You are required to use a minimum of five credible sources for research on your proposed
solution and to correctly cite all references using APA style. Make sure you do not use more than
20% material from other sources so that 80% of the paper should be your original words. Use the
Q&A each week to ask questions about the project. See the suggestions below for ideas on ways to
develop your project. Use this format for the project:
Course Project Table of Contents (10-15 pages, 225 points, due week 6)
Cover Page
Table of Contents
1. Abstract
2. Brief Company background
3. Discussion of business problem(s)
4. High level solution
5. Benefits of solving the problem
6. Business/technical approach
7. Business process changes
8. Technology or business practices used to augment the solution
9. Conclusions and overall recommendations
10. High-level implementation plan
11. Summary of project
References
Appendices
Grading Rubrics
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Week 2: Submission of the Course Project Proposal (graded)
Week 6: Course Project
Grading Rubrics (The Proposal is worth 75 points and the Course Project is worth 225 points)
Category
Documentation
and Formatting
Organization
and
Cohesiveness
Editing
Content
Total
Course
Proposal
Project
Points
Points
12
15
12
36
75
%
Description
15
A quality paper will include a title page,
abstract, proper citations using APA style,
and a bibliography.
20
A quality paper will include an introduction
based upon a well formed thesis statement.
The logical order of the content will be
derived from the thesis statement. The
content will be properly subdivided into
sections derived from the outline. In a
quality paper, the conclusion will summarize
the previously presented content, and will
complement the thesis statement from the
introduction.
15
A quality paper will be free of any spelling,
punctuation, or grammatical errors.
Sentences and paragraphs will be clear,
concise, and factually correct.
112
50
A quality paper will have significant scope
and depth of research to support any
statements. Strategic implications will be
explained and supported. Relevant
illustrations or examples are encouraged. A
quality paper will employ use of sound
reasoning and logic to reinforce conclusions.
225
A quality paper will meet or exceed all of the
above requirements. All sections in the table
100
of contents must be in the project to earn full
credit.
34
45
34
Course Project Technical Areas
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The Course Project’s focus is on the use of technology to solve specific business problems. While
the list of technologies that you can choose for your Course Project is vast, the following are some
current technical topics that you could consider in solving your business problem.
1. Cloud computing, either cloud storage, and/or cloud applications
2. User involvement in IT projects
3. Mobile devices including phones and tablets
4. B2C and/or B2B and other types of e-commerce
5. Databases required for your project
6. Infrastructure and networking (at a non-technical level)
7. Business and process reengineering to streamline a business, followed by several new
business technologies to support the new business model
8. The implementation of a secure business (website, software development, administration)
9. Development of an e-commerce website for a brick and mortar business
10. IS Management (examples: Outsourcing, ASP’s, ERP, CRM, SCM, Website Development,
Linux)
11. Corporate Applications (examples: Information Security, EIS, Expert Systems, Artificial
Intelligence, DSS, Groupware, Intranets/Extranets)
12. Telecommunications and Networks (Examples: Gigabit and higher networks, SAN’s, Video
Conferencing, VoIP, Wireless networking)
13. IS Acquisitions (Examples: Cost Justification Methodology, Total Cost of Ownership, Systems
Development Life Cycle, Prototyping, Weighted Criteria Analysis)
14. Miscellaneous (Examples: Computer Ethics, Virtual Reality, Multimedia, Telecommuting,
Data Security, International Issues, Computer Based Learning)
15. End User Software/Applications (Examples: Database, Operating System, Office Suite,
Project Management)
Course Project Suggestions
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The purpose of the Course Project is to describe the solution to a business problem where
technology can be of value.
Some ideas to identify a business problem:
Lack of competiveness and/or profitability
Inefficient processes
Slow product development
Obsolete IT organization and technologies
Poor corporate communications
Ongoing personnel issues
Some benefits it will provide the organization could be things like:
Financial – profitability, revenue, product costs
Improved competitiveness
Better marketing positioning
Efficiency in key processes, e.g., sales, manufacturing, development
Improved product and/or service quality
Improved product development
Better and more accurate support turn-around
Preparation for the future – how is the organization positioning itself for future growth
Some ideas on how the project could tie together:
As an example, you could write your paper on some aspect of ecommerce. You might tie it in
to targeted advertising. You could then tie the back-end databases that are necessary to
support ecommerce. For example, how databases contain information that allows vendors to
target their audience and what those databases are.
Another example might be the functionality of enterprise systems. You might choose a
specific enterprise system like ERP, CRM or SCM and detail how the functionality is
delivered. This could be how a business person would access this type of information.
The business problem is high cost of IT and product development and the benefits are
profitability, faster development time, or increased sales. The solution might be cloud
computing describing the cloud computing approach taken, e.g., SaaS or cloud virtualization.
Possible audiences might be:
Senior management
Customers
Suppliers
Specific departments
Summary of Course Project Requirements
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1. The proposal must be submitted and feedback received from the professor before beginning
the project.
2. The project should follow the APA style of citing references in the text and on the
bibliography page. No fewer than five references must be used for research and properly
cited.
3. Credible reference sources are available through the DeVry Library and other sources.
4. The paper must be 10-15 pages in length, double spaced, using a size 12 standard business
font, using 1 inch margins and topic headings listed for the format requirements.
