Friday, January 31, 2020
Management of a Software Development Project Essay Example for Free
Management of a Software Development Project Essay Introduction Many years ago, general services offered by hotels like dinner reservations, room reservations and other services were done manually. Most hotels used books, ledgers and papers to record names of guests, their duration of stay and contact details. This required a lot of effort and time. Since the advent of the information age however, dynamic and interactive websites have been introduced which have more efficient and faster technological features and capabilities for the management of hotel services. For any business to remain competitive, it is necessary to maintain an online presence in order to reach out to customers all over the world and compete on a global platform. Reservations and payments are now done online to ensure that conduction of business is faster and more convenient for customers. Definition of Project Management A project is a temporary endeavor that is done to generate a unique product or service (Duncan 1996). Project Management is an activity that involves the overall supervision, management and co-ordination of all activities related to accomplishing a set activity. It always has a start and a finish date. According to Whitten, Project Management is a process that starts at the beginning of a project, is conducted throughout a project and doesn’t end until after the project is completed (2001).  According to Duncan (1996), Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to activities to fulfill stakeholders’ needs and expectations. It usually involves finding a balance among scope, time, cost, quality, and varying expectations of stakeholders. Another definition of Project Management is â€Å" the process of scoping, planning, staffing, conducting, directing, and managing the development of a system at an affordable cost within a specified time frame†(Whitten, Bentley Dittman 2001, p.124). Importance of Project Management According to Dr Malcolm Wheatley, â€Å"Project management as a management discipline, supports much economic activity.†In major industries like Information Technology, Software Development, Construction, Pharmaceuticals, and Aerospace, project management is fundamental. Project Management is also important in governments that have set goals and milestones which can only be achieved with effective management practices. Data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis of the US Department of Commerce, estimated in 2001 that the US companies spend $2.3trn on projects every year (2000).  Project management is important in any economic activity because it ensures adequate planning, scheduling and successful execution of a project; it also helps to reduce possible risks associated with a project and ensure minimal hitches. Project Management is indeed important to every economy. Many projects fail because of poor knowledge of Project Management concepts. Its relevance cannot be over emphasized. Role of the Project Manager The project manager is in charge of daily management and supervision of the project. He manages the project to ensure that things go according to plan. He also communicates with all stakeholders and project team members to ensure that there’s a clear understanding of general requirements. The project manager confirms users’ requirements to make sure that these requirements are incorporated into the end-product. A project manager engages in scoping, planning, staffing, organizing, scheduling, directing, controlling and closing a project (Whitten 2001, p.127). Swot Analysis The Regency Hotels has several strengths that serve as advantages. It has the potential to expand its services to customers internationally due to the number of branches it has, internet availability and its unique services. It is also strategically located, can leverage on its positioning and has a wide customer base. Its two major weaknesses are: 1) it has a static website which cannot provide interactive functions like online payments, online reservations, message boards, fan clubs, and so on. 2) It does not have skilled IT staff in-house that can manage the online system when it is eventually deployed. There are however, opportunities for it to become one of the best hotels in the world by maintaining a consistent and interactive global presence.  Increased competition is the major threat to Regency Hotels. Most hotels today, have a strong online presence that offers customers various services that make their experiences with the hotel more memorable and convenient, like booking and paying online. Regency Hotels is yet to rise to the challenge. Development methodology The software development methodology to be adopted for the production of this system is the waterfall method. This is an approach to software development that specifies that a project should be grouped into phases and one phase must be completed before the next. The project is carried out in a logical manner through a pre-determined number of steps. This method is preferred because the duration of the project is only two weeks and the requirements are clear.  With the waterfall method, project reviews are conducted between stages, which represent milestones. This provides an organized scenario that ensures required documentation and quality management of the developed application is carried out (Sorensen 1995). Project Scope The project scope definition involves clarifying the boundaries of the project. Regency Hotels in addition to available technological features like retrieving customers’ information, billing, checking for room availability, desires a system with added capabilities of online booking and payment. This project involves building a system that can accept online booking and payment options by customers. A portal will be developed to include the following features: Online reservations, online payment, checking room availability, checking in, checking out, discussion group and general information on the hotel. Secure Socket Layer (SSL) will be added to the website to provide for added security when paying online; search functions will be provided on web pages to check for room availability and booking; e-mail and discussion group facilities will be included to facilitate communication between customers and the hotel; and other technological features from the available website will be incorporated into the new portal to ensure that a robust system that meets the expectations of Stakeholders at Regency Hotels is built. The final system will be deployed at the hotel and tested. Staff members that need to be trained will be identified and educated on how to use the system. The change management process will be made easier for staff of Regency Hotel by ensuring that they are adequately trained, resources are provide to assist them, and maintenance/ support plans are put in place. Result of using COCOMO model to estimate effort, duration and number of people required. The Constructive Cost Model, known as COCOMO was developed by Barry Boehm in 1981. It is based on the waterfall model and is used for estimating the number of person and months needed to develop software. It also estimates the development schedule in months. The development mode for this project is organic because it is a small and straight-forward one. A small team with sufficient experience work together to develop the portal system (Merlo-Schett 2002). COCOMO is defined in terms of three basic models: The Basic model, the Intermediate model and the detailed model. The KDSI is the size of the project in Kilo delivered source instructions. These are source lines that are created by the project team. Using the Intermediate COCOMO I, calculation is done as follows: Required: Portal system for online payment and booking Development Effort (MM) = a * KDSI b Effort and development Time (TDEV) =  2.5 * MM c With organic mode of development, a = 3.2, b = 1.05, c = 0.38 4 modules to implement: Data entry 0.5 KDSI Data update 0.3 KDSI Online Reservations 0.8 KDSI Online Payment 0.7 KDSI System SIZE 2.3 KDSI MM = 3.2 * 2.3 1.05  = 7.7 TDEV = 2.5 * MM c = 2.5* 7.7 0.38 = 5.4 (Project needs more than 5 months to complete) Number of people to be hired = MM/TDEV = 7.7/5.4 = 1.4 (This means that more than one team member is needed to execute the project). The major shortcoming of the above calculation is that value of the KDSI used is approximate (Merlo-Schett 2002). Hardware and Software Requirements At least four separate computers will be needed for building the portal, testing it and hosting it.  Softwares like Macromedia Dreamweaver, Java, PHP, SQL Server and Visual Basic .NET will be needed for building the portal. A central server for hosting and managing user connections to the portal will also be required.  Work Breakdown Structure Work Breakdown Structure shows the hierarchical decomposition of projects into phases, activities and tasks (Whitten 2001, p.135). SOFTWARE REQUIREMENT SPECIFICATION 1.1      Identify sponsors and stakeholders 1.2      Meet with sponsors and stakeholders to clarify system requirements 1.3      Produce Software Requirements Specification Draft 1.4      Sign-off on software requirements TECHNOLOGY SPECIFICATION 2.1      Determine hardware and software needed for developing the system 2.2      Procure hardware and software needed for system development 2.3      Set-up hardware and software for use SCOPE MANAGEMENT 3.1      Develop a written scope statement as a basis for future project decisions 3.2      Verify Scope of the Project with sponsors 3.3      Perform Scope Change Control to prevent scope creep COST SCHEDULE MANAGEMENT 4.1      Develop an estimate of project costs 4.2      Schedule Meeting with Stakeholders to agree on cost and deadline 4.3      Receive Payment from Stakeholders 4.4      Allocate cost estimates to individual work items 4.5      Evaluate actual versus projected schedule 4.6      Control changes to project budget to avoid going over the budget 4.7      Compare actual and budgeted costs 4.8      Schedule Development 4.9      Schedule Control HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT PHASE 5.1      Identify Project Roles/Conduct Organizational Planning 5.2      Determine Skills of People needed to develop system 5.3      Determine number of people to work on the project 5.4      Recruit Project Team Members 5.5      Engage staff with appropriate skills 5.6      Develop individual and group skills to enhance project performance ACTIVITY MANAGEMENT PHASE 6.1      Develop activity list for project team members 6.2      Sub-divide major project deliverables into smaller components 6.3      Assign Team Members to tasks and deliverables 6.4      Supervise activities within the project team 6.5      Evaluate Performance and Productivity 6.6      Update activity list as necessary 6.7      Conduct meetings and review status reports on software development PROJECT OFFICE ADMINISTRATION 7.1      Attend to daily activities or events concerning the project 7.2      General project supervision PROJECT COMMUNICATIONS 8.1      Determine information and communication needs of stakeholders 8.2      Provide information to stakeholders in a timely fashion 8.3      Put contact details of all team members and stakeholders into the database 8.4      Performance reporting to stakeholders through status reports, progress measurement and forecasting 8.5      Set up meetings with project team members 8.6      Develop status reports for the project RISK MANAGEMENT 9.1      Identify all possible risks within the project and effects on project 9.2      Define steps for responding to threats 9.3      Respond to changes in risks during the course of the project QUALITY MANAGEMENT 10.1    Identify quality standards relevant to the project and how to satisfy them 10.2    Evaluate overall project performance 10.3    Define Quality Assurance Specifications 10.4    Code and check the system for compliance with quality standards 10.5    Test System to make sure it fits clients requirements Hand-Over of Project 11.1    Ensure adherence to client requirement 11.2    Conduct Customer Acceptance Tests 11.3    Review Software User Manuals 11.4    Sign off Certify Solution Development 11.5    Submit Project Close-out Report 11.6    Terminate Project Project scheduling (Please refer to attached Microsoft Project document for dependency between activities, network diagram, critical path and Gantt chart) A Project network diagram displays the logical relationships of project activities. A Gantt chart is a horizontal bar chart that shows tasks against timelines. Each bar is equivalent to a project task. Gantt charts show, tasks that can be performed at the same time (Whitten 2001, p.128).Any tasks on the critical path cannot be delayed. Name of Activity   Duration Starting Date  Finishing Date  Software Requirement Specification 1 Day Wed 4/23/08 Wed 4/23/08 Technology Specification 1 Day Thu 4/24/08 Thu 4/24/08 Scope Management 10 Days  Wed 4/23/08 Tue 5/6/08 Cost Schedule Management 12 Days Wed 4/23/08 Thu 5/8/08 Human Resources Management Phase 8 Days Wed 4/23/08 Fri 5/2/08  Activity Management Phase 10 Days Wed 4/23/08 Tue 5/6/08 Project Office Administration 10 Days Wed 4/23/08 Tue 5/6/08 Project Communications 10 Days Wed 4/23/08 Tue 5/6/08 Risk Management 10 Days Wed 4/23/08 Tue 5/6/08 Quality Management 10 Days Wed 4/23/08 Tue 5/6/08 Hand-Over of Project 10 Days Wed 4/23/08 Tue 5/6/08 Possible risks related to the software development project Every project has its own share of risks. Risks associated with this project are outlined below: The period of time given for the execution of the project is short. The COCOMO model shows that a project of such magnitude requires at least 5 months for completion. There is a risk of the project exceeding the time frame allocated by the stakeholders. User requirements may change or expand during the duration of project. There is a risk of having to accommodate changes to the design of the portal. This is known as scope creep and may affect the schedule and budget (Whitten 2001). With the obvious need to procure softwares for the development of the portal system, resources like time and money may not be sufficient. There is a risk of taking short cuts around the system development methodology in order to meet the deadline and not exceed the budget. This might affect the quality of the final product. Another potential risk is that of feature creep. This refers to the uncontrolled addition of technical features to a system that is being developed without regard to schedule and budget (Whitten 2001, p.125). A portal system is a robust application that is designed to fulfill various needs of an organization. The temptation to add more features is always a prevalent risk There is the risk of a team member resigning from the project. This will cause a considerable loss of time. There is also the risk of insufficient communication within the project team which may lead to misunderstanding of customers’ requirements, and cause a deviation from the project plan, budget and schedule. Project Monitoring Project monitoring involves supervising the project throughout its lifecycle. This is important in order to know how things are going and to solve any problem that may arise during the course of the project. This can be done via meetings, emails, reports on progress and finances and also by observing project management best practices. Conclusion            Applying the principles of Project Management to the development of the portal system at Regency Hotels will go a long way to ensure that the objectives are met on time, within budget and that the software product will be of the desired quality. Project Management is a crucial practice that should be encouraged in every sector of the economy. It ensures that money, energy and time are not wasted on failed projects. With sufficient project management practices in place, stakeholders and contractors can conduct businesses without bothering about the hitches involved with long-term projects. Regardless of the end product, which could be a new service, product or knowledge, project management ensures that a successful outcome is achieved within the available resources and time frame. References Whitten, JL, Bentley, LD, Dittman, KC 2001, Systems Analysis and Design Methods, 5th edn, Mc Graw-Hill, New York. Wheatley, M 2000, The Importance of Project Management, Project Smart. Available from: http://www.projectsmart.co.uk/the-importance-of-project-management.html [22 April 2008] Sorensen, R 1995, A comparison of Software Development Methodologies, Software Technology Support Centre. Available from: http://www.stsc.hill.af.mil/crosstalk/1995/01/Comparis.asp [24 April 2008] Duncan, WR 1996, A Guide to Project Management Body of Knowledge, PMI Standards Committee. Available from: www.unipi.gr/akad_tmhm/biom_dioik_tech/files/pmbok.pdf [24 April 2008] Merlo-Schett, N 2002, COCOMO Constructive Cost Model, Proceedings of the seminar cost estimation W 2002/2003, pp. 1-24. Available from: www.ifi.unizh.ch/req/courses/seminar_ws02/reports/Slides_4.pdf [22 April 2008].
Thursday, January 23, 2020
Feminist Thinking Essay -- Feminsim Philosophy Philosophical Essays
Feminist Thinking It has been said that not everything worth reading is a philosophical argument., and I agree. A glance through the shelves of bookstores, news stands, and libraries will incline one away from the idea that all valuable reading is philosophy. Thoughts back upon experiences that have touched one’s life undoubtedly will include an important novel or story and confirm the original statement. It is also fair to say that people approach literature and philosophy with different expectations. It seems fair to expect one’s philosophical reading to impart knowledge, while not necessarily demanding this of poetry or a short story. Likewise, there are different settings, goals, and different relations that exist between reader and writer, and reader and recommender. Some reading may be for enjoyment, escapism, or metaphor while other is for personal knowledge acquisition and/or a class assignment. While this is not to say that I haven’t enjoyed much of the reading required o f me in the pursuit of my degree, I approached it all with an expectation that it should fit nicely within my preconceived notion of ‘Philosophy’. In this class I was presented with reading that broke out of that mold. I want to step back a little and work my way back into the literature from some distance. This is, I hope, a fair way of coming to an understanding of the field of feminist thinking. Assigning reading for a class, and reading the assignment that the instructor has assigned involves two parties and relations of power, overt or hidden. An assigned reading for a class by an instructor carries a stamp of approval- a legitimization. Presumably, the professor has read this piece and thinks it is cogent, readable, fits with the development... ..., ‘Caring,’ and is the obvious place to start. From this starting point it is quickly evident that some feminists will disagree with the characterization of women as care-givers. However this divergence is not altogether unexpected, and a host of possible places exist within the discursive space created by Noddings, and others, to vocalize. That the discursive space has been opened up in this new way is important. Annette C. Baier offers an historical development of traditional (Kantian) ethics and its shortcomings. With this and Noddings article the relevance of care-ethics becomes established. And although I do not share the optimism that care-ethics alone can offer a complete system of ethics, it is well argued that future systems need to account for its concerns. Care-ethics is feminist philosophy, while much of the other literature falls short of this title.
Wednesday, January 15, 2020
Isolation in The Great Gatsby Essay
Hundreds of people are gathered around dancing, drinking, and having a good time. People are causally talking and laughing. Men and women from all around are having the â€Å"time of their life. †However, the lifestyle of the city, money, and connections don’t always create fulfilled, happy lives. For Daisy Buchanan, Nick Carraway, and Jay Gatsby, they are never alone but always isolated. Daisy Buchanan uses her need for attention and people to adore her most likely to cover up her fear of isolation. From the beginning Daisy has virtually been alone. Her husband Tom was not even there for the birth of their only daughter. Well, she was less than an hour old and Tom was God knows where. I woke up out of the ether with an utterly abandoned feeling†¦ †(21). She was very isolated from Tom at that point of time in their marriage. This stems her fear of being alone leads to the suspicion of Tom and Myrtle’s affair. She doesn’t have the strength to step away from Tom’s money or her fear and confront him though. She uses attention to cope with his affair. For example, she kisses Gatsby in her own husband’s house. She needs to know that someone will give and receive her attention. She lets her fear of isolation run her life. Nick Carraway is the one of the most isolated characters in The Great Gatsby. He once said that, â€Å"At the enchanted metropolitan twilight I felt a haunting loneliness †¦ sometimes (61-62). †Through this quote Nick expresses his overwhelming loneliness of city life. He is originally from the Midwest and doesn’t know many people in West or East Egg. He feels alone in the â€Å"crowd†especially at Gatsby’s famous parties when â€Å"introductions (are) forgotten on the spot†(44) and enthusiastic meeting occur between people who don’t even know each other’s names. Nick also feels alone when he realizes he had turned thirty already. He fears growing old because he sees isolation within old age. He sees the people around him and notices that no one is truly happy and as they age life doesn’t get any better. Jay Gatsby’s death confirmed his fears of isolation. Gatsby was the most well known man in West Egg and hundreds of well known, famous people showed up at his parties every night, yet â€Å"Nobody came†(143) to his funeral. Nick was just an average person just trying to work his way up to the American dream. If no one came to say goodbye to Jay Gatsby after his death, what was in store for him when he died. This mphasized his fear of growing older and being isolated. Jay Gatsby seemed like he was on top of the world from the outside looking in. He was extremely wealthy and had hundreds of people at his house at all times; however, on the inside he was just like everyone else, lonely. The love of his life married a different man when he went off to war. He had never gotten over her and always longed for her to come back to him. He isolated himself from everything that didn’t have to do with her. He made his money, bought his house, and threw his parties in hopes to impress and get her back into his arms. He was still in need of company though. He asked Nick Carraway to go to Coney Island in his car late one night. Then, when Nick said it was too late, Gatsby asked if he’d like to go swimming. Nick turned down his offer yet again. Gatsby had all the toys, money, and people in the world to interact with yet he was still lonely because he had isolated himself so much from the outside world. Even into his death, Gatsby didn’t have anyone but a few people at his funeral. He had isolated himself so much; he never made any true relationships. Throughout The Great Gatsby, Daisy, Nick, and Jay suffer from the fear or isolation of the outside world. The dream life of knowing people, being wealthy and living in the city with the upper class is as glamorous as it seemed to be for these characters. They are always around people, but always alone. It’ll show you how I’ve gotten to feel about – things. Well, she was less than an hour old and Tom was God knows where. I woke up out of the ether with an utterly abandoned feeling, and asked the nurse right away if it was a boy or a girl. She told me it was a girl, and so I turned my head away and wept. ‘All right,’ I said, ‘I’m glad it’s a girl.
Tuesday, January 7, 2020
Examine the Way in Which One Religion Uses Scripture as a...
Examine the ways in which one religion uses scripture as a basis for its teachings about sexual behaviour (30 marks). The Christian religion implements the use of scripture as the highest command for the way in which sexual ethics is implemented. Christian teaching explores several issues in light of sexuality such as extra-marital and pre-marital sex, homosexuality and pro-creation and I will write about these in this essay. When looking at pre-marital sex, traditional Christian teachings of the bible suggest that sex is only for married couples and hetro-sexual couples. For example, Timothy 5:2: ‘As a Christian man, if you are not married to her, then she is your sister whom you must treat with absolute purity. Similarly in 2†¦show more content†¦Sexual involvement with non-Israelites was forbidden, as it would lead away from God, so adultery was forbidden. ‘If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall be stoned to death’ Leviticus. This clearly states that adultery is a punishable act that can result in being put to death. Women should be virgins on marriage so that the man could be certain that the child was his, so that the children could carry on the husband’s name. In the New Testament, Jesus challenges the view of the wife as the man’s property. ‘Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her’. Jesus’ teachings on adultery are all about the harming of relationships. ‘Everyone who looks at another woman with his lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart’. It’s clear from this quote that Jesus strongly disagrees with a husband straying from his wife, and he should be faithful and loyal to her. Matthew also held the same view of adultery ‘If your right eyes causes you to sin then tear it out, it’s better to lose a member than for your whole body to be thrown in to hell’. However, Jesus did forgive the adulterous woman who was brought before him. ‘Neither do I condemn you. Go your way and do not sin again’. He claimed that our intentions are the most important thing. Paul writes in Corinthians that Christians should not let their bodily emotions control them. SexualShow MoreRelated Reincarnation Essay4255 Words  | 18 Pagesamong other things, the law of karma would not hold, thus throwing into question almost all other tenets of Buddhism (Tibetan or otherwise). At the same time, Buddhism is a religion that asks practitioners to examine each of its beliefs closely before accepting them. Of all other world religions, Buddhism is probably the one that places the least importance on blind faith. In the light of this belief, it would be interesting to explore the process of reincarnation scientifically. Through the lastRead MoreSources of Ethics20199 Words  | 81 PagesTABLE OF CONTENTS 1.0- JOHN STEINER AND GEORGE STEINER SIX PRIMARY SOURCES OF ETHICS: 6 1- Religion: 6 2- Genetic Inheritance: 8 3- Philosophical Systems: 8 4- Cultural Experience: 8 5- The Legal System: 9 6- Codes of Conduct: 9 2.0- EXPLANATION OF THE SOURCES OF ETHICS: 10 2.1- RELIGION: 10 Teaching business ethics 12 2.11- Impact Of Religiosity: 13 2.12- Ethics Of Islam: 14 Nature of Islamic Ethics 17 The Human-Environment Relationship: 20 The SustainableRead MoreHonour Killing in Pakistan19346 Words  | 78 PagesPolitical Studies One-Year Master In Global Political Science (Human Rights Track) Spring 2010 Supervisor: Erika Svedberg Assistant Professor Malmo University, Sweden Honour killings in Pakistan under Theoretical, Legal and Religious Perspectives An Analytical Study of Honour killings Abuse and Disconnecting Islam from This Ancient Brutal Tradition Author MUHAMMAD ZIA ULLAH MASTER THESIS SUBMITTED, 27-05-2010 Malmà ¶ University Malmà ¶, Sweden Abstract This research sets out to examine the main excusesRead MorePhilosophy of Man8521 Words  | 35 Pagesof a systematic and comparative Zoology†. Sociability cannot be said to be the real hallmark of man to distinguish him from the animals. Some of the animals, at quite a lower rung of the evolutionary ladder, manifest as much sociability in their behaviour as man. The social insects like termites, ants, bees and wasps live in colonies and give clear evidence of group-integration and division of lab our; they have their kings and queens and workers and soldiers much as the human beings have. TheRead MoreSda Manual Essay101191 Words  | 405 PagesEdition Published by the Secretariat General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists Copyright  © 2005 by the Secretariat, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists Unless otherwise indicated, all Bible texts are from the King James Version. Scripture quotations marked NASB are from the New American Standard Bible, copyright  © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. Texts credited to NEB are from The New English Bible.  © The Delegates
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