Management of a Software Development Project Essay Example for Free

focus of a software program program setment jump EssayIntroductionMany years ago, general go offered by hotels the like dinner reservations, room reservations and other services were done manu wholey. Most hotels used books, ledgers and papers to record names of guests, their duration of stay and concussion details. This required a lot of effort and time. Since the advent of the information age however, dynamic and interactive networksites have been introduced which have more efficient and faster expert features and capabilities for the perplexity of hotel services. For any business to remain competitive, it is necessary to maintain an online presence in order to reach out to customers all over the world and compete on a global platform. Reservations and payments are now done online to check off that conduction of business is faster and more convenient for customers.Definition of Project chargeA view is a temporary endeavor that is done to generate a unique product or service (Dun understructure 1996). Project Management is an natural process that involves the overall supervision, perplexity and co-ordination of all activities related to accomplishing a set activity. It always has a start and a finish date. According to Whitten, Project Management is a process that starts at the beginning of a jump, is conducted throughout a find and doesnt end until after the confuse is completed (2001).According to Dun stand (1996), Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to activities to fulfill stakeholders needs and expectations. It usually involves finding a balance among screen background, time, cost, quality, and varying expectations of stakeholders. A nonher definition of Project Management is the process of scoping, planning, staffing, conducting, directing, and managing the development of a organisation at an affordable cost within a specified time ensnare (Whitten, Bentley Dittman 2001, p.124).Impo rtance of Project ManagementAccording to Dr Malcolm Wheatley, Project management as a management discipline, supports much economic activity. In major industries like Information Technology, Software knowledge, Construction, Pharmaceuticals, and Aerospace, give management is fundamental. Project Management is as well as meaning(a) in governments that have set goals and milestones which can only be achieved with effective management practices. entropy from the Bureau of Economic Analysis of the US surgical incision of Commerce, estimated in 2001 that the US companies spend $2.3trn on devices every year (2000).Project management is important in any economic activity because it ensures adequate planning, schedule and in(predicate) execution of a project it also helps to reduce possible risks associated with a project and ensure minimal hitches. Project Management is indeed important to every economy. Many projects fail because of poor knowledge of Project Management concepts. I ts relevance cannot be over emphasized.Role of the Project ManagerThe project manager is in charge of daily management and supervision of the project. He manages the project to ensure that things go according to plan. He also communicates with all stakeholders and project separate members to ensure that theres a clear understanding of general requirements. The project manager confirms users requirements to make sure that these requirements are incorporated into the end-product. A project manager engages in scoping, planning, staffing, organizing, scheduling, directing, controlling and closing a project (Whitten 2001, p.127).Swot AnalysisThe Regency Hotels has several strengths that serve as advantages. It has the potential to expand its services to customers internationally due to the number of branches it has, internet availability and its unique services. It is also strategically located, can leverage on its positioning and has a wide customer base. Its ii major weaknesses are 1) it has a static website which cannot provide interactive functions like online payments, online reservations, message boards, fan clubs, and so on. 2) It does not have skilled IT staff in-house that can manage the online strategy when it is eventually deployed.There are however, opportunities for it to become one of the best hotels in the world by maintaining a consistent and interactive global presence. Increased competition is the major threat to Regency Hotels. Most hotels today, have a strong online presence that offers customers various services that make their experiences with the hotel more memorable and convenient, like booking and paying online. Regency Hotels is yet to rise to the challenge.Development methodologyThe software development methodology to be adopted for the production of this governance is the waterfall method. This is an accession to software development that specifies that a project should be root worded into phases and one phase must be completed b efore the next. The project is carried out in a logical manner through a pre-determined number of steps.This method is preferred because the duration of the project is only two weeks and the requirements are clear. With the waterfall method, project suss outs are conducted between stages, which represent milestones. This provides an organized scenario that ensures required documentation and quality management of the develop application is carried out (Sorensen 1995).Project ScopeThe project kitchen stove definition involves clarifying the boundaries of the project. Regency Hotels in issueition to available scientific features like retrieving customers information, billing, checking for room availability, desires a system with added capabilities of online booking and payment.This project involves building a system that can accept online booking and payment options by customers. A portal leave be developed to include the following features Online reservations, online payment, ch ecking room availability, checking in, checking out, discussion group and general information on the hotel.Secure Socket Layer (SSL) testament be added to the website to provide for added security when paying online search functions will be provided on web pages to check for room availability and booking e-mail and discussion group facilities will be included to facilitate communication between customers and the hotel and other technological features from the available website will be incorporated into the new portal to ensure that a robust system that meets the expectations of Stakeholders at Regency Hotels is built.The final system will be deployed at the hotel and tested. Staff members that need to be trained will be identified and educated on how to use the system. The change management process will be made easier for staff of Regency Hotel by ensuring that they are adequately trained, resources are provide to assist them, and maintenance/ support plans are put in place. expiry of using COCOMO model to estimate effort, duration and number of people required.The Constructive Cost Model, known as COCOMO was developed by Barry Boehm in 1981. It is based on the waterfall model and is used for estimating the number of person and months needed to develop software. It also estimates the development schedule in months. The development mode for this project is thorough because it is a small and straight-forward one. A small team with sufficient experience work together to develop the portal system (Merlo-Schett 2002). COCOMO is defined in name of three basic models The Basic model, the Intermediate model and the detailed model. The KDSI is the size of the project in Kilo delivered source instructions. These are source lines that are created by the project team. Using the Intermediate COCOMO I, calculation is done as followsRequired Portal system for online payment and bookingDevelopment Effort (MM) = a * KDSI bEffort and development Time (TDEV) = 2.5 * MM cWith organic mode of development, a = 3.2, b = 1.05, c = 0.384 modules to implementData entry 0.5 KDSIData update 0.3 KDSIOnline Reservations 0.8 KDSIOnline Payment 0.7 KDSISystem SIZE 2.3 KDSIMM = 3.2 * 2.3 1.05 = 7.7TDEV = 2.5 * MM c = 2.5* 7.7 0.38 = 5.4 (Project needs more than 5 months to complete)Number of people to be hired = MM/TDEV = 7.7/5.4 = 1.4 (This means that more than one team member is needed to execute the project).The major shortcoming of the above calculation is that value of the KDSI used is approximate (Merlo-Schett 2002). hardware and Software RequirementsAt least four separate computers will be needed for building the portal, testing it and hosting it. Softwares like Macromedia Dreamweaver, Java, PHP, SQL Server and Visual Basic .NET will be needed for building the portal. A central server for hosting and managing user connections to the portal will also be required. relieve oneself Breakdown StructureWork Breakdown Structure shows the hierarchical decompositio n of projects into phases, activities and tasks (Whitten 2001, p.135).SOFTWARE REQUIREMENT SPECIFICATION1.1 Identify sponsors and stakeholders1.2 Meet with sponsors and stakeholders to clarify system requirements1.3 Produce Software Requirements Specification delineate1.4 Sign-off on software requirementsTECHNOLOGY SPECIFICATION2.1 Determine hardware and software needed for developing the system2.2 Procure hardware and software needed for system development2.3 Set-up hardware and software for useSCOPE MANAGEMENT3.1 Develop a written scope statement as a basis for future project decisions3.2 Verify Scope of the Project with sponsors3.3 Perform Scope Change Control to prevent scope creepCOST SCHEDULE MANAGEMENT4.1 Develop an estimate of project costs4.2 Schedule Meeting with Stakeholders to agree on cost and deadline4.3 Receive Payment from Stakeholders4.4 Allocate cost estimates to individual work items4.5 label actual versus projected schedule4.6 Control changes to project budge t to avoid going over the budget4.7 Compare actual and budgeted costs4.8 Schedule Development4.9 Schedule ControlHUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT PHASE5.1 Identify Project Roles/ stock Organizational Planning5.2 Determine Skills of People needed to develop system5.3 Determine number of people to work on the project5.4 Recruit Project Team Members5.5 Engage staff with appropriate skills5.6 Develop individual and group skills to enhance project performanceACTIVITY MANAGEMENT PHASE6.1 Develop activity list for project team members6.2 Sub-divide major project deliverables into smaller components6.3 nail down Team Members to tasks and deliverables6.4 Supervise activities within the project team6.5 Evaluate Performance and Productivity6.6 Update activity list as necessary6.7 Conduct meetings and review status reports on software development view OFFICE ADMINISTRATION7.1 Attend to daily activities or events concerning the project7.2 General project supervisionPROJECT COMMUNICATIONS8.1 Determine information and communication needs of stakeholders8.2 Provide information to stakeholders in a timely fashion8.3 Put contact details of all team members and stakeholders into the database8.4 Performance reporting to stakeholders through status reports, progress measurement and forecasting8.5 Set up meetings with project team members8.6 Develop status reports for the projectRISK MANAGEMENT9.1 Identify all possible risks within the project and effects on project9.2 Define steps for responding to threats9.3 Respond to changes in risks during the drift of the projectQUALITY MANAGEMENT10.1 Identify quality standards relevant to the project and how to satisfy them10.2 Evaluate overall project performance10.3 Define Quality say-so Specifications10.4 Code and check the system for compliance with quality standards10.5 Test System to make sure it fits clients requirementsHand-Over of Project11.1 Ensure adherence to client requirement11.2 Conduct Customer Acceptance Tests11.3 Review Softwa re User Manuals11.4 Sign off Certify Solution Development11.5 Submit Project Close-out Report11.6 Terminate ProjectProject scheduling(Please refer to attached Microsoft Project document for dependency between activities, network plot, critical path and Gantt chart)A Project network diagram displays the logical relationships of project activities. A Gantt chart is a horizontal bar chart that shows tasks against timelines. Each bar is equivalent to a project task. Gantt charts show, tasks that can be performed at the same time (Whitten 2001, p.128).Any tasks on the critical path cannot be delayed.Name of Activity DurationStarting DateFinishing DateSoftware Requirement Specification1 Day marry 4/23/08Wed 4/23/08Technology Specification1 DayThu 4/24/08Thu 4/24/08Scope Management10 DaysWed 4/23/08Tue 5/6/08Cost Schedule Management12 DaysWed 4/23/08Thu 5/8/08Human Resources Management Phase8 DaysWed 4/23/08Fri 5/2/08Activity Management Phase10 DaysWed 4/23/08Tue 5/6/08Project Office p residentship10 DaysWed 4/23/08Tue 5/6/08Project Communications10 DaysWed 4/23/08Tue 5/6/08Risk Management10 DaysWed 4/23/08Tue 5/6/08Quality Management10 DaysWed 4/23/08Tue 5/6/08Hand-Over of Project10 DaysWed 4/23/08Tue 5/6/08Possible risks related to the software development projectEvery project has its own share of risks. Risks associated with this project are outlined belowThe period of time given for the execution of the project is short. The COCOMO model shows that a project of such magnitude requires at least 5 months for completion. There is a risk of the project authoriseing the time frame allocated by the stakeholders.User requirements may change or expand during the duration of project. There is a risk of having to accommodate changes to the design of the portal. This is known as scope creep and may affect the schedule and budget (Whitten 2001).With the obvious need to procure softwares for the development of the portal system, resources like time and money may not be su fficient.There is a risk of taking short cuts around the system development methodology in order to meet the deadline and not exceed the budget. This might affect the quality of the final product.Another potential risk is that of feature creep. This refers to the uncontrolled addition of technical features to a system that is being developed without regard to schedule and budget (Whitten 2001, p.125). A portal system is a robust application that is designed to fulfill various needs of an organization. The temptation to add more features is always a prevalent riskThere is the risk of a team member resigning from the project. This will cause a considerable red ink of time.There is also the risk of insufficient communication within the project team which may lead to misunderstanding of customers requirements, and cause a deviation from the project plan, budget and schedule.Project MonitoringProject monitoring involves supervising the project throughout its lifecycle. This is important in order to know how things are going and to crystallize any problem that may arise during the course of the project. This can be done via meetings, emails, reports on progress and finances and also by observing project management best practices.Conclusion Applying the principles of Project Management to the development of the portal system at Regency Hotels will go a long way to ensure that the objectives are met on time, within budget and that the software product will be of the desired quality. Project Management is a crucial practice that should be encouraged in every sector of the economy.It ensures that money, energy and time are not wasted on failed projects. With sufficient project management practices in place, stakeholders and contractors can conduct businesses without bothering about the hitches involved with long-term projects. Regardless of the end product, which could be a new service, product or knowledge, project management ensures that a successful outcome is achi eved within the available resources and time frame.ReferencesWhitten, JL, Bentley, LD, Dittman, KC 2001, Systems Analysis and Design Methods, 5th edn, Mc Graw-Hill, New York.Wheatley, M 2000, The Importance of Project Management, Project Smart. in stock(predicate) from http//www.projectsmart.co.uk/the-importance-of-project-management.html 22 April 2008Sorensen, R 1995, A comparison of Software Development Methodologies, Software Technology Support Centre. Available from http//www.stsc.hill.af.mil/crosstalk/1995/01/Comparis.asp 24 April 2008Duncan, WR 1996, A Guide to Project Management torso of Knowledge, PMI Standards Committee. Available from www.unipi.gr/akad_tmhm/biom_dioik_tech/files/pmbok.pdf 24 April 2008Merlo-Schett, N 2002, COCOMO Constructive Cost Model, Proceedings of the seminar cost estimation W 2002/2003, pp. 1-24. Available from www.ifi.unizh.ch/req/courses/seminar_ws02/reports/Slides_4.pdf 22 April 2008.