Assignment Task: Recently, several banks have started offering customers remote deposit capture. With this new service, customers do not have to physically go to banks or ATM machines to deposit checks anymore. Instead, they can send checks as a scanned image through an Internet portal provided by the bank. This technology can save banks and customers time and money making the transactions. Blue Bank is considering implementing this new service. To use it, costumers need a remote capture account with Blue Bank and a special scanner to get the necessary images to make the electronic deposit. Once the account is established in the system, customers will be able to scan all of their checks anytime and anywhere by accessing the Blue Bank service through the Internet, logging in, and scanning the checks. The service should be as easy as sending an attachment in an email. Of course, this new application has to be very reliable, secure, and easy to use. It must be integrated into the current Blue Bank Web site, and the Web site must also provide the ability for customers to purchase the special scanner. Blue Bank will set up the scanner-purchasing ability with several appropriate hardware vendors and sell the devices at its physical banks as well. Blue Bank is not sure yet what to change for the scanners or service. The Web site will also provide online technical support and instructions showing customers how to set up and use the new scanner and service. Support will be provided 24/7 via the Web site and telephone.
The project steering committee has asked you to put together your project team. They suggest that you have two people from IT, two from marketing, and one person from the purchasing department all working part-time on the project. As always, you will need the services from Code Corp., the software company that has developed the entire Blue Bank Web site. Code Corp. has people working in several different countries, mostly in a virtual environment. The main contact with that company is Christian Jones. Since this new remote capture service requires the use of a special scanner, you will need to compare different scanners on the market right now. For this reason, you will be working with DevAn, a devices analysis consulting firm based in India that will help you determine which scanners to use with the new application. Alexandra will be the DevAn consultant assigned to you. An initial estimate suggests that one half of the budget will go to outsourced software and consulting services.
One of your duties as the project manager is to lead your team in developing a schedule. Mike and Sophie are the information technology professionals. The marketing professionals are Carlos and Joanna, and John is the purchasing specialist. Don't forget that you have only six months to finish the project and a budget of $500,000. Dorian, the project sponsor, had told you that it is important to finish on time and within budget, but it is even more important to provide a high-quality service and avoid any potential technical or user problems after implementation. Blue Bank wants to attract new customers with remote deposit capture and avoid losing current customers, so quality and customer service is key. The team decides to focus on key milestones in developing the schedule, being sure that suppliers know their roles on this project and that adequate testing is done.
Harold Johnson is worried about the cost, so he has asked you to review the existing cost estimate to get a solid cost baseline to evaluate performance. Recall that your budget goal is $500,000 for the six-month project. Also remember from previous projects that even though Code Corp. is a very reliable company, you need to work closely with them to ensure all requirements are being integrated into the software and that the project is kept on track. You need to work with DevAn to define and test scanners to ensure the application will be compatible with the devices. You also need to set up contracts with the selected scanner manufacturers to provide the scanners to customers when the remote capture software is implemented.
Question 1. What is the problem Blue Bank is trying to solve?
Question 2. Who are the stakeholders of the project?
Question 3. Develop a good scope statement for this project. What is in scope? What is out of scope?
Question 4. Develop a strategy for scope verification.
Question 5. How will you decide if this is a good project to invest? Explain your answer.
Question 6. How will you establish a good change control process?
Question 7. Develop a work breakdown structure (WBS) for the project. Break down the work to level 2 or level 3, as appropriate.
Question 8. Identify at least two milestones for this project. Explain each milestone using the SMART criteria.
Question 9. Assume that your project team starts falling behind schedule. Describe strategies for making up lost time and avoiding schedule slips in the future.
Question 10. You notice that several of the tasks that involve suppliers have taken longer to finish and cost more than planned. You have talked to the people in charge of those areas several times, but everyone says they are doing the best they can. Make a one-page paper describing corrective action you could take to address this problem.