Assignment title: Information
Assignments for CIS8010 for S2-2016
Due Date: Assignment 3 (16 Sep 2016)
Assignment 5 (24 Oct 2016)
Value: Assignment 3 (35%)
Assignment 5 (35%)
Submission
Email submission will NOT be accepted in any circumstances. Assignments must be
submitted via the special link provided on the course page. If they are not submitted via
the special link provided, then it is assumed that submission was not made.
Assignment 3 may be submitted either in Microsoft Powerpoint format or in PDF.
Assignment 5 should be packaged as one single PDF file
Individual submission
Students should complete this assignment individually. You are encouraged to discuss
the assignment requirements with others to improve your understanding and clarify
requirements but you should develop the solution to the assignment on your own.
Student requirements
The objective of this assignment is to assess your understanding of basic project management
concepts and your proficiency in using project management software to produce project
documentation. In particular, the assignment focuses on the following PMBOK knowledge
areas:
project integration management;
project scope management;
project time management, and;
project cost management.
Your task is to develop a PowerPoint presentation (Assignment 3) followed by a report
(Assignment 5) for a major theme park company. This business has several parks around
Australia and attracts approximately 200,000 families per month. The parks appeal to all types
of individuals (both nationally and internationally) including children, adults, teenagers and
senior citizens.
The existing corporate information systems are quite dated. Several of them utilise superceded
or legacy technologies. Management reporting out of these systems is difficult to produce andgeneral growth is constrained by the limitations of these underlying systems.
Recognising the fact that the systems are not meeting management, frontline staff or customer
needs, the board has endorsed a "Digital Transformation" strategy, with the high level goal of
modernising its information systems.
As an initial project, you have been requested to initiate a replacement of the Customer
Relationship Management system and associated "park pass". The current application is a
thick client (limited to operating on a PC), with no mobile or web capabilities. There is also
no integration between the current CRM and "park pass" (a payment card that is used to access
to rides and purchase refreshments and souvenirs while in the park). In addition, each park
has their own customer systems, which are not integrated across parks or with other
management systems. A team of analysts collate extracts monthly to produce overall
performance reporting.
From the customer side, there is no way to reward families that are loyal visitors to multiple
park brands. The board would like to see customer be able to use their park pass to book online
and through a newly developed mobile app.
The immediate task on hand is to develop a business plan including financial modeling
aspects, human resource requirements, scheduling tasks, and solution scope. The management
board would like to see an integrated, up-to-date system being developed that is accessible
anywhere and hosted externally, away from the company's data centre (i.e. cloud).
There are 1500 employees, made up of:
250 back office (operations, finance, etc) staff, who need insight to customer data and
park performance from their primary work computers
50 park and corporate managers, who are highly mobile and primarily need
performance information (e.g. customer profitability) on mobile devices
1200 park employees, who need customer insights such as cross sale and discount
points at point of sale systems or on mobile devices at ride kiosks, etc.Assignment 3 (35 % of course marks) (Due Date 16 Sep 2016)
Objectives Covered
understand the genesis of project management and its importance to improving the
success of information technology projects
understand the triple constraints of project management: scope, time, cost
demonstrate knowledge of project management terms and techniques such as: project
selection methods; work breakdown structures; network diagrams, critical path
analysis, and critical chain scheduling; cost estimates; earned value management;
motivation theory and team building
apply project management software to help plan and manage information technology
projects.
Your task is to develop a professional business presentation (PowerPoint Presentation) to the
CEO and board of directors of the business, addressing the types of strategies the organisation
should consider regarding this project. In this presentation you are expected to provide a
business plan/project management document to define the project idea and an overview of
costs. Your business plan/project presentation to the CEO of the business and the board of
directors should include the following elements:
1. necessary assumptions and justifications about the business;
2. a summary of solutions and strategies on expanding the ICT unit to
meet the problem at hand;
3. an initial estimated cost and resource structure with appropriate
justifications to meet the organisational needs within the scope of the
problem;
4. a schedule (Gantt chart) with key project aspects such as milestones, slack,
etc to indicate how long will it take to deploy the project;
5. cost-benefit analysis, incorporating:
a. Return on Investment, with brief interpretations for nontechnical board member; and
b. A Payback Analysis Scenario, with brief interpretations for
non-technical board members;
6. Outline the plan of tactics and strategies as to how the project can be
managed; and
7. a set of recommendations for the consideration of the CEO and the
board such that they may be able to make the final decision regarding
the future/implementation of this project.
Other requirements for Assignment 1
You are only allowed to have 16 slides including everything (marker will only
mark the first 16 slides only). You can apply logical assumptions with brief justifications as to the coverage of
content you are going to present as long as you achieve the intent of the
presentation. In addition to the main slides, you must also provide limited slide
notes (maximum 100 words/slide) so that the markers can understand your view
point and why such a presentation is developed.
There is no need for any references for this component. However, we recommend
that you maintain a reference list of sources used in your research as it will help in
the next submission.
The presentation can contain animation and other presentation 'bells and
whistles', but remember it is professional presentation, so it should be tailored for
the Senior Management/Board of a company. Please note that the file size is
restricted to 10 MB.Assignment 5 (35 % Marks) (Due Date 24 Oct 2016)
Objectives Covered
understand the project life cycle: initiation, planning, executing, controlling and
closing
describe project management knowledge areas and process groups
apply project management software to help plan and manage information technology
projects.
You are required to provide a professional business report to the CEO and board of directors
such that they are able to formulate strategies and allocate resources for the implementation
of the project. This is a report for the implementation plan and it must not exceed 2000 words.
This is a business report, fully researched and developed with supporting arguments sourced
from credible journals. This component should be validated through a plagiarism software. It
must contain:
1. a comprehensive pre and post implementation plan of the new customer
systems for the organisation;
2. an implementation plan detailing time, cost and resource schedules. This is
a project management document and you must fully demonstrate your
skills in presenting a project management plan;
3. an identification of resources required to implement the above project
plan;
4. a highlighting of potential risks (including challenges) and how these risks
can be mitigated;
5. strategies to tracking project progress (including cost) for the project; and
6. a set of recommendations as to how the project can be successfully
implemented.
The above components are to be presented to the CEO, and therefore need to be succinct and
meaningful. The assignment should be thoroughly researched, with evidence provided
through references. The CEO is keen to see a well-argued case, highlighting insights as to the
key aspects, and would like to see strong points arguing your case as to the tactics and
strategies for project tracking.
The above documents should be developed clearly using project tools that are available to
you. As per the presentation, use your imagination to make any assumptions necessary for
your report (e.g. solution cost) - you are required to state your assumptions clearly and
package the documents in a professional report to management for their consideration.
Other Report Submission Requirements:
For this assignment, you must use a plagiarism detection application to ensure that this
assignment is plagiarism-free. Please note that report generation through TURNITIN can take
longer than expected and you should submit your assignment through TURNITIN well in
advance to avoid last minute delays.Note also the following requirements:
1. Remember to state your assumptions clearly prior to developing the above
documents and your modelling.
2. Only a PDF format of the final report is to be submitted through the
specific link provided at the course website (all other mode of submissions
will be treated as a failure to submit).
3. Please note that there is no need to attach a plagiarism report. However,
the markers will be instructed to verify that the content is original. If
discrepancies are found, your work will be marked zero and you will be
referred to the faculty for 'academic misconduct'. Therefore, you are
encouraged to check your written document for any potential plagiarism or
collusion issues before submission.
4. Any delays in submission must be accompanied with proper approval
documentation, despite the course leader approving a delay in another
forum or medium. Attach the approval to this assignment as markers may
not have access to delay approvals. If the approval documentation is not
found a late penalty will be levied as per university rules.
5. Assignments must be submitted via the link provided. If they are not
submitted via the link, then it is assumed that submission was not made. If
the assignments were submitted in other locations, it is very difficult to
track them, as the course team have no access to other locations, and the
course team can't assume responsibility.