BCO3446 PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Assessment three: Project Initiation Document
Introduction
This assessment task (worth 25 per cent of the total mark for the unit) requires you to take on the role of an Information Systems Project Manager to produce a Project Initiation Document (PID) for your employer, Victoria University 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. For the purposes of this assessment task consider your tutor and lecturer to be your VUISC manager/s. They can clarify any queries you may have.
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.
BCO3446 Project Management
three instructions
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 VUISC-PID-Template.dot template provided on Blackboard. 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.
Submission
This assessment task is due for submission in your tutorial in week 12. You must submit a printed copy of your PID in a presentation folder that also contains a copy of the Microsoft Project .mpp file and an electronic copy of the report and cover sheet on a CD. The coversheet included in the assessment folder must be completed (including ticks acknowledging the declaration has been read and understood).Your PID must be submitted to Turnitin prior to your hard copy submission which must include a Turnitin originality report summary. You must achieve a similarity mark of 20% or less. You may resubmit up until the due date to assist with meeting this standard. Submissions with no Turnitin report or similarity greater than 20% will attract a zero mark.
Learning objectives
After successfully completing this assessment task, you should be able to:
• Integrate your knowledge and understanding of concepts in project planning and management
• Estimate and develop project schedule, resources and budget using Microsoft Project • Produce a report for a business audience
Prerequisites
To be able to successfully complete this assessment task you need to be familiar with the content in lectures and workshops. You must also download the file VUISC-PID-Template.dot template file available from Blackboard and use it and Microsoft Project 2010 to prepare your schedule.
BCO3446 Project Management
three instructions
VUISC fee schedule
The company costs projects using the following standard fee for service schedule. You can outsource as required:
Resource Charge/hour
Project manager $185
Business analyst $125
Technical writer $95
Trainer $125
BCO3446 Project Management
three instructions

Marking criteria
Criteria None
0 marks Minimal
1 mark Somewhat
2 marks Acceptable
3 marks Good
4 marks Outstanding
5 marks
Executive summary: Clearly describes the project including summary of scope, approach, costs and schedule in business language that could be understood by the client Not present There are major issues with clarity, language or structure or several key points are missing There are several issues with clarity, language or structure or some key points are missing There are some
issues with clarity, language or structure but most key points are covered There are minor issues with clarity, language or structure
but all key points are covered There are no issues with clarity, language or structure and all key points are covered
Introduction, scope and approach: The document contains an introduction that provides a brief background to the project, includes a scope statement that describes the problem, benefits and project deliverables. The approach used to implement the project is described and appropriate Not present There are major issues with clarity, language or structure or several key points are missing/approach is inappropriate There are several issues with clarity, language or structure or some key points are missing/approach is inappropriate There are some
issues with clarity, language or structure but most key points are covered/approach is appropriate There are minor issues with clarity, language or structure but all key points are covered/approach is appropriate There are no issues with clarity, language or structure and all key points are covered/approach is appropriate
Project tasks and phases identified, appropriate scheduling sequence/task duration included, and critical path identified. Assumptions noted as required and context/introduction to reports provided Not present Project schedule omits major phases or tasks, contains inappropriate sequencing or duration/introduction not provided or insufficient Project schedule omits several tasks, contains inappropriate sequencing or duration/introduction is not sufficient Project schedule omits some phases or tasks, contains some inappropriate sequencing or duration/ sufficient introduction is provided Project schedule has minor
omissions/issues (tasks, sequencing or duration), sufficient introduction is provided Project schedule includes appropriate phases and tasks, contains appropriate sequencing and duration and an introduction is provided
Resources identified, assigned and appropriate.
Assumptions noted as required and context/introduction to reports provided Not present Resourcing is incomplete or inappropriate/ introduction not provided or insufficient There are several issues with (or omissions in) resource
allocation/introduction is not sufficient There are some resource allocation issues and the introduction is sufficient There are minor resource allocation issues and the introduction is sufficient There are no issues with resource allocation and the introduction is clear and accurate
Budget developed, realistic and complete. Assumptions noted as required and context/introduction to reports provided Not present Budget is incomplete or inappropriate/ introduction not provided or insufficient There are several issues with (or omissions in) the budget /introduction is not sufficient There are some budget issues/omissions and the introduction is sufficient There are minor issues with the budget and the introduction is sufficient The budget is complete and realistic and the introduction is clear and concise
Overall presentation: Report uses the template, is well written and professionally presented, Gannt chart is presented, appropriate reports are included, MS Project file can be opened, is functional and is complete Template not used/major portions omitted/project
file cannot be opened There are major issues with consistency, layout, use of font, spacing or structure/project file cannot be opened/key charts reports omitted There are some issues with presentation in terms of consistency, layout, use of font,
spacing or structure/project file can be opened There are minor issues with presentation in terms of consistency, layout, use of font,
spacing or
structure/project file is complete and functional Presentation is mostly consistent with only minor issues
evident/project file is complete and functional Presentation is exceptional. The work is consistent and professional in layout, use of font, spacing and structure/project file is complete and functional
Note that performance indicator descriptions are indicative only and are provided as a general guide. In some cases only part of the indicator description may apply for mark allocation. In cases where indicator descriptions are varied, additional feedback will be provided
BCO3446 Project Management
Assessment three instructions Page 4 of 4