You will create a project plan using MS Project Professional that integrates several aspects of project management, including:
- Project scope management
- Project schedule management
- Project cost management
- Project human resource management
You are free to develop any information technology project for the final. Note that an information technology project is focused on developing and implementing a hardware and/or software solution and follows a SDLC model. The project you choose has budget, timeline, and resource constraints.
- Budget — a minimum of $50,000 and no more than $2,000,000
- Timeline — minimum of 8 weeks and no more than 52 weeks
- Resources — a minimum of five named resources
Similar to the MS Project tutorial you have followed throughout the course, your project plan will have the following major activities (Level 1 of the WBS):
- Initiating
- Planning
- Executing
- Controlling
- Closing
These provide the structure for your WBS. Under each activity, add tasks relevant to your project. For Planning, be sure to address collecting requirements. Since your project focuses on creating an information system, the majority of your tasks will be in the Executing activity and must contain the following as a minimum:
- Analysis
- Design
- Implementation
- Testing
Add at least two appropriate subtasks under each of these.
You may complete the Final Project individually or as a team with one other student(s) in the class. If you choose to complete the project with another classmate, only one of you should submit the project plan to the Final Project Dropbox. Also, use the comments area of the Dropbox to list the names of both students who completed the project.
Assignment Requirements
Your project plan must consist of the following elements:
- WBS created as a task hierarchy (this is the Task Name column in MS Project) – this is scope management.
- Task duration and sequencing (show when tasks starts, their duration, and their relationship with other tasks) – this is time management.
- Resources added to each task and cost associated with each resource (use the Resource Sheet to define resources and their costs) – this is human resource management.
- Costs shown for each activity in the Gantt Chart (add the “cost” column to your Gantt Chart display – cost are based on the resources you have added to each task) – this is cost management planning.
- A minimum of one milestone for each Level 1 activity in the WBS (remember milestones have no duration).
- Critical tasks on the critical path are highlighted in red (do not do this manually – have Project determine this).
- Assume approximately one fourth of the work has been completed on the project. Appropriate tasks should be marked as complete or partially complete to indicate this progress.
