Throughout the semester, the student team has two options for the team project. There are three parts to this project, and the team will complete each part on the Team Project Site. These site postings constitute the Team Assignments.
Option 1: Business Process Analysis & Innovation
The team can choose to produce a simple analysis of a business process of an organization, its database need, and envision a bold innovation that may disrupt the process. The team will also identify opportunities for business process improvement using information systems. You are required to interview at least one professional who is familiar with the business process of interest to you.
Option 2: Process Prototype Development
The team can also choose to build a simple prototype for the process that they are analyzing. The prototype should incorporate advanced technical skills we have developed in this class. For example, Excel spreadsheet without buttons, macros, or advanced functionalities would NOT count as a prototype for this project.
Some sample ideas include:
1. Design a simple Excel spreadsheet with buttons and macros that automate repetitive steps/processes for data entry, processing, dataset combinations, cleaning, manipulations, etc.
2. An online data entry form to collect data, and automate the processing and production of a report (e.g., an assessment report).
3. Dynamic visualization of your complex datasets using Tableau (into bars, graphs, or maps).
4. Analyze a business process and propose ways to automate/improve the process (with a business process diagram and improvement recommendations as the deliverables).
5. Intuitive and dynamic data summaries and simple statistical analyses using IBM Watson Analytics.
6. A simple informational or e-commerce website (using a free/low cost platform) with Google Analytics set up.
7. A simple app prototype using AppSheet
These projects are NOT appropriate for this course:
1. Design a real website from scratch.
2. Design and build a relational database from scratch.
3. Develop a software program from scratch.
4. Anything that deals with the hardware.
1. Design a simple Excel spreadsheet with buttons and macros that automate repetitive steps/processes for data entry, processing, dataset combinations, cleaning, manipulations, etc.
2. An online data entry form to collect data, and automate the processing and production of a report (e.g., an assessment report).
3. Dynamic visualization of your complex datasets using Tableau (into bars, graphs, or maps).
4. Analyze a business process and propose ways to automate/improve the process (with a business process diagram and improvement recommendations as the deliverables).
5. Intuitive and dynamic data summaries and simple statistical analyses using IBM Watson Analytics.
6. A simple informational or e-commerce website (using a free/low cost platform) with Google Analytics set up.
7. A simple app prototype using AppSheet
These projects are NOT appropriate for this course:
1. Design a real website from scratch.
2. Design and build a relational database from scratch.
3. Develop a software program from scratch.
4. Anything that deals with the hardware.
On the last day of class, each team is required to present their work as a poster in class or on Voicethread. Students will participate in the discussion of each other's work.
Form Project Teams
You should form teams as early as you can, with 4-5 members per team. You should form your own team. The instructor will not assign teams unless it's absolutely necessary. Please reach out to classmates and proactively look for teammates. If you need assistance, please contact the instructor.
Create Team Project Site using Blogger (part of Team Assignment 1)
During the first session, your team will set up a Team Project Site like this one.
To do so, you will first create a new Gmail account for the team, and then use this new account to create a Blogger site. Many other website hosting platforms are available, such as Wix, or SquareSpace. However, for the purpose of this course, you must use Blogger for important reasons: it's free, and Google Analytics is available for free on the site.
Instructions for creating a Blogger site is available here
Configure the layout of the Team Project Site
1. Create three pages
- Page 1: Process Model
- Page 2: Data Model or Prototype
- Page 3: Disruptive Innovation
- "Add the Gadget" across the top, and then choose the "Pages" function.
- Delete the Gadget's title (which is optional). The default title is "Pages." Delete it and save.
4. List the team members on the Homepage (usually the default blog post that comes with the blog). Note that the blog "post" is different from a blog "page." There should also be links to members' individual blog sites, once those are available.
The student team must implement Google Analytics on the Team Project Site in order to track and analyze web traffic. You will discuss insights gained from Google Analytics in Week 5.
- Sign up for Google Analytics using the Gmail account you used for creating the Team Project site.
- Enter you Team Project site's URL, when prompted for an URL during Google Analytics set-up.
- Copy the "tracking ID", not "tracing code" when set up is complete.
- Follow instructions available here to paste the tracking ID into your Team Project Site.
- To verify your Google Analytics has been implemented properly, please follow suggestions available in this help document.
Potential project ideas are available here. The student teams can identify topics on their own or ask the instructor for ideas. Existing projects may be available from the instructor.
