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 Several of them utilise superceded or legacy technologies.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.