Homework Assignment #3Homework Assignment #3Green_Delivery_rusGreen_Delivery_rus

Group A

NO CPM -2

cost/benefit - 3

DFD - 3

grade 37/45

Executive report

Green_Delivery_rus.com, an innovative startup company, owned by Sam, Lisa and Lee, that offers online delivery service to people who are either too busy or are not capable of performing tasks on their own. Three services they intend to offer include: Taking food orders, making emergency appointments and providing and making appointments for rides.

Green_Delivery_rus.com will provide links to menus of several local restaurants, hospitals and taxis and will charge a reference fee for the service. While catering primarily local to Baltimore, plans are set to start delivery in Virginia and the Delaware area in 2012. To run a “green conscious” operation, we have been asked to plan and design a “green” system for Green_Delivery_rus.com.

The plan is to create an e-commerce company, with the domain name Green_Delivery_rus.com. The primary source of revenues will be through fees assessed to customers for the service provided. Additionally, revenue will be generated by advertisement space offered to local merchants. Preliminary Activities necessary to set the company include gathering business names, addresses and contact information from of local restaurants, transportation services and local hospitals. We will also require service specific information such as menus for a given restaurant and physician directories.

Group Members

Stuart AikenAvrohom Friedman

Brandon Michael GoldschmittJohnny A Rueda

Professor A. Aggarwal gKAggarwal

Staff required to run Green_Delivery_rus.com will include the following positions and annual salaries: A project manager at $60,000, a web designer at $50,000, A web content manager at $70,000, a website manager at $100,000. The team will require an office space of approximately 600 square feet as well as computer related equipment and software that will cost no more than $3,000. To successfully launch Green_Delivery_rus.com, it is critical that the website design be easily navigated by customers, provide payment security, be well advertised and validated by third parties.

The included Work Breakdown structure provides the framework by which Green_Delivery_rus.com will operate. The diagram subdivides each of the three services into four project management phases: planning, executing, controlling and verifying. Organized into each phase are the associated activities. In a separate PDF, the combined Critical Path, project schedule and the Gantt chart provide a timeline of 42 days; the projecting beginning by determining the customer base on May 14 th, 2010 and being fully operational on July 13th, 2010.

There are potential risks associated with the project that threaten the success of

Green_Delivery_rus.com. The website could misidentify the potential market for services.(website does not IDENTIFY markets!!!) A well-designed market survey will ensure that all potential customers are identified. Initially, the system may not meet all customer needs. Customer feedback is vital to adapting the company through an always-changing environment. The staff must always maintain the online delivery system, but may lack certain technical expertise; developing standard operating procedures and required training will keep them prepared. Green_Delivery_rus.com also runs the risk of system downtown or even worse data loss. Designing recovery plans and remote data backup will protect customers and limit the negative repercussions.

A component-based system development methodology would be appropriate for Green_Delivery_rus.com. With this system, developers can concentrate more on the main features of the system rather than the basic components. The developers can combine components that are already commercially available to make its system more appealing to users. OK, identify components like shopping carts, site security system..) Commercially used components will be of high quality and can be upgraded more easily than an entirely new system, ultimately freeing up more time to focus on customer satisfaction.

The attached context diagram demonstrates the food order processing system. This diagram graphically represents the components of the process: The square boxes represent the external entities; both the customers and the restaurants, the open rectangles represent data storage (restaurant, sales and order data) and the round boxes are the actual processes (inquiry, order processing and recording and invoicing). Arrows signify the flow of data.

1. Define the scope of the project

Green_Delivery_rus.com will be the domain name of an e-commerce company that provides services to individuals who wish not, for whatever reasons, perform certain services on their own behalf. Green_Delivery_rus.com will perform the following services: 1) provide individuals with links to local restaurant menus to assist them to order their own meals, 2) assist individuals in making emergency physician appointments by providing them with links to local hospital websites along with directories of physicians, and 3) provide individuals with links to local taxicab companies, shuttle services, and limousine companies to enable individuals to procure transportation.

Green_Delivery_rus.com will charge fees to individuals to permit them ready access to these links. However, at this time, Green_Delivery_rus.com will not deliver or provide individuals these requested services.

2. Base Line Plan

The plan is to create an e-commerce company, with the domain name Green_Delivery_rus.com, that will initially provide to the public three types of services. The services will provide individuals with links to local restaurant menus, provide individuals links to local hospitals’ physician directories, and provide individuals with links to local transportation companies including taxicabs and shuttle services. Revenue will be generated by charging individuals fees for the use of these on-line links that can be found by navigating through the Website. Additional revenues will be generated through advertising by local merchants on the Website. Green_Delivery_rus.com will perform its activities consistent with sustainability of the environment and will acknowledge these efforts on its Website.

This e-company will operate under the domain name of Green_Delivery_rus.com, and will only revise this name should this domain name be found to be unavailable. Preliminary activities necessary to set up this e-commerce company require research in the form of identifying and gathering business names, physical addresses and e-mail addresses (if possible), phone numbers, and contact names of local restaurants, their food specialties, and their menus. The business names, addresses, phone numbers, and contact names of local taxicab companies, shuttle services, and limousine services will be identified and gathered. The names of local hospitals along with physician directories will be identified along with addresses and phone numbers of the hospital and physicians.

A project manager will be hired at an annual salary of $90,000 in order to perform duties for Green_Delivery_rus.com to make it a going concern. The project manager will be given responsibilities of organizing the company as a viable entity by making certain all aspects of Green_Delivery_rus.com are functioning properly. Among the duties, the project manager will employ the appropriate professionals to make certain the company’s Website is set up and operating smoothly utilizing the proper safeguards. A marketing research analyst will also be initially hired at an annualized salary of $55,000 and will be given the responsibility of determining the customer base, performing research on pricing, and creating an advertising strategy. The marketing research analyst will execute much of his/her duties during the first twenty days of this project.

The project manager will also make certain the various business names are identified and gathered. The project manager will obtain the necessary office space that will be well suited for computer equipment including a desk top, monitor, and printer. The computer related equipment and software should cost no more than $3,000 and be appropriate to facilitate operations of Green_Delivery_rus.com. The project manager will assume responsibility of making certain that a database is properly developed including the names, addresses, and phone numbers of restaurants, transportation companies, hospitals and physicians following discussions with these organizations over a 16-day period.

The project manager will also be given the appropriate time to interview and hire a Web Designer. The Web Designer will be offered an annualized salary of $50,000 and will be held responsible to create the appropriate graphic sketches and layouts of the on-line content. A Web Content Manager will also be engaged at an annualized salary of $83,000 to make certain all documents meet established content standards. The project manager will also hire a Website Manager who will be responsible for development and implementation of the company’s Website; the Website Manager will monitor web traffic and maintain the web server. The Web Master will be offered an annual salary of $100,000. The

Web Designer, Web Content Manager, and Website Manager will all report to the project manager. The Web Designer and the Web Content Manager will be hired by the project manager within three weeks in order to enable the Software to be prototyped and then be deemed operational.

The project manager will immediately purchase the domain name Green_Delivery_rus.com and register it with a domain name registrar to enable operations to begin under this domain name.

Should business become extraordinarily profitable in the time span of three years or more, it is conceivable that Green_Delivery_rus.com may expand these three services into the Washington, D.C. metropolitan region. It is also conceivable that Green_Delivery_rus.com could franchise similar businesses in major metropolitan areas of the continental United States.

Reference for Salaries:

http://www.salary.com

3. List of critical Success factors

these factors are all related to website..need to look at overall business factors also

a. Website Design must be easily read, understood, with modest well designed graphics and easy for customers to navigate

b. Website must be well advertised to the Baltimore metropolitan areac. Website must provide a secure payment process for customersd. Website should have a third-party validation, for example, by social networking (????)

4. Resource Requirement, allocation and analysis

Human Resources:

Project Manager—full time—annual salary $90,000

Web Content Manager—part time—annualized salary $83,000

Website Designer—part time—annualized salary $50,000

Website Manager—full time—annual salary $100,000

Marketing Research Analyst—part time—annualized salary $55,000

Technical Resources:

Dell Computer including monitor, printer, and Microsoft Word, Excel, and Access--$3000

Telecommunications system--$1,000 annually

software: important for ebiz

shopping cart

secure payment

need to identify tangible/intangible benefits and find break even point!!!

5. Work Breakdown Structure

6. Combined Critical Path, project Schedule and Gantt Chart –See PDF File

CPM consists of networked tasks, it is not in the pdf file

7. Risk associated with the project and how to control/mitigate these risks.(page 535)

(good)

Green_Delivery_rus.com may have potential problems that would threaten the success of the implementation of its new online delivery service. To decrease the impact of these potential problems of cost, time, and quality of project output, the following risks have been identified and control/preventive measures have been defined to mitigate their impact:

Risk Description Control/preventive measure

Misidentification of the potential market for the services provided by Green_Delivery_rus.com

During the project phase of planning, the company must identify which are going to be its potential customers. Misidentifying the future customers/market could be potentially disastrous for Green_delivery_rus.com. Green_delivery_rus.com will use the characteristics of these potential customers as inputs to design its online delivery system, advertising campaign, and specific restaurants/hospitals and other sites that will be linked to their system.

Market survey: Developing a well-designed survey will ensure that the company obtains the information needed to identify its potential customers and their needs.

System not meeting customer needs (system functionality)

Green_Delivery_rus.com must ensure that the online delivery system to be implemented meets all customers’ needs. The company should evaluate its capacity to meet the necessities of the customer and adapt to any future changes. Green_Delivery_rus.com should also be able to identify if the hospitals/restaurants/sources of transportation linked to their online delivery system are attractive to its customers. If the online delivery system is not found attractive and/or useful by the customers, Green_Delivery_rus.com will not be in the market long, and its potential customers will not use its services.

Obtain feedback from customers: To ensure that the system meets the needs of its potential customers, feedback from customers should be included throughout the design, implementation and maintenance of the system. The company must be able to identify changes and new customer needs. The use of service rating surveys and spaces where the customer is able to express its suggestion/concerns about the system are required. The feedback model presented by Ebay may be implemented to identify the level of customer satisfaction. Also, the online delivery system may include a section/link where customers are able to express suggestions/concerns about the system like “contact us”.

Staff in charge of maintaining the system lacks of technical expertise.

The staff required to maintain the online delivery system should have some technical expertise to work with the hardware/software required. Not having personnel with these capabilities will endanger the ability of the company to provide support to customers

Create procedures, reaction plans, and other SOPs: The team in charge of the system’s design and implementation should define critical processes of the online delivery system, steps to be

and to troubleshoot the system itself. followed to guarantee that those processes work well, and how to proceed in case there is a system malfunction. By having this type of document available, the company ensures that its personnel have the instructions necessary to maintain the delivery system, even if they lack of technical expertise.

Training/Capacitation: Green_Delivery_rus.com should implement a training program to ensure that its personnel possess the knowledge required to maintain the delivery system. Also, the HR department of Green_Delivery_rus.com must identify the educational and experiential requirements for the staff in charge of maintaining the system prior to their incorporation to the company.

Loss of data Information regarding customers may be lost due to system errors or attacks by hackers. Since customer information may be protected by law and cannot be shared with others without authorization from the customer, the company must ensure that this data is secure and protected from hackers. Also, information regarding customers may be critical to identify new potential services or to identify new customers.

Backup data: Use a remote storage service like Amazon’s S3 service (simple storage service) to backup data on a regular basis and in a cost-efficient way.

Obtain proper firewall, antivirus software to prevent hackers from accessing local servers.

System availability Since Green_Delivery_rus.com will offer its services through an online delivery system, it must ensure that the system is available and ready for access 24/7. Any system downtime may result in lost sales for the company and customer dissatisfaction. Since the company cannot guarantee that the online delivery system will be available 24/7, Green_Delivery_rus.com needs to make sure that any downtime is minimized.

Design recovery plans to have the system up and running within 24 hours after a system failure.

Have backup servers available to minimize downtime.

The aforementioned table demonstrates some risks that Green_Delivery_rus.com may encounter. However, every project has additional risks like increase cost over budget,

implementation time over actual time, etc. The project manager must ensure that controls are implemented to execute the project within the scheduled time/cost/etc. Tools like Gant and pert charts help project managers to achieve this.

8. What would be an appropriate system development methodology and why?

An appropriate methodology for Green_Delivery_rus.com to implement its online delivery system would be the component-based system development. By using this methodology, the system developers can concentrate more on the main features of the system rather than on the basic components of the application. The system developers may be able to combine commercially available components for customer secure payment, third-party validation, user authentication, catalog searching (different hospitals, restaurants, and sources of transportation available in a specific part of Baltimore - or any other region covered by the system), and Google maps among others, to make its system more useful and attractive to customers. OK good By having more time available to focus on the main features of the delivery system, the developers can work close with customers to ensure that these main features meet the customers’ needs (identified during the planning phase of the project.) Using components to develop its system will also allow the company to easily upgrade the components of the current system if a new component is introduced. This feature allows Green_Delivery_rus.com to update its system without any major programming required. Using commercially available components also improves the quality/reliability of the overall system. Reusable components have been tested multiple times prior to its release and they may be more reliable than systems that have been just programmed. Overall it would be more appropriate for Green_Delivery_rus.com to use component-based system methodology because the system will be implemented efficiently, the quality and reliability of the system will be superior, and the system may be updated easily.

Customer1.0

Restaurant/menu inquiry

Inquiry

Inquiry results

Restaurant/menu dataD1

Restaurant/menu information

2.0

Record and invoice sales

Customer detailsOrder detailsInvoice

Sales orderD3

Customer dataD2

Customer details

Order details

Customer address/name

Order details

3.0

Order processing

Restaurant

P.O. InvoiceP.O. numberOrder details

Customer address/name

Product delivery

9. One of the processes identified is food order processing system. Draw the context diagram (data flow diagram) for this process (page 496)

Context diagram only has one main process, in this case

ORDER system

data can not flow directly among entities must go through process (see discussion question)

Need credit Agency to verify payments

Appendix A: Grading Criteria

Requirements Maximum Points YOUR Points

Executive Report with recommendations

10

Parts 1-4 10

Part 5 5

Part 6 5

Part 7 5

Part 8 5

Part 9 5

TOTAL 45