CMP 612 Final Project

Final Project

MP 612 IT Project Management

Virginia International University

Project Plan Overview

1.1 Background

Information is a significant component of any trusted business activity. Information is useful across the entire organization for number of purposes and is stored in an assortment of information systems. Modification to any of these information systems must be firmly controlled and managed to evade those loss of important information that cannot be recovered. System owners must lay strong emphasis on impacts and risks that are mitigated due to implementation of change. Their emphasis must comprise of the following areas:

Hardware and Technical configuration

Software and Application configuration

Security, Governance, policies, and procedures

Business benefits

Costs

End Users

Health, safety, and equality

The policies and procedures generally define the technique for managing all (software and hardware) modifications made to the information systems and technical infrastructure of an organization.

In a globalized market of today, companies are faced with challenges in each and every step of their business. Our analytics and research services are geared towards giving those companies that extra edge over the competition. We process and analyze terabytes of data and break down all the fuzz and chatter around it to give our customers meaningful insights about their competition and the market they are engaged in.

By leveraging our data collection, processing, and research and analytics expertise and by focusing on operational excellence and an industry standard delivery model, we help the leading companies making insightful business decisions.
A comprehensive portfolio of our services include, Market, Business and financial research, Domain based analytics and Data processing services. Our industry wide focus is into Banking, Finance, FMCG, Insurance, Retail and Manufacturing industries.

The project will make use of methodology which is designed to build, test and assess a practical approach, constructing on existing tools.

1.2 Project Description

The Company has online database for processing data, messages, batch and manual data input processing. It has two integrations: Vertical integration where processing of data is done for office area (ERP) and Horizontal integration where archival of data of various archival system takes place.

Databases include the open SQL database where process values, batch data and messages are stored. It provides client-server architecture for displaying data. Along with displaying of data, user can also evaluate data, analysis data and generate reports.

1.3 Goals and Objectives

The main goal of the Project Plan is to represent the complete detail needed to successfully deploy and manage the project, make possible communication among project stakeholders, and document describing approved schedule baselines. The project plan is a living document and is likely to vary over time as more information regarding project becomes available.

The project goal – The project aims at upgrading the company’s information system and infrastructure which provides data collection and analysis services.

1.4 Scope

Applications – In order to achieve its goals, company uses following tools:

a) Data collection tools

b) Web Analytics tool

c) Resource tracking application

Information System specialist will be responsible for carrying out these tasks.

Sites – At offshore, data collection is being carried. Data processing and analysis is done at onsite. Project managers at both sites will prepare the project plan for their respective sites.

Process Re-engineering – IT Re-engineering implementation can be divided into three phases: before the process is defined, during process designing and after the process is designed. Re-engineering will include defining new business opportunities by re-defining the processes, proficient database utilization and data mining. Information System Specialist will be responsible for it.

Customization – Customizations will be limited to improvement of old hardware with new infrastructure. Network engineer along with Information System Specialist will be responsible for this task.

Interfaces – The company’s IS has interfaces for evaluating data i.e. reports defined by users with MS Office (Excel and Microsoft word), standard components of software like Crystal reports and Business Objects. Licensed software will deal by the human resource team.

Architecture – Application and technical architecture will be designed once the requirements are approved by the senior management.

Conversion – Since company is not very old, so all of the online data will need to be converted in new format as per the upgraded infrastructure.

Testing – It will include integration testing, load testing, tuning and network testing

Funding – It is limited to $1million

Training – It will be include sessions on using new hardware’s, software’s, and technologies. Functional lead will lay down the training plan.

Education – It will include Bachelors of Engineering and certification in information systems.

1.5 Roles and Responsibilities

On studying the company’s profile, it seems that company has following resources which form the personnel of its information systems:

Data collection

• Chief Information Officer – It provides assistance to senior management on IT related tasks.
• Develop and maintain IT infrastructure.
• Develop efficient design to implement operations of the company.
• Information System specialist – It designs and administers infrastructure development and support.
• Database administration – Storing data and mining it for future goals of the company.
• Project Manager – He/ She will be responsible for managing the project issues.
• System Analyst – He/ She analyzes the whole system and conduct technical research. Also prepares documentation for future goals.
• System Administrator – He or she will be responsible for resolving internal network issues of the company.

1.6. Constraints and Assumptions

• SP-based data – It is the data collected over network traffic. It provides data to tool vendor. It does not collect secure data.
• Panel based data – It collects internet user data.
• Tool-monitoring data – It is installed at user end. Alexa is one of the examples in this category.
• Online monitoring data – Here user takes survey and provides data to company.

The following assumptions have been identified:

0% funding has been from sponsors

• Finance & Marketing activities for the training organization are out of scope of this engagement.

The following constraints have been identified:

• Organization will allocate key project roles and sufficient budget for the development and implementation of this project.
• Efficient, ample, and proper levels of communication exist between the sponsor, management, and the project team during all project phases.

1.7 Risks

• The upper limit for the expected budget should not be exceeded by 10%. In case of overshooting of budget within 10% range, the additional capital will be raised through loans or VC funding.
• The upper limit for the expected time should not be exceeded by 60 days. The assumptions of stable government policies, economic conditions may not hold true after 60 days.

These are some risks that can occur during all phases of development

SOFTWARE REQUIREMENT RISKS

Lack of analysis for change of requirements

Change extension of requirements

Lack of report for requirements Poor definition of requirements

Ambiguity of requirements Change of requirements

SOFTWARE COST RISKS

Lack of good estimation in projects Unrealistic schedule

The hardware does not work well Human errors

Lack of testing and monitoring

Lack of monitoring

Complexity of architecture Large size of architecture

SOFTWARE SCHEDULING RISKS

Inadequate budget

Change of requirements

Extension of requirements change Human errors

Inadequate knowledge about tools

Inadequate knowledge about techniques

SOFTWARE QUALITY RISKS

Inadequate documentation Lack of project standard

Lack of design documentation Inadequate budget

Human errors Unrealistic schedule

Extension of requirements change

SOFTWARE BUSINESS RISKS

The products that no one want them

Failure in total budget

Failure in commitment

2.2 Staffing Plan

The principle of the staffing plan is to ensure that the project has adequate staff with the proper skills and experience to make certain a successful project completion.

Role Requirements

It includes: the project role, skills required, the project responsibility of the role, the estimated start date, number of staff needed to fulfill the role, and the anticipated duration the staff resource will be required on the project.

Staff Assigned to Roles

The table given below is a comprehensive breakdown of the genuine staff assigned to the project role, the quantity of Full Time Equivalent (FTE) desired for the role, the real FTE acquired, labor rate and unit of labor rate for the resource and the source from which the resource can be recruited.

PROJECT ORGANIZATION CHART

The project organization chart is a graphical picture of the organization and reporting relationships of the project.

2.4 Project Budget

The project budget describes cost and budget needed to complete the project tasks. It may include cost and budget for ongoing support after project completion.

Budget during the life of the Project

The budget below describes the detailed estimates for material, labor and other items for the entire project duration.

Comments: “Other” is the budget estimate for a training class: Effective Writing for the Web

3. Solution Provider

IBM – Smarter Analytics is one of the most renowned analytical tools available in the market today. It is developed and maintained by IBM and also has proven track record in the market. It is suitable for various types of industries and can integrate in nearly all business operations.

Tools based on CMOS technology should be used, so that the data can be analyzed at a faster rate. These tools are very compact in size.

The system can be integrated with cloud computing techniques. In this technique the data is stored at a remote server which is managed by the third party service providers. So there is no need to manage the data. It is the responsibility of the service providers. So it helps in saving the cost. The charges are “Pay per use”. So there is no need to pay for the complete service.

4. Database and Data Warehousing

In order to have a successful data warehouse design the IT management must closely follow the development and implementation of every step along the way. The need for a good data warehousing design is critical in the supporting the storage of enormous amounts of data. The records of a database are specific data and references of every individual transaction of any passing of data in the database system as a whole. This data needs to be readably accessible at any time to be analyzed or used. In order to meet the needs of the organization they data warehouse must be organized in a way that allows rapid access to data for analysis and reporting.

5. Infrastructure and Security

Classification of Data
Any company’s user having authoritative access to data of the company may, modify data’s classification. The user may be in a position to change classification of data if there are sufficient and justifiable reasons of doing so. Resources doing so will be held strictly responsible for their changes. When a new data is created, it should be classified as “Company Only” data till it user reclassifies it as per one’s modifications. Users are held strictly for any change in classification they do.
A security policy consists of a set of objectives for a company, rules of behavior for users and administrators and system requirements. A good security policy will:

One of the most used security practices is an acceptable use policy (AUP). This defines what a user can do on the network and what they cannot do. The components of a security policy are broken down into categories that relate to how a user will use the system.

• Inform users, staff and managers.
• Specify mechanisms for security.
• Provide a baseline.

Ferris, B. (n.d.). Why Do We Need a Project Schedule. Retrieved from http://cobaltpm.com.

• References

Haughey, D. (n.d.). Project Planning a Step by Step Guide. Retrieved from

http://www.projectsmart.co.uk/.

John Baker, A. E. (n.d.). Cost – Benefit analysis essential to IT projects . Retrieved from http://www.gisdevelopment.net/.

rff.com. (n.d.). Gantt Charts and Project Schedules. Retrieved from http://www.rff.com/ganttcharts.htm.

sei.cmu.edu. (n.d.). Cost Benefit Analysis Method. Retrieved from http://www.sei.cmu.edu.

troym.hubpages.com. (n.d.). Need for Project Planning. Retrieved from http://troym.hubpages.com.

Paquet, C. (2013, Feb 5). Network Security Concept and Policies. Retrieved from CiscoPress: http://www.ciscopress.com/articles/article.asp?p=1998559&seqNum=3