Term Paper: Legacy to Cloud Computing Migration Project
Due Week 10 and worth 180 points

This assignment consists of three (3) sections: a written paper, a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), and a Gantt Chart. You must submit each section as a separate file for the completion of this assignment. Label each file name according to the section of the assignment it is written for.

Imagine that you have been hired as a project manager to oversee the migration of a legacy system to a cloud computing based platform within a government agency. The resources within the organization are limited in number, knowledge, and availability. This project will require outsourcing of skilled resources and expertise to move forward with the initiative. The organization is characterized by working in silos and having redundant functional resources available within many of its divisions. 

To complete this assignment, you will be required to research similar cloud migration projects and understand the resources and challenges that an information systems project of this magnitude requires. Using the concepts presented throughout the course, you will develop a project plan that will meet the project goals and requirements.

Section 1: Written Paper
Required Format (MS Word File)

• Write a ten to twelve (10-12) page paper in which you:
• • Use the Internet to research similar cloud migration projects that have been successful. Of the researched projects, recommend measurable organization values for a project of this type and include expected benefits in terms of money, percentage, or potential optimizations.
  • Write a two to three (2-3) paragraph executive summary which defines the phases and their activities that the project will require. Develop the executive summary for a senior management audience.
  • Perform a stakeholder analysis for the researched project in which you:
  • • Include all major stakeholders that the project will require.
    • Describe each stakeholder’s title, role within the project, and objectives each should meet for the project.
    • Provide details if this organization is more of a functional organization or project based. 
    • Suggest at least three (3) risks that should be monitored based on the selected organization type.
  • Produce a procurement management plan for the activities that will be required within the project in which you: 
• List the activities that will be outsourced, the skills / labor / material required, and the contract type.
• Analyze the monitoring requirements and potential pitfalls for each selected contract type.
• • Provide a scope change control method that could be used within the project management process in which you:
• Describe the review and approval process that will ensure scope control.
• Suggest at least three (3) scenarios that could resemble scope creep.
• • Perform a risk impact analysis in which you:
  • List at least ten (10) risks that could take place within this project.
  • Provide the probability for each risk (%), level of impact, and a probability impact score.
  • Prioritize your list based on the probability impact score and develop a risk response plan for the top five (5) risks.
  • Include the risk, the trigger, response, and resources required for response.
• Based on the Gantt Chart created in Section 3:
• • Explain the basis for your assumptions and constraints
  • Explain the basis for your estimates on tasks, skills, material, and equipment costs for each activity.
  • Identify the resources you used to arrive at your assumptions, constraints, and estimates.

Note: This criterion references criterion 3biii in Section 3: Gantt Chart. You will need to complete Section 3: Gantt Chart prior to completing this criterion for the written paper.

Section 1 of the assignment must follow these formatting requirements:

• Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
• Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length.

Section 2: Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
Required Format (MS Project File)

• Use MS Project or an Open Source alternative, such as Open Project to:
• • Develop a hierarchical Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) with defined activities and estimated budgets per activity in which you:
  • • Group each activity under each major phase.
    • Identify a control account index number for each activity. 
    • Include at least twenty to twenty-five (20-25) work packages in the WBS that show the various efforts required to complete the project.

Section 3: Gantt Chart
Require Format (MS Project File)

• Use MS Project to develop a Gantt chart in which you:
• • Group all activities (tasks) by phase, duration estimates of each activity, start and end dates, major milestones (with black diamond), resources required per activity (in terms of personnel, labor and material), activity precedence relationships, and costs per activity. 
  • Use at least (ten to fifteen) 10-15 resources in your Gantt chart.
  • For each activity:
  • • Ensure that control account index numbers match the WBS in Section 2.
    • Provide resources required in terms of labor and material, estimates of duration, and risks that each activity may have. Note: To document risks, you will need to create a new column and label column titled “Risk”.
    • Base cost estimates on research you perform on the Internet for similar tasks, skills, material, equipment, etc. Note: Be sure to explain the basis and research sources for costs in your written paper.

Note: This criterion references criterion 1g in Section 1: Written Paper. You will need to complete Section 3: Gantt Chart prior to completing the criterion for the written paper.

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:

• Initiate, specify, and prioritize information technology projects, and determine various aspects of feasibility of these projects.
• Describe the foundations of project management, including its definition, scope, and the need for project management in the modern organization.
• Explain and apply the phases of the project management life cycle.
• Develop processes that initiate technology projects, including project selection and defining project scope.
• Analyze and develop project schedules with appropriate techniques and software tools.
• Prepare strategies to manage project resources to include human resources, capital equipment, and time.
• Identify project risk, and the techniques for ensuring project risk is managed and controlled in a technology setting.
• Summarize the project procurement process including external acquisition and outsourcing.
• Design project execution activities including change control and communicating project status.
• Summarize methods to control technology projects through information tracking and cost and change control techniques.
• Develop a complete information systems project plan using project management software tools.
• Use technology and information resources to research issues in information systems.
• Write clearly and concisely about Information Technology Project Management topics using proper writing mechanics and technical style conventions.