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BTEC HND Management, Assignments for Management Information Systems
Typology: Thesis
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I would like to thank my parents and friends who supported to complete this project within the allocated time. I would also like to thank Miss. Dilini our lecturer for teaching us this subject and giving us tips to complete the project successfully. This assignment helped me to get a good knowledge about project management and learning project management principles was a good experience for me.
Figure 17- Slide 11....................................................................................................... 54 Figure 18- Slide 12....................................................................................................... 54 Figure 19- Slide 13....................................................................................................... 55 Figure 20- Slide 14....................................................................................................... 55 Figure 21- Gantt Chart................................................................................................. 57
Millennium Enterprises is a large scaled bicycle manufacturer and dealer that has several branches across the island. At present, all of the branches make use of a local database system where the company transactions would be backed up on a weekly basis and sent to the Head Office. The Managing Director of ‘Millennium Enterprises’ has decided that the local database systems used by all branches have to be replaced by a web based system with a database that can be accessed globally. This requires transfer of all data to the main server, which would be located at the Head office premises. A network would be set up linking all the branches to the main server.
The main aim of the project is to develop appropriate web based system to Millennium Enterprises to ease their day today works.
Transactions would be backed up on a weekly basis and sent to the Head Office Therefore more time and cost consuming The efficiency would be law. Less security
They are received an unique and well secured web based system The efficiency will increase due to web based system Time and cost saving Accuracy is high Less errors
Assumption: The project will be led by the Project Manager with support from three project team members. The Project Manager has one analyst (named A) and two programmers (named P and P2) available for the project. The analyst (named A) is also an experienced database and web designer, and will write the user manuals. One of the programmers (programmer P1) has good experience of developing data input programs. The Project Manager has overall responsibility for the maintenance and development of electronic resources in the Millennium Enterprises.
Table 1 - Key Tasks Estimated Budget Budget Headings Total budget allocated Staff Rs. 360, Travel & Subsistence Rs. 15, Equipment Rs. 150, Evaluation activities Rs. 20, Others Rs. 4, Total Rs. 549, Table 2 - Estimated Budget
Human Resources Project Manager Analyst Programmer 1 Programmer 2 Time Schedule and Timeline Network Diagram
Cost Cost Breakdown Structure BCWS, BCWP, ACWP Other reports, statements and documents Work breakdown structure Product breakdown structure Statement of work Feasibility Study Report Design Specification User manual Equipment Computers Servers Switches Routers Table 3 - Resource Requirements
End users will be invited to provide feedback on the Web Based System.
A project is a temporary endeavor which has a start date and an end date. Organizing and managing the components of a project is known as project management. Project management principles are essential for every project to gain a successful ending. Some important project management principles that can be used to develop the proposed web based system have been described below. Scope management Scope management consists of five phases:
people to right tasks. If the task is assigned to the wrong member the expected outcome will not be produced. In this project, four members have been allocated to complete the project tasks. Managing communication It is essential to keep up a good communication with team members since the beginning of the project. It will be very easy for the team to solve problems, monitor the progress of the project and find solutions. The project team can improve their communication by holding meetings, arguing/discussing finding solutions with the team members. Team members and the project manager have a responsibility to listen to each member and allow the majority’s decisions. Managing cost There will be more loses if the cost is not managed well and then the estimated costs and allocated budgets will not be met. The Project manager is responsible to take necessary steps to control cost. Prepare billings, estimations, budgets and monitor whether the allocated budgets are satisfying the project needs can be done to control the cost. Quality management The project manager is responsible for the quality of the project. Quality management can be done by developing a quality plan. The quality plan should include all the standards and definitions of project tasks. The project manager should also monitor all the project development processes to avoid errors. It is another way of managing quality. (Leal, 2016).
Success viabilities of a project Having clear vision and objectives - Then the project team will be able to know what exactly needs to be done in order to achieve them. After the identification of goals and objectives the requirements should be clearly stated.
Creating a proper project plan - It will let the project team to manage tasks and complete them on time. Good communication between stakeholders - Communication can take place verbally or non-verbally to identify the stakeholders’ requirements. Good Leadership- It will inspire and motivate the team members to perform well. User involvement to the project- when the user is involved with the project it is easy to identify the needs and develop the project accordingly. While the development process is going on the progress can be shown to the user get feedback. For example, the developers can design a prototype of the project first so that the user will be able to get a clear idea about the final outcome of the project. Then according to the user feedback necessary changes can be done and the final project outcome will be successful. Having a hardworking staff or a team – Then it is easy to finish the work on time with the successful project. Conducting a realistic schedule - Gantt charts, reports, work breakdown structures are some components which should include in a realistic schedule to success the project. Good change management procedures - The project team must always be ready to deal with any changes. Failure viabilities of a project Having unclear objectives and aims - If the objectives are not identified, the project team do not know what exactly needs to be done to complete the project.
goal has been stated in the beginning of the project and the project team knows exactly what to design in the presence of a project goal. The project team consists of a Project manager, an analyst and two programmers. It is mentioned all these members have experiences in designing webs and software. The development of the project is easy when there are talented team members. Also each member is assigned for the right task. Since there is a good workforce the project is successful. The project is planned to be completed within 3 months. Each task is scheduled to be completed within a certain number of weeks. Time will be managed wisely. The project is going to be developed according to a realistic schedule. The project team is going to develop a clear work breakdown structure too. Therefore the project is successful. The project team is going to communicate through discussion, meetings and e-mails. The process will help the team members to solve problems and come into conclusions. Good communication skills will enable the project to be successful. After the development of the project the users will be given a chance to evaluate the system and provide feedback. All these procedures are going to be done with the involvement of the user. User involvement has enabled the team to identify the malfunctions and drawbacks and the team has also been given the opportunity to make necessary changes to the system to fix errors. When considering about the above factors it shows that the system is going to be developed for the Millennium Enterprises will deliver a successful result.
The main purpose of using a project management system is to plan and track project components, stakeholders and resources. A project management system is a software which is used for many tasks such as project planning, controlling costs, manage budgets, scheduling, resource allocation and change management, document details of the project, communication between members and document sharing. Examples of project management systems are Microsoft Project, Basecamp, Project Kickstart and Matchware MindView. A project management system has the time scheduling capability so that a project can be easily planned and tasks can managed without any hassle. There are different components which can be used to create project time lines such as Gantt charts, PERT reports, project progress reports and other customized reports, activity on node diagram with critical path to completion. Resource planning is also available in project management systems. With resource planning people/ equipment resources with costs can be defined, resources to tasks can be assigned and resource conflicts can be identified (MinuteMan Systems, 2016). Cost analysis is another principle behind project management systems. Through cost analysis budgets can be calculated. Resources, expenditures, totals can be calculated weekly, monthly or yearly. Project reporting can also be done through project management systems. Project management systems can engage in managing risks too. There are risk management software that come along with project management systems. When tasks are added to the project the risk management software will analyze and tell the level of risk. This can help project teams to avoid or minimize risks. Change management software is also available in project management systems which help the users to manage changes that occur to the project carefully.
When all the tasks of a project are completed the final phase of the project life cycle which is also known as ‘project termination’ starts. Once a project is completed the team cannot split out at that particular moment. There are certain actions that should be done in order to properly close out the project. Some activities which occur in the project termination are: Handing over the deliverables to the users Preparing a project punch list Organizing and filing documents Settling down payments Post project evaluation Evaluate team members’ performance The first task which should be done when a project is completed is to hold a meeting with the user to handover the deliverables. This enables the project team to ensure whether the final outcome is accepted by the user. The team can also submit the final invoice to the stakeholder once the project is handed over. Project punch list is also an element of project termination. A punch list can be used to manage gaps which are unidentified between stakeholders’ expectations and deliverables supplied by the project team. (PM Guru, 2016) Then the team identifies which punch list item they should complete to finish the project. Another element of project termination is organizing and filing documents. Every task that is done in the project must be documented. For example cost estimations, time schedules, deliverable lists, user manuals, diagrams, data, reports, agreements and every other important information should be documented. The reason for organizing and filing documents is to keep all information safe for the future use or reference. Settling down all payments is another element of project termination. The team needs to calculate expenses spent for the program and other resources and write financial reports. Then the bills and payments should be settled. Also the project team receives their final payment at this stage.
Post project evaluation meetings are also held during the project termination phase. A meeting should be organized with all the stakeholders to assess the project. Post project evaluation is done in order to check whether the expected outcomes are met. The meeting also reviews the benefits which occurred due to the project and the costs generated by the project. Post project evaluation is a way of evaluating customer’s satisfaction, results and problems or errors occurred in the final outcome. As the final step team performance and each team member’s performance can be evaluated. The team can review how they executed the plan, members’ commitment and the success rate of the project. A project team can also discuss about the lessons learned. Each member’s commitment can be appreciated at this stage. It is always important to follow necessary steps when closing down a project. It is the responsibility of the project manager to terminate the project methodically. Terminating projects will be a good experience for the project team. It gives them a chance to learn from their mistakes and perform well in future projects.
