Project management - Charter

Online Stud Farm Management System (OSFMS)

Background

Stud farms in the rural communities of New South Wales have been growing rapidly in the past few years. These Stud farms makes sure that the true parentage of thoroughbreds is maintained and breeding services are offered. Many stud farms use manual systems for service bookings with the Stud Manager taking bookings over the phone or email and recording them in hardcopy diaries or spreadsheets. These farms also keep a record of the stud's enrolment into breeding registers which align with Australian and International standards.

To improve the efficiency and accuracy of the existing manual systems, Globex has decided to invest in the development of an Online Stud Farm Management System (OSFMS) to on sell to existing and prospective clients. Globex has identified that this online system will have potential clients from New South Wales and other rural stud farms around Australia. Based on their long-standing relationship, Globex has contracted Virtucon to develop the required system.

Project Description

Globex is a long-standing client of Virtucon. Therefore, Globex has contracted Vitucon to project manage the development of the new online stud farm management system. Globex will develop the OSFMS in house, and will endeavour to deliver the solution on time, and as inexpensively as possible while still meeting all project requirements.

An Online Stud Farm Management System (OSFMS) will replace current manual systems. On many study farms, breeders book services by calling or emailing the stud manager, who records bookings in a spread sheet and accepts credit card payments or cheques. This current process is unsustainable, open to error and double handling of information. Therefore, the decision has been made to invest in an online booking system, so that breeders can book and pay for seasons/services online.

The system should enable breeders to make bookings and payments from any online platform and mobile device through the OSFMS. Breeder's details, stud details, payments and a range of reports should be generated by the system. Breeders should still have the option to call the Stud master and book over the phone should the need arise. It is expected, however, that the ability to book services will significantly reduce error and administration and involvement of the stud manager.

Globex has identified that several factors should be considered and/or recorded when breeders book a season/service,, which includes, but is not limited to:

Breeding features:

· superior interface for entry of horse breeding procedures and vet examination results

· database of Mare and Stallion owners, with full stallion booking history, to allow for targeted print and digital marketing and news releases

· Person/Company name and contact details of breeder

· Type of business

· Book for "Broodmare" and/or "Stallion"

· Book DNA test for parentage

· Obtain certification of paternity (Including name of the sire and dam)

· To book for micro-chipping and other identification process

· To obtain foal identification card

· To check colour description

· Public liability insurance details

· To check the breed registry

· Closed registry

· Open registry

· Appendix registry

· Performance of Merit

Financial features:

· general ledger and marketing database so that information from one process feeds into the next, with no duplicate entry of information – so that key information about treatment and progress of horses is captured efficiently and billing is accurate

· Stallion bookings contract management

· >produce stallion contracts and invoicing service fees

· monitor location status of horses for charging agistment on a monthly basis, and take into consideration horse ownership percentages and other factors when issuing owner statements.

· Vet and Farrier charges entered (or imported) and allocated to horses.

· track all costs and expenses for the business and provide full financial reporting options including GST and BAS submission.

· allow for discounted rates to selected owners, markup of external costs, reallocation of charges for a horse over a date range from one person to another, reversal of charges and owner adjustments, and reflection of GST free services and recognition of mid-month horse ownership changes.

Mobile features:

· quick and easy recording of procedures to horses out of the office

· review of breeding and vet history for any horse on farm.

· produce and send a comprehensive set of advices to horse owners including arrival and departure advices, horse progress notes, foaling advices, scan result notifications and pregnancy certificates

· communications generated can be customised to include customer corporate branding by our design team

Next Steps

Once you have read and familiarised yourself with all of this information, please read the requirements for Assessment 2 and Assessment 3 carefully. You will be allocated to your team during week 2 and you should arrange a suitable time to meet during week 3. There are a range of technologies you can use to ‘meet’ in the virtual space, such as Team Viewer, Google hangouts, Skype just to name a few.  It is up to the team to select, trial and agree on a preferred method.  

 Assessment 2 has been designed to inform your understanding of the scenario and how the subject theory should be applied. You will work in teams of approximately 4 students while preparing Assessment 2 to facilitate peer-to-peer learning, and to complete the required tasks, however Assessment 2 is not a traditional group assessment.  You will submit individual assessments based on the discussions and outcomes of your team meetings. A minimum of three team meetings should be held during the session.  Suggested timing of these meetings can be found in the subject schedule.  Assessment 2 also includes a personal reflective piece on your teamwork experience and the role of ICT project manager requires in the IT profession. Each topic will prepare you for an assessment task and you will be prompted at the end of each topic as to which assessment tasks you should commence working on. However, in the meantime please ensure you familiarise yourself with the project and the subject requirements by following the above.