Project 4

Project Overview ………………………………………………………………………….3

Steps That Will Be Undertaken in Implementing This Project…………………………….3

Background including current process………………………………………………..……4

Objectives of the Project…………………………………………………………...……….4

Goals of the Project…………………………………………………………………………4

Scope of Project ……………………………………………………………………………5

Project Scope Description…………………………………………………………………..5

Constraints and Assumptions ………………………………………………………...…….7

Constraints Associated With This Project………………………………………….……….7

Risks ………………………………………………………………………………………..8

Possible Risks Associated with This Project………………………………….…………….8

Scope Control …………………………………………………………….…………………8

How the Scope Will Be Controlled………………………………………………………….8

Relationship to Other Systems/Projects ………………………………………………….…9

Integration with other Systems and Infrastructure………………………………………..…9

Cloud Services………………………………………………………………………………11

Benefits of Cloud Services to XYZ Inc……………………………………………..………11

Definition of Terms ………………………………………………………………..……….12

Relevant Terms…………………………………………………………………….……….12

References…………………………………………………………………………..……….13

1.1 Project Overview

The database system in place will be used as an alternative solution since XYZ Inc. is a starting corporation. This is because the already existing database is not capable of providing solutions when dealing with big data. Thus, accepting the adoption of Big Data Analytics will imply that databases are used to supplement complex operations. This makes cloud computing the best alternative in synchronizing the existing and the upgraded database (Abdel-Basset, Mohamed, & Chang, 2018).

The Chief Technology Officer made a suggestion which required that "Rapid Application" needs to be put in place through the "waterfall" technique. The waterfall technique will be utilized because it is among the most conservative approach for new and emerging schemes. To overcome its main challenge of integrating variations, a Rapid method will be put in place. This technique allows the expansion of user data since XYZ Inc.'s business might grow as time goes by. With crowd system development implemented, consumer feedback will be used positively in ensuring that the consumers reflect the smoothness with which the activities are undertaken (Moon et al. 2016).

Steps That Will Be Undertaken in Implementing This Project

The first step will be scope analysis and requirements ration; this will entail scope definition, system requirements analysis, feasibility study, and the generation of the project proposal. System Design; this will involve the preparation of design specification documents, design review, and setting up the development environment. There is also the hardware installation and system development, which will entail the hardware system procurement, hardware system configuration, software installation, and configuration and managing the operating systems (Jiang et al. 2018).

There will be testing, training as well as hardware testing stages; these stages will specifically entail the general hardware and software testing, the development of the training materials because the staff will need to be trained on the changes made on the XYZ Inc. information systems to ensure that they don't get stuck during the system utilization. Finally, there will be a deployment stage, which will entail the determination of the final deployment stage, the technique that will be used in the deployment, and the deployment software to be applied (Jiang et al. 2018).

1.2 Background including current process

Objectives of the Project

The primary goals of this project are;

a) To improve the efficiency of service delivery to XYZ Inc. customers. This objective is purposely aimed at increasing the loyalty of the customers to the organization.

b) To improve the competitive advantage of XYZ Inc. in the market through enhancing its operational excellence.

c) To enhance the customer as well as supplier intimacy besides facilitating the decision-making process.

Goals of the Project

The principle goals of this project include;

a) Increasing productivity of XYZ Inc., it's important to note that nowadays, there are faster central processing units, faster hard drives, as well as faster processors. With these resources, the processing workload is made quicker concerning the already existing ones in XYZ Inc.

b) Secondly is to attain higher efficiency besides better data security; the presence of remote access through the mobile devices implies that the sales representatives of XYZ Inc. can take quick take orders while on the road while being aware of the exact delivery timeframe. There is also an enhanced security check-in place, hence reducing the vulnerability of having information stolen or compromised. Data security is the most critical asset of any organization, and that is why organizations tend to invest much in their data heavily. Therefore, XYZ Inc. is one of them and can't take exception (Williams, & Griffin, 2018).

c) Finally is the support of Information Technology; the core of this project implementation is to offer the XYZ Inc. IT department. This is why there was a need for hiring a Chief Technology Officer to facilitate the innovations in the Corporation's information technology section.

1.3.1 Scope of Project

Project Scope Description

XYZ Inc. is a firm that can be described as new in the industry, even if it has already operated for a while. This Corporation operates in the e-commerce industry. The company comprises of a semi-automated system whose primary function is analyzing its statistics. The firms do not have an information system that is responsible for executing its operations. However, it must be noted that as it grows, the data collected and stored in the company's servers is exponentially increasing in every department. With almost ten departments now under the umbrella of XYZ Inc., managing to store all the data that flows into the servers from all these departments have become a significant challenge (Tsai, & Lo, 2015). For this reason, this project is aimed at upgrading the current information management system into a more efficient management system that is already compatible with the current system to avoid any inconveniences in the daily business of the company more when it's looking forward to obtaining a new office block. To prevent the possible complications during the changeover to the new office block, it's essential that a new automated information system is developed, which will be designed in line with the already existing infrastructure and technology (Mohmmed, & Osman, 2017).

The most effective and efficient upgrading technique which will help in the integration of the current information system of XYZ Inc. into the existing alternatives in the market, which will allow for data visualization, as well as reporting with a more centralized system is to make use of cloud services via Office 365. This will be compatible with the company's current information systems besides offering both online and offline services. The use of cloud services will not only be more economical to XYZ Inc. but more efficient since it will not require any change of software or hardware in the company since it will automatically be compatible with the current information system of the Corporation. Therefore, the upgrading process's magnitude will be felt in on all the organization's operations with minimal impact on its budget (Mohmmed, & Osman, 2017).

It’s anticipated that upon the completion of this project, XYZ Inc. will save over $0.60 billion annually on its data storage besides increasing the number of employees as well as annual revenue from 10 to and from $5 billion to $30 billion respectively in the coming financial years. The service delivery to the customers will also be significantly improved due to the efficiency in data analysis through the improved system speed. For this project to be effectively implemented there is need to engage the XYZ Inc. shareholder and sponsors for project funding, the departmental heads as well as supervisors for ensuring smooth running of the project activities and training upon execution, and finally, the employees should be made aware of the system upgrade. They must be trained on the few changes on the updates to catch up (Williams, & Griffin, 2018).

1.3.2 Constraints and Assumptions

Constraints Associated With This Project

Five main constraints are associated with this project; these constraints include; Time constraint that is contributed by the support from the chief executive officer, user investment as well as Information System planning. For instance, the chief executive officer of XYZ Inc. may put a time limit for the project to be completed; therefore when it happens so, the project manager will tend to be very much strained in ensuring he or she meets the project time-line (Williams, & Griffin, 2018).

The second constraint is financial. This constraint is mainly caused by information system investment in this project. If the information systems investment requires a lot of capital for implementation, it becomes a challenge, hence a constraint. The third constraint is expertise constraint. The expansion of XYZ Inc.'s information system may require extra expertise during its implementation. For instance, XYZ Inc.'s management from the beginning requested for the recruitment of the Chief Technology Officer to facilitate the process of developing an automated information system for the organization. Therefore, bearing in mind XYZ Inc. hasn't very much advanced in the industry, thus raising the necessary amount that is usually required to hire the expertise becomes a challenge, hence a constraint (Williams, & Griffin, 2018).

1.3.3 Risks

Possible Risks Associated with This Project

There are five main identified risks associated with this project. These risks include; hardware and software failure; this risk may come about as a result of abrupt power loss or even data corruption. The other risk is malware, which comes up as a result of malicious software designed to disrupt computer operation specifically. The third risk is the viruses; these come about when a computer code, for instance, can copy itself and spread from one computer to another, hence disrupting the computer operations. The fourth risk is spam, scams as well as phishing. These come as a result of unsolicited email which seeks to fool computer operators into revealing personal details or even purchasing fraudulent goods. Finally, there is a human error risk resulting from incorrect data processing, careless data disposal, or accidental opening of infected email attachments (Jiang et al. 2018).

1.3.4 Scope Control

How the Scope Will Be Controlled

There are five techniques that I will correctly use to ensure that I effectively control the scope of this project. These techniques include;

a) Writing a good scope statement; this will correctly form the boundaries around the limits of the project, hence avoiding going outside the project definitions.

b) Definition of the project requirements; these will be generated with the help of a matrix traceability matrix, which will be correctly be used in tracking the changing nature of the elements in the entire project.

c) Maintenance of secure communication; this is purposely meant to ensure that there is always an understanding with all the project leaders, the project manager, the project team, and stakeholders. This is because scope creeps usually tend to be inversely proportional to the amount of communication between these key individuals in the project.

d) Creating reasonable estimates; will be aimed towards avoiding the tug of war, which usually leads to many frustrations more, especially towards the project execution stage.

e) Monitoring of external influences; there is a negative influence from the foreign power of throw monkey, which tends to wrench into the plans of a well and smoothly managed project scopes.

1.3.5 Relationship to Other Systems/Projects

Integration with other Systems and Infrastructure

The database system in place will be used as an alternative solution since XYZ Inc. is a starting corporation. This is because the already existing database is not capable of providing solutions when dealing with big data. Thus, accepting the adoption of Big Data Analytics will imply that databases are used to supplement complex operations. This makes cloud computing the best alternative in synchronizing the existing and the upgraded database (Abdel-Basset, Mohamed, & Chang, 2018).

The Chief Technology Officer made a suggestion which required that "Rapid Application" needs to be put in place through the "waterfall" technique. The waterfall technique will be utilized because it is among the most conservative approach for new and emerging schemes. To overcome its main challenge of integrating variations, a Rapid method will be put in place. This technique allows the expansion of user data since XYZ Inc.'s business might grow as time goes by. With crowd system development implemented, consumer feedback will be used positively in ensuring that the consumers reflect the smoothness with which the activities are undertaken (Moon et al. 2016).

In terms of security, it’s important to note that, in any organization, security remains a domineering aspect in the contemporary world where cyber-security issues are shared among the organization, mainly when activities involve the utilization of data. The information available will be encrypted well so that if unauthorized people access it, it remains pointless. Anti-malware products will also be installed in a situation that will always ensure that vulnerabilities and threats remain regulated (Moon et al. 2016).

On networking, we will explicitly rely on CISCO procedures. Information Technology will support the adoption of high-speed networks that will facilitate task execution in the organization. Linksys based routers, together with CISCO, will be utilized, hence helping in define the best kind of system to be implemented (Cisco, 2018). Accessibility and office layout will be given priority more specifically when it comes to Personal Computer arrangements. XYZ Inc. will be supposed to have a 24X seven scope of the entire site. This will allow clients to issue reservations anytime they wish (Jacobsson et al., 2020).

In human-computer interaction or interface, Java language will be used with consideration to portable adaptation. All the applications will be accessible using IoS, Android, and windows as well. The requests will be granted descent controls and appealing layout. On the web-design, the best design to apply in this case will be JavaScript and HTML since they give excellent site scheming appearance (Satzinger, Jackson & Burd, 2017). The anticipated website will be comprehensive and will provide real-time updates to XYZ Inc. clients and new users (Jiang et al. 2018).

Cloud Services

Cloud Services refers to those services usually made available to users upon their demand through the internet. These services are made available from the cloud computing provider's servers rather than from XYZ Inc.’s servers. From the designing point of view, the cloud services are prepared to offer more easy, scalable access to the application, resources besides other facilities. Cloud service providers usually manage these cloud services. Therefore, XYZ Inc. will have to pay for the services upon completion of the system upgrade process. However, the payment will be much less than the expenses incurred in operating its servers, hence economic and efficient. It's important to note that the implementation of the cloud services will not cost XYZ Inc. anything since the software and the cloud provider will provide the hardware necessary for the upgrade. There will be no need for XYZ Inc. either to allocate Information Technology staff in managing the service. Everything will be left with the cloud service provider (Williams, & Griffin, 2018).

Benefits of Cloud Services to XYZ Inc.

From research, there is an identified solution that can be used in data analysis as well as storage without any threat in data security. The answer is to make use of cloud computing services. In this cloud services, first, the data is not stored in the XYZ Inc. servers, the collection, as well as processed information, is transmitted in an encrypted form to the cloud provider's servers. The cloud providers are mandated to ensure that all the data in their servers is secured from any threat. Also, the cloud providers' servers store information from various organizations in a segmented form. This implies that even the data owners like XYZ Inc. can't precisely know which server is carrying their data, but they can access it through a highly secured internet channel. This is much economical to XYZ Inc. in terms of data storage, data security, and data management by hiring the data expert individuals. With cloud services, all these expenses are eradicated from the information management system budgetary of XYZ Inc. (Abdel-Basset, Mohamed, & Chang, 2018).

1.3.6 Definition of Terms

Relevant Terms

Information; refers to the processed data which is ready to be consumed or utilized.

Systems: these are set of equipment working together via following the instructions as the input to give an output.

Information system; this refers to the information and communication technology used by XYZ Inc. or any other organization in carrying out their daily businesses.

References:

Abdel-Basset, M., Mohamed, M., & Chang, V. (2018). NMCDA: A framework for evaluating cloud computing services. Future Generation Computer Systems, 86, 12-29.

Chan, J. O. (2018). Customer Knowledge Management In the Cloud Ecosystem. Communications of the IIMA, 16(2), 3.

Fu, Z., Sun, X., Liu, Q., Zhou, L., & Shu, J. (2015). Achieving efficient cloud search services: multi-keyword ranked search over encrypted cloud data supporting parallel computing. IEICE Transactions on Communications, 98(1), 190-200.

Jaisinghani, D. R. (2016). U.S. Patent No. 9,442,810. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.