Project Deliverable 1 – Project Plan Inception

Due Week 2 and worth 120 points

This assignment consists of two (2) sections: a project introduction and a project plan. You must submit both sections as separate files for the completion of this assignment. Label each file name according to the section of the assignment it is written for. Additionally, you may create and / or assume all necessary assumptions needed for the completion of this assignment.

You are currently the Chief Information Officer (CIO) for an innovative Internet-based company with gross revenues of more than $35 million dollars per year. During an executive leadership meeting, you were told that your company will be merging with a multinational company of equal size and you will be responsible for developing a project plan to strategically integrate all systems, including databases and infrastructure. The Chief Executive Officer has given you sixty (60) days to deliver an information technology project plan in anticipation of the company merger. Your company will be expanding from one (1) floor to three (3) floors within six (6) months. Since this merger will be bringing two (2) fairly equal-sized companies together under one roof, the infrastructure must be redesigned to accommodate the increased needs. Your company currently uses operational systems and relational databases but desires to expand into data warehousing. All information technology (hardware and software) must be redesigned to meet organizational needs. The solution should be implemented in either a hosted solution, on-site solution, or a hybrid model. The CEO is expecting you to integrate different technologies from different solution providers and incorporate industry best practices in connection with the development of technological systems. In addition, the CEO is extremely interested in cloud technologies and virtualization but is leery of security issues; however, the CEO is sure that you will implement proper security protocols. The company currently consists of twenty five (25) employees but is expected to increase to sixty five (65) employees when the merger is complete.

Write a four  to six (4-6) page project introduction that documents the current state of the organization prior to any development or enhancements, takes into account all the information given above, and includes the following:

1. Background information of the company.
2. Details regarding the type of business activities that the company is involved in.
3. Speculation on outsourcing and offshoring opportunities.
4. A description of the current information systems that the company has to support the business. The description should include an overview of the following: operational systems, databases, and data warehousing; cloud technology and virtualization; and  network infrastructure and security.
5. The use of at least two (2) quality resources in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia and similar Websites do not qualify as quality resources.

Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:

• Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
• Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length.

Use Microsoft Project to create a project plan (summary and detailed) template. The project plan should:

1. Record all tasks, subtasks, resources, and time related to the project.
2. Outline the planning, analysis, design, and implementation phases.
3. Develop in accordance with the SDLC.

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:

• Describe the integrative functions and activities within the information systems area, including the role of the CIO and technologies managed within the organization.
• Use technology and information resources to research issues in information systems.
• Write clearly and concisely about leadership issues and strategic insight of the Information systems domain using proper writing mechanics and technical style conventions.

Grading for this assignment will be based on answer quality, logic / organization of the paper, and language and writing skills.