Week 6 Group Assignment: Sections IX & X

• Project Management
• Acquisition Strategy

This section of the business case provides a summary of the team’s plan for managing and implementing the proposed project. Its purpose is to convince the decision-maker(s) that the project will be managed effectively, so that the stated objectives will be met within the time and budget allocated to the project. A complete “Project Management Plan” would be separately developed and contain much more detail than is required here. This section should three subsections (A, B, C.), with a lead in statement for each:

• A description, using a paragraph for each, explaining how the following aspects of the project will be managed:

• Project Scope –
• Time/Schedule –
• Cost –
• Quality – 😄
• Communications –
• Stakeholders –

• List the members of the project team by their roles (not by name).
• Provide a schedule that lists the major tasks involved and how much time they require. The schedule should be detailed enough to cover all the important activities, but does not need to include a Work Breakdown Structure.

Approach to Developing this Section

The six management areas listed come from the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) list of about 10 knowledge areas. Use the resources provided in the Week 6 Content to fully understand what is to be included for each of the above management areas.

In developing the list of the project team members, keep in mind the scope and budget for the project. The project team should have all the required skill sets, but team members may function in multiple roles. In order to keep costs low, the team should be as small and efficiently designed as possible. The team should include both functional and IT personnel.

The schedule should be developed with the understanding that when the business case is approved, many of the project planning and analysis and design steps will have been completed. So, using the information previously documented in the business case, the team should identify the major steps that remain to fully implement the project, and determine reasonable timeframes for them to be accomplished. The schedule should be presented as a table with tasks, duration, and participants, including the person who has the lead for that activity. The following table may be copied and used, if so desired:

This section provides a recommendation and rationale for how the system will be acquired. Often a combination of acquisition strategies are used, especially when both end-user hardware and enterprise systems are part of the solution.

First, list the components that need to be acquired, grouping them into categories as appropriate (e.g, end-user hardware, vs. each item separately).

Then, for each category of components, answer the following questions that are applicable to that item:

• Scope of what to buy:
  • Buy as a product or service? (some items may be purchased and others may be acquired as a service)
  • Commercial-off-the-shelf (including open source) or custom?
  • Will in-house staff or external contractors support custom development, integration, or sustainment?
• What infrastructure will need to be acquired?
  • Will system hosting services be needed?
  • How will connectivity be made available?
  • What security considerations should be included in the contracts? Will any specific hardware or software need to be acquired to provide security?
  • Will Business Continuity requirements need to be included in the contract(s)? Will separate Business Continuity solutions or components need to be acquired?
  • Are there any data management considerations to be included in the acquisition(s)? 😄
• What type of contract(s) should be used?