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Final Project: From Methodology to Execution

Digital Project Management

Step 1) Study the Scenario

Overview
You are a project manager for Yosemite, an eCommerce company that integrates brick-and-mortar stores
onto its platform for a fee. It’s the third Tuesday in September; you have been assigned to work with The
Stefano Shop, a family-run business that had been a local success but was struggling to stay open. The
primary business goal is to digitize the store’s operations and sales and complete this project a week before
Christmas in the U.S.

Integrating The Stefano Shop onto Yosemite means building the following features: a storefront on the
platform, a social media integration, and a recommendation engine. The Stefano family, which consists of
Papa Stefano, Mama Stefano, and Junior Stefano, will also require the training and knowledge to operate
their digital store once it has been developed.

At Yosemite, you have access to the Engineering, Vendor Management, and Marketing teams. The
Engineering team will need up-to-date information on the store’s inventory from the customer. The Vendor
Managers can onboard and train whoever will manage the storefront on Yosemite’s platform. The Marketing
team can set up the social media channels but will have to hand off the account’s ongoing management to
someone at the Stefano’s.

Project Budget
The Yosemite storefront, training, and documentation can be delivered for $15,000 - a tight budget for the
Stefano's. So Papa Stefano asked that you include a cost-benefit analysis in the project scope to reassure
him this is a good investment.

For the cost-benefit analysis, your research shows:

● The Stefano Shop’s current annual revenue is $120,000
● The eCommerce industry discount rate is 7%
● Yosemite promises a 30% increase in revenue ($36,000)
● And the cost of this project will be $15,000 upfront

Getting the Job Done

The Engineering team has to deliver three main features: the storefront, social media integration, and a
recommendation engine. Each of those features can be completed in a two-week sprint. The tasks involved
in each sprint are design, build, test, and release. You, as the project manager, can recommend building out

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all features before the store goes live on Yosemite. Or you can recommend releasing a minimum viable
product—a live storefront—then later adding the other features: the social media integration and a
recommendation engine.

The Vendor Managers, as part of the storefront deliverable, have the task of inputting all inventory data.
That task would take a week and is dependent on the Engineering team completing the first deliverable.
Then the Vendor Managers will spend a week onboarding and training the Stefano’s on how to use the
Yosemite platform. This task should occur before the store goes live. During or after the recommendation
engine deliverable is released, the Vendor Managers will have to create a custom sales report that is
automatically sent to the Stefano’s with results on how the recommendation engine impacts sales. It takes a
week to set up the automated report.

The Marketing team is tasked with creating the social media channels and handing off its ownership to
Stefano's, which takes a week. But this task must occur before Engineering’s second feature: social media
integration.

The Cast of Characters

● Papa Stefano - store co-founder; Papa Stefano has a strong presence in the family business but
listens to Mama Stefano while making a business decision. He manages the floor and is averse to
new technology. While he understands it’s time to modernize the shopping experience and would
like to gain new customers, he’s wary of going over budget.
● Mama Stefano - store co-founder and certified accountant; she keeps spreadsheets to track
inventory and has convinced Papa to work with Yosemite. Her primary focus is on back-end
administrative tasks of the business. Mama is more concerned about getting the store ready in time
for Christmas shoppers.
● Junior Stefano - The Stefano daughter is a student and is still learning the family business. She
hopes to take over the family business one day; Junior creates social media posts on her own
accounts for the store. She sees value in taking full advantage of Yosemite’s services.
● Moe - the Yosemite Vendor Manager tends to be enthusiastic about upselling customers with
additional services; not mindful of budget. Moe primarily focuses on promoting and coordinating
Yosemite's services, which constitutes a part of the overall project. Additionally, this project is one of
many he works on.
● Aliyah - the Yosemite Engineering Lead is experienced and skilled. She prefers to work in Agile
sprints but understands that not all customers can keep up with that pace. Her expertise in
developing and implementing technical solutions enables her to guide the project's timeline and
execution strategy, making her vital in determining the project's overall direction and progress.
● Taylor - the Yosemite Marketing Manager tends to take on too many assignments and can delay
getting tasks completed. Taylor often needs to be informed of their assignments ahead of time. His
role and contributions are limited to providing support for the implementation of marketing plans
for this project.
● Lou - the Yosemite Small Business Program Manager oversees all accounts that fall under the Small
Business category; You report directly to Lou. Lou only keeps a high-level overview of this project and
its progress. He wants to showcase your project to the entire company if all goes well and
expect regular communication, especially when things go wrong.

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Step 2) Write a Project Scope

The project scope consists of the following sections: business objectives and project value, deliverables and
milestones, a timeline, resources, costs, and a proposed methodology. Use the above scenario to identify
the information relevant to the project scope.

In three to four sentences, The main objective is to ensure that the Stefano shop doesn’t go out of
describe the business objectives business. vie increase revenue and reduce costs through digitize the
for Yosemite and for the store’s operations and sales.
customer, The Stefano Shop.

List project milestones and Are milestones including a storefront on the platform for the Stefano
deliverables. Shop, creating a social media integration for the Stefano Shop, and
creating a recommendation engine for the Stefano Shop.

What resources as the project the available resources include: The Engineering team, The Vendor
manager do you have to complete Managers, And the Marketing teams.
the project? Project budget: The project budget is $15,000.

Do the Cost-Benefit Analysis. Write Future benefits = $36000

out the formula, show the steps to The upfront cost of the project is $15,000.
get the cost-benefit ratio, and PFB 36000
Cost-Benefit Ratio = = =2.4
state whether the investment is present project cost 15000
positive or negative. The investment is positive since the cost benefits Ratio is higher than 1

What are the minimum and the The minimum: 7 weeks

maximum number of weeks The maximum: 9 weeks
required to complete the project?

What methodology do you The selected methodology would be Agile in order to get feed back from
propose to use for organizing the Stefano’s family on the deliverable. In addition, deliverable will provide
project: Waterfall or Agile? Explain ever two weeks for feedback.
your answer.

What kind of meetings will you We would have 4 types of meetings with the stakeholders which include:
have with stakeholders and how  Sprint planning
often? Explain your answer based  Daily stand-up meeting
on the project methodology you  Sprint review
have chosen.  Sprint retrospective

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Step 3) Identify Your Stakeholders and Team

Classify the influence level and amount of authoritative power of each stakeholder as either high or low.
Then accordingly, explain how you plan to engage this stakeholder and how they might affect the project in
a negative or positive way. Your assumptions should, at a minimum, reference the profiles in The Cast of
Characters section in Step 1.

Power-Influence Classification Grid

Estimated Project Estimated Project

Stakeholder Influence Importance Assumptions and Risks
(“High” or “Low”) (“High” or “Low”)

Aliyah, Engineering High High Assumptions: Her decision is

Manager important for project's
overall direction and
progress.

Papa Stefano High High Risk: His decision can be

easily influenced by Mama
Stefan

Mama Stefano High High Risk: Has the power to

influence Papa Stefano

Junior Stefano Low Low Risk: still under the process

of learning.

Moe, Vendor Manager Low Low Not fully aware of the

budget of the project.

Taylor, the Marketing Low Low May cause a delay to the

Manager project vie overloading
himself.

Lou, the Program High High Expecting a regular

Manager communication especially
when things go wrong

Me, the Project High High New to field of project

Manager management

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Create a RACI chart for the project. It will break down the deliverables from the project scope into tasks, but
you will have to show who should be responsible, accountable, consulted, and informed for each row.

RACI Chart
Hint: The Accountable (A) and Responsible (R) stakeholders are the same person for
all tasks, except “Engage stakeholders”

Stakeholders

Lou, Taylor, Aliyah,

Tasks Me, Project Moe, Vendor
Program Marketing Engineering
Manager Manager
Manager Manager Manager

Build storefront I I I I R, A

Input Inventory Data I I I I R, A

Build social media C I I I R, A

integration

Train Stefano’s on C I I R, A I
platform

Create social media C C R, A C C

channels

Train Stefano’s on I I C R, A I
social media use

Build C I I I R, A
recommendation
engine

Create Automated I I I R, A I
Sales Report

Engage stakeholders R, A C, I C, I C, I C, I

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Step 4) Create a Project Plan

In this step, you will reference the project scope, stakeholder analysis, and RACI chart to create a project
plan for the proposed methodology.

Build a model of your plan for managing the Yosemite project. It should be a snapshot in the planning
phase of the project. You can use the dates in your current year when creating the project plan.

Display this model in one of the two frameworks, a Gantt chart for Waterfall or a Scrum board for Agile.
After you pick one model, be sure to include the information outlined in your project scope, stakeholder
analysis, and RACI chart:

● Deliverables
● Tasks
● Assignments
● Schedule and order of tasks

Additional Instructions for a Waterfall Project Plan

If you choose a Waterfall project plan in Step 2, you should include tasks related to stakeholder
engagement, team management, and closure activities. Assume that each additional task can take 1-3 days
to complete, so it will affect your schedule. The additional tasks are

● A kickoff meeting,
● Scheduled status reports, and
● Documenting knowledge.

Create a Gantt chart for your project by filling in the Gantt Chart Template provided in the classroom. Export
or save the spreadsheet as a .xls or .xlsx file. Add this spreadsheet to your project submission folder.

Additional Instructions for an Agile Project Plan

If you choose an Agile project plan in Step 2, you should

Create a new Scrum board on Trello and make it public.

● To make your board public, click on Private > Change Visibility: Public > “Yes, make board go public”.
● To grab the public URL, go to Show Menu > …More > Link to This Board.

Paste the URL here:

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[TODO: Add your link here]

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Step 5) Analyze Risk and Select Response Strategy

Risk Scenario 1
The Stefano Shop project relies on the customer providing Yosemite with information on all products in its
inventory. The Vendor Manager has reported that the Stefano's have not delivered that information when
requested due to their analog way of handling inventory. They promised to deliver the inventory
information in a few more days.

How might this risk affect the [TODO: Type your answer here]
project?

Which of these Risk Response [TODO: Type your answer here]

Strategies would you have chosen
if you had anticipated the risk
prior to initiating the project:
Avoid, Mitigate, Transfer, Actively
Accept, Passively Accept, Escalate.
Explain how you would apply the
strategy.

Risk Scenario 2
When the Engineering team began designing the recommendation engine—a feature that takes up 20% of
the current budget—they informed you that the task was more complicated than anticipated. The
Engineering Manager said it would take a total of four weeks and cost an additional $3,500 to upgrade the
AI service that powers the recommendation engine. That fee would have to be covered by the customer. Or
the recommendation engine feature could be dropped from the project.

How might this risk affect the [TODO: Type your answer here]
project?

Which of these Risk Response [TODO: Type your answer here]

Strategies would you apply to the
above risk: Avoid, Mitigate,
Transfer, Actively Accept, Passively
Accept, Escalate. Explain how you
would apply the strategy.

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Step 6) Plan Knowledge Share and Report Project Status

Knowledge Documentation
Throughout the project and before its closure, you asked the team to create documentation for the
company Yosemite and the customers, the Stefano’s. In your project plan, what documentation tasks did
you include? List below what documentation tasks you came up with, who you assigned them to, how you
scheduled them, and why it is important to document this task. Add more rows to the table if you see fit.
Add these tasks to your project plan if you haven't already done so.

Deadline/Place in Reason for Documenting

Task Assignee
Timeline This Task

[TODO: Type [TODO: Type your [TODO: Type your answer [TODO: Type your answer here]
your answer answer here] here]
here]

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Status Report
In the Monitor and Control phase of project management, it is your responsibility to track how well the
project is going and report to stakeholders the project status.

Where in your project timeline did [TODO: Type your answer here]
you schedule or add the task for
creating and sending a status
report?

How do you plan to communicate [TODO: Type your answer here]

the report to stakeholders, and
how often?

Create two status reports using the Status Report Template provided in the classroom based on the risks
described in Step 5.
1. The first status report should be created on the day you discovered the Stefano’s did not deliver the
inventory information to the Vendor Manager on time.
2. The second status report should be created in the middle of the Engineering team building the
recommendation engine. That is when you were informed by the Engineering Manager that the
project would be more time-consuming and costly.

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Project Status Report #1

PROJECT TITLE: __________________________ COMPANY NAME: _________________________

PROJECT MANAGER: _____________________ DATE: ______________________________________

PROJECT SUMMARY

Write a summary of the project scope in two to three sentences.

PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS/BLOCKERS
Highlights:
● Write the positive things that have happened up to this point in the project, such as main
deliverables completed.

Blockers:
● Write any challenge or risk that could or is delaying future tasks from being completed.

PROJECT HEALTH CHECK

Scope Status Tasks: Completed/Pending

Time On Track Completed:
At Risk ● List tasks that have been completed thus far.
Behind
Pending:
Cost On Track ● List tasks that are still pending / not completed.
At Risk
Over

Quality On Track
At Risk
Under

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Project Status Report #2

PROJECT TITLE: __________________________ COMPANY NAME: _________________________

PROJECT MANAGER: _____________________ DATE: ______________________________________

PROJECT SUMMARY

Write a summary of the project scope in two to three sentences.

PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS/BLOCKERS
Highlights:
● Write the positive things that have happened up to this point in the project, such as main
deliverables completed.

Blockers:
● Write any challenge or risk that could or is delaying future tasks from being completed.

PROJECT HEALTH CHECK

Scope Status Tasks: Completed/Pending

Time On Track Completed:
At Risk ● List tasks that have been completed thus far.
Behind
Pending:
Cost On Track ● List tasks that are still pending / not completed.
At Risk
Over

Quality On Track
At Risk
Under

© 2021 Udacity, Inc.