You have been designated Project Manager to develop the latest Microsoft Xbox Series Y Gaming System. (This system is hypothetical).

The Program Manager (who reports to the VP for New Systems (VP/NS) at Microsoft) is your immediate internal customer. The Program Manager is managing 10 other high-value projects for the VP/NS. Your main external customer is the consumer in the 15-30-year-old age group demographic. Your project will be an evolutionary improvement over the current Series X system.

Your goal (as a first report) is to show how you intend to be successful at this project.

Your Project Plan should:

• Identify the Project Manager (you!).
• Identify the Project.
• Describe the Project. It should include:
  • A general description of the system.
  • The goal of the project.
  • When the Project is to be completed. (Give yourself a year. Typically, a Project like this is delivered before Black Friday, that is, the Friday after Thanksgiving Day).
  • Project performance specifications (Go to: https://www.ign.com/articles/xbox-series-x-price-release-date-specs-games). Pick three performance specifications to improve upon. (Do not worry if the performance improvement you propose is real or not, just make it realistic).
  • What it can do (limits) and what it cannot do (exclusions)
• Identify stakeholders (Internal and External Customers).
• Describe your Project Management Approach. Your approach should:
  • Identify Manpower/Skills requirements. (Recommend including personnel from Engineering, Manufacturing, and Marketing).
  • Identify your Project organization (Functional Team, Dedicated Project Team, or Matrix. Justify your choice of organization).
  • Provide a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) using the three functional organizations described above (Engineering, Manufacturing, and Marketing). WBS should be to three levels (for example, Engineering (1.0); Power Supply (1.1); Power Supply Procurement (1.1.2), etc.). A tabular display is acceptable. (Refer to Exhibit 4.1, page 115, of the textbook).
  • Provide a Schedule. A tabular display showing Tasks, Organization Responsible, and Due Dates is also acceptable.
  • Provide a Budget. Show how much each WBS will cost. All costs in a branch of the WBS must roll up to the total cost of the Project. For example, as part of Engineering (1.0), you could have Power Supply (1.1) ($300); Power Supply Procurement (1.1.1) ($100), Power Supply Testing (1.1.2) ($200), that is, Power Supply Procurement (1.1.1) ($100) + Power Supply Testing (1.1.2) ($200), = Power Supply (1.1) ($300). And then the total costs for Engineering, Manufacturing, and Marketing is the total cost of the Project.
• Provide metrics to measure progress. This is usually presented as the percentage of Project completion over a period of time. Again, a tabular presentation is acceptable.
• Show a Project Communications Plan. Clearly identify your communications customers and your sources of information. Also, include your plan to provide Progress Reports.
• Identify your plan for Mitigating Risk.