POST MORTEM REPORT Red Cross Field System Document Author Toby Allder and Tim Blackburn Post Mortem Report Executive Summary

							                       POST MORTEM REPORT
                                Red Cross Field System




Document Author: Toby Allder and Tim Blackburn
Post Mortem Report




Executive Summary
This is the postmortem report for the Red Cross Field
System web application built by the Swinfield project
team. This report will review the operational and financial
aspects of the project as well as describe the
management issues faced by team leaders Tim
Blackburn and Phil Hawthorne.




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Contents
1. Operational Review ............................................................................................................... 4
   1.1 Was the project completed on time (TIME)...................................................................... 4
   1.2 If project was not completed on time – give reasons ....................................................... 4
   1.3 Were all project requirements met (SCOPE) ................................................................... 4
   1.4 Was the client happy with the project............................................................................... 4


2. Financial Review.................................................................................................................... 5
   2.1Was the project completed within budget (COST) ............................................................ 5
   2.2 What was the budgeted and actual cost of the project .................................................... 5
   2.3 If the project was over/under budget – give reasons ....................................................... 5


3. Project Management Issues .................................................................................................. 6
   3.1 What processes were most effective ............................................................................... 6
   3.2 What went well with the project........................................................................................ 6
   3.3 What processes were least effective................................................................................ 6
   3.4 What you would change if you were to do the project again............................................ 6




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1. Operational Review
1.1 Was the project completed on time?

The project was completed on time after the amendment to the Scope document (see Section
1.3 – Were all project requirements met?

Meeting the deadline was problematic towards the end as Testing took longer than expected,
and raised more problems with the code than expected. As such certain areas were ‘glossed’
over to ensure the major project functionality was met.



1.2 If project was not completed on time – give reasons

NA



 1.3 Were all project requirements met? (SCOPE)

No. Due to a number of reasons such as timeframe, we needed to drop the ‘offline’
component of the project. If we hadn’t of dropped this component then we would not of been
able to complete the project on time.

Also we needed to drop the ‘mobile device’ component of the project. Our client wanted a
separate hand held version of the system to be viewed on the new range of smart phones
such as the iphone. Our site should still be viewable with some functionality on an iphone but
we didn’t have enough time to build a separate system solely for mobile devices.



1.4 Was the client happy with the project?

On the day of the Client Acceptance Test the client expressed extreme satisfaction with the
whole Field System web application in general. Things mentioned by the client, but no limited
to include:

- The professional look and feel of the site

- Ease of navigation

- Logical flow of pages (ties into the above point)

- Provides all the features they were looking for

- The high level of code documentation to be supplied to them

- The ease in which Events, Sites, Team, and Client can all be associated to each other

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2. Financial Review
2.1 Was the project completed within budget? (COST)

This project was organized between Swinburne TAFE and the Red Cross to be completed by
students. There has been no costs involved in the project therefore there was no budget.



2.2 What was the budgeted and actual cost of the project?

See above.



2.3 If the project was over/under budget – give reasons?

See above.




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3. Project Management Issues
3.1 What processes were most effective?

- Coding check list for Stage 1, although it’s effectiveness was markedly reduced with Stage 2
coding due to time running out.

- Setting up document templates and the document section of the QMP early in the project.

- Team members using SVN (even though it was not used in the traditional sense of only
updating with major changes). There were minimal conflicts with the coding process.

3.2 What went well with the project?

- Breaking the team into two sub-teams when approaching the end of Stage 1 coding.

- Team communication channels to the most part were effective

- Team moral/motivation remained at a high level throughout the course of the project

- Delegating the right tasks to the right team members

3.3 What processes were least effective?

- Document check list.

- Getting team members to fill out their time sheets on time.

-Getting a certain team member to actually do the homework they were delegated.

3.4 What you would change if you were to do the project again?

- Have full control of the Database.

- Follow the project methodology in a more stringent fashion.

- Set up the project plan earlier in the whole process.

- Spend more time with the Client in the initial Analysis phase.

- Do more storyboarding on a white board.

- Make team members more accountable for the quality of their work (set up checks list for
documents and coding earlier, and instilling a culture of filling out the check lists)

- Concentrating on the essential functions required by the Client, and once they were
complete then having a look at their ‘wish list’. Too much time was wasted in the first 2-3
months trying to incorporate ‘wish list’ items, which all had to be dropped in the end. This had
a negative impact upon the final product.


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