MGS 425 – Management of IT Projects Final Term Paper – Spring 2021

MGS 425 – Management of IT Projects
Final Term Paper – Spring 2021
© 2021 Mark Hjalmarson – Reproduction of this material is prohibited without the author’s written consent.
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Students are expected to leverage concepts learned throughout the semester from this class in a term
paper. Per the syllabus, this assignment will consist of two separate deliverables and is worth up to 120
points in total towards the overall 400 points, which makes up the final grade.
It is critical that the textbook is leveraged for this assignment, as leveraging the details in appropriate
chapters will be the only way to craft a strong argument for each of the requirements in the term paper.
With that said, each paper and the associated arguments could vary greatly depending on the product
chosen, product backlog items, requirements and user stories.
Due date for the FINAL term paper is no later than 11:59 pm on Friday, 5/7. Given that this is the final
day of the semester, late submissions will not be accepted unless proof of an extenuating circumstance
is provided with sufficient documentation.
I would urge students to join me during weekly office hours to review the material and ask any
questions ahead of when the assignment is due. I have seen on more than one occasion when a student
either partially or completely misrepresented the assignment and as a result, received an unsatisfactory
grade.
Use the following assumptions in your proposal as a guideline
1) Assume you are representing the IT division at some organization.
2) Project team members will minimally consist of the following roles:
a. Scrum Master
b. Product Owner
c. Development Team
3) The company has 1000 total employees and $250 million in annual revenue.
4) Headquartered and based in the contiguous United States.
5) The project will use an Agile/Scrum approach for the software development methodology.
6) Students are expected to use professional courtesy in deciding what industry their company
conducts business. The instructor reserves the right to deny any submission that has the
potential to offend others.
7) Choose a single IT product to use.
8) Students are NOT required to utilize multiple component teams and/or multiple Scrum teams
and products. Assume one Scrum team and one product.
Preliminary Deliverable (worth 20 points)
Deliverable 1: Due date is 11:59 pm, Sunday, March 28th.
Executive summary that briefly describes the history of the company, the nature of their business, along
with a description of the IT product that will be the focus of the proposal.
MGS 425 – Management of IT Projects
Final Term Paper – Spring 2021
© 2021 Mark Hjalmarson – Reproduction of this material is prohibited without the author’s written consent.
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Final Deliverable: Term Paper (worth 100 points)
Term papers should be in the range of 7-10 pages, not including the title page, bibliography, and
appendices. The assignment length should be used as a guideline and not a requirement. The proposal
format must be structured in sections with headers that align to the outline below.
Specific components that must be included in the term paper:
1) Cover page including the company name, name of the product, and name of the individual
submitting the proposal. 5 points
2) Executive Summary: Using the Executive Summary that was completed as part of Deliverable #1
be sure to make any needed enhancements, if required. Additionally, as part of the executive
summary, assume that the company is presently using a waterfall/prescriptive process for
managing projects and as part of your proposal, the company would like to start piloting Scrum
approaches. Compare the two approaches and build a case for why the organization should use
Scrum to develop the product. 10 points
3) Scrum Team: (Chapters 9-11) Develop the criteria for what the Scrum team will look like. How
many people will be on the Scrum team and what skills will they have. Product Owner,
ScrumMaster, and Development Team are all required to be part of the team (others are
optional). 10 points
4) Sprints: (Chapter 4) Propose the starting length of sprints that will be used. Additionally, justify
as to why timeboxing sprints is beneficial. 10 points
5) Product Backlog: (Chapter 5) Develop a product backlog of at least eight PBI’s, plus add some
form of estimates to all items, which is tied to #7 below. Discuss the process of grooming that
was used to prioritize and clarify items in the backlog. 10 points
6) Requirements/User Stories: (Chapter 5) Choose at least three items from the product backlog
and mock up the associated requirements and user stories for them. 15 points
7) Estimation: (Chapter 7) Summarize the PBI estimation concepts that will be used. 10 points
8) Summary: Finally, close the proposal with an overall summary as to why you feel this product
should be selected by the company over others that may be under consideration, as well as why
the team believes that Scrum is the best approach to use. 10 points
9) Sources: cite all sources in a bibliography, including, but not limited to, the required course
materials and any websites or slides used from class lectures. 5 points
10) Solutions should demonstrate creativity and originality in the ideas and passion towards the
written portion of the coursework. Frequent use of diagrams and illustrations to describe the
solution in less abstract terms, correct formatting of the submitted materials, and headers to
delineate different sections will help to contribute points within this category. 15 points
MGS 425 – Management of IT Projects
Final Term Paper – Spring 2021
© 2021 Mark Hjalmarson – Reproduction of this material is prohibited without the author’s written consent.
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How the papers will be graded (RUBRIC)
For all requirements listed above, there is a maximum of 100 points available. For a paper to receive full
credit, the following criteria must be met:
1) The paper demonstrates that the author clearly understands and has applied concepts learned
in the course and within the book.
2) The paper flows smoothly from one section to the next. Author’s writing demonstrates an
understanding of the relationship among material obtained from all sources and ties it all
together.
3) All requirements above (numbers 1 – 10) must be sufficiently covered.
4) There can be no inaccuracies. Use the books and slides from class as a baseline.
5) No spelling and/or grammar mistakes.
Submission of Materials
Use the appropriate UBlearns assignment for submission of all materials.

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