Assignment Task (Assignment Number: UA516)

ITPRD205A Project Management

Unit	ITPRD205A Project Management
Assessment Type	Group Project
Assessment Number	3
Assessment Weighting	Team Project Management Plan (PMP) 35%
Due Date/Time	Week 11 Online Moodle Submission;
Assessment Description	This is a group project (2-3 students per group) along with ab individual submissions from each member of the group. Students will be provided with a published case study or will have an option to choose a project from within their environment to write a detailed Team project plan. Nominated team has to work together to exhibit a professional project team structure and characteristics. Team members must work together collaboratively and assign roles/responsibilities within to define the sections of Team Project Plan. Team members must use online collaborative technologies (Microsoft Teams, Skype, etc.) to work together and share their work. Each team member needs to submit an individual report stating their weekly on contribution (weekly status of assigned activities) and lessons learned while working as team member. Content and Structure: In this assignment, a project team will be formed consisting of 2-3 students to work on a Team Project Management Plan. Each team member will contribute some key sections of Team Project Management Plan. Each individual student will provide an individual report of their weekly contribution and lessons learned as a project team member. Few sections of suggested Team PMP structure: Introduction of the project, scope and objectives, Stakeholders Project Organization Management and technical approaches Work to perform Schedule Budget & Risks
Detailed Submission Requirements	Team Project Management Plan should be in submitted in a Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF format via Moodle on due date. Team Project Management Plan should be consolidated version of individual team member’s contributions. Length of Team PMP depends upon the case study chosen. Each student in the team should submit their individual report via Moodle and discuss their individual report in via Viva voce style oral exam in order to validate your contribution to the group work.

Misconduct	The assessment will be submitted through Turnitin via your unit page on Moodle. Turnitin is plagiarism software, which will identify if you have copied information and included it in your assessment. Copying information from others (i.e. websites, partner company information, or other students etc.) without the acknowledging the author is classified as misconduct. Engaging someone else to write any part of your assessment for you outside of the group work arrangement is classified as misconduct. To avoid being charged with Misconduct, students need to submit their own work and apply APA or Harvard Style Referencing (ask your lecturer (https://courses.highered.tafensw.edu.au/mod/page/view.php?id=48) if you do not know what this means, or you need assistance applyingit). The TAFE misconduct policy and procedure can be read on the TAFE website ((https://www.tafensw.edu.au/about/policies-procedures/higher-education). Use the TAFE referencing guide accessible on Moodle.
Late Submission	Any assessment submitted past the specific due date and time will be classified as Late. Any Late submission will be subject to a reduction of the mark allocated for the assessment item by 5% per day (or part thereof) of the total marks available for the assessment item. A ‘day’ for this purpose is defined as any day of the week including weekends. Assignments submitted later than one (1) week after the due date will not be accepted, unless special consideration is approved as per the formal process.
Special consideration	Students whose ability to submit or attend an assessment item is affected by sickness, misadventure or other circumstances beyond their control, may be eligible for special consideration. No consideration is given when the condition or event is unrelated to the student’s performance in a component of the assessment, or when it is considered not to be serious. Students applying for special consideration must submit the form within 3 days of the due date of the assessment item or exam. The form can be obtained from the TAFE website (https://courses.highered.tafensw.edu.au/mod/page/view.php?id=48) or on- campus P.4.32. The request form must be submitted to Admin Office. Supporting evidence should be attached. For further information please refer to the Student assessment Policy and associated Procedure available on (https://www.tafensw.edu.au/about/policies-procedures/higher-education).

Rubric for Team Project Management Plan (50 marks)

Requirements	Total	High Distinction 85%	Distinction 75%	Credit Pass 65%	Pass 50%	Fail <50%
Depth, Breadth of Coverage and quality of Team PMP Team exhibits In-depth understanding of key concepts of Project management plan and its key components. Team has ability to understand and craft a professional PMP based on case study provided or chosen. Team understand the dynamics and challenges of team formation and collaboration.	45	All aspects of the Team PMP critique are addressed in depth.	Most aspects of the Team PMP critique are addressed in depth.	Most aspects of the team PMP critique are addressed adequately.	Basic aspects of the Team PMP critique are addressed adequately.	Responses are superficial and / or inadequately addressed the question.
38-45	34-37	29-33	22-28	0-21
Structure, Language and Conventions	5	All aspects of the written work conform to a high academic / professional standard.	Most aspects of the written work conform to a high academic / professional standard.	Most aspects of the written work conform to an acceptable academic / professional standard.	The written work displays basic structure.	The written work is not of an academic / professional standard.
4-5	3-4	3	2	0-1

Rubric for Individual Team member reports (25 marks)

Requirements	Total	High Distinction 85%	Distinction 75%	Credit Pass 65%	Pass 50%	Fail <50%
Quality and contents of individual report Student has clearly articulated his weekly contribution to Team PMP, and outlines valued added lessons learned.	20	All aspects of Individual Report are addressed in depth.	Most aspects of Individual Report are addressed in depth.	Most aspects of Individual Report are addressed adequately.	Basic aspects of Individual Report are addressed adequately.	Responses are superficial and / or inadequately addressed the report.
16-20	11-15	6-10	2-5	0-1
Structure, Language and Conventions	5	All aspects of the written work conform to a high academic / professional standard.	Most aspects of the written work conform to a high academic / professional standard.	Most aspects of the written work conform to an acceptable academic / professional standard.	The written work displays basic structure.	The written work is not of an academic / professional standard.
4-5	3-4	3	2	0-1

Case Study: Music Applications Development Project

Edapp Inc. is one of the world’s fastest growing educational application development firms for the Android market. In addition to performing education research, the company provides several educational app development services. They have recently expanded into the music educational games market as well as maintaining their traditional mathematics and science educational games market. The company has over 50 employees today, having added almost 20 people last year alone. They predict that they will continue to grow in the future. They are currently headquartered in Canberra and have offices in two other cities. They plan to open four additional offices next year. Part of the reason for the company’s success has been their strong work culture. The company’s founders wanted to focus on using technology and innovation to improve children’s engagement in the learning process. Due to limited availability of music education applications, the CIO, John Jones and the VP of education research, Richard Wilson, have both made a new Music Applications Development Project a priority. Research has shown that when children are exposed to classical music regularly, their mathematical abilities are boosted. Music therapy can assist children who are struggling in math, language, or physical development. Music therapy has proven quite effective for children with varying disabilities such as Down syndrome, autism, cerebral palsy, traumatic brain injury, and many more. Currently there are almost no applications available in this field. The main goal of this project is to develop a set of two music apps. One app will be aimed at improving children’s mathematics and language development. The other will be a specialist app for children with disabilities. Edapp Inc. believes in hiring highly talented and motivated individuals who can work well on self- managed teams. John Jones and Richard Wilson formed a search committee to find the best candidate for managing the Music Applications Development Project. After reviewing many strong candidates, they decided to hire you to manage this critical project. You have previously worked for a consulting firm and had successfully implemented several android application development projects in large organizations. Since this was a high priority project that should be completed in 6 months, they felt it was appropriate to hire an external manager from outside the company in this case. They knew they were paying a premium for your contract at $140 p/hr for 2 d/wk, but a lot was at stake. John and Richard agreed to be joint project sponsors, and they hand-picked Lance Sweets to be the main internal IT liaison and Jack Hodges to be the main educational liaison. They would let the new project manager, you, form the rest of the project team. You proposed that you would like to use some form of hybrid SCRUM project management methodology, particularly by incorporating SCRUM in the software development. However, after meeting with Camille Saroyan (CEO), John Jones and Richard Wilson you all agree that both the goal and solution are clear (since they are leveraging their existing expertise). You also agree that you will be able to clearly establish the requirements and that Edapp Inc. knows the technology well. You predict that they will need to provide new hardware for the development team and upgrade the test bed for system and acceptance testing. You will also need to eventually hire two teams of three analyst programmers to work on each app. Two will be hired for the Requirements/Analysis and Design SLDC phases in the carrying out phase of the project and the remaining four will be hired for the remainder of the project. The programmers will spend the equivalent of half a day a week on project management related activities and the remaining four and a half days on development. They will be paid at a rate of $80 per hour. To use the existing knowledge of the organization, you hope to second some existing programmers to the project and use some of the hired programmers to backfill the vacated positions. The existing programmers may be charged at a higher rate than the $80 per hour. You also hope to use two existing employees in some capacity to help with Acceptance Testing of the apps – at this stage you budget for three days per week for seven weeks at $80 per hour. For all team members excluding the sponsors and externally hired consultants, an indirect cost rate of 25% is applied. You will also need to access a special education teacher, and a music specialist consultant. Their pay rates are negotiable. After looking at the Business Case and creating a Stakeholder Register, you complete the Project Charter and hold a Project Kick-Off Meeting. The estimated/ROM project budget on the Project Charter is listed at $700,000 (including reserves) and states that you will have the final versions released to market 6 months after commencing the project. From your knowledge of previous projects and PMBOK you think it best to understand the project in a traditional project management sense i.e. as a series of four sequential phases: • Starting; • Organizing and preparing; • Carrying out; and • Finishing. You realize you have completed the required processes for the starting phase and now must focus on the organizing and preparing phase of this project. A key process group in this phase is the planning process group. You must understand and produce the appropriate outputs from the core and facilitating knowledge areas relevant to the planning process of this phase and integrate these into the Project Management Plan (PMP). You must then perform progressive elaboration of the PMP over the life of the project and particularly with respect to the situations that follow.

Time Point 1: Two weeks after project commencement…

You are having several challenges on this project. Edapp Inc. originally focused on developing education apps to facilitate children’s learning but the CEO, Camille Saroyan, has emphasized the need to increase profits by tapping into other markets, including 3D android mathematics educational apps and business training apps. The types of people who work on the former market are often very different from people working on the latter markets. They often have different educational backgrounds, skill sets, and values. Most of the people hired in the past year have been hired to support these new markets. Even though you and the Music Applications Development Project team tried to do a good job managing key stakeholders, they are having difficulties with several employees who disagree with the company’s new marketing strategies. Just a month into the project, several senior managers in the research and education-related departments have voiced their opposition to specializing in music education apps. A few very vocal managers said that they would continue to work on the traditional mathematics and science curriculum areas.

Time Point 2: One month after project commencement…

A memo that the project sponsors and you sent had mixed reviews, but the monthly meeting was very effective in airing everyone’s concerns and clearing up misconceptions. The project team realized that in addition to high-level monthly meetings, they would need to have more detailed meetings and reports to help keep the project on track. Each project team was assigned a user representative. It was critical that the team develop a good list of requirements for these new apps and work towards delivering these. A new requirement to create a testing function that will allow the users to benchmark their progress is proposed as a desirable requirement by the project sponsors and you need to evaluate the effect of this out of scope request but are quite positive about being able to include it.

Time Point 3: Four and a half months after project commencement…

You have reached a significant milestone on the project; all core requirements have been constructed and are ready for system testing. You think that you need to review the quality of the testing before a scheduled quality audit. You hope to be able to continue with final development integration of non- core features and final testing (system and acceptance) before final release of the apps. However, your reviewing discovers some issues and you need to resolve them. At this point, you also know that final versions are planned for release on time at the completion of the project. You therefore also resolve to measure the project progress and decide if the final versions will be released on time and on budget.

Time Point 4: Six months after project commencement…

The project has been considered a success, coming in on budget, within agreed scope and key stakeholders have been pleased with the communications and reporting process. The final versions are released to the market with great success and you close the project.

Assignment Solution/Sample Answer

MUSIC APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT PROJECT

Introduction: 3

Objective & Scope 4

Stakeholder 4

Project Organization 5

Management and technical approaches 5

Responsibilities for the Project 6

Schedule 7

Time Point 1: 7

Time Point 2: 7

Time Point 3 8

Time Point 4: 8

Risk 8

Budget: 9

References: 9

Introduction:

The goal of this project is to provide a working example of a centralised relational music store. Consumers’ and artists’ information, as well as their items, must be stored in this application. The capability in this case is to update, remove, and insert entries for various entities. A directory for employees and management from a music shop has been created. Customers can place orders over the phone or by email. The computer clerk must be able to satisfy the customer’s requests. Finding the proper record and ordering it are among these goals. The project team opted to start with the basic features and add other features afterwards. 

Insert, remove, and amend customer details is the core feature. Edit material about the record, artists, and songs by adding, deleting, and updating it. Create a new customer order and edit an existing one. Personal data and marketing materials combine to make an order information.

Because of the limited time frame of 4 weeks and the team’s lack of java knowledge, this decision was chosen. The team’s minimal goal is to display these fundamental functions in a graphical user interface that is easy to use (GUI). This is factored in the application’s framework, which aims to assure a built-in architectural style. New features must be incorporated in a straightforward manner. The following are some examples of extra features Summarizes of the Consumer, Merchandise, and Transaction categories. The software’s error reporting.

Objective & Scope

Toddlers who are having difficulties with arithmetic, linguistic, or physical growth may benefit from music therapy. People with Down syndrome, schizophrenia, downs syndrome, traumatic brain injury, and other impairments have found music therapy to be very beneficial. Check out the following needs for online music providers while designing your music app: Additionally, as we did with the Spot news project, you may incorporate a fully prepared solutions, also including Streaming API, into an application framework to provide consumers with a thrilling adventure.

Stakeholder

A variable overhead ratio of 25% is assigned to all team members, eliminating sponsorships and independently recruited experts. A special ed teacher and a music expert specialist will also be required. Their wages can be negotiated. You finalise the Scope Statement and convene a Projects Kick-Off Meet after reviewing the Strategic Plan and developing a Stakeholder Analysis. The Project Charter lists a $700,000 approximate project budget and claims that the finalized copies will be brought to market six weeks after the project begins. It’s best to grasp the project in a typical project administration manner based on your past experience.

Project Organization

A traditional software model is selected to control the path of development in order for computer programming to run smoothly.

The Circuit Building Learning Application was developed using a Cascade technique. This model’s schematic may be seen here. The Waterfall paradigm to form a methodical as well as progressive strategy easier to execute. Through stress planning during the early phases of developments, this would help enhance accepted industry guidelines like define prior planning and/or engineering prior to coding. User Needs- The client’s possible programme requirements are addressed and documented. The Circuit Learning and Continuous Software’s restrictions and goals will be developed.

Management and technical approaches

The administration goals and priorities, overall structure, dependency restrictions, risk management practices, monitor and review systems to be employed, and the planning process are all detailed in this chapter of the SPMP. Otherwise, major goal in developing the Circuit Design E – learning system was to provide a low-cost, simple-to-use tool to assist novice users in actually learning circuit construction ideas. The initial objective was to create a functional prototype which would allow the client as well as development staff in better understanding of outline criteria for the perfectly functioning application. The creation of a functional model that displays the customer’s essential functions is prioritised. The management aims are to keep project costs and schedules on track, to give customer involvement at all phases of the project, and to provide the tools necessary to manage and sustain a cohesive team atmosphere. Each team member will monitor the development timeline and report any setbacks to the project lead as a time-sensitive procedure. Weekly progress reports will keep the client informed of current team progress, because there will be regular group talks with both teammates and the customer attendance to evaluate growth and address any new project requirements.

The philosophy, aims, and priorities for management activities during the project will be described in this part of the SPMP. The frequency and mechanisms of reporting to be utilised; the relative priority among requirements, schedule, and budget for this project; risk management processes to be followed; and a declaration of intent to buy, modify, or use existing software are just a few of the topics to be described.

Responsibilities for the Project

The major project functions will be identified in the last portion of the project organisation. Each functionality will be assigned to a job in the project team.

Schedule

Time Point 1:

A week after the start of the project. This assignment is presenting you with a number of difficulties. Adapt Inc. was founded with the goal of creating educational applications to aid children’s learning, but the company’s CEO, Suzanne Saroyan, has stressed the importance of diversifying the company’s revenue streams, including 3D android instructional apps and corporate training apps.

Time Point 2: One month after the start of the project…

Our sponsors and you issued a message that received mixed feedback, but the committee meeting was quite useful in airing everybody’s concerns and dispelling any misunderstandings. To keep the project on track, the project team understood that in owing to increased meetings, they would require additional specific gatherings and reports. A user representation was assigned to each development team. It was vital that the team create a comprehensive list of needs for such free software and try to meet them.

Time Point 3: Approximately three to four months after the start of the project…

You’ve hit a critical project milestone: you’ve built all of the main requirements and are ready to test the system. You believe that prior to a scheduled quality audit, you should assess the testing quality. Before the final release of the applications, you hope to be able to proceed with final implementation integration of non-core elements and final testing (system and acceptability).

Time Point 4: Six months after the start of the project…

The operation was deemed a success since it was completed on time, on budget, but within the agreed-upon scope, and relevant parties were happy with the internal reporting process. You complete the project once the final versions are launched to the markets with tremendous success.

Risk

Throughout the software development process, the Circuit Building Learning Application and developer team would be performing risk management and analysis. Probable technical, budget related, as well as schedule risks within the development project regarding software would be identified.

The data was examined and a list of priorities was created. Some of the dangers that must be considered include any software available on the marketplace which performs the similar function like the one product under development. Database interface difficulties, time, security, software fault debugging, and Android/Flash debugging.

Budget:

The Project Scope statement lists a $700,000 approximated project budget (excluding reserves) and claims that the finalized versions would be brought to market six weeks that after project begins.

References:

Ahern, N., Short, A., & Bonde, L. O. (2009). Evaluation of a systematic development process: Relaxing music for the emergency department. Australian Journal of Music Therapy, 20, 3-26.

Pan, Y. C., Liu, W. C., & Li, X. (2010, October). Development and research of music player application based on android. In 2010 International Conference on Communications and Intelligence Information Security (pp. 23-25). IEEE.

Lund, H. N., Bertelsen, L. R., & Bonde, L. O. (2016). Sound and music interventions in psychiatry at Aalborg University Hospital. SoundEffects-An Interdisciplinary Journal of Sound and Sound Experience, 6(1), 48-68.

Cross, I. (2012). Music as a social and cognitive process. Language and music as cognitive systems, 315-328.

Gorbunovа, I., & Govorova, A. (2018, October). Music computer technologies in informatics and music studies at schools for children with deep visual impairments: from the experience. In International Conference on Informatics in Schools: Situation, Evolution, and Perspectives (pp. 381-389). Springer, Cham.