Project budget and resources

The advancement of technology has led to the improvement and connection of many individuals from different parts of the world. This goes out to businesses, musicians, students, leaders and many others who seek to learn and connect with other people through technology. For instance, the development and advancement of computers and laptops have led to connectedness among people with the same goals or objectives in life. In this case, musicians from different nations come together through video calling or recording live videos using the advanced technology of computers, laptops and phones.

In the current world, the most used platform to interact and connect with people is through social media. Social media has proven to connect people from different backgrounds, ethnic groups, schools, companies and individuals who share talents and are interested in music. It is said that currently if a musician wanted his or her song to be heard by a certain number of people, social media is the Holy Grail. Hence, many musicians are connected by technology since they are given the hope to continue entertaining people through the support they get from their fans and supporters. This project proposal will highlight the significant technologies that can help musicians connect more and share ideas that can help them take music to the next level.

First, they can make use of laptops, computers and social media forums through creating a profile that can attract as many fans as possible (Emmerson, 2016). Accessing a processor of a smartphone these days is easy; hence, if musicians have access to such equipment, then communicating and interacting with each other would be easy. Secondly, finding other musicians with the same agenda of shaping and expanding the music sector can be done through social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram or Facebook where there are millions of users. An individual can come up with an idea of having a live concert on Instagram and inviting other musicians to participate in creating awareness of their music. Also, having podcasts or live talks on social media forums about the importance of music to an individual's life and how music changes the perspective of a person and how they view life. In the shows or podcasts, the musicians could talk about how music has brought people out of stressful, emotional situations like minor depression, sadness, and grief, among other things.

In the current world, some types of music being released by musicians do not have any message or relevance of how it can make an individual feel when listening to it. Hence through the live shows or podcasts done by several artists can touch on the topic of making music relevant and how to convey positive feelings and confidence through their songs. Ideas can be from several musicians from different cultures or those who perform the different genre of songs (Prior, 2018). This would make it more diverse and exciting. Therefore, through technology, more so social media, the conveyance of podcasts or live talks can help in shaping the music industry.

Technology can also be used to shape and expand the music industry through musicians sharing each other's songs and works to their fans and supporters. Supporting other artists in their work, especially in the music industry is one way musicians connect from different places. This is done mostly through social media platforms where musicians support other musicians, hence making them come together, share ideas and collaborate in making music grow and their support club increase.

When it comes to project development, the respective teams must ensure that they gather the right data to form the ultimate foundation for the underlying solution. Requirements form the ultimate foundation for the completion of a given type of project. It follows that the project team must learn more about the underlying solution and activities to guarantee successful completion. In this connection, the key priority is the creation of a website, which will in effect help to increase the level of communication between the various artists around the globe. 

Over the years, the music industry has continued to grow based on the increasing demand for quality products and services by the markets. However, some sector stakeholders are in areas where resources are limited and not readily available. In this context, these stakeholders may find it hard to achieve the desired goals in creating or delivering content. Therefore, a framework is needed to improve the abilities of these stakeholders to share information, content, and knowledge using a common repository through a website that forms the goal of this project (Prior, 2018; King, 2018). 

When creating this solution, the team responsible will need to address the requirements in the process. The main resources required include workforce, finances, and knowledge. Further, the project should be completed in not more than 90 days. The website construction and implementation process should not cost the team over $4000 since there is no external material required in the procedure. When considering the elements of successful completion of the project, one of the significant issues which the team will need to address is the ability to meet the set goals and objectives. The primary purpose of the project is to develop a system that allows music industry professionals to connect hence facilitating idea-sharing.  

The main barriers that may limit the teams' abilities to achieve the desired outcomes include a lack of enough support from the team members and poor planning. The failure of the team to gather adequate details about the project may undermine the successful completion of the work. 

Technology infrastructure:

• Design website

• Select hosting service

• Create content

• Ensure website is mobile-friendly

Business processes

• Provide the ability to create and login with username/password

• Provide the ability to reset username/password

• Provide the ability to securely store user data

• Provide the ability to accept secure payments

The Deliverables will be a website with a user interface, mobile capability and a backend database for storing user data and completing payment processing.

In the first phase, a requirements analysis is done in order to flush out the concept of the project by answering the deliverables below. The issue of musical creation is saturated with trendy and generic formulas for creating music. The music market is overrun with some if not all the same type of music and sound. Which ultimately stifles the growth of creative music and inspiration.

Objectives

The key objective is to create a website that will provide a centralized location for music industry professionals to connect with each other and to access tools, advice and other resources. There are specific business objectives including – ensuring the website design includes mobile-friendly features, selecting a robust and economical hosting service and ensuring the total cost of ownership (TCO) doesn’t exceed defined budget. In addition, there are also website content objectives which include – providing access to audio software; connecting various types of music industry professionals - sound engineers, singers, songwriters, musicians, etc. - to each other and allow collaboration; providing access to a common pool of resources for musical projects; providing the ability to share the costs of recording studio time; creating networking opportunities to help songwriters work together to produce songs and providing opportunities for mentorship.

· Easy to understand user interface for people who use the program

· A website and a mobile application are needed

· A cloud-based system with large storage capacity

· User reviews so we can continue to grow from the data received

The in-depth details of the system will be worked along with developing of the system; creating the user interface and a prototype.

Testing will include the user interface, optimizing the system, checking for inconsistencies within the system and providing a system walkthrough.

Within the final phase, another system walkthrough is to be completed. After the system walkthrough, if all things are going the way they should, then the project is complete.

Completion of the Shape Music Through Technology (SMTT) project is estimated to take approximately 4 – 8 months to complete. Costs are estimated at between $2K-$4K.

Milestone Schedule

WBS

Risk Strategy

According to the PMBOK Guide, managing project risks should include the following activities - planning, identifying, analyzing and monitoring/controlling. The Shaping Music Through Technology (SMTT) project team will follow that methodology and create a plan to identify, assess and monitor/control all potential risks associated with this project. The risk assessment process will begin with the development phase and will continue through project close-out. The team will develop a mitigation plan for each identified risk.

Risk Identification

The SMTT project team has identified several risks commonly found in website development projects that could potentially impact this project. They include staff turnover, scope creep, and poorly defined requirements. Staff turnover is a common risk on website development projects. Scope creep occurs when new website features are requested that weren’t a part of the original request. Poorly defined requirements occur when complete details of features aren’t provided during requirements definition.

Risk Mitigation

The SMTT project has decided to use the strategy of risk mitigation for all project risks. The team will mitigate staff turnover by clearly communicating the project requirement, reinforcing the value that each member brings to the team and adding incentive bonuses for remaining on the project until the end. Scope creep will be mitigated by taking extra time in the beginning to ensure that all project requirements are defined. Each requirement will also be peer-reviewed to avoid the possibility of missing anything. The team will also document the agreed upon requirements and request the signature of the sponsor before development begins. In addition, if changes are requested, we’ll conduct a full evaluation of the change and provide an impact analysis of how time, schedule or costs have changed. These will be presented to the sponsor and will require signature before proceeding. The last risk – poorly defined requirements will be mitigated by documenting the specific details about how the finished site should appear and how it needs to operate. As with scope creep, the team will document all requirements and request the signature of the sponsor before development begins

The project team will continue to evaluate the development of the SMTT website as we progress throughout the project. The project schedule will guide project development efforts. Scheduled activities will be marked complete each week. The project team will re-evaluate the progress of the project, and the timeline as each section is closed out. The project sponsor will be updated on the progress as milestones are completed. This line of communication with the sponsor will provide the team with immediate feedback on the project's progress and allow for complete transparency with our sponsor as the website is developed, tested, and prepared for market.

The SMTT project team will close out the project in three phases. We’ll begin by having our customer complete a project evaluation form to determine the level of satisfaction with the finished product. We’ll provide a similar evaluation form to the website design team members asking them to assess the team process. Next we’ll prepare a final status report including our project sponsor’s rating of the final deliverables, final status of deadlines, budgets, and changes to the plan. We’ll end the closeout process by meeting with the project sponsor to review the Closeout Report. Martin &Tate (2000).

Emmerson, S. (Ed.). (2016). Music, electronic media and culture. Routledge.

King, A. (2018). The student prince: Music-making with technology. Creativities, Technologies, and Media in Music Learning and Teaching: An Oxford Handbook of Music Education, 5, 162.

Martin, P. K. & Tate, K. (2000). The forgotten phase. PM Network, 14(2), 29.

PMBOK Guide – Sixth Edition

Prior, N. (2018). Popular music, digital technology and society. Sage.

RACI Matrix

Shaping Music Through Technology (SMTT)

ROLES

Judy

Sneha

Jamal

Lina

Sneha

Jamal

Lina

Judy

Jamal

Lina

Judy

Sneha

Deliverable or Task

Initiation

Identify team skills & competency needs

RC

Assigning Team Roles

AR

Develop Project Proposal

R

Develop Project Plan

R

Obtain approvals

RIII

Iniation Complete

AIII

Requirement Analysis

Identify potential consumers

CR

Identify website features

R

Define format for reaching consumers

r

Identify potential routes

rC

Identify the consumers

rC

Complete consumer profiling

Conduct Market surveys

Cr

Analyze Competition

Cr

Requirement Analysis Complete

AII

System Development

Preliminary design

RA

Develop System

RC

Validate System

RC

System Development Complete

AIII

Testing

Conduct Unit Testing

CR

Conduct Integration Testing

CR

Conduct System Testing

CR

Conduct Website Functionality Review

RC

Submit Tutorial & User Guides for Review

CR

Testing Complete

IAII

Website Development

Develop website implementation plan

RC

Website Go-Live

A

Testing Complete

IAII

Project Closeout

Develop website implementation plan

RAR

Website Go-Live

RAR

Project Complete

AIIIAR

R

Responsible

Assigned to complete the task or deliverable.

A

Accountable

Has final decision-making authority and accountability for completion. Only 1 per task.

C

ConsultedAn adviser, stakeholder, or subject matter expert who is consulted before a decision or action.

I

InformedMust be informed after a decision or action.

Design TeamDevelopmental TeamTechnical Team