Questions on Software System Implementation

Using your files from Part 2 input resources and their costs if you have not already done so. All information is found in Tables 2 and 3.

1. What is the estimated project completion date? (Assume there are no holidays and ignore the sunk cost of the planning team’s effort)

(TCO B) You are the project manager for three projects. You are about to estimate costs for these three projects. Given the below information on each project, recommend an appropriate estimation method and justify your answer for each.

592 Week 1 DQ 1 WBS Construction PROJ 592 Week 1 DQ 2 Project Cost Estimates and Assumptions PROJ 592 Week 2 DQ 1 Cost Components PROJ 592 Week 2 DQ 2 Estimating Processes PROJ 592 Week 3 DQ 1 Project Schedules PROJ 592 Week 3 DQ 2 Sensitivity Analysis PROJ 592 Week 4 DQ 1 Resource Allocation and Leveling PROJ 592 Week 4 DQ 2 Advanced Schedule Techniques PROJ 592 Week 5 DQ 1 Earned Value Calculation PROJ 592 Week 5 DQ 2 Project Monitoring and Control & EV PROJ 592 Week 6 DQ 1 Forecasting Project Completion Cost PROJ 592 Week 6 DQ 2 Project Control PROJ 592

There will be deadlines set for the VP of Tech for on development estimates, and another deadline for the PM on Project Plan and Gant Chart

The initial cost of the project will be the sum of the development, project administration, implementation, and financing functions. Development cost include IT system design, process planning, and feasibility analysis. Hardware upgrades, software development, infrastructure improvements are included in the implementation costs. Administration expenditures cover other costs such as training, furniture, network infrastructure, utilities, and insurance. Kudler expects to use this system for a prolonged period of time; therefore, the cost of the life cycle will need to be calculated also. Furthermore, the benefits of worker productivity gain, expenditure decrease, and employee utilization gains will also be calculated in the economic feasibility analysis. Once the initial cost of the project is determined, feasibility can be determined on the economic level. According to article, “Implementation: The operational feasibility perspective”, operational feasibility will be achieved if the following steps are followed. Step 1, managers and employee negative perceptions of change must be addressed openly. Step 2, positive factors for change must be reinforced. Step 3, the highest stress should be dealt with first. Step 4, change must start at the top of the organization. Step 5, informal and formal lines of communication should be used. All managers and workers should be involved or represented in the design.

The materials used per unit of production, the Run labor hours and machine hours are provided in exhibit 2. The overhead expenses per unit of the product have been apportioned according to their percentage production and usage. (Drucker, 1999)

3. Under the new activity-based costing (ABC) system, compute the indirect cost allocation rates for each of the three activities:

Initial projections show that the current schedule will take 50 weeks to finish with a final budget estimate of $3.152 million. Although the project estimate comes in under budget, the time frame for completion extends beyond the acceptable 45

Initial projections show that the current schedule will take 50 weeks to finish with a final budget estimate of $3.152 million. Although the project estimate comes in under budget, the time frame for completion extends beyond the acceptable 45 weeks. Before deciding which activities should be crashed, Bjorn and his team first need to have a clear understanding of the project’s priorities. To do this the team has first defined the project’s scope and decided to develop a project priority matrix. Defining the project scope sets the stage for developing a plan and its primary purpose is to define as clearly as possible the deliverables and to focus project plans (Gray & Larson, 2005).

Placing the events in a Gantt chart will help clarify and organize the events, the order in which they will occur, as well as any preceding activities that must be accomplished. Table 5 shows the project 's normal conditions, their timeframes and associated costs. As noted, normal conditions require 50 weeks to complete and therefore, cannot be used. Table 6 is a similar chart showing the project under ultimate crash conditions. As mentioned earlier, the project can be accomplished in as little as 42 weeks if every activity is crashed. This scenario is not desired however, because the project 's budget then approaches $5 million in associated costs, over 50% beyond the original allotted expenditure.

I will consider the project dates stated in question 3 for this question and also consider that

4. During which month of the project are the highest and lowest costs expected to

5. The project is assumed to end in year 4. Do you think that this is realistic? Can you estimate the value of the project’s operating cash flows beyond year 4? State any assumptions you made.

In this case, the final product which is a ……. software must be available on 15/1/2016, at least, it has been mentioned that the final product will have been made by integrated three types of software products which are Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta. Therefore, Time is a key element in this project.