Planning and Sprinting: Use of a Hybrid Project Management Methodology within a CIS Capstone Course

An increasing number of information systems projects in industry are managed using hybrid project management methodologies, but this shift in project management methods is not fully represented in our CIS curriculums. CIS capstone courses often include an applied project that is managed with traditional project management methods (plan first, execute second). While agile methods (adapt to change through iterations) are making inroads, little research has been conducted on using a hybrid of these two project management methods in a capstone course. In this paper, we explain the hybrid project management methods we used in four sections of an undergraduate CIS Capstone course during the Fall and Spring of the 2011-2012 academic year. We also present the results of an end-of-term student satisfaction and critical success factor survey. We find that overall satisfaction with the hybrid approach is high among our sample. We also find that more client involvement and a pragmatic approach to initial project planning are areas for future improvement. The results of our experience and survey provide lessons learned and best practices for those who wish to provide students with applied experience that combines waterfall (traditional) and Scrum (agile) project management techniques in their own courses

MICROGRID RESILIENCE ANALYSIS SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT

Military installation microgrids need to be resilient to a variety of potential disruptions (storms, attacks, et cetera). Various metrics for assessing microgrid resilience have been described in literature, and multiple tools for simulating microgrid performance have been constructed; however, it is often left to system owners and maintainers to bring these efforts together to identify and realize effective, efficient improvement strategies. Military microgrid stakeholders have expressed a desire for an integrated, unified platform that provides these multiple capabilities in a coordinated fashion. In support of these endeavors, analysis methods developed by NPS and NAVFAC Expeditionary Warfare Center researchers for measuring microgrid resilience have been integrated into an existing web-based microgrid power flow simulation and distributed energy resource rightsizing software tool. This was achieved by the development of additional functions and methods within the existing software platform code base, and expansion of the application programming interface (API). These API additions enabled access to the new calculation and analysis capabilities, as well as increased control over power flow simulation parameters. These analytical and functional contributions were validated through a design of experiments, including comparison to independently generated data, and factorial analysis.Outstanding ThesisCivilian, Department of the NavyCivilian, Department of the NavyCivilian, Department of the NavyCivilian, Department of the NavyCivilian, Department of the NavyApproved for public release. Distribution is unlimited

Benchmark Portfolio for SOFT 261: Software Engineering IV

This benchmark portfolio documents the course objectives, teaching strategies, and assessments for the inaugural offering of SOFT 261: Software Engineering IV at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL). This is the final course in the core sequence of software engineering courses taken by students in the new undergraduate program in software engineering at UNL. These courses teach fundamental computer science concepts in the broader context of engineering software. As an ACE (Achievement-Centered Education) 2 course, the instructional material in SOFT 261 is focused on teaching visual communications skills in the context of applying software engineering processes to a real-world software project. This portfolio describes the course objectives and how this course fits into the broader context of software engineering education at UNL. It also describes the instructional strategies used to teach visual communications embedded in a software engineering course and the assessments used to evaluate student learning. This portfolio also analyzes student learning to assess the effectiveness of the teaching strategies and course materials. Finally, this portfolio reflects on the intellectual challenges of designing and teaching a visual communications course specifically for software engineering majors that incorporates team-based, hands-on learning working with and communicating with software developers on a large open-source project

Improving the Efficiency of BI Report Generation for Data Warehousing Projects

This project has been implemented to replace the waterfall model of development with a new agile model of development for data warehousing projects in an organization. Some of the problems associated with waterfall model of development include high cost, late delivery of business value, inability to adapt to the changing requirements etc. The main goals of this project were to reduce the project cost, improve the quality of reports to increase user adoption, and make the process more time efficient. The stated goals were achieved by implementing agile model of development to the data warehousing projects, and were validated by the analysis of the data collected throughout the process of project execution

Involving External Stakeholders in Project Courses

Problem: The involvement of external stakeholders in capstone projects and project courses is desirable due to its potential positive effects on the students. Capstone projects particularly profit from the inclusion of an industrial partner to make the project relevant and help students acquire professional skills. In addition, an increasing push towards education that is aligned with industry and incorporates industrial partners can be observed. However, the involvement of external stakeholders in teaching moments can create friction and could, in the worst case, lead to frustration of all involved parties. Contribution: We developed a model that allows analysing the involvement of external stakeholders in university courses both in a retrospective fashion, to gain insights from past course instances, and in a constructive fashion, to plan the involvement of external stakeholders. Key Concepts: The conceptual model and the accompanying guideline guide the teachers in their analysis of stakeholder involvement. The model is comprised of several activities (define, execute, and evaluate the collaboration). The guideline provides questions that the teachers should answer for each of these activities. In the constructive use, the model allows teachers to define an action plan based on an analysis of potential stakeholders and the pedagogical objectives. In the retrospective use, the model allows teachers to identify issues that appeared during the project and their underlying causes. Drawing from ideas of the reflective practitioner, the model contains an emphasis on reflection and interpretation of the observations made by the teacher and other groups involved in the courses. Key Lessons: Applying the model retrospectively to a total of eight courses shows that it is possible to reveal hitherto implicit risks and assumptions and to gain a better insight into the interaction...Comment: Abstract shortened since arxiv.org limits length of abstracts. See paper/pdf for full abstract. Paper is forthcoming, accepted August 2017. Arxiv version 2 corrects misspelled author nam

Analysis and Design in the IS Curriculum: Taking it to the Next Level

Recent surveys of methodologies and techniques currently used in organizations for developing information systems indicate significant trends that call for a revision of the Information Systems (IS) Systems Analysis and Design (SA&D) course to define what methodologies, techniques, models, and tools need to be taught. Several course-related and environment governed trends seem to impact the coverage, including the growing popularity of object-oriented techniques, the shortening of the life cycle and the emergence of the iterative approach, the increasing adoption of the agile approach, the rising importance of UML, the outsourcing trend leading to global distribution of SA&D work, and the rate of change in the technical and business environments. The scope of the SA&D course has increased. Yet, most MIS degree programs have just one SA&D course. The typical SA&D instructor faces a number of difficult questions when trying to fit the much larger range of topics into a single course. A panel at the Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS) 2007 conference evaluated how the trends impact the coverage of the SA&D course and made recommendations on how these trends can be addressed. Based on the panel discussion, this paper tackles the many challenges of teaching analysis and design in the IS curriculum and taking it to the next level

Application of Project Management Strategies and Tools for an Efficient and Successful Competition-based Engineering Senior Capstone Design Project

The industry-level engineering workforce for a project in modern times requires a clear plan and management process to execute the goals of the consumer and the producer. The engineers of tomorrow need the ability to be competitive and successful upon entry into the industry, where there have already been established management tactics for the execution of the company\u27s goals. The mentality within the industry is adaptable to senior collegiate-level competition-based capstone projects. Therefore the West Virginia University EcoCAR Mobility Challenge team has adapted, altered, or adjusted industry-level practices in order to have an overall functioning and effective team that follows a project management plan evaluating industry. The main intention of the EcoCAR Mobility Challenge is to convert a stock vehicle into an hybrid electric vehicle over four years following the Vehicle Development Process (VDP). The team started with fresh new members and team management at the start of the competition, and over the course of the competition, the team was able to adapt, alter and adjust industry-level management tactics and practices into the overall successful team. In Year 1 of the competition the team placed seventh and through the practice of using the tools from industry finished in third place in Year 3 of the competition. By executing a project management plan, teams at the university level can mitigate risk, develop proper schedules, team structures, communicate efficiently, and be successful. The skills adapted and used from industry for a competitive and efficient competition-based senior-level capstone not only will make the project itself successful as it would in industry, but knowledge of these tools prepares the students for the demanding rigorous career within a project-based or product-based industry of choice. The methods of management and tactics adopted by the team cover traditional and agile management, along with understanding management tactics in terms of communication, team structure and organization, scheduling, risk management, requirements management and change management. The tactics of management covered in this document can be adapted and applied to any engineering competition project with the desire to produce a successful product and manage and operate an efficient team for continued sustainability for future endeavors