Download Baseline Project Plan Report

Baseline Project Plan Report
Project Name: OASIS CSA Project- Tracking Crop Harvests
1.0 Introduction:
A. Project Overview- This project will provide a database, input forms, and reports to better
maintain the CSA farming process, which would improve inventory management by
allowing the farmers to monitor what crops are planted, what seeds are used, and what
harvests are made.
B. Recommendation- Instead of keeping records about crops, their plantings and harvests in a
few spreadsheets, OASIS crop and harvest data can be maintained and managed more
efficiently with a database. The construction of a database application has been approved by
the customer, as outlined in the Statement of Work.
2.0 System Description:
A. Alternatives—While the current system is functional and serves the immediate purpose of
the OASIS CSA (community support agriculture), we offer a more proficient way to store
and track the necessary data used to continue this company’s ongoing success. The only
two alternatives to creating this database for OASIS would be to maintain the technique
(spreadsheets) already in place or to purchase off-the-shelf (OTS) software. While
purchasing this software may be feasible in some cases, with OASIS it would not be. Any
OTS software purchased would still require additional customizations in order to fulfill the
needs of maintaining OASIS’ pertinent information. And while spreadsheets allow for this
company to enter and maintain this data in a fairly organized manner, this process is by far
more time consuming than the use of our database would be. The time spent by the
department secretary generating reports, cleaning up inconsistencies, and recording data is
costly. Time and money will be saved by allowing us to implement our user-friendly
database.
B. System Description—We will spend our time designing, creating, and then implementing
a database to replace your current system that will allow personnel from OASIS to enter
any and all necessary data (crops planted, harvests, crop information, etc.) pertinent to the
company’s continued success. This system will also allow company personnel to print
various reports in order to plan production and request grant renewals. Various forms will
be created in order to enter new data for various categories (crops, their plantings, harvests,
etc.).
3.0 Feasibility Assessment:
A. Economic Analysis— The OASIS CSA project would stand to directly benefit from a means
of tracking the cost effectiveness of OASIS operations. Rather than waste man hours and
membership funds on unwieldy spreadsheets and crops whose overall productivity is difficult
to quantify, this system would allow the grower to track and adjust crop combinations based
on a variety of factors, such as seed companies, overall harvest, and growing seasons. This
provides OASIS with the best possible information by which to apply membership dollars.
This increased efficiency could very well expand membership investment and further reduce
risk. Through the implementation of the Access database application and basic internet
connectivity, we believe OASIS will be a much more responsive and efficient operation, and
calculate a ROI of 9.1%.
B. Technical Analysis— The technical risks posed by this project are low. Much of the data
needed to populate the new system is already available in the spreadsheets, and the
requirements to be met are highly structured. The use of database applications for the storage
and retrieval of data is standard practice in computing today, and we have a great deal of
resources available to use in its development. Our development team has extensive
experience with Access and SQL languages, allowing for all development to be done inhouse.
C. Operational Analysis— The proposed OASIS CSA application would afford the grower and
the members’ greater transparency in how member’s investments are being spent and what
crop would yield the best harvest for a given season, thereby strengthening the bond between
grower and member. The potential for greater productivity and efficiency should also better
justification for grant renewals, which is the life blood of the operation. The implementation
of this system would not drastically change the day to day operations of OASIS, but
embolden each action with reliance on the best possible data. We have the expertise, the
necessary funds, and the need for better defined data that precipitates the implementation of
this application.
D. Human-Factors Analysis—The use of spreadsheets has more than prepared the employees
of OASIS with the necessary skills to operate this database application, as the application has
largely simplified the data entry process. Through the use of menus and forms with
predefined values, this new system should greatly reduce the volume of input error. And with
self-populating reports, we ought to see a complete elimination of the four hour report
marathon at the end of each growing season, which ought to be welcomed by the staff.
Maintenance of the database should be address through the hiring of at least two employees
trained in database management; one full time, one part time. Training on the new system
should be minimal and limited to navigation from form to form, as data integrity is
maintained through the structure of the database itself.
E. Legal and Political Analysis— Being that OASIS is subsidized by the USDA, it is
imperative that all sensitive data be encrypted using AES (Advanced Encryption Standard),
the standard encryption method for the United States Government. Data of a financial nature
should be available only to essential personnel through the use of administrative accounts.
The careful review of all licensing details is recommended to ensure we act lawfully. In
terms of political implications, the undertaking of a database application has cleared both the
USDA home office and the OASIS manager Janice Watson.
4.0 Management’s Issues
A. Team Configuration and Management--At present, all five team members equally assume
project management roles. Team members will meet weekly to report on the status of the
project and will be in constant contact with the marketing department to ensure project
milestones are met. Team members may also be assigned new positions as needed, as the
project develops.
B. Communication Plan—Team members will remain in constant contact with one another
through email as well as personal interaction during the weekly meetings. Team members
are also required to check their email daily. Customers will be notified of any progress made
throughout the extent of the project once a week, or more frequently when necessary.
C. Project Standards and Procedures— The customer’s input will be an important element
throughout the entire project development process. Weekly progress reports will be sent out
in order to keep the customer up to date on project status. As deliverables are nearing their
completion, customers will be notified in order to incorporate their feedback on the progress
that has been made. Various software will be utilized in order to represent a clear and
concise representation of the steps and progress being made during the development. Excel
will be used in order to show an itemized list of all costs involved in said project. Microsoft
project will be used in order to show a more precise timeline of the steps involved.
5.0 Project Deliverable
A. Input functions:
 CSA crops instances data (type, variety, season, and year)
 Planting Data (indoor/outdoor or cutting)
 CSA Harvest data
 Seed Companies data
 Reference table data
 CSA order transaction data (including employee number, seeder number, & crop stock
number)
B. Processing functions:
 When a form opens for input, open to a new record
 Assign order number and date to each order
 Display seeding company in the order form
 Display in the order form the name of farmer who processed the order
 Assign fee and due date to each crop order line item
 Cancel transaction if individual is not a member
 Update CSA crops data if member has changed their order or received it
C. Output functions:
 Summarize farmers’ activity on screen with easy navigation to a specific crop order
 Printout of order form, their receipts
 Listing of crops
 Listing of farmers
 Listing of closed orders
 Report by year and season of what was planned for crops
 Report by crop type, crop, variety what was planned for each year and season
 Listing of harvests for a particular crop, variety within a year
 Listing of seed companies
 Listing of seed companies and what crop/varieties bought from them
 Listing of the harvests with totals for count and/or weight for a particular crop/variety in
a particular year and season
D. Storage functions:
 Crops data
 Harvest data
 Seed Companies data
 Grower data
E. Control functions:
 Verify crops data
 Verify company data
 Verify planting
5.0 Estimated Project Duration
A Gantt chart has been created for the project, which lists individual tasks and estimated task
duration. Total project deliver is scheduled for April 29th.