Description

The timeframe for the availability of a safe and effective Novel Coronavirus, COVID-19, vaccine is uncertain. Some analysts are predicting months, while other analysts are predicting years. It is likely that we will all have to “learn to live” with this virus in our presence for some, unknown, time to come.

The survivability of many small-to-medium sized businesses is facing very real and immediate challenges. For certain, “business as normal” is not an option. Uncertainty, with respect to future full/partial-lockdowns, hangs over every enterprise.

IT systems and their application are likely to be a key component in supporting existing businesses survival, while also offering platform(s) for new ventures.

Selecting a typical small-to-medium sized indigenous business from the following general areas:

1. Retail

Your task is to investigate, with a view to recommending and planning, the implementation of a suitable, safe, functioning, practical environment that would enable your chosen business to operate under current, and likely future, strict (Levels 4 & 5) government restrictions. You must address the following areas:

1.      Physical environment, typically includes ingress, egress, hygiene, air exchange, equipment & environment cleaning.

2.      Limits on minimum spacing/distancing & maximum stay-time.

3.      Hardware and/or software requirements or Cloud-based solution.

Upward/downward scalable solution.

4.      IT Technical support & training for staff (& customers?).

5.      Risk assessment – identification, evaluation, mitigation, management of top- 10 risks associated with delivery-plan. Use Risk-table to present.

6.      Feasibility analysis for your recommended approach - Technical, Financial, & Social feasibility. All figures to be presented in easy-to-read Tabular form. For costs & benefits, ensure that you employ Payback period, Return-on-

investment, & Present-value analysis on all estimated values. Note: It might not be appropriate or even possible to estimate a financial value for each identified benefit.

The following allocation of marks will apply:

§  Title page, including authorship-details, version details, date, revision history

§  Table of content Introduction Business Case

§  Project initiation document (PID)
Objectives, Scope, Stakeholders, Constraints, Communication plan

§  Feasibility study

§  Recommended Lifecycle model together with rationale

§  Initial project plan, including tasks, estimated-durations, activity-sequences

§  Risk management approach Summary/closing

·         The grey highlighted is not my part – Do not do it.

·         Maximum length is 9 A4 pages.

·         Use 12-point Times New Roman font, with 1.5 line-spacing.

·         Ensure that you proof-read your report prior to submission – marks will be deducted for incorrect spelling, bad grammar, and poor punctuation.