Identify and elaborate on the problems experienced with the project…

Question Answered step-by-step Identify and elaborate on the problems experienced with the project… Identify and elaborate on the problems experienced with the project described in the article below. Waterfall Software DevelopmentRobert Adam, the project manager of Renegade, just received a notification that his project was in an idle stage for four hours due to a specification conflict. The conflict came from the disagreement of how to accomplish one of the project tasks. Dangerously, the disagreement was built around specification deviations, thus delay of the project was likely inevitable. Robert understood his project would make no progress until this issue was resolved. Consequently, if the project did not meet the specifications during the review, it would not progress at all until a correction had been made or modification to the specification document had been approved andrecorded. This irritated Robert. So, he called for an emergency meeting with theinvolved parties.RENEGADERenegade is a health insurance provider in the southeast region. The company hasemployed the “waterfall” methodology for their software development projects.The waterfall methodology assumes that projects can be managed better when segmented into a hierarchy of phases, stages, activities, tasks, or steps. The waterfall methodology therefore directs a software development project to progress in an orderly sequence of development steps. This also means concurrent development steps of a project are prohibited.Renegade has experienced a rapid growth over the years. In just a short five – year span, the numbers of subscribers have increased from two hundred thousand to more than one million subscribers. Management predicts even more growth. This number is only the subscribers, and their dependents are not included in this number. Therefore, the rapid growth of subscribers means extensive data to manage for Renegade. The company has been using Microsoft Access as their data management system. Renegade realizes the limitations of MS Access in managing large amounts of data, now that they must deal with their aggressive demands. Therefore, an upgrade to more sophisticated data management systems is a must.After some research, top business managers decided to convert the database.Management system to Oracle, which should have been able to provide flexibility,ability to manage huge amounts of data, expandability, and referential integrity.THE PROJECTTo respond to this need, Renegade initiated a project whose purpose was toimplement:Oracle database with proper connectivity to the existing system, and Safe data transfer from MS Access to OracleProject Budget: $ 200, 000Project Duration: 10 weeksThe pharmacy department (PD) was responsible for the project and its cost.The PD selected Robert Adam as the project manager and Leila Rakoba as thebusiness analyst, both of whom were very experienced individuals.Robert was the main person in charge of any problem/issue/concern regarding the project. He was responsible for all aspects of the project, including project schedule, development matrix, budgeting, and issue escalations.Leila was the major point of contact for the user. She was responsible forcollecting all the requirements from the users and documenting them in the businessrequirement document.WATERFALL SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENTAs mentioned, like other projects this project followed the waterfall software development model. The project must finish each phase and go through a final walkthrough (FWT) before it could move forward. The formal walkthrough committee usually involved the phase completion check – off and presided over all sign – offs. The committee consisted of managers from different functional areas.Robert was also involved in the FWT but was not part of the committee. So, hissignature was not required for phase completion sign – off.The purpose for the FWT meeting was to ensure that specification requirements.of the phase were clearly met and documented. Requirements must be validated and exit criteria must be satisfied before the project could progress. In other words, the waterfall model created disciplined project management and ensured the adequacy of documentation and design reviews. It set all requirements, schedules, and expectations before the project kick – off.Figure 3.1 shows a preliminary outline that represents the overall process of software development life cycle at Renegade.Image transcription textFigure 3.1 Software Development Life Cycle Initiation Planning User/Business Implementation SpecificationRequirement-BA > Functional R’t Test > Functional Doc-SA Specification-SA >Technical Spec >System Doc-Developer > Development Architecture Unit Test Plan-Dev > Integration Deploy… Show more… Show moreINITIATION PHASEAs the project manager, Robert was responsible for the development of theresource requirement document and project plan. To prepare these documents,he needed to get help from different functions. Robert needed assistance from the Solution Engineer (SE), Systems Analyst (SA), Developer, Test Analyst (TA), Release Engineer (RE), Data Architect (DA), and Database Analyst (DBA).Robert also needed to compose a development matrix document that consisted ofthe deliverables and the responsible members for the deliverables. Additionally,he needed to produce a resource – planning document that included the roles and requirements of the resources. For example, Robert requested the database analyst who had a minimum of 3.5 years of work experience in related fields and possessed good Oracle and MS Access technical knowledge.FIRST FORMAL WALKTHROUGH MEETINGIt was November 13, 2007, 10 days prior to the kick – off meeting. The PD alreadyallocated all required resources and assigned them to Robert for the project. Itwas his responsibility to use the resources optimally according to the scheduleand budget. With Leila’ s help in facilitating and conveying all the project requirements,the meeting was sure to go well. The team was more than ready.PLANNING PHASEAs expected, the team passed the first FWT meeting, and moved onto the planningphase. Robert and his team went on and started laying out the project plan.But when the team worked on the project plan for a week, a conflict arose. That’ s when Robert called for an emergency meeting.EMERGENCY MEETINGIn the meeting, Robert was not very excited to hear issues or complaints from Luke,who was the systems analyst. Robert knew that Luke was very experienced butstubborn and liked to make last – minute changes. The role of the systems analystwas to design how to implement the Oracle system, and the developer (Jason) andthe solutions engineer (Jasmine), should agree to the plan before the next FWT.Robert: So, what is going on? Could someone explain to me what is happening?Jasmine: We could not agree on how to handle flat file bit conversion. I am notsure if you ‘ re familiar with the flat file.Robert: No, please explain.Jasmine: Okay, it is easier if I draw. (See Figure 3.2.)Jasmine: The new system must be able to receive the 16 – bit from the existingsystem to ensure that input feeds are not misconfigured. So, the new system mustbe programmed to handle it. The small box within the Implementation box is the conversion process that is going to be integrated into the introduction of the new database. This conversion block is Luke ‘s plan and the point of conflict.Jason and I are opposed to it, as it is beyond the scope and not part of the project plan.Existing New Implementation Existing ConversionLuke: Robert, what I am suggesting is that this conversion process will satisfy the need to implement the project and it will not take long to develop. I do not see any reason to do the more complex work of programming the new DB to 16 – bit capability. Why break a wall when you can walk around it?Robert: Luke, I realize the complexity of programming the 16 – bit DB capability but your solution is suggesting a scope change. Again, we cannot spend more time going back and forth; once the plan is set, we should abide to it. Therefore,scratch the conversion plan. Stick to the original script. Any questions?Luke: It does not make sense that we must reinvent the wheel. I havelearned a lot about this system during the development of the referential integrity (thousands of tables in the database connecting through a key or specificreference number) . The conversion will take 18 hours less than developing a 16 – bit database interface.Robert: I do realise and appreciate your enthusiasm, but the specification requirement documentation indicates that the new database will be 16 – bit capable of interfacing the input of the 16 – bit flat file.Even with discussions after discussions, Luke seemed not willing to concur.Robert looked for someone who could assist in solving this issue. Luke was a senior systems analyst and had been around for a while. He reported to a more – senior manager who was not easily accessible. Therefore, Robert decided to talk to his own manager, Steven, who was the program manager. Steven sent Luke an email informing him of the direction the project should take and carbon – copied Luke ‘ s manager.Robert learned the next day that Luke conceded and the project wasprogressing ahead. Shortly after, with some leftover tension still in the room, thenext FWT meeting went smoothly. The project successfully moved ahead tothe implementation phase.NEW PROBLEMSince then, the project had been going along as planned except until it reached thetest phase. Sam, the test analyst, found incorrect implementation done duringthe development phase. He came to Robert to consult.Sam: Robert, I cannot continue with the test. It is failing for populating thetable and running appropriate data in the database tables. I already explained this to Jason. He roughly looked at it, and estimated about a week to fix theproblem. But you know we don’ t has a week. Could you please talk to him?Robert: When did you talk to him about this?Project Management ProcessesSam: This morning. I have sent an email to him and talked to him two times already. He told me he has to finish another high – priority assignment and then he can get into this. I cannot wait any longer. I have to finish the user acceptance test and develop the test reports in two days.Robert: Well, let me handle this. I will talk directly to his manager to speed things up. Can I use your phone?Robert grabbed the phone, and made a call to Jason’ s boss, John, who was adevelopment manager.Robert: John, this is Rob. I would like you to talk Jason. This is about completing or correcting the Oracle implementation code he and Sam discussed.We really do not have much time left and we cannot delay this anymore.I understand he is busy but the project is on hold. And this project is critical toour company, you know that.John: Oh, I was not aware of this. Let me check with him, and I will get back to you. I am sure he could postpone what he’ s working on now. He must have misunderstood the project priority. I’ ll handle it.Soon after Robert hung up, Jason called and informed him that he was ready to work. Surprisingly, it only took five hours for Jason to fi x the error. Now the project was able to move on, however, it was behind schedule. At that point, Robert knew he would need to make a lot of phone calls and send several more emails to get this project done.  Business Management Project Management PROJECT MA PGDPM Share QuestionEmailCopy link Comments (0)