ckc mycca project plan

Copyright 2007-2012 MyCCA.net 1

MyCCA College Knowledge Competition Project Management Plan November 16, 2012


The Project Management Plan defines the project methodology, approach and schedule that the MyCCA team will follow to develop

and deliver the CollegeEase Mobile application by September 2013.

Project Management Plan


Initial Project Plan Outline

• Key roles •  Product sponsor: College Knowledge Competition Redpoint project

manager •  Product owner: Cyndy McDonald, MyCCA CEO •  Project manager/scrum master: Jo-Ann Beserra, MyCCA COO •  Technology lead: Ron Krubeck, MyCCA CTO •  Lead developer: Matt Townsen, MyCCA

• Key dates •  Award: January 23, 2013 •  Development start date: February 4, 2013 •  Launch date: September 25, 2013


Web & Mobile App Development • CollegeEase mobile app development will be concurrent

with the MyCCA.net web app development •  Web app major release on June 30, 2013

•  Superset of mobile app features, except the social component •  Shared development, test and production environments

• Experienced MyCCA development resources •  Share resources to leverage current web app development

knowledge and experience •  Additional mobile development resources will be added

•  Large pool of developers in Boulder

•  Follow Agile development methodology •  Frequent iterative software releases


CollegeEase Web Application The MyCCA.net CollegeEase application is built using widely available, commercial technologies based upon the Microsoft technology stack. •  Client side: HTML 4.x, CSS 2.x, JavaScript, jQuery and jQuery

plugins •  Server side: ASP.NET/MVC 4 using the Razor View Engine,

Language Integrated Query (LinQ) and SQL Server 2012 CollegeEase is developed using Visual Studio and ultimately deployed to an IIS 7.x website running on a Windows Server 2008 R2 platform. The resulting web application will then run on all popular browsers but are specifically supported on the following: Windows Internet Explorer (v9, 8, 7), Firefox (v3, 2), Chrome (v10, 9) and Safari (v3, 2).


CollegeEase Mobile Application CollegeEase Mobile will be built using the Appcelerator Titanium cross-platform development environment. Appcelerator allows MyCCA to efficiently produce mobile applications for all major platforms in the most cost effective way. Specifically, Appcelerator allows the MyCCA development team to code in a single language (JavaScript) against a single API for virtually all common device functions. And, if a device-specific feature is required, Appcelerator provides device-specific APIs as well. The resulting applications are then compiled to native code for either the iOS or Android devices and deployed via the normal channels. Most importantly, Appcelerator-based applications look, feel and perform exactly like native applications that were developed using Objective-C (iOS) or Java (Android). The resulting CollegeEase Mobile application will then authenticate and fully participate with the CollegeEase web app data repositories using REST-based web services.


Agile Development Methodology •  Iterative process to prioritize, develop, test and accept product

features •  Product sponsor (Redpoint) is a primary stakeholder •  Product owner drives the priorities based on user stories

•  Ensure critical features are developed •  Frequent input from development team on effort required

•  Development team time boxes work to ensure on-time deliveries

•  Periodic planning meetings for joint definition of product releases and iterations •  Key inputs from product owner

•  Daily checkpoints to review progress and assess roadblocks •  Determine tasks completed, what is planned, what is blocked?


Agile Process Definitions • Release is a version of the application that is pushed out

to a production, or pre-production, environment •  Requires adequate testing and quality assurance •  Multiple releases prior to launch date provides early visibility and

more options for beta testing

•  Iteration is the rollout of functions or features •  Iterations will be available for product owner and sponsor reviews

at key milestones •  User stories are allocated to each iteration •  Each release has multiple iterations


Iterative Solution Implementation Solution Development

D

Solution Deployment (Iteration 14) ü  Final System Test ü  Knowledge Base and Customer Support ü  System, Content and User Readiness Checks ü  Roll-Out and Deployment

Iteration Prep

Unit Story

Creation Development

QA / Integration Testing

Implementation Prep (Iteration O) ü  Refined Project Management Plan ü  Refined Solution Design ü  Detailed Iteration Plan ü  Final Development / Test Environment Setup

Development Iterations (Typically 2-3 Weeks Each)


Release Roadmap Release 1 Release 2 Release 3

Objectives Create new users and implement the key surveys.

Targeted search and build a college list.

ACT/SAT testing and social networking

Timeframe

Award – April 12 April 15 – June 28 July 1 – August 30

Iteration Objective

w  Implementation prep (Iteration 0)

w  Define and integrate WGOH database (Iteration 5)

w  ACT/SAT testing schedule and recommendations (Iteration 10)

w  Create and register a new user and profile (Iteration 1)

•  Create college reports (Iteration 6)

•  Testing recommendations (Iteration 11)

w  Implement Find My Spark survey (Iteration 2)

w  Implement targeted search (Iteration 7)

w  Social networking define (Iteration 12)

•  College Affordability Shaper (Iteration 3)

w  Build a college list (Iteration 8)

w  Social networking implement (Iteration 13)

•  Release hardening and testing (Iteration 4)

w  Release hardening and testing (Iteration 9)

•  Release hardening and testing (Iteration 14)

Solution Deployment


Development Plan

•  Three releases add features and one release is for stability and testing •  April 12: User creation and surveys •  June 28: Targeted search and college lists •  August 30: ACT/SAT Testing and social networking •  September 25: Hardening to final launch and solution deployment

•  Two-three week iterations within each release, plus one week hardening iteration for integration & testing

•  Iteration planning meetings defines the prioritized iteration user stories before each iteration starts


User Stories Drive the Project

User Stories

Tasks

Test Cases

Implement

Details and refined requirements are captured

in Test Cases

Project Timeline


•  Objective: Rapid alignment on daily tasks / development activities and removing of obstacles

•  Participants: Facilitator: MyCCA COO, Participants: Core Project Team •  Approach

•  Daily meeting will be held either before or after the current 1 pm MST MyCCA.net web app meeting

•  In person, round-robin, each team member has 2-3 minutes to answer the following three questions: •  What have you accomplished over the past day (since the last meeting)? •  What will you commit to accomplish today? •  Is there anything preventing you from doing what you have planned?

•  Critical Success Factors •  Live, in-person, active participation when possible, and virtual attendance as

necessary •  Meeting is no longer than 30 minutes •  Additional conversations are arranged for after the meeting

•  Deliverables •  Key Action Items, Risks and Issues are logged

Daily Scrum Meetings


MyCCA Toolbox • Rally Agile Software Development Platform

•  Project management and testing

• Balsamiq •  Wireframe and user interface design

• Git •  Source control

•  Freshdesk •  SaaS tool with knowledge base and customer portal •  Customer support and request tracking

• Cross-platform development tool •  Appcelerator


Current Environment • MyCCA web app and SQL Server databases run on cloud

based VMWare virtual machines •  Staging environment for development and testing •  Dual mirrored production system with a load balancer for high

availability and disaster recovery

• Automated deployment processes from Git source control to staging and production environments

• Enforce extremely high security and confidentiality •  Encrypted data in the database •  SSL certificates and strong password protection •  Web app asp.net security and permissions model will be extended

to include the mobile app


High Level Design • High level design includes screen layouts and user stories

on how the screens will be used for key features •  Wireframes using Balsamiq •  Capture epic user stories in Rally

• Usability reviews prior to implementation • Weekly demos to review screens and implementation of

the design


Integration with MyCCA.net • Upgrade MyCCA.net from MVC 3 to MVC 4 to allow

REST protocols for interfacing mobile app and to the existing MyCCA.net SQL database

• Existing licensed data will be accessed in SQL •  WinterGreen Orchard House college data

•  Hundreds of fields of verified key college facts and figures for over 2,000 colleges

•  Key financial data •  Find My Spark™ personality survey and data tagging

•  MyCCA exclusive by author C. Claire Law •  Fiske Guide


Testing Approach •  Testing against user stories will be completed after each

iteration •  Test steps documented in Rally against the user stories •  Defects are also tracked in Rally on user stories •  Defects are prioritized and rolled into iterations

• Overall usability checkout concurrent with or just after integration and hardening iterations

• Beta testing will be done using current MyCCA students and advisors

•  Final release dedicated to overall hardening and system checkout and testing


Quality Assurance

• Survey and search comparisons with web app •  Ensure accuracy of results

•  Final hardening release focus on overall quality •  Multi user and platform interactions

•  iOS and Android •  Mobile app and web app •  Advisor and student

•  Performance assessments •  End-to-end flow of features and functions


Deployment Progression 1.  June 30: Start Beta testing with current MyCCA.net web app

advisors •  Include one AVID classroom for student feedback as a

independent mobile app •  Use existing AVID pilot program classroom

2.  September 13: Soft launch to all existing AVID MyCCA.net pilot programs

•  Initial free offering 3.  September 25: Launch

•  iTunes and Google •  Available to existing MyCCA.net advisors and students •  College Summit gets free MyCCA.net web account to further

assist students using the mobile app


Risk Assessment and Mitigation

1.  Fast start after award date to maximize development period before September launch

•  Piggy back on MyCCA.net web app resources and development environment

2.  Tight schedule for September launch •  Ongoing prioritization and time boxing •  Daily project management

3.  Appcelerator and mobile app distribution •  Start early to understand and prime the process

ckc mycca project plan

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