Business Case for New Bug Tracking/Project Management Tool

Date: October 26, 2009

Executive Summary
This business case recommends purchasing JIRA with
GreenHopper, a multiuse tracking and project
management tool.
Process improvements should increase productivity
throughout the MIS department. Other departments such
as Creative Services and Computer Support could also
benefit from the implementation of this tool.
Project oversight and automation can also be achieved in
a more simple, user friendly format using JIRA instead of
our current system.
JIRA with GreenHopper will cost $12,000.00 upfront and
will replace our current system of using Outlook Tasks.
Business Opportunity
Market America has an opportunity to save 1040 hours of
office labor annually at $10/hour by automating time
consuming manual tasks.
This opportunity aligns with Market America’s objective to
grow efficiency and to devote resources to revenue
generating functions.
Alternatives
Bug Tracking
Market America currently does not have an actual bug
tracker. Using JIRA with GreenHopper will allow Market
America to have a centralized database of bugs reported
in a more reliable format. With the current system issues
can be deleted, edited, or lost with no way to recover the
lost data.
Reporting
JIRA with GreenHopper will allow Market America’s MIS
department to give more up to date and accurate reports.
MIS will be able to give the Management team the
information they request at a much faster pace and less
time can be spent on a daily basis tracking down updates
for reports that are currently manually created.
Oversight
Market America will be able to track every change made
to any given bug or project. MIS will then be able to trace
where issues are actually stemming from as well as when
system issues are triggered.
Market America will also be able to track time spent on
issues in the system or order to better judge project cost.
Compatible with Subversion

The business case team examined five leading bug Market America is investigating the purchase of
tracking and project management tool. Four of them were Subversion or code storage. If the purchase of Subversion
found to not contain the features needed to handle both is made JIRA will help in the automation of checking out
Market America’s bug tracking issues and it’s project code.
management needs. JIRA with GreenHopper was found to
have more of what Market America needs in a bug
Costs
tracking and project management tool “out of the box”
JIRA unlimited users purchase price $8,000.00
Benefits GreenHopper unlimited users purchase price $4,000.00
Software maintenance (support & updates) year 1 $0.00
JIRA with GreenHopper will provide more capabilities and Software maintenance (support & updates) $4,000.00
benefits than the current Market America bug tracking
and project management system.
Financial Analysis
JIRA with GreenHopper will help to solve several of the
problems faced by MIS on a daily basis: Cash Flow Statement (three years)
• Project and Task Updates (Communication with Costs Year 0 Year Year 2 Year 3
Business Owners) 1
• Bug Tracking Sfwe purchase (12,000) 0 0 0
• Reporting Maintenance 0 (4,000) (4,000) 0
• Oversight fee
• Compatible with Subversion Subtotal (12,000) (4,000) (4,000) 0
Savings
Project and Task Updates (Communication with Business Labor 0 10,400 10,400 10,400
Owners) Subtotal 0 10,400 10,400 10,400
Cash Flow (12,000) 6,400 6,400 10,400
Project Managers at Market America spend several hours
a week keeping in contact with business owners and
Return on investment (ROI): 156%
developers in order to keep everyone up to date on
Payback period: 2 years
project statuses.

By implementing JIRA with GreenHopper, PMs, owners, or Assumptions

developers will be able to check the status of any given
project or task at any given moment.
Communication between MIS teams and business owners
and other departments will improve with the
implementation of JIRA with GreenHopper.

Significant changes will occur in the way most projects

and tasks are recorded and reported on.

Project Description
When the business case is approved, the IT department
will schedule installation of JIRA will GreenHopper.

MIS will designate our JIRA admins and will perform all of
the setup of JIRA with the help of the JIRA support staff.
Our JIRA admins will then begin the conversion of our task
and project data into the JIRA system.

MIS will help the Market America Corporate Training team

prepare a training for Market America employees.

Implementation Plan
JIRA will be installed during the week of November 2,
2009.
JIRA will be production ready on January 1, 2010.
Training will begin on January 2, 2010.

Recommendations
This business case recommends purchase of JIRA with
GreenHopper on October 30, 2009, and installation and
conversion during the week of November 2nd.

This should allow JIRA to be fully functional by January 1st

2010.