Week 4 Assignment – Project Recommendations

Overview

For this assignment, you will create a response to the following memo from your Project Manager:

MemoFrom: The PMTo: Members of the project teamAttached is the Gantt chart for the project. As you can see, we have a tight schedule. Please review it and comment on your area, as we know the coming project will be challenging. With everyone’s help, though, I’m sure we can pull this off with a minimum of scope creep. I look forward to hearing from you before the meeting on Tuesday.This project involves moving our current in-house system to a cloud solution. We are not sure yet if we’re going to partner with an outside company to manage the cloud services or if we’re going to just rent space on Google, Amazon, Microsoft, or other cloud services. I’ll expect a recommendation from each of you based on your area of expertise. Do your research and provide me the pros and cons of the option you are recommending. Be sure to share where you got that information, so I can take a look at your reasoning if I have questions. DO NOT just cut and paste what you find, but rather explain the pros and cons in your own words.

Gantt Chart File [PDF]

Instructions

Respond in a memo using the Word document template provided. There should be two parts to your response.

Part 1

The first part of your response is based on the research you complete determining whether to go with a company to manage cloud services or to rent space with one of the well-established cloud services. Include the following:

• A list of the pros and cons to both options. You should have at least two pros and cons for each option. 
• Your recommendation that is supported by your research. 
• A list of the sources that informed your recommendation. Be sure that these sources are varied and from a variety of relevant perspectives. They should also be credible sources. For example, what Google claims their cloud service will do may not be the experience of a business using their service. In the same way, a small business may have a different experience with the same service a large business uses.

Part 2

The second part is the additions needed to the Gantt chart in your area of expertise. Consider what steps will need to occur in your area in order to make this project possible. Consider also the time it will take to complete each of the subtasks, keeping in mind the overall timeline of the project. Include the following:

• A list of subtasks that need to be added to your area of the Gantt chart. (For example, if you’re a networking specialist, you’ll need to decide what you’re going to do with the network to support the project. Are you going to hire an outside company to expand your network? Do you have the bandwidth you’ll need now that the system is going to be located in the cloud? How much time do you need to purchase equipment like an additional router or a better firewall?)
• A breakdown of any equipment that will be needed for each subtask and when it will need to be installed. 

Here are some questions to consider for each role as you write your response memo:If you’re the IT Project manager, you’ll need to get recommendations from others on the team and then make your recommendation to the PM. What are the main considerations? You’ll need to research and come up with some options.If you’re the data analyst, do your research and find out what this transition will look like to the users in the company and your company’s clients/customers.If you’re the cybersecurity expert, what concerns do you have, and which methods will you use to secure the network and the cloud solution? What does the partner service provide and what will we need to do/know in the company, and what training will be needed for users?If you’re a software designer, what interface will you need to create/adopt? How will the software you’re using now change if we relocate to the cloud?If you’re a data manager, how will the database platform change/adapt to the relocation? How will the data be packaged, secured, stored, transported, backed up, etc.?