IT Software Upgrade Project Proposal For ABC Pvt. Ltd.

Project Background and Description

ABC Pvt. Ltd. is a private single operator business that is willing to upgrade the existing IT setup to increase the overall efficiency of the operations and provide the employees with updated workstations to work on. The company operates with a small management team and around 50 employees who work on old and outdated desktop workstations. For some time, the employees have been reporting various issues like system lag, sudden stop of the system, long start up time, very slow calculations and others. Following these feedbacks, the company has decided to update the workstations as well as increase the number of workstations to increase the employee capacity of the company.

As a part of the estimated plan, a total 500 workstations will be purchased and installed of which, 250 will be desktops and 250 will be laptops. In addition, while the existing systems run on Windows XP, Windows 2016 will be installed in the new systems.

The company currently runs with old and outdated workstations with Windows XP operating system and hence, the business processes are extremely slow. As a result, the customers are often dissatisfied with the services and choose to conduct business with other companies. Hence the company has decided to undertake a project in order to install new workstations in place of the old ones and also update the operating system to the most current version. Furthermore, the company is looking to expand and add more employees and hence, the total number of workstations will also have to be increased to accommodate more employees.

As per the initial estimation, a total of 500 new workstations required (including replacement and new systems). The company has decided that of these 500 workstations, 250 desktops will be purchased and the rest of the workstations will be laptops. While the laptops are much more expensive than desktops, they will save considerable amount of physical space. Furthermore, each of the management team members will be provided with laptop workstations only. Each new workstation will have fully updated and fully licensed Windows 2016 operating system installed. As per the estimation, the project will cost the company around $750,000.

The scope of the project includes the following.

• Selling the existing old workstations
• Purchase of 250 desktop workstations with updated hardware configuration
• Purchase of 250 laptop workstations with updated hardware configuration
• Purchase of original licensed version of Windows 2016
• Installation of all the workstations and respective software required in each of them

The main objective behind developing all these scope items is to upgrade the existing technical set up at the company as well as expand the business such that the company can recruit more employees and increase the business productivity. In order to achieve this ultimate objective of the project, it is required to deploy a technical team who will take care of installation of hardware and software. Furthermore, it is also required to conduct a training session for the employees who do not have sufficient technical expertise to work with the technically updated computers.

This particular project is specifically designed for supporting the expansion of the company for more business productivity. With the support of 500 employees, the company will have a huge opportunity to increase the overall business productivity as well as the annual revenue. With the increased capacity, the company will be able to conduct more projects that will enhance their services and allow them to enter new markets without any major constraints.

The project boundaries are defined using the following attributes.

Project Goals:

• To increase the employee capacity to near 500
• To upgrade existing technical set up

Project Assumptions:

• It has been assumed that the expansion will be feasible with the opening of a new office building
• It has been assumed that the updated technical setup will allow the desired functions of the company for the next five years
• It has been assumed that the expansion will also help in increase in the business productivity of the company

Project Constraints:

• The high budget is a major constraint of the project.
• Without a new office building, the expansion process will not be possible due to lack of sufficient space.

The main requirements of the project are 500 computers and Windows 2016 operating system. Each of the computers must have at least the following configurations.

CPU	1.9GHz Intel Core i5-4300U (dual-core, 3MB cache, up to 2.9GHz with Turbo Boost)
Graphics	Intel HD Graphics 4400
RAM	4GB DDR3
Screen	14-inch, 2560 x 1440 IPS, IPS display with 10 point multi-touch control
Storage	180GB SSD
Ports	2 USB 3.0, mini DisplayPort, HDMI, Ethernet (via included dongle), headphone/mic combo jack
Connectivity	802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0

The main deliverables of the project are fully installed updated 500 workstations and Windows 2016 installed in each of them. All the deliverables are listed as follows.

Deliverable	Expected Delivery Date (MM/DD/YY)	Acceptance Criteria
Project Proposal	12/12/18	All details of the proposed system including the highlighted issues of the existing system are included in the proposal
Project Charter	12/25/18	All the details of the project including budget, schedule, communication plan and others are documented
List of Required Resources	12/25/18	All the required resources are listed in the document
Updated Technical Setup	6/14/19	All requirements of the project are met
Project Report Document	7/2/19	All details of the project including progress log are listed

The milestones are listed as follows.

Milestone	Target Date (MM/DD/YY)
Approval of the Proposal	Mon 12/17/18
Approval to Proceed with Project	Thu 1/3/19
Project Handover	Fri 6/14/19
Approval of the Project Report Document	Tue 7/2/19
Final Closing	Tue 7/2/19

#	Stakeholder Group	Primary Contact	Description
1	ABC Pvt. Ltd. Management Team	Mr. Aaron White, CEO	The management team will have better control over the operations with the upgraded IT setup. The management team members will have updated systems to work on with various features that will benefit their work.
2	ABC Pvt. Ltd. HRM Team	Mr. David Black, Chief HR Executive	With the expanded capacity, the HRM team will be able to recruit new employees for the company.
3	ABC Pvt. Ltd. Marketing and Operations Team	Mr. Sean Brown, Operations Manager	With the help of the upgraded IT system, the operations will be much more efficient and faster. In addition, there will be added functionalities like data analytics, cloud computing and others that will ultimately benefit the business related operations.

The risks in the project are identified as follows.

#	Identified Risk	P	I	Risk Priority	Strategy
1	The project is too costly and the company will not be able to provide the funds.	4	4	H	Avoid: The company should ensure the funds are available before start of project. If it cannot invest the entire system, loan can be taken from a sponsor.
2	The employees are not accustomed with the newly updated systems.	4	3	H	Accept: Training sessions can be conducted in which, the employees will be provided training regarding the use of the new systems.
3	Some of the workstations may not work properly or the software may not be licensed.	3	5	H	Transfer: The hardware company will be asked to replace the faulty systems as a part of the warranty scheme. In case of non-licensed software, legal help can be taken to take action against the software vendor.

The following are the exclusions from scope.

• Recruitment of new employees as a part of the expansion plan of the company
• Allocation of workstations to the employees
• Training of the employees regarding use of the new systems

The project will be implemented in five main stages as per the standard project management methodology. These five stages are:

Project Discussion Phase – In this phase, there will be the identification of the issues of the current system and discussion between the board members regarding the issues. A proposal will also be submitted regarding the implementation of a possible solution.

Project Planning Phase – In this phase, the basic plan of the project will be developed including the project charter that includes project budget, schedule, risk matrix and others.

Project Initiation Phase – In this phase, the project will be initiated including procurement of funds purchase of necessary material resources and others.

Project Execution Phase – In this phase, the project will be executed and at the end of this phase, the final outcome of the project has to be delivered.

Project Closing Phase – In this phase, the project will be reviewed, documented and closed after all payments and residual works are completed.

In order to determine the budget of the project, the unit costs of the resources usages are determined in the following table.

Resource Name	Type	Initials	Max. Units	Std. Rate
Project Manager	Work	P	100%	$120.00/hr
Manager of IT Department	Work	M	100%	$105.00/hr
Project Team Leader	Work	P	100%	$102.00/hr
Technical Team	Work	T	100%	$600.00/hr
Computer (1 Unit)	Material	C		$250.00
Laptop (1 unit)	Material	L		$300.00
Microsoft 2016 License	Material	M		$6,000.00

Based on these costs and allocation of the costs to the project schedule, the total budget can be developed as shown in the following table.

Task Name	Duration	Start	Finish	Resource Names	Cost
Information Technology Software Upgrade Project	157 days	Mon 11/26/18	Tue 7/2/19		$722,644.00
Project Discussion Phase	16 days	Mon 11/26/18	Mon 12/17/18		$15,960.00
Survey the Requirements of the Existing System	5 days	Mon 11/26/18	Fri 11/30/18	Manager of IT Department	$4,200.00
Call Management Team Meeting	1 day	Mon 12/3/18	Mon 12/3/18	Manager of IT Department	$840.00
Undertake the Meeting	2 days	Tue 12/4/18	Wed 12/5/18		$3,600.00
Discuss the Current Issues	0.5 days	Tue 12/4/18	Tue 12/4/18	Manager of IT Department, Project Manager	$900.00
Discuss Possible Issues	0.5 days	Tue 12/4/18	Tue 12/4/18	Manager of IT Department, Project Manager	$900.00
Discuss Possible New Solutions	0.5 days	Wed 12/5/18	Wed 12/5/18	Manager of IT Department, Project Manager	$900.00
Agree Upon Software Upgrade Process	0.5 days	Wed 12/5/18	Wed 12/5/18	Manager of IT Department, Project Manager	$900.00
Submit Project Proposal	5 days	Thu 12/6/18	Wed 12/12/18	Project Manager	$4,800.00
Analysis of Proposal	3 days	Thu 12/13/18	Mon 12/17/18	Manager of IT Department	$2,520.00
Approval of the Proposal	0 days	Mon 12/17/18	Mon 12/17/18	Manager of IT Department	$0.00
Project Planning Phase	13 days	Tue 12/18/18	Thu 1/3/19		$11,520.00
Assign Project to Project Manager	2 days	Tue 12/18/18	Wed 12/19/18	Manager of IT Department	$1,680.00
Develop Project Carter	4 days	Thu 12/20/18	Tue 12/25/18		$3,264.00
Determine the Scope of the Project	1 day	Thu 12/20/18	Thu 12/20/18	Project Team Leader	$816.00
Determine Appropriate Project Schedule	0.5 days	Fri 12/21/18	Fri 12/21/18	Project Team Leader	$408.00
Estimate Accurate Budget for Project	1.5 days	Fri 12/21/18	Mon 12/24/18	Project Team Leader	$1,224.00
Prepare List of Resources	1 day	Tue 12/25/18	Tue 12/25/18	Project Team Leader	$816.00
Identify Possible Risks of the Project	3 days	Wed 12/26/18	Fri 12/28/18	Project Manager	$2,880.00
Prepare Management Plan for the Risks	3 days	Mon 12/31/18	Wed 1/2/19	Project Manager	$2,880.00
Submit the Project Charter	1 day	Thu 1/3/19	Thu 1/3/19	Project Team Leader	$816.00
Approval to Proceed with Project	0 days	Thu 1/3/19	Thu 1/3/19	Project Manager	$0.00
Project Initiation Phase	24 days	Fri 1/4/19	Wed 2/6/19		$242,764.00
Hire Technical Team	4 days	Fri 1/4/19	Wed 1/9/19	Project Team Leader	$3,264.00
Purchase Computers	15 days	Thu 1/10/19	Wed 1/30/19	Computer (1 Unit)[250], Laptop (1 unit)[250], Technical Team	$209,500.00
Purchase Authentic Versions of Windows 2016	5 days	Thu 1/31/19	Wed 2/6/19	Microsoft 2016 License[1], Technical Team	$30,000.00
Project Execution Phase	92 days	Thu 2/7/19	Fri 6/14/19		$441,600.00
Install the Computers in the Office	60 days	Thu 2/7/19	Wed 5/1/19	Technical Team	$288,000.00
Install Windows 2016 in Each System	10 days	Thu 5/2/19	Wed 5/15/19	Technical Team	$48,000.00
Install Business Software in Each System	10 days	Thu 5/16/19	Wed 5/29/19	Technical Team	$48,000.00
Connect System to Central Server	2 days	Thu 5/30/19	Fri 5/31/19	Technical Team	$9,600.00
Test the Systems	10 days	Mon 6/3/19	Fri 6/14/19	Technical Team	$48,000.00
Project Handover	0 days	Fri 6/14/19	Fri 6/14/19	Technical Team	$0.00
Project Closing Phase	12 days	Mon 6/17/19	Tue 7/2/19		$10,800.00
Review the Project	5 days	Mon 6/17/19	Fri 6/21/19	Project Manager	$4,800.00
Finalize All Remaining Payments	2 days	Mon 6/24/19	Tue 6/25/19	Project Manager	$1,920.00
Prepare Project Report Document	5 days	Wed 6/26/19	Tue 7/2/19	Project Team Leader	$4,080.00
Approval of the Document	0 days	Tue 7/2/19	Tue 7/2/19	Manager of IT Department	$0.00
Final Closing	0 days	Tue 7/2/19	Tue 7/2/19	Manager of IT Department	$0.00

Hence, the total approximate budget for the project is $750,000.

The timeline of the project is also shown in the form a Gantt chart as follows.

Binder, J. (2016). Global project management: communication, collaboration and management across borders. Routledge.

Burke, R., & Barron, S. (2014). Project management leadership: building creative teams. John Wiley & Sons.

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.

Crawford, J. K. (2014). Project management maturity model. Auerbach Publications.

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

Heldman, K. (2018). PMP: project management professional exam study guide. John Wiley & Sons.

Kerzner, H., & Kerzner, H. R. (2017). Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.

Kilibarda, G. D., Šobaji?, V. M., Beri?, I. M., & Jovanovi?, P. M. (2016). Software project management. Tehnika, 71(1), 145-152.

Kundra, T., & Sharma, A. (2015). Software project management. Int. J. Res.

Marchewka, J. T. (2014). Information technology project management. John Wiley & Sons.