7-1 Project Two Submission: Project Management

Project Management

Overview

In this course, you have already spent much of your time exploring vulnerabilities, and you have begun using project management tools to plan how to mitigate the risk from those vulnerabilities. Your work in this project will continue to build directly off of the scenario introduced in Project One, while allowing you the opportunity to look deeply at all aspects of this culminating experience. It is time to refine and finalize your project charter with the incorporation of a communication plan. This will help you draw more connections to your Gantt chart by seeing directly where the two align. There will also be time to revise your Gantt chart based on scope creep, something you will often need to contend with when working in the professional industry. Scope creep can arise from anything that increases the amount of work you have to complete during a project’s schedule. The communication plan included with a finalized project charter is essential for raising awareness and mobilizing a team to deal with the potential challenges associated with project management.

The project incorporates two milestones, which will be submitted in Module Four and Module Five. The project will be submitted in Module Seven.

In this assignment, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following competency:

• Demonstrate basic project management principles to effectively collaborate in cybersecurity-related activities, tasks, and projects

Scenario

The ACME Company administration is surprised by all the potential vulnerabilities and areas for improvement you were able to find in its network. They would like to immediately begin moving toward a multi-layered approach to security, which addresses the three risk domains of people, process, and technology, by building on the information you have already provided. Because of your knowledge of the network’s vulnerabilities and your prior experience as a project manager, the ACME Company hires you to create a comprehensive project management plan for addressing one vulnerability for each risk domain.

You are told that stakeholders would like this project to be completed in the next six months. The following table details the list of teams and individuals you will have as resources when completing the work.

Personnel	Role
Stakeholders	Provide funding for the project
Project manager (You!)	Responsible for coordinating the work between each different team, while also serving as the direct link to the stakeholders
Hardware engineers team lead	Prioritizes and coordinates the team’s work and operates as a member of the small development team as well
Software engineers team lead	Prioritizes and coordinates the team’s work and operates as a member of the small development team as well
Contractor	Possesses a specialized skill set hired from outside the organization, and is responsible for physical work and maintenance of the office space

Two months into the project, at a meeting with the stakeholders, you are told that a document conversion function will be added to the scope of the project. The stakeholders believe it is important for the integrity of company data that it be made available as PDF files when reports are generated. While the stakeholders view this as a simple process, which you and your teams will be able to tackle along with the existing project work, you know there will be more to take into consideration. You will need to contract someone with a specialized skill set, who understands document conversion, to operate as a database administrator and to inform the installation of the new software. If this resource is acquired, the work could likely be completed in parallel with other tasks, but you understand there will be challenges in incorporating this into your existing budget.

Prompt

Using your work and instructor feedback from Project One, you will develop a comprehensive project management plan to address vulnerabilities in the organization’s network. Select one of the vulnerabilities you already identified in Project One for each of the three risk domains (people, process, and technology). The plan you create will focus on implementing changes that will mitigate each of these vulnerabilities.

You have already completed two Project Two milestones earlier in this course. After revising your work, based on instructor feedback and the Project Two scenario, you will submit your updated work along with the two additional sections of this project (Communication Plan and Scope Creep). This will allow you to better understand both the individual components of project management and their interconnected nature.

Your submission will include a written project charter with a completed communication plan, a completed Gantt chart, and a written explanation of your plans for scope creep. You will be using the Project Two Communication Plan Template, which has been linked in the assignment in Module Seven of your course.

You must address the critical elements listed below. The codes shown in brackets indicate the competency to which each critical element is aligned.

1. Project Charter
   1. Create a mission statement to explain the project goal and scope of intended delivery.
   2. Discuss business needs, including scalability, that are met by completing the project.
   3. Assess potential business impacts of the project.
2. Communication Plan
   1. Determine goals for three to five necessary communications in the project.
   2. Determine the necessary parameters for each communication, including an effective method, effective frequency, appropriate owner (responsible party), and appropriate audience.
   3. Explain how each component of your communication plan will contribute to providing frequent, open, and transparent communication for your phases, milestones, and tasks in the project.
3. Gantt Chart
   1. Design a plan that effectively balances a timeline to mitigate one vulnerability for each of the three risk domains, while adhering to the overall scope necessitated by stakeholders.
   2. Create phases, tasks, and milestones that effectively divide the work and align to the project goal.
   3. Explain the best use of resources for each task.
4. Scope Creep
   1. Develop a detailed plan, using your Gantt chart, to adjust for scope creep in the project.
   2. Justify why your plan will effectively address the scope creep in the project.
   3. Assess the potential impact of budget on your multi-level approach to enterprise security.
   4. Discuss how you will communicate your new plan to stakeholders, in order to effectively manage the conflict introduced by the scope creep.

What to Submit

Your submission should be a total of 4 to 6 written pages in length and should also include a completed Gantt chart spreadsheet. Use double spacing, 12-point Times New Roman font, and one-inch margins. Any references should be cited according to APA style. Use a file name that includes the course code, the assignment title, and your name—for example, CYB_123_Assignment_Firstname_Lastname.docx.

Project Two Rubric

Criteria	Exemplary (100%)	Proficient (85%)	Needs Improvement (55%)	Not Evident (0%)	Value
Project Charter: Mission Statement	Meets “Proficient” criteria and addresses critical element in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative manner	Creates a mission statement to explain the project goal and scope of intended delivery	Addresses “Proficient” criteria, but there are gaps in clarity, logic, or detail	Does not address critical element, or response is irrelevant	7
Project Charter: Business Needs	Meets “Proficient” criteria and addresses critical element in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative manner	Discusses business needs, including scalability, that are met by completing the project	Addresses “Proficient” criteria, but there are gaps in clarity, logic, or detail	Does not address critical element, or response is irrelevant	7
Project Charter: Business Impacts	Meets “Proficient” criteria and addresses critical element in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative manner	Assesses potential business impacts of the project	Addresses “Proficient” criteria, but there are gaps in clarity, logic, or detail	Does not address critical element, or response is irrelevant	7
Communication Plan: Goals	Meets “Proficient” criteria and addresses critical element in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative manner	Determines goals for three to five necessary communications in the project	Addresses “Proficient” criteria, but there are gaps in clarity, logic, or detail	Does not address critical element, or response is irrelevant	7
Communication Plan: Necessary Parameters	Meets “Proficient” criteria and addresses critical element in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative manner	Determines the necessary parameters for each communication, including an effective method, effective frequency, appropriate owner (responsible party), and appropriate audience	Addresses “Proficient” criteria, but there are gaps in clarity, logic, or detail	Does not address critical element, or response is irrelevant	7
Communication Plan: Phases, Milestones, and Tasks	Meets “Proficient” criteria and addresses critical element in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative manner	Explains how each component of the communication plan will contribute to providing frequent, open, and transparent communication for the phases, milestones, and tasks in the project	Addresses “Proficient” criteria, but there are gaps in clarity, logic, or detail	Does not address critical element, or response is irrelevant	7
Gantt Chart: Risk Domains	Meets “Proficient” criteria and addresses critical element in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative manner	Designs a plan that effectively balances a timeline to mitigate one vulnerability for each of the three risk domains, while adhering to the overall scope necessitated by stakeholders	Addresses “Proficient” criteria, but there are gaps in clarity, logic, or detail	Does not address critical element, or response is irrelevant	7
Gantt Chart: Phases, Tasks, and Milestones	Meets “Proficient” criteria and addresses critical element in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative manner	Creates phases, tasks, and milestones that effectively divide the work and align to the project goal	Addresses “Proficient” criteria, but there are gaps in clarity, logic, or detail	Does not address critical element, or response is irrelevant	7
Gantt Chart: Resources	Meets “Proficient” criteria and addresses critical element in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative manner	Explains the best use of resources for each task	Addresses “Proficient” criteria, but there are gaps in clarity, logic, or detail	Does not address critical element, or response is irrelevant	7
Scope Creep: Plan	Meets “Proficient” criteria and addresses critical element in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative manner	Develops a detailed plan, using Gantt chart, to adjust for scope creep in the project	Addresses “Proficient” criteria, but there are gaps in clarity, logic, or detail	Does not address critical element, or response is irrelevant	8
Scope Creep: Address	Meets “Proficient” criteria and addresses critical element in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative manner	Justifies why the plan will effectively address the scope creep in the project	Addresses “Proficient” criteria, but there are gaps in clarity, logic, or detail	Does not address critical element, or response is irrelevant	8
Scope Creep: Budget	Meets “Proficient” criteria and addresses critical element in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative manner	Assesses the potential impact of budget on this multi-level approach to enterprise security	Addresses “Proficient” criteria, but there are gaps in clarity, logic, or detail	Does not address critical element, or response is irrelevant	8
Scope Creep: Communicate	Meets “Proficient” criteria and addresses critical element in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative manner	Discusses how to communicate the plan to stakeholders, in order to effectively manage the conflict introduced by the scope creep	Addresses “Proficient” criteria, but there are gaps in clarity, logic, or detail	Does not address critical element, or response is irrelevant	8
Articulation of Response	Submission is free of errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, and organization and is presented in a professional and easy-to-read format	Submission has no major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, or organization	Submission has some errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, or organization that negatively impact readability and articulation of main ideas	Submission has critical errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, or organization that prevent understanding of ideas	5
Total:					100%