In this project management plan, the project will be defined based on how it will be executed, supervised, and controlled. Consequently, it will define the methodology followed by the project development team in developing and delivering the software project. In creating the project management plan, inputs from the project management team, as well as the crucial stakeholders, will be followed. The scope, schedule and cost baselines will be used in measuring the project performance. On evaluating the performance of the project, the project manager will mark out any deviations and make relevant adjustments in a professional manner (Schwalbe, 2015). Most importantly, the project manager will ensure the project plan is followed so that the requirements of the stakeholders are accomplished. Moreover, the task of the project manager will be to provide all project deliverables on the setup time. Furthermore, the project plan will define the human resources, communications, risks, and project quality factors. It will also outline the change management plan and the configuration plan of the project to be developed.
Soliloquy Publishing Limited is a publishing house that specializes in promotion and publishing of authored works. Initially, the company had specialized in drama contents, especially high dialogue contents presented in soliloquies. The firm’s operations are set up in all states in Australia, with a staff of over 50 persons. The CEO of the company is Tristan Bard, who manages all operations in the firm. Other leaders in the company are Elijah Z. Money, who is the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Ignatius T. Shoppe, who is the Chief Information Officer. Additionally, the internal IT liaison is Henry Miller while the Soliloquy Product Expert is Henrik Ibsen. Due to the review of the current objectives, corporate and management structure, the company has implemented new practices in order to manage future growth.
The figure below shows the organization chart of the company.
Management and Technical Approaches
The suitable project management model used in this assignment will be the Agile SCRUM. The project will be executed in four main phases including starting, organizing and preparing, carrying out, and finally finishing. Considering that the goals and solutions are clear, the technical approach employed in the project will be the Incremental Phased Waterfall model. The approach will comprise of the analysis, design, development, testing and implementation stages. Therefore, the technical used in developing the project will be based on the waterfall model as outlined below.
Work to perform
The project will mainly focus on the development of a Streaming Media Player System (SMPS). Significantly, this project will help the company in replacing the existing web-based arts products delivery system. Therefore, the main task of the project is to create a system that is capable of providing streaming media content on the website and a client application for all subscribers. According to the company’s requirements, the web-based media player is to enable promotion of products and options while the client based media player is to enhance streaming of audiobooks, movies, reading in conversation, and purchasing ability.
Schedule
The project is scheduled for a period of six months, totaling to 26 weeks. The time schedule is allocated into 4 main time points. In the time frame, the project management plan is supposed to be baseline at the end of week three. Time point 1 is scheduled six weeks after the beginning of the project. In this time point, the project manager is supposed to communicate the challenges in the project development. Time point 2 is scheduled after nine weeks, in which the project manager is to update the stakeholders on the project development. Time point 3 is scheduled after twenty-one weeks, in which the quality of the project is to be reviewed. Time point 4 is scheduled after twenty-six weeks, in which the project is to be implemented and presented to the stakeholders.
Budget
The total budget for the project is approximated at $750,000. This amount comprises of the project management costs, development costs, hardware and software equipment and licensing costs. The content consultant and advertising consultant will be paid a rate of $150 per hour for two days in a week, in a period of 7 weeks. Besides, the analyst/programmer will be paid at a rate of $90 per hour for each of the six personnel hired. The database administrator will be paid at the rate of $250 per hour. The marketing budget is allocated $20,000. In addition, insurance premiums are budgeted at $5,000 in order to help in addressing potential risks. Moreover, in the budget there is an allocation of $25,000 which will be used to address the “known unknowns”. Nine PC units estimated at $2,000 per unit will be used, with licensing costs of $300 per PC unit. In addition, two android and two IOS devices are estimated at $500 each with licensing costs of $200 per unit. On top of the payments made to hired staff, reimbursement amounts of $500 per individual are included in the budget. Two in-house resources are budgeted at $90 per hour.
Time point 1
Six weeks after the project commenced, as the project manager, I am experiencing communication challenges with several stakeholders on the project. Although we have identified and management key stakeholders, two external stakeholders including literary agents and existing subscription customers complain of having been left out in the requirements gathering stage. Also, they complain that the new application will disadvantage them. Besides, there is unrest among the staff at Soliloquy Company. In response, I settle down with the company’s management and the stakeholders so that we establish a solution on how to work out on complains raised. While acting on the problem, I initiate the meeting with stakeholders and company’s management and plan how to add the requirements to the project. After acting on the problem at hand, we deliver a report on the issues communicated and the requirements to be incorporated into the project development.
Time point 2
Nine weeks after the project commenced, the Company’s CEO is still interested in the project. The CEO has been keen on receiving crucial updates on the project development process. Tristan frequently visits the project team so that he can be updated with the latest information about the project development phase. However, as the project manager, I was concerned about how disruptive the frequent visits by the company’s CEO would be. Majorly, there was a problem in time point 2 which involved Tristan’s request on one of the programmers to change a new function in the project. In response, I managed the interactions between the CEO and the project development team in a professional manner.
From a project management perspective, I decided to define the change request by the CEO, the reason for the change and the expected value of the change. Considering that the change request was made to a single analyst, I decided to review it with the whole project team. After completing the change review task, we released a response document addition of the new features so that the requirements of external stakeholders are accommodated I the project.
Time point 3
Twenty-one weeks after the project began, significant components of the system had been completed. Both the web-based and Windows media players had been finalized on and integrated. Currently, the remaining task in the time point was testing of the IOS application. Quality of the testing is to be reviewed at that time point before the scheduled quality audit is performed. While reviewing the system, some issues are realized that need to be resolved before the project is finalized and released. In response to the review, I measured the project progress in order to establish if it will be delivered on time and within budget. In this time frame, the web-based and windows media player component development tasks have been completed. The deliverables produced in time point is the audit report indicating the quality of the completed components, testing report and the progress report.
Time point 4
Six weeks after the project development process commenced, the project has been finalized and implemented. Significantly, the company management and stakeholders have considered the project to be successful. Key stakeholders are pleased with the completion of the project in meeting the budget, scope and time requirements. As the project manager, I have released the completed and closed the project development task. The processes executed at this point are the release of final system to the company, handing over the project documentation, termination of supplier contracts, and communication on the closure of the project to key stakeholders. All the project development tasks have been completed. The Streaming Media Player System (SMPS) has been successfully developed and released. The project development and procurement tasks have all been closed. The deliverables produced in this time point are the complete Streaming Media Player System, documentation reports and procurement reports of the development process.
Statement of contribution
As the project manager for the company, I was entitled to ensuring the project is completed successfully within time and budget factors. I was tasked with the role of developing the project’s budget and hiring of staff to assist in accomplishing the project. The main roles for me as the project manager included the following:
The table below summarizes the deliverables I was to produce and the purpose of each release.
|
Deliverable |
Description |
Purpose |
|
Project Charter |
Describes the project’s scope, objectives and roles of project participants |
To explain the objectives and goals of the project |
|
Contract Statement |
It is an agreement statement between the project development team and the company that guides the development team to work in a professional manner |
To set rules and strategies for developing the project |
|
Risk Management Plan |
Document listing all the possible risks in project management |
To help in managing risks |
|
Status Reports |
Outlines the performance success of the project team at a given time point |
To measure the project’s efficiency |
|
Business case |
This will outline the budget summarizing the cost of the project |
To enable stakeholders finance the project development process |
|
System Testing Report |
Document to describe the bugs identified in the system and control measures laid out |
To identify and correct the system bugs |
|
Project Presentation Report |
Document to demonstrate the occurrences in project development |
To demonstrate the project to stakeholders |
|
Complete System |
Functioning system developed |
To implement and handover the system to stakeholders |
|
Documentation |
Document describing how the system is used |
To guide users and technical team in using the system |
Peer review
In the assignment, the main purpose was to learn and gain experience in the organization, preparation, carrying out and finalizing on the project’s faces. The success criteria of the project assignment are based on the set timeline and the percentage value each task performed in the assignment work. Evaluation of the assignment’s success is based on various factors that must be met by the students. The first factor to be assessed is the identification of traditional and agile methodologies applied in managing the projects. Secondly, the success is evaluated on the level of description of the project management methodologies used. Accordingly, the assignment is measured on the acquisition of theoretical knowledge in project management models used in the project assignments. In addition, the success criteria are to be based on the explanation of the components used in project management plan and their success in improving the project’s success.
From the project management perspective, the planning task was effectively worked on by the project manager. In the project planning activity, the time, scope and cost requirements were defined appropriately before the development phased began. Substantially, the planning phase elaborated on the activities to be performed, the definition of relationships, estimation of resources, and estimation of durations. Proper budget and schedule planning ensured the project was successfully completed within the agreed scope. Despite facing challenges in the development face, the project team completed all the tasks in twenty-six weeks as planned earlier. Critically, the success of the planning phase was due to the involvement of key stakeholders which ensured all estimated resources were adequate.
The major challenge in the project management assignment was the communication challenges among the project development team, Soliloquy’ management, and key stakeholders. This problem arose at time point 1 due to complaints raised by two external stakeholders comprising of literary agents and existing subscription customers. Essential, communication problems at this point arose due to lack of involvement of all stakeholders in the requirements gathering stage. Consequently, there were communication problems which involved the Company’s CEO since he failed to communicate necessary changes to the project manager. Disruptions from the company’s management considerably affected the working of the project development team.
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