Hermes Final Draft 1.8 6 7 07

Project Hermes

Yeehaw Toys

June 7, 2007

Project Team:

o Tod Hadley – Overall Project Manager

o Bryan Liston - Documentation

o Alvin Cobb – Research Manager

o Ian Smith – Resource Management

o Todd Ivanich – Marketing Representative

o Cale Hoopes – Risk Assessment Management

o Christopher Horne – Engagement Manager (relationship to Project Co-Sponsors)

Table of contents

Definitions, acronyms, and abbreviations...........................................3

References...........................................................................................4

Scope...................................................................................................5

Time.....................................................................................................5

Stakeholders........................................................................................5

Cost.....................................................................................................10

ROI.......................................................................................................15

Schedule..............................................................................................18

Feasibility............................................................................................19

Risk......................................................................................................20

Requirements......................................................................................28

Code....................................................................................................31

Screenshots.........................................................................................32

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Definitions, acronyms, and abbreviations

AP (Access Point)

FY (Fiscal Year)

Hermes (The herald and messenger of the Olympian gods)

IT (Information Technology)

LAN (Local Area Network)

NOG (Network Operations Group)

OSE (Office of Systems Engineering)

PC (Personal Computer)

PDA (Personal

POS - Point Of Sales System)

POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service)

PRI Lines (Primary Rate Interface)

VoIP (Voice Over IP)

VPN (Virtual Private Network)

WAN (Wide Area Network)

WAP (Wireless Access Point)

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References

3Com Corporation http://www.3com.com

Cnet.com http://inktomi-cnet.com.com/2001-1_1-0.html?tag=hdrgif

CDW http://www.cdw.com/default.aspx

CompUsa http://www.compusa.com/services/tech_services/default.asp?credir=1

Epinions.com http://www99.epinions.com/

Geek Squad. http://www.geeksquad.com/

Hyland Software http://www.onbase.com/English/Services/TechnicalServices

Nucsafe inc http://www.nucsafe.com/installation_services.htm

Office Depot.com http://www.officedepot.com/index.do

Yankee Group http://www.yankeegroup.com/home.do

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http://www.yankeegroup.com/home.do

http://www.officedepot.com/index.do

http://www.nucsafe.com/installation_services.htm

http://www.onbase.com/English/Services/TechnicalServices

http://www.geeksquad.com/

http://www99.epinions.com/

http://www.compusa.com/services/tech_services/default.asp?credir=1

http://www.cdw.com/default.aspx

http://inktomi-cnet.com.com/2001-1_1-0.html?tag=hdrgif

http://www.3com.com/

Scope, Time & Stakeholders

Project Hermes

Project Justification:

Yeehaw Toys has not fully entered the technical world. Our point-of-sale systems are

varied and not all of our stores deliver information to the corporate office over a

broadband connection. We still have some archaic systems in 35% of our stores which

deliver reports and data on transactions over telephone line. Additionally, data on

shrinkage and inventory is counted on sheets and delivered back to the corporate office

for entry by data specialist. Project Hermes is meant to streamline the communications

network between the retail stores and the corporate office. Additionally, communications

will be streamlined by integrating Voice Over IP functionality in the retail stores which

will reduce greatly our cost for communications in the stores. This project will have a

very positive impact on the bottom line of the corporation. Store managers will be able to

focus more on people management and building customer relationships than counting

inventory and building reports. This will save time and money at the retail level. In

addition the corporate office can have more accurate information on what is happening in

the stores and finally be able to make the small changes which will positively affect the

bottom line. The financial benefits of a completed project will far outweigh the costs of

implementing the infrastructure to support this benefit. Additionally, there is a great

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opportunity for related projects down the line once we get this infrastructure in place.

There are opportunities for automating even more of our in-store retail systems included

possible automated purchasing, RFID, etc. This is supported by our network which will

allow the corporate office make changes in real time. We will be a more effective retailer

if as many of these functions in the store can be automated.

Project Characteristics and Requirements:

Many stores are not equipped with broadband connections in the stores. Stores

without broadband will be connected.

Broadband providers for each region/store will be investigated and chosen.

A hardware package will be chosen for delivery and installation in the store.

The stores will need to be equipped with a centralized server used for

communications to the corporate office. This will allow for data collection during

network outages.

Security techniques will be planned and implemented for the wireless

connectivity in the stores.

Wireless hardware will need to be compatible with Pocket PC devices for

handling inventory.

Wireless hardware will need to be purchased for any desktop computers in stores

which do not already have network connection. This is only important for the few

stores who currently only have one computer that connects over a POTS modem.

If there is PC hardware that cannot support wireless hardware, these machines

will be upgraded based on the company’s current PC hardware standard.

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A secure redundant VPN solution will be set up at the corporate office and

configured to work with the wireless network at the Application layer.

Connectivity to the corporate office will be controlled through a dedicated pipe.

A redundant firewall solution will be setup at the corporate office to control

communications between the stores and corporate office.

Configuration will be setup to allow for Windows Active Directory authentication

between accounts at the retail stores and resources back at the corporate office.

This project will not implement any new software for supporting a new POS

system, inventory system, reporting system or any other line-of-business

application.

Project Deliverables:

Network Diagram

Hardware Proposal

Project Plan Document (Resource Timeline)

Cost and Resources Document

Requirements Document

Risk Assessment Document

Feasibility Document

Help-Desk Plan for Supporting Retail Stores

Systems Training Document for Store Managers

Post-Mortem Document

Wireless Routers for 70 Retail Stores

Wireless Network Cards for 70 Retail Stores for machines

Hardware Upgrades for up to 70 Retail Stores who have machines that do not

support wireless hardware.

Firewall for Corporate Office

Broadband Connection for Retail Stores without connectivity

VPN Hardware for Corporate Office

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Project Success Criteria:

Project Hermes will be considered complete and successful when there is a connection

from each of our 70 retail stores back to the corporate office over a broadband

connection. It will also be considered a success if multiple in-store wireless devices can

connect to and communicate with the corporate office over the broadband connection.

After the first inventory cycle, the project will be considered successful if 75% of

inventory collection can be completed using the broadband connection and wireless

devices. This is success criteria dependent on the Inventory project to be completed

parallel to Hermes.

Estimated Timeframe:

1 Year – This project should be completed by the beginning of the 2009 FY (July 1,

2008) in order to facilitate Inventory in Aug-Sept.

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Stakeholders:

Project Co-Sponsors: Vice President of Retail Operations, Vice President of

Information Technology

Help Desk and Retail Support Team: Director of Retail Support

Network Operations Group (NOG)

Office of Systems Engineering (OSE)

Store Managers

Inventory Control: Director of Retail Inventory Control

Project Team: NetSec (Project Management and Execution Team)








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Cost and Resources

Project Hermes

Overview

The purpose of the Cost and Resources document is to provide a budgetary

estimate of the anticipated total cost of implementing Project Hermes. At this point in the

project, we are assuming a variance of -10%/ +25% for the associated costs, meaning that

the cost outlined in this document will end up being no more than 25% more than

outlined, and as much as 10% less than outlined.

There are 70 retail locations that will need to have updated inventory capability,

which is what Project Hermes aims to accomplish. There is also the Corporate Office

that will need to be updated, bringing the total number of locations that will need

upgrading to 71.

Personnel

Installation

o Best Buy® Geek Squad

o $400.00 per drop, 5 drops per retail location

o Drop includes all necessary hardware and wiring

o Total per retail location $2,000.00

o Total $140,000.00

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Equipment

Access Points

o 3Com Wireless LAN Managed Access Point 3750

o $365.00 each, 5 per retail location


o Total $127,750.00

Access Point Manager

o 3Com Wireless LAN Switch WX 1200 & Software

o $3,900.00 each, 1 per retail location


o Total $273,000.00

Handheld PCs and barcode scanners

o Symbol MC35 Wireless Barcode Scanner

o Will also function as cell phone with push-to-talk capability and PDA

o $710 each, 15 per retail location


o Total $745,500.00

Firewall for Corporate Office

o Juniper ISG-1000 Advanced

o Total $26,000.00

Firewall for Retail Locations

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o Juniper SSG-5

o $546.00 each, 1 per retail location

o Total per store $546.00

o Total $38,220.00

Site Access Point Management Software

o 3Com Wireless LAN Switch Manager

o Total $6,000.00

Services

Connectivity

o 10Mbps service, including VoIP, cell phone service, long distance

$900.00/ month service charge per retail location

o Connection charges $100.00 per retail location

o Total $7,000.00

Contingency Costs

Contingency/ Miscellaneous Costs $100,000.00

Initial Costs

Personnel

o Per retail location $2,000.00

o Total $140,000.00

Equipment

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o Per retail location $16,921.00

o For Corporate Office $32,000.00

o Total $1,216,470.00

Services

o Connection charges per retail location $100.00

o Total $7,000.00

Total Initial Cost

o $1,363,470.00

Annual Costs

Equipment

o Access Points Annual Support $19,162.50

o Site Access Point Manager Software Annual Support $900.00

o Barcode Scanner Annual Support $111,825.00

o Firewall, Corporate Office Annual Support $3,900.00

o Firewall, Retail Locations $5,733.00

Support and Maintenance

o 3Com Support Staff

o Contract for Support and Maintenance for all locations

o Total $61,012.50 yearly

Connectivity Service

o Total per retail location per year $10,800.00

o Total per year $756,000.00

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Total Yearly Cost

o $958,533.00

Estimated Timeframe:

As stated in the Scope document, we anticipate a total of one year to complete Project

Hermes, and it should be completed by the beginning of FY2009 (July 1, 2008) in order

to facilitate quarterly inventory in September.

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ROI

Project Hermes ROI Summary:

In regards to Project Hermes, return on investment (ROI) is how we can factor whether or

not this project will earn or lose money once a monetary investment has been made and

the project has been rolled out. Based on our research Project Hermes will show an ROI

of 189% after the 1st year. This number is based on a discount rate of 10 percent per year.

Project Hermes ROI/Benefit Detail:

There were three major benefit areas that factor into the actual benefit(s) if we were to

implement Project Hermes. It should be noted that one of the four areas are intangible,

but are facilitated only through the implementation of Project Hermes and directly affect

the bottom line. The areas are as follows:

Reduced Inventory Management overhead

o Our current inventory process includes a team of 8 people at each store

which provide inventory control and asset management. Most team roles

are redundant. The currently antiquated process we have in place now

predicates inventory tracking and management using paper, then entering

that information into a computer terminal. If we were to implement

Project Hermes, it would expedite the data entry process and reduce the

number of people needed by half.

o The paper saving benefit

$125.00 per month/per location

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$1500.00 per year/per location

$105.000.00 per year all locations

o Reduced employee overhead benefit

Average employee wage $23,000.00

Average yearly wage per location for 4 employees $92,000.00

Total for all locations $6,440,00.00

Reduced Telecommunications expenditure

o With the advent of the Internet, there has been a push to find new and

inventive ways to make it a tool, or even create tools to utilize it for

something other than electronic commerce. A tool that can just that is the

voice over the Internet Protocol (VoIP). VoIP allows a shift from

traditional land-line telephone technology to the utilization of the Internet

Protocol for voice communications. With the introduction of VoIP, we

can have voice and data connections to our store locations over a single

wire. With this, we can reduce our traditional long distance charges and

completely by-pass the phone company when making intra-store calls.

Using VoIP technology we will be able to reduce the cost of our long

distance expenses by 80%.

$226,000.00 Current Annual company long distance bill.

Benefit of implanting VoIP via Project Hermes:

$181,000.00

Increased inventory insight through enhanced inventory control mechanisms and

just-in-time (JIT) ordering system

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o Though indefinable, it should be noted that the ability to have items in

stock when a customer is ready to purchase will increase ROI though

customer satisfaction. Another aspect of JIT ordering is the reduction of

bulk stock and the hard and soft costs associated with an inefficient

ordering process.

The discount factor used in our equation for ROI is calculated at a rate of 10 percent per

year.

Discount Factor = 0.91

The total cost of the project is $2,322,903.00.

Cost = $2,322,903.00

The total benefit of Project Hermes is $6,726,000.00.

Benefit = $6,726,000.00

Total Discounted Benefit = $6,120,660.00

Total Discounted Cost = $2,113,841.73

ROI = 189%

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Schedule

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Feasibility Report for Project Hermes

Overview

The purpose of the Feasibility document is to determine the practicality of a project by gathering information and performing an analysis to determine whether it is likely to succeed and to offer an alternative plan if it is determined not to.

Assessment

Is the need for the product real?

Per numerous reports released by Yankee Group the correct VPN solution can optimize productivity of an enterprise by an enormous margin compared to non VPN solutions. Streamlining and securing company processes into a consistent format is a proven method to reduce waste and increase productivity and profit regardless of company objective.

Will this product affect company competitiveness in a positive manner?

Enabling a high speed, low process system to allow the expedition and accuracy of a point of sale system will inevitably increase productivity by reducing and removing the percentage of error and allowing less manpower and time to be used up by the process.

Are the cost projections realistic and acceptable?

Utilizing multiple review sites and vendor sites for cross comparison of product prices and reasonable alternatives, it cam be determined within a range of less than $100.00 per service sited and product recommended that the listed prices in the Cost and Resources documentation are reasonable and competitive. Each service sited and product submitted for review was compared not only to themselves but to products and services of like performance.

Conclusion

The research conducted reveals a low cost by comparison to similar services and competitively priced for technology and products required in order to bring this project to completion. It is our finding that the project is feasible in its currently submitted format. There is no need for an alternative plan at this time.

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Risk

What might go wrong and how have we prepared?

Yeehaw Toys has undergone this project with the understanding that there could be many

project oriented risks that could delay the project or provide a negative impact to the

company. These risks include acquisition costs over time, technical training of in-store

managers and inventory personnel, underestimation of broadband costs in remote

locations, current firm contracts for land-line POTS in individual stores, and a potentially

underestimated contingency budget. This document will try to address all of these issues.

Risk: Acquisition Costs over Time

o This project is undergoing estimation based on multiple suppliers for

costs. The project could go over budget if there is a correction in the price

of IT and security equipment. This could have a severe negative impact.

Our plan for dealing with this is built into our project contingency. Since

the equipment we estimated in our cost documentation had a fixed price,

we should set aside a good percentage of our contingency to potentially

cover any price fluctuations in equipment acquisitions. Twenty percent

(20%) should be used to cover this potential risk ($20,000).

Technical Training of In-Store Managers and Inventory Personnel

o Currently, we have set aside training dollars to cover education of

managers and inventory personnel. However, we are a toy company. It’s

very possible that the technical nature of this project will be challenging to

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our store personnel. The training dollars may not be enough. Additionally,

we may need to acquire extra labor to cover this issue. Our plan for

dealing with this is to currently cover this with training dollars. If needed,

we will have to hire additional people to take care of the systems in major

markets.

Underestimation of Costs for Broadband

o Since the telecommunications industry is a fluctuating market, we have

the risk of not being able to guarantee these prices in 12 months. Our plan

here should be to set aside some contingency for line setup, possibly

twenty percent of our contingency should be set aside just to cover price

fluctuations in the broadband market.

Current Firm Contracts for Land-line POTS in Individual Stores

o As we opened stores over the years, we negotiated POTS lines with the

local phone companies. As of this time, there has not been enough due-

diligence to know whether or not these contracts are still binding or have

any time clauses in them. We might need to set aside ten percent of

contingency in order to cover court costs and analysis to make sure that

we can sever any of the contracts we discover. This risk has a low

probability.

Underestimated Contingency

o The budget for the main part of this project is at $1.2 million dollars.

Currently, we’ve set aside less than ten percent for that budget which is a

high risk. As you can see from the other risks here, we need to account for

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these additional problems that we might encounter. A good plan would be

to revisit the cost plan and attempt to frontload contingency from the

future budgets in order to ensure quality of the project at launch.

In addition, we see risks to the installed system that we should consider to inform us of

the possibilities of problems in the future which will compromise the success of the

project. These risk events include hacking of the wireless network, network outages, theft

or vandalism of access points and management system crashes. System related risks are

listed below:

Hacking of the Wireless Network

o There is the potential for disruption of inventory and order systems. The

system is set to use WPA encryption and all devices authenticate against a

RADIUS server at the home office. Even if a hacker is able to gain access

to the network they will still be required to authenticate with the corporate

servers. Our corporate firewalls provide a lot of protection. This risk has

low to moderate potential.

Network Outages

o There is a disadvantage that stores will be unable to authenticate if the

network is down. This means that only the cabled computers will function

properly. All stores will be able to continue sales as normal but they will

not be able to place orders or upload data to corporate. Our service

agreement with the IPS guarantees a 99% uptime so this should not be a

huge problem. Also, while the system is managed centrally, each store

operates independent of all other locations. This risk has low potential.

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Vandalism of Access Points

o The destruction or theft of a access point will render a portion of the

network non-operational. The system will see the loss of an access point

and will trigger an alarm for IT. The system automatically sees gaps in

the network and will attempt to compensate. The access points use a

proprietary technology and are useless to the average user. Access points

also look like smoke detectors and thus appear as less of a target. This risk

has low potential.

Management of System Crashes

o There is a potential of the loss of ability to manage the wireless network.

Each switch maintains a copy of the configuration for the access points in

that location. A switch located at corporate will act as backup in case of a

failure a switch at a store location. (I just spent $6000 of the contingency

budget) In case of loss of the central management system a new system

could be brought on-line the backups restored and total functionally

restored in about 4 - 6 hours. The system would continue to run as usual if

the management system is down. This risk has low potential.

What potential opportunities might we try to exploit?

There are many possibilities for coming under budget on this project and completing it

early. This is a very good opportunity for the company. The opportunities include: costs

for broadband reducing because of a saturated market, a reduced cost for wireless

equipment due to new technology introduction, additional trained labor resources for

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installation and configuration and simple infrastructure in the stores that can be built over

to complete the project early. Because the broadband market is always in a competition

between cable, satellite, fiber and copper technologies, it is likely that we might see a

competitive cost reduction within the year for running broadband service to the stores.

This could save us considerable funds. Additionally, as new wireless technologies are

released, older technologies might be purchased at a reduced cost. We do not intend to be

early adopters so it’s possible that we could acquire some of our equipment later in the

project and save funds that could be used for training or contingency. Since IT staffing

has become easier and wireless technologies have continued to move into the stores, it is

likely that we might have at least one potential wireless expert in each of our stores. If

our due diligence shows this, we will save some time and money on training resources.

We could potentially gain here by using that one person to train additional resources in

the market. Finally, since we have only completed cursory due diligence on infrastructure

already in the stores, it’s possible that installation and configuration will be easier

because we will not have to remove existing infrastructure or we can use existing

infrastructure as a part of the system. This would be a great benefit.

Plan for Continual Monitoring of New Risks:

A risk register will be created to track the initial risks of the project with many data

points. This register will be held in a database and accessed dynamically using Microsoft

Office SharePoint Server 2007. This will allow the team to analyze and correct the risk

register over the lifetime of the project. The initial register will be created using

quantitative and qualitative analysis of risks based on due diligence performed. A

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SharePoint Web Part which will be available to every project member will track the Top

Ten Risks from the register. Ongoing analysis will be performed on a bi-weekly basis and

will be managed through a project team risk status meeting. If that meeting discovers new

risks related with the project, not only will those risks be added to the register but they

will inform what additional tasks or workarounds might need to be carried out to cover

the risk. Additionally, escalation to the sponsors will be determined in these meetings and

will be carried to them through the Overall PM and Engagement Manager roles.

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Responsibilities for team members in Risk Management:

Below is a list of the resources involved in the project and their role in risk management.

Project Co-Sponsors: Vice President of Retail Operations, Vice President of

Information Technology

o The co-sponsors will have the final word on taking care of risk. They will

need to be sufficiently briefed to make these decisions. This will be the job

of both the overall project manager and the risk manager to make them

aware of the possibilities.

Help Desk and Retail Support Team: Director of Retail Support

o This support team needs to understand and implement a plan around

training in order to cover their risks.

Network Operations Group (NOG)

o While this group must be concerned about labor resources, they should

make sure that all system level risks are addressed up through the project

team.

Office of Systems Engineering (OSE)

o Systems Engineering needs to be involved to point out any risks regarding

acquisition and configuration.

Store Managers

o The store managers will assist in due diligence. As risks inside individual

stores become visible, they need to communicate what they find to the

project team.

Inventory Control: Director of Retail Inventory Control

o The inventory control director needs to be responsible for assessing their

staff and determining the technical level of the staff. They need to produce

a report of this to cover the risks of underestimation around training.

Project Team: NetSec (Project Management and Execution Team)


Responsible for delivering risks to Sponsors


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Managing risk assessment documentation and risk events in the risk register.


Responsible for due diligence around stores, equipment and technology

markets.


Responsibility for assessment of labor risks.


Responsible for assessment of overuse of marketing funds.


Aggregator of risk information and analysis.


An additional communicator with project sponsors about risk.

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Requirements and Constrains

Description of Product

The Hermes wireless network project has been designed to add functionality and a

means of communication to each of our store locations. The main goals include reducing

costs and simplifying the current inventory and asset tracking processes as well as adding

a new location-to-location method of communication.

The users that will be largely affected by the new network will be those involved

in inventory and asset management. Once the network is in place employees will be

assigned a hand-held device that connects directly to the wireless network. These hand-

held devices will allow live data input into the inventory database as items are scanned

and assessed. This is replacing a long process of manually counting, documenting, and

then hand entering the item information into the inventory system database one item at a

time.

Users that often contact or communicate with other stores will also notice a

change. Phones will be changed over so that long distance will no longer be used to call

from location-to-location, but Voice over IP (VOIP) will replace this costly

communication method.

Hardware

The hardware required at the corporate offices for Project Hermes will include

close to 7 management switches and a management server used to manage the switches

and access points.

Software

Hermes will be setup to work with the current software configuration and will

require minimal changes at this time. The Hermes project leaves the door open for

software possibilities down the road, but will not be included in the scope of this project.

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Client machines and hand-held devices will be able to connect to the wireless

network was long as the supported Operating Systems has been updated with the most

recent updates and patches. At this point there are no known limitations of operating

systems.

Work Environment

The work environment will be the retail and warehouse floors at each store

location. The entire floor should be covered with wireless access so that employees can

always be reached on their assigned wireless devices and calls will not be dropped while

moving around within the store.

Training and Documentation

Hand-held device training as well as a quick employee VOIP training with the

phone system will be provided upon installation. The training sessions will be held on

the day of the install either before opening or after closing; whichever is most convenient

to store employees and managers.

Major Business Decisions

Purchases that must be approved in order for this project to succeed are the; 1)

main wireless switches to be housed in the corporate offices, 2) wireless access points to

cover each location with adequate wireless signal, 3) Wireless Controller Server to setup,

configure, and manage the wireless network.

Wireless Network and VOIP Installation:

Deployment

Step 1 Purchase of hardware

Step 2 Configuration of access points

Step 3 Installation of Access points

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Tuning

Step 1 Set Auto Tune on each location

Step 2 Complete building evaluations

Step 3 Document and save results

VOIP Conversion

Step 1 Installation of PRI lines at corporate

Step 2 Redirect of phones to VOIP network

Step 3 Shutdown of old POTS lines

Training -

Step 1 – Training of IT on new systems

Step 2 – Training of Managers

Step 3 – Training of Employees

Maintenance-

Step 1 – Monthly documentation and backups

Step 2 – Tuning on annual or biannual basis as needed.

Step 3 – Continued training of new employees.

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Code

Firewall Rule Set (outbound from locations)

Allow port 80 to Internet

Allow port 443 (HTTPS to Internet)

Allow all traffic to Corporate

Block all other traffic

Firewall Rule Set (Inbound to locations)

Allow port 80 from Internet

Allow port 443 (HTTPS from Internet)

Allow all traffic from Corporate


ACL Rule Set for Wireless Switches

Allow only HTTP, HTTPS and DNS traffic


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Screen shots

Tod will insert screen shots here.

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Hermes Final Draft 1.8 6 7 07

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Transcript of Hermes Final Draft 1.8 6 7 07