Bejeweled Inc Expansion Tim Barker Jonathan W. Brown Cecilia Martinez Ruthann McKenzie University of Phoenix CMGT 410/Project Planning & Implementation Dr. Terance Carlson Background Bejeweled Inc is a well known jewelry store which has locations in Florida, Georgia, and New York. Bejeweled Inc in addition to their stores also provides the jewelry to a few local jewelry stores in the New York area. Brian Leach Owner of Bejeweled Inc opened his first store in February 1995. The first store to open was the store located in Atlanta Georgia, within two years he opened another in Savannah Georgia and another in Brunswick six months later.
In In June 2000 Brian opened up two stores in Miami and in March 2008 opened a store in Manhattan New York. Brian is very interested in opening up an E-Commerce where consumers can order online from the store directly. Known for their exquisite fine jewelry and precious gems Bejeweled Inc is increasingly becoming very popular and trying to communicate between shops with all the orders coming in is becoming harder and harder and Bejeweled Inc really needs a better IT solution in order to keep up with the demand. Statement of Need
Now that Bejeweled Inc has “ taken off” and Brian would like to expand their business and upgrade the current network. The objective is to be able to expand their services by attaining better operations by getting the offices in sync with each other rather than them being just another store with the same name. . In conjunction with expanding their operations section Bejeweled Inc envisions increasing profitability via E- Commerce. E-Commerce will allow people to carry out business without barriers of time or distance (Education). One can simply log on at anytime and purchase nything from the site with just a click of a button. Bejeweled has a small marketing department so getting their input will be crucial for the web designers. Standing up the Bejeweled website for purchases will be a bit of a cost initially but the maintenance in the long run won’t be a problem. Some of the great operational benefits of the E-Commerce are reduction in both time and personnel. It takes considerably less time and strain on the resources to complete a business transaction (Education). The website will allow Bejeweled Inc the benefits of expanding without actually having to be physically located in that state.
In turn the website will increase profits and excellent operations will increase the probability of the repeat business. Project Objectives The objective first is to analyze the problem and determine our budget. Bejeweled Inc has given us 50, 000 dollars to buy equipment and materials the task and another 50, 000 for labor and assessment, an additional 30, 000 for contingency cost. They would like to expand on their existing website and make implement an E-commerce offering their beautiful product all over the country. Along with the new website they will need a new database system to track online orders.
We will design strategic questionnaires that will be passed out to Stakeholder, key leads and randomly selected employees. The questionnaire is designed to get basic information to our staff so that once the onsite analysis begins we have a good working knowledge on how the process work and where the problem lies. Since the company is spread out to many parts of the. Following the questionnaire phase our techs will spend some time with the leads of each section, finance, marketing, sales (each store manager) and the IT departments.
Upon a risk analysis we have found that there are risks to completing this project. Risk Assessment Item| Observation| Threat Source| Existing Controls| Likelihood| Impact| Risk Rating| Recommended Controls| 1| User Systems don’t have indv user accts| Hackers/ Hostile Employees| none| High| High| High| Recommend that Domain User accounts be implemented and passwords be used to authenticate against the servers| 2| Systems are more than six years old| Hackers; not be able to process data effectively| None| Medium| Medium| Medium| Recommend that systems be updated to 2010 models. 3| Registers do not have user accounts on them| Employees| Sign in sheet| Medium| Medium| Medium| Recommend that registers be linked to server for Authentication. | 4| Only one Server present no bckup svr; server 6 years old. Tape backups monthly| Buffer Overflow/Hackers/System Crash/Environment| Backup on tape Monthly| High| High| High| Recommend there be at least 2 servers 1 for exchange services and 1 for application services then implement a backup server for each or one server with partitioned drives.
Recommend doing Weekly, monthly and incremental back-ups| 5| No contingency plan| Environment/ Disaster recovery| none| High| High| Medium| Develop and test a disaster recovery plan. | Mission Goals of Projects Bejeweled Inc has expanded tremendously of the last few years. Their product is in high demand and since it has expanded fast little to no improvement and in fact still heavily rely on phone and fax to share information. They do have internet; however don’t like to share proprietary information via this way due to no existing security measures in place.
The goal is to intertwine the communication between all locations for the company Bejeweled Inc. The goal of this upgrade and expansion is expand Bejeweled Inc across the nation virtually via the E-commerce and provide them with the necessary tools to support the ability to do so. Running parallel to this goal we will also update the network for all of the stores with Bejeweled Inc. Their network needs have expanded where all stores need to be able to view inventory of other locations. Interaction between all stores has become more important over time.
Now that Bejeweled has identified their issues we will need to move forward with a project plan and implementation strategy. The list below will give us an over view of key functioning parts in order to make this project a success: A. Analyze * Questionnaires * Interviews * Physical observation Once the analysis has been completed we will be able to design a solution that will offer all the needs of Bejeweled Inc as well as have software that is tailor fit to their database needs. B. Design * Design solution Logically * Introduce solution Physically * Concept proposal
We will first introduce a logical model that will outline what our solution will do for them. We will include flow charts and functionality highlights. From there we can introduce a physical model and begin testing to ensure that our design will work for Bejeweled Inc. C. Test * Test solution capability * Test compatibility with already established databases/software/hardware D. Implementation Implementation will have to be done in small portions as to not interrupt production and sales to much. In conjunction with implementation our trained technicians will teach the users how to operate the new systems and database.
We will also have the IT closely involved with this process so that they will be able to maintain operations for Bejeweled Inc. E. Support The goal of this project is to ensure that Bejeweled Inc keeps moving upward towards success and possibly expand the business physically in new locations. We will continue to support Bejeweled Inc over the next 5 years which is the lifecycle of the systems provided by us. Project plan As you see here the project will commence on 10 May 2010 and end 17 September 2010. Task/Responsibility Matrix
Responsibility| Brian Leach| E-cmr Cnslt| IT Consultant| Mrkt Dept Manger| Atl Mngr| Svnh Mngr| Miami Mngr| NY Mngr| Over see Project| | | | | | | | | Budgeting| I, P| | | I| | | | | Determining Resource Allocation| I, P| | | I| | | | | Final Approvals| I, P| | | | | | | | Build E-Commerce | | | | | | | | | Enclosure design| I| | | I| I| I| I| I| Functionality DesignWeb Design| I| | II| | | | | | Network Design| | | | | | | | | Concept Design Network Diagram Logical Model| I, S| I| PPP| | | | | | | | I| | | | | | |
Marketing Department Manager Communication Liaison for all stores, consultants and Project Director. Designing ads for the E-Commerce. | III| III| | PP| I| I| I| I| Atlanta| | | | | | | | | Point of Contact for project at this location. | I, S| I| I| I| P| | | | | | | | | | | | | Savannah| I, S| | | | | | | | | | I| I| I| S| P| | | Point of Contact for project at this location| | | | | | | | | Miami Point of Contact for project at this location| I, S| I| I| I| S| | P| | Manhattan Point of Contact for project at this location| | | | I| S| | | P| | I, S| | I| | | | | | | | | | | | | | P= primary responsibility S= secondary responsibility (i. e. , backup to primary person, responsible when that person out) I= involved (i. e, provides inputs, gets to review) WBS Concept proposal Transfer Data to New Database Implement New Database Share Functionality Design Share marketing strategies for Web Analysis Design friendly interface Build New Database Update all product inventories to the site Testing Back up Data Website goes Live Track orders Project Schedule Cost Plan
Bejeweled Inc will incur a cost of 100, 000 with a 30, 000 contingency buffer allocated not included in the 100, 000, this amount will cover equipment for upgrade; all software needed to sustain the business and needs outlined within this project plan. The amount will also cover labor cost from start to finish and a buffer of 30 additional days if unforeseen events arise and 1 year of technical support. Each additional year up to the end of the life cycle will cost 5, 000 dollars. This will cover all cost on faulty equipment, replacement pieces, tech visits, 24 hour technical support and update maintenance.
Any additional expenses will be calculated at the end of the project and payment will be rendered within 60 days of final completion date of the project. Bejeweled Cost Plan| 1 May 2010| Bejeweled E-commerce/ LAN Expansion| List Item (Model number, parts number)| Cost| # units| Cost per unit| Subtotal| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Equipment Cost (Equipment rented/bought)| Cost| # Units| Cost Per Unit| Subtotal| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Calculate labor for:| Alloted hours| Hours Worked| Wage rate| Total| Overtime worked| Overtime Wage| Total| Subtotal| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Additional Cost Description| What was it needed for| Cost| Approved By: (Signature)| | | | | | | | | | | | | Total Cost of work and parts. (Take all sections subtotals and add them up)| Subtotal| Date Signature of Approving Authority | | | | | Project Baseline The project objective is to update the communication and networking process for Bejeweled Inc. The baseline for the project includes the start and dates for the project, as well as cost duration and work.
The actual start date of the project is May 10th and the end date of the project is September 10th. The baseline assignments, tasks, and resources for the project will be saved at the beginning. The progress of the project will be checked against the baseline weekly as the tasks are completed. Unless there is a major change to the project then the baseline for the project will not need to be changed. The baseline will help the Project Manager and team stay on schedule for the task. The baseline can be viewed below. The baseline is the bar in black.
Performance Measurement Performance Measurement| | | | | | | | | | | | Project| Start Date| Assigned Completion Date| Completion Date| Comments| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Project Evaluation and Reporting Progress and Status Reports will be used to track the project. Each manager and consultant will prepare a Progress Report for the Project Manager. All of the progress reports are combined into a Status Report that is given to the Project Director and dispersed to all members of the project team. Project reporting and communication will follow along the guidelines shown in the following chart: The Project Manager will specifically communicate the following items in the Status Report: * Cost and Schedule variance analyses Risk Analysis * Formulating Cost * Schedule * Performance alternatives * Forecasting budget and schedule completion * Methods of correction action taken * Managing expectations Project Termination The project will be terminated when all of the objectives have been met. The consultants are mainly responsible for the core deliverables. Once they have successfully completed their objectives the termination process will begin. The Termination process can be considered started once the E-commerce functionality has been test and the support phase begins.
Additionally, the network upgrade can be considered implemented successfully once it has been tested and the support phase begins. Support and maintenance are ongoing indefinitely, but the project needs a clearly identified end. Project closure must be recognized and documented. For the best possible project closure, the project team must perform the following activities in the termination checklist: Item| Action| Completed By| Date| Is there any outstanding work? | | | | Are resources still available to perform outstanding work? | | | | Is ll project documentation complete and ready for review? | | | | Identify and release any available resources| | | | Communicate with all team members of transfers, relocations, or termination| | | | If follow-up is required, has it been contracted or prearranged? | | | | As a result of this project, a formal request will be made by the Project Manager to begin a project lessons learned database. The only way to avoid problems happening again in the future is to be honest and upfront about areas that were performed or completed “ unsatisfactory” to the company and team.
Important things to ask are “ What went wrong? ” and why did it go wrong. At the same time that you do this you want to make sure you also highlight great accomplishments and how they were achieved. This can ensure positive attitudes within your team as well as morale. What this does is help others repeat their successes. A good agenda to follow would be like the following: A. List three biggest success of this project: * Description/ Factors that promoted this success * * B. List Other successes that the team would like highlighted * Description/ Factors that promoted this success * * C.
List areas of potential improvement along with improvement strategies. * Description/ Factors that promoted this. * * D. Additional Comments: (Egeland, 2009) Bibliography Education, E. C. (n. d. ). E Commerce Education. Retrieved May 2010, from www. ecommerceeducation. com/benifits-of-ecommerce. asp Egeland, B. (2009, November 17). A Lessons Learned. Retrieved June 12, 2010, from Project Management Tips Guidance for real life situations: http://pmtips. net/lessons-learned-template/ Marchewka, J. T. (2009). Information Technology Project Management. Providing Measurable Organizational Value, Third Edition.
