Southern Winery's Gantt Chart
Annabelle and Garth,
I would like to show you the Gantt Chart I created. This chart is similar to a bar chart and it is used to depict project tasks against a calendar. We started this project back in June...June 6th to be exact, and I think we have made great gains. We have finished the problem analysis, requirements Analysis, Logical Design, and Decision Analysis phase. As you can see we are ahead of schedule for Physical Design and Construction testing. I would like to keep this momentum going. We need to make sure the Physical Design portion is completed by the end of November, beginning of Dec. Its crucial that construction and testing is completed by the end of January so that Implementation and Delivery can begin. With your support, I believe by the beginning of March next year we should have Southern Winery up and operational!
V/R,
Your PM
I would like to show you the Gantt Chart I created. This chart is similar to a bar chart and it is used to depict project tasks against a calendar. We started this project back in June...June 6th to be exact, and I think we have made great gains. We have finished the problem analysis, requirements Analysis, Logical Design, and Decision Analysis phase. As you can see we are ahead of schedule for Physical Design and Construction testing. I would like to keep this momentum going. We need to make sure the Physical Design portion is completed by the end of November, beginning of Dec. Its crucial that construction and testing is completed by the end of January so that Implementation and Delivery can begin. With your support, I believe by the beginning of March next year we should have Southern Winery up and operational!
V/R,
Your PM
Employee Hiring Needed!
Garth and Annabelle,
Hiring an analysis expertise is in
the best interest of Southern Winery. We
currently do not have an analysis expert aboard. I know we discussed not hiring any new
employees, but since I am just the program manager, I will need an extra hand
to help me with analysis of this new system we are creating. I would like to know what holes are in the
system, what we can improve on, and how we can increase our security
posture. By using a defense in depth, I
think we would greatly improve the system, but I need someone to help implement
this and really analyze our current infrastructer.
I think a Feasibility study would
be great for us to determine the Technical, Economic, Legal, Operation, and the
schedule. This study is good because it
helps us determine if it sensible for us to develop this particular system.
Technical Feasibility: does the technology exist before we can implement?
Economic Feasibility: is the system cost-effective? What are the pros and cons?
Legal Feasibility: Are there any legal requirements we haven’t addressed yet?
Operational Feasibility: are Southern Wineries practices enough to support this new system?
Schedule Feasibility: can the system be developed in the time frame?
After we conduct this feasibility study we will have to perform a requirements analysis.
When we conduct the feasibility study, I think we will find
that we have the technology available. The
system will be within our budget, and the legal requirements have been
addressed with a lawyer. I think the
biggest issue we will run into is the operational feasibility. This aspect will need an analysis expert to
help determine if our system is operational and ready to be put online. Also as stated above: after we are completed
with the feasibility study, we will need to perform a requirements analysis.
You can
reach me at 853-369-258. Please let me
know if you have any questions.
V/R,
Your PM
Context Data Flow VS. Data Flow Analysis Diagram
Garth and Annabelle,
The purpose of the context data
flow diagram is to establish the initial project scope. It only shows the systems main
interfaces. Since things are always
changing in a system, this model is bound to change and develop to grow and
adapt to the environment and the scope of the project. Whereas a data flow analysis is used for
gathering data on possible values. See
below for diagrams..I know a picture is worth a thousand words and will help
you better understand the difference between a context data flow and data flow
analysis diagram!
V/R,
Your PM
entity-relationship diagram
Garth and Anabelle,
The Case Diagrams are good for an overall picture of the relationship between products and users, but the Entity-Relationship Diagram (ERD) is an repository for that information. I think this Diagram is necessary to keep track of our wine!
An entity-relationship diagram is a
data model that describes a particular database in some abstract way. It uses entities to describe things and the
relationship between those entities. The
reason this database is needed is to store information about wine
Southern Wine produces. As you can see we also need to do an inventory to find out how many bottles we have, the price of those bottles, as well as year, name and description. This will be paramount in order for us to have an accurate count of Southern Wines inventory. The current inventory list is out of date, therefore I think we need to start fresh and gather those numbers soon. I think we should be able to accomplish this task, with the appropriate number of employees, in 1 week.
Case Diagrams
Garth and Annabelle,
As the firm's lead Program Manager, I would like to discuss the use of Case Diagrams. I think they would be very useful for Southern Winery's business growth. In this case the Management
Information System Case diagram is used to describe the higher level view of the management of inventory, for
both supplies and products. It’s a
representation of the users of the MIS at Southern Wine Company and the ways they interact with the suppliers and products.
Please let me know what you think.
V/R,
Your PM
Fact Finding and JRP
Fact Finding is very important in the requirements
analysis phase. It’s important because
once we are finished with fact finding then we can move on to creating
different models (data/process/object/etc).
As you can see above, fact finding can take quite a
great deal of time. I would rather us
get started and have time on our side; therefore I would like to bring up the
idea of a Joint Requirements Planning (JRP) technique. I think the JRP will speed up the process. A JRP certified analyst would be the
facilitator of this workshop. This
workshop that the JRP analyst would conduct would be 3-5 days. In this workshop they will discuss the issues
mentioned above as well as others. It
will combine a couple weeks of work into a couple of long days. It allows everyone to put their heads
together to come up with solutions to these known problems!
A Management Expectations Matrix
In order to move forward, I think it’s important for us
to consider a Management Expectations Matrix.
The matrix has 3 columns and 3 rows.
The 3 columns are Max or Min (this measures success and is considered
the most important for a project), Constrain (the second most important), and
the third is Accept (the least important).
The rows are Cost (how much is the project going to cost), Schedule
(what’s the deadline), and Scope and Quality (what is the scope or goal).
I think that Scope is the most important aspect for us to
consider. What is the scope of this
project..to have a successful Winery, make decent profit, and allow your
children and grandchildren the opportunity to run a successful business. The second most important would be the
schedule, and third is the cost.
You May be Thinking..What are the Most Common Causes of Project Failure?
Causes of failure once a project has
started and what we would do to mitigate these risks:
- 74% Unclear objectives and requirements
- I think that since we are using the waterfall approach
we won’t have this issue.
Everything will be laid out and everyone at Southern Winery will have a clear
understanding of the requirements.
Since you have to sign off on everything, if anything looks funny
you will have the first opinion.
We will have daily staff meetings.
We have created a work breakdown structure and divided up the work
between shops. We have created
a Daily Activity Report on Microsoft SharePoint. This report shows each work center and what they have accomplished that day. We
also have a Weekly Activity Report which is more beneficial for the
mangers who can then brief this to you.
- 60% Lack of business commitment
- All of our employees like working for Southern
Winery. They are committed since
they have been working for the company for a long time.
This shouldn’t be an issue, though I do think it’s important to hire a couple more folks for continuity
purposes.
- 58% Business requirements changing
- As long as we stick with the Waterfall approach this shouldn’t
be an issue. We have a clear approach set that needs your wet signature to begin the next phase.
- 45% Poor communication
- Having our daily staff meetings should mitigate these communication issues. As your project manager I am dedicated to making sure every employee knows the task at hand and how their specific job impacts the company.
Our Firm's Approach to the Management of Project Lifecycles
Annabelle and Garth,
As your project manager I would like to talk to you about
what I believe the best approach is. Remember the Waterfall Lifecycle approach I spoke
about earlier? If you look at the
picture below, you can see that the entire lifecycle includes: Analysis and design,
Programming, implementation, regular use, and requires replacement. This is a good baseline for us to start digging into system requirements.
This picture shows what a typical waterfall model would
look like. The reason I really like this
approach is because it gives you the opportunity to sign off on each step. For example the waterfall approach makes sure
ALL requirements are documented. Once we
finish project initiation, you’ll be able to look over what we have
accomplished and it must be signed off with your stamp of approval before
proceeding.
Garth and Annabelle,
Based on the above information
I believe our way ahead is to use the Waterfall system development methodology. This approach is really great because its
steadily flowing approach..hence why its named “Waterfall”. I think we need to go through all the
phases.. requirement analysis, design, implantation, etc. Why is this important? We need to look at our company in a slow and
steady fashion. Since we have to worry
about a budget, I don’t feel comfortable taking too many risks. This model allows us to take a traditional
approach, and I believe this will best fit our needs!
If you take a look at the Rapid
Application Development, you will see that this approach is fast development
and delivery of a high quality system.
Though it is a high quality system with a low cost, I do not think it’s
the best system for this project. I
would like to take the traditional approach, because I think it best suits our
needs.
Respectfully,Your project manager
Our Organizational Chart
Fred Rogers is using a Transaction Processing System for
employee’s time cards, and paychecks.
This information will be helpful for Fred as well as Garth and Annabelle
to understand how much time and effort each employee is putting in to the
business.
Sirpa Hämeenniemi, director of the marketing department is using
a Business Support System to introduce new revenue services. This will help us make more money and gain
insight into future ideas for the Southern Winery!
John Donne, production-line manager is using a User
Productivity System for system requirement specifications. He is first looking at what the errors there
are in Southern Winery, and then he can use this system for productivity which
will drastically increase as he eliminates those errors.
Wine Trails
We have two wine trials with five winery stops! Its a great way to explore Southern Winery. They are located close together and can usually be covered in a day. You can take a picture at each winery that will be put into your wine passport!
Garth Wine Trail
Friends in low places
The Thunder Rolls
That Summer
Ain't Going Down
Papa Loved Mama
Anabelle Wine Trail
American Honey
Hello World
Our Kind of Love
Long Gone
Learning to Fly
About the Owners: Garth and Annabelle
George Bacchus passed away 2 months ago and left his family winery to his two grandchildren, Garth and Annabelle. They are twins and absolutley love wine, and sharing their love of wine to others! The winery is located in beautiful Greeneville, Tennessee...40 acres of vines, and is a state of the art winery. The wine range from dry to sweet. We grow our own grapes, apples, cherries, blackberries, and
blueberries, as well as keeps some beehives for honey. We make and bottle
the wine, and then sell it, to both local restaurants and visitors to the
winery. Currently, we offer include a Merlot, a Cabernet, a Chardonnay, a
mead, several seasonal fruit wines, and a muscat desert wine!
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