Bandcamp Project: Design, Implementation, and Evaluation Report

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Added on 2024/07/02

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This project report details the design and implementation of new features for Bandcamp, a music and video streaming platform. The project focuses on adding online customer service and audio-video streaming capabilities to enhance user engagement and artist support. The report includes a project specification, resource allocation, implementation details, and evaluation using techniques like PERT and CPM. It addresses challenges, constraints, and risks associated with the project, providing recommendations for future improvements. The project aims to improve website performance, security, and reliability, offering instant customer support and real-time content delivery.

Project design and implementation

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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...............................................................8
Task 2...........................................................................................................................................................9
2.1 Match relevant resources efficiently to the project from the given case study..................................9
2.2 Undertake the proposed project in accordance with the agreed specification...................................9
2.3 Organise, analyse and interpret relevant outcomes for your project using a suitable recording
mechanism such as a periodic log book................................................................................................13
Task 3.........................................................................................................................................................15
3.1 Use appropriate project evaluation techniques such as PERT or CPM to evaluate your project....15
3.2 Interpret and analyse the results in terms of your original project specification.............................15
3.3 Make suitable recommendations and justify areas for further consideration and future
improvement for the developed project................................................................................................. 16
Task 4.........................................................................................................................................................17
4.1 Produce a record of all stages of your project procedures and project development used to
complete your project............................................................................................................................ 17
4.2 Use an agreed format and appropriate media to present the outcomes of all of your findings
professionally to an audience. You may choose to make an effective presentation as you deem fit....18
Conclusion................................................................................................................................................. 20
References..................................................................................................................................................21

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: option on all pages for customer services....................................................................................9
Figure 2: Loading streamed video.............................................................................................................10
Figure 3: User has to login or register to view the videos and list audios.................................................10
Figure 4: Inside setting of profile, user can manage the subscriptions......................................................11
Figure 5: User has to select appropriate subscription................................................................................11
Figure 6: Choose the payment mode......................................................................................................... 11
Figure 7: Only the subscribed content can be played on any device.........................................................12
Figure 8: Navigate to contact us................................................................................................................12
Figure 9: Select option and start communicating......................................................................................13

LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Contributing factors for project selection...................................................................................... 4
Table 2: Project plan.................................................................................................................................... 8
Table 3: Periodic logbook..........................................................................................................................13
Table 4: Logbook of activities................................................................................................................... 17

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Introduction
Project management is essential to ensure the goals are achieved within the defined constraints.
However, the project designing and implementation is a complex task as it has to consider the business
demands, scopes and competitive benefits with availability of the skills and capabilities. The report will
formulate and record the possible outlines for the project specification. It also will identify the factors
working on the project selection process. The specification will be created and used to develop plan. It
will also discuss the inputs for the project, their utilization and the possible outcomes the organization
can achieve. Project evaluation techniques such as CPM and PERT will be used in the project to meet
the cost effectiveness. Results of the project will be compared with the specification and on that basis,
recommended will be provided. The project will also document the activities and findings.
1

Task 1
1.1 Formulate and record possible outline project specifications
The organization- Bandcamp
Bandcamp is a music and video streaming platform working since 2007 and provides the direct support
of the artists. It enables artists for the direct broadcasting to the users whereas users can subscribe and
view the content through purchasing of licence. The intermediate amount of services is the profitability
of the business. The organization charges 15% per transaction toward the artists.
The role of project life-cycle
A project goes under the several stages to deliver the desired outcomes. The initiating phase of the
project has role to develop the ideas and concepts for the new features in the platform whereas planning
phase defines the constraints and scopes along with planning for the resources, cost, time, risk and
quality. The planning is required to map the requirements with the capabilities of the business. The
execution stage has detailed design of the solutions and methods to implement them. The phase delivers
the required and functional system to the organization (Kloppenborg et al., 2014). Monitoring phase
ensures that the project has integrated the required functions and features in the website and quality is
achieved as expected. Handover and documentations are part of the project closure with consideration of
the exchange of the benefits with the organization. Therefore, project life cycle has to achieve the
outcomes systematically and improve the performance and reliability in execution.
Significant functions
Following are two major functions those are required in the website to upgrade the services and support
to the users and artists:
Online sound or video streaming for music shows: The feature can enable the artists to engage the
customers in the live shows whereas there will be no need to download the content on the user device. It
enables faster, on the go and instant sharing of content to the audiences.
2

Online chat customers service: Mails and contact forms are being obsolete because online customer
services through the chat systems and chat-bots are more effective to provide the real time
communication and data sharing. It can boost the engagement of the users and artists whereas provide
reliable services directly (Lee and Kozar, 2012).
Related department
The website functions can be added with the technical team whereas marketing department has function
to analyse the strategies of the competitors to attract and retain the users. The management can provide
the training, resources and assets to support the operations of the technical team to deliver the
functionality. Accounting department can ensure the budget available to the technical team for the
competitive benefits.
Project goal
The project has main purpose to add the values in the website functionality through the integration of
online customer services and support for the online audio-video streaming. The project has goal to
engage the customers, retain them and support their requirements with latest and stable technological
advancements (Roeder, 2013).
Project objectives
 To understand and map the Bandcamp requirements with the capabilities.
 To analyse the significance of the audio-video streaming and online customer services to support
the business requirements.
 To identify and deploy the suitable solution in the website within the constraints and scope of the
business.
Challenges and constraints
The project has need of technological expertise and assets those can be used to implement the solutions
in the website whereas the changes in the features can impact the users for the satisfaction. Also, the
security and integration of the features are challenging (Kerzner and Kerzner, 2017). To meet the quality
and performance, the organization also can face the constraints of the time and cost besides of the
resources.
3

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Risk involved
The project has mainly two risks: time and engagement. It is possible that resources are not skilled or
interested to support the project whereas time during the agile project is a critical task when focusing on
the quality. The agile team is required to manage with high priorities to ensure smooth execution with
limited number of the resources.
Expected outcome of implementing
The feature of the streaming can reduce the need of download files on the user devices whereas they can
view the content when artist is publishing in real time. It also helps to reduce the data sharing as illegally
to the unauthorised users. Also, the function of online customer services can help to resolve the queries
and issues in effective time and engage the customers effectively (Fleming and Koppelman, 2016).
Any assumptions
It is assumed that the project has established leaders, communication techniques and financial supports
whereas the organization has acceptance for the solution and there are no big dynamic changes in the
project to support the constraints of cost and time.
1.2 identify the factors that contribute to the process of project selection
Table 1: Contributing factors for project selection
Factors Online audio or video streaming Online customer services
Technical
skills
required
The resources should be skilled to select,
customize and configure the streaming
function on the website. The skills are also
required to create the hints for the users to
make use of the features. Therefore,
knowledge and experience of latest
technology is required.
The resource need knowledge to prepare user
interface including contact form and chat system
whereas database is required to store the
information. Skills are required to select the suitable
chat system and integrate with high performance
and object oriented language.
4

Budget $50,000 are expected to purchase own
servers and software. The cost is also
required for the communication and
resources.
With own chat system, there is need of $15,000 for
the setup and configuration whereas the organization
has cost of $2 per agent so that, monthly cost might
be $100 for 50 agents and $100 for the data analysis.
Human
resource
There is need of at least 3 human resources
to complete the work.
There is need of two resources, one for user
interface and second for backend development.
Impact on
organization
al reputation
It will improve branding and customer
base but initially, the cost might be burden
(Besner and Hobbs, 2013).
There are satisfied customers if services are
effective but the low queries can reduce the returns
from the development cost.
Potential
profit
It can help to achieve authenticated access
on data and improve the live sharing of
albums. Customers also feel high
performance and low storage requirement
on their device.
Business can improve the reputation and monitor the
queries more easily whereas customers can get
faster respond to their questions.
Customer
demands
There should be live streaming to view the
albums on low-space devices also. It is
also required to manage profiles and
subscriptions as the devices might be lost.
The customer services should time resolution
whereas the history of the conversion should be
stored for further referencing.
1.3 produce a specification for the agreed project
The agreed project has two features to implement in the website. Online customer services and audio-
video streaming can be achieved with following specification:
Requirement specification
The business has main need to engage and retain the customers with improved services to them. The
organization wants new features and functions to improve the website performance, security and
reliability with instant support to the customer communication.
Systems analysis
5

The existing website has direct hosting on the server for the artist work which is sharable once the user
downloads them on personal device through subscription. However, further sharing is not profitable for
the business. Also, the systems are not integrated with new features and technology those make them
less reliable and obsolete in competition (Turner, 2014).
Feasibility study
The business has effective revenue and can improve the website services so that more artist and
customers can be engaged. There are limited competitors and the business has good opportunities to
sustain and retain the customers. The project has feasibility in term of the cost, time, risk and quality
with agile team.
Software systems
To use the customer services, the organization has to use the CRM software in backend which can help
to manage the data and support the decision making. The organization also can use software system for
the access verification, subscription management and user action monitoring. The streaming also can be
supported through special purpose software (Vukomanović, 2016).
Hardware systems
Capable servers as Dell PowerEdge T40 with attached storage devices to support the requirements of the
artists. The organization has need of such devices for faster page scripting, and quick response to the
customers.
Algorithms
[Start]
Create team
Assign module
Execution monitoring
If pass: new allocation
6

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Else: Redone
Fetch outcome of the associated activities
Integrate
[End]
Designs
The bottom right corner of the website will have a chat button which is used to initiate the online chat or
customer services. It is either opened in same or new window. For streaming, the user can configure the
video and audio quality from the options given below to the video code. The video streaming also shows
the progress to load the videos.
Several approaches to a particular problem
Third party applications can be used to support customer services on website. They can save time and
cost for the implementation but might not compatible due to performance and security reasons. Also, the
streaming can be done as auto play or manual loading (Killen et al., 2012). The user can be redirected to
new website or same page can load video streaming. Multiple programming languages can be used for
faster chat system.
Technique to solve a problem
Trial and success can be used to solve the problem with multiple tries to the options. It is time
consuming but effective to meet the suitable solutions. If the problem is known then top to bottom
approach can be used to resolve systematically.
Improve a current system
The current system can be improved with new chat system and streaming whereas the overall user
interface and functionality will not be affected. However, the hardware will be added to support the
upgrade required for new features.
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1.4 produce an appropriate project plan for the agreed project
Table 2: Project plan
To do/ weeks First Second Third Forth Fifth Sixth
Requirement specification
Feasibility study
Systems analysis
Software systems
Hardware systems
Algorithms
Designs
Alternatives to solve problem
Programming languages
Options for user interfaces
Selection problem solving method
Improving current system
Evaluate approaches
Alternative implementations
8