Using information technology (IT) in a modern business enables companies to gain a competitive advantage over other market players by making their businesses more cost-effective due to reducing their operating costs, such as transaction and implementation costs and making them more integrated by facilitating a better communication and collaboration between members of the same team or multiple teams based in different geographic locations. Integrating various stakeholders together and facilitating a more efficient data sharing and processing in real time, e.g. by using the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), makes the entire decision-making process quicker, more rational, and well grounded. In other words, more accurate and sophisticated market intelligence techniques can make business processes more cost-effective by adapting their leading strategy to a constantly changing situation on the market and customers' needs. Additionally, identifying customer preferences and developing and applying innovative customer requirements into the already existing business processes, results in a greater customer satisfaction and revenue stream due to reaching and sustaining a wider customer base in a shorter period of time.
Methods: Kanban, Agile, Scrum, Srumban, Lean, Waterfall, PRINCE2, eXtreme Programming (XP).
Skills: Technical, such as programming and soft skills, such as strong collaborative, communication, organisational, multitasking, prioritising, and problem-solving skills as well as attention to detail and goal/ result driven attitude.
Resources: Websites, social media, mobile apps, videos, games, e-commerce, and other non-digital content.
Tools: Visual Studio Code, Trello, Codepen, Slack, GitHub, MS Office, MS Teams, MS Planner and MS Visio.
Monika's Website is the Trello Board of Monika's digital project.
Plan:
1. To divide the website into several tabs, such as my profile “About me”, my charity work in the DPRK, awaking entrepreneurship in the DPRK, the impact of technology in the disabled people's life, references, and contact.
2. To do research on the software available to people, particularly with vision and hearing impairment in the school and workplace settings in the UK and other developed countries.
3. To do HTML/ CSS coding.
4. To incorporate visual and audio effects on the website.
5. To include extra information in regards to my contact details, copyrights, etc. at the bottom of each page.
6. To include testimonials (optional).
There are several risks, which may have a detrimental impact on digital projects and lead to their failure, such as:
1. Delays caused by either a wrong methodology or IT system used.
2. Higher costs of a project caused by a low accuracy and/ or poor time management, resulting in the project’s delay.
3. Developed unsatifactory end product due to a poor communication among all developers and other stakeholders involved in the project.
4. Built malfunctioning end product due to a low technical skills of the programme developers involved in the project.
Selecting and deciding on the right kind of IT software and systems for a digital project requires several steps to be followed, such as:
1. To identify and list all IT software and systems suitable for a project’s main objectives and capable to solve existing problems.
2. To budget and decide what price can be paid for IT software.
3. To identify the software requirements to be met, such as functional, usability, technological preferences, budgetary, reporting, scalability, and vendor requirements.
4. To rank the requirements (listed above) as fundamental and optional.
5. To exclude unsuitable IT software/ solutions, in terms of technology preferences and budget available.
6. To evaluate and assess a short-listed (max 5-10) IT software/ solutions against the software’s usability criteria, e.g. by using a requirements matrix in a spread sheet.
7. To assess and compare learnability, efficiency, memorability, errors, and satisfaction of the first-time users of the trialled IT software/ solutions.
8. To do due-diligence of the selected software, in terms of the vendor requirements.
9. To negotiate business terms, such as implementation time, support levels, service availability, and payment terms with the chosen software provider.
10. To finalise a deal and sign a business contract.[1]
Trello: It helped me to plan, organise, and prioritise daily tasks more efficiently, according to their rank, category, and personal preferences. It provided me also with greater accuracy and time management of the planned tasks due to preventing any information being overlooked and making me to keep reviewing already accomplished parts of the project on a daily baisis.
Slack: It provided me with the communication platform between me, the course moderator, and other classmates throughout the whole process of a website development. It also acted as a source of information while learning about HTML/ CSS and as a reference point while developing the website.
Visual Studio Code: It enabled me to develop and test a coding script, as well as incorporate graphic features, e.g. photos into it in the online and offline environment. It also did not limit me to the size of the script and because of that, allowed me to be as creative as I wanted.
GitHub: It is acclaimed to be the world’s leading software development/ code-hosting platform for version control and collaboration, providing a web developer not only with a code review but also project management, integration, team management, and security. [2] Therefore, I expect the GitHub to allow me a smoother and easier code development and its implementation in my webpage being built. [3, 4]
The legal environment around a digital project development varies, depending on the geographic location of the web development companies themselves and their chosen customer base. For instance, software developers based in the European Union (EU) and serving the customers in the EU come under the GDPR, which is the EU’s new data protection law and apparently, the toughest privacy and security law in the world. [5, 6] However, companies based outside the EU (e.g. in the USA) but serving the EU customers, may be also the subject to the provision of the GDPR and face heavy penalties if not using and securing their customers’ personal data appropriately. [6, 7] The only exemption to this rule is purely personal and household activity, or professional and commercial activity by the small and medium-size companies with less than 250 employees. [6]
I am generally satisfied with all IT tools used, such as Trello, Slack, and Visual Studio Code during a planning, building, and editing process of my own website. However, I have not used them equally, what comes from running a project independently rather than a collaborative one and because of that, not having had to share my new ideas and accomplished tasks with the rest of a team regularly. Therefore, regardless of a great value of Trello Board, I used it predominantly to keep a course moderator updated on the progress of my digital project and share any draft paper with him as required. That then could have been easily done through other communication platforms, e.g. Slack, which I have used more extensively in communication throughout the entire course.
I believe the selected IT tools, such as Trello and Visual Studio Code were appropriate tools to be used for any digital project due to providing a multifaceted platform for a project planning, management, and execution as well as code development, testing, and implementation. Additionally, being able to work in both on- and off-line environment while coding makes the Visual Studio Code, in particular, a fundamental tool in a web development.
On the whole, I am happy with my website, taking into account that I have never used HTML, and CSS before and had a limited time to take care of every aspect of my project by myself, such as a website planning, searching for extra materials online, and writing and testing a coding script. I am also pleased with the leading theme, structure, and content of my website, which reflects who I am and what I stand for. However, I could have definitely expanded it and made it more attractive to look at if I had utilised the Visual Studio Code a little bit more, in terms of adding additional elements and using new functions in HTML and CSS, e.g. coding audio, time-lapse and cascade image.
As mentioned earlier, I would like my website to look more professional, in terms of its content, structure, and graphics used on the entire website. Therefore, I would definitely do further research on the IT software and other digital tools available to disabled people worldwide, particularly with vision and/or hearing impairment as well as disability and entrepreneurship in the DPRK. I would also try to learn more about HTML and CSS, e.g. their higher-level functions and methods, and practice them in the Visual Studio Code prior to deciding on the content, layout, and graphics of my website to make it easy to build from a web developed point of view, and simple to understand and navigate through from a user stand point.
I had worked simultaneously on building the content of my page, coding, and testing of an end product online in order to make sure that my desired outcomes are fit for purpose and match the project’s requirements. That allowed me then to debug my coding script in the Visual Studio Code, resize the text on each page, and add extra graphic features to them on the go. Additionally, I had stayed in touch and kept a dialog going with both a course moderator and other classmates throughout the entire course, what helped me to solve technical problems quicker and introduced me to new solutions, e.g. adding documents in pdf to my website.
Using Trello, Slack, and Visual Studio Code in an independent project enabled me to manage my project more effectively and efficiently through organising and reviewing my tasks on my Trello Board on a daily basis and because of that, making sure that no information is missed and all urgent tasks are accomplished on time. Whereas, using Slack as the main source of the course materials and communication tool with the rest of the group, enabled me to share my ideas with others and learn new ways of solving technical problems. On the other hand, working independently allowed me to lead my project more effectively and structure my website as I wanted it to be without having to negotiate it with anyone else and go on compromise prior to its application. That made me then more creative, independent, and resourceful as well as helped me to understand the dynamics of a project cycle and functionality of a Visual Studio Code better.
In order to improve my productivity and efficiency, I tried to join the course platform around 30 min earlier prior to the start of each class in order to review the course materials from the previous day and make sure that I am up-to-date with all news and changes. I also found short breaks for coffee, food, and yoga very refreshing and allowing me to focus better on practical tasks performed throughout the entire course.
Next time I would certainly spend more time on research and planning of a digital project, rather than start writing a coding script straightaway without having all necessary tools in hand. That may potentially save my time on solving unnecessary errors later on and having to repeat the same coding multiple times to achieve a desired outcome. I would also set daily targets for myself and focus primarily on them, rather than allowed myself to get distracted and divert from the main core of a project to less important parts of it. Finally, I would make a greater use of a Trello Board and make it as my main project management tool.
Personally, I found the use of a live server the most productive because it allowed me to check and validate all new digital solutions on the spot and because of that, prevented any further confusion and the project’s delay. Therefore, I tended to test my coding script in a live server continuously and after each change made to it. Additionally, I had reached out to the course moderator and other classmates on several occasions, asking for an extra help with and advice on solving errors in my coding script in case I was not able to solve them by myself.