Assignment
You work for BrightFuture, Inc., an international firm with more than 10,000 employees in several countries. A strategic goal is to help improve the environment while increasing revenues and reducing costs. The Environmental Technologies Program just started, and the VP of Operations, Naomi, is the program sponsor. Enrique is the program manager, and there is a steering committee made up of 10 senior executives, including Naomi, who oversees the program. Several projects operate within this program, including the Sustainable computing Research Project. The CIO and project sponsor, Brian, has given this project high priority and plans to hold special interviews to hand-pick the project manager and team. Brian is also a member of the program steering committee. Before coming to BrightFuture, Brian sponsored a project at a large computer firm to improve data center efficiency. This project, however, is much broader. The main purpose of the Sustainable computing Research Project is to research possible applications of green computing, including the following:
1. Datacenter and overall energy efficiency
2. Disposal of electronic waste and recycling
3. Telecommuting
4. Virtualization of server resources
5. Thin client solutions
6. Use of open-source software
7. Development of new software to address green computing for internal use and potential sale to other organizations.
The budget for the project is $600,000, and the goal is to provide an extensive report, including detailed financial analysis and recommendations for which green computing technologies to implement. Official project request forms for the recommended solutions will also be as part of the project.
Brian decided to have five people working full-time on this seven-month project and to call on people in other areas as needed. He wanted to be personally involved in selecting the project manager and to have that person help him select the rest of the project team. Brian wanted to find people already working inside the company, but he was also open to reviewing applications for potential new employees to work specifically on his project as long as they could start quickly. Because many good people were located in different parts of the world, Brian thought it made sense to select the best people he could find and allow them to work virtually on the project. Brian also wanted the project manager to do more than manage the project. The project manager would also do some of the research, writing, and editing required to produce the desired results. Brian was also open to paying expert consultants for their advice and to purchasing books and related articles as needed.
You have been selected as the project manager for the Sustainable computing Research Project. The main products you will make are a series of research reports-one for each green computing technology listed earlier and a final report that includes all data. You will also produce formal project proposals for at least four recommendations to implement some of these technologies. Brian suggested that the team should develop at least 20 different project ideas and then recommend the top four based on extensive analysis. Brian thought that some type of decision support model would make sense to help collect and analyze the project ideas. You are expected to tap into resources that are available from the Environmental Technologies Program, so you need to include some of those resources in your project budget. Brian mentioned that some research had already been done on increasing the use of telecommuting. Brian also showed you examples of what he considered good research reports. You notice that his examples are very professional, with plenty of charts and references; most are twenty to thirty pages and are single-spaced. Brian has also shown you examples of good formal project proposals for BrightFuture, Inc. These proposals are quite detailed as well; they often reference other research and include a detailed business case.
• Question I: List some of the requirements of this project.
• Question II: Scope Statement for this project. What are out of scope?
• Question III: Develop a work breakdown structure (WBS) for the project. Break down one of the level 2 items to level 3 or level 4, as appropriate.
• Question IV: Identify a milestone? Why is this a Milestone? Describe the milestone using SMART criteria.
• Question V: Develop a list of at least three quality standards or requirements related to meeting stakeholder expectations.
• Question VI: Name one quality tool you will use as part of the quality management process. Explain the rationale for using the tool.
• Question VII: List three risks with this project? What will be some of the preventative and contingent actions you can take to mitigate these risks?
• Question VIII: Describe how you are going to manage changes to the scope?
• Question IX: You are in month two of the project. You are reviewing Earned Value Management report and noticed that Schedule Performance Index (SPI) is 0.75. What will you do?
• Question X: You are in month three of the project. You are reviewing Earned Value Management report and noticed that Cost Performance Index (CPI) is 0.85. What will you do?