Information systems (capstone project plan)

Running head: INFORMATION SYSTEMS (CAPSTONE PROJECT PLAN)
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Information Systems (Capstone Project Plan)
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INFORMATION SYSTEMS (CAPSTONE PROJECT PLAN)
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Information Systems (Capstone Project Plan)
Contents
Contents.............................................................................................................................................................. 2
Executive summary........................................................................................................................................ 5
Introduction............................................................................................................................................................... 5
Cost estimation and cost analysis process........................................................................................................5
Role and responsibilities of the project team..................................................................................................6
Types of Activities.................................................................................................................................................... 6
The relationship between the solutions of the project plan and the advantages that the Company
will get when it invests in information technology is provided.................................................................6
Solution Providers................................................................................................................................................... 7
Combination of all documentation from project deliverables 1 to deliverables 5...............................7
Revised Documentation ......................................................................................................................................... 8
The Project Plan Management.............................................................................................................................. 8
Project Plan Inception............................................................................................................................................. 8
Information System’s data storage and management ..................................................................................9
Information System’s network infrastructure ...............................................................................................9
Background..................................................................................................................................................... 10
Project Scope.................................................................................................................................................. 10
Scope Description ................................................................................................................................................. 11
Goals and Objectives of the Project.........................................................................................................13
Realistically Estimated Cost Analysis of the Entire Project............................................................14
The Benefits of the Detailed Cost Analysis..................................................................................................... 15
Cost Analysis Process............................................................................................................................................ 15
Coast Analysis Deliverables ............................................................................................................................... 16

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Roles and Responsibilities......................................................................................................................... 16
Project Activities........................................................................................................................................... 18
Project Estimated Costs.............................................................................................................................. 19
The relationship between the Project Plan’s Solutions and Competitive advantage that
information technology will afford the Company..............................................................................19
Enhancement of the Existing Operations........................................................................................................ 20
Save the Organization on Man-Hours.............................................................................................................. 21
Innovation and Growth in the Organization.................................................................................................21
Solution Providers and Cost Analysis....................................................................................................21
Price water-house Coopers (PwC).................................................................................................................... 22
Aloha United Way’s 211...................................................................................................................................... 22
National Institutes of Health (NIH) consultancy...........................................................................................23
Project Implementation phases............................................................................................................... 23
Phase 1. Business requirements and solutions ...........................................................................................23
Phase 2. High-Level-Design................................................................................................................................. 24
Phase 3. The Design Specification..................................................................................................................... 24
Phase 4.Customization, Configuration, System development..................................................................24
Phase 5. Implementation of the Information System..................................................................................24
Phase 6. Information System Support and Maintenance .......................................................................24
Project Management.................................................................................................................................... 24
Project Plan Inception................................................................................................................................. 27
Type of Business..................................................................................................................................................... 27
Skilled Information Systems Personnel.......................................................................................................... 27
Types of Data........................................................................................................................................................... 28
Organization’s Information Systems................................................................................................................ 28
Analytics and Interfaces....................................................................................................................................... 29
Possible Risks, Constraints, and Assumptions....................................................................................29
Risks Matrix ............................................................................................................................................................ 30

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Assumptions Made in this Project Plan........................................................................................................... 30
The Relationship and Integration between Systems and Infrastructure...................................30
The Need for Potential Outsourcing or Offshoring............................................................................31
Necessary Resources................................................................................................................................... 31
Information System Data Storage............................................................................................................31
The database, Data warehousing, and Relational Database.....................................................................31
The requirement for the storage of data........................................................................................................ 32
Information System Network Infrastructure......................................................................................33
Network Design...................................................................................................................................................... 35
Network security.................................................................................................................................................... 35
Security policy ........................................................................................................................................................ 35
References....................................................................................................................................................... 37
Appendices ..................................................................................................................................................... 38
Appendix A: Work Breakdown Structure....................................................................................................... 38
Appendix B: Network Infrastructure............................................................................................................... 39
Appendix C: Entity Relationship Diagram ..................................................................................................... 40
Appendix D: Data Flow Diagrams...................................................................................................................... 42

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Executive summary
Introduction
This is the last project deliverable (deliverable 6) of the project after the expiration the
following deliverables; Database and Data Warehousing, Network Infrastructure and Security, and
Business Requirement. This deliverable will explain the overall project plan and combines deliverables
1 through deliverable 5. This deliverable contains the following four (4) sections: a written project
plan, a revised business requirements document, a project plan PowerPoint presentation, and the
finalized project plan (.mpp). This word document is purposefully a written project plan for ACME
Company.
The first part of this document will describe the following components of the Project Plan.
 The scope of the project control measures. It describes the limitations and boundaries in which
the information system for the ACME Company will work.
 Goals and objective of the project. The expected achievement of the Information system to the
organization will be defined.
The second part of this project plan will be the discussion on the following points.
Cost estimation and cost analysis process
 A realistic estimated cost of the project. This will provide an insight into the expenditure on
what it will cost the entire project from inception to system support and its maintenance.
 Cost analysis process. This part will be dealing with the process of analyzing the cost of the
overall project in order to ensure that the whole and inclusive budget is arrived at.
 The benefits of the cost analysis process to the Project Plan. A discussion on the advantages that

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the Project Plan will get when it employs the cost analysis process will be provided.
 Deliverable of the cost analysis process. What the cost analysis process must accomplish the
project plan is discussed.
Role and responsibilities of the project team
Project management plan consists of different individuals that work together in their specialized
areas to ensure that the project is completed within stipulated time and operating constraints. This part
will provide a discussion on the role and responsibilities of the following project team members.
 Project Manager.
 Project Sponsor.
 Executive Sponsor.
 Directors, and
 Team Relievers.
Types of Activities
A detailed elaboration of types of activities that the company will be executed is provided
including the following.
 Collaborative activities
 Knowledge activities, and
 Process activities.
The relationship between the solutions of the project plan and the advantages that the Company
will get when it invests in information technology is provided
A concise relationship between the solutions of the project plan and the advantages that the
ACME Company will get when it invests in information technology is provided. Among the viable

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solution includes but not limited to the following.
 Enhancement of the existing project in the company
 Saving on the organization’s man-hour, and
 Growth and innovation in the organization
Solution Providers
The success of the organization’s Project Plan does not rely on the project team. The Project
Plan should seek assistance from some notable solution providers to assist in the development,
implementation, maintain ace of the Information system. This part will provide a discussion of solution
providers and their cost analysis. For the success of this Project plan, hand extension from the
following solution providers will be called upon.
 Price water-house Coopers (PWC).
 Aloha United Ways 211, and
 National Institutes of Health (NIH) consultancy
Combination of all documentation from project deliverables 1 to deliverables 5
The Project Plan will then conclude by taking the combination of all documentation from
project deliverables 1 to deliverables 5 in which the following activities performed
Provision of all parts of the implementation of Information Technology in the Project Plan here the
following development and implementation steps are discussed.
 Business Requirement and Solutions.
 High level-design.
 The design Specifications.
 Customization, configuration, and system development.

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 Implementation of the Information System, and
 Information System support and maintenance.
Revised Documentation
A revision on documentation based on feedback obtained from the previous evolution of the
project deliverables are made in which the following content are discussed.
The Project Plan Management
A detailed discussion of the content of the project management plan is provided that will
sufficiently address the following requirements.
 The estimate on the required number of resources including labor force.
 Valuation of the project’s capital.
 Clarity on the explanation of the project’s cost.
 Naming, deliveries, and allocation of project resources, and
 The requirement on the projects progress chart.
Project Plan Inception
A comprehensive discussion of the concept of Project Plan inception is provided in which the
following requirements are elaborated.
 The type of business activities that the company will be executed for the purpose of achieving
its goals and objectives.
 The skilled Information System personnel including the current number of employees working
in the Company.
 Type of data in which the Information System will be processing.
 The company’s current organization Information System and how it currently serves the

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company, and
 System analytics and the User Interface of the Information System.
Risk identification and management
In this part, the Project Plan will present the following issues and how to counter them.
 Possible risks, constraints, and assumptions
 The relationship between the Information System and the network infrastructure.
 Potential needs outsourcing or offshoring, and
 Necessary resources.
Information System’s data storage and management
Description in which the Information System will be storing and retrieving data is provided
alongside with the following repositories.
 Databases and database systems.
 Data warehousing.
 Relational Database Management System, and
 Database Schemas.
Information System’s network infrastructure
The Project plan contains the representation of network infrastructure. The infrastructure is
designed to address the following issues.
 Network security, and
 Security policy

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Background
In the last two years, the ACME Company has experienced continued growth. This growth is
expected to continue in the very near future. Specifically, the company is expected to experience a 60%
growth in the next eighteen months. This rate of growth has presented new challenges for the company.
It now has to redesign its information systems for the larger office space occupied. The continued
growth has also highlighted the need to set up the company to deal with more data and ensure for safety
and security for its clients. The ACME Company is currently valued at $25 million but is expected to
experience significant growth in the future (Clemons, & Kauffman, 2011).
Project Scope
The scope of a project is an aspect of project planning that document and determine the content of the
project's goals, tasks, deadlines, deliverables, and costs.
The project involves one, increasing the number of employees in the department of information
technology. Also, the company will also aim at hosting the systems by itself. Despite the fact that the
company had initially opted to host the system in other entities in order to reduce cost, the changing

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business dynamics have led to other costs and thereby prompting the company to rethink its current
model and consequently opt to change the technological needs and also redesign the current structure in
order to meet its current obligations. In so doing, the company will need to host some of its systems to
keep abreast with all the changing aspects of the business and make it easier for the company to keep
tabs on their systems.
Also, the project will also involve the development of new designs and to train the employees
or the personnel in the workplace on how to use the new designs. All the technical experts will be
involved to ensure that they are the drivers of the information technology needs in the organization.
Also, all the types of data will be merged to aid in the decision-making process. The authorized devices
will be plugged in, to ensure that the user interface has become effective. Moreover, there are also some
security measures that will be incorporated to prevent people that are not authorized from accessing the
system as well as allow for disruptions, modifications, and disclosures. A security management plan
will also be developed to establish security protocols, and further protect all the information assets of
the company. It will be imperative for the organization to protect all the databases before access and
only authorized personnel will have access to the system. The project will also involve the use of a
hybrid solution that will be made securely. It will also be important to ensure that all the essential
aspects have been taken into consideration.
Scope Description
The project's scope documentation is also called the statement of work, scope statement, or
terms of reference. The document will explain the project's boundaries, establishes the responsibilities
of each project team member and sets up confined procedures for the manner on which the completed
work will be assigned to further verification and approval. During the running of the project, this
document will assist the project team members to focus on their assigned tasks. In addition to this, the
statements stipulated in the scope act as guidance for decision making to be executed by the project

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team. It is common to find that there arise changes during the running of the project and to counter this
changes, it is a good practice for the project team to "scope" the project during the inception stage to
avoid any deviation that could arise in the long run. During scope documentation, the stakeholders of
the project are required to be specific in order to eliminate scope creep, a scenario where some part of
the project may require more time, a lot of work or more effort due to mismanagement in planning or
poor communication (Shmueli, & Koppius, 2011).
Effectiveness in the management of the scope calls for proper communication in order to ensure
that each and every member of the team fall in a deep understanding of the scope and shows the
tendency of agreement on how exactly the project goals will be achieved. Team leaders must solicit
sign-offs and approvals, an activity which is the aspect of scope management. This should be done
from different stakeholders during the lifetime of the project in order to ensure that the project got to its
end as proposed while it has fulfilled customers' needs.
Control of the scope is the process of monitoring the status of the project's scope. The
management plan for the scope give details of the change process in order to make changes to the
baseline of the scope. Project manager and the rest of the project team members will join hands to
effectively control the project scope. The team members will always leverage dictionary of the Work
Breakdown Structure (WBS) by utilizing work's statement for each element of the Work Breakdown
Structure. The team will make sure that they only execute the work stated in the dictionary of the WBS
and produce deliverables for each element of the WBS.
The main function of the Project Manager is to oversee the team members of the project
monitor project's progression ensure that the process of scope control is well followed. Recommended
change process is carried out whenever there is a change in the scope of the project. In this case, a

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sponsor or any team member is allowed to make the request to change (s) in project scope. The request
for such changes must be delivered to the Project Manager in a document called Project Change
Document from the manager will review the requested changes. The manager will deny that change
request if it deviates from the project's intent. The manager may alternatively conduct a meeting
comprising the sponsors and the team members for the purpose of further review of the change request
after which the meeting will carry out an assessment of the change request. If the change request is
accorded an initial approval by the PM and the project sponsor, the manager will submit the change
request to the Change Control Board after which if approved, the sponsor of the project will fully
accept the change through signing the Change Control Document of the project. Finally, after the scope
change has been accepted by the Change Control Board and the Sponsor, Pm will update all the
documents of the project and demonstrate the change in the project scope by to the rest of the
stakeholders and the team members.
See: Appendix A (Work Breakdown Structure)
Goals and Objectives of the Project
The need for this project is to establish an integration of activities and functions within the
information system of the ACME Company. The main goal of this project plan is to present a complete
information required for the successful implementation, deployment, and management of Information
System for ACME Company. Other details to be uncovered by this goal are the documentation that
describes the approved baseline for schedules, and communication between the stakeholders and the
management of the project. As more information pertaining management and execution of activities in
the project emerges, the project pan is likely to change in the project’s long run.
The Goal of the project. The project aiming at upgrading the infrastructure of the

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Information System for ACME Company for the purpose of efficient data collection and the analysis
services.
Enumerated is a list of goals and objective for the project:
a) The goal of this project is to offer necessary and maximum support to the mission and vision of
the ACME Company.
b) The project will assist the company to conveniently achieve quality customer service for
customer satisfaction and retention.
c) The deliverable of the project framework must avoid an excess of detailed information in order
to ensure adoption, the proper understanding of the business functionality, and flexibility.
d) The project's deliverables must effectively implement the company in order to provide support
to most of the assorted project's functional groups, the company's customers, and the entire
project.
Realistically Estimated Cost Analysis of the Entire Project
Cost Analysis is done to any kind of a project. The process is an in-depth analysis which is not
only focused on the cost but also takes an evaluation of materials' quantity and labor hours. The cost
analysis is a process based on the cost in the library of the Work Breakdown Structure. The cost therein
presents a detailed code of the project's costs that what is implemented by the Independent Project
Analysis (IPA). The Detailed Cost Analysis will also be used in the re-examination of costs of the
project and effectiveness in such costa if in case of significant change will arise to estimated project’s
cost since the initial Independent Project Analysis. In addition to this, the Detailed Cost Analysis will
be performed in addition to the overall standard assessments in the case where the details’ level in the
estimate is so sufficient and the real figures will be provided as a separate analysis after the original
evaluation when this level of the details’ cost is readily available (Chen, & Mocker, 2010).

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The Benefits of the Detailed Cost Analysis
The assessment will give an opportunity to the project team to perform a comparison of its cost
in a given category of labor for a specific quantity of materials that will be installed against that of the
corresponding sized industrial project. This will help the team members in determining the strength and
competitiveness and of the assumptions made. The following are the benefits that the project team will
get from the Detailed Cost Analysis.
1. It gives the project team an opportunity to take the comparison of accounts, ratio, quantities,
and costa of with the company.
2. It provides an in-depth understanding of the management on the comprehensiveness of
estimated costs of the WBS levels.
3. It gives a sanitary check for the assumptions made for quantities and labor hours, a thing that in
the long run will assists the project’s control group to take a comparison of its assumption and
method with the company. This will ensure that the gaps are identified and addressed.
4. It gives the project team an overall and management of the capital portfolio.
Cost Analysis Process
In order to perform Detailed Cost Analysis, the project team will require the provision of the
cost estimate that is broken out into Independent Project Analysis's detailed costs. In the event the
Detailed Cost is performed as a separate analysis, the Independent Project Analysis will carry out a
face-to-face interview with the project control lead management, project manager, and the estimators
for the purpose of understanding the project scope and the manner in which the estimated cost was
established and broken out. However, if the project decides to have the analysis executed as part of

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Closeout Analysis or Prospective, the project team will only require to provide the cost broken down
into the Individual Project Analysis detail cost form. A face-to-face interview with appropriate team
members will be held as an aspect of the entire Closeout Analysis or Prospect interview.
Coast Analysis Deliverables
In the case where the Detailed Cost Analysis is executed as an aspect of Closeout or Prospect
Analysis, then the outcome of the analysis will be issued in the section of Cost Analysis of the drawn
report using both detailed graphics and text. This includes but not limited to materials, project plan,
ratios, labor hours, and quantities between the Company and a similar industry. This will be compared
with the industry averages from the company and a similar project. Is the analysis is conducted as a
standalone analysis, then the Individual Project Analysis will provide a short form report. This report
contains an analysis of the entire effective cost of the project. It also provides analysis of the actual
labor hours, or the planned, and material quantities as stated above using both detailed graphics and
text. The Project Analysis may also provide a separate briefing to the management. The team members
of the project are the group endowed with the responsibility of planning and executing activities of the
project. It encompasses several project team members headed by the Project Manager who performs
their tasks scheduled in the project schedule (George, Kumar, & Kumar, 2015, July).
Roles and Responsibilities
The project manager is responsible for developing the project plan with the project team and is
tasked with the management of the performance of the team. Other responsibilities include securing
and acceptance and approvals of several deliverables from the Stakeholders and Sponsors. It also
manages communications such as risk management, status report, and ensures that the project is
delivered within budget constraints, the scope, and schedule.

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The responsibilities of the project team members are to execute project tasks and provides the
deliverables as scheduled by the plan. They get directions from PM at each level of the project assigned
to them. On a vast project, the project team act as Team Leaders, gives tasks and technical leadership,
and at some time entrusted to the management of some parts of the project plan.
An executive Sponsor is a Project Manager having a demonstrable interest in the result of the
project. The sponsor is accorded responsibility of monitoring the project’s spending authority and
allocation of the project resources. Executive Sponsor must be on a higher-ranked management in
proportion to the scope and size of the project. This Sponsor acts as the pivot legitimacy and
championship of the objectives and goals of the project. It maintains the abreast of the most project
activities and deduces a viable decision-making process in project management. The Executive Sponsor
will be tasked to provide necessary support to the Project Sponsor, Directors, and PM and will be
responsible for the final approval of the scope changes and the design of the approval to pass through
the succeeding phases of the project. The Executive Sponsor will elect and delegate some
responsibilities to the Project Directors Project Sponsor
The Director or the Project Sponsor is a manager whose responsibility will be participation in
the in the initiation of the project and the development of the Project's Charter. The director will be
participating in high-level project planning and the establishment of the initial plan of the project. The
Project Sponsor will also be given a responsibility to provide the necessary support to PM – helps in
dealing with major problems confliction in the policy plan, and removal of obstacles. The Project
Sponsor will also be taking the active part in the approval of the project's scope changes, signing-off of
the approved scope changes, and signing-off of major deliverables. The Project Sponsor will be the
chairman of the committee of the project and will elect and delegate higher responsibilities to other
personnel in the (Cahn, 2008).

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The ACME company plan will have relievers (back up team) whose responsibility will be filled
in the positions of project team whenever they will be absent or on leave. The backup team will
efficiently aid in filling in some position positions left by some project team members under
unavoidable absence (Statutory Absence). They will also help in solving all other categories of
absenteeism (Controllable Absence).
Project Activities
ACME Company will have many different types of activities including (a) Collaborative
Activities which are tasks related to time expenditure between some employees within the context of
the organization. Typical examples of these activities include phone calls, led training of instructors,
and meetings. (b) Knowledge Activities. These are the activities related to project team expenditure and
includes research, information analysis, emailing, blogging, retrieval of information. (c) Process
Activities. These activities are the combination of both collaborative and knowledge activities. It
emerges due to the context of the organization such as errors and reworks, stress, manual manipulation
of data, and politics.
The salaries of the employees will constitute heavily on the project's operating budget. The
financial agencies of the ACME Company will regularly keep track of expenses and the associated
effects on the project budget that will be managed by the Accounting System. The dramatic changes in
Human Resource and Payrolls that will greatly bring impacts to the projected budget includes: (a)
Addition of new positions, (b) Salary adjustment across the board, (c) alteration of benefit rates, (d) the
operating workforce, vacant positions that calls for data in intent for filling, (e) benefits rate, (f) future
salary adjustment, and (g) changes in employees positions -retirements, absenteeism, and layoffs(Jukic,
Vrbsky, & Nestorov, 2016).

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Project Estimated Costs
Cost Item Estimated Value in Million
Dollars
Analysis of measurable project’s requirements 0.20
Costs of Hardware 0.51
Cost of acquiring infrastructure 0.96
Expenses on Design and
implementation
0.35
Operating maintenance and
support
0.47
Costs on Software 0.33
Costs on Staffing 1.43
Other Costs 0. 69
Total Estimated Cost 4.94
The relationship between the Project Plan’s Solutions and Competitive advantage that
information technology will afford the Company
In the current world of computing, the power of technology is being considered at the backbone
by many organizations in their modern business environment. Nearly all industries have been positively
impacted by Information Technology. Information Technology of today has been steered by business

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processes apart from being taken as an equipment used for running basic facilities at the basement
level. An organization who has not to embrace this power of technology are going to face a lot of
problems in their quest to remain competitive in the market composed of the companies leveraging
technology. It is, therefore, a call to every organization to take reevaluation of their operational
environment and see a need of incorporating Information Technology in their business environments.
While the success of the company remains at the stirring wheel of what it needs to make off, those who
have not evolved with information technology will rip maximum profit while at the same time keeping
afloat and remain sustainable but they will not reach their potentials.
Information Technology is a powerful tool that can offer an organization efficient use of data and
information for the viable decision-making process. When an organization implements Information
Technology in its operation, it will have a competitive advantage over the other companies in the same
line of production. The following are the ways in which Information Technology this Project Plan will
give a commutative advantage to the ACME Company.
Enhancement of the Existing Operations
The Project plan will make the ACME Company enhance current operation through in lining
processes and transform those processes to automation. Trough Information Technology. The ACME
Company will automate the more mundane tasks which could be time-consuming when executed
manually. Such tasks may be made to run seamlessly in the background processes of the Information
System attested by this Project Plan. The use of automated Information System to execute these tasks
will relieve the manpower from tasks that do not work easily on human interventions. The information
System attested by this Project Plan will save the ACME Company on network resources due to the
elimination of data redundancy and maintaining data integrity in relational databases.

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Save the Organization on Man-Hours
Information Technology will bring automated Information System process in the organization
that yields for faster processing of data and ensures that the important data are made time available to
everyone. This will save a lot of time than if the staff members could spend a lot of time in sifting
through paper-based filing systems. This Project Plan demonstrate the use of computers leveraging
sophisticated Information Systems that will lead to changes that will be manifested in real-time
processing and the use of data processing for the faster decision-making process. In addition to this, the
routine task will be executed more efficiently and therefore saves on time, money, reduces man-hours.
Innovation and Growth in the Organization
The use of Information System in processing routine tasks do not need manpower for the
decision-making process. This will result in innovation and more growth in the ACME Company.
When the business process is automated, it relieves the management and accord time more time to
concentrate on the organizations' core competencies while at the same time establishing fresh
innovative ideas.
Solution Providers and Cost Analysis
The cost analysis is always used a stand-alone evaluation methodology in the following
situations (a) in an event where only one program is being passed, (b)when the information about the
effectiveness of the program is missing, and (c) when the interventions under assessment and
comparison are equivalently effective. The cost analysis will give an opportunity to the organization to
arrive at maximization of costs for the system under consideration. The cost analysis can also be
utilized with methodologies within the three types of economic evaluations including cost – utilization

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analysis, cost-effectiveness analysis, and cost-benefit analysis. For this project plan, the cast analysis
methods will be the same in consideration of all aspects of economic evaluation. The following are
three solution providers in which the Project Plan management will seek to provide the solution.
Price water-house Coopers (PwC)
The client is an international company consisting of numerous desperate financial institutions.
The new Chief Information Officer of the company hold a belief that there exist opportunities for cost
reduction and synergies in the recent acquisition but it lacks tools for handling costs of Information
Technology tools which are speeded across many business units in many locations. For the purpose of
achieving progress in cost reduction, the consultant requires an understanding of the current base of the
Information Technology assets and the areas in which the money was being spent. The Project
Management team should be constantly seeing for assistance from PwC on matters pertaining desktop
environment support for multiple thousands of users.
Solution Provided. The consultant will be collecting the data about the current desktop
environment basing on the current costs on service (labor), and support and at the same time procuring
and maintaining the costs of software and hardware including but not limited to servers, PCs, and
network components.
Aloha United Way’s 211
For the purpose of estimating the costs of 211 programs, the consultant will conduct a cost-
benefit analysis in order to qualify for services provided by the 211 programs and analyses the related
operational costs. For this Project Plan, the consultant will use standard techniques for estimation of
costs and benefits based on the data provided by (a) interview on telephones within the local I & R
specialists and network agencies, (b) personal interviews with the AUW and the administration of 211
programs, (c) the available expenditure and administrative data report, and (d) insight from literature on

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referral l services and information from related areas.
For this report, the Consultants utilized standard methodologies to estimate benefits and costs based on
information provided by:
National Institutes of Health (NIH) consultancy
Studies for costs and associated economic implementation includes major groups of
methodologies used in HTA. This involves attributes of integrative methods and primary data
collection. Data on costs can be collected as part of RCT and other clinical studies and at the same
time, the data can be sourced from administrative databases used in healthcare. For this solution, there
are many approaches to costs analysis and suitability of each approach depends on the availability of
data and the purpose of the assessment. The costs analysis provided by this solution provider includes:
(a) cost-of-illness analysis-this evaluates economic impact of illness of the employees in the company,
(b) cost-minimization analysis-this provides comparison of costs in monetary units and the outcome in
quantitative non – monetary units, and (c) Cost-Benefit Analysis-this method compares the cost and
benefits I which both of them are quantitative in common monetary units.
Project Implementation phases
Typical project passes through life cycles starting from the definition of the manner in which the
new packages of software will be used in the company to the very end of the successful implementation
in the field. The Project Plan matrix has been organized into six stages of the project life cycle as
explained below.
Phase 1. Business requirements and solutions
In this phase the requirements of the Information System are analyzed and, the packages of the
software to be used are studied, and the solutions to for using these packages in developing an efficient

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Information System are proposed.
Phase 2. High-Level-Design
This the phase where the fictional specification of the Information System are disused and. The phase
clearly gives an outlay of the way in which the Information System will operate.
Phase 3. The Design Specification
This phase contains detailed documentation of on how the design spec is established. For
instance, the definition of values of database tables and explanation of how generated reports from the
databases will look like
Phase 4.Customization, Configuration, System development
This phase in which the Information System is coded, parameters for system execution are set,
and implementation of table values as defined in phase 3. User Interfaces (UI), conversion of data, and
custom programming are implemented in this phase. The Quality Assurance (QA) for the user and
system testing are also satisfied in this phase.
Phase 5. Implementation of the Information System
In this phase, the Information system will be installed in the business environment and the
operations of the business are converted to run in the new system.
Phase 6. Information System Support and Maintenance
This phase is the long-living phase of the Information System the document the way in which
the information system constantly serviced for consistently constant operation in the business
environment.
Project Management
The project management plan is always the initial step towards the progress of any project or
organization even. With the help of the project management plan, we can help the project to grow

25
significantly with the help of topics or analysis already covered out. As we know PMP must cover
almost all the objectives of the project and their deliveries date. The plan will help the resources and
their parameters to be well defined before resource initialization should be done.
Parameters may include several factors, which might be the project dependencies, delivery dates and
many more. According to me, there are many points, which are, missing from the document and that
must be covered to prevent the risk from the project. When a project gets started and the points, which
must be covered, are left, then there would always be a high loss of income on the project.
The plan shared has explained many useful points very well and it helps the management to have a
track over the objectives of the project but it still lacks following points, which should be considered
and take into the document:
1. The plan should contain the estimated number of resources required to execute the project, and
with their desired resource capital value.
2. Resources or employees, which will be hired to execute the project, must be given the training
and their training plan must be included in the PMP so that if a new resource joined and it
again needs help over the project, the same training will be imparted to him/her.
3. Resource capital values must be fixed and all the same level resources must have the same
capital value.
4. The capital value must be taken after discussion over the estimated project cost and the project
cost, which might increase because of some delay.
5. Cost explanation of project should be explained more properly and it must be explained with
some charts, which will help to get a more clear understanding about this project.

26
6. The name of the deliveries or resources is not present in the document and it must be included
in the delivery sheet so that the delivery will directly be asked by the resource.
7. Development progress chart must be present and the deliveries as going on must be present on
some other sheet so that if any delivery fails then it must be tracked down and reworked effort
sheet must be used for this purpose.
8. Security risks and potential threats on the project must be explained very well, because of any
security risk or potential threat if failures occur, it might affect the project outcome badly.
9. Also, the task status must have flags, with the help of which the task status will be easily
tracked and we can check whether a task enters into a dangerous state for the project. This
must be included in the Delivery sheet or project plan.
The project management plan can easily be improved at the initial stages and the above points,
which are missing from the document, must be covered and properly described with their evidence.
Also, the plan must be approved from management and before approval, the work must not be
resumed. Later on, if the project management plans changes then it will become a difficult task to get it
approved, so it must be taken care at the initial stages. The cost, which is entered into the document,
must be explained more and how that cost arrives for specific resources. The person who is working on
the project management plan can also plan to develop some charts which will tell the health of the
project and can be tracked by management in a short frame of time. From the project management plan
shared, I am not very confident with it, as I have already mentioned the points it lacks, so till the time
above points will not be covered, project does not seems to be much successful, but I have still some
doubts and based on my doubts I can say we still can start working on the project based on this project
plan, it might lead to successful initiate or might fail, but if we cater the above points into the project

27
management plan, then the changes to be successful for the project are high and fail is very low. I am
still saying the success of the project might come because of the project plan with scheduled delivery
dates is present but if it caters the person who is delivery it will help more.
Project Plan Inception
Type of Business
The ACME Company collects data using Web analytics and combines it with operational
systems data. Increasingly, businesses have appreciated the competitive edge presented by analyzing
market data. However, the successful use of data in decision making is a long process that has greatly
influenced the growth of information systems. Some of the major steps in this process include
collecting information and interpreting its significance. This is intended to compare the external and
internal environments of a business and propose better practices that would benefit as a whole.
ACME based its information technology on a hybrid model where some of the systems are
hosted and other in-house. This method was initially done with the goal of minimizing costs. However,
a lot has changed in the business that necessitates major changes to be made.
Skilled Information Systems Personnel
At the moment, there are only four employees in the company dedicated to the Information
Technology department. ACME has adopted a hybrid solution to information technology where much
of the systems used by the company were hosted by other entities. This was believed to be part of
cutting costs. As the business has continually grown, its information technology needs have expanded
and redesigned to meet its current obligations.
The personnel at the company will need to be trained to use any other systems introduced at the
workplace. Although all the workers are trained in information technology experts, it will be important
to involve them in the development of the new design to facilitate its effectiveness. This is primarily

28
intended to ensure that all the qualified personnel at the organization are well-informed about the
information technology changes occurring at the workplace.
Types of Data
ACME collects web analytics and combines it with operational systems data. Web analytics
includes all the data that relates to the performance of a website. The continued growth of e-commerce
has meant that businesses are taking their online sales more seriously. Many companies now make
more revenue through their online sales. It has hence become essential to remain aware of the
performance of an organization on its online platform.
As stated previously, the information obtained from web analytics combines with the data of the
operational system. Operational systems data refers to the systems used to process information on the
day-to-day activities in a work environment. The goal is to merge these types of data to assist in
internal decision making.
Organization’s Information Systems
The company now uses a computer-based decision support system that aims to facilitate
organizational decision-making activates. The operational system at ACME is a computer-based system
that processes and interprets data. There are various stages and methods of obtaining, and analyzing
data; especially as a result of the existing varied marketplace. Each organization's web analytics and
operational systems are analyzed based on the unique nature of each workplace. The organization starts
by identifying the needs of each data set, and how it should be combined with other relevant
information to become valuable.
The company uses hosting services for its databases. The on-site databases have limited use,
and usually contains information on recent internal activities. The use of hosting services presents
companies with some benefits. For example, it allows for easy and flexible access to the company’s
data. The company also preferred hosted database services because it does not have to invest in its own

29
databases. This method was presented as an option to cut operational costs. Hosted solutions have been
a big boost for the company in the last two years.
Analytics and Interfaces
The web analytics obtained by the company are categorized into three main classifications: web
structure, content, and usage (Shmueli & Koppius, 2011). These are the three main parameters used in
web analytics to assisting in internal decision making within organizations. The web has been
presenting revenue and other opportunities to businesses for the last few decades. The goal is to
determine what nature of web structure, content, and usage maximizes the performance of an
organization. This is especially important in the field of e-commerce continually grows to dominate the
modern marketplace.
The information systems at the ACME Company will be connected across all three floors.
There will be wires, plugs, and sockets to facilitate this interconnectedness. It will be possible to plug
in authorized devices with options for simple but effective user interfaces (Shmueli & Koppius, 2011).
Possible Risks, Constraints, and Assumptions
Some of the risks that may emerge in the project include the risk of unprecedented costs as well
as the risk of failing to complete the project on time. The major risk, however, is on unprecedented
costs since it is not clear as to the amount of cost that will be involved throughout the project and more
so after the completion of the project. There are some costs that can emerge in the course of achieving
the project and thereby lead to an expensive project that may be difficult to achieve. Also, there is also
the risk of unforeseen difficulties, which may also affect the completion of the project due to limited
knowledge on the difficulties (Clemons & Kauffman, 2011). One of the constraints that may emerge
includes the constraint of time, whereby the organization may be limited in time and thereby making it
difficult to complete certain deliverables and consequently hamper the completion of the project.

30
Risks Matrix
# Risk Area Project Impact-Mitigation Plan
1 Economic
Downturns
Unmet budgetary constraints –
Identify locations within the company's location area which are cheap and
have fewer fluctuations
2 Technology
Changes
Obsolete IT Infrastructure –
Take correct sizing decisions by studying the market
3 Technology
Changes
Increased Opportunity Cost –
Need to purchase the right configuration at the right time, only possible by a
proper market study
4 Project
Schedule
Milestones not achieved & Budget may be exceeded –
Use another vendor and have constant follow-ups to decrease the delay
Risk Area Project Impact-Mitigation Plan
Assumptions Made in this Project Plan
1. That the project will be achieved within the stipulated timeline
2. That the project will be achieved within the estimated budget and that there will be no
additional costs that will be accrued or incurred in the course of achieving the project
3. That the project will have the necessary workforce to foster the completion of the project
The Relationship and Integration between Systems and Infrastructure
The relationship and integration between infrastructure and system are borne out of the fact that
they are both defendants on one another. The data warehousing and analytics are related to one another
by virtual of the fact that they both contain the cloud technology and interface that is needed for the
project. The infrastructure should also be conducted in a way that will foster security to enhance the

31
security of the system and consequently lead to the attainment of the project.
The Need for Potential Outsourcing or Offshoring
Some of the outsourcing and offshoring needs that may be required include outsourcing for
technology that may be needed for the completion of the project but may not be currently present in the
project. Also, the company may also outsource for more employees and more particularly professionals
in the information and technology sector with advanced knowledge or vast experience that may not be
currently present in the organization or company. The organization may also outsource warehouses if
the current ones within the organization or company seem insufficient or if the company finds a need to
look for more to necessitate the faster completion of the project.
Necessary Resources
Some of the resources that will be needed for the completion of the project include first and
foremost an efficient budget to cater for the cost of the project. The project will also require an efficient
workforce that will be achieved through proper staffing to ensure that there is a sufficient workforce to
undertake the project. The resources such as the data warehouses will also be resourced to ensure that
all the needed resources for making the project are there. Finally, it will also be critical to ensure that
all there is a proper plan or blueprint that will guide the project towards its completion. All the above
will have to go together to foster the successful realization of the project and to ensure further that the
project is completed on time.
Information System Data Storage
The database, Data warehousing, and Relational Database
The ACME Company has vast data that generally ranges from terabytes and therefore Data
warehouse is the best option for use in this case. It is similar to a relational database management

32
system that can be stored on an organizations mainframe or as it is today in the cloud (Rouse, 2018).
At any moment, one visit to a website generates thousands of rescue records. Some of the data may not
be updated, but cannot be excluded until a few months later. The data warehouse will be used the
Information System primarily for data analysis. This data analysis will generate business prospects in
future times. The use of this-this data analysis will rely on the manner in which the data are collected
and stored, and the way in the company will organize the data (Rouse, 2018, November).
The requirement for the storage of data
The new tools and concepts which have been developed and integrated with the new technology
are called Data Warehousing. For simplicity of understanding the data warehouse is just a storage space
for storing a huge amount of information in an organization (George, Kumar & Kumar, 2015). It is a
relational database designed specifically to manage queries and analysis rather than processing
transactions (Jukic, Vrbsky & Nestorov, 2016). It is a well-organized organization, management, and
reporting of data. The main features of the data warehouse allow you to save, collect and filter data in
different Information Systems at a higher level. The data warehouse typically houses the data obtained
from the transaction of the Information System but at some point, it may house data obtained from
other sources. It assists the company to consolidate analysis information from different sources for
transactional working time separation. In addition to that, the environment includes an ETL data
warehouse, which is the extraction, transport and upload solution, OLAP, which is the online
processing engine analysis, analysis tools and other tools to address the process of data collection. And
finally, deliver to business users. The data stored in these stores must be stored in a reliable, secure and
easily manageable way. The need for data storage arises when companies become more complex and
start producing and collecting a huge amount of data that is difficult to manage traditionally (George,
Kumar, & Kumar, 2015, July).
Data integration. ACME's information is voluminous and complex and is complemented by

33
various internal and external systems. It is also necessary to analyze the data through a different
location, time and channel systems. Therefore, data integration is needed here so that all data is
organized and stored in one place. It also reduces the time and length of the reporting process, due to
the number of steps involved: extracting and retrieving data from a single source, then sorting and
combining data, and then enriching data, by running reports on this topic uprooted. Data archiving is
not only a reliable data storage platform but also a very powerful and excellent data integration
platform. The data stored in the data warehouse is completely integrated, variable, volatile and object-
oriented. It helps companies get a 360 ° view of the organization. The main entities that form the basis
of the company are the independent components that facilitate the correct collection of data and send it
to the data. The customer is a recipient of the company's service.
The user visits the page. Web data analysis detects page details. A page can have multiple visits.
Recording the information about an unexpected error status code must be done. A status code can have
many visits to the page. The registered user information is the backbone of the "customer return" data
source. A registered user can have more than one visit. When the data is saved, it must also be stored in
the Time Period. At any time, there may be more visits to the system. The registered user receives a
payment for his comments. Site URLs can be social networks, online forms, and customized Web
pages.
See Entity Relationship Diagram (Appendix C), Data Flow Diagrams (Appendix D).
Information System Network Infrastructure
The network will use a star topology where it provides centralized handling of the network and
its’ associated security. Each of the floors of the building will have a central server which host switches
that link the different rooms via Ethernet cables. Each of the rooms will have a switch that is linked to
the central server's router. The servers will be linked via fiber optic cables. The Ethernet cables will be

34
utilized for connecting individual devices to their associated switches. The network design will involve
the utilization of both wired and wireless media. The wireless media will allow for a network
connection for portable devices like tablets, cell phones, and laptops.
The switch links allow the traffic getting into the Acme’s LAN from the MAN not to be
congested. As more tablets are utilized in the company, the WLAN bandwidth increases significantly to
each room. This requires that the WAPs supporting the 802.11n protocol as well as faster 802.11ac
standard require additional power. As a result, switches with PoE+ give the required power. These
Switches utilize the existing Category-6 cable (Ethernet cables) that allow for remote administration
and configuration (Karris, 2009).
Virtual LANs (VLAN) will be used to enables the network administrator to group users into
shared broadcast domains irrespective of their physical position in the internetwork. For instance,
computer devices utilized by employees on two different floors may be placed on the same VLAN. The
staff has their VLAN while the Guest VLAN is used by guests when using wireless access points.
The company's network perimeter that detaches it from the Internet comprises of two border
core routers. The border routers should then link to the Virtual Private Network (VPN) Gateway. The
Routers link to the servers, wireless access points and switches as well as the LAN (internal network).
The switches will link with other VLAN switches that separate the different VLANs for the various
departments within the corporation (like Accounting, Customer Support, and Finance). Also, the
switches link other switchers in the data centre to provide a highly secure subnet. This highly secure
subnet forms a physically segregated subnet. Even though the network will have physically separated
subnet for the various departments, they have a common highly secure subnet that is shared by the
departments (Cisco Networking Academy Program, 2014).
Most of the data processing for Acme Corporation will be addressed by a database management
system located in the data centres. The data centres should house a web server that is utilized by the

35
company's internal support crew. It should contain an application update support server that is used for
patch management. Each of the data centres should house an internal DNS server, an e-mail server, and
user support workstations. The main data center will be situated at the Washington D.C. site while the
data center at the St. Louis site will serve as the backup data centre in the event of a security
emergency.
See: Network Infrastructure (Appendix B)
Network Design
A typical LAN for the Acme Corporation will comprise numerous computer hosts linked
together to form a star topology. These devices will connect to a host device which links to a switch.
Such network configuration is flexible and useful since it allows room for expansion where new tools
may be added thereby making it scalable. The network design is ideal since it is easy to deploy and
scalable which in turn maximize the performance of the network.
Network security
The DMZ forms a perimeter zone between the WAN or the Internet which is unsecured and the
secure LAN. The primary purpose of deploying a DMZ for the company is to keep the company’s
public information assets from the private ones. This is achieved by logically and physically separating
the company network by use of two firewalls; one on the border of the company WAN (which manages
company connections), and the other on the border of the company’s internal network.
Security policy
The security policy that covers Acme infrastructure includes the installation of reliable antivirus
software which acts as the final line of defense from unwanted attacks. The antivirus program detects
and removes virus and malware as well as filter possibly malicious downloads or emails. All employees

36
must utilize complex passwords in each of the computers and Web-based applications that require key
for access. Complex passwords make it hard for hackers to crack them. The network administrator
must implement a network firewall that helps in safeguarding all inbound and outbound network traffic
(Cahn, 2008).
The security policy for the company also covers installation of encryption software that protects
data related to credit cards and bank accounts. Strong encryption algorithms transform readable data
into unreadable codes that make altering of information difficult to accomplish. Even when data is lost
it becomes obsolete without the keys used to encrypt the data. Also, the security policy provides
guidelines through employee training on dos and don'ts of utilizing systems and Internet. For example,
on how to handle suspicious emails. The security policy provides guidelines on putting limited access
to critical data, taking of regular back-ups and the securing of Wi-Fi Networks that are highly
vulnerable to attacks.

37
References
Chen, D. Q., & Mocker, M. (2010). Information Systems Strategy: Reconceptualization,
Measurement, and Implications. MIS Quarterly, 34(2), 233-259.
Clemons, E. K., & Kauffman, R. J. (2011). Special Section: Competitive Strategy, Economics,
and Information Systems. Journal of Management Information Systems, 27(3), 7-10.
Shmueli, G., & Koppius, O. R. (2011). Predictive Analytics in Information Systems Research.
MIS Quarterly, 35(3), 553-572.
George, J., Kumar, V., & Kumar, S. (2015, July). Data Warehouse Design Considerations for a
Healthcare Business Intelligence System. In World congress on engineering.
Jukic, N., Vrbsky, S., & Nestorov, S. (2016). Database Systems: Introduction to Databases and
Data Warehouses. Prospect Press.
Rouse, M. (2018, November). TechTarget.com. Data Warehouse. Retrieve from:
https://searchdatamanagement.techtarget.com/definition/data-warehouse

38
Cahn, R. S. (2008). Wide area network design: Concepts and tools for optimization. San Francisco,
Calif: Morgan Kaufmann
Cisco Networking Academy Program. (2014). Connecting networks. Indianapolis, Indiana: Cisco Press.
Karris, S. T. (2009). Networks: Design and Management. Fremont, Calif: Orchard Publications.
Appendices
Appendix A: Work Breakdown Structure

39
Work Breakdown Structure (Chen, & Mocker, 2010).
Appendix B: Network Infrastructure

40
Network Infrastructure (Karris, 2009)
Appendix C: Entity Relationship Diagram

41
Entity Relationship Diagram (Jukic, Vrbsky, & Nestorov, 2016).

42
Appendix D: Data Flow Diagrams
Data Granuality Collection system
Integration
Process
Operational Data
Store
Staging/
Verification
Database
Integrated Data
Warehouse
Page Visit
Count
Online logging
data
Data integrity Code
R
E
P
O
R
T
I
N
G
Visit
Page
TimePeriod
PageVisit
VisitFact
Data Mart
Data Flow Diagrams (Shmueli, & Koppius, 2011).

Information systems (capstone project plan)

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