Melbourne University IT Experts: IT Software Project and Team Charter

This project presents a comprehensive plan for developing a new IT software solution for the University of Melbourne. The project involves a team of IT experts, including an executive sponsor, stakeholders, a project manager, and various specialists like IT security, web programmers, and IT supporters. The project charter outlines the skills and responsibilities of each team member, emphasizing project management, communication, data analysis, and technical skills. The team's communication plan, including meeting schedules and email updates, is detailed. The project is divided into stages: Ideation, Elaboration, Planning, Execution, Implementation, and Control & Monitoring, with assigned responsibilities. The communication plan includes audience-specific information sharing, methods, and frequencies. The project concludes with a reflection on the team's experiences, highlighting the importance of leadership, communication, and technical skills in successful project execution. The project references several academic sources to support the project's concepts.

ASSESMENT 2
PART 1: PROJECT NAME/TEAM/ DESCRIPTION
Name: Melbourne University IT Experts
Team
 University administration as executive sponsor; + (613)9035 5511
 Executive stakeholders- based in Melbourne and New Zealand
 IT Expert leader- based in Melbourne, 500 Yarra Boulevard; Richmond, Victoria, 3121:
+ (613) 9456 665
 Project manager- Water Street, Creswick, Victoria, 3363: + (613) 9134 4532
 IT security team- Grattan Street, Parkville, Victoria, 3010, + (613) 9345 1112
 Web programmer and analyst- 49 Graham Street, Shepparton, Victoria, 3630: + (613)
9010 4321
 IT supporter- Water Street, Creswick, Victoria, 3363: + (613) 9016 1325
 Users- the University of Melbourne Victoria 3010
Project Overview
The University of Melbourne has recently been undergoing some challenges with its information
technology software programs. The software systems had been updated one year ago but the
problems still continue to increase. The University cannot run its operations effectively when the
systems are weak and inefficient. Therefore, the project to be undertaken by the group will be
focused on programming and building a new, modern and updated IT software to make sure that
the institution is operational at all times.
TEAM CHARTER
Skills and Knowledge Inventory
Some of the skills include (Forsman et al, 2016 and Marshall, 2012):
 Project management skills
 Strong communication skills; both written and oral
 Data analysis skills

 Computer language skill
 Security management skill
 Web development skill
 Social media experience skill
 Systems analysis skill
 Effective and efficient planning skill
 Capable and proficient team leader
 Valuable creativity and innovation skill
 Skill of delegation, perseverance and determination
Roles and Responsibilities
Executive sponsor
 Makes decisions whenever needed
 Provides funds for the project
 Provides all the resources needed for the project
Executive stakeholders
 Provides any information as required to ensure success of the project
IT Expert leader
 Provides expert advice to the programmer and IT supporters
 Overseeing all the activities being undertaken by the IT security and supporting team
Project manager
 In charge of the whole team
 Ensures that the project is completed within time, scope and budget set
 Manages the proceedings of the process
 Acts as a link between the sponsors, stakeholders and the team
IT security team
 Ensuring that the project materials are all safe, available and functional before use
 Ensuring that the software is secure at all time; during and after its activation

Web programmer and analyst
 Designing the plan and layout of the software
 Assessing current systems and the problems they are causing
 Builds the prototypes for testing the functionality and effectiveness of the new software
 Develop the new software systems
 Programming the software
IT supporter
 Providing the best knowledge and advice on technology standards
 Ensuring that the environment is conducive for project success and future usage
Users
 Providing the team with key information about the University
 Participating in the User Testing Activities
 Helps the team identify the current and future operational procedures
Team Communications
The team will be meeting at the University main hall every first day of the week from 1000HRS
to 1200HRS. To add to that, the team leaders will update the members daily via emails. The
project’s procedures will be documented at the end of every meeting by the project manager for
future reference.
Team Rules and Expectations
In my experience, working with teams may be challenging because of problems such as:
 Delayed decision making process
 Long arguments where every member wants to be heard
 Attendance of meetings late
 In attendance of meetings by all members
However, there are positive results that arise from working in a team;
 Increase in number of valuable opinions
 Project completion becomes easier and faster

Team goal
The overall team goal is to provide the best, most effective, modern and functional software
system, with no future problems that can be used by the University for a long period of time
before upgrading.
Team Values
 Cooperation and collaboration
 Effective communication
 Good time management
 Accountability
 Procedure and process follow-up
 Honesty and openness
Code of Ethics
 Carry out an activity according to the plan and towards the team goal
 Team members should conduct themselves professionally
 Team leaders should openly address the funding received for the project
 No personal favors, gifts or entertainment form the clients
Rules
 Notification should be given before the meeting starts in case of in attendance
 No member should involve themselves in another project when the team is not finished
with the current one
 The manager should ensure that every employee has signed the code of ethics and rules
document before officiating any project
PART TWO: LEARNING CYCLES
Ideation/Organizer- Project manager and the IT security team will be the first organizers for the
team. They will inquire the opinions from all members and write them down for reference. Apart
from that, they will distribute the list of all the opinions to the team members via email to ensure
that every idea is represented and included in the list.

Elaboration/Scribe- Web programmer and analyst will document the listed opinions for future
reference. Additionally, he will also dig deeper into the ideas and generate a way forward for the
project in accordance to his expertise and knowledge in the IT field.
Planning- will be done by the expert leader
Execution- will be led by the project manager
Implementation- will be done by the Web programmer, users, executive sponsor and
stakeholders.
Control and monitoring- will be done by IT supporter and IT expert leader
ACTIVITY PERSON INCHARGE Role and responsibility
Ideation Project manager and IT
security team
Collecting ideas from
members
Ensuring security and
confidentiality of the
members
Distributes information
Initialization/elaboration Web developer Analysis the ideas
Matching the opinions with
his software designs
Making the valuable
decisions accordingly
Develops the whole system
Planning Expert leader Gives the activity
schedules (when, where
and by who)
Execution project manager Ensuring the project plans,
designs, members’ ideas
and other things are done at
the right time, within scope

and budget.
Control and monitoring IT supporter and IT expert
leader
Ensure that the project is
going according to the
scheduled time period
Implementation Web programmer, users,
executive sponsor and
stakeholders
Puts the whole process into
action, i.e. the ideas and
opinions of the members
PART THREE: COMMUNICATION PLAN
Communication plan helps in ensuring that there is effective and efficient information sharing
among all the project stakeholders (Cornelissen et al, 2017 and O'Sullivan, 2007). A good
communication plan will contain the following key aspects: communication objectives, the
specific audience, methods of communication, frequency of communication and the key content
of the information to be shared (Smarandache et al, 2014).
AUDIENCE INFORMATION METHOD FREQUENCY PURPOSE
Project
manager
Project
procedures,
project status,
project
deliverables
Email Weekly General
project status
Web
developer
Email Weekly collaboration
Expert leader Email Weekly collaboration
IT supporter Email Biweekly Project plans
Project status
users meeting Biweekly Project status
IT security
team
meeting As required collaboration
executive
sponsor
meeting Weekly Detailed
project status
briefing

Executive
stakeholders
meeting Weekly Detailed
project status
briefing
PART FOUR: REFLECTION
Looking back on this experience, I would say that I gained a lot of knowledge and understanding
especially when it comes to working in a team. During the beginning of the project, there were
some challenges that we all faced, like: lack of trust for each other, doubts for each other’s views
and expertise, challenge of not listening to each other keenly among others. However, the project
also brought some positive experiences during the process whereby I realized the value of
tolerance, give other people opportunity to express their opinions, new skills and techniques to
name just but a few things. The project seemed to be very simple to conduct especially with the
presence of the experienced and skilled experts but it came to be a tough and a very demanding
process.
Due to the differences at the beginning of the project, the project manager and other leaders were
not able to manage the team members. According to Farkas et al, 2008, a leader’s patience,
understanding, management, effective and efficient communication skills, they were able to
organize and direct the team accordingly. From the experience, I realized that it is important for
leaders (especially ICT managers) to own the following skills and techniques: strong
communication skills, effective management skills (Arora et al, 2016), must be ambitious and
capable team leader, free thinker, high degree of determination and perseverance, quality
assurance skills (Bowman et al, 2008), system analysis, effective problem solving skills among
others. In other words, the experience was full of teachings and lessons to be learnt by any team
member but especially the IT experts who carry out projects in teams.
REFERENCES

Arora, S., & Darzi, A. (2016). Introducing Technical Skills Assessment Into Certification:
Closing the Implementation Gap. Annals of surgery, 264(1), 7-9.
Bowman, J., & Wilson, J. P. (2008). Different roles, different perspectives: perceptions about the
purpose of training needs analysis. Industrial and Commercial Training, 40(1), 38-41.
Cornelissen, J., & Cornelissen, J. P. (2017). Corporate communication: A guide to theory and
practice. Sage.
Farkas, A., & Nagy, V. (2008). Student assessment of desirable technical skills: a
correspondence analysis approach. Acta Polytechnica Hungarica, 5(2), 43-57.
Forsman, H., Gråstén, A., Blomqvist, M., Davids, K., Liukkonen, J., & Konttinen, N. (2016).
Development of perceived competence, tactical skills, motivation, technical skills, and
speed and agility in young soccer players. Journal of sports sciences, 34(14), 1311-1318.
Marshall, M. B. (2012). Simulation for technical skills.
O'Sullivan, K. J. (2007). Creating and executing an internal communications plan for knowledge
management systems deployments. Journal of Knowledge Management, 11(2), 102-108.
Smarandache, F., & Vladutescu, S. (2014). Towards a Practical Communication
Intervention. Revista de Cercetare si Interventie Sociala, 46, 243.