Project Management Techniques Edapp Inc

Question: Describe about the Project Management Techniques of Edapp Inc? Answer: Introduction: Development of project charter not only enables a team to identify the required resources but it also provides information regarding the risks associated with a project (Dinsmore and Cabanis-Brewin, 2014). In this assignment project charter for a music education app development project is created. 1. Project overview: 1.1 Background: Nature of the traditional education system is changing. Current trends of teaching methods indicate that the use of mobile apps increased for teaching children. The current project deals with development of android apps for Edapp Inc. Edapp Inc is a fast growing organisation in educational app market. Although conventional android apps are highly available in market, these apps cannot meet requirements of all students. Analysis on the learning ability of children indicates that music can boost their learning abilities. Music can enhance the learning abilities of children who are suffering from autism, cerebral palsy and Down syndrome. Due to change in the teaching methods, requirement of music based apps is increasing .However music educational apps are not available in market. Launching of such apps can be effective for new market development of Eduapp Inc. In this project two music based apps will be developed using scrum programming approach. Two teams of programmers are developed for executing the tasks related with project planning and app development. One of these apps will be developed facilitate children for learning mathematics and language using music. Another app will be developed for children who have any disabilities for learning. As successful completion of the project got the highest priority to management, budget of $310000 has been allocated for it. The project requires being completed within 4 months. 1.2 Problem statement: Although launching of new music education apps will be effective for new market development, the project team can face several challenges for developing such apps. Currently the management modified their marketing strategies .The organisation is now trying to enter into the markets of business training education and 3D mathematics app development. As the required skills for developing traditional mathematics education app and business training apps are different, the organisation also changed their recruitment strategies in order to implement new marketing strategies. Currently most of the employees in Eduapp Inc have abilities to develop apps for the new target market. However some managers of the organisation have different views regarding the new marketing strategies of Eduapp and Inc and these managers are willing to work for conventional app development. As all the managers have not agreed with the new marketing strategies, the project team may face problems related with lack of collaboration. It may restrict the team from completing the project successfully. The project of developing music education apps will be undertaken using SCRUM programming approach. Ghapanchi et al. (2014) opines that use of scrum approach enables the project team to meet any sudden change of customers requirements. Juricek, (2014) also states that teams which are using SCRUM approach for competing project requires conducting face to face meeting regularly for enhancing effectiveness of the approach. Use of SCRUM approach enables a team to optimize their skills for completing a project even if all the problems related with the project are not understood completely. Lack of collaboration within the organisation may restrict the project teams to implement SCRUM approach efficiently. Analysis of the requirements for proposed music apps indicates that a music specialist consultant and special education teacher will be needed. Apart from this, six developers require being hired for the project team. Unavailability of skilled member can increase difficulty for completio n of the project. 1.3 Project vision: For Who The Is a That Children with normal learning abilities and children with learning disabilities The project is being undertaken to increase the number of customers in mathematics and language education sector. Music Education App It is special app for enhancing learning abilities of children by using music The app will also be used for increasing learning abilities of children who are suffering from down syndrome or autism Users of this app will be able to boost their mathematics and language learning abilities by using Music. Children suffering from various diseases will be benefitted as they will get assistance to reduce difficulties for physical growth and learning. As the nature of conventional teaching method is changing, it is expected that parents will buy these apps for improving skills of their children. Table 1: Vision of Music app development project 1.4 Success Criteria: On successful completion of the project two music education apps will be developed within time and budget. As SCRUM approach is being used for the project, it is expected that the team will be able to identify any changes in the customer requirement. Use of SCRUM approach also ensures that the proposed apps will be able to meet the requirements of its target customer. As the competition is increasing in traditional education app market, Eduapp Inc is changing their marketing policies. Launching of new app will also be beneficial for the organisation to attain competitive advantage in traditional app development market. 1.5 Project approach /Development process: The app development project will be conducted using SCRUM approach. The proposed apps will be developed for being used by educators and parents for improving the skills. The task of identifying all problems regarding education and learning abilities is difficult due to high variety of learning problems among children. Use of SCRUM approach will enable the project team for understanding and responding quickly to any changes in customer requirements. Use of scrum approach is effective for completing the tasks into several sprints (Niemann et al., 2014). Use of sprints will reduce the complexity for project scheduling. Use of scrum approach provides flexibility for setting the sequence of tasks. In this project two teams are working. Use of scrum methodology will allow them to set their own schedules and thus the chance of timely project completion increases. 2. Project plan: 2.1 Scope: Analysis of project scope enables the team to identify the key deliverables of the project (Sadabad and Kama, 2014). Schwalbe, (2014) opines that scope analysis also provides idea regarding the resource requirements for a project. In Scope: Release Priority Story# Story name Description 10 th March High On 10 th march the prototypes of proposed apps will be delivered Releasing prototype of both music education apps The products delivered on 10th March will be developed on basis of the primary designs of proposed music education apps 15 th April High On 15 th April the final designs of proposed apps will be delivered Releasing final models of both music education apps The products delivered on 15th April will be developed on basis of the modified designs of proposed music education apps. The primary designs of these apps will be modified according to the findings of alpha test. Table 2: Scope of Music app development project Out of scope: The current project deals with only designing and development of music based education apps. These apps will be launched in market by Eduapp Inc. The project team is not responsible for conducting any marketing or promotional activities for these apps. However, the project team will be responsible for further development and modification for the app in future if required. 2.2 Related projects or systems: Eduapp Inc is one of the fastest growing android application providers in education sector. Products of the organisation include android applications for Mathematics and Science games. The current project is being undertaken to acquire new customer group in the existing market of Eduapp. Although the proposed apps contain new features, these apps will also be used for teaching children. It indicates that these proposed music education apps are modification of the existing Mathematics and Science games app. Management of the organisation is also focusing on ne market development. The organisation will undertake 3D mathematics app development projects as a part of their future marketing strategies. Although all the projects will deliver different products, these projects are interrelated with each other. Related projects Interrelations Mathematics and Science games projects of Eduapp Mathematics and Science games apps of Eduapp are effective to providing assistance to the learning process of children. The new project can be considered as modification of these existing apps. It indicates that the new project team can use resources of existing app development project. 3D mathematics app development Eduapp Inc are focusing on mathematics app development project as a part of their future market development. Although the proposed apps will not use 3D designing, views of the 3D mathematics app project team can be used for making the design of proposed music education app more attractive. Table 3: Interrelations among projects of Eduapp Inc Table 3 reflects that the project of music education app development project is interrelated with Mathematics and Science games projects and 3D mathematics app development project of Eduapp. Members of the current project team to make the can take help from the members of these projects music apps more effective. 2.3 Project participants: Role Name Organisation Business sponsor Seely Booth and Temparance Brennan Eduapp Inc Project owner Camellie Saroyan Eduapp Inc Business process Owner Lance Sweets Eduapp Inc Subject matter experts Jack Hodgins Eduapp Inc Stakeholders Members of project team Children Eduapp Inc Project manager Me Eduapp Inc Business analyst John Smith and Zack Addy Eduapp Inc Table 4: Participants of music education app development project 3. Constraints, assumptions risks: 3.1 Constraints: Constraints Impact Infrastructure of existing mathematics and language app development projects Use of existing infrastructure will reduce cost of apps SCRUM approach for developing apps Flexibility for task scheduling Working in iterations Identification of any change in requirements Quick response to the problems which will occur during project Table 5: Participants of music education app development project 3.2 Assumptions: Before starting the project some assumptions were made. Assumptions facilitate the project team to reduce complexity for project planning (Baumeister and Weber, 2013). Assumption 1: Music education apps will be accepted by customers As the availability of music based educational apps is low, it is assumed that the demand of proposed apps will be high. However, design of these new apps may not meet requirements of target customers and thus launching of new apps may not be effective. Assumption 2: the project will be completed within time and will not require any extra budget allocation It is assumed that the project will be undertaken in uninterrupted manner and thus it will be completed within time. Resources which will be required for completing the project are identified before starting. It is also assumed that no extra resources will be required and thus the budget will not increase. The project team will include music specialist consultant and special education teacher. Remunerations of these professionals will be decided on basis of negotiation. It is also assumed that pay rates of these professionals will be affordable to the project team. Assumption 3: Assistance from other project teams will be available whenever needed As the music education app development project is being undertaken for Eduapp Inc, It is assumed that other project teams of the organisation will be able to assist music education app project team. However assistance from other teams may not be obtained as some managers opposed the development of music based apps. 3.3 Dependencies: Although the current project is a part of Eduapp Inc, successful completion of the project is dependent on tasks done by app developers, music specialist consultant and special education teacher. Dependency on app developers: In this project app developers will be responsible for project planning and designing two apps. Quality of the developed applications is dependent on the tasks executed by developers. Timely completion of the project also depends on the planning of developers. Dependency on music specialist consultant: As the new apps will be aim at teaching students using music, the role of music specialist consultant is important for development of the product. Effectiveness of the app depends on use of music for improving learning abilities of children. It indicates that the quality of app depends on music specialist consultant. Dependency on special education teacher: One of the two proposed apps will aim at reducing learning difficulties of children who are suffering from various diseases. Usefulness of this app depends on the tasks executed by special education teacher. 3.4 Risks: Risks Mitigation strategy Insufficient resource estimation Revising estimation of required resources Unavailability of members Members of previous projects in Eduapp will be used Failure to complete the project on time Mile stones for the project will be developed in advance to reduce the risks related with failing timely project completion Reduced demand of the apps If the apps fail to fulfil requirements of customers, profitability of the project will reduce Table 6: Risks associated with music education app development project Insufficient resource estimation: Although required resources are estimated before starting the project, inefficient estimation can interrupt the project (Acharya, 2013). Inefficient estimation of required resources will lead to increase in budget. Interruption in project works may also restrict it project from being completed within time. This risk can be reduced by revising the estimation. Unavailability of members: As the recruitment policies of Eduapp Inc have been changed management of the organisation hired people who are able to develop 3D apps or business training apps. Although the project manager is allowed to develop own team, lack of skilled developers may cause difficulty for completing the project. However the organisation previously developed projects on science and mathematics games. Members of these teams can be hired to fill the vacancies. Failure to complete the project on time: Execution of the tasks can be interrupted due to unavailability of staffs and other resources. Milestones of the project will be developed in advance to reduce the chances of delay in projects. The teams will be allowed to set their own plans for ensuring completion of the project on time. 3.5 Time line estimate Date Mile stone Deliverables 15 th January 2015 Finalizing features of the apps Primary design of the apps 15 th February Completion of the app for children without learning difficulties Prototype of the app 1st March Completion of the app for children with learning difficulties Prototype of the app 10 th March Testing of Both apps Identification of drawbacks with in both apps 15 th March Second testing of both apps Identification of issues 15 th April Final design of apps Delivering apps which are ready to be launched in market. Table 7: Milestones and deliverables for music education app development project Conclusion: Project charter made in this assignment indicates that successful development of the music based educational applications can be restricted by unavailability of staffs and changing nature of target customers. Such risks can be mitigated by using SCRUM approach for developing proposed applications. References Acharya, S. (2013). Test-Driven Development with Mockito. Packt Publishing. Baumeister, H. and Weber, B. (2013). Agile processes in software engineering and extreme programming. Berlin: Springer. Dinsmore, P. and Cabanis-Brewin, J. (2014). The AMA Handbook of Project Management. New York: AMACOM. Ghapanchi, A., Wohlin, C. and Aurum, A. (2014). Resources contributing to gaining competitive advantage for open source software projects: An application of resource-based theory. International Journal of Project Management, 32(1), pp.139-152. Juricek, J. (2014). Agile Project Management Principles. LNSE, pp.172-175. Niemann, H., Moehrle, M. and Meyer, M. (2014). Project Management-Related Software Systems and Their Legal Protection: Emergence, Distribution, and Relevance of Business Method Patents. Project Management Journal, 45(1), pp.38-54. Sadabad, A. and Kama, N. (2014). 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