Select a project and submit it for approval:

For this course you must select a project to plan over the duration of the semester. You will want the project to be something that you can work on throughout the semester. Your project must be original. Do not find a case study for a project that is already underway or completed.  

Selecting a project may seem either simplistic or overwhelming. For the purposes of the course, keep it simple! The project should be at least a 3 month work effort at a minimum and a 2 year work effort at a maximum. This guide will help you to select a project that should be able to be effectively planned throughout our course. 

• It must be a project in which you have application knowledge 
• It must be a project in which you will be able to gather information about resource requirements and estimates 
• It must be a project that you are about to plan for, and that you have not started yet 
• It should be an IT or Project Management related project; however, projects from other areas are acceptable 
• It should be a project that you believe can be completed in two years or less 
• It should be a project in which the human resources will not exceed 25 stakeholders 
• Be sure that you project meets the four characteristics of a project.

Examples of possible projects include: 

1. Software development 
2. New hardware deployment 
3. New Software Deployment 
4. PMO Development 
5. HelpDesk Development 
6. Infrastructure Upgrade 
7. SOX Compliance 

Also see page 28 in Chapter 1 of the Dynamic Scheduling with Microsoft Office Project 2013 text book for additional examples/ideas. 

Once you have made a decision, please submit your idea to have it approved by the instructor prior to starting your charter. You may use any format to present your idea (MS Office products – Word, Excel, Powerpoint.) A simple Excel template is given. Give an overview of your proposed project and why you feel it will make a good example for a project that you can build throughout the semester. Include a PDF of your proposal.

As you select and consider your project for the semester please think of some of concepts we discussed in Unit 1 and how it might shape / affect how your project runs:

• Are you taking the traditional view of Time, Cost, Scope as your limiting triangle, or a more complex view  with Image, Value and image/ reputation (Goodwill)?
• What is the basic organizational structure of the organization? Are you silo-ed or Project-driven? Does decision making authority reside in the PM (usually only in Projectized or Strong Matrix) or in other managers?
• What is the basic methodology and lifecycle approach?

These factors (and many more) will guide the narrative of your project, for good or ill, depending on how you address, or ignore, them.