Introduction

The role of an Information Systems Project Manager to produce a Project Initiation Document (PID) for your employer, Information Systems Consulting. In this instance the PID provides a summary of a proposed project. It is being developed to provide the client with an overview of a proposed project so they can determine if they want to proceed with the project as stated in the PID. This is an individual assessment task.

Scenario

Your employer

You work as a project manager for an IS consulting firm based in Footscray, Victoria University Information Systems Consulting (VUISC). You have worked at there for four years. The company has been in operation for several years and has a range of employees including consultants, administrative staff, project managers, programmers, testers, business analysts, help-desk staff, technical support staff who specialise in system installation and a technical writer and a team of trainers who focus on user training and professional development. The company provides information systems consultancy and develops lightweight database driven information systems in Visual Basic for small businesses, organisations and charities.

Client scenario

A local scuba diving business, Sub Sea Adventures (SSA) has approached VUISC for support in transitioning to a new electronic Scuba Booking System (SBS). SSA is managed by Shane, a very experienced scuba diving instructor who has been diving for over 30 years. The business comprises three shops located at Portsea, Queenscliff and Phillip Island. They sell scuba diving gear, run scuba diving training programs every other weekend and also manage a fleet of six boats that are situated at Phillip Island and Queenscliff.

The boats run scheduled half day dive tours. Any certified scuba diver can ring up and book a spot on a boat and go out to dive reefs in Port Phillip or Western Port Bay. Historically, students and divers have rung up or visited any store to book in for a course or a dive tour. One of the sales staff will take the booking and email it to the head office store, located at Queenscliff. Queenscliff sales staff members are responsible for transcribing the course or dive tour booking into the booking log spread sheet. Before each course or dive tour takes place, Queenscliff staff email a list of participants to the relevant store where it is printed out and given to the instructor or boat captain for use.  
The current manual system is very prone to errors, sometimes spots on boats are double booked, leaving divers missing out on dives at the last minute. Courses have also had to be cancelled due to poor numbers due to problems tracking the number of students in a class.

The new electronic system will be implemented by June 2, 2014 and will be used by all 40 sales staff across the three stores and Shane, the manager. It will also integrate with the SSA web site so customers can book into dive tours and courses online.

For many staff and customers, changing to the new booking system will require some training and support documentation (e.g. user guides) to be developed and delivered. VUIS Consulting has been invited to develop a Project Initiation Document describing how they would go about training staff and customers to use the new system. Note that the system development has been outsourced to another company;

VUISC is not developing the system. Your manager has approached you to develop this document. You are required to use the standard company template and develop a schedule (with at least 25 tasks and three phases), resource and budget estimates using Microsoft Project 2010, the company's standard project management software application.

Specific activities

Review the scenario

Review the scenario above carefully before you begin to begin to prepare your PID. Ask your lecturer or tutor (your VUISC manager) if you have any questions or require any clarification about the scenario.

Develop the Project Initiation Document

Review the template given below, Prior to developing a schedule, resource plan and budget for the project you should fill in the introduction, scope and approach sections of the report.

Develop a project schedule, resource plan and budget

Drawing on your understanding of lecture materials and independent research, develop a list of at least 25 tasks that must be completed to implement the training program. Organise the tasks into phases and include milestones. Input these tasks into Microsoft Project. Enter predecessors and identify the critical path. Enter the resources required to complete the tasks and generate a resource plan and budget for the project. The schedule, resource plan and budget should be included within the body of your report and be introduced by at least a paragraph of explanatory text to provide context for the reader.

Complete the Project Initiation Document

Complete the remaining sections of the Project Initiation Document template including the executive summary. Ensure you have provided an introduction to any reports/charts and identified and described assumptions you have made. Additional reports and sections may be included to enhance your work.

Template:

Executive summary

[Provide a summary of two to three paragraphs that describes the project, the approach and deliverables of the project. This summary should highlight the start and end date of the project and the total cost for completing the project. The summary should appear on a page by itself]

Introduction

[Insert one to two paragraphs of contextual information required to understand the objectives and phases of the project and to introduce what is included in the PID]

Project scope

[Define the aims and objectives of the project and outline what the major deliverables of the project will be. Outline the business need that the project addresses and describe the benefits that the project will bring to the business. Ensure you list assumptions and any known exclusions from the project scope. This section should be two to three paragraphs in length]

Project approach

[Describe (using general terms/business language that can be easily understood by the client) how the project will be conducted (methodology), what the major phases of the project are, what they entail and how long each phase, and the entire project will take]

Resources

[List the people and materials required to complete the project. Use MS Project reports and provide an introduction/contextual description of the reports presented. Describe assumptions as required]

Budget

[Include an itemised budget summarising the cost of the project. Use MS Project reports and provide an introduction/contextual description of the reports presented. Describe assumptions as required]

Project schedule

[Include a project Gannt chart showing the tasks, duration, times, critical path, predecessors and resources. Use MS Project and provide an introduction/contextual description of the schedule presented. Describe assumptions as required]