Project Proposal. See also the case for support

Project Information

Project: PIMS
Project Time-frame: 2004-2009
Attached Worksheets:
Project Proposal > Target audience and benefits
Related Documents:

Project Assumptions

Process impact: Project assumptions are the beliefs about the environment of the project which, if false, will lead to project failure. Recording them here will help consider whether there is sound evidence they are true. For most assumptions, there is also a project risk that they turn out to be false. This should be in the project's risk list.
TODO: Replace the sample text below with one or more assumptions.
Change
Laboratory practice will evolve. A key assumption of the project is that it will not change faster than the system can be revised to support it.
NAME
DESCRIPTION

Scope

TODO: Replace the sample text below with a clear statement of the scope of your project. What are the high-level things that you plan to do, and that you will not do? What are your important simplifying assumptions? Try to guard against reasonable misunderstandings that might arise if you did not explain the scope. It can take the form of a paragraph, bullet list, in/out list, and/or UML context diagram.
In Scope Out of Scope
TBD TBD

Constraints

Process impact: This section lists the dimensions of the project in order of increasing flexibility. First come constraints set by the project sponsor, then customer goals. The dimensions at the bottom of the list are the ones that the development team can adjust, to meet the goals, within the contraints that have been set.
Schedule
5 years, fixed by grant application.
Staff
Fixed by grant application. We may later attract partners who want additional features and make additional resources available.
Cost
Fixed by grant application. Mainly staff costs. We might find alternative sources for travel costs, but the budget is beleived to be correct.
Quality
Scientists' experimental data is their most precious asset. It is unacceptable to lose it. User-visible defects that do not in fact put data at risk will still reduce users' confidence in the system and should be avoided.
Scope
The list of features wanted must be prioritised, so that all the essential features are guaranteed to be delivered.

Deliverables

Deliverable Name Description Delivery Date
Use cases Descriptions of planned interactions with PIMS. Customers will prioritize them to decide the content of versions. Ongoing
Non-functional requirements Qualities the system must have. A draft will be delivered for customer decision. TBD
Version 0.1 Proof of concept for design TBD
Other versions Incremental delivery of required functionality. Every six months
Defect fixes Repairs to baselined code. Ongoing
Help files Online guidance for users. With each version
User manual Printed description of system Annually
Maintenance documentation Design documentation, javadoc, and code comments. Ongoing
Tools Customization of software needed for development process, incuding groupware and automatic build process. Dec 2004

Difficulty

For more detail, see Risks list.

TODO: This table helps you make an initial estimate of the difficult of your project. In each category below, estimate the difficulty level.
Name Score Total
Necessity 4The system will enable some activities that were previously infeasible.
Failure 3Loss of user's data is unacceptable.
Usability 3Usability is important. Existing UI paradigms are suitable if applied well.
Team 5The team are from several organisations.
Innovation 3The development will use some techniques that are new to us.
Size 4The development will take 10-100 developer years.
Schedule 2The project is of fixed duration, the feature list is flexible.
Complexity 2There are some design challenges but those components can be delivered early.
Customers 5The project has several customers and they have little experience of commisioning software projects.
Life time 5The deliverable is the first release of a long running product. We have no product manager.
Average 3.6 Greater than 3 indicates a challenging project.
Difficulty levels:
1
Straightforward, appears to be simple
2
Familiar techniques will be sufficient
3
Typical softare project
4
Industry best practice will be required
5
Innovative or exceptionally risky

Project Plan

See attached draft of project plan and resource needs.

Company Proprietary
Copyright © 2003-2004 Jason Robbins. All rights reserved. License terms. Retain this copyright statement whenever this file is used as a template.