Group Project Business Coursework 1 pages/275 words 3 sources apa format due in the next 6 hours

Introduction

There are many different aspects of the current conference room that could be either reconfigured or replaced entirely. The modern conference room should have modern amenities and include a layout that encourages team integration and communication. These improvements will help the teams coordinate their efforts in regards to project management if they are working on a local project or if they are participating in a large global project with stakeholders throughout the world. Some of the initial shortcomings in the current conference room include the layout, projector and the white board that is used to share ideas with the group. Good team chemistry is not something that is simply found, but rather something that is built. A good conference room layout, amenities, and modern hardware coupled with state of the art software will enable just that.

Software

The goal of any project management software is to provide the user with the ability to standardize key elements of the project to improve transparency and increase the speed and collaboration of the team. Smartsheet is an excellent solution for project management and is the software that we have selected for this project. This product will allow the stakeholders and the entire team the ability to track tasks instantly as their status is updated in the program no matter where the user is in the world. With this ability it is easy to see when one activity is completed and another can begin, as well as identifying tasks that have fallen behind schedule enabling the team to work together to find a solution (Smartsheet, 2017). Utilizing this software will keep the team working together toward their common goal and make sure that they remain focused on the objective. This software is available for a variety of platforms and can be used and installed by the team on almost any device that they might use, such as Microsoft and Apple. This solution is also available as an app and can be installed on the team member’s smart phone to make sure that they can update progress on time, anywhere. The price for all of this is a reasonable 25 dollars per month for the business version 15 dollars for the team version and only 14 for an individual (Smartsheet, 2017). We would recommend a combination of both the team and business to track progress and maintain accountability.

Laptop

The Smartsheet software would be used with a provided Microsoft surface book Intel Core i7, 16GB RAM, 1TB model number 975-00001 that can be used as either a laptop or in a tablet configuration depending on the users preference (PC magazine, 2017). There are several reasons that this laptop was selected from the vast amount of competitors. The first is that it is compatible with most other common programs such as word and excel making sharing of information more effective. The battery life is second to none with just short of 20 hours of battery life enabling the user to work away without having to worry about plugging in when they are updating their project activities. This same device can be brought to the meetings with the team for a seamless transition from field to office. The speed is on par with other competitors, but has more storage at 1 TB than any of the others and while the price is on the higher end vs some of its competitors at 1,899 dollars it’s worth it (PC magazine, 2017). This model also comes with a touch screen and stylus pen that can be used making it more versatile than most others that are available. We recommend the combination of both Smartsheet software and the Microsoft surface book to provide the team with an edge in collaboration that other combinations might not provide.

References

PC magazine. (2017). Pop-Under: The Best Laptops of 2017 | PCMag.com. Retrieved from http://www.pcmag.com/article/popunder/2369981#roundup-tag

Smartsheet. (2017). Project Management Solutions | Smartsheet. Retrieved from https://www.smartsheet.com/solutions/project-management