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| The following list of policies describes the requirements and responsibilities of the Master of IT sponsor organizations as well as the faculty and students of the projects. (70.4KB .pdf) |
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| • | | Master of IT project faculty, which includes representatives from the Management Information Systems (MIS) and Computer Science (CS) departments, will work with the sponsor to develop a preliminary set of requirements. The project teams, with guidance from MIS and CS faculty, will study each requirement in detail and judge the scope and technical feasibility of requirements before making a commitment to the sponsor. The practical result of the Internet technology system being developed will be defined in the Initiating Report. |
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| • | | Master of IT project teams are responsible for the development of an Initiating Report that includes a project charter, business requirements, technical requirements, project management requirements, stakeholder analysis, risk management plan, communication plan, and project milestones. The purpose of this document is to clearly define the project scope and project risks. Once the sponsor signs the project charter, requirements will be frozen as defined in the report. Change to requirements needs to be controlled with a formal change control document. |
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| • | | Master of IT project teams are responsible for the development of a Detailed Project Plan that includes a work breakdown structure (WBS) for the project, a task list with estimated durations (including a description of what technique was used to estimate), predecessors (including a description of the programming logic used to define predecessors), and resourcing assignments. A project schedule will be completed in Microsoft Project; this tool will be used to help keep track the progress of the project. It is very important that the schedule, key milestones, individual, group, and sub-group responsibilities, as well as project tracking information are clearly communicated to the sponsor. Teams will need to identify the best way to communicate this information based on sponsor preferences and expectations. |
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| • | | The MIS Master of IT project faculty will provide the project sponsors with a list of individual team member names, experience, and capabilities (via resumes). Once the sponsors have reviewed the resumes, the Relationship Manager of each team will be responsible for meeting with his or her sponsors to discuss the specific capabilities and responsibilities of each team member. |
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| • | | Master of IT project faculty should be formally involved in various mid-term project and team reviews. It is the responsibility of the MIS faculty member to track the progress of each team in terms of time and scope. It is the responsibility of the CS faculty member to coordinate resources available with the University and College and help the team in technical development. |
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| • | | The Relationship Manager of each project team is responsible for updating his or her project sponsors as well as Master of IT project faculty (MIS and CS) about the status of the project. It is recommended that teams deliver formal weekly status reports that communicate the following: tasks completed to date, slipped tasks, upcoming tasks and resource assignments, a brief summary of risks facing the project, and other information requested by the sponsor or Master of IT faculty. |
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| • | | It is the responsibility of the Master of IT project faculty and the Relationship Manager of each project team to keep the sponsors' confidence in the team and the project intact. The Relationship Manager and the sponsors are responsible for encouraging formal and informal discussions and meetings with the team members. It is recommended that the team formally meet with their sponsors at least once a week throughout the project duration. The MIS Master of IT project faculty member will contact sponsors at several points throughout the project to discuss project status, identify risks, and provide an opportunity for the sponsor to give direct feedback and concerns. |
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| • | | The project sponsors are responsible for assigning a performance grade for each individual student. Sponsors will be provided with a brief description of what each team member's primary responsibilities and will need to give detailed performance feedback and give a grade out of 100%. The MIS project faculty member will provide sponsors with an Individual Performance feedback sheet at the mid-term point of the project. The purpose of the feedback sheet is to help sponsors evaluate the students. |
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| • | | The MIS Master of IT project faculty member is responsible for organizing the Project Kick-Off Event in early January where the project managers present the scope of their project and introduce the project team. Each project sponsor will be asked to explain how he or she found out about the Master of IT project opportunity and what he or she hope to gain from the experience. Master of IT faculty, students, project sponsors, other representatives from the sponsor organization, OIT (from the Terry College), as well as the MIS and CS faculties should be invited to attend. The MIS Master of IT project faculty member is also responsible for organizing the Project Finale Event in late April. Project teams will present their Internet solutions and provide business and technical recommendations to the sponsor as well as key lessons learned from the project. The same list of invitees should be used for this event as the Kick Off Event. Other invitees include other potential project sponsors and the Press. It is the responsibility of the MIS project faculty member to develop a press release to inform media about the event. The agenda and dates for both events should be determined through consultation with the sponsor so that the events get maximum publicity. |
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| • | | The MIS Master of IT project faculty is responsible for following up with the sponsors and continuously sharing relevant information to promote a long-term relationship with the sponsor after the completion of the project. |
