Project Overview

Describe about the Project Management Techniques of  Edapp Inc?

Development of project charter not only enables a team to identify the required resources but it also provides information regarding the risks associated with a project (Dinsmore and Cabanis-Brewin, 2014).  In this assignment project charter for a music education app development project is created.

1.1 Background:

Nature of the traditional education system is changing. Current trends of teaching methods indicate   that    the use of mobile apps increased   for teaching   children.  The current project deals with development of android apps for Edapp Inc. Edapp Inc is a fast growing organisation in educational app   market. Although conventional android apps are highly available in market, these apps cannot meet requirements of all students. Analysis on the learning ability of children indicates that music can boost their learning abilities. Music can enhance the learning abilities of children who are   suffering from autism, cerebral palsy and Down syndrome.  Due to change in the teaching methods, requirement of music based apps is   increasing .However   music educational apps are not available in market. Launching of such apps can be effective for new market development of Eduapp Inc. In this project two music based apps will be developed using scrum   programming approach. Two  teams  of   programmers  are  developed  for executing  the tasks related  with project  planning  and  app development. One of these apps will be developed   facilitate children for learning mathematics and language   using   music. Another app   will be developed for children   who have    any disabilities for learning.   As successful completion of the project got   the highest priority to management, budget of $310000 has been allocated for it. The project requires being completed within 4 months.

Although launching of new music education apps will be effective for new market development, the project team can face several challenges for developing such apps.  Currently the management modified their marketing strategies .The organisation is now trying to enter into the markets of business training education and 3D mathematics app development. As the required skills for developing traditional mathematics education app and business training apps are different, the organisation also changed their recruitment strategies in order to implement new marketing strategies. Currently most of the employees in Eduapp Inc have abilities to develop apps for the new target market.   However    some managers   of the organisation have different views regarding the new   marketing strategies of Eduapp and Inc and these managers are willing to work for conventional app development.  As all the managers have not agreed with the new   marketing   strategies, the project team may face   problems related with lack of collaboration. It may restrict the team from completing the project successfully.

The project of developing music education apps will be undertaken using SCRUM    programming approach. Ghapanchi et al. (2014) opines that use of scrum approach enables   the project team to meet any sudden change of customers’ requirements. Juricek, (2014)  also states that  teams which are using  SCRUM approach for competing  project  requires  conducting face to  face meeting  regularly for enhancing effectiveness of the approach.  Use   of SCRUM approach enables a team to optimize their skills for completing a project even if all the problems related   with the project are not understood completely. Lack of collaboration within the organisation may restrict the project teams to implement SCRUM approach efficiently. Analysis of the requirements for proposed music apps indicates that a music specialist   consultant and special education teacher will be needed.  Apart from this, six developers require being hired for the project team. Unavailability of skilled member can   increase difficulty for completion of the project.

Problem Statement

Table 1: Vision of Music app development project

On successful completion of the project two music education apps will be developed within    time and budget.  As SCRUM approach is being used for the project, it is expected that   the   team will be able to identify any changes in the customer requirement. Use of SCRUM approach also ensures that the proposed apps will be able to meet the requirements of its target customer. As the competition is increasing in traditional education app market, Eduapp Inc is changing their marketing policies. Launching of new app will also be beneficial for    the organisation to attain competitive advantage in traditional app development market.

The app development project will be conducted using SCRUM approach. The proposed apps will be developed for being used by educators and parents for improving the skills.  The task of identifying all problems regarding education and learning abilities is difficult due to  high  variety of learning  problems  among  children.  Use of SCRUM approach    will enable the project team for understanding and responding quickly to any changes in customer requirements.  Use of scrum approach is effective for completing the tasks into   several sprints (Niemann et al., 2014). Use of sprints will   reduce the complexity for project scheduling. Use of scrum approach provides flexibility for setting   the sequence of tasks. In this project two teams are working. Use of scrum methodology will allow them to set their own schedules and thus the chance of timely project completion increases.

2.1 Scope: 

Analysis of project scope enables the team to identify the key deliverables of the project (Sadabad and Kama, 2014). Schwalbe, (2014) opines that scope analysis also provides idea regarding the resource requirements for a project.

In Scope:

Table 2: Scope of Music app development project

The current project deals with only designing and development of music based education apps.  These apps will be launched in market by Eduapp Inc.  The project team is not responsible for conducting any marketing or promotional activities for these apps. However, the project team will be responsible for   further development and modification for the app in future if required.

Eduapp Inc is   one of the fastest growing android application providers in education sector. Products of the organisation include android applications for Mathematics and Science games.  The current project is being undertaken to acquire new customer group in the existing market   of Eduapp.  Although the proposed apps contain new features, these apps will also be used   for teaching children.  It indicates that these proposed music education apps are modification of   the   existing Mathematics and Science games app. Management of the organisation   is also focusing   on ne market development.  The organisation will undertake 3D mathematics app development projects as a part of their future marketing strategies. Although all the projects will deliver different products, these projects are interrelated with each other.

Table 3:  Interrelations among projects   of Eduapp Inc

Table 3 reflects   that the project of music education app development project   is interrelated with Mathematics and Science games projects and 3D mathematics app development project of Eduapp. Members of the current project team to make the can take help from the members of these projects music apps more effective.

Project Vision

Table 4:  Participants of music education app development project

3.1 Constraints:

Table 5:  Participants of music education app development project

Before starting the project some assumptions were made. Assumptions facilitate the project team to reduce complexity for project planning (Baumeister and Weber, 2013).

Assumption 1:  Music education apps will be accepted by customers

As the availability of music based educational apps is low, it is assumed that the   demand of proposed apps will be high. However, design of these new apps may not meet requirements of target customers and thus launching of new apps may not be effective.

Assumption 2: the project will be completed within time and will not require any extra budget allocation

It is assumed that the project will be undertaken in uninterrupted manner and thus it will be completed within time. Resources which will be required for completing the project are identified before starting. It is also assumed that no extra resources will be required and thus the budget will not increase. The project team will include music specialist consultant and special education teacher. Remunerations of these professionals will be decided on basis  of   negotiation. It is also assumed that pay rates of these professionals will be affordable to the project team.

Assumption 3: Assistance from other project teams will be available whenever needed

As the music education app development project is being undertaken for Eduapp Inc, It is assumed that other project teams of the organisation will be able to assist music education app project team.  However    assistance from other  teams  may  not be obtained   as  some  managers  opposed the development of  music based  apps.

Although the current project is  a  part  of Eduapp  Inc,  successful completion of the project  is dependent  on  tasks   done  by  app  developers, music specialist consultant and special education teacher.

Dependency on app developers:  In this project app developers will be responsible for project planning and   designing two apps.  Quality of the developed applications is dependent on the tasks executed by developers. Timely completion of the project also depends on the planning of developers.

Dependency on music specialist consultant: As   the   new apps   will be     aim at    teaching students using music, the role of music specialist consultant is important for development of the product. Effectiveness of the app depends on use of music for improving   learning abilities of children. It indicates that the quality of app depends on music specialist consultant.

Dependency on special education teacher:  One of the two proposed apps will aim at   reducing learning difficulties of children who are suffering from various diseases. Usefulness of this app depends on the tasks   executed by special education teacher.

Table 6:   Risks associated with music education app development project

Insufficient resource estimation: Although required resources are estimated   before starting the project, inefficient estimation can interrupt the project (Acharya, 2013). Inefficient estimation of required resources will lead to increase in budget. Interruption in project works may also restrict it   project from being completed within time. This risk can be reduced by revising the estimation.

Unavailability of members:  As the recruitment policies of  Eduapp  Inc  have been changed  management of the organisation hired people  who are able  to develop  3D apps  or business training apps. Although the project manager is allowed to develop own team, lack of   skilled developers may cause difficulty for completing the project. However the organisation previously developed projects   on science and mathematics games.  Members of these teams can be hired   to fill the vacancies.

Failure to complete the project on time:   Execution of the tasks can be interrupted   due to unavailability of staffs and other resources.  Milestones of the project will be developed in advance to reduce the chances of delay in projects. The teams will be allowed to set their own plans  for ensuring   completion of the   project on time.

Table 7:   Milestones and deliverables for music education app development project

Conclusion:

 Project charter made in this assignment indicates that   successful development of the   music based educational applications can be   restricted by unavailability of staffs and changing nature of target customers. Such risks can be mitigated by using SCRUM approach   for developing proposed applications.

References

Acharya, S. (2013). Test-Driven Development with Mockito. Packt Publishing.

Baumeister, H. and Weber, B. (2013). Agile processes in software engineering and extreme programming. Berlin: Springer.

Dinsmore, P. and Cabanis-Brewin, J. (2014). The AMA Handbook of Project Management. New York: AMACOM.

Ghapanchi, A., Wohlin, C. and Aurum, A. (2014). Resources contributing to gaining competitive advantage for open source software projects: An application of resource-based theory. International Journal of Project Management, 32(1), pp.139-152.

Juricek, J. (2014). Agile Project Management Principles. LNSE, pp.172-175.

Niemann, H., Moehrle, M. and Meyer, M. (2014). Project Management-Related Software Systems and Their Legal Protection: Emergence, Distribution, and Relevance of Business Method Patents. Project Management Journal, 45(1), pp.38-54.

Sadabad, A. and Kama, N. (2014). Action Driven Decision Modeling Framework towards Formulating Software Project Management Tacit Knowledge. Journal of Software, 9(9).

Schwalbe, K. (2014). Information technology project management. Boston, MA: Course Technology.