BA 370 - Research, Report and Presentation Group Projects

• General Requirements

• Groups of three (3) people research a special IS topic.
• The groups will present a 20-30 minute overview of the topic to the class (for presentation dates, refer to the BA 370 Course Syllabus).
• After presenting the overview, the group will lead a short discussion on one or more detailed aspects of the problem at hand.
• Each group will prepare a written, text-processed report on its topic and the results of the discussion. !!! The report is due one week after the date of the group presentation !!! For writing and word-processing guidelines, see below.
  

• Report Writing and Word Processing Guidelines 

• A sample report outline:
• Title Page:
• Project Title
• Names of the Authors (properly spelled!)
  
• Course and Name of the Instructor (properly spelled!)
  
• Date

• Abstract (a very brief, no more than 1/3 page summary of the report)
• Introduction
• Various sections presenting the results of your research.
• Summary of the class discussion (if applicable)
  
• Conclusion
• References

  Use the following format for references:

  Book/report: Smith, T.J. (2001) An Overview of Systems Design; Hammersmith Publ., Ottawa, Ontario.

  Journal Article: Smith, T.J. (2001) System Design Methods; Journal of System Design, 12, 551-561.

  Web-based reference: Smith, T.J. (2001) Systems Design; New Developments; Available: http://www.wherever.com/smith/hereitis.pdf.

• Formatting requirements:
• Use headings and separate your text in logical blocks and segments (monolithic texts without any structure whatsoever are not acceptable).
  
• Number pages (Title page has no number. First page with content has page number 1).
• Integrate figures and tables into the text; do not add them as an appendix in the back of the report.
• Give figures and tables proper numbers and captions (use your text processor's support for this).
• Spell check (both automatically and manually!).
• Grammar check!
• Peer review!!

• Please consider this: I (your instructor) am committed to help you write the best report possible. However, I can only help you make things better if you AS A GROUP!! help each  other do the best you can. So write your initial versions so that each of you has sufficient time to carefully read, critique and correct the manuscript!
  

 

• The Topics

• HTTP. Provide an overview of the HyperText Transfer Protocol; how it works, both for static and dynamic pages. Clearly distinguish the server and client side of the protocol. Pay specific attention to how programmers must work around the statelessness of the protocol. Address issues such as web server logs, and robots (the robots.txt file, etc.).
• Oracle vs. PeopleSoft. In the spring of 2003 Oracle Corp. initiated a hostile takeover of PeopleSoft. Provide an overview of this conflict and the interests involved. Why did Oracle want PeopleSoft? What products does PeopleSoft offer and how do they relate to Oracle's? What are enterprise computing and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems and what are Oracle's and PeopleSoft's roles in this market? What strategies did Oracle Corp. use to convince PeopleSoft software users that the takeover is a 'good thing?' What is the current status of the conflict?
• PHP/ASP. PHP Hypertext Preprocessor and Active Server Pages are popular server-side web-based programming tools. Provide an overview of these tools, their origins, their use and their relevance in the web-based programming world. If possible, provide examples and a demo showing how these things work.
  
• J2EE / .NET. According to the media, Sun's Java 2 Enterprise Edition and Microsoft's .NET are competing for the enterprise computing market. Evaluate this assessment by poviding an overview of these two approaches to computing. Also pay attention to the economic forces involved in the evolution of these technologies.
• XML & Web services. Provide an overview of the concept, uses and impacts of Extensible Markup Language. Who invented XML? When and Why? What role is XML playing in the information systems world? What sorts of tools have been developed around XML? Pay particular attention to web services and some of the protocols governing them (e.g., SOAP/WSDL/UDDI).
  
• W3C. Provide an overview of the World-Wide Web Consortium. Who are these people and what do they do? Who listens to them? What sort of influence do they have? What business processes do they follow? What is the relationship between W3C and so-called 'open standards?'
• RFIDs. For some time now, RFID has been an up and coming wireless technology. Provide an overview of RFID technology, its promises, potential and actual uses and some of the more controversial issues surrounding this technology.
• OSS Business Models. Provide an overview of the various business models that have been developed around Open Source Software. How do companies create businesses based on something that is free and open? Are these business models sustainable? Do they falsify business models based on exclusion; e.g., businesses based on patents?
  
• What is Linux? Provide an overview of the best known linux distributions, their advantages and disadvantages. Also provide a demonstration of a linux system running on a COB machine (talk to your instructor to get access to the Linux machine).
  
• Business Intelligence. Business Intelligence is the structured exploration or mining of business data in search for meaningful patterns. Provide a brief overview of this technology and its relevance in business and government settings. In your presentation, make sure that you discuss the concepts of a data warehouse and data marts.
• Digital Libraries and Knowledge Management. Provide an overview of digital library technology and its use for organizational knowledge management. Pay attention to issues associated with so-called meta-data, meta-data standards and meta-data harvesting. Discuss the National Science Digital Library (NSDL) and projects such as DSPACE, CWIS and FEDORA (the latter not to be confused with the Linux distribution).