U.S. Census Bureau

The FDCA project for the U.S. Census Bureau is extremely important. The goal of this project was an attempt to implement an automation and information technology system that would improve census coverage, accuracy, and operational efficiency (Anonymous, 2008). If successfully implemented, the project would also help reduce costs. The project impacts operational activities by improving the speed at which the data is collected to allow for a grace period while interpreting the data. By implementing these handheld devices properly, operations would be caught up in the world of technology by "going green."

Due to a complex project, major risks come into play. One risk is that the mobile handheld devices will not work up to their potential. They may be slow and the data they collect may not be accurate and consistent. When the Census Bureau added 418 more requirements to the project, this led to an increase in staff and higher payout (Anonymous, 2008). This was a risk that would cause budget costs to exceed drastically. Not only would costs increase, but by adding all of these requirements would cause the project to fall behind on time. Essentially there was no risk management even put into place which is the biggest risk. Management did not assign responsibilities for risks and didn't properly prepare mitigation plans (Krigsman, 2008).

The Census Bureau faced a few main problems when implementing the wireless data collection system. Management caused a serious problem because they did not plan the requirements they needed. They failed to stay within their budget and didn't follow any set schedules accurately. The risks were not written out or considered before the implementation. There should have been an analysis done on the scope of the project before moving on to actually implementing these devices. Adding on an additional 418 requirements after the project was already put into place was also a mistake because Harris already had 600 requirements to account for in the handheld devices (Laudon & Laudon, 413). Clearly, not having a solid contract with Harris Corporation caused many issues in this implementation because Harris was overwhelmed by the requirements and failed to update the Census Bureau on actual estimates and progress.

There are a few steps I would have taken to control the risks in the FDCA project. I would have put together a solid project management team because this is the group that would have the skills and knowledge to achieve specific goals within a known budget and time restrictions (Laudon & Laudon, 397). My team would then analyze the scope of the project while considering time, costs, quality and all risks related to the implementation of these handheld devices. We would properly plan out the contract with Harris to make sure we get what we need. Using prototyping as a means to identify the requirements we need the handheld devices