Project overview
Bluechips Consultancy is to implement an order management system for G-bazaar a green computing outlet in uptown UK. A project plan will then be developed after this and this will be presented to the sponsors for approval. The activities of the project will then commence upon approval of the project plan and the availability of all the resources needed to implement it. The project plan will include a scope statement the schedule, cost and estimates, project schedule, quality, stakeholder, risk and procurement management as well as project control (Marchewka, 2009). The main purpose of the order management system project is to proactively address G-Bazaar’s customer needs. The main deliverable of this project is expected to be an order management system for G-bazaar addressing customer order inquiries and processes.
A complete project plan will be developed by the project manager and submitted to G-bazaar’s management who are the sponsors for approval by 6th December 2011. Upon approval, the resources will be assigned within the next 14 days whereupon work will commence. The work is expected to run as scheduled and the project manager is mandated to obtain any schedule changes affecting the project progress. The order management system project will cost $100,000 funded by G-bazaar.
To address and understand the requirements for this order management system project at a global level, a requirements traceability matrix has been derived to relate the user requirements to the expected functional requirements to be achieved during the development and implementation stages of the project. The table below is a part of the requirement traceability matrix for this project showing a forward and backward traceability entry.
Table 1: A portion of the requirements traceability matrix for the order management system project
For example from the matrix above it can be seen that at the system level of project development S12 and S13 are successfully traced back to the requirements levels U2 and U3. Hence there can be a forward and backward trace on each of the activities being handled during the project and especially at the testing stage.
The requirements traceability matrix is commonly used during system development and testing to ensure that all the user requirements have been effectively implemented during code development.
Scope statement
The purpose of the G-bazaar order management system project is to reach its customers almost instantaneously and innovatively. This project meets G-bazaar requirements for managing the customers’ order management processes inquiries by addressing the needs of each of them uniquely and differentiating the product and service based on every customer requirement.
To qualify the project scope several questions must be addressed by the project sponsor. These questions include the following:
- What is the ceiling budget for the project?
- How much has been factored in the funds above as a buffer to cover for inflation
- Is the current scope sufficient? If not what other area can be included
- How many (if any) personnel is G-bazaar delegating to the project?
- What is the latest date the sponsor expects the project to be completed?
- Where does the project fit within the company’s overall business strategy?
The successful implementation of this project will follow a defined framework (Schwalbe, 2010). This consists of several management plans based on the PMBOK framework including integration, scope, time, cost, quality, risk, procurement, communication, and human resource management.
Project integration management: This process describes all the processes required to ensure that all project activities are well coordinated. During this process, stakeholder expectations are considered. Other considerations also include the organization’s policy.
Project scope management: This will cover all the processes that are necessary for the successful completion of a project. During this process, a written scope statement is developed and becomes the reference for future project decisions.
Project time management: This covers the processes to ensure the timely completion of the project. This process relies on the work breakdown structure (WBS) which is then decomposed to output the activity list and work breakdown structure updates.
Project cost management: This covers the processes needed to guarantee that the project’s completion is within a definite budget.
Project quality management: This covers the activities ensuring that the project meets its need. The activities within are intended to uphold the quality policy throughout the whole project.
Project risk management: This process covers the identification, analysis, and response of project risk occurrences. This process involves optimizing the positive event effects while reducing the effects of the adverse events.
Project procurement management: This involves the activities supporting goods and services acquisition for the project.
Project communications management: This includes the activities that generate, store and disseminate information related to a project.
Project human resource management: This involves all the activities that make optimal use of the people resources within the project.
References
Marchewka, J.T. (2009) Information technology project management (3rd ed.). London: Wiley.
Schwalbe, K. (2010). Information technology project management. Boston: Course Technology-Cengage.
