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CSC3023
BIT Final Year Project
Dr Barry McCollum
29 September 2014
© 2002 IBM Corporation
Overview of Lecture
 Aims
 Learning Outcomes
 Outline
 Delivery Structure
 Assessment
 Your Responsibility
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Aims
 work collectively to provide an IT solution to a
business opportunity.
 develop the solution within a business framework
 Thus, allowing the central concept to be exploited
commercially
 focuses on exploiting and developing the unique
combination of skills taught to a group of highly
motivated, capable and bright students.
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Aims
 represents the bringing together of the areas of the BIT
degree
 Industry feedback – inability of students to work in Groups
 encourage students to take the first steps in thinking about
and establishing business ventures
 provide support and infrastructure for groups of students
to bring their ideas to a state where they could become
marketable
 optimise the use of electronic media to disseminate
information, advice and best practice
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Learning Outcomes
 allow students to use the combined skills learnt throughout the
BIT Degree
 encourage students to think about the issues surrounding
establishing a business
 allow students to reflect on differing approaches to problem
solving
 enable students to experience/understand the complexities and
benefits of working in teams
 allow students to assess their own performance as well as those
around them in the overall success or failure of a project
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Structure of Delivery
 Lectures
 Business Meetings (Tutorials)
Begin Week 3
 Guest Speakers
Financial, Strategic Planning etc..
 Group Presentations
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Group Structure
Managing Director
- Business Growth Model
- Background
- Strategy
- Models
- Project Management
- Branding
Financial
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Sales/Marketing
Technical
- Model
- Design
- Projections
- Coding
- Funding
- Implementation
Assessment
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Element
Percentage
Type
Interim Report
30%
Group/Individual
Group Presentation
5%
Group
System Demonstration
15%
Group
Dissertation
30%
Group
Development Diary
20%
Individual
Interim Report – Group Contribution (10%)
 Part A: Chosen Area Overview: Background and reasons (10
marks)
 Part B: Overview of proposed areas and solutions and reasons
why not chosen (10 marks)
 Part C: Outline business plan: Structure and work completed (40
marks)
 Part D: Outline of the work to be completed (30 marks)
 Part E: Group Weekly Timesheet (10 marks)
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Interim Report – Individual’s contribution (20%)
 Part A: Details of area proposed (15 marks)
 Part B: Gantt chart of how the individual’s work fits into the
overall project’s milestone (10 marks)
 Part C: Detailing the Importance of the function adopted
illustrating with at least three ‘real world’ case studies (35
marks)
 Part D: ‘lessons learned’ from the outside speakers. (40 marks)
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Group Presentation
 Semester 2
 10 minute presentation of Group’s ideas and their approach
to the project
 Peer assessed
purpose of this is to allow students to gain feedback from
each other
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System Demonstration
 Notes on Assessment issues 2 weeks before demonstration
 Demonstration artefact required
Dissertation (May 2015)
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Project Title / Abstract / Scope
Section Headings: Detailed index of chapters, diagrams etc.
Concise description of Business Case
Business Model and key milestones
Marketing Report
Financial Projections
e-commerce strategy
Solution Specification and design
Solution Implementation
Contribution Matrix
Conclusion and Reflection
Development Diary
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Work carried out and individual contribution
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Details of work carried out in various areas
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Notes on Outside speakers
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Individual Research
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reflect on the roles and responsibilities of the other group
members
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Allows the peer assessment of the System Demonstration to be
validated
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Chance to show their level of research and activity
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In addition marks will be awarded for critical analysis e.g.
background research and talks given by ‘outside speakers’.
Your Responsibilities
 Form into groups
 Self allocation in the first instance
 By end of week 2 ( Monday 13th October);
Download, fill in and return “Formation of Groups” form
 Students not in a group will automatically be added to
existing groups or placed in separate groupings
 Read in detail over material on Web Site
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The Starting Point
 Groups of educated and motivated individuals
 Interest, knowledge and understanding of modern IT,
business processes etc..
 Frustrations and Ideas
 Capture all of this within a Business Context
 The next step is Idea Generation
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Creativity – Turning ideas into a project (business)
 Initiate
A point on which to nucleate ideas
 Imagine
How could this be improved?
 Invent
IT must be in the solution
 Implement
Give thought to design and ‘rollout’
 Sustain
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Idea Generation
 Where are the Problems / Opportunities?
What are you aware of?
How do you find out?
 Potential Areas to Focus on e.g.
Education, Health, Economy, Environment, Entertainment,
Business Processes, Travel, Community, Retail, Family, Fashion
and Beauty, Food, Gaming, Holmes and Housing, Security,
recreation, Marketing and advertising, Non Profit Social Cause,
Telecom and Mobile, Transportation, Style and Design
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Idea Generation - examples
 Work experience
areas of problems, high demand, customer complaints,
frustrations and waste identified.
 Patterns and Trends e.g. Demographics
Family size, exercise habits, perceptions, aging of
population, work patterns
 Money available?
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Idea Generation
 Talk to people
Family / Friends / Relations / Neighbours
 Many ideas come from customers - so find people with a need
or a problem.
 Magazines/Television
 Look to the USA for ideas emerging there. They tend to be
several years ahead of us.
 Sell a complete package. Pull a range or products and services
together to fully solve a specific problem.
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Key issues
 Team ‘buy in’
 Understanding of Team Strengths
 Initial background research
 Enthusiasm
 Attitude and belief
 Project Management
 Looking for opportunities which separate your team from
others
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Questions?
© 2002 IBM Corporation