corporate technology center a project proposal submitted...
TRANSCRIPT
Corporate Technology Center
A Project Proposal
Submitted to Dr. Hae Choi
of the
Savannah State University
in Partial Fulfilment
of the Requirement for the Systems Analysis and Design: CISM 3137
in College of Business Administration
Jennifer Mosha
January 31, 2012
CONTENTS
Resume ...................................................................................................................................... 1
Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 2-5
Background of the Project ...................................................................................................... 2
Problem of the Statement ....................................................................................................... 3
Scope of the Project, Boundary & Project Constraints .......................................................... 4
Organization Structure & IS Department .............................................................................. 5
Charts and Feasibility Analysis ........................................................................................... 6-9
Gantt Chart ............................................................................................................................. 6
PERT and Network Chart ...................................................................................................... 7
Feasibility Analysis ............................................................................................................. 8-9
Information Systems Requirements ................................................................................ 10-12
Business Requirements ........................................................................................................ 10
Functional Requirements ..................................................................................................... 10
Non-functional Requirements .............................................................................................. 10
Design Objectives ................................................................................................................ 11
Expectations of the Project ................................................................................................... 12
ii
Jennifer Safari Mosha 3219 College Street, Savannah, GA 31404
912.713.8419
Objective: To obtain the position, where I am able to utilize my education, experiences and my professional skills to make a positive contribution.
Education: Savannah State University August 2009-Present Bachelor of Business Administration in Computer Information Systems
International School Moshi, Moshi,Tanzania (United Republic of Tanzania) International Baccalaureate Diploma August 2007- May 2009
Mannings’ High School, Savanna-la-mar, Jamaica General Certificate of Secondary Education August 2002- May 2007 Related Courses: Computer Skills: Efficient with the following software packages: Microsoft Word,
Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Access and Microsoft Publisher. Also efficient with Turbo Pascal programming.
Work Experience: Hotel Secretary, Kibo Hotel, Savanna-la-mar, Jamaica May 2010- June 2010 Checked in guests, Organized database of frequent and new guests. Provided clients with desired information in a timely manner. Utilized internet as an effective communication tool to keep clientele abreast of updates. Established rapport and networked with diverse groups.
Volunteer Worker
Taught English as a second language to primary school children ages 4-7 in Tanzania, East Africa, while attending International School Moshi.
Worked with other students on a school building project in a local village in Tanzania.
Worked with HIV/AIDs victims at a hospice in Montego Bay, Jamaica.
Participated in a Relay for Life race for cancer survivors in Savannah, GA.
Campus Involvement:
Member of International Students Association and Sociology Club
Professional References are available upon request
1
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Project
Five years ago, Megan Thomas was a busy executive seeking to keep herself and her
employees current with new technology. She realized that many small companies were facing
the same dilemma. Using her life savings and money from investors, Megan founded
Corporate Technology Center. Corporate Technology Center’s primary objective is to offer
technology update seminars to local business executives and their employees. A wide variety
of seminars is offered, including ones covering operating systems, spreadsheets, word
processing, database management, Internet, Web page design, and telecommunications.
Although Corporate Technology Center offers seminars at its own campus, it also
provides on-site training for local companies. One-day, two-day, or four-day seminars are
offered. Courses are open to a minimum of twenty students and a maximum of forty students.
Although several staff members are capable of teaching any given course, generally only one
staff member teaches a given course on a given date.
2
Problem Statement
Corporate Technology Center (CTC) aims to offer technology update seminars to
local business executives but does not do so efficiently. Though there are a variety of
seminars offered, their current method of hosting them does not allow the company to realize
its true potential in delivering these seminars. With their current system of offering seminars,
the following issues were determined:
Only one staff member teaches a certain course on a given day, even though every
member of the staff is fully capable of teaching any of the courses. The delivery or
hosting of these seminars, including on-site training can be executed in a more
resourceful manner.
Courses are open to students ranging from twenty to forty at a time. This probably
limits the amount of individuals that can be lectured or taught at a single sitting. This
also places a constraint on the amount of revenue that could be generated if more
people could be accommodated as well as a constraint on possible networking
opportunities.
Courses are offered over a period ranging from one to four days. This affects the time
it takes for employees and their executives to adapt to the new technology. Possibly,
there is a delay between the time that CTC receives information about the technology
updates and the time at which they convey it to their clientele.
3
Scope of the Project, Boundary & Project Constraints
An analysis of the current method for the delivery and availability of seminars has
resulted in the conclusion that it can be improved with an information system. This system
should be able to support scheduling software for seminar dates which will work in
conjunction with virtual classrooms, similar to an e-learning environment but with live
streaming video. In addition, mass email software will be present within this potential system
that will send information to the executives listed in the integrated clientele database, to keep
them abreast of any happenings with Corporate Technology Center (CTC).
Success with this project may be measured from monitoring customer feedback. It can
be ascertained by an increase in CTC’s customer base and customer retention. Also the
preferred method between regular seminars and the newly designed seminar environment can
be exhibited by the difference in client enrolment size. Once implementation and operation
have proved successful and discrepancies with the system are at a minimum, the project is
considered to be approaching closedown.
Another alternative would be to hire more staff so that more seminars could be hosted
during the week. However, hiring more staff, expanding infrastructure and advertising would
prove to be costly in the short run. The chosen solution would be costly in the short run as
well, but over a long term span the benefits will outnumber the costs. Also, communication
between CTC and the customer would improve and provide networking opportunities, and
gives CTC a more competitive edge over other companies such as itself.
Presently, the only constraint noted is the willingness of staff members to accept the
new system and to familiarize themselves with it and to deliver what the system may require
of them.
4
ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE
Information Systems Department
5
Megan
Thomas
CEO
Bill Compton
Finance &
Accounting
Eric Klein
Qualitative
Research
Cami
Waldorf
Customer
Relations
Matt
Chopard
Information
Systems
Clair Wang
Human
Resources
Matt Chopard
Information Systems
Application
Development
Web
Support
Business
Analyst
Project
Manage
ment
Database
Administr
ation
User
Support
Systems
Support
CHARTS AND FEASIBILITY ANALYSIS
Gantt Chart
This chart shows an overall project plan. The primary purpose of the Gantt chart is to
graphically display project schedule information by listing project tasks and their
corresponding start and finish dates in a calendar format. It is useful since it shows certain
areas of a project such as slack time and the time overlap of tasks. For the Corporate
Technology Center project, it shows all required activities as follows:
Diagram 1
6
PERT and Network Chart
PERT (Program Evaluation Review & Technique) is a method that uses optimistic,
realistic and pessimistic time estimates to calculate the expected time for a particular task to
be completed. This method will provide an approximate time estimate as to the duration of
this project. The order of activities is shown by connecting tasks along with their
predecessors and successors. Slack time is also shown within activity rectangles. The
following network chart is based on the same data as the Gantt chart.
Diagram 2
7
Feasibility Analysis
Using Figure 2, the following were calculated: PV of benefits, NPV of all benefits,
PV of costs, and NPV of all costs using a 12% of discount rate. The ROI and the break even
analysis were conducted for the project. In creating the costs/benefits analysis, information
from Figure 2 was used.
Figure 1
8
INFORMATION SYSTEMS REQUIREMENTS
Business Requirements
Corporate Technology Center as a small company intends to improve their situation
by implementing a system that can help it achieve new levels of customer intimacy and
expansion of their seminar environment. This would enhance productivity and reveal a
substantial return on investment (ROI). The level at which the company is operating is one
that can be furthered to be cost effective and to maximize profit. Essentially the project is
being undertaken because of the lack of organization in business functions; the business
function in focus is the mediocre seminar environment. The environment can be transformed
to accommodate its current clientele and to encourage the enlistment of others.
Functional Requirements
The potential information system under consideration will be able to enhance the
seminar environment by using scheduling software, virtual classrooms and mass email
software to assist the employees of Corporate Technology Center with distributing
information on technology updates. The project will follow CTC’s systems development life
cycle. Therefore, it will be the following project deliverables:
Project Proposal and its Presentation
Logical Data Model & Its Presentation
Completed Database System
Complete Project Presentation
Final Project Binder
Non-functional Requirements
This project will be completed within a 11-week period. The student will be playing
the role of the project manager since this is in an academic setting. It is assumed that this
project will be enough to challenge the student’s abilities as a project manager- initiating,
planning, executing and closing down the project. In terms of realizing the actual project, the
student will go as far as presenting a logical data model and the completed database system at
a specified time. The actual process of creating the system should be thorough yet effortless
to be understood by most individuals. It should be noted that the final quality of the project
will not be on a professional level but still acceptable on an academic basis.
10
Design Objectives
To modify the company’s seminar environment by supporting it with a computer
platform to better facilitate the learning needs of clientele (such as executives and their
employees) and to predict the preferred courses so that more seminars can be afforded. This
will allow CTC to impart valuable knowledge in a timely fashion and reduce the chances of
information overload on clientele. It will:
Improve customer satisfaction with the seminars
Enable the delivery of seminars to wider audiences
Improve the delivery methods of seminars
11
EXPECTATIONS OF PROJECT
This project represents an opportunity to create an information system that could
possibly revolutionize the technology world as it is. If the previously mentioned is
accomplished, then it entertains the idea of the implementation of such potential systems in
everyday use within a business context. After all, information systems were created to
improve business processes and support business functions. However, a theoretical
perspective does not always manage to make it to the actual realization phase but to appear
practical is good enough for this project.
Upon completion of this project, I hope to be better at arranging and analyzing
information in a case and being able to visualize what a potential system might resemble.
Also, I hope to improve my analytical and critical skills when creating models and explaining
the functionality of them. This would assist me in understanding the transformation of a
model to an object and how it really works upon application. The skills necessary for a
systems analyst to possess are ones I would like to use to develop this system. I expect that I
will be able to apply business knowledge from Economics and maybe a little Financial
Accounting to create a realistic feasible study.
Generally speaking, gaining the experience from playing the role of a project manager
is what I really expect to learn from this project. I would like to learn the elements of project
management and the systems development life cycle in order to make this project as realistic
and purposeful as possible. It will definitely challenge me to look at certain business
organizations in a different way. Should this project prove to be successful, I would really
look into the career choice of a systems analyst or project manager.
12