Objective
Provide an opportunity for students to apply a technology solution to a business problem in a specific
company or organization that adds value to the organization.
Guidelines
Step 1: Exploring Information Technology: Project-topic selection (1-2 paragraphs)
Begin thinking of a business problem that could be solved with a technology solution for a company or
organization you are familiar with. See the Course Project Technical Areas for ideas.
1. Subject of Course Project
2. Business problem statement
3. Name of the company or organization
Step 2: Course Project Proposal (1-2 pages) Graded Portion – 5 points (see rubric)
Upon the approval of Course Project Topic from your professor, complete the Course Project Proposal
using this format:
1. Subject of Course Project
2. Business problem statement
3. Name of the company or organization
4. Brief description of proposed solution
5. General benefits it will provide the organization
6. Audience to whom you are presenting the recommendation(s)
Based on the Professor’s feedback to your proposal, develop the Course Project. You are required to use a
minimum of ten 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.
See the suggestions below for ideas on ways to develop your project. Use this format for the project:
Course Project Table of Contents (6 -8 pages)
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
Completed Course Project Graded Portion
Final Project Paper – 15 points (see rubric)
Final Project Presentation – 5 points (see rubric)
Course Project Technical Areas
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
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 competitiveness 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
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 ten references must be used for research and properly cited.
3. Credible reference sources are available through the School Library and other sources.
4. The paper must be 6-8 pages in length, double-spaced, using a size 12 standard business font,
using 1-inch margins and topic headings listed for the format requirements