2023 Welcome to Capstone Congratulations on your success in your major to date I think you will like this course | Assignment Collections

Welcome to Capstone! Congratulations on your success in your major to date. I think you will like this course. It is your chance to put together what you have learned in your master’s degree in one, comprehensive team project. Your team objective will be to demonstrate that you can create a plan to solve a business problem and sell your project plan and solution to your sponsor so your project gets funded.

Guidelines

Capstone starts with a business problem that can be solved with technology. The solution to the problem should contain software, database, and hardware components. Your customer is the business with the business problem. Think of your team as either a set of people within a company that are doing the work or an outside consulting company that has been hired to implement a solution for the customer. If you choose the outside consulting path, make sure that you keep the focus of the project on the customer and the solution and not on your company. For example, in the Executive Summary and Project Value sections, keep the focus on the problem to be solved and the value to the customer. Don’t talk about the team/consulting group. Although the team may ultimately choose to use a commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) software package or software as a service (SaaS) from the cloud, the use of a specific product cannot be the assumption from the beginning. In Week 4, you will identify at least three possible implementation alternatives and then choose one of these alternatives based on your feasibility analysis. Finally, think of the project document as one single, growing document. When you submit a milestone each week, add it to the existing document. The only part of the actual project that will not be part of this document is your Microsoft Project Plan. Your Microsoft Project .mpp file will be submitted in its own Dropbox.

Week 0

Check into the Introduction thread and provide your time zone, background, and skills. As soon as everyone checks in, your Professor will use this information to create teams.

Week 1

Check into the introduction thread, if you did not do so in Week 0.

Your Professor will assign teams at the beginning of the week. Once teams are assigned, here are some things you should be doing this week.

1. Elect a team leader (recommended but not required). You can have the same leader throughout the course or change leaders each week. The leader will schedule meetings, facilitate discussion in the meetings, and put team deliverables in the Dropbox.
2. Purchase a headset (if you don’t have one)—You will need a headset with microphone to meet with your team in iConnect.
3. (10 points) Hold an iConnect meeting with your team and record it (this is part of your participation grade). The iConnect areas will be active after your professor assigns teams.
4. (10 points) Ensure that you meet individual posting requirements in the graded discussion area (this is also part of your participation grade).
5. (25 points) Select a business problem that can be solved with technology (the solution must have a software component, a database component, and hardware infrastructure). Your team will be consultants documenting business requirements and building a project plan to solve the business problem. Fill out the System Request Form in Doc Sharing. One team member should submit the completed form to the Dropbox for the team.
6. (10 points) Fill out a Team Status Report by end of week and turn it in to the Dropbox. There is a status report template in the Dropbox. Be sure to show which team member is responsible for the course deliverables this week and to indicate when you plan to have your team meeting in Week 2.

FYI—Next week you will be presenting your proposed project solution to management in your first of two iConnect presentation meetings with management.

Week 2

Welcome to Week 2! Here are the activities this week.

1. (10 points) Hold at least one iConnect meeting with your team and record it (this is part of your participation grade).
2. (10 points) Ensure that you meet individual posting requirements in the graded discussion area (this is also part of your participation grade).
3. (10 points) Fill out a Team Status Report by end of week and turn it in to the Dropbox. There is a status report template in the Dropbox. Be sure to show which team member is responsible for each of the course deliverables in the course and the due dates for each deliverable. Also, indicate when you plan to have your team meeting in Week 3.
4. (75 points) Milestone One—The project document you will prepare throughout the class should be prepared using APA guidelines. The paper should be double-spaced, using Arial or equivalent, 12-point font. One team member should submit the completed Milestone Project Paper to the Dropbox for the team each week. This week the Milestone Project Paper should contain the following items.
   1. Cover Page
   2. Table of Contents
   3. Executive Summary
   4. Project Charter (Scope Definition)
   5. Project Value Statement
5. (50 points) PowerPoint Presentation to Management—The presentation to management should be prepared using Microsoft PowerPoint. In the presentation, you should discuss the project you are undertaking, the scope, and key points on the value of the project to the business. The presentation should be created as though you were convincing senior management of the value of this project. This presentation will both be posted this week in the Dropbox and recorded in iConnect.  

Week 3

Welcome to Week 3! Here are the activities this week:

1. (10 points) Hold at least one iConnect meeting with your team and record it (this is part of your participation grade).
2. (10 points) Ensure that you meet individual posting requirements in the graded discussion area (this is also part of your participation grade).
3. (10 points) Fill out a Team Status Report by end of week and turn it in to the Dropbox. There is a status report template in the Dropbox. Be sure to show which team member is responsible for each of the course deliverables in the course and the due dates for each deliverable. Also, indicate when you plan to have your team meeting in Week 4.
4. (50 points) Milestone Two—The project document you will prepare throughout the class should be prepared using APA guidelines. The paper should be double-spaced, using Arial or equivalent, 12-point font. One team member should submit the completed Milestone Project Paper to the Dropbox for the team each week. This week the Milestone Project Paper should contain all of the Milestone One items and the following Milestone Two items:
   1. Project Strategy Statement
   2. Project Methodology
   3. Business Requirements and Rules 
      1) Context-level data flow diagram (Visio) 
      2) Use case list (normal business activities/work flows) 
      3) Use case scenarios (description or narrative steps in each use case)
5. (10 points) Peer Reviews—There is a Peer Review Template in Doc Sharing. Complete an individual review of each member of your team (including yourself) with comments (combine the evaluations in one Word file and place them in your individual Dropbox). These forms are confidential and should only be shared with your professor. Use them to let your professor know how to improve the course and/or the capstone experience. 
6. (25 points) Initial baseline Microsoft Project Plan in Microsoft Project. If you do not already have Microsoft Project software, it is available for free in the Student Software Store. In this initial effort, create a Gantt chart that shows all of your project activities from project initiation to project closing, in chronological order.  Include duration, start date, finish date, and predecessors for each item.

Week 4

Welcome to Week 4! Here are the activities this week:

1. (10 points) Hold at least one iConnect meeting with your team and record it (this is part of your participation grade).
2. (10 points) Ensure that you meet individual posting requirements in the graded discussion area (this is also part of your participation grade).
3. (10 points) Fill out a Team Status Report by end of week and turn it in to the Dropbox. There is a status report template in the Dropbox. Be sure to show which team member is responsible for each of the course deliverables in the course and the due dates for each deliverable. Also, indicate when you plan to have your team meeting in Week 5.
4. (50 points) Milestone Three—The project document you will prepare throughout the class should be prepared using APA guidelines. The paper should be double-spaced, using Arial or equivalent, 12-point font. One team member should submit the completed Milestone Project Paper to the Dropbox for the team each week. This week the Milestone Project Paper should contain all of the Milestone One and Two items and the following Milestone Three items:
   1. Logical Entity Relationship Diagram (Visio)
   2. Physical Entity Relationship Diagram (Visio)
   3. UML Use Case Diagram (Visio)
   4. UML Sequence Diagram for four Use Cases (Visio)
   5. UML Class Diagram (Visio)

Week 5

Welcome to Week 5! Here are the activities this week:

1. (10 points) Hold at least one iConnect meeting with your team and record it (this is part of your participation grade).
2. (10 points) Ensure that you meet individual posting requirements in the graded discussion area (this is also part of your participation grade).
3. (10 points) Fill out a Team Status Report by end of week and turn it in to the Dropbox. There is a status report template in the Dropbox. Be sure to show which team member is responsible for each of the course deliverables in the course and the due dates for each deliverable. Also, indicate when you plan to have your team meeting in Week 6.
4. (50 points) Milestone Four—The project document you will prepare throughout the class should be prepared using APA guidelines. The paper should be double-spaced, using Arial or equivalent, 12-point font. One team member should submit the completed Milestone Project Paper to the Dropbox for the team each week. This week the Milestone Project Paper should contain all of the Milestone One, Two, and Three items and the following Milestone Four items:
   1. System Alternatives Descriptions
   2. Feasibility Analysis
   3. Technical Requirements and Assumptions
   4. Analysis of Needs vs. Capabilities for Contractors
5. (10 points) Peer Reviews—There is a Peer Review Template in Doc Sharing. Complete an individual review of each member of your team (including yourself) with comments. Combine the evaluations in one Word file and place them in your individual Dropbox. These forms are confidential and should only be shared with your professor. Use them to let your professor know how to improve the course and/or the Capstone experience. 

Week 6

Welcome to Week 6! Here are the activities this week:

1. (10 points) Hold at least one iConnect meeting with your team and record it (this is part of your participation grade).
2. (10 points) Ensure that you meet individual posting requirements in the graded discussion area (this is also part of your participation grade).
3. (10 points) Fill out a Team Status Report by end of week and turn it in to the Dropbox. There is a status report template in the Dropbox. Be sure to show which team member is responsible for each of the course deliverables in the course and the due dates for each deliverable. Also, indicate when you plan to have your team meeting in Week 7.
4. (50 points) Milestone Five—The project document you will prepare throughout the class should be prepared using APA guidelines. The paper should be double-spaced, using Arial or equivalent, 12-point font. One team member should submit the completed Milestone Project Paper to the Dropbox for the team each week. This week the Milestone Project Paper should contain all of the Milestone One, Two, Three, Four and the following Milestone Five items:
   1. Project Risk Analysis and Risk Management Plan
   2. Project Costs, Staffing, Resources, Dependencies, and Schedule

Week 7

Welcome to Week 7! Here are the activities this week:

1. (10 points) Hold at least one iConnect meeting with your team and record it (this is part of your participation grade).
2. (10 points) Ensure that you meet individual posting requirements in the graded discussion area (this is also part of your participation grade).
3. (10 points) Fill out a Team Status Report by end of week and turn it in to the Dropbox. There is a status report template in the Dropbox. Be sure to show which team member is responsible for each of the course deliverables in the course and the due dates for each deliverable. Also, indicate when you plan to have your team meeting in Week 8.
4. (50 points) Milestone Six—The project document you will prepare throughout the class should be prepared using APA guidelines. The paper should be double-spaced, using Arial or equivalent, 12-point font. One team member should submit the completed Milestone Project Paper to the Dropbox for the team each week. This week the Milestone Project Paper should contain all of the Milestone One, Two, Three, Four, Five, and the following Milestone Six items:
   1. Integration of Internal and External Systems
   2. System Administration, Security, Backup and Recovery
   3. Scope Administration and Change Control Procedure
5. (200 Points) Final Project Plan—After you complete Milestone Six, go through the entire Milestone Project Plan as a team to ensure that you have made any changes suggested by your professor during previous weeks and that all of the Milestones fit together in one cohesive, professional document. Your sponsor should be able to pick up the document, read it from cover to cover, and understand the project well enough to make a funding decision. 
6. (50 Points) The Final .mpp file, prepared in Microsoft Project, is also a deliverable for Week 7. Update your initial plan with any new steps you have discovered since it was created and add the resources you have described in Weeks 4 – 6. 

Week 8

1. (50 points) Final PowerPoint Presentation to management—The presentation to management should be prepared using Microsoft PowerPoint. In the presentation, you should discuss the project you are undertaking, the scope, and key points on the value of the project to the business. The presentation should be created as though you were convincing senior management of the value of this project. This presentation will both be posted this week in the Dropbox and recorded in iConnect.  
2. (10 points) Peer Reviews—There is a Peer Review Template in Doc Sharing. Complete an individual review of each member of your team (including yourself) with comments. Combine the evaluations in one Word file and place them in your individual Dropbox. These forms are confidential and should only be shared with your professor. This is your final chance to make Capstone better for future students. Don’t hesitate to tell us what you think.