Introduction
Information has become very important in modern society. People need the information to make critical decisions that not only affect them but also impact on people around them. However, it has become very challenging to get credible information in the modern world that is infiltrated by social media. Everyone has been turned into a journalist as long as one can use social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube among others.
The problem with the information in social media is the issue with credibility (Portny 2013). People will always twist information to suit them. It is for this reason that the team decided to come up with a new and independent firm that will publish credible news happening around major learning institutions within this region. The firm, known as The Third Eye, will have a group of journalists that will collect information from the field and report to the auditors. The auditors will not only check for the appropriateness and accuracy of the reports but also on issues of objectivity of the content (Heldman 2011). This project will be of benefit to society around the college. The firm will generate its income from the adverts placed on its website.
Project Charter
Project Scope
This project will be focused on reporting on issues affecting our college and other learning institutions within the district of A. All the members of this project are students at this college. They have to attend all their classes and engage in other academic functions besides participating in project activities. Their tight academic schedule and limited resources at this firm may not permit them to travel outside this district.
The context that will be carried in the website may go beyond the defined scope only if the partner firm-New York Times- provides the information. It is important to note that the intended partner is yet to receive the partnership request from this new firm. Our proceeds will directly come from the advertisement proceeds (Friedlein 2001). The firm will resist any attempt to influence the context carried in our articles in favor of a party that is willing to pay some fee. Our team members know that such unethical business practices may affect the sustainability of this firm.
Business Case
The online platform has provided a variety of business opportunities that entrepreneurs can take advantage of. After careful market research, the project members realized that advertising is increasingly becoming one of the most lucrative opportunities offered by the internet (Heldman 2011). Many firms are willing to pay handsomely for any online entity that has a huge following. When the project members noticed this opportunity, the next huddle was to determine how to develop a website that can be frequented by many people. We had to come up with a website that will provide what is needed by the local population.
Upon a careful review, we noticed that parents, teachers, students, and many other stakeholders had one need in common, which was information. Parents wanted to know why their children were behaving in ways that they find strange. They also wanted to know what was affecting their students while they were in school. Teachers wanted to know new trends among students that may affect their studies or discipline at school.
Administrators were keen to gather information about a possible riot among students or actions that may cause mayhem. Students needed information about fellow students at other schools, and how their lives as students can be improved. Education stakeholders needed information about how schools are run, and whether or not education policies are observed at these schools. Providing this information to all these stakeholders was the surest way of attracting the masses to our website. This would make our website one of the most preferred ones for the companies that need to promote their products or brand.
Milestones
The project members have already developed a business plan for this project. The target audiences have been identified. Some of the firms that will be targeted as the major clients to advertise on our website include bookstores, shoe companies, apparel stores, and any other firm that sells products that may be relevant to students. These firms have been identified. Another milestone is to get the needed resources to start-up the business. The project members believe that funds will come from the partner firm as stated above. However, we know that the partnership is not guaranteed.
The team members intend to identify alternative firms that can be approached in case the preferred partner fails to accept the request. The name of the new firm has been approved by the members. The firm will be known as The Third Eye. Within two weeks, the website shall have been developed and ready for operations. All the major equipment that will be used in collecting data is yet to be bought. This can only be done after receiving funds from any of the partners that will be willing to help us in this new project.
Risks
The project members conducted research to identify several risks that this new firm may face as soon as it starts operations. The first and major risk that was identified as the threat of physical or verbal assault. Our journalist will be gathering very sensitive information that can help transform the education sector. We also intend to make public any information that may be relevant to any of the stated stakeholders.
This may not please some of the stakeholders. When students are planning to go on a rampage and our journalists, who are students, get to know of the plan, the information will be made available so that relevant measures can be taken to address the issue. Some of the students may consider this a betrayal. They may assault these journalists for having revealed their plan. Sometimes the news may be about a powerful cartel that is selling drugs to students.
Exposing these cartels and revealing how they operate within institutions of learning may help bring their business to a halt. When this happens, they can easily retaliate against our journalists or the entire firm. The team is yet to come up with ways of addressing this risk. Another risk is the probability of being branded a group of activists (Goodpasture 2010). Based on the information that will be carried in the newspaper, sometimes the authority may consider this firm to be promoting activism among students. To address this threat, we intend to make our objectives very clear to all the stakeholders. We intend to engage them in all-out activities at all times.
Stakeholders
The project team members will consist of the project manager and five project members. Out of the firm project members, one will be the finance director while another will be the marketing officer. These three officials will also act as the editors. The other three members will be the journalists responsible for collecting information from the field. The tasks will be rotational after every two months. This is to emphasize the fact that no one will be junior or senior at this firm. From a journalist, one would become a finance director before being promoted to the marketing director. From marketing director, one will be promoted to project manager. The project manager will then become a journalist after saving a term of two months.
Resources
To start operations, there are some materials that the team will need to facilitate various activities. Cameras and sound recorded will be needed to ensure that the team can start operations. The team will also need personal computers and relevant software to process the information and make it available on the website. Data storage hardware will also be needed. A room that will act as the office and a store for all our equipment will be necessary. All these resources will have to be purchased or rented before the commencement of the operations (Berkun 2008).
Other items
This project has enabled the team members to learn a lot when it comes to the issue of project management (Emond & Steins 2011). The project charter is very important when planning for a project. Failure to define specific activities within the project charter may lead to automatic failure in the entire project. It is also clear that all the team members in a given project should be involved when defining the project charter.
List of References
Berkun, S 2008, Making Things Happen: Mastering Project Management, O’Reilly Media, Sebastopol.
Emond, J & Steins, C 2011, Pro Web Project Management, Apress, Berkeley.
Friedlein, A 2001, A Guide to Web Project Management: How to Deliver Successful Commercial Web Sites, Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, San Francisco.
Goodpasture, J 2010, Project Management the Agile Way: Making It Work in the Enterprise, J. Ross Publishers, Ft. Lauderdale.
Heldman, K 2011, Project Management Jumpstart, Wiley, Hoboken.
Portny, S 2013, Project Management for Dummies, John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken.