Final Project: Project Plan

QUESTION

This assignment consists of three (3) sections: a written project plan, a revised Gantt chart or project plan, and a project plan PowerPoint presentation. You must submit the three (3) sections as separate files for the completion of this assignment. Label each file name according to the section of the assignment for which it is written. Additionally, you may create and / or assume all necessary assumptions needed for the completion of this assignment.

While taking all business and project parameters into consideration, make quality assumptions to support the following requirements.

Section 1: Written Project Plan

You are now in the final stage of the project plan development. All previous documentation will be combined into one (1) document that will serve as the statement of work for the project. Your goal is to have the project approved by the executive team and the venture capital group. The project plan is very detailed which is appropriate to accomplish the monumental task of implementation. However, the executive team is only interested in a ten (10) minute summation. Therefore, you also must create a compelling executive summary that is supported by your detail that convinces the executive group that your solution is optimal.

1. Write an eight to ten (8-10) page executive summary in which you provide a high-level technical overview of your project where you address the following:
a.Describe the scope of the project and control measures.
b.Describe the goals and objectives of the project.
c.Give a detailed, realistically estimated cost analysis of the entire project.
d.Relate the value of the project plan solution to the competitive advantage that information technology will afford your organization.
e.Provide all aspects of the information technology implementation into the project plan.
f.Use at least five (5) quality resources in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia and similar Websites do not qualify as quality resources.

Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:

•This course requires use of Strayer Writing Standards (SWS). The format is different than other Strayer University courses. Please take a moment to review the SWS documentation for details.

•Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length.

•Include charts or diagrams created in MS Visio and MS Project as appendix of the Word document. Make reference of these files in the body of the Word document.

Section 2: Revised Gantt Chart / Project Plan

Use Microsoft Project or an open source alternative, such as Open Project, to:

2. Update the Gantt chart or project plan (summary and detail) template, from Project Deliverable 4: Infrastructure and Security, with all the project tasks.

Section 3: Project Plan PowerPoint Presentation

Additional to your detailed executive summary you must present your findings to the executive team and the venture capital group that, along with the executive summary, will convince the group that your solution is optimal.

3. Create a ten to fifteen (10-15) slide PowerPoint presentation in which you:

a. Illustrate the concepts from your written report in Section 1 of this assignment.

b. Create bulleted speaking notes for your presentation to the executive board in the Notes section of the PowerPoint. Note: You may create or assume any fictitious names, data, or scenarios that have not been established in this assignment for a realistic flow of communication.

c. Use a professional technically written style to graphically convey the information.

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:
•Demonstrate an understanding of existing and emerging information technologies and strategic impact on organizational operations.
•Evaluate the issues and challenges associated with information technology integration.
•Summarize the competitive advantage that information technology affords to organizations.
•Use technology and information resources to research issues in information technology.
•Write clearly and concisely about strategic issues and practices in the information technology domain using proper writing mechanics and technical style conventions.

Grading for this assignment will be based on answer quality, logic / organization of the paper, and language and writing skills, using the following rubric found here.

ANSWER

Final Project: Project Plan

Background Information

Itech is a business that deals with computer and ICT solutions. They intend to start an E-commerce business where they will be selling things online. This project will entail the establishment of an e-commerce business where the company will be involved in the sale of products online. The intention of this project is to establish a great platform that will ensure that the people from distinct regions are able to access all certain commodities without limitation of their locations. Some of the products that the project intends to sell on the e-commerce platform include TP-links, laptops, anti-virus desktops, tablets and smartphones among other ITR related products.

Objectives and Goals

The project seeks to focus on the area of using the coerce platform since the current companies in place are yet to meet the needs in the market. By having a quality platform that meets the needs of the prospective customers will ensure that all expectations of the operations are addressed through the platform. There has been a paradigm shift in the use of technology in the day to day services. This is the key reason as to why the product being launched, in order to meet the needs of the market base. The e-commerce platform will be used to reach out to people in various destinations and assist them with their IT solutions that they may need. The main goal of the project is to meet the needs of the prospective customers in the market as a value proposition for the business. The aim of IT application in this project is to facilitate the development of the e-commerce platforms which will require designing and development through the use of IT experts, IT products will also be sold through the platform once it is established.

The IT products are likely to make a huge impact on the market due to the fact that they will meet the most current needs in society. This is since most of the needs in the current market are based on the IT needs in society (Turner, 2008). The persons mandated with this role will have to be conversant with the needs of society and how to use the technology in meeting the needs in society.

Project Scope

Applications – The first major application is the e-commerce platform which will be in the form of a mobile application. The app will assist one to easily order for a product and even make an online payment. The communication with the selling team will also be through the mobile app. Other applications which will be implemented include having social media platforms that will enhance communication and assist in the marketing of the IT products. A company website will also be developed as an alternative to the app, where marketing and showcasing of the product will be undertaken.

Sites – The mobile App, the website of the company and the Social media platforms which include Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Process Re-engineering – will be conducted by a group of experts who are conversant with the development, designing and even testing of the app.

Customization – Customizations will be limited to the design of the app and the needs of the customers, with regards to the provision of IT solutions.

Interfaces – the interfaces included are the home page for the app, pages for selecting specific products, payment options pages, inquiry pages and the about page in the app.

Architecture – Qualified staff members, who will have the process of developing a platform that is easy to use and up to date.

Conversion – costs and scheduling will be the only data considered for conversion.

Testing – Testing will involve a few technocrats, chosen prospective customers, the project team and the project manager.

Funding – funding is limited to the development, designing, marketing and piloting the project.

Training – Training will be undertaken to all team members, the designers and the developers who will be made conversant with the expectations of the project and what each and the role of each of them.

Education – Education will include only the developers and designers who will be the key members of developing the e-commerce platform.

Scope Control

The project will involve several critical stakeholders who will work together with an aim of making sure that an easy to use online platform is established and that the platform is greatly marketed to all the target markets where it will ultimately meet the set goals and objectives. All critical stakeholders will be required to work together as a team to come up with the best ideas, plans, budget allocations and final testing of the project in order to ensure that the set goals are met (Nicholas & Steyn, 2017). They will be required to use the available resources accordingly in order to ensure that the budget allocations I effectively sued to ensure that quality and easy to use platform is finally established and sued accordingly as per the expectations. The time to be undertaken for the project is Five months, where the levels, which will range from the planning, stage of the project, to analysis and software requirements. The design process of the project will be followed by the development, testing, training, documentation, piloting, deployment and the post-implementation review. Finally, this will be followed by the conclusion of the project and the distribution of the app to the market.

Database and Programming

Database Design

The design of the database includes the database schema with normalized tables, entity relationship and data flow diagrams for the database of the website. E. F. Codd developed the Relational Database Management System (RDBMS) to make better database management systems. It is the most common and popular method to store data today. In the relational database management system, the data is stored in the form of tables with the tuples (rows) and Attributes (columns). The company plans to use the relational database management system (RDBMS) to store and save information for future use. The aim of using a database in the organization is to store raw data in the form of meaningful information. E.g. “25” is a number. But if we write Age 25. This is now a piece of information. The information stored in the database of the company is very important and is used for strategic decision making in the company.

Database Schema

The schema of the database represents the blueprint or the structure of the information stored in the database. The schema of the database includes the structure of the tables not the content of the table. The schema for the database includes the structure of the tables to be included in the database for storing the information. The schema of the database represents the database structure logically. It clearly states the overall structure of the database for the program.

Keys and Referential integrity

The relational database is connected by the relations between the tables in the form of keys. The primary key in the table is a field which uniquely identifies the column. In this case, the product id is a primary key in many tables along with customer ID in customer table and order id in the order table. The primary key field will never accept a null value or a duplicate value. When a primary key of one table is used on another table it is called a foreign key. It ensures that no record is added to the foreign key table unless there is a record in the relational table. If the record is deleted in one table, it is also deleted in the related table. In appendix A, the database schema is depicted. The product id is a primary key on the product table and foreign key in the order table. The customer cannot place the order if the product ID does not exist.

Similarly, if the admin deletes a product id from the database and there is an order it will be canceled. This is referred to as referential integrity. This ensures that the database is consistent. No user can enter wrong or duplicate information. A customer cannot place an order for the product where the product id does not exist. If product id is deleted and the customer places an order for the product, it will be a problem. Using referential Integrity, it can be ensured that customer cannot place an order for the product whose product id has been deleted. The referential integrity helps in maintaining the consistency in the database and ensures the safety of data.

Normalization

The information stored in the database should be non-redundant. The duplicate information will lead to anomalies in the database at the time of insertion, updating, and deletion. The Normalization process ensures that the information stored in the database is nonredundant. It ensures that information maintained across the database is updated. The Normalization includes 1 normal form, 2 Normal Form, 3 Normal form, 4 Normal Form, 5 Normal Form and Boyce Codd Normal form (BCNF). Generally, Normal forms are implemented until 3 Normal forms. Third Normal Forms ensures that there is no duplication of data and database is free from insertion, updating and deletion anomalies.

1. First Normal Form: The first normal form consists of three rules:

• No null values.
• Every field must have a single atomic value.
• No attribute must take multiple values. (Korth & Silberschatz, 1991).

The Category Table

Product ID	Category
1	Laptop
2	Smartphone
3	Tablet
4	Laptop

 

2. Second Normal form: for a second normal form, all the non-key attributes are usually dependent on the primary key and it is in the first normal form. To achieve the second normal form in the database structure, the product and category two tables were created to ensure all the non-key attributes are dependent on the key attribute in the database. (Appendix A).
3. Third Normal form: A Third normal form is in second normal form and no transition dependency exists in the table. There must not be any field in the table other than a primary key which can transitively dependent on each other. Therefore, the tables need to be divided to ensure the consistency of the database to ensure dependency only on the primary key and to remove the transitive dependencies. Appendix A depicts the tables are free from any transitive dependencies (Elmasri & Navathe, 2013).

Queries

Two

Select Orders. Order_id, Customers.name from Customers Inner Join orders on customer.customer_id = order.order_id;

It will display the result combining the order id and customer names by matching the order id and customer id.

If you want to find out the orders by a particular customer, then Select customer_name from Customer From sales group by Customer_name where Customer_name = ‘Charles’;

Entity relationship diagram

Entity relationship diagram helps in depicting the relationship between the tables and attributes in the relational database. It is very easy to convert a relational database into an E-R diagram or vice versa.

The notation popularly used for E-R diagram is:

Entity: Entity is represented using a rectangle.

Attributes: Attributes are the properties of entities. They are depicted using the ellipses. An attribute represents one property and is connected to an entity.

Relationship: Relationships are represented using the diamond box and entities are connected to the diamond box. The type of relation is written inside the box.

Appendix B shows the Entity relationship diagram for the database design.

An ER diagram can be easily converted into a table while designing the database. Entities are converted into the tables and attributes are converted to the fields or columns in the table. The relationship between the entities is managed using the primary key and foreign keys in the tables. (Appendix B).

Data Flow Diagram

The data flow diagram (DFD) is used to show the flow of information and processes in the entire system. It depicts the flow of information from each entity. It serves as a powerful tool in detecting any problems at the design phase. Like the ER diagram, DFD uses a common notation to depict the entire system using rectangles, arrows, and a route between the entity and the system. Unlike ER diagram, DFD can show various levels of information. DFD can show detail up to three levels. 0 level, 1 level, and 2 level DFD depending on the detail of information included in the DFD. 0 level or context level DFD shows the working of the entire system along with its entities. Appendix C shows the context level DFD.

Infrastructure and Security

Physical Network Design and Rationale

Figure 1: Physical Network Design

Figure 1 above depicts the physical networks design for the proposed network. It shows the physical devices that make up the network and the way they are connected within the network (Partsenidis, 2003). The physical design shows the interconnection between the various network devices such as hubs, routers, cables, workstations, gateways, etc. There is a variation in the physical network design with regards to the hardware type used and size. Nonetheless, Local Area Network (LAN) and Wide Area Network (WAN) are the two models of physical network design commonly used across many organizations. In the LAN model, communication takes place within a smaller geographical area, such a building. In a Wide Area Network, on the contrary, communication takes place within a broad geographical region, such as a country or several continents. For Itech, WAN was implemented to enable customers and employees in different geographical locations to share information and collaborate. Since it is an e-commerce business, customers are expected to make purchases from different locations and their items delivered to them.

Logical Network Design

Figure 2: Logical Network Design

The logical network design for the proposed network is depicted in figure 2 above. It is a depiction of the manner in which network devices communicate with one another across the physical ecosystem. Logical network design is related to protocols and outlines the transfer of data from one location to the next. It also shows the various IPs that are network devices such as routers, workstations, servers, and hubs have been assigned.

The two network diagrams that are shown in the above section also helps the network administrators to identify the security problems. If a malicious user attempt to gain access to sensitive data, they will need to recreate a map of the organization’s network so as to have a view of the security checkpoints and the access types that may be obtained. This process is tasking a lot for many individuals and will prevent them from trying to gain unauthorized access on the network.

Cost Estimation

Project funding is limited to the development, designing, marketing and piloting the project. The cost estimates for the project are as follows:

Project equipment and software costs	$120,000
Project development costs	$80,000
Project design and security costs	$65,000
Marketing	$100,000
Project piloting	$55,000
Total costs	$ 420,000

References

Turner, J., 2008. Handbook of project-based management. McGraw-Hill Professional Publishing.

Nicholas, J. M. & Steyn, H., 2017. Project management for engineering, business and technology. Taylor & Francis.

Korth, H., & Silberschatz, A. (1991). Database system concepts. Singapore: McGraw-Hill.

Elmasri, R., & Navathe, S. (2013). Database Systems. Pearson India.

Partsenidis, C. (2003). What is the difference between physical design and logical design of a network? Tech Target. Retrieved June 05, 2019, from https://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/answer/What-is-the-difference-between-physical-design-and-logical-design-of-a-network

Appendix

Appendix A: Database Schema

Appendix B: E-R Diagram

Appendix C: Data Flow Diagram