ITS 5202 Project Management and Security Features

The project is the information technology project that involves the software upgrade for a single operator business. The upgrade is to be done for 500 desktops and laptops from current operating system as Windows XP to the desired operating systems as Windows 2016. The document is a project proposal that provides the project details and highlights and also covers the managerial aspect of the project. The project has been proposed as the software upgrade will allow the business firm to implement advanced operating system with better technical and security features.

Project Background & Description

The project is being carried out for a single operator business and it includes the software upgrade for 500 desktops and laptops that are installed in the enterprise. The current operating system installed in the systems is Windows XP and the upgrade will be done to Windows 2016.

The project will be completed in the estimated duration as 101 days starting from 20^th November 2018 and ending on 9^th April 2019. The project will be headed by the Project Manager and will involve additional resources as Technical Expert, System Engineer, Business Analyst, Database Administrator, Technical Writer, System Tester, Third-Party Trainer, Network Engineer, and Implementation Analyst.

Project Scope 

The project will be carried out in a series of phases and the project scope will be expanded to five phases.

The members of the project team will carry out the feasibility analysis for the proposed project of software upgrade and the chartering of the project will be done. The technical infrastructure analysis and environment analysis will be conducted in the second phase along with the planning of the project in the areas as scope, schedule, costs, resources, communication, risks, quality, and procurement. The set up for Windows 2016 operating system and its installation in the desktops and laptops will be done in the third phase (Wearne, 2014). The data sets and services from the current system will be migrated to the new system along with the integration with the other applications. The project scope will include the testing of the installed operating system on the functional, performance, and security aspects. The implementation, reviews, and management of the changes will be included in the scope. The last phase will be the closure phase in which the acceptance of deliverables will be carried out along with the project documentation and feedback (Atkinson, Crawford & Ward, 2006).

High-Level Requirements 

The high-level requirements of the project are listed below:

• The software upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 2016 shall allow the users to access the newly installed software. The user access control and permissions shall be re-set and granted as per the user roles.
• The migration of the data sets from the existing to the new system shall be done making sure that the data integrity, security, and privacy is not impacted at any instance.
• The migration of the services from the existing to the new system shall be done making sure that the service performance, access integrity, security, and privacy is not impacted at any instance (Gushchin, 2013).
• The newly installed software must be integrated with the business tools and applications being used in the enterprise.
• The software upgrade shall be done such that the reliability and accessibility of the system is maintained.
• There shall be no technical faults and failures after the installation and upgrade process.

Deliverables & Milestones

The following deliverables shall be provided to the sponsor and the project stakeholders by the members of the project team.

• Project Statement of Work (SoW), Proposal, and Charter: These deliverables must be provided in the initiation phase of the project and shall comprise of the high-level details of the project. The purpose of the project along with the high-level budget, schedule, scope, and requirements must be provided to the sponsor through these deliverables.
• Project Plan: The deliverable must provide the project sponsor and the stakeholders with the detailed information on the software upgrade in terms of the project methodology to be used in the project, details of the project scope, information on the project timeline and schedule, estimated project budget, details of resources allocated to the project, risk management approach, procurement and communication plan, and quality management plan.
• Migrated Data sets & services: The data sets and services will be migrated from the existing platform to the new platform and the technical report comprising of the details and outcomes of the process shall be provided to the project stakeholders.
• Implementation Plan: The implementation plan for the project would comprise of the details implementation methodology to be used, schedule and budget details, resources involved, and likewise (Rose & Indelicato, 2009).
• Closure Report: This will be the final deliverable of the project in which the details of the project activities completed by the project team will be included along with the lessons learned and areas of improvement.

The milestone schedule of the project has been shown in the image below.

Affected Parties 

There will be parties that will be affected from the project. The names and details of these parties is as described below:

• Management & Employees of the firm: The software upgrade is being done to make sure that the employees are provided with technically advanced systems and platforms and it will allow them to carry out the business tasks more efficiently. There will be initial set of changes that will come up for the employees that will be required to be managed.
• Customers of the Business Enterprise: The software upgrade will positively affect the customers of the business enterprise as the performance of the business operations will improve leading to the streamlining of the services and products provided to them.
• Competitors: The business will be able to perform better with the installation of the new operating system which will provide it a competitive edge in the market. The competitors will be negatively affected by the project (Zwikael, 2009).
• Project Team: The successful completion of the project will provide the project team with positive feedback and comments from the sponsor which will be beneficial for their professional growth.
• Suppliers: The vendor of the software to be upgraded will be positively affected as the price paid in return of the software will be high.

Risk Identification & Strategy 

There will be several risks that the project will be exposed to. This is because the software upgrade will involve the existing data sets and services along with the other applications and tools. The risks associated with the project will be handled using a phased approach. The strategy will involve risk identification as the first step. In this step, the data gathering processes will be carried out using the techniques as observations, domain analysis, brainstorming etc. The information collected using these techniques will be analysed to identify and prepare a list of the risks that the project will be exposed to. In the second phase, the analysis of these risks and threats will be done. There will be a likelihood and impact score that will be granted to every risk and the risk score will be calculated on the basis of the same. In the third step, the assessment of the risks will be done as acceptable or non-acceptable. The fourth step will include the treatment of the risks using the mitigation, transfer, avoidance, or sharing as the strategy (Patterson & Neailey, 2002). The fifth phase will include the monitoring and control of the risks by using reviews and audits as the techniques. The last phase will be the closure phase in which the risk will be marked as treated and closed.

The details of the risks that have been identified for the project along with the risk description have been included in the table below.

Specific Exclusions from Scope 

It is necessary to define the project scope describing the items and activities that are covered in the scope and the ones that are excluded from the scope.

The following items will not be included in the scope of the project:

• The members of the project team will develop the procurement plan but will not be engaged in the negotiation processes with the supplier and vendor groups.
• The unapproved changes will not be handled and entertained by the members of the project team.
• The upgrades will not be done at the client-side.

Implementation Plan 

The implementation of the project will be carried out in a series of phases. The first phase will be the initiation and planning phase. The implementation methodology that will be followed in the project will be phased implementation rather than the Big Bang implementation. This will make sure that the software upgrade is carried out for a few systems in one implementation cycle. The desktops will be covered first followed by the laptops. Also, the upgrade will be done as per the employee association with the organization. The project criticality will also be considered during the upgrade and implementation process. The next phase will be the execution phase in which the implementation of the system will be done followed by the control and monitoring phases. There will be reviews and audit cycles that will be carried out so that implementation process is streamlined. Also, there may be certain changes that may be detected. These changes shall be managed to make sure that the project areas are improved upon (Al-Freidi, 2015). The last phase will be the closure phase in which the final implementation report will be submitted.

High-Level Budget and Timeline/Schedule 

The technique that has been used to estimate the budget and schedule for the project is bottom-up estimation technique. As per this technique, the activities at the lowermost level in the project hierarchy were selected first. The estimation of the duration and costs for these activities was done followed by the ones above them. In this manner, the overall estimation of the costs and schedule was done for the project. The project will be completed in the estimated duration as 101 days starting from 20^th November 2018 and ending on 9^th April 2019. The project will be headed by the Project Manager and will involve additional resources as Technical Expert, System Engineer, Business Analyst, Database Administrator, Technical Writer, System Tester, Third-Party Trainer, Network Engineer, and Implementation Analyst.

The cost of Windows 2016 operating system is $1,275 and 500 such licenses will be required to be obtained. Thus, the cost of the operating systems will be $637,500. There will be cost of resources, implementation costs, planning costs, and closure costs that are also involved. There will be trainings arranged for the end-users and the cost of training will also be involved with the project. The details of the budget and schedule along with the resources assigned are shown below.

References

Al-Freidi, S. (2015). A Unified Project Management Methodology (UPMM) based on PMBOK and PRINCE2 protocols: foundations, principles, structures and benefits of the integrated approach. International Journal Of Business Policy And Strategy Management, 2(1), 27-38. doi: 10.21742/ijbpsm.2015.2.03

Atkinson, R., Crawford, L., & Ward, S. (2006). Fundamental uncertainties in projects and the scope of project management. International Journal Of Project Management, 24(8), 687-698. doi: 10.1016/j.ijproman.2006.09.011

Gushchin, A. (2013). Requirements Management As An Essential Ingredient Of Communications Management In the Project. Russian Journal Of Project Management, 2(3), 26-33. doi: 10.12737/1241

Patterson, F., & Neailey, K. (2002). A Risk Register Database System to aid the management of project risk. International Journal Of Project Management, 20(5), 365-374. doi: 10.1016/s0263-7863(01)00040-0

Rose, K., & Indelicato, G. (2009). Book Review: A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide), Fourth EditionA Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide), Fourth Edition Project Management Institute. Project Management Journal, 40(2), 104-104. doi: 10.1002/pmj.20125

Wearne, S. (2014). Evidence-Based Scope for Reducing “Fire-Fighting” in Project Management. Project Management Journal, 45(1), 67-75. doi: 10.1002/pmj.21395

Zwikael, O. (2009). The Relative Importance of the PMBOK® Guide's Nine Knowledge Areas during Project Planning. Project Management Journal, 40(4), 94-103. doi: 10.1002/pmj.20116.