Xtras Web Based System Project - Case Study Example

Xtra’s Web Based System Project Introduction of Project Xtra Specializes in Hollywood memorabilia. The small companies projects are Movie Posters, Signed celebrity Photos, Action Figure and Movie Scripts. The company was set up in 1960 by four movie enthusiast. Interestingly, in the 80s and 90s the company did very well in terms of sales and profit. However due to recession the company has experienced major drops in sale in the recent times. The company was set up in a way to do most of the business from the main office via post. There are administrative personals and marketing department in the current structure of the company. Company has local net worked PCs for the eight full time staff. They also have two part time employees appointed. As the recessions took the toll of the company’s revenue lately, company has decided to come up with an idea of internet web page to offer and sell all products in order to generate the income. They also aimed this eBusiness project to help collect more market data and thus improve the customer service. Keeping it in view an independent study was carried out by an external e-business consultant six months ago. The study came up with the following conclusions such as a) Staff lack the IT skills use the new system, b) Staff fearful of changes in job roles and responsibilities, c) introduction of e-business will require restructuring, d) IT system will lead to increased market share, e) new marketing strategy will be required, and f) staff afraid management may use IT system to make staff redundant. Since the company was running in loss, the company has decided to develop a web based ecommerce platform as early as possible. They worked based on a project of designing, developing and implementing the web based business system. They raised fund allocated money for furnishing and purchasing to develop the web based system. The project plan has been presented in the following task. Task 1 Identify the project aims and objectives, and possible requirements for Xtra’s web-based system. Provide a short discussion on the constraints within which information systems requirements will be specified (for example: time, money, priorities). Your answer needs to address technical and non-technical issues. Project Background In order to increase the revenue the company has to offer and sell its all products to wider market. Thus, turning the firm into a profitable one. Project Benefits The business aims to generate more business with the launching of the Xtra’s ecommerce based internet web system. Moreover, the system will help to collect marketing data and provide more personal customer service. Project Objectives The objective of the project is to design, develop and implement Xtra’s web based business system. This online business is based on displaying and selling of all products online for profit and to open and maintain user’s accounts along with collecting the customers feed backs. Check List of Project The constraints of this project to be looked upon are raising the funds, a the company is already in an ailing economy, the existing situation of emergency in implementation of the project as early as possible and assuring the quality of the system as there is lack of IT expertise in the existing structure. Considering all these facts, consultants in project management, finance, and web design have been included in the project to overcome the following technical and non technical issues: Technical Issues Non-Technical Issues Determining and incorporation of concerns Attaining Software Licensing grounding the amount of endeavor Financial plan and Estimate recognizing the functions of the venture Time/Schedule Administration of the network & database Buying and Transporting Fiscal operation procedure Dealing and Communicating Safety measures Supervising &Watchfulness Information and Analysis E-commerce is usually associated with buying and selling over the Internet, or conducting any transaction involving the transfer of ownership or rights to use goods or services through a computer-mediated network (Thomas L. Mesenbourg). ‘Just five years ago, downloading an image or small sound file could bring your browsing to a sudden halt. But today, armed with a broadband connection, you can get immediate access to new music, blockbuster movies, and popular games without leaving the house. You can call friends in another state without paying for long distance, chat face-to-face with your family using videoconferencing software, and enter fantasy worlds with strangers from around the globe. You can even keep an eye on your house and use your home PC from hundreds of miles away. Plus, broadband isn’t just for PCs anymore. We’re seeing a growing number of devices – phones, cameras, and even a boom box – that tap right into your high-speed connection’ (Noah Elkin 2003). In order to make an e business successful a firm needs to look into certain requirements from the beginning of the project. The way a customer experiences while surfing on the net gives a lot of opportunity for an E-Business to thrive. The best way to achieve this is a calculation that Designed for the serious commercial e-Commerce experience, allowing for the distributing, buying, selling, marketing, and servicing of products or services through your website, Beyond has the solution for you (PSU Software 2009). The web site for an e-business will mostly involve some of the following areas such as ‘Full back end administration system allows you to process orders, print delivery notes, invoices, and refunds, monitor shopping carts, payments and a host of other features. The comprehensive security model allows you to restrict certain admin functions to groups of people. So for instance, you could allow a third party to manage your order processing functions, but they would have no access to your products catalogue or other areas of your site. Checkouts are flexible allowing you to offer more than one card payment processor, via Pay Pal or even to complete the transaction by mail or phone by not actually taking the money online. We integrate with over 40 payment processing companies and new ones are added all the time’ (e-Commerce Engine 2009). Work Breakdown Here is the breakdown structure indicate the activities which are to be undertaken to complete the work done so far. Xtra Web Based system Project Breakdown Web-based System Development Project 3 Months Project initiation 3 Days Initial appraisal 1 Day Evaluating the basic needs of the firm/Prepare Statement of Work 5 Days Ascertain the objectives of the project 7 Days Establish opportunity and Measurable 5 Days Estimate the Resources 2 days Identify Skills 7 days Identify Hardware and Software Requirements 2 days Build up a time and effort approximation 3 days Build up Hardware and Software Budget 2 days Build up Preliminary Budget 2 days Project Planning 3 days Carrying out 8 days Communication Plan 2 day Project Excellence Plan 2 day Implementation Plan 2 day Test Plan 5 day Educating Plan 3 days Support and Maintenance Plan 4 days Employees Planning 3 days Put in order a Detailed Skill-set List 3 days IT System/Hardware Planning 2 days Set up System Functional Requirements 13 days Project Authorization 1 days Assess Project Schedule 1 days Get Approval for Project 1 days Define Necessities 1 days Business Requirements 1 days System Requirements 1 days Identify Technical Requirements 1 days List down User Interface Requirements 1 days Review System Requirements 1 days System Requirements Signoff 1 days Testing 9 days Develop Acceptance Criteria 1 days Training 1 days Identify Training Needs 1 days Acquire Resources 5 days Acquire, Install and Test HW 5 days Get Work Space and Equipment for Team 1 days Application Development 12 days Development Planning 2 days Review Development Plan 2 days Initial Database 5 days Develop Database 3 days Test Database 2 days Review and Signoff Database 3 days Modules/Programs 5 days Build Modules/Programs 3 days Test Modules/Programs 11 days Review and Signoff 12 day Application Integration 4 days Integrate Modules/Programs 4 days Review and Signoff 3 days System Documentation 3 days Source Code 4 days Document Source Code 3 days Review and Signoff 5 days Operations Manual 20 days Develop Operations Manual 2 days Review and Signoff 2 days User Manual 2 days Develop User Manual 2 days Review and Signoff 2 days Testing 2 days System Testing 2 days Perform System Testing 2 days Verification and Validation 2 days Integration Testing 2 days Perform Testing 2 days Verification and Validation 2 days Performance Testing 2 days Perform Testing 2 days Verification and Validation 2 days User Acceptance 2 days Perform User Acceptance 2 days Review and Signoff 2 days Training 3 days Develop Training Program 2 days Conduct Training 2 days System Implementation 3 days Install system 2 days Install HW 2 days Install Application 2 days Load Data 2 days Test Application 2 days System Launch 2 days Close-Down 2 days Prepare Project Closedown Report 2 days Release Resources 2 days Perform Project Post-mortem 2 days Task 2a a) Provide a short discussion on the importance of resource allocation. Identify the resources required by your project. Resource Allocation Untimely implementation of the project can cause severe financial losses to the firm; therefore a project manger would always be the sole responsible person for carrying out the project strictly with in the scheduled time. A project manager should be shrewd enough to control the smooth running of the project so he has to make necessary bargains to make and take time by trading time and cost. The requirements of a project development are usually written just as the function of time period. However the project manager should make sure that the required things at a required amount are available at the needed time. The aim of such work at this project will be as follows Database management Thousands of categories and products can be maintained in Miva Merchant. The database allows you to organize instantly and conduct fast product searches. Dozens of different database management tools (such as Microsoft Access or Lotus 123) can be used to access Miva Merchants data files. Site Integration All of the Storefront functions like product lookup, category presentation, shopping basket, and order forms can be accessed as components of existing websites. Security Miva can encrypt sensitive data such as order and credit card information for the security of both your customer and your store. Online Help New users can operate Miva Merchant in the novice mode, which offers detailed prompting information about each field and overall information. Expert users can toggle between prompt mode and silent mode for power editing. Open System Because Miva Merchant source code uses a web browser as its user interface, it is the most customizable shopping cart tool on the market today. The system allows for excellent integration with other software. Sight Integrator Friendly Miva Merchant requires no daily management or intervention from busy system administrators. Installation takes less than a minute, using several automated installation scripts’ (affinity Internet 2002). To accomplish the above demanded infrastructure and ambience when the project will be up an running the following resource are a must at the hands of an English. Item Quantity Duration Human Resources Patrons of Project 4 90 days Web Designer & Programmer 2 50 days Monetary advisor 1 21 days Project Administrater 1 90 days Dealer – Appliance Developers 2 80 days Physical Resources Office and Office Supplies for the project 1 90 days Hardware (PCs, Network, Servers) 25 60 days Communication Facilities (Fax, Internet, Phones) 2 90 days Task 2b b) Provide a short discussion of the importance of timescales and allocation of time in terms of project planning. For your project allocate timescales for each activity. Timescale Timely completion of the project is a factor which all the project managers thought to be the most important issue. Completion of mile stones and a delivery with in the time estimation are expected of a proper timescale output. There would be an absolute loss if the project is delivered later than it had been estimated, due to the unwelcome increase in the cost. Xtra,s web based system project is not one with a very tight schedule but still margins have been observed after every major activity deal with unexpected emergencies. Days 1-5 6-10 11-15 16-20 21-25 26-30 31-35 36-40 41-45 46-50 51-55 56-60 61-65 66-70 71-75 76-80 81-85 86-90 91-95 Project Schedule Margin Scope of Work/HW Specifications Margin Tendering Evaluation Margin Margin HW Acquisition and Configuration Margin Margin Project Award Project Execution Margin Margin Project Reviews, Quality Control and Acceptance Task 3 Provide a short summary of how different leadership styles are likely to help or hinder the project. Identify how effective leadership can overcome these problems. Xtra’s Web Based System Project; the leadership Style A leader is someone who has the respect of a group of people, helps them make decisions, and helps them take action to achieve a goal. In the workplace, a leader is someone who brings workers together, inspires them, and helps them to conquer fear. A leader can use his or her influence to help build and strengthen a union (Organizing strong Unions nd). Leadership is in fact the central to any project. What type of people become leaders usually. Is it the firebrand who dares to challenge the employer? Or is it the quet one who command respect from all those who he/she meet? The leadership qualities that are required to make a good leader can vary in different companies, teams and situations. Leadership skills are needed at every level in the organization. Consistent training and approach from the executive level through managers and supervisors will help all in the organization develop their leadership skills (Cary W. Adams nd). ‘Today project managers have to go beyond the traditional project delivery practices and master the Business Synergies approach. This new system requires thinking of the project as a business enterprise and managing the project as a business venture. Thus you have to consider not only the success of the project itself but also the success of the project outcome. You need to understand how your organization creates value for its major stakeholders – shareholders, customers, and the business team, and also take responsibility for delivering that value. The new role of the project manager requires an ultimate knowledge of the strategy the project is supporting. Taking the business systems approach requires also knowledge of organization, motivation, marketing, accounting, cost control, finance, and quantitative decision making from the project managers perspective. The entrepreneurial approach to project management essentially expands two dimensions of the project management process – time and boundaries’ (Project Leadership 2001). What qualities are most important for a project leader to be effective? Over the past few years, the people who are world leaders in Project Management Training, have looked in to what makes an effective project leader.(Barry R. nd). Leadership Qualities “An efficient project leader is often described as having a mental picture of where to go and the ability to articulate it. Visionaries thrive on change and being able to draw new boundaries. It was once said that a leader is someone who "lifts us up, gives us a reason for being and gives the vision and spirit to change." Visionary leaders enable people to feel they have a real stake in the project. They empower people to experience the vision on their own. According to Bennis "They offer people opportunities to create their own vision, to explore what the vision will mean to their jobs and lives, and to envision their future as part of the vision for the organisation." (Bennis, 1997) The ability to communicate with people at all levels is almost always named as the second most important skill by project managers and team members. Project leadership calls for clear communication about goals, responsibility, performance, expectations and feedback. There is a great deal of value placed on openness and directness. The project leader is also the teams link to the larger organization. The leader must have the ability to effectively negotiate and use persuasion when necessary to ensure the success of the team and project. Through effective communication, project leaders support individual and team achievements by creating explicit guidelines for accomplishing results and for the career advancement of team members. One of the most important things a project leader must remember is that his or her actions, and not words, set the modus operandi for the team. Good leadership demands commitment to, and demonstration of, ethical practices. Creating standards for ethical behaviour for oneself and living by these standards, as well as rewarding those who exemplify these practices, are responsibilities of project leaders. Leadership motivated by self-interest does not serve the well being of the team. Leadership based on integrity represents nothing less than a set of values others share, behavior consistent with values and dedication to honesty with self and team members. In other words the leader "walks the talk" and in the process earns trust. Plain and simple, we dont like leaders who are negative - they bring us down. We want leaders with enthusiasm, with a bounce in their step, with a can-do attitude. We want to believe that we are part of an invigorating journey - we want to feel alive. We tend to follow people with a can-do attitude, not those who give us 200 reasons why something cant be done. Enthusiastic leaders are committed to their goals and express this commitment through optimism. Leadership emerges as someone expresses such confident commitment to a project that others want to share his or her optimistic expectations. Enthusiasm is contagious and effective leaders know it What is the difference between empathy and sympathy? Although the words are similar, they are, in fact, mutually exclusive. According to Norman Paul, in sympathy the subject is principally absorbed in his or her own feelings as they are projected into the object and has little concern for the reality and validity of the objects special experience. Empathy, on the other hand, presupposes the existence of the object as a separate individual, entitled to his or her own feelings, ideas and emotional history. As one student so eloquently put it, "Its nice when a project leader acknowledges that we all have a life outside of work. Simply put, to enlist in anothers cause, we must believe that that person knows what he or she is doing. Leadership competence does not however necessarily refer to the project leaders technical abilities in the core technology of the business. As project management continues to be recognized as a field in and of itself, project leaders will be chosen based on their ability to successfully lead others rather than on technical expertise, as in the past. Having a winning track record is the surest way to be considered competent. Expertise in leadership skills is another dimension in competence. The ability to challenge, inspire, enable, model and encourage must be demonstrated if leaders are to be seen as capable and competent. In a perfect world, projects would be delivered on time, under budget and with no major problems or obstacles to overcome. But we dont live in a perfect world - projects have problems. A leader with a hardy attitude will take these problems in stride. When leaders encounter a stressful event, they consider it interesting, they feel they can influence the outcome and they see it as an opportunity. Out of the uncertainty and chaos of change, leaders rise up and articulate a new image of the future that pulls the project together.(Bennis 1997) And remember - never let them see you sweat” (Barry R nb). Task 4 It has been suggested that many of the problems associated with project management can be overcome by effective means of communication. Identify and explain the types of problems in implementing your IS development that can occur and explain how effective communication can alleviate these. Possible difficulties in the project Xtra’s web based system requires very good interpersonal relation and communication to develop. If one have to achieve this effective communication is required among all the stake holders. Effective communication is nothing but carrying one’s message to other people conveniently and clearly. Consultants for web design and finance have been included in the project. Consultants may be available only during specific times, thereby necessitating effective and clear communication of issues or risks that may be involved. The web designer is responsible for making specifications of the system, which would need to be reviewed by the sponsors, and budgeted by the financial consultant. This phase would have to be rapidly completed to get the project off the ground. The communication should provide adequate information to the individuals in the lower level so that the leader earns hundred percent loyalty of every person involved in the project. The project leaders need to be free to choose their own team thus ensuring the hundred percent performances. Xtra’s Web Based System Project Communication Plan There is a need of a communication plan to be developed to foresee and solve the probable misunderstandings. Formal communicative messages were generated and distributed to all the stake holders from time to time. Along with the informal communication via E-mail, telephone were necessarily used for communication in order to keep up with the transparency of the team members. As far as the project up bringing is concerned ‘the responsibility for communication needs to be shared by all staff. Even when one or two persons would be broadly responsible for this area (Huang Judy nd). Communication Plan Program Participants Intention Instance Form Meeting to launch the project All the material and service providers Discuss the project to develop a schedule Initiation day of the Project Conference Inform all the stake holders of the project schedule All the participating units and Vendors. Inform the scope of the project to the complete participants Before the starting of the project. Document distributed mostly via hardcopy and electronically Launching the project All the material and service providers correspond procedure and stakeholder roles/responsibilities and setting mile stones After the project schedule is confirmed. At the time of the starting of project. Conference Status Reports All the material and service providers Update the concerned people on the progress of the project End of every week Distribute electronically and display it for the quick reference. Scheduled meetings Project Team Review the schedule completed and to be completed tasks and assignments. End of every week after the status Report Conference Project material providers Meetings Material providers and Project Manager Revise the status and discuss issues of provision At completion of every mile stone. In between if necessary Conference Patrons Meetings patrons and Project Manager Update on status and discuss issues At completion of every mile stone. In between if necessary Conference Audit/Review All the material and service providers with Team leaders Review status, issues, risks, and communicate potential risks and issues that may affect the schedule, mile stones, budget, or deliverables End of every 4th day Conference/ Recorded statement Post Project assessment All the material and service providers with Team leaders Assess the accomplishments. Discuss the potential improvements At end of Project conference/ Report Additional As decided by the Project manager according to the necessity. All-purpose interactions As per the needs of the time. As needed Task 5 Identify possible areas where mentoring and coaching may be needed. Identify the differences between mentoring and coaching and state how each process would be helpful both to the new employees and to the managers of the company. Employee Performance Every manager, no matter what his or her role, knows that exceptional employee performance is critical in todays world. Here is a need for human resource managers to move beyond HRs traditional performance management approaches and partner with line managers to remove barriers to exceptional employee performance that exist in organizational work environments (Ripley D 1999). These include actions to differentiate performers and tie rewards to performance, foster mutual reliance and friendship, value collaboration and teamwork, encourage sharing of best practices, design jobs that have distinct and important roles, design jobs that are meaningful and foster a sense of contribution, increase transparency, emphasize on fairness, build trust by being just and transparent in granting rewards, assignments, and other forms of recognition. The first thing to remember, says Ripley (1999) is that employee performance does not occur in a vacuum. We have to take a systems perspective and look not only at our employees, but also at the environments in which we expect them to perform. It has been said that if we put good performers in bad systems, the systems will win every time. We know that behavior in any facet of our lives is a function not only of the person, but also of the environment—more specifically, of the interaction of the person and the environment. Mentoring VS Coaching According to Gbemiye-Etta mentoring is more of a relationship giving employee’s to share there professional skill and qualities. If it is so it helps to improve everyone’s career and the opportunity was given by colleague and not the manager. Mentoring is based on encouragement, constructive comments, openness, mutual trust, respect and willingness to learn and share, and a one-on-one relationship between a more experienced and a less experienced employee. Coaching, on the other hand, is a technique that involves observing individuals at work and enhancing performance to correct deficiencies. Where as, coaching is done by the higher authorities. They would teach one to be successful. The teach to set goals and the ways to achieve them. Coaching would have more researched methods and theories especially concerned with each, basic, minute areas of ones skills and qualities, when the mentoring only look into an overall development. Mentoring Coaching Deals mainly around overall development as a professional Deals mostly with the specific development areas/issues of a professional skill Targets on the human being without a specific prearranged program Aims on the performance of a person with a specific program Mentoring is long-standing process and takes a broader view of the person Coaching is quick-fix (sometimes scheduled) and focused on specific development areas However, once when the project is up and running the out come looked up on is the productivity. In order to gain that one must develop an understanding of human performance improvement methodology. Then, be willing to use all the available tools, not just your favorite. The tools are just tools. The goal remains performance improvement. In any situations be open to any and all approaches. Maybe an internal person is the answer, maybe an external person is the answer, maybe an internal alliance is the best approach or maybe a consortium of companies is needed to work on the issue. One must always steadfastly partner with line managers and those with expertise in using tools you are not familiar with. Build networks of people who can bring expertise to the table that you lack (Dean PJ 1999). Dont get involved in turf wars with other parts of the organization that typically take a different approach. When you do, it simply makes you look foolish in the eyes of the rest of the organization. Rather, build strategic partnerships with they are in the organization that may have something to offer so you can quickly bring a significant amount of expertise to bear on the problem. Conclusion Take a systems approach. No intervention exists in a vacuum, and every intervention has some impact beyond its area of initial application. Try to bring all those affected to the table. Dont fall into the old trap of optimizing one part of the system while sub-optimizing the whole (Gilbert PF 1996). Once when the firm starts reaping the fruits of this project the managers will only have to be caring mentors for the full time employees of this institution. An employee who went through this project will automatically be ready to work in it and bring out positive results. The coach of the team for the future will have already known the possible issues to be looked upon in preparing the future employee unit. Appendix It is the business expansion program of a company dealing with art. Firm is looking for improved revenue with new E-Commerce venture. The companies web based system is long awaited project on which the firm has a lot of expectations. This project is undertaken at a financially difficult time, therefore, the timely and cost effective launching and completion of this project is crucial to the very existence of the company. Thus the company is posting this project to be a mile-stone determined project; by doing this the firm assures itself of the timely completion of the project. Given are the points to be kept as the frame work of the complete project breakdown and completion to be productive from the firms point of view. Scope of work Project risks, assumptions and constraints Roles and responsibilities Detailed description of mile-stones Project completion criteria Project schedules to be achieved by the team Relevant quality processes that will apply, such as change management, acceptance, and risk and issue management . The careful (cost effective and time bound) administration of this factors will prove to be much of the relief to the firm. 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