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Assignment Instructions: Create a Detailed, Resource-Leveled Work Breakdown Schedule
What you must submit, a project scenario, additional information useful for this assignment and tips for developing a schedule are contained in these instructions. Lastly, information regarding submissions in Blackboard is briefly addressed. When you develop the schedule, it must align with the scenario provided. Use the information about how to develop this schedule to generate and optimize the use of your resources in your schedule.
Submission Requirements
What you will submit and how that information will be documented is covered in this section. For this submission you will create and submit a create a detailed, resource-leveled work breakdown schedule (WBS). The WBS must contain the following information: WBS number (use the WBS numbering system for numbering tasks), tasks necessary to complete the project, effort, duration, dependencies, and resources, a perspective start date, and a perspective end date for each line item. There are examples in the Appendix.
Table 1
Acceptable File Types when Submitting Work
File Type File extension
Microsoft Excel .xlsx
Microsoft Word .docx
Microsoft PowerPoint .pptx
Keynote .key
Adobe Portable Document File .pdf
Note. Many useful scheduling tools allow exporting the file into a file type in this table. Embedded pictures are not acceptable.
When you submit the assigned work, you cannot use any file type. Table 1 lists the acceptable file types for your submitted work. Homework submitted in other formats will not be accepted.
The WBS in one of the specified file types, will be based on the project scenario depicted in these instructions. Read through this information carefully and when you think you are finished, revisit the instructions to validate that you have covered all of the requirements.
Project Scenario
The project has multiple actions that need to occur with varying priorities, based on the location in the facility, considering the resources that are available. The activities that required to launch the new facility:
• purchase, install, and test network servers
• purchase, install, and test desktop computers
• install and test corporate software on all new computers
• purchase, install, and test ethernet cabling to wireless projectors and computer lab computers
• purchase, install, and test network printers
• purchase, install, and test wireless projectors
• purchase, install, and test voice-over-internet protocol (VOIP) phones
Priorities
In the execution of this project, two priorities will influence scheduling the work. The IT office, IT communication closets, and hallways must be fully operational before executing tasks in other areas. When executing work in the remaining locations, the administrative offices have priority over the other locations.
Project Equipment by Location
The new building includes multiple workspaces. For each of these spaces, there are specific equipment requirements. The following workspaces and the equipment required are as follows:
• IT office (one on-site) o two laptop computers o two VOIP phones
• IT communication closets (one on-site) o two network servers o two monitoring laptops o one VOIP phone
• specialty room (10 on-site) o wireless ceiling-mounted projector o desktop computer hard-wired to the projector
• computer labs (two on-site) o one wireless ceiling-mounted projector o one desktop computer hard-wired to the projector o 25 desktop computers hard-wired to individual network ports o one network printer o one VOIP phone
• administrative areas (two on-site) o four desktop computers hard-wired to individual network ports o one network printer
o four VOIP phones
• individual offices (40 on-site) o one desktop computer hard-wired to individual network ports o one VOIP phone
• hallways (four main hallways, two on each floor), each requires a VOIP phone wallmounted near the midpoint of the thoroughfare
Project Team
There are five team members available to accomplish the actions needed in this project. Each of the team members has specific actions that they are trained for. The personnel and their responsibilities are as follows:
• three computer specialists o all purchasing tasks o installation and testing of computers and software o works with the network specialist for testing network access o works with the audio-video specialist for testing network access to the projectors
• one network specialist o setup, installation, and testing of VOIP phones, printers, ethernet, and networking o works with the computer specialist for testing network access
• one audio and video specialist o set up, installation, and testing of projectors o works with computer specialist for testing computer hard-wired to a projector
Useful Information and Tips
There are a few things that may help you as you progress through these objectives. You will determine the effort and duration of tasks and the unit of time the effort and duration values represent (i.e., 1 day, 1 hour, etc.). If enough detail is not provided for any aspects of the assigned work, use your best judgment to fill in the blanks. For tasks that require things like installation or testing, where purchasing was not a requirement, the equipment is already on hand. If there is equipment that is needed in a specific location, with no actions specifying the necessary tasks, assume the action is still required. If you feel that it is necessary to identify external sources you used to accomplish these objectives, briefly outline their contributions in your work and the references in a word document formatted per APA (2020). If any other questions arise while you work through this assignment, email me.
Tips
It usually a good idea to start with a list of tasks needed to complete a project. You have to break the tasks down to sufficiently capture the outlined priorities and resources, considering resource leveling. The following outlines things to consider when generating the schedule:
• Who does what? Make sure that you accurately capture the responsibilities for each of the personnel.
• Understand how the COO’s occupancy priorities affect the schedule timeline.
• Since some locations are occupied at different times, handle the deployment and testing of resources for each location separately (i.e., IT areas separate from the administration area, etc.).
• Make sure you satisfy all project specifications plus any user requirements that are implied (as you read through this document). As with most projects, user requirements may sometimes be missed in the written system specifications. Hint:
• Look for a 3rd-party resource that must be tested.
• Visitors may try to connect via WIFI in break rooms, seating areas and the entryway.
• The PC Specialist, Network Specialist and AV Specialist can be completing tasks concurrently and it is quite possible that one specialist will have to wait while another specialist completes a task.
• The schedule must have at least 40 tasks and a milestone for each event (purchase, setup, deploy and test).
• Each resource (servers, computers, projectors and phones) must be purchased separately since they will come from different vendors.
• Note: a single task may be used for a resource that is installed/tested at a specific time (i.e. the testing of all computers for administrative areas can be a single task; or the testing of all computers for the 2 computer labs can be a single task).
• Task Actions must start with a verb and describe the action (i.e. Test VOIP phones)
• When creating the schedule, use your best guess in determining duration.
• Resources must include the personnel and the equipment needed for the tasks.
• Do not go overboard (i.e. you do not have to research purchases or create purchase orders or assemble the computers) – simply complete the tasks described above.
• It may be easier to add the WBS numbers after you have finished the other areas of the schedule.
Submitting Your Work in Blackboard
After generating the necessary planning and scheduling documents for this project, submit the work in Blackboard. There are a few problems you could run into when you submit this work, including file size issues and warnings. There is a size limit in Blackboard of 10 MB when uploading coursework. Do not zip or archive the files. There are many sources on the web for how to reduce file sizes in a variety of ways. Although, it is unlikely that this will be a problem. As far as warnings, some file types are not recognized by SafeAssign. When you submit a file type not recognized, you will receive a warning indicating this has occurred. This warning does not prevent you from submitting work. Blackboard automatically generates and sends an email acknowledging you have submitted your assignment. Validate that you have submitted your work by looking for this correspondence.
Conclusion
When you have completed the assigned work, you will have demonstrated your understanding of several concepts in of systems analysis and design. Project work is a large part of the typical systems analyst’s role in the working world. Understanding how to use tools like checklists, schedules, and diagrams for planning is a large part of the systems perspective.
References
American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological
Association (7th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000
Kendell, K. E., & Kendell, J. E. (2019). Project management. In Systems analysis and design
(10th ed., pp. 48-101). Pearson.
Appendix
Example Planning and Scheduling Documents
The examples provided here are based on Figure 3.EX3 in the course textbook by Kendell and Kendell (2019, p. 98). Figure 3.EX3 is adapted and shown in Table A1. A project checklist, project schedule, Gantt chart, and PERT diagram have been documented in this appendix based on Table A1 (see Table A2, Table A3, Figure A1, and Figure A3, respectively).
The same project is reflected in Table A4, but the number of available resources has changed. The Gantt chart shown in Figure A2, reflects the reduced personnel depicted in Table A4 with improved resource leveling.
Table A1
Cherry’s Systems Project for Faithhealers
Description Task Must Follow Time (Weeks)
Interview executives A None 6
Interview staff in order fulfillment B None 3
Design input prototype C B 2
Design output prototype D A, C 3
Write use cases E A, C 4
Record staff reactions to prototypes F D 2
Develop system G E, F 5
Write up training manual H B, G 3
Train staff working in order fulfillment I H 2
Note. This is adapted from Kendell and Kendell (2019, p. 98).
Table A2
Project Checklist: Cherry’s Systems Project for Faithhealers
Step Activity
A Interview executives
B Interview staff in order fulfillment
C Design input prototype
D Design output prototype
E Write use cases
F Record staff reactions to prototypes
G Develop system
H Write up training manual
I Train staff working in order fulfillment
Note. This is adapted from Kendell and Kendell (2019, p. 98).
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Table A3
Project Schedule: Cherry’s Systems Project for Faithhealers
Description
1 Conduct interviews 1/10/22 2/21/22
1.1 Interview executives 12 6 None 3 team members, 3 offices for interviews 1/10/22 2/21/22
1.2 Interview staff in order fulfillment 6 3 None 2 team members, 2 offices for interviews 1/10/22 1/31/22
2 Design prototypes 1/31/22 3/21/22
2.1 Design input prototype 4 2 1.2 2 engineers, 1 workspace 1/31/22 2/14/22
2.2 Design output prototype 6 3 1, 2.1 2 engineers, 1 workspace 2/21/22 3/14/22
2.3 Write use cases 8 4 1, 2.1 2 team members, 1 workspace 2/21/22 3/21/22
3 Test prototypes by user reaction 3/14/22 3/28/22
3.1 Record staff reactions to 6 2 2.2 3 team members, common areas
3/14/22 3/28/22 prototypes
3.2 Obtain design approval 1 1 3.1 Cherry* 3/28/22 3/28/22
4 Develop system 20 5 2.3, 3 2 engineers, 2 team members, 2
3/28/22 5/2/22 workspaces
5 Training system 5/2/22 6/6/22
5.1 Write up training manual 6 3 1, 4 2 team members, 1 workspace 5/2/22 5/23/22
5.2 Train staff working in order 10 2 5.1 5 team members, 1 workspace
5/23/22 6/6/22 fulfillment
Note. This is adapted from Kendell and Kendell (2019, p. 98). The summary tasks (in bold) and resources in this table are not from the textbook. There are
5 team members and 2 engineers on the team; there are more than enough workspaces throughout the organization. The asterisk denoted by the name Cherry is there to signify that approval is conducted on the last day of recording staff reactions and does not add time to the timeline. Approval is a milestone in this project. Effort represents the amount of time it would take to complete the task with 1 person. Dates are in month, day, year format.
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Table A4
Project Schedule: Cherry’s Systems Project for Faithhealers
WBS Description Effort Duration Dependencies Resources Start End
1 Conduct interviews 1/10/22 2/21/22
1.1 Interview executives 12 6 None 3 team members, 3 offices for interviews 1/10/22 2/21/22
1.2 Interview staff in order fulfillment 6 6 None 1 team member, 1 office for interviews 1/10/22 2/21/22
2 Design prototypes 2/21/22 3/28/22
2.1 Design input prototype 4 2 1.2 2 engineers, 1 workspace 2/21/22 3/7/22
2.2 Design output prototype 6 3 1, 2.1 2 engineers, 1 workspace 3/7/22 3/28/22
2.3 Write use cases 8 2 1, 2.1 4 team members, 1 workspace 3/7/22 3/21/22
3 Test prototypes by user reaction 3/28/22 4/7/22
3.1 Record staff reactions to prototypes 6 1.5 2.2 4 team members, common areas 3/28/22 4/7/22
3.2 Obtain design approval 1 1 3.1 Cherry* 4/7/22 4/7/22
4 Develop system 20 3.4 2.3, 3 2 engineers, 4 team members, 2 workspaces 4/7/22 4/29/22
5 Training system 4/29/22 5/27/22
5.1 Write up training manual 6 1.5 1, 4 4 team members, 1 workspace 4/29/22 5/10/22
5.2 Train staff working in order fulfillment 10 2.5 5.1 4 team members, 1 workspace 5/10/22 5/27/22
Note. This is adapted from Kendell and Kendell (2019, p. 98). The summary tasks (in bold) and resources in this table are not from the textbook. There are 4 team members and 2 engineers on the team; there are more than enough workspaces throughout the organization. The asterisk denoted by the name Cherry is there to signify that approval is conducted on the last day of recording staff reactions and does not add time to the timeline. Approval is a milestone in this project. Effort represents the amount of time it would take to complete the task with 1 person. Changes from Table
A3 are in bold (which is in addition to the summary tasks, already in bold). Dates are in month, day, year format.
Figure A3
PERT Diagram: Cherry’s Systems Project for Faithhealers
Note. The data used to generate this diagram is adapted from Kendell and Kendell (2019, p. 98).
This diagram lists tasks by the letter and the duration in weeks, separated by a comma. For example, A, 6 represents task A, which has a duration of 6 weeks. The letter by task associated with this diagram is shown in Table A2. The possible paths are ADFGHI at 21 weeks; AEGHI at 20 weeks; BCDFGHI, which totals 20 weeks; and BCEGHI, which totals 19 weeks. When all of the required constraints are considered, the longest path in the PERT diagram is the shortest possible path to project completion. Therefore, the critical path is ADFGHI at 21 weeks. Any slips in the project along this path will extend the amount of time it takes to complete the entire project. This aligns with the resources outlined in Table A3.