Information Systems


Project Plan Inception

Overview

You will act as the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of a hypothetical, e-commerce start-up company of your design. A venture capital group has funded this innovative start-up.

The CEO has given you 60 days to deliver an information technology project plan in anticipation of the company relocating to a new facility. Since this is a start-up company, currently no building or technology infrastructure exists to support the business. All information technology (hardware and software) must be implemented in a hosted solution, an on-site solution, or a hybrid model. The CEO expects you to integrate different technologies from a variety of partners and incorporate industry best practices to develop the company’s technological systems.

Additional background on the hypothetical company

Current Status / Growth Projections (over next two years)

Facility Type New facility is a two-story standalone building / —

Number of Employees 10 / 30

Revenue $5 million / $30 million

This assignment consists of two parts:

Part 1: Project Plan Inception

You will write a 5–7-page document outlining the project specifics, such as company background information, company business, and an overview of the company’s information systems infrastructure.

Part 2: Supporting Gantt Chart

You will use Microsoft Project to create a Gantt chart for your e-commerce company project.

Instructions

Part 1: Project Plan Inception

In a 5–7-page project plan inception document, you are to:

  1. Develop your hypothetical e-commerce company’s background information.
    • Refer to this article: Top 10 Largest Ecommerce Companies in the US in 2020, (https://www.valuewalk.com/2020/04/top-10-largest-ecommerce-companies-us/) when developing your company’s background information.
      • This article outlines the major types of e-commerce companies in existence. Use this as a guide when deciding what background information to include about your hypothetical e-commerce company in your project plan inception document.
  2. Document your chosen e-commerce company’s business type, customers, and demographic information.
  3. Describe the key elements of your e-commerce company’s information systems infrastructure.
  4. Develop a high-level block diagram of your e-commerce company’s information systems infrastructure.
  5. Use three sources to support your writing.
    • Choose sources that are credible, relevant, and appropriate.
    • Cite each source listed on your source page at least one time within your assignment.
Part 2: Supporting Gantt Chart : PDF of your Gantt Chart and MPP file from MS Project 

Use Microsoft Project to create a Gantt chart identifying the major and minor tasks, illustrating dependency relationships between activities. Export as PDF and MPP file.