MIS 300 Project Report Evaluation Form

CRN ______                   Group _______________                 Grade _______________

TEN COMPONENTS

A general description and guideline for each of the ten components, plus the appendix, are as follows:

1) Company's information need

•        General description of the organization and its business environment (e.g. industry, marketplace; remember that your instructor doesn’t know your case).

•        Description of the current information system (not necessarily a computerized information system)

•        What is the problem or challenge or opportunity? (how, in what way, why do you say this)

•        Who is affected within and/or outside the company? (not people’s names but positions, what is the extent)

•        What is the business impact? (company doesn’t have your application/solution now so why should they worry; relate to a competitive advantage model)

•        You’re setting the stage, convincing the reader (i.e. your instructor as the owner/manager) to read on and learn about your approach to a proposed full-scale operational system.

 2) Information requirements analysis

•        How did you discover the information requirements for your particular company? (techniques you used)

•        Why did you use the option(s) you did?

•        What ones did you not use and why?

•        Any concerns with the method(s) you did use?

•        Why do you say that and how did you (or could you) address these concerns (i.e. minimize a risk)?

•        Briefly, what are the specific requirements in your case? (If you described this well in Item 1, no need to repeat here.)

•        You can have this section of the report apply only to your prototype, not the proposed full-scale system.

 3) Feasibility

•        This section applies to the full-scale system.

•        Economic. (cost/benefit analysis, what’s the overall approximate cost, can you justify that, could the company afford it in your opinion, what’s the breakdown of your overall cost?)

•        Technological. (what specific technology is required, is any of it not currently available in the marketplace?)

•        Organizational. (does the organization have the will to implement this and how will - or can - the application be maintained after installation?)

•        Schedule. (how long to build and be ready for installation, is there a seasonal consideration for your company?)

•        The above factors are related to each other as a change in one can impact another.

  4) Description of proposed system from the user's viewpoint

•        What initiates the business process?

•        Who enters the data and how done?

•        When entered? (e.g. batch scheduled, real time)

•        Who runs queries & why? (can refer to Appendix)

•        Who runs reports & why? (can refer to Appendix)

•        When are reports run? (e.g. scheduled, on demand)

•        Distribution of reports and medium used?

•        All the above questions relate to the full-scale system.

•        An application does not exist in a vacuum – it supports a business process and involves input, processing and output.

•        You should reference your report’s Appendix which contains sample input and output screens.

•        Note anything special, if appropriate, about the design of the prototype that would be relevant to a user.

  5) Controls and Ethics

•        Recommendations for application controls (input, processing, output) in your case? (what ones, why needed, how achieved?)  If you wish, for part of this particular discussion you can refer to your report’s Appendix and that necessarily would imply your prototype.

•        Recommendations for operational controls and security in your case? (what ones, why, how would you handle them?)

•        Ethics and privacy concerns in your case? (what ones, why, how would you handle them?)

•        This section applies to the full-scale system.

 6) Development

•        At this point in your prototype experience, with the knowledge you have gained, what do you recommend as the appropriate approach for continuing forward and ultimately ending up with the full-scale operational application?

•        Discussion of the options for continuing the development of the system/application you have started, why you recommend the approach you do, and the implications of the method for your client’s situation.

•        If your prototype is, in fact, evolutionary and has resulted in the complete operational system, still discuss all of the theory for application development and implications.

•        Recommendation for managerial control processes during application development?

•        If you recommend that the operational system should not be developed and implemented, still discuss all of the theory for application development and implications.  In addition, be very clear as to why you recommend abandoning the application.

 7) Implementation

•        If your client were to proceed with the development of the full-scale system and, therefore, install it at some point in time, what implementation strategies typically are available?

•        Which strategy do you recommend and why?

•        Implications of the one you recommend?

•        Recommendation for managerial control processes once installed and operating?

 8) Technology Life Cycle

•        Explain what this concept is about.

•        Apply all aspects of the model to your case.  (If there is more than one user of the application, you can focus on one typical person in your case.)

•        Assess your client’s situation for wider or more thorough use of your proposed application.

•        What specific problems or challenges might there be in your company’s case and why?

•        Managerial recommendations to deal with these problems?

 9) Technology use

•        Explain what this concept is about.

•        What skills, attitudes, and knowledge should users of this application have? 

•        Assess your client’s ability to provide users who have these skills, attitudes and knowledge.

•        What specific problems or challenges might there be in your company’s case and why?

•        Managerial recommendations to deal with these problems?

 10) Lessons Learned: What you would do differently next time

•        You should discuss MIS concepts and group dynamic issues.

•        What did you learn from this project?

•        What principles or frameworks studied in the course were particularly applicable for you to successfully complete your project?

•        What went well for you and why?

•        What did not go as well as you initially thought or what surprised you and why?

•        What would you do differently if you were to do a similar type of project again and why?

•        You will be graded on the content, applicability and presentation of your thoughts – this component is a reflection for the whole group, not one particular individual in the group.

Deductions

Each component is worth five (5) points, but deductions from the overall total report mark will be made as follows: