Management of a Software Development Project Essay

IntroductionMany years ago, world-wide report offered by hotels manage dinner reservations, room reservations and former(a) services were through with(p) manu t come in ensembley. Most hotels used books, ledgers and papers to record names of guests, their duration of persist in and contact details. This required a lot of effort and date. Since the advent of the festering age however, dynamic and interactive netsites have been introduced which have to a greater extent streamlined and faster technological features and capabilities for the counselling of hotel services. For any business to remain competitive, it is incumbent to maintain an online presence in order to reach out to customers all over the world and compete on a global platform. Reservations and payments be now d peerless online to ensure that bearion of business is faster and more convenient for customers.Definition of objectify circumspectionA ejection is a temporary endeavor that is done to generate a unique increase or service (Duncan 1996). declargon oneself solicitude is an activity that involves the overall supervision, focus and co-ordination of all activities related to accomplishing a dance orchestra activity. It always has a stir up and a finish date. harmonise to Whitten, get a line Management is a butt against that starts at the beginning of a throw up, is conducted throughout a honk and doesnt end until after the stand out is completed (2001).According to Duncan (1996), thrust perplexity is the cover of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to activities to fulfill stakeholders needs and expectations. It usually involves finding a rest period among scope, time, cost, feature, and varying expectations of stakeholders. Another definition of forecast Management is the process of scoping, planning, staffing, conducting, directing, and managing the cultivation of a trunk at an affordable cost deep down a specified time frame (Whitten, Bentley & Dit tman 2001, p.124).Importance of Project ManagementAccording to Dr Malcolm Wheatley, Project management as a management discipline, deports much sparing activity. In major industries like Information Technology, Softw argon Development, Construction, Pharmaceuticals, and Aerospace, experience management is fundamental. Project Management is too important in governments that have set goals and milestones which can only be achieved with effective management practices. Data from the part of Economic Analysis of the US Department of Commerce, themed in 2001 that the US companies authorize $2.3trn on spews every year (2000).Project management is important in any economic activity because it ensures adequate planning, scheduling and prospering effect of a tolerate it also helps to reduce possible attempts associated with a visualise and ensure minimal hitches. Project Management is indeed important to every economy. Many checks fail because of poor knowledge of Project Managem ent concepts. Its relevance cannot be over emphasizingd.Role of the Project ManagerThe project handler 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 police squad members to ensure that theres a clear sagaciousness of general requirements. The project manager confirms users requirements to make sure that these requirements are corporal into the end-product. A project manager engages in scoping, planning, staffing, organizing, scheduling, directing, controlling and closing a project (Whitten 2001, p.127).Swot AnalysisThe Regency Hotels has several strengths that serve as advantages. It has the potential to puff out its services to customers internationally due to the number of branches it has, internet approachability and its unique services. It is also strategically located, can leverage on its spatial relation and has a wide customer b ase. Its 2 major weaknesses are 1) it has a static website which cannot domiciliate 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 organisation when it is eventually deployed.There are however, opportunities for it to become one of the best hotels in the world by maintaining a consistent and interactive global presence. increase competition is the major threat to Regency Hotels. Most hotels today, have a noticeable online presence that offers customers various services that make their experiences with the hotel more memorable and convenient, like booking and paying online. Regency Hotels is yet to rise to the challenge.Development methodologyThe packet growth methodology to be adopted for the production of this arrangement is the falls method. This is an approach to bundle education that specifies that a project should be sort into phases and one phase must be completed before the next. The project is carried out in a logical manner through a pre-determined number of steps.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 nonionic scenario that ensures required documentation and quality management of the developed application is carried out (Sorensen 1995).Project ScopeThe project scope definition involves clarifying the boundaries of the project. Regency Hotels in accessory to available technological features like retrieving customers randomness, billing, checking for room availability, desires a system with added capabilities of online booking and payment.This project involves mental synthesis a system that can acquiesce online booking and payment options by customers. A vena portae will be developed to include the following features Onlin e reservations, online payment, checking room availability, checking in, checking out, discussion gathering and general information on the hotel.Secure Socket Layer (SSL) will 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 inlet to ensure that a robust system that meets the expectations of Stakeholders at Regency Hotels is built.The final system will be deployed at the hotel and tested. Staff members that need to be teach will be identified and educated on how to use the system. The budge management process will be made easier for staff of Regency Hotel by ensuring that they are adequately trained, resources are provide to assist them, and maintenance/ suppor t plans are put in place.Result of using COCOMO regulate to estimate effort, duration and number of people required.The Constructive Cost Model, know 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 needed 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 legal injury of three basic 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 followsRequired Portal system for online payment and bookingDevelopment parkway (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 instrumentData entry 0.5 KDSIData update 0.3 KDSIOnline Reservations 0.8 KDSIOnline remuneration 0.7 KDSISystem surface 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) issue 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 in a higher place calculation is that value of the KDSI used is approximate (Merlo-Schett 2002).Hardware and packet demandsAt least 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. dress Breakdown StructureWork B reakdown Structure shows the hierarchical decomposition of projects into phases, activities and tasks (Whitten 2001, p.135).SOFTWARE REQUIREMENT judicial admission1.1 Identify sponsors and stakeholders1.2 Meet with sponsors and stakeholders to clarify system requirements1.3 Produce Software Requirements condition Draft1.4 Sign-off on software requirementsTECHNOLOGY SPECIFICATION2.1 Determine computer hardware and software needed for developing the system2.2 Procure hardware and software needed for system development2.3 congeal-up hardware and software for use celestial orbit MANAGEMENT3.1 Develop a written scope statement as a basis for future project decisions3.2 Verify Scope of the Project with sponsors3.3 Perform Scope Change Control to prevent scope spectreCOST & SCHEDULE MANAGEMENT4.1 Develop an estimate of project be4.2 enumeration Meeting with Stakeholders to agree on cost and deadline4.3 Receive Payment from Stakeholders4.4 Allocate cost estimates to undivided work it ems4.5 Evaluate actual versus intercommunicate schedule4.6 Control changes to project calculate to avoid going over the budget4.7 Compare actual and budgeted costs4.8 muniment Development4.9 Schedule ControlHUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT pattern5.1 Identify Project Roles/ extend Organizational Planning5.2 Determine Skills of People needed to develop system5.3 Determine number of people to work on the project5.4 grave Project Team Members5.5 Engage staff with appropriate 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 Supervise activities within the project team6.5 Evaluate act and Productivity6.6 Update activity list as necessary6.7 Conduct meetings and review status reports on software developmentPROJECT OFFICE ADMINISTRATION7.1 Attend to daily activities or even ts concerning the project7.2 General project supervisionPROJECT COMMUNICATIONS8.1 Determine information and communication needs of stakeholders8.2 Provide information to stakeholders in a seasonably fashion8.3 Put contact details of all team members and stakeholders into the database8.4 Performance reporting to stakeholders through status reports, progress measurement and forecasting8.5 Set up meetings with project team members8.6 Develop status reports for the project bump MANAGEMENT9.1 Identify all possible risks within the project and cause on project9.2 Define steps for responding to threats9.3 Respond to changes in risks during the cut of the projectQUALITY MANAGEMENT10.1 Identify quality standards relevant to the project and how to satisfy them10.2 Evaluate overall project performance10.3 Define fictional character Assurance Specifications10.4 Code and check the system for compliance with quality standards10.5 foot race System to make sure it fits lymph glands requiremen tsHand-Over of Project11.1 Ensure adherence to client requirement11.2 Conduct Customer Acceptance Tests11.3 Review Software drug user Manuals11.4 Sign off & Certify Solution Development11.5 Submit Project Close-out Report11.6 Terminate ProjectProject scheduling(Please refer to attach Microsoft Project document for dependency between activities, network diagram, critical style and Gantt chart)A Project network diagram displays the logical relationships of project activities. A Gantt chart is a horizontal impede chart that shows tasks against timelines. Each bar is equivalent to a project task. Gantt charts show, tasks that can be performed at the selfsame(prenominal) time (Whitten 2001, p.128).Any tasks on the critical path cannot be delayed.Name of exertion DurationStarting DateFinishing DateSoftware Requirement Specification1 Day attach 4/23/08 sweep up 4/23/08Technology Specification1 DayThu 4/24/08Thu 4/24/08Scope Management10 daysWed 4/23/08Tue 5/6/08Cost & Schedule Manag ement12 geezerhoodWed 4/23/08Thu 5/8/08Human Resources Management degree8 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 5/6/08Risk 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 design 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 development 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 red ink 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 excursus from the project plan, budget and schedule.Project MonitoringProject monitoring involves inadvertence the project throughout its lifecycle. This is important in order to know how things are going and to solve any problem that may arise during the pattern 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 vitiated on failed projects. With sufficient project management practices in place, stakeholders and contractors can conduct businesses without bothering about the hitches involved w ith long-term projects. Regardless of the end product, which could be a new service, product 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 aspiration 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, transactions of the seminar cost estimation W 2002/2003, pp. 1-24. Available from 22 April 2008.