IT 210 Milestone One Guidelines and Rubric Overview: This assignment is the first milestone that you will complete for your final project. In this milestone, you will address the following:

 You will begin drafting parts of your final project, focusing on your business requirements, competitors, and technology.

 This assignment is an important practice opportunity for you to create a draft, and to get feedback from your instructor to improve your final draft.

 The rubric reflects that this is a practice opportunity. You should focus on getting the necessary information into your draft. No draft is perfect.

 This milestone aligns with sections I, II, and III of your final project. Use the questions in the critical elements as a guide.

 Use the Final Project Template document for your work. This template will be used for the Milestones and the Final Project. o Using the template will ensure you do not miss any items you need to address. The critical elements are highlighted in yellow in the template.

 The decision matrix is not required for this milestone; however, you will be submitting the decision matrix in Milestone Two. Use the template provided to help narrow your technology recommendation.

Prompt: Imagine that you work for the small brick-and-mortar business described in the final project case scenario. The owner of your business wants to focus on generating new revenue through e-commerce, but she knows that this change in operations requires the company to integrate new technology. To gain an understanding of what the business might need for technology, she has asked you to create a business systems analysis. In this analysis, you will clearly introduce the problem that your business is facing. Then, you will determine the business requirements for solving that problem, including the requirements that any new technology needs to meet. Your goal in the final project is to establish an e-commerce presence, but you must improve the current technology first. Use the Decision Matrix document as you conduct your research for assistance organizing your thoughts. (You will submit the completed decision matrix in Milestone Two.) For additional resources on developing the decision matrix, refer to:

 Decision Matrix: What It Is and How to Use It: This article defines the decision matrix and discusses how leaders evaluate and prioritize all of their options when considering solutions to a difficult task.

 Decision Matrix Analysis: This article explains how to use a decision matrix analysis, a useful technique for making a choice when many factors must be balanced. Captioned version of this resource can be found here.

 Decision Matrix Example: Use this resource to view an example of a completed decision matrix.

Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed:

I. Introduction: In this section, you will briefly introduce the small business from the case scenario, and the problem that it is trying to solve. A. Clearly state the problem that the business owner is seeking to solve. Be sure to address the question of what your business ultimately wants to

do. B. Identify and briefly describe the two technologies from the list provided that you will research in your business systems analysis.

II. Business Requirements: In this section, you will determine what the business requirements are to solve the stated problem, and establish the criteria

that will help form your technology recommendations. You will also articulate why the business owner should undertake the project of integrating new technology.

A. Explain the objectives of undertaking this project to integrate new technology. In others words, what should the project accomplish, and how does it support the goal of your business?

B. Provide a project description that explains the purpose of the project. Be sure to address the following: i. What does your business need to do to satisfy the objectives?

ii. What are the desired results at the end of the project? iii. Why is it important for your business owner to consider implementing new technology?

C. State the key technological requirements that will be required of any new technology in order to effectively solve your business’s problem. In other words, what specifically does the technology need to be capable of doing? (These are the technology requirements in the decision matrix.)

III. Competitors and Technology: In this section, you will describe two competing companies that operate in the same industry as your business. You will

also explain how a company uses the two technologies that you are investigating to determine if the technology may be appropriate for your business to use. Remember that a list of competing companies was provided to you in the final project case scenario.

A. Technology One: Select one company in the same industry as your own that uses this technology. Briefly describe what that company does and how it uses this technology to support its business in general. Include specific examples.

B. Technology Two: Select one company in the same industry as your own that uses this technology. Briefly describe what that company does and how it uses this technology to support its business in general. Include specific examples.

C. Referring to what you learned in your research on the companies above, explain one specific way in which one of the companies is benefitting from technology, and describe the potential benefit to your business if you were to adopt the same approach.

Rubric Guidelines for Submission: Using the Final Project Template, your rough draft should be 3–4 pages in length and should follow APA formatting, including double spacing, 12-point Times New Roman font, and one-inch margins.

Critical Elements Minimal or No Errors (100%) Significant Errors (75%) Missing from Draft (0%) Value

Introduction: State the Problem

States the problem that the business owner is seeking to solve, with minimal or no errors

States the problem that the business owner is seeking to solve, but response is unclear or contains inaccuracies

Does not state the problem that the business owner is seeking to solve

12

Introduction: Two Technologies

Identifies and briefly describes the two technologies that the student will research in business systems analysis, with minimal or no errors

Identifies the two technologies that the student will research in business systems analysis, but does not describe them, or description contains inaccuracies

Does not identify the two technologies that the student will research in business systems analysis

12

Business Requirements:

Objectives

Explains the objectives of project to integrate new technology, with minimal or no errors

Explains the objectives of project to integrate new technology, but explanation is cursory or illogical or contains inaccuracies

Does not explain the objectives of project

12

Business Requirements:

Project Description

Provides a project description that explains the purpose of the project, with minimal or no errors

Provides a project description that explains the purpose of the project, but description is illogical, contains inaccuracies, or is missing required components

Does not provide a project description

12

Business Requirements: Technological Requirements

Describes the key technological requirements that will be required of any new technology to effectively solve the business’s problem, with minimal or no errors

Describes the key technological requirements that will be required of any new technology to effectively solve the business’s problem, but description is missing key requirements or contains inaccuracies

Does not describe the key technological requirements that will be required of any new technology

12

Competitors and Technology:

Technology One

Briefly describes what the selected competing company does and explains how it uses the technology to support its business, and includes specific examples with minimal or no errors

Briefly describes what the selected competing company does and explains how it uses the technology to support its business, but does not include specific examples, or examples are inappropriate, or explanation is cursory or contains inaccuracies

Does not describe what the selected competing company does or explain how it uses the technology to support its business

12

Competitors and Technology:

Technology Two

Briefly describes what the selected competing company does and explains how it uses the technology to support its business, and includes specific examples with minimal or no errors

Briefly describes what the selected competing company does and explains how it uses the technology to support its business, but does not include specific examples, or examples are inappropriate, or explanation is cursory or contains inaccuracies

Does not describe what the selected competing company does or explain how it uses the technology to support its business

12

Competitors and Technology:

Benefitting From Technology

Explains one specific way in which one of the competing companies is benefitting from technology, and describes the potential benefit to the business from the scenario if they were to adopt the same approach, with minimal or no errors

Explains one specific way in which one of the competing companies is benefitting from technology, but does not describe the potential benefit to the business from the scenario, or description is cursory or illogical

Does not explain one specific way in which one of the competing companies is benefitting from technology

12

Articulation of Response

Submission has no major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization

Submission has major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization that negatively impact readability and articulation of main ideas

Submission has critical errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization that prevent understanding of ideas

4

Total 100%