Blockchain Implementation Project Plan
Every project that has a reasonable chance at success starts with a solid plan. A project plan is far more than just a schedule – it is a master plan that directs all planning and execution efforts to meet a project’s goals. For this class project, you will create a project plan to implement a newly developed blockchain application.
The first step in this assignment is to describe your organization’s environment and blockchain application. You can choose a consumer-based or enterprise application environment. Each one has its own environmental concerns. Once you describe your organization and blockchain application environment, you will provide the abbreviated project plan. (A real project plan will include detailed schedule, budget, procurement, and other supporting plans. This project won’t require all components of a real-life project plan.)
You abbreviated project plan (with organizational and blockchain environment introduction) must be no less than 1500 words. Your paper must be in proper APA format, including proper in-text citations and end references for any external sources you use. No more than 10% of this paper may originate from external sources. This isn’t a research paper – it is a project plan.
Your paper must start with the following sections (which should comprise at least 1/3 of your paper):
•Organizational overview – Introduce your organization (it can be fictitious). Describe what your organization does, how it defines success, what services or products it produces, and why it decided to venture into blockchain technology. Then describe the specific goals blockchain technology must meet to be deemed a success.
•Blockchain environment overview – Describe the type of blockchain your organization has decided to implement and why. Explain how your chosen blockchain implementation is the best choice for your organization’s goals and capabilities, and how your organization participates in your chosen blockchain network’s governance.
Here are the sections your project plan must include:
•Project overview – Within the context of an organization and blockchain environment (described in the first 2 sections of your paper), provide an overview of this project. What application are you implementing? (Describe a novel blockchain application that derives value from blockchain technology. Explain why blockchain technology is required for your application to operate.) This section should include a description of what application you are implementing, and how you define success for your project.
•Project charter – The high-level initial project document necessary to gain approval and funding (includes the following)
oReasons for engaging in this project (Why do you want to implement this application?)
oProject objectives
oProject constraints
oProject stakeholders
oProject scope
oProject risks (Include scalability, compliance, and security)
oProject benefits
oProject cost (Provide reasonable estimates of personnel and infrastructure cost to accomplish what you’re proposing.)
•Deliverables – a list (with descriptions) of artifacts to be delivered to the customer (defined in stakeholders above) at the end of the project
•Critical success factors – What criteria will customers use to determine whether the deliverables are acceptable?
•Work Breakdown Structure – What steps are necessary to take your application from a development environment to a deployed and operating environment? This section demonstrates an understanding of the implementation process. Provide a description, along with details, of tasks necessary to deploy a blockchain application and make it available for end users. You don’t need to provide specific commands or details but describe the process in enough detail that your technical staff could create procedures from your plan.
•Quality plan – Describe how you plan to measure and enforce quality standards at each step. Describe your chosen quality metrics and how you will ensure your desired quality standards will be maintained.
•Operationalization plan – Once you have successfully deployed your application conducted a formal hand-off to customers, describe how you will hand-off the maintenance of your application to operations. Describe the process of handing off the application and what operations needs to take delivery of your application responsibilities.
Don’t let this plan become a collection of lists. The purpose of this assignment is for you to consider the level of effort required to implement any blockchain application. We aren’t covering the initial blockchain network implementation – just an application’s implementation. Be creative when you choose an application. Really think through how to describe your blockchain application in such a way that you can use your description to get funding and support for your project.