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Module 1: Formal Project Proposal

Example Student Name Here

University: CAP-799

Date Here

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to present the general ideas for a capstone project for my Masters of Science in Technology and Innovation. As a traditionally technical type of worker, my goal in this project is to look at a technical project from a more managerial perspective. I plan to identify a problem for a potential client and then be able to break down the different aspects of the problem to identify specific areas where I can showcase the different technologies and methodologies I have learned over the course of this learning process. I plan to focus on the big picture considerations of a project like this such as budget and timelines as well as how to compare different technologies to meet the goals of a potential client.

The Problem

For this project I plan to use a client that I have previously worked with to base a formal systems design around. The client is a medium to large sized school district. Based on interviews with the client the school district is made up of approximately 65,000 students in grades K-12. There are 4,200 teachers, 2,100 administrators and 280 support staff. All are located within 50 different campuses. As part of a bond issue, the school wishes to evaluate technical options for using funding to extend the life of existing IT assets as well as provide a better, more secure, but robust computing environment for their students, teachers, and staff. The goal is to facilitate an easier deployment strategy that will make for a more stable and consistent experience while providing security and reducing both hardware and operating costs over the next several years.

While hardware refreshes typically involve purchasing new computers to replace aging equipment, this time the district hopes to look at ways to extend the life of their existing PCs, while also allowing for reduced costs in the future. They wish to employ virtualization technologies to centralize data at a single location to facilitate backups and enhance security.

The Goals

The primary goal of the organization is going to be a focus on security. It is important that the school district maintain strict security for confidential student records. For this reason, they are hoping to develop a strategy that will increase security as well as provide for mechanisms for data backups and recovery options.

The second goal of the organization is to reduce costs by extending the life of their existing PC infrastructure. In the past the district has refreshed PCs every 5 years. Now that the current machines are approaching that age, they are looking at being able to continue to use them for a few more years before having to replace them. By pushing the hardware refresh cycle back a few years, they hope to save on the amount of money spent on end user devices over the next 7 years.

The third goal of the organization is the improve flexibility of the current environment. Traditionally, adding software to the supported images has been a daunting task. Updating to newer version of operating systems has also been a task that has been a huge undertaking. This project should make it easier to deliver new machines, operating systems, or applications.

The final goal of the project is to support the management functions of the IT department. This project should not require additional staff and should take aim at reducing operational costs to the school district.

The Deliverables

The deliverable for this project should be a detailed breakdown of the technology to be used, the deployment scenarios, the benefits that are to district. A detailed budged that includes the comparison of a complete hardware refresh (traditional plan) vs a virtualization solution (this proposal). The budget details should show how much the school is going to save as well as how long the projected plan will realize a return on investment over the traditional 5-year refresh cycle. A detailed timeline of the technology rollout should also be prepared to outline the projected amount of time for planning, testing, and phased rollouts.

In addition to the deliverables mentioned above, the client would like a detailed breakdown of how the project will affect the users. They also wish to know options for both a Bring-Your-Own-Device policy as well as how remote access for teachers can be facilitated.

The final deliverable should include a break down on all of the equipment needed and licenses that must be procured. The client also requests information related to the expected user experience as well as the changes that IT will face with regards to managing a new environment.

The Deadlines

The project proposal will be constructed along with this course over the next 8 weeks. Research will be done in terms of the client’s needs as well as the technology available to meet the client’s needs. Once finished, the project will outline the steps and detail the timelines to be used for scaling out the deployment over time. The ideal project timeline would entail being able to build a proof of concept, and initial test before a typical school year ends and then allow for a larger rollout over the summer period when school enrollment is low. The deadlines for this project should also outline changes and expenses year over year. The initial idea is to delay the needs for an end user hardware refresh and the proposal should cover what that time period might look like and then make recommendations on the future hardware, budget, and deployment timeframe.

The Cost/Budget

While the initial numbers for the budget are unknown, the goal is to use the currently available information to put together a budget that will meet the needs of the district. As one of the deliverables, this will be compared to the price of a typical PC refresh. The budget will be broken down in several ways.

One method for looking at the budget will be to compare the investment in virtualization technology against the traditional model of purchasing equipment outright. The goal of a project like this should be that the virtualization project should cost less or provide benefits over the traditional model’s longevity (5 years.)

The second method of budget analysis will be to show a breakdown of the costs of the project over time. There are obvious initial costs that will be incurred in year one. And then as PCs actually do need to be refreshed, there will be a cost that is incurred in years 2 or 3 or beyond. This will help the school district understand upfront savings as well as the continual expenses incurred over time.