GAZETTE CONSULTING GROUP STATEMENT OF WORK V 1.0
Domitille Biehlmann 260554000 Bastien Hellouin de Cenival 260663537 Thao Nguyen 260617299 Sharon Rosanda 260638048 Frédérique Melanson 260689394
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GAZETTE CONSULTING GROUP
CONTENTS 1. EXECTUTIVE SUMMARY 2. BACKGROUND/REQUEST: 3. PROJECT SCOPE: 4. FEASIBILITY STUDY: 5. PROJECT BASELINE PLAN: 6. PROJECT PLAN: APPENDIX
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GAZETTE CONSULTING GROUP 1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The objective of our team’s project is to optimize The McGill Tribune’s idea conceptualization and content assignment production process. More specifically, our objective is to design a 2-way platform to eliminate the need to have weekly meetings for each section editor and to rid both the section editors and potential contributors of scheduling conflicts. The project will be implemented in approximately 1 month.
2. BACKGROUND/REQUEST: 2. 1 COMPANY BACKGROUND: The McGill Tribune (The Tribune) is an independent campus newspaper on the McGill University campus. The Tribune is published by the Mcgill Publication Society in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Currently, The Tribune a circulation of 11,000 within the two McGill Campus’: The Downtown McGill campus and the Macdonald campus. Issues are published in print weekly on Tuesdays and released simultaneously online on their website: http://www.mcgilltribune.com/. Currently, the process of the weekly publication consists of several editors working throughout the week with writers and stories to formulate the content for each weeks’ issue. The section editors hold weekly meetings with staff writers and anyone wishing to participate, known as contributors. These meetings serve to distribute and assign ideas to all of the writers in attendance to be published the following week. After the stories have been written, the editorial team works all day Monday to begin what is known as “Production Day”. Throughout the day, the content is put onto the pages, distributed to the editors, edited, and then the layout is designed for to be sent to the publisher and printed the following day. The paper is then printed at an off-site publication center by the McGill Publication Society and distributed throughout both campuses.
2.2 PROBLEM: However, the process from when the information on a story is available to the content being assigned to a particular writer is not as efficient as it can be. Because these weekly meetings can not all be held at the same time (essentially the earliest time) the editors aren’t able to equally distribute the stories and allow their writers an optimal amount of time to write their stories. Additionally, the fact that there is only one meeting done per week, this creates lots of scheduling conflict and missed opportunities for potential writers and contributors. Moreover, the current process is done either in person where information which has potential for miscommunication and poor organization or through emails, where similar problems in organization can surface.
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GAZETTE CONSULTING GROUP 3. PROJECT SCOPE: 3. 1 INCLUSION IN SCOPE: The content of this project will consist of a web-based system designed to facilitate the planning of the Tribune’s articles and decision process. The system put in place by our team will allow the elimination of physical meetings and will allow access to proposed articles ideas online through a shared social media platform used by the Tribune’s staff. It will allow managers to post proposed subjects to writers who will then choose a subject to write on for a giving week. Editors and writers will also be able to chat on the platform to share ideas and fix technical issues. Managers will also be able to retrieve information on who of the writing team is working on every subject, to help assess resources and plan the posting of the tribune properly. This will allow managers and editors to save time between to writing phase and the posting phase of the Tribune’s life cycle. With the proposed system, all writers will post their finished articles on the same platform allowing the editors to reach all the work at the same place. Other writers could at the same time access various articles and give advice to the author before the posting deadline. The targeted audience for the project is the Editorial Team, including the management staff, editors and writers. The project will also involve Board of Directors’ members, specifically the Technology Director, Editor-In-Chief and Finance Director. Our team’s focus is on delivering an easy and understandable process to be put in place, including training of staff, within 1 month approximately. The scope covers all implementation phases beginning with project initiation and ending with project conclusion.
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3.2 EXCLUSION IN SCOPE: As this project aims to develop a system that will optimize the content generation process of the McGill Tribune, it will not include the Business Team who is in charge of the advertisement and distribution of the paper.
4. FEASIBILITY STUDY: 4.1 ECONOMIC FEASIBILITY: A major part of the Tribune’s organization is based off volunteer work and costs are relatively low, it is then hard for our team to assess a precise economic feasibility analysis, however, we can estimate that labor costs will be reduced substantially due to elimination of meetings. The cost analysis below demonstrates the economic viability of our project. Indeed, as we illustrate in the budget report, the whole project is going to cost a sum of about $1 560 for our team the prepare the project. After that it is simply a matter of maintaining the software through the cloud. The cost analysis has been done on a semester based timeline because the salaries of the Tribune’s organization are paid per semester. We allocated as a benefit a 10% reduction in labor hour due to fewer meetings as we introduce the project to the organization. Aside from the original cost of production we allocated a 40$ running fee over cloud for the software (based on 10$/months averagely charged by cloud companies and 4 months per semester for the Tribune’s workers). We can see that the project is very feasible with an NPV of $3 622.69 and an ROI of 277% over 5 semesters. The analysis is conducted over 5 semesters since we figure that better technology will be available to the organization by this time or they will be able to refine it. Furthermore, we see from the cumulative NPV timeline that the break-even point will be between semester 1 and 2, showing how low risk this projects represents for the Tribune.
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GAZETTE CONSULTING GROUP
TECHNICAL FEASIBILITY:
The project is very feasible on the technical side since the organization isn’t using any software or system at the moment and our project will implement a very simple platform for them to use. Since almost all workers of the tribune are students, their knowledge on technology is quite advanced and training regarding the new system should be quite brief and productive. Moreover, students are familiar with this kind of platform already with examples like facebook, GoogleDoc and other similar processes used on a regular basis. The risk factor associated with the technical feasibility of this project is that managers may need some adjusting time to adapt to the new gathering of content, from email to our platform.
4.2 OPERATIONAL FEASIBILITY: The project should not present any problems in the feasibility of its operations, and will more than anything provides operational effectiveness to the McGill tribune organization. Indeed, it will reduce the length between the gathering of information and the release of the journal. It will make every step of the product life cycle shorter and more efficient for the members of the organization. By shorting the production time, it allows members to be more productive and focus on either other tasks in the organization or other work that is not related to the tribune, for instance school studies.
4.3 SCHEDULE FEASIBILITY: Since the project is relatively simple and doesn’t require much implication of the tribune staff, the schedule feasibility will be assessed based on our team’s estimation of the completion time. The software put in place being simple, the schedule proposed should be very reasonably attainable. We can therefore say that the deadlines should be met without any worries, and the simplicity of the program will allow training to be done in a short period.
LEGAL AND CONTRACTUAL FEASIBILITY: The only legal constraint would be for the project to be accepted and in lined with McGill University’s policy. This will be settled by our developing staff who will make sure to implement the program within the university’s laws.
4.4 SECURITY FEASIBILITY: The program will be developed as a private social network with its users’ information encrypted and inaccessible to people outside the Tribune’s organization.
5. PROJECT BASELINE PLAN: Work Breakdown Structure: The work breakdown structure with duration estimates, logical relationship among activities and deliverables is provided in the table on the following page. The critical task schedule and PERT chart can be found in Appendix A and B of the report.
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#
Task Name
Duration
Predecessors
Mile- Summa- Deliverables stones? ry Task?
1
Start Project
0 days
　
Y
2
Project planning
7 days
1
3
Initial meeting with project sponsor
1 day
1
4
Define scope and objectives
1 day
3
5
Assess feasibility
1 day
3
6
Develop project charter
1 day
5
7
Charter signed
0 days
6
8
Estimate task duration
1 day
7
9
Define team member roles
1 day
7
10
Assign resources
1 day
9
Resource allocation table
11
Determine task relationships
1 day
8
Task relationship table
12
Enter cost information
1 day
9
Cost information table
13
Review and finalize project plan
1 day
12
14
Prepare report #1
1 day
13
15
AS-IS Analysis
4 days
14
16
Determine requirements
1 day
14
List of requirements
17
Physical process modeling for current system
1 day
16
Process model for current system
18
Logic modeling for current system
1 day
16
Logic model for current system
19
Data modeling for current system
1 day
16
Data model for current system
20
Identify problems and opportunities
1 day
17,18,19
21
Project tracking and control (EVA)
1 day
20
22
TO_BE Modeling and Project Close- 8 days down
21
23
Recommend changes and improvement
1 day
21
24
Process modeling for new system
2 days
23
Process Model for new system
25
Logic modeling for new system
2 days
23
Logic Model for new system
26
Data modeling for new system
2 days
23
Data Model for new system
27
Design forms, reports and dialogues
2 days
24,25,26
28
Project tracking and control (EVA)
1 day
27
29
Prepare lessons learned
1 day
28
30
Prepare final project report
2 days
28
31
End project
0 days
30
Y
Feasibility Study Report
Y
Signed charter
Report #1 Y
Current System Analysis Y
New System Analysis
Final project report Y
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GAZETTE CONSULTING GROUP 5.1 ORGANIZATIONAL BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE: The project team includes one project manager, two financial analyst and two system analysts. The team assignment is described below: Team Member
Title
Responsibility
Domitille B
Project Manager
Oversee and manage the progress of the project, communicate directly with the client representative
Bastien C, Frederic M
Finance Analyst
Analyze the client’s budget, define the costs for each task and develop a cost budget for the project
Sharon R and Thao N
System Analyst(s)
Analyze the current process, conduct feasibility study, create an implementation plan and track the performance of the system
The Organizational Involvement Chart can be presented as follows:
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5. 2 RESPONSIBILITY ASSIGNMENT MATRIX: RESOURCES #
Task Name
Domitille B Sharon R Thao N
Bastien C Frederic M
1
Start Project
2
Project planning
3
Initial meeting with project sponsor
x
x
x
x
4
Define scope and objectives
x
x
x
5
Assess feasibility
x
6
Develop project charter
7
Charter signed
8
Estimate task duration
9
Define team member roles
x
10
Assign resources
x
11
Determine task relationships
12
Enter cost information
x
13
Review and finalize project plan
x
14
Prepare report #1
15
AS-IS Analysis
16
x x
x x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
Determine requirements
x
x
x
17
Physical process modeling for current system
x
x
x
x
x
18
Logic modeling for current system
x
x
19
Data modeling for current system
x
x
x
20
Identify problems and opportunities
x
x
x
x
x
21
Project tracking and control (EVA)
x
x
x
x
x
22
TO_BE Modeling and Project Closedown
23
Recommend changes and improvement
x
x
x
x
x
24
Process modeling for new system
x
x
x
x
x
25
Logic modeling for new system
x
x
x
26
Data modeling for new system
x
x
x
27
Design forms, reports and dialogues
x
28
Project tracking and control (EVA)
x
x
x
x
x
29
Prepare lessons learned
x
x
x
x
x
30
Prepare final project report
x
x
x
x
x
31
End project
x
x
x
x
x
x
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GAZETTE CONSULTING GROUP
5.3 BUDGET REPORT: The project will be working 5 days a week from Monday to Friday, 8 hours a day from 9 am to 5 pm with a lunchbreak from 12 pm to 1pm. The average salary for each of the team member is $15/ hour. The table below provides an overview of the estimated costs for the project.
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The Cash Flow Report and Resource Allocation graphs can be found in Appendix C and D.
6. PROJECT PLAN: A.
PROJECT EXPECTATIONS:
The McGill Tribune’s Expectations: - The progress of this project will be communicated upon the completion of every milestone through our team’s project manager to the McGill Tribune’s representative. - All work and deliverables will remain confidential and treated as the property of the McGill Tribune. Our Team’s Expectations: - The McGill Tribune will provide human resources involvement as stated in the Project Scope Statement. - The McGill Tribune will assign representatives during the weekly meeting with our team to discuss the progress of the project and resolve any issues may come up. - The McGill Tribune will assist our team with the progress of documentation throughout the process.
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B.
ESTIMATED PROJECT PLAN:
C.
PROJECT EVALUATION STANDARDS:
The following chart shows the proposed schedule that supports the scope of work and project approach described in this document.
Certain criteria should be established to evaluate the project deliverables and thus measure the success of the project. - Tasks are completed according to the schedule - The budget for the project has been respected - All of the requirements of the project have been met - The total time taken to complete the process is optimized
GAZETTE CONSULTING GROUP D.
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ASSESSMENT OF RISKS AND UNCERTAINTIES:
All projects have risks and uncertainties, which should be identified at the beginning of the project. By doing so, proper precautions could be taken as to mitigate these risks. Below are the possible risks our project could encounter, and the efforts taken to lessen them. Risk variable Estimating assumptions
Positive impact (low risk)
Negative impact (high risk)
Mitigation efforts
User resistance to change
The system is adopted by the users and the process efficiency is improved
Users do not see the benefits of the new technology and do not accept the system, which lowers their performance The project schedule is accommodated for other commitments, resulting in delays and cost increases
Proper training is provided to the users of the system Management encourages the use of the new system
Users are not encouraged to change to the new system, which lowers their performance Objectives of the The project is The objectives of project are described completed with no the project are not clearly and project delays met, and the projteam is able to comect does not progplete the project with ress as planned. no complications
Proper explanation of the benefits will be communicated to management to encourage the adoption of the system
Users are willing to adopt the new system as a new part of the process
Team mem- All team members The project prober availabil- are available to com- gresses as schedity plete required tasks uled
Management Management is support willing to adopt and encourage the use of the system Clear objectives
The project progresses as normal, and the system is implemented and used by all users
Planning and allocation of tasks allows team members to manage their time more effectively. Sharing documents online helps team members assess the progress of the project.
The problem is thoroughly discussed between the project team, and the objectives clearly identified to keep members aligned with the final goal of the project
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GAZETTE CONSULTING GROUP Appendix B - PERT chart:
Appendix C - Cash Flow Report:
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GAZETTE CONSULTING GROUP Appendix D - Resource Allocation Graph: Domitille Biehlmann
Thao Nguyen
GAZETTE CONSULTING GROUP Sharon Rosanda
Frédérique Melanson
Bastien Hellouin de Cenival
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