BCO3446PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Assessment three: Project Initiation Document (25%)
Learning objectives
After successfully completing this assessment task, you should be able to:
Integrate your knowledge and understanding of concepts in project planning
and management
Estimate and develop project schedule, resources and budget using Microsoft
Project
Produce a report for a business audience
Introduction
This assessment task (25%) requires you to take on the role of an Information Systems
Project Manager to produce a Project Initiation Document (PID) for your employer, Victoria
University Information Systems Consulting. In this instance the PID provides a summary of a
proposed project. It is being developed to provide the client with an overview of a proposed
project so they can determine if they want to proceed with the project as stated in the PID.
This is an individual assessment task.
Problem Scenario
Your employer
You work as a project manager for an IS consulting firm based in Footscray, Victoria
University Information Systems Consulting (VUISC). You have worked at there for four
years. The company has been in operation for several years and has a range of employees
including consultants, administrative staff, project managers, programmers, testers, business
analysts, help-desk staff, technical support staff who specialise in system installation and a
technical writer and a team of trainers who focus on user training and professional
development. The company provides information systems consultancy and develops
lightweight database driven information systems in Visual Basic for small businesses,
organisations and charities. For the purposes of this assessment task consider your tutor or
lecturer to be your VUISC manager/s. They can clarify any queries you may have.
Client scenario
A local scuba diving business, Sub Sea Adventures (SSA) has approached VUISC for support
in transitioning to a new electronic Scuba Booking System (SBS). SSA is managed by Shane,a very experienced scuba diving instructor who has been diving for over 30 years. The
business comprises three shops located at Portsea, Queenscliff and Phillip Island. They sell
scuba diving gear, run scuba diving training programs every other weekend and also manage
a fleet of six boats that are situated at Phillip Island and Queenscliff.
The boats run scheduled half day dive tours. Any certified scuba diver can ring up and book a
spot on a boat and go out to dive reefs in Port Phillip or Western Port Bay. Historically,
students and divers have rung up or visited any store to book in for a course or a dive tour.
One of the sales staff will take the booking and email it to the head office store, located at
Queenscliff. Queenscliff sales staff members are responsible for transcribing the course or
dive tour booking into the booking log spread sheet. Before each course or dive tour takes
place, Queenscliff staff email a list of participants to the relevant store where it is printed out
and given to the instructor or boat captain for use.
The current manual system is very prone to errors, sometimes spots on boats are double
booked, leaving divers missing out on dives at the last minute. Courses have also had to be
cancelled due to poor numbers due to problems tracking the number of students in a class.
The new electronic system will be implemented by June 2, 2017 and will be used by all 100
sales staff across the three stores and Shane, the manager. It will also integrate with the SSA
web site so customers can book into dive tours and courses online.
For many staff and customers, changing to the new booking system will require some
training and support documentation (e.g. user guides) to be developed and delivered. VUIS
Consulting has been invited to develop a Project Initiation Document describing how they
would go about training staff and customers to use the new system. Note that the system
development has been outsourced to another company; VUISC is not developing the system.
Your manager has approached you to develop this document. You are required to use the
standard company template and develop a schedule (with at least 25 tasks and three phases),
resource and budget estimates using Microsoft Project 2012 or latest, the company’s standard
project management software application.
Specific activities
Review the scenario
Review the scenario above carefully before you begin to begin to prepare your PID. Ask your
lecturer or tutor (your VUISC manager) if you have any questions or require any clarification
about the scenario.
Develop the Project Initiation DocumentReview the VUISC-PID-Template.dot template provided on Blackboard. Prior to developing
a schedule, resource plan and budget for the project you should fill in the introduction, scope
and approach sections of the report.
Develop a project schedule, resource plan and budget
Drawing on your understanding of lecture materials and independent research, develop a list
of at least 25 tasks that must be completed to implement the training program. Organise the
tasks into phases and include milestones. Input these tasks into Microsoft Project. Enter
predecessors and identify the critical path. Enter the resources required to complete the tasks
and generate a resource plan and budget for the project. The schedule, resource plan and
budget should be included within the body of your report and be introduced by at least a
paragraph of explanatory text to provide context for the reader.
Complete the Project Initiation Document
Complete the remaining sections of the Project Initiation Document template including the
executive summary. Ensure you have provided an introduction to any reports/charts and
identified and described assumptions you have made. Additional reports and sections may be
included to enhance your work.
Submission
This assessment task is due for submission in your tutorial in week 12. You must submit a
printed copy of your PID in a presentation folder that also contains a copy of the Microsoft
Project SXXXXXX.mpp file and an electronic copy of the report and cover sheet on a
CD/electronic or USB drive. The coversheet included in the assessment folder must be
completed (including ticks acknowledging the declaration has been read and
understood).Your PID must be submitted to VU collaborate drop box. You must achieve a
similarity mark of 20% or less. You may resubmit up until the due date to assist with meeting
this standard.
Prerequisites
To be able to successfully complete this assessment task you need to be familiar with the
content in lectures and workshops. You must also download the file VUISC-PIDTemplate.dot template file available from Blackboard and use it and Microsoft Project 2012
or any latest version to prepare your schedule.