Software Engineering:

You are working for a medium sized constuction company.

With the growth that the company has experienced in recent years, it has become apparent to management that the current methods of managing construction projects are not very effective. These methods have not evolved alongside the companys growth. This is preventing the company from realizing significantly more revenues as well as affecting customer satisfaction. Over the years, management, and project managers have used various methods to track construction projects. Some of these methods include:

Paper

Excel spreadsheets

Microsoft Project

This has resulted in projects being managed with various levels of success and a lack of visibility from management how the company is performing across all projects. The company would like to create a single software solution to address these problems. The solution would allow the company to gain:

Improved accountability The tracking capabilities within the system would create a virtual trail for plans, change orders, documents and communications. This helps minimize liability and keep projects moving efficiently. If a deadline is missed, it quickly becomes clear where the misstep occurred and allows for timely resolution.

Improved communication The system will allow team members to work together more closely. Specifically, they will be able to review tasks, change orders, plans and the like, all from a single, secure repository.

Better financial visibility A project manager will have tools in place to manage budgets and track costs, which will provide greater insight into actual costs relative to estimates. Possible integration with accounting systems will offer more accurate and valuable financial insights.

Modules

The system should have the following modules.

Scheduling - Assists with planning tasks (and when they need to be completed) in order to keep a project running smoothly.

Time & Expense Tracking - Monitors a projects current costs against the budget to track the cost to complete the project.

Change Orders - Tracks all change orders submitted across projects and updates the budget to reflect the most recent costs.

Equipment & Resource Management - Tracks how the companys equipment and other resources (e.g., employees, subcontractors) are utilized across projects.

Document Management Tracks all project documents to facilitate collaboration and keep everyone updated on the most recent plans.

Purchase Orders Tracks and manages all items purchased over the lifetime of a project.

QUESTIONS DOWN HERE:

How will the product workfrom a users viewtaking the different classes of users into account? What features will make the product more usable/useful, valuable, exciting? What information will it generate for the client? What guarantees will it provide (conceptually, not in detail), such as security or availability? You may want to trace a sample interaction. What is the scope of the projectan initial agreement as to what will be in the project and what the developer will not be responsible for?

Business management view:How will the product from a users view taking the different classes of users into account?

What features will make the product more usable/useful, valuable, exciting?

What information will it generate for the client?

What guarantees will it provide (conceptually, not in detail), such as security or availability? You may want to trace a sample interaction.

What is the scope of the projectan initial agreement as to what will be in the project and what the developer will not be responsible for?

What might be some use cases?