Quality & Risk Management

The company Education Information Systems. (EiS) is an information and management company that specializes in the creation and care of large-scale educational information and technology systems. EiS has implemented and managed systems ranging from the pre-K to 12th year primary school systems, and is developing larger scale systems to facilitate collegiate, graduate and post graduate educational institutions. EiS is a privately held organization that has the primary focus of providing the best possible systems to help grow the educational sector. Previous clients have implemented system wide software replacement and upgrades. With a stellar track record of previous educational institutions, and references, EiS has completed all the projects on time, and within budgetary guidelines. All problem issues or negative feedback from clients were handled in professional and timely manner that resulted in a completely satisfied client.

Moving toward post high school educational institutions, EiS is working with an extremely talented development team to move into the graduate and post graduate sector with ease. With new projects being developed, and more clients, EiS also works to recruit the best talent in the development, and technical aspects of information technology.

The information system to be developed by EiS for the institution will allow for all student, and faculty to store, share, and secure data. Utilizing a web-based UI, the information will be easily accessed, with the proper credentials. Data can be shared among staff, and students with preferences designed to mitigate corruption of data, loss of information, especially personal and financial information. All faculty and staff can be added to the application via an admin portal and all security is designated there. All remote access to the application will require a 2 factor

authentication system for another level of security to ensure that the proper access protocols are being followed. All information that is stored will be designed to the student or faculty member, and kept throughout the students’ academic career or the faculty member’s tenure. The system will also track course credits for the student and all previous history from that student. Including previous course work, and any materials uploaded into the system.

By utilizing the new system supplied by EiS, this will allow the educational institutions to move forward with the latest in software development, move to and adapt as the needs change, as well as keep a history of past data to ensure that the students and faculty have the best chances of success in the ever changing world of online learning.

(Christian Dillon – Monday, 08 April 2019)

At the start of the requirement phase of the project is just that the beginning of all involved in the discussion of requirements by the business, stakeholders, IT personnel, fellow project designers, vendors, finance personnel, and those personnel that take on different sections of the project to bring it all together. There are a number of ways to elicit information from everyone involved. To include interviews with a select group of people, mainly our target audience. During these interviews, each person will begin by answering a ten-question survey aimed at gathering information about the project about to be developed. Some example questions are listed below:

· Question 1: What problems/issues does this project solve.

· Question 2: How would you solve the problem/issues?

· Question 3: What will it cost to implement the project?

· Question 4: Will this project solve those issues and make greater improvements for all?

· Question 5: What are the risk factors?

· Question 6: With risks comes issues of side effects, if the risks cause problems, will the project be on time?

· Question 7: If the risks are minimal, will the implementation perform as needed by the university?

· Question 8: Granted you are not formulating a solution to an existing problem you are improving a viable system to have greater performance and student satisfaction. How would you implement this new system?

· Question 9: Can you express your opinions on how to ease the access of information to all users on all platforms?

· Question 10: How can we make this new system user friendly, so that any skill level in dealing with it can access the right information on all levels of access in the university while keeping all information secure?

These are just some sample questions that could be asked with each person during the interview process. After all interviews are conducted, the interviewees will meet based on their schedules and skill levels in terms of technology and project management. Each brainstorming group will be headed by a member of the project team that has been briefed on the project at hand and has reviewed the information presented in the surveys.

The main questions that need to be answered are all encompassing efforts involved with project information, collaborating and sharing pertinent information so that the university has a viable system for keeping information secure but at the same time available for all students, faculty, and professors to access.

· Who is the target audience based on the results of all surveys and brainstorming sessions?

· What is the timeline for implementation of work that needs to be done on the project?

· When will the time for information gathering stops, and project development begins?

· Where is all of the project development taking place? On campus ground? Will students be actively involved with the development and implementation of the school’s own system?

· Why, is a question that comes to mind. Why is the project necessary? This will not only provide a learning experience for students currently attending, but will also provide the school with a much-needed upgrade to its processes.

(John Homberg and Sean Austin – Sunday, 07 April 2019

Based on the elicitation results, finalize the system components and design requirements that are needed for your business case.

The information and management systems that are essential in my company, Education Information system which is concerned about provision and care of large-scale information on education and technological systems. For this my business case, the system components that will be required include the hardware, software and the interface, (Guanfu & Ershun, 2018)

a) Hardware

My business hardware configuration in concern with information and management will have these components are the entry data overview devices which will help run the information.

My business will also have one LAN network which will allow the interconnection of all devices in the company. I will also ensure I have units that hoard information It is also necessary to implant Information display equipment.

b) Software

Software applications are also necessary for designing an appropriate EIS. The elementary software needed for my business case are; graphics software, basic software-text, and database.

c) Interface

I believe that an interface is an Executive Information System that will be necessary for my management and information company. This must be designed to ensure that the information presented is comprehensible and easy to make an interpretation, (Walls, et al., 2015). This interface is necessary for representing the component of contact between us as the users and the relevant information stored. This will aid my business in that the individual who relates to the information will be capable of monitoring the processes and receive the response needed for decision making. I need the exit-allows users to see the consequences of their interface with the input system.

The system design requirements for my business case will require that the designer will have to take the following strategy decision.

a) Development procedure: this is the innovative stage that allows both the customers and employees to come up with strategies.

b) System advancement technique: Any way to deal with the framework improvement operational versus utilitarian, Accounting versus examination, database versus different databases c) Resources for framework advancement: concentrate on the inside users versus outsider. At this point, the design should be meant for the improvement and the utilization of bundles, (Collins, et al., 2015).

d) Manpower structure: Analyst, software engineer expertise and ability. Plausibility studies can influence arranging of MIS, the equipment and programming which is chosen for MIS plan ought to be in fact sound and modern, determination of legitimate equipment and programming ought to be a piece of key dimension choices.

Does the design solution support all the customer needs?

Yes, this design is meant to be customer-oriented, in that it focusses mostly on the needs of the customers. The development procedure allows the client to be free to comment on the ways in which the company can develop according to their point of view, (Davis, et al., 2018). The system advancement method is meant to make the customer work easy and understandable. The resource framework is meant to reduce the amount of data that our customer will be incurring when looking for information regarding our company.

Provide specifics that the proposed application should address

The UI idea incorporates intuitive viewpoints that encourage framework task and connection with its segments

Teachers, this proposed business idea is meant to address the teacher in that it will be easier for them to access information regarding the curriculum and the management board at large, (Alvarado, et al., 2018). 

Board of management, this idea is meant to attract the board of management in schools or learning institutions to inform them about any changes regarding information, the new technology, and the new management methods.

Learners; this system is meant to also target learners in all educational institution. This system is meant to provide the necessary information regarding research, new software and efficient hardware for their studies.

(Charles Williams – Wednesday, 10 April 2019)

Determining Methodology –

EiS has been in the development of educational institution software development for several years and has worked with all variety of levels of the educational world. From K-12 and EiS is working to expand into the Graduate and Post Graduate institutions. By improving and expanding through the experience and prior project success, increasing the capabilities of EiS, we will provide better solutions suited for every level of the academic process. Utilizing our previous experience and working with multiple development applications and solutions in the past, moving to the Graduate and Post Graduate level, EiS has chosen to use the Agile methodology for the this development solution.

Prior to this project EiS has worked with various development methodologies. Including Waterfall, Agile, Rapid and Spiral. Moving into this sector and for this project. EiS believes that the Agile method will work the best in this application. The Agile method will work best as it allows for changes to be made during the development process. Most importantly as this is a new project type for EiS, using the agile method, we believe will work the best. By using the iteration approach EiS can work through the goals and the requirements from the Stakeholders and develop those aspects as they are developed and tested. This will also allow for EiS to gather the needed resources, such as developmental hours, as they are needed, instead of making the full determination of them all at one time. This also lends back to the iteration process of development as certain aspects of the project are completed, then necessary changes can be made to the team and the work load as the project progresses.

Even while utilizing the full aspects and the advantages of using the Agile method. EiS will still work extremely closely with the project and the project team. It is of absolute necessity that full and complete communication be utilized with all development team members, team management, project stakeholders, finance, and executives. Without proper communication project development will be severely compromised. Improper communication will not allow the proper closing of project goals, and cause the iteration process to be slowed considerably, as the critical components of the development could be overlooked, incorrectly developed, missed or forgotten completely.

Project requirements are something that projects undertake with both project developers, such as us, and the clients, in this case the institution. The requirement phases are those phases of which, we as developers have multiple meetings with those involved, stakeholders, IT personnel, project managers, project developers and end-users for the greater good of the project’s successes and failures.

The following diagrams show the current work break down structure as EiS progresses through the development for the Institution. Working with the stakeholders the project management body of knowledge will clearly define the WBS. It is a tree to display the definition of work by the project team through manageable parts, that every party involved with the development of the project can easily understand. Below are Software and the Hardware WBS for the upcoming project.

Within EIS we will utilize a project manager that will oversee the internal processes that will determine how our teams meet our project deadlines. The planning phase will be the first section that will be completed. This section will last between 4-5 weeks. Our planning phase will be separated into tasks to be completed. Each section of this stage will be determined by the previous section. We will have meetings with the project planning team for the first two weeks that will determine the base of our system as well as set the basis of our questions that will be used within our focus groups. We will then conduct focus groups that will truly understand the needs of the business. This will take one week to conduct these focus groups. The intended audience for this group will be faculty, administrators, and students. Utilizing these groups we will truly understand what the customer base is looking for in an education portal so that when we begin our coding and building phase we will have a standard for what we are seeking when it comes to our system. After the focus groups are completed and based on the time that this has taken to be completed will determine the foundation of our coding process.

Once we have completed this planning process we will move into the coding phase. Our coding team will then build the prototype for our system and this process will take 4 weeks. We can move back into this phase after the initial coding phase has been completed. We will then move into our build phase this will be the phase where we have utilized the coding from the previous phase and complete the final look of our project. This phase will take 3 weeks to complete and then once this phase has been completed we will move into the testing phase. This will be completed by a dedicated testing team that will process the program from Alpha into Beta phases of our system. After the system has run through the Alpha phase of testing the coding and build team will complete any fixes to the system and ensure that it is working properly. The testing phase will take 3 weeks to complete. After we have tested our system and have a working program that meets the desires and needs of our project sponsor we will move into the release of the program. After sign off from the project sponsor our program will be released.

After the release of this system we will provide the resources and dedicated team to ensure that our system will have the proper team in place to be able to provide updates and fixes as needed. We will continue in this cycle for as long as this system is a needed resource from our customer base. Analysis is one of the many phases of the project and before one gets started, there should be a user design team in place to assist with how users do use the new system(s).

As we move into the planning phase there are some factors that must be addressed. As a company we will need to look at the trade-off between what our company can bring what as well we can afford to lost. As far as our budget for this project we will have to weigh the costs versus the amount of money we can bring in based on our product as a whole. Our cost structure will focus on the usage of school districts and through governmental contracts. We are providing a system which will change the way school districts will be able to interact with their students as well as the way in which communication will occur between the educators and the students and their families. There are certain factors that will have to be involved in our product. The interface is obviously a main factor in our system but the way in which our interface interacts with the users is open for change based on the answers and needs we ascertain from our focus groups during our planning stage. We are seeking for our system to be able to very user-friendly while being very streamlined and agile when it comes to coding and the way in which our intended audience uses the system.

With the intention of providing a secure database that has great accessibility for all our intended users we will be able to run a tradeoff while still providing a strong architecture for our intended users. Within our architecture we will utilize a strong database system with a secure system which will ensure that our information stays private while at the same protecting the students that will become our users. It we consider that the two of the main priorities for our system are security and the reliability of our database then these two systems will be our main focus. Since the database will take most of the upkeep, we will devote most of our time and resources to database management and upkeep. Every system dreams of that flashy GUI but the speed and performance of our database will be our focus. We will devote our time and resources to this algorithm. In focusing on our database this will limit our cost in the long run. We will not need to spend time with upgrades and maintenance for our GUI which will ensure maximizing our database performance. The time frame for our project will also not be truly affected based on the leveraging of our time towards database management. We can limit the amount of time we spend on design of our GUI and incorporate this time into algorithm development and design. With the result in mind we will maintain a strong system that will have great functionality while at the same time meet the needs of our desired customers. Also, if we focus our time and resources on ensuring that our system will work properly and be properly maintained the system will act in a reliable manner which will ensure customer satisfaction.

Below is a diagram of what the trade-off analysis will look like. Using this structure as a guideline, all of the teams involved in the production of the education system and how it can be managed better. There can be many examples of this but having a general idea of what to work with will help each team plan for each step of the process. In order to get the correct project deliverables, all variables must be considered and each step of the process taken diligently.

Continuing the process and accomplishing the task at hand is the goal. Using the diagram above will help in aiding the project along and briefing all the information necessary to all the people necessary in planning the next steps.

Section 6 – Communication Plan

The key to any successful project, is communication. Throughout this project there will be a communication plan that defines the process and how it relates to this project. The plan will define – All communication objectives, how all those objectives will be completed, the timeframes, and success measurement. Through the use of the communication plan, which is vital to the project success, as it will ensure that all stakeholders, project team, and management are kept fully informed on the progress of the project.

With the vast variety of those involved in the project as a whole then the creation of a formal communication plan for all of the key stakeholders is vital. By utilizing the structured plan then this will insure that proper information is provided in a timely and predefined manner that is suitable and complete for all the parties involved. Even with a fully defined communication plan, this does in no way dismiss the need for informal communications on the project within, or outside of any given department. The team will still need to inform and work with all team members when any issues arise, or risks are found.

Stakeholder requirements –

Stakeholders have the greatest interest in the overall project. As they are the sponsors, and they key investors. Without the stakeholders the project would be nonexistent and therefore they are the most vital individuals that will need to be apprised of all situations and progress completed and also the key voices in any changes that are necessary to the project as a whole. Below is our current stakeholder requirement table regarding the current known stakeholders –

Project Status – This is the information regarding the project as a whole, as to if it is running on time, on budget and all aspects are currently being met.

Project problems – This communication is any information that could affect the project on any level including timelines, and budgetary.

Project risks – This is a detail of risks involved, the impact of said risks and the plans to mitigate or eliminate those risks.

Project goals – These are the deliverables agreed to by the stakeholders and the project team and the progress or completion to those goals.

A fully detailed time line of meetings and events will be completed prior to project launch.

Section 7 – Quality Assurance Plan

Alvarado, D., Bailey, E. I., & Carver, W. R. (2018). U.S. Patent No. 9,880,592. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

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Guanfu, S., & Ershun, Z. (2018). Research and Development of Components Geographic Information Systems [J]. Journal of Image and Graphics, 4.

Walls, J. G., Widmeyer, G. R., & El Sawy, O. A. (2015). Building an information system design theory for vigilant EIS. Information systems research, 3(1), 36-59.