The intention for investigating the project management software tools is to deploy them to assist your group in completion by enabling the teams activities relating to Initiating, Planning, Executing, Monitoring and Controlling, and Closing project activities. You are required to investigate and develop the project's preliminary/initial concept for this assessment.

Background

In 2018 the School of Engineering, Computer and Mathematical Sciences developed a progressive web application called Careers Connect to allow a student to scan into the AUT ICT & Engineering Careers Fair using a QR code and to print on demand an AUT-branded name tag that showed their name, degree and major to the 170+ recruiters on-site at the event. Seeing a students name and what they studied was a big bonus to recruiters. Colour labels for the recruiters were introduced at the 2019 Careers Fair along with the ability to sign in and enter the Careers Fair from multiple floors of the WZ building.

The CV Beacon Initiative

On the back of the success of these initiatives the school now wants to create a new software application called CV Beacon that can further enhance student-career engagement. They are seeking a new software application that can scan the internet for ICT and engineering job adverts for junior roles that can match the skills that students have and develop whilst studying AUTs technical degrees. It is envisaged that the system would provide a searchable database of current graduate and junior roles that can be searched by students seeking part-time or full-time roles and internships.

There will be a requirement for secure login, a web scraping tool with some text mining aspect to identify jobs based on some rules i.e., junior roles only, currently available, ICT or Engineering and not in other fields. A feature for intuitive and user-friendly search with filters. Another high-level requirement is a feature that allows students to automatically build their CV based on the papers that they have studied. This could match papers with technical and interpersonal skills. Finally, a further text mining feature that automatically attempts to match jobs on offer in the database to the skills in a students CV with a recommender type feature for possible jobs that may suit them.

AUT provides the server, networking and hardware required. However, the project will need to propose a recommendation of a high-level target platform architecture - perhaps a PEAN, MERN or MEAN stack, as an example. Containerisation of the system components should also be considered, along with the need to ensure the security and privacy of any personal information.

The objective of your project planning is that the school can initiate and issue a Request for Proposal (RFP) to acquire the skills and development team that the project will need or require based on your plans and reports. A 3rd party vendor will develop the final solution.

Given usability and a satisfying user experience are critical aspects for students. You are required to incorporate a visual representation of your recommended interface designs based on your high-level requirements identified in the Scope Statement. These interface designs might be paper sketches or mockups, digital or native followed by an explanation of the designs to help understand the functions.

This step in the planning will help create a specification by design and provide a representation of ideas that propose what a future system may look like. Dont worry too much about needing them to be aesthetically pleasing. Use this process to inform the business case you are developing for the new platform.

The Project

The School of Engineering Computer and Mathematical Sciences (SECMS) has allocated NZD200,000 to undertake this project and believes it will return to the school NZD600,000 per year for the next three years in recruiter licences. For your assignment, you can assume that, through an initial preliminary investigation that the project is expected to start on 19 July 2022 and finish (including the completion of all deliverables) on 29 August 2022. The new platform should be up and running live by 21 February 2023, so it can be available to the schools students at the beginning of their semester. The usage fee for the software is expected to be NZD5.00 per user per year. The estimate is that 250 students will sign up and use the software each semester in the academic year until 2025. In addition, it is expected that the monthly server charge per student will be NZD4 for 2022. However, the school expects an increase in the server charge by 10% every year until 2025. The existing infrastructure is sufficient, and new hardware will not be required.

Your streams Teaching Assistant (TA) will be the Acting Sponsor/Client for your project. As part of your business case development ask your Teaching Assistant (TA) for the discount rate for your project.

You may need to look at competing tools on the market to determine crucial features and key capabilities that should be included in the requirements. The school expects a high-quality system and related documentation. Hence, you must identify and clearly state the quality goals in the scope statement document.

Project Content

You are expected to produce project management plans and documents (see Proposed Schedule) to successfully deliver this project based on your undertaking of practices, techniques and the tools explained in the PMI knowledge areas and process groups of project management. The prescribed textbook and the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) provide detailed information on the knowledge areas and process groups for this assignment. This Assignment 1 Part 1 is based on the Initiation and the beginning of planning phases following project management techniques and concepts.

Proposed Schedule

Pre-project initiation

• Business Case - includes a summary statement of rationale and motivation for the project

Project Initiation

• Team formation
• Role clarification and assignment
• Statement of rationale and motivation for the project with supporting reasoning
• Initial specifications of what must be produced
• Project charter
• Team contract
• Stakeholder analysis and management strategy
• Kick-off meeting
• Responsibility assignment matrix

Project Planning

• Statement of work
• Project management plans
  • Scope statement document showing requirements (functional and non-functional requirements), project and product deliverables
• Defined Scope
  • Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

Assignment Notes

• Please Note: As plans or documents change or are updated save them as different versions so that you evidence the change history for all plans and documents.
• For creating project plans and documents, select templates either from Canvas or from other reputable sources (acknowledging your source with APA 7 referencing or another recognised referencing format).
• When choosing a template assess whether the template is appropriate for the project and the process group you are following. The evidence of following the process and resulting content will be the main criteria for judging the quality of your work.
• Develop a good understanding of each plan and document that you are being asked to create for this assignment.

Checklist

This assessment will be marked out of 50, contributing 25% towards your final mark for the paper. This checklist identifies the plans and documents that must be produced and submitted for this assignment along with an indicative distribution of marks.

Project CV Beacon	Marks
1. Business case	15
2. Stakeholder register and Stakeholder management strategy	5
3. Project charter including roles and responsibilities (must include a project manager)	5
4. Team contract (with placeholder roles)	5
5. Kick-off meeting agenda and minutes (ask your TA to sign off)	5
6. Team meeting agenda/minutes	5
7. Scope statement	5
8. Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)	5
Total	50