Software Development Course Report: Financial and Economic Analysis

This report, prepared by a student, assesses the feasibility of introducing a software development diploma program for international students at Over The Top Education Pty Ltd (OTTE). The report evaluates the financial and economic aspects, including initial and recurring costs such as hardware, software, and lecturer salaries, as well as projected revenues from tuition fees. The analysis considers the need for dual-screen computers and other resources to meet the requirements for international students. The report includes a letter of transmittal, terms of reference, an acknowledgment section, an executive summary, and a detailed breakdown of costs and revenues. The report recommends that the board of directors approve the course, as it is projected to generate a substantial profit in the first year of operation and increase the company's revenue significantly. The report also suggests purchasing dual-screen computers and hiring qualified lecturers to ensure the program's success.

Name of student:
Registration number:
Unit Title:
Unit Code:
Name of supervisor:
Date due:

TASK ONE
To:[e-mail]
From:[e-mail]
Subject: Report on the assessment of the new Software Development course
This email is aimed at communicating to the Chairman of Over The Top Education
Pty Ltd on various issues concerning the new course that the institution wants to
introduce. The email explains to the chairman the need to visit and see the set up of
the room and so as to advice on whether the students and staff need dual screen or any
other arrangement as may be deemed fit. In order to write the report, it is important to
access and evaluate whether or not the desks used in the rooms comply with the latest
WHS legislation for computer user. The reason why dual screens are recommended in
the classrooms is to enable students work on their projects that involves software
while viewing text/content from the screens.
In order to offer international students a diploma in software development, there are
several important requirements that the college should meet. One of this is to ensure
that rooms designed for the students have dual screens installed strategically in the
rooms to enable the students undertake their software projects while they can view the
text on the screen. The screens will also enable the teaching staff to demonstrate and
project practical lessons to the students.
The workstation needs to be set up in such a way that the students are able to work
comfortably. The desks should have a compartment for the monitor, keyboard and the
CPU. The mouse should be placed on the right side of the monitor and a mouse pad
should be available too.

The board of directors needs to ensure that the rooms are well let and conditioned.
The rooms should also be situated in a place which is not prone to dust in order to
ensure that the computers in the room and the dual screens are not destroyed by the
dust.
The board also needs to consider the recurrent costs such as the cost of hieing
technicians and lecturers as well as the overhead costs to be incurred by the business.
The board of Over The Top Education Pty Ltd needs to install software components
on the dual screens to make them suitable for the students to use to develop other soft-
wares. There should also be WI-FI internet available within the facility. This is very
important for research and development. It will enable the software development
students to develop their own products and commercialize them. If access to the
rooms is granted on within two days, the report will be ready and submitted after two
weeks.
Signature………………………..

TASK 2
Letter of transmittal
Mr Ezra Daniels
243, Downtown Sidney
Rurfall, 697834
June 2014
Dr.Smith Long
Chairman board of directors
453, Leighton Road
Melbourne.024
Dear Sir
I hereby submit a report on the new software development program that OTTE is
planning to start offering international students. The report evaluates the financial and
economic viability of the program. The economic benefits that the program will bring
to the institution are analyzed. The costs that will be incurred to start operations fully
are estimated and recommendations made on whether or not to go ahead with the
project. The program is found to be economically viable and sustainable and it will
contribute significantly towards boasting OTTEP/Ltd revenues. Contained in the

report is a detailed analysis of important aspects considered before arriving at this
conclusion. Thank you.
Yours Sincerely
Name…………………….
Signature…………………
Enclosure: Report
Terms of reference
The purpose of this report is to explain to the board the findings and recommendations
of the team after evaluation of the new program. The report explains the need for
accessing the classrooms so as to determine the need for a dual screen to aid learning
among students. The course is expected to increase the profit revenues for the
OTTP/Ltd and to offer students high quality education. The stakeholders involved in

this project include the board of directors, students who are the customers and the
employees of OTTP/Ltd. The resources required for this project include hardware and
software components as well as resources like desks and learning materials. The
report assess whether the desks meet the standards set by WHS. The report also
calculates the costs and expected profits from the new program.
Acknowledgment
Let me start by acknowledge the contribution of all group members who were tasked
with preparing this report on the viability of the software development course at
OTPE. All the team members were highly dedicated to preparing this report and they
spent many hours on the ground surveying the classrooms and ensuring everything
was up to standard. I also recognize the support received from the chairman of the
board Dr. Smith Long and the entire board. Without you all this report would not have
been completed successfully. Thank you.

Contents
Letter of transmittal................................................................................................................................5
Terms of reference..................................................................................................................................6
Acknowledgment....................................................................................................................................6
List of figure and tables...........................................................................................................................8
Executive summary...............................................................................................................................10
Glossary.................................................................................................................................................10
Introduction..........................................................................................................................................11
Recommendations................................................................................................................................14
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................14
List of figure and tables
Table 1.1: Expenses on software and hardware devices as well as variable expenses

Executive summary
The board of directors of Over The Top Educational Pty plans to introduce a new
program into the college. The board plans to introduce a new course on software
development which will only be offered to international students. It will take 12
months to complete the program. This report evaluates and analyzes the advantages
and disadvantages that will accrue to the organization if it decides to start the program
(Girvan, 2016). The costs of starting the software development course are estimated in
this report and compared to the revenue that OTTE will get from recruiting the 20
international students. Some of the costs considered in this report include the cost of
hiring lecturers and technicians as well as the costs of hardware and software. From
the analysis, recommendations and conclusions are made to the board of directors
(Munier, 2011) We recommend that the board goes ahead with implementing the
program since the program will increase the profits of the college significantly.
Glossary
Software; It Is an intangible program that is used to execute tasks in a computer
Hardware. These are tangible components of a computer
Code Envy; this is a computer programming software that is used to design and
develop software for computers.
Recurring costs; Costs that repeat occur from time to time and they vary depending on
output.
Fixed costs. These are costs that do not change irrespective of the output.

Introduction
In order to start the Diploma in Software Development for international students,
OTTE P/Ltd will incur some initial costs. The costs are significant but very necessary
for the program to start successfully. Since the classrooms and the facilities like desks
are ready, the costs for the institution will not be as many as compared to if nothing
was ready (Blais,2012). One of the major items that will cost the organization
significant amount of money is the purchase of hardware devices. At least 25 desktop
computers with dual screen need to be purchased. Every student should be able to
operate their own computer at any time. This is important to ensure all students are
involved in practical lessons and there is minimum movement and interruptions when
lessons are ongoing (Berger, 2011). The extra five desktop computers will be for
backup in case some of the computers collapse. They will also be used by the
instructors from time to time. The cost for a Desktop computer with dual screen is
estimated to be $320. Projection dual display screens for displaying text and graphics
when students are developing software is also required. The screens will be important
for demonstrations and illustrations during practical lessons.
Software resources will also cost the institution a substantial amount of money. There
is a variety of software tools required to develop software. Examples of this tools
include; Atom, Cloud9 IDE, Code Envy, CodeLobster and Codepen (Carkenord,
2009). These programs have to be bought from the manufacturers who issue licenses
to the developers who intend to use their software. The other software tools that will
be needed to implement the project at OTTE P/Ltd include; software code coverage

tools, debuggers, disasemblers, GUI interface generators Build automation software
and static code analysis tools. The other software that will be required is MS Visual
Studio, MS Project, MS Visio and MS Office (Tavana, 2012).These software
programs will be obtained from different developers at different prices. The software
language to be used in by the institution is Java programming language. Java 9 is the
version that will be used for this computer (Piccirillo& Noro, 2008).
The other costs that OTTE P/Ltd will incur in starting the new course on software
developing are the cost of labor. At least 4 lecturers specializing in computer science
or software development need to be employed. The candidates for the job must have a
PHD in computer science or software development. The candidates must have more
than 7 years teaching experience in a reputable higher education institution. The
lecturers wills be expected to earn salary and allowances totaling $750 per month. The
cost of labor is recurrent and will be paid every month. The other recurrent cost for
OTTE P/Ltd are overhead cost which include cost of electricity and teaching materials
(Foster, 2013).
The following is a table showing the breakdown of the costs in a table format:
Table1.1Expenses of OTTEP
Item Quantity Cost per item ($) Total
Dual screen
desktop computers
25 520 13,000