MBA 606 – Management Information Systems
Project/Research Description
You can either do a research paper or a project on “Green and Sustainable Computing”. A series of assignments in the first half of the semester and a set of presentations from the textbook will lay the ground for your work.
• Research paper
- Details about the topic and a template for the research paper can be found here: https://computer.org/digital-library/magazines/co/cfp-green-sustainable-computing
- Term Project: Suggested type of term project include:
- a case study or story about how managers in an organization (such as your employer) dealt/is dealing with a problem in managing an IS project, e.g., a better way to assess and manage an organization’s IT sustainability, a proposal for an organization’s IT and sustainability governance, the effort of staying green,
- an implementation of a new methodology/process or improvements to an existing methodology/process for managing aspects of IS projects, such as planning, requirements determination, product evaluation, risk assessment, quality management, e.g. an approach to identify business process changes that will improve the IT sustainability of an organization, a development of a more sustainable design of an organization’s data centers, managing green IT
- a comparison of your organization’s IT sustainability activities/efforts with other The questions below might be helpful in getting you started. Assess:
- How does your organization ensure that IT project support organizational strategy?
- How does your organization select and prioritize IT projects?
- How does your organization assign resources to IT projects?
- What policies, processes and procedures are in place on IT sustainability?
- How does the current organizational structure support management of IT sustainability effort?
- When IT projects are complete, what processes are in place to ensure they have met and continue to meet identified IT sustainability metrics or standards?
- What processes are in place to ensure organizational learning takes place?
Deliverables
- Project Ideas: Due Feb 15
Early in the terms we will have a research/project ideation workshop in which we brainstorm ideas for projects. Each team will prepare and submit a single PowerPoint slide with two project ideas to share with the class. This will help to give us a jump start on developing project ideas quickly. Seeing others’ ideas for projects may inspire you with a new idea for your team. Your “second best” idea may inspire someone else.
2. Feasibility Document (3%): Due: Mar 15
Once each team has established their final research/project idea, each team will write a research/project feasibility document in the form of a PowerPoint slide deck (up to five slides). It will include these parts: title, description of the topic, issue, problem, etc., that you’re addressing, the setting in which you’ll work, what your approach will be, the nature of the outcomes you expect, sources you will use (e.g., interviewees, articles, or whatever kind of data is relevant for your project). The purpose is to demonstrate the feasibility of your team’s research/term project idea, i.e., that the paper/project can, in fact, be done. Each team will submit their feasibility slide deck for my review and for class reference. I suggest you think of this slide deck as the start of your eventual paper on which you will build the resulting final paper. Once teams have proven the feasibility of their projects, the project topics are set. Topic
changes would not normally be expected moving forward and could adversely affect a team’s term project grade.
3. Presentation (5%): Due May 17
A formal, managerial oriented presentation, using media as appropriate, based the team term paper. It will be 25-30 minutes total, including Q&A. Teams will submit a copy of their slide deck to me no later than the time of their presentation. At the conclusion of each team’s presentation, I will provide each team a critique.
4. Final Written Paper/Report (25%): Due May 17
- Research paper: Your paper should be approximately 8-10 pages long (About 5000 words). A grading criteria and writing rubric are included
- Your final report should include:
- Executive Summary
- Introduction and problem statements
- Proposed product/services/processes: Why are you proposing this particular product/service/processes?
- Process Modeling: Business background, current problems or motivation for analysis, System Scope and External Views/Schemas
- Application prototypes: Detail information of your product/service including snapshots and links to your website and social media (if applicable).
- Implementation/Results/Discussions
5. Individual Reflection Essay/Peer evaluation (2%): Due May 17
Each student submits Individual Reflection Essay to me separately. The essay should include:
- Comments on individual contributions to the research paper/project.
- Lessons learned
Suggested topics
Please visit this link for more info: https://www.computer.org/digital-library/magazines/co/cfp-green- sustainable-computing
In addition to the suggested topics listed on the link, you can also explore the following topics:
- Disruptive Technology and Innovation Society
- Smart Data for Internet of Things (IoT)
- Strategies, business models, processes and practices for Innovation (or IoT)
- IT Innovation for Sustainable Education
- Real world applications of IoT technology
- Social Acceptance of IoT: Security, privacy and trust in Internet of Things (IoT)
- Inequality in development or happiness
- Sustainability, well-being and happiness
- Smart tourism
Helpful resources and tips
- Be sure you fully understand the assignment—if you don’t, talk to me early
- Give yourself plenty of time for the entire writing
- Turn in a neat, clean paper
- Run spell-check, but don’t rely solely on it – ask a friend or two to read over a draft of your paper before turning it in
- For a research paper, you are required to use IEEE style For a project report, you can pick any style guide (e.g., Chicago, MLA, APA).
- Use every resource available, including library &
Presentation grading criteria
| Content and Analysis (45 points) | Ability to explain your reasoning and analysis clearly.
Rigorous analysis including relevant tools, techniques, concepts and frameworks. Able to relate to the course materials. |
| Structure (15 points) | Logic and flow of the presentation, it should be easy to follow and understand |
| Presentation Quality (15 points) | Effectiveness and clarity of delivery: do not read from a script Effective use of presentation aids, eye contact.
Ability to maintain audience interest Team dynamic |
| Creativity (10 points) | Using creative and original ideas. Imaginative design and use of materials. Novel handouts, visual aids, or methods. |
| Debate (10 points) | Ability to stimulate discussion and respond appropriately to any questions |
| Timing (15-20 min)
(5 points) |
Ability to complete the presentation within the given time |
Research Paper Grading Criteria
| Criterion | Weight | ||
| 1 | Comprehensiveness of relevant literature and development of research background | 40% | |
| 2 | Identification of research problem/question and explanation of
significance to business or both |
15% | |
| 3 | Appropriateness and justification of overall research design | 15% | |
| 4 | Overall paper quality | 20% | |
| 5 | Quality of arguments, logic, referencing, grammar, punctuation and
clarity |
10% | |
| Total | 100% | ||
Project Report Grading Criteria
| Criterion | Weight | ||
| 1 | Identification of research problem/question, motivation and explanation of significance to business or both.
· All important, major and minor objectives are identified and appropriately analyzed. |
15% | |
| 2 | Comprehensiveness of proposed solution and project development.
· Research to understand the broader context to include key influences, and current activities of such initiative. · All relevant information is obtained, and information sources are valid. |
40% | |
| 3 | Appropriateness and justification of overall project.
· Choose a specific goal for your messaging strategy tailored to your target audience. · Establish baselines in order to measure the effectiveness of your project based on pre-and post- implementation analysis. Process Modeling – Business background, current problems or motivation for analysis, System Scope and External Views/Schemas · Draw a context diagram and a level-0 diagram that represents your main business processes. Explain why |
20% | |
| you chose certain elements as processes versus sources/sinks. | |||
| 4 | Implementation/Results/Reflections
· All requirements and objectives are implemented and completed. · Clearly articulates what worked well and why? What did not work and why? · Ways to increase effectiveness and efficiency of work in the future.
Application Prototypes (If applicable) · Web presence for the initiative, product, or tool. Teams could set this up through a full website, Facebook, Instagram, Blog, Twitter, or any number of other digital platforms. The selection of a platform will depend on what is most appropriate for a team’s specific initiative, product, or tool as well as the target audiences. |
20% | |
| 5 | Quality of report, logic, referencing, format, grammar, punctuation and clarity | 5% | |
| Total | 100% | ||
Individual Reflection Essay Rubric
| Component | Excellent | Competent | Not yet complete |
| Contributions | The individual contributed in a valuable way to the project. The individual is also able to articulate the key performance criteria of successful teams and evaluate the group performance accordingly. | The individual did not contribute as heavily as others but did meet all responsibilities. The individual is also able to identify some key performance criteria of successful teams and/or draw related connections
the group performance. |
The individual did not contribute to the project and failed to meet responsibilities. The individual does not identify key performance criteria of successful teams or draw inference to own experience. |
| Lessons Learned | The individual had a level of engagement that demonstrated a strong commitment to the class and the learning outcomes. The voice of the individual writer is evident. | The individual had a level of engagement that demonstrated a commitment to the class and/or the learning outcomes. The level of analysis and reflection could have been deeper. | The individual had a level of engagement that did not demonstrate a commitment to the class or the learning outcomes.
Conclusions simply involved restating information without reflective thought. |
Writing Rubric
The purpose of this rubric is to assess your writing skills.
| Trait | Does Not Meet Expectations | Meets Expectations | Exceeds Expectations |
| Purpose | The purpose and focus of the writing are not clear to the reader | The writer has made good decisions about focus, organization, style, and content so as to achieve the purpose of the
writing. |
The writer’s decision about focus, organization, style, and content fully elucidate the purpose and keep the purpose at the center of the piece |
| Structure | Does not develop ideas cogently, uneven and ineffective overall organization, unfocused introduction or conclusion | Develops unified and coherent ideas within paragraphs with generally adequate transitions; clear overall organization relating most ideas together, good
introduction and conclusion. |
Develops ideas cogently, organizes them logically with paragraphs and connects them with effective transitions. Clear and specific introduction and conclusion. |
| Language | Uses words that are unclear, sentence structures inadequate for clarity, errors are seriously
distracting |
Word forms are correct, sentence structure is effective. Presence of a few errors is not
distracting. |
Develops concise standard English sentences, balances a variety of sentence structures effectively. |
