Project Plan: Development of Automated System for Tourist Business

This project plan outlines the development of an automated information system for a private tourist business in Australia, aiming to address the shortcomings of the current system. The project scope encompasses the implementation of several sub-systems: Finance Management, Human ...Read More

Private Tourist Business
Project Plan
9/9/2017

Project Plan
Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................3
Assumptions & Limitations.........................................................................................................................4
Summary of the Project Background...........................................................................................................5
Project Scope...............................................................................................................................................6
In-Scope Items.........................................................................................................................................6
Out-of-Scope...........................................................................................................................................6
Descriptions of the Project Outcomes to Meet the Current Problems..........................................................7
Resource Requirements...............................................................................................................................8
Internal Resources...................................................................................................................................8
External Resources..................................................................................................................................8
Scheduling Tasks.........................................................................................................................................9
Work Breakdown Structure.....................................................................................................................9
Milestone Schedule...............................................................................................................................10
Project Slack – Gantt chart....................................................................................................................10
Project Cost Estimation.............................................................................................................................11
Recommendations & Conclusion..............................................................................................................12
References.................................................................................................................................................13
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Project Plan
Introduction
XYZ is private tourist business that is based out of Australia and attracts over 200,000 families
on a yearly basis. The business involves major tourist attraction along a major Australian
highway. The customers that the business serves are domestic as well as international customers.
The information system that is currently deployed in the company for the execution and
management of business operations has a number of drawbacks. The system is also not efficient
to cater the customer needs and demands. Currently, mobile and wireless devices are being used
by almost every individual. However, the current system that is followed at the private tourist
business cannot be accessed on the mobile platforms.
The solution has been proposed to develop and automated system that will resolve the issues and
problems with the current system. The project will include the upgrade of the current system by
adding a number of different features and requirements. The upgrades will focus upon the
financial model, human resource requirements, scheduling tasks and activities along with
customer interface requirements. There will also be a facility management system that will be
included in the upgraded information system for the business. The report covers the project plan
highlighting the assumptions and limitations associated with the project, project background, and
project scope, description of the project elements, resource requirements, project schedule,
project costs and the recommendation on the basis of the findings.
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Project Plan
Assumptions & Limitations
 The project team members that have been identified for the project have the adequate
skills and knowledge to carry out the project activities. It has been assumed as the project
is a critical one and involves a good amount of planning activities along with it.
 The project funds will be provided by the project sponsor and it will include the one-time
cost of tools, cost of resources and the project activities. These costs will be necessary as
the project operations and activities will not be accomplished without adequate funds.
 The project budget and schedule would be fixed and there will not be any changes or
enhancements possible in these two project parameters. The nature of business of the
company functions around the year and any delay in the project delivery will lead to
business losses.
 The project team members will be provided with the work environment for the successful
execution of the project activities. There will primarily be three work environment that
the project resources will require in the form of development environment, testing
environment and production environment.
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Project Plan
Summary of the Project Background
The current information system that is followed in the private tourist company has a lot many
drawbacks. The customer engagement and satisfaction is deteriorating due to slower processing
and long waiting time. There is also poor information management and storage along with
enhanced cost for printing of brochures. Customers often do not get to know about the latest
offers as well. The current system does not support mobile devices and the resolution of
technical issues is handled manually. There are also safety concerns as the information on the
people present at the tourist attraction at a particular time cannot be retrieved.
Due to all the problems stated above, it has been proposed to upgrade the current information
system to an advanced integrated solution. The upgrades will focus upon the financial model,
human resource requirements, scheduling tasks and activities along with customer interface
requirements. There will also be a facility management system that will be included in the
upgraded information system for the business (Peslak, 2012).
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Project Plan
Project Scope
In-Scope Items
 An enhanced form of information system will be developed for the business which will
comprise of the following sub-systems
o Finance Management System
o Human Resource Management System
o Schedule Management System
o Customer Relationship Management System
o Facility Management System
 The information system will be made available on the web as well as mobile platforms.
 The sub-systems will be integrated as a single system and the final release will be tested
covering system, integration, unit, performance, regression and security testing (Mirza,
Pourzolfaghar and Shahnazari, 2013).
 The system will be implemented and deployed at the business side and the end-users will
be provided with the training and system documentation.
 The system will also cover the project planning, requirement analysis and project closure
phases.
 The non-functional requirements will be incorporated in the system comprising of the
system availability, system reliability, system scalability, system maintainability, system
adaptability and system performance.
Out-of-Scope
The following set of activities will not be covered by the project team members during the
project life cycle:
 The project team will not be responsible for the delays that will be caused by the third-
parties.
 The project team will not entertain the change requests and suggestions that are not
approved by the project sponsor (Randolph, 2013).
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Project Plan
 The activities around negotiations with the third-parties, such as, suppliers and vendors
will not be entertained.
Descriptions of the Project Outcomes to Meet the Current Problems
There will be three primary sub-systems that will be incorporated in the project so as to meet the
current set of problems and issues.
 Finance Management System: The system will include the execution of the accounting
activities and will also determine the budgeting tasks and activities. There are currently
problems with the cost of printing the brochures and associated tasks. The new system
will design a budget that will identify and eliminate the additional costs. This will result
in the cost-effective business activities to be executed (O'Leary, 2009).
 Human Resource Management System: There are various resources that are currently
engaged with the private tourist business. There are a number of technical and operation
errors that are faced by the resources along with managerial problems. The new system
will include the trainings and sessions for the human resources. It will also design a
training plan and schedule for each resource. The activities such as one-on-one discussion
with the management, discussion of the conflicts and employee grievances will also be
done (Gagnon, 2006).
 Scheduling Tasks: The tourist business is mainly based upon the frequency of the
customer that visits to view the tourist attraction. The system will schedule the supply of
the resources that will be required as per the customer bookings. It will store the number
of customers that have visited the tourist attraction on per hour, per day, per month and
per year basis. It will allow the development of the adequate safety measures as well. The
database will then be upgraded to an advanced version over the time.
 Customer Relationship Management System: The customers will be allowed to access the
system on the web as well as the mobile devices. The customers will be allowed to book
their tickets in advance and will also be able to view the details on the tourist attraction
remotely. They will be provided with the latest details and offers on the social media
platforms and accounts. Customer support and assistance team will also be available on a
non-stop basis to handle customer queries (Ayiri and Kudzanayi, 2017).
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Project Plan
 Facility Management System: There may be a number of technical and facilities issues
that may come up. The system will record the incidents at an immediate basis and the
resource to resolve the incident will be assigned immediately after checking the
availability. In this manner, the downtime involved will be reduced.
Resource Requirements
Internal Resources
 Project Manager: The resource will be responsible for the overall management of the
project and would be required to have the managerial, communication, leadership and
technical skills. Project planning, communication, control and closure will be carried out
by this resource (Muller and Turner, 2007).
 Project Developer: The developer will write the source code for the various sub-systems
that are to be developed and will perform unit testing (Kock, Heising and Gemunden,
2016).
 Project Designer: The interface requirements and the delivery of the system design
document will be completed by this resource.
 Implementation Head: The resource will implement the system by managing all the
project changes and modifications.
 System Tester: The testing of the system will be carried out by this resource which will
include system, integration, performance and security testing.
 Network Engineer: The integration of the sub-systems as a final unit and its deployment
on the networks for public use will be done by this resource.
 Technical Writer: The system documentation required for the project will be prepared by
this resource.
 Finance Officer: The project budget and the accounting activities will be carried out by
this resource.
External Resources
 Project Sponsor: The resource will review the project progress at frequent intervals and
will provide with the project requirements, change approvals and project funds.
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Project Plan
 End-User: These resources will carry out the application testing on the system. These will
be customers or the families that will be visiting the tourist attraction and will be availing
the facilities offered by the business.
 Business Analyst: The resource will analyze the business requirements and will assist the
Project Manager in the smooth execution of the project.
Scheduling Tasks
Work Breakdown Structure
There are various estimates that are required to be carried out in the project to make sure that the
project achieves its goals and objectives. There are several tools that have been designed to assist
the project resources in the scheduling of the tasks and activities. It is necessary to have clear
information of the project activities to be covered and Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is a
graphical tool that provides a clear representation of the project tasks and activities in the
hierarchical manner (Hans, 2013).
In case of the project of automated information system for a private tourist business, there are
many tasks which are represented in WBS in three different levels. The accomplishment of the
activities from bottom to top will mark the end-result which is the information system itself. It
will allow the finance officer and project team to estimate the effort that is required to be put in
for specific project task (Indelicato, 2010).
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Project Plan
Milestone Schedule
Milestone Name Start Finish Description
Milestone One: Project Plan Tue 11/28/17 Tue 11/28/17
The milestone will mark the end of the
planning phase and the project
estimates shall be finalized by the end
of this stage.
Milestone Two: Source Code Wed 4/4/18 Wed 4/4/18
The milestone will mark the end of the
development of the front end and its
syncing with the back end
Milestone Three: Defect
Report Thu 5/31/18 Thu 5/31/18
The milestone will mark the end of the
testing and implementation phase and
the areas of improvement shall be
identified and implemented.
Milestone Four: Closure
Report Wed 6/27/18 Wed 6/27/18 The milestone will mark the end of the
project
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Private Tourist
Business - Advanced
Information System
Project Initiation and
Planning
Feasibility Study
Project Scope, Budget,
Schedule
Risk Assessment and
Management
Project Team
Selectiona and
Allocation of Duties
Communication Plan
Milestone One:
Project Plan
Proejct Execution
System interfaces and
UI Design
Approval of System
Design
System Source Code
Syncing with the
Database
Unit Testing
Release of the source
code to the test team
Milestone Two:
Source Code
Project Testing and
Implementation
Testing activties on
the system
Defect reporting
Incorporation of the
changes
Monitoring and
review of the system
System Integration
Milestone Three:
Defect Report
Closure Phase
System
Documentation
Acceptance, Sign Offs
and Lessons Learned
Preparation of the
Closure Report
Milestone Four:
Closure Report

Project Plan
Project Slack – Gantt chart
Project Cost Estimation
The costs have been assigned as per the project activity, the duration and effort that are required
to accomplish it and the resource that is assigned to it. The total cost has come out to be AUD
143,504.
Task Name Duration Start Finish Predecessors Resource Names Cost
Private Tourist Business - Advanced Information
System 207 days Tue 9/12/17 Wed 6/27/18 $ 143,504.00
Project Initiation and Planning 56 days Tue 9/12/17 Tue 11/28/17 $ 57,760.00
Feasibility Study 7 days Tue 9/12/17 Wed 9/20/17 Project Manager, Project
Developer $ 8,120.00
Project Scope, Budget, Schedule 21 days Thu 9/21/17 Thu 10/19/17 3 Project Manager, Finance
Officer $ 27,720.00
Risk Assessment and Management 10 days Fri 10/20/17 Thu 11/2/17 4 Project Developer,
Implementation Head $ 8,960.00
Project Team Selection and Allocation of 12 days Fri 11/3/17 Mon 5 Project Manager $ 8,640.00
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Project Plan
Duties 11/20/17
Communication Plan 6 days Tue 11/21/17 Tue 11/28/17 6 Project Manager $ 4,320.00
Milestone One: Project Plan 0 days Tue 11/28/17 Tue 11/28/17 7 $ 0.00
Project Execution 91 days Wed
11/29/17 Wed 4/4/18 $ 43,400.00
System interfaces and UI Design 21 days Wed
11/29/17
Wed
12/27/17 7 Project Designer $ 8,400.00
Approval of System Design 5 days Thu 12/28/17 Wed 1/3/18 10 Project Manager $ 3,600.00
System Source Code 54 days Thu 1/4/18 Tue 3/20/18 11 Project Developer $ 23,760.00
Syncing with the Database 7 days Wed 3/21/18 Thu 3/29/18 12 Project Designer, Project
Developer $ 5,880.00
Unit Testing 3 days Fri 3/30/18 Tue 4/3/18 13 Project Developer $ 1,320.00
Release of the source code to the test team 1 day Wed 4/4/18 Wed 4/4/18 14 Project Developer $ 440.00
Milestone Two: Source Code 0 days Wed 4/4/18 Wed 4/4/18 15 $ 0.00
Project Testing and Implementation 41 days Thu 4/5/18 Thu 5/31/18 $ 32,184.00
Testing activities on the system 18 days Thu 4/5/18 Mon 4/30/18 16 System Tester $ 6,912.00
Defect reporting 2 days Tue 5/1/18 Wed 5/2/18 18 System Tester $ 768.00
Incorporation of the changes 12 days Thu 5/3/18 Fri 5/18/18 19
Project Designer, Project
Developer, Implementation
Head
$ 15,552.00
Monitoring and review of the system 7 days Mon 5/21/18 Tue 5/29/18 20 Implementation Head,
Project Manager $ 8,232.00
System Integration 2 days Wed 5/30/18 Thu 5/31/18 21 Network Engineer $ 720.00
Milestone Three: Defect Report 0 days Thu 5/31/18 Thu 5/31/18 22 $ 0.00
Closure Phase 19 days Fri 6/1/18 Wed 6/27/18 $ 10,160.00
System Documentation 11 days Fri 6/1/18 Fri 6/15/18 22 Technical Writer $ 4,400.00
Acceptance, Sign Offs and Lessons Learned 5 days Mon 6/18/18 Fri 6/22/18 25 Project Manager $ 3,600.00
Preparation of the Closure Report 3 days Mon 6/25/18 Wed 6/27/18 26 Project Manager $ 2,160.00
Milestone Four: Closure Report 0 days Wed 6/27/18 Wed 6/27/18 27 $ 0.00
Recommendations & Conclusion
The project for the upgrade and deployment of the information system for private tourist
business is a critical project. There are various activities that are required to be carried out in this
project and there are several internal and external resources that are involved as well. This may
lead to the occurrence of the conflicts, disputes and problems during the project life cycle. The
Project Manager will be the resource that will be responsible for the resolution of all such issues
(Greenberger, 2016). However, the resource shall have a set of guidelines and principles to
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Project Plan
follow. The responsibilities and activities of the Project Manager will be carried out with ease
with the aid of the project management methodology as Project Management Body of
Knowledge (PMBOK). It will provide the adequate guidelines and rules that the Project Manager
and the project team members must stick to during the project lifetime.
The development methodology that shall be followed in the project shall be agile methodology
using SCRUM framework. It will offer many benefits to the project as it will become easier to
incorporate the changes in the project. Also, it will be possible to keep a connection with the
project sponsor and the end-users at all times. The upgraded information system will be scalable,
flexible and adaptable in nature. This methodology will allow the execution and the
accomplishment of the project requirements in various iterations and these iterations will be
referred as the sprints. It will become easier for the project team to understand the effort
necessary to fulfill each of the project requirements.
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Project Plan
References
Ayiri, G. and Kudzanayi, G. (2017). Embracing Customer Relationship Management (CRM) to
Improve Organisational Viability by Small Businesses in Chinhoyi, Zimbabwe. IOSR Journal of
Business and Management, 19(01), pp.50-54.
Gagnon, S. (2006). Globalizing Human Resource Management - Paul Sparrow, Chris Brewster
and Hilary Harris. Human Resource Management Journal, 16(3), pp.331-332.
Greenberger, L. (2016). Effective Communications for Project Success. Remediation Journal,
26(2), pp.121-128.
Hans, R. (2013). Work Breakdown Structure: A Tool for Software Project Scope Verification.
International Journal of Software Engineering & Applications, 4(4), pp.19-25.
Indelicato, G. (2010). Work breakdown structures: The foundation for project management
excellence. Project Management Journal, 41(3), pp.101-101.
Kock, A., Heising, W. and Gemunden, H. (2016). A Contingency Approach on the Impact of
Front-End Success on Project Portfolio Success. Project Management Journal, 47(2), pp.115-
129.
Mirza, M., Pourzolfaghar, Z. and Shahnazari, M. (2013). Significance of Scope in Project
Success. Procedia Technology, 9, pp.722-729.
Muller, R. and Turner, R. (2007). The Influence of Project Managers on Project Success Criteria
and Project Success by Type of Project. European Management Journal, 25(4), pp.298-309.
O'Leary, D. (2009). Downloads and citations inIntelligent Systems in Accounting, Finance and
Management. Intelligent Systems in Accounting, Finance & Management, 16(1-2), pp.21-31.
Peslak, A. (2012). Information Technology Project Management and Project Success.
International Journal of Information Technology Project Management, 3(3), pp.31-44.
Randolph, S. (2013). Projects and Complexity. Project Management Journal, 44(3), pp.e2-e2.
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