The sole objective of this project is to improve monitoring system considering aspects of time saving, reliability and easy control. RFID attendee tracking system comprises of an embedded chip in the tag of attendee. Existing system is taking care of complete registration process along with maximum number of attendees, their registration fee and collect data for their preference of future invites. Proposed system is providing some software modifications by incorporating RFID which will help in getting better results by streamlining the process of onsite attendance of registrants, save time for participants and hosts. New system will provide better clarity and metrics needed for authorized decision making before, during, and after events. With implementing RFID tracking system, the attendees and organizers will have a better user experience.

The project charter should describe the project in broad terms and include:

Project Objectives

The objective of this project is to automate the attendance tracking system that will have intuitive access control and user-friendly interface which in turn will improve the user experience and increase the leads to the University. It is eight-week project and will be completed within schedule to avoid the loss on the business.

1. Automatic recording of attendees’ attendance using RFID technology when they enter the premises which will increase data analytics by 50% in the first year.
2. Re using other functionalities (registration process) currently in production.
3. Implement this new auto attendance tracking system in one event hosted by the University and increase operation revenue by 40% over the first year of implementation.
4. Go – or No-Go decision
5. Deploy and Maintenance. (Customer support and training to business)
6. Reduce registration and check in wait time for attendees by 100% over the next 6 months after implementation

 Project Conception

ABC University started its business in 2009. It provided value-based education and sculpted the students to become proficient technical professionals of future. Attendance plays a vital role in tracking the regularity of the users/attendees. Attendance recording is one of the important factors which helps to know the existence of the people at several places including colleges, companies, seminars, events, school for students and in the industries for the employees. ABC University has a cumbersome manual process of tracking the attendance at its institutions. As a solution the University wanted to have an automated attendance tracking process with controlled access which will eliminate the current time-consuming manual attendance tracking process so that the resources can focus on the main event. This RFID based tracking system can not only change the hectic manual attendance process but also helps to personalize according to the user’s profile and auto generates the report at the end of the session or in the between of the sessions which can help the organizer to gather analytics for further managerial decisions. With growth in business, the University wanted to have an automated attendance tracking system with RFID technology which will provide a streamlined experience for the attendees and support the University in its efforts to prepare for a major capital campaign. Hence the University has decided to undertake this project.

Problem Statement

In the Education industry, registration for an event/class is always tedious, time consuming and a cumbersome unorganized manual process. The attendees of the event/ class must register manually before they enter the conference, seminar or classes. The wait time at the events for accessing the premises lines can be longer and make the place congested at the entryway, which sometimes creates frustration among the attendees and can also result in losing the leads. Currently the attendance of the attendees is tracked manually, and the event managers do not have the insights of the preferences and engagement of the speakers for the events. To provide hassle free access to the event premises and better user experience at the entry way ABC University is looking to implement an efficient secure, reliable, fast attendee tracking system to automate the attendance recording process with controlled access and also obtain clarity from the collected data and metrics by this system which is needed for decision making about holding future events. The implementation on this system will reduce the staff hours by 10% and reduce the supplies purchase by 20 %. As a result, the staff can be used efficiently for the main project purposes.

Initial Scope of the project

The initial scope of this project is to develop a RFID based Access control and attendance tracking system and integrate with existing Registration system. This new system is more secure and reliable and fast returned. Tag works in any environmental condition. RFID technology provides strategic and better comfort for the attendees.

• The RFID system will have features that improve security by limiting the access. This is done by verifying the attendee’s ID in the badge to match with the ID in the database. Sensors will be installed at the event entry point to communicate with the RFID badges.
• Grants access only to authorized personnel to enter the premises and records their presence. This is done by setting the permissions for the roles in the database.
• Eliminates data duplication by uniquely identifying the personnel data and storing when the personnel enters the premises.
• The main scope of the project is to reduce the amount used to purchase office supplies and reduce staffing who maintain and perform the manual attendance recording role.
• The life of the RFID badge(s) ends at the day of event completion and will be reused for future events.
• Auto generation of report feature is implemented along with to tracking system to gather analytics information. Information such as the number of attendees attended the event, class or seminar, which speaker was engaging the audience, which event was most popular and crowded are tracked and the system will helps in  personalization of the event based on attendees interests.  Integration of the newly developed RFID system with the existing registration system at the ABC University is the main scope.

Out of Scope

1. Existing registration process is used and adding any new features to the registration process is out of scope.
2. Using the existing personal profile database.
3. No new changes in communicating method to the registered participants.
4. No new monitoring system is added. The existing web interface will be used to generate the reports.

 Project Vision

The vision of the project is to deliver a cost-effective automated attendance tracking system which will improve user experience at the entry points of ABC University’s hosted events and increase the leads and better utilization of ABC University’s resources. This system also generates reports which are helpful in the decision taken for future events.

1. The RFID attendance tracking system should have been developed with controlled access and should have been integrated with the existing registration system.
2. This project should be completely developed within 8 weeks schedule and ready to be implemented at the event happening in ABC University on November 1st.
3. The features should include controlled access to attendees; only registered attendees for the events only can be permitted inside the event premises.
4. Attendees information should be recorded once they enter and leave the premises.
5. RFID badges, sensors, card readers integrated chips should perform their functions as desired.
6. The information about the attendees should not be duplicated.
7. The system should auto generate the reports of the attendee.

Business Constraints

Time

In the education environment, time is the essence. A better time management of staff and attendee from beginning to end of the conference, require tools to facilitate this process.

Cash

With an inefficient tracking system, the organization labor cost must remain too high in order to keep up with demand.

Quality of Service

Attendee overall satisfaction during conferences, is the organization priority.

Technology Constraints

• Security issue (attendee personal information could be hacked)
• System overload in case of high flux of attendee at one specific point.
• Cost of the new RFID technology.

Project Strategy

The goal of this project is to develop a system that will allow this university to provide better conference service to any of their clients. The new RFID system will allow ABC University to be able to automatically track attendance of conference goers. This system will allow for a better more efficient experience (shorter line at the entrance, and automatic check-in of every session to attend) for attendees, when comes to individual credit hours allocation conference participation. Automatic report will be generating at the end of the conference with all information such as, how many sessions and hours was attended.

Project Documentation and Communication

To fulfill this project, the team has at least one recorded schedule meeting where we brainstorm on what need to be executed every week, on top of that, we have a group text setup for a quick and easy communication in case any issue arises.

Every week, we will have a status report every week where all the deliverable and due date are all listed. At the end of the project, we will have all the document explaining how the system will be implemented.

Project Organization and Staffing Approach

This project will be developed and implemented entirely by our internal staff, with of course a collaboration of ABC university IT staff.  The equipment such as servers and radio frequency captors (sensors) will be operated by in house technical. Testing and training will be done by both our internal and the client staff.

Project Value Statement

Many organizations continue to sponsor their employees to attend events such as conferences and seminars as a method of improving employees’ creativity, stimulating their senses as well as providing them with a medium to think freely and allowing them to feel rejuvenated and inspired. Many educational institutions invest yearly to send their employees to conferences or events to receive training or a tool for career development, skill development, learning, networking and sharing.  However, the registration for an event can be time consuming and tedious for the attendee. Our team recognized that managing attendee registration, check in and tracking process can be less demanding and eliminate long wait time. As such ABC University decided to improve the existing attendance tracking by introducing the RFID attendee tracking system. The RFID attendee tracking system is about providing real-time information that is relevant to both the organization and the customers and will help the customer to improve their ability to make quick, real-time decisions based on their needs. ABC University offers venue services that can accommodate a variety of events such as conferences, meeting seminars etc. ABC University is always seeking ways to improve attendees and partners satisfaction.

The RFID attendee tracking system is a wireless technology that permits shorter lines, richer data and more engaged attendees.  The RFID attendee tracking system is built on rules that will detect attendees to the events and process them.  The method of tracking provides a variety of options for the clients which include the potential to track an attendee or control the number of guests accessing specific areas of the event. The RFID tracking system offers clear and tangible value to the clients and customers. Using this system will offer the clients peace of mind through various security means, convenience and an improved service compared to the current system. The RFID tracking system will be beneficial to the attendees with one benefit being that the preprinted badges will help to reorganize check-in process.  Another advantage for this RFID system to the attendee is their ability to engage with sponsors and other individual.

The implementation of RFID attendee tracking system will help ABC University to identify how many attendees enter and left the conference and exhibit hall. This will help the university to identify traffic to the exhibitor booths as well as how many participants attend breakout rooms and sessions and the number of attendees attends the keynote speech or other larger speaking events as well as lunches and/dinners.  The RFID tracking system offers wireless, automated and non-contact identification to help ABC University to identify the attendees. The RFID attendee tracking system will also bring a host of value and benefits to ABC University as well. The advantages of using the RFID tracking system are

• Speed up entry to the event venue and reduce long queues and wait time which will create better experience for guests
• Quick and easy registration process (online and onsite), saving the organization some labor cost.
• Eliminate the use of paper based or manual registration
• Fast check-in process decrease congestion at the gate, which will allow session to start on time.
• Increase attendee overall experience (No worry about being check-in for each session they will attend).
• Data collection on attendees, will help the organization to better serve the need of future events.
• The use of RFID data will also help to control cost and eliminate waste.
• The RFID system will facilitate marketing analysis and business intelligence within the university.

The value that RFID attendee registration and tracking system will bring to ABC University is increased visibility on the registration and check in process and emphasize the provision of data for analytical purposes. The use of the RFID technology will improve business performance, creating long term win-win relationships with the attendees, and helps to automate business operational functions and a true competitive edge over other institutions that host events. An RFID tracking system would also help ABC University to realize substantial gains through communication and receiving feedback from attendees and the possibility of a positive return on investment.

Another value to have RFID attendee tracking is to quantify data accuracy and identify if the event space is too large or small. Keep in mind that the RFID technology is used to eliminate long lines in the registration and check in process and track the attendees’ movement. The benefit of this technology is that it does not require any human intervention and once placed the required location, tags can be read, and the information can be transferred to computer in real time. ABC University will know where the guests go as well as the time stamp and traffic to that location. Since the RFID technology has evolved over the years and has become less expensive and more robust, it is likely that other institutions or companies that host events and conferences will invest in this unique tracking system to solve related business problems. The biggest value that the RFID technology can bring to ABC University is as a technological innovation and its features that include the exclusion of queue and wait time for the patrons, reading multiple tag items, more data storage, and improve visibility through the influence of adoption decision. Many benefits can be derived from the influence of the university decision to adopt the RFID attendee tracking and registration system including the intensity of competition, standard and regulation and the nature of business relation with the stakeholder. Since this RFID attendee tracking system is a disruptive innovation and offers ABC University a medium to improve their hosting of events and conferences, it can radically change the processes and practices of the way venues host events.

ABC University is in the business to offer unique experience for sponsors and attendees to create memorable experience by equipping their facilities with state-of-the-art devices when catering to any event.  For ABC University to strive in their service offering, it is critical to constantly innovate and improve.  Investing in a new technology is important part of the process of providing quality event experience. Therefore, these are some reasons why ABC University should allocate a budget for this project:

• The ability to satisfy customers, reach potential customers and develop and maintain a business relationship with the customer base.
• Implementation of the RFID attendee tracking system that will provide a better and unique service to customers.
• Striving above competition to establish the operation as most progressive and advanced in the field compared to the competitors.
• Enabling better relationships with key partners.
• Modernizing venue operations, reducing cost, improving efficiency of the registration process, maximizing profit and minimizing waste.
• Investing in the RFID based tracking system will provide opportunities for ABC University to realize cost efficiencies and effectiveness as they streamline their registration and check in process.

This RFID technology will not only improve business efficiency but also maximize bottom line which can be leveraged to reduce operation cost and increase customer loyalty. One way that using this RFID system can improve business and customer satisfaction is reducing long line and eliminate manual registration and check in with preprinted badges. The quicker and more efficient the check in is the more satisfied each attendee will be. Satisfied guests to an event venue produce favorable word of mouth advertising and positive testimonials which is important in increasing business to ABC University.

Project Strategy Statement

To place people at the focus of enterprise software and to reinvent the way of telling stories, sharing knowledge, and inspiring audiences by providing leading edge monitoring system with reliability, ease of access and user friendliness.

BKRRU is a consulting company that needs to provide an automated solution for ABC company to eliminate its manual attendee tracking process to better serve its customers and staff, and better manage and utilize its resources. With this new system there is an opportunity for ABC company to improve its reputation and increase leads.

The primary objective of the new system will achieve easy and secure way of access into the event premises which is both conducive and supportive of the organization’s business and customer needs thereby improving customer relations and increasing revenue.

The secondary business objective is improving ABC Company’s ability is to analyze registration information so that it can schedule conferences on subjects that have generated good attendance in the past. With the automation of the ABC Company’s attendee tacking process, participants will enter and exit the premises with easy and controlled in a timely manner rather than minutes of delay. This will achieve improved relations between the organization and the participants.

Project methodology

Many event planning organizations are considering implementing RFID system to improve their business operation processes.  The RFID implementation project at ABC University will follow the Agile System Development Life Cycle (SDLC).

Our experienced team will meet project sponsor’s requirements through Agile methodology and will efficiently provide the deliverables our Scrum Master will introduce our product vision and a product backlog.  A product backlog is a prioritized features list, containing short descriptions of all functionality desired in the product.  To successfully complete this step, development team will communicate with sponsor and customer and decide the terms.  Then we document all these details, once the details are finalized and documented, then our team will focus on estimating the implementation effort of the product backlog.  he Scrum Master will lead the teams to determine possible complications in the system and work on identifying and understanding them.

The process of defining the Business Values is determined by the sponsor and our Scrum Master will facilitate this process. This step will let our customers/sponsors define valuable information and help us organize the product backlog accordingly.  Once we complete the product backlog and the implementation effort, we will prioritize valuable information and we discuss how we will finish this project.  Next, we will define dependencies in our project, meaning that we determine which parts of projects cannot be completed without finishing their counter parts.  It is recommended at this point of the communication process that everything begins in small portions.  Our team will present the first sprint development, followed by a sprint review and reviewing the process with goals of delivering the first finalized.  Eventually, after delivering first sprint and watching it working successfully, we will develop mutual trust to start on the next sprint.

The team chose the Agile System Development Lifecycle (SDLC) for the implementation of the RFID attendance tracking system at ABC University because of its flexibility to manage, plan and control the project development effort. This method of project management provides various advantages such as the level of control for the system process and ensuring that the solution is consistent with the business requirement and also to guarantee that the design of the product and testing process leads to the solution that the business require.  This will guide the project and offer adaptability and consistent medium to accommodate the changes, perform the project in a manageable way to meet the client’s need.

Our team will utilize the agile methodology in which the project team will spend a short period of time building parts of the project to incorporate with the RFID system. This will allow the team and ABC University to build, measure and learn from these small integrations.  ABC University will have an opportunity to see the completed work early and can make changes throughout the development. Using agile method will eliminate scope creep and will limit ABC university from requesting new features in the RFID tracking system. The benefit of using the agile method is that it is flexible, encourage stakeholder satisfaction and collaboration between the project team and business owner. The agile process focuses on business value, user and improve the quality of the entire project. Agile methodology reduces risks associated with delivery, scope and budget of the project.

Our company chose not to go with the Waterfall method of managing a project because of the strict timeline we have. One of the main disadvantages of the Waterfall method is the lack of flexibility. In the Waterfall method it is very difficult to alter or add feature once the design phase has begun. The project team wants the client to be involved but in the Waterfall method there is minimal client collaboration as this method does not allow the client to play an active role in the development. The client will only receive the final product which limit the opportunity to receive user feedback during the development.

Business Requirements and Rules

All attendee must have a valid Email Address.

1. System must provision the replacement of failed RFID tags on existing possessions.
2. System must have the ability to perform a check-in/check-out process that is managed by the authorized person.
3. System should support the re-use of RFID badges.
4. System should include reports that show history by location.
5. System must include services to support the data integration from the current database system to the new solution.
6. Badge data is captured using RFID (HF chip based).
7. System should be able to provide non-obtrusive and non-intrusive monitoring of session attendance.
8. The system should have the ability to print the report on wireless Bluetooth printer. (optional)
9. Proximity read rate should be adjustable from 10 feet and beyond.
10. System should be able to provide a sortable and searchable transaction report.
11. RFID readers must support Wi-Fi standards and USB tethering for connection.
12. RFID capture attendance using existing Mark Attendance functionality.
13. ABC University will not sell attendee personal information, shall only use it for statistical and service improvement purpose.
14. Reports are to be viewed by appropriate staff only
15. Request for attendance can only be order by the attendee himself.
16. Printer must be available on the network for attendee report printing
17. Customer accounts must be created for report
18. Accounts should be completed with fields populated
19. Attendee Social Security Number will not be included on the printing report.

Context-level data flow diagram

To place people at the focus of enterprise software and to reinvent the way of telling stories, sharing knowledge, and inspiring audiences by providing leading edge monitoring system with reliability, ease of access and user friendliness.

Graphical representation of the “flow” of data within a system and to model this process is called Data Flow Diagram. A DFD is a high-level representation of a system without providing details.

It charts out the flow of information of system. Pre-defined symbols are used to draw these diagrams like circles, arrows, rectangles, text boxes/labels, to demonstrate data inputs, outputs, and relationship between them. These diagrams can be high level or detailed depending on the requirements of the system or user. These diagrams are helpful in analyzing current system or prototype new. With DFD’s it is easier to picture the system than to define it in words which sometimes, could be hard to explain. Diagrams works well for both technical and nontechnical listeners, from CEO to developer. This is the reason of the popularity of DFD’s.

 Logical Entity Relationship Diagram

Business requirements offer the information which provide the base for creating Logical ERD’s. With this information ERD’s outline entities and relationships to satisfy businesses’ prerequisites. At this stage of diagramming proposed system, defining database design is not considered yet.

Physical Entity Relationship Diagram

Physical ERD represents the concrete design of database. It translates LERD into schema level strategy and ultimately convert the information to relational database. When designing a physical ERD, Logical ERD provide the base, which is refined by incorporating constraints, foreign keys and primary keys. In order to normalize relationships, developers consider defining additional tables such as Linked table for many to many relationships.

UML Use Case Diagram

A Use Case Diagram shows the interaction between a system and its environment within situation. A Use Case defines a sequence of actions that provide quantifiable value to the actor and is represented by ellipse. An actor in a Use Case is a person, organization, or system that plays a role in the interaction with the system. A use case is either classified as a group of success or failure scenario, describing the actor using the system to support an objective.

The RFID attendance tracking system is a way to effectively tracks where people are going during the event. The UML case diagram depict the process of how the RFID tracking system works. The attendee first interaction is the registration process which is facilitated by the pre-registration process. While the attendee is on site the register and check in with their RFID badge. During the check in process the ABC University staff use a code from each attendee pre-event registration to associate with the RFID badge with the guest. These badges are used to track attendee movement such as the attendance to sessions, workshop and exhibit and also for access control into the gated sessions. All data that from the RFID system are stored in the central database that can be accessed by the ABC University staff.

System Alternatives Descriptions

ABC Company is currently relying on manual check in on site of attendees coming to attend their seminars which results in longer lines at gate; also have manual attendance tracking system for recording the participants; to eliminate those lines with secure access and to eliminate the manual attendance recording feature the company is trying to implement RFID badges for efficient, accurate, secure  check in’s. RFID tags are read more accurately, 99.9% read rate compared to 80% read rate for bar codes, because they eliminate manual data entry and can be read through most all materials. FID also provides higher security because each tag is extremely unique and almost impossible to duplicate. To facilitate our client, we are analyzing three different candidates to provide them their requirements in best possible manners considering both budget and security. Three, under consideration candidates are the following:

Candidate 1– In-house development at BKRRU to improve quality and to keep budget low. BKRRU possess all needed skills to fulfill client’s requirements.

Candidate 2– combination Outsource and In house. This involves integrating RFID chip in attendee badge (outsource) with software development and integration(in-house) to
provide the best possible configuration and upgradation of existing system.

Candidate 3– Outsource project to Consultants:
BKRRU works with other consulting companies to decrease its work load and often
outsource their acquired projects depending on the size and availability of
their staff. This will be cheaper and flexible alternative which only involves keeping
track of all the deadlines with all parties and to better manage resources on
each site.

Technical Requirements and Assumptions

BKRRU is an in-house team that has been contracted to assist with the implementation of the RFID Attendee Tracking System at ABC University. One of the he benefits of using BKRRU is that the development of the RFID System will be simpler, and the cost will be lower. When a comparison was done on whether to grant BKRRU the contract to implement the RFID Attendee Tracking System, the benefit of using an in-house team outweigh the decision to outsource the project. Working with an in-house team, management can easily project manage the entire project team and utilize existing resources to save on additional expenses. The key to a successful in-house decision is the cost-benefit analysis, a mixture of the hard dollar costs and the less tangible qualitative measures of needs, risks, and benefits.

After conducting the cost benefit analysis and the feasibility study, the benefits and costs for using the in-house option outweigh using another option more financially viable.   Using an in-house team, management can put as many resources they have to build and implement the RFID system quickly. Creating the project in house often time is rewarding and allows for flexibility and creativity and possess some level of control over the development of the project. BKRRU will be responsible for all the development phases of the project from planning to close out of the project.

The initial project and maintenance cost estimated for using BKRRU as the candidate choice for the project development is far less than the other candidates during the cost benefit analysis. The initial cost for the project is estimated at $100,000 and most of this cost will span over the different phases of the project but specifically the planning, design and construction phases.  The initial cost of using the in-house option was clarified during the cost benefit analysis that assisted in identifying the feasibility of the in-house option which also strengthens how management and the project team understand the scope, schedule, and resources are determined. However, the maintenance cost for using the in-house option to develop the RFID Attendee Tracking System will significantly decrease by approximately 30% per annum over the next five years. This will yield an estimate of $5000 to $15000 decrease in maintenance cost on a yearly basis. In comparison to the other two candidates, the cost benefit analysis revealed that the in-house option will have positive impact on the project in term of the cost equivalent and also it was determined that using BKRRU as the in-house project team to spearhead development the RFID Attendee Tracking System is worthwhile.

One of the first order in the implementation of the RFID system is to conduct a risk assessment of the project.  Performing a risk assessment is very important in identifying any potential problem there may be associated with developing and implementing the RFID system in-house. If any risk is identified, BKRRU will provide a solution. BKRRU is aware that there may be risks associated with the system developers since the development team will be small and based in-house. Though this may not negatively impact ABC University, the system developers will be the only ones that know the infrastructure to maintain or fix it. To reduce this risk, BKRRU will provide enough documentation to allow ABC University employees to easily interpret the functions of the RFID System.

Since the RFID tracking is a great tool for monitoring attendance to an event there is some level of security concerns that BKRRU must handle to prevent the RFID tag from being corrupted and to avoid unauthorized retrieval of attendee information. At the event location, BKRRU will ensure that all RFID access control events are guard and attendee have proper registration and identification to enter the event. One assumption is BKRRU will ensure that the RFID system runs effectively and accounts for system failures and have contingency plans based on the disaster.  Since the development and implementation of the RFID tracking system will take place in-house, one major concern that BKRRU will deal with is the cost of encrypting the RFID tags. One of the solutions for encrypting the RFID tags is increasing the storage and processing power of the tag from early in the process which will somewhat control the cost in the long run.  To ensure that there is proper data security, BKRRU will ensure that all data stored on the RFID tag will be transferred and back up in the Microsoft SQL Server.

The maintenance of the RFID tracking system and the database will be done by BKRRU even when the project has ended. Since BKRRU is an in-house development team, they will have full ownership of the maintenance of the RFID system. This will establish a relationship between BKRRU, ABC University and the user base which will be important in the communication and delivery of the product. BKRRU will be responsible for fixing any issue related to reader failure, tag failure or even middleware failure. One benefit of BKRRU monitoring the RFID system is that it will eliminate certain cost to ABC University. As the in-house choice for ABC University, BKRRU will provide generalized monitoring and troubleshooting of the RFID system that will help them in determining the system’s problem areas, potential fixes and how to avoid issues in the future.

Software Tools

BKRRU will utilize existing software that ABC University currently use to support the development of the RFID Attendee Tracking System. BKRRU will work to integrate and stream the RFID tag data directly into ABC University pre-existing software system. The RFID system will be very easy to use application that will allow BKRRU to map the RFID readers to Microsoft SQL Server as the backend database, along with an Excel spreadsheet and text file which require no programming.  Once the RFID readers on the network are set up, the tag information is read from the RFID readers into the Microsoft SQL Server database.  The diagram below depicts how BKRRU will configure the database and how the RFID tags will pass through the entry point to the database.  Once these tags are read, these will be assigned to the database along with other parameters that are unique to the reader.

Along with Microsoft SQL Server, BKRRU will utilize Microsoft Office specifically Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Visual Studios, Microsoft SharePoint, and Windows 10 to support the implementation of the RFID tracking system. Microsoft Excel will be used in a non-continuous mode of scanning and a destination for RFID tag data. Microsoft Visual Studio will serve as the library for the RFID tag data and programming environment for the middleware and any other system to support the RFID system implementation. Microsoft SharePoint will be used as a dashboard for the RFID assets, a collaboration tool for the team, business intelligence and storing of documents and data. Windows 10 is the operating system that is available on ABC University computers.

  Analysis of Needs vs. Capabilities for Contractors

BKRRU consultant company has internal employees to work on its RFID attendee tracking system project. The skills required for the development of the software is available within its internal resources. The company’s App Dev team will be responsible for developing the features that record attendance automatically. The database team will be responsible for the backend database development. The network team and the App Dev team will collaborate together to make sure the RFID badges is integrated with our registration system. The technical team will be responsible for purchasing the RFID badges, scanners, transponders, chip etc. The App Dev team will be responsible for providing training to the other resources on how to monitor the attendance and how the controlled access is being implemented. The management and other resources will receive training in the following below areas:
1. The management and the internal resources will be trained on operating the RFID badges and its monitoring process.
2. The resources will be trained on generating the reports by the new system.
3. Marketing team resources will be trained how to obtain the data and use the analytics for marketing campaigns.
4. Event Organizers will be trained on how the RFID badge provides access inside the premises for authorized and registered participants.
5. The system monitoring team or the data analytics team will be trained on how the attendance information is marked automatically for an attendee.
 

Staffing and Staffing Cost

One of the main costs of this project, is staffing. Our project will use own internal resources, which will allow personnel availability and better cost control. Every phase of this project will be completed as scheduled below. Some unforeseen events could happen, which might create a decrease or an increase execution time.

The cost of each resource is broken down into each phase.  It also details the individual contributors.  Each contributor has a tentative number of hours and amount of labor that they will work and be paid during each phase.  All rates are listed in the resource table. availability of the employee for the project. All contributor will only be available for this project.

Resource Rates

Schedule

Milestone

Tasks and Dependencies

Risk Analysis and Mitigation Plan

The purpose of risk management is to identify potential issues before they happen, so that risk-handling activities may be planned and invoked as needed across the life of the product or project to mitigate adverse impacts on achieving objectives. Project risk management involves planning, identifying, analyzing, responding, monitoring, controlling and reviewing the risks associated with a project. Risk management is about applying various techniques to systematically identify opportunities or threats to a project’s objectives, to develop ways to respond to those risks, review the effectiveness of risk management strategies used and learn lessons which can be used on future projects to improve organizational performance. There are risks associated with every project. Not all risks can be removed, however they can be managed effectively through the development of policies, procedures and processes which reduce the likelihood of adverse risks from damaging project objectives or increase the likelihood of positive risks being realized which aid project objectives. Unknown risks cannot be managed proactively but can be managed by developing contingency plans.

The risk matrix below shows the impact and the probability of our risks and how they fall.  The impacts of the risk range from low to high, and the risks are based on the impact to the project, schedule or the budget. We have one high risk that has between a 41-60% chance of affecting our project in a major way. These risks range from firewall issues, unskilled Resource allocation, adding new functionality, inaccurate recording of attendee attendance and privacy threats which could cause the delay in developing the project and impact potential customers. We also have a risk that has a low impact with only a 21-40% chance of happening. This risk has a low impact because although it will affect the project it will not hinder us from completing what needs to be done. The biggest potential risk that was forecasted in our risk matrix is the unrealistic deadline while falls within 81%-100% probability. To mitigate this issue, we could provide realistic deadlines to resources or add extra resources.

For our risk management plan, we identified positive and negative risks that could impact our project. The negative risks included firewall issues, unskilled resource allocation, adding new functionality, inaccurate recording of attendee attendance and privacy threats and unrealistic deadline. These were chosen to be negative risks because of the way that they effect the project. If these events were to occur we would be put behind schedule, and BKRRU would not have a way to continue the development of the RFID Tracking System. Risks that were determined to be positive were insufficient server capacity, unclear requirements, missing data/data not in sync, new regulations /standards added by government, interference issues, connectivity issues and chip quality. These were listed as positive risks because if they happen they help the project by being ahead of schedule and making sure that our information always stays secure. Looking at the risk matrix BKRRU will determine how they will reduce the severity of these risks and will come up with different backup plans for all of the risks. It is important to have backup plans so that BKRRU will know what to do in case the first plan falls through. BKRRU do not want to stop the entire project because of a damaging risk they could not stop.

References

(PDF) An RFID attendance and monitoring system for university applications. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/221457761_An_RFID_attendance_and_monitoring_system_for_university_applications .

 An RFID attendance and monitoring system for university applications – IEEE Conference Publication. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/5724646/

Comparing Logical and Physical ERD. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.visual-paradigm.com/tutorials/compare-logical-physical-erd.jsp

What is a Data Flow Diagram? (2018, September 07). Retrieved from https://www.lucidchart.com/pages/data-flow-diagram