Assessment Task 8

IT Major Project:

ICA60311 Advanced Diploma of Information Technology: Business Analysis

Assessment Task 8

Build a Business Website

ICA60311 Advanced Diploma of Information Technology: Business Analysis

Assessment Task 8

Submission details
Candidates name
Assessors name
Assessment site
Assessment date/s

Time/s

This Assessment Task is due on the date specified by your assessor. Any variations
to this arrangement must be approved in writing by your assessor.
Submit this document with any required evidence attached. See specifications below
for details.

ICA60311 Advanced Diploma of Information Technology: Business Analysis

Assessment Task 8

Performance objective
To demonstrate competency in IT Project Management.

ICA60311 Advanced Diploma of Information Technology: Business Analysis

Assessment Task 8

Assessment description
This assignment can be assessed in 2 ways, either:

Based on the requirements from Report (assessment) 7 based on Hosted

Desktop Solutions (HDS); or

The requirements that were developed for the business website of the
students own choice and submitted as Assessment 7.

ICA60311 Advanced Diploma of Information Technology: Business Analysis

Assessment Task 8

Procedure
If based on HDS,
1. Read the Case Study (see Appendix 1)
2. Build a new HDS website
If not based on HDS,
3. Build a business website based on requirements from Assessment 7
4. Hands-on Involvement
This assessment is primarily a project management exercise. The student can do
as much of the hands-on work as the student feels capable of undertaking
confidently.
Where the student does not have the skills to undertake all aspects of the web site
build, the student can use other resources (friends, other students, work
colleagues, etc). The students assessable role here will be to correctly project
manage these resources and what they are delivering, as well as appropriately
documenting the process.
Where students have no exposure what so ever to creating a web site, they will be
given a number of website building websites, of varying degrees of sophistication,
where they can build their site without any technical knowledge. Here the
emphasis will be on documentation of the process undertaken.

ICA60311 Advanced Diploma of Information Technology: Business Analysis

Assessment Task 8

Specifications
Deliverable specifications
The website will need to meet the following specifications:

A home page

A minimum of 5 content areas

A main menu

A sub-menu under the main menu

A minimum of 10 content pages this does not include the home page
accessed from the menus

A footer with standard footer content

A Contact Us page including a contact form

A minimum of 10 web-formatted images placed on the site

Search metadata in all page code headers

A Site Map

Technical description of setting up a web url the www name of the site

Technical description of enabling a site to go live on the internet (cname

configuration etc)

SEO optimisation across all areas of the site.

ICA60311 Advanced Diploma of Information Technology: Business Analysis

Assessment Task 8

Competency specifications
To be considered competent in this assessment task the Candidate must
satisfactorily address the following:

Identify the strategic and operational needs of the project during the planning
phase

Identify and consider the project's strategic context and requirements

Identify and consider the organisation's strategic and business plans and its
output requirements

Identify and explore client requirements and the impact of legislation and
industry codes and standards

Conduct a risk-management analysis and develop and document a riskmanagement plan

Define and document precise specifications and terms of reference for the
project

Identify and document project budget, specified to a level that can be used for
the management of sub-tasks

Define skills needed for the successful completion of the project

Define, document and secure physical and other resources required to

support the project

Develop and document timelines, schedules and critical path for the project,
taking into consideration contingencies and planning for time slippages

Define and document a consultation strategy or process that will be used to

inform clients, contractors and other interested parties of the project's
progress, and seek their input as required

Secure and brief appropriate project team members regarding the project,
their roles, levels of delegated responsibility and the outcomes to be achieved

Implement effective communication processes to coordinate work and inform

team members of progress

Identify and communicate clear reporting processes for team members

Monitor project progress according to project plan requirements, using

appropriate project-management tools and methodologies

Conduct regular evaluation and review, and modify project plan where
appropriate

Manage team member performance, ensuring that their output is directed to

the key performance indicators identified in the project plan

Make corrections, changes and additions to the project plan in light of

changing circumstances to ensure project aims and outcomes

Accept failure of an idea during trialling, and recognise, celebrate and embed
success into systems

ICA60311 Advanced Diploma of Information Technology: Business Analysis

Assessment Task 8

Monitor resourcing to support the project and make corrections to reflect

changing circumstances

Report overall project progress to senior management or funding bodies as

required and in line with the project plan

Finalise the project in line with the project plan

Conduct handover to staff members responsible for the ongoing

implementation or maintenance of project products or services efficiently,
effectively and in line with organisational procedures

Debrief project team members and relevant stakeholders about the conduct of
the project and the outcomes achieved

Prepare a report analysing the strengths and weaknesses of the project plan
and the conduct of the project

Identify and analyse opportunities for wider organisational learning, including

changes to processes or policies generated by the project

Forward opportunities for future further developments following project

completion for consideration by senior management

Consider the strategic impact of the project and feed into the organisation's
ongoing strategic planning processes

ICA60311 Advanced Diploma of Information Technology: Business Analysis

Assessment Task 8

Adjustment for distance-based learners:

No variation of the task is required.
A follow-up interview may be required (at the discretion of the assessor).
Documentation can be submitted electronically or posted in the mail

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Assessment Task 8

H osted D esktop S olutions

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Assessment Task 8

CASE STUDY
You have been hired as the Chief Information Officer (CIO) for a small company
"Hosted Desktop Solutions" (HDS), which provides hosted "open-source" IT solutions
to small and medium sized businesses.
Having completed requirements (information) gathering for the new HDS website, it
is now time to build the site.
While there is an expectation that you able to be hands-on for the build, your primary
responsibility is Project Management and delivery.
To establish an IT project management standard of the highest quality for HDS, you
are going to use the full range of formal project management methodology to deliver
this project.

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Assessment Task 8

Website Analysis
Even though HDS has built numerous websites for clients, its own website has not
been managed well for quite some time.
Its design is a little dated and tired, it lacks the functionality that would be expected
from an IT company website, and content is old and inaccurate, having not been
updated for some time.
As part of your business IT development brief you undertake requirements gathering
to build a new website.

Stakeholder Analysis
Stakeholder analysis has rarely been carried out, and not formally
The only group with any focused consideration are customers
The effect of only focusing on customers has undermined relationships with other
stakeholders of the business particularly internal stakeholders, affecting productivity,
innovation and value creation across the organisation
The founders, with their extensive IT skills and backgrounds, rarely undertake formal
stakeholder or requirements analysis; it is all in their heads
However, with customers growing, and the complexity of clients projects increasing,
stakeholder and requirements management is becoming vitally important to enable
successful delivery

Strategic Planning Analysis

The company has no tag line; which is a short phrase to encapsulate the
business

The company has no Vision Statement

The company has no Mission Statement

The last time a SWOT analysis was undertaken was when the first and only
business plan was written some 8 years ago

Critical issues facing the company have never been formally documented and
are acted upon re-actively when they arise

Constraint identification and management, other than time and cost, is not a
formal process, negatively impacting effective and efficient output

Of the three primary business drivers, time, cost and quality, quality takes third
place as the company tries to manage operational delivery times and costs to
maintain sufficient margins. However, quality is a key strategic driver effecting
the overall sustainability of the company

Internal IT Infrastructure
HDS was started by Jeff and Bob, with a laptop each, and not much else! So while
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Assessment Task 8
they have devoted time and effort to meeting their clients IT needs, their own IT
infrastructure has become an ad-hoc affair unable to meet the demands of current
growth.
Networking capacity is underdone, with one 4 year old server being used for
networking, storage, file sharing, as well as some legacy hosted applications for
customers. The server box lacks sufficient processing power or RAM, and the server
set-up has become instable over the years, as the founders and the senior technician
institute quick fixes to got of trouble when something goes wrong. Staff computers
are becoming old, with a mish- mash of hardware, operating systems, and software
versions. Email is hosted through Google Apps, and the website is externally hosted.
Customer management systems are also a mix of paper based and excel files from
the companys beginings, in conjunction with an initial but undeveloped CRM system,
so mistakes with customers records occur due to the mix of systems. Telephony has
also become inadequate. As well helpdesk email monitoring and response
management is under increasing pressure.
While many of the hosting services supplied to customers are externally hosted, older
clients are still managed using the companies own IT; and most client IT system
monitoring and maintenance is still undertaken through internal IT.
There is a separate application development box, however, as with other systems it
is not being optimally maintained and application development has slowed to a
trickle.
It is a classic case of a small owner operated business, where the hands-on
approach of the founders is no longer capable of managing all arising issues as the
company grows and what organisational systems are in place, are no longer capable
of effectively managing company operations. For example, Bob and Jeff used to look
after all internal IT, when the senior technician come on board he was tasked with
looking after internal IT. However, with customer growth all 3 are often out of the
office on a daily basis, so who does internal IT fixes, and when these are done is
unclear and unsystematic.
Client Service Needs and New Business Opportunities
Your research of client service needs and new business opportunities has found the
following:

Customers who have been with HDS for some time prefer to deal with staff
who they have come to know and trust

They do not like dealing with new IT staff, particularly if they are
inexperienced. Older clients generally have a good idea of the issues and have more
knowledge than junior support staff.

Older customers want to talk directly to support staff.

Older customers want staff to be working when they are working.

Service emails need to be to be acknowledged as quickly as possible. If a

auto responder is used there must be a service ID number included.

Older clients expect to be recognised/acknowledged when contacting HDS by

phone. (Does HDS need to implement phone/computer based CRM?)

More IT literate customers want highly customisable solutions, or the ability

for changes to made efficiently and effectively with little additional cost.

The clearest area for new business is in social media delivery. However,
while clients would like to manage their social media activities more effectively, it is
not an area they wish to devote resources to, often thinking that a young staff
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Assessment Task 8
member can do this for them.

There are always opportunities to develop "extranets" and "intranets" for

clients. However, most clients think that having a website is good enough. Frequently
they lack the knowledge about these kinds of implementations and the costs
involved, often thinking they will be larger than what they would be in reality.

Changes to project timelines and costs are also difficult for customers, as they
are for the business. (How can HDS better manage timeframes and costs without
impacting on delivered quality?)

Internal Analysis

Informal policies and procedures are not managing the increased growth.

Roles and responsibilities are more and more ill-defined, so that some key
outputs are overlooked.

The website, for example, a key result area for the business, has not been
updated for some time, resulting in outdated key marketing and communication
information. Everyone seems too busy to fix it, and who would do it anyway?

Additionally, administrative response turn-arounds are getting longer and

becoming inaccurate, with client and project documentation not being kept uptodate,
impacting on client invoicing.

IT client service response turnarounds are also getting longer, placing

customer relationship pressures on old clients as the needs of new clients is
prioritized. New clients require more attention and, as resources are stretched, new
and old clients are becoming frustrated

Project margins are therefore declining.

Systems to manage client services (both in administration and IT) are frayed

Cash flows are under pressure due to late payment due to late client delivery
while outgoings are increasing trying to deliver client projects on time

Research and development, a key result area for future revenue streams is
falling behind

Internal infrastructure is over-used, under-maintained and is struggling to

meet performance demands

Strategic settings have become unclear impacting staff's understanding of

what is trying to be achieved. This is affecting organisational culture, causing it to
become directionless: "What are we doing? Where are we going"?

Jeff and Bob are so preoccupied that their interaction with staff, once warm,
friendly and consultative is now short, swift, demanding and directive.

Everybody is aware that something has to be done, but nobody knows what,
and this instability is further eroding organisational performance.

Background
You have been hired as the Chief Information Officer (CIO) for a small company

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Assessment Task 8
"Hosted Desktop Solutions" (HDS), which provides hosted "open-source" IT solutions
to small and medium sized businesses.
HDS is a small full service company located in the Sydney IT hub of North Ryde. It
will install hardware, software, configure and manage systems, create websites,
intranets and extranets. Clients currently come from design companies and other
individual companies who do not see a need to internally manage their IT
infrastructure as it is not a core result area.
The company's two founders (brothers Bob and Jeff) are still very hands on in all
aspects of the business, including still looking after foundation clients.
There is a small 2 person administration team, a senior and junior IT technician.
Marketing and Customer Relationship Management are still handled by the founders.
The company is still delivering some hosted services from equipment within the
premises. As well as developing open source solutions for clients, the company has
also started to develop and deploy its own applications. Again most of this work is
carried out by the founders.
The company is undergoing significant growth as "cloud" computing is becoming
more acceptable, and affordable, for businesses small and large.
The company has indentified significant opportunities to expand the depth and
breadth of its "cloud" computing services, particularly into the education sector.
These services are expected to increase revenues from current customers, increase
the company's market share, and create opportunities to enter other markets.
However, other larger more well known competitors are also making inroads into
these markets. While these companies do not offer the same level of high quality
customer service that HDS is renowned for, they can offer very competitive pricing,
and are often preferred by the bigger customers that HDS is trying secure.
Additionally while the market for cloud computing services is expanding, actual IT
expenditure is not. So while the company is having resource capacity issues across
all areas of the business (knowledge management, planning, human, IT
infrastructure, organisational, budgets) revenues are not increasing sufficiently to
enable additional resource investment; staff are feeling the strain.
HDS still operates under a "small family business" culture. Roles and responsibilities
are ill-defined. Strategic planning is ad hoc at best. So, while Jeff and Bob have
some idea where they are heading, staff generally feel uncertain about where the
company is going and their future in the company. Tactical decision making is also
often usurped by pressing operational service delivery requirements, which adds to
the current sense of instability in the workplace culture.
There are only two levels of skills and capability within the company, most staff are in
junior to mid level roles (apart from the senior technician, who nevertheless, does not
have significant management responsibilities) with Bob and Jeff performing all the
higher level management functions across the business.
As the founders deal with increasing operational workloads, research and
development activities are becoming stymied and delayed and development
milestones are not being met. In addition, Jeff and Bob's ability to maintain industry
currency, awareness of future directions, understanding the market through industry
and competitor analysis is declining by the constant operational pressures. For an IT
company, not understanding, or being able to meet market requirements can signal
impending failure, (just think of Nokia and its delay into smart phones resulting in a
huge drop in market share from what was once the world's top selling mobile phone
manufacture). Additionally, budgets are becoming stretched due to establishment
overheads for new, larger clients, who, as yet have not returned sufficient income to
cover their establishment costs.
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Assessment Task 8
As the company tries to maintain organisational performance levels, and as
resources become more and more strained to manage the increasing workloads, staff
morale is declining and the once warm family work culture is starting to fracture.
With the company's growth, and the founders growing capacity management issues
impacting customer service quality and Service Level Agreements (SLAs), Bob and
Jeff have decided to bring in to the company a senior resource, the Chief Information
Officer (CIO), to assist the company's growth into a larger company. Additionally a
mid-level cross-functional support role is also to be created, reporting to the CIO.
The new Chief Information Officer will have key internal and external strategic,
tactical, and operational responsibilities to help enable the business to manage
growth sustainably. The role is primarily focused on:

Alleviating some of Bob's and Jeff's tactical and operational decision making

Managing internal operations across all areas

Contributing to IT deployment into larger companies

Contributing to application development

Assisting the founders with strategic planning

The idea is give Bob and Jeff the opportunity:

To focus on internal strategic activities to enable the business to continue to

grow and innovate while still maintaining a culture that is caring and supportive, whilst
still being effective and efficient.

To focus on strategic activities to take advantage of industry developments

and market opportunities/conditions

To focus on the application development strategy which is often delayed and

interrupted by newer, larger, and ever increasing service delivery requirements that
only the founders currently have the experience to efficiently and effectively manage.

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