Project Title: Coding Performance Improvement Project

Date: October 5, 2004                                  Prepared by: Wu Kim Har, Project Manager, (06) 253-2465

                                                                    wu.kim.har@globalcomputers.com         

 Project Justification: Mary, the CIO of Global Computers, Inc. has proposed this project as it is aimed at helping the company meet its business goals. Every year, the company is spending hundreds and millions of dollars to compromise for the computing power of their supercomputers as well as mainframes. The number of supercomputers and mainframes that are currently present in the company’s Information Technology (IT) Department are just too many. Contrary to that, the supercomputers and mainframes are not performing as expected. The main reason for this as Mary believes is that the programs are not coded for efficiency, and hence no matter how many supercomputer or mainframes are purchased annually, the computing power is not likely going to give any major difference. Thus, with the implementation of this project, all former codes will be given a thorough review by at least two programmers and any flaws or corrections will be discussed with the rest of the team through a Code Review session. The new codes will be coded and tested for optimality as well as efficiency within the given time frame of six months. The newly implemented codes will help reduce costs tremendously that is otherwise being spent on unnecessary computing power. The implementation of the new codes will also see to the dramatic increase in processor performance, making programs more efficient. Apart from that, the number of supercomputers and mainframes will also be reduced to maximize profit. The budget for this Coding Performance Improvement project has been approximated at $300,000.00. However, should the project go beyond the set budget, the top management will review first before deciding whether to continue with the project or to stop it. It is crucial to know that the completed project will be able to yield benefits within the first year after it has been implemented. 

 Product Characteristics and Requirements: 

1.      The program efficiency must improve by 100%.

2.      The processor utilization must increase to 99%.

3.      Annual costs on computing power for supercomputers and mainframes must be reduced by 75%.

4.      The number of supercomputers and mainframes will be reduced by 60% after the 

      implementation of the new codes.

5.      The new codes must be implemented within 6 months of the project execution. 

Summary of Project Deliverables 

Project management-related deliverables: business case, charter, team contract, scope statement, WBS, schedule, cost baseline, status reports, final project presentation, final project report, lessons-learned report, and any other documents required to manage the project.

Product-related deliverables: research reports, design documents, software code, hardware, etc.

1.   Survey: Survey programmers on current codes to determine where the problem lies.

2. Code Review Session: The code review session must be held at the minimum once a week to discuss  

    and bring up any issues concerning the previous codes. Suggestions from team members will generate   

    more ideas on how to go about improvising the previous code whilst not totally coding the new program

    from scratch. 

3.  Example application of codes: Document the success of several companies that have managed to 

    implement codes meant to improve program efficiency.

4. Test plan: The test plan will document how the codes will be tested, who will do the testing and how the

     bugs will be reported. As this is the vital phase of the project, intense testing of the codes must be done

     to rectify previously over-looked problems.

5. Execution: The codes will be implemented phase by phase. This approach will be used so that in case of 

    a code failure, the entire system or program is not affected. Also, this approach will ensure the smooth 

    operation of the company without causing any delays.

6. Maintenance: From time to time, the codes will be reviewed to determine if there exists a newer way of

    coding such that the performance can yet be maximized.

 Project Success Criteria: Our goal is to complete this project within 6 months with the given budget of $300,000.00. The primary sponsor of this project, Mary, has stressed on the importance of succeeding in this project. This is in light with the company’s objective of minimizing costs and maximizing profits. To achieve a financial break-through, a thorough review must be done to the previous codes to determine the root of the problem. At the same time, we must develop another method of utilizing the computing power efficiently while new codes are being developed and tested.