Introduction of Swipe Cards
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Introduction of Swipe Cards
Introduction
Institutions of higher learnings, just like other key players in the corporate world need to review the way they address their operations and management practices. Ideally, most learning institutions, profit making and non-profit making have made an effort to restructure their systems. Most importantly, they are moving digital where key activities such as student account management, student enrollment and the management of student records is being data from the big-data systems. East End Computing and Business College (ECBC), a private education college that is situated in London has in the recent past managed to satisfy the expectations from students, regulatory bodies, awarding bodies and other relevant agencies. Despite all these, the institution has not been in the position of reflecting the IT systems to the business activities such as Human Resource management, operations, marketing and accounting amongst others. Upon identifying this area of need, it has become necessary and sufficient to focus on developing a support system for the students. Taking into consideration the fact that the university is already ranked as one amongst the compliant institutions in London, the next big thing is easing the operations of the institution.
Project selected to transform the business of ECBC.
The journey towards an entirety digitized system is quite long. That means that there will arise a need to identify the most probable projects. Then, the next thing will be to organize these probable projects to determine the priority projects from where the process of digitization is experienced. In this case, out of the provided projects, the project that is subject to review in this case is that of the introduction of swipe cards for students and staff for improving the attendance and other operational efficiencies.
The report will focus on a series of issues. First, it will provide the aims and objectives of the selected project area. Then, a project management plan intended to cover the aspects of cost, scope, time, quality, risk, communication and resources will be reviewed. Then, a work breakdown structure, as well as a Gantt chart to provide the timeframes and stages for completion will be provided. Following the evaluation of these named factors, the report will then move ahead to make proposals on the best ways to approach the issue at hand taking note of the research findings in the report.
Project Aims and Objectives of the selected project Area
There are a set of objectives or aims that drive the need to have a digitized system. Most importantly, the introduction of swipe cards for the members of staff and students is a project phase is aimed at achieving several objectives. The report intends to enumerate and explain the different aims and objectives that are affiliated with the selected project area which is in this case the introduction of swipe cards for student and staff. Below is an overview of these aims and objectives.
First, the project is aimed at ensuring that fostering the student, staff and visitor management. It is important to denote that security is more than just ensuring that visitors casually check in at the office. It is important undertake student protection. It is an issue that is becoming increasingly important. As such, it is the objective of this project to ensure that this gap is sealed. School security departments require to know those who are on campus and those who are not at every given time. That would be done through a sign-up system that uses a switch card.
The second objective is to track time and attendance. It would be important to assess the student attendance rates. That is only possible if the project materializes. Despite the fact that there are some manual systems in place, it would be necessary and sufficient to replace them with technology. Digitizing this process would make it cost effective, efficient and time saving.
The third objective of the project is that of streamlining library access and inventory management. The campus libraries, copy rooms and printer rooms ought to remain exclusively meant for the use of the students. With these cards, the readers, students could use their ID to gain access to the rooms. Later, they can also check out in an automatic manner. All the information is recorded and loaded into the student’s database and is then transmitted into the card. Through this card, the cards will provide real-time information regarding the status of the users.
The fourth objective is that of accessing control for the secure buildings and rooms. Having some RFID-enabled smart cards brings about an optimal solution for both the visitor management and the access to all other people within the campus. Issuance of smart ID cards to the students, staff, the faculty and finally the visitors will make it feasible for the security department to monitor the access points. Laboratories and other buildings that have high-value equipment will be assured of ample security.
The fifth objective will be to allow electronic payment for food, beverages, as well as, bookstores. Students could take advantage of these cards by filling in their accounts via the school account. That way, it will be feasible to pay for services and products.
Workflow chart and Gantt chart
The project is bound to employing the waterfall model. It is a traditional model which provides a solid workflow that could suit this project very well.

Tabular representation of the tasks and the duration.
Tasks
start date End Date Description duration
1-May 14-May Communication: project initiation & requirement gathering 14
15-May 31-May Planning: Estimation, Scheduling and Tracking 17
1-Jun 7-Jul Modelling: Analysis and Design 7
8-Jul 8-Aug Construction: Coding and Testing 31
12-Aug 21-Aug Deployment: Delivery and Support 10

Project Management Plan
Prior to implementing this project, it is important undertake a review of the very important aspects associated with its operationalization. These include the costs associated with the project, scope of the project, time required to undertake the project, quality measures, communication, risk and resources required for the completion of the project.
Costs
The entire project requires that an integrated card swipe technology. Most importantly, it requires that the technology is established in such a manner that the events tool assists in the successful tracking of the event that transpire within their system. First, the institution will have to purchase equipment necessary to setting up the swipe card system. The process of making a decision on the most appropriate hardware to purchase, it will be import to take into deep consideration the durability of the system.
Below is an overview of the unitary analysis of the most important costs to be incurred.
Magnetic Card Swipe Readers
Model Connection Compatibility Price in Dollars
MSR90 Card Swipe Reader Wired (USB)PC/Mac $20
MagTek Mini Swipe-USB Keyboard Emulation Wired (USB)PC/Mac $50

Bar Code Scanners
Model Connection Compatibility Price
Tao Tronics TT-BS012wireless PC/Mac $~50

Besides these costs, there will be the cost of having to print out student cards that is variable and will depend on the choice of the institution with reference to the availability of the resources.
Scope
The project will be intended to cover all the stakeholders of the institution. That means that the students, the instructors and professors, the administration, the support staff, the boards available in the institution and the visitors will have a facilitation of these cards. Hence, it is a project that will cover all the kinds of services that involve money usage in the institution. It will also involve the use of these cards in access areas including the library, the cafeteria and the main administration blocks among others as the administration may deem important.
Time
The project, from an analytical perspective will be intended to be undertaken in approximately two months upon preparing all the resources required. The activities will be organized in a chronological manner such that upon undertaking the last step, it will be feasible to start using the system immediately.
Quality
The institution, as stipulated earlier in the report, will focus on promoting quality work. Most importantly, the project will involve the use of the most durable systems that could be offered in the market, but still remain cost conscious. Hence, the durability is an issue of concern.
Communication
The idea of introducing the system or project is supposed to be communicated to every reachable stakeholder. That is because there are stages where their participation will be considered as highly important. The administration could use the social media platforms, the student and faculty emails, the internal memos, institutional billboards and flyers to communicate about the project to the stakeholders.
Risk and resources
Regarding risks, the institution will have to invest heavily in a risk contingency plan. Most importantly, the plan will emanate from evaluating the probable risks and determining the measures that will be undertaken to ensure that hazardous or adverse outcomes are not experienced.
In terms of resources, the institution could seek funds from a number of sources. First, since the institution is a profit making learning institution, it will need to plough back on the gains it has had. In addition, it could seek partnership plans with interested stakeholders that support excellence in higher education. The students could also be required to pay a certain fee for the introduction of these swipe cards.
Research Findings
Method
A research was undertaken with the intention of getting the views and proposals of the main stakeholders in the institution regarding the installation of the swipe cards project. The use of an open-ended questionnaire was considered appropriate. A series of questions and an open area for recommendations was also put into consideration. Hence, the use of a qualitative and quantitative research approaches would therefore be important in this particular exercise. An analysis of the findings through the basic excel sheet was also considered in generating final arguments.

Findings
Following the series of research endeavors involving the main stakeholders of the program such as the staff, students and management, a chain of findings were established and analyzed. First, the stakeholders considered the timeframe proposed of two months to be quite ambitious. According to them, it was imperative to reconsider adding one month for the project to be undertaken at the right pace and any issues that could have been identified would then go ahead and be addressed in time. In addition, it was determined that the stakeholders required that there be an aspect of differentiation in the manner through which the cards would be customized to suit the specific users. That means that the cards belonging to the management team would be different from those being used to the staff and students concurrently. Most of the stakeholders argued that it was imperative to have the finance system configured in such a manner that it would not be a loophole for loss of funds through fraudulent means most of which include cybercrimes. It was, as such, deemed necessary and sufficient to have a parallel program running to handle the finance transactions that would be undertaken using the swipe cards.
Recommendations and conclusion
A series of recommendations can be derived from the findings of the research. First, it is important to consider ensuring that security in the digital project of having swipe cards installed is actualized. That is through ensuring that the system is sealed as much as feasible. In addition, the hardware and software used should be such that they of high quality. That will ensure quality output in the end. Remember, it is a system that is expected to support a consistently growing population amongst the students and the members of staff. In addition, it will be important to consider taking more than two months to undertake the project. That will give the assigned persons sufficient time to install the system in all the relevant areas and do the pilot test with much convenience. Finally, it will be important to ensure that the resources available are not exhausted. It will be important to remain ready for any emergencies and unexpected costs that could come with a change in technology while in the process of developing the system.