Reference no: EM132167704

Total of 7500 words

Part 1

Write750-900words in response to the following:

• Review the personnel and assignment guidelines information in the IP assignment coming up next.
• Based on the internal team role assignments you anticipate making for your project, which roles might need to be filled by the vendor?
• What are the advantages and disadvantages of using the vendor in these roles for this project?

Part 2 1,250-1,500 words

Assigning team members to task roles is a delicate and critical task. When done correctly, the team members will be excited about their role on the project, feel confident they can successfully complete the tasks assigned, and know they will have some conquerable challenges as they move through the project.

To effectively assign tasks to people (and people to tasks), the project manager must perform the following:

• Identify the roles needing to be filled.
• Determine the skills required for each role.
• Determine the skill sets of the team members.
• Assign team members to roles.

The objective for this assignment is to effectively select your team from the following people:

• Pat is available for 24 hours a week at $115 per hour. Pat was involved in several upgrade projects for this package and can act as business analyst, developer, or tester. Pat is very comfortable with the legacy system and does not see the benefit of moving to the Web-based version. He feels that the end users do not fully utilize the functionality they already have and will not use this new functionality effectively.
• Terry is available for 24 hours a week at $100 per hour. Terry was involved in the original installation and every upgrade since then. She tends to be in developer or tester roles for this system but acts as business analyst for other systems. She is very excited about the Web-based package and the functionality it provides. She is concerned, however, that the end users do not have the computer savvy to use it.
• Robin is available for 30 hours per week at $100 per hour. She was involved in the last two upgrades as a business analyst and has been trying to become involved in other systems and business areas. She was actively involved in the development of a custom Web-based application as a programmer. This was considered a skills development opportunity because her Web programming skills are not strong.
• Chris is available for 24 hours per week at $80 per hour. He is new to the IT department; he was previously a customer service representative. He just completed his undergraduate degree in computer science and has experience with Web programming and software testing techniques.
• Jan is available for 16 hours per week at $115 per hour. Jan is also new to the IT department. She was previously a consultant and was on process reengineering projects, including several for billing functions. She previously worked with the Web version product of the vendor's competitor.

Assignment Guidelines:

• In this assignment, you are planning to fill the roles for the following 3 positions:
  • End user
  • Business analyst
  • Team leader
• For each role,
  • Describe the main responsibilities of the role.
  • Identify the skills that are necessary.
  • Select one of the candidates listed in the assignment description, and thoroughly explain why you have chosen each person for his or her role.
    • Explain any conflicts or problems that you encountered while making your selections.

Use correctly APA style formatted references of solid academic quality for your resources and use correctly formatted APA style in-text citations to your references to substantiate your information and positions as well as to give credit to other author's work.

Part 3 750-900 words

Effective communication strategy is essential to achieving effective project integration management. Any time the goal is to integrate numerous concurrently operating activities, the role of communication becomes central. This is because independently operating activities all come with their own unique obstacles and challenges. Some of the obstacles and challenges are interrelated, and they may depend on what is happening at another level of the project. Without an effective communication strategy, design team members seeking to overcome these obstacles and challenges may engage in activities that are not cost- or time-effective.

Consider your own organization: How do project status, issues, and accomplishment information get shared? What types of information are shared through documents? Through meetings? Through informal communications? How has e-mail affected the efficiency and effectiveness of project communications? How has social networking affected the efficiency and effectiveness of project communications?

Write 750-900 words that respond to the following questions with your thoughts, ideas, and comments. Use properly APA style formatted citations to properly APA style formatted references of solid academic quality to substantiate your information and positions as well as to give credit to other author's work. This will be the foundation for future discussions with your classmates. Be substantive and clear, and use examples to reinforce your ideas:

• What role do the Stakeholder Management processes play in determining stakeholder communication needs and developing an effective communication strategy?
• How do project status, issues, and accomplishment information get shared?
• What types of information are shared through documents?
• How has e-mail affected the efficiency and effectiveness of project communications?
• How has social networking affected the efficiency and effectiveness of project communications?

Part 4 1,250-1,500 words:

Effective communication is more than something that the project manager must schedule. It is more like a means of doing business. The project manager will not only need to communicate with his or her staff; he or she will also need to communicate with his or her supervisors and with the primary stakeholders to report back progress or obstacles. It can be argued that the most important quality of a project manager is good communication skills. Without effective communication, the project manager risks the disintegration of the project rather than integration of the project.

Using what you know about your stakeholders, develop a communication management plan for the IRTC project. This should identify the project stakeholders who must be reached. For each group of stakeholders or individuals, describe the communication mechanism, the frequency of communication, the format, other parties involved, the initiator's responsibilities, and the recipients' responsibilities. Explain your rationale for your plan.

Assignment Guidelines:

• Address the following in 1,250-1,500 words:
  • Use a Stakeholder Register to identify the project stakeholders that must be engaged for the IRTC project.
  • For each group of stakeholders or individuals,
    • Describe the required communication mechanism.
    • Explain the necessary frequency of communication.
    • Explain the communication format.
    • Explain whether or not there are secondary stakeholders involved.
    • Explain the responsibilities of both the initiator and recipient.
  • Summarize your final communication plan, and explain the rationale behind it.

Part 5 750-900 words

What tools do you find most helpful for managing projects? How can you use spreadsheet software, such as Microsoft Excel, within the various project management processes? How do you use scheduling tools, such as Microsoft Project? Share some tips for using either of these products. Then, using the library and Internet, investigate other project management tools. How do they differ from the tools you use?

Assignment Guidelines:

• Address the following in 750-900 words:
  • What tools do you find most helpful for managing projects?
  • How can you use spreadsheet software, such as Microsoft Excel, within the various project management processes?
  • How can you use scheduling tools, such as Microsoft Project, within the various project management processes?
  • What tips can you offer for using either of these types of products?
  • Briefly describe 2 other types of project management tools.
  • How do these 2 types of tools differ from the tools you have previously used?

Use correctly APA style formatted references of solid academic quality for your resources and use correctly formatted APA style in-text citations to your references to substantiate your information and positions as well as to give credit to other author's work.

Part 6 1250 -1500 words

At times, a project manager must evaluate proposals from identified vendors and make decisions based on the project budget and schedule. It is essential to determine how the organization will determine the best response to the proposal's individual vendors?

IRTC has asked you to evaluate the customer service add-on the vendor offered while still in negotiations for this project. The add-on will cost $25,000 and take an additional 4 weeks to install. Your manager has asked for your opinion. The project is tracking along according to schedule and budget.

What do you need to consider before saying yes or no? Prepare a memo for your manager outlining how either decision would affect the project and factors that need to be discussed and agreed to by various stakeholders involved in the project.

Assignment Guidelines:

• In 1,250-1,500 words, address the following:
  • What do you need to consider before accepting or denying the vendor proposal? Explain.
  • How would your decision affect the overall project?
    • Consider budget, schedule, and resources.
  • What stakeholders would need to be involved in this decision-making process? Why?
  • What important factors would need to be discussed and agreed upon by the various stakeholders involved in the project? Explain.

Use correctly APA style formatted references of solid academic quality for your resources and use correctly formatted APA style in-text citations to your references to substantiate your information and positions as well as to give credit to other author's work.

Part 7 750-900 words

A common assumption following the completion of a project would be that the sun would rise the next day. Suppose for a moment the sun did not rise. The severity of this risk would threaten not only the completion of this project but most other projects. In other words, the risk posed by the sun not rising is extremely high; however, the likelihood of that happening is relatively small.

On the other hand, consider a different sort of risk. Consider that one of the billing system database servers has been destroyed. The likelihood of this happening is considerably higher than the likelihood of the sun not rising. Unless the database was not recently backed up, the severity of this risk is relatively low. In other words, neither of these risks rises to a level that would threaten the completion of the project.

What are the differences between qualitative and quantitative risk analysis? When is each type of analysis appropriate? What type of analysis will you use for the customer service system project?

Assignment Guidelines:

• Address the following in 750-900 words:
  • What are the differences between qualitative and quantitative risk analysis? Explain.
  • When is each type of analysis appropriate? Explain.
  • What type of analysis will you use for the IRTC customer service system project? Why?

Use correctly APA style formatted references of solid academic quality for your resources and use correctly formatted APA style in-text citations to your references to substantiate your information and positions as well as to give credit to other author's work.