Capstone Project Report Guidelines

Capstone Project Report Guidelines

The Capstone Project represents a culminating experience in our Bachelor of Science in Information Science curriculum. It is an opportunity for students to showcase what they have learned from our program and to demonstrate that they are on their way for achieving our program’s key student learning outcomes. Specifically there are six areas that we would like students to address in their end of semester Capstone Project Reports.

1. Analyze a complex computing problem and to apply principles of computing and other relevant disciplines to identify solutions.

2. Design, implement, and evaluate a computing-based solution to meet a given set of computing requirements in the context of the program's discipline.

3. Communicate effectively in a variety of professional contexts.

4. Recognize professional responsibilities and make informed judgements in computing practice based on legal and ethical principles.

5. Functional effectively as a member or leader of a team engaged in activities appropriate to the program's discipline.

6. Support the planning, acquisition, delivery, and monitoring of information systems and their associated technologies within an organization’s environment.

Rubrics for each of these areas have been developed to help students assess what is expected for each of these areas. Students are encouraged to talk with their faculty and client mentors to think through what each of these areas mean to their projects. Questions are welcome!

The following are some guidelines to help you put together your Capstone Project Report. Since every project is different, feel free to amend as needed to best showcase the work you have done this year and to demonstrate your abilities to meet the learning goals of a computing program accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET).

1. Title Page (Note: It is okay to include logos or other clip art on the Title Page)

a. Project / Team Name

b. Sponsoring Organization / Contact Information

c. Team Member Names

d. Date

2. Table of Contents

3. Introduction / Organization Background

a. Describe the organization that your team is working for. What is their history? What is the mission (purpose) of this organization?

b. Explain the challenges facing the organization.

4. Description of Analysis Work Performed - Here are the areas that you should address in this section of the report (Capstone Project I), but feel free to include others as needed. See the Analysis Rubric for additional details.

a. Question 1: Describe the Problem or Challenge Facing the Client and their Stakeholders.

b. Question 2: Evaluate the Current State (Data, Process, People, and Technology in Use) surrounding the problem or issue.

c. Question 3: Assess Client’s Desired Future State (e.g., Data, Process, People, and Technical Improvements)

d. Question 4: Analyze the Options available for getting your Client to their desired future state and Recommend a Solution.

e. Question 5: Develop proper requirements documentation that provides a detailed plan for what your team plans to do to move from the current state (what the client currently has) to the desired future state (what the client wants in the future).

5. Description of Design & Development Work Performed (i.e. How did you design, develop, and evaluation your solution) - Here are the areas that you should address in this section of the report (Capstone Project II), but feel free to include others as needed. See the Design Rubric for additional details.

a. Question 1: Describe your Technology Selection & Implementation for the desired solution (e.g., hardware technology to be used, software licenses, versions, etc.) as well as documentation that describes the blueprint (design) of the technology and platform selection, how did your team set up a development (test) environment, how will the application / production environment operate.

b. Question 2: Describe your Data Architecture Plan (Design) including any Table Schemas, File Structures, or Other Data Stores Designs/Documentation.

c. Question 3: Describe your Design of the Application’s Interface/Interactions (i.e., the user’s interfaces (visual, audio, etc.), interactions, ease of use elements documented via design layouts, wire frameworks, or sketches).

d. Question 4: Describe the results of your Development (Work) Efforts (i.e., Application Documentation such as the Development of Application’s Modules, Libraries and Classes, Implementing required functionalities, or other types of work that you did to make the desired solution a reality.)

e. Question 5: Describe how you used suitable testing methods (e.g., Beta Testing, Bug Fixing, Performance testing, etc.) to implement and evaluate the solution. How did the team ensure that a quality product/service was being delivered to the client?

6. Professional Responsibilities –Here are the areas that you should address in this section of the report (Capstone Project I), but feel free to include others as needed. See the Legal and Ethical Rubric for additional details.

a. Ethical Self-Awareness – What codes of conduct/professional guidelines/legislation guided your team’s thinking?

i. Check out ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct - https://www.acm.org/code-of-ethics.

ii. Any other professional codes of conduct that your team should consider?

iii. Any legislation such as FERPA, HIPAA, Sarbanes-Oxley, etc. that should be considered as you work on your projects?

b. Ethical Issue Recognition – What are the ethical/socio-technical issues that you observed in your project (e.g., privacy, security, intellectual property, potential for abuse of power, honesty, quality of life (work life), sustainability, etc.)?

c. Ethical Approach or Reasoning Strategy – What decision thought process did you decide to use in order to evaluate the various alternatives available for addressing the ethical/legal issues.

i. Check out Markkula Center for Applied Ethics – Ethical Decision Marking - https://www.scu.edu/ethics/ethics-resources/ethical-decision-making/

ii. Check out Computing Cases Socio Technical System Analysis - https://computingcases.org/general_tools/sia/socio_tech_system.html.

d. Application of Ethical Approach/Reasoning Strategy in order to evaluate your Options – What alternatives did you consider in addressing those ethical/socio-technical issues? Describe your evaluation process.

e. Present your Final Position – What was your ultimate decision in how to address those ethical/social-technical issues in your project? Why do you feel this decision was the most appropriate one to follow?

7. Team Work – Describe how well people were able to function as members of the project’s team (Capstone Project I). Consider other stakeholders associated with the team (e.g., supervisor, co-workers, clients, etc.) in thinking about your team’s dynamics. See the Teamwork Rubric for additional details.

a. Question 1: Describe each team’s members contribution to Team during Team Meetings (includes email exchanges and online meetings, generating ideas/suggestions for the project).

b. Question 2: Describe each team member’s ability to Facilitate the Contribution of Other Team Members (includes engagement and ability to facilitate the ideas/suggestions, work, and participation of others on the team).

c. Question 3: Describe each team member’s contribution to the Team Outside of Team Meetings (e.g., quality of work, amount of work accomplished, and ability to meet deadlines).

d. Question 4: Describe each team member’s ability to Foster a Constructive Team Climate (e.g., professionalism, positive and encouraging attitude).

e. Question 5: Describe each team member’s ability to Lead and to Handle Conflict.

8. Description of planning, acquisition, delivery, and monitoring of information systems and their associated technologies within an organization’s environment. Once you understand your organization, you want to think about how your project fits in. In other words, think of the organization and its collection of people, procedures, data, and technologies as a jigsaw puzzle, how will your project (jigsaw piece) align with that puzzle picture? Check out the following questions that you will want to discuss in your Capstone Report (Capstone Project II). These are questions that you want to start thinking about early in your project and that you will continue to revise and reflect as your project progresses. You are welcome to consider other questions that pertain to these areas. See the Support Systems Rubric for examples of project activities that can help document and answer these questions.

a. Plan and Organization: This area covers strategy and tactics, and concerns the identification of the way IT can best contribute to the achievement of the business objectives.

· Are IT and the business strategy aligned?

· Is the enterprise achieving optimum use of its resources?

· Does everyone in the organization understand the IT objectives?

· Are IT risks understood and being managed?

· Is the quality of IT systems appropriate for business needs?

b. Acquire and Implement: This area addresses that to realize the IT strategy, IT solutions need to be identified, developed or acquired, as well as implemented and integrated into the business process.

· Is your project likely to deliver solutions that meet business needs?

· Is your project likely to be delivered on time and within budget (think about your project management strategy, team dynamics)?

· Will the new system work properly when implemented?

· Will changes be made without upsetting current business operations?

c. Deliver and Support: This area is concerned with the actual delivery of required services, which includes service delivery, management of security and continuity, service support for users, and management of data and operational facilities.

· Are IT services being delivered in line with business priorities?

· Are IT costs optimized?

· Is the workforce able to use the IT systems productively and safely?

· Are adequate confidentiality, integrity and availability in place for information security?

d. Monitor and Evaluate: This area addresses performance management, monitoring of internal control, regulatory compliance and governance.

· Is IT’s performance measured to detect problems before it is too late?

· Does management ensure that internal controls are effective and efficient?

· Can IT performance be linked back to business goals?

· Are adequate confidentiality, integrity and availability controls in place for information security

9. Communications Skills: Delivering a Quality Report and Presentation Materials. See the Written and Presentation Rubrics for additional explanation for what is expected of your report and presentation (Capstone Project II).

a. Written Report should demonstrate good …

· Writing Clarity

· Content/Subject Matter

· Report Organization

· Use of Figures and Graphs

· Format, Syntax, Mechanics, References

b. Presentation should demonstrate good …

· Purpose/Message (i.e., what was the problem/challenge that motivated this project and does your solution achieve the objective.)

· Presentation Organization

· Language (Did your audience understand your words?)

· Delivery (Body language, gestures, eye contact, etc.)

· Content/Supporting Materials

10. Summary / Conclusions / Lessons Learned

11. List of Reference Sources: List the books, articles, websites, and other resources that you consulted during this project for training, design, development, or other purposes.

12. Appendices

a. Hours Worked / How the Work was Divided between Team Members

b. Supporting Documentation - See the table on the next page for examples of deliverables that you may want to include as part of the appendices of your final project report.

Table 1 outlines the major phases, steps, techniques and deliverables needed to produce an Information Solution / System.

Phase	Steps Involved	Techniques Used	Examples of Deliverables
Planning – Results in the System Request (Answers the Question: Why build the system? What information value will it deliver?)	Identify Opportunity	Project Identification	System Request
	Analyze Feasibility	Technical Feasibility Economic Feasibility Organizational Feasibility	Feasibility Analysis
	Develop Work plan	Time Estimation Time boxing (Time Mgmt) Task Identification Work Breakdown Structure PERT/CPM Chart GANTT Chart Scope Management	Work Plan, Work Flows
	Staff Project	Project Staffing Project Charter	Staffing Plan
	Control and Direct Project	CASE Repository Standards Documentation Risk Management	Standards List Risk Assessment Plan
Analysis – Results in the System Proposal (Answers the Questions: Who, what, when, where should the system be?)	Develop Analysis Strategy	Business Process Automation Business Process Improvement Business Process Reengineering	System Proposal
	Determine System Requirements	Interview JAD Session Questionnaire Document Analysis Observation	Requirements Definition
	Create Use Cases	Use-Case Analysis	Use Cases
	Model Processes	Data Flow Diagramming	Process Models
	Model Data	Entity Relationship Modeling Normalization	Data Models, DB Schemas
Design – Results in the System Specification (Answers the Question: How will the system work and what information will it deliver?)	Design Physical System	Design Selection (UML, RUP) Data Flow Diagramming Entity Relationship Modeling	Alternative Matrix Physical Process Models Physical Data Model System Specification
	Design Technical Architecture	Architecture Design Hardware & Software Selection	Architecture Report Hardware & Software Specification Network Diagrams
	Design Interfaces	Use Scenario Interface Structure Interface Standards Interface Prototype Interface Evaluation	Interface Design
	Design Databases and Files	Data Format Selection Denormalization Issues Performance Tuning Size Estimation	Data Storage Design Table Layouts
	Design Programs	Transform Analysis Program Structure Chart Program Specification	Program Design Screen Shots
Implementation – Results in the Installed System (Answers the Question: How will the information system be delivered?)	Construct System	Programming Software Testing Performance Testing	Test Plan Programs Technical Documentation
	Install System	Conversion Style Selection Training	Conversion Plan Training Plan User’s Guide
	Maintain System	Support Selection System Maintenance & Operation Project Assessment	Support Plan Problem Report Change Request
	Post-implementation	Post-implementation Audit	Post-implementation Audit Report