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Group Assignment Specification
Project Proposal
Note:
This is a professional writing assignment. This means the presentation and quality of your writing must be at
a professional standard – consistent formatting, title page, page numbers, headers footers, executive
summary, etc.
In this assignment, you are not to present your comprehension like you would in an academic written
assessment. Instead, you are to apply your comprehension to create a professional report that achieves an
objective.
If you need to provide references you do not cite as you would with academic writing. Instead, you provide
footnotes and/or appendixes.
Your mindset for this assignment
You are working in the Development Division of Pinnacle Software Inc. Your company creates tailor-made
software solutions for corporate clients. Pinnacle Software’s head office is in Sydney, Australia and the
company has development teams in Brisbane (Australia), Perth (Australia) and Bangalore (India). The main
business of your organisation is to develop tailor-made software solutions based on the client requirements.
In your division, you work in a team that has experts in various technical aspects such as database design
and development, networking, systems analysis and design and project management.
Providing tailor-made software solutions is a very competitive business, with many companies providing
such services. In this competitive market, it is vital for Pinnacle Software to win as many clients as possible
and provide them with quality software solutions, which are delivered on time and within budget. In this
view, the company has recently introduced a bonus scheme for employees. In this scheme, at the end of the
year, the employees who were involved in projects that were delivered on time and within budget get to
share 10% of the profit.
The marketing division of Pinnacle Software seeks client projects and consults your division before signing
any contracts with the client. They put together a client outline for your review based on initial discussions
with the client. At this point, the main responsibility of your team is to undertake an analysis of the client
project and to prepare a Project Proposal. Based on the recommendations made by you in this project
proposal, the client and your company will come to an agreement prior to starting the project development
work. Such agreed projects are then handed over to a development team in one of the branch offices and
managed by your team at the head office.
Based on the Project Proposal that you prepare, your company will consider signing a development
agreement with the client. As experts in the area, your team is required to provide a professional level
project proposal with a recommended solution chosen form 3 alternative solutions that have been
evaluated.
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Instructions
In this assignment, your team is to prepare a Project Proposal for a potential project described in your
group’s case study (project brief). You MUST complete this assignment with the case study assigned to your
group. The case studies are separate to this document and are provided on vUWS. If your group creates a
proposal report for the wrong case study you will receive zero (0) marks and will fail the assessment.
There are two submissions for this assignment. Please see the end of the document for details of these
submissions.
Below is the outline of your project proposal, including guidance for the required sections. These are master
headings (sections) of your proposal, you may give these sub-headings if you feel you need to break each
master heading down into smaller sections:
Title Page of your Project Proposal
This page should have the name of your company, the name of the document and who the document is
intended for. This should be a professional title page, not a simple heading. It will be representing Pinnacle
Software Inc, therefore ensure the title page reflects that.
Executive Summary
The executive summary is a brief summary of the document’s purpose, what is in it, and outcomes or
actions relating to the document. It is not a summary of the project brief.
This section should be a brief summary of what is in the document. Think about the time, cost, quality and
scope of the project. This document’s whole purpose is to define these four elements of the project,
therefore an executive summary needs to make these very clear. A good approach is to outline the purpose
of the document and then the result achieved by fulfilling this purpose.
Table of Contents
There should be a table of contents of 1st level headings, and any 2nd level headings.
Introduction
The introduction is not an introduction to the project brief. It does provide context of the project, but it is
more an introduction to what lies ahead in the document. It should include why the document was
produced, the approach taken to build the document, who put the document together, and any goals or
actions the document will lead to.
The introduction should introduce the reason for the document, what is in it structure wise, and any actions
the document might lead to. You’re introducing the reader to what lies ahead, and what they can expect the
document will lead to – client sign off.
Project Overview and Objectives
The project overview is to outline the problem the project brief presents. It outlines the type of solution
needed based on the problem, and the benefits of such a solution in relation to the core business functions
of the business in the project brief. You do not outline your solution in the project overview, you only
outline the type of solution needed for the client. You have to put your ICT professional hat and think about
the problem that the client has in terms of ICT and what type of technical solution they need in general (not
your recommended solution) to remedy this. The overall benefits of this technical solution should also be
outlined, not what you propose to provide or implement for them. You are writing the reason why this
project is needed.
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Key Personnel and Stakeholders
The key personnel, staff, investors, etc. and stakeholders all need to be identified. Their roles within the
project should also be discussed and justified. Any assumptions about these key personnel or stakeholders
also need to be presented, such as availability in regard to consultation or similar. A good way to present
this is in a table.
This section needs to outline who is going to influence or be affected by the project in some way. You
should outline those that are internal, such as Pinnacle Software as a stakeholder and the key personnel
within Pinnacle Software, and those that are external, such as councils (if relevant to your project brief). Ask
the question, how will this person either affect or influence the project. If you can answer this question you
can describe their role within the project.
Functional Requirements
All the functional requirements identified from the project brief. Every functional requirement must have a
unique ID, a function statement, and a small summary which includes justification of why the function is
needed in relation to the project objectives.
These are the functions the system will carry out. These functional requirements should align with the
project objective. What problem does your client have? What type of functions are needed to solve this
problem (in terms of software)? The listing of the functional ID, functional statement, summary, IPO,
successes and failure conditions, and justification is needed to create a succinct definition of the function
that the system will provide.
Through functional requirements you define the system that is needed – the requirements. Requirements do
not change once they have been signed off on so you have to be clear on what the system will do. Your
solutions outlined later must not change the functional requirements, they need to meet these functional
requirements.
The functional requirements should not be a direct copy from what is in the project brief. You are ICT
practitioners, the people who put the project brief together are from marketing, as outlined in the project
specification. You have to think of what is really needed from an ICT perspective not copy and paste from
the project brief.
Non-functional Requirements
All non-functional requirements identified from the project brief. Every non-functional requirement
presented in relation to the project objectives and how they will be achieved, along with its success
conditions.
Non-functional requirements are a measure of the system. It is not a function that the system provides. It
always has to be measured. Functional requirements can be measured by their ability to do the function,
where non-functional requirements, because they are not a result of a function completing, but a
measurement, need to have some statistic or success value.
Alternative Solutions
Present 3 alternative solutions to the problem. Each alternative solution must include a solution overview,
technologies to be used and resources required, constraints and assumptions, a cost benefit analysis (this
needs to be more than a table), and justification of the solution towards the project brief.
This section outlines the approach in terms of technology and work effort. It is not about listing or discussing
what the client will be getting in terms of function or final product. The project objective, functional and
non-functional requirements have already been defined. A solution does not change these. Instead these
three alternative solutions outlines how you will meet them with technology and work effort. Therefore, the
outline has to be about the chosen technology and approach to resource allocation. Think about these
questions; Are you going to do it locally or over in India? Are you going to use a commercial programming
environment such as ASP.NET or similar, if so why? What are the benefits. Based on your technology it will
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dictate your resource allocation. If you use open source, you might be free to use a unix based web server
instead of a Windows based on, etc. You then price based on this. It could also dictate the time frame. It
might be more development time with Java over, say, PHP, therefore it will cost more. Either way your
functional requirements and non-functional requirements stay the same.
Recommended Solution
From the 3 alternative solutions one solution is presented as the recommended solution. A detailed
justification for the recommendation must be present in relation to the project objectives and a comparison
between the alternative solutions as to why it was chosen as the recommended solution.
Your recommended solution should compare the recommended solution against the other two solutions. It
should answer the question of why you selected this solution over the other two. All three ‘should’ meet the
functional and non-functional requirements so why is this the recommended one?
Project Approach
This will present a release schedule (not a project plan or Gantt Chart) in relation to the functional
requirements identified; the SDLC used and why; the management style that will be used; and other related
information to the project life – initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing.
You should have already discussed your project approach in term of technology and resources in your three
alternative solutions. This section is about how you are going to manage it. Think about the assignment
specification. It outlines that your team will be overseeing the development. You are the managers;
therefore this section should mention your team, and the approach your team is going to take. The first is,
how are you going to develop it. Are you going to use Agile method? if so what does this mean for the
client? Your method to management should also dictate how functionality will be released. Finally, the
release schedule should outline any major milestones. For instance, is there going to be a beta release, a
pilot phase, or something of that nature, or is it going to be one major release and that’s it. You have to
justify your approach, otherwise questions of why or how are you going to achieve this project will be
raised.
Legal Considerations
Present legal considerations that need to be considered for such a project and the possible consequences of
violating these legal considerations. Also, identify those who assume responsibility of each consideration.
This section is not a discussion, but a focused section on any relevant (towards the project that is)
compliance issues or legal frameworks that have to be considered when undertaking the project.
Quality Assurance
An outline of the quality assurance procedures that will be implemented for the project must be present.
This includes during the project life cycle and after.
Conclusion
A summary of what was presented within the document and any next actions.
Appendix.
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Student Contributions
Proposals will be developed by student teams. All team members must make a commitment to themselves
and each other that they will make every effort to fulfil their allocated responsibilities in this group
assignment, to the best of their ability, at all times. It is expected that students set time aside each week to
work with their team to complete this project – this can be online or face-to-face. The nature of this
assignment requires cooperation and collaboration with group members this is not an assignment where you
divide up the work and complete it individually without discussion and review within the team. The team as a
whole is responsible for what is submitted.
The student peer review form favours those students who do the work. This means if you do not actively take
part or ‘pull your weight’ in terms of workload you will effectively loose marks. This also means, if you find
that one student is encroaching on your workload, and you do not address this, then this will reflect in your
marks not theirs. This is a common scenario in the workforce where a colleague will steal your workload to
either make you look bad, is not a team player, or is trying to earn a bonus or a promotion.
If there is a problem within your group which you can’t resolve after an attempt to (keep records), please
contact the Unit Coordinator.
Student Peer Review Submission
You will be required to submit a progress peer review form and a final peer review form. The progress peer
review will be due at the same time as Part 1: Case study questions and specification document is due (see
details below), and the final peer review will be due at the same time as Part 2: Final Project Proposal is due
(see details below).
To receive your final mark for this assessment, you must submit your individual final peer review of yourself
and your group members. Failure to submit this will result in a Fail Non-Submit grade for the unit. This peer
review will be submitted individually (not with your group project) through vUWS. It is advised that you
discuss with your team members who is responsible for each section as early as possible – possibly get each
member to sign the form and take a photo. This is used as the basis of the progress peer review and later for
the final peer review. Differences in the distribution of responsibilities between team’s members reflects
the coherence of the team (and shows the team members level of competency of some of the learning
outcomes of the unit), therefore you all must ensure everyone agrees to and has the same responsibility list.
For details on how to fill out and complete your peer review please refer to the peer review instruction
sheet and peer review forms available on vUWS.
Late submission of the peer review will lead to a Fail Non-Submit Grade for you only, not your team.
There are two (2) group submission requirements for this assignment:
Part 1: Case study Questions and Specification Document (10%)
The case studies given are incomplete. There are some questions you must ask to provide a valid project
proposal. Work with your team to formulate questions (4 only) to ask, just like you would ask a real client, to
ensure you have enough information to provide a feasible project proposal. This means you need to have a
thorough understanding of what is required for every section of the project proposal, in relation to your
particular case study. It is vital to understand the answers to the questions will be from a client perspective
and the client has come to your company for its expertise and capability. Poorly formulated or irrelevant
questions could lead to an unfeasible project proposal for the client, which will lead to significant loss of
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marks for your team. The questions will be answered by the marker who will be acting as the client. These
questions must be submitted along with a project specification document. The specification document will
outline all the functional and non-functional requirements of the project, derived from the case study
allocated to your group. The document must be of a professional standard. Your group will use this to show
your understanding of the requirements of the project described in the case study, and this will receive
feedback from the marker. This feedback must be acted upon and any changes incorporated into the
requirements sections in the final project proposal.
Due: 11:59pm, 27th April 2018 (Friday week 8), to be submitted through the “Part 1: Case study Questions
and Specification Document” submission link on vUWS. Only one group member is to make this submission.
If there are two submissions by two different members of the same group, the final submission by the first
member to submit will be the only one assessed, regardless of this was the intended submission or not.
Progress Peer Review: Every group member must submit a progress peer review through the “Progress peer
review” submission link on vUWS by the due date of Part 1.
Part 2: Final Project Proposal (20%)
Incorporating the information from the answers to the submitted questions, as well as any feedback on the
specification document submitted in part 1, the group is to submit a professional project proposal report,
following the sections outlined earlier in this document. Every section must be included and must be of a
professional standard. Ensure all sections of this specification document is read thoroughly and understood.
The whole team is responsible for what is submitted, so review of all parts and the document’s whole must
be done by all team members.
Due 11:59pm, 8th of June 2018 (Friday week 14), to be submitted through the “Part 2: Final Project
Proposal” submission link on vUWS. Only one group member is to make this submission. If there are two
submissions by two different members of the same group, the final submission by the first member to
submit will be the only one assessed, regardless of this was the intended submission or not.
Every group member must submit a final peer review through the “Final peer review” submission link on
vUWS by the due date of Part 2. Failure to complete this will result in a fail non-submit grade and you will
fail the unit regardless of your overall mark.
Submission Instructions
The submission is to be a text based PDF. An image based PDF will be deemed as a Non-Submit. A text based
PDF is a PDF that allows text to be selected with your cursor.
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Project Brief – Case Study B
Project Proposal
Western Sydney Wellness Trust
Company Background
The Western Sydney Wellness Trust provides community health care and social care services to a population
of 2,000,000 people living in the Western Sydney Area of Australia. The Trust was formed five years ago
from the merger of the then separate Community Health Care Trust and Social Services Department.
The Community Health Care Trust employed staff with medical training from a variety of disciplines such as
District Nurses and Physiotherapists. They visited patients in their home and provided care to them.
The Social Services Department employed staff with non-medical care skills, from a wide variety of
disciplines, such as Adult Carers and Child Protection Officers, which visited clients in their own home also,
yet provided social care.
The objective of both organisations was to enable people to go on living in their own home for as long as
possible, thus delaying their move to Trust-funded Nursing homes.
The merger of these two organisations was the result of a new central government policy being piloted in
the region in which Western Sydney falls. There are nine other Community Trusts within the region, none of
which are as progressive in their thinking as the Western Sydney Health and Social Care Trust. The
objectives of the government policy are to improve the care provided and reduce the overall cost of
providing that care. The new combined Trust was given a large degree of organisational and financial
autonomy within the framework of overall management by the local region, and an energetic, forward
thinking Chief Executive, Jim James, previously the Director of Social Services, was appointed to lead the
new combined Trust. Jim James immediately appointed the hardworking Operations Director of the
Community Health Care Trust, Dr Robert Northy to the position of Business Development Director –
effectively his deputy.
The Trust is headquartered in an old Victorian-style Mental Health Hospital facility in Parramatta with 50
other offices, clinics and care homes scattered over the geographical area served by the Trust. Very few of
these offices have been purpose-built.
The Trust now employs 3000 staff split into a relatively small Head Office team including Finance, Personnel
and Business Development and the professional care staff who are divided into 3 Directorates as follows:
• Adult Care
• Mental Health Care
• Child Care
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Situational Analysis
Overview
The main IT software systems used in the Trust are not integrated with each other and comprise:
• The legacy Social Care system, which is primarily concerned with providing a basis for analysing the
type and source of referrals received by the individual social care teams and recording the type of
care and cost of care delivered in response to the referral. No attempt is made to record the
outcome of the care delivered and all notes made by the social workers are handwritten and filed
locally
• The legacy Health Care system which is primarily concerned with collecting details of the activities
carried out by the health care workers so that mandatory statistical analyses can be forwarded to
the Ministry of Health in federal government
• An effective email system linking all of the offices together
• A financial management and payroll system
The legacy systems are old and not user friendly, and staff activity data is entered by clerks located in the
scattered offices and then used for statistical report generation by the central IT Department. None of the
health and social care professionals ever make use of the information in these systems.
The network linking all of the offices together is the responsibility of the IT Team in the Regional Office. They
have wider and deeper IT infrastructure skills than the Trust.
Company’s Creation and Use of Information
The Trust is one of only a few separate organisations which deliver care to the geographic area of Western
Sydney. The other organisations are:
• Separate NSW Government-managed Hospitals who provide Accident & Emergency services,
maternity services and a full range of clinical services to perform operations on patients as required
• Doctor Practices (Clinics) that are all contracted independently to the National Health Service and
run effectively as individual small businesses, paid by Medicare depending on how many patients are
served by them
People in need of care are referred to the Trust from a range of sources, for example Centrelink, Medical
Doctors, Hospitals, Police, Schools, neighbours or next of kin.
Referrals contain wide disparities in the quality and quantity of their information. They are normally directed
to a local Trust office which may or may not house the professional care team capable of dealing with the
particular problem, so the referral is then forwarded on within the Trust, finally reaching the correct team
who take action. Referrals are received on a 24-hour basis 7 days a week and are actioned immediately if
they are deemed to be urgent.
The key actions following receipt of the referral are typically:
• A visit to the referred person in need of care by a senior care professional from the most relevant
care team, who carries out an assessment of the patient and may generate referrals to other teams
within the Trust for their follow-up
• Creation of a handwritten care plan. Some care plans are very complicated and some very simple.
For example, the Child Protection teams draw up very complex plans to solve the domestic problems
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leading to abuse of the child whereas the Podiatry teams are only concerned with scheduling visits
to cut elderly patients’ toenails
• Signoff of the costs of delivering the care by the Team Manager, or adjustment if too expensive
• Delivery of the care services, which vary in duration from one hour to several years depending on
the discipline and type of care
• Review of progress and revision of the care plan as necessary
Each professional care discipline has developed its own style of assessment form and care plan to record
information about the patient, and each uses its own medical and care jargon to describe the same
condition. Although a patient may receive care services from several teams in parallel, each of which is
delivering its own speciality – for example district nurses dressing leg ulcers or occupational therapists
modifying the home environment – no attempt is made to coordinate the care delivery or exchange care
plans between the teams so they may well turn up at the same patient’s house on the same day and at the
same time and one will then have to reschedule their visit.
The teams are traditionally suspicious of sharing patient related information in case they make patient
diagnosis mistakes, and the mental health and child protection teams are particularly concerned about
security of information for their patients and clients.
