Reference no: EM13189031

The Project

At the meeting, the Vice Chancellor announced that a Project Manager would be appointed.

On appointment, the Project Manager will be informed that although there were alternative methods of implementation available such as installing a package or simply upgrading the current system, the decision had already been taken to upgrade the current system. This would allow for the required functions to build upon the current system and for the new functions to be introduced in stages.

Assume Elizabeth Brown was appointed as the Project Manager and that the Vice Chancellor introduced Elizabeth to key Information Technology staff, including the ITD manager, Mr. Bright.Assume also that Elizabeth has been told that she can have access to analysts and programmers from within the University.

Elizabeth knew that it would take some time to establish the new campuses, recruit staff for thecampuses, set up facilities and the like. She therefore decided to at least start getting the current Student Recordssystem into a shape that would allow it to go forward when the campuses were established.One of the early pieces of good news that Elizabeth Brown received was the technical staff at the universitywere very competent in Oracle Database and Windows Operating Systems. However, she then found out that the existing database had only provision for one campus. This meant that it would be necessary tomodify the structure of the database to provide for multiple campuses.Nick Hodgson, the Database Managerassured Elizabeth that changing the structure of the database would be straight forward. However, theprograms would require changing to accommodate multiple campuses.

Elizabeth therefore recognised that she would have to meet with Shirley Smith (the chief programmer). In responseto enquiries about how long that it would take to change the programs, Shirley told Elizabeth that she knewthe system very well. She also told Elizabeth that shecould make tenprogrammers available to work onthe project. She told Elizabeth that she would let her knowabout the estimates for the program changes.

While Shirley was doing this, she started thinking a bit more about the ramifications of multiplecampuses. Shirley rang Elizabeth to draw her attention to the possibility that program administrators,academics and general staff would probably require something more sophisticated than the currentsystem to allow them to keep track of offerings on the various campuses.

Shirley and Elizabeth met with the administrators, academics and generalstaff. Following discussions it was determined that there would be a need for three new programs.

Shirley told Bill that the new programs would be known as BA to BC. For each of the programs, two weeksof one programmer would be required for the detailed specification, the program design and development of test plans. This would need to be completed before coding would start. Program BA would take sixweeks for one programmer to code, Program BB would take one programmer 5 weeks to complete and Program BC would take one programmer 3 weeks to complete.Each program would also take abouttwo weeks for one programmer to test (and to fix any bugs discovered).

Shirley also mentioned to Elizabeth that would be much better if the old programs in the system were upgraded to become web-based, thereby allowing easier accessand other benefits.

When questioned about this, Shirley told Elizabeth that the existing10programs (numbered AA to AJ) in the system could be altered any time to provide the better interface,but that it would take a programmer 3 weeksto upgrade each of the 10 existingprograms (i.e. 30 weeks for one programmer) and another two weeks to test each and fix any bugs (i.e. an additional 20 weeks for one programmer).

Elizabeth took the opportunity to meet with the various program administrators on the existingcampus. They informed Bill that they were already stretched to the limit with their workload. It wouldtherefore be desirable to have students admit themselves to the University and then to enrol themselves.

Elizabeth thought that this was a good idea, so she asked what would be necessary to provide this functionality. She wasinformed that to allow students to enrol themselves in courses, the system would have to know thestructure of the programs. As Elizabeth was unsure of what she was being told, she pressed further. "Soyou want the system to know about entry requirements, compulsory courses, electives, pre requisite andco requisites." The program administrators agreed. They had wanted this for years, but had nothad any success in getting this implemented.

At the end of the meeting, Elizabeth promised to get back to them about this. She consulted with the projectteam. They agreed that there was a need for two new admission and enrolment programs (CA and CB).

It was estimated that each of the new programs would take one programmer four weeks to code and one week to test and debug.For each of the new programs, one week of a programmer would be required for the detailed specifications and another one week of a programmer would be required for the design and test plan development before the program coding could commence.

While meeting with the program administrators, Elizabeth also learned of another suggestion. It referred tograduations. If you have all that information, Elizabeth was told, if you added the requirements to attain anaward for the respective programs, then you should be able to automate a lot of the work associated withgraduations. That was good news, as Elizabeth knew that the Vice Chancellor had told him the Universitywanted to hold ceremonies at each campus at the conclusion of each term. It was therefore decided to add this functionality to the system.  Elizabeth informed management thatthis would require two new programs - DA and DB. Program DA would identify potential graduands and Program DB wouldbe to confirm students as graduands and to contact the graduands.

Shirley told Elizabeth that Program DAwould be quite complicated and would take a programmer sixteen weeks to develop this new programas it would have to examine the various programsagainst the courses the students had taken. The 16 weeks included 4 weeks for a detailed specification, test plan and design. Testing and fixing bugs would take another four weeks.Program DB would be straight forward and would only take a programmer one week to design, three weeks to code and one week to testand debug.

Just as Elizabeth thought to herself that the above changes were manageable, the President of AcademicBoard contacted her. The President of Academic Board mentioned to Elizabeth that the matter of multiplecampuses had come up in discussion at Academic Board. The members of the Board were veryconcerned at ensuring that the worth of the current awards was not compromised by the expansion intothe proposed campuses. In particular, they required that some system changes be made to allowmoderation. Elizabethmade a note of this requirement.

When Elizabeth next met went with the project team, she mentioned the call she had received from thePresident of Academic Board. She asked for clarification on what was required. After discussion, Elizabeth understood the importance of this requirement. If students were to receive the same award,irrespective of the campus, then they needed to undertake the same assessment and be marked to thesame standard. She therefore recognised that the system needed some changes to assist in this matter.

Elizabeth decided to restrict the changes to allow each campus academic to enter their own marks beforemoderation. Once the Course Coordinator, who had the responsibility of ensuring that marking wasperformed to the same standard, had reviewed the marks awarded for the assignment, a function wouldbe used to confirm the result or require changes as part of the moderation process.

At the end of the term, there is a special committee meeting held. This committee comprises anumber of academics who meet to review the results to ensure that between courses the standard ofmarking is approximately equal. They have the power to further moderate if they feel this is necessary.

They also review the delivery of the course to see if there are any matters that can be improvedfor the next offering of the course. This would require another function to record when the final marksfor the term had been approved and facilities to record the suggested improvements to the course.

For the above to happen, it was also recognised that the best way to achieve this was for all results to beheld centrally in the database. This would allow academic staff involved in marking to enter results, thecoordinator to have easy access, the committee to record approved results and incorporate thesuggested improvements. In connection with the recording and moderation of results, Shirley told Elizabeth that three programs were required - Programs EA to EC and that each would take one programmer 2 weeks to develop the detailed specification and design, followed by four weeks to codeand two weeks to text and debug.

With the matter of results now sorted out, Elizabeth contacted the President of Academic Board andtold him what was being proposed. The President then told Bill Bright that sometimes results weredisputed and that the University had a review of grade process. In the past it was simply toocumbersome. He wondered if the proposal could be extended a bit to allow students to look up their ownresults for assignments and the feedback for the various examination questions. That way, it might bepossible to substantially reduce the need for Informal Reviews of Grade, which basically just checkedthat results had been recorded correctly. Based on the earlier discussion with the project team, Elizabeth knew that this would not be a problem so she agreed to add the additional functionality.  Program ED was proposed. It was estimated that it would take a programmer two weeks to code, one week to test and one week to develop the specification and design.

Shirley had become concerned that so many changes were being contemplated. She thought that thecapacity of the server and disk space might not be sufficient. So she suggested to Elizabeth that she should discuss this with Len Smith (Operations manager) and also Dave Stamper about communications.Len Smith indicated to Elizabeth that a substantial increase in capacity would be required to meet the newrequirements. He mentioned that he could achieve this by carrying out the following activities:

• Preparation of Quotation for the new server: 2 weeks
• Period Quotation Open 5 weeks
• Review and selection of supplier: 2 weeks (this includes internal approvals to place the order)
• Delivery period 5 weeks
• Installation 3 weeks (of one programmer and technician)
• Conversion from the old server 2 days

Elizabeth was pleased when Dave told him that no changes were necessary to the Communications as therewas plenty of spare capacity and the communicationshad been installed to international standards.

Elizabeth also went back to Nick Hodgson, the database manager, to inform him of the various changes being proposed. Nick wassurprised at the number of changes being proposed, but assured Elizabeth that it would only take him about six weeks to make the changes and have the structure of the new database ready.

Note:

1. Elizabeth will be appointed on 2/9/13 and that the investigations described above will take her 3 weeks. 2/9/13should be the start of your project schedule.

2. The programmers and Nick Hodgson would be available to work on the project any time required after the 2/9/13.

3. The database changes need to be completed before the programmers can begin coding new programs or upgrading existing programs.

4. The project is not complete until all the programs are complete and the new server installed. At this point, you should add a "system ready" milestone to your project schedule.

Assumptions

1. There are no public holidays between September and late December, but from 25 December until end January 2014 (31/1/14) all staff will be on annual leave.

2. Project staff will normally work five (5) days per week, eight (8) hours per day.

3. The standard hourly rates for the resources involved in this project are as follows:

Resource Name	Std. Rate
Nick Hodgson (DB)	$90.00/hr
programmers	$80.00/hr
Elizabeth (PM)	$90.00/hr
Len Smith (OM)	$80.00/hr
technician	$70.00/hr

In addition, you are free to make any assumptions necessary to complete the assignment. Any assumption must be justified and stated clearly on the first page of your Word document. Marks will be deducted for any unreasonable assumption or for stating an assumption and then ignoring it in your assignment.

Part ARequirements and Questions

For part A of the assessment you must complete the following tasks and questions. Read all the questions before you commence the tasks.  The schedule is to be developed in an appropriately named Microsoft Project 2010 file (e.g. Xyzzy-PartA.mpp) and the questions are to be answered in a Word document. As stated above, any assumptions must also be listed at the beginning of the Word document.

1. Based on the information in the case study description above, use the Microsoft Project 2010 software to produce a Part A project schedule. You should be mindful of the marking criteria and ensure that activities described in the case are included and sequenced correctly with all resource and duration information. Any resource over-allocation issues must be resolved in your schedule without the addition of extra resources. The schedule is to show all activities from 2/9/13 until the "system ready" milestone.You should organise your tasks into key work packages (summary tasks) with sub-tasks (and sub-summary tasks etc.).

One way to organise the WBS is according to the following summary tasks:

Xyzzy University Multi Campus Software Upgrades

Project start (PM appointed) - milestone

Information Gathering   :

Purchase of New Server    :

Detailed Specifications, Design Plans and Test Plans

Programs to track Multi-campus offerings (BA-BC)

BA specs, design and test plan

:

Admissions Programs (CA-CB)

  :

Graduation Programs (DA-DB)

:

Management of Results and Moderation(EA-ED)

:

Coding and Testing

Upgrade of Existing Programs (AA -AJ)

:

  Programs to track Multi-campus offerings (BA-BC)

BA coding

BA testing

:

Admissions Programs (CA-CB)

  :

Graduation Programs (DA-DB)

:

Management of Results and Moderation(EA-ED)

:

Although there are other possible structures for the WBS, for this assignment you are required to base your WBS on the above starting point.

1. In this question you must identify the critical path in your schedule.

1. Make sure that the tasks on the critical path are automatically highlighted by the software in the Gantt chart view.
2. List the tasks on the critical path in your answer to this question in the Word document.

2. Based on your schedule,

1. When will the programmersbe required to start work on the project?Manually highlight the start date for the first task requiring a programmer in your .mpp file.Use the "background colour" icon on the task ribbon. This is to allow your marker to check your work easily
2. When will Nick Hodgson be required to work on the database changes?Manually highlight the tasks showing the start date for the database changes.

3. Assume that you are Elizabeth, write a memo to Mr. Bright the ITD manager explaining the expected completion date of the project, together with an explanation of the factors that cause the project to require that length of time.The memo must include a table showing the budget estimates for each part of the project, i.e. it should include something similar to  the following table showing the costs for each work package and the total cost for the project:

WorkPackage	Total Cost
Information gathering
Database Modifications
Purchase of New server
Specifications, design and test plans
Coding and Testing
TotalDirect Labour Costs for theProject

4. Capture screenshots of the "Who does what" report that shows the tasks each resource is involved in and when they are scheduled to work on that particular task. Add the screenshots to the Word document in answer to this question.An example of the start of this report for another project is shown below:

WorkPackage	Total Cost
Information gathering
Database Modifications
Purchase of New server
Specifications, design and test plans
Coding and Testing
TotalDirect Labour Costs for theProject

5. How should Elizabeth ensure that the project is finished within the estimated budget? Answer this as completely as possible describing the procedures etc. that Elizabeth should have in place to manage this aspect of the project effectively.

6. What options does Elizabeth have to shorten the project? (Justify your answer and be specific -  whatare twotasks that you would target, why would you target them and what would you do to reduce their duration?)

7. Elizabeth is also asked to develop a communication plan for the project.

1. Why is it important to have a communication plan?
2. Produce a small version of the communication plan that includes at least two key entries that you would expect for this project.

8. Are there any important tasks/activitiesthat you believe have been overlooked in this project?

1. You should be able to identify at least two tasks that should have been included as part of the work that needs to be carried out to complete this project. (Do not include any missing tasks that you identify in this question in your solution .mpp files.)
2. What impact will these have on the project if Elizabeth does not take action to rectify the situation?