Project Management Plan for Network Upgrade System of Globex Corporation

Question

Task: In this assignment, we are Virtucon Pty Ltd has been contracted by Globex Corporation to design and build their new corporate network. Globex Corporation have three offices: one in Albury, NSW, one in Griffith, NSW and one in WaggaWagga, NSW.

Each physical site has a local Windows Server as well as a second application server. All sites are configured with their own domain. Each site makes use of resources from other sites and all sites use cloud based web servers for VoIP and VPN access to a secure Intranet and NFS share.

Consider the above scenario and develop a well research project management plan to improve the network security of the organization.

Answer

1. Introduction
Globex Corporation is the project client for whom the project management plan is developed that has requested Virtucon Pty Ltd to carry out the network upgrade for the organization. Globex Corporation has three offices and these are located in Albury, Griffith, and Wagga Wagga. Currently, the organization makes use of the cloud-based servers and services so that the access to VoIP and VPN can be provided for safe network connection and information exchange. There are numerous cloud vendors that are available in the market. The one that shall be preferred for Globex Corporation is AWS(Kelf, 2020).

1.1 Purpose of Project Management Plan
The purpose of the project management plan is to cover the aspects of planning and overall management for the network upgrade project that has to be carried out for the Globex Corporation. The project management plan will act as the guideline for all the project team members to carefully plan and execute the project.

2 Executive Summary Of Project Charter
The primary purpose of the network upgrade project for Globex Corporation is to improve the overall network security for the organization. The activities that will be a part of the project scope will include the system functions, training, documentation, and device configuration. The activities as maintenance and testing will not be a part of the project scope. The total budget that has been estimated for the project is $109,000 and the project will be completed in 6 months(Kumar et al., 2015).

2.1 Assumptions/Constraints

• The project team members selected for the project will remain available and involved throughout the project timeline.
• The use of virtualization technology will be done to make the overall process secure and cost-effective.
• The budget estimated includes all the costs covering the one-time and recurring costs of the project(Ling et al., 2020).
• The estimated budget and schedule will always be required to be followed in the project
• The security compliance will be essential in the project and 100% compliance towards the security and regulatory standards will be maintained.

3 Scope Management
3.1 Work Breakdown Structure

3.2 Change Control Management
3.2.1. Change Management Method
There can be certain changes that may emerge in the Globex Corporation network upgrade project. It will be necessary that the management of these changes is done. The changes could be the specific networking requirements, addition of new devices, changes in the security tools, or many others. The use of the PMBoK methodology will be done as the guideline and the change management will be done as per the guidelines specified under the methodology.

The method that will be followed will include the following phases.

The cloud vendor that has been identified for the project is AWS. It is possible that there are certain changes that are recommended by the vendor in terms of the technical infrastructural changes or configuration changes. It is also possible that the changes are specified in terms of the data or device requirements. There are various other changes that can emerge and the identification of all of these changes will be done in the first step(Sill, 2016). The changes will be identified by collecting the information associated with the project and the analysis of the same will be done. The change request forms required in the project management plan will be filled for the changes identified and these will be approved by the project manager and sent to the client for approval. The changes that will be approved by the client will be sent for detailed analysis and there will be plans made on the change implementation. It will include the planning on the time and costs associated with the change along with the requirement of the resources for the implementation of the changes.

Once all the plans will be made and impact analysis will be done, the implementation of the change will be done. The change implementation will be done using the parallel implementation method wherein the ongoing processes will not be disturbed with the changes that will be implemented. The control processes will be applied to review and keep a track of the changes that are implemented(Wu et al., 2017).

3.2.2. Change request forms

3.2.3. Change Log
It would be necessary to keep a log of the changes that are requested for the project. The change log will be created and stored that can be accessed by the Project Manager and the team members to understand all of the changes implemented by the organization.

3.2.4. Issue Log
There can be several issues that may arise in the implementation of the changes that are identified for Globex Corporation project. The issue log for the same will be maintained so that the effective management and resolution of the issues can be carried out.

4 What is the role of schedule/time management in the current project management plan?
There are various elements that are present in the project and its management. The network upgrade project that has to be carried out for Globex Corporation will also involve various activities and tasks. It will be necessary that the execution of all of these tasks is efficiently done so that the intended outcomes are achieved. The project is critical for the organization as any of the errors, weaknesses, and vulnerabilities in the network will lead to the adverse implications on the business continuity and the overall performance of the business processes. To avoid such issues, it is essential to have certain plans and estimations in advance (Synder, 2017).

Schedule and time management is one of the project areas that will be required to plan in advance. The use of MS Project tool has been done to estimate the schedule for the Globex Project. The total timeframe that will be involved in the project will be 6 months. The allotment of the duration has been done to each of the project activity on the basis of the resources that will be involved in the associated activity execution, possible changes, possible risks, and the internal & external conditions associated with the project.

The Gantt chart and the schedule estimated for the project management planhas been shown below.

5 Cost/Budget Management
Another significant area that has a major role in the project planning and management is the project budget. It is necessary that the planning of the project budget is carefully and correctly done so that the project management can be properly carried out. The issues in the project budget and the incorrect estimations can lead to the massive loopholes. The impact can be seen on the other project areas. For example, if there is an issue of cost overrun in the project then it will adversely implicate the schedule, resources, and other areas of the project.

The Globex Corporation network upgrade project also involves varied types of costs. These are defined and the determination of the costs is done in such a manner that the one-time and the recurring costs are covered. There will be various tools and equipment required in the project and these will be the one-time investment(HairulNizamMdNasir et al., 2015). The cost of the resources, travel costs, facility costs, and the cost of upgrade will be the recurring costs that will come up again and again throughout the project timeline.

The determination of these costs is done and the total budget for the project has been obtained.

6 Quality Management
The network upgrade project for Globex Corporation is a critical project. This is because the project will directly have an impact on the ongoing business activities, organization performance, and its market shares. Therefore, it will be necessary that the quality of the project is managed and maintained at all times.

The quality management is one of the essential aspects of project management and the management of the quality for this project will be done using the PMBoK methodology along with the Total Quality Management (TQM) standards. This will make sure that the quality is managed and maintained right from the beginning of the project. The quality planning will be done in the first step and it will include the development of a detailed quality management plan. Virtucon Pty Ltd and Globex Corporation will jointly develop this plan that will include the methodology, tools, resources, and the proper steps that will be followed (Portny, 2017).

The use of quality control and assurance techniques will be done to manage the quality of the project. The Project Manager along with the Business Analyst will conduct the internal audits and reviews at regular intervals to keep a track of the quality of the project. This will cover the aspects of the technical and managerial side of the project. The client will also conduct the quality audits once in a while to be sure of the enhanced quality standards being followed.

There will be numerous testing processes and activities that will also be carried out in the project. The primary focus will be on the security and performance testing. The use of the open-source tools, such as Selenium will be done to conduct the automation testing on the network security aspects. There will be end-user testing and usability testing conducted to make sure that the gaps are not present between the expected and actual outcomes.

7 Human Resource Management
One of the most important aspects of the project will be the human resources that will be allotted to the project. The execution and successful completion of the project will depend upon the skills and involvement of these human resources. The following resources will be involved in the project.

All of the project resources will be provided with the specific role and the set of responsibilities in the beginning of the project. The use of RACI matrix will be done for this purpose. The same has been developed and illustrated below. The matrix will assist the resources in providing the ability to understand the major tasks and activities that they will carry out for the project.

The tools and equipment essential for the project will be made available to the human resources right in the beginning of the project. The Project Manager will make sure that there are one-on-one sessions conducted with the team members at regular intervals to be aware of their concerns. The use of collaboration technique will be followed to resolve all of the concerns associated with the project human resources(Tavan&Hosseini, 2016).

8 Communications Management
Communications will be an essential part of the project. It will be necessary that Globex Corporation is updated about all the project activities and progress. It will also be essential that the project team members and all the project stakeholders are provided with the information on the project progress and the issues, if any.

To manage the project communications, there will be a number of modes that will be used. The use of WhatsApp calls and messaging services along with the Zoom calls will be done as the web-based conferencing communication mediums. The use of emails will be done to exchange the project information. The use of the reports will also be done and the reports will be uploaded on the SharePoint location of the project(Tavan&Hosseini, 2016).

There will be daily meetings organized among the team members and weekly meetings will be conducted with the external stakeholders associated with the network upgrade project.

8.1. Team meeting agenda and minutes
The details of the meeting conducted along with the agenda and the minutes are included below.

9 Risk Management
There can be certain risks that may emerge in the Globex Corporation network upgrade project. It will be necessary that the management of these risks is done. There are various risks that may arise in the project, such as the technical issues, schedule risks, risks due to the unavailability of the resources, and many others. The use of the PMBoK methodology will be done as the guideline and the risk management will be done as per the guidelines specified under the methodology.

It is possible that there are certain risks emerge due to the technical infrastructural changes or configuration changes. It is also possible that the risks are possible in the areas of the project schedule or costs. There are various other risks that can emerge and the identification of all of these risks will be done in the first step. The risks will be identified by collecting the information associated with the project and the analysis of the same will be done (Pmi, 2018). The risk identification will result in the development of a list of the risks that the project will be exposed to. The risks identified will be sent for detailed analysis and there will be plans made on the risk treatment. It will include the determination of the likelihood and severity levels for all of the risks that will be identified. The risk rating will be calculated on the basis of the probability and impact defined for the risks. The plans will be made on the risk response and treatment.

Once all the plans will be made and analysis will be done, the implementation of the treatment strategy will be done. The risk treatment will be done using the mapped treatment and response strategy, such as mitigation, avoidance, etc. The control processes will be applied to review and keep a track of the risks that are implemented.

The details of these risks are shown in the tables below.

10 Issue Management
There can be numerous issues that may also be associated with the project. These could be in the form of the conflicts that may arise among the project resources and the stakeholders. It is also possible that the external project factors, such as the vendor involvement and delivery comes up which may bring up the risks of schedule overrun in the project.

The management of such issues will be done using the communication guidelines and the mechanisms that are specified in the PMBoK guide for project management. The use of the communication and collaboration technique will be done to make sure that the issues do not emerge. Even in the case of the emergence of the issues, it will be possible to manage the same. For example, the conflicts will be managed using the collaboration technique (Pmi, 2018).

11 Procurement Management
The PMBoK methodology and the specific guide under the procurement management will be used to manage the project procurements. The procurement plan will be developed and the vendors selected will be involved right from the planning phases.

The communication guidelines will be used to communicate with the project vendors while developing project management plan. The procurement contracts and norms will be developed and signed with the vendors. The risk management and change management plans will also be used with the procurement procedures(Portny, 2017).

12 References
HairulNizamMdNasir, M., Sahibuddin, S., Ahmad, R., &SanimMohdFauzi, S. (2015). How the PMBOK Addresses Critical Success Factors for Software Projects: A Multi-round Delphi Study.Project management planJournal of Software, 10(11), 1283–1300. https://doi.org/10.17706//jsw.10.11.1283-1300

Kelf, S. (2020). The security risks created by cloud migration and how to overcome them. Network Security, 2020(4), 14–16. https://doi.org/10.1016/s1353-4858(20)30044-1 Kumar, N., Zeadally, S., Chilamkurti, N., &Vinel, A. (2015).Performance analysis of Bayesian coalition game-based energy-aware virtual machine migration in vehicular mobile cloud.IEEE Network, 29(2), 62–69. https://doi.org/10.1109/mnet.2015.7064905

Ling, C., Zhang, W., He, H., &Tian, Y. (2020). Network perception task migration in cloud-edge fusion computing.Journal of Cloud Computing, 9(1).

https://doi.org/10.1186/s13677-020-00193-8
Pmi. (2018). The standard for portfolio management. Project Management Institute.

Portny, S. E. (2017). Project management.John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Sill, A. (2016). Cloud Standards as Roadmaps for Migration. IEEE Cloud Computing, 3(2), 64–70. https://doi.org/10.1109/mcc.2016.49

Snyder, C. (2017). A project manager’s book of forms: a companion to the PMBOK guide, sixth edition. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Sreeja.(2020). A Meta-analysis on the Security Control Measures in Cloud Migration.International Journal of Psychosocial Rehabilitation, 24(5), 6943–6947. https://doi.org/10.37200/ijpr/v24i5/pr2020693

Tavan, F., &Hosseini, M. (2016).Comparison and analysis of PMBOK 2013 and ISO 21500.Journal of Project Management, 10, 27–34. https://doi.org/10.5267/j.jpm.2017.1.002

Wu, T.-Y., Guizani, N., & Huang, J.-S. (2017). Live migration improvements by related dirty memory prediction in cloud computing.Project management planJournal of Network and Computer Applications, 90, 83–89. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnca.2017.03.011