Planning and Management of Software Projects

Homework Assignment 1:

 

Write a short outline of your project (2-3 pages) following the form of a Project Charter as described below.

 

This is not graded on the precise format -- the goal is to provide a high-level preliminary description of your project as it might be done for a deliverable in the early 'Concept' phase of the project lifecycle. But, you must include each of the sections outlined below that do not say ‘optional’.

 

This is due by next week. I’d prefer to receive this by email but you may also bring a printed copy into class next week.

 

Use this outline

Overview (2-4 paragraphs)

What the system is (summary)

Who will use it

What problem is it solving (Objectives)

Scope of Work (outline format or text)

Deliverables

What the system is (details)

Rough time estimate (2 months or 2 yrs?)

Approach (optional)

Out of scope items

Assumptions

 

Here are examples of the types of items you may include. Note that it is very important the content fit your project and not be entirely “generic”. This should reflect the unique aspects of your project.

 

Assumptions

We will reuse the architecture from the previous ordering system

The system will be built using an ASP model

Customer will provide necessary business experts as needed during development

System will run on existing networking and computer resources

Customer will sign-off on interim deliverables within one week of each delivery

All import data will be available in XML format

This will be a web-based application

Our in-house development team will do the work

The rendering engine will be licensed from a third party

We will partner with an overseas development firm to create the security systems

 

Primary Stakeholders (following examples are not of one set)

Sponsor: VP of Marketing

Sponsor: Five Star Brokerage Consortium

Sponsor: Bill Smith, CEO

Users: Call center operators

Users: Our partner banks

Customers: Attorneys from small-to-mid size law firms

Customers: Males 30-45 earning $75K or more

 

Deliverables

Retail Web Site

Full catalog

Shopping-cart system

Search engine

User registration system

Trading System

Equities order entry system

Portfolio management

Order execution engine

Integration with X legacy systems

Security infrastructure

Corporate Application

Network and hardware

Web-based HR portal

Connectivity for VPN

“Asset Management Viewport” application

Customized Reporting Engine

Allowing users to Perseus data mart
Delivery into HTML and Excel

User manuals

 

Out of Scope

News feeds

Dynamic pricing

Jazzy color picker

Auction engine

EDI support

Legacy integration

Help system

 

Schedule

We anticipate an overall 12-14 month development timeframe

The project is expected to start in Q1 2003 and complete in Q3 2004

The initial release is expect within 10 months with the follow-on delivery within 4-6 month

 

Approach (optional)

Use a staged development model to deliver the product in three stages

Issue a request for quotes to obtain hardware and packaged software

Will mitigate risk by using existing experienced development team from the X project

 

Acknowledgements