DATABASE DEVELOPMENT LIFE CYCLE - Database Design and Development: An Essential Guide for IT Professionals - page 111

If some people possess more than one skill that can be used in the project, this
can be effective in a project of reasonable size. In large projects, allocation of dif-
ferent assignments to the same person may not be practical.
Matching Up Once the business analysts have a list of the skills necessary for the
project and an inventory of the available personnel, the next task is one of match-
ing up the skills with the people. If the project manager is not directly involved in
the feasibility study, this task calls for his or her participation. The project manager
and the business analysts determine how the skills and the people match up best
and estimate the deficiencies.
Wherever people are not present to handle specific skills, suitable people must
be found for the project. Here are the three common options for filling the
deficiencies:
Training insiders. First look at the prospects inside the organization. Some quali-
fied candidates within IT or within the rest of the organization would welcome a
transfer to the database project. If these candidates can be tested for their aptitude,
they could be trained before being assigned to the project. Some programmers
without any database experience can be trained easily and quickly. If the project
schedule is flexible enough, selecting and training loyal insiders can rank as the best
and easiest option.
Recruiting outsiders. What do you do if there are not enough qualified people
inside the organization who can be trained for the database project? Then, of course,
you have to recruit from outside. If this is a viable option for your organization, suf-
ficient lead time for recruitment must be built into the project schedule.
Hiring consultants. Consultants can always fill the gap wherever suitable talent is
not available from within or outside the organization to be included as employees
on the project. Nevertheless, consultant assignments must be very specific in terms
of tasks and time. While the particular tasks are carried out, some employees may
be trained for those tasks. The assignments of the consultants terminate as soon as
the specific tasks are done.
Estimation of Costs
While conducting the technological feasibility study, the business analysts estimate
the additional hardware and software requirements. The operational feasibility
study produces a list of what is needed for training, recruiting, and assigning people
to the various phases of the object. In effect, these two activities in the feasibility
study phase result in a list of technical and people resources. How much is it going
to cost to get these resources? How long in the project are these resources likely to
be used? Which of the costs are one-time costs, and which of these are ongoing?
The first part of the economic feasibility study determines the major costs of the
project. Every database project has one-time costs incurred before the implemen-
tation of the database system. Costs for some items such as personnel continue
for ongoing maintenance of the system even after implementation. It is easier to
estimate the costs by separating the costs into one-time and ongoing costs. By so