[William SommervilleName]

Unit 4

[Development of the Standard Information Tool System (SITS) for the Tools Group at Detroit EdisonProject Title]

Integrated Action Learning Project Plan

<Development of the Standard Information Tool System (SITS) for the Tools Group at Detroit EdisonProject Title>

<Your NameWilliam Sommerville>

TS4990 Integrated Action Learning Project

Instructor, <Dr Sharon BenderName>

<28 April, 2006Date>

Project Description

<My project will be to develop a logging/documentation system within the Tools section of this company. Currently there is a company trouble ticket logging system that records the problem and any solutions performed. This system has limits where procedures of exact step-by-step solutions area required for future reference. The supervisor wants an internal system to not only have a connection to a particular trouble ticket, but to display the documentation that was created to solve the ticket. This supervisor feels that by having a system of this caliber not only willsystems of this caliber not only will the group have an internal record of its business, but an up to date documentation section. He wants this system to be maintain within a database and does not want to use MS-Access or IBM-DB2, but will go with Oracle if the research determines this to be the best way to go.

Our request to copy the database being used for the current trouble ticket system was denied. Based upon this there will be some dual work, but I have been instructed to keep this to an absolute minimum. From my understanding, not only will this become a great asset for the Tools Group, but since it will be developed internally providing savings on cost, it may become a tools proponent due to the political and economic atmosphere within the company. I understand this project is to be fully completed by 63 Junely with a launch of 55 July 2006.

This is your project statement. Describe the project in one or two paragraphs. Include the scope of the project, the main product(s) the project will produce, and the significance of the project. How will this project benefit you and the organization, community, or industry? Also include specific assumptions you made for this project. This is where you would add background material about your project. Delete instructions in each section after reading. Do not include instructions with your submission.>

My IAL project would be to…

Feasibility

<In performing a feasibility check I examined the following areas:

1. Other databases available for use.

2. Availability servers and operating systems.

3. Time frame possibilities

4. Discuss possibilities with other team members.

5. Discuss possibilities with database department.

6. Availability of a test, staging, and production environment.Insert your feasibility check here.>

Prototype

The following prototype depicts my project:

The following prototype depicts <what?>…

Objectives

In producing my project my major objectives are to:

1. Perform timely research in the pros and cons of this project.

2. Insure management is aware of these elements concerning the project.

2. Establish clear milestone and goals that should be met.

3. Provide a complete product that satisfies management and peer alike.

In producing my project my learning objectives are to:

1. Learn other databases establishing the pros and cons of each.

2. Learn from the input of others, the best approach in the development and installation

phases.

3. Learn from evaluations that will be performed every six months.<List and describe three to five specific learning objectives and three to five specific project objectives that you want to accomplish during your Integrated Action Learning Project. Consider your findings in performing a feasibility investigation.>

My learning objectives in producing my IAL Project are to:

My project objectives in producing my IAL Project are to:

Project Schedule

In producing my IAL Project I will apply the following project schedule:

Tasks	Duration
Research Phase	5/8/06 – 5/14/06
Task 1: Establish DB requirements. Task 2: Research available DB’s (in house). Task 3: Research available DB’s (out of house). Task 4: Report findings/Recommendations. Task 5: Conduct team-meeting briefing on project progress (SITS).
Assisting Resources: Literature Bender, S. L. (2003). Producing the Capstone Project. Briefing documentation Internet Research People 6 Personnel Equipment DB department, documentation Internet, vendors Conf room
Analysis Phase	5/15/06 – 5/21/06
Task 1: Acquire DB analyze structure (Dev box). Task 2: Analyze DB & server requirements (Test box). Task 3: Analyze DB & server requirements (Stage/Prod box). Task 4: Analyze differences per systems. Task 5: Conduct team-meeting briefing on project progress (SITS).
Assisting Resources: Literature Briefing documentation Internet People 6 Personnel Equipment Funding (if out of house), 1 server 3 servers, DB conf room
Documentation Phase	5/22/06 – 5/28/06
Task 1: Develop DB (DS14) (Phase 1 Text Data Phase). Task 2: Develop DB (DS14) (Phase 2 Graphic/Photo Data Phase). Task 3: Develop DB (DS14) (Phase 3 Graphic DB Controls). Task 4: Establish network server connections. Task 5: Develop DB testing (TS14), staging(SS14), production(PS14) procedures. Task 6: Document phases, requirements and users instructions. Task 7: Conduct team-meeting briefing on project progress (SITS).
Assisting Resources: Literature Briefing documentation Internet People 6 Personnel Equipment 5 servers, network, DB Word processor Conf room
Testing Phase	5/29/06 – 6/4/06
Task 1: Test operations with DB (TS14) on test server. Task 2: Test operations with DB (SS14) on staging server. Task 3: Test operations with DB (PS14) on staging server. Task 4: Schedule partial operations with team on staging server. Task 5: Modify documentation based up results. Task 6: Conduct team-meeting briefing on project progress (SITS).
Assisting Resources: Literature Briefing documentation Internet People 6 personnel Equipment 3 servers, DB Word processor Conf room
Implementation Phase	6/5/06 – 6/11/06
Task 1: Establish training on new system for team. Task 2: Conduct meeting briefing on project progress and Implementation date. Task 3: Implement SITS Task 4: Seek feedback from the Stakeholder.
Assisting Resources: Literature Operations Manuals Briefing documentation Internet People 6 Personnel Stakeholder, [Terry Richardson] Equipment DB(PS14) 1 server Network connections DB Applications Conf room

In summary the most challenging goal will be to acquire the right database for the application development within budget. The steps in development, testing, staging and finally production supports quality research, which in turn should produce a quality product.

<Summarize the list of tasks and key milestones for your Integrated Action Learning Project. Include a copy of the project’s Work Breakdown Structure. DO NOT include the preliminary outline that you developed. Only provide the WBS table.>

In producing my IAL Project I will apply the following project schedule:

RRisk Management

My Risk Factors are as follows:

Risk Factor Checklist
Risk Considerations		Low Risk	Medium Risk	High Risk
Acquiring the proper DB				X
DB structure changes			X
Application design support			X
Backup scripts for DB		X
Proper DB server network support		X
Server support (Dev, Test, Stag, Prod)		X
High Risk Analysis
Risk Considerations	Risk Significance and Potential Solution
Requiring the Right DB for Project	The cost may limit the flexibility requirements. Either have the cost increased to acquire the DB or find a DB that meets the requirements for the cost set or less.

<Insert the risk management analysis you performed for your project, including a description of each of the risk areas and associated mitigating activities. Post your risk factors checklist and your contingency/plan statements here.>

I have performed a risk management analysis as follows:

My contingency plan is to…o offset these risks are in place. If the result of the research produces a DB that meets the requirements of operations but not in cost, then a special meeting will be conducted to brief management of the situation. During that meeting, a decision will be requested due to the fact that there can be not be any forward progress without the DB. In addition, other databases that match the requirements cost but not in the operations arena will be present. If for some reason my project does not appear to be developing successfully regardless of the efforts made, I would present reasons why I am unable to proceed with the project as planned. Appropriate redirection of the plan would take place upon instructor and/or stakeholder approval and the new direction would be discussed in the final project report. Redirection might be to permit the [analysis, testing, presentation, or other] phase(s) of my project to constitute my project in its entirety. The outstanding phase(s) (e.g., implementation) of my project would in such case be completed outside the scope of the capstone project. Upon approval, such redirection would represent my project in its entirety.

Literature Review

I performed the following literature review concerning their value in producing my project:

Books/Publications

1. [ Doorn, Jorge H. 2002. Database Integrity: Challenges & Solutions. Idea Group Inc. pg113-115]

[This reference help to establish the scope of my project. This is not a piece of cake and I will need to look at several areas when taking a particular DB under consideration. Since Databases are designed for large amounts of data, be relational, and have server connection capabilities, the requirements for my project will match most if not all of these parameters. Of course there will be other parameters to consider also.

One particular area to observe is not only undesired behavior with in the database structure and the way it handles data, but the way it operates itself (starting up, shutting down, backup operations etc) and its relations with other applications that may be on the same server. Another important point mentioned was that no matter how exact you may have a system matching another (example: testing server matching the staging server), it is imperative not to assume this with any operations. If something was working then all of the sudden it is not work or not working in the same manner, then something changed and it is up to the team to find out what, how, why, and produce a documented solution.

The integrity of the procedures is just as important as the integrity of the database and its operations. The use of active rules or triggers will be the guideline as the parameters of the procedure in processing the data is developed. One final note: as each decision takes the project on a different course, one particular course will be the decision of being a Web base application database or not. This may be a mute point as the whole system will be behind a security screen, but it may affect the behavior of the application (SITS) itself.]

2. [Siau Keng. 2004. Advance Topic in Database Research. Idea Group Inc. pg 90-95]

[This reference stress the importance of designing and maintaining a workflow. This type of flow can be in Pseudo format as well as graphic. It is recommended that graphic views are used due to their speed in getting people on the same page. This is easily understandable as during my military days. When conducting briefing, even generals understood the boxes, circle and lines verses a bunch of words on some type of chart paper. In addition, cohesion metrics should be used demonstrating how one element worked with another to produce a desired result or action.

This only makes sense since cohesion models, programs, and procedures have proven to be successful saving time and money by cutting down on errors and bugs. Insuring that it remains active insures the quality of the work being performed and stresses good communication amongst the team members. It also noted that there might be more than one workflow design. In many cases there will be (business, operations, technical, etc) where the need to understand the technical requirements all the way to the customer/stakeholders become prevalent in a successful project.

All terminologies should be explained, with enfaces on any that involves a particular operations or procedure. Of curse all of this needs to be managed and it would not hurt to a workflow management graphics as well. This could be the most attention getter as all may see it as like a progress report on where the project stands to a certain date. Many seem to have found it very useful, which in addition saved time especially in the question and answer sessions.]

3. [Committee on IT Research in a Competitive World. 2000. Making It Better: Expanding IT Research to Meet Society’s Needs. National Academies Press. Pg18-22]

[This reference brought some real facts towards my project. My project is nothing new and my research discovered many other projects prior to it. The difference of what I could see from most was that even though the procedures had similarities, the requirements were different to where they stood out just as individual as one person to another.

My project and others were the result of the explosion of the IT industry. This big bang as I like to call it produced jobs and raised many standard of living. Since 1992, many companies that produced computers, software, semiconductors, and vase amounts of communication and other equipment contributed as much as one-third of the nations growth. Projects like mine are like small research foundations that discover new and different ways that expands the IT Industry.

This answers the why of the project in the first place. In simple terms when an idea is mentioned and questioned asked, what other way can you prove the feasibility of the idea and answer the questions without using projects? One formula could be Ideas + Questions = Projects + Research X Development = Projects Completions.

Yet many experts agree as much that has been done, like the big bang theory of the universe, research is slowing down and it is on both sides of the fence (government/Industry). This is having a serious effect on the nation as a whole. The nation reliance on IT increases on a hourly bases yet many organizations rely on older technology and deficient systems that were the result of that impact of reliance, which puts in question the research and development standards of those technologies.]

Internet

1. [Gray. James N. Database Systems: A Textbook Case of Research Paying Off. http:// www.cs.washington.edu/homes/lazowska/cra/database.html]

[The database (DB) industry is generating a lot of money. Starting in 1994 at 7 billion and growing at a rate of about 35% per year, today that would put it near 36.4 billion dollars. That is nothing to turn your head away from. Since many different companies are sharing this pie, there is not so much concern like with the oil giants of today. But it tells that databases and their engines (search, sorting, SQL, etc) are running at full steam maintaining the data for this country as a whole. There are few (if any) IT professionals who do not use a database. They range from simple contact (address book) files to huge databases that have just about every time of information possible. Databases are a tool that is a part of automation. Starting as simple record keeping, it quickly demonstrated that information could be acquired in a number of ways assisting in many decisions that may be required.

In fact databases are one of the reasons the world has become so “high tech” and fast as many have stated. As with everything else, the cost of a product starts declining, as better and cheaper ways of doing the same thing become the standard. Databases are no different and as other discoveries began emerging (Relational DB’s, SQL, etc), better and cheaper DB’s began to flex their muscles. In today’s IT society, not using a DB to control data in the desired way will leave you in ancient times. Even if you do not see it, you will certainly feel like it.]

<Post your literature review here.>

I performed the following literature review concerning the value in producing my project:

Appendix

<List materials that would evidence project completion and that would provide a sample of your work as you offered in your approved project statement in Unit 2. Evidence of project completion is accomplished by including a letter from the stakeholder. A sample of your work could be a Web site screen shot or a copy of documentation or other writing that was slated as the product of your project such as an article for publication, schematics or plan for a LAN installation, or an e-business plan.>

The following appendixes would be added to the Integrated Action Learning Project Final Report to provide a sample of my work and to evidence satisfactory project completion:

Appendix A: Snapshot to Exemplify the SITS

Appendix B: Letter of Satisfactory Project Completion from Stakeholder, Terry Richardson

Main PageAppendix A: Documentation and research material supporting the decision of the selected DB.

Appendix BA: [Snapshots of the SITS in browse, list, search, and regular operational modes as developedSample of my work.]

Appendix C: Feedback from team of progress and results.

Appendix D: Final schematic of the SITS operations (hardware & software) once in staging mode.

Appendix EB: Letter of Satisfactory Project Completion from Stakeholder, [Terry RichardsonName].