Dynamic Interactive Communication Environment
Green Group
CS 410
April 27, 2006
1
Table of Contents
Document
Pg. No.
NSF Form 1207
(Will Dandridge)
3
Project Summary
(Will Dandridge)
5
NSF Form 1359
(Will Dandridge)
6
Project Description
(Will Dandridge
/Sean Coogan)
8
Biographical Sketches
(All Members)
14
Phase I Technical Objectives
(Will Dandridge)
17
GUI Design
(Sean Coogan)
20
Conclusion
(Mark DeDomenic)
26
Summary Budget Proposal
(James Hubany)
27
Works Cited
(Sean Coogan)
30
Marketing Plan
(Jeff Wolford)
32
Management Plan
(Tom Romero)
45
Staffing / Organizational Plan
(Jeff Worford)
56
Risk Plan
(Jeff Wolford)
73
Mitigation Plan
(Mark DeDomenic)
76
Funding Plan
(James Hubany
81
Evaluation Plan
(Jeff Wolford)
87
Resource Plan
(Sean Coogan)
93
Conclusion
(Mark DeDomenic)
97
Appendix:
2
COVER SHEET FOR PROPOSAL TO THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
PROGRAM ANNOUNCEMENT/SOLICITATION NO./CLOSING DATE/If not in response to a program announcement/solicitation enter NSF 00-2
FOR NSF USE ONLY
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A RENEWAL
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AN ACCOMPLISHMENT-BASED RENEWAL
AGENCY?
YES
NO
IF YES, LIST ACRONYM(S)
NAME OF ORGANIZATION TO WHICH AWARD SHOULD BE MADE
ADDRESS OF AWARDEE ORGANIZATION, INCLUDING 9 DIGIT ZIP CODE
Computer Productivity Initiative
AWARDEE ORGANIZATION CODE (IF KNOWN)
E & CS Building
4700 Elkhorn Ave Suite 3300
Norfolk, VA 23529-0162
NAME OF PERFORMING ORGANIZATION, IF DIFFERENT FROM
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ABOVE
PERFORMING ORGANIZATION CODE (IF KNOWN)
IS AWARDEE ORGANIZATION (Check All That Apply)
(See GPG II.D.1 For Definitions)
TITLE OF PROPOSED PROJECT
FOR-PROFIT ORGANIZATION
SMALL BUSINESS
MINORITY BUSINESS
WOMAN-OWNED BUSINESS
Dynamic Interactive Communication Environment
REQUESTED AMOUNT
PROPOSED DURATION (1-60 MONTHS)
REQUESTED STARTING DATE
6
January 10, 2006
SHOW RELATED PREPROPOSAL NO.,
IF APPLICABLE
months
CHECK APPROPRIATE BOX(ES) IF THIS PROPOSAL INCLUDES ANY OF THE ITEMS LISTED BELOW
BEGINNING INVESTIGATOR (GPG I.A.3)
VERTEBRATE ANIMALS (GPG II.D.12) IACUC App. Date
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PROPRIETARY & PRIVILEGED INFORMATION (GPG I.B, II.D.7)
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Exemption Subsection
or IRB App. Date
NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY ACT (GPG II.D.10)
INTERNATIONAL COOPERATIVE ACTIVITIES: COUNTRY/COUNTRIES
HISTORIC PLACES (GPG II.D.10)
SMALL GRANT FOR EXPLOR. RESEARCH (SGER) (GPG II.D.12)
FACILITATION FOR SCIENTISTS/ENGINEERS WITH DISABILITIES (GPG V.G.)
RESEARCH OPPORTUNITY AWARD (GPG V.H)
PI/PD DEPARTMENT
PI/PD POSTAL ADDRESS
Computer Science
925 Brandon Ave Apt 5A
Norfolk, Va 23517
PI/PD FAX NUMBER
757-555-1234
NAMES (TYPED)
High Degree
Yr of Degree
Telephone Number
Electronic Mail Address
M.S.
1987
757-683-4832
brunelle@cs.odu.edu
PI/PD NAME
Janet Brunelle
CO-PI/PD
Tom Romero
3
CERTIFICATION PAGE
Certification for Principal Investigators and Co-Principal Investigators
I certify to the best of my knowledge that:
(1) the statements herein (excluding scientific hypotheses and scientific opinions) are true and complete, and
(2) the text and graphics herein as well as any accompanying publications or other documents, unless otherwise indicated, are the original work of the
signatories or individuals working under their supervision. I agree to accept responsibility for the scientific conduct of the project and to provide the
required project reports if an award is made as a result of this proposal.
I understand that the willful provision of false information or concealing a material fact in this proposal or any other communication submitted to NSF is a
criminal offense (U.S.Code, Title 18, Section 1001).
Name (Typed)
PI/PD
Signature
Social Security No.*
Janet Brunelle
Date
000-00-0000
Co-PI/PD
Tom Romero
000-00-0000
Certification for Authorized Organizational Representative or Individual Applicant
By signing and submitting this proposal, the individual applicant or the authorized official of the applicant institution is: (1) certifying that statements made herein
are true and complete to the best of his/her knowledge; and (2) agreeing to accept the obligation to comply with NSF award terms and conditions if an award is
made as a result of this application. Further, the applicant is hereby providing certifications regarding Federal debt status, debarment and suspension, drug-free
workplace, and lobbying activities (see below), as set forth in the Grant Proposal Guide (GPG), NSF 00-2. Willful provision of false information in this application
and its supporting documents or in reports required under an ensuing award is a criminal offense (U.S. Code, Title 18, Section 1001).
In addition, if the applicant institution employs more than fifty persons, the authorized official of the applicant institution is certifying that the institution has
implemented a written and enforced conflict of interest policy that is consistent with the provisions of Grant Policy Manual Section 510; that to the best of his/her
knowledge, all financial disclosures required by that conflict of interest policy have been made; and that all identified conflicts of interest will have been
satisfactorily managed, reduced or eliminated prior to the institution’s expenditure of any funds under the award, in accordance with the institution’s conflict of
interest policy. Conflicts that cannot be satisfactorily managed, reduced or eliminated must be disclosed to NSF.
Debt and Debarment Certifications
(If answer “yes” to either, please provide explanation.)
Is the organization delinquent on any Federal debt?
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or voluntarily excluded from covered transactions by any Federal Department or agency?
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No
Yes
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The undersigned certifies, to the best of his or her knowledge and belief, that:
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INTEGRAL PART OF THE NSF INFORMATION SYSTEM AND ASSIST IN PROCESSING THE PROPOSAL. SSN SOLICITED UNDER NSF ACT OF 1950, AS AMENDED.
4
Project Summary:
The Dynamic Interactive Communication Environment (DICE) is envisioned as a
stand-alone application with web functionality that will help students succeed by building
an online educational community. It will enhance student-to-professor and student-tostudent communications by integrating voice chat, application sharing, file transfers, and
instant messages. Also included will be a forum/personal message board, a Wikidatabase, and all chat sessions can be archived for later viewing.
The Internet has long held the promise of anywhere, anytime education. Online or
distance education is become a normal way of attending classes in pursuit of a college
degree; however, with the amount of students perusing education outside of the
classroom, progress has yet to be made in the way of out-of-class communication
between these students. Unfortunately, once the course website has been disabled, or
once the cameras have been tuned off (for televised classes) interactive learning has
essentially been disabled as well. While advances continue to be made, much is still
lacking in the way of online leaning communities. Students living near a satellite campus
are effectively isolated from other students and lack the ability to truly enjoy the benefits
of study groups as well as other interactive learning activities. These “non-traditional”
students are also cut off from campus life in that they find it difficult to participate in
student-to-student communication unless, as is sometimes the case, an entire group ends
up being near the same satellite. This leads to a feeling of alienation and poor academic
performance. The Dynamic Interactive Communication Environment intends to bridge
this gap by bringing together both distance students and traditional students into the same
forum.
5
TABLE OF CONTENTS
For font-size and page-formatting specifications, see GPG Section II.C.
Section
Total No. of
Page No.*
Pages in
(Optional)*
Section
Cover Sheet (NSF Form 1207) (Submit Page 2 with original proposal only)
A
Project Summary (not to exceed 1 page)
1
B
Table of Contents (NSF Form 1359)
1
C
Project Description (including Results from Prior NSF
7
Support)
(not to exceed 15 pages) (Exceed only if allowed by a
program announcement/solicitation or if approved in
specific
advance by the
appropriate NSF Assistant Director or designee)
D
References Cited
E
Biographical Sketches (Not to exceed 2 pages each)
2
F
Budget
3
(NSF Form 1030, plus up to 3 pages of budget justification)
G
Current and Pending Support (NSF Form 1239)
H
Facilities, Equipment and Other Resources (NSF Form
1363)
I
Special Information/Supplementary Documentation
J
Appendix (List below)
Include only if allowed by a specific program
announcement/
solicitation or if approved in advance by the
appropriate NSF
Assistant Director or designee)
6
1
:
Appendix:
Marketing Plan
(Jeff Wolford)
Management Plan
(Tom Romero
Staffing / Organizational Plan
(Jeff Worford)
Risk Plan
(Jeff Wolford)
Mitigation Plan
(Mark DeDomenic)
Funding Plan
(James Hubany
Evaluation Plan
(Jeff Wolford)
Resource Plan
(Sean Coogan)
*Proposers may select any numbering mechanism for the proposal. The entire proposal, however, must be paginated.
both columns only if the proposal is numbered consecutively.
Complete
NSF Form 1359 (10/99)
46
7
Project Description
Societal Problem Defined:
There is an absence of a comprehensive medium for communication outside of
the classroom for distance learning students. Communication, by definition, is the act of
communicating or better yet, the act of being connected. Distance can then be defined as
remoteness, a sort of disconnect. These two words alone, distance and communication,
do not compliment each other in a seamless manor. It is, therefore, necessary to find a
way to bridge this disconnect and allow a seamless connection between distance and
traditional learning.
An All Too Common Example:
Bob, a distance education student is struggling in his program. He as asked for
tutoring help but there is no help available to meet is level of needs. Bob feels isolated in
his studies and is quickly falling behind. Without a tutor or study partner Bob will most
likely fail the class. Disappointed he may leave the college all together.
Sandra, a traditional, on-campus student commutes to her classes and works fulltime. Like Bob, Sandra is also struggling. Although Bob and Sandra do not know each
other, they would make ideal studies partners. Both Bob and Sandra work full-time and
both are late night studiers; however, neither students knows the other and they live 300
miles apart.
8
Currently Bob and Sandra reside in different sections of the same class. Unfortunately
unless the students already know each other, there is now way for them to meet. The idea
is to create a merger of these two sections thus allowing an effective communication
method for students to share their resources (Figure 1).
Communication without DICE (Figure 1)
Background:
According to the latest Sloan Consortium’s report “Growing by Degrees: Online
Education in the United States online enrollment increased from 1.98 million in 2003 to
2.35 million in 2004, as seen in Figure 2 (www.sloan-c.org/resources/overview.asp).
9
4,000,000
Number of
Students
3,500,000
3,000,000
2,500,000
2,000,000
1,500,000
Year of Enrollm ent
2006
(Estimated)
2005
(Estimated)
2004*
2003*
2002*
1,000,000
Prior and estimated enrollment figures (Figure 2)
The 2005 and 2006 estimates are based on the continue growth at the present rate.
Old Dominion University, a leader in online and distance education has also shown
dramatic increases in their distance-learning students (Figure 3).
10
5000
4500
Old Dominion University Distance Enrollment
4000
3500
3000
Students 2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
1984-1985
1989-1990
1994-1995
1999-2000
2004-2005
Year
(www.odu.edu/ao/upir/factbook/hc_enrollment/hc_by_university/hconoffsum_r.html)
(Figure 3)
The growing demand for distance learning is a common theme and a better
facilitation of communication among these students must be addressed.
To expand slightly on Old Dominion University, Old Dominion University is one of the
largest providers of distance learning degree programs in the country. ODU serves over
4,000 students at 50 sites in 6 states and U.S. Navy ships deployed around the globe,
which makes it the ideal site for the initial installation (www.dl.odu.edu/about_us/).
However, these locations do not reach into households or places where students
congregate to study. Seventy-five percent of ODU students work and of that percent,
thirty-three percent of them work more than 30 hours a week. Nationally, the average of
students juggling work and school is 78%
(http://home.hamptonroads.com/stories/story.cfm?story=98243&ran=22164). This is a
staggering number and due to this, many students find it hard to meet and form study
groups; however, as outline in Old Dominion’s Strategic Plan, ODU is committed to
providing quality student support services to students at a distance and strives toward
providing services that are at least as good as the services provided to the on-campus
population. This is not an impossible task.
11
Learning Communities:
A learning community is a purposeful restructuring of curriculum to link together
courses or coursework so that students find greater coherence in what they are learning
and greater interaction with faculty and peers.
Because retention of freshman students is low, Learning Communities were set up
to address this need; however, they were intended primarily for freshman coming out of
high school. This project intends to take the premise behind Learning Communities and
expand it to all students regardless of class rank, so that all students coming into a
university will benefit.
On almost all variables related to academic success, Learning Community
freshmen out-score non-Learning Community freshmen. These differences are highly
significant (Figure 4).
Benefits of Learning Communities (LC)
Item
LC
Non LC
Relationship w/
52%
41%
85%
81%
61%
41%
Faculty
Sense of
Community
Study w/ others
Benefits of Learning Communities
(http://www.odu.edu/ao/upir/reports_presentations/alcprc1.pdf) (Figure 4)
Goal:
The goal of this project is to develop an educational community in the form of a
stand-alone application to improve the quality of education for students by allowing them
to:

Communicate with each other outside the classroom

Share applications like white board
12

Form study groups

Find mentors

Volunteer as mentors

Assist with homework

Form an online educational community

To create an environment where all students at ODU can increase their
educational resources in order to maximize their success rate.
This project will develop a stand-alone application that will provide students with
a real-time communication environment to improve their success.
Previously mentioned was the student’s lack of communication between others in
different sections of the same course (Figure 5).
Current Student Interaction (Figure 5)
Once the D.I.C.E. is implemented, cross-communication between these sections
will be possible (Figure 6)
13
Student Interaction using DICE (Figure 6)
There are a few mechanisms that were presented to address the absence of a
comprehensive medium for communication outside of the classroom. Early stages of
development indicate that these options will be offered in a software suite to distance
education students at the time of registration. The package is to include real time voice
and text chat, an interactive message board, virtual white board that enables the student to
share applications with other students. The application will also include a customizable
profile; to which the students will have an opportunity to share personal information with
one another (name, previous and current classes, etc.), to add and delete class groups
from the student’s profile and enable the students to form study sessions with one another
through the application. Students will have the ability to control what information they
wish to be shared or not shared.
Biographical Sketches
Tom Romero: Tom Romero lives in Portsmouth, Virginia is the Project Manager for the
Dynamic Interactive Communication Environment (DICE) project. After retiring from
the United States Navy in 2002, he decided to pursue a degree in computer science.
While in the navy he worked as a system administrator at Naval European Meteorology
and Oceanography Center, and for United States Naval Station Rota, Spain. He is
currently a senior at Old Dominion University majoring in computer science, with a
14
minor in information systems. The skills Tom brings to the project include management
and leadership, C++ and Java programming, and web design.
William Dandridge: William Dandridge lives in Virginia Beach, Virginia and is the
Documentation Manager for the Dynamic Interactive Communication Environment
(DICE) project. Mr. Dandridge is a computer science major at Old Dominion University
and plans on graduating in the fall of 2006. He has four years active duty service in the
United States Navy and is currently a Navy Reservist. William has worked in the
Information Technology field for over 6 years. His specialties are computer networking,
helpdesk support, and network security. Mr. Dandridge has a wide range of computer
certifications including Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) in Windows 2000,
Microsoft Certified Systems Administration (MCSA) in Windows 2000, CompTIA
Certified PC Technician (A+), and CompTIA Certified Network Technician (Network+).
William is also well versed in C++, Java, and SQL.
Jeff Wolford: Jeff Wolford lives in Charlottesville, Virginia and is a senior at Old
Dominion University taking courses in the distance education realm. Mr. Wolford is the
Marketing Manager for the Dynamic Interactive Communication Environment (DICE)
project. Having being thrust in managing smaller projects at the Virginia Department of
Forestry, he found a knack for keeping information technology (IT) projects running in
light of minimal funding. The “dog and pony” shows for forestry management proved to
be a strength and source of enjoyment for Mr. Wolford. He is currently employed at the
University of Virginia and is leading a project to implement the third largest IT system at
University of Virginia (after their Oracle Financials and PeopleSoft SIS), which is the
R25 Academic and Special Event Room Management System. Applying the principals of
determining what the market is ready for has proven for a successful phase I
implementation. He brings marketing knowledge, promotional presence, and application
development support to the team.
Mark DeDomenic: Mark DeDomenic lives in Norfolk, Virginia and is the Risk Manager
for the Dynamic Interactive Communication Environment (DICE) project. He is a senior
in the computer science program at Old Dominion University, with an emphasis in
programming and a minor in information technology. He has been working with the
Office of Communications and Computing Services on campus since his entry into the
15
University, and is currently employed in the Media Services department in Webb Center,
providing audio/visual support for a variety of events. Mr. DeDomenic brings knowledge
of the University information systems to the project, as well as skills in Java, C/C++, and
networking.
Sean Coogan: Sean Coogan lives in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Mr. Coogan is the
Webmaster for the Dynamic Interactive Communication Environment (DICE) project. He
is currently a senior at Old Dominion University majoring in computer science, with a
minor in information systems. Mr. Coogan earned an Associates degree in Computer
Science from Tidewater Community College in 2004. He has been building computers
for five years. The skills Sean brings to the project include web design and development,
video and audio editing, extensive software knowledge, C++, Java and SQL
programming.
James Hubany: James Hubany lives in Hampton, Virginia. Mr. Hubany is the Financial
Manager for the Dynamic Interactive Communication Environment (DICE) project. He
is currently a senior at Old Dominion University majoring in computer science with a
minor in accounting. Mr. Hubany brings to the group solid knowledge of C++, Java,
graphics programming and parallel computing. He also has extensive financial
knowledge and experience.
Consultants
Professor Dennis Ray: Professor Dennis Ray received his Bachelors of Science degree
in Marine Engineering from United States Naval Academy in 1964 and his MS in
Computer Science from the United States Naval Postgraduate School in 1971. After
retiring from the United States Navy he began teaching at Old Dominion University in
1984. Professor Ray has over 20 years teaching at Old Dominion University.
Dr. Ravi Mukkamala: Professor Ravi Mukkamala received his Ph. D. from University
of Iowa in 1987. Also in 1987, he was appointed Associate Professor at Old Dominion
University, and in 2001 he was appointed Commonwealth Information Security Center
(CICC) Computer Science Research Fellow. Currently he teaches undergraduate and
graduate students in distributed systems, distributed databases, and operating systems.
His areas of expertise and research interests are: Information Security; Public-key
16
Infrastructure (PKI); Distributed Trusted Computing; Modeling of Distributed Database
Systems; Performance Modeling and Evaluation; Distributed Systems; Health Usage and
Monitoring Systems (HUMS).
Dr Irwin Levinstein: Professor Irwin Levinstein received his Ph. D. from University of
Chicago in 1973. His areas of expertise and research interests are Database systems and
Intelligent Tutoring.
Steve Crawford: Steve Crawford received his Bachelors of Science degree in Computer
Science from Old Dominion University in 2001. He has held various positions at the
Center for Learning Technologies and Academic Technology Services Faculty
Multimedia Lab since 1998; currently he is the Technology Coordinator for the
Academic Technology Services.
Christian A. Pucher: Christian Pucher is a technology and implementation expert in the
field of delivering media to distance students at Old Dominion University.
Sandra Waters: Sandra Waters is a Banner and SIS expert working for Old Dominion
University.
Kai Van De Carr: Kai Van De Carr, an online application-sharing expert currently
working with webex.com.
Carol Stanley: Carol Stanley is the University of Virginia Registrar and Family
Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) expert.
Phase I Technical Objectives
Domain:
The Dynamic Interactive Communication Environment will allow students to
have the option to join an online community, and allow them to communicate using voice
and audio chat. D.I.C.E also allows for voice and audio chat, file exchange / application
sharing also allows users the ability to archive chat sessions. The design of D.I.C.E. does
not call for high bandwidth.
A careful distinction has to be made when comparing this product to another
product used in the educational environment called Blackboard. Blackboard is a webbased software system, which is used to support flexible teaching and learning in face-toface and distance courses. It provides tools and facilities for online course management,
content management and sharing, assessment management, and online collaboration and
17
communication (www.vuw.ac.nz/home/glossary) . Blackboard is configured as a
classroom management system not a communication device. The Dynamic Interactive
Communication Environment will not replace and does not plan on competing with or
replacing Blackboard.
Major Functional Components (Figure 7):
To properly implement the project, the following components are required:
1. A server to provided authentication and host sessions. The server will
also act as the storage device for archived chat and will host voice
sessions.
2. A database to store student records. It is possible to have the system
interface from exported data rather than connect directly to the
database.
3. A firewall is required to provide security to the system.
4. Connection to the World Wide Web for distance learning students to
connect with the system and to connect with other students.
Major Functional Component Diagram (Figure 7)
Project Scope (Figure 8):
The scope of the project does not expand beyond providing a software solution to
meet the needs of the education facility. The Dynamic Interactive Communication
18
Environment package does not include user PCs; however, a personal computer will be
used to load the client software responsible for providing the user with a Graphical User
Interface. The solution also does not provide a student enrollment database. The
customers will have to provide their own database solutions. DICE will; however,
provide the interface to this database.
Project Scope (Figure 8)
What’s in the Box? (Figure 9)
At the heart of the Dynamic Interactive Communication Environment is the webbased solution. This solution provides the community building software, which is the
backbone of the system. This software includes Instant Messenger / Audio Chat. A web
based Wiki-style encyclopedia, web forums, etc. This software component of the DICE
will follow basic client-server Instant Messaging and Presence Protocol as set forth by
the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). Also included are the required training and
technical manuals and software database interfaces.
19
Interfaces
Student Enrollment
Database
Training
Materials
Dynamic Interactive
Communication Environment
Web Based Services
Stand Alone Application
THE BOX
Associate Database
(may be able to run off SIS db)
What is in the Box (Figure 9)
The Graphical User Interface
Log-On and Process Flow Chart (Figure 10)
Log in process (Figure 10)
Home:
This is the first screen users will see after logging on to DICE. The Home screen is also
the main navigation screen. We aim to allow users to access mentors, tutors, or a study
20
group with in three clicks. This provides a user-friendly system, and allows the student to
maximize time efficiency (Figure 11). They will then be given the option to:
1. View the University schedule
2. Check to see if any student mentors are available.
3. View and customize software options
4. Check to see which tutors are online.
5. View which classes are available to them and interact with peers.
Home Page GUI (Figure 11)
Schedule:
This screen allows the user to see a list of the school’s offered classes that are available
on the DICE system. Through this interface users can access course information, course
materials, and professors’ course websites (Figure 12).
21
Schedule GUI (Figure 12)
Mentors:
This screen allows the user to see a list of their mentors whom they have made initial
contact with, both professors and peers. The user has two options to contact the mentor;
email or instant message. The color codes for the instant message are; green if the mentor
is online and available, red if the mentor is online but not available, and grey if the
mentor is offline. The user can email their mentor no matter the mentors’ online status
(Figure 13).
22
Mentor GUI (Figure 13)
Options:
The options screen allows the user to change or update their picture, adjust their default
microphone volume, set their contacts list options (Figure 14).
Options GUI (Figure 14)
23
Tutors:
This screen allows the user to see a list of available tutors. The list is broken down by
subject, and then by course number. The user can click any green JOIN button to join that
study group. If the JOIN button is red the group is either full or inactive (Figure 15).
Tutor GUI (Figure 15)
My Classes:
This screen shows classes the user is currently enrolled in and other class with the same
course number, but different section. This screen will allow the student to view the
number of peers available across different sections of a course and allows them to join a
study groups (Figure 16).
24
My Classes GUI (Figure 16)
Figure 17 is the initial version of the graphical user interface. Starting at the top
is the name of the current user, email address, current group (class) the user is logged
into, and a link to other groups the student is a member of. Moving clockwise is a picture
of the current person speaking, as the speaker changes, so will this picture enabling
students to associate a face with a voice. Next to the picture is list of students currently
logged into the group, in this example the CS 410 group. Below those two is the audio
controls, an enable audio and volume control. The instant messaging portion is next with
areas to read and send text. In the bottom left hand corner is the FTP button, which gives
the students the ability to quickly exchange files, also, in the lower left hand corner is a
list of the most recently archived chat sessions. And finally is the whiteboard/shared
application area.
25
User
Interface GUI (Figure 17)
Conclusion:
American President John F Kennedy once noted that “Our progress as a nation
can be no swifter than our progress in education.” Modern technology has allowed
education to expand beyond the classroom, enabling students to go earn full degrees
without ever setting foot on a college campus. However, these advances come at the loss
of the sense of community and better communication that a traditional setting provides.
The Dynamic Interactive Communication Environment will help fill this void,
connecting students across the nation and potentially improving the quality of education
for students. Our solution offers students a comprehensive tool to help them
communicate with fellow students and instructors. This tool will keep campuses on the
forefront of technology, increase retention rates in distance programs, and hopefully
increase overall graduation rates.
26
FOR NSF USE ONLY
54
SUMMARY PROPOSAL BUDGET
ORGANIZATION
PROPOSAL NO.
DURATION (MONTHS)
Computer Productivity Initiative
PRINCIPAL
DIRECTOR
A. SENIOR
List eachINVESTIGATOR/PROJECT
PERSONNEL:
separately withPI/PD,
name Co-PIs,
and title.
Faculty
(A.7. Show
and Other
number
Senior
in brackets)
Associates
CAL
Janet Brunelle
1.
2.
AWARD NO.
Person-months
NSF-Funded
ACAD SUMR
Proposed
Requested
Funds
By
Proposer
Granted
Granted
Funds
by
(If Differen
NSF
$
3.
4.
5.
6. (
) OTHERS (LIST INDIVIDUALLY ON BUDGET EXPLANATION PAGE)
7. (1) TOTAL SENIOR PERSONNEL (1-6)
B. OTHER PERSONNEL (SHOW NUMBERS IN BRACKETS)
1. (0) POSTDOCTORAL ASSOCIATES
2. (3) OTHER PROFESSIONALS (TECHNICIAN, PROGRAMMER, ETC.)
$24,000.00
3. (0) GRADUATE STUDENTS
4. (6) UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS
$42,240.00
5. (0) SECRETARIAL - CLERICAL (IF CHARGED DIRECTLY)
6. (0) OTHER
TOTAL SALARIES AND WAGES (A + B)
$66,240.00
C. FRINGE BENEFITS (IF CHARGED AS DIRECT COSTS)
$26,496.00
TOTAL SALARIES, WAGES AND FRINGE BENEFITS (A + B + C)
$92,736.00
D. EQUIPMENT (LIST ITEM AND DOLLAR AMOUNT FOR EACH ITEM EXCEEDING $5,000.)
TOTAL EQUIPMENT
E. TRAVEL
1. DOMESTIC (INCL. CANADA, MEXICO AND U.S. POSSESSIONS)
2. FOREIGN
F. PARTICIPANT SUPPORT
1. STIPENDS
$
2. TRAVEL
3. SUBSISTENCE
4. OTHER
TOTAL NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS (1)
TOTAL PARTICIPANT COSTS
0
G. OTHER DIRECT COSTS
1. MATERIALS AND SUPPLIES
$3,040.00
2. PUBLICATION/DOCUMENTATION/DISSEMINATION
0
3. CONSULTANT SERVICES
0
4. COMPUTER SERVICES
5. SUBAWARDS
6. OTHER
TOTAL OTHER DIRECT COSTS
H. TOTAL DIRECT COSTS (A THROUGH G)
I.
$95,776.00
INDIRECT COSTS (F&A) (SPECIFY RATE AND BASE)
TOTAL INDIRECT COSTS (F&A)
J. TOTAL DIRECT AND INDIRECT COSTS (H + I)
$95,776.00
K. RESIDUAL FUNDS (IF FOR FURTHER SUPPORT OF CURRENT PROJECT SEE GPG II.D.7.j.)
L. AMOUNT OF THIS REQUEST (J) OR (J MINUS K)
M. COST SHARING: PROPOSED LEVEL $
PI/PD TYPED NAME AND SIGNATURE*
ORG. REP. TYPED NAME & SIGNATURE*
$95,776.00
27
$
AGREED LEVEL IF DIFFERENT: $
FOR NSF USE ONLY
DATE
DATE
INDIRECT COST RATE VERIFICATION
Date Checked
Date of Rate Sheet
Initials-ORG
Budget Detail
Undergraduate Students:
The cost of labor at $42,240 consists of six undergraduate interns, while another
$24,000 is allocated for a security expert, network expert and database expert. An
additional 40% of salary cost at $26,496 is included as overhead for general and
administrative costs.
Our security expert is responsible to over look our security plan, to insure that the
Federal Education Rights Privacy Act (FERPA) is not violated in any manner and to
insure methods dealing with the honor code and to keep unethical activities at a
minimum. The database expert and the networking expert are one in the same, as they
will both provide us with information regarding how much space is needed for each
student database and to help us insure that the DICE team will have enough bandwidth to
handle the server load.
The primary responsibilities of the undergraduate interns during phase I will
involve coordinating group efforts. Each team member will be held accountable to a
specific task and responsibilities accordingly. A description of each task can be seen by
looking at our staffing plan on page 57. The amount of time required for this work is
budgeted to be 704 hours with a cost of $7,040 for each intern. This labor category as
well as all others includes an overhead cost estimate of 40%. Table I shows a breakdown
of the labor budget for Phase I.
28
Table 1.
Materials & Supplies:
Development of the Dynamic Interactive Communication Environment will
require hard resources. The two Dell Precision 380 machines will be used to run the
DICE software package to prove functionality between the computers. The Linksys - 4Port Ethernet Broadband Router will be used to connect these computers together. The
DICE team will not have to worry about additional hard resources as Old Dominion
University will provide workstations and software licenses needed to develop the DICE
software package. Table II shows the cost of the materials needed in more detail.
Table 2.
29
Works Cited
Distance Learning @ North Seattle Community Colleges “Distance Learning
Survey” (2005) <http://www.virtualcollege.org/stats/stats_reports.htm>
National Association of College and University Business Officers: US Department of
Education Publications and Tools (2004) <http://www.nacubo.org/x164.xml>
National center for education statistics http://nces.ed.gov/
Old Dominion University: Changing Lives “Old Dominion University Strategic Plan
2005 – 2009”
<http://www.odu.edu/ao/affairs/odusp2005%5B2004.12.10%5Dbov.pdf>
Old Dominion University Distance Learning: “About us” (2003)
<http://www.dl.odu.edu/about_us/>
Old Dominion University: Institutional Research and Assessment
<http://www.odu.edu/ao/upir/factbook/hc_enrollment/hc_by_university/hconoffs
um_r.html>
Powel, Richard. Conway, Christopher. Ross, Lynda. “Effects of Student Predisposing
Characteristics on Student Success” Journal of Distance Education (1990)
<http://cade.icaap.org/vol5.1/8_powell_et_al.html >
Swan, Michael K, Jackman, Diane H. Comparing the Success of Students Enrolled in
Distance education Courses vs. Face-to-Face Classrooms (2000)
<http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/JOTS/Winter-Spring-2000/pdf/swan.pdf>
Shape, Marty Smith, Pickering, Worth, and Gile, Roxanne Old Dominion University:
30
Learning Communities – Assessing the Impact on Students and Faculty
http://www.odu.edu/ao/upir/reports_presentations/alcprc1.pdf
The Sloan Consortium. Sizing the Opportunity: The Quality and Extent of Online
Education in the United States, 2002 - 2003 <http://www.sloanc.org/resources/overview.asp>
US Department of Education: Office of Vocational and Adult Education (2005)
<http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ovae/pi/cclo/distance.html>
Virginian-Pilot
http://home.hamptonroads.com/stories/story.cfm?story=98243&ran=22164
31
APPENDIX
DICE MARKETING PLAN
OUR CUSTOMER
Total Market
All universities and colleges are our target customer for DICE. By the nature of
these institutions, our secondary customer is the faculty and students who will be using
DICE to enhance their educational journey. In the fall of 1999, the US Department of
Education reported that there is 39581 degree granting institutions. This is the total
number of possible customers that DICE can reach. When determining our actual market
share for the services that we will
4,000,000
2,500,000
2,000,000
1,500,000
2006
(Estimated)
Year of Enrollm ent
Sloan’s Consortium) have
2005
(Estimated)
reported in 2005 and published by
2004*
1,000,000
2003*
granting institutions, 56% (as
3,000,000
2002*
roughly in half. Of these degree-
Number of
Students
3,500,000
provide, this number decreases
identified online education as a critical long-term strategy2. Additionally, United States
online enrollment increased from 1.98 million in 2003 to 2.35 million in 20043. These
figures, as well as estimated figures can be seen in the chart pictured at right. DICE’s
benefits can be realized in the traditional full-time on-campus student profile exhibited by
all of the degree granting institutions. However, the benefits are expressed in greater
quantity to distance and online education curriculum in these institutions.
1
http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d01/dt180.asp
http://www.sloan-c.org/resources/overview.asp
3
http://www.sloan-c.org/resources/overview.asp
2
32
First Customer
For our first instantiation of DICE, we have selected Old Dominion University as
our premier customer. The reasons for choosing ODU relied on two items: this is the
current university that the DICE development team attends and ODU has a vested interest
in the success of their distance education program. Old Dominion University is one of
the largest providers of distance learning degree programs in the country. It serves over
4,000 students at 50 sites in 6 states and U.S. Navy ships deployed around the globe.
These also reflect students who are enrolled at certain sites, but attend their classes in the
online setting.
5000
4500
4000
3500
3000
Students 2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
1984-1985
1989-1990
1994-1995
1999-2000
2004-2005
Year
ODU Distance Education Enrollment 1
Additionally, as outlined in Old Dominion’s Strategic Plan, ODU is committed to
providing quality student support services to students who are in distance education and
strives toward providing services that are at least as good as the services provided to the
33
on-campus population. This commitment to distance learning is clearly explained in the
6th goal of ODU’s Strategic Plan.
Old Dominion University’s 2005-2009 Strategic Plan Excerpts:
“6a.1 Develop new programs or enhance existing programs in all academic
colleges that focus on regional needs or “changing lives” within the region.”
“6b.1 Strengthen our current distance education programs across the
Commonwealth of Virginia and the world, specifically through special accessibility
agreements with Virginia community colleges but also by initiating new global
programming.”4
Secondary customers Identified
Finally, our secondary customer becomes the faculty and students who will
ultimately use DICE. Our product will be based off of the idea of community. The
educational community aspect will be the key element that truly separates DICE from
any other product currently on the market. By looking at the success of similar
community software packages, we can ascertain the potential success of DICE. Using
the product Facebook (http://www.thefacebook.com) and MySpace.com
(http://myspace.com), we can draw comparisons to the societal acceptance of online
communities. Each of these companies reported roughly a three hundred percent increase
in daily reach, with Myspace.com reaching upwards of 25 billion people logging in per
day. The trends of society flocking to some type of online community are displayed in
the following charts detailing the two companies mentioned above.
4
http://www.odu.edu/ao/affairs/odusp2005%5B2004.12.10%5Dbov.pdf
34
COMPETITION
The following chart details what features DICE brings to the table in comparison
to current technologies that are available. As you can see, many other products come
close to a complete solution for distance education community building. However, they
either lack in functionality or lack community.
Most Instant Messaging clients do not include any type of community. They rely
on the user to create their own community. This however presents the problem when a
35
student does not know whom they need to add to their community. The current academic
products of our competition create a community. However, this community is limited to
a single class. If students need additional help, these products do not address this.
All of the features that need to come together to create the comprehensive
solution are not available in any existing product. DICE creates the online community
and adds each of the modules of communication that are necessary to facilitate the
learning environment. Therefore, as shown in the matrix above, DICE is clearly the only
solution for colleges and universities who want to facilitate the learning process for their
online or distance education faculty and students.
BENEFITS TO CUSTOMER
What physical items are purchased?
As shown in the above figure, schools will receive DICE, along with Training
Materials, and a custom interface to their own Student Information System (Banner,
36
Oracle, PeopleSoft, Matrix, Datatel, etc.). This listing is subject to change as new
releases or versions of DICE are instantiated. These three items are outlined below:

Training Materials
o 20 Printed User Guides
o 20 Electronic User Guide (in PDF format) on CD
o Sample of Promotional Materials to Use for Faculty/Staff/Student
Acceptance
o 20 Hours of Onsite Training from a DICE Expert to each school’s
identified support personnel

Interfaces
o Customizations as detailed in the purchase agreement
o Documentation describing interface links and data mapping

DICE
o Initial setups to link to your database of choice

Supported databases include (MySQL, Oracle, SQL, Solid,
Access)
o Installation of client/server and web based tools for management
staff
o Customizations as detailed in the purchase agreement
o Reporting mechanisms as detailed in the purchase agreement
37

What is not in the box that is required?
o Database to house DICE community information, archived
communications, and management data
o Local support staff (1 staff member per 10,000 students
recommended)
o Peripherals needed to use certain features of DICE (i.e. computer
speakers, microphones, etc.)
What Do You Get That is Not in the Box?
When purchasing DICE, your benefits will start coming in a chain reaction
fashion. Starting with a higher retention of students and ending with increased money
from tuition payments of these retained students. Learning communities, like DICE, will
increase study with others by 20%5. This amount of increase is key to retaining freshman
that will get lost in the shuffle, for recruiting non-traditional students, and for offering
support to students in higher-level classes.
Benefits of Learning Communities:
5
http://cade.icaap.org/vol5.1/8_powell_et_al.html
38
Once student retention is achieved, federal funding will increase. Although it
may be a bad indicator, graduation rates are key in determining how much federal
funding a school will receive. To the federal government, higher graduation rates are an
indicator that the institutions are performing well. However, this does not take into
account the non-full time students, who decrease this number drastically. DICE will help
to even the playing field in this regard. Students will be able to take more classes since
the amount of time they spend looking for help will be reduced to a negligible number.
This idea will help ODU tremendously, since they have one of the lower graduation rates
for 4 and 5 years in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Graduation Rates in Virginia:
Finally, a return on investment for schools is in the increased tuition that they will
see from student retention. Just bumping up retention or recruitment to one percent well
outweighs the monetary cost of DICE. In the example below, we can look at the benefit
that ODU would receive if one percent of their student population took 12 credit hours
39
more than usual. This directly relates to retaining freshman and increasing the amount of
classes that part-time students can take.
 If we can increase ODU enrollment by 1%
o 208*12*181=451776

Student * 12 hr * $181 cost per credit hour = $451,776
o $45,1776 * 2 semesters = $903,552
o Annual comparison:

1% retention/recruitment +$903,552

Cost of DICE -$35,000

Increase realized by ODU +$868,552
CUSTOMER RETENTION AND NEW CUSTOMER SOLICITATION
We will need to continue to address the needs of our current customers, as well as
using them to promote our product. We will employ certain forums that will encourage
the word-of-mouth sales tool. Using word-of-mouth publicity, we can reach markets
without spending a lot of time and money. In essence, we are employing our customers
to create the buzz on DICE to increase our customer base.
Our post-sales/retention plan consists of:
1.
Educational conferences
2.
User Conferences
3.
Training of users
o
Step-through demos
40
o
FAQ listing
o
Online help “wiki” format
o
List serves
4.
Customer feedback forums
5.
“Golden User” reviews
We will explore what Educational Conferences are attended by faculty and
administrative officials who make decisions on IT solutions and on distance education
curriculum. Some conferences that we will plan on attending include: Annual
Conference on Distance Teaching and Learning as sponsored by the University of
Wisconsin-Madison, TCC Worldwide Online Conference as sponsored by the University
of Hawaii, etc. Once our customer base increases to several institutions, we can then
create our own annual User Conference where we can facilitate the word-of-mouth
publicity. Finally, we will create an intensive company website that will allow customers
to get direct feedback, updated notes on DICE and the company, and online
tutorials/help. Each of these items will be available to current and interested customers
so that the materials can play a dual role of education/support and marketing.
BREAK EVEN ANALYSIS
DICE will use a strategy to bring its first customer on-board at a special
discounted price. This will allow our product to take root into the market and create a
buzz. Since DICE will be roughly $9.000 shy of breaking even (after the federal grants
are applied and our ongoing or Out Years costs are ignored), we will be able to sell this
product to ODU for a $10,000 one-time fee. This will essentially wash the loss that
DICE will experience in its initial implementation. The next cost that must be considered
41
is the recurring cost, or Out Years cost of DICE. This is roughly $346,000. It makes
absolutely no sense to license this product to one individual school for such a large
amount. Just looking at the recurring cost quickly, we can see that 10 schools paying
$35,000 yearly licensing fee will cause a break-even point. The DICE staff has agreed
that setting a goal of the break even point to be 10 schools is acceptable. There are 29
potential customers in the commonwealth of Virginia alone who we can sell DICE to.
Additionally, there are over 3900 schools where DICE is a product that may be of
interest. This makes our break-even point at .25% of the total potential market.
Therefore, any amount that we charge ODU can be applied as promotional discounts.
We have chosen $25,000 as the discounted yearly licensing fee for ODU. This number
was derived as a medium point so as not to have the discount a stumbling block or point
of frustration for new customers.
The chart below shows our break even analysis in simple form:
Total Cost of DICE
$1,206,213
Phase 1 grant
-$100,000
Phase 2 grant
-$750,000
OutYears Cost
-$346,431
$9,782
Cost of 1st Implementation
Cost of new customer
$74,963
implementations
One time
Annual
42
Total Costs
$74,963
$346,431
Price to Cust
$75,000
$35,000
break even
0
10
Special ODU Price
$10,000
$25,000
Customers, after
ODU, needed to
After DICE is rolled out to around 12 customers, we will start seeing a net profit
of about $35,000 per year. There is some point at which we will need to increase staffing
levels to accommodate for the size of our customer base. This will increase the OutYears
costs that we have listed. We will not estimate at what size our customer base needs to
be to account for this staffing increase. Instead, our marketing plan will be adjusted after
15 customers are welcomed into the DICE family since the Out Years costs will not
fluctuate for these 15 institutions.
A chart listed below shows our net income potential on the basis of charging
customers (after ODU) a price of $75,000 one time set up fee and $35,000 yearly
licensing cost:
Customer #
Profit/Loss
Amount Profit/Loss
1 - ODU
Loss
-$321,431
2
Loss
-$286,431
3
Loss
-$251,431
4
Loss
-$216,431
5
Loss
-$181,431
43
6
Loss
-$146,431
7
Loss
-$111,431
8
Loss
-$76,431
9
Loss
-$41,431
10
Loss
-$6,431
11
Profit
$28,569
12
Profit
$63,569
13
Profit
$98,569
14
Profit
$133,569
15
Profit
$168,569
44
DICE Management Plan
Program Identification:
This Program Management Plan (PMP) is for the Dynamic Interactive
Communication Environment (DICE). The program will deliver the DICE hardware,
software and documentation for the Dynamic Interactive Communication Environment.
Computer Productivity Initiative group is responsible for the integration, acceptance
testing and training of the Total Computing Environment.
Program Management Overview:
Execution of the Program will be performed in accordance with the procedures
defined by the set of planning documents. These documents include Program
Management Plan, Development Plan, Evaluation Plan, Marketing Plan, Scheduling Plan,
Organizational Plan, Financial Plan and Risk Management Plan (RMP) (see Figure 1).
The responsibilities of the Program Team, the capabilities of the system, and the Program
deliverables are detailed under the contractual provisions, as well as Dynamic Interactive
Communication Environment’s technical, management, and cost proposals.
Management Plan
Development Plan
Evaluation Plan
Marketing Plan
Scheduling Plan
Financial Plan
Organizational Plan
Risk Management Plan
Figure 1. Program Management
45
This Program Management Plan describes the management philosophy, program
organization, schedule, and major milestones that serve as the guide for execution of the
Program. The PMP also provides the customer and the quality team with the information
they need to monitor and evaluate the progress of the effort. This plan provides the
following pertinent information:

Corporate Organization

Program Team Organization With Areas of Responsibility

Work Breakdown Structure

Program Planning

Progress Reporting and Team Management

Detailed Program Schedule and Milestones
The Program Management Plan provides guidance for the content and execution of
the following plans:

Risk Management

Financial

Evaluation

Development
Corporate Structure:
The entirety of Computer Productivity Initiative supports the DICE Program. In 1995,
Old Dominion University started the Computer Productivity Initiative from a grant by the
National Science Foundation to give Computer Science students the opportunity to
develop solution to real world problems. Over the past 11 years, this commitment has
resulted in students utilizing the knowledge and skills they gain in their undergraduate
46
courses to research and solve real world problems. The following is Computer
Productivity Initiative's Dynamic Interactive Communication Environment Corporate
organizational structure:

Old Dominion University

General Manager, Computer Productivity Initiative

Dynamic Interactive Communication Environment Program Office. Dynamic
Interactive Communication Environment Program Office will execute the
program and provide day-to-day senior management supervision, management,
engineering, and administrative resources necessary to manage and administer the
Dynamic Interactive Communication Environment program.
Management Approach
Dynamic Interactive Communication Environment’s management goal is to work
closely with the customer to fully understand the system requirements and field a system
that meets those requirements. The management approach to executing contracts at DICE
is based on the philosophy that successful Programs are delivered by goal-oriented teams.
A Program Manager (PM) will lead the DICE team. The PM is responsible for all planning,
programmatic, technical, and financial aspects of the Program. The PM is the primary Point
of Contact (POC) for the customer. The primary duties include supervision of all planning,
scheduling, financial, and technical activities, and customer liaison. The PM is responsible
for all Program-related decisions and commitments with approval, as required, from the
Corporate Management Team.
47
A key element of Dynamic Interactive Communication Environment’s program
management approach is customer involvement. The DICE team encourages the customer
to retain an active role in monitoring the progress of all aspects of the project from proof of
concept, to critical design, and continuing into the production and the out years. The
customer is encouraged to discuss technical details directly with members of the project
team, provide planning and schedule recommendations, and assist in resolution of technical
and programmatic issues. In order to facilitate customer involvement, DICE will provide
access to program information including, but not limited to:

Program Plans and Schedules

Program Status

Profit

Formal Review Material

Action Items

System Drawings and Documentation
Program Team:
The Program Team is committed to provide the best value by delivering reliable
real world solutions utilizing advance easy-to-use, low-risk solutions at the lowest cost.
This commitment is attainable because it is based on the re-use of existing technology
that is field-proven. Through strategic teaming and an extensive system selection process,
Computer Productivity Initiative has assembled a cohesive Program Team that is
experienced with the implementation of each component that will comprise the DICE
system.
48

Program Manager. Overall management responsibility for DICE is assigned to
a Program Manager who is responsible for planning and coordination of the dayto-day technical, contractual, and financial aspects of the program. The PM is
responsible for the generation and management of all program schedules, for the
coordination of program staff assignments and for coordinating all program
activities. The PM's principal assistants are:

Documentation Specialist. The DS provides overall documentation direction for
the Program Team. The DS will ensure that everyone on the team has met the
required documentation specifications, and that each person is aware of the tasks
he/she has been assigned. The DS will also provide documentation of each
meeting in which an overview of tasks assigned is given

Financial/SBIR Specialist. The FS works in coordination with the rest of the
team to devise a specific and schedule based budget plan, that will be reviewed by
each of the team members and approved by both the PM and the customer. The
FS will also determine the best agency to pursue to get funding for the project.
The FS must also compile the materials from each of the various plans into one
SBIR Proposal Document that will be sent to the agency to request funding.

Marketing Specialist. The MS is responsible for developing a marketing plan
that includes the specification of an initial target market. The MS is responsible
for the development of an in-depth plan on how to advertise and sell the DICE
program to the specified target market. The MS must also determine the various
risks involved and the best way to mitigate them.
49

Webmaster. The WM is responsible for the creation and maintenance of a
product website which will include the display of all relevant documents and
presentations. The WM will update the website on a weekly basis as new
documents and milestones are reached.

Technical Specialist (Hardware and Software Development). The TS is
responsible for making sure the team understands all the aspects of the technical
aspects of the technology involved in the design of the DICE. Areas of software
research include determining the best programming language to use, an
appropriate tool for the GUI, program control flow, and test plans. Other areas of
research include determining the server specifications and network connection
requirements for the application to run.
Program Duration:
The DICE program is a planned 1109 workday project starting January 1,2006.
Phase 0, the conception of the project, is schedule from January – May 2006. The next
phase, Phase 1 is Proof of Concept where a lab prototype will be built along with the
creation of several documents including a user's manual will last from August –
December 2006. The Critical Design phase, Phase 2, will last from January 07 –
December 08, is where the DICE team will develop and prepare the DICE software for
the final phase. The final phase, Phase 3, will consist of producing a final product to sell
to the target market. While Phase 3 will last 438 working days, it is understood Phase 3
is the production and out years, which means the program will review its current state and
plan for the future implementations and support.
50
Work Breakdown Structure:
The program Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) reflects the budgeted cost versus
resources required to complete each task. The WBS phase numbers are integrated as part
of the master program schedule. Assuming SBIR funding, the budget will be carefully
planned out against the set deadlines set by SBIR guidelines. The budgets are created by
the Financial Manager, reviewed by the DICE program and set by the Program Manager.
The WBS will be used to mark the different milestones throughout the phases and to
make sure the team is on time and under budget. The WBS management tool that DICE
will use is Microsoft Project.
Program Planning:
The Dynamic Interface Communication Environment program team office will
maintain the program master schedule. The master schedule contains a line item for each
WBS element and will be used to track the progress of each element. All deviations from
the master schedule must be coordinated with the program office. It is the responsibility
of each team member to call attention to possible schedule deviations at the earliest
opportunity. The program office will coordinate the program schedule with Computer
Productivity Initiative. The program will be developed in phases; within each phase,
formal reviews will play an integral part in monitoring program progress. All formal
reviews will be announced four weeks in advance of the starting date.
DICE will take a “top down approach” to the Program Schedule, meaning that we will
pace our workload to fit the overall Program requirements. Particular attention will be
given to timely milestone completions. It is recognized that the schedule is particularly
51
tight, containing critical program milestones during the first year, and adequate personnel
will be available in order to keep the program moving forward.
Progress Performance Assessment:
All Dynamic Interactive Communication Environment team members will participate
in progress reporting and team management. DICE will track technical and financial
progress of the program. Reviews will be held monthly or as mutually agreeable between
Computer Productivity Initiative and DICE.

Report on progress to date

Present work to be performed during the next month

Present status of all deliverables and review planned delivery dates

Plan and coordinate activities, including next review date

Discuss technical or programmatic issues as necessary.
In preparation for the meetings the DICE Program Manager will collect the current
status data on relevant on-going activities, progress against schedule and budget, and
planned activity for the next reporting period. Quality reviews of all program
documentation and procedures will be held periodically. Peer editing groups set by the
PM will hold continual quality reviews. In particular, the quality program will be
involved with program deliveries and milestones and will work off of the master program
schedule to plan program audits. Technical, financial and quality progress and status
reporting will be conducted according to the following general guidelines.
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Technical Progress and Reporting:
The schedule for the program is established during the planning phase and
monitored throughout the performance period. The schedule contains an entry for each
WBS element. The percentage of completion for each WBS element is determined as
necessary to manage program progress and is reviewed at least quarterly during the
General Manager’s review.
Financial Management and Reporting:
The financial profile for the Program is established during the planning phase and
monitored throughout the performance period. Assigning accounting phase numbers to
each WBS element generates this profile.
The PM is provided an information package that identifies the phase numbers assigned to
each WBS activity, the corresponding budgets and schedules, the overall spending profile
for the program, and a synopsis of all major deliverables and milestones specified in the
contract.
The PM uses this information, combined with an on-line financial summary of the
Program to track its financial status on a weekly basis. The Financial Manager on a
monthly basis, or upon request provides an updated spending profile automatically to the
PM. The PM uses the financial summary in conjunction with his assessments of technical
progress to track the overall status of the efforts.
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Profit and Cost:
Profit will be viewed as all those monies incurred above and beyond the overall cost of
the program. Profit will be reviewed upon later phases to monitor the financial success of
the program.
Cost is calculated by the following formula:
Cost = Labor Costs * Time + Direct Costs + Indirect Costs
Monthly Progress Report:
DICE will submit a monthly progress reports. The report shall cover, at a minimum, the
following:

Progress Summary

Milestone Deliverables, planned actual and forecast

Cost and Profit report

Dependencies: a ‘critical items list’ of all items, which could jeopardize timely
completion of the work or any significant parts of the programme

Risk Status: update of risk register

Look Ahead (Future action and Forecast)

Resource Profile

Work Package/Activities planned, actual & forecast status

Milestone/Deliverables planned, actual & forecast status

Configuration Change Control issues

Quality Actions (Reviews, audits)
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Reviews:
Reviews will play an integral part in the management and monitoring of all phases of
the Dynamic Interface Communication Environment Program. Informal reviews with the
program team members will be held at all levels on a bi-weekly basis to ensure that the
program stays on track. Formal technical reviews will be held to ensure that the program
is proceeding as planned. The PM will meet with each team section and ensure that they
are up to speed with the course of the project. In turn, the team members will timely
report all successes and difficulties they have encountered that have had any effect on the
course of the project. Formal reviews will be completed at least every three months. The
formal reviews will deal with those issues that can be fixed in the future, and will also use
the evaluation plan as a way of gauging the success of the program through the current
time.
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STAFFING AND SCHEDULE / ORGANIZATIONAL PLAN
The personnel needed for DICE will change as the project progresses. The
personnel needed for each phase are shown below.
Phase 0
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During the initial phase, the DICE team will consist of five Old Dominion
University seniors in the Computer Science department. They will be tasked with the
research and development of DICE and will be required to prove its rationale and
feasibility. In addition to these students, there will be an active searching for experts who
can aid in the SBIR proposal. These experts will aid in the research and risk assessment
areas. These experts include: Kai Van De Carr - a online application sharing expert who
currently works with webex.com, Carol “Stash” Stanley - the Family Educational Rights
and Privacy Act (FERPA) expert and is the University Registrar at the University of
Virginia, Steven Crawford - Technology Coordinator at Old Dominion University and the
expert for distance learning/archive of materials, Dr. Levinstein – the enterprise database
expert and professor of this material at Old Dominion University, Sandra Waters – a SIS,
specifically Banner, expert and Director of Academic Continuance and Undergraduate
Services, Christian Pucher – a technology and implementation expert in the area of
delivering media to distance students at Old Dominion University.
Phase I
57
Once the SBIR approval has been reached and funding secured for the project, the
DICE team will have a slightly different look and feel for phase I. The student team
58
members will shift into new duties, while still maintaining their individual managerial
roles. Jeff will become the security specialist; James will become the software specialist,
and Will will take on the added tasks of being the database specialist, while Sean will
become the GUI Developer and Webmaster. Mark will become the Testing Technician,
while Tom will continue to manage all aspects of the project. Experts will be added in
order to provide oversight to the team. These include a Security Expert, a Networking
Expert, and a Database Expert.
Security Expert:
Responsibilities include consulting with Security Specialist on: examining DICE
for any potential security or FERPA violation in the interfaces between communication
technologies, interface software between Course Enrollment Databases and DICE,
individual components of system, and complete prototype.
Required skills and experience: Must be a graduate of an accredited computer
science school, completion of a Master’s Degree and 5-8 years of experience.
Security Specialist:
Responsibilities include examining DICE for any potential security or FERPA
violation in the interfaces between communication technologies, interface software
between Course Enrollment Databases and DICE, individual components of system, and
complete prototype.
Required skills and experience: Undergraduate student majoring in Computer
Science. Senior level status preferred. Previous experience in C++, Java, and other
programming languages, hardware integration knowledge, and databases is required.
Software Specialist:
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Responsibilities include developing interfaces between communication
technologies, developing interface software between Course Enrollment Databases and
DICE, testing of individual components of system, and complete prototype testing.
Required skills and experience: Undergraduate student majoring in Computer
Science. Senior level status preferred. Previous experience in C++, Java, and other
programming languages, hardware integration knowledge, and databases is required.
GUI Developer:
Responsibilities include designing and developing a number of GUI screens to be
used in final product, integration of GUI screens with other components of the system,
and testing each screen individually and each GUI as a whole.
Required skills and experience: Undergraduate student majoring in Computer
Science. Senior level status preferred, previous experience in graphical design and GUI
development. Proficiency in Dreamweaver, JavaScript, and Database-Interfacing Web
Application Development preferred.
Testing Technician:
Responsibilities include developing interfaces between input and output devices,
developing interface software between for a kiosk and for a database, testing of
individual components of system, and complete prototype testing.
Required skills and experience: Undergraduate student majoring Computer
Science. Senior level status preferred, experience in C++, Java, and other programming
languages, hardware integration knowledge, and databases.
Networking Expert:
60
Responsibilities include consulting with Networking Specialist on: designing and
developing a number of GUI screens to be used in final product, integration of GUI
screens with other components of the system, and testing each screen individually and
each GUI as a whole.
Required skills and experience: Must be a graduate of an accredited computer
science school, completion of a Master’s Degree and 5-8 years of experience.
Networking Specialist:
Responsibilities include designing and developing a number of GUI screens to be
used in final product, integration of GUI screens with other components of the system,
and testing each screen individually and each GUI as a whole.
Required skills and experience: Undergraduate student majoring in Computer
Science. Senior level status preferred, previous experience in graphical design and GUI
development.
Database Expert:
Responsibilities include consulting with Database Specialist on: developing and
building a database with linked tables for a PC, testing individual components of the
database, testing entire database, and system testing.
Required skills and experience: Must be a graduate of an accredited computer
science school, completion of a Master’s Degree and 5-8 years of experience.
61
Database Specialist:
Responsibilities include developing and building a database with linked tables for
a PC, testing individual components of the database, testing entire database, and system
testing.
Required skills and experience: Bachelors degree in Computer Science. Oracle
certification preferred; previous experience in designing and implementing databases
courses taken in database development such as CS450 at Old Dominion University.
Phase II
62
Phase II the members of the DICE Implementation team will have matured in the
project development process and many will have received bachelor’s degrees in
Computer Science. To meet the development timeline, a Senior Software Engineer will
also be hired to assist in the development of the system and provide leadership in the
development as needed. The team will consist of three software engineers, two GUI
programmers, one technical writer, a project manager, a database specialist, one GUI
programmers, and two testing technicians. During this phase, the legal assistance will be
provided by Old Dominion University or an equivalent will be acquired from the local
community. We will also add two Testing Technicians to help with the evaluation and
testing in this phase. Experts will be added in order to provide oversight to the team.
These include a Security Expert, a Networking Expert, and a Database Expert.
Security Expert:
Responsibilities include consulting with Security Specialist on: examining DICE
for any potential security or FERPA violation in the interfaces between communication
63
technologies, interface software between Course Enrollment Databases and DICE,
individual components of system, and complete prototype.
Required skills and experience: Must be a graduate of an accredited computer
science school, completion of a Master’s Degree and 5-8 years of experience.
Software Engineer:
Responsibilities include developing interfaces between communication
technologies, developing interface software between Course Enrollment Databases and
DICE, testing of individual components of system, and complete prototype testing.
Required skills and experience: Bachelors degree in Computer Science. Senior
level status preferred. Previous experience in C++, Java, and other programming
languages, hardware integration knowledge, and databases is required.
GUI Programmer:
Responsibilities include designing and developing a number of GUI screens to be
used in final product, integration of GUI screens with other components of the system,
and testing each screen individually and each GUI as a whole.
Required skills and experience: Bachelors degree in Computer Science. Senior
level status preferred previous experience in graphical design and GUI development.
Proficiency in Dreamweaver, JavaScript, and Database-Interfacing Web Application
Development preferred.
Technical Writer:
Responsibilities include creating formal documentation for the DICE, both for
source code as well as design plans and such.
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Required skills and experience: Knowledge of the product and general knowledge
of the programming practices being used as well as a bachelor’s degree, preferably in
English or writing.
Project Manager:
Responsibilities include assembling the team, contracting with vendors for
necessary supplies (Dell, MySQL, etc.), assign tasks to team members, oversee project to
ensure it is on time and under budget, assist in the development of the product when
needed, ensure all necessary deliverables and milestones are met, act as liaison between
project team and upper management.
Required skills and experience: Bachelors degree in Computer Science. Previous
experience in project management, personnel management, and scheduling preferred.
Senior Software Engineer:
Responsibilities include providing expertise and help to the software developers.
Required skills and experience: Bachelors degree in Computer Science and five years of
work experience: experience in C++, Java, and other programming languages, hardware
integration knowledge, and databases.
Database Expert:
Responsibilities include consulting with Database Specialist on: developing and
building a database with linked tables for a PC, testing individual components of the
database, testing entire database, and system testing.
Required skills and experience: Must be a graduate of an accredited computer
science school, completion of a Master’s Degree and 5-8 years of experience.
Database Specialist:
65
Responsibilities include developing and building a database with linked tables for
a PC, testing individual components of the database, testing entire database, and system
testing.
Required skills and experience: Bachelors degree in Computer Science. Oracle
certification preferred; previous experience in designing and implementing databases
courses taken in database development such as CS450 at Old Dominion University.
Testing Technician:
Responsibilities include developing interfaces between input and output devices,
developing interface software between for a kiosk and for a database, testing of
individual components of system, and complete prototype testing.
Required skills and experience: Undergraduate student majoring Computer
Science. Senior level status preferred, experience in C++, Java, and other programming
languages, hardware integration knowledge, and databases.
Network Expert:
Responsibilities include designing and developing a number of GUI screens to be
used in final product, integration of GUI screens with other components of the system,
and testing each screen individually and each GUI as a whole.
Required skills and experience: Must be a graduate of an accredited computer
science school, completion of a Master’s Degree and 5-8 years of experience.
Phase III
66
Phase III is the actual production of our product. The Managerial roles of the
team will continue through this phase and will exhibit themselves either in the production
of evaluation of the project. During this phase, the necessary personnel become more
customer oriented rather than technology oriented. The phase requires a software
67
engineer, a customer service manager, a technical support manager, a GUI programmer, a
database specialist. Additionally, we will add a Finance Director, a Marketing Director, a
Lawyer, a Webmaster, several technical support staff and several office staff.
Customer Service Manager:
Responsibilities include answering telephone call inquiries, and promoting DICE
products and services, researching and resolving complaints to ensure customer retention
and satisfaction.
Required skills and experience: A minimum of a high school diploma or its
equivalent and 0-2 years of experience in the field or in a related area.
Technical Support Manager:
Responsibilities include managing a team of support personnel who troubleshoot
DICE issues, implementing policies and procedures regarding how problems are
identified, received, documented, distributed, and corrected,
Required skills and experience: A bachelor's degree with at least 7 years of
experience in the field.
Technical Support Staff/DICE Experts:
Responsibilities include troubleshooting DICE issues, implementing policies and
procedures regarding how problems are identified, received, documented, distributed, and
corrected,
Required skills and experience: A bachelor's degree with at least 2 years of
experience in the field.
Financial Director:
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Responsibilities include coordinating the with the marketing director on sales of
DICE, documenting records for tax recording and auditing purposes, general booking,
forecasting of finances, preparation of financial statements.
Required skills and experience: A bachelor's degree with 2 years of experience in
the field or in a related area. A CPA license is desired.
Office Staff:
Responsibilities include answering phones, opening mail, answering customer
questions, filing documentation and contracts, etc.
Required skills and experience: Associate’s Degree in some business related field
and 1 year of experience in the field.
Production Manager:
Responsibilities include managing production workers, maintaining inventory of
available products, overseeing packaging and shipping, ordering supplies for packaging.
Required skills and experience: A bachelor’s degree with at least 7 years of
experience in the field.
Marketing Director:
Responsibilities include coordinating the marketing activities of the DICE
including: advertising, direct mailing, printing, customer events, and trade shows.
Required skills and experience: A bachelor's degree with 2 years of experience in
the field or in a related area.
Lawyer:
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Responsible include providing legal advice to the organization, preparing
resolutions and forms, and participating in major legal actions, and foreseeing and
protecting the company against legal risks.
Required skills and experience: Must be a graduate of an accredited law school
with 5-8 years of experience and admitted into the state bar.
Database Specialist:
Responsibilities include developing and building a database with linked tables for
a PC, testing individual components of the database, testing entire database, and system
testing. This will require maintaining DICE and producing all viable updates, patches,
and hot fixes that pertain to the database.
Required skills and experience: Bachelors degree in Computer Science. Oracle
certification preferred; previous experience in designing and implementing databases
courses taken in database development such as CS450 at Old Dominion University.
Software Engineer:
Responsibilities include developing interfaces between communication
technologies, developing interface software between Course Enrollment Databases and
DICE, testing of individual components of system, and complete prototype testing. This
will require maintaining DICE and producing all viable updates, patches, and hot fixes
that pertain to the application.
Required skills and experience: Bachelors degree in Computer Science. Senior
level status preferred. Previous experience in C++, Java, and other programming
languages, hardware integration knowledge, and databases is required.
GUI Programmer:
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Responsibilities include designing and developing a number of GUI screens to be
used in final product, integration of GUI screens with other components of the system,
and testing each screen individually and each GUI as a whole. This will require
maintaining DICE and producing all viable updates, patches, and hot fixes that pertain to
the user interface.
Required skills and experience: Undergraduate student majoring in Computer
Science. Senior level status preferred previous experience in graphical design and GUI
development. Proficiency in Dreamweaver, JavaScript, and Database-Interfacing Web
Application Development preferred.
Webmaster:
Responsibilities include designing and maintaining the DICE webpage. This will
include updating customers on latest versions, FAQ listings, support documentation, as
well as informing customers on latest marketing/promotional ventures of DICE.
Required skills and experience: Undergraduate student majoring in Computer
Science. Senior level status preferred, previous experience in graphical design and GUI
development. Proficiency in Dreamweaver, JavaScript, and Database-Interfacing Web
Application Development preferred.
Project Manager:
Responsibilities include assembling the team, contracting with vendors for
necessary supplies (Dell, MySQL, etc.), assign tasks to team members, oversee project to
ensure it is on time and under budget, assist in the development of the product when
needed, ensure all necessary deliverables and milestones are met, act as liaison between
project team and upper management.
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Required skills and experience: Bachelors degree in Computer Science. Previous
experience in project management, personnel management, and scheduling preferred.
72
Risk Management Plan
Overview:
These are the potential risks to the Dynamic Interactive Communication
Environment development project. Risks have been analyzed and classified in two
categories: the probability of the risk occurring and the how difficult it will be to correct
the risk should it occur. This listing of risks has been evaluated and ranked according to
these characteristics.
Risk Chart
Risk:
Our most significant risk is that of technology compatibility. We are tapping into
several different communication methods, such as streaming voice, application sharing,
and other instant messaging mediums. Being able to leverage these resources to fit into
the different web browsers and operating systems on the market today will be a
challenge. Choosing how to implement these, either with a homegrown solution or from
tapping into open-source tools, will require certain mitigation. We have determined that
the best mitigation for this risk is through extensive testing, software compatibility
73
research, and getting advice from experts in these communication areas. This risk is
defined with a probability of 4 and an impact of 5, making it a serious risk.
Our second risk is database availability. This risk is defined as the potential for a
specific college or university to have a “closed door” policy with its student enrollment
database. Although most schools do have to have daily data dumps, which are made
available, there must be some political roads that need to be navigated to ensure this
interface can happen. A possible mitigation if this occurs is to create a voluntary sign up
that is faculty and staff controlled. Another mitigation would be to look at other systems
in the university, which have similar data which information can be transferred from.
This risk has a probability of 3 and an impact of 4, making it a moderate risk.
University (customer) acceptance is the next risk to address. Embracing a new
enterprise-level application on the university or college level can be difficult, since it
requires significant cost. The cost factor is usually why customers do not embrace the
new technologies or applications. However, with marketing techniques we can mitigate
this risk. We must make the customer aware of the benefits that they will receive, along
with the features of the product. Additionally, we need to make the ROI clear and easy to
understand for the customer, so that they can identify the impact on their financial aspects
and how in the long run, DICE is a money saving application. This risk gets a 3 for
probability and a 4 for impact, making it a moderate risk.
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) clearly states that
information pertaining to the current enrollment of a student is sensitive information that
cannot be disclosed, unless permission is granted, to a third party. We will face this issue
as DICE creates the community of educational resources. Our team has agreed that
74
giving enough time for planning and testing will mitigate this risk. By allowing the
software to give students opt-in and opt-out capabilities and how this methodology is
structured will be key. This risk gets a 3 for probability and a 3 for impact, making it a
moderate risk.
Funding and cost are issues that almost every project faces. This is similar for
DICE. We will be required to secure funding, as well as small business loans until our
break-even point is realized. Mitigation for risk comes down to planning and marketing.
We must identify how many customers in what time frame that DICE can be rolled out
to. The better we can leverage our successful implementation, the better this risk can be
addressed. This risk gets a 3 for probability and a 3 for impact, making it a moderate
risk.
Student acceptance is another risk facing our project. Since the students are the
secondary customer to DICE. Therefore, if they do not embrace the benefits, then the
primary customers, the colleges and universities, will not continue to use DICE or will
choose not to implement DICE at all. The key mitigation that can be applied to this risk
is marketing. If DICE uses other successful community applications as a model, then the
acceptance will be a natural fit. This is a low risk with a probability of 2 and an impact
of 2.
The maintenance complexity of DICE must be addressed as well. The greater
complexity that DICE becomes, the more resources and education must be utilized to
maintain the system. For mitigation, we will work to create a seamless system that is
based on administrative simplicity. This means that documentation and using standard,
75
accepted technology will be key. This risk gets a 2 for probability and a 1 for impact,
making it our lowest risk.
Mitigation
Risk Mitigation Chart
#1 Technology Incompatibility
Probability: High
Impact: Very High
The concepts behind DICE involve a highly integrated, easily navigated user
interface to appeal to a wide variety of students and faculty. Therefore the underlying
tools must seamlessly work behind the scenes, which could be difficult considering the
wide variety of software out there, which could be licensed or modeled upon for the
separate components, which comprise DICE. Among the major software with which
compatibility is desired are other educational packages such as Blackboard.
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Mitigation: Extensive research and testing must be done to ensure that the
different parts of the system can be assembled to work cooperatively. If existing
software cannot be found which will integrate with each other, individual parts can be
developed or software connectors can be used to bridge components. Internal alpha
testing will ensure functionality before the system is deployed to any campus systems.
#2 Database Availability
Probability: Medium
Impact: High
In order to populate each student’s class information and allow him or her easy
access to classmates and potential study groups, DICE must be able to query an
educational institution’s enrollment database to obtain this information. However, this is
considered sensitive information, and therefore access to these databases may be difficult
to obtain or be restricted depending on the campus’ information systems policies. In
certain cases such as smaller campuses, online databases may not be available at all.
Mitigation: DICE will be developed with the mentality of making it
customizable to each campus that it is deployed at. Thus the system’s interface with the
campus database will be able to be scripted as needed to meet that IT department’s
standards. If access to this database is still unavailable, DICE will be capable of being
deployed with a standalone database that can be populated by students setting up their
own accounts and entering information or having that data entered by faculty.
#3 University Acceptance
Probability: Medium Impact: High
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As our primary customer, gaining the interest and support of the educational
community is critical to the success of this project. While DICE seeks to fill a niche that
has yet to be filled, it will be difficult initially to distance ourselves and compete with
other educational software packages, as well as simpler and more widely available
products such as instant messaging clients.
Mitigation: An aggressive marketing plan will emphasize the benefits of DICE
to higher education campuses across the country, touting the features set of the product
and illustrating the lack of community, which is clearly present in current distance
education. In addition, partnerships with companies such as Blackboard and textbook
manufacturers will be attempted to gain market presence and recognition.
#4 Privacy Issues
Probability: Medium Impact: Medium
The Federal Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) of 1974 governs and protects
student educational information and its distribution. Accordingly, any software which
uses student enrollment data, such as DICE, must be FERPA compliant and capable of
securing private information. Students must be unable to access other student’s
confidential data and all communications between the DICE system and database servers
must be encrypted and confidential.
Mitigation: While privacy concerns are an acknowledged risk to the project,
compliance with FERPA can be ensured with extensive testing and emphasis on security
during network communications. During Phase 1 further research will be done on
78
FERPA to make sure that all data students can access concerning other students will not
violate protected information.
#5 Project Funding
Probability: Low
Impact: Medium
Funding is an issue that affects any development project, and DICE is certainly no
different, as it will have no initial support from any outside software houses or other
businesses. Hiring experts will comprise the bulk of expenses in the initial phases as the
development team will be using Old Dominion University equipment and software. As
the project expands and begins to deploy software at campuses across the country it will
have to increase staffing and equipment to meet the demands.
Mitigation: SBIR grants will provide the initial funding for the project, allowing
the development team to hire experts and do the required research to begin
implementation. In the latter part of Phase 2 and subsequent out years, if additional
money is needed a small business loan can be obtained to offset costs until DICE begins
earning profit.
#6 Student Acceptance
Probability: Low
Impact: Low
Although students are the ultimate end users of DICE, they are classified as
secondary customers. However, it is still important to gain student interest and
appreciation for the system, as campuses will be unable to establish learning communities
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without the participation of their students. As such, it will be important to have a feature
set and interface that will attract students to use the application.
Mitigation: Ideally once deployed at an institution, the faculty and staff at that
campus will encourage use of the software, whether that is in the form of posting
supplements to the class or setting up study times and groups for students to use. Once
the student population begins to use it, the community should grow at a steady rate as
students begin to encourage their peers to give it a try.
#7 System Maintenance
Probability: Very Low Impact: Low
As with nearly any information technology system, DICE will need to be periodically
maintained and updated to include new features and ensure continued compatibility
between tools. This process needs to be as non-disruptive as possible to allow campus IT
staff to deploy updates in between semesters or during other short periods when the
system will not be as heavily used. If the system is unable to update easily and
painlessly, campuses may be reluctant to invest in it.
Mitigation: Maintenance cycles will be taken into consideration during the
development cycle, and provisions for distributing patches and updates will be built into
the server and client software packages. DICE will be designed so that IT departments
will be able to take over maintenance after a set period of time to avoid overtaxing
project staff during the out years.
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FUNDING PLAN
In order to make DICE a success, we must provide enough revenue to cover the
cost of the project. The green team will submit a Small Business Innovative Research
(SBIR) grant proposal for Phase I and Phase II to the National Science Foundation
(NSF). The team will apply for small business or government loans to help with
additional funding needed in Phase III.
The National Science Foundation is an organization whose primary goal is to
increase incentives and opportunities to small businesses to take under new cutting edge,
high risk research that has the potential to have an outstanding economic payoff. Under
the Directorate for Engineering Office of Industrial Innovation, is the topic of
Information Technology; this topic solicits many innovative proposals that can increase
quality of business and commerce, industry processes, education, work life and personal
life. The organization break down for DICE is as followed:
Funding Agency:
National Science Foundation SBIR
Division:
Directorate for Engineering Office of Industrial Innovation
Topic:
Information-Based Technologies (IT)
Subtopic:
Education Applications
Area:
Applications in Support of Learning
Deadline:
June 13, 2006
Awards Amount:
Phase I award: $100,000
Phase II award: $750,000
Budget Phase Breakdown:
. The DICE team will be using NSF funding for Phases I and II. For Phase III the team
will apply for small business loans and grants to help with the cost of implementing
DICE. Below is the breakdown on how the team plans to use the funding:
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Phase I.
Preliminary Cost Phase I
Proof of Concept
Allocated Time: 6 months
Budget: $100,000
Number
Total
Hardware:
Required
Cost
Cost
Dell Precision 380
2
$1,490
$2,980
Dell 19 inch UltraSharp™ 1907FP Flat Panel
6
$0
$0
Linksys - 4-Port Ethernet Broadband Router
1
$60
$60
Total Hardware Cost:
$3,040
Number of
Pay
Total
Hours
Rate
Pay
Sean
704
$10
$7,040
William
704
$10
$7,040
Mark
704
$10
$7,040
Tom
704
$10
$7,040
James
704
$10
$7,040
Jeff
704
$10
$7,040
Security Expert
200
$40
$8,000
Networking Expert
200
$40
$8,000
Staffing
Student Interns:
Experts:
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Database Expert
200
$40
$8,000
Overhead (40%)
$26,496
Total Labor Cost:
$92,736
Total Resource Cost:
$3,040
Total Preliminary Cost Phase I
$95,776
Phase II.
Preliminary Cost Phase II
Critical Design
Allocated Time: 2 years
Budget: $750,000
Number
Software:
Required
Cost
Total Cost
Microsoft Project 2003 Standard
6
$599
$3,594
Microsoft Office 2003 Pro
15
$499
$7,485
MSDN Universal Subscription
2
$2,799
$5,598
Adobe Creative Suite 2 Premium
2
$415
$830
Microsoft Project Server 2003
1
$999
$999
Windows® Server 2003, Web Edition
2
$0
$0
Microsoft Windows XP Pro SP 2
15
$0
$0
Macromedia Studio 8
1
$1,000
$1,000
Total Software Cost:
$19,506
Hardware:
Dell PowerEdge SC1425
4
$1,750
$7,000
Dell Precision 380
15
$1,490
$22,350
83
Cisco 2610XM T1 Router
1
$1,478
$1,478
Dell Color Laser Printer 3100c
1
$473
$473
25' CAT6 Network Cables
8
$25
$200
15
$0
$0
Dell 19 inch UltraSharp™ 1907FP Flat
Panel
Total Hardware Cost:
$31,501
Number of
Pay
Yearly
Total
Staffing
Hours*
Rate**
Salary
Pay
Project Manager
832
$42
$79,128
$35,018
Senior Software Engineer
480
$41
$77,500
$19,787
Software Engineer 1
2352
$32
$59,700
$74,689
Software Engineer 2
2352
$32
$59,700
$74,689
Software Engineer 3
2352
$32
$59,700
$74,689
Testing Technician 1
208
$35
$65,100
$7,203
Testing Technician 2
208
$35
$65,100
$7,203
GUI Developer
120
$31
$57,600
$3,677
GUI Developer
120
$31
$57,600
$3,677
Technical Writer
400
$28
$53,500
$11,383
Database Specialist
400
$32
$60,000
$12,766
Networking Specialist
400
$29
$54,100
$11,511
Security Specialist
600
$33
$62,000
$19,787
Overhead (40%)
$142,430
Total Labor Cost:
$498,507
Total Resources Cost:
$51,007
Money Allocated for Additional
Purchases
$20,000
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Total Preliminary Cost Phase II
$538,507
Phase III.
Preliminary Cost Phase III
Deployment
Number
Software:
Required
Cost
Total Cost
Microsoft Project 2003 Standard
6
$599
$3,594
Microsoft Office 2003 Pro
4
$499
$1,996
Microsoft Windows XP Pro SP 2
4
$0
$0
MSDN Universal Subscription
1
$2,799
$2,799
Macromedia Studio 8
1
$1,000
$1,000
Total Software Cost:
$9,389
Hardware:
Dell Precision 380
4
$1,490
$5,960
Cisco 2610XM T1 Router
1
$1,478
$1,478
Dell Color Laser Printer 3100c
2
$473
$946
25' CAT6 Network Cables
4
$25
$100
4
$0
$0
Dell 19 inch UltraSharp™ 1907FP Flat
Panel
Total Hardware Cost:
$8,484
Staffing
85
Number of
Pay
Yearly
Total
Hours
Rate
Salary
Pay
Project Manager (Tom)
744
$42
$79,128
$31,314
Maketing Director
1848
$33
$62,600
$61,534
Finance Director
480
$34
$63,200
$16,136
Technical Service Manager (Jeff)
500
$29
$54,000
$14,362
Customer Service Manager (James)
500
$29
$54,000
$14,362
Software Engineer (Mark)
300
$35
$65,100
$10,388
Webmaster
300
$35
$65,700
$10,484
GUI Developer (Sean)
120
$31
$57,600
$3,677
Database Specialist (Will)
400
$32
$60,000
$12,766
Customer Support Technician (5)
1000
$20
$37,600
$100,000
Office Staff Technician (5)
1000
$20
$37,600
$100,000
Lawyer
300
$49
$92,800
$14,809
Overhead (40%)
$155,933
Total Labor Cost:
$545,765
Total Resorce Cost:
$17,873
Total Preliminary Cost Phase III
$563,638
*For more information about the budget breakdown please refer to the DICE Resource
plan and the DICE Staffing plan.
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EVALUATION PLAN
DICE will be evaluated comprehensively in order to ensure a complete and robust
product that will be destined for success. The individual phases of the project, as well as
the project as a whole will be evaluated based on specific criteria. The testing and
evaluation periods of the project are outlined in the WBS. Although we have
documented and placed these items on the project timeline, we have recognized the need
to be flexible and to “take a step back” to look at the project to ensure we are reasonable
and complete with our efforts. As noted in the WBS, all phases will be considered
complete when the tasks that are associated within the phase are successful and this
success is documented. Below, you will see a conceptual diagram of our evaluation
strategy for DICE.
Technical
Marketing
Hardware
Scope
Software
Customer
Phase 0
Interoperability
Niche
Phase III
Evaluation
Of
DICE
Phase I
Phase II
Management
Cost
Scope
Financial
Personnel
Risks
Administrative
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Each phase will be evaluated based on the evaluation checklist for that phase.
Evaluation will occur every 3 months or as deemed necessary by the PM. The evaluation
checklist consists of four identification points. They are as follows:

Marketing: the current target customers, the scope of this market audience and
an updated list of competitors will be validated.

Management: scheduling, task breakdown analysis, application of human
resources, and overall project scope is included in this evaluation identification
point.

Technical: the components of the software, hardware, interfaces and overall
system will be evaluated for completion, and interoperability.

Cost: the scheduled budget for the current phase will be evaluated for cost
efficiency, funding allocation, and mitigation/impacts of potential risks.
Marketing:
The identification of customers, market share, and competition helps to mold how
the product will eventually look. In order for user acceptance to occur, the market must
be explored for consistency or for changes in societal and technological trends.
Success is when the following are obtained:
Customer
base is clearly and accurately defined
Documentation
is update on competitive threats
Management:
The DICE team is driven by upholding professionalism amongst its team
members. The team will strive to become a performing team as quickly as possible, as
well as to maintain this performing status. This will require oversight and insight from
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the team leader and constant positive communication amongst the team members.
Viewpoints and ideas are to be respected and discussed with only constructive criticism.
On an aggressive project like DICE, negativity is the breeding ground for failure.
Success is when the following are obtained:
Collaboration
Open,
Each
is the leading factor in discussions
Honest, and Direct Communication is present
members’ contributions are satisfactory
Schedule
for meetings clearly articulated
Every meeting is
documented
Cost:
One of the largest driving factors of all projects is the bottom line (how much will
it cost and how much will I profit from it). Each phase of the project hinges on the
funding and the wise spending of this funding. Truly, the only successful way to migrate
into the next phase of the project and to achieve success of the outlined goals in the WBS
is to be sensitive to the cost. The break even points for the business and its sustainability
must be monitored by all team members. Forecasting, budgeting, and reconciliations will
all prove critical tools in this indication point.
Success is when the following are obtained:
Budget
that meets the SBIR funding allocated
Budget
broken down by phase and reviewed periodically
Breakeven
point is documented and realized
89
Technical:
There are four components in determining the technical success of the project:
hardware, software, interfaces and overall system integration.
Software:
Software is managed and evaluated under the Capability Maturity Model
Integration (CMMI: http://www.sei.cmu.edu/cmmi/cmmi.html).
Testing will be performed whenever new features are added to ensure
functionality. Integration testing will be performed at every level of development.
Hardware:
The hardware to be used will undergo exhaustive testing (if it performs
well under a heavy load, then other states will be non-issues). The network
infrastructure will be also tested to determine sufficiency of bandwidth.
Interfaces:
The interfaces are the key aspect to creating the community on DICE.
With our first instantiation to be housed at ODU, we must successfully create the
tie in to their SIS, which is Banner. Other schools will have different SISes that
will need to be accounted for. By creating a model for the Banner information
pull, these principles and data elements will be examined and documented for
future implementations.
System:
The system will be tested to ensure that the software and hardware
components work together seamlessly to provide a quality product. Rigorous inhouse testing will be performed on a regular basis and in fact may encapsulate
90
both the hardware and software testing once both facets of the project are
sufficiently complete.
Success is assured when the following are obtained:

Functioning GUI prototype

Functional interface with Enrollment Database

Functional hooks to enterprise level databases

Documentation of interoperability components are published

Functional integration of hardware and software

Technical documentation for software and hardware
Testing Defined:
The DICE project is going to be taking a unique approach to testing. There are three
identification points that must be evaluated by an expert on the team. These are outline
in the WBS and listed below:

Marketing: Marketing Director

Management: Project Manager and Operations Manager

Cost: Financial Director and Risk Manager
It should be noted that the Technical testing and evaluation are missing from the
above list. This is where the uniqueness of DICE’s evaluation plan coming into being.
As contained in our WBS, DICE is gong to hire 1 testing technician in Phase 1. This
individual will eventually become the lead DICE expert in the technical realm. We will
hire another testing technician in Phase 2 and will continue with the two technician
approach throughout the project. When we have achieved success and are experiencing
the OutYears portion of the project, we will convert the testing technicians to DICE
91
Experts. These experts will act as second layer support to the DICE system, as well as
becoming intimately involved in the inner workings of DICE. Please refer to the
following diagram:
Phase33
Phase
OutYears
OutYears
1 Testing Technician
Increasing Knowledge of DICE
Phase22
Phase
Phase11
Phase
Phase00
Phase
DICE
Technical Evaluators
From Testers to Experts
2 Testing Technicians
2 Testing Technicians
2 DICE Experts
92
Resource Plan
Abstract: This document describes what hard resources are required to complete the
DICE project. The resources are broken into four phases ranging from 0-3. Each phase
will provide a short description of why the resources are needed and the estimated cost
associated.
Phase 0:
Phase 0 is primarily the idea phase of the project and thus does not require any
hard resource requirements.
Phase 1:
The objective in Phase 1 is to prove the concept that this product is needed and it
is technically feasible. We will develop and test a basic prototype of DICE.
Hardware:
Dell Precision 380
2
$1,490
$2,980
Linksys - 4-Port Ethernet Broadband Router
1
$60
$60
Dell 19 inch UltraSharp™ 1907FP Flat Panel
2
$0
$0
Total Hardware Cost:
$3,040
Dell Precision 380 (Workstation PC) – At this phase in the project we will be purchasing
two personal computers from Dell to develop the prototype. One computer will represent
a server and the other will represent the client.
93
Dell 19 inch UltraSharp™ 1907FP Flat Panel – These monitors come with the Dell
Precision 380 (Workstation PC) for free.
Linksys - 4-Port Ethernet Broadband Router - Connects up to 4 computers to share
broadband Internet access, files, printers and more. It comes equipped with a built-in 4port switch and an advanced SPI firewall.
At this phase in the project we will be utilizing the software licenses acquired by Old
Dominion University.
Phase 2:
The objective in Phase 2 is to design and develop a functional prototype and
design testing scenarios that will accurately represent conditions that our product will
confront. We will be producing productions specifications, contracts, management plan,
personnel plan, test and evaluation plan, and marketing plan.
Number
Software:
Required
Cost
Total Cost
Microsoft Office 2003 Pro
15
$499
$7,485
MSDN Universal Subscription
2
$2,799
$5,598
Microsoft Project 2003 Standard
6
$599
$3,594
Macromedia Studio 8
1
$1,000
$1,000
Microsoft Project Server 2003
1
$999
$999
Adobe Creative Suite 2 Premium
2
$415
$830
Windows® Server 2003, Web Edition
2
$0
$0
Microsoft Windows XP Pro SP 2
15
$0
$0
Total Software Cost:
$19,506
Hardware:
94
Dell Precision 380
15
$1,490
$22,350
Dell PowerEdge SC1425
4
$1,750
$7,000
Cisco 2610XM T1 Router
1
$1,478
$1,478
Dell Color Laser Printer 3100c
1
$473
$473
25' CAT6 Network Cables
8
$25
$200
Dell 19 inch UltraSharp™ 1907FP Flat Panel
15
$0
$0
Total Hardware Cost:
$31,501
Total Resource Cost:
$51,007
Dell Precision 380 (Workstation PC) – There will be 15 team members in phase 2, so
naturally 15 workstations will be required. The systems will have Microsoft Windows
XP Professional, Microsoft Office Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 suite, Microsoft Project
and Microsoft Project Server. Two of the machines will also feature Adobe Creative
Suite 2 Premium for GUI development.
Dell PowerEdge SC1425 – (Servers) the server will hold as our mock datacenter for
initial testing. The server will be installed with Windows® Server 2003, Web Edition.
Dell Color Laser Printer 3100c – Used to print our documents and other necessary hard
copies.
Cisco 2610XM T1 Router – This is used to network the computers together. In phase 2
we will be developing and testing the functional prototype. We will need a larger, more
stable network. This justifies the more expensive Cisco router.
25' CAT6 Network Cables – These are used to patch the PCs into the switch.
Dell 19 inch UltraSharp™ 1907FP Flat Panel – These monitors come with the Dell
Precision 380 (Workstation PC) for free.
95
All software must be updated as new versions are released and as new hardware is
purchased.
Phase 3:
The objective in phase 3 is to produce and sell our product. We will also need to
support existing customers for a negotiated timeframe, until they train there own support
team.
Number
Software:
Required
Cost
Total Cost
Microsoft Project 2003 Standard
6
$599
$3,594
MSDN Universal Subscription
1
$2,799
$2,799
Microsoft Office 2003 Pro
4
$499
$1,996
Macromedia Studio 8
1
$1,000
$1,000
Microsoft Windows XP Pro SP 2
4
$0
$0
Total Software Cost:
$9,389
Hardware:
Dell Precision 380
4
$1,490
$5,960
Cisco 2610XM T1 Router
1
$1,478
$1,478
Dell Color Laser Printer 3100c
2
$473
$946
25' CAT6 Network Cables
4
$25
$100
Dell 19 inch UltraSharp™ 1907FP Flat Panel
4
$0
$0
Total Hardware Cost:
$8,484
Total Resource Cost:
$17,873
96
Dell Precision 380 (Workstation PC) – We will need four workstations in phase 3. The
systems will have Microsoft Windows XP Professional, Microsoft Office Microsoft
Visual Studio 2005 suite, Microsoft Project and Microsoft Project Server.
Dell Color Laser Printer 3100c – Used to print our documents and other necessary hard
copies.
Cisco 2610XM T1 Router – This is used to network the computers together. We will still
need a large and stable network in this phase.
25' CAT6 Network Cables – These are used to patch the PCs into the switch.
Dell 19 inch UltraSharp™ 1907FP Flat Panel – These monitors come with the Dell
Precision 380 (Workstation PC) for free.
All software must be updated as new versions are released and as new hardware is
purchased.
97