ICT508 – ICT PM – S1: 2023 Assignment 1 – Information Sheet
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ICT508 – Information Technology Project Management
Assignment 1
Project Proposal and Preliminary Planning

BACKGROUND
You are a Project Manager working for EdMedia International Pty Ltd (EdMI). EdMI is a small to medium
enterprise that employs 36 people in various roles. Our company is based out of Perth in Western Australia,
but we have some staff located in Perth, Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. The staff operating in the cities
outside Perth are purely sales personnel. There is one of these salespeople operating in each of these capital
cities to service a relatively large customer base, which includes many primary and secondary schools in
those cities and some commercial organisations (e.g. we are supplying some specialised adult education).
Up to this point, we have not attempted to sell our services to the mass market (i.e. we have not attempted to
sell to individual subscribers and EdMI has only focussed on organisational clients like schools and
businesses).
Up to now, EdMI has been deploying our educational videos and educational games on DVD/Blue Ray. In
the past, our company held nearly 40% of the market share in Australia. However, EdMI’s considerable
market share has been eroding over the last few years and we now hold only about 27% of the available
market for schools and government organisations/businesses. We do, however, have an advantage. EdMI
still controls the primary rights to more than 60% of the available educational videos and games packages
available in Australia. However, this does not appear to be helping us to maintain our market share. The
erosion of our market share appears to be due to clients wanting to access their educational content more
flexibly. EdMI has, therefore, decided to investigate implementing a new media deployment solution, as a
part of a key business expansion. This project is known as ‘EduStream’, and the resulting system will have
the same name.
The proposal put to the EdMI Board involves creating a system, which utilises a similar architecture to the
one implemented by Netflix (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXQpgAAeLM4), and leveraging the
Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP) (https://www.techopedia.com/definition/4753/real-time-streamingprotocol-rtsp). The preliminary intent is to roll out a one-year Pilot Project that will establish the foundation
for the EduStream system, and then expand on this through following project phases. However, for the
moment, the focus will only be on the Pilot Project.
The EdMI Chief Information Officer (CIO) (Mr Ben Dover) is the delegated Project Sponsor, and he will be
reporting directly to the EdMI Chief Executive Officer (CEO) (Mrs Donna Jenner). You have been selected
as the Project Manager. This means that you are responsible to the CIO for implementing and overseeing
the Pilot Project from initiation to closure. If the Pilot Project is successful, the intent is that you would
then assume the role as Project Manager for the following phases.
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As a first step, you will need to deliver key project initiation and planning materials to the Board by
9:00 AM on Friday 31 Mar 2023. These materials must deliver clarity regarding the business case and
outline how the project can be implemented successfully (once it is approved). The deliverables for this
submission are outlined in the section beginning on Page 7 of this Assignment Information.
THE PROJECT
The objectives of the project
The aim of this project is to create a stable, effective and user-friendly streaming solution, which will allow
educational training videos and games to be deployed over the internet. For this Pilot Project, the Board has
decided to begin by deploying Content Delivery Network (CDN) nodes in Perth, Sydney and Melbourne.
The pilot sites should be delivered in the same order as discussed in the previous sentence.
In addition to the streaming systems, you will need to implement a range of other elements. A preliminary
technical architecture has been developed for this system. This architecture and some descriptions of key

this Assignment will, therefore, have to be detailed and convincing, or you may find yourself out of a
job.
 You are not an expert in video streaming technologies, and there is no expertise related to these
technologies within the company. Additionally, EdMI’s knowledge of establishing large scale webfront-ends and databases is minimal. Consequently, you will need to engage one or more experienced
contractor, who can coordinate/implement this solution under our control. This identification and
selection of contractors will be a high priority for your efforts. When conducting this selection
process, it is recommended that you implement a weighted analysis approach as a part of a Request for
Tender (RFT) preparation process. This weighted analysis approach will be discussed during the
Topic 2 Workshop.
 EdMI is not a dedicated technology company. Consequently, setting up ‘green-fields’ (all new) data
centres and systems is beyond our core business. For this reason, outsourcing will be important.
Consequently, you will need to identify appropriate Data Centres in each of the pilot cities, and a Call
Centre that you can use to provide support. You may also want to think about aspects such as leasing
of equipment to help minimise up-front costs.
 At the end of the project, we will need to ensure that EdMI can maintain and manage the EduStream
system that is created. This may mean that we need to bring skills and Intellectual Property (IP) into
the company or set up reliable relationships with other organisations, who can do this for us.
Key Milestones
You will need to achieve the following key milestones, to meet the Board’s defined requirements. Please
note that these only reflect some of the pertinent high-level objectives. You will need to work out other key
milestones involved in this approach. The subordinate milestones that you select must allow the following
to be achieved.

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Your Team
Apart from you as the Project Manager, the Board has indicated that you will have access to the following
people, so they can give the advice needed to prepare the project documentation (that needs to be delivered
to the Board). These people/organisations will then be engaged as necessary to support the project.

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Preliminary Cost/Revenue Information
A preliminary analysis has indicated that the following costs and revenues are likely to accrue from the
implementation of the Pilot Project. These are Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) figures only, but they
should provide a useful starting position for the analysis.

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Assumptions
The following base assumptions need to be taken into account when analysing the preceding ROM
cost/revenue figures and the associated project aspects:
 These figures do not take into account the discount effects related to inflation and the cost of capital.
 The inflation rate is expected to remain at about 1.8% per annum for the next four years.
 This project will be funded through debt (a loan from EdMI’s Bank). There will be no establishment
costs (as this will be an extension of existing funding agreements), and the bank has offered a fixed
loan rate of 3.8% per annum.
 Year 0 commences at the Project Start Date. Following years are consecutive.
 The ROM expenditures take into account expected personnel (development, maintenance, Service
Desk, management, etc.), equipment (hardware and Data Centres), software (products, licenses, etc.),
services (network communications, maintenance, etc.), and indirect costs (e.g. applicable ancillaries),
which will be required to conduct the project and then maintain/pay for the pilot sites and services
with no further expansion.
 Revenues in Year 0 relate to the sign-up of clients on the Beta program, and for engagement of clients
after Acceptance Tests (AT) have been completed for each Pilot.
 Revenues from Year 1 are based on transitioning many of the existing customers onto the new
EduStream plan. This will be additional revenue, as the clients had already paid an up-front fee for
use of the existing software and videos. However, to entice them to upgrade, the EduStream product
will have to deliver real benefits to the clients (e.g. they are not just going to be paying a monthly fee
to get access to the materials they already possess). The Marketing team has also indicated that they
believe that they can deliver some expansion in the customer base, and conservative estimates have
already been included in the ROM figures. Most importantly, the Marketing Manager has said that
there is also considerable scope for expansion from these figures as the company transitions from its
traditional media deployment methods (i.e. revenues may be larger but be aware that this could also
impact on demand and the system design).
 In terms of revenues, it is intended that individual users would pay a flat monthly fee, which would be
kept small to entice them to join the system (e.g. going for mass-market sales). Institutions, such as
schools would be charged a monthly rate, based on student numbers/utilisation (this would make seat
prices lower because they are working on higher license volumes).
ADDITIONAL VIEWING/READING
As you are not an expert in streaming technologies, it is highly recommended that you do some preliminary
research into this technology. Consequently, in addition to reviewing the URLs listed on Page 1, please use
the internet to do some background reading/viewing, so you can understand key aspects of the design and
technology. In particular, you might want to begin by viewing these videos:
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUHF-UWGoVU – This gives some basic information on video
streaming and RTSP;
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgKaKWomh-A – This provides some more detailed information
on RTSP;
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ll68ndJZW4g – This one also gives some more detailed
information on RTSP if you want to get into the detail;
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8k4foAsWVE – This video provides another way of
understanding RTSP;
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeJzoqtuf-o – This video gives a simplified overview of video
streaming (Although it discusses the issues in relation to the Real Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP)
the concepts are similar for RTSP); and
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fawcboio6g4 – This video provides some basic information on
video compression and codecs (and in particular H.265), which can give you some useful background
information.
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There are plenty more of these types of video and there is also lots of pertinent information available
through various web pages. You will not need to know everything about the protocols and systems, but it
will be important for you to have a reasonable understanding of the technology, so you can manage the
project effectively (this is a very real-world issue). Additionally, you will need this type of knowledge to
fill in the material needed in the Definitions and Acronyms section within the Project Charter.
WHAT YOUR PROPOSAL MUST CONTAIN
By the delivery deadline listed on Page 1, you must provide the following proposal information:
 Project Charter. The Project Charter must be included. Use the template provided in the LMS.
Advice on the content to be included in this document is supplied in this template.
 Project Assessment Workbook. This Excel workbook is available in the LMS and contains two key
worksheets. Advice on filling these in will be covered during the Topic 2 Workshop. These
worksheets are:
 NPV-IRR-Payback. Use this worksheet to develop the discounted cost/revenue information,
NPV, IRR, and break-even calculation information that is required for the Project Charter. This
is not an assessable element of the workbook, as you will get the marks for the answer in the
Project Charter.
 Contractor Selection. Use the Weighted Analysis worksheet to develop the weightings for more
than 30 issues that you would want to take into account within your RFT. This is an assessable
element of the workbook.
 Project Management Plan. Complete the required parts of the Project Management Plan (PMP) by
using the template provided in the LMS. Advice on the content to be included in this part of your
response is supplied in this template.
 Work Breakdown Structure. Insert the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) that you have developed
in MS Project. This must be provided with a work package and deliverable focus and go down to a
minimum of four levels.
Once you have completed these files, each of them must be uploaded to the LMS. To help ensure that your
work doesn’t get mixed up, use file names which follow this convention: Unit Code-Assignment Numberthe first three characters of your last name, your first initial, your Student Number-the file identifier. For
instance, files uploaded by student Jun Chong with a student number of 12345678 would be named as
follows:
 Project Charter. ICT508-1-ChoJ12345678-PC.docx
 Project Financial Analysis & Subcontractor Selection. ICT508-1-ChoJ12345678-Analysis.xlsx
 Project Management Plan. ICT508-1-ChoJ12345678-PMP.docx
 Work Breakdown Structure. ICT508-1-ChoJ12345678-WBS.mpp
FOR MORE INFORMATION
The lecturer will be available to answer questions on behalf of the experts listed earlier in the document.
You can ask such questions during the Workshop you will be attending, or you can send an email to your
lecturer. The lecturer will get back to you with an answer as soon as it is practicable. Please note, that it is
recommended you get your questions in early. If you ask questions late in the assignment development
cycle, you may not get the answer in time.
Please also be aware that additional information will be provided, in line with the topics being covered each
week.
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ASSIGNMENT MARKING
The assignment will be reviewed as though it was a document forwarded to the Board. Consequently, you
will need to ensure that your materials reflect a high professional standard (Remember – in the real world,
your job can depend on this). The marks allocated for the Assignment will be allotted in terms of the
percentages shown in the following table.

The second column in this table shows the total percentage of the allotted marks for each required
document. You will note that these add up to 100%. Use this as a guide for allocating the amount of time
and effort that you allocate to each assignment deliverable. Within this allocation, the marks will be
assigned in terms of the following:
 Content. The largest part of the score allocated to each document relates to the content that is
provided. As a general rule, if your response covers all of the aspects explicitly provided in the
documentation and Workshop discussions, you will get a score that equates to 60% of the maximum
content mark. If you have not included pertinent information in your solutions, you will get a lower
mark. Higher marks will be allocated where it is clear that you have gone beyond the information
provided and thought about the real-world implications when developing your content.
 Clarity and Logic. In this real-world scenario, you are writing the documents to go to a Board. These
people are not technologists and want to understand the logic through your clear communication of the
issues. Therefore, you will need to deliver the documents in a manner that is logical, readily
understandable and well written. Where you write the documents well and make it easy for the Board
to understand, additional marks will be allocated. These will equate to a maximum, as shown in the
right-hand column of the preceding table.
Academic Integrity
As always, students are reminded of their responsibilities as regards academic integrity. Therefore, as
specified in http://our.murdoch.edu.au/Educational-technologies/Academic-integrity/ :
‘Academic integrity is an adherence to five fundamental values: honesty, trust, fairness, respect and
responsibility in all work. Academic integrity is fundamental to the operation of all scholarship,
whether it be original research or undergraduate assignments. It ensures that proper credit is given to
those who do the work and that their intellectual contribution is acknowledged. It ensures that proper
evaluation and feedback of performance can be given, and it buttresses the worth and reputation of
academic awards on the basis they have been honestly earned. Murdoch University regards academic
integrity as a fundamental value of student learning. It requires all students enrolled in the University
to adhere to academic integrity in fulfilling each assessment task.
The University regards most seriously any acts of dishonesty relating to assessment of University
courses and research. This includes plagiarism, unauthorised collaboration, examination misconduct,
theft of other students’ work and misconduct in research. Acting unfairly or dishonestly in assessment
is defined as misconduct under University statute.
ICT508 – ICT PM – S1: 2023 Assignment 1 – Information Sheet
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Depending on the seriousness of the case, dishonesty in assessment can lead to a requirement to
undertake additional work, failure in a unit or in a part of it, suspension from the University or even
permanent expulsion from the University. The University regards any form of cheating as a serious
matter of academic dishonesty that threatens the integrity of the assessment processes and awards of
the University, to the detriment of all other students and graduates of the University.
Plagiarism constitutes using the work of another without indicating by referencing (and by quotation
marks when exact phrases or passages are borrowed) that the ideas expressed are not one’s own.
Students can use the ideas and information from other authors, but this use must be acknowledged. It
is also not acceptable to submit an assignment that is simply a paraphrasing of extracts from other
authors: the work submitted must include some intellectual contribution of the student’s own. The
Foundation and Transition units, in particular, assist students in identifying what is considered
plagiarism at Murdoch University.
Re-submission of previously marked work — the submission of the same or substantially the same
piece of work for assessment in two different units by the student author — is not acceptable
practice.
Unauthorised collaboration (‘collusion’) constitutes joint effort between students, or students and
others, in preparing material submitted for assessment, except where this has been approved by the
Unit Coordinator. Students are encouraged to discuss matters covered in units, but when writing an
assignment, computer program, laboratory report or other piece of assessed work, the recording and
treatment of data and the expression of ideas and argument must be the student’s own.
Dishonesty in assessment applies to work in any medium (for example, written or audio text, film
production, computer programs, etc.)’
Any suspected breaches of academic integrity rules will be referred immediately for investigation.