Project Description
The IT project proposed for GGFRT includes a smart tracking system branded GG Truck & Freight Tracker. The project involves a GPS tracking device installed on individual products and tracks accompanied by software integrating the devices. The technology will serve various functions aimed at improving the company's operations. For instance, the project will help the enterprise track mileages each vehicle covers, maintenance schedule, enable customers to monitor goods, and improve management of vehicles. In other words, the technology will help resolve the problems GGFRT is currently facing.
Strategic Alignment
The smart tracking technology initiative aligns with the company’s strategic objectives and established IT strategies. GGFRT's objectives include tracking the whereabouts of freight, improve the percentage of loaded miles, provide warehousing services for customers, and tracking hours drivers work. These objectives aim to boost the company’s growth and profitability. The functions of the project are designed to fulfill these objectives. They ensure GGFRT tracks its freight effectively, improves the percentage of loaded miles, provides warehousing services for customers in need of reduced delivery time, and recording the number of hours drivers work daily.
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Moreover, the project is suited to support the specific IT strategies GGFRT management intends to implement. The smart tracking system combines smart devices and AI-enabled software to improve the company's operations. It is also integrated with a GPS to track the location of goods and tracks. As such, it aligns with each of the four strategies. For example, implementing the project will ensure the company adopts a successful mobile and club-based technology, adopt GPS technology for each freight, adopt vehicle monitoring technology, and improve warehousing management.
IT Portfolio Roadmap Alignment
The smart tracking system project fits into the IT portfolio roadmap established in chapter two. The roadmap illustrates the timeframe, projects, and software resources necessary for strategic initiatives. It highlights four key functional areas—sales and marketing, operational, finance, and technical system. Therefore, the smart tracking technology initiative fits perfectly into the operational area; it supports implementing the smart tracking technology and GPS tracking system. Additionally, the project is designed to support another functional rea known as technical support. Notably, the project does not replace the existing system but serves as a complementary initiative to improve efficiency.
Benefits
| Benefit | Business strategic objective/ explanation of alignment to the strategic business objective |
| 1. The system provides a framework for effectively managing company assets using a secure digital platform. | A company that handles a vast range of goods like GGFRT means security is a great concern. The system improves safety and eliminates thefts, thereby aligning with the firm’s first strategic objective. |
| 2. Enable GGFRT to minimize costs and improve overall profitability | The technology will help lower operational costs in various ways. For example, track drivers taking inefficient routes, use of vehicles for unauthorized purposes, and thefts. Therefore, the benefit aligns with the second strategic objective. |
| 3. Receive real-time information on business assets and operations. | The ability to track drivers and warehouse operations serves as an opportunity to improve productivity. |
| 4. Improve customer services | Customer service is improved when the company can timely identify issues and deal with them to avoid delays or further issues. This ensures faster delivery time with reduced costs, as strategic objective three specifies. |
Requirements
Requirements refer to the aspects of an IT project that an end-user expects it to do upon completion. According to Chow et al. (2014), these requirements can either be user or system performance requirements. User requirements include individual tasks a user expects a system to perform. Examples include collecting data, processing data, and providing reports. In this case, for example, the smart tracking system should collect and provide reports on drivers and truck movement. System performance requirements focus on the quality attributes of a system. The requirements for the project are indicated in the following table:
| Requirement statement | Requirement category |
| Usability: existing and new users must be able to adapt to the new system/ | System performance |
| Scalability: the system should be able to accommodate additional users, records, and transactions when necessary. | System performance |
| Reliability: It should be able to create and maintain data correctly | System performance |
| Performance: it should be able to meet varying time and volume requirements effectively | System performance |
| Profitability: it must improve the profitability of the company | Business requirement |
| Tracking: it must provide up-to-date information on diverses’ and goods whereabouts | User requirement |
| Maintainability: it should be easy to maintain, correct, and update | System requirement |
| Portability: it should be able to run on various end-user devices regardless of their location | System requirement |
| Security: it should safeguard the integrity of the company and users’ data | Business requirement |
Cost Estimation
|
Assessment of Project Size and Complexity (Spring 2019) |
|||
| Size/Complexity |
Small |
Medium |
Large |
| Very Complex | |||
| Moderately Complex | |||
| Straightforward |
X |
||
According to Josey and England (2009), cost is a key dimension in classifying a project, and factors such as duration, size, risks, and complexities remain difficult to capture. The project profile matrix (PPM) above classifies a project based on two factors—project size and complexity. The element of project complexity refers to the degree of difficulty in implementing the project (Josey & England, 2009). The smart tracking system is a proven and reliable technology with a greater level of tie-ins to the company’s assets (trucks and warehouses). As such, the level of complexity can be described as straightforward. Project size looks into the management and procedure compliance required (Josey & England, 2009). With the requirements specified above, the project size can be described as a medium; hence, the overall assessment of the project in the table.
Performance Measures
|
Benefit to Business (stated from section #5) |
Measure (quantifiable) |
| 1. Effective management of company assets | Minimize thefts, damages, and unauthorized use of company assets by 32 percent. |
| 2. Minimize costs and improve profitability | Cost reduction of up to 25 percent and an increase in profitability by 45 percent. |
| 3. Receive real-time information on business assets and operations | Cut time wasted on inefficient routes by 43 percent. |
| 4. Improved customer service |
An improved rate in customer satisfaction score by at least 50 percent. Customer retention rate to improve by 35 percent. |
The National Computing Center (2005) suggests that performance measurement verifies the accomplishment of IT objectives and further offers a review of IT performance and its contribution to the business. Among the areas performance measurement covers, as highlighted by the National Computing Center (2005), including the key aspects of measuring the smart tracking systems project, including customer satisfaction cost reduction, gathering of facts, and improving processes. If upon the completion of the project fails to achieve the stated objectives, it is deemed a failed project. Therefore, GGFRT management should screen the entire project to determine the reasons for failure, rectify them, and undertake the process again.
System Development
The successful implementation of any project depends on the depth of its planning. Comprehensive planning tools such as the System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) describe the stages involved in adopting an information system project from initial feasibility to maintenance upon completion (Cohen, Dori, & de Haan, 2010). As Cohen, Dori, and de Haan (2010) further state, although it encompasses seven stages, the following five are the most critical and relevant to the project—planning, designing, building, testing, and launching.
Activities in the first phase include defining system requirements and addressing possible deficiencies. The second phase will be concerned with laying out the physical construction, operating system, programming, hardware, security, and communication issues. The third phase will look into developing the tracking system in which components and programs are obtained and installed. The testing phase examines whether all aspects of the system are functioning as expected upon completion of the building. Lastly, once ascertained that it is working as expected, the system will be deployed to the production environment.
References
Chow, A. F., Woodford, K. C., & Lambe, N. (2014). Using project deliverables and project management for timely completion of student projects. Journal of Emerging Trends in Economics and Management Sciences , 5 (3), 323-329.
Cohen, S., Dori, D., & de Haan, U. (2010). A software system development life cycle model for improved stakeholders’ communication and collaboration. International Journal of Computers Communications & Control , 5 (1), 20-41.
Josey, W. C. & England, K. (2009). Utilizing a project profile matrix to determine project management requirements. Paper presented at PMI® Global Congress 2009—North America, Orlando, FL. Newtown Square, PA: Project Management Institute.
National Computing Center (2005). IT Governance: Developing a Successful Governance Strategy . International Press Center.
