Managing the Company Information Systems using Project Management

Techniques

A Project Report

Presented to

The Faculty of the Department of General Engineering

San José State University

In Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements for the Degree

Master of Science in Engineering

By

Rajani Malkapur

Venu Madhav Nanenuganti

Keerthi Jyothirmayi Tatavarthi

May 2011

© 2011

Malkapur Rajani Reddy

Nanenuganti Venu Madhav

Tatavarthi Keerthi Jyothirmayi

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

SAN JOSÉ STATE UNIVERSITY

The Undersigned Project Committee Approves the Project Titled

Managing the development of Company Information Systems using Project Management

techniques

By

Malkapur Rajani Reddy

Nanenuganti Venu Madhav

Tatavarthi Keerthi Jyothirmayi

APPROVED FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF MASTER OF SCIENCE IN ENGINEERING

_____________________________________________________________________________

Dr. Leonard Wesley, MSE Director General Engineering, Date

Associate Prof. Computer Engineering

Dr. Maryam Mobed Miremadi, Department of General Engineering, Date

Mr. Jay Kalra, Vice President of Operations, Catalyst Business Partners Date

ABSTRACT

Managing the development of Company Information Systems using Project Management

techniques

By

Malkapur Rajani Reddy

Nanenuganti Venu Madhav

Tatavarthi Keerthi Jyothirmayi

Company Information Systems is a web-based application that will help the employees

of Catalyst Business Partners to enter their time, travel and expense requests online from any

Catalyst office's located worldwide. This web application will minimize the number of steps

Catalyst employees have to follow in order to submit their request forms to their respective

managers. The project management model that is being followed to execute this project is the

ADDIE (Analysis, Design, Develop, Implement and Evaluate) model which is further illustrated

in the Project Management Model section.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We are extremely grateful to Mr. Jay Kalra, Industrial Advisor, for giving us the

opportunity to work as a part of a real time project at Catalyst Business Partners. We are really

thankful for his unwavering support and guidance throughout the semester. We express our deep

gratitude to Dr. Maryam Mobed Miremadi for her continuous participation and enormous help

that made us understand our project goal better.

We would like to convey our great respect and appreciation to Dr. Leonard Wesley for his

tremendous contribution in coordinating the course throughout the semester.

CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………………1

1.1 Introduction of Catalyst Business Partners…………………………………………..1

1.2 Problem Statement…………………………………………………………………...1

1.3 Problem Solution……………………………………………………………………..3

1.4 Project Scope…………………………………………………………………………4

1.5 Project Hypothesis……………………………………………………………………5

1.6 Project Goals………………………………………………………………………….5

1.7 Project Justification and Testing Methods …………………………………………..6

1.8 Market Research……………………………………………………………………...6

1.9 Initial Designs of User Interface……………………………………………………..7

2. WORKFLOW DIAGRAMS……………………………………………………………….8

2.1 Timesheet Workflow………………………………………………………………….8

2.2 Expenses Workflow…………………………………………………………………..9

3. PROJECT MANAGEMENT MODEL………………………………………………….10

3.1 Introduction …………………………………………………………………………10

3.2 Analysis and Techniques……………………………………………………………..10

3.3 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………14

4. ECONOMIC JUSTIFICATION…………………………………………………………...14

4.1 Components Required………………………………………………………………..14

4.2 Operating Cost………………………………………………………………………..15

4.3 Revenue Generation…………………………………………………………………..16

4.4 Return of Investment…………………………………………………………………18

4.5 Norden-Rayleigh Analysis……………………………………………………………20

5. PROJECT JUSTIFICATION……………………………………………………………..24

6. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY…………………………………………………………..27

7. SWOT ANALYSIS……………………………………………………………………….30

8. PROJECT SCHEDULE…………………………………………………………………..31

9. SCREENSHOTS OF USER INTERFACE……………………………………………….32

10. CONCLUSION………………………………………………………………………….36

REFERENCES………………………………………………………………………………37

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Timesheet Excel Document ………………………………………………………….2

Figure 2: Travel Approval Excel Document …………………………………………………...2

Figure 3: Expense Sheet Excel Document ……………………………………………………..2

Figure 4: Approval Process- Before Automation ………………………………………………3

Figure 5: Graphical User Interface of Company Information System ………………………...4

Figure 6: Approval Process- After Automation ………………………………………………..4

Figure 7: Timesheet User Interface …………………………………………………………….7

Figure 8: Travel User Interface …………………………………………………………………7

Figure 9: Expenses User Interface ……………………………………………………………...7

Figure 10: Timesheet Workflow ………………………………………………………………..8

Figure 11: Expenses Workflow …………………………………………………………………9

Figure 12: Addie Model ………………………………………………………………………..10

Figure 13: Initial Break-Down Cost ……………………………………………………………13

Figure 14: Total Cost Break-Down …………………………………………………………….15

Figure 15: Break Even Graph …………………………………………………………………...17

Figure 16: Cumulative Funding Over Time……………………………………………………………...21

Figure 17: Funding Profile over Time …………………………………………………………………...23

Figure 18: Project Schedule …………………………………………………………………….27

Figure 19: Enter Timesheet ……………………………………………………………………...31

Figure 20: Track Timesheet ……………………………………………………………………..31

Figure 21: Submit Timesheet ……………………………………………………………………32

Figure 22: Enter Travel Request ………………………………………………………………...32

Figure 23: Track Travel Request ………………………………………………………………..33

Figure 24: Enter Expenses……………………………………………………………………….33

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Applications available in the market…………………………………………………….6

Table 2: Comparison with other applications …………………………………………………..12

Table 3: Hardware Components ………………………………………………………………...14

Table 4: Software Components ………………………………………………………………….14

Table 5: Equipment Cost ………………………………………………………………………..16

Table 6: Labor Cost ……………………………………………………………………………..17

Table 7: Maintenance Cost ……………………………………………………………………...18

Table 8: Total Cost ………………………………………………………………………………23

Table 9: Revenue Generation ……………………………………………………………………24

Table 10: Cost Analysis …………………………………………………………………………26

Table 11: Revenue Analysis …………………………………………………………………….27

Table 12: Norden-Rayleigh Analysis ……………………………………………………………29

Table 13: SWOT Analysis……………………………………………………………………….30

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Introduction of Catalyst Business Partners

Catalyst Business Partners, founded in 2002 is an IT consulting company

headquartered in San Jose, United States. Catalyst offers expertise in implementing, upgrading,

maintaining and training of Oracle products. Catalyst is partnered with Oracle and it is a global

company consisting of more than 200 employees. It has offices located in Cameroon, Dubai,

India, Ivory Coast, Mali, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal and San Jose. Catalyst comprises of five

departments namely: Sales, Marketing, Delivery, Finance, and Operations. The sales department

is responsible for maintaining public relations and helping Catalyst win new contracts from

different regions. The Marketing department is involved in maintaining Catalyst image

consistently. Delivery department is accountable for customizing the oracle products and

delivering the customized products to the clients directly. Finance is responsible for managing

Catalyst funds and the Operations department is mainly involved in providing support for all the

other departments of Catalyst.

1.2 Problem Statement

The delivery and sales teams of Catalyst are using an Excel document to record

their time, to enter their travel requests, to enter their expenses and to capture the client contracts.

The employees need to get the signature of their managers on these Excel sheets. This is a very

time consuming process since most of time, the employees have to fax the Excel sheets to their

offshore manager's and wait for the approved forms to return.

Shown below are the three Excel sheets that Catalyst employees are presently using to capture

time, travel and expense requests:

Figure 1: Timesheet Excel Document

Figure 2: Travel Approval Excel Document

Figure 3: Expense Sheet Excel Document

Since there is a delay in the submission/approval process, the efficiency of Catalyst is getting

affected. The approval process is shown in the following figure:

Steps the employee has to follow:

Take a printout of the Fill in the details Fax the form to the

request form manager for

approval

Steps the manager has to follow:

Take a printout of

the request form Sign the form Fax the form back

sent by the employee to the employee

Figure 4: Approval Process- Before automations

Source: Malkapur, Rajani

As seen above, the approval process is a hectic six step process and involves a lot of printouts

and effort from the employees.

1.3 Problem Solution

To minimize this problem, it is important to automate the whole submission

process and to discard the use of Excel sheets for submission. A web based application which

will allow the employees to submit their timesheets online and which will provide an interface to

enter their travel requests and expenses online will eliminate the use of the Excel documents; this

will save a lot of time and will increase the efficiency of the company.

Company Information System would be a website which will provide access to three

applications namely: Timesheet, Expenses and Travel.

Shown below is the preliminary design of the graphical user interface for Company Information

System:

Figure 5: Graphical user Interface of Company Information System

The approval process will be minimized to a mere four step process which will not include

printouts and faxing. The employees will send their requests with just one click.

Employee fills the Sends the request Manager gets Approves the

details online on Catalyst form in one click notification thru request online and

Information website for approval e-mail employee is notified

Figure 6: Approval Process- After Automation

Source: Malkapur, Rajani

1.4 Project Scope

The Company Information Systems website will be accessed by all the employees of

Catalyst. This application will reduce the effort and time spent by the employees on the

submission process and will provide with faster processing of requests which will increase the

efficiency of Catalyst. This application will be developed using JAVA and is estimated to be

finished in six to eight months. The project management model that is being used is ADDIE

(Analysis, Design, Develop, Implement and Evaluate).

1.5 Project Hypothesis

To increase the efficiency of Catalyst Business Partners by 40%. This will be

done by managing the development of an application called Company Information System using

the Project Management Techniques.

1.6 Project Goals

Project goals are listed below:

To eliminate the use of Excel documents for the submission of requests

To increase efficiency of Catalyst which will in turn increase the revenue

To save the time spent by the employees

To reduce the use of paper by more than 70%

To make tracking of requests more easier

To calculate the business profitability

1.7 Project Justification and Testing Methods

The project justification will be shown by calculating the cost benefits, the time

saved by the employees and by showing the percentage increase in the efficiency of catalyst. All

of these goals will be achieved by providing an online interface to the employees for submitting

the time, travel and expenses, these requests will be approved online by their respective

managers. Testing Method: The application will be tested by entering simulated data into the fields and

by getting the expected result. This application named Company Information System will allow the

employees to enter their time, travel, and expenses details online.

1.8 Market Research

There are a few applications available in the market namely: Replicon,

Analyzer and clicktime software. These software's are entitled to do one function and do

not provide all the features that the Company Integrated Systems will provide. There is

no proper software in the market with all the functionalities in one place that is

specifically designed for consulting companies like Catalyst.

A list of products that have a few similarities:

Table 1: Applications available in the market

Replicon- Timesheet

Replicon-Expenses

Expense Analyzer

Clicktime

Comparison of Company Information Systems to other applications available in the market:

Table 2: Comparison with other applications

Application Feature Replicon Clicktime Expense Analyzer Company

information

system

Travel Approval

Expenses

Time sheet

1.9 Initial Designs of User Interface

Shown below are a few graphical interfaces of the website:

Figure 7: Timesheet User Interface

Figure 8: Travel User Interface

Figure 9: Expenses User Interface

These are some preliminary designs of the user interface.

2.0 PROCESS WORKFLOW DIAGRAMS

2.1 Timesheet

Record Time

Consultant Manager

Enters the time

against each

activity using CIS

Are the details

acceptable

No

Make the required

changes and re-

submit

Approve the

timesheets

Yes

Figure 10: Timesheet Workflow

Source: Tatavarthi, Keerthi Jyothirmayi

2.2 Expense:

Record Expenses

Project Manager/Reporting

ManagerFinanceConsultant/Employee

Fills in the expenses in

the CIS system along

with the supporting

documents

Any Changes

required?Make corrections

and re-submitYes

Releases the payment

No

Figure 11: Expenses Workflow

Source: Tatavarthi, Keerthi Jyothirmayi

3.0 PROJECT MANAGEMENT MODEL

3.1 Introduction:

The aim was to research and read as many articles related to the project, these articles will help

the project team build a strong foundation and will lead to improved results. The benefits of following a

project management model are:

(1) Command over the concepts which would drive the project forward

(2) Knowledge on how to deal with all the phases of Project Life-Cycle

(3) Knowledge on Project Management Techniques which will guide the team towards the goal

3.2 Analysis and Techniques

ADDIE MODEL:

ADDIE is an instructional design model generally used by designers and training

developers. ADDIE is abbreviation for Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation and

Evaluation. This ADDIE model represents guidelines which a flexible to build good performance

and training tools. ADDIE model is also used in Instructional Design Model (ISD). ADDIE is

commonly used in other instructional design models and this also uses an additional feature

called rapid prototyping. This model is time saving and also saves money by detecting problems

and fixing them soon.

Figure 12: ADDIE Model Source: edweb.sdsu.edu/courses/edtec700/ETP/addie.htm

Website design Methodologies:

For a website to be successful, it needs to be made according to the consumer wants and needs.

It's more than just its visual design. A website design process has four methods within its

execution phase which are explained as follows:

Website Exploration: In this phase, the service provider's team spends a lot of time to

determine the purpose, marketing objectives, audiences and their expectations and their

competitors. Once all these aspects are thoroughly understood, the service provider will

make some recommendations about how best can they achieve their objectives.

Website Creation: The designers take the work done by them in the exploration phase and

then build concepts to start the website design. Then, the provider builds the website

according to the usability of the customers. For ease of use, website is made in accord to

the feel and look wanted by the users. Some of the tasks that should be understood are to

have a detailed site map of the architecture of the website. Any technical developments

should make sure that the function of the design meets the usability.

Website Evolution: Constructing the pages of the website comes in this phase. Website

should be constructed with navigational architecture for ease of use. Pages should be

populated with proper content and attractive graphics. All the technical requirements

should be coded for website interactivity. Finally, the website should be created with all

the menus and animations.

Website Deployment: This is the final stage of the project life cycle. This phase goes

through some steps before the website goes live. The website should be thoroughly tested

before releasing. A launch plan should be made, such as emails, newsletters etc for

awareness.

Project Life Cycle:

Project life cycle is another look for website designing. Once a web

development project proposal is agreed a sequence of steps take place which include

designing the interface, programming, text and sign off. For regular view about the

updates and progresses being done, virtual viewing tools will help us.

Design Phase:

This is build according to the project scope provided in the beginning of the proposal.

Here the project manager will brief the developers of the website to give the initial mock

up page of the website and then goes deeply into the pages where the actual accessing

part takes place. These inner key pages are developed according to the requirements of

the users which will be provided by the project manager. The detailed site map of the

website should be given by the project manager.

Programming Phase:

This is a crucial phase where the actual development of code takes place. The

construction of the list of pages of the website works out in this phase. The programming

should be done in such a way that the content to content incorporation occurs. In short,

there should be a link between content to content. After programming is done,

implementation takes place and checks whether the required elements of the site are

provided and the website databases and forms are stored.

Internal Testing:

Once the project implementation is over internal testing is done so as to confirm if its

build such that it justifies the project specification. Any issues can be verified and

corrected in this phase.

Acceptance testing:

This a key stage where the development version of our website is available for test

online. This stage is fully controlled by the project manager. This stage reviews that all

the functionalities are properly executed and also the visual interface is good. At this

stage, any problems aroused should be discussed with the project manager so that they

can resolve it before it comes online.

To populate the website framework with all the required contents, visuals and text. This

content can be made with the help of site map provided by project manager. The search

engine should be visible for the website to be user friendly and the number of pages also

should be optimized for reduce complexity.

Sign off and go live:

After all the issues have been cleared and the changes have been made, the website is

now ready to launch into public. At this stage, we can also provide tutorials to staff and

also to users on the usage of website.

Some other articles that were reviewed are:

o "Time Tracking Solutions in Insolvent Economy" by Replicon Inc

o "Expense Tracking Methods for Business Use" by LoopSin Inc

o "Website Design Methods" by Hans

These articles were very informative and relevant to our project.

3.3 Conclusion

The above exercise was very useful in understanding the procedures of

managing a software developing team. These principles when applied to reality will yield

high results. This review has helped us understand about the situations that would arise

during the implementation of the project. In conclusion, this exercise is a good practice

for improving knowledge and taking the project forward.

4.0 Economic Justification

4.1 Components Required:

Hardware Components: The hardware components required to support this

application are:

Table 3: Hardware Components

Application Server

UPS to keep the server running at all times

An application server is required to efficiently execute the procedures that support the

construction of applications. A java application is needed to run the procedures of Company-

Information-System. To keep the server running at all times an Un-interrupted power supply is

required. Company-information-system will be developed using JAVA.

Software Components:

Table 4: Software Components

Apache Software Foundation

Eclipse

Sequential query language developer tool

Edit Plus

Toad

Apache Software foundation is an open source servlet container that supports java server pages.

Java server pages are the website interface pages coded in Java. Eclipse and Edit plus are java

tools that are used to generating the code, these tools provide an environment to see the code

results from time to time. Oracle is used to talk to the database, so the SQL developer and Toad

are the two tools that support the creation of tables in oracle.

4.2 Operating Cost:

Equipment Cost:

Table 5: Equipment Cost

COMPONENT QUANTITY PRICE

Dell Server 1 $3000

UPS 1 $1000

Dell server was a onetime investment which cost $3000 and the UPS was $1000 to support the server.

Figure 13: Initial break-down cost

Dell Server, $3,000 , 75%

UPS, $1,000 , 25%

Break-Down one time cost

Dell Server

UPS

Labor Cost:

Table 6: Labor Cost

Title No. of Resources Pay( per day) Estimated

completion time

Total Pay

Software

Developer

2 $125 90 days

$22500

Application Tester 1 $65 30 days

$1950

Project Monitor 1 $115 120 days $13800

Interface designer 1 $85 60 days

$5100

Maintenance Cost:

Table 7: Maintenance Cost

Resource No. of resources Pay/Price

Dell server- maintenance 1 $350/ year

UPS-Maintenance 1 $150/year

Application Support 2 $15000/year

Total Cost:

Table 8: Total Cost

Type of cost Total cost

Equipment Cost $4000

Labor cost $43350

Maintenance cost $15500

Grand Total Cost $62850

Figure 14: Total Cost break-down

4.3 Revenue Generation:

According to the market research the price that catalyst can charge on this application will be

approximately $ 300/month per company for unlimited users.

Table 9: Revenue Generation

APPLICATION NAME FEATURE PRICE/MONTH

Replicon Timesheet & Expense track 450/month for 50 users

Clicktime Timesheet only $69/month for 50 users

Expense analyzer Expense track only $79/month for 100 users

Company Information System Timesheet, Expenses, and

Travel

$300/month for unlimited users

The above table shows the price that is being charged by the competitors, since they

provide access to either one or two applications and charge for a limited number of users

Equipment Cost

Labor cost

Maintenance cost

Total Cost Break-Down for the Initial Year

Company Information System will give access to three applications for unlimited users and

charge an amount of $300 per month.

4.4 Investment Capital Requirements:

Cost analysis:

Table 10: Cost Analysis

Developing cost, operating cost &

maintenance cost

For the 1st year $62,850

Maintenance cost only &

Software updates

For the 2nd year $45,000

Maintenance cost only & Support

Staff

For the 3rd year $40,000

Maintenance Cost only & Support

Staff & updating (If required)

For the 4th year $ 42,000

As specified in the cost table the cost for the first year is high, since there are three types of costs

namely: Equipment cost, Labor cost, and Maintenance cost. In the second year since there are is

less labor cost when compared to the first year. In the third year since we are not updating the

application there is a cost of $40,000.

Revenue analysis:

Table 11: Revenue Analysis

Charges per month No. of company's Total Revenue

$300 8 for year 1 $28,800

$300 12 for year 2 $43,200

$300 16 for year 3 $57,600

$300 20 for year 4 $72,000

The Revenue analysis table shows the revenue generated over four years; the first year's target

is to sell the product to eight companies increasing the sales by at least four companies per year.

The break-even point is met in the fourth year once the target of 20 companies is accomplished.

Cost Vs Revenue Table

Time period Total Cost Total Revenue

Year 1 $62,850 $28,800

Year 2 $45,000 $43,200

Year 3 $42,000 $57,600

Year 4 $40,000 $72,000

Total $189,850 $201,600

4.5 Return on Investment (ROI)

Formula that is used to calculate the return of investment is:

100*)(InvestmentofCost

InvestmentofCostInvestmentfromGainROI

ROI for four years (2011-2015) is shown below.

Initial year since the development costs take a major portion of the total cost, the total cost would

come up to $62,850. Targeting eight companies is the initial year the revenue generated is

$28,800.

a) ROI(for year 1)= (28,800-62850 * 100)÷ 62850= -54%

b) ROI (for year 2)= (72000-107850 *100)÷107850=-33%

c) ROI (for year 3)= (129600-149850 *100)÷149850=-13%

d) ROI (for year 4)= (201600-189850 *100)÷189850=6%

Cumulative cost Vs revenue:

Time period Total Cost Total Revenue

Year 1 $62,850 $28,800

Year 2 $107850 $72000

Year 3 $149850 $129600

Year 4 $189850 $201600

Year 5 $229,850 $288,000

Break –Even Analysis:

Figure 15: Break-Even Graph

The Cost versus Revenue table shows the total cost and the total revenue generated for that

corresponding year. The break-even point is met in the fourth year, and Catalyst will generate

$0

$50,000

$100,000

$150,000

$200,000

$250,000

$300,000

$350,000

1 2 3 4 5

Cumulative cost

Cumulative revenue

Number of Years

Dollars, $

Break- Even Anaylsis

profit in the subsequent years, since the cost will decrease, as shown in the graph. The revenue

will increase depending upon the number of customers. Target is to sell the product to 20

companies by the end of the fourth year.

4.6 Norden – Rayleigh model:

This model focuses on funding. It is useful in forecasting Time-to-go and Cost-to-go. This is

ideally useful in software development projects and hence we might want to use this further in

our website development. This is mentioned to be a valid tool in assessing funds and costs for the

development of programs. This model cannot be applied if the schedule is not certain.

Cumulative distribution functions for the Rayleigh:

V(t) = d(1-e-at2

)

Probability density functions for the Rayleigh:

v(t) = 2adte-at2

Where,

V (t) = Total effort expended

t = Time

d = Scale factor of the distribution

a = Shape parameter

Application of Rayleigh Curve:

Rayleigh Curve is called a valid tool which is capable to assess funding and the cost of

development programs. This model offers a proper reason and comparison at a project's funding

phase. Scale (d) and shape factor (a) are the values which help in building a profile.

There are some situations where the Rayleigh curve cannot be applied. When the details of a

schedule are not certain this curve cannot be applied. When a program has different sub

programs with starts and stops. For example, if a company funds more than one project within

the same funding profile.

Norden - Rayleigh Curve (NR Curve):

Cumulative expenditure over a certain period of time can be calculated with the help of NR

equation,

V(t) = d * (1 – e –a * t ^ 2)

a = -ln(.03) / tf2

t = 5 years

a = 0.14

V(t) = 62,850

62,850 = d * (1 – e -0.14 * t ^ 2)

d = 64794

Norden – Rayleigh Cumulative Expenditure over time:

Table 12: Norden-Rayleigh Analysis

T t2 - a * t

2 e

- a * t^2 1 - e

- a * t^2

d * (1 - e- a *

t^2)

0 0 0 1 0 0

1 1 -0.14 0.869 0.131 8488.014

2 4 -0.56 0.571 0.429 27796.626

3 9 -1.26 0.283 0.717 46457.298

4 16 -2.24 0.106 0.894 57925.836

5 25 -3.5 0.030 0.97 62850.18

6 36 -5.04 6.473E-3 0.986 63886.884

7 49 -6.86 1.048E-3 0.988 64016.472

8 64 -8.96 1.284E-4 0.999 64729.206

9 81 -11.34 1.188E-5 1 64794

10 100 -14 8.315E-7 1 64794

11 121 -16.94 4.395E-8 1 64794

12 144 -20.16 1.756E-9 1 64794

13 169 -23.66 5.303E-11 1 64794

14 196 -27.44 1.210E-12 1 64794

15 225 -31.5 2.087E-14 1 64794

16 256 -35.84 2.721E-16 1 64794

17 289 -40.46 2.681E-18 1 64794

18 324 -45.36

1.997E-

20 1

64794

19 361 -50.54 1.123E-22 1 64794

20 400 -56 4.780E-25 1 64794

We can see that our company's cumulative expenditure remains constant and the estimated cost

at completion (EAC) comes to $64,794 as soon as our product is released into the market.

Figure 16: Cumulative Funding Over Time:

0

10000

20000

30000

40000

50000

60000

70000

0 5 10 15 20 25

Do

llars

Time

Norden-Rayleigh Cumulative Funding Over Time

Norden-RayleighCumulativeExpenditure Over Time

Norden – Rayleigh Expenditure over Time:

The probability density function (pdf) for the Rayleigh is calculated as follows,

V(t) = 2adte- a * t^2

62,850 = 2 * 0.14 * d * 5 * e- 0.14 * 5^2

d = 1,496,428.571

t t2 - a * t

2 e

- a * t^2 2adte

- a * t^2

0 0 0 1 0

1 1 -0.14 0.869 364110.131

2 4 -0.56 0.571 478496.858

3 9 -1.26 0.283 355730.151

4 16 -2.24 0.106 177655.576

5 25 -3.5 0.030 62849.85

6 36 -5.04 6.473E-3 16273.083

7 49 -6.86 1.048E-3 3073.77

8 64 -8.96 1.284E-4 430.3957

9 81 -11.34 1.188E-5 44.79937

10 100 -14 8.315E-7 3.4839766

11 121 -16.94 4.395E-8 0.202565

12 144 -20.16 1.756E-9 8.829146E-3

13 169 -23.66 5.303E-11 2.88853E-4

14 196 -27.44 1.210E-12 7.09784E-6

15 225 -31.5 2.087E-14 1.31167E-7

16 256 -35.84 2.721E-16 1.82415E-9

17 289 -40.46 2.681E-18 1.90967E-11

18 324 -45.36

1.997E-

20 1.50613E-13

19 361 -50.54 1.123E-22 8.94018E-16

20 400 -56 4.780E-25 4.00563E-18

Figure 17: Funding Profile over Time

Financial Cost Drivers

The drivers affecting cost can be determined from the variables 'a' &'d'. From the above section

we have calculated these variables and their values are as follows,

a = 0.14

d = 64,794 (cumulative expenditure over time)

d = 1496428.571 (expenditure over time)

Where a = cumulative assessment of financial cost drivers

d = actual/ estimated total budget

5.0 PROJECT JUSTIFICATION

Costs-Savings Analysis

To demonstrate the savings made, a statistical analysis was conducted on the paper usage by

each office of Catalyst. Local Administrators of each office were consulted and were given a

survey. The survey details are shown in the table below:

-100000

0

100000

200000

300000

400000

500000

600000

0 10 20 30

US

$

Time

Norden Rayleigh Expenditure

Norden RayleighExpenditure

Office Location Amount of paper used

before automation

Amount of paper used

after automation

Percentage reduced

Cairo, Egypt 24 13 46%

Dubai, UAE 18 11 39%

Delhi, India 34 21 38%

Senegal, Africa 14 8 43%

Nigeria, Africa 16 10 37%

Local Administrator predicted that the amount of paper usage will decrease by at least 40% in the

initial year of the application release. All the employees will shift to online application and there will less

printing, this will reduce the amount of paper used in each office location. The above predicted data is

only for the initial year. Goal is to reduce the usage of paper by 70% going forward.

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

Cairo,Egypt

Dubai,UAE

Delhi,India

Senegal,Africa

Nigeria,Africa

Paper Usage before

Automation

Paper usage after

automation

Paper usage reduced by 40% in Year 1

Timesheet Approval Process Speeds up by 90%

Each employee of Catalyst is required to submit five timesheets for a week, showing all the work

completed on that particular day. Before automation, employees were very irregular in

submitting timesheets. According to the records noted in Catalyst Senegal, the following table

shows the frequency of submission, the date of submission and the date of approval for five

employees of Catalyst:

Name of the consultant Number of timesheets

submitted in a week

Date of submission Date of approval

Ibrahim Gueye 5 03/12/2010 03/27/2010

Khadija 1 03/12/2010 04/09/2010

Mahmoud Naushad 3 03/12/2010 04/01/2010

Mamadou Drame 3 03/12/2010 04/04/2010

Mary Baye 2 03/12/2010 03/29/2010

As seen in the above table, the minimum lag between submission and approval is at least two

weeks. Submission of timesheets is done by the employees to their respective department heads

or projects managers. Employees are complaining less since the release of the timesheet

application. The submission process no longer takes two long weeks. Below table shows the data

taken from the database, after the employees started using timesheet.

Name of the

consultant

Number of timesheets

submitted in a week

Date of submission Date of approval

Ibrahim Gueye 5 04/8/2011 04/9/2011

Khadija 5 04/8/2011 04/8/2011

Mahmoud Naushad 5 04/8/2011 04/9/2011

Mamadou Drame 5 04/8/2011 04/8/2011

Mary Baye 5 04/8/2011 04/8/2011

From the above table it can be inferred that the approval now takes one or two days. An e-mail

notification is sent to the manager after the employee submits timesheets. Hence, the approval

process speeds up by 90%.

Applying T – Test :

A t-test is a hypothesis test, which is supported by null hypothesis. Steps in doing a t-test are:

Mention the research hypothesis

Mention the null hypothesis

Select the probability of alpha level

Calculate statistical significance

Find the results

By definition,

Months Recording hours using CIS Recording hours using Excel

1 164 162

2 170 168

3 169 166

4 155 154

5 161 159

6 175 173

7 168 166

Mean 166 164

Variance 17.33 16.26

Standard Deviation 4.16 4.03

Step 1: Subtract second group mean form first group mean

166 – 164 = 2

Step 2: 17.33/ (7-1) = 2.8

16.26/ (7-1) = 2.71

Step 3: Add the results got in step 2

2.8 + 2.71 = 5.51

Step 4: Take the square root of result from step 3

Square root of 5.51 = 2.34

Step 5: Divide the results of step 1 by step 4

2/ 2.34 = 0.85

Hence the obtained t value is 0.85.

By definition,

If n1 equals n2 and (s1)^2 is not equal to (s2)^2 then the value of df = n1 – 1 or n2 – 1.

Here n1 = n2 = 7

(s1)^2 = 17.33

(s2)^2 = 16.26

Hence our df will be 6.

Since 0.85 < 6, we accept the null hypothesis concluding the mean difference between the

two samples is not greater than the expected.

6.0 INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY (IP)

Copyright:

The main reason to copyright the web pages is because most of the pages have their own

commercial value. They need to be protected as we do not want others to profit from our hard

work without even paying us. Money is not an important reason to copyright. We copyright to

these web pages as they are product of a mind. Copyrighting helps to save the pages from being

changed or being republished by other people who steal the original ideas and claim authorship.

One way to reserve our website or web pages is to copyright it. A copyright controls and

prevents corruption. The page should be marked with © symbol. By giving copyrights to our

website, we can electronically prohibit outsiders from using our code of the website. This

copyright will not allow users to copy any HTML of any web page. If anyone wants to copy

the pages of the site, they first need to mail their identity and the purpose of their request. If the

request is genuine, then the owner of the website will send a mail with his/her digital signature.

All the matter including the tables and figures are protected from being copied, by giving

copyrights. If there is any quoted material in any of the web pages, is not copyrighted. That must

have already been protected by the original author. If we get any request for the usage of the

commercial web pages, they can be considered only if an appropriate is being paid. In general,

requests such as printing, recite, display and capturing the images can be made for a page if the

copyright notice appears in the images.

Catalyst has copyrighted the application, but it is very easy to add some features and claim it as a

whole different application. The only way to beat the competitors would be to win a huge

market share, before the competitors come up with something similar as the Company-

Information- System.

7.0 SWOT ANALYSIS:

Table 13: SWOT Analysis

Strengths:

1)To eliminate the use of Excel documents for

the submission of requests

2)To increase efficiency of Catalyst which will

in turn increase the revenue

3)To save the time spent by the employees

4)To reduce the use of paper by more than

70%

5)To make tracking of requests more easier

Weaknesses:

1) Training of employees is difficult since they

are in other office locations

2)Communication with the offshore

developing team is a challenge

Opportunities:

1)No software available in the market that will

provide these features in an application

2)Company Information System will provide

the employees with the opportunity to keep

track of their subordinate performance levels

3)Management can keep track of profits

generated

Threats:

1)Employees unwilling to shift from the old

method

2)Competitive products in market might

emerge

8.0 Project Schedule

The project s estimated to be finished by May 2011. So far, design phase is completed. Development

phase is scheduled to start in early 2011.

Figure 18: Project Schedule

9.0 Screenshots of the User Interface

Figure 19: Enter Timesheet

Figure 20: Track Timesheet

Figure 21: Submit Timesheet

Figure 22: Enter Travel Request

Figure 23: Track travel request

Figure 24: Enter Expenses

10.0 Conclusion

Automation of the request forms helped Catalyst increase its efficiency by 40%. Since the

delivery time is reduced by a great amount and also the paper costs are eliminated, these

savings will benefit the company as well as the environment. We have completed the

Planning, Design and Testing phases of the project and are entering the Maintenance phase

of the project. This application will be available in the market by end of 2011.

References:

Blogspot, Project manager (n.d). Retrieved on November, 2010 from

http://projectmanager-dip.blogspot.com/

Article, SWOT analysis (n.d). Retrieved on November, 2010 from http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMC_05.htm

Anderson, L.(May, 2010) Top three causes of failure. Retrieved on October, 2010 from

http://www.projectsmart.co.uk/top-three-causes-of-project-failure.html

Catalyst, User login, Retrieved on April, 2011 from

http://cis.catalyst-us.com

Catalyst Business Partners, About us (n.d.). Retrieved on September, 2010 from

www.catalyst-us.com

Information Technology Services, Project Management- Project Lifecycle (n.d.). Retrieved on

September, 2010 from

http://www.usask.ca/its/services/itproject_services/managing_projects/life_cycle.php

Intulogy, ADDIE MODEL (n.d). Retrieved on October, 2010 from

www.intulogy.com/addie