Business 444
Tenneh Blamo
Sonal Jaisinghani
Melinda Karcer
Mike Lyden
Professor Hamilton
DOCUMENT OVERVIEW
The most important and difficult
aspect of a project is its beginning. It
is here that the owner and the project team define what is needed and agree
on what will be provided. So that a
project is successful, it is critical that this step be completed diligently.
This final document is intended to carefully describe the history of
our project, our goals, what was done in the way of implementation of the
project, and how our group worked together with the client to make this project
a success.
PREAMBLE
“We,
the students of Drexel University, taking part in Learn By DUing, for which
we receive academic credit, in order to significantly enhance our learning
experience while providing valuable service to our community, do hereby offer
our time, work, analysis, experiences, expertise, cooperation, leadership,
followership and recommendations.”
HISTORY
“Tell
me, I forget.
Show
me, I remember.
Involve
me, I understand.”
-Ancient Proverb
The
Learn
By DUing is a great opportunity for Drexel students to work with the surrounding
community. The program focuses on “putting it all back
together”, in the tradition of Anthony J. Drexel. The goal of the program is a Win-Win-Win situation;
a situation in which the students, Drexel, and the community will all benefit.
It is this synergy that allows Drexel to thrive.
The classroom and the workplace come together to form the ultimate
learning experience.
COURSE
OBJECTIVES
There
are six main objectives essential to the Learn By DUing course.
Ø
Teaching and gearing the students
- This is achieved through classic
teaching approaches such as readings, simulations and class discussions.
Ø
Real Group Problems - Each student/group
is given an opportunity to define and solve a real problem and produce real
output.
Ø
Systematic Design Process - Each
student is to use a systematic approach in the process of problem solving.
Ø
Group Project Effort – Students
are given an opportunity to work in small groups and hold responsibility form
design and implementation of project.
Ø
Real World Environment – Provides
an opportunity for students to apply the business curriculum they have learned
to a real life problem.
Ø
Private Entrepreneur – Each group
will act as a private consulting company. They are required to submit proposals and carryout
all required tasks. The client evaluates
students on whether or not they produced the desired product.
PROCESS
The
following provides a high level overview of the methodology applied to this
project. The milestones indicate the
different phases used to undertake this project with a brief description of
what was accomplished.
Ø
Phase
1
·
18
June - 05 July, 2002 - Identify Project Owner and
Team Members, review project scope documentation, gather information, review
“AS IS” and “TO BE” systems, WBS, Gantt chart, communication matrix and meeting
plans.
Ø
Phase
2
·
18
June -
Ø
Phase
3
·
16
July - 13 August, 2002 - Meeting with United Way, Define
client’s needs, determined database environment, work on website, detail presentation
to client and class, develop ERD diagram for database, develop marketing strategy,
construct codes for website, meeting with clients and make changes where necessary,
and work on project final documentation.
Ø
Phase 4
·
13 August -
PROJECT
SCOPE
The
scope of this project encompasses the review and assessment of Drexel’s Learn
By DUing program’s current participants. It is planned that our project team develop
a marketing strategy for this program and modify the current Access Database
being used to keep track of the program. The
expected deliverables of this project included the functional specifications,
technical specifications and final documentation.
PROJECT MANAGEMENT TOOLS
The
first phase of the project was the initiating and planning. The team got off
to a quick start by creating the Project Charter and getting approval from
the program supervisor. The team completed the Project Scope document
following scope guidelines. It outlined
the justification for the project. Within
these guidelines, with the project head’s approval, the team laid out the
goals of creating a website and modifying the current Access Database being
used for the Learn By DUing Program.
As
stated in the Project Scope, components of the project’s success included
a completion date of August 20, 2002. By this date, webpage design, Access Database
design and project documentation will have been completed. The team met regularly for discussion. Between meetings, communication was generally
conducted via email.
The key Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) was developed and organized in a tabular format. The analogy and top-down approach guided the launch of the WBS. For this, the team utilized Microsoft Project 2000. From the WBS, the team completed the Responsibility Assignment Matrix. With that information completed, Microsoft Project 2000 provided the tools to document the applicable resources start and end dates. Once this was completed, the Gantt chart offered a great visual look at the project. The WBS and Gantt chart became the team’s most utilized tools during the project execution process. In developing the database and website, the team used programs such as Microsoft Access and Macromedia Dreamweaver.
GROUP
OBJECTIVES
Our objectives for the Learn By DUing program where as follows:
1.
Design a website.
2.
Create a database.
3.
Develop a marketing strategy.
By
designing a website for the Learn By DUing program, we can create a higher
awareness of the program without the high cost of advertising.
It is an easy way to educate organizations on the program and its history
and explain what the students can do for them.
The Learn By DUing website contains a main page that will give a brief
description of the program and offer links for more detailed information on
history and clients. The history page
will give an in depth overview of Learn By DUing and the objectives of the
course. Information on completed student projects and
client feedback will be located on the client page. The website will also
simplify the application process by including an online application.
There
was a great need for a new database of prospective Learn By DUing candidates.
The database will consist of organizations referred to us by The United
Way of
In order to offer interesting and challenging projects to the students each term, Drexel needs to market the Learn By DUing program. It is necessary for organizations to know that the program exists and is offered at no cost to them. There is a lack of financial resources so marketing needed to be kept at little or no cost to the University. By telemarketing the program, we were able to gather information and find new candidates at no cost.
Group
members used a listing of “Gifts in Kind Agencies” provided by the
We
also created a flyer that can be sent out to new and existing candidates that
will inform people of the website and direct them to it.
The flyer stresses “New talent. New
Ideas. Zero Cost.” and encourages them to take advantage
of the opportunity right now. Also
given is direct contact information for the Learn By DUing liaison, Jennifer
Morgan.
PROJECT
DELIVERABLES
Members
of the team were able to build a website and modify the current Access Database
use for the Learn By DUing program. Prior to this final documentation and presentation,
the team had two other presentations. One was done in class on
PROJECT SUCCESS
The project team delivered
all products and deliverables as described in the project documents within
the scheduled completion date. The
project deliverables, consisting of the website, Access Database and documentations
will be presented.
What Went Right
Frequent
communication between team members, regular team and client meetings, the
use of email to keep the team current, the use of the WBS, Gantt charts and
Microsoft Project helped guided the project to success.
The team itself proved to be motivated, cooperative, flexible, capable
and knowledgeable. The team members’ skills and personalities complemented
one another. All these factors contributed
to the success of the project.
What Went Wrong
We
did not get to meet with one of the key players of the project till the six
weeks after executing the project. This late meeting changes the objective of the
initial project.
Lessons Learned
The
Planning process took a significant amount of time, but paid off by guiding
the team more smoothly through the remaining processes.
The team could focus on the task and dates using the tools created
during the planning process. In addition, when there was uncertainty about
a specific goal, team members were able to meet with project supervisor for
clarification.
The
group also learned the benefits of teamwork.
Everyone contributed his or her own special knowledge or talent to
complete a variety of tasks. Team members could trust one another to accomplish
tasks and meet deadlines. Again, this
reveals the impact and importance of good communication, as team members generally
only saw one another every other week.
All
projects are unique and are guaranteed to involve decision-making.
Finding a balance between conflicting schedules and time requirements
is easier said than done. The fact that some team members had school and
work commitments above and beyond the scope of this project added additional
difficulty and stress.
Regardless
of a project’s scope, risk planning is necessary.
In this case of this project, one such opportunity for the implementation
of a contingency plan was the meeting with the
The
project allowed the team to understand how and when various Project Management
tools are important, regardless the size of the project.
It also emphasized the value and importance of these tools for larger
projects.
PROJECT APPROACH
In approaching this project,
the team reviewed the current situation with the client and came up with the
following solutions. Since the Learn
By DUing program is free of charge, we thought that coming up with a good
marketing strategy that accentuated this point would be the best way to sell
the program to its intended beneficiaries, namely: non-profit organizations.
We took a look at the forms
and saw that so much information was requested on them, that they became unsightly
and confusing. We came up with the
idea of developing a website that streamlined the application process. Interested organizations could visit it, and,
if they desired to enrol, they could fill out their application online. We thought that this concept would prove to
be less stressful and, thusly, more attractive to potential clients. We also came up with the idea of designing a
flyer for the website, to initiate traffic.
The Access Database in use was also modified, based on our client’s
requests. Our marketing strategy involves making phone
calls to perspectives participants of the program and developing a website
for them to visit. To further develop
our yet unaccomplished goals for the project, we developed an action plan. This plan provides information on all the calls
that were made, so that the next project team can follow-up on them, picking
up where we left off.
THE WEBSITE
In
this day and age, it is important for every company, organization, and program
to have a presence on the internet. The internet is becoming a more and more easily
accessible form information retrieval. It
serves as a way of reaching a vast number of people in an inexpensive way.
For these reasons, the
To do this, we need to set up a website. The website will consist of a main page that will serve as a welcoming and central page, which briefly describes the program, and provides links to three additional pages.
One of these linked pages will be the History page, which will have a more in-depth description of the program, and will feature more information about the general thrust of the program, explaining its goals that mutually benefit all those involved.
The second page that will be linked from the main page will be one that covers past client experiences. It will highlight the positive experiences and value gained through the use of the Learn By DUing program. This page’s main idea will be to show how successful Learn By DUing partnerships have been, and to emphasize the real-world capabilities of Drexel students.
The third page to be linked from the central page will be the application page. This page will make a printable application available for download, as well as an online version that will make enrolling for participation in the program even easier. The printable application can be mailed or faxed to Jennifer Morgan after the applicant has filled it in by hand. Also, the online application will be available for a more efficient and timely enrollment.
An electronic flyer has been prepared for potential participants in the Learn By DUing program. It is attractive and informative, having both text and images. The point of the flyer is to introduce the program to potentials, and entice them to learn more. The e-flyer has a brief description of the program, and takes advantage of being electronic by containing a link to the new Learn By DUing webpage. The link is clearly visible, and will bring the potential clients to the main page of the Learn By DUing website, which is hosted on the LeBow server.
The
objective of the new system is to allow the system admin to efficiently manage
all the transactions with respect to the different classifications.
The
functions to be performed by the system are:
Ø
Handle the addition of new organizations
Ø
Allow the management to efficiently track organizations
Ø
Delete the non-existing clients
Ø
Track customer information
The new system will be:
Ø
User friendly
Ø
Hassle free
Ø
Able to perform efficiently
Ø
Easy to navigate
The
different business benefits provided by the library holding system are as
follow:
Ø
Reduce the number of file tracking system.
Ø
Improve personnel efficiency by making it easy to search for titles.
Ø Reduce redundancies and errors
The data dictionary
is as follows:
|
Table |
Attributes |
Data
Type |
Primary
key |
Foreign
Key |
|
USER |
|
|
|
|
|
|
User Id |
AutoNumber |
* |
|
|
|
User Name |
Text |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
LEARN BY DUING |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Relation |
AutoNumber |
* |
|
|
|
Organization Name |
Text |
|
|
|
|
Last Name |
Text |
|
|
|
|
First Name |
Text |
|
|
|
|
Title |
Text |
|
|