If
given the opportunity to be the Project Manager of the programs, what quick
solutions to these problems can be introduced?
The technology
nowadays has greatly affected our everyday lives. From the house until going to
work or school we have been constantly using the technologies developed and was
innovated in time. This said technologies have helped us work efficiently but
these said technologies have also negative effect. Anyway, speaking of
technologies there have been a lot of these that has been quite used by people
to help in their individual work. One of these is the computers, computers that
can be used to show and provide input and output. Since computers has this
capability it will help the institutions to work proficiently, and one of this
institutions is the schools. Proposing an online registration for the students
so that the students could enroll through the internet without experiencing the
hassle of travelling to the campus, the system incorporated the business rules
in the academic world-subject pre-requisites, student’s payment status, and
other vital information about a student’s registration in the university. This
will help lessen the hard enrollment process which has been happening for many
years. This would also mean less paper work since everything will undergo
virtually. The idea itself is ideal for today’s generation which is computer
reliance. But, the fact that there will always be complication will never
change.
There are several
problems that have risen within the registration for the coming 2nd-5thyear
students for the second semester of School Year 2011-12, this were the problems
that have been cited:
a. Non-enrolment of
students due to late uploading of students’ grades by the teachers caused by
several factors including computer literacy of senior teachers;
b. Slow updates of
course and grade uploads due to slow connection and server traffic caused by
the number of teachers and students using the program all at the same time,
and;
c. For some reasons,
the system’s database was hacked which resulted to mismatch of students’ grades
and students’ identification.
Assuming the position
of the Project Manager and provide a quick solution to the cited complications.
These are probable solution that I recommend to the problems introduced:
The non-enrollment of
the student due to the late uploading of the grades is really a big problem.
Having this problem would really delay the progress of the enrollment since the
grades aren’t been settled down. Since the student’s grades have a big impact
to the enrollment process facing this problem in the midst of the enrollment
process will give a lot of headache not only to the teachers and students but
also to the school itself. This will affect the whole enrollment process
because the student’s grade is essential to the enrollment process and it also
involves the student’s from 2nd-5th year level.
To provide a quick
solution to this said problem I have two solutions that can be of help to the
said problem:
First is I would like
to recommend that there should be proper introduction, orientation and
education for the said program. Proper introduction and education should be
given to every teacher as to how the program should work so that any changes in
connection to the student’s grades can be immediately done or the encoding of
the grades will be finished on schedule. Since the teachers are already given
the proper orientation for the program then their work will be done sooner.
Having the student’s grades sooner will help the enrollment process to proceed
smoothly. Considering that every teacher has their own personal computers,
laptop or etc. then this solution is quite useful.
Second is that
considering the factor that not all of the teachers have their own device to
use I recommend that there will be a separate group which will focus on the
program. Having a separate group, the teachers will only be submitting the
student’s grades and the separate group will do their work. By setting up a
deadline as to when will the grades be submitted then the separate group can
start working and finish on schedule. Then the team will work on the encoding
of the grades setting their own goal, when they will finish the encoding of the
entire levels. This will definitely lessen the problem of the late upload in
the student’s grade thinking that there will be a specific group that will work
on the encoding.
The slow connection
and the server traffic can really cause a huge problem especially to the
teachers and the students. This will affect the set schedule, keeping in mind
that the student’s grades are essential to the enrollment process. Having in
mind that not only the teachers are using the program but also the students
which has their own problems which is the cause for them to gradually monitor
or use the program thus resulting to the said server traffic. This will be a
big complication that would cause the server to be slow or eventually causing
server down.
I recommend, having
upgrade server connection which will resolve the slow connection. Having this
upgrade will also make updates of course and grade uploads to be faster which
will be helpful for accommodating a large number of users. In accommodating a
greater number of users this upgrade will be of help which will also make any
proceedings to be done on schedule. Thinking that the following proceedings
will be done on schedule can resolve the previous problem. It is also nice to
have an administrator to work on the program so that the program will be
monitored timely and any problems concerning the program would be easily fixed
because of the continuous monitoring of the administrator. The administrator
will also be the one to work on the possible solution which can possibly rise
anytime. Having the administrator to monitor the program will be useful thus
further complication won’t be avoided since there are many users of the
program. Though, considering that there will only be a specific group to work
on the grade uploads would also help lessen the server traffic or congestion.
Since, there will only be a limited group working on the student’s grade
uploading then it would also lessen the number of users thinking that the
teachers won’t be using the program too much.
Despite everything businesses
change, and change is happening at a faster rate than ever before. So it is not
realistic to expect no change in requirements while a system is being built.
However uncontrolled changes play mess with a system under development and have
caused many project failures. This emphasizes the advantages
of shorter timescales and a phased approach to building systems, so that change
has less chance to affect development. Nonetheless change must be managed like
any other factor of business. The business must evaluate the effects of any
changed requirements on the timescale, cost and risk of project. Change
management and its sister discipline of configuration management are skills
that can be taught.
The developers will do a great
deal of testing during development, but eventually the users must run
acceptance tests to see if the system meets the business requirements. However
acceptance testing often fails to catch many faults before a system goes live
because: poor requirements which cannot be tested, poorly planned tests meaning
that the system is not methodically checked, inadequately trained users who do
not know what the purpose of testing is and lastly inadequate time to perform
tests as the project is late.
The scope is the overall view
of what a system will deliver. Scope creep is the insidious growth in the scale
of a system during the life of a project. As an example for a system which will
hold customer records, it is then decided it will also deal with customer
bills, then these bills will be provided on the internet, and so on and so
forth. All the functionality will have to be delivered at one time, therefore
affecting time scales, and all will have to have detailed
requirements. This is a management issue closely related to change control.
Management must be realistic about what is it they want and when, and stick to
it.
Underestimation and analysis
failures – Projects can be complex undertakings. However that complexity is
often not immediately apparent when a project first begins. Instead, the team
needs to carefully analyze the project and discover the complexities involved.
Those complexities need to be understood before commitments to schedule and
budget are confirmed. If commitments are given before the full complexity has
been appreciated a project can easily end up making unrealistic commitments
that ultimately create a pressurized environment in which the project can only fail.
Risk failures – Predicting the future is a risky activity and because projects
are all about creating the future, projects inherently involve risk. Where a
project is blind to those risks they are likely to run into serious
difficulties that they failed to anticipate. Those difficulties are sometimes
serious enough to derail not just the project, but even the organization as a
whole.
Risk exposure is a combination
of the probability that a specific risk could materialize into a problem and
the negative consequences for the project if it does. To manage each risk,
select mitigation actions to reduce either the probability or the impact. You
might also identify contingency plans that will kick in if your risk control
activities are not effective.
The systems database
being hacked and resulted to the student’s grades and identification getting
mismatched is really a troublesome thing. Judging from the said problem there
is a great possibility of the grades to be reviewed from the start since there
have been a mismatch not only the grades but also the student’s identification.
However if the problem was disastrous enough then everything within the
database will be repeated or they will have to start from scratch. This problem
would have a big effect in everything since the database itself was the one
affected by the hacking. The said problem is hard to prevent thinking that
there is really a big possibility of it happening though not sooner than what
is expected. There should always be a countermeasure to this problem.
Considering my
recommendation to the previous problem there should be an administrator to keep
monitor for the program. Having continuous monitor of the program will help
lessen the possibility of the systems database to be hacked. Since the
administrator has gained control over the program then any complications can be
easily identified and will be resolve. Also, there should be a much stronger
security provided for the protection of the students’ grades and students’
identification. This will also help avoid the problem wherein the student’s
grades and identification will get mismatched. Thinking about the fact that the
program was hacked then the previous security wasn’t proven to be strong,
though the fact that there will always be a hole in every system then the
security of the database should always be monitored and controlled. Also, the
security of the system’s database should be constantly monitored and eventually
changed keeping in mind that in our generation everything can easily searched
through internet. There should also be a back-up file so that this problem can
be quite resolved since there was a prepared file. Having a back-up file will
help because the previous database will only be changed or replaced by the
saved file. This will also lessen the work of the administrators given that
they were able to prepare for the said problem.
Computer literacy
should be observed considering the fact that there are others that aren’t
capable of using the current technologies. Even though at this age we are being
dependent on the said technologies but there will still be others which are not
able to adapt to the said technology. So, proper education about the program should
come first to help the future users of the program the idea what to do and what
is the program capable of doing. Keeping that in mind will also lessen the
problem of others getting caught up in the previously said problem. There
should be proper orientation to everyone which will be using the program. This
would help the users to be able to fully understand how the program works and
how to properly use it. Having taught the users how to use the program would
help them know which options to choose and buttons to click. It will also give
them the idea where to go if they are looking for specific information about
someone, something or themselves. The idea of educating the users first
shouldn’t be neglected since the program itself is user dependent.
The main driver is the
popularity of social networking, file sharing and video streaming sites. These
changes in and growth of Web traffic are expected to continue, not only as the
Web becomes a de facto front-end for many emerging
cloud-based services, but also as many existing applications, such as game and
video, are consolidated to the Web.
Second, the need for Web access also has grown, exposing the poor
Web access problem for many users in bandwidth-limited environments. For
example, the thousands of students that accessing the universities websites in
one time and the teachers that uploading the grades and the administrator that
uploaded the schedules for the semester, the problem remains for people who
access the Web via cellular or wireless networks. As the deployment of mobile
devices becomes increasingly widespread, the problem of poor Web access will be
exacerbated.
In order to improve Web access,
we must first understand the underlying characteristics of Web traffic. Web
traffic results from interactions among many components including clients,
proxies, and servers, so only a detailed understanding of these interactions
can offer insight for improving Web access. For example, analyzing end-user
browsing behavior can lead to a Web traffic model, which in turn can be used to
generate a synthetic workload for benchmarking or simulation. Also,
investigating the Web page loading process reveals where the bottleneck lies in
the user-perceived page loading latency. Furthermore, analyzing the redundancy
of Web traffic and effectiveness of caching could shape the design of caching
mechanisms. And so we increased the bandwidth of the server to manage the web
traffic for the teachers and the students.
Slow connection will
definitely be proven to be a problem. Having slow connection would affect the
process which will be undergone by the users. This will be a problem to the
users because having a slow connection might cause impatience to them. Since,
users would definitely want to get done as soon as possible so they wouldn’t
want to be caught up in traffic. But, having slow connection is also the same
as being caught up in server traffic so having slow connection should be
provided with an immediate remedy. There should be an upgrade to the connection
to provide a fast working program which will be able to catch up to the need or
wants of the users.
Server traffic is also one of the
considered common problems to the program. Having a lot of users would definitely
result to congestion. Therefore there should be a server upgrade to be able to
utilize the program which will optimize the program capabilities. In doing so,
there can be an increase in productivity and performance of the program,
allowing a large number of users to use the program without delay and slow
response times or failed connections. An upgrade will result to the program
being continuously available for users and there would be guaranteed around the
clock access.
Hacking was also considered to be a
big problem since it has affected the system’s database. Since, the database is
very important considering it holds a great number of information it should be
well protected and secured. The fact that it is the main source and container
of the student’s grades and identification there should be a much greater
security placed unto it to avoid problems. The system or the program should
always be monitored and controlled to be able to avoid hacking. The information
in the database should have a back-up since the files within it are essential
and are important.
Further
information by the students is also permitted as they give great constructive
criticism to the system. They are the first ones to use the system of course
which makes them our great customers. There is someone who said that “The
customers are always right” is always correct. We must understand the
customer’s agony by fixing the codes that are in the system. Changing the
system to a better one will surely give them happiness as what project managers
must do. A lot of functions in the system must be implemented if this must be
finished. The system must take full advantage of the current technology around
us taking all the latest techniques in the internet, what they use and how to
combat a threat if there is one. In this way we can safeguard the system with
the necessary technology to ward of the hackers and make the system as faster
as possible. There should be a full understanding of the system of course. A
full understanding will make the job easier and less messy as programmers would
be in confusion if this would happen. Also, further study is needed for this project. If there are
more defects that stayed in the project and has not been seen or resolved then
it would be wise to record it in a note or paper that will inform the future
project manager on what to do or what they could succeed in times that we were
not. After releasing the system to the public, there should be a testing phase
so that the team can handle the old and new bugs that have been seen by the
team that’s why there is a beta testing stage that will invite some of the
students of the University to examine and create some opinions of the project
that will make the team be aware of the problem or be proud of themselves for
the compliment that the students give them.
Project manager are the ones
that direct, co-ordinate and monitor the project with respect to all
professional, technical, administrative, accounting, procurement and
supervisory services and activities for the duration of the project. And the
project manager provide the services necessary to assume responsibility for the
phases of the project that includes preparation and agreement of performance
objectives for the project, the achievement of the objectives and the
supervision of the work to the extent necessary to achieve the objectives. A project manager should always remember that there are many things that
should be considered before making any decisions. Just like in this scenario
given, this is a problem which involves many factors: like people, time, cost
and many more. These factors should be agreed or approved by the project
manager and all of the other people who are involved in this matter so that
everything will be fine when decisions are to be made.
I conclude that the
system is absolutely useful to the university and also to the student’s which
is a hassle free enrollment. This system would definitely be of help and it is
effective. It would be a useful system which can make things done without any
hassle to everyone through a good understanding of the program. The idea is
great since it will make the enrollment process to proceed smoothly. Though,
there will always be a fact that problems and complications might arise then it
should be thoroughly studied before implemented. There should be a system
assessment to see if it has produced good result until then the system should
still be examined. By studying the system this would avoid complications,
complications such as computer literacy, slow connection, server traffic and
hacking. This kind of system would take a lot of studying because it has a
large scale of users that will eventually depend on it. It should be
well-planned to lessen the complications which have been cited. Great planning
would really be essential to the succession of the program and also to the
future usage of the program.
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