Final Project Review

The project itself was planned using Microsoft Project, this allowed me to enter all of the specific tasks that had to be carried out during the project and then enter the number of days that I thought it would take to complete each tasks; MS Project then plotted these on a Gantt chart so that I could see exactly which tasks had to be started and completed on which day during the project. I feel that using MS Project to plan the project was a good decision because MS Project allowed me to create an easy to read/understand Gantt chart and the features within the program meant that I could update how far through each task I was and this was then marked on the Gantt chart. I could also easily change the Gantt chart if I felt that the time I had allotted for a particular task was too much or too little.

I feel that the planning of the different tasks that were to happen during the project was done well as I think that the tasks I identified on my Gantt chart accurately represented the tasks that I had to carry out during the project; this made my Gantt chart reliable to follow as I could check off tasks with the project that I had completed. As far as each different stage of my project that I planned I feel that overall I planned the timescale for each different stage well. The design stage of project was however quire rushed as I didn't plan enough time to complete it; I feel that this was a bad decision on my part as I should have thought that it would take longer to complete this stage. Due to my bad planning I feel that my designs could have been of a better quality and in more detail if I had given myself more time; if I was to do this project over I would have allotted myself 2-3 days to complete the designs so that they weren't rushed and were to a better standard.

The implementation stage of my project I feel was very well planned and I made good decisions when planning this stage; I was able to meet every deadline within this stage apart from one and I missed that deadline due to running into trouble with one form within the database. I also feel that I gave myself the correct number of days to complete each different task within this stage as apart from the one problem I had each task took the number of days that I said it would to complete. I feel that this was a good decision by me and if I was to change anything within this stage of the project if I was to do it over would be to give myself one more day to complete this stage so that I wouldn't have been late by one day in this stage.

The testing stage of my project was much better planned than I thought it had been; when I started the testing stage I thought that I had given myself too many days to complete it because I didn't think it was going to take very long but it took the full three days that I had given it to complete. The reason it took so long was because there was much more testing to be done within the project than I thought there would be; therefore I am glad that I gave myself 3 days to complete it. The testing itself was 185 pages long; which was much more than I could have imagined but due to the extra time I had given myself I was able to complete the testing on time. If I was to do the project over I wouldn't change anything I did in the testing stage as it took exactly how long I said it would.
In the user guide and technical documentation stage of my project I gave myself exactly the right amount of days again to complete this stage; this is due largely to me making the decision to change the days allotted to this stage after my interim review. This was the best decision I made for this stage because it gave me the perfect amount of time to complete it and I didn't have to rush the documentation at any stage. If I was to do the project over I would have given myself the amount of days I did after my interim review to begin with; that way I wouldn't have had to change my Gantt chart.

Overall I feel that I managed this project well as I only missed one deadline by a day; this meant that I gave myself the correct amount of days to carry out the necessary tasks. I was able to refer to my Gantt chart all through the project as it was easy to follow and tailored to the tasks I had to do within the project. All in all I think the project went very well and I am proud of how I managed the project and the product that was produced at the end.