Assignment 1 – Project Plan ISY204/ISY2004 Information Systems Project Management Semester 1, 2017 Page 1 of 5 Name: Project Plan Due Date: Week 6 Friday, 14 April, 2017, 17:00 (AEST) Submission: Moodle, Turnitin Submission Contribution: 20% (20 marks) Course Objectives This assessment task relates to the following course objectives: b) Demonstrate an understanding of the different phases of the project life cycle including planning, costing, scheduling and controlling d) Demonstrate a working knowledge and understanding of key project management software applications tools, and techniques including critical path analysis, and PERT and GANTT charts f) Apply the principles and tools to monitor and evaluate IT projects. Rationale This practical exercise assesses students’ ability to apply theoretical learning to practical, real world situations. In this exercise students must prepare an IS project plan, using appropriate project management tools such as MS Word, PowerPoint, and MS Project. Students should evaluate alternative courses of action and use MS Project to guide the development of their plan. This assignment provides students with the opportunity to demonstrate that they are able to:  describe the key elements of the IT project management framework, including project  stakeholders, the project management knowledge areas, common tools and techniques, and  project success factors;  explain the relation of the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) guidelines to  successful project management; • appreciate how IT project management begins with development of a good project charter Task Description Read the case study below. As the project manager you are required to present an initial project report to the project sponsor that shows how you propose to implement this project. As the project manager you may make any assumptions you think are necessary. Any assumptions you make should be made explicit. Make a list of assumptions in your report.Assignment 1 – Project Plan ISY204/ISY2004 Information Systems Project Management Semester 1, 2017 Page 2 of 5 Case study –We Are Big Inc You work for We Are Big, Inc., an international firm with more than 100,000 employees in several countries. A strategic goal is to help improve the environment while increasing revenues and reducing costs. The Environmental Technologies Program just started, and the VP of Operations, Natalie, is the program sponsor. Ito is the program manager, and there is a steering committee made up of 10 senior executives, including Natalie, who oversees the program. Several projects operate within this program, including the Green Computing Research Project. The CIO and project sponsor, Ben, has given this project high priority and plans to hold special interviews to hand-pick the project manager and team. Ben is also a member of the program steering committee. Before coming to We Are Big, Ben sponsored a project at a large computer firm to improve data centre efficiency. This project, however, is much broader. The main purpose of the Green Computing Research Project is to research possible applications of green computing, including the following:  Data centre and overall energy efficiency  Disposal of electronic waste and recycling  Telecommuting  Virtualization of server resources  Thin client solutions  Use of open source software  Development of new software to address green computing for internal use and potential sale to other organizations The budget for the project is $500,000, and the goal is to provide an extensive report, including detailed financial analysis and recommendations for which green computing technologies to implement. Official project request forms for the recommended solutions will also be created as part of the project. Ben decided to have five people working full-time on this six-month project and to call on people in other areas as needed. He wanted to be personally involved in selecting the project manager and to have that person help him select the rest of the project team. Ben wanted to find people already working inside the company, but he was also open to reviewing applications for potential new employees to work specifically on his project as long as they could start quickly. Because many good people were located in different parts of the world, Ben thought it made sense to select the best people he could find and allow them to work virtually on the project. Ben also wanted the project manager to do more than just manage the project. The project manager would also do some of the research, writing, and editing required to produce the desired results. Ben was also open to paying expert consultants for their advice and to purchasing books and related articles as needed. Part 2: Project Scope Management Congratulations! You have been selected as the project manager for the Green Computing Research Project. The company’s CIO, Ben, is the project sponsor, and Ito is the programAssignment 1 – Project Plan ISY204/ISY2004 Information Systems Project Management Semester 1, 2017 Page 3 of 5 manager for the larger Environmental Technologies Program. Now you need to put together your project team and get to work on this high-visibility project. You will work with Ben to hand-pick your team. Ben had already worked with the HR department to advertise team openings internally and outside the company. Ben also used his personal contacts to let people know about this important project. In addition, you are encouraged to use outside consultants and other resources as appropriate. Initial estimates suggest that about $300,000 of the funds budgeted for this project will go to internal staffing, and the rest will go to outside sources. The main products you will create are a series of research reports—one for each green computing technology listed earlier and a final report that includes all data. You will also produce formal project proposals for at least four recommendations to implement some of these technologies. Ben suggested that the team should develop at least 20 different project ideas and then recommend the top four based on extensive analysis. Ben thought that some type of decision support model would make sense to help collect and analyse the project ideas. You are expected to tap into resources that are available from the Environmental Technologies Program, so you need to include some of those resources in your project budget. Ben mentioned that some research had already been done on increasing the use of telecommuting. Ben also showed you examples of what he considered good research reports. You notice that his examples are very professional, with plenty of charts and references; most are 10 to 20 pages and are single-spaced. Ben has also shown you examples of good formal project proposals for We Are Big, Inc. These proposals are quite detailed as well; they often reference other research and include a detailed business case. Now you need to develop the Initial Project Plan The initial Project Plan should include the following: • Project charter • Stakeholder register • Stakeholder Management Strategy • Scope Statement • WBS (Show sequencing of tasks using a flow chart drawn with MS Word or any other drawing tool.) Referencing and Plagiarism It is essential to use IN TEXT referencing. If you are using the exact words from a reference then you must use quotation marks.Assignment 1 – Project Plan ISY204/ISY2004 Information Systems Project Management Semester 1, 2017 Page 4 of 5 You can use Chicago Style referencing with numbers, with a listing at the end of the essay. Microsoft Word has an EndNote plugin that makes this style very easy and clear to follow. (http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html ) Alternatively, you can use the more traditional Harvard style, which is more verbose. http://www.citethisforme.com/harvard-referencing . Remember that this is a Turnitin assignment and plagiarism will be subject to severe penalties. Please refer to the AIH Academic Misconduct Policy: http://www.aih.nsw.edu.au/content/1-home/8-more-info-tabs/3-officialpolicies/academic-misconduct-policy.pdfAssignment 1 – Project Plan ISY204/ISY2004 Information Systems Project Management Semester 1, 2017 Page 5 of 5 Project Plan Marking Criteria Submission Requirements:  The assignment is to be written in a report format. It must have separate sections for each of the FIVE tasks  Submit as a PDF or MS Word file through the Turnitin assignment submission tool on Moodle.  Include a cover sheet that has your name, subject, date, report title and WORD COUNT Marking Guide Assessment Criteria Fail Competent Good Excellent (30) 0-12 12-18 18-24 24-30 1. Project Charter, Objectives, Approach, Roles and Responsibilities Superficial Inappropriate choice of exhibits / Too short or exceeded. Good choice of exhibits. Consistent. Concise and relevant Well presented and written. Logical and precise. Well documented Excellent choice of exhibits and presentation. (20) 0-8 8-12 12-16 16-20 2. Stakeholder Register Incorrect format and incomplete. Correct format and most stakeholders in the case study. Very good format and all stakeholders included. Excellent presentation and all details are correct. (10) 0-4 4-6 7-8 9-10 3. Stakeholder Management Strategy Incomplete and illogical. Reasonable strategy to handle most stakeholders. All stakeholders considered and a good strategy presented Excellent and insightful analysis (20) 0-8 8-12 12-16 16-20 4. Scope Statement Incorrect or incomplete Mostly correct and complete scope statement All scope elements accurately included and well presented. Excellent and insightful analysis (20) 0-8 8-12 12-16 16-20 5. WBS Incomplete and/or incorrect Mostly correct and complete with at least 10 tasks. Well presented, accurate and complete. Excellent and insightful analysis TOTAL 100 Scaled to 20 marks