for EVEGAT

Running head: SOFTWARE PROJECT 1

SOFTWARE PROJECT 2

Software Project

Student’s Name

The professor’s name

Course title

Date.

Project Management Methodology

The project management methodologies used in a project have an ever evolving set of methodologies. The most common of this frameworks include the agile, scrum, the waterfall among other methodologies. These methodologies are used to handle different types of projects depending on the type of delivery expected among other factors.

The Scrum methodology can be used for this kind of project. Scrum is a methodology that seeks to deliver the deliverables as expected in a timely manner (Bourne, 2016). Scrum seeks to propose principles and processes in order to improve the delivery of the deliverables. According to Conforto et al., (2014), Scrum can be thought of as a simplified version that can be used to present the principles of agile process. The reason why Scrum is the most appropriate for use as the development framework is because Scrum is a framework that is used for the ongoing development and maintenance of complex products. This being not a new product, Scrum is therefore a very suitable framework.

Due to the high number of individuals with varying areas of specialization that are involved in the project: three Web-based developers, one database manager, a network specialist, two technical trainers, and one technical writer, Scrum offers improved communication between the stakeholders and the development team (Conforto et al., 2014),. Uniformity in the communication also helps to enhance teamwork and speed of development. This is due to the fact that Scrum uses a simpler set of roles, meetings and tools to efficiently manage the process. The whole process is done iteratively and incrementally delivering the fully functional deliverables.

Another reason why Scrum would be suitable for use is the element of empowering a self-managing team to deliver and define the roles and responsibilities of the development team (Bourne, 2016). This leads to the delivering of the deliverable the right way and within the shortest time possible. The variation in the requirements depicted by the difference in the members of the development team shows that the development team would achieve its full functionality and deliver the deliverables within the shortest time.

Agile Project Management

The adoption of agile project management methodology can be implemented in most of the deliverables. According to Rigby et al., (2016), agile is a methodology that outlines a set of principles for developing software. The principles that are usually used in the agile methodology are outlined in the agile manifesto which outlines four values. Agile can be adopted by the web-developers in case they urgently need a working software regardless of the comprehensiveness of the documentation. Conforto et al., (2014) note that this is because agile methodology focusses on delivering working software over documentation. This will help this organization to quickly implement and deliver fast the software. The fact that agile focusses on individuals and interactions over processes and tools makes agile ideal for this situation where the company requires the various groups to work collaboratively together to deliver.

The other reason that makes agile appropriate is the fact that agile focusses on customer collaboration over contract negotiation (Rigby et al., 2016). This will be very useful for the company as it has deployed the team to work on the project for the period of the six months and deliver fast. If the methodology focused on contract negotiation, this would delay the delivery of the project deliverables as I would take time. This would in time incur losses to the company. Similarly, agile would be suitable as it targets to respond to change over following a plan. According to Bourne (2016), being agile is more of a philosophy and set of values and principles to follow, rather than a process to apply to a project. The fact that agile is not a process but principles implies that it can be flexible and be manipulated to reflect the growing and changing needs of the organization. Agile methodology is thus suitable for deliverables by the web-based developers.

Work Breakdown Structure

The Work Breakdown Structure is a deliverable-oriented breakdown of a project into smaller components (Siami-Irdemoosa et al., 2015). A work breakdown structure is a key project deliverable that organizes the team's work into manageable sections. It is useful as it can help to better manage, estimate, coordinate and monitor the project. According to Siami-Irdemoosa et al., (2015), the activity level of a Work Breakdown Structure refers to the tasks that must be assigned to project team members to complete the work package. For example, the activity level of the Telecom Company will include updating of the database software, conducting the staff and employees training, updating of the internal website with frequently asked questions, the development of an online training manual, modification of the backend programs and updating of the web interface among other activities. This work must be assigned to the various groups that will be involved in the delivering the scope of the project.

The Work Breakdown Structure can be outlined as:

1. New Telecom Service

1.1. Updating Cloud-based Systems

1.1.1. Update database

1.1.2. Update web-interfaces

1.2. Billing configuration

1.2.1. Modification for backend programs

1.2.2. Including of new services

1.3. Training

1.3.1. Developing online training manual

1.3.2. Conducting training

1.3.3. Updating internal website with Frequently Asked Questions.

Required resources

The required resources for the project include all the elements that are required to carry out tasks. These include the people, equipment, facilities and even funding from the company. I shall examine all the activities that are targeted to ensure the completion of the project scope.

People as a Resource

Updating the database is one of the activities that will be undertaken by the database manager. People are the most fundamental resource in the projects of an organization. According to Muller, (2017), the human resource plays a vital role in implementation of projects. The overall availability of the resource determines when the people as a resource are assigned to an activity. Since the team will be devoted to operational management duties 30% of the time, then proper assignment of the people as a resource is crucial to ensure their productivity. The people will also be assigned to the other activities like updating the web interface, modifying the backend interface programs, updating web-interfaces, modification for backend programs, including of new services and the updating cloud-based systems which shall be done by the web developers; update database shall be done by the database manager; developing online training manual and updating internal website with frequently asked questions shall be done by the technical writer. The last activity will be conducting training shall be assigned to the technical writer. Muller (2017) asserts that the network specialist a very important resource in the project management. The network specialist will be in charge of ensuring that the network and all the components connected to it are secured to maintain the integrity and the security of the network and the components/devices that are connected to it to ensure efficient communication between the development team members.

Facilities as a resource

The facilities required in project management for our case includes project space, workstations, laptops, projectors for projecting the work, mobile devices for testing since the product is meant to draw more customers: it thus needs to be accessible though mobile devices. According to Muller (20017), you have resources to accomplish your tasks, but you should set them out across a timeline. A Gantt chart can best be used to sketch out the timeline that will be used to show how the resources will be used. Muller (2017) asserts that the best way to ensure efficiency in the use of the resources can be achieved through employing efficient communication and meetings to gauge on the progress sharing the challenges encountered. The resources can find a better way of being used through proper scheduling of the use of project space and equipment.

Funding as a resource

The funding is another crucial resource in the project management lifecycle. According to Muller (2017), most projects stall due to funding related issues. This may be due to the improper use and lack of adequate funding from the institutions. Since the company has agreed to fully fund the projects, there are no anticipated issues concerning difficulties in the financing. Funding will be assigned to the training. Conforto et al., (2014) affirm that funding will be important as it will enable the project development team to complete the project in time and deliver quality work since they will be able to access whatever they want due to the availability of funds. The level of experience required during this phase depends on the person handling the finances. Since the company will be handling funding through upper management until the completion of the project, then

Estimation Techniques

Estimation is a means of trying to determine a rough guess of how much resources in terms of costs, resources used, and durations for each activity that will be involved in the project (Farmann et al., 2015). The aim of estimating resources is to assign resources to each activity in the activity list. There are five tools and techniques for estimating activity resources. Estimation usually begins with a rough estimate which is refined to get a more accurate estimate. There are five main techniques used in estimation:

Bottom-up estimating

This refers to breaking down complex activities into pieces and working out the resource assignments for each piece (Farmann et al., 2015). Bottom up estimation can be very instrumental in the process of estimating individual activity resource needed or cost. These are then added up together to get the total estimate. This is more accurate provided the estimates at the schedule activity level are accurate. For more accurate results, every activity must be assessed and estimated accurately to be included in the bottom-up calculation. Farmann et al., (2015) assert that the smaller and more detailed the activity, the greater the accuracy and cost of this technique.

Activities that will take use the bottom up estimation include the development of an online training manual and the updating of the internal website with frequently asked questions. According to Farmann et al., (2015), activities that are not very vital and could be substituted by another means could use bottom up estimation to get the time, cost and duration before completion. The development of an online training manual should take at least two months while the updating of the internal website with frequently asked questions could also take two months. This is however constrained by the effort of the technical writer. This is on the basis of the fact that drafting and evaluation of the manual and the frequently asked questions would take more time, but the actual process of uploading them on the internal website takes a few hours.

Expert judgment

Expert judgement refers to bringing in experts who have done this sort of work before and getting their opinions on what resources are needed (Farmann et al., 2015). When the experts are more expensive to get, then as the project manager, I could use published estimating data to help me figure out how many resources I need. I could rely on articles, books, journals, and periodicals that collect, analyze, and publish data from other people’s projects to get a rough estimate of what I could use during the project. Similarly, a project management software such as Microsoft Project has features designed to help project managers estimate resource needs and constraints and find the best combination of assignments for the project. I will use such software to supplement the knowledge from the experts, the published estimated data and the project management software.

Expert judgement will be used when the area to be handled is sensitive and is the focus of the project. This include updating of the database, updating the interface, inclusion of new services which will be covered by the three web developers. The estimated time for updating the database will be approximately two months. The estimated time for conduct training for the staff is 10 months. The training of the customers should take a little while longer because the concept will be new to the customers compared to the staff who will have gained a little insight during the project lifecycle. The remaining three activities could each be handled a separate programmer for each activity and would take at most 4 months to completion. This is because of the security and the need for ensuring the programs worked as expected. The sensitivity of the content in these areas deserve the attention of expert judgement.

Monitoring and Control Process

The monitoring and control process superintends all the tasks and metrics necessary to ensure that the approved and authorized project is within scope, on time, and on budget so that the project proceeds with minimal risk (Goetsch and Davis, 2014). The monitoring and control process usually involves comparing the actual performance with the expected performance. When the two do not match, corrective measures should be taken to get the expected performance when the difference is big. This should be done continually throughout the lifecycle of the project.

According to Harrison and Lock, (2017), the earned value analysis can be accomplished through cross-checking the project scope statement. The project scope statement ensures the major deliverables, project objectives, project assumptions, project constraints, and a statement of work provide a documented basis for making future project decisions and for confirming or developing a common understanding of project scope among the stakeholders. The planned value is the value that I could earn as per the schedule, the earned value is the value of work performed expressed in terms of the approved budget assigned to that work for an activity (Das Chagas Moura et al., 2015), while the actual cost is the amount that has been spent so far.

Quality Management Plan

Version	Implemented By	Revision Date	Approved By	Approval Date	Reason
1.1
1.1
1.1
1.1
1.1

Risk Enumeration Techniques

There are several techniques that can be used to enumerate the nature and impact of a risk. According to Li (2014), risks can be enumerated both through risk reassessment, risk audit, reserve analysis and also through technical performance measurement. Risk reassessment involves identifying, evaluation and closing of the current risks. Risk audit involves responding to risks in order to examine the effectiveness of the risk responses and to determine whether changes are required and the risk mitigated (Li, 2014). Similarly, risks can enumerated through reserve analysis where contingency and management reserves are added to the budget during cost planning to carter for risks as they occur. The technical performance measurement aims to view the progress and the expected outcome. If the two do not match, then risk management measures are taken to eliminate the risk. To mitigate ongoing risks throughout the project, continuous monitoring is recommended so as to spot the risks as soon as they occur and prepare contingency plans.

References

Bourne, L. (2016). Stakeholder relationship management: a maturity model for organizational implementation. Routledge.

Conforto, E. C., Salum, F., Amaral, D. C., Da Silva, S. L., & De Almeida, L. F. M. (2014). Can agile project management be adopted by industries other than software development?. Project Management Journal, 45(3), 21-34.\

Das Chagas Moura, M., Lins, I. D., Droguett, E. L., Soares, R. F., & Pascual, R. (2015). A multi-objective genetic algorithm for determining efficient risk-based inspection programs. Reliability Engineering & System Safety, 133, 253-265.

Farmann, A., Waag, W., Marongiu, A., & Sauer, D. U. (2015). Critical review of on-board capacity estimation techniques for lithium-ion batteries in electric and hybrid electric vehicles. Journal of Power Sources, 281, 114-130.

Goetsch, D. L., & Davis, S. B. (2014). Quality management for organizational excellence. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Harrison, F., & Lock, D. (2017). Advanced project management: a structured approach. Routledge.

Li, W. (2014). Risk assessment of power systems: models, methods, and applications. John Wiley & Sons.

Muller, R. (2017). Project governance. Routledge.

Rigby, D. K., Sutherland, J., & Takeuchi, H. (2016). Embracing agile. Harvard Business Review, 94(5), 40-50.

Siami-Irdemoosa, E., Dindarloo, S. R., & Sharifzadeh, M. (2015). Work breakdown structure (WBS) development for underground construction. Automation in Construction, 85-94.