Yellow Team Progress Report

 

 

Memo: Progress Report

 

Yellow Team Project T.C. Class 11/02/2008

 

To: From: Subject:

Mrs. Vandevan's Technical Communications Class The Yellow Team Progress Report Memo

 

 

Overview:

The Yellow Team project involved the installation and creation of a database application and several other applications used to keep track of the hours of work and the donations of the workers of the Habitat for Humanity Thrift Store in Athens, GA. The Yellow Team consists of Amanda Fouts, Brandon Green, Joshua Harrell, Scott Estes, Ifeyani Egbebike, Saint Reincher, and Douglas Hartley,  and we have been working on the project from August of 2008 until the present time. We have acquired the hardware necessary for the implementation of the project, created and installed software to suit the needs of the Habitat for Humanity Thrift Store, and set the software and the hardware in place. 

 

Project Description:

Our project was to place a computer at the Habitat for Humanity Thrift Store.    Along with the computer, we also designed database software for time tracking, etc. on the computer.  Then once installed, provide maintenance on the software and computer hardware at this Habitat for Humanity Thrift Store.

 

The project requirements were to setup and install hardware and software necessary to operate a database-oriented program to record and track the hours of work performed by their volunteers, community service workers, and prospective homeowners. The software program will be very simple, very easy to use, and inexpensive to maintain. The computer hardware the store used was donated free of charge by Yellow team Members for the purpose of this project. Other peripherals that were included in this project were a printer, printer paper, and table for display of the computer.

 

In order to set up the database project that Yellow team proposed at this Habitat for Humanity Thrift Store, a database program would be installed on the donated computer to use in order to keep track of the volunteers working hours. The database program will record the volunteer’s first name, last name, time in, time out, and area worked in according to the user’s input. The user would also be given the option of recording his/her phone number or address. The database gathers all of this information together in order to produce reports for the thrift store with detailed totals of hours worked for each volunteer. A report also needs to be produced for the total hours of all volunteers worked on a certain day of the week. The reports should be easy to obtain and readily available for all users to view. The volunteer should only be allowed to edit/alter his own information and the group information should be locked to the average user and only available to your staff

 

This project only takes three weeks to implement. Required items include a used computer, database software, a table, and floppy disks used to store information. The first week is spent gathering the required items from our team. The second week is spent gathering the required information for and designing the database for the thrift store. The third week is spent on the installation and maintenance of the hardware and software required for the project. This should be done at the beginning of the third week so that the last part of the third week should be spent following up on the implementation of the database. The project should be completed in three weeks.  (see yellowteam_GANTT_chart)

 

 

List of Duties:

Amanda and Scott

·         Software Specialist

·         This person must provide the database design software.

·         The database must be written to the software

·         An instruction manual must be written for the software

Saint

·        Hardware Gatherer / Project Implementer

·        Responsible for gathering computer, table, and peripherals together

·        Must be able to acquire a used computer, table, etc. through donations, etc.

·        Must be able to transport them to the Habitat for Humanity Thrift Store

Doug

·        Call Center / Director

·        One person needs to provide a phone number and act as the administrator and hub for our project.

·        Be able to answer phones for a certain number of hours at least 2 days a week

·        Coordinate Activities

·        Keep track of email addresses, phone numbers, due dates, etc.

Brandon and Joshua

·         PR Specialist

·         Design pamphlet and logo for our team

·         Smooze with Habitat people in order to get our project implemented.

 

 

 

Work accomplished:

The projects have been proposed and selected. The tasks were delegated to each individual, and the logo was designed. We coordinated our activities in order to operate more efficiently. The computer system was built and tested, and was found to be in perfect working condition. The computer system was tuned and updated with all security patches. A computer table was also collected for the project. The database application was developed, designed, and installed using teamwork after the equipment was gathered. The software was completely documented including instructions, etc. We designed a PR pamphlet and placed on the table at the Habitat for Humanity Thrift Store when we delivered and installed the new database system. We also provided methods of contact for follow-up support.  

 

Problems Encountered:

The first problem that we encountered was establishing a routine method of communication needed in order to complete the project in a timely manner. Our communication was choppy and followed no set time line. With the “research and project duties” assignment, we were able to finally get our team’s communications on track.

The second problem we encountered was the installation of the project. It wasn’t as well thought out as it could have been since the team was relatively inexperienced at this type of installation. The team handled it nicely, though. The system was installed and someone was educated on how to use it. The Habitat for Humanity Thrift Store now has its very own “IT” guy. The impact on the project was nominal, but the presentation of the project at the sight could have been better.

Work Remaining

The project is currently ahead of schedule. The work remaining is to develop a presentation in PowerPoint to highlight the purpose of our project and our findings throughout the process of developing and delivering a completed solution to our sponsor.