BIS 412

Systems Analysis and Design Applications

Spring 2004

Project Developers:

Philip Kelly

Joseph Shaughnessy

Daniel Vickers

Project Liaison:

Joseph Shaughnessy

Organization Contact:

Jolene Ness

Contact Information:

Phone: (717) 432-3053

Fax: (717) 432-9789

E-mail: hopejn@juno.com

1.      Overview of Project and Sponsor Organization

     The project Access Hope is for New Hope Ministries in Dillsburg, PA.  New Hope Ministries is a non-profit organization which helps families in need.  They will provide essential items such as food, gas, clothing, or money for rent to families or individuals who desire such a need.  New Hope Ministries also has a Children and Youth Program which provides after school programs and outreach programs for kids.

     New Hope Ministries is presently experiencing problems with their database and they also have a need to expand and generate a new database for their Children and Youth Program.  With the creation of a new database New Hope Ministries will be able to devote precious volunteer time to areas of more concern.  With project Access Hope, the volunteers at New Hope will not spend countless hours on the computer, but rather be able to use their talents elsewhere in the organization.

New Hope Ministries is operated by a Board of Directors.  The Board has an Executive Director who oversees seven other Directors who handle day-to-day events.  The Dillsburg Center Director is Jolene Ness, who is also our key point of contact within the organization.  Project Access Hope will also be working closely with the Administrative Assistant and the Children and Youth Program Director at the Dillsburg Center.  Our team liaison is Joseph Shaughnessy. 

2.      Problem Statement

      New Hope Ministries is using a legacy database called FileMaker Pro 5.  No one at New Hope is familiar with the functionality of FileMaker, but they are able to use it for record keeping purposes.  New clients will fill out an application which is then entered into the database.  Clients will be added or updated accordingly.  When New Hope Ministries needs reports from the database they will sometimes manually write down the records from the screen and tally the results.  This becomes quite a burdensome task.  New Hope Ministries has also had trouble with FileMaker not working properly, thus resulting in lost information and effectively lost time.  There is also the problem with training new employees to use FileMaker. 

3.      Project Objectives

Upon completion of Project Access Hope, New Hope Ministries will see an increase in efficient use of time by their volunteers and employees.  Access Hope will operate in an intuitive way thus allowing ease of use.  The database will allow for expandability depending on the needs of New Hope Ministries in the future.  Ultimately, New Hope Ministries will experience a sense of freedom by riding themselves of a legacy software program.

 4.      Project Scope and Constraints

The database program Windows Access will be used for Project Access Hope thus allowing new versions to be easily updated by New Hope Ministries’ employees.  Since a commonly known database program will be used, training for the new database will be much easier as well.  The functionality of the new database will be limited to the delivered database.  It is our expectation to teach New Hope Ministries’ volunteers how to utilize the functionality of Windows Access to expand the capability in the future.  New Hope Ministries has also bought a new computer which will allow the new database to function at an optimal level. No major technical constraints were visible to the project.

5.      Project Strategy

       In order to accomplish Project Access Hope our team has devised a preliminary project plan which we will utilize to stay on task and deliver our project on time.  Our project plan may be updated and rearranged in order to succeed in delivering a project worthy of our team. This plan is available along with this proposal.

6.      Budget

New Hope Ministries has a license for Windows Access and a brand new computer. We do not see a need for new software or hardware at this time.

7.      Resources and Roles

Joseph Shaughnessy: Team Liaison, Documentation, Trainer, Quality Assurance

Dan Vickers: Lead Programmer, Developer, Architect, Assistant Trainer

Phil Kelly: Web Site Developer, Assistant Programmer, User Interface Expert

8.      Logistics

Currently, Project Access Hope is meeting weekly with New Hope Ministries on Tuesdays to discuss the project.  Contact will be made sporadically throughout the week via e-mail and phone conversations.

Project Access Hope has planned bi-weekly group meetings on Wednesdays to finalize for the upcoming Milestone.  Other unarranged meetings will occur throughout the week for team members to meet and work on the project.

9.      Project Justification

As defined by their mission statement, “New Hope Ministries is a Christian social Service agency that shows the love and hope found in Christ by meeting the needs of families and individuals in our local communities.”  There is a definite need for organizations like New Hope Ministries in our communities.  With the experience and expertise New Hope Ministries has for social services they lack certain technical skills.  With the addition of Project Access Hope, New Hope Ministries will see an increase in efficiency by way of a functional and user-friendly information system.  New Hope Ministries will be able to help more families and be better suited in the new millennium because of Project Access Hope.

 Approved by (Project Organization Contact):_________________________

Approved by Project Team Members:          _________________________

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 Approved by Professor Nejmeh:                 _________________________