Project Background and Introduction

This project is based on t he development of a cloud based database for ABC University. In this university, the existing data entry and management system is handled manually. The main problem faced by the university is that the manual process is extremely erroneous and moreover, the response time of the system is very high. In the current system, the student and faculty databases are stored in the physical hard drive of the central system that is administered by the university principal (Joslin & Müller, 2015). Each new data (new student enrolment, recruitment of new staff/faculty, etc.) is entered into the database manually. Hence, due to heavy load of data, the process takes a huge amount of time and furthermore, many manual errors occur when the data is entered. As a result, the personal information and others are misplaced from one student database to another. The new cloud based database will be able to solve these problems and increase the overall system efficiency.

In this report, a project plan has been prepared for the development of cloud based database for the university.

Project Title: Development of Cloud Based Database for ABC University

Project Start Date: 20/11/2017

Project End Date: 18/05/2018

Goals and Objectives:

The goals and objectives of the project are as follows.

• To replace the existing technical system with latest upgraded systems
• To install latest hardwares and softwares
• To subscribe to cloud services for creating the database
• To create the database for storing and managing of student and faculty data
• To create three separate portals for students, faculties and administrators

The team members who will be actively involved in the project are shown in the following table.

Development Skills	Development of the Database	Development Skills
Member 1	Management Skills	Team Leader
Member 2	Development Skills	Development of the Database
Member 3	Development Skills	Development of the Database
Member 4	Technical Knowledge	Hardware and Software Installation and Upgrade

The scope of the project is defined as follows.

• Replacement of the existing IT system with the latest upgraded system is within the scope of the project.
• Implementation of latest hardware and software is within the scope of this project.
• Development of different portals for students, faculties and administrators are within the scope of the project. 

The estimated time for the project is shown in the following table.

Task Name	Duration	Start	Finish
Development of Cloud Based Database for ABC University	130 days	Mon 20-11-17	Fri 18-05-18
Project Planning	19 days	Mon 20-11-17	Thu 14-12-17
Analysis of Current Situation and Setup	2 days	Mon 20-11-17	Tue 21-11-17
Analysis of Current Setbacks	2 days	Wed 22-11-17	Thu 23-11-17
Decision Regarding Proposed New System	3 days	Fri 24-11-17	Tue 28-11-17
Preparation of Initial Project Plan	5 days	Wed 29-11-17	Tue 05-12-17
Setting Requirements	2 days	Wed 06-12-17	Thu 07-12-17
Stakeholder Appointment	5 days	Fri 08-12-17	Thu 14-12-17
Project Analysis and Initiation	18 days	Fri 15-12-17	Tue 09-01-18
Stakeholder Meeting	1 day	Fri 15-12-17	Fri 15-12-17
Time Estimation	2 days	Mon 18-12-17	Tue 19-12-17
Cost Estimation	2 days	Wed 20-12-17	Thu 21-12-17
Resource Estimation	2 days	Fri 22-12-17	Mon 25-12-17
Preparation of Final Project Plan	5 days	Tue 26-12-17	Mon 01-01-18
Recruitment of Developers	5 days	Tue 02-01-18	Mon 08-01-18
Initiation of Development	1 day	Tue 09-01-18	Tue 09-01-18
Project Execution	85 days	Wed 10-01-18	Tue 08-05-18
Procurement of Hardware	10 days	Wed 10-01-18	Tue 23-01-18
Procurement of Software	5 days	Wed 24-01-18	Tue 30-01-18
Installation of the Hardware	5 days	Wed 31-01-18	Tue 06-02-18
Installation of Software	10 days	Wed 07-02-18	Tue 20-02-18
Subscription to Cloud Services	5 days	Wed 21-02-18	Tue 27-02-18
Development of Database	20 days	Wed 28-02-18	Tue 27-03-18
Testing of the Database	5 days	Wed 28-03-18	Tue 03-04-18
Development of Online Portal	10 days	Wed 04-04-18	Tue 17-04-18
Testing of the Portals	5 days	Wed 18-04-18	Tue 24-04-18
Development of Graphical UI	5 days	Wed 25-04-18	Tue 01-05-18
Testing of the Entire Developed System	5 days	Wed 02-05-18	Tue 08-05-18
Project Closure	8 days	Wed 09-05-18	Fri 18-05-18
Project Handover	1 day	Wed 09-05-18	Wed 09-05-18
Documentation	5 days	Thu 10-05-18	Wed 16-05-18
Stakeholder Signoff	2 days	Thu 17-05-18	Fri 18-05-18

There are two types of the resources needed for the project. These requirements are as follows.

Material Resources – The material resources for the project include the hardware and software for the project. The hardwares should be of best possible configuration including high RAM configuration (at least 4 GB), reliable processor (at least Quad Core Recommended with 5^th Generation chipset) and other technical parts like graphics card and others (Heldman, 2015). For the software, the latest Windows OS is required along with other softwares that help to run, operate and protect cloud computing systems.

Human Resources – The human resources for the project include the stakeholders as well as other team members who will be involved in the project. 

Based on the resource requirements of the project, the following costs can be estimated.

Resource Requirement	Estimated Overall Cost
Processor	$500
RAM	$400
Technical Peripherals	$250
Softwares	$600
Network Peripherals	$250
Payments to the Developers	$1000
Other Costs	$1000
TOTAL	$4000

Any project requires pre-set quality standards that are needed to ensure sufficient quality is achieved in the project. In this project, the quality standard includes latest upgraded technical setup that will run without any failure (Phillips, 2013). Furthermore, the new cloud based database should be able to increase the overall system efficiency that was the main problem during the manually handled system.

In this project, several stakeholders will be associated that are explained in detail in the following table.

Stakeholder Designation	Stakeholder Duty
Project Manager	To manage all aspects of the project, control, monitoring and change management
Finance Manager	To manage all the financial aspects of the project
Procurement Manager	To procure necessary material resources for the project
Developers	To develop the cloud based database system
Testers	To test the developed system for bugs and glitches
Supervisor	To supervise the project and report to the project manager

The proposed communication for the stakeholders involved in the project is shown in the following table.

Stakeholder	Reason of Communication	Comm. Frequency	Comm. Medium
Project Manager	Any major changes or information regarding project	Weekly	Weekly meetings/emails/written document
Finance Manager	Financial requirements/budget allocation	As required	Financial report
Procurement Manager	Resource requirements	As required	List of required items
Developers	Project requirements	Before start of project	Verbal
Testers	Project requirements	Post development	Verbal
Supervisor	Minor requirements during development	Daily	Verbal

There are a number of risks associated with the project. Since the entire database will be set up in the cloud, it will be vulnerable to external security attacks. These security attacks include breach of security attack, malwares, virus and others (Larson & Gray, 2013). These external attacks may damage the central administration system or steal confidential information from the server. Leak of online question papers may occur that will hamper the existing examination setup of the university.

Project Outline

In order to prevent these risks, the developers should develop system firewalls and restrict the internet usage. The university should develop a policy regarding the accessibility of the external websites and the users should not be allowed access unauthorized websites using the system connected to the central server of the university.

As per the deployment plan of the project, first the database will be created and developed as per the needs of the university. Inside the database, suitable system should be developed that will be able to automatically categorize various types of data entered in the system (like personal information, question papers, grades, etc.) (Walker, 2015). In addition, three portals need to be developed – student portal, faculty portal and administration portal. The respective users will need to register to the database with their unique university IDs and passwords and they will need to login according to their requirements. Furthermore, suitable graphical user interface will need to be deployed in the project.

Project handover is done after all the deliverables are met and all specified steps are complete. For this project, after the development is complete and risk assessment is done, the developers will review the entire project for further changes (Furman et al., 2017). After that, the developed system is then handed over to the parent organization for their own use.

Project signoff is done when all the stakeholders review and approve the overall outcome of the project. When all the stakeholders agree that the project has been performed according to the requirements and has been completed within the specified time and budget, they will sign the project report document and will formally complete the signoff process.

Post project review is necessary in order to ensure all the deliverables have been met in the project. The post project review is generally done by the project manager after the project documentation is handed over to him by the project team members. In this project, after the development is complete, the developers will prepare the project document describing each and every aspect of the project including the gathered outcome (Kerzner, 2013). After other stakeholders sign the document, the project manager will review it and compare it against the project requirement document. When it is ensured that all the requirements are met, the project manager will sign the document and close the project officially.

Conclusion

In this report, a suitable plan has been suggested for the development of the online cloud based database for the ABC University. From this project, it is estimated that it will be feasible within the budget and time limitation and moreover, it will be able to solve the problems caused by the existing manually operated system. In this report, the scope of the project has been defined the overall plan has been developed accordingly.

Based on the developed project plan, the following recommendations are suggested.

Assess Risks – Before the initiation of the project, the risks must be assessed and addressed accordingly.

Accurate Budget and Time Estimation – The budget and time should be estimated accurately so that no budget and time related issues arise during the project execution.  

References

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