This is the third in a series of five sequential assignments (the course project) in which you continue to act as the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of a hypothetical e-commerce start-up company of your design.You have been working on delivering an information technology project plan in anticipation of the company relocating to a new facility.
- In the first course project deliverable, you created a project plan inception document and supporting Gantt chart.
- In the second course project deliverable, you developed the business requirements to be incorporated into the information systems design you are creating. You also updated your original supporting Gantt chart based on major and minor tasks identified in the business requirements document.
In this third course project deliverable, you will create an infrastructure design that considers the key elements of software, hardware, security, and business process flow for your e-commerce startup company. You will also use graphics tools to create a supporting data flow diagram (DFD) for your infrastructure design. The infrastructure design provides an opportunity to visualize the key elements and how they are connected for maximum effectiveness.This assignment consists of two-parts:
Part 1: Infrastructure Design
You will create an 8–10 page infrastructure design document to include key technical elements for your hypothetical e-commerce company’s information systems infrastructure.
Part 2: Updated Gantt Chart
You will use Microsoft Project to again update the supporting project Gantt chart begun in your first course project deliverable:
- You are not creating a new Gantt chart, only updating the one you created in the previous assignment with the major and minor tasks uncovered while creating the infrastructure design document.
Note:
- You are to create or infer all necessary assumptions to successfully complete this assignment.
- You must submit both parts as separate files to the assignment area. Label each file name according to the appropriate part.
Instructions
Part 1: Infrastructure Design Document
Write an 8–10 page infrastructure design document in which you:
- Identify the major hardware and software components of your hypothetical e-commerce company’s information systems infrastructure.
- Design your e-commerce company’s hardware (database, proxy servers, network equipment) and software (analytics, big data, API, content management) from a size, scale, type, and interoperability standards perspective.
- Document the potential security vulnerabilities and a security design for your e-commerce company.
- Use graphics tools to create a data flow diagram (DFD) for your e-commerce company.
- Use three sources to support your writing. (Choose sources that are credible, relevant, and appropriate. Cite each source listed on your source page at least one time within your assignment. Access the library or review library guides for help with research, writing, and citation.)
Part 2: Updated Gantt Chart
Use Microsoft Project to:
- Update the previously created Gantt chart with the major and minor tasks identified in the infrastructure design document.
Formatting
This course requires the use of Strayer Writing Standards. For assistance and information, please refer to the Strayer Writing Standards link in the left-hand menu of your course. Check with your professor for any additional instructions. Note the following:
- The preferred method is for the infrastructure design portion of your assignment to be typed, double-spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides.
- Include a cover page containing the assignment title, your name, your professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
- Include a source list page. Citations and references must follow SWS format. The source list page is not included in the required page length.
Learning Outcomes
The specific course learning outcome associated with this assignment is:
- Propose a design to address hardware, software, and security aspects of an entity’s information systems infrastructure.
In the first course project deliverable, you created a project plan inception document and supporting Gantt chart.
Introduction
In this course project, you developed a project plan for your first phase of work on the course. You identified and described any assumptions that you made about your initial project plan and/or any changes you made to it. You also described ways in which each of these primary deliverables helped define and plan out your first phase of work on this course assignment.
Identify the primary project deliverables from the first course project deliverable, and describe how these were used to define and plan the first phase of your project.
The first course project deliverable was a project plan inception document and supporting Gantt chart.
The primary project deliverables are defined as follows:
Project Schedule – A schedule of activities, tasks and milestones that describe a specific phase or stage of your work process.
Product Scope Statement – A written description of what needs to be done in order to accomplish your goals for this project (i.e., “This is how I want my website/app/etc.”). You may also include any additional requirements that you want addressed but haven’t specified yet (e.g., “I need an app with this functionality”).
Identify and describe any assumptions that you made about these deliverables.
Assumptions are things you think are true, but you don’t know for sure. For example, if the client has never used this technology before and you have only worked with them on one other project before and it went well, then your assumption might be that they will give you a lot of time to work on this project.
Assumptions can be good or bad depending on what they mean in relation to your project deliverables and goals. They could mean that there won’t be any problems with getting started or finishing up (e.g., “I believe my team members will complete their tasks within the deadlines”). Or it could mean there is little chance for success (e.,g., “I assume I’ll need another week because my team members weren’t able to meet their commitments”).
Describe any changes you made to your original project plan and why.
In the first course project deliverable, you created a project plan inception document and supporting Gantt chart.
In this section, you will describe any changes you made to your original project plan and why. You should also discuss how those changes affected the plan’s timeline and how they will be managed going forward.
Once you have a good idea of what needs to be developed, you can start planning out your work
Once you have a good idea of what needs to be developed, you can start planning out your work.
Identify the key tasks: As part of this process, make sure that each task has a clear description and estimated duration. If there is any uncertainty about how long it will take or whether something will be done at all (for example, if a piece of code is still under development), then make sure that it’s clearly marked as such.
Plan for time to learn new things: Even if everything else goes well during this stage, there’s always going to be some amount of learning involved with any project—so plan for that! For example: perhaps one person is responsible for learning React from scratch while another learns Python from an online course; or one person might need to get familiar with Machine Learning algorithms while another might want help getting started on hiring practices; etcetera… The idea here isn’t necessarily just about getting up-to-date with what everyone else knows/has done but rather understanding where those gaps exist within your own team so that they can get filled in later down the road when necessary.”
Conclusion
Congratulations! You’ve just completed your first course project deliverable. This is a great accomplishment, and you should feel proud of yourself. You have learned so much about planning and developing technology projects that it’s hard to imagine how much more can be done with this knowledge. But there are still some important things that you need to know before moving on from here: