The Childrens Campaign

Website Clean-Up Project

Santiago Paz, Akash Sawh
LIS4910- IT Project
Section1, Spring 2014

Table of Contents
Project Charter .......................................................................................................................... 3

Goal Breakdown Schedule ..................................................................................................... 4

Scope of Work........................................................................................................................... 5

Communication Plan ................................................................................................................ 6

Work Breakdown Schedule (WBS) ........................................................................................ 7

Monitoring & Control Outline................................................................................................... 8

Risk Management Plan ........................................................................................................... 9

Progress/Project Schedule ................................................................................................... 11

Handoff Plan ............................................................................................................................ 13

Conclusion/Reflection ............................................................................................................ 14

Childrens Campaign Website Clean-Up Project Plan

Project Managers: Santiago Paz & Akash Sawh

Project Charter

The following project plan was developed and designed for the clean-up of the
Childrens Campaigns website, which is located at www.iamforkids.org. The Childrens
Campaign is a youth-advocacy organization, involved in the promotion and education of
childrens rights, freedom, and overall well-being. They work with various entities that
include but are not limited to the media, the local and state community, as well as with
lobbyists and stakeholders.
The organizations website was already in place when the project began,
however, it was full of content that was out of date, interfaces that werent user-friendly,
features that werent functional, content that was unorganized, and links that were
broken. The reason for cleaning-up the site is simple: its users were having trouble not
only navigating the website, but also finding the content and the information they
needed in a quick and efficient manner. Since the primary funding for Childrens
Campaign comes from donations from the public, it is critical that every aspect of the
website projects a professional image. Anything less than a fully functional, error-free
website would not promote the desired image the Campaign wishes to project and may
discourage the public from responding to requests for donations. The Childrens
Campaign director, Linda Alexionok, was extremely concerned about this issue and was
afraid that it was turning the sites visitors away from the organization. Undoubtedly, this
issue is very important to both, Linda and the organization, which makes its significance
to our project even bigger.
The project managers who will be completing this project are Santiago Paz and
Akash Sawh, students of LIS4910- IT Project class during the 2014 spring semester,
along with the help of the Childrens Campaign technology team. The project will be
done by first, getting the developers to become familiar with the organization and their
goals. This will help give the developers a better idea of how they must structure the
website, and of what type of features are needed for it. This will also give them a
chance to understand how the organization runs. The developers will then perform an
analysis of the website, making note of anything that needs to be modified or fixed. The
project team will also discuss their thoughts and observations with the organizations
director and with some of the staff so that they can get a better idea of what other
Childrens Campaigns employees expect from the site. Once this is completed, the
developers along with the rest of the web design team will meet and discuss their
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findings and will then come up with possible solutions. When the solutions are in place
the developers will begin to implement them. The project needs to be completed in an
efficient manner between February of 2014 and April of 2014. There is no specified due
date for the project, but there must be sufficient and satisfactory progress by the third
week of April.
One resource limitation is time, which is limited considering this project will only
last a couple of months. To a smaller degree, knowledge is also a resource limitation,
since both the project managers are students with very limited experience.

Goal Breakdown Schedule

Goal

Objective

Requirements

Assuring that the Childrens

Campaign site runs efficiently
and error-free

Providing users with a site

that is easy to navigate

Staff that has a good

understanding of web
development and usercentered design, as well
as team-communication

Organizing information and

content in a manner that is
logical and comprehensible

Assuring that the content

and information needed by
users is accessible to them

A strong knowledge of
information organization
techniques

Finding ways to better

manage the integrity of
website pages

Maintaining the
organizations reputation for
creating accurate and
professional information
products

Software and/or
processes to ensure the
integrity of the websites
content

Assisting the webmasters to

maintain the integrity and
relevance of the information
on the organizations website

Saving them time by taking

care of simpler tasks,
making the cleaning up
process quicker and less
stressful for the entire team

Developers who are

willing to learn and to
respond to the needs of
the organization and its
staff

Providing the organization

Attracting contributors and

A process that improves

with a professional web

presence

increasing the number of

donations

Aid the organization in

Informing the public on
completing its goals and tasks childrens issues to
through the use of the Internet encourage them to take
action

allows webmasters to
easily identify the need
for some modifications
and editing
A way of communicating
information in an
accessible manner that
appeals to the targeted
audience/users

Scope of Work
The purpose of Childrens Campaign Website Clean-Up project is to improve the look,
efficiency, and functionality of the organizations website (iamforkids.org). This project
will meet the Childrens Campaigns need for a modern and attractive web presence
that will bring in new members and more donations. The project was authorized by the
organizations director, Linda Alexionok, as well as the teams knowledge navigator,
Ron Lauver. This project will be completed by Santiago Paz and Akash Sawh, students
of LIS4910- IT Project class during the 2014 spring semester, along with the help of the
Childrens Campaign technology team.
Time: the project will start with preparations in February of 2014 and will conclude (at
least for the two project apprentices) in April of 2014. The apprentices will work on this
project on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3-5 PM, and on Fridays from 11AM-3PM.
Deliverables: The project will produce a cleaner website for the Childrens Campaign.
This website is intended to not only promote the organization and their causes, but to
also attract new members, donations, and to allow current members to easily and
efficiently navigate the site.
Exclusions: This project is not meant to promote any particular policies, political
ideologies or beliefs, or any causes that The Childrens Campaign organization is
associated or involved with.
Constraints: The project might be limited by any combination of the following:
knowledge of the technology team, the cost of equipment, lack of a work space, and/or
time.

Risk: Potential risks that may cause the project to be delayed or suspended include, but
are not limited to: hardware failure, software failure, illness or absence of staff
members, conflicting ideas/practices, insufficient time, loss of files/documents, and
destruction of the workplace or workplace equipment.
Assumptions: The organization will provide the technology team with clear and
concise details of what they want the team to accomplish. They will provide the
resources for editing, modifying, and creating the website and any of its components.
The demands that the organization makes will be reasonable, and will be achievable
within the allotted time. The technology team will all be prepared to work and will
communicate with each other and with the rest of the organization if they need to.

Communication Plan

What

Who

Purpose

When

Method

E-mail at
first, but
then a
face-toface
meeting
with the 3
people
Face-toface
meeting

Initial
meeting
with Linda,
director

Akash
To introduce the
Santiago team to the
,Linda
organization, their
goals, and needs;
to discuss how
team could
potentially help

Before project
begins
(Thursday, Feb
13, 2014)

Second
meeting
with Linda,
and also
Ron, the
project
teams
knowledge
navigator
Project
kick-off

Santiago
, Akash,
Linda,
Ron

To introduce the
team to Ron, who
they will work
with. To provide
the team with a
general idea of
what the project
will entail.

Before project
begins, after
the initial
meeting
(Thursday, Feb
20, 2014)

Santiago
, Akash,
Ron,
Antonio,
Nick

To get the new

team members
(Santiago and
Akash) situated
with the work
environment and
the development

The day the

project began
(Friday,
February 21,
2014)

Face-toface
meeting;
distributio
n of
usernam
es,

Interna
l/Exter
nal
Internal

Internal

Internal

Postproject
initiation
meeting

Weekly
meetings

Project
completion
meeting

tools. To
introduce the
project team to
the organizations
web development
staff.
Santiago To estimate the
, Akash, quantity of work
Ron
and to narrow
down the projects
main focus.

password
s,
network/s
erver
info, etc.
At beginning of
the project
(Tuesday,
March 3, 2014)

IT Team

To assure
everyone is on
the right track, to
discuss findings,
problems,
solutions, and to
assist one
another with any
potential issues
Santiago To discuss what
, Akash, the project team
Ron,
has accomplished
Linda
and any final
thought

Weekly and/or
when
necessary

Thursday, April
17, 2014

Meeting,
Q&A
between
Ron and
develope
rs
Face-toface, email
dependin
g on who
is in the
office

Internal

Face-toface

Internal

Work Breakdown Schedule (WBS)

1. Initiation
1.1 First meeting
1.1.1 Discuss the organization
1.1.2 Set up work schedule
1.2 Second Meeting
1.2.1 Meet knowledge navigator
1.2.2 Discuss project and goals
2. Planning/Preparation
2.1 Become familiar with work environment & productivity tools
2.1.1 Introduction of project team to the rest of the staff
2.1.2 Introduction of project team to the office/work environment
2.1.3 Set usernames and passwords for resources
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Internal

2.1.4 Make some few minor changes to the site

2.2 Defining how project relates to goal and expectations of professor, course
2.2.1 Discussion of what project team needs to deliver for their project plan
2.3 Documentation of flaws
2.3.1 Compile log of features that are broken or not functioning
2.3.2 Got feedback from users and staff
3. Execution
3.1 Analyze website for broken or non-functional features
3.1.1 Modify any flawed code/content if possible
3.2 Begin compiling log of broken links
3.2.1 Fix broken links
3.3 Begin compiling log of links to external sources
3.4 Add/update content provided to us by the users
3.5 Organize information in a way that makes it accessible and comprehensible
3.6 Editing the site to provide reliable site navigation
3.7 Making content on website more relevant
3.7.1 Using software/code that can assign expiration dates to post/pages

Monitoring & Control Outline

Areas That Requires

Control
Contact between project
team and technology staff
Keeping work safe
Securely sharing data and
documents
Documentation of findings &
solutions

Keeping track of time worked

Keeping track of tasks

How It Will Be Controlled

Weekly meetings as well as email/phone when necessary
Backing up all data and saving
constantly while working
Only using the companys
resources for sharing
Documenting any changes
made to website and to code.
Documenting solutions and
sharing them with rest of the
staff.
Writing down hours on project
schedule
Writing down tasks on the
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Responsible
All team members
All team members
All team members
All team member

Santiago, Akash
Santiago, Akash

completed and project

progress

WBS and on the project

schedule/progress

Risk Management Plan

Risk Description

Probability (Low,
Medium, High)

Hardware failure
(server is down,
computer breaks,
broken keyboard,
etc.)

Medium

Urgency ranking
(0=not urgent, 10
=urgent)
Varies

Software failure
(frozen program,
WordPress goes
down, Office suite
flaws, e-mail
program down,
etc.)
Absence of Ron,
knowledge
navigator

Medium

Varies

Medium

Lengthy
absence/illness of
one or both of the
project team staff
(Santiago, Akash)

Medium

Varies

Contingency Plan

Action taken will depend

on what fails. If it can be
fixed, it will be fixed, but
will likely take longer. If
there is the option to
substitute the
equipment for another
one (e.g. another
machine, screen,
keyboard, etc.), this
option should be taken.
As with hardware,
substitution/replacement
is the best option to fix
software failure.

If Ron is absent on any

given day, the project
staff will have to consult
with another one of the
directors or with the
webmasters.
If either or both
members are away from
the office for an
extensive period of time,
they will have to first, let
the directors/staff know.
They must then ask for
instructions on how to
continue working on the

Conflicting
ideas/practices

High

In-office time is
insufficient to
complete amount
of work

High

10

Loss of files

Low

Destruction of the
Low
workplace or
workplace
equipment (fire,
flood, hurricane,
freak accident, etc.)

10

10

project from home. They

must also constantly
update the rest of the
team on their progress.
There will be differences
in ideas. To resolve,
staff will have to
effectively communicate
and come to an
agreement with one
another.
If the project staff
cannot complete parts
of the project during the
allowed time in the
office, they will have to
work on it away from the
office.
If any documents or files
are lost, the person who
lost them must take
responsibility for it. They
will then do their best to
find it and if necessary,
replacing it. To avoid,
backups should be kept
and updated frequently.
In the case that the
place of work is
damaged to the point
that it is unusable
and/or inaccessible, the
project team will contact
the directors and follow
their instructions tor
possible relocation.
Working from home
might be necessary.
Suspension of project,
whether it is permanent
or temporary, might
occur in an extreme
case.

Progress/Project Schedule

Thursday, February 13, 2014 (3-5PM)

Met with Linda, discussed the organization, set up times to work with the
organization (Tuesday and Thursday from 3-5PM, Friday 11AM-3PM)

Thursday, February 20, 2014 (3-5PM)

Met with Linda, director, and Ron, our knowledge navigator. Discussed the
project with Ron, who would we will be working with. Also met Antonio,
webmaster, and Nick, web developer.
Project: Making the organizations websites functional and efficient so that users
can find content that is accurate and accessible.

Friday, February 21, 2014 (11AM-3PM)

Introduction of project team to the web development team and to the rest of the
staff, as well as to the work environment
Introduction of project team to the development environment
Have project team speak with some users and staff to get feedback

Tuesday, February 25-Friday, February 28 (Tuesday/Thursday 3-5PM, Friday 11AM3PM)

Began working on the Childrens Campaign website. Set up username and

passwords for server/website. Began fixing flaws such as broken links, irrelevant
content, out-of-date content, and mismatched boxes/fields.

Tuesday, March 3, 2014- Estimating quantity of work that needs to be put into the
project, narrowing down the projects scope (3-5 PM)

Met with Ron to discuss the project and to specify the focus of the project
We estimated that the project will take around 30 work days to complete (based
on our current schedule of T, TH, F), and around 90-120 hours. Plus we added 5
additional days as a safety net in case we need to do any extra work away from
the office.
Project scope: The Childrens Campaign and the Voices for Florida Girls
websites are currently running, however, a large portion of the content is out of
date, broken, or not functional. Our job will be to go through the sites, find any
faulty content and/or features and do our best to correct them or modify them.
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Throughout the whole process we will have to keep the users in minds. The
websites will have to be developed with their needs in minds, and they need to
be designed in a user-friendly way that allows users to navigate it, and find what
they need in an efficient manner.
Thursday, March 6, 2014 (3-5 PM)

Met with Ron to discuss documentation of broken links, external sources

Got some feedback from the users and staff
Began to compile a log of links that are broken or lead to the wrong resource.
This will serve as a way to document what needs to be changed so that they can
be fixed and crossed off.
Began a log of external sources, which will serve as a maintenance resource for
the future.

Friday March 7-Friday March 14, 2014 -> Spring Break (no work was done)
Tuesday, March 18, 2014 Thursday, March 19, 2014 (3-5 PM)

Analyzed the website for broken or non-functional features

Modified code to organize some of the content in a better way
Continued going through the site and making note of any features that need to be
fixed.
Began working on the logs of broken and external links

Friday, March 21, 2014-Friday, March 28, 2014 (11AM-3PM Fridays, Tuesday-Thursday
3-5PM)

Found a plug in that found broken links.

Used plug in to compile a list, a method faster than our previous one.
Added/updated content provided by the users
Organized information in an accessible and comprehensible manner
Edit interface of the site

Tuesday, April 1-Thursday April 3, 2014 (3-5PM)- Friday, April 4, 2014 (11AM-3PM)

New challenge: figuring out a way that post/pages on the website can be expire.
This will help maintain relevant content, while removing irrelevant or old content.
This will also save data and space on the organizations site
Found a solution: a WordPress plugin that can set expiration on a post/page, and
deleting it once the timer reaches the expiration date.

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Tuesday, April 8, 2014 (3-5PM)

Our last day of work with Childrens Campaign.

We had our sponsor evaluation signed as we met with Ron and Linda. They were
both very pleased with our work. We thanked them for the opportunity and for
their help.

Handoff Plan

As the project comes to an end it is important to establish a plan for any future work
done. This will also apply to a scenario in which the current project managers are
unable to perform their duties.
In order for the project to be successfully handed-off to another project manager, the
following must occur:

The Childrens Campaign and its directors must first approve of the new project
manager.
The new project manager must carefully review this project plan, as well as all
attached documents. He/she should have a clear understanding of the project,
goals, and deliverables.
The new project manager must follow the WBS and the project schedule, step by
step. Any modifications to tasks or to the schedule must be discussed with the
Childrens Campaign and their technology team.
If any new risks are identified, the new project manager must develop a
contingency plan and must make note of both in the risk management section.
The new project manager is in charge of consulting with the technology team to
obtain his/her own personal username and password for all of the web
resources.
Once the new project manager has begun working on the project, he/she will be
in charge of communicating with the rest of the team, and developing his/her own
communication plan.
Any changes made to the project or the project plan must be documented in the
plan and must be clear, concise, and realistic.Any questions or concerns the new
manager might have need to be addressed to Ron Lauver or Linda Alexionok.
The previous project managers, Santiago Paz and Akash Sawh, will also be
available for help via e-mail or phone. Their contact information can be obtained
from the offices staff directory

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Conclusion/Reflection
Our time at The Childrens Campaign was a straightforward and knowledgeable
experience. As IT apprentices, our main objective was to improve the functionality and
efficiency of the organizations website. Our team satisfied this requirement through
locating and correcting any anomalies found within the website. Some of these
corrections included broken links, images, URLs, and making design changes to the
website. For the most part we followed our initial plan with very little alterations and
straying from the original. The tasks that were requested of us were forthright and very
clear. We understood what our clients expected and delivered it to the best of our
abilities.
Our project was considered an overall success. Everybody that was involved with it was
satisfied with the final outcome. Our team received positive feedback for the hard work
and strong initiative we put into this project. We were able to develop a product that our
clients appreciated and were proud to associate their organization with.

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