This is Assignment 2 for Unit 9 IT Project Management. It meets all the distinction Criteria allowing for an overall Distinction Grade. IT Project Management has 3 Assignments in total and this is one of them. Please check out my page for Assignment 1 and 3 which will be sold separately.
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Unit 9 - Assignment 2
IT project management
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Introduction
For this assignment I have been asked to manage my first software development project. In
this assignment I will create a feasibility study and cover all 7 criterias of the feasibility study.
I will also identify the functional and non-functional requirements for this project and evaluate
two alternate solutions whilst arguing which one I believe to be the superior solution and
why.
Before beginning the assignment I should give a brief overview of the program we have
been asked to create. We have been given an assignment brief and are to create a program
that will calculate the commission of employees for a local property agency. The employees
commission will be based on the number of properties they sell. The employee with the most
sales will receive a 15% bonus which will be calculated and added on top of their
commission.
Alternative solutions
In the introduction I have mentioned what the program we have been tasked with creating
must do. But before I start the feasibility study I think it would be better to discuss how I will
proceed with creating this project. In this section I will be evaluating possible solutions for
this project and I will choose and evaluate why one solution is better than the other.
There are 2 possible solutions that I can choose from when creating this project. The first is
creating the project on a bespoke software such as visual studio and the second solution
would be to create this project in an Excel spreadsheet. Both these solutions are viable but
they do come with their own pros and cons.
Web based
I will first discuss both solutions then give my opinion on which one I believe to be better.
Creating the project on a bespoke software like visual studio means that the program would
be web based which in itself holds many advantages. Unlike an excel spreadsheet which
would be saved on the computer local drive, the web based solution will be cloud based and
can be accessed from any computer from any location. The fact that it is cloud based is an
advantage in itself as the organisation does not need to worry about security issues as they
will be handled by the organisation that will manage the cloud servers where the website will
be hosted. Continuing on the users won't need to be taught how to use the system as
everyone knows how to use and navigate around a website because it is self explanatory
whilst with excel it may require a certain degree of expertise. As well as this with the web
based solution the customisation we can apply are much more than the excel spreadsheet.
Examples of customisation include logos, buttons and so on. Another additional advantage
the web based solution has over the excel solution would be internal security. With an excel
file the file itself can either become corrupted or leaked outside the organisation. This can be
,a problem because it may be possible that the information inputted may be saved on the file
and if the file is indeed leaked then the organisation will be in breach of the GDPR as they
have failed to secure their employees data leading to huge legal consequences. With the
web based solution this can be avoided as users of the system can be given unique logins
and passwords so they can login into an account on the website. This helps with maintaining
GDPR and can put employees at ease as their information won't be leaked. With a web
based solution you can manage the visibility settings and control the access rights of various
users meaning that if there is a formula or other confidential information that you or the
organisation does not want to expose to every user this can be done with a web based
solution. Whilst an excel solution would have all the formulas and information on display
failing to maintain any form of confidentiality that the organisation/client may want and also
with an excel file the formulas can be changed whereas with a web based solution the
code/program cannot. Another thing to add is the fact that with a program you are taken step
by step through the process and for new inexperienced users it avoids overloading them with
information while with an excel spreadsheet all the information is simply displayed and the
user is expected to know what to do. This means that with an excel spreadsheet the user
needs to have a base level of understanding this can be very problematic as not only will
inexperienced users struggle but the organisation will have to waste time training staff to be
able to use the system. Another point worth mentioning is the fact that excel has no way of
identifying human error during data entry. This may not seem like a big deal when dealing
with small documents but when dealing with huge amounts of data in excel and multiple
formulas crossing over with one another one or just a handful of inconsistencies can be
disastrous to the rest of the outputs/findings. Unlike excel the web based solution which will
be created using visual studio outlines incorrect data and entries making the user aware of
any errors. This allows for a more clean and successful product as the programmer has
guidelines they need to follow and stay in line with.
Excel
Although the web based solution seems to be unmatched it doesn't come without its own
disadvantages. With a web based solution more time has to be put in with both planning and
actually creating the program whereas with excel you can start straight away. Buttons and
logos are a good example as the creator of the web based solution must decide where he
wants to place everything and decide the overall layout of the website. Also when it comes to
importing images into a website it is much harder than it is on excel in excel the image can
be important and you can have text cascading around it from the start whereas with a web
based solution it is possible but it will take much longer and depending on the skill of the
developer it could take even longer. As the website is run and hosted by a server the speeds
of the website can either stay at a good consistent level or decrease and slow down leading
to issues such as lag and an unresponsive website. This has a negative impact as users will
not be able to use the website's services and in our case the program renders it completely
useless as the intended users will not be able to access it. With an excel file it will be saved
on the computer local drive and the file will most likely have multiple backups in case the file
in use fails in one way or another. This means that the excel files performance will not be
reliant on another party/host and in case the primary file fails there will be backups available
for the users leaving an alternative unlike the web based solution. Excel also has many more
shortcuts when entering data. When using an excel spreadsheet, entering huge amounts of
data can take a very long time and can be extremely taxing on the user which could lead to
errors or inconsistencies within the data. Excel allows users to take shortcuts to avoid said
, scenarios using tools such as autofill. Although this being said the outcome may not always
work out to be what the user initially intended. This is extremely true with cells that contain
formulas as if the user wants to have a certain outcome the cells the data is entered into
must also have the formulas to output the desired result.
Conclusion
Considering the fact that we only have 2-3 months to create this project I believe the
methodology we should use is RAD. RAD (rapid application development) perfectly fits our
needs perfectly during the development of this project and here's why. We have been given
a very short and limited time frame so we need to make sure that the project is developed,
tested and ready for live deployment before the end of the deadline so it is imperative that
we are in constant contact with the clients and constantly discussing their needs and wants
and if they are happy with the program we are developing. RAD allows for multiple iterations
which is perfect for us and also allows for different groups within the project to work on
different areas of the project simultaneously. This will help with our limited time as we can
work efficiently and consistently with the development of this project. Working efficiently,
consistently and resilianly is what is required of a developer when they are designing a
program. The primary benefit of the RAD technique is the speedy project turnaround, which
makes it a desirable option for both clients and developers. As a result, I decided to build this
software using Visual Studio rather than Microsoft Excel. It takes time to physically type data
into Excel, especially if there is a lot of data to enter. My decision will be further elaborated in
the next paragraph.
I have chosen the web based solution (visual studio) over the excel file. The excel solution
may be superior if the project was a lot smaller but the more data the product is meant to
hold the less of an option excel becomes. Excel has some very strong points and holds
many advantages in its own right but for this project the web based solution (visual studio) is
a much better option. One thing I failed to mention in my comparison of the 2 solutions was
that excel can only be used through a paid subscription of office 365 while visual studio is
free to download. This means that all users that want to use excel must have an office 365
subscription in order to access the document which can limit the users. Excel may have
some free alternatives such as google sheets but I think it is universally agreeable that
sheats is an inferior version of excel as excel has much more features than sheats. As well
as this excel has compatibility issues as it is not available for linux and other OS’s. Microsoft
has allowed linux users to access excel through their web browsers but at that point the web
based solution already proves its superiority as it will be compatible with any and all OS’s as
it will be web based and users only need to access the website to use the program
(commission calculator). The web based solution (visual studio) is far greater to excel and
surpasses it in most if not all categories from customisation to the complex calculations. I
must emphasise that excel will not always be inferior to visual studio as excel too is a
powerful software that holds its own advantages but in the case of this project visual studio
(web based solution) is the most appropriate option. Another thing worth mentioning is that
the web based solution is capable of expanding and is always available for constant
improvements whereas with the excel solution once the solution is created that's pretty much
it whereas with a website you can add more pages etc and grow the web page itself. Also
another reason why web based is the superior option is because it is not reliant on any third
parties and the web solution will continue to exist and thrive as long as we the developers
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