Project Management Plan For Airport Network Development Using Agile SCRUM Methodology

Discussions

An Airport requires a network that will link its three departments; namely the airports authority, flight services providers, and guests. The flight service providers will only have access to the specific servers that they are authorized to access from the server that is maintained by the authority. The guests should access internet and other essential services, such as checking their flights through a wireless access portal that offers high speed internet connection. Access the wireless internet network should be possible using a secure but common password. The authority has 20 users and flight service providers have 40 users, while the guests are estimated to be 100 at any given time. In order to effectively meet the user requirements and develop a network that is suitable for the client with the capability for future scaling, it is essential that the project is managed professionally using project management skills. This is because the available resources also have constraints, including the constraints of time, money, personnel, and materials. Effective project management will ensure the final network meets or exceeds the requirements of the users and be completed within the allocated time and financial budgets. This paper discusses a plan for managing the entire project from start to completion, beginning with the project initiation phase, planning, execution, change and risk management, quality management, and project closure. The project will also provide a time line using a Gantt chart and a work breakdown structure as components of the project management, in addition to defining a suitable framework for developing the network and allocating tasks. These will be discussed in detail and the paper will close by drawing conclusions and making any relevant recommendations. The chosen framework for the management of the networking project is the use of the Agile SCRUM methodology, which is also discussed in the discussions section

The proposed framework for running and managing this project is the use of the Agile SCRUM methodology. While scrum is usually used for software development, it is a framework that is applicable to several IT projects of different scopes. The rationale for choosing the SCRUM framework is because while the basic user needs have been stated and recorded, there are usually user requirements that are tacit and only become apparent when the project is being implemented or executed (Gomex & Nunez, 2008).  The SCRUM method is iterative where spirts are used to incrementally develop solutions and test them as they are being developed so that the end product has few problems or requires major changes that can impact negatively on the time and financial resources allocated to the project (Hurtado et al., 2009).  The SCRUM methodology will also have commitment to developing a network with desired set of features, including the functional and nonfunctional requirements that may not be apparent of the traditional approach of listing down the functional and nonfunctional requirements of the network are used (Layton, 2017).

The business case for the network is to enhance operations by allowing guests to use internet services for among other things, to check in online and view their flight details and even baggage allowance.  The airport authority also needs to maintain servers for managing flights, duty Rota, providing mail and internet services and serving the needs of the Flight Service providers. The network will enable collaboration, cooperation, ease of access to and management of information and data, and allow the flight service providers to only access the server resources that they need (Wiegers, 2010).

Project Initiation

The network that meets these needs is feasible in that it will be designed to incorporate a Local Area Network (LAN), a wireless network, and have cabling done with routers and network switches.

The Project Charter for this airport project is brief but is described below;

Objective: To design and implement a suitable network for the airport that meets user needs where the users are the authority employees (20), flight service providers (40), and guests (100). The authority will maintain several servers while the flight service providers will only access the server resources they need and will have restricted access. Guests can access fast internet speed through wireless access with automatic IP address allocation. All departments should be able to access the fast speed wireless internet

Project team: The project will be undertaken by a group of four people, each that will be given different roles, based on the project needs, user requirements, and the SCRUM framework as outlined below;

The project office will be at a building at the airport premises belonging to the airport authority; this plan was reviewed in the pre-planning phase where team members were asked to contribute on their roles and all were satisfied; roles were assigned based on volunteering and technical ability by the product owner. The Work break down structure is as shown in the image below;

The network protocol to be used is the iPV6 networking protocol using UTP CAT 6 cables; this is so that future upscaling for the network is possible. The LAN will be for individual buildings, which will be connected to other LAN to form a CAN, connected to the airport authority servers through fiber optic cabling. The network will have a wireless WiMAX as backup in case there is a problem with the cabling and fiber optic cables that make up the entire network backbone.

This is based on the time schedules and time sheet as indicated in the Gantt chart for this project; the project will commence on June 4^th 2017 and end on August 9^th 2017, taking a total of three months and three days, or 94 days to be executed and to have the project handed over.  The expenses will include daily costs for communication (telephony, internet), snacks and refreshments, and other incidentals, such as transportation (Burton & Michael,2001). The main costs expenses will be during the purchase of the networking equipment, their transportation, and handling any costs for damages or breakage during transit. The other costs include stationery and internet use; the team members will come with their devices, in addition, four desktop computers will be purchased, along with a power backup, a printer, and office furniture for use at the project office. These will be purchased at cost (Project Management Institute, 2008). The team members will be paid a basic salary of $ 10 per hour of work; in addition, extra time will be paid at the rate of $ 10per hour. The product master will be paid an additional $ 3 while the scrum master will be paid an additional $ 2. The client will have insurance for any calamities covered and all team members will cover their own medical costs; except for any incidents at the site where the client will cover the costs.

Functional and non-functional requirements

The scrum master, working with the product owner will be responsible for managing the risks to the project and approving any changes. The product owner is the de facto team leader and will be in charge of communicating changes. The change management process will start with any feedback from testing or the client and will be initiated and communicated by the product owner. The scrum master will handle any disagreements on roles and the changes will be discussed during the daily scrum meetings. The meetings are part of the scrum approach where all team members, under the leadership of the scrum master, report whet they did the previous day, any challenges faced, and what they will do on the material day. The scrum approach makes risk management easy and any changes will be discussed at the scrum meetings and agreements sought on the way forward. The product owner and scrum master will keep change register and all progress will be handled through the internet with a project management program and posted on the scrum boards.  The daily scrum meetings form part of the risk management process where a risk form is developed and used to identify all risks then measures taken to mitigate or manage them (Unhelkar, 2016).  The team will use Scrumdo (https://www.scrumdo.com/ ), an online scrum project management tool for the duration of the project; the software will cost $ 299 for the duration of the project. A sample scrumdo interface formanaging risks is shown in the image below;

Risk management will be handled by the Scrum master, in collaboration with other team members

The project will be closed after the client accepts the network design and is satisfied with the performance, based on the functional and nonfunctional requirements. A project report will then be created and a closure report created with all parties signing and outlining future responsibilities for all parties and any maintenance responsibilities. The project team will also have a separate private review for the scrum review on performance and outline any challenges and how these can be handled in future (Maharmeh  & Saeed, 2011).

Conclusions

The network project for the airport authority is handled through the agile scrum framework to better manage risk and meet user requirements, while eliminating the risks as soon as the project starts. This is because the scrum method tests incremental iterations of the solutions, detects any issues and corrects in the next iteration, resulting in a product or solution that is free of defects and eliminating the risk for costly redesigns. The project will take 94 days from start to completion and will follow the standard project management approach within an initiation phase where user requirements are sought, planning phase where roles and duties are assigned. The next phase is execution where designs are developed, tested, implemented, and changes managed. The scrum framework enables easy risk management as daily meetings help identify and manage risks. Upon client satisfaction, the a project report will be written and project handed over to client, with the team performing a scrum and sprint review

Recommendations

The project can be made even better if the exact requirements are stated so that a budget can be developed, such as size of the airport that will determine the equipment to be purchased.

References

Burton, C., & Michael, N. (2001). A practical guide to project planning. Auckland: Reed.

Go?mez, J., & Nu?n?ez, A. (January 01, 2008). Agile Practices In Project Management.

Hurtado, J. A., Pino, F. J., Vidal, J. C., Pardo, C. C., & Ferna?ndez, L. E. (January 01, 2009). Agile SPI.

Layton, M. M. C. (2017). Scrum for dummies. Hoboken, NJ: For Dummies, A Wiley Brand.

Maharmeh, M., & Saeed, Z. (January 01, 2011). Application of a Composite Process Framework for Managing Green ICT Applications Development.

Project Management Institute. (2008). A guide to the project management body of knowledge: (PMBOK guide). Newtown Square, PA: Project Management Institute.

Unhelkar, B. (2016). The Art of Agile Practice: A Composite Approach for Projects and Organizations. Boca Raton: CRC Press.

Wiegers, K. (2010). Practical Project Initiation: A Handbook with Tools. Sebastopol: Microsoft Press.

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