Project Design and Implementation: A Case Study of Bandcamp.com

This report examines the design and implementation of a project to integrate two new features - online audio/video streaming and online customer services - on the popular music platform Bandcamp.com. The report outlines the project specifications, identifies key factors influencing project selection, and details the project plan. It then explores the resource allocation, project execution, and analysis of outcomes using a periodic logbook. The report concludes with an evaluation of the project's success, recommendations for improvement, and areas for further consideration.

Project design and
implementation

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction..................................................................................................................................................1
Task 1...........................................................................................................................................................2
1.1 Formulate and record possible outline project specifications............................................................2
1.2 identify the factors that contribute to the process of project selection..............................................4
1.3 Produce a specification for the agreed project...................................................................................5
1.4 produce an appropriate project plan for the agreed project...............................................................6
Task 2...........................................................................................................................................................8
2.1 Match relevant resources efficiently to the project from the given case study..................................8
2.2 Undertake the proposed project in accordance with the agreed specification...................................8
2.3 Organise, analyse and interpret relevant outcomes for your project using a suitable recording
mechanism such as a periodic log book..................................................................................................9
Task 3.........................................................................................................................................................11
3.1 use appropriate project evaluation techniques.................................................................................11
3.2 interpret and analyse the results in terms of the original project specification................................11
3.3 make recommendations and justify areas for further consideration................................................12
Task 4.........................................................................................................................................................14
4.1 produce a record of all project procedures used..............................................................................14
4.2 use an agreed format and appropriate media to present the outcomes of the project to an audience
...............................................................................................................................................................15
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................16
References..................................................................................................................................................17

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Project life-cycle...........................................................................................................................2
Figure 2: PERT chart for the project..........................................................................................................11

LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Factors that contribute to the process of project selection.............................................................4
Table 2: Project Plan....................................................................................................................................6
Table 3: Periodic logbook............................................................................................................................9

Introduction
Project design and implementation are the core phases of the project as these are critical to achieve the
desired outcomes with the consideration of the constraints. The report will consider the case study of the
Bandcamp.com to integrate two new features on the website, online audio or video streaming and online
customer services. The report will formulate the project design specification and determine the factors
working on the project selection. Specification as well as plan will be proposed for the project. Later, the
report will use the agreed specification to implement the project with the availability of the resources
and analysis of the outcomes. Project evaluation and data interpretation techniques will be discussed on
the project and recommendations will be provided to improve the project in later versions. The project
design and implementation will consider the business scopes and capabilities throughout the activities to
meet the desired goals.
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Task 1
1.1 Formulate and record possible outline project specifications
Overview of Bandcamp
Bandcamp operates as an American Online music organization and act as a common platform for
sharing and selling music to wide range of consumers. Some of the artists involved in the
organization are Steward Smith and Andy Thomas. Artists make efforts to connect customers
directly through the website.
Role of project life-cycle
Project life Cycle involves initialisation, planning along with execution and implementation.
Current project at initial stage helps to understand and develop the concept. Planning stage involved
in entire management cycle is related to integration of video and audio streaming as well as
customer services via website (Lock, 2017). Project execution looks into the quality along with
performance to meet desired objectives. Last stage includes monitoring, controlling and closure
includes project completion with minimum utilisation of resources.
Figure 1: Project life-cycle
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(Source: Project Life cycle, 2018)
Significant Functions
Online sound or video streaming for music shows
The feature enables customers to pay once for specific album or music shows. Artists with the help
of streaming feature provide audios and videos on the website of specific albums on shows.
Online chat customers service
Website of Bandcamp exhibits the feature of online chat to support customers. It helps the
customers to communicate with artists as well as to make them aware about new benefits and music
audios and videos (Ascarza et.al.2018).
Department and operations
Technical department plays an important role and works with effective co ordination with
marketing and finance department to promote and fulfil the money needs to accomplish project
needs.
Goals and Objectives
Goal of the project is to provide online streaming of audios and videos to customer’s through their
website. Objectives are in context to under the capabilities of business, as well as to identify the
approaches suitable for online streaming.
Challenges and Risk
Selection of appropriate streaming technology, as well as changing of business structure as per the
needs of customers is few of the challenges faced by the project. Risk is in context to completion of
project on time as well as resource and quality management.
Expected outcome
It is expected that online streaming help to form strong customer base with higher flexibility of
website and other associated applications.
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1.2 identify the factors that contribute to the process of project selection
Table 1: Factors that contribute to the process of project selection
Factors Online audio or video streaming Online customer services
Budget Budget to implement hardware and
streaming software may need minimum of
$60,000.
Estimated budget for including online chat services
on the website beneficial for both customers and
organization need $15000 and updating of feature
annually need $2000.
Technical
skills
required
Skills are needed for selecting appropriate
approach for streaming audios and videos
as well as to update website as per the need
of project. Efficient optimisation is
enhanced with appropriate technical skills.
Skills are requires for regular updating chat feature
and its effective integration within the website.
Factors such as device type along with database of
detailed information of customers must be applied
by using technical skills (Costantino et.al.2015).
Human
resource
Technical and marketing human resources
are needed for integration of streaming
within the website. Marketing resources to
promote the features and therefore overall
team of 5 is necessary for this project.
Full time active technical human resources for
timely updating of online chat feature are required.
3 resources are needed to resolve issues and
queries of customers.
Potential
profit
For each and every downloading of music
and videos from different album is
chargeable and can be done only by
authenticated users.
Higher involvement of customers and support of
organization in resolving their queries is beneficial
for both customers and the Bandcamp.
Impact on
organizatio
nal
reputation
Online streaming features enhance the
reputation of business in the market and
help to form strong customer base. Unique
features in the project will help to gain
competitive advantage in the market.
Online customer chat enables the organization to
gain trust of customers. Customers are also able to
know about new launches of videos and music
albums.
Customer
demands
Demand of customers is in context to
storing of audio and video music albums.
Features must be added for free live music
The time taken by the organization in resolving
queries of customers must be reduced to give them
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for at least one or two times (Kerzner and
Kerzner, 2017).
higher satisfaction.
By studying the above factors, it has been identified that project completion is as per the availability of
resources. Online streaming project is beneficial in increasing traffic of customers and online chat
feature help organization to gain trust of customers.
1.3 Produce a specification for the agreed project
The current project of online streaming and along with integration of online chat service within website
is an agreed project goal. Specification of project has higher focus on stages below:
Costs: Overall cost of the project include expenses in terms of salary of human resources, software and
hardware cost, software licensing cost, etc. Overall project cost includes $60,000.
Timescales: Overall time needed for completion of project that includes different stages of the project,
review, execution and implementation. Below gang chart reflect time needed for all the activities
involved in the project.
Scale of operation: This phase of project describes the way of perform various tasks involved in the
project. All the activities in the task such as implementation of hardware and software need technical
resources. In the current project output is measures with response of customers and compared with
increasing scale (Moeini et.al.2017).
Standards: Streaming of online music videos and audios need to follow standard protocols and formats
that includes HTML, HTTP and many more.
Legislation: Legal requirements before implementation of the project must be fulfilled by the
organization. Some of the legislations such as copyright laws, data protection must be assured by the
organization.
Ethics: It is important for the organization to maintain its brand reputation in the market by following
certain code of ethics to enjoy issues in terms of credibility.
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Sustainability: The current project of streaming with integration of online chat helps the organization to
form stronger customer base as well as to provide higher customer satisfaction. This is supportive in
building brand name in the market and to earn higher profits.
Quality: The Bandcamp has motive of earning reputation, strong customer as well as credibility along
with competitive advantage and for this it is essential for the organization to focus on quality aspects of
both the projects.
Fitness for Purpose: This is defined as effectiveness and applicability of both the features within the
website for its actual purpose of gaining profits and credibility in the market (Magnusson, 2014).
Internet is highly beneficial for marketing and help to attract customers which is one of the basic need of
business and new project.
Resource Implications: Technical human resources are required for effective integration of streaming
and online chat services within the website. Along with human resources there is need of hardware and
software and other related applications of streaming.
1.4 produce an appropriate project plan for the agreed project
Table 2: Project Plan
Activity/ week 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th
Requirement specification
Systems analysis
Feasibility study
Software systems
Hardware systems
Algorithms
Designs
Different approaches to a specific problem
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Different languages for programming
Different user interfaces
Development of new technique to resolve a
problem
Improvement in current system
Evaluation of various approaches
Alternative methods of implementations
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Task 2
2.1 Match relevant resources efficiently to the project from the given case study
The project has to integrate the features with the considerations of the scopes and capabilities. The
organization can prefer to achieve higher quality and performance with the following resources:
Human resources: The project has need of project leader to manage the strategies and achieve the
desired performance from the team members. There is also need of resources to create and manage the
project plan and execute the activities with the quality baseline.
Software tools: Project has use of software tools to create the plan, prepare the strategies on the basis of
the data analysis and monitor the performance of individual. The project can make use of the software to
monitor the quality and align the practices to complete the desired outcomes within the constraints og
the time, cost and capabilities (Hadaya et al, 2012).
Hardware tools: Besides to it, the project can make use of the hardware components those are required
to achieve the desired outcomes from the computing systems. For example, there is need of the scanner
to feed the details within computer applications. The organization also can use printers to take
information on the papers.
Techniques and strategies: The project can use strategies to utilize the resources in the effective manner
and manage the quality throughout the project (Schwindt and Zimmermann, 2015). For example,
network paths, critical path analysis and Gantt chart can be used to align the project activities to the
capabilities and deliver the desired outcome.
2.2 Undertake the proposed project in accordance with the agreed specification
The organization can execute the activities according to the project plan to achieve the outcomes.
However, some changes can be made to achieve higher performance and quality and integrate the
changes.
Use of resources: The project has collected the data from the customers and the market through the
analysis and it is determined that the new services and features can be provided with the agile team. The
resources are distributed in the project according to their skills and capabilities and it has helped to
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execute the activities in the parallel manner. Also, cost and time is used effectively among the activities
to achieve the quality and performance.
Working within agreed time scale: The time scale of the project is communicated among the employees
and features are integrated within the time and cost (Burke, 2013). The approaches to work within the
time have improved the quality and performance. Prototype and designs are prepared with the skilled
and capable resources to meet the goals and objectives.
Techniques for solutions: Work distribution, Gantt chart and critical path are major activities those are
used in planning and designing phases. The project also has used prototyping and user interface in the
designing phase to understand the implementation process. User modelling and data relationship is also
used to prepare the backend for the organization. Besides to it, critical path, testing tools and process
monitoring and quality controls are used to meet the desired outcomes.
Monitoring development: To monitor the development, project management tools are used. With the
help of the tools, roles and responsibilities are assigned and the consumption of the time and cost is
determined (Papke-Shields and Boyer-Wright, 2017).
Maintaining and adapting project plan: To reduce the delays and poor qualities, project has changed
the plan according to demand. It has helped to arrange the timeline for the next activities and balance the
quality and performance to achieve the goals on the time.
2.3 Organise, analyse and interpret relevant outcomes for your project using a suitable recording
mechanism such as a periodic log book
Periodic logbooks are used to collect the data from the project so that outcomes of the activities can be
analyzed and processed to understand the effectiveness of the project. Following is the period logbook
used in the project to analyze the outcomes:
Table 3: Periodic logbook
Activity Performed Status of outcome
Is work performed within time and cost?
Is quality of the module effective?
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Is there availability of the technical expertise?
Have you reported any issues those can impacted later with the use of the
outcomes?
The resources are utilized effectively according to their skills and
capabilities?
How you think about the usability of the outcome to support the project
goals?
The logbook has helped to understand the outcome and analyse the effectiveness for the desired results
because it is used at the end of the each activities to analyze the use of the resources and the
organizational capabilities for the quality management and high performance.
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Task 3
3.1 use appropriate project evaluation techniques
The organization can analyze the project with the consideration of the following major techniques as it
can reduce the time and improve the supports for the business operations for the higher quality:
Result analysis against specification
The project has analyzed against the defined goals and objectives. It is determined that the specification
of the project is used as the baseline to meet the outcomes and there is no significant difference for the
outcomes. The specification is integrated within the project plan and modules to meet the quality and
effectiveness. The results are aligned to the project specification for the constraints, capabilities, scopes
and the procedures.
Project evaluation and review technique: The technique is used to analyze the project activities and
optimize the outcomes according to the specification. It has helped to improve the utilization of the
resources for the higher quality. It also has helped to reduce the wastage of the time and cost and
recommend the changes (Boulmetis and Dutwin, 2014). For example, the technique empowers the
project for the changes in the design of the customer services so that the function can be engaged in the
same webpage rather than to redirect the user to the new page.
Figure 2: PERT chart for the project
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Quality controls: The baseline of the quality of the project has helped to align the practices and deliver
the desired data. The quality controls are applied on the resources, capabilities and the market scope
along with design factors to achieve the outcomes. It is determined that the project has achieved the
desired quality as measured through the periodic logbook.
3.2 interpret and analyse the results in terms of the original project specification
The organization can interpret the project progress and outcomes against the specification to understand
the core values and scopes with the project. For example, the project has used milestone and the Gantt
chart to understand the project progress. Besides to it, the project has integrated the resources and their
roles and responsibilities to map the progress and the quality. The outcomes of the project are
interpreted through the logbooks and the reports whereas the Excel based charts and designs are used to
analyze the data more effectively (Trietsch and Baker, 2012). It has helped to understand the data
accuracy and reliability. To interpret and analyze the data, the organization can prefer to use the
following techniques:
Audience analysis: It means to focus on the audience of the website to integrate the features and their
requirements. The analysis of the audience and project plan has helped to measure the effectiveness of
the project plan and progress. The outcomes are also analysed with the audience market expectations for
the quality and services.
Business scope: The project progress is measured with the analysis of the business in which the scope
and technologies are determined to manage the progress and the outcomes. The project has used the
scope analysis to achieve the desired performance and outcomes (Hulett, 2016). For that, the
organization can use qualitative and quantitative approaches like theoretical data from the books or
business documents, data collection with interview and feedbacks from questionnaires. Such tools are
used to interpret and analyze the data for the project progress.
3.3 make recommendations and justify areas for further consideration
The project has following things for the further considerations as the features or the quality is not
achieved due to the major constraint of the technology or the time availability:
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Significance of project: The project has included a few changes in the website whereas the project has
significance to integrate the more functions for the subscription management, user data analysis and the
integration of the web based videos to improve the performance. The project can be made more
significant with consideration of the new technological advancements.
Application of project results: The project results can be applied for the whole part of the website
including the user management and login page. The home page of the website and user uploaded videos
or audio also can be streamed (Clarke et al, 2016). The project can add the contact us page on each page
as a chat application to assist the communication.
Implications: In the newer version of the project, the implementation approaches and techniques can be
revised. The organization can use the combination of the programming language to make the project
secure and high performance. Also, the existing code can be optimized. The implications can be
improved with the modularization of the web pages and features for the easy integration and updates.
Limitations: The constraints of the project are required to consider in the next project as it can help the
organization to achieve the more robust planning on the resources and cost. Also, the business can
delimit the functions and features with the availability of the time. The enhanced features and user
interface can be supported to avoid the issues (Lehtinen et al, 2014).
Recommendations for further consideration
It is recommended to manage the cost and time during the project execution whereas the organization
can increase the scope through the integration of the two or more programming languages in the project.
It can help to improve the performance and quality. Also, it is recommended to use standard approaches
for the design and implementations to avoid the issues and delays in the project.
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Task 4
4.1 produce a record of all project procedures used
The project has used the following procedures to achieve the outcomes. The procedures are used to
increase the performance and optimize the time required:
Initialization: During the project initialization, the procedure of the business context analysis and
problem identification is used as it has helped to map the requirements. The procedure of concept
validation and communication among the stakeholder is used.
Planning: During the planning, the organization has role and responsibility documents with the
formation of the policies to plan effectively. The project planning also uses Gantt chart and work
distribution procedure to understand the contribution of individual (Marchewka, 2014).
Requirement gathering: Interview and questionnaires are used from the customers along with
secondary analysis of the business documents on the sales and the customer behaviour are used to
collect the required data. Also, graphical data representation tools are used to analyse the data.
Design: Use data modelling and the prototype formation are used to prepare the design. Data
relationship and processing is also defined to reduce the issues. Design is validated with the sample data
and activities.
Implementation: Use interface is created and tested with availability of the resources. Rewards,
motivation and selection of the tools and techniques are used to implement the project effectively. Also,
milestones and the progress monitoring tools are used to constraint the implementation process for the
outcomes.
Monitoring: The procedure of the quality management, progress measurement and plan effectiveness is
used to achieve the outcomes (Schwindt and Zimmermann, 2015). The monitoring stage also used the
procedure of the quality assurance and feedback to ensure desired outcomes.
Closure: During the closure, the contract and asset handover procedure is used which has helped to
close the project with the exchange of the benefits and requirements.
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4.2 use an agreed format and appropriate media to present the outcomes of the project to an audience
The audience of the project is the owner of the website to whom the results can be communicated. The
project results can be presented in the form of the report with the major changes in the project and the
outcomes achieved from the practices:
Description
Project has goal to provide the audio or video access to the customer directly from the artists. It means to
avoid the intermediate cost and efforts and provide the channel of communication and data sharing on
the go.
Features added in this version
 The customers now can access the videos from their device through login. They are no longer need
to download and manage the data on their device. View the video or audio directly from the website
whenever you need.
 The online customer services are added to improve the problem solving process. You also can
choose the artist if they are free to communicate with you.
 Improved user interface to add new features of the online customer services and audio streaming.
 Improved page loading and bug fixing.
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Conclusion
The report has concluded that the organization can achieve high profitability and customer engagement
through the introduction of the new features on the website. The organization can use integrate the
features in the existing web site. However, the project design and implementation has to map the
business requirements, resource availability and other constraints to deliver the quality outcomes. The
project evaluation and the analysis process have determined that the project has achieved present goals
and objectives but it can be improved with the recommendations and the considerations.
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References
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