Application Development	32 days	Mon 2/5/18	Tue 3/20/18
3.1	Making the Interface on screen	3 days	Mon 2/5/18	Wed 2/7/18
3.2	Programming the Functions	8 days	Thu 2/8/18	Mon 2/19/18
3.3	Coding Application	9 days	Tue 2/20/18	Fri 3/2/18
3.4	Developing Cloud Database	7 days	Mon 3/5/18	Tue 3/13/18
3.5	Integration of the database and application	5 days	Wed 3/14/18	Tue 3/20/18
4	Testing Phase	4.5 days	Wed 3/21/18	Tue 3/27/18
4.1	Performance Testing	1.5 days	Wed 3/21/18	Thu 3/22/18
4.2	Usability Testing	1.5 days	Thu 3/22/18	Fri 3/23/18
4.3	Prototype Testing	1.5 days	Mon 3/26/18	Tue 3/27/18
5	Project Completion Phase	3.5 days	Tue 3/27/18	Fri 3/30/18
5.1	Making Final Documents	2 days	Tue 3/27/18	Thu 3/29/18
5.2	Submitting the final documents of approval	0.5 days	Thu 3/29/18	Thu 3/29/18
5.3	Application is Approved	0.5 days	Fri 3/30/18	Fri 3/30/18
5.4	Application is Released (Go Live)	0.5 days	Fri 3/30/18	Fri 3/30/18
6	Project is Closed	0 days	Fri 3/30/18	Fri 3/30/18

Table 5: Project Schedule

(Source: Created by the author)

The list of the potential risks are given below,

Serial Number	Potential Risk
1	Technology Risk
2	Financial Risk
3	Incomplete requirements
4	Scope Risk
5	Changing requirements

Table 5: Potential Risks of the project

References 

Artto, K. A., & Kahkonen, K. (2013). Managing risks in projects. Routledge.

Balaji, S., & Murugaiyan, M. S. (2012). Waterfall vs. V-Model vs. Agile: A comparative study on SDLC. International Journal of Information Technology and Business Management, 2(1), 26-30.

Burke, R. (2013). Project management: planning and control techniques. New Jersey, USA.

Kerzner, H. (2013). Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.

Martinelli, R. J., & Milosevic, D. Z. (2016). Project management toolbox: tools and techniques for the practicing project manager. John Wiley & Sons.

Model, W. (2015). Waterfall model. Luettavissa: https://www.waterfall-model. com/. Luettu, 3.

Schwalbe, K. (2015). Information technology project management. Cengage Learning.

Thamhain, H. (2013). Managing risks in complex projects. Project Management Journal, 44(2), 20-35.