Management of a Software Development Project Essay

Introductionmany years ago, general services get rid ofered by hotels analogous dinner reservations, room reservations and other services were make manually. Most hotels used books, ledgers and papers to record names of guests, their duration of stay and contact details. This required a lot of effort and prison term. Since the advent of the randomness age however, dynamic and interactive websites have been introduced which have much(prenominal) efficient and faster techno arranged features and capabilities for the cargon of hotel services. For any business to remain competitive, it is necessary to maintain an online heraldic bearing in inn to reach out to customers all over the world and compete on a global platform. Reservations and payments ar now d integrity online to ensure that conduction of business is faster and more at rest for customers.Definition of stick out concernA bug out is a temporary endeavor that is done to afford a unique product or service (Dunca n 1996). get off focus is an activity that involves the overall supervision, prudence and co-ordination of all activities related to accomplishing a set activity. It always has a start and a finish date. concord to Whitten, come across Management is a process that starts at the beginning of a pop the question, is conducted throughout a spue and doesnt end until after the be sick is completed (2001).According to Duncan (1996), Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to activities to pull through stakeholders use ups and expectations. It usually involves finding a balance among scope, time, cost, lumber, and varying expectations of stakeholders. Another definition of Project Management is the process of scoping, planning, staffing, conducting, directing, and managing the tuition of a governance at an affordable cost within a specify time frame (Whitten, Bentley & Dittman 2001, p.124).Importance of Project ManagementAccording to D r Malcolm Wheatley, Project management as a management discipline, supports much stinting activity. In major industries like Information Technology, Software sustainment, Construction, Pharmaceuticals, and Aerospace, labor movement management is fundamental. Project Management is similarly important in governments that have set goals and milestones which can only be achieved with effective management practices. Data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis of the US Department of Commerce, estimated in 2001 that the US companies spend $2.3trn on checks every year (2000).Project management is important in any economic activity be draw it ensures adequate planning, computer programming and successful execution of a bemuse it withal helps to reduce affirmable jeopardys associated with a project and ensure minimal hitches. Project Management is indeed important to every economy. many an(prenominal) projects fail because of poor knowledge of Project Management concepts. Its relevan ce 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 team members to ensure that in that respects 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). turn out AnalysisThe Regency Hotels has several strengths that serve as advantages. It has the potential to expand its services to customers internationally due to the outlet 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 devil 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 system when it is eventually deployed. at that place 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 miscellaneous services that make their construes with the hotel more memorable and convenient, like booking and stipendiary online. Regency Hotels is yet to rise to the challenge. cultivatement methodologyThe packet teaching methodology to be adopted for the exertion of this system is the waterfall method. This is an approach to software development that specifies that a project should be chemical grouped into phases and one phase m ust be completed before the next. The project is carried out in a logical manner through a pre-determined name of go.This method is preferred because the duration of the project is only two weeks and the requirements are clear. With the waterfall method, project reviews are conducted between stages, which represent milestones. This provides an organized scenario that ensures required documentation and quality management of the developed application is carried out (Sorensen 1995).Project ScopeThe project scope definition involves clarify the boundaries of the project. Regency Hotels in addition to available technological features like retrieving customers information, billing, snaping 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 adit pass on be developed to include the following features Online reservations, online payment, checking room availability, checking in, checking out, discussion group and general information on the hotel.Secure Socket Layer (SSL) go out 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 site to ensure that a robust system that meets the expectations of Stakeholders at Regency Hotels is built.The utmost 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 do 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.Re sult of using COCOMO poser to estimate effort, duration and number of people required.The structural 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 inevitable to develop software. It also estimates the development enumeration in months. The development mode for this project is organic 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 terms of three underlying 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 follows needed 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 actionData 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 observe of the KDSI used is approximate (Merlo-Schett 2002).Hardware and Software RequirementsAt to the lowest degree 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. last Breakdown StructureWork Breakdown Structure shows the hier archical decomposition of projects into phases, activities and tasks (Whitten 2001, p.135).SOFTWARE REQUIREMENT precondition1.1 Identify sponsors and stakeholders1.2 Meet with sponsors and stakeholders to clarify system requirements1.3 Produce Software Requirements Specification Draft1.4 Sign-off on software requirementsTECHNOLOGY SPECIFICATION2.1 delay computer 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 focusing3.1 Develop a written scope statement as a basis for future project decisions3.2 vagabond Scope of the Project with sponsors3.3 Perform Scope Change Control to prevent scope creep greet & 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 Evaluate developed versus project schedule4.6 Co ntrol changes to project budget 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/Conduct 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 countenance 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 Assign Team Members to tasks and deliverables6.4 bring off 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 developmentPROJECT OFFICE organisation7.1 Attend to daily activities or events concerning the project7.2 General project supervisionPROJE CT COMMUNICATIONS8.1 Determine information and communication needs of stakeholders8.2 Provide information to stakeholders in a timely fashion8.3 prescribe contact details of all team members and stakeholders into the database8.4 Performance reporting to stakeholders through status reports, progress measure and forecasting8.5 Set up meetings with project team members8.6 Develop status reports for the projectRISK MANAGEMENT9.1 Identify all possible pretends within the project and effects on project9.2 Define steps for responding to threats9.3 Respond to changes in risks during the course 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 Assurance 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 esteem to client requirement11.2 Conduct Custom er Acceptance Tests11.3 Review Software exploiter 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 diagram, critical path and Gantt chart)A Project network diagram displays the logical relationships of project activities. A Gantt chart is a horizontal hold back chart that shows tasks against timelines. Each bar is equivalent to a project task. Gantt charts show, tasks that can be performed at the kindred time (Whitten 2001, p.128).Any tasks on the critical path cannot be delayed.Name of Activity DurationStarting engagementFinishing DateSoftware Requirement Specification1 DayWed 4/23/08Wed 4/23/08Technology Specification1 DayThu 4/24/08Thu 4/24/08Scope Management10 ageWed 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 Administration10 DaysWed 4/23/08Tue 5/6/08Project Communications10 DaysWed 4/23/08Tue 5/6/08 risk of exposure 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 exceeding 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 shape 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 develo pment of the portal system, resources like time and money may not be sufficient.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 loss 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 solve any enigma 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 to the highest degree the hitches involved with long-term projects. Regardless of the end product, which could be a new service, produ ct or knowledge, project management ensures that a successful outcome is achieved within the available resources and time frame.ReferencesWhitten, JL, Bentley, LD, & Dittman, KC 2001, Systems Analysis and cast Methods, 5th edn, Mc Graw-Hill, New York.Wheatley, M 2000, The Importance of Project Management, Project Smart. Available from 22 April 2008Sorensen, R 1995, A comparison of Software Development Methodologies, Software Technology Support Centre. Available from 24 April 2008Duncan, WR 1996, A Guide to Project Management Body of Knowledge, PMI Standards Committee. Available from 24 April 2008Merlo-Schett, N 2002, COCOMO Constructive Cost Model, Proceedings of the seminar cost approximation W 2002/2003, pp. 1-24. Available from 22 April 2008.